5 Best Hosting For Bloggers In 2024: Honest In-Depth Reviews
Gaurav Upreti 11 February, 2024If you’re looking for the best hosting for your blog, look no further! In this post, we’ll compare five of the most popular hosting providers and help you decide which is the best fit for your blog. So whether you’re just getting started or you’re looking to switch hosts, read on for insights that will help make your decision easier. Happy blogging!
What Is Web Hosting?
Web hosting is a service that allows organisations and individuals to post a website or web page onto the Internet. A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed in the Internet. Websites are hosted, or stored, on special computers called servers.
What are the types of web hosting?
There are different types of web hosting: Shared, Virtual private server (VPS), Dedicated, and Cloud.
➜ Shared hosting is the most popular type of web hosting, and is perfect for beginners or small businesses.
➜ A VPS is a step up from shared hosting, and is ideal for medium to large businesses.
➜ Dedicated hosting is the most expensive and is best suited for large enterprises.
➜ Cloud hosting is a relatively new type of web hosting that is perfect for businesses that require high performance and scalability.
Setting up your individual or business blog is a challenge especially if you have limited knowledge on hosting matters. To create a good blog or a website, you need a remarkable company to host it and a unique domain name.
If you’re starting a blog, one of the first decisions you’ll need to make is which web hosting service to use. It can be tricky to choose the best hosting for blog, especially if you’re not familiar with the different types of services available.
In this article, we’ll explain the different types of hosting and help you decide which option is best for your blog and which hosting company to choose from.
- Bluehost – Ideal for starter blogs, endorsed by WordPress
- Siteground – Professional and most popular
- Dreamhost – Endorsed by WordPress
- MochaHost – Affordable Plan, good Support, worth money
- Godaddy – all-inclusive solution to scale online with agreeable hosting
1. Bluehost – Ideal for Starter Blogs, Endorsed by WordPress
Bluehost is a popular hosting brand that is proudly endorsed by WordPress
It gained entry into the hosting market in 2003 and has improved to offer such services as hosting sites and selling domain names.
Let us elaborate on its attributes and operations as we experienced them.
Bluehost’s Key Features
- Uptime of 99.9%
- Load time is 405ms
- Initial cost is $2.95
- Bandwidth is unmetered
- Multimedia support including streaming for video and audio
- Cloudflare integration to store cached versions of your site
- POP3/POP3 secure email support
- IMAP/Secure IMAP email support
- Free domain-specific email addresses
- Secure-Socket Layer certificate at no charge
- Secure shell access
- Storage is unlimited except the lowest tier that is capped at 50 GB.
- Email storage is unlimited except the basic option which is 100 MB per account
- Advanced tools for developers such SSH Access and customized Linux kernel
- User-friendly cPanel
- Site builders at no cost
- Good security attributes
Bluehost’s pricing plans
The three pricing options comprise basic, plus, and choice plus A They are payable annually since there is no provision for monthly payments.
The normal charges for shared hosting are $7.99/month (Basic), $10.99/month (Plus), and $14.99/month (Choice Plus).
Nonetheless, new entrants pay $2.95/month (Basic) and $5.95/month (Plus and Choice Plus).
Apart from shared hosting, other tiers are VPS hosting, WordPress hosting, and dedicated server hosting that have varied price points.
Support
Bluehost’s staff are on call 24/7 to attend to their client’s issues. Support is through live chats, emails, and phones. The response is normally after about two minutes.
Pros
- User friendly, particularly for starters who may not have any technical know-how
- Security has three protection levels across all price points. They are spam experts, Apache spam assassin, and spam hammer.
- Daily site scans using SiteLock take place.
- Countless email accounts acceptable save for the lowest tier that limits to 5 accounts
- Multiple integrations, eCommerce add ons, and site builders such as Joobla, Weebly, Drupal, and Moodle
- WordPress endorsement
- Free domain on registration valid for one year
- A money-back guarantee of 30 days. If you request a refund, Bluehost deducts the cost of the domain first
- Single dashboard for overseeing everything
- The basic category can have no more than five emails
Cons
- Renewing attracts high charges
- No free site migration
- Below-average speed for shared hosting
Bluehost is most prominent as a WordPress recommendation since it serves both new and seasoned bloggers satisfactorily.
Its service is top-notch, particularly for shared hosting. Reliable and pocket-friendly prices endear Bluehost to many users.
SiteGround – Competent And Most Popular
SiteGround offers fast and reliable hosting services. It came into being in 2004 and over time, it has carved its niche to host more than 2 million sites to date.
Its popularity stems from the shared hosting service.
The other hosting services include cloud, enterprise, and customized for Joomla, WordPress, PrestaShop, WooCommerce, and Magento.
Key features
- Uptime of 99.9%
- Load times of 615 ms
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Monthly payments acceptable
- Free site transfer
- CDN and backups at no charge
- SSL certificate at no cost
- WordPress beginner kit
- Email service
- Switching between PHP versions acceptable
- Several STFP accounts acceptable
- HTTP/2.0 for servers and CDN
Payment Options
SiteGround avails three ways of paying to target your projected traffic. These are StartUp, GrowBig, and GoGeek in the shared hosting.
StartUp’s special rates are $6.99 per month (the normal price is 14.99/mo).
GrowBig costs $9.99 monthly (the normal price is $24.99/mo) while GoGeek requires $14.99 each month (the normal price is $39.99/mo).
Cloud hosting goes for $80 – $240. The dedicated server category goes for $269 – $729.
Support
They have an awesome after-sales service that involves a rapid response to technical issues. This service is available anytime. It is accessible by phone, ticket, and live chat.
Having a GoGeek option qualifies you for priority access to qualified professionals whenever there is a problem.
SiteGround Support
The hosting support is top-rated. The customer support team is among the highest-rated support squad online, fast, multi-skilled and helpful.
Pros
- User friendly
- Various hosting categories to cater to varied groups
- Free movement of only one site
- Fast nodes
- Money-back assurance of 30 days
- Endorsed by WordPress
- Stable security by SiteGround which does site inspection for malware and associated issues
Cons
- Difficult to institute backups
- Renewal rates triple in that StartUp’s renewal is $11.95 monthly and GoGeek is $34.95 monthly
- Domain name is at a charge
- Billing and costs favor Siteground rather than their clients
Siteground stands out as a distinguished hosting preference for WordPress blogs. It has effective servers, popularity, and outstanding client service.
It will take support the growth of your online venture by handling all the technicalities your encounter. This accomplished support is highly regarded.
DreamHost – Endorsed by WordPress
DreamHost is among the finest hosting companies for WordPress blogs that took off in 1997. It is in charge of more than 1.5 million sites.
Its refund policy of 97 days is unrivalled. Customers love its uptimes which is unbeatable in the market.
It is notable for being one of the few carbon green entities in the hosting space. DreamHost strives to be environmentally sensitive at all times.
This is by reducing their carbon footprints where their servers are located.
Key Features (Plus Performance)
- 99.94% uptime
- Speed of 648ms
- Constant and stable speeds through Solid-State Drives (SSDs)
- No custom panel
- No limit storage
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Sites that share files are forbidden
- WordPress is pre-loaded and its migrations cost nothing
- Accessible to WordPress hosting also called DreamPress
- Manual migration of files using FTP and MySQL
- No email service for the lowest pricing
- Antispam for emails
- CMSs backed are ZenCart, WordPress, or Joomla
- No domain charges for the inaugural year
- SSL certificate at zero cost
- Protection by SFTP and SSH
- Hosting security reinforced by Let’s Encrypt
- HTTP/2 and PHP 7
- No cost for website builder called Remixer for shared hosting category
- Daily backups
Pricing Plan
Shared and WordPress hosting categories start at $2.59 /mo. WordPress Website builder starts at $2.59/ month and you require no code.
Hosting for Virtual Private Servers (VPS) begins at $10 per month and dedicated hosting is from $169 each month. The cloud hosting category starts at $0.0075/hour.
Support
Structured after-sales service consists of chat and emails through real-time chats are between 8:00 to 16:00 PT.
There is no phone support though, at a cost, the product service team will call you.
They comprise specialists who are accommodating enough to offer comprehensible feedback. More support is via Twitter and an active DreamHost forum.
Pros
- Pocket-friendly prices on shared hosting categories
- A refund policy of 97 days for shared hosting
- No difference between renewal prices and the onboarding costs
- Uptime guarantee
- Refunds applicable to credit cards and Google Checkout payments only
- Cloud storage known as DreamObjects is available at a cost
- Hosting for email services only is available
- Buying a domain name earns you free privacy protection so that no one can pry on your registration details
Cons
- Nodes are only accessible within the US.
- No intricate attributes like staging areas and integrated caching systems
- Site transfer is chargeable
- Anti-malware solutions unavailable
Other than having a WordPress recommendation, Dreamhost is a dependable company.
It has many attributes and tools that make the administration of your site an effortless pursuit.
MochaHost – inexpensive plan, excellent troubleshooting, worth money
MochaHost is your ideal choice if you need a bargain. Bloggers should also consider this hosting company.
It has won awards from CNET, HostReview.net among others. MochaHost has been in existence since 2002. They have attended more than 1 million websites.
Key Features (Plus Performance)
- No limits for bandwidth, websites, and storage space
- Infinite, costless SSL certificates
- Enhanced and latest safety measures for servers
- Optimum SSD – SAN storage
- Customer service available for applications like PHP7/5, ASP.NET, MS Access
- cPanel attainable for shared hosting
- Environmentally-friendly with servers that release minimum carbon
- Tracking of servers throughout
- Referral program
- Free assistance with site movement
- Lifelong domain name (chargeless)
- Datacenters headquartered in the US
- One-click installers like Joomla, Piwik, WordPress, phpBB
- 30-day refund policy
Pricing Plan
Monthly charges for the various hosting categories take the following shape:
- Shared hosting (6 plans) is $1.95-$6.21
- WordPress is from $2.48, VPS (16 plans) is $7.98-$44.98
- Java/Tomcat is from $3.48
- Dedicated server (18 plans) is $19-$169.
- The reseller options start from $9.47.
Support
They have rung one and rung two support teams.
Rung one handles all matters and if they are unable to resolve the issue, they hand it over to rung two. The turnaround for a problem resolution is 24-48 hours.
Pros
- Rebates are for life
- A testing period of 180 days with refund policy
- Assurance of 100% uptime
- The renewal fee is consistent with the initial plan cost
- Wide range of hosting categories
- No renewal of your chargeless domain
- Website builder is free
Cons
- Templates for constructing sites are not up-to-date
- Lack of automated backups
- Unhelpful support that is not well versed
- MochaHost is ideal for beginner bloggers on a budget. It may appeal to developers who are testing hosting services.
Godaddy – all in one solution for advancing online with good hosting
Godaddy is among the leading hosting companies for WordPress blogs. It was established in 1997 and now has an excess of 20 million clients. As a massive hosting company, it offers other solutions including registration of domain names, site construction, and issuance of SSL certificates.
Key features (plus performance)
- Uptime of 99.97%
- Unlimited except for the lowest tier with 100 GB storage
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Email service is free
- 1-click install apps are no less than 125 such as WordPress and Drupal.
- Unlimited websites except for economy plan which can have only one
- Load time speed of 554 ms
- Site migrations at a fee
- Backups at a price
- Unclear money-back guarantee
- Registers domain names
Pricing plan
There are four plans with monthly pricing as follows: $2.99 for the economy, $4.99 for deluxe, $5.99 for ultimate, and $12.99 for maximum.
Support
Customer service is available throughout. You access them through phone calls or live chats. The chatbots help you identify the best department to attend to you. They try to be as helpful as possible but if you need expert help, you pay for it.
Pros
- Reliable service
- Every plan lets you choose from 36 StudioPress themes
- Free extra services
- 300+ templates and associated themes to consider
- Initial onboarding prices are enticing
- Advice for email and social marketing to boost your online presence
- Easy to follow tutorial on how to build your site
Cons
- Extremely high renewal charges, for instance, $7.99 to renew the $2.99 economy plan.
- Unnecessary upselling
- Many overcharged services
- Basic options lack critical particulars
- Money-back guarantees are vague
- No free SSL
- Cannot move from one theme to another
- Cannot use a password to safeguard some of your pages
GoDaddy has been around for a while. It does vigorous marketing and has a huge customer base. It would be advisable to go through many of its customers’ reviews to get the real picture before making a decision.