The Best Web Hosting Services (In-Depth Review)

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Do you want to skip the read and get right to my top picks? The best web hosting service for most people is DreamHost or Hostinger.

Looking to get your site online?

With today’s web hosting options, it has never been easier. Hosts take care of all the technical stuff and you get to enjoy casually updating your website.

The options I like are affordable and walk you through the setup process. For a few bucks a month, you can have a website up and running within an hour or less, even if you’ve never done it before.

Here are my recommendations for the best web hosting services of 2021 for you. Keep reading for my top picks, and a brief guide about how to find the right choice for you.

#1 – DreamHost Review — The Best Option if You Want Quick and Responsive Website Changes

DreamHost has been a big player for the longest time now. 

Founded in 1996 it is one of the oldest hosting services available online.

Some people might think it must be outdated by now.

But that can’t be further from the truth.

Exactly because of their ability to adapt quickly to new trends they’re still considered one of the best in the business.

They don’t look at your website as just another website.

They know that your website is your own vision for the future.

“We Make Sure Your Purpose, Is Our Purpose”

And that’s not just words. Over 1.5 million websites host with DreamHost. If you sign up now, you’ll get an exclusive deal as a reader of my blog.

It’s more than just hosting. You get every thing you need for a secure site in one package. Plus, with DreamHost, you can expect great loading speed and friendly, helpful customer support on your side.

With incredibly adaptable services you can literally change your business in a matter of hours.

They know that things change as time passes.

Maybe you want to try out something new.

Maybe you’re certain that your current business model is outdated.

With their fascinating adaptable features, they will be your best friend when making major changes in your website.

#2 – Hostinger Review — The Best Low-Cost Shared Hosting Options for Startups

Hostinger is offers some of the most affordable shared hosting solutions on the market.

Their prices literally start from $0.99/month. WOW.

You’ll have to sign a four-year contract to get the lowest deal possible, but that total contract is going to be way less than a single year with other hosts.

You don’t get a ton of storage, but your site will be able to handle around 10,000 visits each month no problem.

With marginally more expensive plans, you get a whole lot more in terms of hosting resources and and capabilities.

Hostinger Prices

For as low as $3.99/month you can get unlimited bandwidth, 200 GB storage, and the ability to create up to 100 websites.

That’s less than four bucks a month for great loading speed and daily website backups.

That means even if you mess up badly, you always have access to previous versions of your website.

Another reason I really like Hostinger is that 24/7/365 support is baked into the price of every plan.

For companies with a small or non-existent IT staff, the expert customer service is a huge perk.

It is the best option if you’re searching specifically for a shared hosting service that’s affordable and reliable.

Hostinger provides a 99.9% uptime guarantee and a 30-day money-back policy. That’s hard to beat for a monthly hosting price that’s less than a cup of coffee.

#3 – Bluehost Review — The Best for WordPress Hosting

If you’re looking to set up your website in less than a week, you’re probably considering WordPress.

After all, according to NetCraft, 35% of the Internet is powered by WordPress.

And it’s not a surprise. WordPress has been a leader in the industry for years now.

So if you’re looking for the best hosting option for your WordPress website, you can definitely trust Bluehost.

Their pricing options are competitive. Basic is $3.95/month and Choice Plus is just $5.95/month to get started.

This is really affordable considering all the unlimited features they bring to the table.

Regarding website loading speed, as long as you don’t fill your WordPress site with plugins, you should be good.

And even if you make a crucial mistake or overload your website with different plugins, you’re in good hands.

Their Customer Support is extremely responsive. They have both an active telephone line and a live chat you can rely on at all times.

#4 – Nexcess Review — The Best for Ecommerce Hosting

If you want a hands-off hosting solution for your online store, Nexcess is an incredibly smart choice. Use coupon code NEIL40 for 40% off 4 months.

They offer a wide range of hosting options with specialty solutions for Magento, WordPress, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Drupal, and more.

Plus, you get one-click auto-scaling to handle unexpected traffic spikes, 24/7 monitoring and customer support, and premium SSL certificates to keep your site and visitors safe.

So, you get everything you need to start, manage, and scale your online store.

On top of the amazing features, Nexcess has been around for 20 years with more than 500,000+ websites under their belt.

As such, they know a thing or two about how to help make your life easier.

With that said, it’s not the cheapest option on this list. But you do get more features, better support, and improved performance with the higher price tag.

So, if you need advanced security or expect to grow quickly, Nexcess is an excellent e-commerce hosting solution.

WordPress hosting plans start at $15 per month for one store, 15 GB of space, and two TB of bandwidth.

However, pricing varies based on the platform you choose. Use coupon code NEIL40 for 40% off 4 months. Sign up now.

#5 – HostGator Review — The Most Affordable Option for Startups

HostGator is one of the most preferred options when it comes to blogging.

They are perfect if you’re looking for the most affordable way to begin posting online.

Pricing options start from the jaw-dropping $2.75/month.

Once again, you can’t expect the best features for such a low price.

But it’s a great alternative for startups that want to get their website up and running.

And just like Bluehost, they have a responsive telephone line with a live chat you can access at any moment.

You can also find a giant database with common questions beginners have, together with professional opinions and solutions to those problems.

Everything is explained and demonstrated step-by-step and if you’re still not sure that you can do it on your own.

Just shoot them a message and start chatting with their professional customer support.

#6 – WP Engine Review — The Best for Managed WordPress Hosting

We’re getting to the more advanced options now.

With WP Engine you get a blazing fast and ultra-reliable WordPress site without any work on your part.

The company invented the idea of managed WordPress hosting—where the provider takes over all the backend technical work—and WP Engine is still the leader in the field.

WP Engine hosts WordPress exclusively. Their servers are optimized for just this type of site. And when you reach out to customer service, you will be talking to an expert who handles WordPress issues 24/7.

Of course, the top-notch uptime, speed, and customer service is not as cheap as some of the others on the list.

But if you don’t have to hire a WordPress developer to maintain your site’s security and performance (or spend time figuring that out yourself), going with WP Engine can actually be cost-effective.

You just have to contact them and work out the best plan for your specific situation.

Of course, their experts are going to help you choose the correct option without pushing you to stuff you wouldn’t need.

Every plan comes with best-in-class tools to develop your WordPress site. No other host offers such a variety and depth of features, such as one-click staging areas where you can build and test your site before it goes live.

Test that new social media WordPress plugin in the staging area to make sure it doesn’t cause problems for other plugins or themes. This is way better than discovering an issue after it breaks the site and kills traffic.

It’s a great hosting service if you’re looking to take your WordPress site to the next level without the IT headaches and responsibilities. Your teams can focus on creating great sites and let WP Engine ensure everything is running correctly.

Don’t expect cheap services, but expect great quality and support on the way to your successful business.

#7 – InMotion Review — The Best Option for Scaling BIG

Are you positive that your website is going to dominate the online space?

If you’re 100% sure, then you should definitely take a closer look at InMotion.

Their VPS and Dedicated hosting services are far from cheap.

But with Premium prices come Premium services. We are talking fast loading speed and devoted customer support.

Obviously there’s also affordable WordPress Hosting and Shared Hosting options.

But if you’ve tried these before and now you’re looking for the next step.

InMotion is going to overdeliver on every promise.

Check out their plans and choose the one that fits your needs best.

#8 – Siteground Review — The Best for WooCommerce Hosting

Do you want to sell your products online?

Then you’re probably in need of a good, reliable WooCommerce Hosting Service.

If that’s that case, then you should take a look at Siteground.

They have separated their pricing options depending on your scalability.

Most Hosting Services cut you here and there when it comes to cheaper options.

This is not the case here!

Siteground really wants to overdeliver, even if you choose their cheapest options.

Their Customer Service has a whopping 90% resolution at first contact.

That means that 90% of the time you’ll chat or speak with an expert in their team and resolve your issue in no time.

So if you’re looking for the best WooCommerce solution, Siteground is the hosting service for you.

#9 – GreenGeeks Review — The Best for Always-On Support

Nothing is more frustrating than having something go wrong and there’s no one available to ask for help.

And, in the high-stakes world of web hosting, not having a support center to contact is unacceptable. Just think of the lost revenue and frustrated visitors (who may never come back) if your site is down at a crucial time.

With GreenGeeks, you get a robust knowledge base, 24/7/365 live chat support, email support that gets back to you within 15-20 minutes, and live phone support available Monday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to midnight (Eastern Standard Time).

That’s not only a lot of options to get help when you need it—that’s support that’s always available in the moment. Which is better than a lot of other web hosts out there.

“Sure, the support’s great,” I hear you asking, “but what about the, you know, actual hosting?”

Well, not only does GreenGeeks offer the full array of hosting options—from basic and WordPress-specialized options to VPS and reseller hosting—but they provide an eco-friendly option at incredible prices.

Seriously, most of its hosting plans start at $2.49/month (including WordPress and WooCommerce hosting).

If you want a bit more power, GreenGeeks’ VPS hosting plans start a little pricier than others ($39.95/month), but don’t require an annual commitment to secure. So, no price hikes after a year and no surprises.

I mentioned, too, that GreenGeeks is an eco-conscious hosting solution. You probably guessed that anyway by the name. But they’re very committed to offsetting some of the negative environmental impact that maintaining server farms creates. For over a decade, GreenGeeks has been buying renewable energy credits at 300% what they consume.

So, if that matches you company’s environmental philosophy, you’ve just found another reason to go with GreenGeeks.

Check out their hosting options and sign up with GreenGeeks today.

What I Looked at to Find the Best Web Hosting Services

When it comes to the best web hosting services you have to look at various important factors.

If you jump in too quick you might get into something that’s not suitable for your business.

But don’t let any of that doubt creep into your mind. 

Instead, sit back and relax while we present to you all the factors that you need to be aware of before making a decision.

You can weigh the different web hosting services and decide which is the best solution for your specific business.

Hosting factor #1 – Uptime reliability: 

If your hosting is down, no one would be able to access your website.

And obviously you want your website running 24/7.

Luckily, in 2021 this is not a huge problem since most web hosting providers offer a ‘99.99% network uptime guarantee’.

That means that your website would go down very rarely.

And even when it does, you can contact your hosting service and you will get compensation.

Most of the time that would be in the form of hosting credits.

If you want to prepare for the worst, you can check out our Website Downtime Survival Guide.

One of the best practices to making sure everything runs smoothly even when you’re taking a break is to sign up for a tracking tool like uptime robot

If your hosting service crosses the line, this tool will notify you that you need to find a new webserver to host.

Hosting factor #2 – Speed is key:

Website loading speed is extremely crucial when it comes to SEO optimization in 2021.

That’s simply because if your pages load slowly, people will bounce out of your website and your ranking will fall down the drain.

You need a trustworthy host provider that can guarantee optimal website loading speed.

The thing is that you can’t know the exact loading speed before you try the hosting service yourself.

But you can always optimize your website loading speed using free tools and effective loading speed practices.

And the best news is that even if your budget is tight, you can still get a good loading speed.

But don’t expect anything spectacular for say $4/month.

Generally, the higher the price, the faster your pages will load.

Anyways, we will include our personal experience regarding loading speed for each of the options down below.

Hosting factor #3 – Customer service:

Good Customer Service will come in handy when something goes wrong.

Especially if you’re new to websites, you’re bound to make mistakes that may lead to your website being down for a while.

And the more time it’s out, the more it will cost you.

So a good support team will help you get the issues solved in no time.

Even if you made a major mistake that’s impossible to come back from…

Most support teams will have a full backup of your website so you can get back to a working version.

You always want your support team to have a live chat or a telephone you can call.

Email just doesn’t make the cut if you want to resolve the issue fast, which you should want, given that your website is down.

We made sure to include only website hosting services with strong communication skills.

Conclusion

You’re most likely going to have a long-term relationship with the hosting service you choose. So carefully look into every option that caught your eye today and select the one that fits your needs best.

To recap my top picks:

  1. DreamHost – Best option if you want quick and responsive website changes
  2. Hostinger Low-Cost shared hosting options for startups
  3. Bluehost Best for WordPress hosting
  4. Nexcess Best ecommerce hosting
  5. HostGator Most affordable option for startups
  6. WP Engine Best for managed WordPress hosting
  7. InMotion Best option for scaling BIG
  8. Siteground Best for WooCommerce hosting
  9. GreenGeeks Best for always-on support

These are all dependable hosting providers with a record of quality service. Whether you choose one of my top recommendations or scout out your own, use the tips and best practices we talked about to make an educated decision.

Having a reliable web host is a must in today’s world. Make this decision like the future of your business depends on it.

Because it does!

Have you worked with any website hosting companies in the past? How did it go and did you get the results you hoped for?

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