12 Best web hosting services for small businesses in 2023

No matter if you are planning to start even a blog site, take it as a business website when you thinking about making money from it.

Website performance mostly depends on a good hosting plan. Because nowadays, page speed is counted as a major ranking factor by most search engines, as well as good uptime is important. There are so many factors that make a hosting service better or worse.

Then you may ask what are the best web hosting services for small businesses and how to identify them.

I discussed almost everything about good web hosting after making some recommendations for the best-hosting companies. Read till the end and choose your best one.

10 Best Web Hosting Comparison Chart

What are The Best Web Hosting Services for Small Businesses?

Small business owners may try to reduce their costs from the initial investment. Definitely, it is a good practice while you get the proper essentials to start.

When you think about web hosting for your business website, then questions come for quality and price. You must have to use a good quality service and always have to look for also a good price. You can choose one from the following list.

1. Bluehost

Bluehost web hosting was established in 2007 and now host more than 3,000,000 website owner who find it is their best solution. It is the most popular and low-cost hosting option for new websites.

Bluehost maintains a strong uptime reputation (99.99%) belonging to super-fast speed. It is also officially recommended by WordPress.org. So no need to worry about it a second time if you want to launch your first WordPress site. 

One-click WordPress setup and SEO tools give you a massive facility as a beginner. Not only for beginners but also advanced users also keep Bluehost as their priority for its advanced feature. 

In addition to traditional shared hosting, Bluehost also offers dedicated, VPS, and managed WordPress hosting plans for higher-traffic websites. Bluehost has been optimized for WordPress since 2014. 

Bluehost also offers free email accounts, 24/7 live customer support, and SSL (security layer) on all plans. 

Bluehost covers everything you could need from a host. If you start with it, you'll never need to switch to any other hosting.

Key Features of Bluehost

1. Normal price $7.99/month
2. Free Domain 
3. Free SSL certificate
4. Recommended by WordPress
5. 30-days money-back guarantee
6. 99.99% Uptime
7. 0.74 seconds of loading speed
8. Undeniable Value for Money
9. Discounts with 36-month plans

Pros of Bluehost Best uptime (99.99%) Super-fast speed One-Click-Setup for WordPress  Easy to use and beginner-friendly Free domain and free site builder Very responsive customer support Low cost compared with competitor

Cons of Bluehost Discounts for large plans only Less storage on the basic plan  Potential CPU throttling

Price and Plans

The normal cost of the Basic Package is $7.99/month, but it will give you up to a 50% discount during the first purchase. You will get a free domain and website builder for the first year. With a large scale of storage and unlimited bandwidth, you will also get. 

Shared hosting plans include Basic, Plus, Choice, and Pro, and cost around $3.95 to $23.99 a month. Dedicated hosting plans include Standard, Enhanced, and Premium cost around $79.99 to $209.99 for a month. The costs of VPS plans are $19.99 to $119.99 per month. 

Build, Grow and Scale cost around $19.95/mo to $59.95/mo for WordPress. If you are looking for WooCommerce, you should spend from $6.95 to $31.99 for a month.

All hosting plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can start using them right away. Also offers 24/7 phone, live chat, and email support.

It is the best web hosting for startups, I think.

try bluehost now

2. SiteGround

Much like Bluehost, SiteGround offers WordPress hosting with every plan. A bunch of useful apps and one-click installations are available. SiteGround web hosting provider founded in 2004 and hosting over 2 million domains. 

Nowadays SiteGround is dominating with a strong fan base. It constantly deploys new updates to keep it that way. SiteGround is well-known for its best customer service, and its user base is growing so fast.

Its servers are ultra-fast, extremely secure, and running with a 99.9% annual uptime guarantee. That is why it is one of the WordPress-recommended hosts, along with DreamHost and Bluehost. 

SiteGround has a large scale of services, including managed WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, cloud hosting, and enterprise hosting belonging to dedicated servers. SiteGround runs through Google Cloud instead of having in-house servers.

You'll get automatic updates, streamlined security, and expert technical support. SiteGround will let you transfer for free on any of its plans if you're looking to move from an existing host. 

Key Features of SiteGround

1. Normally $14.99/month
2. Free SSL certificate
3. Free email, CDN
4. Regular backup
5. Best technical support
6. Great speed - 0.68s
7. Unmetered traffic
8. No-free domain on the basic plan
9. Recommended by WordPress
10. 30-day money-back guarantee
11. Best uptime - 99.99%

SiteGround Pros Sufficient load time  Stable uptime up to 99.99% Knowledgeable customer support Automatic WordPress updates Excellent knowledge base pages 24/7 "Guru" chat support 20+ free email accounts Automated daily backups

SiteGround Cons Setup fee required for monthly plans Limited cheap plan  Visitor limitation The renewal fee is a little bit higher.

Price and Plan

The cheapest StartUp plan designed for beginners starts at $6.99/mo (when you pay for the 12-month plan), and the renewal price is $14.99/mo. Shared hosting plan costs between $6.99/mo and $39.99/mo plans, including StartUp, GrowBig, and GoGreek.

WordPress and WooCommerce hosting plans are also the same as Shared plans both for name and price. And cloud hosting has four plans, including Entry, Business, Business Plus, and Superpower, and costs around $80.00/mo and $240.00/mo.

Customer support is available 24/7 via phone, chat, and email. All SiteGround hosting plans offer free website builder, email account, SSL, Cloudflare CDN, daily backups, SSH access, and an industry-standard 30-day money-back guarantee.

try siteground now

3. Hostinger 

Hostinger offers Shared, WordPress, VPS, and cloud hosting. Hostinger also owns Hosting24 hosting service Provider Company. It offers extremely affordable hosting plans with high quality and performance of service. 

Hostinger is transparent about server performance, but its uptime guarantee of 99.95% is considerably less than the standard 99.97-99.98%. Whatever its uptime, the website loading speed is super-fast. 

One of the best things is its extremely lower cost, so it is one of the best web hosting companies for small businesses. You can start your plan just by spending lower than a dollar. If you're looking to keep the cost of your hosting as low as possible, seriously think about Hostinger. 

Hosting providers offer such rates for their promotions, so you have to spend more on renewal prices. But I wanna share a simple hack with you, take a longer subscription to grab this lower cost.

Key Features of Hostinger

1. Normally $9.99/month
2. Free domain and SSL certificate
3. Real-time DDoS Protection
4. No Free Domain on Single Shared Plan
5. 30-day money-back guarantee
6. Most Affordable Hosting plan
7. WP Optimized with LSC
8. EU, US, UK & Asia Data Centers

Hostinger Pros Super-fast load time Very cheap pricing ($0.99/mo) 24/7 support chat Datacenters in US, Europe & Asia Free SSL certificate and domain

Hostinger Cons Free domain is not with all plans Limited bandwidth on a cheap plan Uptime is below standard

Price and Plans

Bandwidth and databases have no limitation unless you choose the Single Web Hosting plan. The cheapest Single hosting plan starts from $0.99/mo when you choose a 48-month payment plan, and renewals start at $2.15/mo. Pricing is pretty good for small business owners.

Hostinger provides services that include Shared Web Hosting, Cloud Hosting, VPS Hosting, Windows VPS Hosting, and Email Hosting. Costs vary from $0.99/mo to $300/mo. 

Free SSL certificate, 99.9% uptime guarantee, and 24/7/365 support available for all plans. But you won't get a free domain with the cheapest plan. All plans also come with an easy website builder and with a standard 30-day money-back guarantee.

try hostinger now

4. A2 Hosting 

US-based A2 Hosting was founded in 2002, hosting over 500,000 websites. It has a great reputation for its super-fast loading speed. So if you're looking for pure speed, this could be your best choice.

A2 Hosting is optimized for WordPress websites and they use LiteSpeed cache. Despite being the fastest host, average uptime has been hovering around 99.92% - 99.94%. It's not much, but it's more than 6 hours of downtime each year.

The company offers a variety of hosting plans, and all include a free SSL certificate and unlimited SSD storage. I like their free site migrations that include every hosting package. It'll save you dozens of hours and money trying to get your site rebuilt. 

The A2 hosting is well-known for working with all major content management systems, including WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, OpenCart, and Magento. It provides a one-click installer, so no need to require deep knowledge of programming. But A2 hosting also can be a great choice for web developers.

A2 Hosting has a reliable and responsive customer support team called "Guru Crew Support." Customers can connect 24/7/365 via live chat, phone, email, and tickets. 

Key Features of A2 Hosting

1. Normally $8.99/month
2. Free domain and SSL certificate
3. 30-day money-back guarantee
4. Optimized For WordPress
5. Offline Backups
6. Very Faster Servers
7. Free Site Migration
8. Site Builder
9. One-click installer

A2 Hosting Pros Fastest load time  WordPress optimized  Unlimited bandwidth and storage 24/7 "Guru" chat support 20+ email accounts Anytime money-back guarantee Windows server available for the shared hosting plan Excellent cloud hosting plans

A2 Hosting Cons Average uptime Higher renewal cost Priced higher than larger companies  The smallest plans are quite limited Somewhat slow control panel

Price and Plans

The cheapest plan starts at $2.96/mo (renews $8.99/mo) and comes with 1 website, 25 email accounts, a domain, free Cloudflare CDN, and unlimited bandwidth and disk space.

One trick to save money with A2 Hosting is to lock in the 63% discount for as long as possible and go for 36 months of billing. You'll get 2 years of hosting for free, which will bill for three years at once. It is good enough to launch a small business website today.

Besides regular shared hosting, they also offer dedicated VPS and reseller hosting for webmasters.

A2 Hosting provides both Windows and Linux shared hosting plans. Linux hosting is very common and best for basic sites like personal blogs. The starting Linux plan comes with unlimited storage and bandwidth and a free SSL certificate for your website. Windows hosting also offers the same, but Plesk Onyx 17.8 control panel is additional. 

try a2hosting now

5. GreenGeeks

GreenGeeks has been around for 12+ years and hosts over 500,000 websites around the world. GreenGeeks offers fast and reliable hosting at an affordable rate of $2.95/month with 99.98% uptime. 

Quality and environmentally friendly practices make GreenGeeks special. Some of the best eco-friendly web hosting solutions make it a great option for individuals or companies who are conscious of the environment.

Automatic 1-Click WordPress Installer and the auto-update system are available to keep your WordPress site up to date. To help you keep your data safe and secure, there have daily backups and advanced security features.

The migration system is free of cost. If you have a previous bad experience with any bad hosting service, then transfer your website here without worrying about it.

Overall I'm a big fan of GreenGeeks for their great service and eco-friendly web hosting plans. With their plans, you'll get everything you need to manage your website at a great price and quality

Key Features of GreenGeeks

1. Normally $9.95/month
2. Free Domain Name
3. Free Wildcard SSL certificate
4. Unlimited Disk Space
5. Unlimited Bandwidth
6. 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
7. 300% Green Websites
8. Best Security Features
9. Free CDN, Email
10. Developer Friendly
11. Offers on 3-year plans
12. Costly renewals
13. Limited backups

GreenGeeks Pros Good load time  Very good uptime  US, Canada & Netherlands servers Free site transfer Unlimited bandwidth and storage

GreenGeeks Cons Questionable refund policy High renewal cost Not sufficient backup

Price and Plans

You can start your plan with a basic Share hosting plan price starts at $9.95/mo. But you will get a huge discount for first-time purchases ($2.95/mo). You can choose the Premium shared hosting plan for your small business to get the best experience.

GreenGeeks also provides WordPress Hosting, VPS Hosting, and Reseller Hosting plans. If your website grows bigger, you can upgrade your hosting to more flexible VPS hosting. 

All plans come with a free domain, free SSL, PowerCacher, unlimited SSD storage, and unlimited data transfer. All plans also include a 30-day money-back guarantee.

If you need any help, they have an exceptional 24/7 support center for valuable customers, and a phone, chat, or via their ticket system is available. Their customer response is very quick.

try greengeeks now

6. HostGator   

HostGator, founded in 2002, is a popular hosting provider that is currently hosting over 2,000,000 websites. HostGator has a strong uptime (99.99%) and a great load speed.

HostGator is perfect for small business or personal blog web hosting, and it's a bit of a mixed bag. HostGator offers Windows hosting in addition to Linux, as well as a variety of options to upgrade. 

HostGator offers unlimited email accounts, unmetered bandwidth, unmetered disk space, and a built-in cache with all plans. If you want to build a custom website, you can use the Gator Website Builder. It is very easy to use for beginners because it is a very simple drag-and-drop system.

Key Features of HostGator

1. Normally $6.95/month
2. $2.75/month with an offer
3. 99.99% Uptime
4. Free Migration, SSL, and Backup
5. Drag And Drop Website Builder
6. Unmetered Space And Bandwidth
7. 55% Off On 12-month Plan
8. High Renewal Rate - $10.95
9. Free domain and SSL certificate
10. 45-day money-back guarantee

HostGator Pros 99.99% excellent uptime Super-fast speed Free website transfer No bandwidth and storage limit Multiple worldwide data center locations Unlimited email accounts Tons of features for shared hosting Email marketing

HostGator Cons Higher renewal cost No free domain offering

Price and plans

HostGator has three shared web hosting plans, and that are Hatchling, Baby, and Business. All plans come with unlimited disk space, 99.99% uptime, 24/7 support, and a 45-day money-back guarantee. Shared hosting plans start at $2.75 per month.

Other hosting services HostGator provides are WordPress Hosting, VPS Hosting, Dedicated Hosting, and Reseller Hosting. These hosting plans serve all-size organizations, from small businesses to enterprise websites.

You will get a 45-day money-back guarantee with all hosting plans.

try hostgator now

7. GoDaddy  

GoDaddy is one of the leading hosting solutions powering over 44 million websites all over the world. The company has 14 facilities around the globe and is well known as one of the largest domain registrars of all. 

GoDaddy also offers web hosting services suitable for small and very big businesses. Similar to SiteGround, they also don't have a personal server park. Instead, they are partnered with Amazon and rent from AWS.

The average uptime is 99.97%, and the page speed is around 554 ms, which shows that GoDaddy is a reliable provider. Drag-and-drop website builder (GoCentral) designed for beginners, is an excellent solution for building custom websites.

GoDaddy also offers a free domain for the first year, even on its basic plan. One year subscription to Microsoft Office 365 for email is an exceptional offer of GoDaddy. Unmetered data transfer and massive storage are also major benefits of GoDaddy's hosting plans.

Although its customer support has improved in recent years, GoDaddy is still lagging behind its competitors in this particular area. But GoDaddy's 24/7 phone support is very good.

Key Features of GoDaddy

1. Good load time 
2. Massive website storage
3. Uptime guarantee for 99.97%
4. Free Domain
5. Unmetered Bandwidth
6. Customer support is slow
7. No automatic backups
8. No migration service
9. Excellent website builder
10. Free Office 365 email with shared hosting

GoDaddy Pros Super-fast speed large storage Standard Uptime Free Domain and Office 365 email

GoDaddy Cons SSL & email costs extra No site migration No backups Pricing is higher than other major companies No 100% money-back guaranty

Price and Plans

The cheapest plan of GoDaddy Share hosting starts from $5.99/mo (renews at $13.99/mo) and comes with 100GB of website storage and unmetered bandwidth. Security monitoring and DDoS protection are included too.

GoDaddy's cheapest VPS hosting plan offers 1 vCPU and 1GB RAM, which is not sufficient to run a control panel. The second cheapest plan, which comes with 2 vCPU, is more reflective of VPS capabilities and prices. It starts at $6.99 per month. You can choose up to 8 vCPU.

Other plans include Dedicated Hosting, Reseller Hosting, and WordPress Hosting. Site backups, SSL certificates, and email accounts are not included in their cheapest plan. There have been some issues with the money-back guarantee, which is unclear.

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8. WPEngine 

As you may guess from its name, WPEngine is a WordPress hosting platform. People who think of managed WordPress hosting think of WPEngine, and it provides a truly excellent product.

As a managed WordPress host, WP Engine only serves WordPress users. Its entire infrastructure is optimized for WordPress, which makes WordPress sites so strong. Everything will be taken place automatically, which is needed in the call of time. 

There is virtually no downtime, and speed is ultra-fast. The price of WPEngine is much higher than others, as you will be getting a lot. WP Engine is the ultimate choice for any business running on WordPress.

WPEngine's Content Delivery Network (CDN) support is the most valuable feature you will get. This is a backend service that helps to grow your site performance geographically. 

A daily automated site backup system will make you tension-free. Customer support is also strong, highly competent, knowledgeable support staff available through tracked tickets and on live chat 24/7.

Key Features of WPEngine

1. Normally $30/month
2. Month-to-month pricing
3. Free domain and SSL certificate
4. 30-day money-back guarantee
5. Strong uptime and speed
6. Optimized only for WordPress
7. Automatic backup
8. CDN support
9. Bandwidth and SSD are limited

WPEngine Pros Excellent help and support Automated services to keep up-to-date Advanced features for pro users Great results for WordPress sites

WPEngine Cons Expensive entry-level plans Only for WordPress  Monthly visitor limitation

Price and Plans

Its four hosting plans are generated for large-scale business websites, while the first three come at a fixed price, and the last one is for a Custom plan. A fully managed WordPress host is more expensive than a shared hosting provider.

WP Engine's lowest-priced plan is $30/month and $25/month with a discount price, and that's only for one 10GB site with a max of 25,000 visitors/month. I don't recommend it for the initial level users, but it is the best web hosting company for small businesses to grow big.

try wpengine now

9. DreamHost  

DreamHost is one of the oldest web hosting providers, founded in 1996, and hosts over 1.5 million websites in more than 100 countries. So it gained a large and strong user base. DreamHost has an average uptime (99.94%) and a much more efficient speed making it a reliable hosting solution. 

DreamHost is different from many other web hosting services in its payment system, as it offers an option to pay monthly instead of yearly. That means you can sign up just for $4.95 and start using your hosting. You also can choose a 3-year plan which starts at $2.59/mo and renews at $4.95/mo.

Instead of standard cPanel, DreamHost offers a completely custom control panel to manage your website. The interface is also more user-friendly than the usual cPanel; many customers love it because of its special feature.

DreamHost is another one of WordPress's three recommended hosts and includes some managed WordPress-optimized features in its basic shared plans. All plans include 24/7 live chat support.

The company offers strong security features like free SSL and a variety of domain management tools. Bandwidth is unlimited, and load speed is good enough.

Key Features of DreamHost

1. Normally $2.59/month
2. Month-to-month pricing at $4.95
3. Recommended by WordPress
4. WordPress optimized
5. Free SSL & Backups
6. 97-Day money-back guaranty
7. Free Domain Name
8. One-click Installer
9. Custom cPanel

DreamHost Pros Good load time  Monthly plans available Unlimited bandwidth and storage Cheap shared hosting Great for storage

Dreamhost Cons Average uptime (99.94%) No standard cPanel Higher additional costs

Price and Plans

You can start your website just by spending $2.59/mo with Shared Starter. Another shared hosting plan is 'Shared Unlimited ($4.95/mo).' DreamHost also offers VPS Hosting, Cloud Hosting, and Managed WordPress Hosting.

Monthly plans under $3/mo are available if you pay annually. If you want technical support over the phone, you must pay an additional $9.95.The basic plan includes a free domain, a single website, unlimited bandwidth, and 50 GB SSD. The company has a generous 97-day refund policy of more than 3 months. It makes totally risk-free environment for startups.

try dreamhost now

10. InMotion 

The InMotion hosting company is running for over 15 years with a large scale of experience and gained the trust of a huge group of customers, nearly 170k. InMotion may not look flashy, but it's a solid web host with excellent technology, a variety of plans, and facilities.

All InMotion accounts come with unlimited data transfer and disk space at a lower cost.

You'll receive free SSL, free backups, and strong security protection.

In addition to shared hosting, InMotion offers managed WordPress, VPS, and Dedicated Hosting.InMotion provides two types of VPS hosting so you can get the exact amount of support or flexibility.

InMotion regularly runs promo pricing. Customer support is excellent; you can contact them via phone call, chat, or email. Free domain, SSL, email account, and trial are also available.

Key Features of InMotion

1. Normally $7.49/month
2. Free and unlimited email
3. 400+ Integrations
4. Free SSL & Domain
5. 90-Day Money-Back Guarantee
6. Unlimited Bandwidth, Email
7. DDOS Protection
8. Free Website Builder
9. Cap of 50,000 files on all shared plans

Pros of InMotion Highly trained customer support staff Unlimited disk space and free SSL  Unmetered bandwidth Best suits with small business

Cons of InMotion Month-to-month payment options are not included with all plan No Windows servers

Price and plan

You can start a plan with Shared Hosting starting at $2.49/mo, or you can choose VPS Hosting starting at $22.99/mo, WordPress Hosting starting at $4.99/mo, and Dedicated Hosting starting at $99.99/mo. 

Every hosting types have different kinds of plans, and the price is also varied. You will get a standard 90-day money-back guarantee when you choose any of them.

try inmotionhosting now

11. Site5 

Site5 is a web hosting company founded in 1998; after a few years, it was bought by Endurance International Group (EIG). EIG is well known as a major internet service provider that also owns better-performing brands, like Bluehost and HostGator.

Site5 has a solid 99.99% uptime and an average page loading time. It is perfect for the website designer and developer. As a beginner, you can also choose Site5 to get its beginner-friendly features.

You will get free SSL and a free domain with an advanced plan. Unfortunately, the basic plan doesn't include free SSL or a free domain. But unmetered disk space and bandwidth, 24/7 support, and backup recovery are included with all plans.

All of their plans come with an industry-standard 45-day money-back guarantee so that you can try them out safely.

Key Features of Site5

1. 99.99% uptime
2. Above-average speed (630 ms)
3. Free migrations
4. Unmetered bandwidth and storage
5. 45-day money-back guarantee
6. Backups available
7. Free SSL certificate
8. Free domain available

Site5 Pros Powerful servers Excellent uptime Regular backups Developer tools No cost for migration No limit on bandwidth and storage

Site5 cons Expensive pricing compared with others Limited cheap plan  Free domain and SSL only for the advanced plan Only US data centers No phone support

Price and Plan

Site5 provides services for Shared Hosting, VPS Hosting, and Reseller Hosting. Shared Hosting has three plans: hostBasic, hostPro, and hostPro + Turbo. Shared hosting costs between $4.34/mo and $16.74/mo

If you want to go for VPS hosting, then you have to pay $77.76/month. Without basic plans, you will get a free domain and SSL certificate, and also with this VPS plan.

try site5 now

12. WestHost 

WestHost is a hosting company owned by Ingenuity Ltd, which also owns MidPhase.

WestHost has had an average uptime of 99.98% and an average load time.

Speed is not enough to compete with the top ten hostings. However, cheap pricing, good uptime, and free CDN with site backups make them a good hosting provider.

WestHost doesn't offer free SSL; you have to buy an advance plan to get this facility. It may be a difficult choice for beginners because there is no one-click installer to install CMS like WordPress. The cheapest plan gives you FTP access only.

It is one of the cheapest web hosting solutions on the market, and you can start just by spending $1.99/mo for a 3-year plan. 

Unlike other providers, WestHost only offers standard shared hosting. If your website grows, you'll likely need to transfer your websites to any other host from WestHost.

You will get unlimited bandwidth and disk space with all plans. You also get an unlimited email address, a free domain, a website builder, and a risk-free 30-days money-back guarantee.

Key Features of WestHost

1. 99.98% uptime 
2. Cheap pricing
3. Free Cloudflare CDN
4. Backups included
5. SSL for the advanced plan only
6. No one-click-installer
7. 30-days money-back guaranty
8. Unlimited email account
9. Unmetered bandwidth and disk space

WestHost Pros Good uptime  Cheap pricing Free CDN and Backup Unlimited bandwidth, disk space, and email account

WestHost Cons Below average load time  SSL and a free domain for advanced plan No cPanel or auto-installer

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Different Types of Web Hosting

Shared hosting:

Multiple websites are housed on the same server and share their resources like disk space and bandwidth. The main advantage is its lower price. But there is the possibility to impact your site performance by other websites. If someone gets a massive traffic spike, it could impact all the sites on that server before the web host throttles their traffic.

VPS hosting:

VPS, or Virtual Private Server, is designed as one physical server that is divided into multiple virtual servers. Every website gets more resources and space here. You will get your IP address and less volatility in uptime. With VPS hosting, you can scale your resources based on your needs.

Cloud hosting: 

Cloud hosting is also similar to VPS hosting, but multiple servers are the specialty. It ensures maximum uptime of a website. For example, one server goes down and moves your website to another. That's why they call it "cloud" hosting. It also uses combined resources of multiple computing resources.

Dedicated hosting:

Dedicated hosting gives you an entire physical server and all its resources. No one else gets space on the dedicated server. You will be able to control and configure it however you want. It is suited for big and enterprise websites. 

Reseller hosting:

Where a middleman makes a deal between the hosting provider and website owner is called reseller hosting. Here resellers get hosting space to lease out third parties. 

E-commerce hosting:

This is not any separate type of web hosting, but it is only designed mainly for e-commerce purposes. 

Managed WordPress: 

like e-commerce hosting WordPress hosting is mainly designed to boost up WordPress sites. WordPress managed to host covers almost the same hosting needs as general web hosting services. However, its main focus is optimizing the performance of a WordPress site.

Which Hosting Plan Should You Get to Launch A Small Website?

Small sites should start with shared hosting. Any impact from other sites on the same site won't be major. This is the best option for any site that makes 50,000 visitors per month or less.

When you get over 50,000 visitors per month, move to cloud hosting, and then try to get a dedicated host if you need it. You can use a VPS hosting plan to meet your budget. 

Dedicated server hosting entails renting an entire server by one user. It is suitable for enterprise-level sites.

Cloud hosting is a relatively new technology that spreads your website across multiple interconnected servers to ensure better performance and security. To maintain your 100% uptime, you must choose this type of hosting plan.

WordPress hosting plan is only for WordPress CMS users, designed perfectly for what WordPress wants. If you are a WordPress site owner, then try it.

Things to Consider When Choosing Web Hosting for Business

Storage

Hosting storage is the main fact of your hosting plan. It refers to the virtual memory space on the server you can use. You'll often see "disk space" or "webspace" used synonymously for storage. 1GB of storage is more than enough for a startup.

Uptime

The amount of active server time that ensures your website is live and accessible to visitors. It expresses as a percentage. 100% uptime is impossible to guarantee, but anything less than 99.90% should be avoided.

For example, 99.97% is a good uptime guarantee, equating to about two hours and 40 minutes of downtime per year. Downtime occurs due to server maintenance. 

Bandwidth

Bandwidth refers to the data transfer rate between a server and website visitors. Hosting providers limit their bandwidth according to the hosting plan.

Control Panel

The basic interface allows you to edit and manage your hosted website. Most hosting providers use the popular cPanel control panel, although alternative options like Plesk and cPanel are also widely used as a control panel. Some hosting providers use their control panel. Make sure your control panel is user-friendly.

Backups

It is the process of storing newly updated versions of your files and databases. After losing them unexpectedly, you will regain your files if your hosting provider gives you automatic daily or weekly backup support. 

Speed

The speed of a hosting plan refers to your webpage loading time while users browse your website. Site speed is essential, as it is considered one of Google's ranking factors. Google emphasizes the user experience of your website, so site speed impact this experience badly.

Price

Always try to give a proper value to your price. A cheaper price doesn't mean a less valuable product or a higher price doesn't always give you a higher value. So don't judge anything just by seeing the price, try to make proper value.

Features

You always look for a rich-featured hosting plan. That includes simple CMS installing apps and all other functions you need. 

Support

As far as I know, almost all hosting providers ensure free customer basic support. Its free or paid matter is how they respond. Some providers give valuable support via chat, email, phone, or any other way and it is 24/7. Be sure your hosting provider also provides strong customer support.

Site Transfers

Site transfer is also known as site migration. It allows you to move your website to another server. It mainly transfers your files and databases to another hosting server. 

It configures your site with the new host and sets up your domain's DNS to the new host. 

When you pick a new host you can transfer your own, but the providers usually help you out with this process. Some providers offer this process free of cost, and others demand charges can $150-$400.

HostGator and GreenGeeks, offer free web transfers service. For paid transfers, you can transfer to more than one site. For example, Bluehost offers $149.99 to migrate 5 websites and 20 email accounts. The site transfer process will take a few days.

Renewal Rates

Most web hosting providers charge double or triple their price when it's time to renew your plan. The features and performance you get from the plan stay the same as before, but you'll have to pay more when you renew it.

Sometimes hosting providers offer a free domain with a hosting plan; be sure this is for the first year. And its renewal price is much higher than the regular price. So be careful when you buy your domain and hosting for the first time.

Email Account

Email accounts are important to grow your online marketing. Some hosting providers offer free email accounts, and some are not. Autoresponder and email forwarding services are also essential for your email account. 

Autoresponder responds to your customer automatically, and email forwarder forward mails to another mail account where you feel more comfortable, like a Gmail account.

All SiteGround, HostGator, A2 Hosting, and Hostinger hosting plans include a free email account.GoDaddy includes a free business email with their basic plan only for the 1st year. iPage and GreenGeeks let users create unlimited email accounts, and they also offer email forwarding and autoresponder for free.

Changing Your Hosting Plan

When you intend to open a new website, then you may start with a basic hosting plan. But it would be best if you changed your hosting plan while your site is growing gradually. So advanced hosting plan is required. In this case, you should take a view on an advanced hosting plan while you intend to buy a basic plan if you want to make it initially scale up.

SSL

Secure Sockets Layer, or SSL, is the encryption system of connection between a web server and a web browser. SSL-protected sites ensure security to you as the website owner and also inspire trust in site visitors. SSL-protected websites have URLs that begin with "HTTPS" and feature a padlock icon in the address bar, but non-SSL-protected sites have URLs with "HTTP." SSL is too much important to gain visitors' trust.

Bluehost, DreamHost, HostGator, SiteGround, and iPage offer a free SSL certificate in all their hosting plans. Only a few providers offer a free SSL certificate. So grab this offer.

Domain

some hosting providers offer a free domain with their hosting plan. It is free for the first year. Look at their regular charge for a domain and compare it with the renewal charge of the free domain. That is ok if the charge is the same or almost the same. Otherwise, it can be a marketing trap.

Conclusion 

For just about everyone, free hosting is not worth it if you want to attract more visitors to your website. Always try to get the best web hosting services for your small business or blog.

Web hosting is not where you should save money. If you're worried about the price of hosting, I'd say you need to worry about generating revenue and traffic before trying to save a few extra dollars by cutting hosting costs.

A free host is only good for something like an event one-pager or an extremely small, extremely low-traffic site. If you are doing either of those things, you should still skip the free host route and jump straight to a free website builder that'll let you link your site to a custom domain for free, like UCraft or Google Sites. They're both very basic limited builders but are easier to get up and running than a free web host.

That being said, some great free and discount web hosting plans exist for nonprofits and educators. If that's you and you want to know more, head over to my best free web host review. I go into lots of detail there.

Frequently asked questions

Q1: Can I transfer my small business website to a different hosting provider?

A: It is possible to transfer your small business website to a different hosting provider.

Here's a general process for transferring your website:

• Choose a new hosting provider and sign up for a hosting plan that meets your requirements.
• Back up your website files, databases, and any other necessary data from your current hosting account.
• Set up your domain on the new hosting provider and configure DNS settings.
• Upload your website files and databases to the new hosting account.
• Test your website on the new hosting to ensure everything functions correctly.
• Update any necessary configurations, such as email settings or domain redirects, to reflect the changes.
• Once you are confident that the new hosting is working as expected, cancel your old hosting account.

Q2: What factors should I consider when choosing a web hosting service for my small business?

A: When selecting a web hosting service for your small business, several factors should be considered to ensure you make an informed decision.

Here are some key factors to keep in mind:

• Reliability and uptime: Look for a hosting provider with a high uptime guarantee (ideally 99.9% or higher) to ensure your website remains accessible to visitors.

• Performance and speed: Consider hosting providers with fast server response times and solid-state drives (SSDs) to ensure optimal website performance.

• Scalability: Choose a hosting service that allows your website to easily scale as your business grows, enabling you to handle increased traffic and resource demands.

• Security: Ensure the hosting provider offers robust security features, such as SSL certificates, regular backups, and malware scanning, to protect your website and customer data.

• Customer support: Look for hosting providers with responsive and knowledgeable customer support, as timely assistance can be crucial in resolving technical issues.

• Pricing and value: Consider your budget and compare hosting plans, features, and pricing to balance affordability and the services offered.

• Ease of use: Look for a hosting provider with a user-friendly control panel or interface making it easy for you to manage your website and hosting settings.

Q3: What is shared hosting, and is it suitable for small businesses?

A: Shared hosting is a type of hosting where multiple websites share resources on a single server. It is generally the most affordable hosting option. Shared hosting can suit small businesses with moderate website traffic and relatively simple websites. Here are some pros and cons of shared hosting:

Pros:

• Cost-effective: Shared hosting plans are usually inexpensive, making them suitable for small businesses on a tight budget.
• User-friendly: Shared hosting providers often offer user-friendly interfaces and tools to manage websites and hosting settings.
• Maintenance and updates: The hosting provider handles server maintenance, updates, and security, allowing you to focus on your business.

Cons:

• Limited resources: Since resources are shared among multiple websites, you may experience slower performance during peak traffic times.
• Security risks: If one website on the shared server is compromised, it could also affect other websites.
• Limited customization: Shared hosting plans may have limitations on software installations or server configurations, limiting customization options.

Q4: What is VPS hosting, and when should small businesses consider it?

A: VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting is a type of hosting that uses virtualization technology to divide a physical server into multiple virtual servers. Each VPS operates independently, offering dedicated resources and greater control compared to shared hosting. Small businesses should consider VPS hosting when:

• They require more control and customization options compared to shared hosting.
• Their website experiences higher traffic volumes, and shared hosting resources are insufficient.
• They need enhanced security features and isolated hosting environments.
• They run resource-intensive applications or websites that require dedicated resources.

Q5: What is dedicated hosting, and when is it recommended for small businesses?

A: Dedicated hosting involves renting an entire physical server for your website. It provides the highest level of performance, security, and customization options. Small businesses may consider dedicated hosting when:

• They have high traffic websites or resource-intensive applications that demand maximum performance.
• They require complete control over server configurations, operating systems, and software installations.
• They handle sensitive customer data and need the highest level of security.
• They have the budget to invest in a dedicated server, as it is typically more expensive than shared or VPS hosting.

Q6: What is cloud hosting, and why is it beneficial for small businesses?

A: Cloud hosting is a flexible and scalable hosting solution where your website is hosted on a network of interconnected virtual servers, forming a cloud infrastructure.

Cloud hosting offers several benefits for small businesses:

• Scalability: Cloud hosting allows you to easily scale your resources up or down based on your website's needs, ensuring optimal performance during traffic spikes or growth periods.
• Reliability: The distributed nature of cloud hosting reduces the risk of downtime since your website is not reliant on a single server.
• Cost-efficiency: Cloud hosting often follows a pay-as-you-go pricing model, allowing you to pay only for the resources you use, making it cost-effective for small businesses.
• Backup and recovery: Cloud hosting providers usually offer automated backups and disaster recovery options, ensuring the safety of your website data.
• Global reach: With multiple server locations worldwide, cloud hosting can help small businesses efficiently serve their customers from various locations.

Q7: What is the difference between managed and unmanaged hosting?

A: The terms "managed" and "unmanaged" hosting refers to the hosting provider's technical support and maintenance level. Here's the difference between the two:

• Managed hosting: In managed hosting, the hosting provider takes care of technical tasks such as server setup, updates, security, backups, and performance optimization. This allows you to focus on your business while the provider handles the technical aspects.
• Unmanaged hosting: Unmanaged hosting requires you to handle all technical aspects of your server, including setup, maintenance, security, and updates. It offers more control and customization options but requires technical expertise or dedicated IT staff to manage the server effectively.

Q8: How important is website speed and performance for small businesses?

A: Website speed and performance play a crucial role in the success of small businesses. Here's why it's important:

• User experience: A fast-loading website ensures visitors have a positive experience, reducing bounce rates and increasing engagement.
• SEO benefits: Search engines like Google consider website speed as a ranking factor, meaning faster websites are more likely to rank higher in search results.
• Conversions and sales: Slow websites can negatively impact conversion rates and sales. Studies show that even a one-second delay in page load time can result in reduced conversions.
• Competitive advantage: A fast website gives your small business a competitive edge, as users are more likely to choose a website that offers a smooth and fast browsing experience.

Q9: How can I ensure the security of my small business website with web hosting?

A: To ensure the security of your small business website, consider the following measures:

• Choose a reputable hosting provider that offers robust security features such as SSL certificates, regular backups, and malware scanning.
• Keep your website's software, plugins, and themes up to date to patch any security vulnerabilities.
• Implement strong passwords for your hosting account, CMS, and any other login credentials associated with your website.
• Regularly monitor your website for any suspicious activities or unauthorized access.
• Consider implementing a web application firewall (WAF) to add an extra layer of protection against common threats.
• Backup your website regularly and store backups in a secure location separate from your hosting server.

Q10: How does a web server work?

The web server is your connection to the World Wide Web. It relies on the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) to pass the user requests from the web browser to the server itself and send back the requested resources (web pages composed of HTML, PHP, and JS or a video stream, for example). 

A server can typically store one or multiple websites and all their data, components, and applications. This makes it an essential, or rather, the most essential part of web hosting services.

Computer servers need solid hardware to function. On top of it, the webserver setup typically includes operating systems, network connectivity suites, firewalls, security, and performance tools. 

Hosting providers can split a web server so multiple clients can utilize its resources (shared hosting) or rent an entire server to a single user (dedicated services).

Q11: What are the main differences between shared hosting and VPS?

Shared and VPS hosting have one thing in common – one server is divided into portions and split between multiple users. The key difference is that the virtual private server's residents are much fewer than the clients on a shared machine. This carries a few obvious benefits. 

Fewer clients grant more resources to each user, which helps achieve better speeds and overall performance.

VPS users are isolated in a way that neighboring accounts can't harm other projects.

Virtual servers are more scalable and offer greater control and customization options.

Still, the shared environment is often much cheaper and the majority of hosting clients use this type of service.

Q12: What's hosting bandwidth?

Bandwidth is one of the key elements of web hosting. It represents the maximum data transfer rate of a network connection. The more bandwidth your host allows – the more traffic your website can handle.

While some companies put caps on this resource, many of the best web hosting providers prefer to offer unlimited or unmetered bandwidth. This might seem perfect, but such hosts often limit other assets so you will run into a wall long before you exhaust your allocated traffic. 

Q13: What kind of hosting do I need?

Choosing the right hosting package is no easy task and should not be taken lightly. Instead of rushing into a decision, you'd better figure out a few answers by yourself:

1. Do you need a Linux or Windows environment?
2. How big is your website (going to be)?
3. How much do you know about hosting, i.e. how much extra support you might need?
4. Do you need any particular add-ons or software to run your project smoothly?
5. How much is your monthly hosting budget?

If you have the answers to all those questions, you can safely contact potential hosts and check which one best meets your website requirements.

It is important to understand that creating a successful website is a long-term investment. That's why understanding the right context is crucial to outline your specific needs and help you choose the best web hosting provider.

Q14: What are the different types of hosting?

Hosting companies are home to web-based projects and make them accessible on the internet. This includes setting up the hardware, ensuring a stable environment, storing client data, and many more complimentary services.

Depending on their server and network setup, web hosts can provide:

– Shared hosting

– VPS servers

– Cloud server hosting

– Dedicated servers

– Colocation services

– Reseller hosting