Shared Hosting

9 Best Shared Hosting Services (Feb. 2024)

Written by: Toby Sembower

Toby Sembower

Toby Sembower is founder and Chairman of the Board at Digital Brands, a company that builds, owns, and operates websites that have served more than 100 million users. His web hosting experience dates to 2003, when he built the first of many popular consumer resource websites. Since that time, Toby has tested and reviewed dozens of web hosts, worked with hosts to improve their pricing and services, and contributed his expertise at the industry's top conferences. Toby holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Florida's College of Journalism and a minor from UF's College of Business.

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Edited by: 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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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.

SHARED RATING
★★★★★ 4.8/5.0
  • 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.
Starting Price/Mo. $2.29
Money Back Guarantee 90 days
Disk Space 100 GB SSD - Unlimited SSD
Domain Name FREE (1 year)
Shared Hosting Plans www.inmotion.com/shared
InMotion: Our Expert's Review
PJ Fancher (HostingAdvice.com):

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...

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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:

CHEAP RATING
★★★★★ 4.7/5.0
  • 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.
Starting Price/Mo. $4.99
Money Back Guarantee 30 days
Disk Space Unlimited
Domain Name FREE (1 year)
iPage: Our Expert's Review
PJ Fancher (HostingAdvice.com):

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.

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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:

EMAIL RATING
★★★★★ 4.9/5.0
  • Easily import contacts, messages, and calendars
  • FREE domain name with annual plan
  • 1-click integrations with 50+ productivity tools
  • Collaborate with polls, shared to-do lists
  • Less than $1 per mailbox per month!
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
Starting Price/Mo. $2.49
Money Back Guarantee 30 days
Disk Space 50 GB SSD - 200 GB SSD
Domain Name FREE (1 year)
Email Hosting Plans www.hostinger.com/email
Hostinger: Our Expert's Review
Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com):

Showing major value, Hostinger email plans come complete with all the collaboration and productivity tools you’d expect from higher-priced hosts. We especially love the easy integrations with platforms like Twitter, Google Drive, and others.

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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:

BLOG RATING
★★★★★ 4.9/5.0
  • 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.
Starting Price/Mo. $1.99
Money Back Guarantee 30 days
Disk Space 10 GB SSD - 100 GB SSD
Domain Name FREE (1 year)
Blog Hosting Plans www.bluehost.com/blog
Bluehost: Our Expert's Review
Ryan Frankel (HostingAdvice.com):

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...

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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:

WEBSITE BUILDER RATING
★★★★★ 4.9/5.0
  • 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.
Starting Price/Mo. $0.00
Money Back Guarantee 14-day FREE trial
Disk Space 2 GB - Unlimited
Domain Name FREE (1 year)
Wix: Our Expert's Review
Alexandra Anderson (HostingAdvice.com):

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.

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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:

ECOMMERCE RATING
★★★★★ 4.9/5.0
  • 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.
Starting Price/Mo. $1.00
Money Back Guarantee 30 days
Disk Space Unlimited SSD
Domain Name FREE (1 year)
eCommerce Hosting Plans
1&1 IONOS: Our Expert's Review
Alexandra Anderson (HostingAdvice.com):

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...

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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:

LINUX RATING
★★★★★ 4.9/5.0
  • 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.
Starting Price/Mo. $2.99
Money Back Guarantee 30 days
Disk Space 100 GB SSD - Unlimited SSD
Domain Name New or Transfer
Linux Hosting Plans www.a2hosting.com/linux
A2 Hosting: Our Expert's Review
Alexandra Anderson (HostingAdvice.com):

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...

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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:

CPANEL RATING
★★★★★ 4.7/5.0
  • 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.
Starting Price/Mo. $2.59
Money Back Guarantee 30 days
Disk Space 50 GB SSD - 200 GB SSD
Domain Name FREE (1 year)
cPanel Hosting Plans www.hostinger.com/cpanel
Hostinger: Our Expert's Review
Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com):

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.

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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:

BEST OVERALL RATING
★★★★★ 4.9/5.0
  • 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.
Starting Price/Mo. $2.29
Money Back Guarantee 90 days
Disk Space 100 GB SSD - Unlimited
Domain Name FREE (1 year)
InMotion: Our Expert's Review
PJ Fancher (HostingAdvice.com):

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.

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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!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Toby Sembower is founder and Chairman of the Board at Digital Brands, a company that builds, owns, and operates websites that have served more than 100 million users. His web hosting experience dates to 2003, when he built the first of many popular consumer resource websites. Since that time, Toby has tested and reviewed dozens of web hosts, worked with hosts to improve their pricing and services, and contributed his expertise at the industry's top conferences. Toby holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Florida's College of Journalism and a minor from UF's College of Business.

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