Affordability is a crucial factor when choosing any service on the internet including hosting services. There is no need to pay more than it actually costs. But we cannot also compromise the quality of the service. So there should be a balance between the quality and the cheapness of the hosting services that you choose to host your precious website. To help you out in making a decision, we have been testing out some of the cheapest hosting services available today.
The prices can change over time. We will try our best to keep it updated.
Limitations of a Cheap Hosting Service
1. Hidden Costs of Cheap Hosting Services
While it’s enticing to go for the most cost-effective option when choosing a web hosting service, it’s crucial to understand what’s truly included in the price you pay. Often, the lower price comes with its own set of challenges and potential hidden costs. To guide you further, we’ve identified some important considerations when opting for these cheap hosting services.
2. Renewal Rates
Most hosting companies offer attractive introductory prices to lure customers, but the renewal rates are usually much higher. For instance, a hosting plan might start at $0.99 per month, but after the initial term, it may renew at $3.99 per month. Always look for the renewal rates before committing to a hosting service.
3. Limited Features
Cheap hosting plans often come with limited features. You may find the bandwidth, disk space, or the number of websites you can host significantly constrained. Moreover, advanced features like backup and restore options, security, and SEO tools are often missing. It’s imperative to understand the full feature set provided and weigh it against your needs.
4. Performance and Uptime
Performance and uptime are key factors to consider when choosing a hosting provider. Cheaper hosting plans may not guarantee the best uptime or page load speeds, potentially affecting the user experience and your website’s SEO. Ensure that the cheap hosting you’re considering guarantees at least 99.9% uptime.
5. Customer Support
Good customer support can make a world of difference, especially when you encounter technical difficulties. However, some cheap hosting plans may lack robust customer service, offering limited support channels or slower response times.
6. Domain and Email Hosting
While some cheap hosting plans might include a free domain for the first year, many do not offer this. Similarly, the number of email accounts and the total mailbox storage can be restricted. Factor these in when calculating the total cost.
7. Website Builder
Most cheap hosting plans don’t include a website builder. If you’re not technically inclined and don’t plan on hiring a developer, a website builder can be a critical tool. Paying for it separately can add up.
8. SSL Certificate
Many cheap hosting plans do not include a free SSL certificate. SSL is crucial for maintaining the security of your site and is a must-have in today’s digital landscape. Remember to account for the cost of purchasing an SSL certificate separately if it’s not included in your plan.
In conclusion, while affordability is a key factor in choosing a hosting service, it shouldn’t be at the expense of essential features, performance, and support. Do thorough research and weigh all factors before making a decision.
The Cheapest Hosting Services
We have manually tested out several hosting providers to understand the features and functions they offer, the performance of their servers, the quality of their customer service, and compared it to the price they are charging for the hosting service. If you don’t find any cheaper services, it’s probably because of the bad quality service they offer. So these are the cheapest hosting services we found on the internet.
1. Hostinger ($0.99/mo)
With hosting plans starting from just $1/month, Hostinger is one of the cheapest hosting services you can get to host your website. The cheapness doesn’t hold back the features such as a free SSL certificate, an email account, and GIT access. Providing various types of hosting suitable for any type of website, Hostinger also provides a 30-day money-back guarantee. So if you do not want to spend a lot on hosting, especially if you are just getting started with blogging, Hostinger is a great place to get started.
2. Namecheap ($1.58/mo)
Namecheap, as the name itself implies, provides cheap services. They are primarily a domain registrar that also provides hosting services. Anyone looking for a cheap web hosting server should consider Namecheap in their list. Namecheap is well known for its frequent offers and discounts on all of its hosting plans. The speed and stability of their hosting servers are also satisfactory. So you can host your websites for cheap rates and still expect good performance.
3. A2 Hosting ($2.49/mo)
A2 hosting provides various types of services including shared hosting, reseller hosting, and VPS hosting servers. The pricing is similar to that of Bluehost which we mentioned later in this list, and the performance is also similar. Plans are starting from just around $2.49. The features such as free account migration, money-back guarantee, and 99.99% uptime guarantee all make it a perfect option for anyone looking for a cheap hosting solution. You can easily install the applications such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Magneto, etc. with their one-click application installer.
4. GreenGeeks ($2.49/mo)
GreenGeeks is advertised as an eco-friendly web hosting service that doesn’t have environmental impacts with their hosting service. Apart from this good initiative, they also provide cheap web hosting plans. Shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, reseller hosting, etc. are the types of hosting services they provide. The plans are starting as low as $2.49 per month. There are no other hidden fees, and if you don’t like the service, you can cancel it within 30 days of the purchase.
5. DreamHost ($2.49/mo)
Dreamhost plans are starting from just $2.49 per month. They have powerful servers placed all across the globe that can deliver superior performance for any of your websites. The ultra-fast SSD-powered web servers will make sure that your website performs blazing fast. The hosting service can be completely integrated with their other services such as the professional email address, domain registrations, etc. A great option for anyone who wants a low-cost hosting provider.
6. Vultr ($2.50/mo)
When considering the performance of the servers without forgetting the pricing of the plans, the perfect name would be Vultr. With high-performance servers starting as low as $2.50 per month, they are one of the best cloud hosting services available today. Do not expect a control panel and the other fancy features. All you get is a perfect cloud computing system where you can install almost anything that you want. So this is not a web hosting service for beginners. It is a perfect fit for those who can create, manage, and optimize their own hosting servers.
7. Bluehost ($3.95/mo)
When you want to combine quality with cheapness, Bluehost is the answer. They provide a free domain for the first year, a free SSL certificate, one-click WordPress install, and a lot of additional features for just around $3.95 per month. There is also a 30-day money-back guarantee if you want to get your money back. One of the most important attractions of Bluehost hosting is their custom-made hosting panel similar to cPanel that list almost every feature that you want to control. The performance of the hosted sites are also satisfactory considering the price.
8. Digital Ocean ($5/mo)
Digital Ocean is a well-known cloud hosting provider in the industry with a lot of services including a powerful hosting service. Their plans are starting from just $5 a month. If you want to scale your hosting server based on the requirements that might change over time, you should choose Digital Ocean over any other hosting provider on this list. It is extremely easy to scale your servers according to the requirements.
The Digital Ocean hosting service can be completely integrated with several of the additional features such as Kubernetes, Database servers, Volume blocks, etc. for large-scale applications. Hence, it is one of the best hosting services for programmers.
9. GoDaddy ($5.99/mo)
GoDaddy is a well-known name in the hosting industry providing various hosting services for any type of website. Another great thing about their services is their cheapness. You can get started with web hosting for as low as $5.99 per month. They include a lot of features such as a free SSL certificate provided by Let’s Encrypt, a free email account, free domain registration, etc. making them the user favorite. The easy-to-use interface will be very helpful if you are just getting started with hosting interfaces and doesn’t yet want to dive into the advanced tools.
10. InMotion ($5.99/mo)
InMotion hosting has a great set of solid servers placed all over the globe that guarantees 99.99% uptime. Their 24/7 support will be always at your fingertips in case you run into any issues. The hosting plans are starting from around $5.99 a month. Just like many other hosting solutions in this list, they also provide a number of features including a free SSL certificate, professional email address, data backups, and in addition, a website builder as well. So if you are not planning to use any content management systems, you can go with their page builder to craft a stunning website.