SiteGround Review

Alexandra Anderson

By: Alexandra Anderson

Alexandra Anderson

Alexandra is a web marketer, Agile Product Owner, and die-hard wordsmith who's contributed to HostingAdvice, InMotion Hosting, HostGator, and other prominent hosting and technology blogs, as well as Forbes. She has a master's degree in information technology from Virginia Tech and more than 10 years of experience building websites, advising on web and mobile app design, and crafting content that engages and converts. Her primary subject matter expertise spans WordPress, UX design, Agile project management, and, of course, web hosting.

See full bio »

Editor: Lillian Castro

Lillian Castro

Lillian brings more than 30 years of editing and journalism experience to our team. She has written and edited for major news organizations, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and the New York Times, and she previously served as an adjunct instructor at the University of Florida. Today, she edits HostingAdvice content for clarity, accuracy, and reader engagement.

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OVERALL RATING 5.0 / 5.0
★★★★★
Features4.9 / 5.0
Ease of Use4.9 / 5.0
Pricing4.8 / 5.0
Reliability & Support5.0 / 5.0
Discount for Our Users See Deals

With a reputation for reliable customer support and the leading-edge tech innovations, SiteGround needs to be near the top of your list of potential hosting providers. The premium host enables site owners and WordPress users to operate with performance and reliability in fluidly scalable cloud-powered environments.

Category Ratings

We had one of our resident hosting experts, Alexandra Anderson, sign up for a SiteGround account and take it for a spin. Below are Alexandra’s ratings of the SiteGround experience, broken down by the types of hosting SiteGround offers.

If you decide to go with SiteGround, you may get a discount by using our link to sign up. While we often make commissions on purchases made through our links, this had no bearing on Alexandra’s review.

Here’s what Alexandra found in reviewing SiteGround:

Disclosure: When you sign up through links on our site, we often earn referral fees from partners. For more information, see our ad disclosure and review policy.

SiteGround's Overall Rating (5.0 / 5.0)

Best Overall Rating

5.0
★★★★★

Price:

Setup Time:

Alexandra Anderson

Alexandra Anderson (HostingAdvice.com):

With an impressive breadth of overall hosting services offered, SiteGround is a leading innovator in the hosting space — from custom software solutions to premier customer support.

The company offers the full range of web hosting features, including a free Cloudflare CDN, cPanel with SSH access, and unlimited MySQL databases and bandwidth — not to mention prize-worthy customer support.

CEO Tenko Nikolov and CTO Ivo Tzenov, SiteGround Co-Founders, gave us the inside scoop on SiteGround's features and took us through the solutions they've engineered to enhance the user experience.

Customer service has long been the company's claim to fame, behind custom solutions built to make the hosting experience as stress-free as possible. SiteGround engineered an in-house chat software that allows users to select and rate thoroughly vetted customer service agents with whom they've worked previously.

The company wrote its own ticketing system, as well, which comprises an algorithm designed to select appropriate technical support representatives for specific tasks.

The end result is instant replies to phone calls and chats, and 10-minute responses to email tickets, all of which contributes to a 99.7% customer satisfaction rate.

For shared hosting, SiteGround conceived a one-of-a-kind server isolation system that prevents vulnerable servers from taking down entire networks.

In place of VPS hosting, the company built its own cloud container platform, featuring thousands of containers and top-notch scalability and security.

All SiteGround hosting service users benefit from a unique downtime prevention mechanism, which has helped SiteGround develop a reputation for stellar uptime rates: 99.996% annually and 99.999% monthly.

  • FREE site transfer or new site setup
  • FREE daily backups, CDN, email, and SSL
  • 24/7 expert support with no wait on phone or chat
  • Recommended by WordPress as a top host
  • Ideal for business email hosting
  • Get started on SiteGround now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
10 GB SSD - 40 GB SSD
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
6 minutes
SiteGround's Cheap Hosting (4.6 / 5.0)

Cheap Rating

4.6
★★★★★

Price:

Setup Time:

Providing hosting with the perfect balance of technological innovation and superior customer support, SiteGround offers a range of affordable hosting services to meet your needs.

In addition to the expected cheap web hosting perks — a free website builder and unlimited bandwidth — the company specializes in custom-built tools to deliver strong and positive user experiences.

Although SiteGround prices itself on the high-end of the shared hosting spectrum, the upgraded SSD-powered infrastructure and additional perks make its service well worth the investment. In addition to included SSL certificate, daily backups, and a content delivery network, SiteGround delivers a top-notch blend of speed and security.

SiteGround developed its own ticketing system and custom chat software, allowing you to chat with trusted and capable representatives with whom you've had success in the past.

The software takes in about 1,500 chats on any given day. The website itself receives about 1 million visitors per month, with users coming for both tutorials and knowledgebase articles written and updated by the tech support team.

Once a month, SiteGround tests competitors' and its own support levels with dummy accounts, measuring response times, attitude, and effectiveness. If a competitor is doing something well, SiteGround's team takes note and tries to improve its own services.

  • FREE website transfer service to get started
  • 99.9% uptime guarantee and unlimited traffic
  • User-friendly WordPress installation
  • 24/7 support featuring custom systems
  • 4 caching options plus staging and Git
  • Get started on SiteGround now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
10 GB SSD - 40 GB SSD
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
6 minutes
SiteGround's Dedicated Hosting (not yet rated)

"We haven't evaluated SiteGround for this type of hosting service — yet. Either the company didn't offer this option at the time this review was written or this section of the review hasn't made it to the top of our editorial queue just yet. Either way, check back later, as we're always working to keep our reviews up to date and as comprehensive as possible!"

Alexandra Anderson

Alexandra Anderson, Tech Expert

Want Alexandra to review your hosting service? Request a review.

SiteGround's VPS Hosting (4.2 / 5.0)

VPS Rating

4.2
★★★★

Price:

Setup Time:

When it comes to VPS hosting, SiteGround does things a little differently. Instead of managing a typical virtual private server network, the company created its very own cloud platform built from the ground up.

Although the services are similar to a VPS, with shell access included, it's much more scalable. The hefty price tag certainly jumps out at potential customers, however, making SiteGround's cloud product a major investment.

The company's top-tier infrastructure and customer support certainly back up the cost, but the platform may not be the right step for first-time VPS customers looking to take a small step beyond shared hosting.

That said, SiteGround's managed cloud hosting includes thousands of containers and is much faster than most products you'll find on the market.

A single cloud instance can be provisioned, up, and running in seconds. The container platform behind the cloud hosting isn't the only in-house technology the company has up its hosting sleeve.

Instead of using third-party programs, SiteGround developers write almost all of the platform's software themselves. Among SiteGround's many custom solutions is a unique server isolation system that shields servers from falling victim to the vulnerability of single, corrupted accounts.

SiteGround was the first to develop such a mechanism. The company also created its own backup system, which runs daily backups in about an hour; a downtime prevention mechanism that has yielded stellar uptime rates; and its proprietary SuperCacher, which offers four caching options for optimum load times.

With each custom innovation that SiteGround has engineered, customers have reported being pleasantly surprised by how much the technology simplifies their hosting experience.

SiteGround's cloud hosting service is no different.

The company offers all the hit features they're known for, plus the added scalability and security that surpasses most VPS hosting providers. If you're ready to move beyond shared hosting, and want to do so with a king of customer service and tech solutions, look no further than SiteGround's cloud hosting.

  • Fully managed cloud hosting with ultra-fast performance and scalability
  • FREE Cloudflare CDN and daily backups
  • SuperCacher, Git, and 1-click CMS installs
  • cPanel, SSH access, and private DNS setup
  • Dedicated IP address and iptables firewall
  • Get started on SiteGround now.
Money Back Guarantee
14 days
Disk Space
40 GB SSD - 160 GB SSD
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
6 minutes
SiteGround's WordPress Hosting (4.9 / 5.0)

WordPress Rating

4.9
★★★★★

Price:

Setup Time:

Want a hassle-free, WordPress-optimized hosting service? SiteGround has thought of everything you need to get your site up and running.

Starting with the essentials, users get free email accounts, site transfer, Cloudflare CDN, and cPanel license. Then the company makes it simple for you to start rolling out content by offering an easy, automated WordPress installation and a unique and powerful WordPress Starter program that walks site owners through site setup.

The custom tool helps customers choose from professionally designed themes and add key functionalities likee a contact form, online store, portfolio, or other content. Selections are automatically installed on the site, delivering a fully-functional website in minutes — without any tech expertise required.

SiteGround's WordPress hosting also features automatic updates to the core and plugins, with built-in, multi-layer WordPress caching built-in, as well. Users can easily test and deploy changes to their site with single-click staging, and Git is available for version control.

SiteGround's unique downtime prevention software monitors servers' statuses in real-time and resolves more than 90% of server issues instantly and automatically.

Many competitors can take an average of five to 20 minutes to detect an issue, plus up to 20 minutes to react and resolve the exploit.

From in-house solutions on the technical side to warm and unwavering support from a customer service angle, SiteGround has crafted a complete package for any hosting need.

For WordPress-specific hosting, the company offers popular perks you wouldn't get with other shared hosting providers. Get started with all of the awesome freebies and prepare to be blown away by SiteGround's commitment to building hosting solutions intended to make your WordPress experience easier than ever.

  • Officially endorsed by WordPress.org
  • FREE migration plugin or automated installation
  • Pre-installed Git, 3 caching levels, and FREE CDN
  • FREE WP setup wizard, staging, and auto-updates
  • Fast, 24/7 support via custom chat system
  • Get started on SiteGround now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
10 GB SSD - 40 GB SSD
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
6 minutes
SiteGround's Website Builder (4.4 / 5.0)

Website Builder Rating

4.4
★★★★

Price:

Setup Time:

Do you know you need to build a website but don't know where to begin? Well, SiteGround will give you not one, but two extremely popular and user-friendly options to create the online presence of your dream.

Plus, customers start off with unlimited email accounts, site traffic, and database storage options — all for free.

Whether you're transferring a domain or want a relatively hands-off experience starting your very first site, you'll find helpful support at every turn.

SiteGround hosting includes easy installations for your choice of content management system, including WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and Magento. The company's WordPress experts will even migrate your site for you — a seamless transition with zero downtime — or first-timers can benefit from their in-house setup wizard.

Alternatively, SiteGround gives each customer access to the ultra-popular Weebly drag-and-drop site builder and hundreds of professional templates.

Once you're up and running, custom ticketing and chat systems have been engineered and implemented to provide you with pleasant and tech-savvy customer support 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

SiteGround also conducts daily site backups, using an in-house system that can run backups in about an hour, compared to rival technologies that can take up to half a day to operate.

Whether you're a hosting newbie or a site-building savant, you can trust SiteGround to provide you with a hosting and website-building combo that is simple to manage and pleasant to troubleshoot.

  • FREE Weebly site builder or WordPress setup
  • Worry-free, automated webiste migrations
  • User-friendly cPanel interface and staging area
  • Custom ticket and chat systems for 24/7 support
  • SuperCacher with static and dynamic caching
  • Get started on SiteGround now.
Money Back Guarantee
30 days
Disk Space
10 GB SSD - 40 GB SSD
Domain Name
New or Transfer
Setup Time
5 minutes

Features

(4.9 / 5.0)

FREE Site Transfer and Live Setup Assistance

  • SiteGround makes it easy to get your website launched cost-effectively and quickly, with tons of freebies to get you started. The company offers free auto-migration, as well as WordPress setup conducted by in-house experts.
  • You'll love the all-inclusive UI with cPanel, which includes readily available SSH access. All plans include Cloudflare's CDN, and SiteGround conducts daily backups, proactively preserving changes made to your website.
  • Experience the comforts of 24/7 customer support and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Plus, the company's tech support team offers tons of free tutorials and knowledge base articles, which are updated frequently to keep you up-to-speed with relevant web intel.

Custom Solutions for Customer Support

  • The company's in-house ticketing system assigns specified tasks to the most appropriately qualified tech ops team member. The custom solution uses an algorithm to select an agent based on skill level and expertise.
  • The chat system the company's support team uses to communicate with customers is also custom-built. Users can select team members they've previously chatted with and rate them based on their experience.
  • Peruse your history with customer service representatives. All customer support team members go through thorough training before being approved for user interaction, and users can view their professional profiles within the custom chat system portal.

SuperCacher and Downtime Prevention

  • SiteGround has an advanced website optimization caching system, called SuperCacher, built to dramatically improve site performance and speed. SuperCacher includes options for static or dynamic caching, as well as a Memcached and an HHVM option.
  • With other hosts, most server issues take up to 20 minutes to detect and an additional 20 minutes for reaction and resolution. SiteGround's unique downtime prevention software monitors server statuses in real-time, and 90 percent of performance issues are instantly detected and automatically resolved.
  • With real-time server issue detection and blazing page load speeds, SiteGround over-delivers on their promise of 99.9% uptime — 99.996% yearly and 99.999% monthly!

In-house Server Isolation and Software Fixes

  • SiteGround was the first to implement a unique isolation system in which vulnerable accounts are prevented from taking down entire servers. The company's one-of-a-kind isolation technology makes its shared hosting service as secure as most (more expensive) dedicated hosting.
  • Popular software brands can act as magnets for malicious attacks, yet most hosts wait for the software's developers to react in the event of a security breech. SiteGround monitors and detects threats, while keeping software updated and performing in-house patches.
  • On the hardware side, the company's dedicated server operations team actively tests and tweaks the server architecture for optimized performance. Replacement parts for every hardware model are kept on-site, and hardware is regularly updated, with seamless transitions.

Ease of Use

(4.9 / 5.0)
Intuitive UI with Tons of Add-Ons
SiteGround Review
Expert Articles and Assistance
SiteGround Review
Sleek Support Ticket System
SiteGround Review

SiteGround's easy-to-navigate interface is stocked with tons of free, easy, single-click installs, as well as plenty of upgrades and add-ons. The all-inclusive UI with cPanel is simple-to-learn and houses flexible options for users of all skill and comfort levels to help them get started. Plus, SiteGround's in-house experts are there to help 24/7/365. Whether you're looking for expert assistance with WordPress setup or some tips for marketing your site, the company's tech support team has assembled a series of tutorials, guides, and step-by-step resources to make launching a website with SiteGround hassle-free. SiteGround's commitment to customer service is made clear by the technology they've built to support users. Easily submit new issues regarding billing, development, site transfer, installations, and more using the company's support ticketing system or click to chat with a representative using SiteGround's custom chat system.

Pricing

(4.8 / 5.0)

StartUp Plan

GrowBig Plan

GoGeek Plan

SiteGround offers a range of hosting plans to meet your shared hosting needs (as well as those for dedicated server and cloud hosting). All of the company's shared hosting plans come with the essentials: website transfer service, app installations, and email accounts, plus unlimited traffic and MySQL databases, with 24/7 support and a 30-day money-back guarantee. You'll also receive free daily backups, as well as cPanel, Cloudflare CDN, and of course, SiteGround's outstanding uptime (99.996% yearly, 99.999% monthly). The company's StartUp plan is perfect for kick-starting a single site, while the GrowBig and GoGeek plans allow you to build multiple sites with priority tech support and SuperCacher for optimum speed. GoGeek users also receive "Geeky Advanced Features," which include fewer accounts per server, advanced hardware, free PCI compliance, and pre-installed Git and staging. All of these plans come packed with the best features for the some of the best prices you'll find.

Reliability & Support

(5.0 / 5.0)

SiteGround prides itself on innovating with ideas previously considered implausible. For example, in the early days of shared hosting, the drawbacks to running on shared servers were typically weakened security and hindered performance. SiteGround was the first to implement a unique mechanism that isolates server accounts, so that vulnerable accounts can't be the demise of entire networks. SiteGround also offers free daily backups to customers. In the past, the backup systems available took up to half a day to generate results. The company created its own backup system, which takes about an hour to run, at no additional cost to users of any of their packaged plans.

SiteGround Includes:

99.9% Uptime Guarantee, Free Daily Backups, Free Cloudflare CDN, Unlimited MySQL Database Storage, 24/7 Support, cPanel, and SSH Access

Other Hosts vs. SiteGround

Wondering how SiteGround stacks up againt other web hosting services? See our host-vs-host reviews below and compare them side by side.

SiteGround vs. JustHost

Selecting a web host is similar to choosing a business partner.

See full comparison »
JustHost vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
JustHost vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★ 3.7/5.0

SiteGround vs. WP Engine

WP Engine is to WordPress as an orthodontist is to braces.

See full comparison »
WPEngine vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
WPEngine vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.5/5.0

SiteGround vs. HostGator

SiteGround and HostGator have been around for a while.

See full comparison »
SiteGround vs HostGator

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
SiteGround vs HostGator

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.5/5.0

SiteGround vs. Wix

Wix is the godfather of site builders, so SiteGround must pull out all the stops to top this host in the site building category.

See full comparison »
SiteGround vs. Wix

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
SiteGround vs. Wix

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.6/5.0

SiteGround vs. InterServer

InterServer and SiteGround are leaders in the hosting industry for appealing to tech-savvy users.

See full comparison »
InterServer vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
InterServer vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.6/5.0

SiteGround vs. WordPress

SiteGround has an incredible reputation for its WordPress hosting, but is it better than the makers of WordPress themselves?

See full comparison »
SiteGround vs. WordPress

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
SiteGround vs. WordPress

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.7/5.0

SiteGround vs. GoDaddy

Choosing a web host is similar to putting a team together for your pitstop crew.

See full comparison »
SiteGround vs GoDaddy

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
SiteGround vs GoDaddy

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.7/5.0

SiteGround vs. Liquid Web

You probably had a favorite ride if you visited your state’s fair as a kid.

See full comparison »
Liquid Web vs. SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
Liquid Web vs. SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

SiteGround vs. Hostwinds

Prepare to be amazed — we’re talking about the best of the best in this host comparison.

See full comparison »
Hostwinds vs. SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
Hostwinds vs. SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

SiteGround vs. TMDHosting

SiteGround and TMD Hosting started in the early 2000s, in the era of floppy disks and low-rise jeans.

See full comparison »
TMDHosting vs. SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
TMDHosting vs. SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

SiteGround vs. Media Temple

Your web host, similar to your business partner, plays a significant role in the success of your business.

See full comparison »
SiteGround vs. Media Temple

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
SiteGround vs. Media Temple

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

SiteGround vs. GreenGeeks

Hosting doesn’t get more eco-friendly than with GreenGeeks.

See full comparison »
SiteGround vs. GreenGeeks

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
SiteGround vs. GreenGeeks

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

SiteGround vs. 1&1 IONOS

These two hosts are like classic ’90s romantic comedies — as if we can choose just one.

See full comparison »
1&1 vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
1&1 vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

SiteGround vs. Flywheel

Flywheel and SiteGround appeal to different customer appetites, but each serves up a delicious offering.

See full comparison »
Flywheel vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
Flywheel vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

SiteGround vs. DreamHost

DreamHost, one of the OG web service providers, has earned a solid reputation in the 20-plus years since its inception.

See full comparison »
DreamHost vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
DreamHost vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

SiteGround vs. A Small Orange

Here we compare a host that touts “homegrown hosting” with one that’s become known for their in-house technologies.

See full comparison »
A Small Orange vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
A Small Orange vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

SiteGround vs. Weebly

Weebly and SiteGround are ketchup and mustard.

See full comparison »
Weebly vs. SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
Weebly vs. SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

SiteGround vs. Bluehost

SiteGround versus Bluehost is shaping up as a tough matchup.

See full comparison »
SiteGround vs Bluehost

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
SiteGround vs Bluehost

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

SiteGround vs. InMotion

These web hosts are well-matched in this comparison.

See full comparison »
SiteGround vs InMotion

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
SiteGround vs InMotion

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

SiteGround vs. iPage

Website owners of all kinds should pay some attention to iPage and SiteGround.

See full comparison »
iPage vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
iPage vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

SiteGround vs. A2 Hosting

Choosing between A2 Hosting and SiteGround may be a tough decision.

See full comparison »
A2 Hosting vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0
A2 Hosting vs SiteGround

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

SiteGround is the winner
21 out of 21 times.

The Rundown

Alexandra Anderson

Alexandra Anderson

Hosting Expert:

To recap, here's a rundown of what SiteGround has to offer

A hosting hero when it comes to customer service and tech solutions, SiteGround is a dominant leader in web hosting across the board. The company's attention to detail is reflected in the rigorous UX testing, 24/7/365 customer support with custom-built software, and, of course, supreme uptime. Whether you're looking for shared, dedicated, or cloud hosting, SiteGround is prepared to meet your needs with top-tier features and an incredibly responsive and polite approach.

SiteGround review

Overall Rating

5.0 / 5.0
★★★★★

About The Author

Alexandra Anderson’s interest in website administration was sparked in her teens, priming her for a fast-paced career in managing, building, and contributing to online brands, including HostingAdvice, Forbes, and the blogs of prominent hosting providers. She brings firsthand experience reviewing web hosts, perfecting website design, optimizing content, and walking site owners through the steps that add up to a successful online presence. With a master's degree in information technology from Virginia Tech, she combines her extensive writing experience and technical understanding to unpack some of the most complex topics that daunt novice website owners, as well as the subjects that excite veteran technologists within the HostingAdvice readership.
Alexandra Anderson
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