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While SiteGround has very affordable initial prices on all of its hosting plans, these rates go up considerably on renewal. But you can get good value from SiteGround – if you choose the right plan.On its shared servers, SiteGround offers WordPress-optimized hosting. These shared servers are equipped to handle anything from simple blogs to online stores. With 10 GB of storage, unlimited bandwidth, and up to 10K visits per month, even the cheapest plan can host a small online store in its first year.
SiteGround also offers four cloud hosting plans. The service is fully managed, but it’s much more expensive than the competition. And lastly, SiteGround has three reseller plans, one of which is on its cloud infrastructure.
We evaluated all of SiteGround’s plans to see if one of them might be worth your investment. Otherwise, I put together a list of SiteGround alternatives that may better suit your budget.
SiteGround Is Affordable Initially but Gets Pretty Expensive on Renewal
SiteGround’s initial prices are affordable. Although Hostinger’s plans are even more affordable, SiteGround’s Site Tools is one of the best control panels I’ve ever used. SiteGround is also far cheaper than Kinsta, but its proprietary WordPress Starter plugin isn’t at the same level as Kinsta’s premium WordPress feature. So SiteGround is somewhere in between the two.
Unusually, SiteGround doesn’t offer the best possible price with the longest available subscription. Its annual plans are the cheapest, starting at $1.99, but if you opt for a 24-month plan, for instance, you pay more.
You can pay for your subscription using a credit/debit card. Although PayPal is an option, I think it’s too tricky. You have to contact customer support and tell them you want to pay via PayPal, and then you’ll have to make a PayPal payment request each time you want to pay. It’s not worth the hassle, in my opinion.
SiteGround’s shared hosting plans are several times more expensive on renewal, but that’s common in the industry. Its cloud hosting plans are a little different – they don’t come with any initial discounts, so although those prices are high, they stay the same on renewal.
Lastly, SiteGround has a 30-day money-back guarantee for shared hosting and 14 days for cloud hosting. Not all products are refundable, such as domain names and SSL certificates, but again, that’s an industry standard.
US, UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Singapore, Australia
Support
24/7 live chat, tickets, and phone support
While SiteGround claims to offer three types of shared hosting – basic web hosting, WordPress, and WooCommerce, they’re all actually the same service with different labels. A closer look at all its web hosting plans reveals the same available resources in each tier. That means you can build an online shop using the WooCommerce plugin even if you purchase one of SiteGround’s entry-level shared hosting plans.
SiteGround has 10+ data centers around the world which double as CDN locations, plus several additional CDN locations. The performance results were good. The uptime was close to perfect, but the average loading time was a bit higher than the industry standard. Nothing tragic, but it was a bit surprising considering the host’s out-of-the-box SuperCacher technology.
All web hosting plans include free SSL and Wildcard SSL certificates. The latter comes in handy if you create a subdomain-based website network.
SiteGround’s entry-level plan is enough for a simple website
SiteGround’s entry-level plan – StartUp – costs $2.99/month. It allows one website, and it includes 10 GB of storage, 10k monthly visits, and unmetered traffic. If you want a WordPress website, for instance, this plan might suit you. The resources are decent, but if you want more resources for the same investment, Hostinger throws in a free domain name for a year and more storage space for the same amount of money.
The price above applies if you opt for the annual billing cycle. You should also be aware that the renewal price for SiteGround’s entry-level plan is five times higher. That doesn’t make it the best choice in the long run if you’re on a budget.
With GrowBig, SiteGround allows you to host unlimited websites within the allocated resources
Opting for SiteGround’s GrowBig plan means you can host unlimited websites and have access to 20 GB of storage, unmetered traffic, and 100k monthly visits for $4.99/month. I think it offers better value for money than the entry-level plan simply because you’re no longer limited to a single website.
The included features are similar to the entry-level plan, except that GrowBig comes with on-demand backup copies, faster PHP implementation for better performance, and site staging. In all fairness, you can create a staging environment via a free plugin, but SiteGround makes it easier with a one-click solution built into its hosting platform.
With SiteGround’s high-tier plan, you can offer white-label access to your clients
With unlimited websites, 40 GB of storage space, unlimited traffic, and 400k monthly visits, SiteGround’s GoGeek plan is suitable for small-to-medium businesses and costs $7.99/month. You even have enough resources to run websites for multiple clients. This plan also includes white-label hosting.
Aside from the features present in all the other plans, SiteGround’s GoGeek plan includes free private DNS, priority support, access to the highest tier of resources, and staging with Git integrations, making it suitable for developers.
Is Shared Web Hosting Right for You?
SiteGround’s shared hosting plans cater to anything from personal websites to small online shops. While they’re affordable at first, I think they get a bit too expensive on renewal. However, if your budget allows, you can get decent value starting from GrowBig upwards.
SiteGround’s GrowBig is a good choice if you want to create several WordPress websites. It has the necessary resources, plus a staging environment and enhanced performance.
US, UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Singapore, Australia
Support
24/7 priority support via live chat and tickets, and phone support
SiteGround has four cloud hosting plans, all of which are fully managed, but the prices are higher than the competition’s. In comparison, Hostinger offers managed cloud hosting starting at one tenth of the price.
What’s good about SiteGround is that you can customize your own cloud, adding as many resources as you need. It also has an auto-scale option, which instantly adds resources in case your website experiences traffic surges. Few hosts provide that option. SSL certificates are included and automatically issued to every domain detected on your cloud plan.
SiteGround’s cloud hosting can make it easy for you to handle multiple client accounts with its intuitive management system. You can decide how many resources each account gets. Depending on which plan you choose, your clients can have access to certain site management tools, according to your specifications.
SiteGround’s entry-level cloud hosting plan is a bit low on storage
SiteGround’s entry-level cloud hosting plan costs $100/month, and if you have the budget for it, it’s an ideal choice if you want to make the jump from shared hosting. With 4 CPU cores, 8 GB of RAM, 40 GB SSD storage, and 5 TB data transfer, you can grow your website and audience without having to worry about resources.
While there are enough resources to go around, SiteGround’s entry-level cloud hosting plan is pricey compared to the competition. That said, it provides more GB of RAM and vCPUs than cheaper options like Hostinger. On the other hand, Hostinger offers more SSD storage and a free domain name.
If you find the storage space insufficient, SiteGround allows you to add as much storage as you need. You can add units of 20 GB, and the price per unit is $10.
SiteGround’s Business plan is ideal for a large online shop
SiteGround’s Business plan is double the price of the entry-level plan – $200/month. Its resources double as well, except for the memory which is increased to 12 GB. It’s a good choice with plenty of resources for high-traffic websites, such as a large online store.
Purchasing this plan doesn’t give you access to any other additional features – the price increase is based on the provision of additional resources.
With SiteGround’s Business Plus, you can run a small agency
With SiteGround’s Business Plus plan, you can run multiple large websites either for yourself or your clients. It has 12 vCPU cores, 16 GB of memory, 120 GB of SSD space, and 5 TB of data transfer. All these resources cost $300/month.
Same as with the previous plan, you don’t get any extra features, but this plan has everything you need to host websites for a range of web development clients.
SiteGround’s Super Power plan is redundant for anything other than agencies
SiteGround’s top-tier cloud hosting plan – Super Power – costs $400/month. It includes 16 vCPU cores, 20 GB memory, 160 GB SSD storage, and 5 TB data transfer. Once again, there are no additional features, but with so many resources at hand, this plan is ideal for someone running a web development agency.
If you’re looking for something more affordable with plenty of resources, you should have a look at
A2 Hosting’s VPS plans
. You can get similar hosting power for a lower price.
Is Cloud Hosting Right for You?
SiteGround’s cloud hosting is suitable for users who need a lot of resources. The services are fully managed, so you don’t have to take care of security, updates, and backups, making it easy for you to focus on your projects alone.
The Jump Start plan is a good choice if you’re either making the jump from shared hosting or you just want to start out with cloud hosting. It has sufficient processing power, and if you need more storage space, you can always purchase some without having to upgrade your entire plan.
US, UK, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain, Singapore, Australia
Support
24/7 priority support via live chat and tickets, and phone support
SiteGround offers three reseller hosting packages, which are ideal for developers or designers who have multiple clients. The first two plans – GrowBig and GoGeek – are on SiteGround’s shared servers, but the host isolates each account for enhanced security. The high-tier subscription is hosted on its cloud infrastructure.
All plans, except the entry-level one, include white-label hosting so the SiteGround logo is not displayed anywhere on the account interface. Client management is easy thanks to SiteGround’s dashboard, which allows multiple site management in one place. If you opt for GrowBig or GoGeek, you have to upgrade to get more resources, but SiteGround’s Cloud reseller plan is customizable.
As with the other types of hosting, the renewal costs are higher when the first term ends. That doesn’t apply to the Cloud plan, which does not have a discounted starting price.
With GrowBig, SiteGround allows you to host unlimited websites within the allocated resources
SiteGround’s GrowBig reseller plan is suitable for a small developer or designer with a handful of clients. It costs $4.99/month for the first year, and you can host unlimited websites. You get 20 GB of space, unmetered bandwidth, free SSL, and free email accounts with up to 10 GB of storage.
There are a few collaboration-friendly features as well. You can add other users to your account with custom access privileges, and you transfer a website to another SiteGround user.
SiteGround includes white-label hosting for a more professional look
SiteGround’s GoGeek reseller plan costs $7.99/month. You can host unlimited websites within the 40 GB of SSD storage and you get unlimited bandwidth. It also includes white-label hosting, which can make you look more professional to your clients. Free SSL and email accounts are included as well.
Apart from white-label hosting, GoGeek also gives you access to free private DNS, which further helps you establish your brand by allowing you to choose a custom domain name for your nameservers. Lastly, you have access to advanced priority support, meaning you’ll be put at the top of the queue if you contact support via live chat or email.
SiteGround allows you to customize its Cloud reseller plan according to your portfolio
SiteGround’s Cloud reseller plan is suitable for someone with a larger client portfolio. Because it’s on the host’s cloud infrastructure, the price is $100/month for 4vCPUs, 8 GB RAM, and 40 GB SSD storage. However, you’re free to customize it, adding more vCPUs, RAM, and SSD storage, depending on your specific needs.
There are two additional features included in this plan. One, you can create custom hosting packages for every website in your portfolio, meaning you can decide how many resources each one gets. And two, you can customize your clients’ access to the Site Tools control panel, assigning them whatever management rights you see fit.
Is Reseller Hosting Right for You?
SiteGround’s reseller hosting plans serve developers, designers, and anyone involved in website creation or management for clients. These plans, though, are essentially repackaged variants of SiteGround’s shared and cloud hosting plans. SiteGround has merged the GrowBig and GoGeek plans from its web hosting offerings with the JumpStart plan from its cloud hosting options to craft its reseller hosting plans. Thus, the best choice for you ultimately depends on your resource requirements.
Now, if you only have a couple of clients, you can start with GrowBig, but keep in mind that it doesn’t include white-label hosting. However, if you have a large portfolio that requires variable resources, Cloud might suit you better.
SiteGround is one of the best web hosts out there (just look at our round-up of the top 10 web hosts in 2024). However, it can become expensive when it’s time to renew. As such, I’ve put together a short list of SiteGround alternatives that are more budget-friendly or that offer different features.
Starting Price
Main Pro
Main Con
SiteGround
$1.99
Seamless user experience with Site Tools control panel
Hostinger’s shared hosting plans1 are among the most affordable on the market without compromising resources and performance. In fact, Hostinger is one of the best-performing shared hosting providers we have ever tested. To get the best prices, you have to commit for four years, but even if you don’t, it’s still more affordable than SiteGround.
Hostinger includes more resources and freebies in its plans. For instance, you get a free domain name for a year if you purchase an annual subscription, and all its plans come with more storage space. Its cloud hosting plans don’t include as many vCPUs or as much RAM as SiteGround’s, but even Hostinger’s most expensive cloud plan is cheaper than SiteGround’s entry-level counterpart.
FastComet
If you have a target audience outside the US or Europe, you may want to go with FastComet1.It has data centers in the US, Europe, India, East Asia, and even Oceania. For shared hosting, it has similar prices to Hostinger, and it performs well if you choose the right data center for your audience. However, you won’t get as much storage space and bandwidth, and there’s no free domain name with either of its plans.
FastComet has four cloud VPS plans as well. They don’t include as many resources as SiteGround’s cloud hosting plans, but they’re definitely more affordable. And just like SiteGround, FastComet offers fully-managed services.
A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is another affordable host with excellent performance. You won’t get a free domain name, but A2 Hosting’s shared hosting plans are quite generous in resources, and two of its high-tier plans have NVMe SSD storage.
For a large-scale project, you can opt for A2 Hosting’s VPS1. You’re given the option of choosing between managed and unmanaged hosting, and the prices differ significantly. However, even the managed services are cheaper than SiteGround’s. One con is that A2 Hosting’s customer support isn’t the best.
Kinsta
For high-standard WordPress hosting, you can try out Kinsta1.It’s a cloud-based host that offers premium WordPress features and superior performance. Prices are high, but you’ll get dedicated resources on Google Cloud’s premium-tier network, 275+ CDN locations with Cloudflare Enterprise, a built-in application performance monitor, and a seamless user experience.
Kinsta offers a range of hosting packages based on the number of sites you’re running, but you get the same premium infrastructure and expert support on the entry-level single-site plan as you get with an enterprise-level instance running 150+ sites.
SiteGround Has a Lot to Offer, but Watch Out for the Renewal Prices
SiteGround is a trustworthy host that provides high-quality hosting. Its packages are satisfactory, user-friendly, and our tests have shown impressive performance outcomes. Although the costs may increase after renewal, the initial term offers solid value for your money.
When you’re first starting out, SiteGround’s StartUp will give you more than enough for a simple WordPress website. After the first year, you may find it’s worth paying a higher price to stick around. If not, you can always cancel and try another budget host like Hostinger.
It depends on what you need. If you’re looking for shared hosting, the prices start at $1.99. However, if you have a large-scale project in mind that is expected to generate a lot of traffic, you might need cloud hosting, in which case you’ll spend at least $100/month.
Is SiteGround expensive?
It can be. The introductory prices are low, but that changes when it’s time to renew. SiteGround offers decent resources and reliability, but there are other web hosts out there that offer more for less money. Hostinger is a good example, and so are A2 Hosting and FastComet.
What is better than SiteGround?
SiteGround is a top host, but Hostinger’s shared hosting is more affordable and delivers better performance results. SiteGround’s cloud hosting, while potent, is one of the most expensive on the market.
Is SiteGround good for WordPress?
Yes, SiteGround is suitable for WordPress-based sites. It offers an easy-to-use WordPress Starter tool that automatically installs WordPress and some of the most popular plugins. SiteGround’s WordPress plans include free SSL certificates, daily backups, a staging tool, a Dev Toolkit (WP-CLI, SSH access, PHP version control, Git integration), collaboration tools, and more.
Madalina is a writer who loves tech topics and has a personal affinity for all things web hosting. When she tests a service, she likes to investigate every little detail (and inevitably stress over each one). She also likes to hike, read, and crochet. And no, that’s not an old lady’s hobby. She’s originally from Romania, but currently lives in Sweden, where you can usually find her outside, enjoying nature and playing with dogs, her favorite people.
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