15 Best: Web Hosting for Beginners Guide (April 2023)

The best web hosting for beginners shows that launching a site isn’t just reserved for experienced developers. More and more people can get online in a breeze.

The number of websites rose to more than 1.2 billion in 2017, and their purposes run the gamut — from personal blogs to eCommerce giants selling the products we rely on every day. It’s more important now than ever for brick-and-mortar businesses to build a web presence, as upward of 20 million shoppers are online at any given moment looking for goods and services.

Whether you’re looking to run a blog, a personal site to house your résumé, or an eCommerce business, there’s a provider out there to make your web dreams come true. Here, we’ll take a look at the top hosts beginners can turn toward to power their visions and get their messages out to the masses.

Cheap | Site Builder | WordPress | Personal | Ecommerce | Blog | Domain | Support

In the 1990s, the internet began to take the world by storm. As someone who was in college at the time, I witnessed first-hand how the web was changing the way information could be disseminated and accessed. However, getting a site online was cost-prohibitive for most and mainly reserved for tech-savvy programmers and businesses with the capital to hire them.

Today, the story’s much different. There are a multitude of hosting plans on the market that aspiring webmasters can take advantage of to get their ideas and businesses online. However, don’t be fooled by the word “cheap.” Sure, we look at price when we rate hosting plans for those on a budget — but value is a more accurate way to view the hosts listed below.

These shared hosting providers offer a winning combination of low prices and feature-rich hosting packages perfect for any budding site owner to get an online brand off the ground. Read the full reviews in the tables below and get the complete picture of how you can choose a shared hosting plan from a web hosting company that suits your needs.

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“Healthy alternatives to hamburgers” — As a lover of all things burgers and someone trying to watch his fat intake, this is invariably the first suggestion that populates whenever I put my cursor in Google’s search field. Looking through the list of results, I never seem to find the sandwich I’m looking for — not to mention a well-designed site that presents more than just cluttered lists of hamburger clickbait links.

Almost 95% of online consumers cite poor design as the main reason they don’t trust a website. So, it’s important that your online presence engages visitors in a way that keeps them coming back. But you don’t have to have a master’s degree in graphic design to construct a compelling website.

The rise of DIY site builders with website hosting included has opened up new opportunities for beginners who want to dip their toes into site ownership. These platforms are an excellent choice for your first-time web hosting service because they’re inexpensive and easy to use. Plus, they often come with oodles of free features, such as a free SSL certificate, a free domain name for one year, and unlimited bandwidth.

The three hosts below offer the best tools that allow novice website owners to build professional-grade sites without the need to code.

These providers offer tons of templates covering an array of subjects and business types, as well as intuitive web builders with drag-and-drop environments that make site creation simple. Be sure to click on the reviews in the tables below to explore the beginner-friendly site-building features available in each of the top plans.

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Even if you’re a beginning site owner, there’s a pretty good chance you’ve heard of WordPress. The open-source blogging software currently powers nearly 30% of websites and enjoys a 60% market share in the CMS space. This popularity is mainly attributed to WordPress’s ease of use and more than 52,000 plugins that have been created by developers to enable complete website customization.

If you’re one of the millions of people getting started with your first WordPress website, note that all hosts aren’t created equal when it comes to running the blogging platform. When shopping around for the most effective provider, it’s important to look at hosts that offer one-click or automatic WordPress installations, optimized plugin performance, and top-notch support, among other features.

Below are our best WordPress web hosts with ideal environments for managing a WordPress website. The bullet points in the tables provide a quick glance at some of the benefits of each WordPress hosting plan, but the full reviews will give you a comprehensive overview of just how effective these packages can be in optimizing your web presence

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While it may sound strange in today’s digital-centric landscape, fewer than 10% of people have a personal website. For individual professionals, including photographers, artists, and freelancers, a lack of web presence can make their businesses virtually invisible to prospective clients. And, for job seekers, a personal site can work wonders to help them stand out from the field of candidates trying to impress interviewers.

With the slew of effective and cheap hosts in the industry today, there’s really no excuse not to build your personal brand online. For just a few dollars per month, creatives and freelancers can showcase portfolios online, and interviewees can send links to résumés to potential employers.

The provider below is our top choice for personal website hosting. With an easy-to-use site builder and monthly premiums coming in at next to nothing, this web hosting company will put you on the fast track to meeting your online goals — whether that means better shots at employment, improved exposure to clients, or widened revenue streams. Check out the full review in the table to see all the features this web host has to offer your personal website.

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Nearly 80% of modern consumers will research a business online before visiting a physical store or making a purchase online. So, even if you’re solely selling products in a brick-and-mortar location, it’s imperative your business has a wide-reaching presence on the web.

And, for eCommerce businesses, the importance of reaching online audiences is an obvious top-of-mind concern. The eCommerce space is growing at a year-over-year rate of 23%. It’s not getting any easier to compete online. And, if you’re new to the art of online sales, you’re probably going to need some help getting off the ground.

The top eCommerce hosts offer marketing and SEO tools to help your business get noticed in a crowded market, and the host below leads by example. If you’re a budding online merchant, take a gander at the full review that follows. You’ll learn how this host can act as the launching pad to skyrocket your online storefront.

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You may think a fly-tying blog on a professional fishing guide’s site might not do very much to grow his or her trout-seeking business — but you’d be wrong. Including a blog on your site helps it rank better in search results. In fact, depending on the quality and relevance of content, a site with a blog is 434% more likely to experience a boost in search rankings.

So, whether you’re trying to get your message heard or are looking to scale web traffic to sell products and services, employing an effective blog platform has become almost imperative in today’s web environment. While almost every web host in the industry claims to offer the cheapest and easiest means to broadcast a blog, some are more effective than others.

Below is our hosting choice for beginning bloggers. All it takes is a few dollars per month and a passion for your subject matter to get started. Read our comprehensive review linked in the table and see how this host’s plans can help make your blog the talk of the web.

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“Location, location, location.” While the origins of the aphorism may be in question, there is no doubt the popular slogan holds a universal truth in the real estate industry. And the same is true of the web. A domain is arguably one of the most important aspects of a business website, as it acts as the first impression that can make or break a customer’s view of an organization.

While there are some hosts in the industry that offer free hosting plans, many of them require site owners to utilize a host-specific branded subdomain. There’s a lot of competition in the online business space, which is why it’s important to employ a domain tailored to your brand.

The host below tops our list when it comes to domains. For just a couple of bucks each month, this provider will include domain registration or transfer and a free SSL certificate as part of your plan. Domains aren’t the only area where this host excels, however. Read our full review to find out why this provider may be the ideal partner to build your online real estate.

The host

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Public opinion of the hosting industry’s customer service approach has long been, let’s say, less than stellar. When problems arise, a common complaint is that issues aren’t resolved quickly enough — if at all.

Although this has been the case for many years, some hosts are catching on that improved support means more word-of-mouth referrals, which translates to happier customers and more revenue for the providers.

SiteGround is one of the hosts changing the customer-service game. The host offers 24/7 support through an omnichannel approach. Representatives are available around the clock to answer tickets, live chats, and phone calls. And, with a vast online knowledge base, video tutorials, and a webinar series, SiteGround customers are sure to have problems remedied without hesitation. Read how the host can help users at any level — from beginner to expert — manage their online properties by clicking the links in the table below.

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While managed hosting may be more expensive than other entry-level hosting plans, it offers a wide range of advantages that allows site owners to concentrate on what matters most to them — their business missions. Essentially, in a managed plan, the host is responsible for configuring the hardware and software that powers your site, monitoring servers, and performing updates.

Most managed hosting plans come with increased site performance (page load speeds) and higher uptime guarantees. Customer support is also a crucial component of managed plans, which can alleviate the headaches beginning site owners sometimes encounter when technical issues arise.

The host below offers the IT expertise site owners need to keep their sites operating at optimal levels. If reliability and letting the pros handle the technicalities of your site sound appealing, this is the best hosting provider for you. Click on the full review in the table to learn how running your site on a managed server can give your online business the boost it needs to thrive in today’s competitive online marketplace.

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From an informative fishing blog to running a fully functional eCommerce site, powering your online presence is easy and cost-effective with the best hosting type to support your website’s goals.

These plans are among the most affordable in the industry, and powerful web-building tools make it simple for beginners to get started.

In addition to checking the boxes for affordability, a beginner-friendly web hosting provider should provide easily accessible support to help you navigate the daunting process of launching your website.

If you’re seeking a comprehensive guide on the first steps of mixing the perfect website recipe from scratch, check out our tutorial on site creation for beginners.

You don’t need to know how to code; you just need to be passionate about your project to take those first steps toward success.

Whatever type of hosting plan you’re looking for, Bluehost is a solid choice no matter the scale. Our reviewer Ryan Frankel recently took Bluehost for a spin, and rated the popular host a 4.8 in the Cheap Hosting category out of a perfect score of 5.0. Here’s what Ryan had to say about Bluehost:

Bluehost has a rock-solid reputation in the shared and WordPress hosting communities, and the host is a long-time favorite of mine. Today, Bluehost powers more than 2 million websites, and the team touts years of experience. With well-maintained servers, competitive pricing, and excellent customer support, Bluehost is hardly a pick you’ll regret.

Before signing up for Bluehost, it’s a good idea to read through Ryan‘s full review to learn about all the features Bluehost offers. You can also compare it to other web hosts to ensure you’re getting the best deal possible:

• Bluehost’s Full Review
• Bluehost: 4.8/5.0 vs. Others
• Bluehost: $2.95/Mo. vs. Others

If you decide Bluehost is the right choice, keep in mind that it takes just minutes to deploy your Bluehost server space. And at $2.95 per month, it’s a bargain considering the many great features that come in any Bluehost plan.