Having a reliable web hosting for your site is essential to have the best online presence. There are a lot of web hosting organizations that will help you get this hosting. Before we get to the depth of why web hosting is relevant, let us see what web hosting is. The web files are stored on the remote server and the computer server is called the host. You have to pay a certain amount of fee for this hosting by a reputable hosting company.
IMPORTANCE OF A WEB HOSTING ESPECIALLY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
Let us now look at the various reasons that make it important for a website to have such a hosting.
LESSER DOWNTIME: Downtime is the period when a visitor may not be able to access your site. This time may be a few seconds or even a few hours. During this time, you might be missing a lot of business opportunities that might have come your way. If you have a web hosting from a reputable hosting organization, it can be said with certainty that you will have less or no downtime. So, you’re not going to have an impression of unreliability on your customer.
ORGANIZED EMAILS: You may use separate e-mails and online accounts for your business correspondence. The web hosting package you choose will include e-mail links to your site. Having this inclusion will help you to organize those e-mails and separate them from any other correspondence you may have. In fact, your e-mail address would be more memorable because it suits your website.
ABILITY TO DEAL HUGE TRAFFIC: It may happen that when you have maximum traffic to your site, your site is temporarily facing downtime. But if you have dedicated web hosting then these events won’t happen and you’ll have the opportunity to handle the full traffic to your site.
EFFECTIVE MAINTENANCE OF HARDWARE: When you have a web hosting from a reputable service provider, you don’t have to worry about hardware maintenance. They will be efficiently handled by the service provider. Several servers will be assigned to both sides and, if one crashes, it will be passed automatically to the other. This will also allow you to reduce the amount of data lost.
ENHANCED MARKETING: It can easily be said that if you have a better web hosting, you will have more marketing opportunities. Incidents like this should not happen if your customer is looking for a product or is about to make a payment for an order that your site should face downtime. In general, an incident like this will reduce your chances of having a better business. That particular potential customer will find another site with a proper web hosting and purchase the product from there. But if you have a web hosting, the potential client would have been your valued customer.
It can be seen how important it is to have an effective web hosting for better online presence and business improvement.
Finding a hosting provider for your small business should not be any different. If you run a small business, it’s imperative to get the best web hosting. Choose a second-rate provider and it will affect everything from the speed of your site to your revenue. Your small business hosting needs to be reliable: time is money, and every minute your site is down, you lose dollars. It should also be priced reasonably and include security certificates that you need to provide your users with a secure online experience.
If you are running a small business and searching for a hosting service, you’ve come to the right spot. In this guide, we will introduce you to the seven best web hosting services for small businesses. We’re looking at price, guaranteed uptime, ease of use, and customer support. Before we wrap up, we’re going to give you a crash course on selecting the right web hosting for your small business or company.
There are thousands of website hosting companies out there. This can all get a little overwhelming at times. Luckily, we’re here to help you make sense of all this. Without further ado, here are WebsitesAdvice’s TOP 7 HOSTING PROVIDERS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.
Best for Overall Small Business Hosting
Bluehost is the most highly recommended hosting provider. It has emerged as the best overall small business hosting service in our research and is also our top recommended provider for WordPress websites. Its comprehensive features and excellent customer service provide excellent value for money for small start-up businesses.
Pricing: $2.75/month – $209.99/month
Types of Hosting Offered:
- Shared
- VPS
- Dedicated
- Reseller
- WordPress
Bluehost is the best small business web hosting service. Why? Because this is a great all-inclusive package. No wonder we’ve scored an impressive 91% in our research. It is owned by Endurance International Group, the same company behind HostGator, and operates 2 million websites worldwide. It’s a lot of people who have happily made their virtual home with Bluehost.
FEATURES
One of the main reasons why Bluehost is so famous is its simple integration with WordPress. One-click installation is a joy and means that even the least technical user can launch both WordPress and Bluehost. Bluehost is using cPanel as its site management system and Utah-based company has done an outstanding job of introducing easy yet useful customizations to the cPanel interface. Parts are quite clearly set out and the procedure is easy to follow. It strikes a great balance between the simplicity for beginners and the features required for more advanced users.
At 99.9%, Bluehost uptime is on par with HostGator. This is equivalent to less than two hours of downtime for the entire year. Wondering, why not just 100%? Well, this is not possible. Tech is a minefield; no provider can guarantee 100% uptime between hardware glitches and cyber-attacks.
Disk space, however, is slightly more limited than with some of its competitors. More servers can slow down if your website experiences a traffic surge – for example if you’re running a paid social media campaign.
On top of that, Bluehost’s support is excellent. When we tested it ourselves, Bluehost ‘s support exceeded our expectations by a whopping 9%, surpassing the other three hosts we tested. HostGator only exceeded our expectations by 3%, while InMotion and A2 Hosting did not live up to our expectations!
PRICING
Bluehost’s hosting plan prices range from:
- Shared Hosting – $2.95 – $13.95
- WordPress Hosting – $2.95 – $5.45
- VPS Hosting – $18.99 – $59.99
- Dedicated Hosting – $79.99 – $209.99
What Bluehost plan you need will depend on how much traffic you intend to receive. If you’re just running a WordPress blog, the 50 GB plan is going to be all right. You get unlimited domains, email accounts and email storage on the Plus plan. Bluehost also submits an SSL certificate and spam help – all for less than $11/month. Well, that’s a great value.
If your business is expanding rapidly, Bluehost’s VPS or dedicated plans are great options. You can access faster load times, unlimited bandwidth, and more storage times. Think of it as if you were buying new clothes after you had a growth-spurt. Bluehost’s transparent pricing and simple setup make it a fantastic choice for beginners to host.
Best for: Shared and VPS Hosting
Although Bluehost is at the top of the charts, InMotion makes a convincing argument. Granted, it’s not the cheapest if you’re looking for basic shared hosting, but the security, support, and storage space offer is excellent. It also has its website builder, if you do need to create your company website.
Pricing: $6.39/month – $589.99/month
Types of Hosting Offered:
- Shared
- VPS
- Dedicated
- Cloud
- Reseller
- WordPress
InMotion is a classic case of ‘get what you pay for.’ Sure, there’s no long-term cheap shared hosting, but what you’re getting are top-of-the-range features and great support. InMotion is a U.S. corporation with two dedicated data centers. These centers host thousands upon thousands of servers, ready to host and beam your website all over the world.
FEATURES
Even on its most basic plan, InMotion gives you unlimited disk space and bandwidth. This is unusual for lower-level pricing plans and puts InMotion in a strong position when it comes to shared hosting options. On top of that, you can say hello to the free SSL and HTTPS certificates. This means that when users are browsing your site, they can do so in the knowledge that it is secure. This is represented by a small padlock icon that sits next to your URL. In addition to being relevant to your customers and brand image, Google also favorably reflects securely on websites. It’s one of the many things that can help improve your website’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization), which is vital for any business.
You’ll also have access to great tools like InMotion’s website builder, which can help you build a small business site from scratch – without a code! Other resources include free advertisement credits, emails to any laptop, and visitor statistics. Is there a downside to that? We’re not going to lie – InMotion fell by 13% below our expectations when we tested its help and support. We were pretty overwhelmed when InMotion failed to meet our tests via its live chat, email, and knowledge center.
If you are looking for top-quality customer support, you need a better support host, such as Bluehost or HostGator.
PRICING
When it comes to shared business hosting, InMotion offers three plans: Launch, Power and Pro:
- Launch – $3.99/month for a two-year subscription or $4.99/month for one year.
- Power – $3.99/month for a two-year subscription or $4.99/month for one year.
- Pro – $13.99/month for one year, $14.99/month for six months or $17.99/month for one month.
You’re probably thinking to yourself, ‘Why wouldn’t I go to the Power Plan? ‘It’s more features for the same money, isn’t it? Okay, not exactly that. These figures are promotional prices and remain active for the duration of your initial registration period. The standard price of Launch is $7.99/ month, while Power is $9.99/month. That said, Power is InMotion’s most popular plan, and it has a great value for money.
When the company’s goals go beyond a shared server, InMotion also has some excellent VPS and dedicated hosting packages. VPS hosting ranges from $27.99/month to $144.99/month, depending on which of the three plans you choose and for how long. The same shall refer to the dedicated hosting. There are six options for this, beginning at $105.69/month, right up to $589.99/month. The main advantage of dedicated hosting is that you do not depend on other sites. If you need a lot of storage space and multi-layer security, it’s worth exploring.
Best For: Dedicated Hosting
HostGator is on the third in our ranking. It is a beginner-friendly, feature-rich service with an unrivaled uptime of 99.99%. In particular, we respect the hosting of its dedicated server. Like InMotion, HostGator also has its website builder called Gator.
Pricing: $2.75/month – $289/month
Types of Hosting Offered:
- Shared
- VPS
- Dedicated
- Cloud
- Reseller
While HostGator isn’t the cheapest hosting service, what makes it stand out from its competitors is its impressive uptime, generous features and excellent help and support across all its hosting plans. It’s no hard to see why 8 million domains are hosted with HostGator.
FEATURES
HostGator guarantees 99.9% uptime. This means that your website will only be out of action for an hour or less within one year. This kind of reliability is why HostGator is one of the best hosting services for small businesses. A nice touch is that if HostGator fails to keep this pledge, one month’s billing will be refunded. It’s putting its money where its jaws are. Downsides to HostGator include a lack of a free domain, while the cPanel GUI looks a little dated. First-time users can also consider the crowded interface confusing.
However, if you use WordPress, you won’t need to access the cPanel. HostGator’s administration of the site is not as elegant as Bluehost’s. HostGator’s aid and support are decent — when we tested it ourselves, it surpassed our standards by 3%. Not as good as Bluehost, but better than InMotion and A2 Hosting!
PRICING
When it comes to HostGator’s plans, there’s plenty to get your teeth into. The three packages that are shared are:
- Hatchling – from $2.75/month. Entry-level, great value for money.
- Baby – from $3.95/month. Get more help in growing your small business.
- Business – from $5.95/month. Best for fast-growing businesses. Unlock features including SSL certificates, a dedicated IP address, and VoIP phone service. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It protects data moving through your site (like customers’ bank details). Providers often charge over $100 for SSL certificates, so HostGator’s offer makes it great value for money compared to rivals like Arvixe. Your site’s URL will have a green padlock to show it’s secure.
Prices are similar to Bluehost’s, and all plans include unlimited email (unusual for hosting services), one-click WordPress and Drupal installation, and unlimited bandwidth (you’re not billed for how much you’re using). The pricing of HostGator is very reasonable for the features you get. If you’re looking for affordable web hosting for small businesses, look no further!
HostGator offers VPS, WordPress, and dedicated hosting packages if your business comes up with these basic plans. Medium-to-large enterprises should look at HostGator’s dedicated server packages starting at $79/month. You get all the hardware to yourself, and you can handle large volumes of traffic. Dedicated plans include all weekly backups – a reassuring safety net for your business.
VPS plans range from $19.95/month for Snappy 2000 to $29.95/month for Snappy 8000. As you scale up, you’re getting more bandwidth, disk space, CPU and RAM. The last two are like your site’s brain and brawn – the more you get, the more powerful and fast your site gets.
Best for: Budget Friendly Plans
The iPage can be seen as a medium, green hosting machine. It’s cheap, has a one-click installation for select CMSs, and is committed to reducing its carbon footprint. It’s great, too, if you’re looking for a cheap hosting option. Be warned, though, that you may sacrifice speed at a price.
Pricing: $1.99/month – $239.99/month
Types of Hosting Offered:
- Shared
- VPS
- Dedicated
- Cloud
- Reseller
- WordPress
iPage is one of the oldest hosting companies in the world. Initially established in 1998, the company began selling hosting plans in 2002. iPage is owned by the Endurance Group, which also owns HostGator and Bluehost, and has two data centers that host more than one million sites worldwide.
FEATURES
We’re going to level with you; the features of the iPage aren’t anything to write about at home. You do get free SSL security, but backups on your shared hosting plan — which is complementary to most providers — are $100 extra. Not all the bad news, though. You can host unlimited email accounts with iPage, which is perfect for growing businesses, and get your domain free for the first year.
The shared monthly visitor limit is also a generous 500,000, so small businesses that get a lot of regular traffic or experience sudden surges should be fine. The 99.94% uptime, while disappointing compared to other hosts, is also not a big issue. In fact, any provider that guarantees and provides uptime above 99.90% will be fine for a small business.
PRICING
- Shared Hosting: $7.99/month
- VPS Hosting: $24.99/month – $99.99/month
- Dedicated Hosting: $149.99/month – $239.99/month
- WordPress Hosting: $7.49/month – $10.49/month
If cheap web hosting is what you’re looking for, you’ve come to the right place. What iPage lacks in quality features makes up for in modest pricing.
Don’t rub your eyes when it comes to shared hosting – iPage only offers one plan. And while this has its limitations, it’s good to know that you don’t have to worry about upgrading your plan at any point in time. Well, unless you want to change the hosting plan you ‘re on.
Best for: Cloud Hosting
A2 Hosting ran top in our cloud hosting research. It’s also one of the few hosts that can offer Windows hosting (not just Linux). Windows Hosting comes with the addition of a Plesk Onyx 17.8 control panel, free site migrations, and one-click installation across loads of CMSs – including WordPress.
Pricing: $3.92/month – $349.99/month
Types of Hosting Offered:
- Shared
- VPS
- Dedicated
- Cloud
- Reseller
- WordPress
A2 is the self-proclaimed ‘Guru Crew.’ Its employees know web hosting inside and out and are on hand to help you 24/7 after intensive training. The business was born in a shared office in Ann Arbor, Michigan. It has since grown into a hosting network around the world. Another bold claim by A2 is that its hosting service is ’20 times faster’ than its competitors.
FEATURES
A2 Hosting includes both Windows and Linux server hosting, each with ample storage space, unmetered data transfer, and some sweet freebies – such as SSL certificates and regular backups.
What’s not free is your domain and your website’s actual creation – you’ll need to use a content management system (CMS) or website builder to do that. In performance terms, A2 is more than holding its own against the big hitters in the industry. It offers all major hosting types, works off a cPanel dashboard, and has one-click CMS installations, such as WordPress, Drupal and Joomla.
When we tested customer support for A2 Hosting, it failed to meet our expectations by a total of 9%. That said, we were pleasantly surprised by its support for emails, which exceeded our expectations by 20% and stood out by far as its best support channel.
PRICING
- Shared Hosting: $7.99/month – $18.99/month
- VPS Hosting: $49.99/month – $99.99/month
- Dedicated Hosting: $169.99/month – $349.99/month
- WordPress Hosting: $7.99/month – $75.48/month
- Cloud Hosting: $5/month – $371/month
Those plans are relatively expensive across the board. However, one major plus is that A2 has a guarantee policy for money-back at any time. That means if you are not satisfied with the service you receive for whatever reason, you can get a full refund whenever you wish. Its best support is its controlled WordPress hosting on a quality-cost scale. Both plans come with automatic apps and plug-in WordPress updates, meaning you don’t need to raise a finger when WordPress changes.
Best for: Extra Features
GoDaddy can be called a master of all trades. It is the largest domain registered in the world, offering a web hosting service and website creator. Its uptime is superb, and GoDaddy is the best all-in-one service. You ‘re in the right spot if you need the works-domain, website and hosting.
Pricing: $7.99/month – $349.99/month
Types of Hosting Offered:
- Shared
- VPS
- Dedicated
- Reseller
- WordPress
FEATURES
GoDaddy’s apps are of top quality when it comes to web hosting. Free backups, domains and SSL protection are a great start, and the resource caps are all very impressive on items like bandwidth, storage, and RAM. Its help and support are not bad-offering live chat and telephone service-but there is no system to raise tickets.
What makes GoDaddy unique is the fact the solution is all-in-one. Using its design assisted website builder that supports over 1,500 different industries, you can create your site from scratch, and purchase your domain name. Getting all under one roof makes keeping track of your bills much easier. This is GoDaddy’s main appeal-if you ‘re just after web hosting, you’re going to get a better deal elsewhere.
PRICING
- Shared Hosting: $7.99/month – $24.99/month
- VPS Hosting: $29.99/month – $74.99/month
- Dedicated Hosting: $169.99/month – $349.99/month
- WordPress Hosting: $9.99/month – $34.99/month
While GoDaddy ‘s hosting features are robust, its pricing is pretty midway down the road. What’s more, GoDaddy has no money-back guarantee-something that many other top-rated providers do.
Best for: Customer Service
SiteGround is not the most affordable option, but it has definite strengths. Versatile with one-click installation through several CMSs, you’ll also be getting free email accounts and regular backups. Its customer service is second to none, providing 24/7 telephone and live chat support as well as a comprehensive knowledge center. See more of our reviews about Siteground.
Pricing: $3.95/month – $729/month
Types of Hosting Offered:
- Shared
- VPS
- Dedicated
- Cloud
- Reseller
- WordPress
SiteGround has more than 1 million websites and numbers from the origins of its university dormitory. Established in Bulgaria, it has risen through the ranks of hosting and is considered by many as one of the best hosting providers today.
FEATURES
SiteGround is one of the three WordPress personal hosting providers. That’s enormous as far as comparisons are concerned. Installation and automatic updates, including Drupal and Joomla, can also occur by one button. Even the hosting for WordPress e-commerce sites is WooCommerce.
You can purchase a domain on the SiteGround website creator, free drag and drop, if you are still going to build your website. Free SSL security and everyday backups, including the cPanel dashboard and the free email accounts, are included in any package. The uptime of 99.98% is also far from amusing – it means it is only one minute a week on average.
PRICING
- Shared Hosting: $3.95/month – $34.95/month
- Cloud Hosting: $80/month – $240/month
- Dedicated Hosting: $269/month – $729/month
- WordPress Hosting: $3.95/month – $34.95/month
We ‘re not going to beat around the bush, SiteGround is mainly overpriced. Its special hosting is eye-watering in particular, but there are some deals upon closer inspection. The quality it provides is unbelievably affordable for WordPress hosting. A 30-day money-back guarantee is also available, so you have a month that is risk-free to decide whether or not to have their service.
SiteGround also offers hosting for companies that you can design. Because this is a machine plan, however, direct prices are not available. You must contact SiteGround for a quote directly to find out more.
SUMMARY
To sum it up, here’s a side by side comparison of specifications of the 7 Hosting Providers listed above:
ANY TIPS ON HOW TO CHOOSE A HOSTING PROVIDER FOR SMALL BUSINESSES?
At this point, it’s time to discuss how to choose the right provider for you in more depth. After all, there are no two companies that are the same, right? Ask yourself when considering a web hosting service:
- How tech-savvy are you? The less skilled you are with your computers, the more support you might need. You will also benefit more from a simple hosting service.
- What’s your budget for that? The budget will depend on the size and size of your business. A shared hosting plan will meet your technical needs and help you stay on the budget if you’re a solo merchant or a small business with less than five employees.
- How much traffic are you expecting to get there? The rule of thumb is: the more traffic you get, the better the hosting plan you need. Established small businesses should look at dedicated servers as they can expect to receive more hits from the website. This is also true if you have a large marketing budget and plan to pay for visitors to your website.
If you’re a small business owner, we recommend shared hosting for the first time. If you are outgrowing your shared plan, you can switch to a dedicated or VPS hosting package. It’s like moving to a larger property to start a family after sharing a flat with friends.
All of our seven small business web hosts are at the top of the market. Bluehost, InMotion and HostGator are all tightly packed at the top when it comes to quality plans and value for money. Your decision is down to your personal needs. You need to consider the size of your business site and the amount of resources you need. This should give you a clearer idea of what type of hosting you need, and from there, you can choose the best provider for that particular job.
Generally speaking; however, Bluehost offers the most comprehensive all-around package. Its features are unrivaled and should have plenty of resources to manage your site as you grow from a small business to a vast empire.
FAQS (FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS) FOR WEB HOSTING INTENDED FOR SMALL BUSINESSES
- How much does web hosting for small businesses cost? Depending on the length of time you’re willing to commit to, web hosting may cost businesses as little as $1/month. Small businesses tend to opt for shared hosting packages at low promotional rates, with renewal costs ranging from $5-30/month.
- What are the most important features of small business hosting? Besides scanning uptime rates, you’ll also want to know about the support and security offered. One-click installation is another important feature, so if you need to host a particular CMS, make sure it’s available.
- What are the differences between shared, VPS and dedicated hosting? Shared hosting is where one domain is shared with other websites. Dedicated hosting is where you have a more costly and efficient server of your own. VPS is a virtualized server that operates like a dedicated server, but in a shared cloud environment – a nice middle ground.
- Which is the most affordable way to host a website? The cheapest hosting packages are available for iPage. With its promotional agreements, it is $1.99/month for the first term of your subscription to host your website.
- How many times do you pay for the hosting of the web? Two options for payment are usually available: every month or year. Yearly payment typically saves some money from the monthly fee as you commit to the provider for the year. On the other hand, you can make it easier to change suppliers on the road by paying monthly.
And that’s all for this comprehensive review for the TOP 7 HOSTING PROVIDERS FOR SMALL BUSINESSES. Do you have any experience, or are you a current subscriber of any of the hosting providers listed above? Leave a comment below and let’s discuss.
Again, this is WebsitesAdvice saying: thank you so much and see you around!