What Web Hosting Is Best?

What web hosting is best for your website? In this article, we’ll review the top 10 best web hosting providers to help you decide which is best for you.

What is a web host?

A web host is an online service provider that will upload and keep your website online.

They will upload all your website’s information on to a server, which can then be accessed by anyone in the world. Simple right? 

Well, it is a bit more tricky than that, as finding the right web host for your website’s needs can be very difficult as there so many!

Click here to compare all web hosting services.

Top 10 Web Hosting Providers

Bluehost – Great All-Rounder

Click here to see Bluehost hosting plans.

Recommended as one of the top WordPress providers, by WordPress.org itself, Bluehost has a ton of features that will help you set up a killer website.

Firstly, Bluehost is one of the most reliable hosts on the market with a total uptime (the amount of time a server stays up and running for) of 99.99%, meaning your site will always be online to engage with visitors. 

Compared to other web hosts, we found Bluehost’s base plan to be very good value for money at £3.02 per month.

For that price, Bluehost will provide you with a ton of features including an automated WordPress set up, an SEO tool you can use to analyze how highly your website is ranking for certain keywords, and a Weebly-based website builder.

We think the best feature about Bluehost is it’s support teams, who are available 24/7 via phone or live chat, and are seriously good when it comes to troubleshooting your problems. 

We recommend Bluehost to anyone setting up a new website as the host that can offer you the most!

GoDaddy – A Reliable Option

Click here to see GoDaddy hosting plans.

GoDaddy is probably the most well-known name on this list. It’s reliable, it’s basic plans are fairly inexpensive, and provides you with a ton of features.

It’s 99.99% uptime and fast page loading speeds also means visitors to your website won’t get frustrated when waiting for your pages to load, enabling you to get better conversion rates on your site!

We love GoDaddy’s domain buying system.

You can pick up a free domain and free email address for your first year of use with the platform on its basic plan.

However be warned, after the first year you’ll have to start paying a bit extra for the service, but that is a small price to pay for a seriously secure and reliable web hosting agent. 

Check out our more detailed GoDaddy guide here (insert link) if you want to learn more about their cost-effective pricing plans!

123 Reg – The Biggest UK Domain Registrar

Click here to see 123 Reg hosting plans.

It doesn’t get more reliable than this. Being the biggest UK domain registrar on the web is why a lot of people love to use 123 Reg.

Coming in as one of the cheapest web hosts at £2.50 for its basic plan, you’ll get a load of features including a free domain name, a free SSL certificate, and a free email address.

Plus if you’re stuck for time, you can even ask 123 Reg to set up a site for you, using their professional web building service. 

123 Reg also has a great 24/7 customer support team that can be reached by phone, live chat or on Twitter.

Plus their online resource support center is great for the novices out there looking to either troubleshoot a problem or learn more about how this web hosting platform works!

Site Ground – A Great Option For Smaller Businesses 

Click here to see Siteground hosting plans.

Looking for a hosting service that can tailor itself to your needs?

Site Ground is a great choice for small businesses, offering you a fast performing host that has only a 0.01% server downtime, meaning your business will rarely be offline and you won’t miss out on any valuable customers. 

Plus with this host, you can start off at the basic £5.99/month StartUp plan and as your business grows, move through their plans as the traffic of your site starts to increase.

We think Site Ground is a great option for small businesses because it has a brilliant customer support network.

This host offers 24/7 round the clock live chat, with its support agents are actively looking to help you have the best user experience possible.

It seems also looking at the site’s TrustPilot reviews, 93% of users have rated the service 5 stars, with many saying their support staff were helpful and quick to respond. 

For small businesses, having your problems addressed fast and accurately is important to ensure your website isn’t down for too long enabling you to keep trading and engaging with your customers. 

iPage – A Great Option For Students

Check out iPage hosting plans.

Looking for something cheap that will get you set up quickly?

Well for £1.50 per month, iPage can offer you all the core features you’d expect to find on your web hosting service, plus an easy to use drag-and-drop website builder, a free email address, SSL certificate, and enhanced security systems. For £1.50 that’s an absolute steal! 

You’re probably thinking, well this sounds great, but what’s the catch?

Unfortunately, iPage doesn’t have the best uptime (99.96%), but what it does lack in uptime it makes up for in speed as it only takes 746ms to load a page, which is vital as having a fast loading page has been known to help bring in greater activity to your site.

iPage is not something we’d recommend for businesses or organizations wanting to set up a website, but it is the perfect option for students on a budget or anyone looking to start a project online. 

Hostinger – The cheapest option

Click here to see Hostinger hosting plans.

Ever thought you could buy a website for 99p?

If you’re wondering what web hosting is the cheapest, Hosting is definitely one of them!

Although for the price you’ll expect the bare bones, Hostinger’s 99p introductory service can provide your site with an extremely fast loading time of 350ms!

Even then, it’s premium and business packages are still very reasonably priced and contain several great features, including unlimited websites, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited email, and a free SSL certificate, making Hostinger a seriously cost-effective alternative. 

One of our other favorite things about Hostinger is their commitment to efficiency, developing their own custom dashboard to help you manage your installed applications, websites, and account details all in one place.

We found the user interface seriously easy to navigate and it made our site-building experience that whole lot easier. 

For its usability, we’d definitely recommend Hostinger to anyone who is a newbie to web design and hosting.  

Cloudways – #1 For Managed Cloud Hosting 

Click here to see Cloudways hosting plans.

Thinking of setting up a WordPress site on a cloud server?

If you’re wondering what web hosting provider gives you a scalable service, this is it. Cloudways acts as an intermediary and connects you to a cloud provider, like Amazon Web Services, Digital Ocean or Google Cloud.

From there, Cloudways lets you set up your site and supports not only WordPress but a variety of other web development platforms. 

As opposed to other traditional hosting services, Cloudways has a couple of stand out features like its auto-healing feature that actively resolves issues on your site, meaning you don’t have to deal with them yourself!

Plus if you’re worried about hackers and site security, Cloudways has its own dedicated firewall and two-factor authentication that stops hackers from infiltrating your site. 

As the top site for managed cloud hosting, Cloudways is an efficient, secure, and easy way to set up your WordPress site with a single click.

GreenGeeks – Eco-Friendly Hosting

Click here to see GreenGeeks hosting plans.

If you’re wondering what web hosting is the most eco-friendly, this is it!

Using renewable energy to replace 3 times the power they use, GreenGeeks give an insight into the future of how web hosting might look.

It goes unnoticed the resources we use up when we surf the web, and one of the reasons why we love GreenGeeks is because of its commitments to sustainability. 

Another feature we found great about this service is its nightly backups.

The security knowing your content is safe day-after-day is a massive luxury and comes at no extra cost, unlike what you may find with other hosting services.

Plus this host also has an enhanced security system that scans your files, to detect and remove any malware compromised data, meaning your site will remain safe on the web.

With fast loading speeds and great customer support, GreenGeeks provide a low-cost alternative that leaves a small footprint on the environment and on your bank account. 

WP Engine – Designed specifically For WordPress

If you’re deciding what web hosting is best for WordPress websites, WP Engine is definitely one of them.

With their wealth of big clients like National Geographic, PBS, National Rail, and Microsoft, you’ll feel in safe hands with this hassle-free WordPress hosting service. 

Built specifically for those wanting to set up a WordPress site, you can build a stunning website with any one of its free bank of WordPress themes that are each search engine optimized to help your site rank higher on Google, and ultimately gain more leads.

Plus its innovative Global Edge Security systems provide you with enhanced firewalls and cyber-attack deterrents mean you can run your business through WP Engine comfortably knowing your customer’s information and your site’s data will be safe from hackers and other threats. 

HostGator – Unlimited Bandwidth and Storage 

Click here to see HostGator hosting plans.

HostGator is a great option for businesses that need unlimited storage and bandwidth, but for the lowest price available on a shared plan.

Each plan will give you an unmetered bandwidth, allowing you to have as many visitors to your site as you can manage, plus unlimited storage space too, meaning it is the perfect platform for medium to large businesses operating with high volumes of traffic!

Despite this HostGator does offer some services for smaller businesses, with their shared hosting plans offering you great flexibility to choose how long you want your plan to run for.

You can pick either a 1, 3, 6, 12, 24, or 36-month base plan and easily renew or cancel your plan after your plan has expired.

HostGator can provide a great option if you are looking to either save money or trial a new hosting service!

Liquid Web – Best uptime

Click here to see Liquid Web hosting plans.

If you can afford Liquid Web’s higher fees, you’ll be in illustrious company with clients like MTV, Ducati, FedEx, American Airlines, and BOSE.

Surrounded by these big corporates, you’ll know you’re website is in safe hands.

If you have a large website in terms of traffic, and want to know what web hosting has the best uptime, this is it. 

If you’re wondering what web hosting can offer the most reliable uptime, this is it! Liquid Web’s dedicated servers can offer you a guaranteed 100% uptime, the best we have seen yet.

Plus its high-security features include VPNs, firewalls, and malware scanners means your website will constantly be well monitored and secure from any online threats.

Plus its packages come with 24/7 online support and an automatic back-up feature meaning you can rest assured that if you lose and data or encounter any issues, someone will be on standby to help you get your site up and running again quickly.

Click here to compare all web hosting services.

The Bottom Line

When deciding what web hosting you need, you want to pick a web host that is cost-effective, has all the security features you need, as well as being able to handle the amount of traffic your site receives.

Get this right, and your website will be reliable and work as fast as possible – which is a factor Google considers when ranking your site in search engine results.

Providing the best value for money service, for the best array of features, Bluehost is our top pick as the best hosting provider that can help small and medium-sized businesses get online quickly. 

When deciding what web hosting service you’re going to use, ask yourself these questions:

How much storage space does your website need?

How much are you willing to spend on your web hosting service?

What web hosting service can provide the support and security features you need to run your website? 

5 things to consider when deciding what web hosting service to use

When deciding what web hosting is best for you, there are several features you need to consider to ensure you get the best service possible.

When purchasing a new hosting service remember to keep these 5 features in mind: 

Speed 

40% of people will abandon a website if it doesn’t load within 3 seconds (Kissmetrics).

This is why it’s extremely important to run your site through a hosting service that can offer you the fastest loading times so you don’t miss out on valuable leads turning away from your site.

Uptime

Uptime is another important factor ensuring you don’t miss out on potential customers accessing your site.

Make sure you pick for the web host that has the least amount of server downtime possible.

Liquid Web offers a 100% uptime showing their servers are rarely offline. 

24/7 Customer Support

Having a customer support service that is available 24/7 is imperative if you are a newbie navigating the tricky and intricate world of web hosting.

Take a look at Cloudways for a hosting service that can offer you a great, round the clock live support, or GoDaddy if you feel you’ll need phone support.

Regular Back-Ups

You can’t put a value on having your stuff fully backed-up.

We’ve all been in that situation where we have lost some data to the cloud, it’s a nightmare to recover.

Don’t risk not having your business data backed up regularly as you could lose money and time trying to recover your information.

If you’re wonder what web hosting provides daily backups included in the price, check out GreenGeeks.

Value For Money

Web hosts can provide you with a lot of features, but finding the service that can offer you the most features for the best price plays should be an important factor for you on deciding which host to use.

If you’re trying to decide what web hosting is the cheapest for basic hosting plans, check out Hostinger or Bluehost where you can register domains, host your website, and complete several other features, for a very cheap price. 

FAQs 

What web hosting is best for a new website?  

Shared hosting plans are incredibly affordable and are more than adequate for small businesses with a new website or blog with low website traffic.

As the website grows and gains more traffic you can upscale your hosting for cloud or VPS hosting to provider greater reliability, security and speed.

Should I use cloud hosting?

Cloud hosting is the best web hosting for busy or growing websites, as it is stable, offers fast speeds and is secure.

For smaller or new websites with low traffic, the cost of cloud hosting may be off-putting, and the features may be unnecessary.

Instead we’d recommend a reliable, fast, shared web hosting plan, with a view to migrating to VPS or cloud hosting as the website grows.

How do I know which web hosting service provider is best for me?

The best way to find a web hosting service provider is to first outline how much traffic you expect to get and how much control you want over the hosting.

This lets you systematically compare the qualities of each host for how well they match up to your requirements, rather than being taken in by a service with exciting features or nice prices that ultimately isn’t right for you.

What is meant by web hosting?

Web hosting is when you pay for a company to put your website on their servers, making it accessible to the general public. It’s separate from actually creating the website, and similar to paying a newspaper to carry your ad – it’s how you get your website ‘out there’ online.

What are the types of web hosting?

There are four basic kinds of web-hosting: shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting and cloud hosting.

Shared hosting and VPS hosting give your website a place on a server with the websites of other customers.

With shared hosting, your site has to compete for resources like server space and bandwidth with those other sites; for VPS hosting, each site has a pre-allocated amount of resources.

Dedicated hosting bucks this trend by giving your site its own server. This offers great flexibility and performance, but comes with added complexity – setting up a webserver isn’t easy.

Cloud-hosting takes a different approach. Rather than your website living on just one server, copies of it live on multiple servers at once.

This makes it a lot more resilient to crashes and downtime, and can also scale to high levels of traffic far better than any other option. It’s also usually more time-consuming and expensive to set up, however.

What is the cheapest way to host a website?

The cheapest way to host a website is to use one of the many free website hosters, like WordPress or Wix. Although these services don’t give you much control over how your website looks or feels, they make it easy to get something online and publicly-accessible without spending a penny.

How does web hosting work?

The way web hosting works is that whenever you visit a website, you’re really just downloading a copy of it from someone’s computer. A computer specialised at sending web pages out to visitors is, unsurprisingly, called a server.

Web hosting is simply paying a company with lots of powerful servers to host your website for you.

What kind of web hosting do I need?

What web hosting you’ll need depends on the size of your website.

You will need different kinds of web hosting depending on the size of your website. Small, independent sites are usually perfectly fine with shared hosting, whereas those for small businesses will likely need to upgrade to VPS hosting.

As your audience grows, it’ll become necessary to sign up for a dedicated server plan so you can squeeze out as much performance as possible from your hardware.

Cloud-based hosting is the most advanced and scalable option, which makes it the best choice for very large businesses that handle lots of traffic online, or need providers with very high uptime ratings.

What is cPanel for hosting?

cPanel for hosting is a website control panel which makes it easier to manage a website. Rather than needing to write code or manually configure a web-server, you can use a graphical interface to change things like the passwords of your users or the software it runs.

Many web hosting providers will set up cPanel for you when you sign up for a plan with them, including HostGator and BlueHost.

Still deciding what web hosting is best for you? You can compare all web hosting prices and features to find a provider.

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