As a small business owner, it’s important to find the best and cheapest web hosting for your needs. Unfortunately, this can be difficult. You need to factors in budget, space, and speed of service. What follows is a guide on how to find the right web hosting for your business!
What is a Web Hosting Company?
A web hosting company is a company that provides hosting services to web users. Web hosting companies range in price from $10 per month to $1,000 per year. They provide a range of different services, including domain name and hosting, content management systems (CMS), email marketing, and security.
What are the Different Types of Web Hosting
There are three main types of web hosting: cloud based, on-premises, and hosted by a third party such as Facebook or Google. CloudBased Hosting allows you to use your own server to host your website; OnPremises Hosting is where you manage your own servers; and Hosted by a Third Party is where you have access to a company’s servers but manage all the content yourself.
What are the Different Types of Web Hosting?
Self-hosting is the process of creating, managing, and using your own website. This option is perfect for people who are already familiar with web hosting and have the time and energy to build their own site. self-hosting services can be found on websites like WordPress.com or CoSchedule.com.
Hosting a Website on a Third Party Website
Hosting a website on a third party website involves partnering with an online host to create, manage, and use your website on another person’s computer or device. This option can be used by individuals who are not familiar with web hosting but want to create and manage their own site. Many popular third-party hosts include WP Engine, Blue Host, CloudFlare, or Amazon Web Services.
Hosting a Website Using an App
Applishing your site using an app is another great way to host a website without having to worry about building and managing it yourself. For example, many people use Apple’s Safari browser to view websites while on vacation in Europe or Asia. Apps that allow you to publish your sites include WP Engine’s App Store or BlueHost’s Android App Store.
Best and Cheap Web Hosting
1. Bluehost (www.bluehost.com)
Bluehost is an old reliable, seeing as how it was one of the first hosts endorsed by WordPress. Bluehost has also always made hosting affordable.
Pricing
They base Bluehost pricing strictly on how many months you pay for in advance. For instance, a 36-month plan is cheaper per month than a 24-month plan. Although sometimes they make 12-month plans more appealing than the 36-month plans; it all depends on the current promotions.
We’ll outline the 12-month plans below:
- Basic – $2.75 per month for one website, 50GB of SSD storage, 20 databases, a website builder, free domain, free CDN, and free SSL certificate.
- Plus – $5.45 per month for everything in the previous plan, unlimited websites, unlimited storage, unlimited databases, and access to promotions for things like email, Google Ads, and spam protection.
- Choice Plus – $5.45 per month (it’s more expensive than Plus upon renewal) for everything in the previous plans, free domain privacy, and automated backups for the first year.
- Pro – $13.95 per month for everything in the previous plans, optimized CPU resources, forever free automated backups, a premium SSL, and a free dedicated IP.
Ease of setup
The Bluehost dashboard is one of the easiest ones to use out there. There’s a simple one-click install for WordPress, as well as basic controls to take care of the primary customizations of your setup.
You also get a free SSL if you need to secure all transaction information for an online store.
Bluehost excels with its WordPress integration and one-click installation, but we also recommend you check out other cheap WordPress hosting providers and see which hosts actually offer the best value for your money.
Customer support
Technical support is available 24/7 through phone, online chat, or email. You can also access educational resources, including FAQs, online articles, and setup information. The knowledge base is filled with valuable tutorials, and the blog keeps you updated on new features. You can also follow along with updates on Bluehost’s social pages, like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Instagram.
2. Hostinger – Cheapest “Overall”
The main thing that Hostinger has going for it is the super-low $0.99/mo intro price.
The downside is that you have to commit to a four-year-long contract upfront – and pay for that entire period on day one as well.
One thing we have to give to Hostinger is that they’re very transparent when it comes to renewal prices. Right below the plan selection box, you’ll see the renewal prices for each of the contract lengths.
Current pricing for their cheapest plan:
| Monthly Plan | 1-Year Plan | 2-Year Plan | 4-Year Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| $9.99/mo (renews: same) | $41.88 (renews: $5.99/mo) | $59.76 (renews: $4.99/mo) | $95.52 (renews: $3.99/mo) |
There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee.
This includes:
- 1 website
- 1 email account
- SSL (https:)
This does not include:
- Domain name ($9.99/year)
- Daily backups ($11.40/year)
- CDN ($9.95/year)
3. SiteGround (www.siteground.com)
SiteGround is an excellent hosting platform for beginners and companies with smaller sites. The pricing is reasonable, you receive tech support at all times, and the WordPress integration is seamless.
Pricing
SiteGround has a special price for those who sign up for one, two, or three years in advance. Being one of the most expensive services on our list (but not by much), it’s still worth it, since even their StartUp plan offers high-value features such as daily backups, advanced WordPress security, dedicated WordPress support, and more.
Here are the three plans:
- StartUp – $2.99 per month for one website, 10GB of SSD web space, automatic WordPress and plugin updates, an SSL certificate, automated backups, caching, multiple server choices, and support for up to 10,000 monthly visits.
- GrowBig – $4.99 per month for everything in the previous plan, plus unlimited websites, 20GB of web space, and support for up to 25,000 monthly visits.
- GoGeek – $7.99 per month for everything in the previous plan, plus 40GB of web space, support for up to 100,000 monthly visits, one-click WordPress staging, WordPress repo creation, and the highest tier of server resources offered by SiteGround.
Ease of setup
The SiteGround setup process is simple enough for beginners. You choose a plan, register a domain (or transfer one to SiteGround,) then fill out your payment information before being sent to the dashboard.
Once you sign in for the first time, SiteGround gives you a website setup wizard that will let you easily install WordPress or other common content management systems.
SiteGround also offers a more plentiful collection of premium, automated features in all shared hosting plans, allowing you to configure your website and forget about those features as they run in the background. For instance, you can turn on everything from caching to security, and backups to auto-updates, all right in the dashboard.
4. DreamHost – Cheapest “Month-to-Month” Hosting
The cheapest plan at DreamHost starts at $2.59/mo and requires you to sign up for three years upfront. Overall, this rate fits nicely in the realm of cheap web hosting, but there are also some upgrades/upsells to be aware of.
Feature-wise, everything is there. The disk space is going to be enough for most websites, and the bandwidth is unmetered, so you don’t have to worry about it.
If you’re planning to use WordPress, DreamHost will also pre-install the software for you along with a handy site builder feature.
Current pricing for their cheapest plan:
| Monthly Plan | 1-Year Plan | 3-Year Plan |
|---|---|---|
| $1.99/mo (renews: $7.99/mo) | $35.40 (renews: $2.95/mo) | $93.24 (renews: $2.59/mo) |
There’s a 97-day money-back guarantee.
This includes:
- 1 website
- Unmetered bandwidth and disk space
- Free domain (for 1 year, renews at $15.99/year)
- SSL (https:)
- Daily backups
This does not include:
- Email account ($19.99/year per mailbox)
- DreamShield Protection ($36.00/year)
5. A2 Hosting (www.a2hosting.com)
A2 Hosting has a reputation for offering faster speeds than most shared hosts. It’s also quite affordable and user-friendly for beginners.
Pricing
You can choose between Linux or Windows hosting. Both options are similar, but the standard shared hosting plans include:
- Startup – $2.99 per month for one site, 100 GB of SSD storage, 5 databases, a free SSL certificate, perpetual security, and the option to choose from multiple server locations. You also get free email addresses.
- Drive – $5.99 per month for everything in the previous plan, plus unlimited sites, unlimited storage, unlimited databases, automatic backups, and an increase in the number of cores and physical memory.
- Turbo Boost – $6.99 per month for everything in the previous plans, plus unlimited NVMe storage, an increase in physical memory, site caching, available traffic surge protection, and Turbo servers that claim a 20x boost in speeds.
- Turbo Max – $12.99 per month for everything in the previous plans, plus the highest physical memory offered in A2 shared hosting plans and an increase in the number of cores.
A2 Hosting pricing relies on extended sign-up promotions where you pay less per month when you commit for longer periods. The pricing listed above is primarily for 3-year terms, so it gives the lowest pricing. Month-to-month pricing is the most expensive (for example, the Startup plan sells for $10.99 per month).
All promotional periods renew at the normal monthly pricing unless you sign up for another extended period.
Ease of setup
There’s a lot going on in the A2 Hosting dashboard, but once you get the hang of it, you can launch a site within minutes. A2 Hosting offers one free migration, along with several one-click installer tools (like WordPress). We also like how some shared hosting plans offer automated tools for backups, caching, and traffic surge protection. Finally, the free SSL is great for eCommerce sites.
6. iPage – $1.99 per month
iPage has one of the cheapest offerings on the market if you’re willing to sign up for three years upfront, at which point the bill comes down to $1.99/month.
The standout feature in iPage’s offering is the fact that you can host unlimited websites on this cheap plan.
Apart from that, you also get unlimited emails, and a free domain name for the first year, and both disk space and bandwidth are unmetered. This makes it a great plan for small niche websites.
Current pricing for their cheapest plan:
| Monthly Plan | 1-Year Plan | 2-Year Plan | 3-Year Plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Not available | $35.88 (renews: $9.99/mo) | $59.76 (renews: $8.99/mo) | $71.64 (renews: $7.99/mo) |
There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee.
This includes:
- Unlimited websites
- Unmetered bandwidth & storage
- Unlimited email accounts
- Free domain (for 1 year, renews at $9.99/year)
- SSL certificate
This does not include:
- Upgrade to managed WordPress hosting ($36.00/year)
- SiteLock security ($23.88/year)
- Daily backups ($11.88/year)
- WordPress optimization bundle ($36.00/year)
- Domain privacy protection ($9.99/year)
7. HostGator (www.HostGator.com)
HostGator is one of the most affordable hosts on this list, at least when you sign up for the promos. It’s also known for its fast speeds and simple WordPress integrations.
Similar to Bluehost, the HostGator pricing gets lower per month when you sign up for more months.
Pricing
- Hatchling – $2.75 per month for a single website, unlimited bandwidth, one-click WordPress install, a website builder, free email, free domain, and a free SSL.
- Baby – $3.50 per month for everything in the previous plan, plus unlimited websites.
- Business – $5.25 per month for everything in the previous plan, plus a free, dedicated IP and Positive SSL upgrade.
Ease of setup
The HostGator sign-up process takes only a few minutes. After that, you receive several one-click installs like the one for WordPress. The website builder has a drag-and-drop interface for rapid designing, and the eCommerce tools and free SSL should help you secure an online store.
HostGator uses cPanel as its dashboard for users to manage everything from password protected directories to custom error pages. They don’t offer features like caching or staging, but you receive a redirect URL function and an IP deny manager.
All HostGator plans receive complimentary background site backups.
Cheap Web Hosting For Small Business
1. Bluehost: Best for beginners
Bluehost is a perennial favorite for personal and business web hosting because of how easy it is to set up and use the company’s services. Like Namecheap, Bluehost offers very affordable web hosting solutions for small businesses that need simple sites and complex e-commerce outfits alike. You can even get a free domain when signing up for some of their one-year plans.
Bluehost offers the following hosting packages:
- Shared: The most commonly used option by individuals and small-business owners alike. Includes e-commerce compatibility, WordPress integration and dedicated customer service for $7.99 per month.
- VPS: Upgrades from the Shared tier to provide a virtual private server, which adds a level of security and access for businesses that need more flexibility with how they use their server space. Costs $29.99 per month.
- Dedicated: Provides the utmost level of security and support for high-traffic websites. This is one of the best web hosting options for small businesses with robust e-commerce websites that need as much bandwidth and security as possible. Costs $119.99 per month.
2. DreamHost: Best WordPress Website Hosting & Migration
Overall Score: 4.21 OUT OF 5
Pros
- 97-day money-back guarantee—the longest of all web hosting services
- Low-cost Unlimited plan that lives up to its name: unlimited websites, traffic, and email addresses on your domain
- BoldGrid WordPress website builder
- Free automated WordPress migrations
- Domain privacy included in all plans; 100% uptime guarantee
- 100% uptime guarantee
Cons
- Proprietary interface is somewhat dated, which makes it less intuitive than more visually oriented cPanels
- Subpar user reports regarding customer support
- Site speed lags at times
Best For
- Businesses that have or want a WordPress site; DreamHost includes automatic daily backups as well as WordPress install, a WordPress site builder, and WordPress core and security updates
- Businesses looking for a web hosting platform that offers free WordPress site migrations
- Content-heavy, high-traffic, and large websites; DreamHost includes unlimited storage as well as bandwidth in the Unlimited plan
The best web hosting for small businesses that have or want to build a WordPress website is DreamHost. All-inclusive plans start at $2.95 (the same as Bluehost’s WordPress builder plans) but come loaded with goodies. For example, DreamHost shared hosting includes automated daily backups, free WordPress site migration (should you need it), and automatic management of WordPress core and security updates.
In addition, DreamHost includes a WordPress website builder free in shared hosting plans. This eliminates a great deal of the learning curve needed to build a WordPress site. There are more than 200 industry-specific templates, drag-and-drop editing, and content blocks, as well as a Quick-Start Inspirations Wizard to streamline the process even more.
3. Namecheap: Best for technical support
If you’re a newcomer to managing your website, the best web hosting for your small business might be the one that provides you with round-the-clock technical support, and is willing to go the extra mile to make sure your site is up and running just the way you want it.
Namecheap goes above and beyond in this department, offering 24/7 support through chat — no question is too big or too small for Namecheap’s team of technical support specialists, who are even willing to step in and make changes for their customers if they don’t have the technical savvy to do it themselves. And as the name implies, their web hosting prices are pretty competitive as well.
There are several Namecheap hosting tiers:
- Stellar Business: Provides unmetered bandwidth so your site never slows down during high-traffic periods. Comes with free automatic backups as well, and is PCI compliant and e-commerce friendly. Costs $4.44 per month for the first year, then goes up to $8.88 per month.
- EasyWP Turbo: Inexpensive hosting for WordPress sites with up to 250,000 visitors per month and 50 gigabytes of storage included. Costs $7.88 per month, with the first month for $2.
- Qasar: Full VPS hosting with Linux-based servers, allowing companies that need a total command of their networks the flexibility to run their digital presence as they see fit. Costs $24.88 per month, with a new signup promotion of $19.88 per month.
- Xeon E3-1240 v3: A physical server solution for businesses that need to go the extra mile for their websites and digital environments. Costs $74.88 per month, with the first month for $36.88.
How to Choose the Right Web Hosting Company
Before choosing a web hosting company, it’s important to check their ratings. Good web hosting companies have high marks from users and have been in the business for years. You can also look at the company website to see what they offer and how they compare to other providers.
research the Company’s Website
When you’re looking at web hosting companies, it’s important to research their websites. Some of the most popular providers are Bluehost, WP Engine, and HostGator. By checking their websites, you can see what they offer and whether or not they meet your needs. Subsection 2.3 Compare the Prices of Web Hosting Companies.
One of the best ways to save money on web hosting is by comparing prices between different providers. This will help you find a provider that is affordable and meets your specific needs.
Conclusion
Choosing the right web hosting company can be a challenging task. There are many factors to consider, such as ratings, research, and price comparisons. However, by understanding the different types of web hosting and comparing prices, you should be able to find the perfect provider for your needs.