Best Web Hosting Service 2021

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Without web hosting software, you can’t have an accessible website. Without a website, customers can’t get to know your business or continue to engage with it. That alone makes web hosting software an integral element of your business. In this review, we will walk you through what web hosting is, how it works, what you should look out for when selecting a service, and our top 5 web hosting products picks. 

Nowadays, businesses’ online presence is almost as important as their offline presence. If a shop you’re looking for doesn’t have a website or their website is outdated and you can’t find the things you need, you’d probably opt to go to a different shop. That’s how important a good website is for a business. But in order for a website to live on the Internet, you need a web hosting service.

What’s on This Page

What is web hosting software?

Think of web hosting as renting a shopfront in real life. Let’s say you’re very good at cooking and want to open a restaurant. You’d then need to rent a space for your customers to come in and enjoy your food. If the business goes well and you’d like to expand your restaurant, you can buy or rent the space next door. Web hosting works pretty much the same way: it allows companies to host a website that is accessible via a web browser. These services securely store your text and image files and run your site live on the Internet. Sometimes, you can even manage your content and integrate a bunch of software and platforms into your site. In return, you pay a rental or subscription fee.

In short, web hosting services can help you create a website, improve your search engine optimization (SEO), and attract customers. There are many web hosting software out there serving sites from small personal blogs to enormous global retailers. We’ve gathered our top 5 picks for the best web hosting services and scored each software based on storage limits, bandwidth, content management systems, and security to help you with your decision-making process.

Top 5 Rated Web Hosting Services

Bluehost

Best web hosting software for beginners

Bluehost is a web hosting company based in Utah and is part of web giant Newfold Digital. Bluehost has been around for almost two decades and continues to be one of the best web hosting services for beginner website creators. Let’s take a look at its features:

  • 1-click WordPress installation: Get automated setup and easy WordPress installation even when you’re on Bluehost’s standard shared hosting plan.
  • Website customization: Get access to Bluehost’s beautiful themes and customize your website to your heart’s content.
  • Excellent analytics and SEO tools: Optimize your site’s performance while attracting new visitors using Bluehost’s SEO tools. These tools will score and track how well your website is ranking for keywords so that you know how to create better content.
  • Unlimited bandwidth: You’ll be able to transfer as much data as you want with Bluehost’s plans with unmetered bandwidth.
  • 24/7 customer support: Bluehost doesn’t like to leave you hanging, which is why they provide 24/7 support via phone or live chat so that you can get help when you need it.
  • Highly secure: All plans come with free SSL Certificates, which keep personal information, e-commerce transactions, and other sensitive data encrypted

Price:

Paid plans start from $2.95/month. Upgrade to get more storage space, host multiple websites and enjoy more security features.

Overall Ratings:

SC Icon

StackCompare.com

4.38 (Aggregate Score)


Capterra Icon

Capterra.com

4.2 (4 user reviews)


G2 Logo

G2.com

3.6 (186 user reviews)

Hostinger

Best for affordable plans

Hostinger is perfect for those wanting to save money on their websites. As one of the biggest web hosting providers, Hostinger has over 30 million users and delivers performance and features at a very low price. Besides price, however, there’s quite a lot to like about Hostinger:

  • Optimized for WordPress: Not only can you start your website with an automatic 1-click WordPress installation, but you can also enjoy a list of developer-friendly tools such as a quick site-building wizard, core software plug-ins, and WordPress tutorials.
  • Lightning-fast website: Impress your online visitors with a lightning-fast website. Hostinger can also show you your speed score compared to competitors and average load time on your page. Having a faster site improves customer satisfaction and will help you rank better in SEO.
  • Free SSL security certificate: Who doesn’t love safety? You’ll get a free SSL certificate regardless of the plan you get.
  • 30-day money-back guarantee: No one wants to pay for something that they don’t end up liking. Hostinger knows your worries and is happy to give you back your money if you’re not happy with their services in your first month. It’s a risk-free investment!

Price:

Paid plans start from $1.39/month. Upgrade to host more websites, limits, get a free domain, and unlimited bandwidth, etc. increase storage

Overall Ratings:

SC Icon

StackCompare.com

4.5 (Aggregate Score)


Capterra Icon

Capterra.com

4.6 (136 user reviews)


G2 Logo

G2.com

4.2 (111 user reviews)

WP Engine

Best for managed WordPress hosting

As you can probably tell from the name, WP Engine is made specifically for WordPress. Unlike other shared hosting services that make you share a server with other users, WP Engine is a managed WordPress hosting service, whose entire infrastructure is optimized for WordPress. Let’s dive deeper into WP Engine’s features:

  • Comprehensive managed service: As a WordPress host, WP Engine can help you with WordPress setup, updates, security, performance optimization, and troubleshooting easily. No need to install updates manually as you do with other web hosting products.
  • Staging area: You can work on a copy of your site in the “Staging area,” which is the perfect place for testing new themes and plugins. You won’t have to worry about disruption to your existing site while testing new things.
  • Speedy website: As WP Engine only provides services to WordPress users, you can expect lightning-fast loading speeds. There won’t be any downtime, and WP Engine will take care of maintenance tasks automatically for you.
  • Laser-focused customer support: Support staff are very knowledgeable and are available on live chat 24/7.

Price:

Paid plans start from $25/month. Upgrade to get more storage, bandwidth, and visits.

Overall Ratings:

SC Icon

StackCompare.com

4.25 (Aggregate Score)


Capterra Icon

Capterra.com

Not Available


G2 Logo

G2.com

4.6 (164 user reviews)

GoDaddy

Best for reliability

GoDaddy is a big name in the field of web hosting. It’s been around since 1997 and serves over 20 million customers globally. It’s one of the largest services platforms and with good reason. Let’s take a look at GoDaddy’s features:

  • 9% uptime guarantee: GoDaddy makes sure that your website stays up and running at all times so you don’t miss out on any sales or opportunities to engage with your customers. And they’re confident enough to give you a 99.9% guarantee — if that’s not true, you may be able to get a discount on your monthly shared hosting purchase during that time!
  • 1-click setup and installation: It only takes 1 click to link your site to your domain name and install 150+ apps to create CMS sites, forums, and blogs.
  • 24/7 network security: GoDaddy’s security team works around the clock to keep your site from suspicious activity and potential DDoS attacks. Customer support is also available 24/7 to help you resolve any issues.
  • Fast load times: As GoDaddy has data centers spanning across North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific, your page will load faster and your visitors will have a better experience.

Price:

Paid plans start from $5.99/month. Upgrade to get unlimited storage and an unlimited number of websites.

Overall Ratings:

SC Icon

StackCompare.com

4.75 (Aggregate Score)


Capterra Icon

Capterra.com

4.1 (840 user reviews)


G2 Logo

G2.com

4.2 (83 user reviews)

HostGator

Best for unmetered bandwidth

As another company under web giant Newfold Digital, HostGator is another popular choice for web hosting services. It’s built for both beginner and expert website creators. HostGator is pretty easy to use, and it’s also best for simple websites that only have a couple of pages. Let’s take a look at why it’s special:

  • Unmetered bandwidth: Ever tried to buy a concert ticket at its release time but the website is jammed because the server can’t handle so many enthusiastic fans at the same time? That won’t happen with HostGator. No matter which plan you buy, you get unmetered bandwidth, so your site will stay afloat even when lots of people try to access it at the same time.
  • Free domain and SSL certificate: Because businesses all want to have a special domain name and show their customers that they are safe and secure.
  • Extensive how-to guides: Technical issues are inevitable. Get clear answers from HostGator’s how-to guides or talk to a staff member 24/7 on the phone, live chat, or email.
  • 45-day money-back guarantee: HostGator offers a generous money-back guarantee program in which they’ll refund the hosting fees in full if you’re not satisfied with their services.
  • Advertising credits: Who doesn’t love free money? By being a HostGator’s customer, you also get $150 Google Ads spend match credit and $100 Microsoft Advertising credit. Save money while you grow your business!

Price:

Paid plans start from $2.75/month. Upgrade to get more security features and SEO tools.

Overall Ratings:

SC Icon

StackCompare.com

4.5 (Aggregate Score)


Capterra Icon

Capterra.com

3.2 (4 user reviews)


G2 Logo

G2.com

3.4 (116 user reviews)

Our Rating Process

When you’re selecting a web hosting service for your business, it’s important to consider the following criteria:

Storage Limits
Bandwidth
CMS Capabilities
Security
Storage Limits

Web hosting services store your HTML files, images, scripts, and hosted email data, but there may be a storage limit depending on how much you’re paying. A hosting plan normally has a clear and predetermined limit, but you can almost always expand it per demand. Storage levels range from a gigabyte to unlimited.

Bandwidth

Bandwidth refers to the amount of data transferred between your visitors and your site. This includes backup data and file uploads and downloads over time. Basically, the more web traffic you expect, the more bandwidth you need. 

CMS Capabilities

Websites are meaningless without content. Many web hosting providers allow you to install content management systems so that you can store text, audio, video, and other files.

Security

You want your site to be protected from bad actors at all times. Look for a web hosting tool that offers robust security features such as site backup, spam detection, firewalls, web security scanners, distributed denial of service (DDoS), and malware detection tools.

Product Features

BlueHost

$2.95
/ month

  • Unlimited Bandwidth
  • SEO Tools
  • 24/7 Support


Sign Up

Hostinger

$1.39
/ month

  • Free SSL
  • Fast Servers
  • WP Integration


Sign Up

WP Engine

$25
/ month

  • Staging Environment
  • Fast Servers
  • Quality Support


Sign Up

GoDaddy

$5.99
/ month

  • 24/7 Network Security
  • Online Support
  • Fast Load Times


Sign Up

Alternative Options

Other Services

WebServices

Blogging Platforms

Online-Backup

Cloud Storage

CMS

CMS

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does web hosting cost?

The cost of your web hosting service depends on the needs of your company. Usually, you can find something decent for less than $5/month. Hostinger offers simple and basic plans as cheap as $1.39/month while more specialized hosting services like WP Engine cost at least $25/month. Typically, the more you pay, the more storage space, bandwidth, and security features you get. You can also manage more email accounts with more premium plans.

What web host do big companies use?

The web hosts big companies use have to be robust and able to process a lot of data at any given time. While many big companies use Amazon Web Services (AWS) or Microsoft’s Azure cloud server hosting, mega-companies may have their own server. For example, Facebook hosts on their own server as the company is powerful enough to have a data center team that takes care of all of Facebook’s hosting needs.

Which web hosting is best for beginners?

Bluehost is often considered the best web hosting software for beginners. It has a simple user interface and allows users to design their own sites from beautiful theme templates. Plus, the cheapest paid plan only costs $2.95/month —it’s quite an affordable and beginner-friendly price!

What are different types of web hosting?

There are 6 types of web hosting in total: shared hosting, virtual private service (VPS) hosting, dedicated server hosting, cloud hosting, managed hosting, and colocation. Here’s how they’re different from each other:

    • Shared hosting: Your website will be stored on the same server as many other websites. As a result, the cost of shared hosting plans is usually low, making them perfect for small business owners or beginner website creators. Websites that use shared hosting usually don’t expect a lot of web traffic.
    • VPS hosting: Your website will have its own space on the server, but the server will still be shared between multiple websites. This is best for website owners who want more specific software and package installations, but who may not have the technical knowledge for dedicated hosting.
    • Dedicated server hosting: You’re exclusively renting the server and your website is the only one stored on it. You have full admin access and can control everything from security to the operating system. Dedicated server hosting is one of the most expensive web hosting options and you should only use it if you expect lots of traffic to your site and have the technical knowledge to manage the server.
    • Cloud hosting: Instead of using one specific server, cloud hosting works via a network and uses multiple servers. That way, companies can employ as many resources as they need without having to build and maintain their own computing infrastructure.
    • Managed hosting: With this specialized hosting type, hosting providers take care of technical services such as hardware and software setup and configuration, maintenance, updating, and monitoring, etc.

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