The best cheap web hosts offer you top features, great performance, and excellent support, with prices below $5! Their low introductory price greatly benefits those looking to start a website at a budget.
Our #1 best cheap web hosting goes to Hostinger, with premium speed, features, and support – plans start from $1.99/mo!
Since 2014, we have bought & tested over 30 web hosting brands. To help you make an informed decision, we checked their performance, feature, support, and pricing; then narrowed down to the 5 best cheap web hosting that actually doesn’t suck!
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Here are some green flags we look for in any excellent web host:
Bitcatcha has been testing web hosts since 2014. We currently manage 95+ test sites hosted across a range of plans from 45+ different web hosts. We then use our Bitcatcha Speed Test Tool (as seen on LifeHack and HuffPost) to analyze each hosts’ server speed, plus uptime trackers to monitor server uptime. We use the results to produce data-driven reviews and comparisons of each host.
For a more detailed breakdown of how we write our web hosting reviews, head to our article on “How We Review Our Web hosts”.
Note
Plan
Single
Introductory Price
$1.99 /mo
Renewal Price
$3.99 /mo
Key Features
“Premium services at a super low price, what else can you ask for?”
Hailing from Lithuania, Hostinger is a brand that keeps getting better by the year. In fact, they emerged as the most-wanted web host of 2020, and it’s great to see that they’ve kept their prices as low as ever, even as they upgrade their features and grow their global presence.
Hostinger is our easy top choice for cheap web hosting because they offer premium hosting services at a very low signup price.
Pros
Cons
Hostinger’s plans cater for a range of users – from bloggers and small businesses, to enterprise users. For this article, we tested out their cheapest plan (Single Shared Hosting) which costs an insanely low $1.99/mo for a 48 month period.
Hats off to them – not only do they offer the cheapest long-term prices in the industry, but the price doesn’t even jump much higher once you need to renew it.
Their cheapest plan unlocks plenty of resources for a single site, including some premium features like Git-access, 1-click app installs, unlimited free SSL and access through their slick and intuitive custom hPanel interface.
Whilst we think that’s ideal for smaller websites, if you need a little extra boost, you can unlock a lot more resources by upgrading to the next tier for just an extra monthly dollar. Premium Shared Hosting costs $2.99/mo (for 48 months) and unlocks some juicy extras like:
Still – Hostinger’s value-for-money doesn’t just lie in a list of features. It’s worth mentioning that one of their strongest assets is the quality of support they provide. Not only are their teams available 24/7 over Live Chat, but they currently serve over 20 countries in their native language!
Hostinger passed our own performance tests with flying colors. We built a total of 3 different test sites specifically to host on Hostinger and run through our server speed test tool. Here are the results from their US datacenter!
| US (W) | US (E) | London | Singapore | Sao Paulo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 75 ms | 21 ms | 92 ms | 244 ms | 136 ms |
| Bangalore | Sydney | Japan | Canada | Germany |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 211 ms | 265 ms | 172 ms | 37 ms | 107 ms |
With an average response time of 136ms, Hostinger scored a solid A+. Users can speed things up even more with their very own Cache Manager, LiteSpeed cache, NGINX caching, PHP7 support and WordPress optimisation
What’s also outstanding though, is how many servers they have around the world!
They currently operate 10 data centers across the major continents, which means you can easily host from the location closest to your audience. This sort of range is surprising because you don’t expect that when you’re paying prices like these!
Plan
Shared Starter
Introductory Price
$2.59 /mo
Renewal Price
$5.99 /mo
Key Features
“World-famous, WordPress-endorsed hosting that’s surprisingly cheap!”
DreamHost are one of the most established names in the industry, but they’ve kepting on wowing us over the years. Aside from being able to boast an official WordPress endorsement, DreamHost offers very high-value hosting for surprisingly cheap.
We’d recommend these guys if you want budget hosting for a WordPress site, especially if you’re just starting out.
Pros
Cons
DreamHost plans are packed with value, including unlimited bandwidth, a free domain name and premium features like a WordPress drag-and-drop website builder to help you throw together a pro-looking website, ASAP.
Even their cheapest plans (starting from $2.59 /mo) cover a surprising amount of essential ground for small businesses, including great security features and a 100% uptime guarantee. Basically – you cover your bases without breaking the bank.
| Features | Shared Starter | Shared Unlimited |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.59/mo | $3.95/mo |
| Renews at | $5.99/mo | $10.99/mo |
| Storage | 50 GB | Unlimited |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| SSL certificate | Free | Free |
| See all features |
What’s also quite stand-out is their money back guarantee. Whilst most hosts offer a guarantee of 30 days, DreamHost takes it to the next level with a 97-day money back guarantee!
You also get the rare option to pay on a monthly basis, which is something that many hosts don’t offer anymore. Whilst you won’t unlock the cheapest prices this way, you may appreciate the cashflow advantage.
DreamHost also performs fantastically. When put through our speed test, their SSD servers recorded the fastest average response times out of all the hosts we’ve tested here!
| US (W) | US (E) | London | Singapore | São Paulo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 70 ms | 2 ms | 77 ms | 242 ms | 117 ms |
| Bangalore | Sydney | Japan | Canada | Germany |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 194 ms | 210 ms | 169 ms | 16 ms | 87 ms |
We were impressed with their average response time of 118.4 ms, scoring a solid A+ rank.
Their downsides? They only have servers based in the US, so may not be the best choice for those with audiences in Asia or Oceania since you can see that speeds are slower there.
Plan
Basic
Introductory Price
$2.95 /mo
Renewal Price
$9.99 /mo
Key Features
“Low prices with standard features, great for bloggers!”
Bluehost is one of the more highly recommended, inexpensive web hosting services around, and their prices are low enough to earn them a spot on this list.
Pros
Cons
Bluehost is one of the more highly recommended, inexpensive web hosting services around, and their prices are low enough to earn them a spot on this list.
For this article, we went with their cheapest ‘Basic’ plan.
Here, you kind of get what you pay for – 1 free domain, 10GB of SSD storage and unmetered bandwidth. It isn’t specified how much is allocated per account, but as long as you fall into their “normal” range, you should be okay.
Whilst 10GB is probably enough for a very basic website, it’s not much, especially when compared to how much storage some of the other hosts on this list offer at the same price point (DreamHost is slightly cheaper and offers 5x the storage!)
However, Bluehost does come with free SSL, free CDN and a free domain for the first year, which is handy. Aside from that, they’re pretty stable and offer good WordPress integrations. Couple that with their other perks, such as an official WordPress endorsement, we still think Bluehost is a worthy contender for this list.
We’ve set up a whopping total of 6 BlueHost test sites to run our server speed tests on. And they provided lightning-quick server response times across the board!
| US (W) | US (E) | London | Singapore | São Paulo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 23 ms | 78 ms | 183 ms | 193 ms | 164 ms |
| Bangalore | Sydney | Japan | Canada | Germany |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 330 ms | 168 ms | 125 ms | 92 ms | 174 ms |
With a global average of 153 ms, Bluehost emerged as another A+ ranked web host, performing incredibly well in the West US (23 ms), East US (78 ms) and Canada (92 ms).
Their response times in the other locations are decent too, mostly scoring below 180 ms. The slowest location at Bangalore was 330 ms, suggesting that those targeting audiences out in Asia and Oceania may not get the best speeds. However, they do offer a free CDN built directly into the account, available at just a click, which will help get these speeds up to scratch.
Plan
Lite
Introductory Price
$2.95 /mo
Renewal Price
$10.95 /mo
Key Features
“Affordable and powerful YET great for the planet!”
GreenGeeks tick virtually every box of a premium web host.
However, the special thing about them isn’t just their generous features or their high speeds, it’s that GreenGeeks gives back to the planet by investing 3 times of every amp they use into renewable energy!
In short, they’re fast, affordable, and a better choice for the planet.
Pros
Cons
Very rarely do you see a cheap web hosting service as environmentally-conscious as GreenGeeks. And you won’t need to compromise anything either – they set you up with a generous amount of resources even on their cheapest ‘Lite’ plan.
We’re talking unmetered data transfers, unlimited databases, and even 50 email accounts – something that will come in handy for businesses!
They’ve even thrown in free SSL, a free domain, free nightly backups and sweetened the deal with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Add that to a strong support team, cutting edge infrastructure and CloudFlare integration, we think GreenGeeks offers an impressive amount of value for money.
To test out their servers, we set up and hosted 2 different test sites on GreenGeeks.
Here are the results from our test site hosted on their cheapest Lite plan, from their US data center.
| US (W) | US (E) | London | Singapore | São Paulo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 ms | 23 ms | 86 ms | 218 ms | 145 ms |
| Bangalore | Sydney | Japan | Canada | Germany |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 208 ms | 186 ms | 151 ms | 20 ms | 99 ms |
At a worldwide average of 118.6 ms, GreenGeeks scored a fantastic A+, faster than Google’s recommended response time and than most of the hosts on this list!
However, their data centers are based only in Chicago (US), Phoenix (US), Toronto (CA), Montreal (CA) and Amsterdam (EU). So, if you’re targeting Asia, you might not be able to experience them at their optimum speed.
Plan
Starter
Introductory Price
$2.95 /mo
Renewal Price
$9.99 /mo
Key Features
“Fantastically affordable green and no-frills hosting for small businesses.”
HostPapa hails from Canada, which already bodes well for anyone looking for cheap hosting that takes privacy seriously – thanks to Canada’s strict PIPEDA laws.
We’re putting them on this list because we love how many ‘unlimited’ goodies HostPapa manages to squeeze in under an affordable, less than $5 price tag, even if they aren’t quite as cheap as the others on this list.
But HostPapa also has a few other special things going for it. From their award-winning customer support via the ‘PapaSquad’, to the fact that they were one of the first web hosting companies to make a public commitment to going green. Even today, they make a decent effort to offset their carbon emissions.
Pros
Cons
For this article we tested out their Starter Plan, which is their cheapest on offer and offers surprisingly generous storage (100GB!), unlimited bandwidth and a free domain thrown in!
That said – if you’re setting up a business website and really want to get maximum value at a budget-friendly price, you can look one tier higher into their Business Plan.
This unlocks unlimited SSD, unlimited websites, unlimited email accounts… and even a free domain for a year and free site migrations. That means never needing to worry about paying for additional storage space, additional sites, or adding on email accounts for new hires.
With 3 fast data centres, reliable support and budget-friendly prices, we think HostPapa makes for a great no-frills hosting solution for small businesses looking for a greener option.
To investigate their speeds, we set up and hosted a grand total of 3 test websites. We ran each site through the speed test tool and were really happy with the results!
| US (W) | US (E) | London | Singapore | São Paulo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 159 ms | 119 ms | 8 ms | 160 ms | 213 ms |
| Bangalore | Sydney | Japan | Canada | Germany |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 115 ms | 275 ms | 238 ms | 129 ms | 14 ms |
HostPapa’s worldwide average response time was 143 ms. That earns this host a solid A+ rank.
To sum it up, HostPapa’s servers respond quickly for ALL your site visitors
Of course, there are also some bad hosting companies hiding within the same price range, and separating the good from the bad can get a little tricky.
But fret not – I’ve come up with 6 easy steps to help you identify the best web hosts at low prices, so you can have the best of both worlds.
A good affordable web host will pack in all their top features as part of the package. Things to look out for include:
Server speed is simply how quickly (or slowly) your web server responds to a request.
This is important because Core Web Vitals play a very important factor when it comes to ranking, and you want your website to be ranked, don’t you?
Out of the 3 web vital metrics, 2 of them are highly dependant on server response time, which is LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) and FID (First Input Delay).
In other words, when someone clicks on your website, the time it takes the largest piece of content to appear, and how long it takes for the site to be interactive for the user, will affect rankings.
All these matters because every request must be lightning-quick on your website, especially if you’re an e-commerce seller and you expect quick order processing. A fast server response is essential for good user experience.
Unfortunately, many of the lousy web hosts overload their servers, which means your website is competing with others on the same shared server for speed and resources. Some providers simply aren’t using efficient hardware, so their response times are slow.
On the other hand, the best web hosts will still make sure you get a fast response time, even on a shared server.
You can test server speed using our speed checker tool. Simply enter the website URL, and you’ll see how fast the server responds around the world.
There’s nothing more frustrating than your website going down. So your web host’s uptime figure is crucial. The better their uptime, the more reliable the host.
Quite simply, anything less than 99% uptime should be avoided, and 99.9% should be your target.
You might think that even 98% sounds quite good, but think of it like this: 98% uptime means your site could be down for 3-7 days of the year!
You can track a web host’s uptime with a free tool like uptimerobot.com. Uptime Robot checks your website every five minutes for signs of life, and it alerts you if anything is wrong. We use Uptime Robots to monitor our site, and power our uptime figures.
Tech support is one of the main things that separates good web hosts from bad web hosts. A good company will have an expert team that answers queries quickly and effectively. Bad hosts often neglect their customer service.
If something goes wrong on your website, you want to know there’s a friendly voice on the other end of the phone who can fix it for you. If you prefer online chat or email, look for a web host with that contact preference.
There are a few ways to test a web host’s tech support without actually buying it. Try submitting a ticket for the following reasons:
A good web host should reply quickly and efficiently to these queries.
Most web hosts use strong marketing language, like ‘unlimited storage and bandwidth’ or ‘unlimited CPU’. Unfortunately even ‘unlimited’ has a limit! And you’ll find it in the web host’s terms of service.
In some cases, web hosts reserve the right to suspend or even disconnect a website that overloads these limits.
Below are some real-life examples from reputable web hosts that show these restrictions:
Limited CPU
Additional reasons for termination
Specifically, look for the following hard limits:
It’s also worth checking the terms-of-service for their refund policy. Sometimes, you’ll try out a web host, and then realize it’s not right for you. The good web hosts understand this, and they’ll offer a fair refund policy.
Unfortunately, the bad hosts often have no refund policy at all, and they’ll even charge an additional cancellation fee.
If you can’t find these numbers in the terms of service, ask their support team.
The low prices you see are usually introductory figures, and the renewal price will cost a little more. Check to make sure the price doesn’t jump to an outrageous figure!
You’ll also notice that most web hosts offer a discount if you sign up for a longer period. However, it’s best not to lock yourself into a long contract if possible. You may want to expand or change things in two years.
Lastly, some hosts try to up-sell certain add-on products like daily backups or server security scanning. If you don’t want these extras, be sure to uncheck any boxes before you buy.
To recap, here is a breakdown of our top cheap web hosting providers:
Considering all the factors (server speed, uptime, tech support, ease of use, and price), the above are some of the best inexpensive web hosts for your websites.
But remember: Match your web host to your website needs!
There is no outright best cheap web host. Only the one that is right for you and your needs. Different web hosts are suited to different priorities.
A simple portfolio site, for example, only needs a small, shared web host. But, if you’re running a blog or website with more than 30,000-40,000 visitors a month, you’ll want additional storage, and the ability to upgrade to VPS when the time is right.
If you’re looking to start an ecommerce site, you’ll need a web host that allows payment integration and additional security measures. (Be sure to check out our recommended eCommerce Hosting.)
As you can see, cheap web hosts don’t always suck, but do check out their features and performance before you buy. Good luck! And if you still have further questions, feel free to get in touch, and I’ll be happy to answer your questions.
If you’ve got the right server software, hardware and technical expertise, yes you can. Though your website performance will most likely be nowhere as reliable as those hosted on professional web hosting services. Hosting your own website is generally not worth the effort for the average user, and you’ll be better off just hosting your site through web hosting companies.
Yes. There are plenty of free web hosting services around that you can utilize for your website. However, they come with performance restrictions, handicaps, and ads displayed on your website (which you have no control over). If you’re looking to actually build traffic and generate revenue through your site, we would strongly advise against going for these free services.
Shared web hosting costs an average of $12 to $420 per year – excluding domain and SSL. Domains would typically cost you $10 – $20 a year, while SSL can cost anything from as little as $8 up to $1000 per annum. These can build up to cost quite a bit, so we highly recommend a web hosting service that offers both domain AND SSL for free, like Hostinger and Bluehost.
Hostinger is the best web hosting you can get at a budget. At only $1.99 a month (with their 48-mo plan), you’ll enjoy a free SSL, 100GB bandwidth, 50GB SSD – more than enough for small or personal websites.
Shared web hosting is one of the cheapest and most commonly used methods to host websites – highly recommended for personal or small business websites. For business websites or larger e-Commerce sites, you might want to consider cloud hosting. Hostinger offers both shared and cloud hosting as part of their services!
Figure out the purpose of your website, and find out which kind of web hosting would be best to fulfil that purpose. Then, shortlist and compare several web hosting brands to see which has better offer in terms of performance, features, and price. We’ve done all the work for you to make your life a little easier. Check out our list of best web hosting providers for more information!
If you’re building a WordPress site targeting the USA, Bluehost would be the preferred web hosting choice. If it’s a non-WordPress site with a global audience, it’s better to pick GoDaddy. Note that Hostinger would be a great choice for both, with their LiteSpeed Cache plugin (which speeds up WordPress) and their wide data center coverage.
