Best Blog Hosting Providers for Your Business This Year

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Looking for the best place to start your business blog? There are so many web hosting providers out there that it can be challenging to figure out which one to choose. You want something that works well, is easy to use, keeps your data safe, and has support ready to help when needed.

Our top choice HostGator ticks these boxes, with its easy to use control panel and quick setup for WordPress making it ideal for bloggers. And HostGator got a huge score from us – 4.9 out of 5!

But HostGator won’t be the top choice for everyone. That’s why we’ve picked the top six, to help you find the best pick for your blog.

Best 6 Blog Hosting Providers

  1. HostGator Best Overall Provider for Blogging Sites
  2. DreamHost Best for Ease of Use
  3. IONOS Best for Site Speed and Uptime
  4. Bluehost Best for WordPress Blogs
  5. Hostinger Best for Affordable and User-Friendly Interface
  6. InMotion Best for Business Blogs

1 - HostGator

Best Overall Provider for Blogging Sites

HostGator is a popular web hosting provider offering various solutions – its combination of affordable prices with plenty of hosting types makes it a scalable choice for growing your blog. It hosts over 2.5 million websites worldwide and is recognized as a reliable provider with scalability and expert support.

HostGator Pros and Cons

✔️ What We Liked:

  • Easy to use, beginner-friendly
  • Free website migration (within 30 days)
  • Free SSL certificates for all plans
  • 45-day money-back guarantee

What We Didn’t Like:

  • Upselling of additional features during signup
  • Limited advanced features on some plans
  • Occasional delays in customer service response
  • 99.9% uptime guarantee; recent metrics show slight dips

Who Should Choose HostGator?

Recommended For Not Recommended For
Budget-conscious beginners Large enterprises that need advanced features
Small-to-medium business blogs High-traffic ecommerce sites with commercial blogs
Personal bloggers Users who highly customized hosting environments
HostGator cPanel WordPress and other blogs
If you go through HostGator's cPanel, you can find WordPress installation, as well other blogging platforms. Source: WebsiteBuilderExpert

HostGator Plans and Pricing

  • Shared Hosting: Start at $2.52 per month.
  • WordPress Hosting: Start at $3.05 per month.
  • VPS Hosting: Start at $36.99 per month.
  • Dedicated Hosting: Start at $91.98 per month.

Which Plan Is Good Value for Money?

Choosing the best plan for your money really comes down to what you need – for example, will you be featuring a lot of images and videos on your blog, or selling through your posts?

One of HostGator’s cheap shared hosting plans is your best bet if you’re just starting out and your blog isn’t too big. Its cheapest option, the Hatchling plan, costs just $2.52 per month if you choose a 36-month subscription, which is paid upfront.

Just know that most hosting providers – HostGator included – offer discounts for new users, so the price you sign up with won’t be the same forever. For example, after 36 months on the Hatchling plan, your plan will renew at the regular rate of $9.99 per month.

If you’re working on something bigger that needs more resources, then we recommend  looking at VPS or dedicated hosting plans, since they come with more storage and reliable resources.

Explore our full HostGator pricing review for a detailed breakdown of plans and pricing.

HostGator Performance and Scalability

HostGator makes sure you get the best performance with lots of hosting choices to fit different needs. If you’re just starting, its shared hosting plans give you a simple way to publish content online, letting you set up with just one click and offering unlimited traffic.

For WordPress users, HostGator speeds up your site with special caching and a CDN. If you’re running a large blog, its VPS hosting plans can handle it, offering up to 8GB of RAM and up to 240GB of SSD storage.

Although most blogs won’t need such advanced features, if your blog is commercial or extremely large then you should check out HostGator’s dedicated hosting. It provides greater security than cheaper types of hosting, and is scalable with up to 1TB SSD storage, allowing you to feature more heavy media files on your blog pages.

Graph showing the average uptime of HostGator after six tests
Our testing found that HostGator has an average uptime of 99.1% as opposed to its advertised 99.9%. Source: Website Builder Expert

HostGator Compatibility and Support

HostGator offers help 24/7 through live chat, phone, email, and social media, even on its cheapest shared hosting plans. It ensures your website runs smoothly by supporting the latest PHP versions and other important software.

WordPress is already set up for you if you opt for one of HostGator’s WordPress-specific hosting plans, which we recommend if you’re planning to blog using the CMS. HostGator’s WordPress plans include Cloudflare CDN, which makes your website load faster.

HostGator Security and Reliability

HostGator provides strong security with all its hosting plans to keep websites and customer info safe. Every website it hosts gets a free SSL certificate. It also works with SiteLock to stop malware, uses CodeGuard to help you backup and restore your site, and has special firewalls and systems to protect against DDoS attacks.

Even with all this security, remember that shared hosting (where many websites use the same server) might sometimes run slower because everyone shares the same resources. This can also make it more prone to security breaches, so if security is important for your blog, we recommend choosing VPS hosting instead.

Refer to our full HostGator review for an in-depth analysis of its features, performance, and security.

2 - DreamHost

Best for Ease of Use

DreamHost comes with a recommendation from WordPress itself, making it an ideal choice for bloggers looking to host their WordPress blog. With free automated WordPress migrations, we also recommend DreamHost if you’re already hosting your WordPress blog on a host, and want to switch.

DreamHost Pros and Cons

✔️ What We Liked:

  • Easy-to-use control panel
  • Offers a one-click installer for WordPress and other CMS
  • 30-day money-back guarantee
  • Offers unlimited disk space for data storage in emails and websites​​

What We Didn’t Like:

  • Charges for site migrations
  • Additional features may require extra fees
  • Audiences outside the US​ may experience slower speeds

Who Should Choose DreamHost?

Recommended For Not Recommended For
Smaller websites, such as personal blogs or local business pages
Websites targeting audiences outside the US due to US-only data centers
Beginners or those looking for an easy-to-use website builder
Users who are accustomed to or prefer cPanel

WordPress users, due to one-click installation and specific plans
Larger sites might outgrow the "unlimited" hosting plans

DreamHost WordPress page
DreamHost has no in-built blogging system, but does inlcude an internal guide to installing WordPress for blogging. Source: WebsiteBuilderExpert

DreamHost Plans and Pricing

  • Shared Hosting: Start at $2.59 per month.
  • DreamPress (Managed WordPress): Start at $16.95 per month.
  • Cloud Hosting: Start at $4.99 per month.
  • VPS Hosting: Start at $13.75 per month.
  • Dedicated Hosting: Start at $149.95 per month.

Which Plan Is Good Value for Money?

If you’re a new WordPress blog we recommend the WordPress Starter plan, which costs $2.59 per month on a 36-month contract, and renews at $5.99 per month.

The more advanced DreamPress plans are perfect for serious WordPress bloggers – if you’re running a business blog, for example. This is because it can handle more traffic, with the cheapest $16.95 per month plan supporting up to 100,000 monthly visitors.

DreamHost Performance and Scalability

DreamHost’s DreamPress plan uses two VPS (virtual private servers) to make things quicker – one server is all about making the website look good and work fast for visitors, and the other server handles databases with MySQL. This setup makes websites run faster, more than five times quicker than regular shared hosting.

DreamHost’s VPS hosting is the way to go for scalability and flexibility. It’s packed with premium features like load balancers and firewalls, plus it’s powered by high-quality Intel CPUs to keep things running smoothly. These VPS plans let you adjust the amount of RAM and storage as you grow, making sure you’ve got the space and speed you need.

Graph showing the average uptime of DreamHost after six tests
DreamHost had an average uptime of 99.3% following our six tests. Source: Website Builder Expert

DreamHost Compatibility and Support

DreamHost supports a variety of technologies like FTP, SFTP, SSH, Git, and more, and you can use different programming languages and scripts, including CGI, PHP, Perl, Python, and Ruby. It also supports various server types like Linux, MySQL, and others.

DreamHost is an officially recommended host by WordPress, offering specific hosting plans like DreamPress that make your site run smoother.

Just a heads up, though, DreamHost’s customer support isn’t around the clock; live chat is only from 5am to 10pm PST every day, and there’s no free call support if you’re on a shared hosting plan.

DreamHost Security and Reliability

DreamHost’s safety group, Nightmare Labs, makes sure hosting is secure. DreamHost has tools like Malware Remover to find and fix malware on websites, free Let’s Encrypt SSL/TLS certificates to keep web traffic safe, and mod_security, a well-known firewall for Apache with special rules. It also uses lua-resty-waf for nginx, which helps protect against web application threats very well.

For extra safety when logging in, DreamHost uses Multi-Factor Authentication. This makes it harder for unwanted access to user accounts.

Find Out More

3 - IONOS

Best for Site Speed and Uptime

IONOS, which used to be called 1&1, is a top choice for web hosting and cloud services, especially for small and medium business bogs thanks to its high uptime guarantees and fast loading times.

IONOS Pros and Cons

✔️ What We Liked:

  • 99.95% uptime guarantee and data replicated across 10 data centers
  • 1-year free domain, SSL certificate, and professional email account
  • Personalized customer service

What We Didn’t Like:

  • VPS Hosting has fewer CPU cores and RAM than Hostinger
  • WordPress hosting plans are not as competitive as Bluehost and DreamHost
  • Custom control panel is not user-friendly, especially for beginners
  • Pricing can be confusing

Who Should Choose IONOS?

Recommended For Not Recommended For
Small to medium-sized blogs
Beginners needing an easy-to-use control panel
Blogs needing strong uptime
Those who prioritize top-notch customer support
Businesses on a budget
Users looking for powerful VPS hosting
IONOS WordPress installation options
With IONOS, I was given three options for adding a WordPress blog. Be careful however, as IONOS does include optional add-ons when you pick. Source: WebsiteBuilderExpert

IONOS Plans and Pricing

  • Essential Plan: $5/month initially, then $6/month
  • Starter Plan: $7/month initially, then $8/month
  • Plus Plan: $1/month initially, then $12/month
  • Ultimate Plan: $10/month initially, then $16/month

Which Plan Is Good Value for Money?

IONOS has different hosting plans to fit what you need, from shared hosting to your own dedicated servers. If you’re looking for a great deal, its shared hosting Business plan is a crowd favorite for only $1 monthly.

It’s perfect for standard websites, letting you run unlimited websites with endless storage and as many databases as you want, which is pretty cool for most users. Just keep in mind that once the first deal period is over, the cost of the Business plan jumps to $10 a month.

IONOS Performance and Scalability

IONOS makes sure your website runs fast and can handle more visitors as it grows. It guarantees your site will be up 99.9% of the time. It does this by spreading your site’s data across several data centers, so even if one has issues, your site doesn’t go down.

If you need to upgrade because you’re getting more traffic, IONOS has many different plans you can switch to for more power. However, while its shared and dedicated plans have awesome perks like a CDN (which makes your site load quicker) and daily backups to keep your site safe, the VPS and cloud hosting plans might not include a free domain name.

Graph showing the average uptime of IONOS after six tests
IONOS has one of the strongest average uptimes from our testing (99.69%). Source: Website Builder Expert

IONOS Compatibility and Support

IONOS has your back with every plan, giving you 24/7 support and a pro email. Plus, you get daily backups and a free SSL certificate to keep your site safe.

Just a heads up, IONOS uses its own control panel, which might feel a bit different if you’re used to cPanel. And if you’re thinking about its cheapest VPS plans, remember it might not have as much power or memory, which could slow your site down.

IONOS Security and Reliability

IONOS works hard to keep its hosting services safe and reliable. It has lots of security steps in place, like blocking abusive login attempts and using two-factor authentication.

It also sticks to strict rules, like the GDPR, to keep your data safe. Its cloud services even got a special C5 certification from the German Federal Office for Information Security, proving it really secure.

Discover everything in our comprehensive IONOS Hosting Review.

4 - Bluehost

Best for WordPress Blogs

Bluehost is one of the few hosting companies WordPress.org recommends, showing it’s a solid choice for hosting WordPress sites. It offers various hosting services like shared, WordPress, VPS, dedicated, and WooCommerce hosting. Buehost has recently partnered with its sister company iPage, to provide a wider range of services to new customers.

Bluehost Pros and Cons

✔️ What We Liked:

  • Free domains, SSL certificates, SSD storage, and free CDN
  • Auto WordPress installs and modern cPanel
  • Average response time of 300 ms and a 99.9% uptime guarantee
  • Offers WordPress Academy to help you start and grow your WordPress websites

What We Didn’t Like:

  • Initial low cost is for the promotional period only
  • Only offers free migrations for WordPress sites
  • Add-ons like automatic backups and security features may incur extra costs after the first year

Who Should Choose Bluehost?

Recommended For Not Recommended For
Beginners looking for ease of use
Those looking for the cheapest hosting
WordPress blog owners
Users needing advanced developer tools
Small to medium-sized businesses
Sites with highly variable traffic
Bluehost cPanel template choice
I saw a number of templates available for Bluehost in the cPanel. They ranged from creative to ecommerce, and personally found them well-designed. Source: WebsiteBuilderExpert

Bluehost Plans and Pricing

  • WordPress Hosting: Starting at $1.99/month
  • Shared Hosting: Starting at $1.99/month
  • VPS Hosting: Starting at $31.99/month
  • Dedicated Hosting: Starting at $91.98/month

Which Plan Is Good Value for Money?

We recommend one of Bluehost’s WordPress plans, which start at just $1.99 per month when you choose a 12-month subscription plan. If you choose the $3.49 per month Choice Plus plan, you get a good mix of what you need at an affordable price, including free domain privacy and daily backups. Just remember, this plan will renew at a higher rate after the initial 12 month period is over, at the regular rate of $8.99 per month.

Do you want to know more about Bluehost’s pricing, including plan details and hidden costs? We reveal all in our full Bluehost Pricing Review

Bluehost Performance and Scalability

Bluehost rocks when it comes to speed, with load times at about 1.1 seconds and response times of around 140 ms. That means it’s both quick and dependable.

It has many plans that can fit whatever you’re willing to spend and whatever size your project is, like shared hosting, VPS, dedicated servers, cloud hosting, WooCommerce hosting, and managed WordPress hosting. Plus, it gives you a 30-day money-back guarantee on everything.

Graph showing Bluehost's uptime performance over six tests
Our uptime tests resulted in a slightly lower average uptime (99.18%) than Bluehost's advertised 99.98%. Source: Website Builder Expert

Bluehost Compatibility and Support

Bluehost is super reliable, boasting a 99.98% uptime, which means your site is almost always up and running. In terms of compatibility, we strongly recommend Bluehost for WordPress users. It has tailored features such as coming with WordPress pre-installed, custom themes, and automatic updates, to keep you WordPress blog running smoothly.

The level of support you receive varies depending on your plan – the Basic plan only provides chat support, while the Choice Plus plan and above also provide phone support. Anyone can use Bluehost’s knowledge base too.

Bluehost Security and Reliability

Bluehost gives you some basic security like Akismet and firewalls with its starter plans. But if you want really strong protection, like automatic backups, you’ll need to go for the more expensive plans or buy extras like SiteLock Essentials ($2.99 per month, billed annually), or CodeGuard Basic ($2.99 per month, billed annually). This can increase your total at checkout.

Learn more about Bluehost’s strengths and weaknesses in our full Bluehost Review

5 - Hostinger

Best for Affordable and User-Friendly Interface

Hostinger has become a big deal in the web hosting industry since 2004. It is based in Lithuania but has reached out to customers in more than 150 countries, showing just how fast it’s growing. Hostinger isn’t just about web hosting, but also offers a website builder and plenty of AI tools too.

Hostinger Pros and Cons

✔️ What We Liked:

  • Easy-to-use custom control panel suitable for beginners
  • Most plans include a free domain and SSL certificate
  • Data centers around the world and LiteSpeed Web Server technology
  • Budget-friendly blog hosting plans without compromising on quality

What We Didn’t Like:

  • Inconsistency in hosting speed and reliability​
  • Limited disk space and customer support
  • Doesn’t offer dedicated server hosting

Who Should Choose Hostinger?

Recommended For Not Recommended For
New blog owners
Blogs requiring dedicated resources
Small to medium businesses
High-traffic ecommerce blogs
Hostinger WordPress installation page
In Hostinger's unique 'hPanel', you can install WordPress or detect it if you've already downloaded it. Source: WebsiteBuilderExpert

Hostinger Plans and Pricing

  • Shared Hosting: Starting at $2.99/month
  • Shared WordPress Hosting: Starting at $2.99/month
  • VPS Hosting: Starting at $4.49/month
  • Cloud Hosting: Starting at $9.99/month

Which Plan Is Good Value for Money?

If you’re just starting out with your first website, a shared hosting plan could be a great choice for you. It’s affordable and comes with lots of features. You get unlimited bandwidth, 100GB of SSD storage, and even a free domain for the first year.

This plan is perfect if you’re working on a personal blog. But, if your website starts getting a lot of visitors or you need more advanced hosting, you might want to think about upgrading to a VPS or a more powerful cloud hosting plan.

Read our full Hostinger Pricing Review for a full breakdown of its plans and pricing.

Hostinger Performance and Scalability

Hostinger gives your website top-notch speed and power by using the latest tech, like SSD storage and Intel Xeon processors. This means your site loads fast and runs smoothly. Plus, it has data centers all around the world, so you can pick the one closest to your audience to make your site even quicker. Hostinger boosts your website’s speed even more with special caching and content delivery networks (CDNs).

When you need to handle more visitors or want more resources, Hostinger makes it easy to change your plan.

Graph showing the average uptime of Hostinger after six tests
Our tests revealed an average uptime of 99.38% for Hostinger. Source: Website Builder Expert

Hostinger Compatibility and Support

Hostinger has a special control panel called hPanel that’s easy to use, even for beginners or people used to using cPanel. You can get help anytime through live chat, email, and a ticket system, no matter how cheap your plan is. The main downside is the lack of phone support.

Hostinger Security and Reliability

Hostinger really cares about keeping things safe. It has protection against DDoS attacks, SSL certificates to keep your site secure, regular updates for security, and RAID-10 to protect your data.

It also does automatic backups every day or week, depending on what plan you pick, so you can get your data back easily if something goes wrong. Hostinger promises that its hosting will be up and running 99.9% of the time.

To know more about Hostinger, check out our Hostinger Review for more details.

6 - InMotion

Best for Business Blogs

InMotion stands out with its strong setup and its focus on helping customers. It has a generously long 90-day money back-guarantee and reliable security tools.

InMotion Pros and Cons

✔️ What We Liked:

  • 99.9% uptime guarantee
  • Free SSL, hack, and malware protection, and DDoS protection
  • Free website migration services with minimal downtime
  • 90-day money-back guarantee

What We Didn’t Like:

  • Lots of upsell features are presented at checkout
  • Basic plan doesn’t include a free domain

Who Should Choose InMotion?

Recommended For Not Recommended For
Businesses and ecommerce blogs
Bloggers looking for the cheapest option
Agencies and freelancers
Beginners who prefer simplicity
High traffic blog
InMotion hosting marketplace for other apps
While you can manage your WordPress blog from the cPanel, in InMotion's own dashbaord I was able to browse blog themes and plugins. Source: WebsiteBuilderExpert

InMotion Plans and Pricing

  • Shared Hosting: Starts at $2.29/month
  • Shared WordPress Hosting: Begins at $2.99/month
  • VPS Hosting: Starting from $14.99/month
  • Managed WordPress Hosting: Begins at $7/month

Which Plan Is Good Value for Money?

If you’re into blogging for fun, have a small to medium-sized business, or even want to start selling stuff online, InMotion’s VPS plans might be just what you need as your site gets bigger. They’re relatively affordable, starting at $14.99 per month when you choose a 36-month subscription, and gives you a huge 90GB SSD storage and 2TB bandwidth – perfect for content-heavy blogs with lots of readers. You also get free site migration – perfect if you’re already hosting your blog elsewhere and want to switch web hosts.

InMotion Performance and Scalability

InMotion uses really fast and dependable servers that are supercharged with the latest tech, like NVMe SSDs. These drives are way faster than the old SSDs, making them perfect for websites and apps that need to load and save data quickly.

InMotion has data centers in the US and Europe, so you can pick one that’s close to your target audience to make your website load faster for them. But keep in mind all these advanced features and the ability to scale up cost more than the basic hosting plans, which could be a downside if you’re on a tight budget.

Graph showing InMotion's average uptime performance over six tests
InMotion performed below its advertised uptime in our uptime testing, with an average of 99.11% over six tests. Source: Website Builder Expert

InMotion Compatibility and Support

InMotion Hosting really steps up the game with super quick loading times, averaging around 331 ms, which beats what most other hosting services offer. Plus, its customer support helps you anytime, 24/7/365, through live chat and email, and if you go for one of the bigger plans, you can even call them.

However, there are a few things to keep in mind when choosing InMotion Hosting. Unlike some other hosting options, its basic plan doesn’t come with a free domain name, and you’ll find add-ons being pushed at checkout, so be careful to review your order before paying to make sure you’re happy.

InMotion Security and Reliability

InMotion Hosting promises to keep your site live 99.99% of the time, showing it’s serious about being reliable. For security, it hooks you up with free SSL certificates to keep data safe, protect you from hacks and malware, and defend you against DDoS attacks, even if you’re on one of the cheaper plans.

Its network can fix itself if something goes wrong and uses Smart Routing™ to keep things stable and quick. But keep in mind, with all this advanced tech, you might need some extra help setting things up or fixing issues because it can get a bit complicated.

Read more in our detailed InMotion Hosting Review

Buying Guide: How To Choose a Cheap Blog Hosting Provider?

If you’re looking for an affordable place to host your blog, it’s key to find a good balance between the price and quality.

  • Start by checking its reliability and if it promises your site will almost always be up.
  • Aim for services that guarantee your site will be up at least 99.9% of the time.
  • Good customer service is a must-have. You’ll want someone ready to help you any time, day or night.
  • Think about how your blog might grow in the future. Your hosting should be able to grow with you easily.
  • Consider your own technical experience. Would you like a fully managed plan where all the tech stuff is taken care of? Or would you rather get hands on customizing your server?

You can find affordable hosting that’s still good quality, so take your time to find the perfect fit for your needs

How Do We Test Blog Hosting Providers?

We spend almost 2,000 hours checking out different places to host websites, including shared, WordPress, VPS, and dedicated hosting. We look at five big things:

  • How much it costs
  • How well it works
  • What features it offers
  • How good the support is
  • How it stacks up against others in the market

Our steps include comparing different plans, how often your site will be up and how fast it loads, and seeing how helpful the customer service is. We also see how each hosting service holds up in the competitive market.

All this hard work is to make sure we give you advice that’s based on facts and totally fair, to help you find the best hosting for your blog needs!

Best Blog Hosting Providers: Summary

Your blog deserves the best blog hosting provider, and we’ve identified the six best blog hosts, analyzing its plans, support, and best uses. After thorough research, here are our final recommendations:

  • HostGator: Best overall provider for blogging sites
  • DreamHost: Best for ease of use
  • IONOS: Best for site speed and uptime
  • Bluehost: Best for WordPress users, and most trusted hosting provider
  • Hostinger: Best for affordable and user-friendly
  • InMotion: Best for business and WordPress sites

Still can’t decide? Look at the top three for its quality, prices, and support. HostGator has a 4.9 out of 5 rating because it’s affordable and has great support. If you love WordPress, Bluehost is the way to go and for the best performance, iPage is your top pick.

Pick a hosting service that fits your blog’s needs in terms of cost, features, and support. This will ensure that your blog runs smoothly and that your readers stay happy.

FAQs

Bluehost is a top pick because of its WordPress hosting. It sets you up with automatic WordPress installs and updates, a free domain name, and a content delivery network to boost your site’s SEO.
Yes, it does. Web hosting is where all your blog’s content is stored so people can visit it online.
It really depends on what you’re after. If you want something that’s easy to use and packed with features, Bluehost is your pick. But if you’re looking for top-notch reliability and easy website migration, choose HostGator.
Written by:
Lucy Carney is a Content Manager at Website Builder Expert, specializing in website building, ecommerce, and digital marketing. Previously working as a Writer and then Senior Writer on the brand, Lucy has 6 years of hands-on experience testing web building platforms including Wix, Squarespace, and Shopify. Lucy is passionate about using her knowledge to help small business owners build their online presence and achieve their goals. She’s reported on industry trends over the years, attended events such as the eCommerce Expo, and advised readers directly with over 400 comment replies on the site to date. Her work has also featured on other online publications such as the Shopify Partners Blog, Usability Geek, Serpstat, and Open Source, and has over 100 articles published on the Website Builder Expert blog.

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