Thanks to the Internet, nonprofits can spread awareness and drive donations much easier than before. Here is why the most streamlined nonprofits rely on their websites to connect their potential donors, the press, and volunteers. To provide seamless and secure operating, however, those websites need to be hosted reliably. If large businesses and even startups can afford top-dollar hosting services, the budget of a nonprofit is strictly limited. And yet, if your organization doesn’t expect any profit from its activity, you shouldn’t settle for a less-than-ideal website hosting solution.
Today the market is full of various options, not all of which are worth your time. Some of the cheapest hosts lack the essential security features necessary to accept donations while others require expert skills in building and running a website whether commercial or nonprofit.
Anyway, the best website hosting providers ensure great service with reliable performance and affordable plans. Here we have reviewed most of them to narrow down the circle and help you make the right choice. Our research was based on such features as affordability, security, site building software, reliability, customer support, and a range of suggested features. As a result, we chose only those services which offer the best value for your money.
When you pick the solution that perfectly fits your project requirements, you can host your nonprofit website on a budget yet without compromising on quality.
1. Hostinger
| Product Name: | Hostinger |
| Official Website: | hostinger.com |
| Launched: | 2004 |
| Websites Powered: | 3,375,963 |
| Test Plan: | Free hosting available |
| Cheapest Plan: | $1.99/month |
| Refund: | 30 days |
Hostinger is a web hosting company that provides cheap yet quality hosting for nonprofits worldwide. Established in 2004, the company has grown to become one of the largest and trusted hosting providers in the modern niche.
Due to the integrated DIY website builder, Hostinger makes it possible to create and customize websites without must-have coding skills. It comes with a range of templates and drag-and-drop functionality, offering advanced AI tools for content management, logo creation and brand name generation.
Hostinger allows registering domain names for your website directly through their platform. Free domain, by the way, is offered to the system subscribers for the first year of working with it.
The host is also concerned with your website safety, offering advanced security features to protect your project from all kinds of threats. Along with the free SSL Certificate, it offers Bitninja included in all plans, SpamAssassin, reliable DDoS protection, firewalls to monitor and filter incoming traffic etc.
What’s more, Hostinger provides Linux and Windows solutions, multi language support, intuitive website design options along with integrated eCommerce features.
Currently, the software offers several types of hosting to choose from. These include shared, cloud, VPS, WordPress and Titan Email Hosting. The cost starts at $1.99/mo for the cheapest shared Hostinger plan. The price increases as your project requires more hosting solutions, tools and integrated features.
2. InMotion Hosting
| Product Name: | InMotion Hosting |
| Official Website: | inmotionhosting.com |
| Launched: | 2001 |
| Websites managed: | 942,247 |
| Test Plan: | No |
| Cheapest Plan: | $2.99/month |
| Refund: | 90 days |
InMotion Hosting – is one of the most widely-used hosting providers that has been in the business since 2001. The service has much to offer both to business owners and nonprofits who don’t have much funds to invest into their projects yet need a trusted host to get started. You can choose and sign up for various types of hosting plans here – the company currently offers subscriptions for shared, reseller, VPS, dedicated hosting as well as WordPress packages. Hosting eCommerce websites is possible here as well – InMotion allows for WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop hosting etc.
With over two decades in the industry, InMotion has won a good reputation for offering high-quality, feature-packed services. One of its highlights is excellent performance, especially in terms of uptime and speed. According to recent estimates and customer reviews, the company ensures around 99.9% uptime guarantee due to powerful integrated infrastructure. The system also offers free SSL Certificates, free domain name connection, migration options along with advanced security solutions.
Special attention should be given to the eco-friendly hosting approach the company adheres to. It offers green hosting solutions aimed at the reduction of carbon output into the atmosphere, which is achieved by server improvements.
Despite its multiple strong points, InMotion Hosting has its demerits. Users occasionally complain about performance issues and high renewal rates. The latter are frequently higher than initial introductory prices. Thus, the cheapest shared hosting plan costs $2.99/mo for the introductory term. Upon its end, the price grows up to $10.99/mo. The starting cost of VPS hosting constitutes $9.99/mo and grows up to $16.99.mo afterwards. The same tendency is observed with each InMotion Hosting plan.
3. DreamHost
| Product Name: | DreamHost |
| Official Website: | dreamhost.com |
| Launched: | 1996 |
| Websites managed: | 633,564 |
| Test Plan: | No |
| Cheapest plan: | $2.95/mo |
| Refund: | - |
Dreamhost – is a secure and full-featured web hosting for newbies, which boasts quite a long history and has much to offer to its customers. The company makes it possible to choose from several types of plans for shared, VPS, WordPress and dedicated hosting. The services and tools available in stock here guarantee fast and secure website performance for high search engine ranking.
With DreamHost, you have an opportunity to register a domain name or even several of them, get access to personalized email hosting services and advanced security features that can ensure the utmost project protection. What’s important, the software comes with the built-in website builder. Its intuitive drag-and-drop interface simplifies the process of website creation and customization that does not require any coding awareness at all.
Just like any other hosting provider, DreamHost has a number of negative issues that may affect user’s decision to choose the company. It does not use cPanel, which may be inconvenient for customers who are used to working with this popular control panel interface. The company offers Linux-based hosting only, while its support options are currently limited to email and live chat.
When it tackles the pricing aspect, DreamHost offers three types of subscriptions, namely Shared, DreamPress, VPS plans as well as dedicated servers. Each package targets a certain audience and includes a predefined toolset/features. The cost of the cheapest subscription currently constitutes $2.95/mo.
Final Thoughts
The choice of a website hosting provider for a nonprofit is a responsible task since you not only have to pay for it out of the organization’s funds, but it will also influence the functioning of the site. There is a wide range of features and specifications to consider before making the final decisions. For an ordinary site holder with no developer skills, the task appears a little overwhelming.
Relying solely on grants and donations means you have to think twice before spending a penny on anything. Due to such restrictions, as well as comparatively modest expectations unlike businesses that aim for aggressive growth, your nonprofit organization should choose more affordable hosting solutions. All the website providers reviewed in this article have been proven secure and applicable for nonprofits. They offer affordable pricing paired with excellent performance thanks to the wide array of features and multiple plan options.
All of them offer site-building platforms with premium marketing features that can be used to the benefit of your nonprofit organization. Hostiger offers Linux/Windows hosting along with multilingual support. InMotion Hosting has powerful data centers worldwide and is considered a green hosting. DreamHost is effective service ranked high by users worldwide. What unites them all is the perfect blend of affordable pricing and security.
