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Whether you’re working on a fledgling blog or a huge ecommerce store, all websites need to be hosted — so you might as well enlist the best hosting provider.
At Tech.co, we take hosting seriously, conducting user testing and our own independent research into the largest web hosting companies on the market. And, for our money, the best web hosting provider is InMotion.
While InMotion is our favorite hosting provider, it’s worth noting that Bluehost is slightly better value for money, and runs InMotion very close for performance and features. In this guide, we’ll help you find your ideal hosting provider.
Best Web Hosting Services Reviewed
We’ve tested and rated some of the top web hosting companies around. According to our research, Florida-based company HostGator, along with InMotion and Bluehost, make up our top three hosting services. If you’re looking to get hosting for your website, we’d recommend you pick one of these. Each of them impress with good value monthly hosting plans (which typically enjoy some healthy deals and discounts), plus reliable uptime and simple setup processes. Here’s the rest of the list:
- InMotion – Best all-round web hosting provider
- Bluehost – A great, cheaper InMotion alternative
- HostGator – Best hosting for reliable uptime
- A2 Hosting – Best for simple setup and ease of use
- 1&1 IONOS – Best for hosting on a budget
- GoDaddy – Excellent features, though pricing is quite high
- WPEngine – Best for easy WordPress site hosting
For a little more information about how these web hosting providers stack up against each other, take a look at our in-depth table below:
| Plan name | Score | Verdict | Starting Price | Type | Money back guarantee | cPanel cPanel is a popular online interface that gives you comprehensive control of site and hosting management | Unmetered Transfer | Free backups | Free domain | SSL Certificate An SSL Certificate allows for more secure connections from a server to a browser | Sites included | Sub Domains | Email account | Monthly Visitor Limit | Disk Space | Storage | Bandwidth | Up Time Performance | See Deals | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |  |  |  | |||||||||||||||
| Bluehost | GoDaddy | InMotion | WPEngine | A2 Hosting | HostGator | 1&1 Hosting | |||||||||||||||
| Basic | Economy | Launch | Startup | Startup | Hatchling | Essential | |||||||||||||||
| 4.5 | 3.5 | 4.5 | 3.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | |||||||||||||||
| A feature-rich, cost-effective hosting service with lots of plans | Feature-packed, but poor overall value for the cost | Best overall web hosting service we would recommend, with stellar customer support | Solid web hosting provider, but only for WordPress sites | Robust option with decent uptime performance | A good hosting service with unbeatable uptime | Great hosting for experts who don’t need too much support | |||||||||||||||
| $5.95 | $5.99 | $7.99 | $30 | $2.99 | $2.75 | $4 | |||||||||||||||
| Shared | Shared | Shared | WordPress | Shared | Shared | Shared | |||||||||||||||
| 30 Days | 2 days | 90 Days | 60 Days | Anytime | 45 Days | 60 Days | |||||||||||||||
| | | | | | | | |||||||||||||||
| | | | | | | | |||||||||||||||
| | | | | | | | |||||||||||||||
| | | | | | | | |||||||||||||||
| | | | | | | | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||||||||||||||
| 25 | 25 | 25 | Unlimited | 5 | Unlimited | 10,000 | |||||||||||||||
| 5 | Free for first year | Unlimited | None | 25 | Unlimited | 25 | |||||||||||||||
| 32,000 | None | 360,000 | 25,000 | Unattainable | 240,000 | Unlimited | |||||||||||||||
| 50GB | 100GB | Unlimited | 10GB | Unlimited | Unlimited | 100GB | |||||||||||||||
| N/A | 100GB | N/A | 10GB | N/A | N/A | N/A | |||||||||||||||
| N/A | Unmetered | N/A | 50GB/month | N/A | Unmetered | N/A | |||||||||||||||
| 99.98 | 99.97 | 99.97 | 99.95 | 99.95 | 99.99 | 99.98 | |||||||||||||||
| See Deals | Click Here | See Deals | See Deals | See Deals | See Deals | See Deals |
InMotion Hosting
Best all-round web hosting provider
InMotion excelled across the board in our testing. It offers all the main types of hosting (VPS, Shared, Dedicated, and WordPress hosting), and at competitive prices.
Learn more – What’s the difference between hosting types?
What’s more, InMotion has all the key features you’d expect to find in a top-quality hosting provider – including top-drawer speeds, generous storage and bandwidth allowances, and free SSL certificates. InMotion also boasts some of, if not the best, customer help and support on the market.
So what’s the catch? Well, it isn’t quite as cheap as BlueHost or 1&1 IONOS, for example – and with 99.97% uptime, your site will be down a little bit longer than if you used HostGator. But really, we’re splitting hairs – InMotion is excellent.
Shared hosting deals
- Launch: $6.36 (normally $7.99)
- Power: $8.49 (normally $9.99)
- Pro: $14.71 (normally $15.99)
VPS Hosting Deals
- VPS – 1000: $29.19 (normally $39.99)
- VPS – 2000: $47.39 (normally $79.99)
- VPS – 3000: $69.34 (normally $144.99)
Pros
- Up to 6 pricing plans per hosting type
- Solid speeds, 99.97 uptime performance
- Live, 24/7 customer support for all plans
- Free site migration for new customers
- 90-day money back guarantee
Cons
- Expensive “unlimited” plans
- Slightly slow activation/verification process
- Limited websites and databases per account
- Server locations exclusively in US
- Power Plan: $3.99
- Shared Hosting from $7.99
- WordPress Hosting from $8.99
- VPS Hosting from $39.99
- Dedicated Hosting from $189.99
Bluehost
A great, cheaper alternative to InMotion hosting
When it comes to being our favorite web hosting provider, Bluehost runs InMotion extremely close. It offers slightly better website uptime – which can be especially useful if you’re running an ecommerce site, for example – and its pricing plans run cheaper than InMotion’s, too.
However, Bluehost doesn’t offer free backups, and it isn’t quite as generous with RAM or storage compared to InMotion.
Don’t rule Bluehost out, though – it’s still a great hosting provider, and a bit cheaper than InMotion.
Shared Hosting Deals
- Basic: $2.75 (normally $7.99)
- Plus: $5.45 (normally $10.99)
- Choice Plus: $5.45 (normally $14.99)
- Go Pro: $13.95 (normally $23.99)
VPS Hosting Deals
- Standard: $19.99 (normally $29.99)
- Enhanced: $29.99 (normally $59.99)
- Ultimate: $59.99 (normally $119.99)
Pros
- Live 24/7 chat for customer support
- Thirteen different pricing plans
- Nearly perfect uptime performance (99.98)
- A WordPress-recommended hosting provider
- Free domain for one year
Cons
- Enthusiastic upsell process during signup
- Paid site migration
- No cloud hosting options
- Shared Hosting: $6.36/mo (Black Friday deal)
- VPS Hosting: $29.19/mo (Black Friday deal)
- Dedicated Hosting: $119.99/mo
- WordPress Hosting: $7.99/mo
HostGator
Best for Uptime
If you need your website to be online nearly all of the time, you need HostGator. In our tests, we found that it offered an unmatched 99.99% uptime – this means that your site will be down for less than an hour every year, while with other providers, you could be looking at closer to four and a half hours of downtime.
HostGator is missing some features, however. For example, it doesn’t offer a free domain – something that most other hosting providers do. HostGator is a bit cheaper than most of our other top-scoring providers, though, so you might make your money back in the long term.
All told, HostGator is a decent option for most people – especially if you value uptime.
Shared Hosting Deals
- Hatchling: $2.75 (normally $6.95)
- Baby: $3.95 (normally $9.95)
- Business: $5.95 (normally $14.95)
VPS Hosting Deals
- Snappy 2000: $29.95 (normally $89.95)
- Snappy 4000: $39.95 (normally $129.95)
- Snappy 8000: $49.95 (normally $159.95)
Pros
- Unbeatable uptime
- Incredibly low priced budget plans
- Live chat and phone support 24/7, 365
- Easy to use web hosting platform and website builder
- 45-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- Very limited features in budget plans
- Tendency to push the upsell
- Lengthy contracts for discounted plans
- High renewal rates and some hidden fees
- Shared Hosting: $2.08/month (Black Friday deal)
- VPS Hosting: $89.95/month
- Dedicated Hosting: $189.00/month
- Cloud Hosting: $12.95/month
- WordPress Hosting: $9.95/month
A2 Hosting
Best hosting for simple setup and ease of use
A2 Hosting isn’t perfect. It falls down in a number of key areas – particularly website uptime. However, getting set up and keeping your website running with A2 is incredibly easy.
In fact, A2 is one of the easiest to use web hosting providers on the market, and its customer help and support offering is impeccable.
A2 Hosting won’t be the right choice for everyone, but if you want web hosting that’s straightforward and can be used with minimal fuss, it might be the way to go.
Shared Hosting Deals
- Lite: $3.92 (normally $7.99)
- Swift: $4.90 (normally $9.99)
- Turbo: $9.31 (normally $18.99)
VPS Hosting Deals
- Power: $32.99 (normally $49.99)
- Prestige: $46.19 (normally $69.99)
- Pinnacle: $65.99 (normally $99.99)
Pros
- Dozens of different plans
- 24/7 live chat, phone, and knowledge center
- Free site migrations
- Environmentally-friendly company
- Anytime money-back guarantee
Cons
- Uptime performance not as good as advertised
- Serious restrictions on budget plans
- Expensive renewal rates
- Data centers in Europe and North America only
- Shared Hosting: $7.99/month
- VPS Hosting: $49.99/month
- Dedicated Hosting: $169.99/month
- WordPress Hosting: $7.99/month
1&1 IONOS
Best brand to choose for hosting on a budget
1&1 IONOS is an enormous internet services company, offering everything from website builders to domain registry. Its web hosting offering, while not the best, is incredibly good value for money.
Its VPS and shared hosting plans start from just $2 and $4 per month, respectively. Meanwhile, at $140, its top-tier dedicated hosting plan costs less than some rivals’ cheapest plans.
During our testing, though, we found 1&1 IONOS’ help and support to be slightly lacking. It doesn’t offer a live chat function, or a ticketing system for tracking fixes. However, it matches some of our top-performing hosting providers when it comes to disk space and uptime.
Shared Hosting Deals
- Business: $1 (normally $8)
- Pro: $1 (normally $10)
- Expert: $1 (normally $14)
VPS Hosting Deals
- VPS M: $5 (normally $10)
- VPS L: $10 (normally $20)
- VPS XL: $1 (normally $30)
- VPS XXL: $30 (normally $40)
Pros
- Great price
- Plenty of storage
- Easily scalable
Cons
- Customer support limited
- No site builder included
- Shared Hosting: $4
- VPS Hosting: $2
- Dedicated Hosting: $70
- WordPress Hosting: $9
GoDaddy Hosting
Best for those willing to spend more for top features
GoDaddy might be a big name in the world of website hosting, but we’d pause before recommending it above the competition. Sure, its hosting plans come with a good range of features – including free backups and a free domain – but, it only manages average website uptime.
GoDaddy’s biggest problem, though, is its prices. With shared hosting plans starting from $7.99 per month (twice that of 1&1 IONOS, for instance), and VPS hosting plans starting from around the $30 mark, it’s far from cheap. You can, however, keep an eye out for regular deals and discounts, which make GoDaddy hosting plans more palatable.
GoDaddy is a decent website host, but if we’re honest, you can do better.
Shared Hosting Deals
- Economy: $4.99 (normally $7.99)
- Deluxe: $6.99 (normally $9.99)
- Ultimate: $21.99 (normally $19.99)
- Maximum: $19.99 (normally $33.99)
VPS Hosting Deals
- Economy: $32.99 (normally $43.99)
- Value: $44.99 (normally $58.99)
- Deluxe: $50.99 (normally $101.99)
- Ultimate $101.99 (normally $203.99)
Pros
- Feature-rich
- Good storage options
Cons
- Poor overall value
- Sub-par support options
- Up time is just okay
- Shared Hosting: $7.99/month
- VPS Hosting: $29.99/month
- Dedicated Hosting: $169.99/month
- WordPress Hosting: $9.99/month
WPEngine
Best for easy WordPress site hosting
If you’re not creating a WordPress-based website, feel free to keep on scrolling. WPEngine is designed exclusively for WordPress sites, and while it is limited as a hosting provider, it’s very easy to use.
Despite its simplicity, WordPress is surprisingly expensive. For a spot on its shared servers, you’ll need to fork out $35 per month – and you don’t get a free domain or unlimited bandwidth, either.
It’s not perfect, but WPEngine is a start – and it should only be a start. Once you’re up-and-running, we’d recommend you move on to a better WordPress hosting service.
Pros
- Excellent customer support
- Simple to grasp and easy to use
Cons
- Uptime performance not as good as rivals
- Exclusively for WordPress websites
- Startup Plan: $35
- Growth Plan: $115
- Scale Plan: $290
Methodology: How We Test Web Hosting Providers
We take our impartial research and analysis seriously, so you can have complete confidence that we're giving you the clearest, most useful recommendations.
After conducting an initial exploration to identify the most relevant, popular, and established tools in the market, we put them through their paces with hands-on testing to see their real strengths and weaknesses. In this case, we put 27 hosting providers to the test across a huge 282 areas of investigation.
Based on years of market and user needs research, we've established a web hosting provider testing methodology that scores each product in five main categories of investigation and 30 additional subcategories; this covers everything from the providers' server speed, reliability and performance to the value for money you can expect, as well as much more.
Our main testing categories for hosting providers are:
- Price: the cost associated with the hosting services provided by a hosting provider, such as subscription plans, pricing tiers, and any additional fees or charges.
- Performance: the speed, reliability, and overall performance of a hosting provider's servers. It encompasses factors such as server uptime and response time.
- Features: the specific functionalities and capabilities provided by a hosting provider, including storage space, bandwidth allocation, and server location.
- Help and Support: the assistance and resources available to users when they encounter issues or need guidance, e.g. tutorials and email or chat support.
- Market Analysis / Customer Score: the assessment of the hosting provider's position and reputation in the market.
When it comes to calculating a product's final score, not all testing areas are weighted evenly, as we know some aspects matter more to our readers than others, which are merely "nice to have." After hundreds of hours, our process is complete, and the results should ensure you can find the best solution for your needs.
At Tech.co, we have a number of full time in-house researchers, who re-run this testing process regularly, to ensure our results remain reflective of the present day.
Next Steps for Choosing a Web Hosting Provider
So now you’ve got all the info on the biggest web hosting providers, you need to make a decision on which is right for you – whether you need lots of storage, top-drawer uptime, or something easy to use.
We’d recommend InMotion for the best all-round experience, or Bluehost if you want to save a bit of money. With that being said, you can save a lot on InMotion and BlueHost using our exclusive Tech.co deals below. Happy hosting!
Check out our in-depth InMotion and Bluehost reviews for more information
Check out our Web Hosting guide for more information
Check out our Web Hosting pricing guide for more information
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