When you search about CMS-Hosting hybrid services, you would often come across something like WordPress or Joomla Hosting.
Joomla is yet another choice of open source content management system to publish web content. It is considered as the second most used CMS after WordPress.
Joomla was first launched on 17th August 2005 and is written in PHP.
To its credit, Joomla supports over 8000 free and commercial extensions.
Next, let me provide the best Joomla hosting options for your website.
Hosting 1: Bluehost
Bluehost is a name that you can’t miss from this list. Being popular and widely used, Bluehost goes beyond WordPress and also provides best Joomla hosting services.
Bluehost caters to over 2 million domains and is one of the top 20 hosting platforms. This certainly provides exciting features for Joomla hosting as well.
Uptime:
Being one of the widely used hosting platforms, Bluehost ensures it maintains a good uptime. This is evident from the infrastructure it has built.
Bluehost provides enough hardware backup to ensure seamless, uninterrupted hosting experience. I have been using Bluehost and have monitored their uptime.
The recorded uptime metrics for BlueHost, you can see here.
Overall, you will find that Bluehost provides a consistent uptime and maintains a good response time.
Reliability and Security:
Bluehost provides services which ensure enough infrastructure redundancy. This lets in maintaining reliable services and good uptime.
Bluehost includes SSL in every plan. More advanced plans include Spam Experts, CodeGuard Basic, SiteLock security and domain privacy. While this is not included in the basic plan, it can be availed at separate pricing.
Overall Bluehost provides a good mix of reliable services along with basic security.
Backup Service:
Bluehost provides a 30-day money back guarantee. Along with reliable services, Bluehost also provides backup services.
The basic plans do not include CodeGuard Basic but can be purchased separately. However, more advanced plans include CodeGuard Basic which helps in backup and restoration services.
Plans:
Bluehost supports shared Joomla hosting. Over here there are 3 plans available. The most basic plan starts at $2.95/month. The plus plan starts at $5.45/month and choice plus plan starts at $5.45/month.
All 3 plans have a slightly higher renewal pricing. Apart from this, added security services or backup services can be availed at separate pricing.
Customer support:
Bluehost does not lag behind when its customer support. Having a huge customer base, it certainly has good customer support.
The customer support can be reached over email, phone, tickets or live chat. The live chat is separate for new and existing customers.
Similarly, you can segregate the chat on various topics.
You can also check the knowledge base for more information. The knowledge base includes a wide range of topics, FAQs, and blogs.
Bluehost customer support helps you find the right information and is easy to use.
Hosting 2: Rochen
Rochen supports over 150 applications which include WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and Magento.
Rochen holds a Green Mountain Energy certificate for its eco-friendly technology practice.
The web host was first launched in 2000 and is headquartered in Dundee, Scotland, UK. To its credit, Rochen is the official web hosting partner for Joomla.
Uptime:
Rochen works out of multiple data centers located in the US and UK. It offers redundant server to ensure it maintains maximum uptime.
Over their services, Rochen does not offer any specific uptime guarantee. However, their premium web hosting guarantees 99.9% uptime.
In an event where the uptime goes lower than 99.9%, Rochen offers credits to its customer based on the terms of service.
Reliability and Security:
Rochen offers several redundant servers which are used in case of failures. It supports automatic server failover. CloudLinux OS is used in every server to provide a high level of reliability.
The services offer a WAF (Web Application Firewall) which provide protection against SQL injection, CSS attacks, and other common vulnerabilities.
Rochen offers automatic backup with its plan.
Rochen provides site segregation along with SSL and malware protection.
Backup Service:
Rochen supports vault backup. Files and database can be easily restored at any point.
Your Joomla website can be easily rolled back to an earlier date.
Rochen has automatic daily backups and can be restored for the past 30 days. At any point, users can download these backups from the cPanel.
Plans:
Rochen provides 4 different payment plans – Monthly, 1-year, 2-years, and 3-years. The 3-year plan being the cheapest starts at $4.95/month. This supports one site.
For multiple websites, the lowest pricing is $7.95/month for a period of 3 years. In either case, the renewal is slightly higher as compared to the starting price.
When you start, you get a discount, which makes the first-time pricing lower than the renewals. So, if you choose an annual plan, initially you would pay $76.77 and the renewal is at $83.40.
Customer support:
Rochen offers a separate support for sales and other queries. Sales support is not available 24/7, however, the other support is available 24/7.
Over the website, you would not find a separate dedicated help section or tutorials. This is something that is missing over here. You can also reach their customer support over email or can allow them to call you.
While they claim to have 24/7 support, this can be accessed only if you have registered with Rochel.
Overall customer support is not quickly accessible at all times and is restricted to only registered users.
Best Joomla Hosting 3: HostGator
HostGator is another best Joomla hosting provider and happens to be a part of Endurance International Group. It hosts over 9 million domains and supports over 400,000 customers.
HostGator was first started in 2002 and is headquartered in Houston, Texas, USA. HostGator is one of the few Green Hosting solutions available in the market.
Uptime:
HostGator guarantees a 99.9% uptime. It provides unmetered disk space with unmetered bandwidth.
While this is something they commit to, I have recorded the uptime through my test website on HostGator.
You can see latest uptime here.
Overall it has good uptime except in August where it has taken a slight dip.
Reliability and Security:
Free SSL is included as part of every plan. To add on this also includes a free SSL upgrade.
With HostGator, you can have instant backups. Additionally, you can choose SiteLock monitoring at a separate pricing.
The plans also include Spam Assassin and Hotlink protection.
HostGator offers password protected directories.
Backup Service:
HostGator provides backup services. You can take backup at any point in time using the cPanel. On completion of backup, you would receive a downloadable link.
Similarly, restoration can also be carried out at any point in time. Site Backup can be selected at a pricing of $2/month and needs to be renewed every year.
This provides daily automated backup of files and database. This is powered by CodeGuard.
Plans:
HostGator supports 3 different plans- Hatchling, Baby and Business. The initial pricing for these plans is – $3.95/month, $5.95/month and $5.95/month respectively.
These prices are for the longest-term plans of 36 months. The renews are higher priced as compared to the initial pricing.
The renewal for the Hatchling plan is at $6.95/month. Similarly, the Baby plan renews at $9.95/month and the Business plan renews at $14.95/month.
Customer support:
HostGator has abundant support tutorials including video tutorials. You can reach their customer support through live chat or email.
It offers 24/7/365 support. The website also includes a HostGator dedicated forum.
I tried their live chat option.
The chat started almost immediately and the customer support representative provided some quick information.
Best Joomla Hosting 4: Hostinger
Hostinger supports Joomla hosting along with other hostings. It was launched in 2004 and is headquartered in Kaunas, Lithuania.
The company uses cloud-based hosting and guarantees a 99.9% uptime. Also provides a 30-day money back guarantee.
Uptime:
Hostinger guarantees a 99.9% uptime. The servers are optimized to provide significant performance.
I am also monitoring Hostinger server performance through my test website on Hostinger.
Reliability and Security:
With Hostinger, as the plan moves higher, the configurations are doubled. It provides SSD with every plan.
SSL is included as part of the higher end plan. Similarly, data backup is available only for the higher end plan.
For the basic plans, you can add SSL at $11.99 for a lifetime. You can add daily backup at $2.09/month and add CloudFlare protection at $7.50 for a lifetime.
Backup Service:
Hostinger supports backup services which are optional as part of the basic plans. The Business plan includes daily backup services.
The daily backup includes files, data, database, and emails. Restoration can be carried out using the control panel.
Plans:
Hostinger has 3 different plans- Starter, Premium, Business. The first-time pricing for each of this is $0.80/month, $2.15/month and $3.45/month respectively.
The first-time pricing includes at least a minimum of 50% discount for all the plans. The renewals for all the plans are higher.
Each of these plans renews at a pricing of $7.99/month, $11.95/month and $15.95/month respectively.
Customer support:
Hostinger has a dedicated tutorial section covering multiple topics of hosting interest. You can also use their live chat or raise a ticket.
However, the support exists only for paid clients. So, if you are not a Hostinger customer, then you would not be able to contact them through live chat.
At a separate pricing, it also has a priority support.
CONCLUSION
All the above-mentioned options for Joomla hosting are distinct in a certain way. So, in a certain way each hosting platform has its own positive aspects along with shortcomings.
What is common between each of this is a good uptime, backup services, and higher renewal rates as compared to the first-time pricing.
HostGator provides round the clock customer support for all, which is missing in the other hosting platform.
While Hostinger and HostGator do not provide all the security features as part of the plan, this can still be opted.
When it comes to features while these are all feature-rich, Rochen and BlueHost provide a range of developer supported features.
Finally moving on to the budget-friendly aspect. Each of this has an affordable initial pricing.
However, when it comes to the difference between the initial pricing and renewal pricing, Rochen is an affordable option in the long run.
Moreover, Rochen is the official partner for Joomla, which makes it a conducive option for Joomla hosting.