Let’s talk about the best web hosting for small business.
But first, hear me out:
A small business has different sets of challenges as compared to fairly large e-commerce businesses.
The market is filled with web hosting platforms, most of these support e-commerce businesses.
Small businesses have their own constraints and needless to say, it requires a plan which is affordable and at the same time provides a fairly good hosting service.
Well, no one really tells you, which hosting platform would be suitable for a small business. As a result of this you end up paying for features, you probably might never require.
Definitely no one wants to be in such a situation. So best is to get to the crux of what are the best web hosting platform suitable for small business.
This is exactly what I will be discussing over here, but before that let me provide you details of what you need to look into while choosing a hosting platform.
A lot of times, the parameters to be considered while choosing a hosting platform, seems to be a black box.
Many times, beginners as well as experienced users, end up choosing a hosting platform which might not stand up to the expectations.
In such cases, users are left with no option but to bear with the hosting services.
So here are the things you should look out for before choosing any hosting platform.
You definitely do not want your business to take a blow, owing to your hosting provider’s downtime. So if the uptime is inconsistent or you see it going below 99.9%, then you need to rethink your choice.
This includes features such as SSD, Backup and restoration, 24/7 monitoring, CloudFlare CDN, distributed architecture and similar technologies. Such embedded features make a hosting platform reliable.
Reliability is very closely associated with security. Needless to mention, a small security flaw in your hosting platform, could cost you a heavy price.
The security features could range from basic level security features such as SSL to other more sophisticated security features.
So if your hosting platform is not giving you a backup service, then you might as well rethink about your choice.
Similarly, few hosting platforms, allow backup at a separate pricing. It is best to check if this is affordable. Backup and restoration services play a key role while choosing any hosting platform.
You need to check this for the plan you choose as well as the domain. Several hosting platforms have higher renewal pricing as compared to their first time pricing.
While this sounds fair, you definitely do not want to be in for last minute surprises. If the renewal pricing is exorbitant, then you are left with no choice but to bear with the high renewal rates once you have committed to a particular hosting platform.
This includes the customer support reachability such as a 24/7 customer support availability. Other essential features include – live chat, email reachability, phone services, tickets.
Apart from this one should also consider other features such as video tutorials, FAQ, Blogs, Community support, Forum, dedicated resources and such similar features which can make using a hosting platform simpler.
The idea is to help experienced as well as novice users to develop a website, fetch more information and troubleshoot issues in the least time. And this can be done only if the hosting platform has a strong customer support.
Now that I have provided details of what exactly you need to look for while choosing hosting platform, let me get further and give a walk-through on the best web hosting for small business.
Here’s a quick look at the best web hosting for small business:
Best Web Hosting for Small BusinessBest Web Hosting for Small Business
1. BlueHost
BlueHost is one of the Best options available for your small business. It is one of the popular hosting platforms and is part of the Endurance International group.
This happens to be one of the 20 largest web hosting platforms.
BlueHost was first launched in 2003 and is headquartered in Provo, Utah, USA. It powers more than 2 million websites worldwide.
Now, let me provide more details on how BlueHost performs for your small business.
Uptime:
I started to monitor Bluehost uptime metrics by paying for their hosting plan myself. Below is a snapshot of what I have recorded.
You can see full detailed data here.
In most cases, BlueHost has provided a consistent uptime of around 100%. This assures, your business would have the least impact because of any downtimes.
Reliability and Security:
BlueHost supports SSD storage for every plan. It ensures good speed even with the basic plan.
BlueHost has technology which identifies websites that are using excessive resources and reassign them to an isolated system. This way all websites can maintain a consistent performance and response time.
Its custom technology allows you to upgrade as you scale up.
With a more advanced plan, you get the support of CloudFlare CDN to enhance your website performance.
With all its plans, you get a free SSL.
With more advance plans you get Spam Experts, Domain privacy, Site Backup.
Other optional security features included are – SiteLock, CodeGuard, Spam Protection, account isolation.
Backup Service:
Yes, BlueHost does provide backup services. With the lower end plans, backup is optional and comes with a separate pricing.
You get CodeGuard at $2.99/month. With the backup services, BlueHost provides daily backup, monitoring, and one-click restoration.
The more advance plan includes CodeGuard.
Renewal plan:
With BlueHost, you do not renew at the same pricing. Each plan has a different starting and renewal pricing.
The Basic plan starts at $2.95/month and the renewal is $7.99/month. Similarly, Plus and Choice Plus plan have starting pricing of $5.95/month and renewal is at $10.99/month and 14.99/month respectively. The pro plan starts at $13.95/month and the renewal is $23.99/month.
Customer support:
You can reach BlueHost support in different ways. This includes email, live chat, tickets or phone.
Apart from this, BlueHost has a separate Knowledge base section which caters to queries on diverse topics.
The support is available 24/7. Also included is a dedicated blog section and an FAQ which is equally useful.
BlueHost provides diverse customer support option, which equally caters to advance as well as novice users.
2. FastComet
Next on my list is FastComet. FastComet has been on the market for the past 9 years. In 2013 FastComet launched its public cloud hosting service.
It has over 45000 customers spread across 83 countries. Their value-added services along with performance are one of the key indicators.
FastComet provides a series of hosting options which also includes Joomla, OpenCart, WordPress to name a few.
Let me get into more details of how FastComet performs.
Uptime:
To start with, let me speak more about their uptime metrics. This is what I have recorded:
FastComet’s Uptime history you can see here.
Truly speaking, their uptime metrics is pretty impressive.
Worth mentioning is their consistency in maintaining the uptime, which in most cases is 100%.
Reliability and Security:
Speaking about Reliability as well as Security, FastComet takes every precautionary measure to ensure both they are reliable as well as secure.
So what exactly do you get for a small business?
FastComet provides cloud-based SSD in a RAID 10 configuration. This ensures you get the right performance for your website with no data loss.
The basic plan includes daily backups, CloudFlare CDN, SSL, BitNinja Server Security, web application firewall.
Additionally, the plan also includes Spam Expert, Malware removal and a rocket booster which provides 3 times more resources per account.
Backup Service:
FastComet provides backup services with every plan. It provides a daily backup.
It provides backup from the past 7 to 30 days.
There are no restrictions or separate pricing to access these backups. You can use FastComet’s restore manager to get a one-click restoration.
In addition to this, you get a 24/7 support for any kind of restoration with no added cost.
Customer Support:
FastComet has multiple ways in which you can get in touch with them. It has live chat, phone, and email options. The live chat popups instantaneously the moment you browse their website.
Apart from this, you would also get a separate dedicated tutorial section on their website. The tutorial consists of ample of versatile topics being covered.
The e-commerce section is separate. All the tutorials have an option to be viewed as a text or as a video. Along with this, there are dedicated blogs on different topics.
FastComet support is available 24/7/365. On the whole, FastComet has sufficiently large provisioning to support its customers.
3. ServerBurger
ServerBurger offers fast and reliable hosting solutions. In addition, they offer excellent 24/7 support along with a free domain, SSL, and malware cleanup.
A relatively new entry into the hosting services list, ServerBurger was started in 2021. Still, they are making waves in the industry and challenging the stalwarts with their exceptional services.
Uptime
Since ServerBurger is a relatively new hosting service, the uptime stats are yet to be made available to customers.
Reliability & Security
Free SSL Certificates are offered for all packages.
Backup Service
ServerBurger offers complete peace of mind with their daily backup routines. In some packages, they even provide multiple backups in a day.
Renewal Plan
ServerBurger auto-renews at existing rates. Discounts are applicable only for first-time buyers.
Along with the TRIPLE plan, ServerBurger offers a free domain for life. There are some terms and conditions for this, which need to be explored.
4. iPage
iPage is another option available for hosting small business. iPage is a web hosting platform and is part of the Endurance International Group.
iPage was first launched in 1998 and is one of the oldest web hosting platforms available in the market. It is headquartered in Burlington, MA, USA.
It is a platform which is well-known for its easy to use drag and drop features and helps beginners create a website with zero coding.
Let me now check each of these parameters for iPage.
Uptime:
iPage has a performance-based load balancer which ensures you can remain up even if one of the servers goes down.
It also has a UPS power backup and generators, to ensure the least impact to your website.
Reliability and Security:
iPage provides a 24/7 security monitoring. You can choose their enhanced security suite at a pricing of $100.
It provides a performance-based load balanced server, which ensures your website performance remains consistent irrespective of the traffic.
iPage uses Cisco routers enabled with BGP4 protocol for higher security. Also included is a free SSL certificate.
You can also choose website security and domain privacy at a separate pricing. The email hosting provides a spam filter which is customizable and also has virus scanning.
Backup Service:
iPage has backup and restoration services, though this is not included as part of the plan. This needs to be chosen separately.
It provides a daily automatic backup. On an average, this costs $1/month or $35.98 for 36 months.
Renewal plan: iPage does not provide multiple plans, however, it has a different pricing based on the duration of the plan you choose.
So in case you choose a plan for 1 year, which is the least you need to choose, the starting price would be $2.99/month. Post this the same plan renews at $9.99/month.
In case you choose a 2-year plan then the starting price is $2.49/month and the subsequent renewal for this plan is at $8.99/month.
The next is a 3-year plan which starts at $1.99/month. This is the least priced plan. The renewal for the plan happens at $7.99/month.
Customer support:
iPage can be reached over phone, email or live chat. It has 24/7 customer support.
In addition to this, you have a help knowledge base available over their website. Here you can search on different topics.
Few of the topics covered over here are – advanced hosting, email hosting, website builder, domains, CGI scripting, database, security, to name a few.
5. Best Web Hosting for Small Business: GreenGeeks
Next on my list is GreenGeeks which is well-known as an eco friendly web hosting platform.
GreenGeeks has been around for over 10 years and caters to over 35000 customers and has hosted more than 3000000 websites.
It is headquartered in California, USA. GreenGeeks provides a range of hosting options and is popular for its technology and eco-friendly hosting.
Further to this, let me provide more details about GreenGeeks.
Uptime:
GreenGeeks guarantees a 99.99% uptime. It provides easily scalable hosting options with proactive server monitoring.
I recorded the uptime for GreenGeeks through Uptime Robot:
In most cases, GreenGeeks provides a whopping 100% uptime, much better than what they guarantee.
Reliability and Security:
Each of the plans uses SSD and provides unlimited storage. Let’s Encrypt wildcard SSL is part of all the plans.
It has nightly backups, CloudFlare CDN which gives enhanced performance. As you move to a higher pricing, the computing doubles with each plan.
It uses container-based technology, which provides maximum security and is easily scalable. Also included are account isolation, proactive server monitoring, real-time security scanning, automatic app updates, and enhanced SPAM protection.
Beyond this, GreenGeeks ensures hardware and power redundancy. It supports HTTP/2 protocol.
Backup Service:
Speaking of backup services, GreenGeeks does everything to ensure your data is safely backed up.
It takes daily backup of your website. This is retained by GreenGeeks for 24 hours for disaster recovery purpose.
Apart from this, at any point, you can take backup of your website files, database, and emails. This requires no add-on services or a separate pricing.
Renewal plan:
GreenGeeks provides 3 different plans – Lite , Pro, Premium. The plans with longer duration are cheaper.
The Lite plan starts at $2.95/month. This is for a period of 36 months which is the least priced. The same plan renews at $9.95/month.
The Pro plan starts at $5.95/month and renews at $14.95/month. Whereas the Premium plan starts at $11.95/month and renews at $24.95/month.
Customer support:
You can reach GreenGeek’s customer support over email, phone and live chat.
It has 24/7 customer support.
Apart from this, the website has a dedicated support section with an exhaustive knowledge base. The knowledge base covers various topics as well as FAQs.
Along with this, there are several website tutorials and a blog which cover topics of hosting interest.
6. Best Web Hosting for Small Business: InterServer
InterServer is one of the most viable options in hosting. They offer shared, cloud, fast servers, and dedicated server hosting services. Along with the same, also provide colocation services.
It was started in 1999, and the company’s core principles include service, quality, and support. These have been the pillars of their success.
Uptime
InterServer promises an uptime of 99%, and power uptime is 100%. Offering the best uptime is one of the prominent features of InterServer. It ensures that your business can run smoothly, almost without any downside.
Reliability & Security
InterServer offers free SSL certificates and Intershield protection for ASP.NET hosting. Unfortunately, there is no mention of free security offerings for their dedicated hosting.
Here is what they offer for Cloud Virtual Private Servers.
Backup Service
InterServer has partnered with Acronis. Hence, you are assured of the best backup solutions that your company is looking for. All backups are stored in the InterServer cloud.
InterServer offers straightforward pricing and easy restoration solutions. Hence, you don’t have to worry too much about backups with Interserver by your side.
Renewal Plan
The renewal costs of InterServer are very competitive, unlike the high renewal rates of competitors.
Customer Support
InterServer claims to provide Epic Support to all their customers. They offer 24/7 support through live chat, phone, email, and Facebook chat. However, there is no chat window open on the website. Hence, we need to consider that this is not an option.
7. Best Web Hosting for Small Business: DreamHost
Based in Los Angeles, DreamHost began its journey in 1996. They have been creating dynamic websites for more than 20 years.
DreamHost gives your website the option of Linux power. In addition, their website hosting services offer rich features. This is one of the main reasons for DreamHost to be popular among users.
DreamHost offers robust security, handy domain tools, and excellent cloud hosting. Therefore, it is one of the best options available for your business.
Uptime
DreamHost has an uptime of 99.99, which is evident from the Hosting Pill’s analysis below.
Reliability & Security
DreamHost offers highly secure solutions and free SSL with their shared hosting packages.
Backup Service
The backup service of DreamHost is one of the best in the industry as they are automated. They create a backup every single day, ensuring safety for your website data.
Renewal Plan
Domain renewals are done at a higher cost than first-time purchases. This is similar to any other hosting service provider. Here is the list of buying and renewal rates.
Customer Support
DreamHost has a 100% in-house expert customer support team. This makes them efficient at resolving any issue in a quick time. The DreamBot is always ready to assist you 24/7 with chat support. Email and live chat support are available at times specified below.
8. Best Web Hosting for Small Business: TMDHosting
TMDHosting is a great Linux shared website hosting provider if you are a little tight on your budget. The services offered are top-notch though there are some reservations.
Since 2007, TMDHosting has been providing hosting services. The easy drag and drop builder is an added feather to their cap. In addition, the 60-day money-back guarantee is the longest offered in comparison to competitors.
Uptime
TMDHosting has an uptime of 99.9%, which means it is a worry-free solution for your business. The stats below show the uptime as recorded by us.
Reliability & Security
TMDHosting offers top-class security. The SSL certificate is free for small websites, but it is charged for medium and bigger websites.
Backup Service
Daily backups are a part of the daily routine at TMDHosting. This is why most businesses that need to store data constantly find it beneficial.
Renewal Plan
Renewals are done at regular rates, as mentioned below.
Customer Support
TMDHosting has one of the best customer support services. Timely resolution is one of the positives. Knowledgeable technical staff are the reason for excellence in customer support.
CONCLUSION:
Through this post, I have provided you the best available options to host a small business website. I have provided details for 5 best web hosting for small business – BlueHost, FastComet, ServerBurger, iPage and GreenGeeks.
For each of this, you would find uptime is consistent or rather is at par with expected industry standard.
When we speak about BlueHost, it is a good option to explore.
Having said this, I would like to highlight, that for each of these the renewals are higher than the first time pricing. These are popular hosting platforms.
With iPage and BlueHost backup is not included as part of the plan. So definitely choosing these platforms, depends on what exactly are you looking for.
Other options left are GreenGeeks and FastComet. Both are equally good options and provide a range of security features. Again to highlight, with GreenGeeks, you renew at a higher pricing.
With FastComet you get a range of security features. It uses advanced technology to ensure its services are reliable. Not only this the uptime in most cases is 100%. It has good customer support.
FastComet includes Backup services as part of its basic plan.
FastComet provides Joomla hosting, WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, OpenCart hosting, Dolphin hosting, ZenCart hosting.
Finally, my take over here would be FastComet for obvious reasons. While all platforms are good, FastComet is rich in feature and definitely an affordable option.
