If you clicked on this article, you probably already know you need a good web host for your website.
But here’s the thing, out of the dozens that show up when you search for “best web hosting provider,” it gets too confusing.
You’ll find yourself asking,
“Which one of these is the best web hosting provider for me?”
We hear ya!
Today, we’ll make your search easier with our list of the top 6 best web hosting providers for 2023.
You’ll also get to know what exactly it is you should be looking for in a good host and how to decide which one’s the best for you.
At a Glance: Top 6 Best Web Hosting Providers for 2023
What should you look for in the best web hosting provider?
Without a web host, no one on Earth will be able to access your website.
Web hosts provide a bridge between you and your customers by storing your files on a server and making them accessible with just one click.
Choosing one has the potential to make or break your website.
Why?
Because different web hosts can give you various features in storage space, bandwidth, performance, and speed.
So how do you know which web hosting provider best fits your situation?
While you’re searching, keep these essential elements in mind:
Reliability and Performance
In the digital age, it’s all about speed. A study by Google found that if your website so much as lags for 3 seconds, potential site visitors click away.
Think about it, how many times were you frustrated that a website you wanted to see didn’t load properly?
A great web host provider will boost your site’s speed and sustain it too.
They should offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee, that’s the amount of time your site is available on the internet.
Almost all web hosting providers give this guarantee but do their numbers add up?
For our top 6 best web hosting providers for 2023, we’ll take a quick look at each one’s reliability and performance.
Sites that are fast not only get conversions, clicks, and customer satisfaction but they’re also favored by Google which helps boost SEO ranking.
Security
The best web hosting provider should provide anywhere from basic security solutions to expert, professional security tech.
They should offer basic SSL certificates, strong firewalls, and active scanners for malware and other online threats.
Their plans should also include backups and site restore options in case you get in trouble.
After all, you’re not only protecting just your information, you’re also protecting your customers’.
Bandwidth and storage
You’ll find that some of our best web hosting providers offer unmetered bandwidth and disk space.
While that sweet deal gives you room to move, the fine print reads that it’s not unlimited.
There’s still an invisible fence around you that dictates how big your files should be and the volume of traffic you should be having.
That being said, choose a web host provider according to the type of website you’re building.
Blogs and portfolios would need a small bandwidth and storage space, projects heavy on images and video, and eCommerce sites need more significant allocations.
Pricing
The best web hosting package should include everything you need to get your site up and running and at a reasonable price too.
Our top 6 best web hosting providers all have discounted price tags which is a huge relief for those starting out.
BUT
Watch out for the renewal prices since they tend to triple. These are curveballs that might hit you full-on if you’re not prepared.
Pro tip, before purchasing a hosting plan, calculate if you can handle paying for the renewal price (which is the original price anyway).
That should help you decide which hosting plan will suit you better.
Customer support
Customer support is the backbone of any reliable web hosting provider or any other service, for that matter.
In case you run into trouble, you should be able to connect with your web host’s pool of experts 24/7/365. Excellent customer support should be available through phone calls, live chat, and email tickets.
Now that we’ve established what you should be looking for in a good web hosting provider, let’s take a look at our top 6 for 2023.
Top 6 Best Web Hosting Providers for 2023
Bluehost
Quick facts:
- Affordable base plans
- Recommended by WordPress
- Easy-to-use website builder
- Free domain for 1st year
- Free SSL certificate
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
Bluehost’s basic web hosting package starts at $2.75/month and that already includes a free domain, SSL certificates, CDN, and 50 GB of storage.
That’s everything you need to get any website up and running.
Want to get a better deal?
Add a couple more dollars to upgrade to the next hosting tier. That will get you all the base features plus unlimited storage and websites and free Office 365 for 30 days.
Check out a quick shared hosting pricing comparison here:
Bluehost has a full catalog of web hosting plans and options aside from shared hosting.
You can shop for WordPress, VPS, and dedicated hosting too. Although if you’re looking for cloud hosting, you won’t find that here.
You can get your domain name registered with Bluehost for as low as $1.99 and get a matching professional email with Microsoft Office 365.
When it comes to website speed, you can trust that Bluehost will deliver its 99.9% uptime guarantee.
Image via Pingdom
Pingdom statistics have recorded Bluehost’s average uptime of 99.96% in the past 10 months.
It also had an impressive five months with perfect 100% uptime.
Now that’s being consistent!
Image via Updown
In the past half-year, Bluehost’s perfect record was marred by two downtimes but these are far apart.
Although not the fastest web host just yet, Bluehost’s speed is still reliable and better than most providers.
Besides, speed isn’t its only strength. Bluehost is also a beginner-friendly web host that has powered over 2 million websites in the past two decades.
These guys know the shortcuts to build a fantastic website and they’ll start you off by letting your choose from hundreds of professional templates.
You can also call out for extra professional help if you don’t want to rely on your own website-building skills.
And since Bluehost is one of the three websites recommended by WordPress (SiteGround and DreamHost are the other two), it’s as easy as a single click to get started on WordPress.
You get one-click installs for other content management systems (CMS), plus powerful plug-ins to make your site even more efficient.
If you need help, you can reach out to Bluehost’s reliable customer support that’s available 24/7.
HostGator
Quick facts:
- Competitive pricing
- Unmetered bandwidth and storage
- Free site migration
- Easy-to-use website builder
- 45-day money-back guarantee
HostGator has got a complete range of web hosting plans in its catalog. There’s shared, WordPress, VPS, cloud, and dedicated hosting.
They’re beginner-friendly enough, but they also cater to the experts who need more than shared hosting.
HostGator’s basic hosting package starts at $2.75, and this comes with a single website, free domain for a year, free SSL certificate, and free email.
Check out a quick comparison of their shared hosting plans:
What sets HostGator apart from its competitors is that it features an unmetered bandwidth and disk space on all plans -- even the basic ones.
However, even though you’re “unmetered,” you will still be flagged if you exceed usage based on their Terms of Service.
But don’t worry, even if you’re running a small business, HostGator did say that it’s rare for their customers to exceed storage.
As for website building, HostGator gives you dozens of one-click installs ready to spice up your website. WordPress, Magento, Joomla, Drupal, and phpBB are just some of the CMS at your fingertips.
What about site speed?
You’ll be glad to know HostGator is superb when it comes to speed and reliability.
They ran on an average of 99.93% uptime in the past 10 months. The lowest recorded uptime is 99.5%, and that was in back September 2020.
Image via Pingdom
Most of their monthly average is at 99.99%, they’ve even recorded perfect uptimes for a few months.
If you think that’s impressive, here’s a pleasant surprise for you: HostGator has experienced zero downtimes for the past half-year.
You can be sure those statistics will stay that way.
If not? HostGator will compensate you.
If you’re on a shared or reseller hosting and you experience an uptime that’s less than 99.9%, HostGator will give you one month’s credit on your account.
The uptime guarantee, compensation, and affordable price are just some of the reasons that make HostGator one of the best providers.
If you’re not satisfied with their services, their 45-day money-back guarantee will come in handy.
Hostinger
Quick facts:
- Frequently discounted plans
- Zyro website builder
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- One-click installs
- User-friendly control panel
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- 24/7/365 Support
If we’re talking about the best web hosting provider for those on a super tight budget, Hostinger takes the cake.
They have frequent discounts on plans and options, sometimes up to 90% off -- that’s quite a steal!
Hostinger’s basic shared hosting starts at $0.99 (currently on a 90% discount) and includes a website, free email, 30 GB storage, 100 GB bandwidth, and free SSL.
One drawback with the basic plan is you’d have to purchase a domain name yourself. With Hostinger, that would cost you an additional $0.99 to $12.99.
Upgrade to the next hosting tier for $2.19 and you’ll get the most value for your money since it already has a free domain, 100 websites, 100 GB storage, and unlimited bandwidth.
Check out a quick side-by-side of Hostinger’s shared hosting plans:
Hostinger’s web hosting offers include WordPress, VPS, and cloud hosting.
Aside from their domain registration, they can also set up a professional Google Workspace Email Hosting for you.
And if you’re worried about website building, Hostinger’s very own Zyro website builder will do all the work for you.
For Zyro plans starting at $1.99, you get designer-made templates and a customizable drag-and-drop editor. It’s almost like playing around but still getting the exact website design you want.
What about your site’s speed?
Hostinger has a 99.9% uptime guarantee which holds up pretty well, according to Pingdom statistics.
Image via Pingdom
They recorded a 99.69% uptime average for the past 10 months. Although they did experience frequent downtimes in 2020, it looks like they fixed that problem in 2023.
Image via Updown
If things don’t work out between you and Hostinger, don’t sweat it!
A 30-day money-back guarantee covers you, so you can leave anytime you like during that first month.
SiteGround
Quick facts:
- WordPress recommended
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Easy and fast website building
- Free WordPress migration
- 100% renewable energy match
Data shows that WordPress powers 40% of the world’s websites. Chances are, you’re planning on starting yours there too.
You can’t go wrong with a web host provider officially recommended by WordPress. SiteGround gives you access to easy one-click installs and plugins, plus free WordPress migration.
SiteGround has a limited web hosting catalog that only includes web (shared) hosting, WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, and cloud hosting.
Their basic hosting plans start at $6.99/month, and this comes with 10 GB storage, unmetered bandwidth, free SSL, CDN, and email, and managed WordPress.
Check out a quick comparison chart of SiteGround’s shared hosting plans:
SiteGround boasts an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau and a 4.7 out of 5 stars on TrustPilot with over 8,000 reviews.
Sure, their prices aren’t the cheapest in the market when stacked up with other web hosting providers.
But SiteGround has a few merits of its own: it gives you a super-fast website.
Their ultra-fast website speed guarantee produced a 99.99% uptime average for the past 10 months.
Image via Pingdom
Even better, Updown shows SiteGround only had a single downtime for the past half-year.
Image via Updown
How do they keep this near-immaculate track record?
Powerful artificial intelligence backs SiteGround’s servers and identifies and prevents millions of server attacks per hour.
With a site speed like that, you’ll rise in Google search ranks quickly enough in a few months. You can confidently say goodbye to low bounce rates.
Plus, customers won’t hesitate to go back to your site since scrolling through is a breeze.
To make things better for you, SiteGround is offering compensation if you experience uptimes below 99.9%.
That’s how confident they are in their service!
And finally, what gives SiteGround space on our top 6 best web hosting providers is their top-quality service backed by 24/7 tech support.
GoDaddy
Features:
- Drag-and-drop website builder
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Best for eCommerce websites
- Largest domain registrar
- Award-winning security
- GoDaddy Guides customer service
GoDaddy is mainly known for being the largest domain registrar online but it offers great web hosting solutions too.
You can shop for web, WordPress, VPS, dedicated, and business hosting.
Web hosting basic package starts at $4.49/month with a free domain and Microsoft 365 email for a year, 100 GB storage, and unmetered bandwidth.
Check out a quick side-by-side comparison of GoDaddy’s shared web hosting:
The basic plan noticeably doesn’t have free SSL certificates, an important feature to help keep your websites secure.
For that, you’ll have to purchase GoDaddy’s top-notch security service at an additional fee.
GoDaddy’s award-winning service includes a full array of SSL certificates for multiple websites plus water-tight website security to fend off online threats.
These might cost you a heftier sum but you should still consider the protection and peace of mind it can give you.
GoDaddy is also an excellent option for those looking to build their eCommerce site and expecting high traffic.
Their business hosting plan gives you lots of disk space, powerful servers, an array of one-click installs, and an easy-to-use cPanel.
As for website speed and performance, GoDaddy averaged 99.9% for the past 10 months, according to Pingdom.
Image via Pingdom
While that average uptime is good enough, GoDaddy websites did experience three downtimes for the past half-year.
Image via Updown
What about website building?
With GoDaddy, that’s an easy affair. Once you choose from their designer templates, you get to customize using a nifty drag-and-drop feature.
It doesn’t stop there! If you want a superb website that’s SEO optimized with social media management and marketing tools, GoDaddy experts can set that up for you.
When it comes to customer support, GoDaddy has its dedicated team of professionals, called GoDaddy Guides, to help you with your website hosting troubles.
The only downside is that they only offer phone calls and live chat support. If you encounter a significant site problem, it’s tricky if you can’t reach support through emails.
But overall, GoDaddy’s wide range of offers still makes it one of the best web hosting providers for 2023.
DreamHost
Quick facts:
- Recommended by WordPress
- 100% uptime guarantee
- Free WordPress migration
- 97-day money-back guarantee
- 24/7/365 support
Dreamhost is one of the three web hosting providers officially recommended by WordPress, aside from Bluehost and SiteGround.
Unsurprisingly, their WordPress hosting is the best product on their catalog. But you can also get shared, VPS, dedicated, and cloud hosting.
Dreamhost starts its shared hosting plans at $2.95/month. This includes a free domain, SSL certificates, and unmetered fast storage and bandwidth.
The plans also come with the latest WordPress version pre-installed, automated WordPress migration, and a handy WordPress website builder.
Here’s a quick side-by-side of their shared hosting packages:
A perfect uptime guarantee is a considerable feat, this is why most web hosting providers will only give you a 99.9% guarantee.
But you might be shocked to know that Dreamhost gives its customers a 100% uptime guarantee.
Are they over-promising?
Pingdom statistics show an average of 99.88% for the past 10 months, which’s obviously lower than the guarantee.
Image via Pingdom
They did get the perfect uptime average for a few months but the results aren’t consistent.
As for downtimes, Dreamhost has experienced quite a few in the past two months alone.
Image via Updown
Dreamhost might not be the best when it comes to speed, but it does pack a punch in providing flexible hosting solutions.
You can always scale up to give your site better bandwidth, storage space, and speed.
Plus, Dreamhost has a 97-day money-back guarantee, so you can rest easy knowing you can test the waters first before committing.
There you have it!
That’s our top 6 best web hosting providers for 2023.
But if you’re still a tad bit confused about all this web hosting stuff we keep talking about, the next part will give you a quick crash course on the different types of web hosting.
Web Hosting Packages Explained
Think of web hosting as owning a plot of virtual land. Before you buy one, you have to consider certain things like how large you want your website to be and the traffic you’re expecting.
Depending on your answer, you should be able to choose a web hosting that will suit you. Here are the basic options:
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is the cheapest hosting plan you can purchase. This kind of hosting puts your website on a server along with hundreds of other sites, so the costs are split.
But shared hosting divides resources such as storage space, bandwidth, and server speed. If one website in your server experiences a spike in traffic, it’s going to affect yours one way or another.
Think of it as sharing a dorm room with a bunch of other guys.
If one of your roommates brings in their friends for a visit unannounced, won’t that shatter your peace and quiet?
Shared hosting is still a good option for those starting out. It’s best for low-traffic sites like personal blogs, small start-ups, and small eCommerce sites.
VPS Hosting
When you’ve had enough of that dorm room with your noisy roommates, you can upgrade to an apartment of your own.
But you still have neighbors.
Virtual Private Server or VPS hosting gives its customers dedicated resources that are better than shared hosting but cheaper than dedicated hosting.
You get increased site performance, reliability, and security on top of dedicated RAM, bandwidth, and memory.
Got the technical know-how? You’ve got the freedom to customize your site up to root level with VPS hosting.
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting is purchasing an entire server to yourself, giving your site unparalleled speed, performance, and power.
It’s your own home -- no roommates, no neighbors blasting music you can hear through walls.
The catch is how expensive dedicated hosting is. It will cost you upwards of $100/month.
Plus, if you’re not a pro at tinkering websites up to root level, you’re just wasting your money.
Dedicated hosting is better left for websites with a high volume of traffic, complicated and huge eCommerce sites, or websites for big organizations.
WordPress Hosting
A study showed that 40% of the websites on the internet run on WordPress.
Since the figures are that big, web hosting providers offer hosting specifically optimized for WordPress.
You get the latest WordPress versions installed, hundreds of plug-ins and one-click installs, and tons of other features tailored to your WordPress experience.
This type of hosting is similar to shared hosting since they have the same server.
Best Web Hosting Providers FAQ
Why do I need web hosting?
To put it simply, without a web hosting provider, no one will know your website exists. A provider will act as a bridge between you your customer. It stores your files to make them accessible for people all over the world.
Which web hosting is the best for beginners?
Bluehost is the best web hosting provider for beginners. You’ll get eased into website building with an easy-to-use website builder plus an easily navigable control panel.
And if you encounter snags along the way, they’ve got a quick-response customer support that’s available 24/7/365.
What’s the best web hosting provider?
You can’t go wrong with choosing any of our top 6 web hosting providers we listed above. They all come with great features at excellent price points.
However, if we were to narrow down the choices even further, we would suggest HostGator and Bluehost.
HostGator has one of the best uptimes coupled with an affordable price tag, while Bluehost, also inexpensive, can cater to any website for both newbies and pros.
What’s the best cheapest web hosting provider?
Hostinger is a web host provider that often dishes out jaw-dropping discounts. You can get an introductory rate for up 80% and even 90% off.
Their current starting price for web host packages is $0.99. That already comes with a free domain, 100 GB storage, and unlimited bandwidth!
Final Thoughts on Best Web Hosting Providers for 2023
Choosing a web hosting provider is tricky, but our top 6 best web hosting providers above should help you from juggling too many options.
Don’t stress out, and remember to take your time deciding which one will best fit the website you have in mind.
Rushing into one and making a mistake might give your some serious trouble down the road.
Let us know which web hosting provider you’re going for!