About to build a website? Great, but don't rush your web hosting choice.
My favourite web host is Bluehost.
They've been around since 2003, they power over 2 million websites and offer 24/7 support. Not to mention your domain is free when you sign up for a new account with a shared hosting package.
Bluehost offers shared hosting, which you should be using if you are a blogger or have only a few websites (in my humble opinion,) but they also offer dedicated and VPS hosting.
The plans under the shared hosting umbrella are the most popular so I will highlight their features:
Basic
1 Website
50 GB SSD Storage
Unmetered Bandwidth
Free SSL Certificate
Standard Performance
1 Included Domain
5 Parked Domains
25 Subdomains
Plus (my recommendation if you have one or a few websites)
Unlimited Websites
Unlimited SSD Storage
Unmetered Bandwidth
Free SSL Certificate
Standard Performance
Unlimited Domains
Unlimited Parked Domains
Unlimited Subdomains
Spam Experts
1 Microsoft 365 Mailbox - Free 30 Days
Choice Plus (Bluehost's recommendation)
Unlimited Websites
Unlimited SSD Storage
Unmetered Bandwidth
Free SSL Certificate
Standard Performance
Unlimited Domains
Unlimited Parked Domains
Unlimited Subdomains
Spam Experts
Domain Privacy + Protection
Site Backup - Free 1 yr
1 Microsoft 365 Mailbox - Free 30 Days
Pro
Unlimited Websites
Unlimited SSD Storage
Unmetered Bandwidth
Free SSL Certificate
High Performance
Unlimited Domains
Unlimited Parked Domains
Unlimited Subdomains
2 Spam Experts
Domain Privacy + Protection
Site Backup - Free for hosting term
Dedicated IP
1 Microsoft 365 Mailbox - Free 30 Days
Wix is a bit different in that they handle the hosting while offering you several different plans based on your needs.
Build a free subdomain with Wix or upgrade to a premium plan.
Please keep in mind that when you build a website with Wix you are locked in with them for the long haul as they don't allow any other hosting companies to host their sites. That being said, I myself have 2 websites with Wix and have had nothing but a good experience with them.
Here are the plans that Wix offers:
VIP
First Priority Support
UNLIMITED Bandwidth
20GB Storage
Connect Your Domain
2 Video Hours
Remove Wix Ads
Free Domain for 1 Year
$300 Ad Vouchers
Site Booster App - $60 Value
Form Builder App - $48 Value
Professional Logo - $50 Value
Social Media Logo files
Priority Response
VIP Support
MOST POPULAR
Unlimited
Entrepreneurs & Freelancers
UNLIMITED Bandwidth
10GB Storage
Connect Your Domain
1 Video Hour
Remove Wix Ads
Free Domain for 1 Year
$300 Ad Vouchers
Site Booster App - $60 Value
Form Builder App - $48 Value
Combo
For Personal Use
2GB Bandwidth
3GB Storage
Connect Your Domain
30 Video Minutes
Remove Wix Ads
Free Domain for 1 Year
Connect Domain
Most Basic
This Plan displays Wix brand ads
1GB Bandwidth
500MB Storage
Connect Your Domain
Wix also offers Business and eCommerce plans to choose from.
Namecheap is an underrated service as they have a lot going on and are good at managing it all.
In regards to hosting, there are several options but I would like to guide you to the shared option as it is a great choice for a single website.
Stellar
20 GB SSD
3 Websites
Domain Name
Stellar Plus (most popular)
Unmetered SSD
Unlimited Websites
AutoBackup
Domain Name
(On cloud)
Stellar Business
50 GB SSD
Unlimited Websites
AutoBackup & Cloud Storage
Domain Name
All plans also include these benefits:
Unmetered bandwidth
Free website builder
Domain name and privacy protection
Free automatic SSL installation
30-day money-back guarantee
Web Hosting Pad is one of those companies that doesn't mind doing it all and I like that.
They also have an interesting choice powering their website builder in Weebly, which I used and enjoyed when I first got into web design.
Here are Web Hosting Pad's hosting plans:
Power Plan
All‑Inclusive Hosting
– Free Domain Name
– Free SSL Encryption
– Free Website Builder & WordPress
– Unlimited Email Accounts
– Host Unlimited Websites & Domains
Power Plan Plus
Optimized for WordPress
– Free Domain Name
– Free Trusted SSL Encryption
– Free 1-Click WordPress
– Optimized High-Power Servers
– Automated & Anytime Site Backups
Domain.com didn't just get the best domain name, they also have a well-received reputation.
Here are Domain's most popular hosting options:
Basic
The perfect plan for a simple website and one domain name
1 website
Unlimited storage
Scalable bandwidth
Free SSL by Let's Encrypt
10 databases
5 FTP logins
Deluxe
Manage multiple websites and still have the scalability for growth
Unlimited websites
Unlimited storage
Scalable bandwidth
Free SSL by Let's Encrypt
25 databases
25 FTP logins
Ultra
A robust hosting plan for the web pro or heavy traffic websites
Unlimited websites
Unlimited storage
Scalable bandwidth
Free SSL by Let's Encrypt
Unlimited databases
Unlimited FTP logins
Get a FREE domain name for one year with every hosting plan
Cloudways offers its customers quite a bit and it's nice to be catered to.
Cloudways offers anytime help and support and pride themselves on their transparent pricing and billing for all services.
Cloudways has too many plans to compare so I will list the most popular option as it also seems to be the best pick for someone getting started. I do however highly recommend clicking the link to see all pricing options.
All Plans Come With:
24/7/365 Support
Free SSL
CDN Add-on
Free Migration
Unlimited Application Installation
Team Management
Dedicated Firewalls
24/7 Real-time Monitoring
Automated Backups
Staging Environment
Optimized With Advanced Caches
Auto Healing
Regular Security Patching
HTTP/2 Enabled Servers
SSH and SFTP Access
Priding themselves on their customer tech support as well as their years in the game, Host Monster rounds out the choices nicely.
Another easy to get in touch with hosting company, Host Monster offers a versatile amount of features and seems to be a reliable choice.
Three key takeaways:
Know which platform you are going to build your website with in advance of picking a hosting company.
If you build a website on Wix you must use Wix as your host. (They are truly great to work with)
Bluehost is my top choice.
Thank you for reading and please consider using my affiliate links to sign up for web hosting.