Hostinger vs SiteGround: which is the more reliable web hosting provider?
If you’re searching for a good web hosting provider, chances are you’ve read about the four crucial aspects to consider: speed, security, scalability and support. These four S’s provide websites with a competitive edge, allowing them to manage the influx of traffic they are expecting.
There’s a number of web hosting providers in the market that offer plans with prices anywhere from $4 to $100 a month. However, choosing which plan is perfect for your business has a dozen more considerations, including the four S’s mentioned above, but pricing is a good place to start. Once you’ve decided on the budget, the amount of traffic expected can be determined or estimated, as well as the type of server preferred.
If you’ve narrowed your choices down to two of the top European web hosting providers, Hostinger and SiteGround, this article will show you why the pair are worthy contenders.
Hostinger has the best cloud hosting service
Cloud hosting is a new buzzing category and Hostinger is top of the list with its advanced solution. The cheapest plan provides unlimited bandwidth, hosting for up to 300 websites, and up to 100 email accounts per domain, plus a plethora of other features. It's keenly priced as well at $9.99 per month.
SiteGround provides easy website management
Perfect for single websites, it includes 10GB of storage space, unmetered traffic, free SSL and email, daily backup, and more. This month, SiteGround is bringing the prices of all of their plans down for annual purchases. That means from $14.99 per month, their StartUp plan now only markets for $4.99 per month.
Hostinger vs SiteGround: main similarities
Both Hostinger and SiteGround offer 100% uptime, making them among the most reliable web hosting providers out there. Both also guarantee support to ensure that help is always available 24/7/365. Users will also find the free drag-and-drop website builder both companies offer that will make building a website from scratch not only possible, but a surprisingly simple task.
As over 60 million of today’s websites are currently using WordPress, Hostinger and SiteGround are excellent choices if you’re leaning towards a WordPress account. Hostinger offers one-click WordPress installation. While SiteGround’s WordPress installation involves three more steps, it is fairly easy nevertheless, making it also a great hosting option for WordPress sites.
Price comparison
Key factors such as pricing and speed prove substantially different between the two hosting giants. For instance, Hostinger’s basic plan starts at $1.39 per month, whereas SiteGround is not so meager with $4.99 per month. Premium plans go just a little higher for Hostinger, which goes from $2.59 to $3.99, while Hostinger’s top tier plans are higher at $7.99 and $14.99 per month respectively.
Kickstarting a website sometimes tends to require testing out which features will likely be needed. It’s helpful to be able to have free trials in cases like this, instead of having to pay upright for a plan that might not end up working. However, both Hostinger and SiteGround offer free plans. These plans do come with trade-offs such as ads and limited bandwidth (Hostinger), or friend referrals (SiteGround).
Domain names
SiteGround lets you use a domain you own or register a new one when you activate a hosting account. Pricing depends on the extension you choose, i.e., for a .com domain, the cost is $15.95/year, while a .net domain costs $17.95/year, and so on.
Although it used to, SiteGround does not offer free domain names with their hosting plans anymore. This might sound like bad news, but SiteGround’s transparency lets users know this instead of misleading information that makes them think otherwise.
On the other hand, Hostinger gives users who subscribe to the annual premium or business hosting plans a free domain name. It can be a .com or a .net domain. However, the domain only remains free of charge in the first year, after which a .com will cost $8.99 per year, a .online will cost $0.99, and so on. Hostinger is known to offer the cheapest domains available today.
Web hosting
SiteGround’s plans come with the essentials for a great hosting service, including 10GB of web space, a website, free sitebuilder, etc. These features are geared towards providing users with a headstart for their site and business. With its competitive pricing for monthly and annual plans, a handful of free services for subscribed users, features business-related sites can lean on, and remarkable customer support, SiteGround and its shared web hosting plans has earned its spot in the most trusted web hosting providers today.
Hostinger’s shared hosting plans provide features for beginners, personal websites, and small businesses alike. Features include from a single website (basic plan) to up to 100 websites, massive storage, free SSL, unlimited bandwidth (for premium plans), and a lot more. As expected, the premium and business shared hosting plans get more features than the basic plan, which includes free domain for a year. That said, the basic plan still provides a great hosting platform for a startup website.
Other hosting services SiteGround offers include WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, Reseller Hosting, Cloud hosting, and Enterprise hosting, while Hostinger has Managed WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, Cloud hosting with a premium domain name, Email hosting, and web design services in the form of a custom website builder that comes with all hosting plans.
Account Setup
Hostinger’s hPanel allows users to finish setting up their hosting accounts relatively quickly. Completing the order takes less than a minute to complete. After completing the order, members can easily navigate to the member’s area which contains all the necessary tools in configuring the hosting account.
On the other hand, SiteGround’s setup wizard provides an on-boarding solution to make setting up a less tedious experience for the user. Whether setting up a new site or migrating one, a single log in is needed, providing access to the backend section which makes site management quick and easy.
cPanel comparison
SiteGround has site tools that are equally easier to use compared to cPanel as Hostinger’s hPanel. SiteGround’s site tools are essentially the website’s control panel, which can be accessed on the dashboard after logging in. It replaces the cPanel altogether, which fares well for users who find it difficult to deal with.
hPanel, on the other hand, is described as a more comfortable version of cPanel, created exclusively for Hostinger. It is available with all of Hostinger’s web hosting plans, and is comprehensive and easy to use, not to mention aesthetically pleasing. hPanel comes with a menu where users can access and manage their website’s settings.
Website builder
Hostinger lets users build beautiful websites like a pro using Zyro, a fast, easy and powerful alternative to complex website creation that requires coding skills. Zyro is a drag-and-drop platform that has both free and paid versions.
SiteGround also has a free drag-and-drop website builder that requires no technical skills. This website builder comes with responsive themes, and storefront themes and payment options for eCommerce sites. Accessing this website builder is as easy as clicking on the User Area of the control panel and clicking on Sitebuilder. Thanks to SiteGround’s Sitebuilder, building a website on the platform can be done in five easy steps.
Customer support
Both Hostinger and SiteGround are known for exceptional customer support. This includes knowledgeable and fast support teams, and fast response time.
Hostinger’s 24/7 support line can be reached in several ways- live chat, email, phone, and a ticketing system, but users are also encouraged to use self-help channels such as the help page and activating the AI chatbot. It’s also 24/7 for SiteGround’s “insanely fast and notoriously competent” hosting support with a friendly and helpful team. Channels available are live chat, phone support, and helpdesk tickets, and there are also self-help options involving a smart AI chatbot, help pages, and automated solutions.
Verdict
For a third of the cost of SiteGround’s plans, Hostinger is not an overall bad choice. It offers the same unlimited bandwidth and storage for the premium plans, an easy hPanel control system, free website migration, free domain for a year, and a better performance with 1.5s average page load time.
SiteGround doesn’t fall behind, optimizing WordPress sites and offering above average speeds as well as a handful of features that come in handy. As both offer the same excellent customer support, 99.99% uptime, easy and user-friendly interfaces for website building, and fast page speed, the only major difference to consider is in the pricing. Hostinger definitely takes the lead.
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