Written by: Toby Sembower
Edited by: Lillian Castro
Shared hosting is a lot like 19-year-old me as a college sophomore deciding that sharing an apartment made a lot of sense. It saved me a ton on rent and bills, and I still got access to all of the accommodations I needed. I figured I would get my own place once my lifestyle demanded it — and once it made more financial sense.
Shared hosting is no different and just means your website will share space on the same server as other sites. This tends to mean lower prices, as you’re essentially splitting the resources and associated costs you would be monopolizing on a dedicated server. Though great for beginners, a shared host can meet the needs of even very popular websites.
We took the top shared hosting providers for a spin — evaluating price, ease of setup, support, site builders, eCommerce features, and more. Below we cover the best of the best, by category.
1. Best Overall Shared Host
When shopping for a shared host, you should compare the cost against the number of amenities included (e.g., free domain, drag-and-drop site builder, unlimited email, and 24/7 support). A contender that truly deserves to top the list of shared hosts in any given category is one that is going to offer the most usable features for the lowest cost — yielding the greatest value.
InMotionHosting.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.29
- High-quality hosting, no matter the format
- FREE SSD storage packs 20x the performance
- FREE SSL certificate and 24/7 support
- 1-click installs for WordPress and popular CMSes
- Get started with FREE website transfer service
- Get started on InMotion Hosting now.
SHARED
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
InMotion Hosting offers an excellent business-class shared hosting plan — with a price tag lower than several other budget hosts. For the IT crowd in the audience, you’ll appreciate SSH access, as well as support for PHP, Ruby, Perl, Python, WP-CLI, and other popular languages. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 days | 100 GB SSD - Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 5 minutes |
2. Cheapest Shared Host
Naturally, cost is probably a deciding factor in your web host shopping endeavors. They often say, “You get what you pay for,” but that doesn’t mean “cheap host” is synonymous with “crap host.” We’ve compared the most affordable shared hosts on the market to present to you the lowest-cost option that doesn’t cut corners on functionality, features, or support. That’s why our #1 recommendation is a host that is both affordable and reliable:
iPage.com
Monthly Starting Price $4.99
- Easy setup and superb reliability since 1998
- FREE domain and Google marketing included
- Unlimited bandwidth, storage, and emails
- FREE site builder and shopping cart
- Get more than 38% off today (was $7.99/month)
- Get started on iPage now.
CHEAP
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
Whether you're a first-time website owner or a web veteran, iPage’s excellent hosting services and a fantastic list of extras make the brand one of the best values in web hosting. Unlimited disk space, scalable bandwidth, and emails are just a part of what makes iPage’s shared hosting plan a great deal. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 5 minutes |
3. Best Shared Host for Email
Email hosting is a crucial business need for SMBs to enterprises, and a shared web host can be your cheapest bet to get that need met quickly and cost-consciously. Some key features we look for in an email hosting provider are spam filtering, virus protection, auto-forwarding options, and of course, free unlimited email accounts — and our #1 pick offers it all:
A2Hosting.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.99
- FREE software for webmail, newsletters, contact forms, list management, and spam filtering
- Unlimited inboxes, forwarding, and autoresponders
- Secure POP3, IMAP, and SMTP messaging
- Unlimited storage and transfer with FREE SSL
- Get more than 75% off today (was $7.99/month)
- Get started on A2 Hosting now.
EMAIL
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
Combining the internet’s most popular and secure email technologies with high-speed and reliable infrastructure, A2 Hosting ensures your messages are delivered on time. As a recipient, you’ll appreciate the company’s multiple spam filtering programs, along with autoresponders and forwarding. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 100 GB SSD - Unlimited SSD | New or Transfer | 4 minutes |
4. Best Shared Host for Blogging
Every blogger needs a platform for their voice to be heard, and they don’t want to wait forever in the wings for their words to take center stage. That’s why features like one-click Drupal install or pre-installed WordPress carry weight when we evaluate the best blog hosts. We compared blog offerings, cost, security, and support, and now give you the best shared host for blogging:
Bluehost.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.95
- Recommended by WordPress since 2005
- Automatic WordPress installation and updates
- FREE themes and plugins in Bluehost Marketplace
- Upgrade for managed WordPress or design help
- FREE domain and content delivery network
- Get started on Bluehost now.
BLOG
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
Bluehost's WordPress hosting packages are aimed at first-time site owners and personal bloggers. These services come at a premium compared to the standard Bluehost web hosting (basic shared hosting) plans, but the WordPress optimization and platform-specific resources are arguably worth the cost. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 50 GB SSD - 100 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 7 minutes |
5. Best Shared Host with Free Website Builder
Once you’re signed up for hosting, you’ll realize you actually have to build your site. Gulp. This is easy though, as many of the top shared hosts also offer a free drag-and-drop site builder among their offerings, so you can point and click to add text, images, and videos to your new site. Build your dream website from scratch, without touching code, with our favorite site builder host:
Wix.com
Monthly Starting Price $0.00
- No coding skills needed with drag-and-drop builder
- 100s of templates with niche-specific designs
- Add features via the App Market and Wix Events
- Easily create ecommerce functionality easily
- Great way to build small sites on a budget
- Get started on Wix now.
WEBSITE BUILDER
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
Website building is where Wix shines. The thousands of templates, the intuitive editor, the industry-leading designs that cater to a variety of specific fields and use cases — all these facets represent a platform that excels at facilitating easy web design for the non-tech-savvy user. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 14-day FREE trial | 2 GB - Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
6. Best Shared Host for eCommerce Sites
As brick-and-mortars continue to move to the web and selling online as a second form of income continues trending, eCommerce hosting is on the rise. For those looking to launch an online store, we’ve compiled the hosts with the features that matter most to you: Single-click installations for Magento or PrestaShop, and free ad credits to get your brand noticed, as examples. Here’s our #1 choice:
IONOS.com
Monthly Starting Price $1.00
- Drag-and-drop online store builder for $1/mo
- Quickly sell products, services, and digital goods
- Cross-platform selling integrations with social media, Amazon, Google, and eBay
- Built-in metrics, promos, and coupons
- Track competitors' Google and social media activity
- Get started on 1&1 IONOS now.
ECOMMERCE
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
The online store builder from 1&1 IONOS gives entrepreneurs a full suite of selling and marketing tools at their disposal — and all for a ridiculously low price. The company’s lightning-fast architecture and tools for SEO and marketing metrics will make your customers’ buying experience quick and enjoyable. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | Unlimited SSD | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
7. Best Linux Shared Hosting
Linux is a well-known operating system that’s widely supported by many of the best hosts out there, and rightfully so. It’s intuitive, it’s flexible, it’s a comfortable fit for mid- to senior-level users. After testing out the interfaces and comparing the hardware, security, uptime, support, and cost of the top Linux shared hosts, we present our recommendation below:
A2Hosting.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.99
- Supercharged CloudLinux operating system
- Support for CenOS, Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora
- Go beyond LAMP with PostgreSQL and NGINX
- Daily, automatic OS updates via KernelCare
- All-SSD storage in RAID-10 arrays
- Get started on A2 Hosting now.
LINUX
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
Offering a familiar Linux hosting experience that’s perfect for beginners and seasoned developers, A2 Hosting relies on the efficient CloudLinux operating system for speed and security. The company’s servers are optimized for speed with modern processors and solid-state drives to make sure your Linux environment won’t slow you down. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 100 GB SSD - Unlimited SSD | New or Transfer | 4 minutes |
8. Best cPanel Shared Hosting
A beloved web panel among shared hosting users, cPanel is one of the most popular and powerful interfaces used to manage your hosting and databases. A great many of the top hosts include cPanel in their packages (many in branded forms) due to its intuitiveness and wide array of readily available features. Find one-click installations of your favorite content management platforms, unlimited domains and emails, and 24/7 support with our #1 cPanel shared host:
Hostinger.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.59
- Intuitive cPanel hosting for personal sites
- FREE SSL and Cloudflare DDoS protection
- 1-click installer for popular apps like WordPress
- Automated, daily backups and integrated caching
- Launch a site in minutes, backed by 24/7 support
- Get started on Hostinger now.
CPANEL
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
Hostinger has always impressed us with the intuitiveness of its control panel and easy user experience. If you’re in the market for classic cPanel hosting, Hostinger offers it at a price that’s tough to beat. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 30 days | 50 GB SSD - 200 GB SSD | FREE (1 year) | 3 minutes |
9. Best SSD Shared Hosting
If the fastest shared hosting provider is what you’re looking for, SSD speed is what you need. Solid-state drives (SSDs) help your webpages load quickly, and a trustworthy shared host will make sure your site is online as often as possible (uptime!). We compared it all — uptime rates, performance, security, and speed — and now present our top-rated choice in SSD shared hosting:
InMotionHosting.com
Monthly Starting Price $2.29
- FREE SSD drives included with all hosting plans
- Zero-downtime website transfers and migrations
- FREE backups, SSL, and DDoS protection
- Choice of East Coast or West Coast datacenter
- Multi-language support for PHP, Ruby, and Perl
- Get started on InMotion now.
BEST OVERALL
RATING
★★★★★
Our Review
Offering a wider range of services than most — including shared, dedicated, VPS, and even WordPress-specific plans — InMotion Hosting features a great combination of industry-leading hardware, always-there support, and mass scalability for all hosting needs. InMotion Hosting has ultra-modern SSD drives on its shared plans, which give an added speed boost to your site. Go to full review »
| Money Back Guarantee | Disk Space | Domain Name | Setup Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 90 days | Unlimited | FREE (1 year) | 4 minutes |
Good News: Shared Hosts Offer Fast Setup
Shared hosting is ideal for those whose websites are not quite ready to live in a space without a few roommates — and it can take as little as four minutes to get started. Even better, there are tons of hosts that promote instant account setup and activation, making sure you can get online as fast as possible.
The cost is hard to beat, the support is there for those who need it, and you tend to get as many free amenities as you need for as long as you need — but don’t be afraid to upgrade when you do start to outgrow that shared apartment. The best hosting providers will be there to help you grow, and your HostingAdvice family can’t wait to see you succeed!
Further Reading: “9 Best Shared Hosting Services (Oct. 2023)“
Hopefully, our recommendation of InMotion fulfills all your web hosting needs. Starting at just $2.29 per month and rated 4.8 overall, InMotion gives users plenty of bang for the buck. Among our favorite features:
- High-quality hosting, no matter the format
- FREE SSD storage packs 20x the performance
- FREE SSL certificate and 24/7 support
- 1-click installs for WordPress and popular CMSes
- Get started with FREE website transfer service
- Get started on InMotion Hosting now.
If you’d like recommendations similar to InMotion and others in 9 Best Shared Hosting Services (Oct. 2023), check out these popular guides. You’ll find comparisons of InMotion to other hosts on pricing, features, support and more:
And of course, if InMotion is your top choice, you can get started now at just $2.29/month. InMotion is easy to set up and scale, no matter the size of your next project.
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