5 Best Web Hosting Services in 2025 (+ How to Choose)

Web hosting services provide the server space, technology, and infrastructure needed to make your website accessible on the internet.

Choosing the right web hosting provider ensures your site loads quickly, can handle the traffic your site receives, and provides scalability for your website to grow.

This guide will cover the best web hosts on the market, giving you the information you need to pick the right option for your website.

Summary of the Best Web Hosts

Here's a quick comparison of the best web hosts, based on what their cheapest shared hosting package offers (more on the different hosting types below):

Host	Initial Price	Renewal Price	Weighted Average Review Platform Rating	Websites	Storage	Monthly Site Traffic
Hostinger	$2.99/month (with a 48-month subscription)	$10.99/month (starts after 48 months)	4.69	25	25 GB	25,000 visits
SiteGround	$2.99/month (with an annual subscription)	$17.99/month	4.79	1	10 GB	10,000 visits
Hosting.com	$1.99/month	$11.99/month	4.62	1	15 GB	Unmetered*
DreamHost	$2.59/month (with a three-year subscription	$6.99/month	4.67	1	50 GB	Unmetered*
IONOS	$4.00/month	$6.00/month	4.69	1	10 GB	Unlimited*

* Unmetered and unlimited pretty much mean the same thing here-it's just different terminology different hosts use. It's unlikely to be genuinely unlimited in practice, but your contract with the host will contain more specific details.

We've opted to only consider the least expensive packages for each host in our analysis because it's the fairest way to compare them side by side.

Each provider has several packages to choose from, and the more expensive tiers come with more websites, more storage, and higher bandwidth limits. (See the "Upgrade Path" sections below for more info on these plans.)

What All of our Selected Hosting Providers Include

Every host we discuss in this article provides these standard features:

• 99.9% uptime guarantee: A few promise 99.99% or even 100%, but you should expect at least 99.9%
• Free SSL certificate: This is a file that's installed on your website's server that ensures you provide your users with a secure, encrypted connection (to protect data like login and payment information)
• Free domain for the first year: This is pretty standard these days, but you will need to pay for your domain beyond the first year
• Free website migration: This means the host won't charge you for moving your site to their hosting
• Automatic backups: This gives you protection against data loss if things go wrong or you want to revert changes you made on your site, as the host stores regular backups of your site data
• SSD storage: This is a faster type of storage than methods hosts used in the past, and it's now the industry standard
• 30-day money-back guarantee: This means if the first host you pick isn't a good fit, you can get a full refund and go somewhere else instead

There are a few important considerations to be aware of when comparing options:

First, all of these hosts increase their monthly prices when you renew-sometimes more than doubling the initial price. This is (unfortunately) pretty standard industry practice to attract new customers.

Second, many hosts will try to sell you extras like premium security, priority support, or advanced backups. These aren't necessarily bad, but they're usually optional for most websites.

Finally, there are multiple types of hosting. For the sake of simplicity, our list only compares shared hosting options. This is a cost-effective type of hosting that's usually ideal for beginners.

If you have a WordPress website, you may want to consider WordPress hosting specifically. These options often feature WordPress-specific optimizations and tools for managing your WordPress site.

If your site gets a lot of traffic, cloud hosting might be the best option. It typically has higher traffic limits, and may help your website load faster for your users.

There are other types of hosting available, with specific options varying between hosts. But for first-time website owners, shared hosting (often just called "web hosting" on some pricing pages) is typically a good place to start.

Why You Can Trust This List

Most "best hosting providers" lists and videos you'll find prioritize hosts with the highest affiliate commissions-not necessarily the best service.

Even Reddit threads about hosting often contain hidden affiliate links:

We don't use affiliate links here. These recommendations are based purely on reviews from real users, feature sets, and value for money.

We also analyzed reviews across three platforms for each host (G2, TrustPilot, and HostAdvice). And we have based each section below on real insights from users.

With that in mind, let's discuss our top picks for web hosting services.

1. Hostinger

Hostinger delivers the best overall value with a beginner-friendly interface, and the fact that you can set up multiple websites on their cheapest plan.

The standout feature is Hostinger's approach to making web hosting intuitive for beginners. The custom hPanel dashboard provides a beginner-friendly interface to manage your website.

Potential Drawbacks

Hostinger's customer support relies entirely on live chat and email. There's no phone support, even on the more expensive plans.

The renewal price also jumps to $10.99 per month after the first year. And the lack of daily backups could be a problem if you make a lot of regular changes to your website.

Upgrade Path

Here's a comparison of Hostinger's plans:

For an extra $3/month (after the first year), the Business plan doubles your number of websites and storage space. It also gives you extra email accounts, daily and on-demand backups, and a free content delivery network (CDN) for faster load times.

2. SiteGround

SiteGround offers hosting built on Google Cloud infrastructure. So it delivers reliable performance for small- to medium-sized websites. The platform also gets extensive praise on review platforms for its support.

SiteGround makes it especially easy to set up and maintain a WordPress site. And it automatically updates the WordPress core software, themes, and plugins.

You can also get SiteGround's Speed Optimizer and Security Optimizer plugins for free.

The Speed Optimizer handles tasks like caching and minifying code (both of which can improve your site speed). While the Security Optimizer protects your system folders and enables two-factor authentication for admins and editors, among other things.

(Check out our guide to WordPress SEO plugins for other options.)

Potential Drawbacks

SiteGround's renewal price jump is the largest on this list. The StartUp plan goes from $2.99 to $17.99 per month after year one-a 6x increase that could be a bit of a shock to customers who don't read the fine print.

Storage and traffic limits are also on the low side compared to the other hosting providers on our list. The 10GB on the StartUp plan can quickly fill up with images and plugins. And you could find you need to quickly upgrade your plan if you start getting more traffic.

Upgrade Path

Here's a comparison of SiteGround's plans:

The pricing differences between SiteGround's plans are some of the largest on this list. But you do see significant jumps in the number of websites, storage space, monthly visits, and extra features as you upgrade.

3. Hosting.com

Hosting.com, formerly A2 Hosting, provides hosting at the lowest starting price on our list. But even at the lowest price, it still offers unmetered traffic and 15 GB of storage.

Hosting.com's support also gets a lot of praise.

You can reach the support team through live chat, support tickets, or phone.

Potential Drawbacks

The Starter plan lacks daily backups, only offering them weekly. This could be a concern for beginners-it's easy to make mistakes you wish you could quickly undo.

Hosting.com's renewal pricing is also a big jump-the Startup plan goes from $1.99 to $11.99 per month. The 6x price increase is steeper than most of the other hosts on this list.

Upgrade Path

Here's a comparison of Hosting.com's plans:

Because of the steep renewal price jumps, you might want to start with the Plus plan instead of the Starter plan.

The cost for both Starter and Plus is $1.99/month for the first year. But from then on, it'll be just $3/month more. And you'll get hosting for two websites, double the storage, extra email accounts, and additional features.

4. DreamHost

DreamHost stands out with generous limits on their basic plan. The platform's support team and help documentation are also highly praised on third-party review sites.

While DreamHost's prices do increase after one year, the jump from $2.59 to $6.99 is modest compared to some other hosts.

The daily backups are a big plus for beginners. And you get plenty of storage, too. Which is ideal for larger sites.

Potential Drawbacks

Email hosting costs extra on the Starter plan-$1.99/month for basic email service. All the other hosts on this list include at least one email account for free.

This isn't always a big deal, as you can find other ways to set up business email addresses without going through your host anyway.

Upgrade Path

Here's a comparison of DreamHost's two shared hosting plans (showing the pricing for the three-year plans):

The Shared Unlimited plan is worth considering if you have multiple websites requiring separate email accounts. And the three-year cost difference ($48.96) is fairly small.

5. IONOS

IONOS delivers great value with the smallest price increase between their promotional and renewal rates, making it a good choice for site owners on a budget.

Even though it starts at $4/month, it's still one of the cheapest hosting options in the long run. It rises to just $6 per month after the first year.

Plus, the cheapest plan offers unmetered bandwidth. Which makes it a suitable option even as your website starts getting more traffic.

Potential Drawbacks

Like Hostinger, IONOS uses its own proprietary server management system instead of cPanel.

Some users find this to be an intuitive way to manage their web hosting:

But others find it hard to adjust to the custom control panel:

Upgrade Path

Here's a comparison of IONOS's plans:

IONOS does offer a $1/month plan, which is the cheapest option on this list. But it renews at $14/month, which is a massive jump. If you know you're going to need that plan's features in the long run, or you want the absolute cheapest one-year plan, it's worth considering.

All of IONOS's hosting plans are fairly affordable in the long run. But if you need more storage or email addresses, the Plus and Ultimate plans might be worth upgrading to.

Is Website Builder Hosting a Good Option?

Website builders like Wix are all-in-one platforms that include hosting, design tools, and content management in a single package. But it does mean you're stuck with hosting that tends to prioritize convenience over the flexibility to do things like modify your server settings.

Here's a quick comparison of three popular website builders:

Platform	Basic Plan	Best For
Wix	$17/month	Small businesses, portfolios
Squarespace	$16/month	Creative professionals
Shopify	$29/month	Ecommerce stores

Performance varies by platform, but they're all fairly reliable. The differentiators between website builder plans aren't usually related to hosting.

For example, Wix has some storage limit differences between plans. But for most prospects, choosing a plan is likely going to come down to features like being able to accept payments or access advanced developer capabilities.

When to Choose a Website Builder vs. a Separate Hosting Provider

You should consider choosing a website builder with included hosting when:

• Speed to launch matters most
• You prefer all-inclusive pricing
• You want to keep things minimally technical
• You're building an online store

You should consider a separate hosting provider when:

• You're not using a website builder platform
• You want flexibility for the future
• Custom functionality is important
• You're building multiple sites

How to Choose the Best Web Hosting Service

When picking a web host, focus on these three factors that determine what your real-world experience will actually be like with a given host:

Performance and Reliability

All the hosts on our list (and most other reputable options) promise 99.9% uptime. But what you really need is fast loading speeds-even during traffic spikes.

Google uses various measures of your site's loading time in its ranking algorithms. This means faster websites can rank higher (with all else being equal).

Server location affects your site speed considerably. So, choose a host with data centers near your target audience.

Test loading speeds during your trial period rather than just relying on marketing claims. Create a real website with images and content, then check your page speed using tools like Google's PageSpeed Insights.

To get a holistic assessment of your website's speed, use Semrush Site Audit. It performs 140+ checks to provide you with a comprehensive site health report.

Once you run an audit, click "View details" under "Site Performance" to go to a report with details about how fast your website loads.

You'll see:

• How fast your pages load
• Top performance issues to fix
• Why these issues matter and guidance to fix them

Long-Term Cost

Promotional pricing can make web hosting seem incredibly cheap. And it generally is cheap-but only at first.

Here's the pricing table of our top picks converted to show annual costs and totals after five years, sorted by the highest total cost:

Host	Initial Cost	Annual Renewal Cost	Total Cost After 5 Years
SiteGround	$35.88 (with 12-month plan)	$215.88	$899.40
Hosting.com	$23.88 (with 12-month plan)	$143.88	$599.40
IONOS	$40.00 (with 12-month plan)	$72.00	$328.00
Hostinger	$143.52 (with 48-month plan)	$131.88	$275.40
DreamHost	$93.24 (with 36-month plan)	$71.88	$237.00

Despite having the lowest initial monthly cost, Hosting.com ends up the second most expensive option when it's time to renew.

And despite having the second most expensive initial cost, DreamHost is the cheapest option over five years.

The renewal fee is the biggest jump to be aware of. But also factor in:

• Domain names (often $10-$15 per year)
• Email accounts (can be another few dollars per month)
• Backup and security features (often included in the hosting package, but not always)

Support Quality

The quality of support you get from your host can be the difference between a quick fix and hours of frustration.

Bear in mind that:

• Live chat response times can vary a lot, typically depending on your timezone and whether it's during business hours
• Knowledge base quality varies dramatically, so self-teaching yourself out of a tricky situation isn't always possible
• If you're moving from another web host, the quality of support in this migration stage becomes even more important

Start Building Your Website Today

The web hosts above all provide reliable service and strong overall features.

Your choice really comes down to your priorities. The best overall is Hostinger, but if budget is your primary concern, DreamHost is the cheapest option in the long run.

Once you choose your host and set up your website, stay on top of technical issues with Semrush's Site Audit tool. It checks your for 140+ technical issues and gives you advice on how to fix them.

Try it for free today.