The Best Web Hosting Companies
If you're here, you most likely are looking for the best web hosting companies.
Maybe you already have a host but want to switch? Or maybe you're new to online marketing and are looking for your first web host?
There are many reasons to change, but they usually boil down to the following factors:
- Cost. You believe you are paying too much for the service you're getting. That's not to say that you aren't getting what you pay for…maybe you are. But you may not need all the bells & whistles your current web hosting plan offers.
- Not enough horsepower. Perhaps you're overloading your current web server and need more horsepower?
- Maybe you need a dedicated server? You get tons of traffic and a shared web hosting server just won't cut it.
- Poor service. This is a big factor, probably the one factor that leads all others in terms of web host dissatisfaction.
Let's face it: If your website is running fine and you don't have issues, you probably won't ever switch. However, when things go haywire, you may want to start looking for a new webhost.
If any of the above describes your current experience, you have come to the right place!
What to look for in a web hosting company
There are a number of factors to look for in a web hosting service. Price, performance, and support are the key factors to look at.
- Price – Let's be honest: Price matters. You want to feel like you get what you pay for. If you're getting poor performance or support, you may feel like you're getting ripped off.
- Performance – If your site is offline a lot or it loads slowly, you may need a higher-powered server. This could mean a better shared hosting account, a VPS (Virtual Private Server), or even a dedicated standalone server.
- Support – This is the real key. When you have the issues above, you want quick resolution. It's just that simple. If you have to wait for Support to email you back–tomorrow!–and that back-and-forth continues for more than a few rounds, you need a better web host.
Top Web Hosts
Below are the Top Ten webhosting companies available. Of course, the list can change as new web hosting services come to market or existing services degrade in value. Once upon a time, Host Gator wasn't a bad choice for a starter web host. Now that they're owned by parent company EIG, their service and performance have degraded significantly.
We rank web hosts on another page. The list below is in no particular order. They have come to be known as our go-to web hosts. Each has strengths & weaknesses, just as everything in life. We believe you will be well-served by any of the web hosts below.
A2 Hosting
Based in Michigan, USA, this web hosting company offers a vast array of web hosting plans, beginning as low in price as $3.92 per month (on an annual plan) all the way up to VPS plans and dedicated servers. A2 Hosting also offers reseller hosting programs, so you can offer your own web hosting plans to your clients, if that's what you want to do. They offer excellent price/performance with above-average support
Namecheap
Known more for their domain registration service, Namecheap began offering web hosting plans a few years ago. They have very affordable plans that grow with your business. Their support is average. In their shared hosting programs, email support is the only means of resolving issues.
SiteGround
This is one of the more well-established web hosting companies on our list. SiteGround is top-notch quality, support, and performance. They offer a wide range of services from affordable shared hosting plans all the way up to dedicated 100k visitors-per-month servers featuring ecommerce site functionality. A definite perennial contender for the #1 spot in any web hosting comparison.
Liquid Web
Focused more on the upper-level web site and owners, Liquid Web offers bulletproof dedicated and VPS servers. And while they also offer shared hosting, it's their more robust web hosting plans that offer the best bang for the buck. Support is top-notch, with email, phone, and chat support. Another perennial contender for the #1 spot among web hosts
Hostinger
A versatile web host, Hostinger offers many value-priced web hosting plans that range from a starter plan at less than $2 per month all the way up to high-horsepower VPS servers with multiple CPUs, loads of RAM and SSD space, and tons of bandwidth. Support is good, too. You really can't go wrong with Hostinger.
Dreamhost
They”ve been around a very long time, having started in Los Angeles, California in 1997 (just a few years after the World Wide Web). Dreamhost is another versatile web hosting company who offers a plethora of webhost plans. They offer starter plans, WordPress-dedicated web hosting, and VPS and dedicated hosting plans. Support is very good.
1&1
A German-based company that originally started in 1988 (before the Worldwide Web), 1&1 offers a whole host of web hosting options, all the way from shared hosting plans to VPS, cloud-based, and dedicated plans. Price to performance is good but support is mixed. Some customers rave about the company while others hate it. As they say, “YMMV.” But overall, not a bad web hosting company.
GoDaddy
Like NameCheap, GoDaddy is better-known for its domain registration services. They do offer good starter-level web hosting packages all the way up to dedicated web server plans. GoDaddy is also, unfortunately, known for constant upsells and hidden charges. Their support is sub-par. But if you have a small site that doesn't need a lot of server horsepower, GoDaddy could fit the bill.