It is very hard for beginners to choose cheap WordPress hosting provider for their needs. Especially if they are new and just starting with their new site.
I had the same dilemma when I was starting. I was confused with all terminology and options. My site was new and I was not sure which hosting provider to choose for my website nor which type of hosting.
I found information that in beginning it is always best to use shared hosting because it is enough for start and you can always upgrade later.
So I also recommend to all beginners that are just starting their online business or site to choose shared hosting plan. It will be enough for all your needs and it is affordable compared to other types of hosting.
If you get the option to choose between Linux or Windows type of hosting, choose Linux hosting account rather than Windows. While you will not go wrong with Windows, most people agree that Linux is better for WordPress powered sites.
Now it is just left to pick appropriate and affordable hosting provider. There are so many options and I was also first time very confused with which hosting provider to go with.
Many bloggers suggest reading reviews of WordPress hosts to learn the pros and cons from their existing users.
I just knew I need a cheap and reliable host. Reading reviews didn’t help much. While some were praising particular hosting provider others would always have some issues with it and complained.
Also, you never know which reviews are from real people and which fake or maybe even hosting providers manipulated with reviews (yes, that is very common, unfortunately).
At that time I went with Half Dollar Hosting for which I can’t say they are bad nor great (they are not in business anymore). I still have few sites hosted with them. Mostly testing sites and low traffic sites.
It is true that days when creating a website was expensive are gone. Nowadays you can get WordPress hosting and domain name as low as $2~$5 per month. You could even go with free WordPress hosting if you are not ready to pay but just want to test and learn.
Table of Contents
Cheap WordPress Hosting – What To Look For?
Most web-hosting providers offer huge discounts to new users for first purchase if you take at least a year. So to save money you could take 3 years.
But it is best to go with one year because if you will not be satisfied with your hosting provider, you will not feel obligated to stay because you paid for 3 years of usage.
Unfortunately rarely hosting providers offer month to month payment. And if they offer, a discount is mostly not so big as on yearly basis.
Keep in mind that at the time of renewal, you will have to pay standard fees which mean no more price that was when you first signup.
Usually, you can contact support and ask for a discount on renewal. I have got solid discounts like that few times. Just keep contacting support until you get one (try with different support member).
You can also overcome this situation by migrating WordPress site to another hosting provider. Or maybe even open a new account at the same. It saves you a lot of money. The new host will offer you biggest discount because you’re a new customer to them.
Below I will mention cheap WordPress hosting provider options and compare some features they offer from the shared hosting standpoint as this is best when just starting.
Factors to take into consideration before purchasing web hosting:
- Company reputation and users reviews
- Is it compatible with major CMS such as WordPress
- Storage and bandwidth limitations
- Server performance and uptime
- Customer support
- Hosting plan prices
- Refund policy
NOTE: If you are starting a WordPress blog and you’re searching for a hosting service, my advice would be to get a shared hosting plan which is not only inexpensive but is also perfect for a new WordPress website.
Such plan will be at least 50% less expensive than other forms of hosting such as managed WordPress hosting or VPS hosting.
The concept of shared hosting involves multiple websites being run on the same server. Because resources are distributed across several sites, hosts can offer this option at very low price.
My Hosting Path
I first started with HalfDollarHosting. I used them for 2 years when my needs outgrow them. Then I migrated my sites with most traffic to InMotion hosting which I still use.
I keep my test and lower traffic sites on Half Dollar Hosting. I also tried WebHosting Pad but it was the worst decision. I strongly recommend that you avoid them.
I also hosted one of my sites on FatCow and didn’t have any issues in 1 year that I used. I only didn’t like that they didn’t have cPanel but their own version of account manager which was very inconvenient for me.
What I take into consideration when choosing a hosting plan (except most basic features):
- Supports Let’s Encrypt free certificate
- PHP7 support (see how to update WordPress site PHP version)
- Comes with cPanel (check cPanel vs vDeck differences)
- Supports HTTP/2
- SSD storage
- Live chat support 24/7
Best Cheap WordPress Hosting Providers (Comparison)
Here are some of best cheap WordPress hosting companies (order is random). I have also made a comparison between their shared hosting plans further below.
1. InMotion Hosting
InMotion hosting is one of top cheap WordPress hosting providers to get SSD powered web hosting with advanced features such SSH access, Max speed zone, WP-CLI, and safe application roll-back.
It allows you to host two websites even in their cheapest shared WordPress hosting plan called “Launch.” That plan comes with unlimited storage, bandwidth, email accounts, and a FREE domain name.
All of their shared plans include solid state drive based storage (SSD), free data backups, free website migration, website builder, free SSL certificate, and Max speed zones to enhance site speed for better search engine visibility and user experience.
For advertising, they give you a gift of $250 worth credits in Bing, Google, Yahoo, and YP.com listing though you will be able to use most of them only if you are from US (this is the case with most hosting providers).
They offer customer support via live chat, ticket, and phone call 24/7. I usually use live chat and get customer support in no more than 5 minutes.
You get a 90-day money back guarantee period which means you can get a refund in that time interval if you are not happy with how things are going.
InMotion hosting features:
- Free domain, SSL, website builder, and backups
- Offer website transfer without any charges (I think there is limitation on number of sites to migrate free)
- Developer friendly web hosting with WP-CLI and SSH access
- 24/7 client support which can be contacted using live chat, phone or ticket
- 90-day money back guarantee
- PHP 7 supported for faster performance
- 400+ free applications
- Unlimited storage and bandwidth
- Free domain name for a year
- You can host two domains on the most basic plan
- Max speed zones for speed optimization
- Site Builder with many templates
- Various advertising credits worth $250
- Email accounts, virus and spam filter, etc.
2. Bluehost
Bluehost claims to provide fast, reliable and low cost hosting for WordPress with 99.9% uptime at the very reasonable price of just $3.95/month.
Bluehost is officially recommended by WordPress.org. They offer different types of packages such as Cloud, Shared, VPS, Dedicated server, Managed WooCommerce and WordPress hosting.
When you buy a hosting package, you get a free domain name for one year and a drag and drop site builder.
Some extra features include Spam experts, SSL certificate, Dedicated IP, Domain privacy, and Site backup PRO in shared business plan.
You get an enhanced control panel (cPanel) with built-in functions that make it easier to manage WordPress websites like creating backups (see best free WordPress backup plugins), traffic statistics, file manager, enabling SSL, etc.
Bluehost has 24/7/365 technical support via live chat, ticketing system and via phone call. They offer a 30-day money back guarantee.
For the sake of the speed, they use the latest technology and protect resources of each user and called it “CPU Throttling”.
This resources protection technology detects the major resource consumer and then temporarily isolate it to protect the performance of other hosting accounts.
On the pricing side, they are good and offer cheap hosting for WordPress. The basic plan offers all the basic tools and features required to create a new site and small websites.
Bluehost features:
- Free domain for one year
- Free SSL certificate by Let’s Encrypt
- Free data backups (not in all plans)
- 24/7 customer support
- 30 days refund policy
- Officially recommended by WordPress.org
- Unlimited storage and bandwidth on all plans except the “Basic” plan
- Email accounts
- $200 for marketing offers (not included in the basic plan)
- You can host only one website on the basic plan
3. SiteGround
SiteGround hosting plans are based on a limited number of monthly unique visitors, but bandwidth is unlimited. All the plans cover benefits like CloudFlare CDN, free Lets Encrypt SSL, email accounts, website migration, daily backup and drag and drop website builder.
When it comes to SiteGround, the core purpose is offering outstanding hosting experience with reliability to make every site loads fast. Moreover, their servers are HTTP/2 and PHP 7 enabled.
They use Solid State Drive and NGINX server technology to provide 4x speedy hosting. SSD drives and NGINX are included in all shared and cloud hosting plans, while NGINX is also available for dedicated plans.
The most impressive feature is SuperCacher system which improves your site loading time. It is a caching mechanism based on NGINX reverse proxy that speeds up the transfer of the site content. SiteGround claims 24/7 and 365 days technical support via live chat, ticketing system, and phone call.
WordPress.org officially recommends SiteGround for building WordPress powered websites. It offers a 1-click installer for all the major CMS such as Joomla, WordPress, etc.
If you are not satisfied, then within 30 days you can ask for a refund. They offer various hosting types such as Shared, Managed, Cloud, Dedicated, WordPress hosting, etc.
SiteGround features:
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4. NameCheap
NameCheap is domain name registrar as well as web hosting service. They provide shared, VPS, reseller, dedicated, WordPress hosting called Easy WP as well as private email hosting.
Most of their web hosting plans support unlimited bandwidth and multiple domains. NameCheap offers storage powered by SSD drives.
Besides the uptime and speed, the support service is also very impressive. You can get in touch with them via live chat, ticketing system, help desk and through email.
They claim 100% server uptime (I have my doubts regarding this as rarely any hosting can offer that) for shared hosting plans along with 14-days money back guarantee.
But dedicated plans and add-on products (such as licenses, dedicated IPs, server management, etc.) are non-refundable.
NameCheap offers very affordable pricing which is $8.88/year for WordPress hosting. This is just for the first year. After that, you pay $48.88/year which is still a great price.
NOTE: I strongly recommend using one of NameCheap shared hosting plans rather than their managed EasyWP hosting because it is very limited. You will get far more with even cheapest shared hosting plan.
NameCheap Value shared hosting plan vs NameCheap managed WordPress hosting EasyWP
- NAMECHEAP SHARED HOSTING VALUE PLANValue plan
- Free .website domain and free WhoisGuard
- 20
- UNLIMITED
- TICKET,LIVE CHAT
- Twice a week
- 14 DAYS
- 3
- UNLIMITED
- 50
- 50 users
- You can manually add Lets Encrypt free certificate
- You need to manually add
- Not out of the box
- $0.82/MONTH
- NAME
- SSD INCLUDEDSolid state drives provides increased performance and reliability over mechanical hard drives.
- FREE DOMAIN
- DISK SPACE
- BANDWIDTH
- EMAIL SPAM FILTERING
- SUPPORT
- FREE WEBSITE TRANSFERDoes hosting company provide free site migration from another hosting provider
- FREE BACKUPS
- MONEY BACK GURANTEE
- ADVERTISING CREDITS
- FREE WEBSITE BUILDER
- WEBSITES SUPPORTEDHow many websites can you have
- PHP 7 SUPPORTED
- SSH ACCESS
- PARKED DOMAINS
- SUB DOMAINS
- FTP ACCOUNTS
- MALWARE PROTECTION
- FREE SSL
- LETS ENCRYPT INTEGRATION
- CLOUDFLARE INTEGRATION
- CPANEL
- HTTP/2 ENABLED SERVERS
- PRICE
- NAMECHEAP MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING EASYWP PLANEasyWP plan
- 5
- UNLIMITED
- TICKET,LIVE CHAT
- 14 DAYS
- 1
- $0.74/MONTH
NameCheap features:
- Affordable web hosting service for small and medium sites
- 24/7 customer support
- Standard cPanel software to maintain your hosting account
- SSD powered web hosting plans
- Unlimited data transfer
- Email accounts and spam protection
- CMS for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal etc.
- Google apps, SSL, virus scanner and many different features
5. GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks company powers their servers by using the wind energy. The company launched in 2008 and soon made its name in the industry.
They offer low-cost web hosting packages including features like free site building, premium security, full support, SSD, daily backup, and SEO tools.
GreenGeeks have data centers located in Chicago and Phoenix in the US, in Toronto, CA and one in Europe (Netherlands). All hosting plans include unlimited bandwidth, data transfer, space and unlimited domains to host on a single account (use coupon take20off for 20% off).
Free website migration and free domain name registration also included in hosting plans. You can create unlimited secure IMAP and POP3 email accounts which can be accessed via web mail or through your favorite e-mail client like outlook.
Their enhanced control panel helps you manage websites using features such as file manager, phpMyAdmin, traffic statistics, backups, bandwidth monitor, etc.
They also offer SSH access so you can access your files and data securely. You can modify permissions, edit files directly on the server, configure and install scripts directly.
GreenGeeks provide 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone call, and through the ticketing system. They guarantee 99.9% server uptime and 30-days money back. They are offering PHP7, CDN and SSD drives on their hosting plans. For more info about GreenGeeks, check my post where I mention GreenGeeks pros and cons.
GreenGeeks features:
- 99.9% server uptime
- Free domain name and marketing credits
- One month refund period
- Powered by renewable energy
- 24/7 customer and technical assistance
- Unlimited domains can be hosted on one account
- Limitless storage and data transfer
- No limit for email accounts, subdomains, and parked domains
- You can create unlimited FTP accounts and MySQL databases
- Data caching, security scanning, automatic brute force detection
- Different scripts languages such as Perl, Python, Javascript
- SSL for secure e-commerce business
6. iPage
iPage is another cheap WordPress hosting firm owned by Endurance International Group. iPage offers shared, VPS, managed WordPress and dedicated web hosting. All plans include unlimited bandwidth, storage, email accounts, and free domain registration.
You can host unlimited domains on one account without any limits. They also offer hundreds of free mobile-friendly themes, site building tools, and 1 GB cloud storage account. Webmail accounts come with spam filters, auto forwarder, and virus checker feature.
Shopping cart and PayPal integration come built-in so you can add online payment option along with SSL certificates to make transactions secure. iPage also offers easy to use control panel which helps you monitor site traffic statistics and other management options.
They have 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone, and email system. They claim to provide excellent service and 99.9% uptime.
If iPage failed to satisfy you, then refund within 30-days (money back guarantee). It’s the cheap web hosting for WordPress and you get a free domain name. They also offer free advertising credit so that you can advertise your site on Google and Bing.
iPage features:
- Unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts
- 99.9% server uptime
- 30-day money back guarantee
- cPanel with a bunch of features
- One click script installers
- Free registration of domain name
- Unlimited domains can be hosted on one account
- Unlimited email accounts with spam controllers
- Free 1GB Cloud Storage and $100 for Google and Bing (US users)
- Tons of templates and themes
7. A2Hosting
A2Hosting was originally founded in 2001 was named as Iniquinet, but in 2003 they changed the name to A2 Hosting (kasare for 51% discount on shared hosting plans).
They store all databases and site contents on the SSD drives which makes sites load faster. They have multiple locations of data centers in Asia, Europe, and the USA and you can select center based on your target audience.
They are giving 99.9% uptime guarantee. A2Hosting offers different tools for security enhancement like HackScan Protection, Brute Force defense, firewall, etc.
They do not charge for site migration and offer a wide range of PHP versions. All plans support Perl and Python script languages and have a huge bundle of features like CMS integration with the 1-click installer, CloudFlare CDN, Site Accelerator, Unlimited resources, A2 optimizer, etc.
The support channels are a live chat, phone call, email, ticketing option. NOTE: Use coupon kasare for 51% discount on shared hosting plans.
A2 Hosting features:
- No restrictions on the storage and bandwidth usage
- SSD drives
- Supporting WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, PrestaShop and more
- Unlimited databases on all the plans except the “Lite”(basic plan)
- You can host 1 website on the basic while unlimited on all other plans
- 5 subdomains, 25 parked domains and 25 email address on Lite plan
- Virus Scan, 24/7 monitoring, brute force, auto heal hosting protection
- For the advertisement of your business $50 for Google and Bing credit
- Free SSL
Cheap WordPress Hosting Providers Comparison
I have compared mentioned hosting providers cheapest shared hosting plans according to its features.
If one of hosting providers offers cheap WordPress shared hosting I will take that into consideration (except Bluehost as their WordPress hosting is for high traffic sites and Namecheap as they have only WordPress managed hosting).
If not I will use cheapest shared hosting plan into comparison. Mentioned information in comparison can become outdated so always check hosting page or ask support if you have any doubts.
NOTE: I have contacted support for each hosting for info which was not mentioned on their site.
- NAME
- SSD INCLUDEDSolid state drives provides increased performance and reliability over mechanical hard drives.
- FREE DOMAIN
- DISK SPACE
- BANDWIDTH
- EMAIL SPAM FILTERING
- SUPPORT
- FREE WEBSITE TRANSFERDoes hosting company provide free site migration from another hosting provider
- FREE BACKUPS
- MONEY BACK GURANTEE
- ADVERTISING CREDITS
- FREE WEBSITE BUILDER
- WEBSITES SUPPORTEDHow many websites can you have
- PHP 7 SUPPORTED
- SSH ACCESS
- PARKED DOMAINS
- SUB DOMAINS
- FTP ACCOUNTS
- MALWARE PROTECTION
- FREE SSL
- LETS ENCRYPT INTEGRATION
- CLOUDFLARE INTEGRATION
- CPANEL
- HTTP/2 ENABLED SERVERS
- PRICE
- INMOTION SHARED WORDPRESS HOSTING LAUNCH PLANLaunch plan
- If you already have a domain, you will geta credit that can be used to transfer your existing domain from another registrar.
- UNLIMITEDCertain restrictions apply
- UNLIMITEDCertain restrictions apply
- PHONE,TICKET,LIVE CHAT
- Applies to accounts consisting of 3 or fewer databases and/or websites. Accounts wishing to transfer more than 3 items will be charged $10 per additional item to be transferred.
- 90 DAYS
- $100 of Google Adwords credits, $75 of Bing advertising credits and $75 of Yahoo advertising credits and a free Yellow Pages business listing
- 2
- 6
- 25
- You will need to install it manually
- $4.89/MONTH
- BLUEHOST SHARED HOSTING BASIC PLANBasic plan
- 50
- UNLIMITED
- PHONE,TICKET,LIVE CHAT
- They charge $149.99
- 30 DAYS
- 1
- 5
- 25
- You will need to install it manually from 3rd party
- You will need to install it manually
- $3.95/MONTH
- SITEGROUND WORDPRESS SHARED HOSTING STARTUP PLANStartup plan
- 10
- UNLIMITED
- PHONE,TICKET,LIVE CHAT
- For 1 website
- 1 copy
- 30 DAYS
- 1
- UNLIMITED
- UNLIMITED
- $4.65/MONTH
- NAMECHEAP SHARED HOSTING VALUE PLANValue plan
- Free .website domain and free WhoisGuard
- 20
- UNLIMITED
- TICKET,LIVE CHAT
- Twice a week
- 14 DAYS
- 3
- UNLIMITED
- 50
- 50 users
- You can manually add Lets Encrypt free certificate
- You need to manually add
- Not out of the box
- $0.82/MONTH
- NAME
- SSD INCLUDEDSolid state drives provides increased performance and reliability over mechanical hard drives.
- FREE DOMAIN
- DISK SPACE
- BANDWIDTH
- EMAIL SPAM FILTERING
- SUPPORT
- FREE WEBSITE TRANSFERDoes hosting company provide free site migration from another hosting provider
- FREE BACKUPS
- MONEY BACK GURANTEE
- ADVERTISING CREDITS
- FREE WEBSITE BUILDER
- WEBSITES SUPPORTEDHow many websites can you have
- PHP 7 SUPPORTED
- SSH ACCESS
- PARKED DOMAINS
- SUB DOMAINS
- FTP ACCOUNTS
- MALWARE PROTECTION
- FREE SSL
- LETS ENCRYPT INTEGRATION
- CLOUDFLARE INTEGRATION
- CPANEL
- HTTP/2 ENABLED SERVERS
- PRICE
- GREENGEEKS MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING
- If you already have a domain, you will geta credit that can be used to transfer your existing domain from another registrar.
- UNLIMITEDCertain restrictions apply
- UNLIMITEDCertain restrictions apply
- PHONE,TICKET,LIVE CHAT
- That includes 1 free site or cPanel transfer, so if you have a few sites in a single cPanel account they could move them all over for free
- 30 DAYS
- Free SEO and Marketing tools and $20 BidVertiser ad credit as well as coupon for Google AdWords for $75 in credit when you spend $25
- UNLIMITED
- UNLIMITED
- UNLIMITED
- You can manually add Lets Encrypt free certificate
- You can manually add Lets Encrypt free certificate
- $3.95/MONTH
- IPAGE SHARED WORDPRESS HOSTING WP STARTER PLANWP Starter
- UNLIMITED
- UNLIMITED
- PHONE,TICKET,LIVE CHAT
- 30 DAYS
- Google AdWords offer ($100 value) when you spend $25, Bing search credit ($100 value, Yellowpages.com listing, One toll-free phone number (US only)
- UNLIMITED
- UNLIMITED
- UNLIMITED
- THEY USE VDECK PANEL
- $3.75/MONTH
- A2HOSTING SHARED LITE PLANLite plan
- UNLIMITED
- UNLIMITED
- PHONE,TICKET,LIVE CHAT
- 30 DAYS
- Free Bing/Yahoo Ad Credits, iContact Email Marketing Trial
- 1
- 25
- 5
- $4/MONTH
WordPress Hosting Final Words
Choosing the right web hosting can be a daunting process, especially when you’re just starting to grasp the basics of running your own website. There are so many services offering cheap WordPress hosting that picking a winner can often seem like a difficult task.
Sure, doing a little research beforehand is crucial, since choosing a great web host can improve your SEO, hence increasing your shot at building a larger site following.
As you could see from the list above, hosting plans under $5 to $7 per month are possible. And not from some “never heard of” companies, but reputable established hosting providers.
If you just want an online presence or wish to run a blog as a hobby or don’t have enough funds then I would recommend you to choose the company having under $4 web hosting plans.
But if you are serious and want to start blogging as a profession or a business website then choosing SiteGround would be a smart decision. They not only offer fast web hosting but also are recommended by the WordPress.org.
Here are my final recommendations:
- NameCheap – If you are a beginner and tight on budget.
- Bluehost – If you are going to buy hosting for 3 years, go with Bluehost. It offers huge discounts on 36 months plan.
- A2 Hosting – If you are looking for a fast host with a low budget.
- iPage, GreenGeeks, Bluehost – If you have a low budget, but still want best of best.
- SiteGround, InMotion – These are little costlier than other hosts. But a great choice for medium size blog/site.
By my experience and what I read over years is best to avoid hosting providers like GoDaddy, HostGator and WebHostingPad (especially this one). You could also go with popular managed hosting like Cloudways, HostArmada, WP Engine or 10Web.
DISCLOSURE: Posts may contain affiliate links. If you buy something through one of those links, I might get a small commission, without any extra cost to you. Read more about it here.
For cheap hosting I would recommend NameSilo to check out. I have some sites there and they have great services.
Excuse me, but I think that iPage is out of competition for a while. I tried to work with them on my own and all I can say is: iPage is NOT my recommendation! And judging by the domain statistics on https://webhostinggeeks.com/providers/ipage – a lot of people think so. DO NOT WASTE your time and money for them. I have never faced with such a bad customer support.
Thank you Eva for sharing your experience.