The Best Cheap Web Hosting Services of 2024

The best cheap web hosting services can be a useful tool for anyone hoping to host their own website in today’s digital age. Web hosting is an essential part of launching your presence online. Without a host, you can’t share the pages and files on your website with your intended community.

The term “cheap web hosting” often refers to shared hosting solutions which offer basic access to bandwidth and specific features to help you get online.

In this article, we’ll be reviewing some of the most popular (and cheapest) hosting providers on the market to help you choose the solution best for you.

Understanding Cheap Web Hosting

In the past, creating, and managing a website was an extremely complex, expensive, and involved affair, which required not just a high budget, but a knowledge of technology too. These days, the rise of more flexible hosting plans, along with the introduction of simpler solutions for building websites has made a space on the internet more accessible.

Notably, these hosting services aren’t suitable for everyone. To deliver an extremely low price, vendors need to compromise on other features and functionality. This means cheap web hosting is very simplistic.

You may only be able to use cheap web hosting services if you’re building a simple one-page website or a portfolio for your business. Anyone hoping to launch a full website or ecommerce store is likely to need more comprehensive hosting.

Cheap Hosting Providers: Head to Head Comparison

Here’s a quick rundown of the cheap hosting providers we’ll be looking at today, including their uptime, storage space, and monthly pricing.

	Price	Storage space	Uptime
Hostinger	$1.39/mo	Unspecified	99.90%
InMotion	$2.49/mo	10GB	99.97%
Dreamhost	$2.95/mo	50GB	99.95%
HostGator	$2.75/mo	Unlimited	99.99%
Bluehost	$2.95/mo	50GB	99.98%
GreenGeeks	$2.95/mo	Unlimited	99.98%
A2 Hosting	$2.99/mo	Unlimited	99.95%

Before we dive into our full evaluation of each potential cheap hosting provider, and the functionality they can offer, let’s take a closer look at some of the feature terms you’ll need to be familiar with:

• Uptime: One of the most important features of any hosting provider, Uptime refers to how regularly your website is up and running. Uptime is usually represented as a percentage, such as 99.99%. The higher the percentage, the less you have to worry about downtime.
• SSL: Many hosting providers offer SSL security certificates as part of the service. This certificate protects your visitors’ information when they visit your website. If your site has an SSL certificate, it will display a padlock next to your URL.
• Backups: Backups refer to the opportunity to recover previous versions of your website or the URL of your website if something goes wrong with the current version. You may need to roll a website back using a backup.
• Domains: Some hosting providers offer free domain names with hosting. You may also be able to access a number of domains within the same hosting service.
• Storage: The storage space of a hosting provider refers to how much file space you have for media and content on your website.
• Sites included: This refers to how many websites you’ll be able to create with your hosting provider for the monthly price given.
• Visitor limit: Your visitor limit number is the number of times someone can access your website and browse it per month.

Best Cheap Web Hosting

For the purpose of this list-based article, we’ll be exploring the pros and cons of different cheap hosting providers, starting with the cheapest host first.

1. Hostinger

Pricing:

Hostinger’s cheapest plan is its shared hosting plan, which starts at $1.39 per month, depending on your time frame (how long you have the plan), and the amount of storage you need. You can upgrade to $2.59 for a slightly larger amount of SSD storage and bandwidth.

The cheapest $1.39 plan comes with 30 GB of SSD storage and 100 GB of bandwidth, as well as 2 MySQL databases, and a free SSL certificate. There are no daily backups or domain registration with this plan.

The upgraded shared hosting plan does have free domain registration, and unlimited MySQL databases and bandwidth. You can host up to 100 websites, and access 100GB of SSD storage. For the slightly increased plan of $2.59 per month, it’s a much better deal.

Notably, however, the mid-tier “Premium” shared hosting plan used to be a lot more expensive at $10.19 per month. The cheaper pricing may not last forever.

Like many hosting providers, Hostinger offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, and there’s a student discount which can save you up to 15%.

Features:

All “shared” hosting plans from Hostinger come with at least one email account, and 100 GB of bandwidth. You’ll only get 30GB of SSD storage, however. If you want unlimited email accounts and bandwidth, you need to upgrade to the Shared “Premium” plan.

Shared plans from Hostinger also come with access to a free SSL certificate, but you won’t get free domain registration on the cheapest plan. You will, however, get access to a phenomenal 99.99% uptime guarantee, and a powerful control panel where you can control your websites. There are 2 subdomains offered per account, 2 parked domains, and complete DNS management with each plan too. Plus, one-click installations for sites like WordPress are available.

While existing customer services from Hostinger have achieved excellent reviews in the past, thanks to things like live chat and multiple language support, there is no phone support available. Hostinger’s shared hosting plans might not be the most advanced on the market, but they definitely give you a decent amount of functionality for the price you pay.

2. InMotion

Pricing:

InMotion advertises its cheapest web hosting plan at a cost of $2.99 per month. However, you can actually reduce the cost to $2.49 per month if you’re willing to subscribe to a three-year plan. The “Core” plan for 3 years is currently available on a reduced cost (from $8.99 per month).

InMotion’s cheapest plan comes with a free SSL, 2 websites, 100GB of SSD storage, and unlimited bandwidth.

There’s another slightly more expensive shared plan available for $4.99 per month when you pay for three years. “Launch” as its called, comes with unlimited SSD storage, unlimited websites, and unlimited email addresses.

Features:

InMotion’s shared hosting solution is one of the most comprehensive packages on the market today. The cheapest package is one of the only ones which allows companies to host more than one website on the same solution.

There’s a free SSL certificate, 100GB SSD storage, and unlimited bandwidth all thrown in too. All of InMotion’s shared hosting plans come with access to at least 2 websites, 10 email addresses, a full security suite, and a range of marketing tools. You can also access a Google Workspace.

If you want unlimited websites, unlimited SSD storage, and unlimited email addresses, you’ll need at least the second least expensive plan. It’s worth noting that InMotion’s cheapest plan promises 2x faster speed and performance on the lowest plan level, but this increases to 6x “Ultra stack” performance if you upgrade.

At times, the “Power” package, which is the third-cheapest plan from InMotion, is available for the same price as “Launch”, at only $4.99. When this offer is available, you’ll be able to access all the features of Launch, plus 12x Ultrastack speed and advanced caching.

3. DreamHost

Pricing:

DreamHost is currently one of the cheapest hosting providers around, as well as the most popular. The “Shared” hosting plan is available at $1.99 per month if you pay for the monthly plan, which comes with no commitments or contracts, but you’ll have to buy your own domain. If you use the yearly plan, which costs $2.95 per month, you’ll get a domain name included.

While it used to be possible to access hosting for a slightly cheaper price on a 3-year plan, this offer doesn’t seem to be available anymore. The Shared “Starter” plan is the cheapest option, which gives access to a single domain and your free domain name if you choose the annual plan.

You’ll also get one of the world’s only 100% uptime guarantees from DreamHost with all plans – which is unique in providing excellent peace of mind.

Features:

All of the Shared plans from Dreamhost come with a custom control panel, which gives you admin access to all of the DreamHost products, but this isn’t the same as the industry standard cPanel, so it could take some getting used to for some. There’s also a one-click installer for websites like WordPress, and award-winning support from a human team.

The cheapest package comes with SSD storage, although you don’t get any information about exactly how much storage you get. There’s also a WordPress website builder and free SSL certificate included. Although DreamHost provides support for unlimited traffic and unmetered bandwidth, it’s still lacking in some areas.

For instance, if you want to add email to your hosting solution, you’ll need to pay an extra $1.67 per month. Additionally, while the support is great, you don’t get it on a 24/7 basis, which means you could be left without guidance when you need it most.

4. HostGator

Pricing:

Keen to stay one step ahead of the competition, HostGator strives to offer one of the cheapest pricing packages around for those with limited hosting needs. The “shared hosting” packages from HostGator are usually offered at a deal price, with extra money off offered on a regular basis.

Currently, the shared hosting service is available for as little as $2.75 per month. This package comes with support for only a single domain, while the second least expensive package ($3.50 per month) can give you unlimited websites.

The “Hatchling” cheapest package for $2.75 per month is one of three inexpensive shared hosting plans, which come with 1 year of free domain registration at all prices. The most expensive “shared” plan for $5.25 per month has a free dedicated IP and positive SSL upgrade.

Features:

All of the shared hosting packages from HostGator, including the cheapest available product (Hatchling) come with a free year of domain registration. After that, you’ll need to pay for your domain yourself. They also come with one-click WordPress installs, and access to a free HostGator website builder, with free website and domain transfers.

Every shared hosting package from HostGator also includes a 45-day money-back guarantee, unmetered disk space and bandwidth, and a free SSL certificate. You can also unlock $150 Google Ads spend credit, and $100 Microsoft Advertising credit

HostGator is one of the few providers to offer free email and free MySQL transfer and script transfer with all packages too. While you can only host one site on the Hatchling price, you can get an excellent uptime and fantastic customer service as part of the package.

5. Bluehost

Pricing:

Similar to many of the cheapest website hosting providers, Bluehost regularly offers discounts on its shared hosting packages. The cheapest option available at present is the “Basic” shared hosting plan, for $2.95 per month. This package comes with 50GB of website space, and just one domain.

If you want to upgrade to a more flexible package, there are two additional shared hosting plans currently available for the same price. The Plus, and Choice Plus packages are both $5.45 per month. The Choice Plus package, usually $18.99, has a number of additional “extras” compared to the “Plus” package, which is normally $13.99 per month.

With Choice Plus, you get Spam Experts, domain privacy and protection, and CodeGuard basic. With Both “Plus” packages, you’ll have unlimited domains, an SSL certificate, and unmetered space/ bandwidth.

Features:

All of the Bluehost shared hosting packages come with bonus features to make them more appealing. For instance, you’ll have 100MB of email storage at a minimum per account. You can also access a free SSL certificate on every account. However, the cheapest package is quite basic in a lot of ways.

Aside from free domains and brilliant uptime, there’s a premium on quality with this provider. You’ll be capped at 50GB of storage on the Basic plan, so you won’t be able to upload a lot of media. It’s also worth noting you’ll only have access to one website and up to 25 subdomains.

Though the second least expensive package from Bluehost is almost double the price of the Basic plan, it does come with $200 in marketing offers and spam expert support. There are also unlimited domains and websites available, unmetered bandwidth, and website space.

6. GreenGeeks

Pricing:

Initially, the cheapest package available from GreenGeeks is available for a discounted price of just $2.95 per month, but this will quickly increase to $10.95 per month after your offer is older. There are also two other hosting options available.

The “Pro” package is available for $5.95 initially, then $15.95 per month. The “Premium” package is $10.95 initially, followed by $25.95 per month.

With the “Lite” $2.95 package, you’ll be able to host one website and access standard website performance. There’s only 50GB of website space offered here, and 50 email accounts. Upgrading to either of the two more expensive products will give you unlimited websites, better performance, unlimited web space, and unlimited email accounts.

Features:

The biggest selling point of GreenGeeks is its environmentally-friendly approach to hosting. The company offsets its carbon footprint by around 300% through investing in eco-friendly energy sources – which makes it the most sustainable hosting provider.

There’s free site migration for all GreenGeeks customers, which can help you to save a little money too. All shared packages come with at least 50GB of website space, unmetered transfer, a free SSL certificate, and a free domain name for your first year. You also get a free backup for your website and a free CDN.

Users get built-in caching, an unlimited database, and a 30-day money-back guarantee with every package. However, you’ll need to upgrade to a more expensive service if you want access for multiple users, better speed, and unlimited bandwidth.

7. A2 Hosting

Pricing:

The cheapest package available from A2 Hosting is the “Startup” offer for a total of $2.99 per month when you pay for 36 months straight away. This plan is the most basic solution available from A2 Hosting, with support for a single website, and up to 100 GB of SSD storage.

There’s also the “Drive” hosting package for $5.99 per month if you’re willing to upgrade slightly, and still pay for 3 years of hosting. This more expensive package provides access to unlimited websites, unlimited SSD storage, free site migration and free automatic backups. There’s a money-back guarantee with both packages.

As with many shared hosting providers, you’ll be able to save more the longer you’re willing to commit to your hosting package. There’s one additional shared hosting package called “Turbo Boost”, which is available for $6.99 per month for people who want up to 20 times faster performance.

Features:

All shared hosting solutions from A2 hosting come with access to at least 100 GB of SSD storage. However, you’ll need to upgrade beyond the initial first plan if you want unlimited storage. There’s free and easy site migration included with all websites too, and a comprehensive money-back guarantee for peace of mind.

Unfortunately, the cheapest plan from A2 hosting is also one of the most minimalist on the market, offering only support for a single website, and no backups or free domain to speak of. The uptime isn’t ideal either. Plus, you only get a total of 25 email accounts. One bonus is access to SSL certificates on all pricing plans.

While the customer service available from A2 Hosting is excellent, along with the peace of mind of being able to get your money back, the value isn’t as great as it could be.

What Budget-Price Web Hosting Gets You

Notably, while cheap website hosting might be an excellent way to initially make your start online, it’s far from the best solution for most people. Cheap website hosting will usually give you access to one of two kinds of hosting: WordPress, or Shared Hosting.

With Shared Hosting, you’ll be able to run multiple websites on a server alongside your website at the same time. You won’t be able to access anyone’s files, and they won’t be able to see yours, so your site remains secure. However, sharing the space means you all get a bit of a cheaper price.

Unfortunately, while neighbouring sites can’t steal your information, they can consume a lot of resources which mean you end up running your website at less than peak performance. Alternatively, WordPress hosting services allow you to set up and operate a relatively impressive WordPress hosting blog without a lot of fuss.

If you’re trying to build a blog or a portfolio website through WordPress, this can be the cheapest way to get started. You’ll also be able to get easy migration for your website content from most dedicated WordPress hosting provider.

It’s important to remember cheap hosting solutions are extremely limited in what they can realistically offer. You won’t be able to get anything close to the kind of functionality, speed, and security you get from other, more expensive packages. Many web hosts have several tiers of service available, and the introductory and starter plans are generally intended to give you a taste of what you can expect, rather than offer a long-term solution for hosting.

When you’re shopping for your cheap hosting provider, make sure you always check the fine print on the various products available. Some hosting solutions only offer a very cheap price for a short space of time, which means you’ll be automatically moved onto a more expensive price after your introductory period runs out.

There are also cheap hosting plans which require you to pay for other essentials separately, like the cost for your email accounts, or the price of your website domain.

Cheap Web Hosting FAQ

Choosing A Cheap Web Hosting Provider

A cheap web hosting solution is generally only a temporary solution to any hosting problem. You may be limited to very low bandwidth and storage options if you stick with a cheap hosting provider, and generally won’t be able to access the same range of features.

However, if you want a quick way to get a simple website online, there are a number of cheap web hosting options available.