Best Web Hosting for Small Business: Top 9 Providers
To find the best web hosting for small business, we compared dozens of providers and narrowed our list down to the top nine. They all offer budget-friendly yet feature-rich plans packed with money and time-saving extras, like free domains, email, and website builders. If you’re looking for an easy way to build brand presence online with a secure, fast-loading site, these are the top web hosts to consider.
Best Web Hosting for Small Businesses At a Glance
Best Unlimited WordPress Hosting: DreamHost | |||
 4.90 out of 5 | From $2.95 per month the first year |
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Best Artificial Intelligence (AI) Site Builder: Hostinger | |||
 4.70 out of 5 | From $2.99 per month the first year |
| or |
Cheapest Intro Plans ($1): IONOS | |||
 4.60 out of 5 | From $1 per month the first 6 months |
| or |
Best Customer Support: InMotion | |||
 4.50 out of 5 | From $3.49 per month the first year |
| or |
Best for WooCommerce Web Stores: Bluehost | |||
 4.30 out of 5 | From $2.95 per month the first year |
| or |
Best 100% Managed Web Hosting for Small Business: KnownHost | |||
 4.30 out of 5 | From $6.71 per month the first year |
| or |
Best Security Features (Cloud-based Plan): Scala Hosting | |||
 4.00 out of 5 | From $2.95 per month the first year |
| or |
Best Add-ons for Beginners: HostGator | |||
 3.90 out of 5 | From $3.95 per month the first year |
| or |
Largest CDN for Fast Site Loading: GoDaddy | |||
 3.70 out of 5 | From $6.99 per month the first year |
| or |
Do you need more information before comparing web hosting services? Find out what web hosting is and how to choose a provider.
DreamHost: Best for Unlimited WordPress Web Hosting
Overall Score:
4.9 / 5
Pros
- Low-cost Unlimited plans with unlimited websites, traffic, and email addresses
- BoldGrid WordPress website builder
- Free WordPress site migrations
- Domain privacy free in all plans
- 100% uptime guarantee
- 97-day money-back guarantee, which is longer than any other web hosting services
Cons
- Proprietary interface is somewhat dated, which makes it less intuitive than more visually oriented cPanels
- Subpar user reports regarding customer support
- Some customers report occasional site speed lag
Starter*: $2.95 per month: Renews at $6.99
- One website, free domain, and SSL
- 50GB storage, unlimited bandwidth
- WordPress preinstalled and BoldGrid website builder included free
- Free WordPress site migration
- Automatic core and security updates to WordPress
- Automatic daily backups
- 24/7 support (ticket, chat, and phone callbacks)
- 97-day money-back guarantee
Unlimited*: $2.95 per month: Renews at $12.99
- Unlimited websites and email addresses
- Unlimited storage, bandwidth, and subdomains
- Unlimited databases, Unlimited FTP/SFTP user seats
DreamPress/WooCommerce: $16.95 per month: Renews at $19.99
- Managed WordPress – one website
- Free domain and SSL, plus unlimited emails
- 30GB SSD storage and unlimited bandwidth
- WordPress preinstalled, updates, and Jetpack
- One-click staging, free site migration
- WordPress website builder (BoldGrid)
- Automatic daily backups
*With annual billing; monthly billing is available at a higher cost
DreamHost’s plans are already feature-rich, but there are additional reasons that make it the best web hosting for small business overall:
- Unlimited plan, unlimited value: The 12-month introductory price for the Shared Unlimited web hosting plan is the same as its base plan. This gives startups and small businesses a plan they can use to grow and scale more quickly at a low price during the first year. See why it’s our #1 rated platform for cheap WordPress hosting.
- DreamHost Academy: Features don’t matter if you can’t easily understand and access them. DreamHost Academy is filled with information to help you successfully navigate and explore the system, ensuring you can find and access the benefits you need most. Additional support includes 24/7 ticketing, live chat, and phone callbacks.
- Real-time SEO recommendations: DreamHost’s new WordPress website builder offers real-time search engine optimization (SEO) recommendations to help you attract your audience and grow your brand’s online presence.
DreamHost’s Shared and WordPress Unlimited plans make it a natural fit in the top spot on our list of the best website hosting for small businesses. With annual payment, Unlimited plans come with unlimited websites, emails, and traffic for $2.95 a month for the first year. All shared hosting plans also include automated daily backups, free WordPress site migration, and automatic management of WordPress core and security updates.
In addition, DreamHost has the BoldGrid WordPress page builder theme free in shared hosting plans. This eliminates a great deal of the learning curve needed to build a WordPress site. There are more than 200 industry-specific templates, drag-and-drop editing, content blocks, and a Quick-Start Inspirations Wizard to streamline the process even more.
DreamHost offers a wide array of small business website hosting and related services, such as:
- Shared Unlimited and WordPress Unlimited website hosting from $2.95 per month
- Managed WordPress and WooCommerce plans from $16.95
- Cloud hosting from $4.50 per month
- VPS from $10 per month
- Dedicated server hosting from $149 per month
- Email hosting from $1.67 per mailbox
- Professional web design from $1,499
- SEO and social media from $399 per month
- Web development services from $89 per hour
- Website management from $59 per month
In addition, DreamHost offers professional services, from full web design to web development by the hour and site management. You can also purchase SEO and social media marketing services directly from this provider, making it a great option for those needing a one-stop digital marketing solution.
Dreamhost offers the best unlimited WordPress web hosting for small businesses. The site builder simplifies building your site with premade templates and content blocks. Wizards guide your way with design inspiration and SEO recommendations, and the DreamHost team takes care of tough stuff, like core updates or migrating your site from another server.
WordPress is a popular content management system (CMS), but it’s not the only one and comes with a hefty learning curve. Check out our article explaining what a web CMS is and how to choose the best one for your small business.
Hostinger: Best AI Site Building Tools
Overall Score:
4.70 / 5
Pros
- Low-cost website hosting plans
- All plans come with both Hostinger’s AI website builder and a WordPress site-building wizard
- Enhanced security
- Plans come with free SSL certificate
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons
- Uptime guarantee is on the lower side
- Single and Starter plans lack free daily backups, CDN, and Secure Shell Protocol (SSH)
- No free domain in the base tier
- No phone support
Premium: $2.99 per month* the first year, $11.99 per month on renewal
- 100 websites and free business email
- 100GB solid-state drive (SSD) storage and unlimited bandwidth
- Free domain and unlimited free SSL
- Managed WordPress and WooCommerce optimization
- WordPress Acceleration, Auto Updates, and Vulnerability scans
- Weekly backups
- Drag and drop, no-code AI website builder, copywriter, and SEO optimizations
Business: $4.99 per month* the first year, $15.99 per month on renewal
- 200 BG nonvolatile memory express (NVMe) storage
- 10x performance
- Free CDN
- Daily backups
- WordPress AI tools (plus new image tool coming soon)
- On-demand backups
- Enhanced security features
- No-code AI site builder comes with ecommerce tools and 0% transaction fees
*With annual billing; monthly billing is available at a higher cost as our lower-priced longer-term contracts
(So far as we know) Hostinger was the first web hosting company to offer a proprietary artificial intelligence (AI)-powered website builder as an inclusion in all of its hosting plans. And that’s just one of the reasons why it’s rated so highly by our experts:
- Multiple websites: One thing we know about entrepreneurs is that many of them have more than one project brewing. Hostinger’s low-cost multi-site plans are great for entrepreneurs.
- AI site design and copy: The option to build your website (and even write copy for web pages and blogs) with AI speeds up site design and building by weeks, if not months. If you need to get a website up today, Hostinger’s AI site builder makes that a breeze. See how easy it is to use the Hostinger website builder.
- The best of both worlds: If you want to build and manage websites using both WordPress and Hostinger’s no-code drag-and-drop website builder, you can do that—all in the same plan.
Like DreamHost, Hostinger provides a low-cost entry point for web hosting. However, while DreamHost includes a WordPress website builder, Hostinger’s plans come with a no-code AI site builder that fully streamlines the process of building brand presence online.
In plans that allow multiple sites, you can build sites with either WordPress or the Hostinger site builder all in the same plan. (I’m actually doing this for some of my personal projects right now) Plus, Hostinger’s Business and Cloud-based plans include WordPress AI tools.
One downside of Hostinger is the lack of professional web design services. Still, you will find plans and monthly pricing (when billed annually) for:
- Web hosting from $2.99
- WordPress plans from $2.99
- Website builder and hosting plans from $2.99
- Agency-friendly multi-site plans starting at $3.99 the first year for up to 100 websites
- VPS from $3.99
- Cloud hosting from $9.99
- Email hosting plans for Google Workspace and Titan
In 2019, Hostinger revealed that a large number of users were exposed to a security breach. This led the provider to improve security features significantly, including Cloudflare-protected nameservers, a web application firewall, secure access manager, and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack and malware protection.
If the idea of using AI to build your website, write copy, create images, and optimize the performance of your site interests you, Hostinger is our top recommendation. All plans include its beginner-friendly, no-code AI website builder, while higher-tier plans come prestocked with WordPress AI tools as well. At less than $40 for the first year and a money-back guarantee, there’s virtually no risk to try it out today.
IONOS: Cheapest Introductory Web Hosting Plans
Overall Score:
4.60 / 5
Pros
- Choose from cheap web, WordPress, and site builder plans from $1 per month for 6 months with free domain, SSL, and email
- Reliable, secure web hosting with 99.9%-plus uptime and 2/47 support
- Free daily backups included
- Malware, site scan, and DDoS protection
Cons
- Railgun CDN only comes with the most expensive plan
- No month-to-month billing option
- No free trial or demo version to test site builder plans
Shared Plus: $1 per month the first six months, renews at $12 per month
- Unlimited websites, storage, and bandwidth
- Enhanced storage and memory for better site performance
- Free domain and SSL
- Free email
- Daily backups
- 24/7 support and 30-day money-back guarantee
WordPress Grow: $1 per month the first six months, renews at $10 per month
- One website, free domain, and SSL
- Five free email accounts with anti-phishing and anti-spam
- 50GB SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth
- 10,000 subdomains
- 99.98% uptime, DDoS and malware protection
- Caching plugin & Jetpack Backup included in all but base tier
- Site Scan, DDoS protection, geo-redundancy (all plans)
- Automatic WordPress updates (Managed WordPress)
- 24/7 support and 30-day money-back guarantee
VPS/Dedicated Hosting:
- Standard VPS hosting starting from $2 to $8 a month
- Memory-optimized VPS starting from $2 to $24 monthly
- CPU-optimized VPS starting from $4 to $20 per month
- Dedicated SSD hosting as low as $45 the first six months
- Dedicated hard disk drive (HDD) hosting as low as $47 per month
If “cheap” didn’t hook you, there are other reasons web hosting for small business works well with IONOS:
- Beginner and customer-friendly: Having 24/7 support means you won’t have to struggle to set up your site or hosting features. This is particularly useful for digital marketing agencies managing multiple client sites, as well as beginners and small businesses wanting to build a strong online presence.
- Site building services: IONOS offers affordable website-building services for those wanting to skip the learning curve. Plans include a one-time and monthly fee for managing your site and making changes on an ongoing basis.
- Online marketing add-ons: Create and manage all your online listings in one place by subscribing to a List Local plan. Choose a Google Ads Management plan for creating, tracking, and optimizing your Google Ad campaigns. Learn SEO and improve your site’s Google rankings with an IONOS rankingCoach plan.
- Digital agency solution: IONOS’ partner program has perks like single-dashboard client management and three-month free product trials. It also has a directory listing in the Agency Partner Network for more exposure, a direct line to your personal IONOS Consultant, and professional tools for agencies, freelancers, and the like.
IONOS makes its case for the best web hosting for small businesses thanks to its $1 introductory plans for several products, including website and WordPress hosting. Plans come with a free domain, SSL, and business email, giving a small business everything needed to get its digital marketing off the ground.
As someone who has hosted several websites and domains with IONOS for more than a decade, I can personally attest to the high level of service provided. On rare occasions, I’ve had something go wrong, an IONOS tech is on the phone with me within minutes, and my issue is usually resolved in the same amount of time or less.
Plus, no matter which type of web hosting you opt for, your files are backed up every day. So, if your website gets compromised or you make a mistake, you can restore a working version quickly and easily to minimize any potential downtime.
IONOS also offers the broadest range of web hosting types starting at a low introductory cost per month, including:
- Shared web and WordPress hosting from $1
- Web hosting for agencies from 50 cents
- Joomla hosting from $1
- VPS hosting from $2
- Combined web hosting, design, and editing from $40 per month, inclusive of domain and email
- Dedicated hosting from $45
- One of the best domain registrars—$1 the first year for a .com domain
- Jamstack (Deploy Now) hosting from $4 for three projects
- Ecommerce hosting plans for WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop, Shopware, and OpenCart (starting cost varies)
If we were to have one complaint, it’s that IONOS’ Railgun CDN is locked behind the highest plan tier for web hosting. If this concerns you, we recommend you consider Bluehost as the best alternative, as Cloudflare CDN comes in all but the base tier.
IONOS is a one-stop digital marketing shop for building a website with a variety of highly affordable web hosting solutions. Its tools and dashboards are user-friendly, and 24/7 expert support is a click away if you get stuck. Take advantage of the 30-day money-back guarantee to test drive the website hosting option best for your business.
InMotion: Best Customer Support for Small Business Web Hosting
Overall Score:
4.50 / 5
Pros
- 24/7 US-based support
- No-downtime site migration (free)
- DDoS, hack, and malware protection
- Intuitive control panel
- Unlimited emails and storage after base tier
- 90-day money-back guarantee
- BoldGrid WordPress website builder included free (same as DreamHost)
Cons
- Upper-tier plans get pricey on renewal
- Resources included in the base plan may not be enough for growing websites
- Occasional downtime issues
- Free domain not included in lowest-tier shared hosting plan
Core: $3.49 per month* ($11.49 per month on renewal)
- Two websites and 10 email addresses
- Free SSL, 100GB SSD storage, and unlimited bandwidth
- 2x speed and performance
- Free backups and site migration
- Hack and malware protection
- BoldGrid site builder for WordPress
- Free ad credits
- 24/7 live chat support
Launch: $6.99 per month* ($13.99 per month on renewal)
- Unlimited websites, storage, and email addresses
- 6x UltraStack Speed & Performance
- Automatic backups
- Jetpack Personal plugin
WP Launch: $7.99 per month ($15.99 per month on renewal)
- Unlimited WordPress websites, storage, and email accounts
- 20x WordPress performance
- DDoS, hack, and malware protection
- Automatic backups
- BoldGrid WordPress site builder
- Jetpack Personal plugin
*With 12-month billing; monthly billing available at a higher cost
InMotion costs a little more, but as the classic L’Oreal ad slogan says, “You’re worth it.” Here are some of the small business web hosting features that landed it among our top picks:
- Renowned for customer service: Our experience and customer reviews all point to InMotion as offering a high level of customer care.
- Customer satisfaction guarantee: Only DreamHost offers a longer money-back guarantee than InMotion’s 90-day promise.
- Strong security in all plans: Unlike providers that require a higher tier purchase for security features like DDoS and malware protection, this comes in all of InMotion’s hosting plans. Likewise, free backups are included; however, daily backups aren’t automatic in all plans, unlike IONOS.
While all the providers here have self-help resources, InMotion’s are arguably the most robust and user-friendly. Right in the cPanel are at least 90 links to educational and instructional resources, as well as a community forum for InMotion customers. You can also get notified whenever new resources are added, which is great support for beginners and agencies managing multiple sites.
Its in-person support isn’t lacking either. We put that to the test when evaluating the service, hitting up InMotion’s live chat team with questions about the Launch and Power plans. We had a live support agent asking to help us within about 10 seconds and had our answers in less than two minutes.
While its WordPress plans (with free BoldGrid page builder) are the best option for most small businesses, like most web hosting companies, InMotion offers a range of services:
- Shared hosting from $3.49*
- WordPress website hosting plans from $4.49*
- Managed WordPress from $15
- Woocommerce plans from $15
- Reseller hosting from $16.99*
- VPS from $24.99*
- Dedicated website hosting from $89.99*
Starting cost-per-month with 12-month annual billing listed above; those marked with an asterisk (*) renew at a higher cost.
Don’t downplay the value of getting great support with your website hosting service. It can make all the difference when something goes wrong, or you just need help to get the most value for your dollar. Choose InMotion if customer care and support are top priorities when choosing web hosting for your small business.
Bluehost: Best WooCommerce Web Hosting for Small Business
Overall Score:
4.30 / 5
Pros
- Affordable WooCommerce-ready online store hosting packages
- Free Cloudflare CDN for fast site loading from anywhere
- Free domain, SSL, CDN, and from five to unlimited emails
Cons
- Cost increases on renewal
- Free domain and backups aren’t included in the base plan
- No WordPress page builder, unlike DreamHost and InMotion
- No monthly billing option
Basic: $2.95 per month* (renews at $10.99 per month)
- 1 website, 10 GB storage, and Bluehost webmail with five email addresses
- Custom WordPress themes
- Free SSL
Choice Plus: $5.45 per month* (renews at $19.99 per month)
- Three websites, 40GB storage, unlimited emails
- Free domain, SSL, and CDN
- Daily backups free for one year
- Domain privacy
- Malware scanning
Online Store: $9.95 per month* (renews at $24.95 per month)
- Three WooCommerce ecommerce websites
- Exclusive WordPress store theme
- Store analytics
- Unlimited products and secure online payments
- Bookings and appointments
- Shipping labels
- Product search
- Gift cards
- Wish lists
- Customer accounts
*Billed annually
Bluehost streamlines the process of creating your online store or appointment-based business website on WordPress:
- Online store setup services: Bluehost promises those choosing a WordPress online store web hosting and 24/7 support, including help setting up your store, adding products, installing and using plugins, and customizing your online store’s features.
- Online marketing services: Bluehost offers full-service web design, website marketing, and content management services as well as SEO, PPC ad management, and site migration services. (However, DreamHost and InMotion also provide free site migration.)
- Free CDN: Most Bluehost web hosting packages include free Cloudflare CDN. It distributes your site’s content to servers across the globe so that it can be loaded from a nearby server to the site visitor. This improves site and page load times, which, in turn, benefits your site’s SEO and site visitor experience. (Enable this in your account to activate it.)
Bluehost is our top pick for web hosting if you want to build a WooCommerce-powered WordPress site. Beginning with the Online Store plan, you’ll get a custom WooCommerce store theme, online payments, and a web store with unlimited products.
This is also a great option for service-based businesses as appointment booking comes free as well. If your team needs email accounts, Bluehost is one of the best email hosting providers around, including the RoundCube email app and from five to unlimited emails in all plans.
In addition to WordPress hosting, Bluehost offers the following services (cost per month with annual billing):
- Shared web hosting from $2.95
- Shared WordPress hosting from $2.95
- Managed WordPress hosting from $29.99
- WooCommerce online store hosting from $9.95 the first year
- VPS hosting from $39.99
- Professional web design, SEO, and marketing services (request a quote)
- Dedicated hosting from $125.99
Building a website on WordPress is challenging. Building a full-scale online store on WordPress is doubly so but Bluehost can make all that pain go away. The WordPress-recommended web hosting company has ecommerce-ready plans to streamline the process of getting your online store, well, online.
KnownHost: Best Fully Managed Web Hosting for Small Business
Overall Score:
4.30 / 5
Pros
- 100% fully managed web and WordPress hosting services
- Highly reliable: 99.995+% uptime
- Free setup, migration, and backups
- 100% satisfaction guarantee
- Change your plan at any time
- 24/7 support
Cons
- Much lower storage in base hosting plans vs other providers
- IONOS managed plans are cheaper (although less robust)
- Free domain and CDN aren’t included
Basic: $6.71 per month*: Renews at $8.50
- One website, 5GB cloud storage, and unlimited bandwidth
- Five emails, free SSL, free backups
- Free migrations, automatic updates, and security patches
- Brute force and DDoS protection
- 24/7 support
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- White label
Pro: $18.95 per month*: Renews at $18.95
- Unlimited websites and cloud storage
- Unlimited email accounts
WP Entry: $11.95 per month*: 100% fully managed WordPress and web hosting for small business:
- One website, 50GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, and free SSL
- Unlimited emails
- WordPress install, setup, management, and migrations
- Manage and upload plugins and themes
- Debug management and WordPress staging and cloning
- WordPress integrity check and hardening
- Security rollbacks and manual updates
- WP toolkit
- Redundancy
- Free backups
WP Corporate: $39.95 per month*
- Five websites, 150GB storage, and unlimited bandwidth
*With annual billing
Take the pain out of managing WordPress web hosting with KnownHost, which offers:
- Cheap fully-managed services: Save time and skip the learning curve altogether with fully managed services at an affordable cost.
- Plans for every budget: While memory and storage might push you to a higher plan tier, any sized business can have the luxury of fully managed web hosting with KnownHost’s range of plans, pricing, and payment terms.
- High uptimes: Apart from DreamHost’s boast of 100%, KnownHost offers the highest uptimes for ensuring your site is online and available to prospects and customers 24/7.
Technical site issues that arise from outdated or incorrectly configured CMS and plugins can make your site lag or even break it altogether. Managed web and WordPress hosting is the best for small businesses that want to ensure installation, setup, and maintenance are done right, especially for beginners. KnownHost is well-known for its fully managed services and great customer support.
Most web hosting for small businesses comes with basic WordPress management, such as auto-installation and core updates, but KnownHost’s managed WordPress plans come with much more. From help getting your plugins installed, configured, and updated to integrity and security hardening, you’ll save time and headaches with this web host.
KnownHost customers enjoy 99.99% plus uptimes for their websites with an array of web hosting services, including first-year monthly pricing (with annually-billed plans) for:
- Fully managed web hosting from $6.71
- Managed WordPress plans from $11.95
- Reseller plans from $10.46
- Semi-dedicated hosting from $28
- VPS plans from $17
- Cloud hosting from $25.50
- Dedicated servers from $49
Like InMotion and HostGator, with KnownHost you get a range of payment term options. This allows you to choose the best terms for your business’ budget month to month or sign up for the long term to get the most savings.
We first learned of KnownHost while sifting through review sites and forums like Reddit, where we discovered this provider is a go-to for techies. Now that we’ve taken a peek under the hood ourselves, we confidently recommend KnownHost as a time and money-saving web hosting provider for small businesses, especially those wanting managed services for peace of mind.
Scala Hosting: Best Web Hosting Security Features
Overall Score:
4.00 / 5
Pros
- Cloud-based plan with isolated resources, dedicated firewall, real-time cyber threat protection, dedicated internet protocol (IP) address, and blacklist monitoring
- Shield malware protection blocks 99.998% of website and email attacks
- Daily backups, on-demand security scans, and unlimited emails with all plans
Cons
- Cloudflare CDN requires highest plan
- Migration services only included in the highest-tier plan
- Will need the most expensive plan to get SEO tools
- More expensive than DreamHost for unlimited websites
Mini: $2.95 per month* ($9.95 a month on renewal)
- One website, 10GB NVMe SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, and free SSL
- One-click install for WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and more
- Unlimited emails
- Daily offsite backups
- Standard security
Start: $5.95 per month* ($11.95 a month on renewal)
- Unlimited websites and SSL and 50GB storage
- Free domain
- Real-time malware protection
Advanced: $9.95 per month* ($15.95 a month on renewal)
- 100GB storage
- Priority support
Entry Cloud: $19.95 per month* ($24.95 a month on renewal)
- High security, unlimited websites, and 50GB upgradable storage
- Guaranteed central processing unit (CPU) and RAM (isolated resources)
- Dedicated IP address (supports higher rankings)
- Blacklist monitoring for your domain and improved email deliverability
- OpenLiteSpeed caching
- Subusers and collaborators
- Branding and white label
*Billed annually; monthly billing available at a higher cost
Scala Hosting has strong security that increases with every plan tier:
- Peace of mind with high security: Scala Hosting’s Entry Cloud plan offers the utmost, from real-time malware, hack, and DDoS attack protection to offsite backups, domain blacklist monitoring, and a dedicated firewall and IP address.
- Scalability: Start small at a low cost and add more storage and security as your website grows.
- Agency options: Scala’s two highest-tier plans are great for web design freelancers and agencies. They offer ample storage and the highest tier enables white labeling, making it a perfect plan to host all your client’s websites.
Website security is no joke, and with hackers and bad actors getting better at their trade every day, having the tools and features in place to protect your website and email is critical. Scala Hosting offers solid security from the ground up and includes maximum security features in its cloud-based web hosting for small businesses.
For example, your domain is monitored 24/7 for malware, hacking, and DDoS attacks. A dedicated IP and firewall protect your website and online brand reputation, and blacklist monitoring ensures that your domain doesn’t get added to spam lists. This type of feature is especially helpful for sales-based businesses using cold email to generate leads, since recipients may perceive it as spam, even if you’re following all the CAN-SPAM laws to a “T.”
Scala Hosting offers a variety of web hosting and management services (monthly cost with annual billing listed below):
- WordPress and non-WordPress web hosting for small business websites from $2.95
- Email hosting from $2.95 (and unlimited emails in web hosting plans) makes it one of the best business email providers
- Managed Amazon Web Services (AWS) hosting from $61.95
- VPS hosting from $20
- Reseller hosting plans from $14.95
- Domain registry from $16.95 a year for a .com
Scala Hosting is an award-winning platform for web hosting for small businesses, from cloud hosting to VPS. Its reputation and strong security features for websites and email set it apart for those prioritizing the safe-keeping of their websites and customer data online. Get started today with a low-cost intro plan.
HostGator: Great Add-ons for Website Beginners
Overall Score:
3.90 / 5
Pros
- Easy-to-understand plans with all you need to get online
- Free domain, SSL, and unlimited emails
- $600 in Google and Bing ad credits after base tier
Cons
- A lot of features locked behind the highest plan, including CDN and SEO tools
- Plans only allow from one to three websites
- Migration services only included in the highest-tier plan
Hatchling: $3.95 per month* (renews at $9.99 per month)
- One website, 10 GB storage, and unlimited bandwidth
- Free domain, SSL, and unlimited free business email
- One-click WordPress installation
- Chat support
Baby: $5 per month* (renews at $14.99 per month)
- Two websites and 20GB storage
- Free Google Ads promo code for $500 in Google Ads spend match credits
- $100 in Bing Ads spend match credits
- Phone and chat support
Business: $7.25 per month* (renews at $18.99 per month)
- Three websites, 40GB storage, and unlimited bandwidth
- Site migration services
- Cloudflare CDN
- Dedicated IP
- SEO tools
- SSL upgrade
*With annual billing; save more with a three-year contract or pay month to month at a higher rate
Features and tools that are startup and beginner-friendly from top to bottom landed HostGator on our list of the best web hosting for small business:
- How-to articles and webinars: Just because you can self-serve with web hosting and site building doesn’t mean it’s easy. HostGator has a great blog with how-to articles and a webinar library to help you with all the basics.
- Free unlimited email: HostGator is the only web hosting company offering unlimited emails with all website hosting plans, although DreamHost and Bluehost offer this in all but the base tier.
- All-in-one website builder: HostGator is partnered with Web.com, which is on our list of the best website builders because it’s packed with a ton of built-in marketing features. If you click on Website Builder plans you’ll be redirected to the Web.com site builder (just so you’re not surprised).
HostGator isn’t the cheapest option, but it does offer reliable web hosting for small businesses in plans you won’t need a degree in computer science to understand. It also offers round-the-clock support and add-ons that are perfect for website newbies just starting to build brand presence online.
For one thing, its blog is packed with beginner-friendly articles and webinars for those who need help learning the ins and outs of web hosting and how to build a small business website. HostGator also offers expert services, including web design and development, SEO, and advertising on Google and Bing with PPC ads.
Like other popular web hosting providers, HostGator is known for its range of shared hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated servers, and WordPress hosting plans:
- Shared hosting from $3.95*
- WordPress plans from $7.95*
- VPS plans from $23.95*
- Dedicated website hosting from $109.97*
- Reseller plans from $24.95*
- Domain registration from $12.95 per year for a .com domain
*Monthly cost with 12-month annual billing; month-to-month, six-month, and 36-month plans are also available. Plans renew at a higher cost after the introductory period.
Of the two million plus websites hosted on HostGator, only 30% are managed by web pros. That means 70% of HostGator users are amateurs, and many of them are completely new to web hosting. Add-ons could drive up your pricing with HostGator, but this could be well worth the cost for beginners. Find out for yourself by taking advantage of its 30-day money-back guarantee and low-priced introductory plans.
GoDaddy: Largest CDN for Fast Site Speed
Overall Score:
3.70 / 5
Pros
- Data centers in Europe, United States, and Asia–garnering fast load speeds that cover most of the world
- Around-the-clock network security and DDoS protection
- Free domain and daily backups are now included in web hosting plans
- GoDaddy WooCommerce payment plugin (Poynt) pre-installed for fast ecommerce site building
Cons
- Plans are more expensive and less feature-rich than rivals on this list
- No plans with more than five email accounts
- InMotion, Hostinger, and Scala all offer better performance and security features at a lower cost
Economy: $6.99 per month*, renews at $9.99
- One website, 25GB storage, and unlimited bandwidth
- Free domain for one year, free SSL, and daily backups
- Preinstalled Poynt WooCommerce payments platform
- One-click WordPress install
- Two free Microsoft 365 Email Essentials mailboxes for one year
- 24/7 support
Deluxe: $9.99 per month*, renews at $13.99
- 10 websites, 50GB storage, and unlimited bandwidth
- Three free Microsoft 365 Email Essentials mailboxes for one year
WP Basic: $8.99 per month*, renews at $9.99
- One website, 20GB SSD storage, and unlimited bandwidth
- Free domain, SSL, and daily backups
- 24-hour malware scans and removal
- Two free Microsoft 365 Email Essentials mailboxes for one year
- GoDaddy payments with 2.3% plus 30-cent transaction fees
- Website backups and One-click restore
WP WooCommerce: $20.99 per month*, renews at $29.99
- One website, 80GB SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth
- Five free Microsoft 365 Email Essentials mailboxes for one year
- One-click testing site
- Unlimited products, real-time shipping rates, and appointment scheduling
- Free access to $6,000 worth of premium WooCommerce extensions
*With annual billing; longer and shorter-term contracts are also available
- Strong load time from multiservers: GoDaddy’s 99.9% uptime guarantee holds its end of the bargain, with websites rarely experiencing downtime during observation periods. It is a reliable choice for hosting either media-heavy or traffic-heavy websites.
- Payment processing: GoDaddy makes it easy to take payments online with the GoDaddy Payments plugin. Processing fees of 2.3% plus 30 cents per transaction.
- Microsoft email free for one year: From two to five Microsoft Email Essentials comes bundled with all hosting plans for one year, including unlimited aliases.
No serious discussion of the best web hosting for small businesses is complete without a mention of GoDaddy. As of today, the downside we previously included (that things like domains, SSL, and backups weren’t baked into GoDaddy plans) has been addressed, although plans generally cost a bit more than with other platforms.
As such, GoDaddy has the potential to be a robust web hosting service but at a higher cost vs competitors like IONOS or Bluehost. Nevertheless, GoDaddy is a solid choice thanks to its extensive network of data centers, ensuring fast site speed and loading from anywhere.
Here’s what to expect for introductory monthly pricing of annually billed hosting plans with GoDaddy:
- Shared web hosting from $6.99
- WordPress plans from $8.99
- All-in-one site builder and hosting plans from $9.99
- Business hosting (Web Hosting Plus/VPS) from $21.99
- VPS from $4.99 per month (36-month term)
- Dedicated SSD hosting from $139.99 per month (24-month term)
From personal experience troubleshooting a client’s WordPress site, I’ve been disappointed by GoDaddy’s customer service. Support is technically available 24/7, but unless you pay a high fee for personalized support, the tech team is just there to confirm that everything is working on their side. I compare this to my experience with IONOS, whose customer support team was willing to troubleshoot (and fix) any issues I’ve had from every angle.
If you want support with WordPress specifically, KnownHost’s managed services are better options. If you would like a dedicated success consultant or tech support that can help you with your database, installation, configuration, plugin troubleshooting, and more, IONOS is the way to go.
GoDaddy has all the essential features to host your website and build your brand presence online. Those on a tight budget will find that IONOS is a better value for the money and also offers far more robust and personalized customer support, should you need it. Still, GoDaddy’s large network of data centers worldwide means your site will load fast from anywhere.
How We Evaluated the Best Website Hosting for Small Business
Foundational to building a successful website is to have web hosting that is tailored to your business’ needs and budget. Our team has decades of collective experience with web hosting and website development. We compared more than a dozen web hosting companies against 31 separate data points as well as our own first-hand experience with each of the providers.
Click on any of the tabs for details about the criteria we used to determine the best web hosting services.
20%
Pricing
30%
General Features
15%
Niche Features
10%
Support
25%
Expert Score
20% of Overall Score
For small businesses, cost is often a deciding factor for selecting any vendor, including website hosting. We gave a higher score to web hosts offering low introductory pricing and affordable renewal rates, especially where low cost doesn’t equate to a low value for the customer.
30% of Overall Score
General features include everything from storage and bandwidth to inclusions like a free domain, SSL, and business email, which are essential for building an online brand presence. In addition, we looked for plans that allow you to build multiple websites, CDN to ensure fast site loading worldwide, uptime guarantees, and whether free backups were included to protect your site.
15% of Overall Score
Niche features pack added value to web hosting plans. Some of the extras we looked for here included whether the web hosting company was agency and reseller-friendly, and has a user-friendly cPanel for easy administration. Plus, we checked if WordPress plans came with a free WordPress page builder, and if you could create unlimited subdomains or get dedicated hosting as your website needs scale.
10% of Overall Score
Web hosting is complex and entails highly technical expertise. For this reason, we favored hosting companies offering 24/7 customer support on various channels. We also looked at customer reviews which indicated a provider would go above and beyond. In addition, we tapped our team’s first-hand experience with providers to see which provided the best customer care and support.
25% of Overall Score
Our expert score is primarily based on first-hand experience with each provider and our expertise in what to look for in a web hosting company. In addition, we considered aggregate and individual customer reviews and comments as to the expert score for overall features, value, ease of use, and popularity.
*Percentages of overall score
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What are the different types of web hosting?
Web hosting varies by environment and cost. The most common (and cheapest) type of web hosting is shared web hosting. Managed hosting adds things like installation, updates, and maintenance to your plan. Other types to consider are virtual private servers or networks, such as VPS or VPN, cloud-based, and dedicated hosting. These more expensive options come with increased security and speed, making them ideal for large and growing websites.
Where can I host my business website?
DreamHost and IONOS are great choices for hosting a business website. Plans come with a domain, SSL, email, and everything needed to build a strong brand presence. DreamHost is a WordPress-recommended hosting company, and all plans come with a no-code WordPress site builder. The budget-friendly and reliable IONOS has web hosting plans where you can host your site starting for as little as $1 a month.
What is the best hosting for beginners?
The best hosting for beginners is with an all-in-one site builder like Wix, where hosting, a domain, SSL security, and an intuitive, no-code site builder are all included. When considering hosting alone, look for a small business-friendly web host like DreamHost with affordable intro pricing, all-inclusive plans, and a free drag-and-drop WordPress page builder.
Bottom Line
The best web hosting companies for small businesses offer generous plans with valuable freebies and ample storage and bandwidth—all for small business budget-friendly pricing. Based on our comparison, DreamHost scored the highest, meeting nearly all of our criteria. Get started risk-free with Shared Unlimited or WordPress Unlimited plans with all you need for web hosting, business email, and more—all backed by a 97-day money-back guarantee.
