Web Hosting

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What is web hosting services?

Choosing a web hosting service provider for your website is one of the most important decisions you can make for your business. Not only will it determine how well your site can handle traffic and run without crashing, but it also keeps all your data and files safe. The right server will have protections in place for you, provide the customer service you need in a moment, and keep you up and running as smoothly as possible.

Comparing web hosting services and plans can be confusing, and that can make choosing the right hosting service for you more difficult. Pricing can be especially puzzling, due to introductory rates and monthly versus annual pricing. We looked over the data for 22 popular web hosting services to make things a little easier on you. You can read more about our criteria for the best web hosting services, including how we assess security and customer support, and you can check out important web hosting terms to know.

Best web hosting services of 2024

Best AI Integration - Hostinger

Hostinger is a fast-growing web hosting company that earned top marks in our hands-on Hostinger review thanks to its incredibly easy-to-use site-building tools and top-notch server performance. Hostinger offers a variety of specialized hosting plans for WordPress and WooCommerce, website builder hosting plans, VPS hosting and cloud hosting. Most Hostinger plans let you create 100+ websites, making it an ideal choice if you want to run more than one site without spending a fortune.

Hostinger plans include unlimited secure socket layer — SSL — certification to encrypt data sent to and from your sites, firewall protection to keep malware out, and distributed denial of service — DDoS — protection to prevent malicious traffic from overwhelming your site. You’ll also get a malware scanner and WordPress vulnerabilities scanner for quickly identifying security issues with your site. You’ll also get weekly backups (daily on some plans) so you can quickly restore your site if something goes wrong.

WordPress users will enjoy the WordPress acceleration through LiteSpeed, automated WordPress updates and pre-built site templates available on most plans. Hostinger also offers a website builder with over 150 designer-built templates. The website builder also includes AI site generation tools; all you need to do is enter some basic information about your website, choose a color scheme and let Hostinger build your site.

The big drawback of Hostinger is the limited customer service. You can only use live chat for most inquiries, and the chat defaults to a bot. The bot is well trained, but it can’t do everything, and you can spend 30 minutes — or even longer — waiting to speak with a human. There’s no phone service, and email service is limited to designated email addresses for things like lost access to an account.

Pricing

All Hostinger plans come with steep discounts, typically based on a four-year contract — longer than the one to three years required to get an introductory discount from other hosts. You may have to pay more than the prices listed below if you choose a shorter contract.

Best Customer Service - Ionos

Ionos is a high-quality web host that performed remarkably well in our hands-on Ionos review. You can get several types of hosting from Ionos including shared hosting, WordPress hosting, e-commerce hosting, Virtual Private Server hosting and dedicated hosting.

Ionos plans include top-notch security, starting with secure socket layer certification, firewall protection and distributed denial of service protections. Ionos also offers malware scanning and automated daily backups for quickly restoring your site if something goes wrong.

On top of all of this, Ionos offers some of the best customer service in the industry, with 24/7 access to support via live chat or phone. Both live chat and phone support were fast, polite and helpful during our tests. There are also fourteen international numbers for users around the world. You’ll also get a personal consultant who can be reached by phone or live chat from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST, although you may be directed to another support agent if your consultant is working on another case when you reach out.

Pricing

Ionos’ prices start lower than most other web hosting services for similar services, but you must sign up for a three-year plan to access the best discounts. The price increases on renewal — significantly so for some plans — but most plans are still more affordable than their counterparts at other popular web hosts.

The plans referenced below offer the lowest long-term pricing. Some mid-range plans may offer a steeper introductory discount but will cost significantly more than the plans referenced below on renewal.

Looking for Web hosting?

    Best for simple websites - HostGator

    HostGator offers shared, VPS, dedicated, WordPress, eCommerce and reseller hosting plans with tiered options.

    Most of HostGator’s plans include a firewall with DDoS protections and SSL certification for at least one year. Some plans come with automated backups, but HostGator writes that anyone with “critical business information or important data are STRONGLY encouraged to seek a third-party backup service…” (emphasis theirs). Undermining your own backup system is an odd choice.

    In theory, customer support from HostGator is available via chat, email or phone 24/7. Some plans limit the types of customer service you can access and we experienced inconsistent service across support channels during our HostGator review.

    Otherwise, we found HostGator satisfactory for simple sites, with good site setup tools and decent server performance.

    Price

    HostGator offers decent starting prices, but you’ll have to sign up for a three-year plan to get the best deal on most hosting types. You also can’t see the renewal pricing without going through the checkout process.

    Best for affordable WordPress hosting

    AccuWeb Hosting offers shared, VPS, dedicated, WordPress, app, reseller and cloud hosting options. Customers can also choose which of AccuWeb Hosting’s global data centers will host their data. This means if you anticipate that most of your traffic will come from outside the US, you can choose to store your site in a different location so your site loads quicker for non-US visitors. 

    AccuWeb Hosting offers free SSL certificates with each plan, free antivirus tools and free daily backups, which are an upgrade over the more standard weekly backups. AccuWeb servers are also LiteSpeed enhanced for improved speed and performance.

    Customers can chat and file tickets with customer service 24/7, but phone services are limited. Right now, phone service is available from Monday to Saturday, but there’s no phone service on Sunday.

    Pricing

    Some AccuWeb Hosting plans, like shared plans, are a little higher than other services, while midlevel plans, like VPS plans, are cheaper than other services. Introductory prices for most hosting types are only available with a three-year term, but the price increases on renewal are reasonable when compared to other popular hosts.