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:
1. Hostinger
| Product Name: | Hostinger |
| Official Website: | hostinger.com |
| Launched: | 2004 |
| Websites managed: | 4,532,328 |
| Test Plan: | Free hosting available |
| Cheapest Plan: | $1.99/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 $1.99 per month. Designed to host only 1 website, the plan offers 50 GB of SSD storage, unlimited 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.
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 quality and affordable web hosting services that definitely deserves user attention. This is a widespread choice for small-to-medium enterprises looking for a trusted way to host their web projects. Along with a variety of hosting plans (shared, VPS and dedicated hosting) that cater to versatile business requirements, they offer premium support options, WordPress Hosting, secure data centers and eco-friendly policies that ensure safe and environmentally-friendly hosting solutions.
Speaking about disadvantages, InMotion Hosting has a few areas for improvement. Thus, its initial setup and user interface may not be quite beginner-friendly as compared to other competitors. Its renewal prices are not cheap, featuring a significant increase after the end of the trial period. These demerits, however, are not crucial for most users, who appreciate professionalism and reliability.
In terms of pricing, InMotion Hosting offers appealing introductory rates. Their shared hosting plans start at $2.99/mo, which absolutely adheres to the features provided. The price of VPS hosting plans starts at $9.99/mo, while the fees for dedicated hosting start at $35/mo. Mind that these prices are introductory and they will increase after the end of the trial term. One more thing: if you decide to cancel the subscription for any reason, you have 90 days to do that without any extra fees.
3. DreamHost
| 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.
4. GoDaddy
| Product Name: | GoDaddy |
| Official Website: | godaddy.com |
| Launched: | 1997 |
| Websites managed: | 34,623,917 |
| 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.
5. Liquid Web
| Product Name: | Liquid Web |
| Official Website: | liquidweb.com |
| Launched: | 1998 |
| Websites managed: | 4,781,345 |
| 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.
6. Domain.com
| 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.
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 4 cheap hosting services reviewed in this article – Hostinger, InMotion Hosting or DreamHost. All of them are thoroughly dependable and deliver amazing hosting services.
Domain.com is a bit more reliable yet more costly as well. The pricing lies between $3 and $5 per month.
And finally, the other providers of our review including 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.
