SiteGround provides web hosting for 2,000,000+ domains, which is a testament to the quality of their services. They are one of the few hosts that feature on WordPress’s recommended hosts list, which is a pretty big deal.

Whilst SiteGround is pricier than a lot of its competitors, its WordPress hosting is incredibly good value for money, considering the quality of features it provides. And if for some reason you don’t like what they offer, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee in place so you don’t risk losing out.

For small businesses, SiteGround offers a powerful platform that’s reliable and fast. In my experience, I’ve never had less than 99.99% uptime with SiteGround, and that’s on their StartUp plan.

I highly recommend SiteGround’s GoGeek and GrowBig plans for any budding business owners. You’ll get plenty of storage, bandwidth, a free SSL certificate to protect your customers, and free email accounts that ooze professionalism.

Pros:

• Great value for money
• Awesome customer support and fast live chat connection
• Free SSL certificate on all shared hosting plans
• Optimised for WordPress

Cons:

• Expensive in comparison to other hosts

BlueHost is one of my favourite WordPress hosting providers, and with many small businesses using WordPress’s platform to create their websites, it fits perfectly in the number two spot on this list.

However, BlueHost is much more than just a WordPress host, they make everything really simple, which is ideal for beginners. When you set up a small business, you’re next expected to be an expert in the hosting world, or with technology, so finding a host that puts you at ease is a must.

On the face of it, BlueHost is an affordable web host with plenty of features, but this doesn’t mean they scrimp on other areas. In fact, in my own tests, BlueHost scored an incredible 100% uptime and some of the lowest response times on a website I’ve ever seen.

With a free SSL certificate, plenty of SSD storage, and marketing credits, BlueHost is a great choice for small businesses who want to get their feet off the ground and offer a stable website for their new customers.

Pros:

• Cheap web hosting
• Recommended by WordPress
• Incredibly easy to use
• Free SSL certificates and marketing credits

Cons:

• Renewal prices are high

Almost 10 million domains are registered with HostGator, a hosting company that’s been around for years. Because of their reputation, I recommend HostGator for small business hosting as they are a reliable host who keeps to their promises (if they don’t, they refund you).

HostGator have a 99.9% uptime guarantee and use cPanel for their dashboard, meaning it’s easy to use and install software like WordPress, shopping carts, and more. However, I would like to see HostGator update their control panel soon as it’s starting to look a little outdated.

If you need to contact HostGator for any reason, they’re generally pretty good. As they are a U.S. based company, getting hold of them on the phone might be tricky, but their support ticket system is often quick to respond.

Their Hatchling plan starts from just £2.10 per month, which makes it very affordable, offering unmetered bandwidth, a free SSL certificate, and a free domain name. However, if you want to boost your business efforts, I’d recommend their Business plan which comes with a dedicated IP and SEO tools to help market your small business.

Pros:

• 99.9% uptime guarantee
• Affordable web hosting
• Popular and reliable provider
• Good customer support

Cons:

• A little outdated
• Can be hard to contact telephone support

InMotion is a more expensive hosting provider in comparison to others, however, it’s very much a case of you get what you pay for, and their server specs and performance are pretty impressive.

Even on their cheapest shared hosting plan, you’ll get a free domain, 50GB SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, and 3x performance and speed. Small businesses will also benefit from 10 free email addresses, marketing tools, and a free SSL certificate.

Currently, InMotion’s Power plan is the same price as its Launch plan and offers more flexibility if you get a sudden surge in website traffic. There’s double the amount of storage and more performance behind their servers, making it an ideal solution for small and growing businesses.

However, if you’re looking for a web host because you have little technical knowledge and rely on support, InMotion may not be the best choice. Their customer support isn’t the best if I’m honest, so if this is a priority, I’d recommend BlueHost or SiteGround.

Pros:

• Great server specs and performance
• Free website migration
• Free domain and SSL
• 30-day money-back guarantee

Cons:

• Expensive pricing
• Poor customer support

Owned by the same company as HostGator and BlueHost are, iPage is one of the longest-standing hosting providers around. iPage isn’t going to offer a VIP experience like some hosts, but they certainly get the job done, and sometimes that’s what you need when you’re launching a small business.

For a mere £1.50 per month, iPage will offer you a free domain, free email address, free SSL certificate, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. However, if you want more features like site backups, this will cost you extra. For example, site backup and restore is £35.98, website security is £23.88 and WordPress optimization (which comes free with SiteGround and BlueHost) is £36.00 per year.

On a more positive note, you can host unlimited email accounts with iPage, which is perfect for small businesses. Their uptime and performance has always been reliable in my experience, though I would suggest if your business starts to grow larger, move to another host who can support you for longer.

Pros:

• Cheap pricing
• Generous features
• Unlimited email accounts

Cons:

• Extras cost a lot more, where other hosts offer them for free
• Best for start-ups rather than growing businesses

A2 Hosting is well-known for its customer support, which in my opinion should be a priority for small businesses that can’t afford downtime or issues with their website.

There’s both Linux and Windows hosting to choose from, with plans starting from £2.28 per month offering 100GB SSD storage, free migration, and a generous anytime money-back guarantee. This money-back guarantee alone is a gold star for me and is extremely reassuring for small businesses who can’t afford to lose out financially.

If you’re serious about hosting a small business website, I’d recommend A2 Hosting’s Drive or Turbo Boost plans. They’re a little more expensive than the StartUp plan, but offer so much more, including up to 20x faster server speeds, automatic backups, and unlimited storage.

In my own tests, A2 Hosting’s live chat customer support was underwhelming, but when referred to their email support, I honestly found them super helpful and would highly recommend them.

Pros:

• Knowledgeable email support
• Affordable pricing
• 20x faster speeds on higher plans

Cons:

• Higher resources and performance are only available on more expensive plans
• Live chat support was underwhelming

DreamHost is a good choice for small businesses that are just starting out. With every shared hosting plan, WordPress comes pre-installed and you’ll get a free SSL certificate so you can get your website up and running in no time at all.

Although DreamHost offer unlimited traffic and bandwidth on their Shared Starter plan, I wouldn’t take this at face value. As your traffic increases, your server will slow down, the trade-off is that you won’t receive any outages, but your website won’t perform as well.

In my opinion, DreamHost is a provider that’s good for starting out with, but as your business grows, you may want to consider their DreamPress plans (if you’re using WordPress) as you’ll get more features and a better-optimised experience for your website and your visitors.

Unlike many other web hosts, DreamHost allows you to pay on a monthly basis, rather than committing to a longer-term, though the price does double. Alternatively, if you want to sign up for longer and save money, DreamHost protects you with a generous 97-day money-back guarantee.

Pros:

• Unlimited bandwidth and emails
• Free SSL certificate
• Lots of plans to choose from

Cons:

• Not great if your business is starting to grow
• Could encounter performance issues for high-traffic websites

This host throws a spanner in the works because it’s not a shared web host. In fact, OVH have always been known for their dedicated servers, but recently they’ve started offering VPS hosting, which is why I’m going to include them here.

OVH hosting plans offer a wide range of data centers, which is a real benefit if your small business serves customers from multiple worldwide locations. Their Value VPS plan offers 2GB memory, 40GB storage, and unlimited traffic.

One of the many benefits of having a VPS server is you’ll have more control over your small business hosting. You’ll get DDoS protection, root access, KVM, 99.9% uptime guarantee, automated backups, and your choice of control panel.

VPS hosting is definitely worth consideration, but I’d only really recommend this if you have some technical skills. Managing your own server can be tricky, but it’s definitely worth it in terms of speed and performance if you feel confident in your ability.

Pros:

• Better performance and speed from a VPS
• Unlimited traffic
• DDoS protection

Cons:

• Not recommended for beginners
• Not optimised for WordPress

GoDaddy is the king of domains, but it also offers affordable web hosting, all of which include a free domain.

With GoDaddy’s Economy plan, you’ll get 100GB storage, unmetered bandwidth, 1-click installs, and free Office 365 email for the first year. They also offer a 99.9% uptime which is recommended if you want reassurance your website won’t go offline below a certain threshold.

In my honest opinion, GoDaddy is only really an option for small start-up businesses and beginners. Their servers aren’t anything to write home about, but they’ll do the job and they are good for beginners.

Pros:

• Free domain name
• 99.9% uptime guarantee
• 24/7/365 support

Cons:

• Not ideal for growing businesses
• Average server performance and speeds