Best web hosting services for 2024
These are the best web hosting services for shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, cloud hosting, dedicated, Minecraft hosting, and more.
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There is a best web hosting provider for each type of website and application. Picking the right one makes a difference when it comes to value for money, performance, and stability. I’ve built and hosted websites for large and small businesses over the years and my team of expert developers have decades of experience using a wide range of web hosts for various applications so we can help point you in the right direction.
We’ve spent40,000 hours testing 130 web hosting providerson the control panels, tools, site builders, customer support, and speed and stress tests. If you don’t want to host your own site you can opt for using one of thebest website buildersinstead but keep in mind that you get less flexibility and value for money and a host likeHostingerhas made it so you don’t need any technical knowledge at all to take hosting into your own hands.
My top five best web hosting providers
1.Hostinger - from $2.49Best for beginnersHostinger’s onboarding process is very streamlined and painless. Whether you’re a content creator that wants to create a visually stunning blog with fast load times to engage your readers and perform well in SEO or looking create a professional looking online store with minimal technical knowhow Hostinger’s Premium plan and Business plan both make that possible.
Hostinger is one of the fastest growing web hosting companies in the world right now thanks to their innovative AI tools and smooth onboarding process. It used to be that if you wanted a website and didn’t have much technical experience your best choices were website builders like Wix or Squarespace. Thanks to Hostinger, that’s different now as hosting and building are combined into an easy end-to-end solution that gives you some of the best value for money.
You can use our exclusive discount code “TRUK10” to receive 10% discount at checkout.
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2.SiteGround - from $2.99Best for small businessesSiteGround can help you build a strong online presence for your business ensuring that your pages load quickly with minimal downtime helping you maximize sale opportunities.
If you’ve outgrown your current hosting provider and are ready to spend a bit more money and want to see something for it then I recommend SiteGround.
The plans are good value considering the tools and support you get and the servers are not over crowded ensuring you get stable quality hosting.
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3.DreamHost - from $2.59Best for blogs and portfoliosWith a UI that makes setting up a site seamless, you can focus on creativity and not have to deal with the technical side of hosting.
DreamHost is not the fastest and some features like email will cost you a bit more but these are not necessary features for blogs and portfolios so you can benefit from getting less of what you don’t need by paying less for your hosting. You also have one of the lowest renewal prices with DreamHost.
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4.ScalaHosting - from $14.98Best for agenciesScalaHosting’s managed cloud VPS plans provide the infrastructure for fast loading sites, better technical SEO, and user experience. They also have top quality technical support.
As an agency owner or worker, you know how hard it is to manage multiple clients. ScalaHosting’s SPanel allows you to manage sub-admins and sub-users to help lighten your load and focus on what matters most.
TechRadar Pro readers can use the link above to receive anexclusive 15% offat checkout on top of other discounts.
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5.Namecheap - from $1.98Best for developersPick and mix products and services for a range of builds that all have different requirements all under one management.
If you can’t quite justify the price of large scale hosting for agencies yet but have multiple clients needing simple to complex builds then I recommend looking at the range of hosting and tools that Namecheap provides.
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Best web hosting services of 2024
Why you can trust TechRadarWe spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best.Find out more about how we test.
The best web hosting service for beginners
The best shared hosting plan for beginners
The Premium Hosting plan is great for content creators who want to create a visually stunning blog with fast load times to engage their readers and perform well inSEO. The onboarding process is very well streamlined and there is an AI website builder that helps novices make a site with zero technical knowledge. With the Premium Hosting plan, you can create and manage a site, monetize traffic, and retain complete control over the design.
Why it’s good for beginners
There is also a large corpus of case studies on how to create sites and boost traffic plus tutorials on how to handle multimedia and why things like SSL are important for your site. All-in-all it’s very hard to go wrong with this plan and with the starting price being $2.49 a month and a 30-day money back guarantee there is not much to lose if you’re having a go at creating and hosting your first website.
The best webhosting plan for start-up online stores
Hostinger’s Business Hosting plan helps you create a professional looking online store with minimal technical know-how. The plan is very similar to the above mentioned Premium Plan but comes with more and faster storage and allows you to have more files for a larger range of product listings and images. There are also daily instead of weekly backups to ensure you won’t miss sales should a worst case scenario happen and a CDN to help speed up traffic to customers around the world.
Why it’s good for beginners that what to start an online store
If you’re concerned about lacking technical skills and not knowing what the best hosting plan is for your site, there are comparison posts and step-by-step guides on which plan is best for your small business and how to launch your first website in 24 hours.
For a full list of features seeHostinger’s website
Testing
Our testing shows that Hostinger is more than capable of hosting the average website on a shared hosting plan. Hostinger score slightly lower than average onLCPwhich has been said to be linked to how well your site ranks in search results but they’re not slow but they do score higher on requests per second which can help a site that has more traffic but is less reliant on search traffic.
Read our fullHostinger reviewfor a more in-depth analysis and full testing scores
The best web hosting for small businesses
The best web hosting plan for small businesses
As a small business owner you want to establish a strong online presence for your business, ensure that your site loads quickly, and is secure because you need to maximize sale opportunities at all costs but how do you do this when you have limited technical knowledge regarding web hosting? SiteGround is the answer.
SiteGround’s GrowBig plan is user friendly and has all the tools you need for your businesses such as a reliable email service with free spam protection and webmail. You can also install a shopping cart of your choice and benefit from the speed ofGoogleCloud’s infrastructure which also brings with it green credentials.
Why it’s good for small businesses
SiteGround has won multiple awards for their customer service and you can receive this support 24/7 along with an instant AI assistant. SiteGround’s client area has all the tools you need in one place including a file manager, site scanner, SuperCacher for speed, and staging environment.
Storage might look a little low compared to other hosts like Hostinger but it’s not really comparable because Hostinger and many others require you to reserve some storage for backups not giving you full use of your resources. SiteGround doen’t do this and gives you the full storage to use at your own leisure. You’ll find this limitation with other hosts too, so be sure to always check the small print.
This will cost you $4.99 a month for the first year and $29.99 a month thereafter. While you get a bigger discount with the 12 month plan, over 24 months you can save more as the whole two years calculates to $299.76 ($12.49) rather than paying for the first year at $4.99 a month and then the second year at the full price.
Key features (GrowBig)
For a full list of features seeSiteGround’s GrowBig plan
Test results
These test results are from SiteGround’s StartUp plan which is one level below the GrowBig plan. We did this because we wanted a fair comparison across a range of plans that are equally resourced with a similar cost. We are currently doing further testing with the GrowBig plan but results take time to come in and when they do, these will be updated.
The results showed us that SiteGround is more than capable of providing fast speeds for websites and maintaining uptime which is critical for online stores. This is especially good because SiteGround offers unlimited websites which if not managed properly can cause disruption. This shows that SiteGround is really responsible with how they allocate resources for customers.
For a more in depth review and metric scores for SiteGround see our fullSiteGround review
The best web hosting for blogs and portfolios
The best plan for blogs and portfolios
Say you’re a brilliant designer, photographer, or writer and you want a website to feature your work without taking time away from your creativity and without needing to fork out a decent chunk of money. DreamHost has got you. DreamHost’s Shared Hosting plan provides all the essential tools to get a blog or portfolio online and nothing else keeping hosting a site simple and cost effective.
Why it’s best
If you have limited technical skills and budget, DreamHost offer an affordable hosting solution that also has a streamlined set up and with tonnes of practical advice you’ll be able to create and manage your site with ease. WordPress comes pre-installed so you don’t have to figure any of that out and DreamHost’s Liftoff website builder is powered by AI. You also get an AI business advisor if you want help and advice on how to make more money from your work.
DreamHost has everything you need that the other hosts provide but they come in at almost half the price at $5.99 a month after renewal! That’s because they don’t include some features that you probably don’t need like email and a CDN for super fast speeds. The first year is even cheaper at $2.59 a month.
For a full list of features seeDreamHost’s Shared Starter plan
Test results
Our test shows that DreamHost takes every so slightly longer to load a page and slightly longer to respond compared to the other hosts but they’re half the price and those metrics are not that important for a blog or portfolio. Uptime is great and requests per second are impressive too considering the cost of the plans. There really isn’t anything to complain about here.
For a full review of DreamHost and the speed test scores see ourDreamHost review
The best for agencies
The best plans for agencies and agency workers
When you need high-performance websites for better SEO results and pages that load quickly for every customer and client reliably, cloud infrastructure is a solid choice. You also have an agency to run so you don’t want to be dealing with server management like regular maintenance, monitoring, hardware setups, and dealing with technical issues. So, leave it to ScalaHosting’s managed VPS plans and their seasoned support team.
Why it’s best
Custom built servers on enterprise-level hardware with self-healing capabilities, and on demand scaling ensure that you get high-performance all day every day. If you’re migrating to ScalaHosting you don’t need to worry about that either as they will migrate any number of sites for free.
SPanel is a defining feature of ScalaHosting that is specifically designed for VPS and if you want a feature you can request it through the Cloud Democracy project. If other web masters vote on your request you can see it implemented to help you and others in providing an easier management solution. SPanel also provides end-user live chat support freeing up your time even further to be able to focus on your business. With the Build #2 plan coming in at $44.95 a month for the first year and then $91.95 a month after you’re buying more than just hosting for good value
For a full list of features and other specifications seeScalaHosting’s Managed VPS plans
Test results
In previous tests ScalaHosting performed well but the results do not compare apples to apples as we tested ScalaHosting’s most basic Mini plan and those results are not suitable in this context. We have used this plan and are confident that it delivers we just want to wait until the results come in over a longer period of time before we list them officially.
See our fullScalaHosting reviewfor a more in depth analysis and full metric scores.
The best web hosting for developers
The best web hosting plans for developers
Namecheap started off as solely a domain registrar and over the years they’ve been adding more and more products and services for developers. On the hosting side, there’s shared, reseller, VPS, and dedicated servers all at a price that justify the moniker Namecheap.
And then, if there is a service that’s related to hosting Namecheap will do it. For example, SSL, CDNs, 2FA, domain privacy, marketing tools for sites, business email, WordPress and VPS management, and of course, domains.
Why the plans and services are best for developers
This wide range of products and pick-and-mix like options allows you to manage client websites with multiple suppliers providing different levels of functionality for complex to simple builds.
The hosting is cheap. Take the Quasar VPS plan for example, 4 vCPU cores and 6 GB RAM is $15.88 a month after renewal. Keep in mind that the plan is unmanaged and doesn’t come with a web panel so there will be additional expenses if you require those things which is why if you’ve got a bunch of different projects with differing requirements that you want to manage under one roof, Namecheap is the best option.
For a full list of features and planssee Namecheap
Test results
Our tests show that Namecheap is slower than average and the hosting plans can handle fewer requests per second but it’s unfair to really compare them to hosts that cost considerably more. These are the results for our shared hosting tests and we’re currently doing more with the VPS plans.
See ourNamecheap reviewfor more details and the results.
Honourable mentions
These hosts were not picked in my top 5 but that doesn’t mean they’re not some of the best hosting providers out there. My top five are based on some of the most popular use cases so these are some of the best hosts for some other areas that are more general or on the flip side of that very specific likeMinecrafthosting or the best shared plan.
Best Green web hosting: GreenGeeks ⭐⭐⭐⭐
GreenGeeks has an excellent range of shared and VPS hosting services that are good for the environment. Plans start at just $2.95 a month (rising to $11.95 a month after the second year). The entry level plan comes with 50GB web space, a free domain name for one year, unlimited databases, and free nightly backups.
Plus they have a 300% energy match and will plant a tree for every hosting account provisioned.
See our fullGreenGeeks review
Best for Minecraft: Shockbyte ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
Minecraft hosting Australia-basedShockbyteis one of the biggest names in Minecraft hosting and has a presence in Europe (the UK, Germany, France, and Poland), Asia (Singapore), and North America (the USA and Canada). As a dedicated gaming server provider with great reviews and a global network, they don’t come much better than this.Read our fullBest Minecraft server hosting providersbuying guide
See our fullShockbyte review
Best shared hosting: Hostgator ⭐⭐⭐⭐½
HostGator offers a decent set of features on all its products. The cheapest Hatchling plan includes unmetered bandwidth, a free domain for the first year, and free SSL. HostGator gives you easy integration with some of the biggest names around, including CodeGuard for backups, SiteLock Security for malware scanning, and Google WorkSpace for team collaboration.
See our fullHostGator review
Best managed WordPress: WP Engine ⭐⭐⭐⭐
WP Engineis a professional web host which focuses entirely on delivering the best managed WordPress hosting around (although it does have some great WooCommerce plans, too). It’s not cheap, but if you’re more interested in power than price, then WP Engine is well worth a very close look. If you’re looking at the lower end plans I recommend SiteGround because they offer better value for money over WP Engine but if you have a monster site and you want to squeeze every last millisecond and request from your WordPress site, I’d suggest WP Engine.
Best for front end developers: Liquid Web ⭐⭐⭐⭐
When looking for cost to value the staging servers, automatic plug-in updates, security, and backups all make it worthwhile so you can take pride in your work and focus on the things that you enjoy. Less server admin, manual reporting, and site-level analytics, and more streamlined processes.
See our fullLiquid Web review
Best reseller hosting: A2
A2 Hosting look after the hardware so you can sell hosting services packaged as your own. With there being no need to worry about managing servers, you can really focus on customer support and marketing for your web hosting brand. It also gives the opportunity for web developers to provide their own hosting for their clients. If you already have a reseller hosting provider but you’re not getting along with their services you can migrate your accounts to A2 Hosting free of charge. A team of experts will be able to take care of everything for you without any inconvenience.
For more information see our fullA2 Hosting review
Meet the authors
James created websites and managed hosting for successful businesses before moving into an editorial role helping cloud computing companies improve documentation. Now, he combines these areas of expertise at TechRadar Pro managing everything there is to do with web hosting.
“I’m proud to work at TechRadar Pro because all products are listed based on the result of testing and use by experts. Page rankings are not for sale and as an editor I have complete control over what I recommend. This freedom and responsibility inspires my team and I to really get to know the products and services we recommend.”
Lewis has over two decades of experience in software and web development for high growth businesses and has maintained critical infrastructure that handles millions of transactions daily. Lewis' extensive experience in architecting scalable, secure web solutions, combined with his role at a cutting edge AI startup creating tools for web developers making him the perfect analyst. Lewis helps with evaluating tools, user experience, and assessing the value of products.
Mike has a degree in computer science and has been testing products for TechRadar longer than some of the products have been around. When it comes to uptime, load testing, LCP times, and time to first byte Mike knows how to put web hosts through their paces to ensure that you’re getting what you pay for and your business gets reliable hosting.
Krishi has over 5 years of experience simplifying complex topics and creating no-nonsense guides on all things hosting, including WordPress and domain names. He gets hands-on with the providers he recommends, and gives clear reasons why and for whom they’re suitable for. When Krishi is not busy creating the next perfect buying guide, you can find him scrolling through the latest happenings in the cybersecurity space.
How we test web hosts
First, we decide what we think a host is best at and if we were to get a web host for something, which one are we likely to choose. Then, we purchase the hosting, build our site or transfer a site and see how smooth it goes. After that we use all the features and start to record speed and stress test metrics using respected tools like GTmetrix. Sometimes, we’ll realize we’ve picked the wrong host or plan and start the process again.
We have a range of testers from beginners, the tech savvy, and seasoned web devs so we can test exactly how the user would be using the service. We also invite each other to have a go to try and remove bias we might have based on experience with other hosts. After we’ve finished using the host we give the host a user score based on the value, ease of use, and features.
Because we know it’s important to pick a web hosting company you can trust, we focus on whether each web hosting provider presents its products in an honest, clear, and transparent way. In our tests, this is easy to pick up on as we compare the list of features each company claims it offers, to what we actually have access to once we begin using their service.
Our web host speed tests are generally based on the cheapest shared hosting plan available from a provider but we’re expanding them to include VPS plans too.
FAQs
How to choose a web host
Everyone has their own individual hosting priorities, and we can’t tell you exactly what you’ll need and what you won’t. But based on my experience from hosting a range of websites I can give you some general rules that will point you in the right direction.
Unlimited resources: Actually good value for money?Unlimited (or unmetered) disk space and bandwidth sounds great, but all that really matters is you’ve enough for your site, and that may be much less than you think. Web hostKinsta reportedthat its clients' WordPress sites averaged only around 1GB in size, for instance. If that’s you, paying for ‘unlimited’ space won’t bring any benefits at all. Plus, unlimited can have its drawbacks. Unlimited resources often bring in the wrong crowds and you don’t want someone acting maliciously on the same server as you.
SSL certificatesYour website almost certainly needs an SSL certificate to enable secure encrypted connections with visitors, and avoid the worrying ‘insecure’ warnings they’ll get if you’re SSL-free. Most plans offer free SSL, but check the small print: occasionally SSL comes free for the first year only, and you’ll have to pay after that.
DomainsMany web hosting plans include a free domain name, a tempting sweetener if you don’t have one already. But beware, it’s typically only free for a year, and then you’ll pay the provider’s standard renewal fees. Dot com domain renewals don’t vary much (an average $10-$20 a year), but it’s a different story with others. If you need a domain, check renewal prices to find out the real long-term cost.
Thinking about managed hosting? Can you keep up with updates and backups?Websites can break for all kinds of reasons, and if you want to keep downtime to a minimum, backups are an absolute must. Look for a plan that includes a backup service, and pay attention to frequency: weekly backups might be just about acceptable for sites that never change, but daily backups are much better.
SupportNo matter how experienced you are in the web hosting world, you’re sure to need support occasionally. Check out your prospective hosts' support site: does it have content on the topics you’d expect, and is this helpful and easy to read? A host should at least have 24/7 live chat support, but telephone, ticket, and email help, too: there can’t be too many ways to get in touch.
What types of web hosting are there?
What types of web hosting are there?
Hosting a website basically means making it accessible to the world. You can host a website from your own home but it will be a pretty bad idea. First of all, you’ll be inviting the entire world into your home router, which doesn’t seem very safe. You’ll also need to keep your PC on all the time, which won’t be energy efficient. Then, if your website gets busy it’s unlikely your hardware will be able to cope.
The most sensible thing to do is outsource the task of hosting a site. This is where web hosts come in. They store your website on server and it’s secure, always on, and has the most up to date hardware to ensure site performance when it’s busy.
You can share a server, rent your own resources, or even rent a space and put your own hardware in it. There are options for everything and based on your business requirements the right type of hosting will make a big difference to cost and performance.
If you have a small site,shared hostingis fine. Anything else will be a waste of money. If you have a larger eCommerce store then avirtual private serveris a better option. If your business is ultra sensitive to any downtime then cloud hosting is perfect as multiple copies of your site are stored in different locations so if a disaster occurs your site will always be online.Then, there are more specific options like thebest WordPress hosting, orbest Minecraft server. These hosting options have optimizations for these specific uses to give you the best performance and value for money.
What is shared hosting?
Shared hostingis a simple scheme where multiple websites are stored on the same web server (a type of computer).
One benefit of shared hosting is its simplicity. You don’t have to spend any time maintaining the server, because your provider does that. All you need to do is work on your own site.
Sharing a web server means sharing the costs, too, and with sometimes hundreds of websites on the same server, that usually means rock-bottom prices.
The big problem with shared hosting is you’re also sharing your server’s system resources: CPU time, RAM, storage and network connection. There’s only so much to go around, and the more sites on your server, the slower and less dependable your own website is likely to be.
Shared hosting is still the best choice in many situations. If you’re creating a simple blog, a site for family, a local club, or anything with very light traffic where no-one will care much if the site is a little slow occasionally, the shared option is ideal. It’s very easy to use, and you can get decent plans from many providers for around $2 to $4 a month.
But if this is something more important, a web store, maybe a business site, then a slow or unreliable website will drive visitors away. It’s well worth upgrading to something more powerful.
What is VPS hosting?
VPS(Virtual Private Server) hosting is a clever technology that divides a single physical server into multiple server environments.
Log onto a VPS and you’ll have access to what looks like the full server. This is far more complex than shared hosting, but it also gives you much more control. You can install any apps, tweak any server settings, and even replace the entire operating system if you like.
There will be other VPS environments on the same physical server (though not as many other accounts as with shared hosting), reducing your performance a little. But you’ll have your own allocation of network bandwidth, RAM, storage, and CPU time. These won’t be shared with other customers, which means your site should see higher and more consistent speeds than you’ll get with shared hosting.
Upgrading is often very easy, too. If website traffic grows and you need additional resources - more CPU time, extra RAM, a higher bandwidth allowance - then you can typically add them to your plan in a click or two, and they’ll be available almost immediately.
This extra power comes at a price, but it might be much less than you think. Hostinger’s cheapest shared hosting plan is $1.99 a month on the four-year plan; its cheapest VPS plan is just $2.99, again over four years. It’s a very basic plan, but at $8.99 for a one-off month, it’s not expensive to see if a VPS could work for you.
What is dedicated hosting?
As the name suggests,dedicated hostingis a plan where a physical server is dedicated to a single client. That means no more speed issues because you’re sharing bandwidth, RAM or CPU time with other accounts: the entire system is yours alone.
As you’re renting the entire physical server, most providers allow you to build it with whatever hardware you need. You can typically choose your CPU, storage drives and type (cheap and high capacity HDDs, smaller but faster SSDs), operating system, bandwidth allowance and more.
This can be expensive. Even budget providers like Namecheap charge a monthly $50-$60 for their most basic dedicated servers, and Liquid Web’s top-of-the-range enterprise models might cost $500 or more (although they’re aimed at huge sites which might have a million page views a month).
There’s more work involved in managing a dedicated server, too. With shared hosting, if your server crashes, the provider support team should notice and fix or reboot it. But if you’re running the server, all that is up to you, unless you pay even more to the provider to handle it for you.
If you absolutely need top performance and complete control of your server, though, a dedicated plan is probably the way to go.
What is WordPress hosting?
WordPress is a website builder and content management system. It’s free and you can install it manually on a VPS or higher spec hosting type or you can rent a VPS server or shared server with WordPress pre-installed.
Over 40% of websites are built on top of WordPress so most shared hosting plans are pre-configured to be optimized to make the WordPress software run as fast and securely as possible. You should be able to make a VPS plan run WordPress as fast and securely too but you will need to know what you’re doing to get the most out of it.
The two main types of WordPress hosting are managed and unmanaged. With unmanaged hosting you’re responsible for updates and security but with managed a lot of those responsibilities are passed to the hosting provider. It does cost more money but it can save you a lot of time.
Does server location matter?
Yes. You can host your website anywhere and still get fast loading times on the other side of the world by using a CDN but it’s still best to host the actual site as close to your customers as possible. A CDN can speed up website access on pages that are frequently accessed but if your site is not in constant use in a region, you will see less benefit. Plus, a CDN is often an added cost. If you simply purchased a server close to your customers, you wouldn’t need a CDN. If you have an audience in a specific region it’s worth searching for the best web hosting services in that area. For example, thebest UK web hosting.
What is managed hosting?
Shared hosting accounts are generally very simple to operate, but higher end products - WordPress, VPS hosting, dedicated servers - often require running all kinds of maintenance tasks. You might need to test and update WordPress plugins, install operating system patches, spot and troubleshoot server errors, maybe reboot a server if it locks up or crashes.
Buy amanaged web hostingplan and some or all of these tasks will be carried out by your hosting provider’s regular support team. You’ll potentially save real time and hassle, and if problems do crop up, they’ll be speedily addressed by the people best qualified to fix them.
Sounds great– so why would anyone do anything else? Cost, mostly. Hostwinds' 4-core 8GB RAM VPS costs $59.99 fully managed, for instance, but only $38.99 for the unmanaged DIY version, a big drop in price.
One key message here is to keep this in mind when comparing WordPress, VPS or dedicated plans between hosting providers. Host A may look seriously cheap, but are you comparing a managed with an unmanaged plan? Be sure to check the small print.
There’s no precise definition of ‘managed’, either, so don’t simply assume a managed plan means you’ll have absolutely no maintenance to do. Every provider has its own definition of what’s covered and what isn’t, so check it out, make sure you understand exactly what’s covered before you buy.
What is email hosting?
One of the big advantages of registering a domain is you can have your own custom email address (Steve@thebestbuilder.com is far more impressive and business-like than builder457@gmail.com).
You probably won’t get email when you register a domain, for instance. Most hosting plans include some email support, but it may not be as powerful as you need, especially for business use. You’ll often see strict limits on Inbox size, the number of accounts you can create, even the number of emails you can send a day.
Email hostingis a service which allows you to send and receive emails via a custom domain. You don’t have to buy email hosting from the same provider as your web hosting, and in fact you don’t need web hosting at all: just register a domain, buy an email hosting plan and you’re ready to start creating and using all those name@yoursite.com email accounts.
Signing up for email hosting may get you a better service. The top providers give you plenty of Inbox space, support large attachments, don’t hold you back with annoying usage limits and provide built-in spam, phishing and malware filters to keep you safe.
This could be a feature well worth adding to your hosting line-up, and it’s generally inexpensive; many email hosting plans cost around $1-$2.50 a month. But if you currently have a budget shared hosting plan, keep in mind that upgrading might get you better email features and a bunch of other goodies, too. Check your provider’s hosting feature lists to find out exactly what you get.
What’s the website hosting TLDR?
For WordPress, Shared/WordPress hosting is easy but slightly more expensive. Managed is slightly more on top of that but even easier. Using a VPS and a file transfer service to upload and install WordPress is the cheapest but more complex option.
If you’ve got time and your website idea is not very complex (like a blog/ portfolio site) I’d but the effort into using a VPS and setting everything up yourself. If you don’t get on with it you can always use a money-back guarantee and transfer to a managed WordPress option.
For eCommerce, you want something flexible so you can scale your website for peak trading and promotional activities. You also want something with daily backups and redundancy so you never have any downtime. You’ll also want something that focuses on website loading speed because the payoff for faster loading pages is worth it.
What else should I consider when picking a web host?
Three or four-year hosting plans can have appealingly low prices, but they don’t always work out. If you’re unhappy with a host, or your site grows and the old plan can’t handle the increased traffic, you may have to buy something else early. It’s safer to sign up for a year (or even less), at least initially, and perhaps choose a VPS or similar plan where it’s easy to add more resources as required.
Uptime (the percentage of the day that your website is available) is a key stat for any serious website. If a potential customer can’t find or use your website, at best they’ll think you’re unprofessional, at worst they’ll give up on you entirely and go elsewhere.
Web hosting providers often quote uptime figures such as ‘99.9%’, but these don’t always cover the issues you might expect. Check the small print carefully for any hidden catches.
Look for a Service Level Agreement (SLA), too, especially for dedicated and other high-end hosting plans. These go beyond vague website promises to guarantee uptime, support response times and other elements of the service, and describe the compensation you’ll get if the target is missed.
Web hosting features explained
If you’re new to web hosting, some of the terms and features may sound confusing. To help you understand them, we’ve come up with a quick explainer for the most common elements in web hosting services:
Domain name. It’s the address people type in their browsers to visit your website, like techradar.com. Many hosting plans include one domain name for free for the first year of registration. Choose a .com domain to establish your credibility or .online for an affordable alternative.
SSL certificate. This feature encrypts the connection between your website and your visitors’ browsers, preventing hackers from accessing it. Hosting providers usually provide one for free fromLet’s Encrypt. Some also offer a premium version as an add-on, which can provide a better warranty and level of verification.
Unmetered bandwidth. This means the hosting provider won’t monitor or cap the amount of data transferred, so there’s no need to worry about extra bandwidth usage fees once the website’s traffic grows. Each company has a different policy on unmetered resources, so make sure to read their terms and conditions beforehand.
SSD disk space. Compared to HDDs, SSDs are a much more reliable storage solution. They’re less prone to disk failures and can serve data twenty times faster, speeding up your website’s performance.
cPanel. With this control panel, new users can manage their hosting via an intuitive interface – no technical skills required. You can access different features, check out your resource usage, and configure the domain’s settings within a few clicks.
WordPress auto-installer. This feature lets you set up WordPress in a few clicks from the hosting’s control panel. That way, there’s no need to download and upload the CMS files yourself.
Website migration. Most hosting providers allow transferring an existing site from another host to their servers. Typically, you have to insert some information about the website, submit a ticket to their customer support team, and wait a few hours for the migration to initiate.
Custom HTMLandCSS. The control panel should provide access to your website’s files, including HTML and CSS, via the file manager or an FTP client. Feel free to edit them to customize the site’s front end to your liking.
LCP.This is the time it takes to display the content on the page. If when you click on a link and you start to get parts of the page through at different times then the LCP is low. You want the lowest time possible. Otherwise your users will have a bad experience and maybe leave you site.
Notes from the editor
November 2024 There have been lots of changes to this page and if you’re wondering why let me give you an explanation. First of all, I’ve put some pros and cons in a table to make the information more accessible. I’ve also changed some of the formatting on the page for the same reason. I’ve also removed a logo on the main image because that host is no longer on this page. They’re still a good host, and best at what they do. It’s just that category is not on this page anymore. I’ve also done away with the category approach and tried to recommend hosting for you specifically. Well, notyoubut people like you that are small business owners, or people wanting to start a blog. You don’t care if it’s shared or VPS or cloud and how any vCPUs or RAMs a hosting plan has. You just want something that will get the job done and I’ve selected them for you with the help of my team. There’s also been a change of recommendation on a host level. For example SiteGround were recommended for best for WordPress but now they’re recommended for eCommerce. That’s not to say they’re no longer a WordPress recommendation, they still are, and continue to support the WordPress community. They’re recommended for something different because I think this recommendation is more useful to more readers. You will be the judge on if this approach works. If it doesn’t, then expect to see another heavily updated page in December.
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James is a tech journalist covering interconnectivity and digital infrastructure as the web hosting editor at TechRadar Pro. James stays up to date with the latest web and internet trends by attending data center summits, WordPress conferences, and mingling with software and web developers. At TechRadar Pro, James is responsible for ensuring web hosting pages are as relevant and as helpful to readers as possible and is also looking for the best deals and coupon codes for web hosting. When James is not at his desk he enjoys hiking in the mountains close to his home in California.
