If you’ve ever spent time choosing a web host, you know how prolonged a task it can be. With so many web hosting options out there, finding the right one when you create a website can take time. Ultimately it comes down to what type of hosting you need, the specific features you want and your budget. And even then, it can still be hard to decide.
In order to make the search for the right web host easier, we’re going to explore 10 of the best available. We’ll also detail the key components of each of these hosted services and what sets them apart from the competition.
Here’s our list of web hosting platforms for your small business website both now and as it scales:
Best web hosting platforms for small business
01. Wix.com
Wix offers multi-cloud web hosting when you create a site. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking to build a website for your small business, professional agency or enterprise, Wix has both the website builder and the reliable hosting to get any site up and running. With multi-cloud hosting utilizing AWS, Google Cloud—complete with Wix’s private data centers—and a network of Fastly CDN’s, Wix hosting is reliable and hassle-free. With this in mind, let’s take a closer look at what makes it’s infrastructure and its hosted services really stand out.
Reliability: There’s no 100% guarantee when it comes to this, but 99.9% uptime comes pretty close. With its international infrastructure—including over 200 CDN nodes located around the world—Wix’s hosting delivers global coverage. The reliable hosting service you'll get with your Wix site delivers the type of infrastructure that leaves you free to focus on starting your business, and then managing it, rather than your hosting.
High resilience: Outages happen, servers go down, but what makes the difference is how fast and effectively your web hosting platform responds. Wix’s War Room, yes we love that name too, works 24/7 handling outages or attacks. This means they preempt issues before they can even impact your site. In the event something should happen, they deploy swiftly to get your site back up again.
Hassle-free: With Wix features, free web hosting is hands off from your side. From security monitoring, to preventing web server downtime, to connecting your SSL certificate—Wix takes care of it all, so you don’t have to expend valuable time and resources. Since you already know your Wix website is securely hosted, you can focus on your business needs. For example, connect your own custom free domain name and personalized business email address to streamline communication and day-to-day operations, or create a simple RSS feed for your blog. It's a complete managed hosting solution.
Check out this list of best business websites to get you started with your inspiration.
Read Also: How to start a business
Highlight: With secure and reliable multi-cloud web hosting an integral part of its website builder, Wix is one of the best all-round web platforms for business out there.
Price: Free to $500/month
Bandwidth: 500MB to unlimited
Storage: 500MB to 50GB
02. Bluehost
Bluehost is a website hosting platform that offers an assortment of plans for a range of needs. Its plans are broken down into shared hosting, VPS (virtual private server) and dedicated hosting plans. While a majority of small business websites will fall into the shared hosting option, Bluehost offers flexibility for larger-scale websites. From a simple site to an advanced, demanding corporate website, there’s a plan for everyone.
This is a host that also integrates with Wordpress, so you can choose from dedicated plans for that platform as well. However, with such a range of plans available, it can make it an overwhelming choice, especially if you’re new to the world of hosting.
Highlight: The flexibility of Bluehost’s hosting plans makes them a trusted web hosting platform for small business.
Price: $8 to $210/month
Bandwidth: Unmetered for shared hosting
Storage: 50GB to unlimited
03. HostGator
HostGator is a name that’s been in the website hosting game for a very long time. Not only does it offer shared, VPS and dedicated hosting similar to Bluehost above, but it also has hosting plans that include a drag and drop website editor for easy site creation. It’s not free to use like Wix’s, but it definitely has some leverage against several of its competitors.
One benefit that you’ll get with HostGator is that even the basic plans offer unmetered storage and bandwidth. Which makes the future scalability of your site one less thing to worry about.
Highlight: HostGator is a good option for someone who wants a user-friendly web hosting for small business solution, with generous storage and bandwidth.
Price: $6.95 - $289/month
Bandwidth: Unmetered
Storage: Unlimited
04. GoDaddy
GoDaddy has been around since the late ‘90s, when it entered the market with its domain purchasing plans. Now, in addition to website hosting, GoDaddy also offers advanced DNS management and easy website building tools.
Highlight: People flock to GoDaddy because of the variety of features and services it offers. This makes it a good option if you don’t know what you need in terms of your web hosting for your small business.
Price: $7.99 - $349.99/month
Bandwidth: Unmetered
Storage: 100GB - unlimited
05. InMotion Hosting
InMotion Hosting gets high marks across the board thanks to its wide variety of basic and professional hosting plans, including VPS and dedicated server hosting. Its combination of choice, different price options and enhanced security make it a solid web host choice. If you need a website, it offers a drag and drop website builder add-on, BoldGrid, through WordPress.
Highlight: While there isn’t one particular thing that makes InMotion Hosting a dramatic standout among the others, it’s still a great option for small businesses that earns some points for its variety of hosting options.
Price: $6.39 - $559.99/month
Bandwidth: Unmetered
Storage: Unlimited
06. Hostinger
If paying a low price is your number one priority, look to Hostinger. While its prices are generally standard, you can sometimes find some impressive discounted basic shared hosting plans for under $1/month.
Like many other web hosts, Hostinger also offers standalone email hosting, allowing you to connect the different parts of your business.
Highlight: Hostinger’s sales are something to look out for, but even without them, it’s still a good, middle of the road web host for small businesses.
Price: $2.15 - $300/month
Bandwidth: 100GB - Unlimited
Storage: 10GB - 400GB
07. InterServer
InterServer is another well-rounded web host that offers a lot of value with its basic plans. More advanced plans, for larger scale websites, are also available.
In addition, InterServer boasts a free website builder. However, their WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor is only free when you purchase one of their standard plans, so there’s no way to create and maintain a website completely for free.. This differs from other site builders, such as Wix, where you can create and run a free site.
Highlight: InterServer is a decent web host for small businesses with some solid pricing options for basic websites.
Price: $4 - $160
Bandwidth: Unmetered
Storage: Unlimited
08. DreamHost
DreamHost is an affordable, robust web host. Shared hosting, VPS, Cloud and Dedicated hosting are all available, each with their own respective plans, making DreamHost one of the best website hosting for small business options.
The more common, shared hosting plans are affordable and annual plans offer a free one-year domain with privacy protection. DreamHost also outdoes a lot of its competition by offering a unique 97-day money-back guarantee for its shared hosting plans.
Highlight: With cheap basic plans and a good money-back guarantee, DreamHost is a good option for those who aren’t sure how their business web hosting needs might change over time.
Price: $2.59 - $299/month
Bandwidth: Unmetered
Storage: 50GB - Unlimited
09. A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is a particularly good choice for small businesses just starting out, as the shared hosting plans are affordable and have some great features for newcomers.
Even the most basic plans have something going for them. The “Lite” plan includes free email addresses, a free SSL Certificate and its own drag and drop website builder.
Highlight: This all in one host is feature-rich and affordable, a good choice for small businesses.
Price: $5.99 - $349.99
Bandwidth: Unmetered
Storage: Unlimited
10. SiteGround
Last but not least is SiteGround, a simple and straightforward web host. Affordable plans are available regardless of your site needs, though their pricing plans start slightly above average compared to some other options on this list.
Highlight: SiteGround isn’t bursting at the seams with extras and must-have features often found with other competitors, but it’s a solid option for those looking for a no-frills web host.
Price: $11.95 - $240/month
Bandwidth: Unmetered
Storage: 10GB
What is web hosting?
Web hosting is a service that provides storage and access to websites. When you sign up for a web hosting service, you're essentially renting space on a server where you can store all the files and data necessary for your website to function properly.
Web hosting is an essential part of creating and maintaining a website. By choosing the right web hosting provider and plan, you can ensure that your website is fast, reliable and secure.
How does web hosting work?
Web hosting works by providing space on a server for your website's files and data. Servers are powerful computers that are connected to the internet 24/7. When someone visits your website, their computer sends a request to the server where your website is hosted. The server then sends the files and data necessary to load your website on their computer.
Web hosting providers typically maintain large networks of servers in different locations around the world. This ensures that your website is always accessible to visitors, no matter where they're located.
Here's a simplified explanation of how web hosting works:
You sign up for a web hosting plan from a web hosting provider.
The web hosting provider provides you with space on a server to store your website's files and data.
You upload your website's files and data to the server using a file transfer protocol (FTP) client.
When someone visits your website, their computer sends a request to the server where your website is hosted.
The server then sends the files and data necessary to load your website on their computer.
How to choose the best web hosting service
When choosing a web hosting provider, you should consider the following factors:
Price: Web hosting prices vary depending on the type of hosting plan you choose and the features you need. It's important to compare prices from different providers before you make a decision.
Features: Some web hosting providers offer more features than others, such as free domain name registration, email hosting and website builders. Consider which features are important to you when choosing a provider.
Customer support: It's important to choose a web hosting provider with good customer support. This is especially important if you are new to web hosting or if you have any questions or problems.
Here are some tips for choosing a web hosting service:
Read reviews: Read reviews of different web hosting providers from other customers. This can give you a good idea of the quality of service and customer support that you can expect.
Compare prices and features: Compare prices and features from different providers before you make a decision. This will help you to find the best deal for your needs.
Ask questions: If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask the web hosting provider. They should be happy to answer any questions that you have.
Once you have chosen a web hosting service, you can sign up for a hosting plan and create your website. Most web hosting providers offer easy-to-use tools and tutorials to help you get started.
Types of web hosting
Web hosting providers offer a variety of hosting plans to suit different needs and budgets. Some of the most common types of web hosting include:
Shared hosting: This is the most affordable type of web hosting, where your website shares space on a server with other websites. Shared hosting is a good option for small websites and personal blogs.
VPS hosting: This type of web hosting gives you more control over your server environment than shared hosting. VPS hosting is a good option for medium-sized websites and businesses that need more performance and scalability.
Dedicated hosting: This type of web hosting gives you exclusive use of a server. Dedicated hosting is the most expensive type of web hosting, but it's also the most powerful and reliable.
What web hosting features do you need?
Web hosting is an essential service for any website or online application. It provides the storage space and computing resources that your website or application needs to be accessible to visitors from around the world.
There are a number of different web hosting providers to choose from, and each one offers a variety of features and pricing plans. It can be difficult to decide which features are most important for your website or application, and which ones you can do without.
Here are some of the most important web hosting features to consider:
Disk space: Disk space is the amount of storage space that is allocated to your website or application. This space is used to store your website's files, such as your HTML, CSS, JavaScript, images and videos.
Bandwidth: Bandwidth is the amount of data that can be transferred between your website or application and your visitors' web browsers. This is important for websites that have a lot of visitors or that have large files, such as videos or images.
Uptime: Uptime is the percentage of time that your website or application is available to visitors. A high uptime is important for websites that are critical to your business or that you want to be available to visitors at all times.
Email hosting: Email hosting allows you to create email addresses for your website or application. This can be useful for sending and receiving business emails.
Backups: Backups are copies of your website's files and data. They are important for protecting your website from data loss, such as if your website is hacked or if your web server crashes.
Best web hosting services FAQ
What is the best hosting provider for a small business?
The answer to this will depend on your own specific needs. In order to choose the best hosting solution for your business as you scale, we'd recommend a multi cloud hosting solution with high uptime and in-built website security.