6 Best Cheap Shared Hosting Providers in 2020
Budget-busting websites are a thing of the past – and so too is paying a premium for quality web hosting. These days, anyone can host their own website without breaking the bank – and we’re here to show you how.
So, you’ve managed to create a website – good job! Now, you’re going to need to host it. You don’t have a ton of cash – who does? – but equally, you don’t want to be short-changed and get stuck with a sub-par provider.
Well, fear not.
Shared hosting is a great way to send your website out into the online world. It’s cheap, easy to set up, and can work for just about any personal or modestly-sized website.
What Is Shared Hosting?
Shared hosting is where your website sits on a server with lots of others, and shares resources (like bandwidth and storage space) with them. It’s the most cost-effective way to host a website, and providers’ plans usually come jam-packed with useful features.
We’re guessing your next question is ‘how can I find the right provider?’ After all, there are seemingly endless options out there, each offering deals more confusing than the last.
That’s where we come in.
Here at Website Builder Chart, we know a thing or two about getting online. Whether it’s creating a website, hosting it, or tips on how to be successful online, we’ve got you covered. Our expert research team has been hard at work, testing and reviewing a whole host of… well, hosts!
We’re now in the perfect position to pair you with the perfect provider. So, let’s take a quick look at which shared hosting services are the best in the business.
Best Cheap Shared Hosting Providers
- DreamHost – Starting Price: $4.95/month
- HostGator – Starting Price: $5.95/month
- InMotion – Starting Price: $7.99/month
- A2 Hosting – Starting Price: $7.99/month
- Bluehost – Starting Price: $7.99/month
- iPage – Starting Price: $9.99/month
The cheapest shared hosting plan starts from $4.95 per month with Dreamhost, which takes first place. HostGator is hot on its heels with a starting price of $5.95 per month. InMotion, A2 Hosting, and Bluehost all charge $7.99 per month, and even iPage, bringing up the rear, comes in under $10 for its shared hosting.
It’s important to know that these are all non-discounted starting prices. It is possible to save even more money if you sign up to a long-term deal, which we’ll discuss later on.
In this article, we’ll review each one of the above providers, tell you their shared hosting strengths and weaknesses, and compare them all head-to-head.
Shared hosting is ideal for personal websites, or small businesses. If you’re interested in a different type of web hosting, check out some of our other articles below:
Who Are the Best Cheap Shared Hosting Providers?
DreamHost is an excellent hosting provider that offers some of the cheapest shared hosting of any service ($4.95/month). If you’re willing to pay a little extra, however, the top quality comes from InMotion ($7.99/month) or HostGator ($6.95/month).
Unlike many articles you’ll find online, this isn’t just our opinion – it’s backed up by detailed, expert research. Let’s take a closer look at how the best cheap shared hosting providers compare feature-for-feature.
Cheap Shared Hosting Providers: Head-to-Head Comparison
| Hosting Provider | Price (monthly) | Visitor Limit (monthly) | Amount of Sites Included | Storage Space | Free Backups / Domains | SSL Security | Uptime |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| DreamHost | $4.95 | Unlimited | 1 | 50GB | ✔ | ✔ | 99.95% |
| HostGator | $5.95 | 240,000 | 1 | Unlimited | X | ✔ | 99.99% |
| InMotion | $7.99 | 360,000 | 2 | Unlimited | ✔ | ✔ | 99.97% |
If you’re not clued up on technical hosting terms, don’t worry. Here’s some quick explanations of what these features are:
- Visitor Limit – The number of times your website can be accessed and browsed per month.
- Sites Included – How many websites you can host for the price shown.
- Storage Space – How much file space you have for content and media on your website.
- Backups/Domains – The ability to recover a previous version of your website/the URL of your site, e.g. websitebuilderexpert.com
- SSL Security – A certificate that protects your visitors’ data and information. Symbolized in the form of a little padlock next to your URL.
- Uptime – How regularly your website is working online. For example, 99.97% uptime is the equivalent to your site being down for a mere two and a half hours each year.
Below, we’ll take a closer look at these providers individually. We’ll also review a few more – six in total – to give you a comprehensive idea of which providers really do offer the best cheap shared hosting.
#1 DreamHost
Best for Cheap Shared Hosting
Check out the key takeaways from our research below, with star ratings for each individual area of shared hosting:
DreamHost Pros and Cons
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DreamHost Shared Hosting Pricing Breakdown
If price is your main concern, then DreamHost is for you. Its Shared Starter plan begins at just $2.59/month, although you will need to commit to a three year term to get that price.
Annual prices cost $3.95/month, while month-on-month rates are $4.95. You can also upgrade to its Shared Unlimited plan, which costs $10.95/month.
DreamHost Shared Hosting Features
The most enticing feature is perhaps that DreamHost doesn’t put a limit on how many people can visit your site each month. Although most small websites won’t attract hundreds of thousands of visitors, it’s nice to know you don’t have to worry either way.
The downsides are its modest uptime, and the lack of 24/7 support. That said, customers can still access DreamHost’s help center and submit support tickets.
Free backups and domains are another two big selling points, while an SSL certificate and a website builder are nice touches. The main difference between DreamHost and its competitors is that DreamHost doesn’t use cPanel – an industry standard dashboard. It does have its own bespoke dashboard, however, which is pretty easy to get to grips with.
#2 HostGator
Best for Uptime
Coming in with a score of 4.5 out of 5 for shared hosting, few can rival HostGator across the key areas:
HostGator Pros and Cons
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HostGator Shared Hosting Pricing Breakdown
HostGator has been snapping at its competition for years, and is now seen as being top of the web hosting food chain. Its shared hosting service can cost you as little as $2.75/month on a three year deal, but annual prices start at $5.95/month.
There are three shared hosting plans in total, each offering up to 60% discount for long-term sign-ups. HostGator is generally famed for dedicated hosting, but its shared hosting service is still one of the very best on the market.
HostGator Shared Hosting Features
Looking past the clear flaw that there are no free backups or domains, HostGator’s offerings rival just about anyone’s. Getting unlimited email accounts is a big plus, as is having 24/7 dedicated support. The real draw, though, is HostGator’s uptime – at 99.99%, it’s the best out there.
You may only be able to host one site on HostGator’s Hatchling plan, but upgrade to the Baby or Business shared hosting packages and the world is your oyster, with unlimited website hosting. There’s also a very generous 45-day money back guarantee on offer, so you’ve got nothing to lose by giving HostGator a try.
#3 InMotion
Best Value for Money
InMotion came out of our research with a whopping 4.7 for its shared hosting service – the best score of any provider:
InMotion Pros and Cons
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InMotion Shared Hosting Pricing Breakdown
InMotion kick things off with a $3.99/month offer over a two-year term. This increases to $4.99 for an annual sign-up, while the month-on-month price rises again to $7.99/month.
There are three shared hosting plans to choose from – Launch, Power and Pro – the most expensive of which retails at $17.99/month. Despite being a slight step up in cost from DreamHost and HostGator, InMotion really is as good as it gets for shared web hosting.
InMotion Shared Hosting Features
Firstly, InMotion is one of only a handful of providers that allows you to host multiple websites on its most basic shared hosting plan. Not only that, it pretty much covers all the bases when it comes to features, too.
Free backups, domains and SSL security are provided as standard, as are unlimited email accounts, a website builder service, and 24/7 dedicated support. There is a limit on monthly visitors (360,000), although its highly unlikely you’ll exceed it. In short, InMotion is hands down the best shared hosting provider, and well worth the extra buck or two a month if you can stretch.
#4 A2 Hosting
Best for Customer Service
Coming in with a shared hosting score of 4.4, A2 Hosting holds its own among elite company. See the scoring breakdown here:
A2 Pros and Cons
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A2 Shared Hosting Pricing Breakdown
As with most shared hosting providers, A2 offers three tiers of plans. Its cheapest plan is Lite, which is charged at $7.99/month – that said, you can save 10% if you sign up annually, and 20% if you sign up for two years.
Its most expensive shared hosting plan is Turbo, which will set you back $18.99/month. It’s important to note these are all prices for Linux server hosting, which is more commonly used. Windows hosting prices are a tad more expensive.
A2 Shared Hosting Features
One thing you notice immediately with A2 is the level of knowledge its support staff have. Having undertaken lengthy training, A2 has the best support team we’ve come across. There are free backups (only on the Turbo plan), but there’s no free domain.
The uptime isn’t fantastic, but you do get unlimited storage space, 25 email accounts, and an SSL security certificate. And, if you’re not totally won over by A2’s service after trying it, you can get an anytime money-back guarantee.
#5 Bluehost
Best Quality Features
Despite being in fifth place, Bluehost still gained an overall 4.1 stars from our shared hosting research, and performed admirably across the key areas:
Bluehost Pros and Cons
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Bluehost Shared Hosting Pricing Breakdown
Similar to the other providers in this article, you can pick up a shared hosting plan with Bluehost for just $2.95/month. You will be tied into a three-year plan, though.
That price jumps to $4.95/month for annual plans, or $7.99/month when paid on a monthly basis. There are four shared hosting plans to choose from, the most expensive of which retails at $23.99/month.
Bluehost Shared Hosting Features
Bluehost is better known for WordPress hosting, and there are cheaper shared hosting providers out there. That said, the company really does put a premium on quality. Aside from the brilliant uptime and free backups/domains, there’s also 24/7 support, plus an inclusive SSL security certificate.
The main limitation is storage. You’re capped at 50GB on Bluehost’s Basic plan, so it’s not recommended for media-heavy websites. Upgrade to any other shared hosting plan, though, and you get unlimited storage space. Topping things off is a full web design and marketing service, although you’ll need to book a consultation and get a quote first.
#6 iPage
Best for Disk Space
iPage has some clear flaws, but it still performed well overall as a shared hosting provider. Here’s a closer look at its strengths and weaknesses:
iPage Pros and Cons
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iPage Shared Hosting Pricing Breakdown
Its month-on-month price of $9.99 may be the most expensive on this list, but iPage is also the cheapest provider when you sign up to a three-year plan ($1.99/month).
iPage only offers one plan, so in order to upgrade, you’d need to switch provider or the type of hosting you use. Still, with annual plans coming in at $2.99/month, iPage certainly isn’t one to be overlooked.
iPage Shared Hosting Features
iPage is a little up and down with its feature offerings. The uptime is poor, but there’s 24/7 support. You get unlimited storage space, but have to pay $100 for backups. Ultimately though, there are more positives than negatives.
Its 500,000 visitor limit should be plenty, and you also get an SSL certificate alongside unlimited email accounts. If you only ever need to host one website – and don’t see it expanding beyond half a million monthly visitors – then iPage is more than suitable.
Best Cheap Shared Hosting Providers: Summary
There you have it – an in-depth look at our top-rated cheap shared hosting providers. There are others out there who offer shared hosting at similar rates, but they didn’t stack up to this bunch when put through their paces.
To recap, here’s the cream of the shared hosting crop.
Cheap Shared Hosting Providers: Recap
- DreamHost – Starting Price: $4.95/month
- HostGator – Starting Price: $5.95/month
- InMotion – Starting Price: $7.99/month
- A2 Hosting – Starting Price: $7.99/month
- Bluehost – Starting Price: $7.99/month
- iPage – Starting Price: $9.99/month
For us, InMotion is the best shared hosting provider. DreamHost is the obvious choice if you need a reliable service at a bargain price, while HostGator sits somewhere in between on the cost-quality scale.
There’s only one way to know for sure if a provider is best for your site, however, and that’s by trying it out. All six of these providers offer a minimum 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can always give one a whirl to see what you make of it.
Get out there, and find the right host to share your website with the world.
FAQs
Who offers the cheapest shared hosting?
Most hosting providers advertise discounted rates – some for as little as a buck a month – but as far as non-discounted prices go, DreamHost offers the lowest month-on-month rates. For its most basic shared hosting plan, DreamHost charges $4.95/month.
Are there any other shared hosting providers?
Yes, many! This article only focuses on the best cheap shared hosting providers, but you can find others – such as 1&1 IONOS, SiteGround, and GoDaddy – who all offer cheap shared hosting. If you’re just after the best hosts, head over to our comparison chart.
Is shared hosting suitable for small businesses?
Most small business websites will find shared hosting is adequate for them. Others may outgrow it and opt for VPS hosting, which is generally considered the next step up. If you’re looking to host a small business website, see our guide on the best small business hosts here.
What’s the difference between shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting?
Shared hosting is where your website shares server space and resources with other websites. Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is where your site is hosted on a virtual shared server, but you have more flexibility over security and resources. Dedicated hosting is when you have your own personal server.
Is cloud hosting better than shared hosting?
Cloud hosting is a more modern form of cheap web hosting that has been growing in popularity over recent years. One is not better than the other, but depending on your needs, there may be a clear winner. Learn more about the best cloud hosting providers here.
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