7 Fastest Web Hosting Services of 2023 (With Server Speed Test Results)
The fastest web hosting brands help deliver fantastically quick website speeds to your target audience, wherever they’re based geographically. Such web hosts tend to offer advanced server hardware like SSDs (Solid State Drives) and speed-optimized software, which translates into lightning-fast server response speeds.
A high speed web host takes less than 180 ms for its servers to respond. However, there are other important deciding factors aside from speed! To find the BEST fast web host, we need to look at other factors such as customer service, and their plans and pricing. That’s why we’ve purchased and tested out over 45 different web hosting brands using the above criteria.
The verdict? We believe the #1 fastest web host is Hostinger – the same brand we crowned as the best fastest WordPress web host.
7 Fast Web Hosts with Quick Server Responses
- Hostinger – global average 136 ms
- DreamHost – global average 118.4 ms
- Bluehost – global average 153 ms
- HostPapa – global average 121.7 ms
- GreenGeeks – global average 118.6 ms
- Kinsta – global average 179.5 ms
- SiteGround – global average 136.9 ms
Note
- All prices listed are based on a 12-month subscription rate.
- You may enjoy lower prices by opting for a longer subscription period.
1. Hostinger
https://www.hostinger.com/
Hosting Plan
Premium Shared
Avg. Global Speed
136 ms
Price (USD)
$2.99/mo
Key Features
- 100GB SSD
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Free domain & SSL
- hPanel
- Localised support
“Hostinger offers premium speeds, features and worldwide data centers at affordable prices - well-balanced hosting perfect for most websites.”
Hostinger has been steadily growing in popularity for offering well-balanced hosting. Not only are they fast – their prices are very affordable.
How fast is Hostinger?
In terms of speed features, Hostinger offers a whole load of speed-optimized hardware and software. These include SSD drives, a Cache Manager and free CDN for certain plans.
To test their speed performance, we set up a total of 17 test sites and hosted them across 6 different Hostinger data centers in 4 continents. Here are the best results from our Speed Test Tool:
| 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 |
The US data center returned the fastest server response, with a worldwide average of 136 ms. Requests from further away in the Asian or Oceanic region, with the slowest response time being 265 ms from Sydney.
Luckily, Hostinger’s data center spread is fantastic. They currently offer 8 different data centers, in France, the Netherlands, Lithuania, the United Kingdom, Singapore, India, the USA, and Brazil. Simply host from the one closest to your main audience’s location and your site should be fast indeed!
Hostinger’s customer support
Hostinger has an excellent support team serving over 42 countries in their native language. They’re also continuing to expand their presence worldwide via localized websites and local customer service teams. You can get in touch via Live Chat or ticketing, or simply browse their knowledgebase or video tutorials.
Hostinger’s plans and pricing
With the inclusion of 1 free domain, 100GB SSD storage, unlimited emails and bandwidth – Hostinger really packs a punch with their plans, especially for any website owners just starting out. Plus, they start at a low introductory price. Read our Hostinger review to find out more.
2. DreamHost
https://www.dreamhost.com/
Hosting Plan
Shared Unlimited
Avg. Global Speed
118.4 ms
Price (USD)
$2.95/mo
Key Features
- Unlimited SSD
- Unlimited traffic
- Free domain & SSL
- 100% Uptime Guar.
- 97-day money back
“World-famous hosting service endorsed by WordPress and with an 100% uptime guarantee.”
When it comes to world-famous web hosts, DreamHost is one of the most familiar names around. Founded in 1997, they’ve remained a very strong web host, and are still one of the few hosts that are officially WordPress endorsed.
How fast is DreamHost?
DreamHost offers plenty of speed-enhancing features, including storing all data in SSDs, which are twice as fast as HDDs.
They’ve invested a lot into optimizing their servers, and have impressive response times to show for it! We built and hosted a test site on DreamHost’s Shared Plan, from their Virginia center and fed them through our Speed Test Tool.
| US (W) | US (E) | London | Singapore | Sao 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 |
The numbers impressed us with a blisteringly fast worldwide average of 118.4 ms! The fastest speeds were from the East Coast of the US, recording just 2 ms. As expected, speeds got slower in regions further away, with the slowest location being Singapore at 242 ms.
However, DreamHost lacks a global spread. They currently operate just 2 data centers that are both located in the US. If your audience is within, or close to the Americas, they should enjoy blink-of-an-eye speeds. However, DreamHost may be a little slow if your audience is situated further away, for example – in Asia.
DreamHost’s customer support
DreamHost offers support in the form of live chat, ticketing, a decent knowledgebase, a pretty active forum, and a call-back system. Their support team is fully in-house and said to be highly trained and experienced in WordPress. From our own experience, response times over live chat were fast, and they proved very helpful.
DreamHost’s plans and pricing
DreamHost offers two tiers of plans – we’d recommend the Shared Unlimited if you want more resources to play with – like unlimited websites and emails.
What’s also definitely worth mentioning is their money back guarantee. Whilst most hosts offer a standard 30-day money back guarantee, DreamHost takes it to the next level by extending it up to 97 days!
See our full DreamHost review for more information!
3. Bluehost
https://www.bluehost.com/
Hosting Plan
Basic
Avg. Global Speed
153 ms
Price (USD)
$2.95/mo
Key Features
- Linux & cPanel
- Unmetered bandwidth
- 10GB SSD
- Resource protection
- CloudFlare CDN
“Suitable for small sites & beginners.”
One of the more prominent brands out there, Bluehost has a good 16 years of experience under their belt as a web host.
How fast is BlueHost?
In regards to speed features, BlueHost offers fantastic SSD servers and a free CDN with all plans.
From our speed tests, they recorded an average response time of 153 ms, earning them an A+ grade!
| US (W) | US (E) | London | Singapore | Sao 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 |
The fastest pings came in from the US at 80 ms each, but results from countries further away were a little slower, dipping down to 330 ms in India.
Unfortunately, Bluehost is not very forthcoming about the number of data centers they have – we only know of their 1 data center which is located in the USA. We are also not allowed to pick the data center we’d like to use with Bluehost, which is the reason they’re this far down the list.
Bluehost’s customer support
Bluehost has outsourced its support team to India and currently provides support through Live Chat and phone. What’s more, they offer a comprehensive knowledge base with helpful tutorials and guides. We feel their support could benefit from some improvements, but think Bluehost is still a reliable option for blogs and small online businesses.
Bluehost’s plans and pricing
With plans starting from only $2.95 per month, we think that Bluehost offers some pretty great value for money.
See our full Bluehost review to learn more!
4. HostPapa
https://www.hostpapa.com/
Hosting Plan
Start
Avg. Global Speed
121.7 ms
Price (USD)
$3.96/mo
Key Features
- 100GB SSD
- 1 Website
- Free Domain
- Multilingual support
- Unmetered Bandwidth
“Fast speeds and outstanding support, HostPapa just keeps getting better.”
Next comes HostPapa, a hosting company from Toronto, Canada. They’re independently-owned and not only offer a solid hosting product, but we noticed they’re been very active in upgrading their offerings over the years. Just in Q1 of 2022, they acquired 3 new services and finally launched Managed WordPress hosting!
How fast is HostPapa?
HostPapa offers some great speed features including providing SuperMicro SSD servers and combining it with Cloudflare’s content delivery network.
HostPapa really impressed us on our performance tests. We set up 3 test sites for our speed test tool and their Canadian datacenter returned a worldwide average response time of 121.7 ms. These guys deserved that A+ ranking!
| US (W) | US (E) | London | Singapore | Sao Paulo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 67 ms | 28 ms | 80 ms | 231 ms | 132 ms |
| Bangalore | Sydney | Japan | Canada | Germany |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 200 ms | 203 ms | 173 ms | 8 ms | 95 ms |
Given the locations of their data centers, HostPapa is a blazing-fast host if your audience is within Canada or the US. The fastest ping came from Canada at 8 ms, whilst the slowest came from Sydney at 203 ms. However, if your audience is only based in Asia or Australia, picking another host with a server located in that region (like Hostinger) would probably be a better idea.
They currently operate 3 data centers across North America and Europe.
HostPapa’s customer support
HostPapa goes above and beyond with its customer support team, aptly named the ‘PapaSquad’. Not only are they available 24/7, and speak four languages, but you can even have a one-on-one video/telephone training session with them to answer any questions. Plus, there’s also a large library of self-help videos.
HostPapa’s plans and pricing
With plans that start from $3.96, we think HostPapa offers amazing value. For the Start plan we’re on, we get 100 GB SSD storage, free SSL, CloudFlare and a free domain.
See our full HostPapa review to learn more!
5. GreenGeeks
https://www.greengeeks.com/
Hosting Plan
Pro
Avg. Global Speed
118.6 ms
Price (USD)
$4.95/mo
Key Features
- 300% green host
- Linux & cPanel
- RAID-10 SSD
- HTTP/3 & PHP8
- Optimized LiteSpeed
“300% energy-efficient hosting with impressive features, speeds, and reliability.”
GreenGeeks has everything that makes a premium web host, but what makes them special is their commitment to green hosting. GreenGeeks gives back to the planet by investing 3 times of every amp they use into renewable energy!
How fast is GreenGeeks?
GreenGeeks offer a ton of speed features, starting with solid reliable data centers, strong support team, cutting edge infrastructure, Git compatibility, and CloudFlare integration.
At a worldwide average of 118.6 ms, they are ranked A+, faster than Google’s recommended response time and our top 3 hosts.
| US (W) | US (E) | London | Singapore | Sao 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 |
The above test, taken from their US dataserver, reported fastest speeds in Canada and on the East Coast – 20 ms and 23 ms respectively! The slowest location was Bangalore, at 208 ms.
However, their data centers are based only in the US, Canada and Amsterdam, so if you’re targeting Asia, you might not be able to experience them at their optimum speed.
GreenGeek’s customer support
GreenGeeks maintains that its staff members are never outsourced, but all based in North America and speaking excellent English. You can reach their support department 24/7/365 via email and Live Chat – we found our messages were always replied to in a manner of minutes. They also offer phone support.
GreenGeek’s plans and pricing
GreenGeeks’ Lite plan starts at only $2.95 per month.
Let’s not forget hosting with GreenGeeks means you’ll not only be carbon-neutral, but “carbon-reducing”. They actually put 3x the energy they consume back into the grid by purchasing wind energy credits. Head over to our complete GreenGeeks review to learn more!
6. Kinsta
https://kinsta.com
Hosting Plan
Starter
Avg. Global Speed
179.5 ms
Price (USD)
$24/mo
Key Features
- Google Cloud
- 25,000 visits /mo
- Daily backups
- WP expert as support
- Hack fix guarantee
“WordPress hosting powered by Google Cloud Platform.”
Next on our list of fastest web hosts is Kinsta Managed Hosting. They’ve had over a decade’s worth of experience with WordPress, and they’ve dedicated that experience into creating the best and fastest Managed WordPress Hosting solution you’ve seen.
How fast is Kinsta?
Kinsta has plenty of great speed features, starting with the fact they utilise the premium tier of Google Cloud. This means Kinsta users benefit from cutting-edge tech and a very global network. With their next gen architecture, infrastructure, and implementation of Kinsta CDN (in partnership with CloudFlare) Kinsta lets you load your hosted sites in literally a fraction of a second.
Our speed test results did not disappoint:
| US (W) | US (E) | London | Singapore | Sao Paulo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 130 ms | 95 ms | 10 ms | 287 ms | 203 ms |
| Bangalore | Sydney | Japan | Canada | Germany |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 487 ms | 266 ms | 221 ms | 83 ms | 13 ms |
They scored a worldwide average of 179.5 ms, earning an A+ rating. Their speeds are pretty impressive, recording just 10 ms in London and the worst performing one at 487 ms in Bangalore.
Kinsta’s global spread of data centers is almost impossible to beat – with a total of 35 data centers! No matter where in the world your audience is based, you’re sure to find a server nearby.
Kinsta’s customer support
Kinsta users enjoy 24/7 support via the Intercom widget. But more importantly – their support team is amazing. It’s composed entirely of high level developers, so you won’t be bouncing between level 1 or level 2 reps, you’ll always be talking to experts. However, they lack email hosting and phone support.
Kinsta’s plans and pricing
The only thing that stopped us from ranking them any higher is their hefty price tag with their entry level plans starting $24 per month. They’re definitely a more premium web host. However, Kinsta’s features are plentiful, you get daily backups, your uptime is guaranteed, and you get software like KinstaCDN to turbo-charge your site.
It’s best suited for businesses, bigger sites, and higher budgets. Read our Kinsta review to see if it’s the web host for you!
7. SiteGround
https://www.siteground.com
Hosting Plan
GrowBig
Avg. Global Speed
136.9 ms
Price (USD)
$4.99/mo
Key Features
- Google Cloud
- 20GB SSD storage
- 25,000 visits /mo
- SuperCacher
- 24/7 tech. support
“Powered by Google Cloud Platform - SiteGround is a fast & reliable premium web host.”
SiteGround is officially WordPress endorsed (it’s kind of a big deal, guys!), and that kind of recognition is only given out to web hosts that meet WordPress’s lofty criteria.
How fast is SiteGround?
All SiteGround’s shared hosting plans make use of the super fast Google Cloud Platform. They combine this with SSD drives, cache software called SuperCacher, and easy integration with Cloudflare.
How did our SiteGround test site fare in our speed tests? FAST! With a worldwide average of 136.9 ms, SiteGround ranked A+. Their fastest server location was Canada at 29 ms, whilst the slowest was Bangalore at 243 ms.
| US (W) | US (E) | London | Singapore | Sao Paulo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 68 ms | 33 ms | 96 ms | 233 ms | 181 ms |
| Bangalore | Sydney | Japan | Canada | Germany |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 243 ms | 203 ms | 165 ms | 29 ms | 118 ms |
SiteGround actually offers 10 data centers spread out across 4 continents so just pick the one that’s closest to your target audience to supercharge their site load speeds.
SiteGround’s customer support
SiteGround offers support via 24/7 Live Chat, ticketing, and also the phone. If you’re getting their GrowBig plan or above, you get access to their 30-day priority support – where your tickets get replied to within minutes! Their support team is consistently helpful – we’ve spoken to them extensively over the years we’ve hosted Bitcatcha with them.
SiteGround’s plans and pricing
SiteGround offers a range of plans for a range of users. We’re on their GrowBig Plan, and enjoy priority support, SuperCacher, Automatic Daily Backups and Free restores.
Given the higher price, SiteGround is best suited for websites who have more budget and resources to play with (e.g. business websites). Check out our in-depth SiteGround review!
What Is Fast? How The Fastest Web Hosting Works?
Fast, in the context of web hosting, refers to how well a host is able to support the speed and responsiveness of your website.
At the end of the day, as a website owner – you always want to deliver a seamless user experience with quick loading times and smooth navigation. Not only does this mean happier website visitors for you, a faster website also brings important SEO advantages!
And all this relates directly to a host’s hardware and software specs. The fastest web hosting providers achieve this by employing a winning combo of factors.
For one, they utilize state-of-the-art server infrastructure with high-performance hardware. This typically involves using SSD drives, which are much faster than the traditional HDDs of old. This allows for rapid data processing and delivery.
Next, fast web hosts also often offer features such as a caching system and content delivery networks (CDNs). These technologies help store and serve website data closer to wherever your audiences are, and help cut down latency.
Finally – fast web hosts optimize their servers and software configurations to minimize any bottlenecks and maximize efficiency. For example, making sure their servers are optimized for WordPress, or that they support the latest PHP versions.
A high speed server is one that takes less than 180 ms to respond.
How To Spot Slow Web Hosting Providers?
A slow server is one that takes longer than 500 ms to respond.
Slow web hosting can be defined as hosts that aren’t able to deliver the server speeds required for your website to load quickly. The result is typically a poor user experience for your visitors, since they’ll be left hanging around waiting for your pages to load.
Server speed is measured by testing a server’s response time. By comparing this number against certain benchmarks, it gives us an easy way to judge whether or not a web host is fast enough to meet your visitors’ expectations.
What is server response time?
Server response time is simply the amount of time it takes for the server to respond to a request from a client.
Imagine someone in Canada accessing a website. The server response time would be the duration between the moment they click a link and when they start receiving the website’s content in the browser. A faster response time means the server processes the request swiftly, providing a seamless browsing experience for the user.
What is the difference between server response time and TTFB?
Many people get ‘server response time’ confused with something called TTFB, or “Time To First Byte”. Both are important metrics for judging a web host, but represent two different ways to measure website speed performance.
- Server response time
The total time needed to get a pingback from the server after making a request. - TTFB
The time needed to receive the first piece of data, after making a request from the server.
Server response time is a more reliable way of measuring server performance. TTFB is a more accurate way to measure website performance.
A lower server response time and TTFB indicate faster processing and quicker initial response, respectively, contributing to improved user experience and faster page loading times. Win win!
How can you check server response time?
The easiest way to check server response time is to use a tool like our unique Bitcatcha Server Speed Checker. Ours calculates the average server response times across 10 locations worldwide, to emulate different visitors coming from different parts of the world.
Scores below 180 ms are ranked “A+” and scores from 181 ms to 210 ms are ranked “A”. Our server speed test can help reveal the effective reach of the data center, hardware specs, server setup and their network planning. It’s an important tool we use whenever we review web hosts.
How To Pick The Best Fastest Web Hosting?
Picking the best fastest web hosting isn’t JUST about comparing response times.
Making sure your host provides a fast server speed is important, but you’ll want to be sure your chosen host meets ALL the following criteria in order to provide a well-rounded web hosting experience.
- Speed
The host should earn at least an A+ rating on our Bitcatcha speed test, meaning it should score an average server response time of 180 ms or faster. - Customer service
Host should provide around-the-clock support in your desired language, and in the method you’re looking for. Their team should also be knowledgeable and able to explain things to you, no matter your level of tech expertise. - Secure
A web host should help you effectively defend your site from hackers and malware. This could include providing firewalls, Cloudflare, free SSL certificates and a security monitoring system. - Reliability
Look for web hosts that offer an uptime guarantee of at least 99%. - Value for money
Web hosts differ hugely in pricing, but the important thing is that they’re giving you the features YOU need at a price you’re willing to pay.
Who offers the fastest WordPress Hosting?
WordPress is an incredibly popular CMS (Content Management System) that many people use to build their websites.
After much testing and playing around with WordPress test sites, we’re confident to nominate Hostinger again as our preferred choice of fastest WordPress hosting.
We observed a server speed of 136 ms on our WordPress test site hosted on Hostinger, which is a well-earned A+ rank. Not only are they exceptionally fast and powered by LiteSpeed technology, their servers are truly optimized for WordPress.
Verdict: Web Hosting Speed Comparison
Note that all of the web hosts that appear here are superb and are ranked A+, so you can’t really go wrong with any of them. We’ve ranked them according to our preference, but feel free to make your own choices!
Here is a recap of our top fastest web hosting providers:
If we HAD to pick just one web host, we’d go with Hostinger. They stand out from the pack for their winning combo of lightning-fast server speeds and well-balanced offerings.
They use a combination of hardware and software to make them the best FASTEST shared host, including:
- SSD servers – 30% faster than regular HDDs
- Automatically updated & optimized software
- Tier-3 datacenters in 7 regions around the world
- PHP7 support – the quickest PHP release to date
- LiteSpeed Web Servers & cache plug-in to boost performance
Whilst they were initially known best for their budget plans, Hostinger has really evolved in recent years and continually improved their performance hardware – which we’ve seen translate into fantastic server speeds. Pay Hostinger a visit at their official website.
