These web hosts offer good services, but may require add-ons or have renewal rates of $11 to $13 a month on their most affordable plans.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy is one of the biggest names in the web hosting business, powering 15.6% of all websites. GoDaddy also performed reasonably well in our testing, with relatively simple account setup and site management, great server performance and rapid customer service.
GoDaddy’s shared hosting plans include a free domain for the first year, unmetered bandwidth, automated daily backups and the opportunity to choose the data center your site is stored in to improve site performance for your primary audience based on their location. You’ll also get free cPanel-based email.
The most affordable plan from GoDaddy is the Web Hosting Economy plan, featuring enough storage for at least 100 pages and everything mentioned above. This plan starts at $7 a month and rises to $10 a month when you buy a one-year plan. However, you’ll be paying more than the sticker price to keep your site secure — a firewall is only available through a $3 a month add-on, and SSL certification costs $100 a year after the first year.
Read our GoDaddy review.
A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is a beginner-friendly web hosting service that performed well in our experience, with great site setup tools and solid server performance. The one downside was slow customer service via support ticket and phone.
All of A2 Hosting’s shared hosting plans include enough storage for at least 1,000 pages, unlimited data transfer and unlimited email addresses. A2 Hosting also offers advanced security on all shared hosting plans, including permanent SSL certification, an advanced firewall, DDoS protection, brute force protection and a virus scanner.
The cheapest shared hosting plan from A2 Hosting starts at just $3 a month when you pay for a three-year term, and you won’t need to pay for any add-ons. However, you’ll be paying $13 a month on renewal.
Read our A2 Hosting review.
HostGator
HostGator is a popular web host that performed reasonably well in our testing, with good site management tools and server performance but inconsistent customer service.
All HostGator plans include a free domain for the first year, unmetered bandwidth, pre-installed WordPress complete with the HostGator site assistant, advanced firewall protection including DDoS protection and malware scanning. Email hosting for at least one email address is also included on all plans.
The cheapest HostGator plan is the Hatchling shared hosting plan, which starts at $3.75 a month and rises to $10 a month on renewal, based on a three-year term. This plan includes 10GB of storage (enough for at least 100 pages) and everything listed in the previous paragraph. However, customer support on the Hatchling plan is limited to email and live chat.
Read our HostGator review.
Namecheap
Namecheap is primarily known for its domain registration services, but the company also offers cheap web hosting. The lowest-tier plan starts at just $1.58 a month and the renewal rate is a low $3.49 a month if you choose a biannual plan — and just $4.48 a month on a monthly plan. All plans include a free domain, basic firewall protection and email hosting for at least 30 email addresses.
However, there are a couple of drawbacks to Namecheap — the big one being that you’ll pay an additional $13.20 a year for SSL certification after the first year. Customer support is also limited to live chat and email.
