Featured Partners
1
Bluehost
$1 per month
Yes
Yes
2
IONOS
$1 per month
Yes
Yes
3
Wix
$17 per month
Yes
Yes
Compare the Best Shared Hosting Providers of 2025
Best Shared Hosting Providers of 2025
ScalaHosting
Best for Service and Support
ScalaHosting
Monthly Price Range
$11.95 to $424.95
Storage
10 GB to 2 TB
Support
24/7 live chat, ticketing and email
$11.95 to $424.95
10 GB to 2 TB
24/7 live chat, ticketing and email
ScalaHosting is geared toward small agencies needing to offer hosting to their clients. However, it is user-friendly, packed with features and backed by one of the best tech support teams I’ve ever worked with, making it a great option for small business owners (SMBs) looking for a permanent hosting home. For example, the customer dashboard is simple, and while Scala offers cPanel on most plans, its SPanel will be far more friendly to beginners and DIYers. In addition to shared hosting, ScalaHosting offers managed cloud VPS and custom cluster hosting so you can scale as needed on your way to world domination, er, growing your company to enterprise-level, I mean.
ScalaHosting walks you through setting up a new WordPress website.
Within shared hosting plans, prices are around average, as other hosts have raised prices throughout 2024 and 2025, while Scala pricing has stayed more stable. Plus, Scala has an anytime money-back guarantee. If at any time during your plan you decide to change hosts, Scala will refund the unused portion of your plan that was prepaid, so you never have to worry about the risk of paying for a year or more upfront for the best discounts.
Learn more: Read our full ScalaHosting review.
- WordPress includes Spectra Website Builder
- CloudFlare CDN included (requires manual connection)
- Email included in most plans
- IP blacklist monitoring only available on most expensive plan
- Limited TLDs supported if buying a new domain
- OpenLiteSpeed Caching only available on most expensive plan
Kinsta
Best for WordPress
Kinsta
Monthly Price Range
$35 to $675 and custom options
Storage
10 GB to 2.5 TB plus custom options
Support
Live chat only
$35 to $675 and custom options
10 GB to 2.5 TB plus custom options
Live chat only
Rather than offering a wide range of hosting types, Kinsta focuses on doing one thing extremely well: managed WordPress hosting. Beyond shared hosting, it also offers free Git sites (earning it a spot on our best cheap web hosting list), cluster hosting and supports managed WordPress hosting needs up to an enterprise level. The technical support is outstanding, security is top-notch and Kinsta offers customers a solid core control set plus add-ons for deeper controls if you need them (although that gets pricey fast).
Kinsta breaks down the steps of installing WordPress so it’s easy for every experience level.
Kinsta focuses on not only speed but security and compliance, with SOC2 Type II (a Service Organization Control audit), ISO 27001 and GDPR and California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) compliance. While pricing is higher than other hosts, you’re paying for white-glove service, highly competent technical support and assistance, extra security features, speed and flexibility in configuring your hosting to meet your needs. There are no cookie-cutter one-size-fits-all boxes with Kinsta.
- Strong security features
- First month free offer on most plans
- Includes Edge Caching
- More expensive than most shared hosts
- Lots of add-ons can raise costs quickly
- Shared plans only support WordPress
Hostinger
Best for Long-Term Discounts
Hostinger
Monthly Price Range
$11.99 plus $4.99 setup fee to $27.99
Storage
25 GB to 100 GB
Support
24/7 chat
$11.99 plus $4.99 setup fee to $27.99
25 GB to 100 GB
24/7 chat
Megahosts generally aren’t my favorites, but Hostinger manages to win me over and frequently lands a spot on my best web hosting lists. Its custom hPanel dashboard makes navigation easy for beginners, pricing is reasonable (even more so if you can afford a four-year lump payment upfront) and the included AI-powered website builder is one of the better ones I’ve found.
Hostinger shared plans offer multiple website types on one plan, including website builder sites.
That said, do keep in mind that as a megahost, you won’t get a lot of personal attention and customer service may be spotty. However, its chatbot, Kodee, answers most self-help questions more efficiently than many support teams I’ve dealt with across multiple hosting providers.
I also like that multiple websites are included on shared plans and that Hostinger also offers cloud and VPS hosting for scalability as your business needs increase.
Learn more: Read our full Hostinger review.
- Free trial for website builder
- 50 to 100 websites available on one plan
- Managed WordPress hosting
- Server response times can be slow on some plans
- Live tech support isn’t always effective
- $4.99 setup fee for monthly billing on some plans
CloudAccess.net
Best for Joomla
CloudAccess.net
Monthly Price Range
Free to $10.00
Storage
20 GB
Support
24/7 phone, chat and support ticket for paid plans
Free to $10.00
20 GB
24/7 phone, chat and support ticket for paid plans
One of my top picks for best free web hosting, CloudAccess.net focuses heavily on WordPress and Joomla websites. You’ve probably never heard of them, as it’s a small host with only about 20,000 customers, but it’s the power behind some well-known companies such as Barnes and Noble, Chuck E. Cheese and the University of Notre Dame.
I like the individual attention and extra guided help for tasks such as setting up email that smaller hosts can provide. It adds even more value to the managed shared hosting and makes it a great option for beginners and small companies that need more attention than megahosts can offer. Plus, the simplified pricing structure is affordable and custom development is possible as your needs grow.
CloudAccess.net offers a free plan that’s easily upgradeable to paid features so you can try before you buy.
I’m also a big fan of the option to upgrade CPUs and RAM. That’s a rarity in shared hosting, and it gives smaller companies a great way to scale without jumping to more complex hosting methods. CloudAccess.net also uses a custom control panel dubbed Cloud Control Panel, built to handle Joomla and WordPress. Personally, I find it a very intuitive and uncluttered interface.
- CDN included
- Free plan option for WordPress and Joomla
- Development services available (additional cost)
- Limited hosting types
- Email costs extra
- Free plans must be renewed every 30 days
DreamHost
Best for Uptime
DreamHost
Monthly Price Range
$10.99 to $89.99
Storage
50 GB to unlimited
Support
Live chat and ticketing with option for phone callback support at additional cost
$10.99 to $89.99
50 GB to unlimited
Live chat and ticketing with option for phone callback support at additional cost
One of the megahosts, DreamHost focuses strongly on basic shared hosting and managed WordPress shared hosting. A Forbes Advisor best hosting for small business and best domain name registrar pick, it offers entry-level shared hosting that is a decent way to dip your toes into hosting, but the unlimited plan is only $6 more per month and drastically increases your server resources and hosting features. Likewise, the managed DreamPress WordPress plans, although more expensive, offer far more features and services (such as white-glove migration).
I don’t like the no-included-backups nature of DreamHost’s basic shared plans (managed WordPress shared hosting includes backups), but it takes a novel approach to balancing the risk with Failover protection. That is, DreamHost keeps an updated copy of your website and automatically switches to that copy if something goes wrong with the primary. Still, I’d strongly recommend creating manual backups if you can.
DreamHost offers many services, including domain registration, and every dashboard seems to be filled with ads for extra services.
Overall, it’s a solid pick, especially for managed WordPress without annual contracts. Plus, DreamHost has had 100% uptime and its server response times are on the better side of average for shared hosting, with an average of 426ms for the 12 months ending June 2025, according to Pingdom.
Learn more: Read our full DreamHost review.
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Unlimited traffic
- Migration help costs $199 without a DreamPress plan
- No included backups on some plans
- Priced on the high side of average
- Phone support costs extra on most plans
Hosting.com
Best for Server Response Speed
Hosting.com
Monthly Price Range
$13.99 to $61.99
Storage
15 GB to 100 GB
Support
Ticket, live chat and phone
$13.99 to $61.99
15 GB to 100 GB
Ticket, live chat and phone
Formerly A2, Hosting.com is a rebrand following A2’s acquisition by World Host Group, a hosting group that has been on an acquisition spree the last few years, buying up hosts around the globe, such as MochaHost, Wingu and LuxHost since 2019. In testing, I found the current dashboard and WordPress installation to go smoothly, and finding the nameservers to connect a domain name was straightforward. Website control is through a standard cPanel control panel with no surprises. I also like that the SiteJet builder for WordPress is included, making it easier for beginners to get started. Plus, there is an option for managed hosting for those who need more support.
Hosting.com’s main dashboard is well organized and easy to navigate.
However, while setting up new accounts appears to go smoothly (other than getting a push to buy email when email through cPanel is already included), I’ve been told many horror stories of things going wrong while A2 was transitioning into being Hosting.com with regards to new plan and feature setups. In a similar vein, my customer service experiences with the new Hosting.com setup were slow as molasses, as the saying goes.
Learn more: Read our full Hosting.com review.
- Managed and unmanaged plans available
- Includes email through cPanel
- Includes SiteJet website builder for WordPress
- Slow customer service
- Limited server locations
- No included CDN
AccuWebHosting
Best for Getting Online Cheap
AccuWebHosting
Monthly Price Range
$1.99 to $10.99
Storage
10 GB to 100 GB
Support
Chat and ticketing
$1.99 to $10.99
10 GB to 100 GB
Chat and ticketing
AccuWebHosting is another larger host that offers more than just shared hosting, so there is plenty of room to grow with your company. While I’m a fan of managed hosting for SMBs due to the added tech support, I do appreciate that AccuWebHosting offers a bargain-basement-price unmanaged shared hosting plan to help companies on shoestring budgets get online for less than the price of a gallon of gas. There’s also a one-year free WordPress hosting option.
Like many hosts, AccuWebHosting includes SiteJet website builder to make WordPress easier for beginners.
AccuWebHosting uses cPanel for its Linux shared hosting, so while not always beginner-friendly, it is as close as it gets to industry standard and makes migrations to or from other hosts much easier. Most of the shared hosting plans also include SiteJet website builder as well, so if you aren’t ready for WordPress, you can get started building quickly. While not my overall favorite builder, I am fond of the option to adjust mobile and table previews for specific tablets and smartphones, so your mobile optimization and design is always spot on. All that said, there is often lag in managing your site and account with Cloudflare security verifications frequently appearing between screens.
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Managed hosting on most shared plans
- Can lock in new user prices for 36 months
- CDN not included on all plans
- Budget plan only includes basic support, not managed hosting
- Sometimes slow provisioning
IONOS
Best for Rapidly Scaling Businesses
IONOS
Monthly Price Range
$8.00 to $92.00
(billed annually)
Storage
10 GB to unlimited items and products
(10 GB each item/product)
Support
Phone, chat and email
$8.00 to $92.00
(billed annually)
10 GB to unlimited items and products
(10 GB each item/product)
Phone, chat and email
While IONOS tends to be more popular for more advanced hosting, such as VPS, dedicated servers and cloud hosting, the shared hosting plans are nothing to sneeze at. IONOS offers both traditional shared hosting and website builder shared hosting plans. That, along with the ability to scale up with other hosting types, makes it a good option if you expect to grow quickly.
IONOS has fairly simple controls, including wildcard SSL setup.
I’m particularly fond of the click-and-build installation method for apps such as WordPress instead of Softaculous (which I admittedly hate for its consistently inconsistent installation errors across hosts). There are theoretically more steps in the process, but IONOS has an illustrated walkthrough for those new to the system.
Learn more: Read our full IONOS review.
- E-commerce plans available for the website builder
- Dedicated, VPS and cloud hosting options available for scaling
- Phone support available
- Phone support sometimes has long wait times with inconsistent quality of assistance
- Average 2024 server response times of 483 ms according to Pingdom
- Can get pricey after initial discounts run out
iFastNet
Best for Low-Cost Annual Plans
iFastNet
Monthly Price Range
$29.99 to $85.22
(annual billing only)
Storage
10 GB to unlimited
Support
Ticket only
$29.99 to $85.22
(annual billing only)
10 GB to unlimited
Ticket only
The parent company of one of our best free web hosting picks, InfinityFree, iFastnet focuses on cPanel shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS and dedicated servers. The interface feels very old-school to me, with most everything accessed via a nicely organized cPanel (including client area links), but the initial setup might take a little help from support for beginners. However, although support is by ticket only, every time I’ve talked to them the team has responded quickly and gone above and beyond to ensure everything is working. If you are mostly confident in managing your hosting but are looking for personalized support, iFastNet is a great option to consider.
iFastNet uses cPanel with well-organized links to the client area and website controls.
For small resellers and tech-heads, it’s right up your alley, and plenty of domains are supported on most plans. Emails, metrics, hotlink and leech protections, plus transparent details on server settings are all great inclusions that some of the big hosts skimp on. My biggest gripe with iFastNet is that much of the feature information and pricing is outdated on several pages, so it doesn’t always match what is shown in checkout.
- Supports many regional payment methods
- Includes SiteJet builder for WordPress
- Low-priced, even without initial new customer discounts
- No monthly billing, annual billing only
- Limited traffic/bandwidth
- Support by ticket only
SiteGround
Best for New User Discounts
SiteGround
Monthly Price Range
$24.99 to $49.99
Storage
10 GB to 40 GB
Support
24/7 chat, phone and ticketing
$24.99 to $49.99
10 GB to 40 GB
24/7 chat, phone and ticketing
SiteGround has great low-cost new user rates for the first year, making it an affordable option for SMBs on a tight budget. Standard rates are a bit on the higher side for what you get after that first offer, though. It’s also added an AI-powered website builder with a free trial that works with all of the shared hosting plans.
However, support has slipped in the last few years. I’ve had several sites with SiteGround over the years, and before Covid, the tech team reached via ticketing was top-notch. They quickly unraveled a messy migration where the person I bought the site from had thrown all their multiple website files into one folder on GoDaddy. Unfortunately, the last few times I’ve needed to deal with SiteGround, the quality of ticketed tech support is more like their notoriously horrible live chat support.
Several SiteGround plans include SSL and CDN.
Still, if you are looking at the shared hosting plans to resell (SiteGround is one of our best reseller hosting picks) or are confident in your tech skills, it’s a bit of a different story. With better-than-average server response times for shared hosting, a web application firewall, caching included, unlimited websites on some plans and free email, there is plenty to like about SiteGround’s shared hosting.
Learn more: Read our full SiteGround review.
- Unlimited websites on some plans
- CDN included
- Low price for first year
- Lots of upsells for features other hosts don’t charge for
- Potentially frustrating migration experience for beginners
- Problematic tech support
Methodology
Our data-driven best lists start with expert evaluation of the top players in the industry and are developed only after deep dives into features, pricing, consumer experiences and testing to ensure we work with the most accurate view possible of each provider.
| Decision Factor | Scoring Weight | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Hosting Types | 3% | We look at not only whether shared hosting is available, but managed vs. unmanaged choices and if advanced hosting plans are available to accommodate scaling as companies grow. |
| Value | 12.50% | Pricing, introductory offers, money-back guarantees and free trials are just a few of the items looked at to determine if shared hosting providers fit within an SMB budget. |
| Server Resources | 8% | Since shared hosting divides server resources, we look at how much each plan is allocated for items such as storage and bandwidth, along with items like total allocation across a server. |
| Performance | 12.50% | We look at the tools in place to help your website perform well and deliver content quickly, such as CDNs, uptime and analytics to track performance. |
| Core Features | 4% | Core features such as business email, a website builder and custom domain names are just part of the core features SMBs expect from hosting plans. |
| Security | 12% | Keeping your website safe from hackers and your host’s defenses to protect the servers themselves are considered in this category, with features such as DDoS protections, on-demand backup and recovery, firewalls and SSL certificates. |
| Customer Service and Technical Support | 8% | Strong technical and customer support are vital to give you time to focus on your business instead of chasing glitches. |
| Consumer Sentiment Index | 20% | We collected and analyzed thousands of customer experiences about our top picks from real-world customers just like you to find the good and the bad about working with each company on our list. |
| Expert Testing | 20% | We put every provider through testing to see what lives up to the marketing hype and what falls flat. |
How To Choose the Best Shared Web Hosting Provider
Choosing the best shared web hosting provider for you or your business starts with knowing how much you can handle yourself. The more help you get from your host, such as with managed hosting, the more expensive the plans are likely to be. Likewise, you’ll identify the features most important to you, such as security, uptime and plan limits. Regardless of your top needs list, be sure to find a provider with top-notch support for the best experience.
Essential Shared Web Hosting Features
Key features for shared web hosting include resources, such as storage, the platforms supported, reliable uptime, speed of data delivery, security and support. You’ll also want to check into scaling options as your business grows.
- Resources and plan limits. Storage, bandwidth, PHP workers, number of allowed subdomains, number of allowed websites, number of databases, user limits and cache management are just some of the resources and plan limits to consider. How much you need in each category will vary by your website needs, but the important thing is that you can easily get access to that information, as some hosts will not provide the basic but important details of what plans include.
- Website platform(s). You’ll need to know what platforms are compatible with the hosting plans. Some providers, like Kinsta, only work with WordPress. Others, like Hostinger, include a proprietary website builder, work with WordPress and offer a choice of other platforms like Joomla or straight HTML.
- Uptime. Even 99.9% uptime means your site is down over 43 minutes per month. If that happens during peak hours, it can be costly. Most reputable hosting providers have great uptime records, but checking the uptime history for a year or more on the host’s status page is recommended before committing.
- Server response speed. It’s more than just making visitors happy with faster loading websites; how fast your host’s servers respond to queries affects SEO. Google prefers response times of less than 200ms.
- Support. Even if you are a master at managing web hosting, you don’t have access to many of the server-side controls with shared hosting, and you absolutely have no access to the hardware. Quality support is a must to minimize issues when things go wrong.
- Security. Shared hosting security is threefold. One is the server security that the host manages. Two is your website security, which includes hosting security tools and your offline security practices. Three is the security of everyone else you share the server with. Look for hosts that provide strong security on the server and give you tools to protect your individual website, along with meeting regulatory and compliance requirements.
For all-around feature-rich plans with good security and support, ScalaHosting and Kinsta stand out.
Value
There’s an old saying that you can have a product in any combination of two items: fast, cheap and high quality. That’s often true in hosting; the cheapest is rarely both fast and high quality. Website hosting costs can come with sticker-shock, and while many shared hosting providers offer deep first contract discounts, it’s often best to compare continuing costs after that initial period to get a clearer view of cost compared to quality and speed.
Shared web hosting can be a good low-cost way for a small business to set up shop for the first time on the web. You don’t need a lot of technical know-how, and just about everything of importance will be handled for you, particularly if you can spend a little more for managed hosting. Note that not spending a lot should not also mean you won’t have good support, and as a beginner, you’ll certainly want a hosting provider with a good reputation for customer service.
— Guy Paquette, owner and founder at Guydeate LLC, a web design and development company
It may be that you only need a service for a temporary test build or for a non-sensitive site without deep security needs, so that price is your number one concern. Conversely, if you need HIPAA compliance or PCI-DSS certified hosting for e-commerce, the value comes more from those features than cost.
ScalaHosting and Kinsta stand out for value, although low-cost iFastNet and CloudAccess.net also offer a lot of value when compared to other low-cost providers.
Scalability
Shared hosting doesn’t generally offer automatic scaling with traffic spikes like the best cloud hosting plans, or some of the top VPS hosting plans do in some cases. However, the ability to upgrade plans quickly is a must for a business website hosting provider. Likewise, it’s a good idea to look ahead at the other types of hosting a provider offers.
One thing I’ve seen over and over again is businesses choosing a host that works for today, but not tomorrow. When traffic spikes or the company grows, their hosting can’t keep up, and suddenly they’re scrambling. Your hosting platform should allow you to scale without downtime or major migrations. That means having the ability to move from shared hosting to VPS or cloud when needed. If your business plan includes growth, your infrastructure needs to support it without introducing risk or delay.
— Trevor Horwitz, CISO and founder at TrustNet, a cybersecurity and compliance company
If the provider only offers shared hosting, you may outgrow the shared plans and need to migrate to another provider later on. If you are using WordPress or another commonly supported website platform, migrating is generally simple. However, if you use a website builder, you may be faced with needing to completely rebuild your website in order to change hosts.
IONOS, ScalaHosting and AccuWebHosting all offer advanced hosting types to support your growing business.
Security
Since you are sharing space on a single server with other customers, their vulnerabilities become yours. That means your hard work at good security hygiene and training your employees could be defeated by a random server neighbor you’ve never heard of. With e-crime breakout times (time from breach to spread in a system) dropping to an average of 48 minutes and the fastest recorded time at a staggeringly fast 51 seconds, according to CrowdStrike’s 2025 threat report, strong security from your host on the server side is vital.
When it comes to security in web hosting, I typically divide it into two categories: infrastructure security and application/data security. Infrastructure security is primarily the responsibility of the web hosting provider. Depending on the type of hosting plan you choose, the platform may handle essential security functions such as host-level patching, mitigation of denial-of-service (DoS) attacks and protection against bot-driven data scraping.
On the other hand, application and data security is largely the responsibility of the website owner. Since you control the application layer and are collecting and storing sensitive information (like SSNs, passwords or payment data), you’re responsible for securing it; this includes practices such as salting and hashing passwords, implementing input validation and preventing data exfiltration or leakage.
— Siri Varma Vegiraju, security tech lead at Microsoft
In addition, look for tools that can make you the least attractive target on the server when properly implemented. Firewalls, automated backups, user access controls, included SSLs (or the ability to connect an external SSL), malware scanning and DDoS protections are basic security measures all hosts should offer.
For security, Kinsta stands out, with many proactive measures and customizable security options.
Reliability
Speed and uptime matter. Slow websites drive customers away, and if your website is down, it affects not only sales but also damages your reputation and costs you time in dealing with the issue. Some estimates put downtime at $9,000 per minute for larger companies. Part of finding a reliable host is one that provides a great track record of uptime, cybersecurity tools, proactive updates, backups with disaster recovery plans and outstanding tech support for when things go wrong.
Beyond the standard uptime promises, check what infrastructure they actually use since multiple data centers, redundant systems and SSD storage make real differences in performance. Of course, response time matters more than uptime percentage since a site that’s technically “up” but takes 10 seconds to load is useless for business.
— Burak Özdemir, founder at Online Alarm Kur
Providers I’ve seen stand out in reliability overall include ScalaHosting and Kinsta, with Hostinger and CloudAccess.net close behind.
Featured Partners
1
Bluehost
$1 per month
Yes
Yes
2
IONOS
$1 per month
Yes
Yes
3
Wix
$17 per month
Yes
Yes
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is managed hosting?
Managed hosting is a service added to hosting plans where the host handles tasks such as security monitoring and patches, software updates and server configuration. While server management is included, managed hosting is different from server management. Server management is just the host-side server tasks, and not tasks for your hosting plan or website individually.
What is the best e-commerce platform?
The best e-commerce platform varies by your needs, but strong options include integration-heavy Shopify, scalable BigCommerce and beginner-friendly Squarespace.
What is the best website builder?
The best website builders cover many use cases. Some of the top picks include streamlined AI builders such as Hostinger, Amazon AWS cloud hosting-supported Duda and e-commerce-centric Square Online.
