Shared web hosting implies sharing a server and all its resources with other websites and, at the same time, splitting the costs. It’s the cheapest web hosting solution, but it’s so much more with the proper web host. The best web hosts deliver comprehensive packages with high uptime levels, superior speed and security, tools to build your site, room to grow, and someone watching over you (hint: customer support). Still, finding the perfect shared hosting plan might be tricky due to the trade-off between price and quality.
Our HostAdvice professionals have engaged in long-term, real-life performance testing of dozens of shared hosting companies. They have purchased the plans and went through the entire process, reporting from a beginner’s viewpoint, tested the uptime, speed, reliability, customer support, and money-back guarantees of various web hosts, backed by thousands of user reviews.
If you are in a hurry, let’s cut to the chase, not to keep you any longer. Here’s our selection of the best shared web hosting providers.
Short on Time? Check Our Top 9 Shared Hosting Providers
- HostArmada – Best Shared Hosting for WordPress
- Verpex – Cheapest Shared Hosting Plans
- Chemicloud – Best Linux Shared Hosting
- FastComet – Best cPanel Shared Hosting
- A2 Hosting – Fastest SSD Shared Hosting
- HostPapa – Best Shared Hosting Provider for Reliability
- Ultahost – Best Shared Hosting Provider for Beginners
What Is Best Shared Hosting, And Who Is It For?
Shared hosting is exactly what it sounds like: you share a server with other people who are operating their own websites on it. Every client gets their own share of the actual server, and it’s generally the cheapest method to purchase a web hosting service.
The key benefit is that this is a low-cost option, and because you’re willing to share hardware with others, you’ll naturally spend less than you would with other solutions (say dedicated server hosting). For more insight on shared hosting pricing check out our Shared Hosting Pricing Page.
By the same token, you’re sharing resources with others, which means the performance you’ll get will almost certainly be slower (and, indeed, generally less consistent). That may be okay for low-traffic sites, but it may be an issue if your bandwidth requirements are higher or if your website requires dependable and constant performance.
The Best Shared Hosting Services Of 2023 (Bought And Tested):
I found in my complete review that HostArmada is the best shared hosting for WordPress – it offers powerful and specially optimized cloud SSD web hosting packages for your WP website!
- Overall Score: 5.0
- Ease Of Use: 5.0
- Useful Features: 4.9
- Uptime & Speed: 5.0
- Customer Support: 5.0
- Plans & Pricing: 4.9
HostArmada offers managed WordPress hosting with a 1-click WordPress installer – you can deploy WordPress instances quickly and configure every installation separately. WordPress transfer, WP optimization, and WP performance boost are also part of the package.
Research Findings
Ease Of Use: You can quickly launch your shared hosting plan using HostArmada’s free drag & drop SiteBuilder, free app install & upgrade, 1-click WordPress install, loading speed optimization, and 24/7 human support.
Useful Features: All shared hosting plans include free cPanel, free domain, SSL, daily backups, cloud SSD storage, web server cache, free website transfer, malware scan, malware removal, WAF & IP firewall, unlimited FTP accounts, databases, email accounts, subdomains, and multiple PHP versions.
Uptime & Speed: HostArmada keeps a low number of clients on its servers for low server load and optimal website performance. Its cloud SSD technology accounts for a 99.9% uptime.
Customer Support: Fast and responsive technical support team that’s always available via live chat, ticketing system, phone, and email to assist you with just about anything – from migrating WordPress website to installing themes, plugins, SSL certificates, optimizing websites, and more.
Plans & Pricing: You can pay every month, every year, every two or three years, with better discounts on the longer term. The best price is $2.99 for the cheapest shared hosting plan – 1 Website/15GB SSD/2 Cores CPU/2GB RAM. HostArmada also offers a 45-day money-back guarantee if you want to leave.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Easy to pilot service with cPanel, Website Builder, and 1-click WordPress Installer
- Multiple data centers around the globe (Europe, US, Asia, Australia)
- Many valuable free goods (domain name/transfer, website migration, daily backups)
Cons:
- Some features are limited to the most expensive plan (Speed Reaper Features and Dynamic Caching)
- Pretty high regular prices (you can get the best deal by signing up for a 3-year plan)
If you have chosen the number #1 CMS worldwide for your website, it’s best to select HostArmada for hosting it. Test the WordPress shared hosting plans and get all your money back if you don’t like the service (which is pretty unlikely to happen)!
If you are on a budget, it doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice quality. Instead, I recommend getting Verpex; the best cheap shared web hosting provider you can find!
- Overall Score: 4.9
- Ease Of Use: 4.9
- Useful Features: 4.8
- Uptime & Speed: 4.9
- Customer Support: 4.9
- Plans & Pricing: 4.8
Verpex allows you to get your website functional in no time. You can start at $0.50 for the first month for a single website, 10GB bandwidth, and 1GB SSD disk space. Pretty impressive, right?
Research Findings
Ease Of Use: Verpex’s server setup is straightforward, even for beginners. You’ll get instant setup on the cPanel control panel, Cloudlinux, Softaculous, Jetbackup, Public Cloud, WP CLI, Imunify360, and SitePad Sitebuilder.
Useful Features: All four shared hosting plans include a free SSL certificate, free domain, setup, expert migration, daily backups, email service, databases, domain aliases, and developer tools.
Uptime & Speed: Verpex utilizes LiteSpeed web servers. You can choose your server from a worldwide locations list and benefit from an uptime guarantee (99.50% / 99.99%).
Customer Support: As a customer, you can get Verpex professionals to assist you 24/7 via live chat, email & ticket, or phone. You can also navigate the Knowledge Base to get the answers yourself.
Plans & Pricing: Verpex offers 90% on your first month and 20% off on all terms. They are confident in their quality and offer a 45-day money-back guarantee on all shared web hosting plans.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Incredible ease of use (cPanel, Softaculous, 1-click installs, Sitebuilder)
- One of the most affordable web hosting solutions on the market
- Excellent customer support available 24/7/365
Cons:
- A 99.50% uptime guarantee on the cheapest shared hosting plan (99.99% for the rest)
- The special sale lasts only for the first month (prices increase on renewal)
The cheapest shared hosting plans don’t always mean low quality, and Verpex is here to prove it. You can get it all – superior server performance and a rich feature set on a budget. Make sure to check it out!
ChemiCloud offers reliable shared hosting plans optimized with their Cloud hosting infrastructure to ensure your website’s data is secured in the Cloud with advanced DDoS mitigation. We like that they offer 7 data center locations for fast connectivity and low latency. They also partnered with Cloudflare CDN to ensure your site loads faster no matter where the request is from.
- Overall Score: 5.0
- Features: 5.0
- Reliability: 5.0
- User Friendly: 5.0
- Support: 5.0
- Pricing: 4.9
With their simple website builder, you can just drag and drop, choose out of 350+ templates, and use their responsive design to publish a user-friendly website. You can also use their free website migration tool to transfer your website from any host. If you are unhappy with their service delivery, they have a 45 days guarantee to refund your money without any questions or delay.
Features (5.0): ChemiCloud offers an easy and affordable shared hosting package with a perfect blend of features. You will get cPanel access, free CDN, 1-click installs, simple website builder, Litespeed web server, free 1-year domain registration, unlimited MySQL database, web application firewall, malware detection and removal, application auto-updates, multiple PHP versions, and more!
Reliability (5.0): They understand that uptime is better than downtime with a 99.99% uptime guarantee, so you don’t have to worry about your website not being available for your customers.
User-Friendly (5.0): You can manage and simplify your website with cPanel access to manage domains, add users, organize website files, and install & deploy your website with cPanel tools.
Support (5.0): Peace of mind comes with their shared hosting plans. You will get support from a technical team that cares. They will solve any complex technical issues you might have to keep your website live. You can reach them via live chat and a 10-minute response ticket.
Pricing (4.9): Choose a shared hosting plan to host your website with easy-to-use cPanel on a reliable Cloud infrastructure. Here is a breakdown of their cheap shared hosting plans and renewal costs:
- Starter: $4.48/month – 1 Website, 20 GB NVMe Storage, 10 Days Backups, 25,000 monthly visits, 1 CPU core, 1 GB RAM, and 250,000 inodes. Renews at $9.99/month.
- Pro: $5.23/month – Unlimited Websites, 30 GB NVMe Storage, 20 Days Backups, 50,000 monthly visits, 2 CPU cores, 2 GB RAM, and 350,000 inodes. Renews at $14.95/month
- Turbo: $6.98/month – Unlimited Websites, 40 GB NVMe Storage, 30 Days Backups, 100,000 monthly visits, 3 CPU cores, 3 GB RAM, and 500,000 inodes. Renews at $19.95/month.
PROS
- Reliable Cloud infrastructure with 99.99% uptime guarantee.
- Fast website speed with free CDN, server-level caching and SSD storage
- Low latency across 8 data center locations
- Free website migration from any hosting provider
- 45 days money back guarantee
CONS
- Expensive starting price compared to other shared hosting providers.
Looking for a reliable Linux shared hosting provider? ChemiCloud is the right place to start with reliable Cloud infrastructure and low latency to give you the web hosting performance that works.
Have you heard of the cPanel, the industry-gold control panel? It perfectly matches FastComet in terms of user-friendliness. I recommend this provider to all start-ups and small businesses looking for the best ease of use and navigation.
- Overall Score: 4.8
- Ease Of Use: 4.9
- Useful Features: 4.8
- Uptime & Speed: 4.8
- Customer Support: 4.9
- Plans & Pricing: 4.7
FastComet’s primary advantage is its cPanel shared hosting. But that’s only the start of it. Its shared web hosting packages also feature fast servers, CDN, a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and are perfect for SEO.
Research Findings
Ease Of Use: You can expect an immediate account set up on the cPanel control panel, free app install & upgrade, a free drag & drop SiteBuilder, over 350 free templates, and a 1-click WordPress install.
Useful Features: All shared hosting plans come with cPanel & Softaculous, daily backups, Let’s Encrypt SSL, BitNinja server security, free website transfer, unlimited FTP accounts, databases, sub-domains, and multiple PHP versions.
Uptime & Speed: FastComet utilizes an SSD-only cloud for 300% faster access, multiple server locations, and a free Cloudflare CDN. It also adds five caching layers and speed optimizations.
Customer Support: You can immediately connect to FastComet’s 24/7 available human support using phone, tickets, or chat. The web host also offers OpenSource app support, free website setup, free SSL installation, hacked website recovery, and free applications and plugins upgrade.
Plans & Pricing: FastComet offers three shared hosting plans, starting at $3.95 per month for a single website, 15GB SSD storage space, and “fair usage” traffic. You also get a 45-day money-back guarantee.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- A comprehensive set of cPanel features (the latest version, Softaculous 1-click auto-installer, over 300 free apps, FTP accounts, cron jobs, multiple PHP versions, and more)
- Global availability (11 enterprise-class data centers and 200 Global CDN Anycast Network access points)
- 24/7 human support available across multiple channels (email, phone, live chat)
Cons:
- Pretty expensive rates (prices increase on renewal)
- Advanced Features and RocketBooster are limited to the priciest plan
A cPanel-powered shared hosting plan is the best way to start. Join the 370,000 websites and get FastCloud hosting targeting personal and small business websites in the last few years!
If your website needs speed, I suggest A2 Hosting as the best way to get it. It’s one of the fastest shared hosting services on the market, and trust me when I say; I speak from personal experience.
- Overall Score: 4.7
- Ease Of Use: 4.7
- Useful Features: 4.7
- Uptime & Speed: 4.9
- Customer Support: 4.7
- Plans & Pricing: 4.6
A2 Hosting powers its shared hosting plans with top-of-the-line servers, delivering 20x faster page load times than competitors. If that’s not enough for you, you can further upgrade to a turbo plan with 40% faster CPU performance, 3X faster NVMe storage, and advanced Litespeed Turbo Caching.
Research Findings
Ease Of Use: You can quickly build a new site with the A2 SiteBuilder (easy drag & drop editing, free, attractive themes, and fast website publishing), point-and-click install your favorite CMS system, such as WordPress, or let A2 Hosting’s experts migrate your existing website to A2 for free.
Useful Features: All shared hosting plans include the easy cPanel control panel, free SSL certificate, free Website Builder, website staging, unlimited email accounts, and unlimited transfer.
Uptime & Speed: A2 Hosting offers the fastest shared hosting with ultra-reliable servers with 99.9% uptime commitment and up to 20x faster speeds for better SEO rankings, lower bounce rates, and higher conversion rates. You can also choose from multiple data center locations.
Customer Support: A2 Hosting’s friendly and knowledgeable support team is available 24/7/365 to help you with any issue you might encounter via live chat, email, or phone.
Plans & Pricing: You can choose from 1-month, 24-month, and 36-month plans, with better discounts on the latter. The triennial shared hosting plan is the best deal, starting at $2.99 for a single website and 100GB SSD storage.
Pros & Cons
Pros:
- Blazing fast shared servers (RAID-10 SSD Storage, NVMe SSD AMD EPYC Servers)
- Outstanding 24/7/365 Guru Crew Support
- Exclusive WordPress features (pre-installed WordPress, optional WP-CLI, optimized enhanced security, WordPress LiteSpeed Cache, etc.)
Cons:
- No free automatic backups in the cheapest shared hosting plan
- No free domain included (you can host on an A2 Hosting subdomain for free)
No doubt, A2 Hosting is the fastest SSD shared hosting available. It offers superior and distinct features over its competitors. You wouldn’t want to miss its Turbo servers for an additional speed boost!
HostPapa is a world-renowned Canadian hosting provider that has been in the industry since 2006. It provides many premium services, including shared hosting, VPS, WordPress hosting, and Reseller hosting. It operates all over the world and has data centers on all continents. It provides a 99.9% uptime guarantee, ultra-fast servers, and a truly global top-quality infrastructure.
- Overall score: 4.3
- Features: 4.3
- Support: 4.4
- User Friendly: 4.3
- Pricing: 4.3
- Reliability: 4.4
Features: Among the numerous free and paid features, HostPapa provides free domain registration, free website builder, SSL, easy-to-use tools and apps, WordPress integration, free email address, SSD storage, root access, free setup, and many more. However, we gave it a 4.3 score because many of the features it offers come at additional fees with cheaper plans.
Support: HostPapa takes its customer support very seriously. It provides award-winning 24/7 customer support with a support team full of experts. You can contact HostPapa’s customer service via phone, email, live chat, and ticketing system. Additionally, you can communicate with HostPapa’s agents in English, French, Spanish, and German. However, we gave it a 4.4 score because some users have reported minor issues with its ticketing system.
User Friendly: HostPapa is great for beginners and developers alike and offers many easy-to-use tools and apps, the cPanel control panel, and one-step integrations. Its setup and sign-up processes are simple and quick, and customers can find many tips and solutions in its extensive knowledge base. However, we gave it a 4.3 score because some of the options are difficult to understand and navigate.
Pricing: HostPapa has a number of plans at different prices, enabling everyone to find a suitable plan, despite their budget limits. When it comes to shared hosting, the cheapest plan is its Start plan, which costs $2.95 per month. It includes one website, free website migration, free domain registration, free SSL, 10 GB SSD storage, ten email addresses, and a Starter website builder. We gave it a 4.3 score because many features are not included in the cheaper plans and are paid for.
Reliability: HostPapa excels in the reliability category. It provides a 99.9% uptime guarantee, which promises users minimal to no downtime or latency issues. It has data centers in literally every corner of the world, more specifically in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific, China Mainland, Oceania, and the Middle East. All of its servers provide a 400% performance boost, RAID redundancy, and server firewall. Additionally, it offers DDoS protection, brute force detection, FTPS, and monitoring tools, so that you and your data are always protected. However, we gave it a 4.4 score because only servers that come with more expensive plans have a 400% performance boost.
Additional parameter – Server location: 5.0: One of the most important things for any website is the ability to always be online and available to customers with no downtime or latency issues. This is possible by hosting your website on a server that is close to your or your target audience’s location. In HostPapa’s case, we can confidently say that it has a truly global presence, maintaining multiple data centers all over the world. So, with its data centers in North America, South America, Europe, Africa, Asia Pacific, China Mainland, Oceania, and the Middle East, HostPapa lives up to its 5.0 score and enables customers from literally anywhere to receive all the benefits it offers and host their websites on a nearby server.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- A 99.9% uptime guarantee
- A 30-day money-back guarantee
- RAID redundancy
- Monitoring tools
- Cloudflare CDN
- Free tools and apps
- Eco-friendly provider
- SSD storage
- Free SSL
- Free domain name and transfer
- 24/7 multilingual award-winning customer support
- Data centers located around the world
- Web Application Firewall
- DDoS protection
- Free email
- Website Builder
- SuperMicro servers
Cons
- Prices can be misleading
- No free automatic backup
- Not all features are available in cheaper plans
Looking for a place to start your website or blog? Need a stable and reliable provider that will keep your website up and running non-stop? Look no further than HostPapa! Explore its amazing features, super-fast performance, and top-quality service, and check it out today!
UltaHost is a US provider founded in 2018. It is known in the industry as a fast, reliable, and quality provider that offers many excellent services, has a 100% uptime guarantee, and is a safe haven for new users that are just starting out in the field. It provides outstanding features, 24/7 customer support, and numerous free and paid control panels for customers to choose from.
- Overall score: 4.9
- Features: 4.8
- Support: 4.9
- User Friendly: 4.9
- Pricing: 4.8
- Reliability: 4.9
Features: UltaHost provides many free and paid features, including free daily backups, free DDoS protection, pro-active monitoring, NVMe storage, free domain transfer, multiple server locations, SSD-only servers, malware scans, SpamExperts, RocketBooster, Cloudflare CDN, built-in cache, free SSL Certificates, Web Application Firewall, unlimited bandwidth, root access, and built-in cache. The only reason it has a 4.8 score is that there is no free domain name.
Support: UltaHost has a Premium customer support program that is available for all customers to use 24/7/365. You can access it via live chat, phone, email, and ticketing system. It also has a FAQ section, blog, and server support service. We only gave it a 4.9 score due to some minor issues that customers reported regarding the ticketing system.
User Friendly: UltaHost has one of the best-designed websites. It is easy to navigate, and users can quickly find what they’re looking for. Additionally, it provides its customers with a few control panels they can choose from: the Hestia and CyberPanel control panel, which are free, and the cPanel and Plesk, which are paid. Customers can also take advantage of its extensive knowledge base, where they can find many helpful tips and solutions. The UltaHost website is available in multiple languages, including English, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Arabic, Dutch, Turkish, and others. With that being said, it’s no surprise that we gave it a 4.9 score in this category.
Pricing: The cheapest shared hosting plan that UltaHost offers is its Shared Starter, which costs $3.29 per month. It includes one domain name, up to 10 000 monthly visitors, 30 GB NVMe SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, free daily backups, free domain transfer, free SSL, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. It only received a 4.8 score because customers have to pay an additional fee if they want to get the cPanel or Plesk control panels.
Reliability: UltaHost is one of the few providers that offer a 100% uptime guarantee, promising customers virtually no downtime or latency issues. All UltaHost plans include free Cloudflare CDN and SSD NVMe storage only. Additionally, all of its servers are configured to provide the highest level of network, power, and hard drive redundancy. Furthermore, all of UltaHost’s servers are powered by 14th-generation Dell servers, and UltaHost has a built-in cache system that uses Varnish, Memcached, and Redis to speed up the website. So, the 4.9 score is well-deserved here.
Additional parameter – Server location: 4.8: If you want your website to be available to customers non-stop, you need to check to see whether your hosting provider has a data center close to your location. UltaHost does an amazing job in this category, with data centers in Chicago, Dallas, New York, Los Angeles, the US; Toronto, Canada; Frankfurt, Germany; Istanbul, Turkey; New Delhi, India; Singapore; Seoul, South Korea; and Finland. Also, all of its servers use Juniper and Cisco for network switching and routing and the most energy-efficient Intel processors. So, customers who operate in the mentioned regions will have lightning-fast performance, amazing speeds, and virtually no downtime. We only gave it a 4.8 score because it does not have data centers in Africa, South America, and Australia, meaning that customers from these regions will face latency issues due to server distance.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Instant activation
- Vertical scaling
- SSH and SFTP access
- Malware scans and reports
- A 30-day money-back guarantee
- Integrations with popular apps
- HTTP/2-enabled servers
- A 100% uptime guarantee
- 14th-generation Dell servers
- Built-in cache mechanism
- NVMe SSD storage
- Cloudflare CDN
- DNS Manager
- Snapshots
- BitNinja security
- Many server locations
- Multiple control panels to choose from
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Intel Xeon processors
Cons
- No free domains
- No free domain transfers for monthly plans
UltaHost is the perfect place to start your website or blog. It’s fast, reliable, stable, and provides a welcoming environment for beginners and newbies alike. Check it out today and take advantage of its advanced features and excellent uptime from anywhere in the world!
Ranking comparison between the Top Providers
Shared hosting, in general, delivers a reasonable price with low maintenance. Still, you don’t want to trade quality altogether, so there are many other factors you should consider.
Our experts put down a list of the most critical factors that make up for the best shared hosting. While each of these criteria contributes to the “ideal web host,” not all of them are equally important. So, you’ll find an allocated percentage next to each factor, depending on its weight in the overall score.
At HostAdvice, we test independently of other providers and ranking sites. We rely on two parties exclusively – our in-house web hosting experts and thousands of user reviews worldwide. It’s not a one-time job because we continually update our methods to reflect the newest ways of doing things. For instance, we have recently updated our performance and uptime monitoring processes.
How Do We Rank and How Should You Choose Your Best Shared Hosting?
- Solid Uptime & Speed8%
- Incredible Ease of Use5%
- Customer Support You Can Count On7%
- Resources That Don’t Box You In8%
- Robust Security Features5%
- Shared Hosting Valuable Extras12%
- Transparent Pricing15%
- Positive User Reviews30
Here are the factors our AI technology used to rank the best shared web hosting providers:
- Solid Uptime & Speed (8%): Your server performance is critical for any hosting. Your site should stay up and don’t go down for unplanned reasons. Downtime means readers, visitors, or customers cannot reach your content and products. So, an uptime of 99.95% and above is the first thing you should consider. In this regard, it’s also essential to look for fast-loading speeds so that your website visitors don’t experience too much latency. Reviewing reliable uptime and speed will help you eliminate hosting options that flat-out don’t make the cut.
- Incredible Ease of Use (15%): The best shared web hosts provide a smooth setup process, i.e., set it and forget it. Creating a website with shared hosting should be a breeze. At this point, you should look for a beginner-friendly control panel to start with, 1-click installs, and guidance through the setting up. For instance, the web host might offer tutorials, hints, step-by-step guides via email, or an employee to give you directions in real-time.
- Customer Support You Can Count On (7%): Technical assistance is important for everyone, including experts, especially beginners and first-time users. You want to get the most helpful and comprehensive customer support at a moment’s notice. First, 24/7/365 availability is a must, so you should ask for their hours of operation. Second, does the web host offer multiple communication channels, such as live chat, email, phone, and ticketing system? Is support available in English or multiple languages? What about self-help availability, such as a Knowledge Base, video tutorials, or a FAQ section? Can you call the company outside the US and so on? Keep in mind that the number of support channels doesn’t tell the whole story. The support agents should be able to resolve your issues quickly, and the best way to check this is by signing up for a free trial.
- Resources That Don’t Box You In (8%): You should pick a shared web host with high-traffic hosting capacity, including sufficient storage, bandwidth, and monthly visits. You’ll frequently stumble upon the terms unlimited storage and bandwidth; this implies no hard limits on what you use (but the limits still exist). So, it’s best to check the fine print before you purchase a shared hosting plan. One danger in this regard is your neighboring websites consume more resources than anticipated, which will leave less capacity for your website. After all, you are sharing the server. What safeguards does the web host have in place? And finally, what about scalability – can you easily add more resources to your plan and upgrade when needed to a VPS, cloud, or dedicated hosting?
- Robust Security Features (5%): When you pick a hosting provider, especially a shared server hosting provider, you need to be convinced that your data remains safe, that your live website cannot be easily compromised or bombarded with spam, etc. Generally speaking, the shared hosting provider needs to provide you with a way not to have to worry about typical fluff when it comes to security risks, including features such as Firewall support, DDoS protection, Virus Protection, Malware Protection, Spam Filters, SSL Certificates, Domain Name Privacy, and more. This list can be endless, but these are the main things you need to look out for to remain as safe as possible.
- Shared Hosting Valuable Extras (12%): You need a lot more than just hosting when you sign up for a shared hosting plan. It would be best to look for package deals that can save you both time and effort, including a domain name, domain privacy, an SSL certificate, simple Website Builder, email services, automated backups, a CDN, WordPress optimization, other CMSs, and apps. Usually, you get a free domain name with your plan if you sign up for at least a year. However, you must check this manually before picking the perfect web shared hosting provider. Also, opt for one-click simple installers that are programmed to automatically transfer the required files for installing a specific application on your website, such as WordPress, Magento, etc.Tip: You might want to skip the free SSL and get a paid one instead. Doing so will help you avoid financial data leaks that might cause you to lose all your customers. Most free SSL certificates do not offer insurance, so using it on an eCommerce website that offers credit card transactions might not be the best idea.
- Transparent Pricing (15%): Shared web hosting is the most affordable way to get your site up and functional. And while you can find lots of cheap plans, you should pay attention to several other details. Usually, you can get an attractive introductory price. However, web hosts tend to significantly increase prices on renewal (consistent rates are tough to find). Consider how can you get the best price – is it through a binding years-long agreement? Usually, you would have to make a hefty initial investment to get the best price, paying for a year, two, or three years ahead. Also, review the refund policy; how many days does the money-back cover? And what can you expect a refund for (usually, you cannot get a refund for domains and SSLs)?
- Positive User Reviews (30%): Your best reference for a web host’s quality is other customers, beginners, and small business owners. User reviews are the most valuable and honest indicators of shared hosting service, and we do our best to eliminate misleading comments or rankings.
Things to Know Before You Purchase Shared Hosting
If you are browsing for shared hosting plans, chances are, you are a beginner in the industry. So, before you rush in and spend your money, you should take the time to understand a few essential web hosting concepts. Sure, signing up and using a provider’s website-building tools to quickly develop an appealing, functioning front end is very simple. However, there are several associated phrases and ideas to grasp. Some of it is perplexing, if not blatantly contradictory, as you’ll see.
Here are the things you should know before signing up for a shared web hosting service.
Shared Web Hosting vs. Other Web Hosting Types
When it comes to web hosting, most start-ups and small enterprises go for shared hosting. However, if you want to make the best choice, you must first grasp the fundamental distinctions between different hosting solutions.
- Shared Web Hosting: As the name implies, your website will be kept on a server shared with other websites. In other words, numerous websites are housed on the same server, resulting in a reduction in the quantity of hosting resources utilized by a single web owner and lower costs. As a result, shared hosting options are the most cost-effective.
- Virtual Private Servers (VPS): Once again, you will be sharing the server with other websites, similar to shared hosting. However, with a VPS, you’ll be given a dedicated virtual compartment for your website. As a result, VPS is a safer alternative than shared hosting. However, if your VPS plan is not maintained by your provider (managed VPS hosting), you’ll need previous technical skills to operate your own Virtual Private Server (unmanaged/self-managed VPS).
- Dedicated Servers: These are for huge websites or if you want complete control over your hosting environment and several websites. A dedicated server plan gives you access to the whole server’s resources with no limitations. If you aren’t purchasing a managed dedicated hosting package, however, you must have prior technical experience and skills.
- Reseller Hosting: Some hosting companies allow their customers to open their own hosting companies and become resellers. You may buy a reseller hosting package and give hosting services to your own customers without worrying about server maintenance.
- Business Hosting: The server will not limit your bandwidth, FTP, databases, or email IDs if you have a business hosting or unlimited hosting package. When opposed to shared hosting, it provides greater power and better performance.
- WordPress Hosting: A WordPress hosting option would be ideal for you if you don’t have much technical knowledge. You may create a website and a hosting environment that caters to the most widely used CMS with WordPress hosting.
Unlimited Is Not Really Unlimited
Web hosting companies will lure you into signing up for their services by promising limitless storage or monthly data transfers. In most cases, the bargain isn’t entirely truthful. Now, I’m not saying that these web servers are lying outright, but the claims of “unlimited” storage or data transfers almost always come with restrictions that differ per firm.
Unlimited storage and data transfers are usually linked with shared or WordPress plans, which let you go wild within reason. You’ll be in excellent shape if your blog receives a continuous stream of respectable traffic (whatever that means). You shouldn’t expect to upload or stream 50TB of data in a single day, though.
The Concepts of Bandwidth and Disk Space
New web owners sometimes overlook bandwidth and disk space because they believe their site will not receive significant traffic. But what happens when your company expands? You must ensure that your website will continue to function correctly even if you have a large number of visitors at the same time. As a result, pick a strategy that fits your needs.
The best shared hosting providers allow for scalability. Once you exceed the storage and bandwidth limits, you can easily upgrade to a more advanced version of shared hosting or even VPS or a dedicated server (depending on your needs and budget).
Data transmission is the real quantity of information that may be utilized over a specific period of time—typically a month—while bandwidth is the total amount of data that can be moved at one time. Consider this; the shared web hosting company may have 5GB bandwidth but grant you a maximum of 1GB data transfer for your site each month, as specified in the hosting package.
The Importance of Inode and Entry Process Limits
The total number of files and folders you can have in your hosting plan is measured in inodes. Emails, temporary files, session files, folders, and a variety of other items fall into this category. Keeping this in mind, make sure your inode limit is relatively high.
The number of PHP scripts executing at any given moment is referred to as an “entry process.” An entry process takes only a fraction of a second to complete.
On shared hosting, most hosting firms offer between 20 and 40 processes. However, this does not imply that the website may only be accessed by 20 persons at any particular moment because it’s extremely unlikely that all 20 individuals will visit your website at the same time. To gain a general estimate of the server’s ability to handle several visitors at once, multiply the number of input processes by three. Also, if you have a lot of Cron Jobs or scripts that use a lot of resources, choose the web hosting with a greater Entry Process limit.
Renewal / Upgrade Cost of a Shared Hosting Plan
DNS setups, webpages, and databases are all time-consuming chores. It’s not something you’d want to do again and over again. Furthermore, if you move hosts in the future, moving websites will take a lot of time and work unless your new provider offers this service. If you keep the same plan or upgrade with the same host, you won’t have to deal with such issues in the future. As a result, it’s a good idea to examine renewal pricing as well as different scalability options.
The best shared web hosting providers include a website migration with each plan free of charge, meaning you’ll experience no data loss or downtime. You can easily transfer from another web host or upgrade to a more advanced plan, such as a VPS or a dedicated server, hassle-free.
The Hard Disk Drive/Solid-State Drive Tradeoff
If you sign up for cheap shared web hosting, you’ll almost certainly be assigned space on a standard hard disk drive (HDD) server. An HDD-based server has the advantage of being able to provide large amounts of storage for a low price.
The fastest shared hosting plans, in turn, utilize solid-state drives (SSDs). However, SSD technology is still pretty expensive, so SSD-based servers often have substantially lower storage capacities than HDD-based servers. You’ll seldom encounter 1TB SSD servers, despite the fact that this is a popular quantity in the HDD world.
Factors to Consider in A Shared Web Hosting Service
Here are the most important factors to consider when picking the best shared hosting providers.
The Speed of Your Web Host
You certainly want your website to load quickly, even if you buy a cheap shared web hosting plan. A website that takes an eternity to load is a turn-off. Essentially, the web hosting service determines the speed of your website.
Tracking a few prior surveys that are periodically done to evaluate the quickest web hosting service is a simple tip to choose a shared web host that gives a good performance. Choose a company that has continuously ranked at the top of the list.
Proper Website Security
Website security is a major concern with shared hosting environments. Hackers can get access to your site if it isn’t adequately secured and monitored, steal your sensitive data, and misuse it. Furthermore, spyware, frauds, and viruses are always a possibility.
As a result, ensure that the hosting package you purchase has the best possible website security and proactive monitoring.
Good Customer Support
Let’s be honest: websites aren’t always reliable. With shared web hosting, your website may have difficulties such as delayed page loading, server unavailability, and so on. In the event of a problem, who would you call? Your host, of course.
You should make sure that the help is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Support through chat and email is desired. Also, make sure you can communicate with a real person rather than a machine when necessary.
I have one more secret to reveal. The majority of support staff can handle questions about hosting. However, not every web hosting business has enough people to answer technical problems. As a result, you must assess if the web host is competent in resolving any technical issues.
Features and Add-Ons
It is worthwhile to investigate what other benefits the shared web host provides. Just to mention a few, there is free domain registration, free SSL certificates for all primary and add-on domains, SSH access, and the sort of control panel provided are other important factors to consider.
For easier hosting administration, some businesses provide a customized control panel. Still, a normal full-featured panel, like as cPanel, may be more comfortable for you. So, before you buy shared web hosting, double-check these features and add-ons.
Addon Domain Services
You’ll want to have add-on domains as your company grows. Using add-on domains, you may create many domain names and websites while staying on the same server. It also saves you money by eliminating the need to pay several hosts and allows you to profit from SEO.
Your Budget vs. Costs Involved
In a web hosting service, there are primarily two fees. The initial cost of setting up or installing a web hosting service is the first consideration. The other expense is the cost of renewal, which is incurred at regular periods to keep the service running. While some providers may charge less when you first sign up, their renewal charges may be considerable.
You must match the web hosting costs with your budget, so transparent pricing will help you. You must know what to expect in the future – how high are the renewal rates? Are you capable of keeping it up with the provider, or not? Opt for the best price-value ratio, not just the cheapest shared hosting plan available.
Reputation and Reviews of The Shared Web Host
Take some time to research the web hosting company’s reputation in the industry before falling for tempting offers. User reviews of hosting services give valuable insight into their quality standards and reliability. Always choose a web hosting company with a reasonable market value over one that provides steep discounts.
Pros and Cons of Shared Web Hosting
Shared Hosting Advantages | Shared Hosting Disadvantages |
| Low Cost: The most cost-effective web hosting server solution is shared web hosting servers and packages. Your websites are housed and run alongside other websites on the same server when you share the server with other hosting customers. This can significantly reduce hosting costs because you’ll need to cover a small part of the server’s total cost. Shared web hosting is the most cost-effective option for small to medium-sized websites with limited resources and those who lack the technical expertise to maintain dedicated servers. Simplicity and Ease of Set-Up: Shared web hosting is so simple to use that even beginners with no prior hosting expertise may get started right away. You don’t have to set up the server on your own. Any shared hosting service provider will set up the shared server, as well as install and update all required software. They’ll also keep an eye on the servers to prevent downtime and resolve security concerns to maintain server safety and website availability. As a shared hosting customer, you must add your domains and websites to their server, as well as manage your own content using the hosting control panel and other tools given by your web host. Efficiency: The fact that shared hosting is inexpensive does not imply that it is inefficient. It’s the polar opposite. A variety of things influence the performance of a website. Two of the most important resources are disk space and bandwidth. Users of shared hosting can purchase additional bandwidth and storage. You don’t even need to go via a technical or support staff to do the task. Your host will provide you access to a portal where you can easily do it yourself. This means you can satisfy the expectations of your website without losing time, money, or other essential resources. Customization: Shared hosting appears to be a never-ending present. It’s not only economical, practical, and efficient; it also allows you to tailor your website to your specific needs and aspirations. It’s a major deal that you can do that since there’s a misconception that users won’t be able to because the resources are shared. Individual users can personalize their sites using the control panel or cPanel, supplied by most web hosting providers. | Security Concerns: Because shared servers are extremely apparent to cyber thieves, a cyber assault on the main server can damage all of the websites that rely on it, and your website is very exposed to an attack. Furthermore, because shared hosting provides you with a platform on a server rather than the server itself, you are unable to put custom antivirus or firewall software on your site. Limited Resources: The resources available to web hosting are restricted. As a result, each website that uses these services is allotted a certain number of resources, which may be rather intimidating. If one website receives a lot of traffic, it will consume the majority of the server’s resources, and other websites on the same server may suffer; as a result, making it harder for people to access them. Not only will your website slow down, but another site’s excessive use of your system may lead it to crash. Less Server and Bandwidth Resources: You will have fewer server and bandwidth resources than dedicated hosting servers since your websites and domains will be housed on the same server as other hosting accounts. As a result, once your website becomes really popular, you’ll need to move it to a dedicated server for faster access and more consistent performance. Your websites will be affected if other websites on the server are using too much server or bandwidth resources. On a shared hosting server, you cannot pick your neighbors. Although your web provider will continue to monitor the shared server’s performance and take appropriate steps to prevent those websites from using excessive system resources, you face a higher chance of downtime. No Dedicated IP: Because shared hosting websites lack a dedicated IP address, you won’t be able to visit your website using an IP address if something goes wrong with your domain name. The server would be confused if you tried this since it wouldn’t know which page to load. No Dedicated SSL: Individual users of shared hosting are unable to have SSL installed on their websites. Why? Because SSL is based on IP, and, as previously noted, shared hosting does not enable websites to have a dedicated IP, subscribers must use the same SSL scripting. |
Shared Hosting Advantages
- Low Cost: The most cost-effective web hosting server solution is shared web hosting servers and packages. Your websites are housed and run alongside other websites on the same server when you share the server with other hosting customers. This can significantly reduce hosting costs because you’ll need to cover a small part of the server’s total cost. Shared web hosting is the most cost-effective option for small to medium-sized websites with limited resources and those who lack the technical expertise to maintain dedicated servers.
- Simplicity and Ease of Set-Up: Shared web hosting is so simple to use that even beginners with no prior hosting expertise may get started right away. You don’t have to set up the server on your own. Any shared hosting service provider will set up the shared server, as well as install and update all required software. They’ll also keep an eye on the servers to prevent downtime and resolve security concerns to maintain server safety and website availability. As a shared hosting customer, you must add your domains and websites to their server, as well as manage your own content using the hosting control panel and other tools given by your web host.
- Efficiency: The fact that shared hosting is inexpensive does not imply that it is inefficient. It’s the polar opposite. A variety of things influence the performance of a website. Two of the most important resources are disk space and bandwidth. Users of shared hosting can purchase additional bandwidth and storage. You don’t even need to go via a technical or support staff to do the task. Your host will provide you access to a portal where you can easily do it yourself. This means you can satisfy the expectations of your website without losing time, money, or other essential resources.
- Customization: Shared hosting appears to be a never-ending present. It’s not only economical, practical, and efficient; it also allows you to tailor your website to your specific needs and aspirations. It’s a major deal that you can do that since there’s a misconception that users won’t be able to because the resources are shared. Individual users can personalize their sites using the control panel or cPanel, supplied by most web hosting providers.
Shared Hosting Disadvantages
- Security Concerns: Because shared servers are extremely apparent to cyber thieves, a cyber assault on the main server can damage all of the websites that rely on it, and your website is very exposed to an attack. Furthermore, because shared hosting provides you with a platform on a server rather than the server itself, you are unable to put custom antivirus or firewall software on your site.
- Limited Resources: The resources available to web hosting are restricted. As a result, each website that uses these services is allotted a certain number of resources, which may be rather intimidating. If one website receives a lot of traffic, it will consume the majority of the server’s resources, and other websites on the same server may suffer; as a result, making it harder for people to access them. Not only will your website slow down, but another site’s excessive use of your system may lead it to crash.
- Less Server and Bandwidth Resources: You will have fewer server and bandwidth resources than dedicated hosting servers since your websites and domains will be housed on the same server as other hosting accounts. As a result, once your website becomes really popular, you’ll need to move it to a dedicated server for faster access and more consistent performance. Your websites will be affected if other websites on the server are using too much server or bandwidth resources. On a shared hosting server, you cannot pick your neighbors. Although your web provider will continue to monitor the shared server’s performance and take appropriate steps to prevent those websites from using excessive system resources, you face a higher chance of downtime.
- No Dedicated IP: Because shared hosting websites lack a dedicated IP address, you won’t be able to visit your website using an IP address if something goes wrong with your domain name. The server would be confused if you tried this since it wouldn’t know which page to load.
- No Dedicated SSL: Individual users of shared hosting are unable to have SSL installed on their websites. Why? Because SSL is based on IP, and, as previously noted, shared hosting does not enable websites to have a dedicated IP, subscribers must use the same SSL scripting.
Best Shared Hosting Services: Summary
Shared hosting is the best choice for small businesses, new bloggers, people that are just getting online, websites that do not get too much traffic, and budget-oriented individuals. It is the ideal option to establish a new website from scratch or already have a modest website. If your site grows and you receive more traffic, you can upgrade your hosting if necessary, but it’ll be enough for a start.
However, not all shared web hosting providers are the same. Some providers have more comprehensive policies than others. When evaluating packages, speed, power, performance, support, and scalability should all be taken into account. How well does the hosting service scale? What kind of security features does it have? How much bandwidth and storage does it offer you? Does it include one-click simple installers? Do you gain free SSL certificates? Do you gain a free domain name with the plan? What kind of level of support can you expect? And so on.
The easiest way to find the best shared hosting for yourself is through expert and user reviews. Third parties that have already used the service might be your best indicator of its quality. Also, don’t be afraid to test the shared hosting plan yourself; just ensure you can get a free trial or a money-back guarantee before entering your card details!