No matter how good looking or smartly designed, your website will count for nothing if it is not drawing the eyes of your target audience. Web hosting services help you prop up your creation and nurture it to become a vital tool fir your business and creativity.
Yet, picking out the best among the increasing number of web hosting service providers may prove to be a challenge, particularly if you are confused by the myriad of features or pricing plans on offer in 2019.
This is why we offer a helping hand in the form of a shortcut to your desired goal, which, at least in theory, means getting your hands on the best possible web hosting service perfectly tailored to your business or individual needs.
This means taking into account their reliability, price and technological bells and whistles which can be useful for any type of project you want to provide for. The same goes for questions related to maintenance, quality of support, available storage and bandwidth, the focus on specific platforms (such as WordPress) and security.
Taking all of these into account, this list features both global players in the web hosting segment as well as some lesser known but surprisingly attractive providers.
Since all will perform their web hosting tasks competently, they are listed arbitrarily here, with the last two providers playing a twofold role of both website builder and hosting platforms. In addition to this, two providers focusing on budget solutions are placed next to each other for the sake of easier comparison.
Some of the listed providers may offer you access to options that your website will never have the use of, so make sure you go through the entire article instead of browsing only the first few entries.
1&1 shared web hosting benefits from the sheer clout of its parent company
1. 1&1 IONOS web hosting
Baremetal servers: Yes | Free SSL certificate: Yes | Secure hacker protection: Yes | Email marketing: Yes
German 1&1 (as of late 2018, it's now called 1&1 IONOS) remains a force to be reckoned with in Europe, with the ambition to conquer the rest of the world. This plan is to be spurred by attractive pricing (the competitors would say aggressive) for a web hosting which involves a list of features too long to be listed in full here.
SSL certificate support is included in all packages, together with your personal consultant and free domain. Topping the offer is a robust network connectivity rocking impressive 300Gbps, paired with geo-redundancy technology, free web design software as well as around-the-clock access to a top-notch support team via phone or email. Yes, you can try all of this within 30 days, with a money back guarantee if you dare to fail to be impressed.
2. InMotion Web Hosting
Wordpress hosting: Yes | Business hosting: Yes | Web design services: Yes | 24x7-US-based support: Yes
InMotion Web Hosting service is a veritable veteran in the hosting business and many users will recall seeing references to it at least here and there. With this respectful background, it is easy to see why this service offers a long list of features, bundles and pricing plans for every user and pocket.
For starters, site loading performance with this solution is simply superb. This comes packaged with an access to a dedicated team of professionals who offer high-level support at any time. What separates InMotion from the rest of the crowd is its propensity to offer bonus features at no extra charge. These include protection from DDoS attacks and malware, email spam shield, and option for creation of functional backups. Hosting is powered by cPanel and Softaculous platforms, which act as its seals of quality. Finally, all of this is easily checkable by any user within a 90-day guarantee period which is more than enough to make up your mind about InMotion’s offer.
3. HostGator web hosting
Unmetered bandwidth: Yes | Unmetered disk space: Yes | Search credit: $150 | Money-back guarantee: 45 days
HostGator is the web hosting service whose trump card has “budget” written all over it. Several pricing plans are available for each & every pocket and project profile, with at least two of them offering attractive features in addition to having cute names (Hatchling and Baby, no less). Yet, there is nothing minuscule about the options you can lay your hands on with HostGator. They include unmetered bandwidth and disk space, support for FTP and email accounts, MYSQL databases and subdomains.
You will also enjoy the benefits of cPanel-based website management, with honorable mention going for Google and Bing Ads credits in the amount of $150. The package comes with at least two guarantees, one having to do with 99.9 per cent uptime and the other with a 45-day money-back guarantee.
The only “drawback” HostGator is guilty of, together with the host of other providers of budget plans, is the fact that its cheapest plan covers only one website. This is hardly a cause of alarm when the next plan in line costs only a fraction more and even it will hardly leave a dent in your hosting budget.
4. Tsohost web hosting
Daily backups: Yes | Free SSL: Yes | Custom web console: Yes
At first glance, it may seem that Tsohost wants to battle it out with HostGator in the budget segment – its £2.92 per month for Startup option surely gives it run for its money. This attractive package includes obligatory unlimited bandwidth, hundred mailboxes and Let’s Encrypt SSL, with 15GB storage being shown in the fine print in the contract package.
Yet, you are hardly limited in terms of plans and options on offer which will easily satisfy even the most jaded user. First of all, you can go for cPanel hosting or the one provided with the help of Tsohost’s native cloud web hosting platform and console. In any case, performance will remain at more than satisfying levels. Tech support on the offer is fully competent and 30-day money-back guarantee is sufficiently long.
5. GoDaddy web hosting
SEO Services: Yes | Free domain: Yes | Database backup and restore: Yes | Unmetered bandwidth : Yes
GoDaddy wants to stand out as a literal daddy of all web hosting services, at least in terms of its popularity. You will find references to it in all virtual places and all for a good reason. First, it is a fast service packaged with a largely accessible and user-friendly basic website builder. It offers access to Linux hosting with cPanel tech beating at its heart.
As for the freebies, GoDaddy will not keep its fist clenched, with gratis backup and restore options, free domain with the annual plan, and a one-year subscription to Microsoft Office 365 Business Email. Unlimited storage is provided for all options apart from the Economy one (with 100GB) together with the unlimited bandwidth. The Economy plan is the cheapest one with a price of $7.99 a month. In the end, GoDaddy gives you an option to boost your hosting capacity on demand whenever a situation, such as traffic surge, requires you to do so.
6. Bluehost web hosting
Unmetered bandwidth: Yes | WooCommerce hosting: Yes | Free domain: Yes | 24x7-US-based support: Yes
7. Wix web hosting
Online store: Optional | Free domain: Yes | Search credits: $75+ (depends on the plan) | Professional site review: Optional
Surrounded by agile web hosting competitors, the Wix service plays the web building support card as its miracle weapon. It operates as a website building service, with hosting added not as an afterthought but as an option perfectly capable of standing on its own legs.
This fusion allowed Wix to gather a community of more than 100 million active users who get the benefit of its versatile pricing plans and rich options for building a website in line with your visions and ambition. Its robust editor allows you to tweak any aspect of the site’s appearance and functionality in a myriad of ways, while the less imaginative web builders will salute having access to more than 500 templates.
Web hosting segment is not neglected either, with both free and unlimited plans offering attractive enough set of options for any type of budget and purpose.
8. Weebly web hosting
SSL Security: Yes | Drag and drop builder: Yes | Search credits: $100 | Free SEO tools: Yes
Just like other providers on our list who share agendas and target audience, Weebly has a score to settle with Wix, as both of them want to charm the same crowd of users who are into website building. Weebly wants to be a more intuitive among the two, with its powerful drag-and-drop engine allowing even the least talented users to build a website of their own. Even their more experienced colleagues will raise their thumbs at the sight of the vast template database which will turn website building into a Lego-like affair.
As for the hosting, the options start with the Free version which will cost you zero dollars, with several restrictions being its only “price tag”. You’ll be limited to 500MB of storage and unable to remove ads from your website. If it bothers you, you better look in the direction of the Professional plan.
Even this package offers you a glimpse of a wide range of features which Weebly hands out like a demented Santa – starting from the support for building your own web store with functional coupons, customer reviews and inventory management, all the way to the organisation of email marketing campaigns for more ambitious users.
Image Credit: Atm2003 / Shutterstock