Years ago, creating and maintaining a website for a business was quite a costly and long-winded affair. You had to hire an expert web designer, pay monthly to specialists who’d maintain the site, and, eventually, fork out on a costly website hosting plan. However, those days are gone, and web hosting services have drastically reviewed their policies. Today, you can design, build and host your website paying only one price for all. And as long as you are dealing with a low-cost hosting service, the monthly price will be as much as a piece of pizza.
Even though it’s true that some companies even offer free hosting, the quality of services provided can’t appear satisfactory. Today we are going to review the cheapest, yet, at the same time, reliable website hosting providers. All of them ensure domain names, website building software with plenty of templates, email addresses, ample bandwidth and storage, free SSL, fair performance, responsive customer support, and plenty of other features at the most possible inexpensive prices.
And since each of these providers has several plans, we are going to review only the cheapest tiers suggested. Before we get down to the detailed description of each company we have investigated, get acquainted with the rating of the 10 website hosting services listed from the cheapest to the most expensive one:
List of Tested Cheap Hosting Providers:
| 1. IONOS | 6. GreenGeeks | 11. HostPapa |
| 2. Hostgator | 7. Domain.com | 12. GoDaddy |
| 3. Bluehost | 8. KnownHost | 13. Liquid Web |
| 4. Web.com | 9. DreamHost | 14. Hostinger |
| 5. Scala Hosting | 10. WebHostingPad |
1. IONOS – The Cheapest Web Hosting Provider in 2023
| Product Name: | 1&1 IONOS |
| Official Website: | ionos.com |
| Launched: | 1988 |
| Websites managed: | 12 million |
| Test Plan: | No |
| Cheapest Plan: | $1/mo |
| Refund: | 30 days |
IONOS – is the cheapest web hosting provider in our review of inexpensive yet credible hosts for 2023. Despite offering the services at hard-to-beat prices, the company provides quality and excellent performance. See yourself, besides offering the lowest prices in the market, IONOS features such benefits as state-of-the-art hardware with 10 data centers and more than 90,000 powerful servers in the US and Europe with no outsourcing, high-security standards on software and hardware standards, high speeds, and excellent uptime, flexible scaling system to boost the server performance, personal assistance from the knowledgeable support team, free of charge SSL certificate to make the website a safe place for your visitors, an in-built CDN, and a range of extensions.
However, at such a low cost and with so many beneficial features, it is perhaps obvious that the hosting provider has some cons, too. You see, the control panel of IONOS is nothing like the already familiar Plesk and cPanel. Hence, if you have experience with the latter, you may find that IONOS’s admin panel is a bit hard to understand and use. Furthermore, even though the introductory price is cheap, its renewal will come at a cost.
The cheapest pricing tier is the Business plan at the moment. It costs $1 if you obtain a 12-month package. Afterward, it will already cost you $10 per month. The plan suggests hosting unlimited websites, offering unmetered storage and databases (MySQL and MariaDB), professional email, a domain name registration for 1 year, as well as enhanced CPU and MEM resources. The plan is perfect even for large web projects.
2. Hostgator – Superb Performance and Affordability for Your Site Hosting
| Product Name: | Hostgator |
| Official Website: | hostgator.com |
| Launched: | 2002 |
| Websites managed: | 2,273,368 |
| Test Plan: | No |
| Cheapest Plan: | $2.75/month |
| Refund: | 45 days |
Hostgator – is an ideal compromise between price and performance, hence it takes 3rd place in our chart of the least expensive hosting solutions which ensure quality hosting. The company offers MySQL databases, 1-click installations of famous open-source projects, free domain registration for 1 year, a free SSL certificate, a robust and beginner-oriented website building tool, as well as unlimited emails, bandwidth, and disk space. All these pros make the company a widely demanded one while the affordable pricing attracts even more users.
Nevertheless, the company has some downsides, which are important to learn about before entrusting your website to the hosting company. One of the main cons of HostGator is the additional fee required for restoring a site from backups (normally other hosting companies offer this feature for free). Furthermore, the VPS/dedicated server configuration options are comparatively more limited than those of other providers in the chart. And finally, the company proposes no Windows server option.
Currently, the cheapest hosting plan by HostGator is titled Hatchling. Paying only $2.75 per month, you will get hosting for 1 website, 1-click WordPress install, unlimited bandwidth, free site migration, free SSL encryption, and a free domain name registration. Although this introductory plan won’t suffice the requirements of a big business, it will be just what a small business needs to get its feet on the virtual ground. And when the business starts expanding, HostGator will always be there to offer more appropriate hosting packages.
3. Bluehost – Best Cheap Overall Hosting Solution
| Product Name: | Bluehost |
| Official Website: | bluehost.com |
| Launched: | 2003 |
| Websites managed: | 4,584,636 |
| Test Plan: | No |
| Cheapest Plan: | $2.95/month |
| Refund: | 30 days |
Bluehost – web hosting provider not only has the right to be included in the most inexpensive web-hosting companies but also can claim to be one of the most credible platforms in the niche. Apparently, it is powered by a line of fabulous features that all together ensure the effective and stable functioning of a website. Furthermore, it has several plans dedicated to hosting, particularly WordPress websites. Sounds great, doesn’t it?
The company stands out for the wide array of impressive features that involves a 1-click installation, completely free website migration services, a powerful site-building platform that comes with various eCommerce extensions, all-day customer support, a beginner-oriented control panel, and a free-of-charge domain name for one year. Bluehost is an overall superb hosting provider yet it lacks cloud hosting while the response times are average. These features can be taken for cons.
Investing money in a hosting plan by Bluehost, even if it is the introductory Basic plan, means getting an automated setup service for WP, as well as acquiring some wonderful apps such as Mojo Marketplace-powered system. And if you have some web developer skills and would like to tweak things, the cPanel-based area of Bluehost won’t disappoint you.
The Basic shared hosting plan catered to hosting only 1 website, is the cheapest of all by this provider. It’s the most economical tool to connect your site to the Internet and build it. This plan, offered at the cost of $2.95 per month provided that you obtain for a 12-month term, will give you 50 GB SSD space, a robust site builder with custom themes, straightforward functionality, free CDN, and a free SSL certificate.
4. Web.com – Excellent Website Hosting Service at Cheap Prices for All Needs
| Product Name: | Web.com |
| Official Website: | web.com |
| Launched: | 1999 |
| Websites managed: | 189,124 |
| Test Plan: | No |
| Cheapest Plan: | $5.95/month |
| Refund: | 30 days |
Web.com – is a site builder and hosting provider owned by Newfold Digital. The company has one of the highest brand recognitions in the market thanks to delivering superior services at reasonable prices. Surely, Web.com is not the cheapest offer in the market and takes only the 8th position in our chart but it still has competitive prices in the market. Furthermore, most users find the company irreplaceable for hosting understaffed small businesses. And if you can afford to pay at least $5.95 per month to get your website hosted reliably, get acquainted with the main benefits of the company – a functional platform to build a website, marketing, and tech services suggested (website promotion, eCommerce, WP installs, social media management, SEO, lead generation, etc.), HTML elements, premium uptime guarantee, much disk space, etc.
Before you make your final decision and stop your choice on Web.com, you’d better find out what downsides the service features. First of all, it doesn’t offer Windows hosting. Secondly, the refund policy doesn’t work the way the company claims. Multiple refund issues have been registered. And finally, just like in the previous cases, the renewal costs drastically differ from the introductory offers which may mislead a user. So check out the new price you will have to pay for the plan you choose after the first month since Web.com’s discount refers only to the pricing of the first 1-month billing cycle. The price for the cheapest Essential hosting plan is $5.95 for the first month. After 4 weeks, the renewed cost will be $14.95 per month. This tier provides a user with 300GB SSD storage, unmetered data transfer, 25 FTP accounts, a free domain name for 1 year, and 100 multi-user mailboxes. Web.com’s cheap hosting plan is catered to small businesses and private websites only.
5. Scala Hosting – Intuitive Cloud and Website Hosting Provider
| Product name: | Scala Hosting |
| Official Website: | scalahosting.com |
| Launched: | 2007 |
| Websites managed: | Over 700,000 |
| Test Plan: | No |
| Cheapest plan: | $2.95/mo |
| Refund: | Anytime |
Scala Hosting – is an intuitive contemporary cloud and website hosting provider that can be used for any project types and user categories. You don’t have to be aware of web design/hosting nuances to use the company services. Everything is simple and understandable here due to the simplified and user-friendly SPanel that acts as an alternative to the traditional cPanel. It encompasses a handy file manager and a set of FTP tools that make the process of website/database/domain uploading and hosting easy and convenient for everyone.
Along with a clear and easy SPanel interface, Scala Hosting grants access to multiple advantages that enhance the service performance. The features that have to be mentioned first here include extensive resource selection, White Label hosting, HTTP/3 use on all subscriptions (not just premium ones), availability of SEO tools and SSL Certificate connection, website migration, automated backups, domain registration etc.
Special attention should be paid to Scala Hosting performance, which is above average. The major parameters include impressive website load time, 99.9% uptime rates, sufficient server performance etc. One-click WordPress installation will also be an advantage to users, who run projects on the CMS and wish to host them with Scala Hosting. Mind, however, that the service comes without a built-in website builder. This does not allow creating DIY websites here.
Whatever questions you have regarding your account, website, billing or hosting performance in general, customer support experts are always here to help you. Along with an extensive Knowledge Base, the company also offers email, Live Chat and priority support for premium plan users. By the way, the cost of the plans is quite affordable to every subscriber. The software offers two types of plans to upgrade to. Their cost starts at $2.95 per month. This is, however, the initial offer, so, the hosting prices will increase after the renewal period starts.
6. GreenGeeks – Innovative and Cheap Eco-Friendly Hosting Provider
| Product Name: | GreenGeeks |
| Official Website: | greengeeks.com |
| Launched: | 2008 |
| Websites managed: | - |
| Test Plan: | No |
| Cheapest Plan: | $2.95/mo |
| Refund: | 30 days |
GreenGeeks – is an innovative and cheap eco-friendly hosting provider. Launched in 2008 in Los Angeles, CA, the service has quickly gained worldwide popularity due to its unique nature and unlimited co-related advantages. Currently, the host provides green hosting services to customers from over 150 countries and this number keeps increasing steadily.
Since the date of its foundation, GreenGeeks has distinguished itself as the top eco-friendly hosting provider. It helps reduce energy consumption by purchasing wind energy credits that are further applied to save the energy their servers use from the power grid. As a result, this allows saving up to 300% of energy. No other hosting provider demonstrates such amazing results, contributing to environmental protection.
Eco-friendliness, however, is not the only highlight of the software. GreenGeeks ensures impressive customer service, access to dynamic account administration tools, high quality bandwidth and servers, 24/7 assistance. What’s more, it comes with an integrated website builder that allows creating various types of web hosting without looking for a third-party platform.
GreenGeeks makes it possible to choose from several types of popular hosting solutions, including Shared, VPS, Reseller and Dedicated plans along with separate WordPress hosting. Each package includes scalable CPU, Cloudflare CDN for faster speed, unlimited data transfer solutions, certain amount of disk storage space, eCommerce functionality and other advantages.
GreenGeeks’ demerits are not numerous, but they exist. Currently, the company does not offer 24/7 phone support yet other options are available here. Likewise, it doesn’t provide set up and domain name pricing. This is not a crucial demerit, however, as well.
Pricing options are versatile here. Everyone will find a package to comply with his/her special hosting requirements. The most affordable is the Lite Plan, the cost of which constitutes $2.95/mo. To upgrade to one of two remaining subscriptions, you will need to invest $4.95 and $8.95 per month respectively.
7. Domain.com – Inexpensive Domain Registration and Web Hosting in One Place
| Product Name: | Domain.com |
| Official Website: | domain.com |
| Launched: | 1998 |
| Websites managed: | 1.2 million |
| Test Plan: | No |
| Cheapest Plan: | $3.75/month |
| Refund: | No |
Domain.com – web hosting solution shows that it is possible to get high-performance hosting services at a reasonable price point. Even though the company’s primary concern is conducting domain registrations, it offers outstanding hosting services, too. Perhaps the biggest advantage of the service is how straightforward the platform is. Other benefits involve a user-friendly interface, booming website building software, 100% transparent pricing policy, scalable bandwidth, unmetered storage, a free SSL encryption, a high uptime guarantee (99.9%), and an array of complementary products.
The primary disadvantage of the hosting solution is that you will have to obtain at least a 1-year subscription every time you want to use the hosting service since it has no monthly billing option. Another downside is the absence of a money-back guarantee which is a major concern. You won’t be able to request your money back once you have already purchased the hosting service whether you like it or not.
Nevertheless, the company’s low prices, paired with the superiority in the shared hosting platform, make it indeed a valuable deal. The chances that you may regret the choice are minor. The hosting services at Domain.com start at $3.75 per month. The Basic plan catered to hosting only 1 website offers unmetered storage, scalable bandwidth, 5 FTP logins, 10 MySQL databases, free SSL encryption, and a free domain for one year. Surely, you will have to obtain a more expensive plan to host a website with heavy traffic, but as long as you are searching for a cheap option to host a simple website, the Basic plan by Domain.com will definitely suffice you.
8. KnownHost – Cheap Hosting for Personal and Business Projects
| Product Name: | KnownHost |
| Official Website: | knownhost.com |
| Launched: | 2006 |
| Hosted sites: | - |
| Free trial: | No |
| Cheapest plan: | $3.47/mo |
| Refund: | 30 days |
KnownHost – is a cheap hosting for personal and business projects that offers a variety of services and tools included in each subscription. The use of the software does not require any preliminary web design expertise or coding proficiency. The system makes it possible to choose from several types of plans for shared, dedicated and VPS hosting. Among its advantages, it makes sense to mention advanced scalability, high uptime rates (up to 99.9%), free DDoS protection and opportunity of website migration.
Along with quite an extensive list of pros, KnownHost has a few cons that may eventually affect users’ choice. It doesn’t offer supreme security options like a cPanel or a managed firewall, for example. If you need them, you may opt for paid extensions. The same is about other add-ons that concern various service functionality issues. By the way, if you decide to opt for one of KnownHost plans, keep in mind that they frequently offer introductory prices that are much cheaper as compared to renewal fees.
When it comes to the pricing policy, the cheapest KnowHost plans start at $3.47 per month. They belong to the Shared Hosting package, which encompasses Basic, Standard, Professional and Premium hosting plans. They work best for small and medium businesses, offering free SSL Certificates, Softaculous script installer, various number of domains, cores and emails, unlimited premium bandwidth and other privileges. All subscriptions include a 30-day money-back refund option and can be bought for 1, 3, 6, or 12 months. This also allows saving big.
9. DreamHost – Fast and Secure Hosting at Affordable Cost
| Product Name: | DreamHost |
| Official Website: | dreamhost.com |
| Launched: | 1996 |
| Websites managed: | 633,564 |
| Test plan: | No |
| Cheapest plan: | $2.95/mo |
| Refund: | 97 days |
Dreamhost – is a fast and secure hosting at affordable cost based in the US. Whatever business type you run, this provider will cover baseline hosting-related needs. They offer up to 100% uptime guarantee, automatic updates for WordPress websites, sufficient SSD storage for any project, custom control panel, integrated website builder as well as 24/7 customer support. The host additionally offers a range of multifaceted resources available on all plans. These include unlimited email addresses, bandwidth and disk storage space along with MySQL databases.
If you are right about to opt for one of DreamHost plans, you should be aware of its disadvantages. Thus, the software does not have a cPanel, while its support options are quite limited, offering email and live chat only. Likewise, there is no Windows hosting here. Instead, DreamHost currently supports Linux-based hosting only. Unlike some other web hosting providers, the software does not offer a free domain with any of its major hosting plans.
DreamHost pricing options are versatile as well. The most cost-effective plans are those included in the Shared Hosting package. There are two of them here – Starter and Unlimited. Both start at $2.95 per month yet include diverse features. The differences refer to the number of websites, domain names, opportunity of automated WordPress migration, SSD storage space, SSL Certificates and other parameters. By the way, the company offers one of the most durable refund terms. It constitutes 97 days here. It is also possible to save big, when getting an annual or a 3-year subscription.
10. WebHostingPad – Simple and Cost-Effective Hosting for Any Skills and Budget
| Product Name: | WebHostingPad |
| Official Website: | webhostingpad.com |
| Launched: | 2005 |
| Websites managed: | 54,650 |
| Test plan: | No |
| Cheapest plan: | $1.99/mo |
| Refund: | 30 days |
WebHostingPad – is a simple and cost-effective hosting for any skills and budget, which targets all user and project categories. They offer several types of hosting differing in terms, built-in tools and budget. The company stands out from the crowd due to their scalability, free SSL encryption, high uptime rates, fast servers, integrated eCommerce solutions and opportunity of 1-click WordPress installation. Free analytic tools and 1-year domain are provided here as well, irrespective of the plan you go for.
When it comes to reviewing WebHostingPad, it makes sense to underline its major disadvantages. Some users report poor support options (especially in terms of slow response time), hidden fees (like extra charges for domain privacy and SSL Certificate connection), limited server resources, uptime issues and limited backup options for some projects. Unlike some other web hosting providers, WebHostingPad does not offer free website migration services. This may be inconvenient for users who want to transfer their projects to this host.
WebHostingPad pricing depends on the type of subscription chosen. The cheapest Power Plan included in the all-inclusive hosting package costs $1.99/mo only, while the Power Plan Plus that is optimized for WordPress websites costs $2.99/mo. Both subscriptions include free domain name, free SSL and SiteLock Lite tool, free 1-click WordPress installation, free Weebly-powered website builder and unlimited websites, domain and emails.
11. HostPapa – American Low-Price Web Hosting Solution for Small Projects
| Product Name: | HostPapa |
| Official Website: | hostpapa.com |
| Launched: | 2006 |
| Websites managed: | 190,079 |
| Test Plan: | No |
| Cheapest Plan: | $1.95/mo |
| Refund: | 30 days |
The HostPapa – is one of the most inexpensive hosting services on the market with plans starting with only $3.95 a month. The provider offers some nifty specs which will help you build an amazing website and keep it afloat. The plans by this America-based hosting solution are diversely catered to a wide range of businesses from small to enterprise-scale. Nevertheless, since you need a low-cost option, it means your project is not a big one and so we shall review HostPapa from the point of view of a small business owner.
The main pros of the company are formed with the highly functional website building platform, WP-friendly hosting option, speedy servers to serve all clients both inside and outside the US borders, business email tools, a straightforward cPanel, multiple apps via free plugins, all-day customer support, free site transfer, a free-of-charge domain for 1 year, free data transfer as much as you need, unlimited SD storage, as well as free SSL certificate and Cloudflare CDN. Nevertheless, HostPapa’s hosting services are perfect like anything else. The company has some cons which include the absence of automated site backups (only the Business Pro plan offers). Another disadvantage of the hosting company is the high renewal pricing.
The cheapest hosting plan by HostPapa is Starter, designed to host only 1 website and priced at $1.95 per month on the condition that you obtain it for at least 12 months. Opting for it, you will obtain 100GB SSD space, limitless bandwidth, a free domain for a year (separately it costs $19.99 per year), a 2-page website creating tool, 100 email addresses, free enhanced SSL certs, as well as 25 MySQL 5.7 databases.
12. GoDaddy – World’s #1 Domain Registrar and Cheap Hosting Provider
| Product Name: | GoDaddy |
| Official Website: | godaddy.com |
| Launched: | 1997 |
| Websites managed: | 40,740,208 |
| Test Plan: | Yes (for website builder) |
| Cheapest Plan: | $5.99/month |
| Refund: | 30 days |
GoDaddy – is a world-known domain name registration company that, yet, offers premium hosting services at hard-to-beat prices. It offers a long line of hosting plans that will fit into any user’s requirements. From low-price web hosting to quite costly dedicated options are at your full disposal round-the-clock since the company works non-stop. What we appreciate in the company most of all includes such benefits as the availability of Windows and Linux hosting, Plesk Control and cPanel interfaces, limitless disk space and bandwidth, the chance to host unlimited sites (doesn’t refer to the Economy plan, though), and amazingly high 99.9% uptime guarantee.
Dealing with the GoDaddy hosting company is not without certain downsides, however. For instance, we have detected that the courtesy and quality of the tech support are not always consistent. Moreover, the company doesn’t provide any detailed hardware specifications to its clients. Other than this, we can’t mention any obstacles that may not let you enjoy working with GoDaddy.
The cheapest pricing tier by the hosting provider is the Economy plan designed for 1 website. At the cost of $5.99 per month (after 3 years the price will be $8.99 per month), the package includes 100GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, 10 databases, 1-click WP install, free Microsoft 365 email for 1 year, and free domain registration for 1 year. The Economy plan works great with basic sites.
13. Liquid Web – The Most Powerful Website Hosting Provider in the Market
| Product Name: | Liquid Web |
| Official Website: | liquidweb.com |
| Launched: | 1998 |
| Websites managed: | 4,551,309 |
| Test Plan: | No |
| Cheapest Plan: | $15/month |
| Refund: | 30 days |
Liquid Web has been proclaimed as the best web hosting provider many times. With personalized attention round-the-clock and a superb level of activity (almost 100%), the company is ahead of most premium-level suppliers with a proposal of excellence catering to the corporate or business sector. However, in our listing, it takes the last place since its pricing policy is not based on the concept of affordability. You see, the least expensive hosting plan is assigned for WooCommerce and WordPress sites. The price here starts at $13.30 per month for the first 3 months only. After this, the price hops to $19 per month.
Nevertheless, LiquidWeb provides so many features in every package and the quality of hosting delivered is of such high quality that the pricing policy appears within the sensible range. The main benefits of the company include all-day personalized attention to every client, a 99.99% uptime guarantee, limitless traffic, managed WP, business webmail, user-friendly cPanel interface, unmetered bandwidth, reliable protection against spam and viruses, a functional website building arena, and free site transfer from external sources.
Obviously, the major downsides of this provider are its high pricing and no email hosting possibility. You can look for a cheaper option, surely, but finding the same high performance will be problematic.
14. Hostinger – Your True Budget-Friendly Host
| Product Name: | Hostinger |
| Official Website: | hostinger.com |
| Launched: | 2004 |
| Websites managed: | 3,211,113 |
| Test Plan: | Free hosting available |
| Cheapest Plan: | $2.99/mo |
| Refund: | 30 days |
Hostinger – is a well-known name in the mainstream web hosting companies and website owners around the world. Apparently, it’s among the cheapest providers which, yet, deliver quite impressive performance and reliability. The overall advantages of this host include a really fast operating, user-friendly custom dashboard, unmetered bandwidth and SSD storage, free domain, free SSL encryption in all pricing tiers, responsive customer support delivered in many languages, automatic 1-click WP install, the possibility to host on both Linux and Windows servers, WordPress-oriented plans included, free daily and weekly backups, robust caching, and, of course, cheap pricing.
The downsides you may have to deal with when getting your website hosted by Hostigner include limitation of features in baseline shared accounts (which is rational for the low price taken into account), and downtime (up to 9 hours) during the year. Other than this, we didn’t register any significant drawback that would repel a potential user.
The cheapest pricing tier by Hostinger is the Single Shared hosting plan which costs $2.99 per month. Designed to host only 1 website, the plan proposes 30 GB of SSD storage, 100 GB bandwidth, 2 MySQL databases, a free SSL certificate to claim the safety of your site visitors, 1 email account, round-the-clock customer assistance, a custom-built control panel, webmail access, and DNS management. Unfortunately, Single is the only plan that doesn’t contain a free-of-charge domain name involved. This price tier is a perfect solution for beginners and small business owners since, for larger projects, it might be simply not powerful enough.
Final Thoughts
If you are planning to move your business online while your budget is strictly limited, the most apparent way to save some money is to rely on a cheap provider with your site hosting.
As we’ve mentioned, you can get the service you need at such a low cost as up to $3 per month nowadays if you opt for the top 6 cheap hosting services reviewed in this article – IONOS, HostGator, GreenGeeks, Bluehost, DreamHost or WebHostingPad. All of them are thoroughly dependable and deliver amazing hosting services.
However, Domain.com, HostPapa, SiteGround and KnownHost are even more reliable. Their pricing lies between $3 and $5 per month.
And finally, the other providers of our review including Scala Hosting, Web.com, GoDaddy, and LiquidWeb are the most powerful yet more expensive providers of website hosting.
Depending on your website type, your requirements, business size, and solvency level, you may courageously go for any hosting provider we reviewed here. All of them guarantee high-level performance at the most inexpensive prices in the entire market. And don’t forget to sign up for an annual plan to make use of the discount offers.
