If you’re on a limited budget but yet want the finest WordPress hosting you can get, look no further. When it comes to running a personal website or a small company website, being on a strict budget does not really mean you have to sacrifice speed and dependability.
It is also unnecessary to pay for a costly hosting plan that you will not utilize to its full potential. After all, managed WordPress hosting is not for everyone.
The excellent thing is that there are several WordPress hosting providers that offer incredible plans at very cheap rates. It is possible to spend just a few dollars per month for webhosting if you do your homework. At the same time, this does not imply that you will have to sacrifice on quality.
Read on for some of the most affordable WordPress hosting plans from top providers that will not force you to make any compromises on speed, support, or features.
What Really is a Cheap WordPress Hosting?
When it comes to website hosting, prices may vary significantly. There are plans that cost as little as a few dollars a month and others that cost hundreds of dollars per month. In most instances, the more costly the plan, the more features you’ll be able to take use of it.
More costly plans are also more likely to provide more bandwidth, additional storage space, and improved performance.
This final advantage is very significant since the more famous your website becomes, the greater the pressure on your server will be. This may result in lengthy loading times, especially if your hosting package is unable to handle the volume of traffic you get.
Many individuals are put off by the prospect of using a budget hosting service because they believe they require something more substantial. That may or may not be accurate, depending on your requirements.
Most websites, especially those that are just getting started, may get away with utilizing low-cost shared hosting packages, at least for the time being. Sometimes, you don’t need to pay any more that $5 a month for WordPress hosting!
So, here is what cheap WordPress Hosting usually means:
- Limited bandwidth or unlimited bandwidth with stringent conditions in fine prints.
- Under-powered server compared to really expensive ones with lengthy loading times.
- Limited storage or unlimited storage with stringent conditions – again, in fine prints.
Things You Should Look for While Selecting Cheap WordPress Hosting
For a new or current WordPress site, you should look at the following:
Server location: Your site speed is heavily depended on how far the hosting server is located from your visitors. The farther away it is, the slower the loading time. So, you need to make sure that you are locating your server location wisely. A good WordPress hosting provider should give you the choice of selecting your server location. On top of that, you should always consider using a CDN to deliver your site from locations closer to your visitors. This will help you to speed up your site. Some cheap WordPress hosting providers will give you free CDN integration.
Newest PHP version: PHP 7.0x is required since it has a significant benefit over its predecessor and helps your WordPress site perform more quickly. Make sure that your hosting provider is offering at least PHP 7.3.
SSL Certificate: Google wants you to use SSL certificate on your site. It is a ranking factor. You don’t really need to purchase an SSL certificate. Most webhosting companies now offer free SSL that you can integrate with a single click. Make sure that the hosting provider you are selecting offers one.
Customer service: When our website goes down, fear will engulf you, and therefore providing good customer service is not enough. Excellent customer service should be provided by a reputable hosting company, and this should be expected from the beginning.
Top Picks for the Best Cheap WordPress Hosting Providers
Here is a quick list of our preferred cheap WordPress hosting providers in the order of the lowest price to the highest price:
Hostinger:
- 1 site powered by WordPress.
- 100 GB bandwidth.
- One email account.
- 1.99 USD per month.
DreamHost:
- 1 site powered by WordPress.
- Free SSL.
- SSD servers.
- 2.59 USD a month.
Bluehost:
- 1 site powered by WordPress.
- Free domain.
- 50 GB storage.
- Free CDN and SSL.
- 2.95 USD per month.
Namecheap:
- 1 site powered by WordPress.
- 10 GB storage.
- 50,000 visitors a month.
- Free CDN
- 3.88 USD per month
SiteGround:
- 1 site powered by WordPress
- 10,000 monthly visitors.
- 10 GB storage.
- 4.99 USD per month.
A2 Hosting:
- 1 site powered by WordPress.
- Limited 10GB storage.
- Turbo boost.
- 10.99 USD per month.
Details of Each WordPress Hosting Provider
#1. SiteGround
SiteGround is our top pick in this field even though it is one of the most expensive options on this list.
There’s a solid reason why SiteGround is one of the most well-known brands in web hosting. While it does not have a large variety of plans, it does provide competitive prices on the lower end. And perhaps most impressively, it is the only provider in this roundup that provides managed WordPress plans at a reasonable cost.
Management hosting, as you may be aware, refers to a kind of plan in which your service provider is responsible for all aspects of daily administration. For the most part, this implies that activities such as automatic backups and upgrades, as well as optimization, are handled of by the service.
However, based on the managed host you select, the specific benefits that you get may differ significantly. Let’s take a look at what SiteGround can provide.
Let’s go on to the more enjoyable aspects of this hosting provider. Website hosting options from SiteGround include with free WordPress installation, free SSL certificate, a free email, and CDN integration.
Along with that, you’ll receive automatic daily backups as well as WordPress upgrades. They also have support for the WordPress CLI or the Command Line Interface, which is ideal for developers.
What you should be aware of is that if you are to enjoy the $3.95 price tag, you have to commit for a longer term. The minimum you need to commit is 12 months.
The company has something called SiteGround Optimizer that speeds up your site and give WebP image support and a host of other features.
A great mix of advanced WordPress features, low price, and acceptable loading speeds can be found at SiteGround.com. The consequence is that it is a great all-around choice for all WP user, and especially for those who put a high value on their websites continuing to operate without interruption even while utilizing a cheap WordPress hosting plan.
SiteGround’s support is excellent, and you can get instant help (in under less than a minute) through their chat support system.
Pricing Packages
SiteGround offers three pricing packages that include:
StartUp: The plan will only let you to host one website, but it will provide you with unmetered bandwidth and 10 GB of webspace. You will not be able to use staging or integrate with Git. You will be charged $4.99 per month for this service.
GrowBig: With this plan you can host unlimited sites, but you get only 20GB storage at approximately 25,000 visitors a month. All freebies and features are there but you will be charged $7.99 a month.
GoGeek: At $14.99 a month, it will allow hosting unlimited sites, 40 GB storage, 100,000 visitors and all the common features you get with the other two plans. This plan includes stuff like highest tier resources, white label clients, priority support, etc. It is best for agencies.
If you wish, you can go for a monthly payment module but that will cost a lot. The best prices are for 12 months of commitment. Funny thing is that if you commit for a longer period that 1 year, the prices actually increase. I don’t understand why they keep such pricing.
#2. A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is our second most-favorite WordPress hosting solution. Of course, it is the priciest options when it comes to managed WordPress hosting in the lower spectrum of the pricing scale. Their minimum starts with $10.99 a month, and that too, only when you pay for three years in advanced.
They do have a host of fascinating features available for their managed WordPress hosting solutions.
If you want, you can always go for their unmanaged and shared WordPress hosting solution that comes with a starting price of $1.99 but you miss out on many advanced features and site optimizations that the managed options will give you. Also, shared hosting servers are almost always underpowered.
Among the various features that A2 Hosting provides include things like 20X faster hosting with something that they call Turbo. You won’t get that with shared WordPress hosting’s low-end plans.
You also get staging site option, easy WordPress backups, free Jetpack personal license, pre-installed WP-CLI.
The provider offers Plesk control panel for all managed WordPress hosting packages. Plesk is far better than cPanel because it is lightweight and highly advanced. It is well-organized, too.
Apart from that, all managed WordPress hosting packages come with preconfigured performance and security out of the box. The hosting environment you get are highly optimized for running WordPress installations without a glitch.
Pricing Packages
A2 Hosting’s manage WordPress hosting has three different pricing plans that include:
- 1-Site: With this plan you get 10 GB storage, one website hosting, a free SSL, 1-click staging, Turbo boost, and all the essential features that is available for managed hosting. It costs $10.99 a month.
- 3-Sites: As the name suggests, you get to host three sites with this plan, and you get 25 GB of storage space. Of course, you will get Turbo boost, and free SSL for all your site.
- Unlimited: Priced at $34.99 a month, you get to host unlimited sites on this package, but you will be restricted to 40 GB of storage space. Free SSL, one-click staging, Turbo boost, etc. are all included in the package.
#3. Bluehost
Bluehost sits at number three in our list. It is an insanely popular web hosting platform, thanks to the endorsement it received from WordPress. Many popular bloggers across the world recommend this hosting company, and for good reasons.
Of course, they have a slew of freebies to offer that include a free domain for the first year, forever free SSL and free CDN. Depending on the plan you select, you may be entitled for 30 days of free subscription for Microsoft Office 365, free domain privacy and a year of free automated backups.
Their managed WordPress hosting coms with a custom control panel. What’s interesting is that they have scalability option available. However, do not fall for their scalability feature. It is just that if your website becomes popular, you will be asked to graduate your hosting to more expensive plans that start from $9.95 a month for a long-term commitment and go all the way up to $49.95 a month.
Now, here is the thing you need to know – just like the previous two hosting companies mentioned above and just like the ones that will follow, the renewal rates are much higher with Bluehost. This is not like the dedicated WordPress hosting providers where you get to pay the same price for as long as you decide to stay with them.
When it comes to support, the quality is kind of a hit or a miss. There are many people who absolutely love their support and then there are equally high number of people who just curse their support.
Of course, no matter which hosting company you choose there will be a hit or a miss scenario because not every support staff is well-trained and well-informed.
Pricing Packages
Bluehost offers three different pricing packages for WordPress hosting, and they are:
- Basic: This one will cost you $2.95 a month and allow you to host only one website with a 50GB storage space. You will get access to some free custom-designed themes along with free SSL, free CDN, and a free domain.
- Plus: The next higher plan is Plus that costs $5.45 a month and allows its users to host unlimited websites with unlimited SSD storage. Yes, you get free SSL, free domain, free CDN and a free 30-day Office 365 subscription.
- Choice Plus: This is the highest you get to start with, and it will cost you $5.45 a month (yes, the price is same as Plus). All features are same as Plus, but you get free automated backup for a year and free domain privacy.
#4. Namecheap
Somehow, I have an uncanny preference towards Namecheap because I host almost 14 experimental sites with Namecheap. Well, they are experimental and hence, I am not going to tell you what they are meant for. And guess what? None of them are hosted with their managed WP hosting. All are on shared hosting plan.
Turns out that they are all doing great even with their medium range plan. I must agree to the fact that they have excellent customer support. Despite the fact that you may encounter slightly longer waiting periods on live chats, they tend to give concrete solutions on the first try.
What you will not like, however, is that no matter which managed WordPress hosting package you select, you get to host only one website. On top of that, they will give you Positive SSL (not Let’s Encrypt SSL) for free for a year. You need to pay for the SSL after a year.
These are the two reasons why I have placed Namecheap down in this list. However, it turns out that the hosting itself is amazing. You get a lot of interesting features that include stuff like SSD storage, easy maintenance mode, built-in caching with EasyWP caching, automatic updates and so on.
Pricing Packages
They have three plans to offer that include:
- EasyWP Starter: This plan will cost you $3.88 a month and allow hosting only 1 WordPress site. Your site is allowed to get a maximum of 50,000 visitors a month. If you get anything more than that, you should upgrade. They have 99.99% uptime guarantee. Unfortunately, this plan will not give you free SSL and free CDN.
- EasyWP Turbo: At $7.88 a month, you get to host 1 site with 50 GB storage and 200,000 visitors. You will get free CDN and free SSL and all other perks that you get with EasyWP Starter.
- EasyWP Supersonic: This plan costs $11.88 a month and allows hosting 1 site and gives you 100 GB storage. The maximum number of visitors allowed every month is capped at 500,000. You will get free SSL and free CDN with this plan.
#5. DreamHost
With a 97-day moneyback guarantee, DreamHost offers three different types of WordPress hosting solutions. They are – WordPress Basic, DreamPress, and VPS WordPress.
Now, here is the thing – if you are starting out your blogging career, WordPress Basic should suffice. It is essentially shared hosting with preinstalled WordPress. You are not allowed to host any other type of website.
Be aware though! DreamHost may have gained popularity as a fast hosting provider, but that is the case only when you are looking for DreamPress and VPS WordPress that are quite expensive. Do not expect that from their WordPress Basic hosting.
However, do not forget that speed is also quite dependent on various other features like CDN usage, caching, the theme and plugins you are using and so on. So, if you are looking for a basic site, the basic hosting should work just fine.
Yes, just like every other hosting company, they offer stuff like free domain, fast SSD, and free SSL certificate.
As far as their support system is concerned, the team looks quite knowledgeable, and they provide live chat support. They also have a very extensive knowledgebase where you can find answers to most of your basic issues.
Pricing Packages
For their WordPress Basic hosting, DreamHost offers two packages, and they are:
- WordPress Starter: It will cost you $2.59 a month when paid for three years in advance. You get to host only one site and a free domain will be included in the package. There is no limit on the traffic or bandwidth used. WordPress comes preinstalled and you get a free SSL too. If you need emails, you have to pay for that.
- WordPress Unlimited: This package will cost you $3.95 a month when paid for three years in advance. With this package you can host unlimited sites and you get a free domain along with free unlimited emails and free SSL certificates for all your domains. Again, WordPress comes preinstalled.
#6. Hostinger
Hostinger is quite a popular hosting platform that offers a wide range of hosting services including WordPress hosting. They offer the cheapest WordPress hosting price you can get. However, do not except exceptional performance. Hostinger is not particularly known for giving superfast websites.
There is another downside that you should know. Hostinger is quite infamous for downtimes. Not that your website will be offline for most of the times, but they have an average uptime of 99.86% which falls short of the industry standard of 99.99%. Yes, they do guarantee 99.99% uptime, but they find it difficult to keep their promise.
On the bright side though, that doesn’t happen every month. They do clock 100% uptime for months together. They are indeed one of the cheapest hosting providers you will come across and that has been like that since their inception. However, such rock-bottom prices are available only and only when you commit for four years. This might be a problem as you will stay stuck with them for long and you need to pay up front! Their monthly price is not very economical.
Their customer service is excellent! There will be almost not waiting time when you contact their live chat support, and the chat support team sounds knowledgeable. What is interesting is that their customer support is available in multiple languages – something you won’t find with most of the other hosting providers.
Pricing Packages
As far as their pricing is concerned, you will get four packages to select from. They are:
- Single WordPress: This will allow you to host only one WP instance with no support for multisite. You will get 30GB SSD storage and approximately 10000 visitors are allowed per month. There is no free domain available. It will cost you $1.99 a month.
- WordPress Starter: At $2.99 a month you can host 100 sites on 100 GB SSD and get up to 25000 visits a month. WordPress multisite is allowed and you also get a free domain.
- Business WordPress: At $5.99 a month you can host 100 sites with 250 GB storage and approximately 100,000 monthly visits. You get free SSL, free domain, free CDN – you get all. You will also get to install multisite.
- WordPress Pro: $11.95 a month is what you pay for this and get to install 300 sites on 200 GB storage. You will get everything that Business WordPress has to offer, but you will also get Jetpack Personal with this plan.
Conclusion
If you are looking for the cheapest WordPress hosting provider, Hostinger should be your top choice. Of course, there are some limitations that you have to account for, the most important one being the 4-year locking period for the lowest price they have to offer. However, if you really want some fantastic and reliable hosting, you must settle for SiteGround or A2 Hosting, both of which are excellent!
