Web Hosting Review Guide: Which Web Hosting Provider Should You Choose
Jukkie Digital Agency
Hosting providers tend to offer a wide range of features such as control panel, website builder, and eCommerce tools. In general, you have to find the most affordable hosting option that meets your exact needs. However, cheaper is not always better. You should go for quality hosting If you’re building a website for your business.
Which Type of Web Hosting Should You Get?
There are three choices of web hosting – dedicated, VPS, as well as shared hosting. The simplest and cheapest option is shared hosting. It involves many websites hosted on a single server. This means that you will be competing for bandwidth, storage, and other server resources with all the other websites on that server. Shared hosting should be powerful enough for those who don’t expect having a large presence online.
If it’s something more powerful that you want, you should go for Virtual Private Servers or VPS. Cloud servers and VPS are easy to scale and offer more resources than shared hosting. They have a lot of processing power, storage, and memory. With cloud hosting, you can buy the resources you need now and then add extra storage, RAM, or bandwidth in the future.
Dedicated hosting provides a server that is reserved for you. If you want to create a large website that receives a volume of traffic, you should consider getting a dedicated server. Read the service level agreement that comes with the server to see if there are hidden costs associated with the service, such as maintenance fees.
Choose a trustworthy web hosting provider. Read reviews about them and make sure that they have an up-to-date website. You should also watch out for fraudulent pricing. Web hosting providers usually advertise a lower initial price for their service. If that happens, you have to pay a lot more after the initial subscription period.
Web Hosting Providers
- Bluehost
Bluehost is popular among site managers and business owners due to its user-friendly interface and competitive prices. It has been around for a long time and offers great hosting plans at a reasonable price. Basic plans include WordPress setup and installation and cPanel. It also offers access to various apps via the Mojo Marketplace. New users will get a domain name for the 1st year and an SSL certificate for free. Bluehost also offers 24/7 support.
Bluehost also comes with a website builder, allowing users to build a website with up to 6 pages. Many features are disabled or limited in the basic plan, but it’s still a great option to get started. Bluehost also offers a 30-day warranty. If you’re not happy with your purchase, you can get your money back. The hosting provider has SEO tools that allow you to track your keywords’ performance. By using these tools, you can get a better idea of how you must optimize your website to boost your search engine rankings.
Pros
- user-friendly interface
- 24/7 support
- features a website builder
- automatic WordPress setup and installation
Cons
- only US-servers
- constant upsells
- lacks free migration
2. HostGator
HostGator offers support in all of its hosting plans. It provides Linux and Windows hosting as well as various options to upgrade, such as a dedicated server, VPS hosting, cloud hosting, and managed WordPress. If you have questions, you can contact them through phone or live chat. HostGator doesn’t offer chat support. Their hosting plans come with a 45-day warranty.
Pros
- unmetered bandwidth
- unlimited storage for all plans
- hosting plans are offered on 36, 24, 12, 6, 3, or 1-month base
- supports many programming languages such as Perl, Python, and PHP
Cons
- access to only one backup unless you get an add-on
- constant upsells
3. Dreamhost
DreamHost has its own a custom control panel that customers will use to manage their website. They offer dedicated servers, managed WordPress hosting, shared hosting, and affordable upgrades to cloud and VPS hosting. DreamHost also offers DreamPress, a managed plan that has more advanced features. They offer a 97-day warranty, which is the longest trial period in the industry.
DreamHost offers email support and a live chat. Phone support comes with additional fees. If you buy the DreamPress Pro or DreamPress Pro managed plans, you will get phone support for free. DreamHost offers a free Unlimited shared plan for 501(c)(3) organizations. The hosting plan includes email hosting and unlimited bandwidth, storage, and sites.
Pros
- 97-day free trial period
- 100% uptime guarantee
- unlimited bandwidth, data storage, MySQL databases, websites, and subdomains
- the free domain comes with Whois privacy
Cons
- additional costs to access more advanced features
- long wait time for live chat support
4. SiteGround
SiteGround offers dedicated servers, shared hosting, and cloud hosting. All shared hosting plans come with WordPress hosting. SiteGround’s most popular plan, GoGeek, is packed with tools that are particularly beneficial to developers such as Git repo creation and a staging server. They also offer reseller hosting plans that focus on basic shared hosting.
Reseller hosting plans come with an integrated cPanel, 40GB storage, unlimited email addresses, bandwidth, databases, and FTP accounts. You will also get advanced features such as automatic daily backup, email spam filtering, free SSL certificates, and Cloudflare CDN. SiteGround offers 24/7 email, phone, and chat support. They have a 99.9% uptime guarantee. SiteGround is recommended for Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, Magento, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, business website, and small to large websites
Pros
- distributed servers contribute to maximizing the loading speed of websites
- hosting technology includes SSDs memory, CloudFlare, Nginx, and PHP7 server
- all hosting plans come with a 30-day trial period and free domain
- WordPress hosting features comes with Git Integration, automatic updates, WordPress staging, one-click installer, WP-CLI and SuperCacher
- the support system also includes webinars, live chat, ticketing system, and knowledge base
Cons
- more expensive than other hosting providers
5. GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks offers eco-friendly web hosting plans as they use renewable energy to operate their hosting services. They offer a one-click installer for WordPress and automatic updates. GreenGeeks also offers advanced security features and daily backups. They also offer the latest technology, such as CDN, PHP7, and SSD, to keep your website secure and fast. Customer support is available by chat, phone, or through their ticket system. They are available 24/7, so you can reach out to them anytime.
Pros
- 99.9% uptime
- Unlimited domains, email, webspace, data transfer, and MySQL Databases
- Solid State Drives
- cPanel interface
- free SEO tools and Cloudflare CDN
- PowerCacher technology
- free data restore and backup
Cons
- lacks website staging
Conclusion
Always consider your needs and budget when choosing a web hosting plan. Always consider your future plans before buying a web hosting plan. Don’t purchase a server that doesn’t have room for growth. Get something that covers your needs to make sure that you won’t have any problems in the future.
