Best Web Hosting Services 2018 (100% Real & Honest Reviews)

me lisa

Hi 👋 I'm Lisa! I'm a freelance web developer travelling the world and I have been building websites (mostly WordPress powered ones like this one) for small business owners for the last 5 years or so.

Because every website needs web hosting I have come across many web hosting service providers over the years. Some have been good, most have been not so good and a few have been outright terrible.

This here website is a collection of my personal and honest reviews* of a couple of web hosts I have worked with the most, and have most experience dealing with.

* honest, unbiased and bull💩-free reviews of web hosting services (in 2018) I have actually used.

"Help me choose web hosting" wizard

My aim with this web hosting helper is to guide you to the best type of web hosting service for your website, blog or online store.

I need hosting for a WordPress site

For WordPress sites I recommend that you check out these WordPress hosting services:

SiteGround (is the web host I use for this WordPress site) A2 Hosting Bluehost

Disclosure: I am affiliated with and receive compensation from most of the companies whose services I review.

I need hosting for a small business site

When it comes to the best web hosting for small business I recommend the following companies:

InMotion Hosting SiteGround WP Engine

Disclosure: I am affiliated with and receive compensation from most of the companies whose services I review.

I need web hosting for a blog

When it comes to web hosting for your blog I suggest the following providers:

Bluehost SiteGround A2 Hosting

Disclosure: I am affiliated with and receive compensation from most of the companies whose services I review.

I need hosting for an ecommerce site

For web hosting for your online store I suggest getting ecommerce web hosting from:

SiteGround InMotion Hosting Shopify (not a web host per say I know but is the #1 ecommerce software)

Disclosure: I am affiliated with and receive compensation from most of the companies whose services I review.

I need web hosting that is cheap

If you aren't really sure what type of hosting you need but you want cheap web hosting, then I suggest:

Bluehost (from $2.95/mo) SiteGround HostGator

Disclosure: I am affiliated with and receive compensation from most of the companies whose services I review.

Best web hosting reviews April 2018

5

Superior

SiteGround Review

Summary

I have rated SiteGround 5 out of 5. SiteGround should be your #1 choice of web host if you care about things like speed, performance, security and uptime, and you want solid technical features and excellent support at an affordable price. (FYI this website is hosted with SiteGround.)

Pros

Free site migration

Free daily website backups

Officially endorsed by WordPress

Managed WordPress hosting on all plans

Innovative speed technologies (SSD HTTP/2 PHP7 NGINX)

Free SSL certificate & CDN

30-day money-back guarantee

Cons

Limited data storage

Strict over-usage policy

4.5

Solid

InMotion Hosting Review

Summary

I have rated InMotion Hosting 4.5 out of 5. InMotion Hosting is a stellar web hosting provider and an excellent choice to choose to host your site with. InMotion offers a perfect blend of low price and technical innovation, and you can expect excellent uptime, speed, performance and technical features.

Pros

Free website migration

Free daily site backups

SSD drives on all plans

Managed WordPress hosting on all plans

Innovative speed technologies (SSD PHP7 WP-CLI CloudLinux OptimumCache)

90-day money-back guarantee

Cons

No free CDN

Slow account setup due to manual phone verification

Somewhat misleading pricing information

4.5

Amazing

A2 Hosting Review

Summary

I have rated A2 Hosting 4.5 out of 5. A2 Hosting is independently owned which means they are in complete control of all of their servers, which is a huge plus in the monopoly of hosting providers out there. A2 Hosting plans are affordable, and they also go big on four of the most most important namely hosting features – speed, features, security and first-class support.

Pros

Free website migrations & WordPress comes pre-installed

Turbo Servers - 20x faster loading pages

Innovative speed & security technologies (HTTP/2 PHP7 SSD & Free CloudFlare CDN & HackScan)

Anytime money-back & 99.9% server-uptime guarantee

Cons

Only the Turbo plan comes with 20x faster turbo servers & A2 Site Accelerator

Server migration fee for changing data centers

4

Good

Bluehost Review

Summary

I have rated Bluehost 4 out of 5. Bluehost is an all-round and good web host for beginners that comes with good features and extras, but there are better web hosts out there for the same price but with more resources and better technical features.

Pros

Free domain for one year

Free SSD on all shared hosting plans

PHP7 HTTP/2 and NGINX+ Caching

Unlimited traffic & disk space

Officialy recommended by WordPress

Easy WordPress installation

Free SSL & CloudFlare CDN

30-day money-back guarantee

Cons

Slow page loading at times

No free site migration

No free daily site backups

4

Solid

FastComet Review

Summary

I have rated FastComet 4 out of 5. FastComet is a new force to be reckoned with in the hosting industry when it comes to cheap yet fast, secure, reliable and feature rich shared web hosting.

Pros

Free domain for life

SSD hosting

Free site migration and free daily and weekly backups

Free SSL and Cloudflare CDN

NGINX and HTTP/2

1-click WordPress auto-installer with free theme setup

45-day money-back guarantee

Cons

Only the SpeedUp plan comes with the RocketBooster speed and security

$19.95 setup fee if you choose to pay monthly

3.5

Good

HostGator Review

Summary

I have rated HostGator 3.5 out of 5. HostGator's dirt cheap shared hosting plans are a disappointment HOWEVER their Cloud and Managed WordPress hosting plans are in fact awesome! Super fast servers, solid features and great value for money.

Pros

Unlimited storage & bandwidth

Free SSL Certificate with Let’s Encrypt

24/7/365 Support via Phone Live Chat and Ticket System

Up to 2.5x faster servers Global CDN Daily Backup & Restore and Automatic Malware Removal (HostGator's Managed WordPress Hosting only)

45 day money back promise

Cons

Only the Cloud & Managed WordPress plans come with the Speed Security & Extra features

Expect upsells along the way

Comments from Site Visitors

Heather

I really wish I had seen this review about Bluehost before I went and signed up with them a couple of months ago. I guess now it’s too late to get my money back :sadface. I guess I shouldn’t complain too much, so far BH has been good and I have had to ask support for help, but I’m worried what the future will bring. Lisa, what host would you use for a small blog?

Linda

I am much happier with Siteground after I moved my site over to them. Bluehost was good but when the site started to get some serious traffic I ran into more and more troubles with BH. This is a great site though, love the info and that you are honest about things (very refreshing compared to all the other “review” sites out there) / xoxo Linda

Allyson

Hi! Great review, especially since I am trying to figure out a good host for a blog I’m planning. Do you think SiteGround is still a good option for someone who is based in Canada? So far seems like a way better option than BlueHost (which I’m greatly considering even though I’ve read some terrible reviews).