For small business owners, picking a reliable hosting plan is vital. Because your choice will ultimately set the bar for your customer satisfaction, and to ensure you land some positive marks, we’ve compiled a list of the best web hosting for small businesses.
Each one of our recommendations comes with a free secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate, enough storage, bandwidth, and a content management system (CMS) to support your website. For this list, we’ve conducted our research based on the functionality, uptime, cost, and feature list of dozens of providers.
Best Hosting for Small Business
1. Cloudways
Cloudways is our top recommendation hosting provider for small businesses scoring above and beyond in our research overall. Why? The host gives you the option to choose between your favorite cloud platforms, including Amazon Web Services, DigitalOcean, and Google Cloud Platform.
Their hosting plans are relatively cheaper and offer a 3-day trial account, so small businesses can test out the water without risking their investments. It’s also worth mentioning that Cloudways has some of the best customer support staff – And that’s across all categories, not just small businesses!
Why we like it: Affordable hosting provider starting at $10/mo with Free SSL certificate, automated backups, 24/7 monitoring, unlimited application installation, and more.
Pros
- Steller uptime in testing
- Affordable Web Hosting for small business
- Plenty of managed hosting plans
- Offers top class cloud-platforms
- Helpful customer support
Cons
- Short money-back guarantee window
- No domain registration
2. Bluehost
While Cloudways tops the chart, Bluehost certainly makes a compelling case in the second round. The hosting provider is a personal favorite for small entrepreneurs, mainly because of their attractive prices and easy-to-use services.
The company offers very cheap web hosting for small businesses, paired with good customer support, reliable uptime, and a great amount of storage space.
Why we like it: They offer shared hosting services starting at $2.95/mo, which is the cheapest in the game, but not so reliable in terms of performance. If you want performance, then it’s better to opt for Bluehost alternatives.
Pros
- Great knowledge center
- 24/7 live chat and phone support
- Useful WordPress staging feature
Cons
- Performance is average
- Storage is limited
3. cPanel
A Linux-based web hosting, essentially for a cPanel account to control your web hosting backend elements. The host comes with all types of options, including shared, managed, dedicated, and WordPress hosting.
It is user-friendly, and a good choice for beginners who are looking for a straightforward way to get started. However, unlike cPanel alternatives, you won’t get a dedicated platform infrastructure. You have to rely on the traditional file management system, along with the costly licenses. In terms of pricing, the standard cPanel solo package starts at $15.99/mo followed by admin account, Pro, and premier account costing $53.99/mo for advanced users.
Why we like it: Directly integrated with web hosting backend, but with a few exceptions like the risk of data loss, no dedicated support, and some costly licenses.
Pros
- Highly compatible
- Wide range of features
- Automatic software installation
Cons
- Costly License
- Risk of data corruption
4. SiteGround
There are many variables to consider when choosing web hosting for a small business. Like you have to check for price, performance, customer base, as well as other business-focused options. SiteGround addresses all of these and does well in our testing.
The platform comes with a decent number of performance-oriented tools, reasonable prices, good customer support, and plenty of hosting types. Although SiteGround lacks dedicated Windows and VPS servers, its quality of web hosting is good for small businesses. SiteGround offers plenty of hosting options, starting from the basic $3.99/mo shared hosting to Advanced $100/mo Cloud Hosting.
Why we like it: Beginner friendly that offers plenty of useful free services, however, lacks advanced options if you want to scale your business. Better look for SiteGround alternatives if you want to switch to VPS or dedicated servers when required.
Pros
- Good uptime in testing
- Free SSL certificate with all hosting plans
- Good customer support
Cons
- Low storage option
- No Windows and VPS servers
5. HostGator
Our last contender in the list is probably one of the highest domain registrars, with leading hosting options you can enjoy. HostGator offers all the hosting essentials you need at an affordable price, plus a generous 45-day money-back guarantee. Pricing-wise, their starting packages are great but not the upselling options. The lowest shared hosting plan you can get for $11.95/mo and the Cloud hosting option starts at $19.95/mo.
They have a dedicated platform system where you can manage your entire data center, including technical support, website metrics, performance, migration, and manage helpful add-ons. Overall, it’s a great host for simple deployment and good for businesses that don’t see much traffic every month.
Why we like it: Hosting and Domain can be bought from the same company. However, their upselling prices are not the most generous on the list.
Pros
- Reliable web hosting for small business
- 1-click software Install feature
- Free Domain with limited hosting options
Cons
- Not the best upselling options
- Higher monthly prices
Best Choice for Small Business
Overall, Cloudways ranks our chart as the best Hosting service for small businesses. They offer generous price options, plus you get to choose from the leading cloud platform to host your website. Their customer support is great and the overall user experience is very intuitive for first-time users. And lastly, it is easier to scale and upgrade.
Final Words
All of our web hosting for small business options are top-of-the-line in the market. Cloudways, Bluehost, and cPanel are all tightly packed with great features when it comes to quality services and value for money.
In the end, it also comes down to your own personal preference. Like your website size, the resources you want to use, the support, add-on solutions, and others.
Having a clear idea of what you want will help you pick the right option among the following.