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The web has become one of the most important platforms in today’s world. It can be used for both business and personal use, with many people using it to earn a living or make connections. To help you find your way around this new frontier, we’ve compiled a list of 5 web hosting services that are popular among small businesses. If you don’t want to spend too much time researching options on your own, there is no need to worry when looking at these providers because they offer some features that others do not like their customer support team or data center locations.
The “best website hosting for small business” is a topic that many people are interested in. In 2022, the best web hosting services will be more accessible and affordable than ever before.
The finest web hosting for small companies is cost-effective while yet providing key services such as free domains, SSL certificates, and email accounts. They provide enough storage and bandwidth for expanding enterprises, as well as plans that scale as your website’s demands develop. Plus, with free website builders and ecommerce-ready layouts, they make it simple for you to be online immediately. Check out our top five web hosting providers.
Following a review of a dozen services, we discovered that the following five companies provide the best web hosting for small businesses:
- Namecheap: Overall, the finest website hosting for small companies and the most cost-effective in the long run is Namecheap.
- DreamHost: For small companies seeking for dedicated WordPress hosting with a site builder or WordPress migration services, DreamHost is the best option.
- InMotion: Excellent web hosting provider for small companies who value excellent customer care.
- IONOS is the best web hosting provider for small marketing firms and freelance web designers.
- Bluehost is the best all-in-one WordPress ecommerce site builder and hosting service on the market.
At a Glance: The Best Web Hosting for Small Businesses
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*Monthly pricing is based on a 12-month payment cycle and is subject to change.
Overall, Namecheap is the best web hosting service for small businesses.
Namecheap
4.61 OUT OF 5 STARS FOR THE OVERALL PERFORMANCE
What We Enjoy
- There is no downtime.
- Renewal prices increased by a little amount.
- All shared hosting options come with a free site builder.
- Site migration is free for 24 hours.
- All shared hosting plans come with free automatic backups.
- EasyWP plans start at $4.88 per month and include a 30-day free trial for WordPress hosting.
What Isn’t There
- The site builder isn’t very advanced or user-friendly.
- In the entry-level plan, there is a rather little quantity of provided storage (20GB).
- Site traffic might have a detrimental impact on site speed.
Best For
- Startups and small enterprises looking for cheap upfront costs and long-term savings; $1.88 per month shared hosting for the first year, then $3.88 per month after that.
- Business websites needing guaranteed There is no downtime.
- Value-added services such as (30 to unlimited) email accounts, free site builders, 30 to unlimited subdomains, and free backups are sought by businesses.
- Namecheap offers 24/7 live chat and help desk support, fast setup upon plan purchase, and free migration services to businesses in need of assistance.
When we compared providers, it was clear that Namecheap provides the finest web hosting for small companies, particularly when price is a consideration. The renewal fees of most web hosting plans are considerably higher, but not Namecheap’s, which lives true to the phrase “create more online, for less.”
The first year of the entry tier is $1.88 per month, while the second yearly payment cycle costs just $3.88 per month. Similarly, Stellar Business, the highest shared hosting tier, is available for $4.98 per month for the first year and $9.98 per year afterwards. Only IONOS comes close in terms of providing low-cost web hosting for small enterprises.
Nor does the value Namecheap packs into its shared hosting plans suffer as a result. All plans include a free domain and SSL certificate, unlimited bandwidth, from 30 to unlimited subdomains, from 30 to unlimited email addresses on your domain, There is no downtime., and free backups. But if you do need more storage in a starter plan, consider DreamHost. It offers 50GB at the base level or Unlimited in the second tier—both at $2.95 per month for the first year.
The Stellar plan from Namecheap provides two weekly backups (although not guaranteed). The Stellar Plus and Business plans, on the other hand, feature free automatic backups, guaranteeing that your site can be recovered in the event of a disaster. Its shared hosting servers are based in Phoenix, Arizona, and its data centers are located in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe.
cPanel navigation using the Namecheap interface (Image courtesy of Namecheap)
Namecheap Pricing & Features
Small Business Features that are Unique
- Handshake domains: If you enjoy experimenting with new technology, Namecheap offers “Handshake Domains.” These are non-centrally registered domain extensions (e.g.,.creator,.elite,.ill,.oh,.oo,.oot,.orb,.p,.pgp,.saas, and.sox) that cost $8.98 to $34.98 a year. Instead, handshake domains are acquired in a peer-to-peer registry utilizing blockchain technology (i.e., a currency system). The concept is that it promotes internet equity by avoiding the centralized ICANN registry, which makes domains less prone to “hacking, censorship, and corruption.”
- Tools and apps: Namecheap’s new App Marketplace has hundreds of tools that make building a website or growing a company simpler. For example, you may use the app marketplace to install the Weebly or Strikingly site builders, produce a logo using the free logo generator, design and purchase business cards for $18.88, or add Validation to your ecommerce site to verify visitors and avoid online fraud and chargebacks.
- DDoS defense add-on: A DDoS (Distributed Denial of Service) assault may cost a small organization up to $120,000, according to infosecurity magazine. DDoS protection is available via Namecheap’s Supersonic CDN for $8.88 per month (content delivery network). It not only protects your site from DDoS assaults, but it also speeds up load times by loading your site from a local CDN server rather than the primary hosting server.
Expert Advice
You’ll have a hard time finding cheaper web hosting for small companies with a lower lifetime cost than Namecheap. Even if you purchase add-ons, Namecheap is likely to be the most cost-effective option for online hosting, construction, and security, particularly over time. However, when compared to DreamHost’s WordPress and IONOS’ non-WordPress drag-and-drop site builders, their site builder falls short.
Go to Namecheap.com.
DreamHost: Best WordPress Website Hosting & Migration
DreamHost
AVERAGE RATING: 4.21 OUT OF 5
What We Enjoy
- The longest money-back guarantee of any web hosting provider is 97 days.
- Unlimited websites, traffic, and email accounts on your domain are all included in this low-cost package.
- WordPress website builder BoldGrid
- Automated WordPress migrations for free
- Domain privacy included in all plans; There is no downtime. guarantee
- There is no downtime. guarantee
What Isn’t There
- The proprietary interface is a little old, making it less intuitive than cPanels that are more aesthetically focused.
- Customer service reports that aren’t up to standard
- At times, the site’s performance lags.
Best For
- Companies that have or desire to have a WordPress site; WordPress installation, a WordPress site builder, and WordPress core and security upgrades are all included with DreamHost.
- Businesses seeking for a web hosting option that allows them to migrate their WordPress sites for free
- Websites with a lot of content, a lot of traffic, and a lot of space; The Unlimited plan from DreamHost features unlimited storage and bandwidth.
DreamHost is the finest web hosting for small companies using or wanting to develop a WordPress website. All-inclusive plans start at $2.95 per month (the same as Bluehost’s WordPress builder plans) and include a slew of extras. DreamHost shared hosting, for example, features automated daily backups, free WordPress site migration (if needed), and automatic WordPress core and security upgrades management.
In addition, DreamHost’s shared hosting options feature a free WordPress website builder. This reduces the amount of time it takes to learn how to develop a WordPress site. There are over 200 industry-specific templates, drag-and-drop editing, and content blocks, as well as a Quick-Start Inspirations Wizard to help you get started quickly.
InMotion and Bluehost both feature WordPress site builders in their shared hosting plans if you want additional choices like this. Bluehost also offers cost-effective ecommerce-ready online store plans, making it a good choice for ecommerce WordPress sites.
Using the DreamHost WordPress website builder to choose and update a template (Source: DreamHost)
DreamHost Pricing & Features
*A 12- or 36-month contract is required.
Small Business Features that are Unique
- Limitless plan, unlimited value: The Unlimited shared hosting plan’s 12-month introductory pricing is the same as its basic plan. While the cost of renewal is much greater, this provides a strategy for startups and small enterprises to expand and scale more rapidly at a very cheap first-year cost.
- DreamHost Academy: All the bells and whistles in the world won’t help you if you can’t comprehend and use them. The DreamHost Academy is chock-full of knowledge to assist you in navigating and exploring the system, ensuring that you can locate and use the advantages you need. Ticketing is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and live chat and phone callbacks are available as well.
- Real-time SEO advice: DreamHost’s new WordPress website builder can help you not only construct a WordPress website faster, but it can also provide real-time search engine optimization (SEO) recommendations to help you attract visitors and improve your brand’s online visibility.
Our Expert Advice
For small enterprises, DreamHost provides the finest WordPress web hosting. With prepared layouts and content blocks, the site builder simplifies the process of creating your website. In addition, wizards provide design inspiration and SEO tips, while the DreamHost staff handles the heavy things, such as core upgrades and migration from another server. Learn more about why DreamHost is a web hosting champion in our DreamHost review.
DreamHost is a great place to start.
InMotion: The Best Customer Service Web Host
InMotion
4.08 OUT OF 5 STARS FOR THE OVERALL PERFORMANCE
What We Enjoy
- Support is available in the United States 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
- Site migration with no downtime
- All options include DDoS, hack, and virus protection.
- Control panel that is simple to use
- After the basic tier, you’ll have unlimited email accounts and storage.
- Money-back guarantee for 90 days
- WordPress website builder BoldGrid included (same as DreamHost)
What Isn’t There
- Plans in the upper echelon Renewals may be costly.
- For expanding websites, the resources offered in the basic plan may not be sufficient.
- Issues with downtime on occasion
- The cheapest shared hosting plan does not provide a free domain.
Best For
- Small companies want the assurance of excellent customer service; InMotion prides itself on providing human help 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year, including U.S.-based support for U.S. clients.
- Hundreds of articles, courses, and guides are available in this vast knowledge source.
While InMotion’s pricing (particularly on renewal) aren’t as low as those offered by Namecheap or IONOS, it is the finest hosting for small companies looking for excellent customer service. When we were testing the service, we put it to the test by contacting InMotion’s live chat crew with inquiries on the Launch and Power plans.
Within 10 seconds, we had a live support worker asking for assistance, and we received our answers in less than two minutes. While this may seem to be straightforward, it is not always the case, particularly when it comes to sales-related inquiries. Some companies take a long time to respond in order to keep you on the hook for a transaction. While it may be a good sales method for someone who is ready to purchase, it isn’t the greatest approach for customers who are still doing their research.
When you Visit InMotion for more information.’s help website for the first time, you’ll see a pop-up asking for permission to receive notifications when new material is posted to the support resources. This is particularly useful for companies who manage many websites, such as small digital marketing organizations. The cPanel is designed to be aesthetically appealing and straightforward, making it simple to browse the many tools and services available.
There are over 90 connections to educational and instructional materials on the Support page alone. They’re broken down into manageable chunks, such as common chores, domain-related subjects, website creation, and tutorials. There’s also a community forum where you may get answers (or provide them) from other InMotion customers.
InMotion’s cPanel is sleek, intuitive, and aesthetically based.
InMotion offers a wide range of support services. (Image courtesy of InMotion)
InMotion Pricing & Features
Small Business Features that are Unique
- Low-cost WordPress website design services: The only thing simpler than using a site builder to create a website is having someone else do it for you. For $249, InMotion will create a personalized one-page website for you. For $349, you can receive a free consultation, professional business email, automatic backups, SEO tool setting, an interactive Google Map, and the ability to add up to four more pages for $99 each. It’ll be connected to your social media profiles and optimized for mobile and Google searches. Your site should be available in one to two business days with any choice.
- Marketing and productivity tools: All plans include $150 in ad credits that you can use to market your company online, with the exception of the first-tier Core plan. With one-click downloads for over 400 applications, plugins, and add-ons, you can improve your site’s functionality, speed, performance, traffic, and more. Integrate Google Workspace applications and email into your website quickly and easily.
Our Expert Advice
Don’t underestimate the importance of having excellent customer service when it comes to your website hosting. When anything goes wrong or you simply want to get the most bang for your buck, it might make all the difference. If customer service and support are important to you when selecting web hosting for your small company, go with InMotion.
Visit InMotion for more information.
IONOS: Best Web Hosting for Small Marketing Agencies & Freelance Web Designers
IONOS
3.94 OUT OF 5 STARS FOR THE OVERALL PERFORMANCE
What We Enjoy
- With every package, you’ll receive a personal success consultant to help you get the most out of your site and hosting.
- Malware protection, site scanning, and DDoS protection are all part of the package.
- Money-back guarantee for 30 days
- All-in-one website builder and hosting options at a low cost
What Isn’t There
- There is no free trial or version available to test the site builders without purchasing a plan.
- Only the most costly plan includes Railgun CDN, which distributes your site to 60 servers throughout the globe for quicker load times.
Best For
- Client management software for digital marketing businesses and freelancers
- Small enterprises and startups that need low-cost hosting, particularly during their initial year
- Small enterprises and casual ecommerce merchants looking for a drag-and-drop website builder that isn’t based on WordPress
On this list, IONOS is the only web hosting service that focuses on digital marketing companies. Its partner program offers a variety of benefits, including client management from a single dashboard and three-month free product trials. By applying or choosing “With Membership” while signing up for hosting, you may join the program for free.
The plans and price stated in the following section are the same as the “Hosting Plans for Agency Partners” provided. A directory listing in the Agency Partner Network (possibly bringing new customers to your door), a direct line to your own IONOS consultant, and professional tools for agencies, freelancers, website designers, and resellers are all offered as additional perks for agency partners.
The IONOS partner program is a fantastic method to expand your digital firm.
I can personally vouch to IONOS hosting’s customer service as someone who has used it for over ten years for my own and customers’ websites. The IONOS staff has been accessible, rapid to reply, quick to discuss my difficulties, and quick to remedy them the few occasions I’ve required assistance or support. And, thanks to scheduled daily backups, the team can quickly restore your site or database if anything goes wrong—even if you’re the one who made a mistake.
IONOS (formerly IONOS by 1&1) used to offer up to 2,000 email accounts with paid hosting plans. It’s disappointing that hosting plans now only include one email account, regardless of tier. You can purchase additional email accounts with 2GB of storage for $1 each (or get more storage for higher fees).
The second tier of IONOS WordPress hosting plans includes five email addresses, while the top tier includes ten. Still, this seems like a let-down when compared to limitless emails with Namecheap, DreamHost, and InMotion in all but the lowest plans.
IONOS provides hosting options that feature its proprietary website builders, which is also on our list of the top drag-and-drop website builders. For quick site creation, the Starter plan offers a basic, easy-to-use, but somewhat design-limited MyWebsite Now designer.
The MyWebsite Creator and Creator+ site editors are included with the Plus and Pro versions. An online shop may be added to any of the site builder options for an extra fee.
IONOS Pricing & Features
**Website builder plans start at $1 per month with yearly billing *12-month billing contracts
Small Business Features that are Unique
- Beginner and customer-friendly: Having access to a personal adviser eliminates the need to struggle with setting up your site or hosting features. This is especially helpful for digital marketing organizations with several client sites, as well as for novices and small businesses looking to establish a strong online presence.
- Sites designed for speed and quick load times: Site and page load speed is a crucial component in Google search ranking. The IONOS site builder is designed to load quickly, with features such as automated picture resizing, 99.99 percent uptime, and Google PageSpeed. It’s worth noting that it’s not a WordPress site builder; if you require a WordPress site, look into DreamHost or Bluehost.
- Site creation services: IONOS, like InMotion, provides low-cost website building services for people who wish to avoid the learning curve entirely. The IONOS options include a one-time and monthly charge, as well as continuous assistance for administering your site and making adjustments.
- Subscribing to a List Local plan allows you to create and manage all of your web listings in one location. For designing, managing, and optimizing your Google Ad campaigns, choose a Google Ads Management package. With an IONOS rankingCoach plan, you can learn SEO and increase your site’s Google ranks.
Our Expert Advice
For companies searching for a one-stop digital marketing shop, as well as freelance web designers and digital marketing agencies looking for a client management solution, IONOS is the finest web hosting option. While its add-ons may increase costs, the increase in leads and revenue produced may be well worth the investment. We wish they didn’t scrimp on email addresses; for combined emails and hosting, look into any of the other three web hosting providers mentioned above.
IONOS is a website that you should check out.
The Best Web Hosting for WordPress Ecommerce Websites is Bluehost.
Bluehost
3.78 OUT OF 5 STARS FOR THE OVERALL PERFORMANCE
What We Enjoy
- Hosting, site builder, setup, WooCommerce, and email marketing are all included in all-inclusive packages for online retailers.
- App marketplace—add capabilities for shipping, payments, currency conversion, bookkeeping, and even offering courses online to your site fast and simply.
- WordPress recommends this provider for site hosting.
What Isn’t There
- Renewal pricing becomes more costly.
- When there’s a lot of traffic, it’s a pain.
- There are just a few free widgets and add-ons available.
- Email addresses are not included in any of the plans (they must be purchased separately, beginning at $4.95/month).
Best For
- For scalability and adaptability, startups and small ecommerce businesses need an easy-to-build WordPress website.
- Businesses and instructors that wish to offer courses or subscriptions online should use this template.
Bluehost’s all-in-one WooCommerce WordPress ecommerce solutions are a terrific way for anybody to start an online shop, even if they are a complete newbie. Furthermore, the Bluehost Builder makes it very simple to rapidly design a WordPress website, and it comes included with all hosting plans, not just the online shop ones. Bluehost, like IONOS, made our best drag-and-drop site builders for small companies list.
When it comes to ecommerce web hosting for small enterprises, Bluehost has two options: Standard and Premium. Both contain an infinite number of goods as well as the Bluehost Builder, an easy-to-use drag-and-drop platform.
With a 12-month commitment, the Standard plan costs $12.95 per month for the first year. It includes WooCommerce, as well as security, email marketing, analytics, and customer reviews plugins, as well as a year of free automatic backups. You can add payment processing features for leading processors with a single click, as well as manually make orders and set up discount coupons for promotions.
With a 12-month commitment, the Premium plan costs $24.95 per month for the first year. It adds online appointment booking and scheduling capabilities, the ability to offer subscriptions, and product customization choices to the Standard plan’s features (e.g., sizes, colors, and so on). You also receive free domain privacy, automatic backups (forever), and built-in tax computation and administration for both local and national taxes.
Check out how simple it is to create an online shop with the Bluehost Builder.
Bluehost Pricing & Features
Small Business Features that are Unique
- Online marketing services: Rather of recruiting in-house, it may be more cost-effective to outsource certain digital marketing services. Bluehost provides full-service web design, marketing, and content management, as well as search engine optimization, pay-per-click ad management, and site migration. As a result, companies like Namecheap, DreamHost, and InMotion all provide free site migration.
- Bluehost provides online shop web hosting users 24/7 support, which includes assistance with setting up your site, adding items, installing and utilizing plugins, and customizing the features of your online store.
- Free CloudFare CDN: Your Bluehost web hosting subscription includes a free CloudFare CDN (content delivery network), which distributes your site’s content among servers so that it may be loaded from a server near the visitor. This increases your site’s and pages’ load speeds, which boosts your SEO and user experience. To use it, you must first enable it in your account.
Our Expert Advice
It’s difficult to create a website using WordPress. Building a full-fledged online shop on WordPress is much more difficult—but Bluehost can take care of it all. The WordPress-recommended web hosting business offers ecommerce-ready options to help you get your online shop up and running quickly. Read our in-depth Bluehost review to learn more.
Bluehost is a great place to start.
How We Decided on the Best Small Business Web Hosting
The key to a successful website is ensuring that your web hosting provider is specifically customized to your company’s and website’s demands. Because websites must be up and operating on a regular basis, security, simplicity of use, maintenance, and online visibility all go hand in hand. To learn more about the criteria we used to select the top web hosting services, click on any of the headings below.
Small businesses need affordable web hosting plans with all the necessary features. We concluded that Namecheap has the best overall value for the cost. You’ll save money now and in the long run, get There is no downtime., and get small business essentials like free professional email addresses, a domain, and SSL site security.
Go to Namecheap.com.
35% of the overall score
Knowing your financial capability and constraints can help you make an informed selection when selecting a web host. As a result, we compared web hosting firms based on total cost, including affordability, payment terms flexibility, and renewal rates vs initial prices.
40% of the overall score
- For example, a 1,000-page website requires just 5GB of storage. We looked at web hosting services having at least 5GB of storage since small company websites don’t require that many pages.
- Bandwidth: A small company website would need at least 10GB per month in bandwidth (the amount of data transmitted in seconds), which is still considered generous.
- Because the website must be accessible to visitors at all times, uptime must be close to 100 percent.
- Free business email: When engaging with partners, investors, customers, and visitors, small companies require a business email to seem professional.
- Free SSL certificate: When beginning a company, you may not have the financial means to spend heavily in security. As a result, having a free SSL certificate and security against DDoS assaults, hackers, and viruses is critical.
- Automated backups: Because the unexpected might happen at any moment, site owners should back up their data on a regular basis. This is something that automated backups can help you with.
10% of the overall score
Customer service that is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week is preferable since issues may occur at any moment. Live chat is the ideal method of help, although emails and ticketing systems are also appropriate.
15% of the overall score
We looked at firms that provide the most advanced features in web hosting. We also looked at their overall performance, value for money, popularity, and user reviews to come up with the top selections.
*Percentages based on total score
Most Commonly Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is the finest small business hosting?
When comparing apples to apples, Namecheap is the finest web hosting service provider based on our criteria, particularly when pricing is a major consideration. Digital firms and site design freelancers, on the other hand, should check at IONOS’ partner program. Customers that value help will appreciate InMotion’s customer service and resources. Finally, DreamHost is the finest WordPress web hosting provider, with the exception of ecommerce sites, which are best developed using Bluehost’s online store plans.
What is the best place for me to host my company’s website?
While you may begin with web hosting, there are all-in-one options that make constructing a website for your small company significantly simpler. For example, Squarespace is a popular website builder that offers plans beginning at $14 that include hosting, a domain name, an SSL certificate, and unlimited storage and bandwidth. See our list of the best website builders for additional possibilities.
What is the best hosting service for newbies?
The best hosting for beginners offers drag-and-drop website builders with all-inclusive packages that include hosting, SSL security, and bonuses like appointment booking, ecommerce selling, and SEO and marketing tools. When looking for a web host, seek for one that caters to small businesses and offers low initial pricing, all-inclusive plans, and a free website builder.
The “google web hosting” is the best web hosting service for small businesses. The company offers a variety of packages that can be tailored to suit your needs. The service has been around since 1998 and has expanded over the years.
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