The best Project Zomboid server hosting is ideal for those embracing that zombie dodging lifestyle. Project Zomboid has enjoyed a meteoric rise in recent times thanks to its compelling The Sims-like experience combined with, oh yes, a zombie apocalypse. With the addition of multiplayer in a recent beta build, it’s now even more fun as you can play alongside your friends and see who’s the weak link in your zombie surviving endeavors.

Many of the best game server hosts now offer great Project Zomboid server hosting so I’ve extensively researched them. Below, you’ll find all the best Project Zomboid server hosting ranked according to your needs and requirements.

If you know what you’re looking for, you can quickly scroll down the list and find it. I’ve gathered options for the best cheap Project Zomboid host, right up to the more premium servers, and everything in between. It’s possible to host your own Project Zomboid server through your PC, but a dedicated server host makes life a lot simpler and easier for you.

Here’s the best Project Zomboid server hosting available right now.

Best Project Zomboid server hosting services 2026 in full

Best Project Zomboid host for beginners

What I like

Shockbyte is generally my go-to for any server. It’s consistently simple to use with instant setup and a user interface that makes logical sense. If you’re not used to server hosting, you won’t be intimidated here. However, if you know what you’re doing, you also won’t feel limited in the slightest. It’s the biggest highlight to a Project Zomboid server host that also packs in all the essential features too.

What I don’t like

I’ve found the ticket system is helpful and comes back with the right answers, but it could be a little faster. On top of that, there’s no telephone support. I’m not a huge fan of telephone support but it’s useful to have it there for emergencies and if you’re running a commercial endeavor, you may want to be able to get in touch faster.

What you need to know

I’m a big fan of Shockbyte. I’ve talked about it a lot here such as its reign as one of the best Minecraft server hosts but for good reason. It works well and it’s generally competitively priced. With Project Zomboid servers, you have three core plans to choose from. A simple one for 10 players with 2GB RAM ramping up to over 24 players on a 6GB server. In all cases, there’s mod support, 99.9% uptime, global locations for the servers, full FTP access, easy configuration, and automatic backups. There are some really useful guides too to help you get to grips with running your server. It’s all about how easy it is to use. If the chosen plan isn’t enough for you, you can add more player slots too.

For an additional fee, there are options to add a dedicated IP or upgrade to a superior CPU, but the core experience is pretty solid. There’s even unlimited disk space and bandwidth which is pretty useful.

Read our Shockbyte review

Best value Project Zomboid host

What I like

Bisect Hosting knows how to be accessible. Right from the start, it’ll guide you through what you need. You don’t have to pick a plan or worry about what you need. Just hit the ‘help me decide’ button and it’ll make suggestions. Whatever you go with, you get a BisectOne server which also supports dozens of other games but comes with Project Zomboid pre-installed. That means it takes moments to get started. What more could you ask for?

What I don’t like

Bisect Hosting is pretty affordable but it can get expensive once you factor in add-ons. On the plus side, you only pay for what you need but it can end up quite a lot. There’s BisectBoost which increases instance slots, backup storage, and provides you with premium subdomains. You can also pay extra for a dedicated IP. When comparing prices, Bisect Hosting is great value but you do need to be aware of what you’re buying.

What you need to know

As standard, Bisect Hosting offers a lot with its Project Zomboid hosting. There’s fully integrated Steam Workshop support, automatic game updates, and instant setup. You also get 3 days of free server backups if you don’t want to pay extra for more backup slots. The control panel is designed to make it simple to switch between different games or instances so if you’re looking to entertain a community with varied tastes, you’re always a couple of taps away from switching to a different game.

Similarly, you can add plenty of mods if you want but the service does recommend how many will work best for your server. Talking of servers, Bisect Hosting provides 21 different locations so you should get a good ping wherever you need it.

Read our Bisect Hosting review

Best on a budget

What I like

I love the flexibility of Nodecraft. It’s not the only game server host that offers such a service but Nodecraft truly simplifies it. If you and your friends are like me and prone to switching between games a little too easily, this makes that process so much easier. The idea is known as save&swap here and your only limits are the server you already possess.

What I don’t like

Nodecraft can be very cheap which is why it’s a good budget choice but you do need to keep aware. Opt for a premium plan and it can get a little pricey for what you get. However, if you just have some basic aims then Nodecraft is one of the cheaper Project Zomboid server hosts around.

What you need to know

Nodecraft is one of the best cheap game server hosts out there assuming you don’t need to go for too high-end a plan. Opt for a Lite plan and Nodecraft is very affordable and provides a free trial to check out if you appreciate its control panel. It’s fairly user-friendly with its backup system a particular highlight as it’s set up for swapping between games frequently.

When setting up, Nodecraft gives some useful suggestions depending on how much modding you have in mind so you should make the right server choice for your needs. The cheaper Lite plans are only online when needed while the Pro plans are available 24/7. Lite plans are perfect if you just want an easy solution for playing with a few friends.

Read our full Nodecraft review

Best premium Project Zomboid game server host

What I like

G-Portal keeps things simple but useful. It offers three core plans for Project Zomboid with the option to expand, making it simple to dive right in. From there, servers are set up within a couple of minutes so you don’t have to plan too far ahead. Alongside that, you don’t have to think too hard either as all plans provide endless slots although bear in mind that the game only allows up to 32 players at any one time.

What I don’t like

Support is a little limited. You can submit a ticket for help and it’s reasonably speedy, but there’s no live chat or telephone support. Fortunately, the knowledge base and Discord will solve a lot of queries without you needing to talk to anyone but generally, more support options are always good to see.

What you need to know

G-Portal has established close ties with many content creators to promote its wares but it’s for good reason. As the biggest host of Project Zomboid host, its servers are very reliable and offer a lot of features. With the game, there are some designated plans plus the option to create your own configuration. As standard, you get 50GB backup space, NVMe SSDs, DDoS protection, and the ability to switch games quickly.

Its servers are scattered around the world servicing most locations well. It’s also simple to install mods via its control panel. There are also good discounts for tying yourself into multiple months if you plan on hosting games for a long time to come. Of course, that doesn’t always have to be Project Zomboid.

Best for hardcore Project Zomboid game server hosts

What I like

I really appreciate that there are a lot of server choices at Apex Hosting. The most basic offers 2GB RAM which is the minimum you need but you can upgrade that to 32GB if you plan on running a lot of different mods. Alternatively, you can upgrade the CPU choice to one of the EX series for a fee. It’s good to see such flexibility and ideally suited for hardcore gamers.

What I don’t like

Alternatively, Apex Hosting isn’t the most newbie friendly at first. Right from the start, you’re setting up RCON passwords, and organizing your branding with the latter feeling a tad excessive for a fun session with some friends. It isn’t the cheapest out there so you might want to veer elsewhere if you’re keeping it casual.

What you need to know

Apex Hosting is one of the best Project Zomboid server hosting options if you have high-end and hardcore plans. Its basic plan lives up to its name but you can add a lot of RAM and upgrade to the EX series of CPUs if your plans are beefy. As standard, you get 24/7 support, while there’s a 7-day money back guarantee. There’s also extensive mod support, a free subdomain, automated backups, and the promise of ultra low latency.

Servers are spread out throughout the world covering all the major areas, and there’s an extensive knowledge base which can solve pretty much all your queries. If you’re planning ahead for some ambitious Project Zomboid sessions, you’ll like Apex Hosting.

Read our full Apex Hosting review

Best Project Zomboid server hosting: FAQs

How I tested the best Project Zomboid server hosting

I spent some time with each of the Project Zomboid server hosts listed here. I checked out the purchasing process, set up a server, and took a look at how intuitive and simple the control panel was to use. I also evaluated prices by comparing them with many other hosts, and I looked at uptime promises and general feedback from users over the years. I also checked the customer service availability. Essentially, I looked at everything any regular customer would find important when setting up a Project Zomboid server.

The best Web hosting companies all support WordPress and there are even specialist hosts which pride themselves on providing the best WordPress hosting but what even is WordPress? WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) that helps people build and manage websites.

But hat might not necessarily answer your question. How does it do that? What's a CMS? What do I need to know when making a WordPress site? Fear not, all those questions are answered here.

What Is WordPress? Explained For Beginners

WordPress is a popular and free content management system with a page builder that lets you build and manage websites with zero coding experience. WordPress powers approximately 40% of all websites on the internet, so you can rest assured that it’s reliable.

You get various building blocks, like text sections, image galleries, contact forms, and navigation menus, that you can arrange and customize to create your desired website. This simple approach makes website creation easier for people without coding or technical experience.

To understand it better, think about how you order furniture from IKEA, and when it gets delivered to your home, you read the manual and start assembling it as per the instructions. It’s the same for WordPress. You pick the pieces and assemble, and the final furniture is your website.

Did you know: WordPress initially began as a tool to publish blogs, but later evolved to publish other web content too?

Types Of Websites You Can Make with WordPress

You can create any type of website with WordPress, right from a personal blog, news, to even fully-fledged eCommerce stores. WordPress gives you 7,500+ themes to choose from with one-click installation and tons of blocks, so the possibility to design a website you desire is infinite.

• News and Magazine Sites: Publishing organizations appreciate WordPress's content management capabilities, editorial workflows, and multi-author support systems. You can use its built-in template and edit it to fit your brand guidelines.
• E-commerce Stores: Through the WooCommerce plugin, WordPress can be turned into a powerful e-commerce platform. You can sell physical products, digital downloads, or services directly through your website, complete with shopping cart functionality and payment processing.
• Personal and Professional Blogs: WordPress began as a blogging platform and continues to excel in this area. You can create blogs for sharing personal experiences, professional insights, or specialized knowledge in your field of expertise.
• Educational Websites: Schools, training organizations, and individual educators can create learning platforms using WordPress. These sites can include course materials, student resources, and interactive elements.
• Portfolio Websites: Creative professionals such as photographers, designers, and artists use WordPress to showcase their work. The platform offers numerous portfolio-focused themes that highlight visual content effectively.
• Business Websites: Service-based businesses, consultancies, and local companies use WordPress to establish their online presence. These sites typically include service descriptions, team information, testimonials, and contact details.

The list of websites you can make with WordPress is endless, and we mean it. The templates you get are a starting point, and you can begin customization as per your requirements.

WordPress.com vs WordPress.org

If you’re new to the WordPress world, the confusion between WordPress.com and WordPress.com might make you think they’re the same.

WordPress is a CMS and is available for free at WordPress.org. It is also usually pre-installed or available via a one-click installer on most shared hosting plans, where it is also free. You do not and never will need to pay for WordPress. However, you do need to pay for hosting, and maybe a page builder if you don’t get on with Gutenberg (the WordPress page builder), and may pay for some plugins.

WordPress.com, on the other hand, is a hosting company that is owned by Automattic, the company behind WordPress. An important difference between the two to remember here is that using WordPress does not require WordPress.com. Many web hosting companies offer WordPress installation and support and provide better value and more flexibility than WordPress.com's hosting services.

Is WordPress easy to use for a beginner?

Yes and no. Some get on with it right away. Others find the page builder hard to use. I personally have found the page builder hard to use, since I came from zero tech experience or knowledge. When I began building my site, I had to go through tons of tutorials, and there was a higher learning curve.

At the same time, it also depends on the template you use. Everyone’s experience is different with WordPress. For instance, someone with a tech background or a little bit of know-how can pick up WordPress easily with a bit of experimentation here and there.

So, labelling it easy or difficult would be unfair. More likely, we’d say, it depends on one user to another. And let’s be real here. Most beginners can create a basic website within a few days to a week of dedicated learning. However, developing proficiency with advanced features typically requires several weeks or months of regular use.

It’s exactly like you’re building with Lego. Some people are so good and fast at it that it doesn’t take them long. While some people build it, it takes them days to finish it. The same is the case with using WordPress.

A bonus of WordPress being so popular is that there are tons of tutorials. So if you are struggling, you should be able to find help and figure out how to use WordPress on your own, with plenty of helpful guides out there.

How Much Is WordPress?

WordPress is free to use. However, running a website does involve some costs, such as:

• Hosting
• A domain
• Plug-ins (optional)
• Page builders (optional)

Let’s break down this in a more detailed manner below:

Important/Mandatory Expenses

Web Hosting: $60-180 annually

The best web hosting provides the server space where your website files are stored and accessed by visitors. Shared hosting plans typically cost $2-15 monthly, while more robust hosting options range higher. When I was building my site, I went with Hostinger, and it cost me $2.99/month for the Shared Hosting plan. In the initial stage, shared hosting is usually the best and economical option. The best WordPress hosting is often shared hosting with a hosting provider that has dedicated support for WordPress and servers optimized for WordPress too.

Domain Name: $10-15 annually

Your domain name serves as your website's address on the internet. This annual fee registers your chosen domain name and maintains your rights to use it. Domain names often come free with your hosting provider for one year but I always recommend shopping around the best domain name registrars for a better overall deal.

Optional Expenses

Premium Themes: $30-100 (one-time purchase)

While free themes are available, premium themes often provide additional customization options, better support, and more sophisticated designs.

Premium Plugins: $50-200+ annually

If you want advanced features on your website, you’ll need premium plugins. These might include enhanced security features, advanced SEO tools, or specialized business applications.

Professional Page Builders: $50-200 annually

If you find the default WordPress editor challenging, third-party page builders like Elementor or Divi offer more intuitive design interfaces.

Professional Services: Variable costs

Some users invest in professional setup, design customization, or ongoing maintenance services. If you choose to opt for that, you can expect additional charges for these, depending on which services you go for.

Reasons to Use WordPress

• Free to use, so you don’t have to ever worry about paying separately
• Can migrate anywhere without losing content or functionality
• Provides excellent support & guidance from the vast global community
• Exceptional scalability so you can scale your website as it grows
• Regular updates for continuous development

Disadvantages of WordPress

• There is an added level of management compared to page builders
• The Gutenberg page builder could be easier to use
• There are currently some legal battles going on that are disrupting the WordPress community
• With thousands of available plugins, compatibility conflicts can occasionally occur
• As a self-hosted solution, you're responsible for implementing security measures

Final Words

WordPress is a powerful CMS that provides extensive customization and blends affordability and scalability in one. While there is a learning curve, you can use this free CMS to build your website and learn through its strong community support.

Choose WordPress If You Need:

• A scalable website
• A free CMS
• Complete control over your website's design and functionality

On the other hand, you might want to consider an alternative if you’re looking for something very easy to use with zero learning curve or minimal technical involvement in website management.

The best cheap game server hosts are perfect if you want to set up your own server, but you need to keep costs down. I've spent plenty of time seeking out all the best cheap game server hosts currently available. Some entries have already been mentioned in our look at the best game server hosting, so you're not just getting cheap hosting but genuinely good hosting too.

Below, I've covered many different scenarios so you can easily find the right solution for your needs. That goes for if you just want to play with a couple of friends or if you're aiming to cultivate a community. Take a look at what I recommend and find the right cheap game server host for you.

Best cheap game server hosts of 2026 in full

Best cheap game server host overall

ScalaCube starts out very cheaply with its cheapest plan starting at just $2 for the first month before rising to $4 monthly. It's a very basic server but it's good insight into what to expect and it does the job for just a few friends gathering together.

That basic Minecraft package offers just 768MB RAM and 10 player slots, but there are more substantial servers around. Servers are available in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, France, Germany, Poland, Singapore, and India, so there’s something for everyone here. In all cases, you get instant setup, plugin/mod support, backups, full file access, and a free domain.

One-click installation for Minecraft modpacks is great whether you’re an expert or new to the server hosting world. At all times, I've found the interface to be intuitive and user-friendly, as well as lag-free. The support team is also great in my experience, although bear in mind that it’s online only with telephone support. For most people, this will be just fine.

If you’re trying to decide between ScalaCube and Shockbyte -- one of our other favorites -- check out our guide to the differences for further insight.

Read our ScalaCube review

Best flexible cheap game server host

Got a group of friends who rarely stick with a game for long? Nodecraft is what you need. It has a feature known as save&swap which means you can easily switch between different game servers. It works by archiving the current one before you pick the new one, so you can easily restore the previous option at a later date.

Other companies provide similar options but none are laid out as well as this. You're still limited by the hardware on the server you're paying for but you can experiment a lot. Prices only get hefty when you opt for the most premium examples. When it comes to a Minecraft server, it takes a tap of a button to install plugins with a similar story elsewhere. It's possible to save up to five instances.

For other functionality, Nodecraft scores highly too. It has a 24 hour free trial in exchange for your phone number, hides anything too complex in the background, and there's live chat during US hours for support, along with fairly comprehensive FAQs.

Read our Nodecraft review

Best for 2-year plans

Hostinger is generally better known in the web hosting service world, but it also has a strong presence in the game server hosting side of things too. A little hidden away and a type of game-centric VPS plan, it requires a little more technical understanding to get set up than some alternatives, but it's worth it.

At first, it may not seem cheap but when committing to 2-year plans, it works out as good value on a monthly basis. Using a VPS means you can do more than just host a game server right down to installing a different operating system if you feel like it. I found it simple enough to set up a series of instances with support for dozens of games including some older titles like Counterstrike 1.6 as well as more recent offerings.

Hostinger has AI assistance support alongside conventional options so there's always help nearby. As standard, there are automated backups, a dedicated IP, and DDoS protection.

Read our full Hostinger review

Best for simplicity

Shockbyte is an easy cheap game server host to recommend. It's the one I suggest to a lot of friends. Simple to use, it has support for pretty much every popular game out there. All its plans offer DDoS protection, unlimited bandwidth, and NVMe storage. There's also automated instant setup, a free subdomain, and 100% network uptime as standard.

Sounds good? It gets better with 24/7 support, a comprehensive FAQ section, and many YouTube tutorials solving most of your commonly asked questions. The Shockbyte control panel continues the easy to understand theme. It takes seconds to create your server and you can soon get things just how you like them. It actually feels welcoming with its wealth of options rather than intimidating.

Shockbyte's priciest plans can get pretty expensive but on the lower end of the scale, it's easily one of the best cheap game server hosts. It also has the decency to make plan suggestions so you should be able to find what works for you even without expert insight.

Read our Shockbyte review

Best free plan

You can't get cheaper than free and Minecraft Hosting Pro offers a free server plan. Granted, it won't suit all needs and it's best to see it as a free trial to see if the hosting provider's control panel suits your style, but it's a good starting point. Elsewhere, Minecraft Hosting Pro's plans are fairly well priced.

It doesn't cover as many locations around the world as the competition but it covers the most popular choices. This includes 4 in the US, 2 in Europe, and 1 in Australia. All the servers have DDoS protection, automatic backups, unmetered storage, a 100MB MySQL database, and instant setup. There's also 99.9% availability and you also get a free domain and subdomain thrown in.

All but the free plan offers unlimited player slots and a choice of locations. The more affordable plans provide a 3-core CPU as standard with the high-end packages adding a core to that deal.

Because of things like that, Minecraft Hosting Pro is one of the best cheap game server hosts for those with relatively small demands. It's also intuitive and user-friendly to figure out.

Read our full Minecraft Hosting Pro review

Best cheap game server hosts FAQs

How we tested the best cheap game server hosts

I spent significant time with all the game server hosting providers listed above as well as many others. That means we’re in a great position to evaluate what’s needed. I looked at speed, reliability, how good support is, and how easy it is to complete many regular tasks through the control panel. I also looked at what games are supported, how appealing each service provider is, and what additional features may be included. Essentially, I looked at everything that you would find important for your own plans, all from the eyes of a keen gamer just like you.

You’ve decided that you want to host your own website, online store, or app but you’re not sure about how powerful your plan needs to be and what type of hosting you need. I’ve hosted all types of sites and apps over the years so I’m happy to break down the requirements and hosting types to help you decide.

Main things to consider

Type of website content

Websites with dynamic content require more resources per visit than static content, and websites that contain lots of media (e.g. images, animations, interactive elements) also use more resources than simpler text-based websites as they require more processing power to load and display properly. If a website consistently demands high performance, such as an eCommerce store with millions of products, it can exceed the resource allocation and trigger the host's limits even with a relatively low number of visitors.

Traffic patterns

Traffic spikes and high usage can lead to excessive resource consumption, triggering limits even if your overall visitor count is within the stated range. Traffic pattern is the biggest factor on what type of hosting and what plan to use. You can have a really demanding site but if it’s only getting one visit at a time it won’t need as many resources as a simple site that’s getting loads of visitors.

CMS/ website set up

If you’re using WordPress then it will be easy to find a host that is suitable for your site, hosting the type of content, and be able to withstand the traffic that your site gets. If you need something more unique then you won’t be able to do that with shared hosting. You’ll likely need to use a VPS.

Also, consider how you want to build your website. If you want to take the easier route, you can use a website builder that comes with a web hosting plan, such as Hostinger or GoDaddy website builders. They’re typically easier to use than WordPress. The downside is that there would be limitations if you ever wanted to migrate your website to another provider, because the site you made with their website builder might not be compatible with other hosts.

If you want to be able to transfer your site between hosts easily, then building your site on WordPress is a better choice for you. Yes, getting used to WordPress’ nooks and crannies might take a while, but you can use it on any type of hosting on any provider, because all hosts support WordPress as it’s open-source. Another plus point is that WordPress has a huge, active community, so if you encounter any issues there will be a lot of resources available, and many people would likely have the same experience before.

Management

You don’t need to be technical to host your own website but it does help. At any level you can find unmanaged, managed, and fully managed hosting. So, if you have a simple WordPress site and want to take care of security and updates yourself then you can. If you have a custom site that was built for you but you want to find a new hosting provider that can take care of everything from migration to management you can do that too.

Types of hosting

Shared hosting

Shared hosting can be reliable for websites with low traffic and a relatively simple infrastructure. Examples of a simple website are if your site doesn’t require visitors to log in, or if the content is static. If your website is that simple, then it’s going to be fine for your website to be hosted on shared hosting.

There are many tiers of shared hosting. There are shared plans that support 20K visits a month all the way up to 400K so if you start off low and need more resources it’s not too much of a pain to ask your hosting provider to put you on a higher spec plan.

Keep in mind that even though your site has low traffic, it can still struggle with shared hosting if it has poor code optimisation, uses resource-heavy plugins, serves large media files, and experiences frequent traffic spikes.

Shared hosting is popular among beginners because of its affordability and ease of use. However, this cost-effective option comes with a price. To keep costs down, you’ll have to share your resources with your ‘neighbours’ hosted on the same server. This hosting type may have some limitations, such as slower speed.

VPS hosting

Customer server environments will need to be set up on a VPS. That cannot be done with shared hosting. If you’re using WordPress or any other popular website making and management tools, you don’t need to use a VPS. In some cases if you have high security requirements you will need a VPS because if you accept customer payments on your website, certain regions might require you to apply stricter data protection measures. For example, GDPR in the European Economic Area and CCPA in California, USA. If you handle a large amount of customer information and transactions like that, it would be hard to comply with data privacy laws on a shared hosting platform. For that, dedicated or VPS hosting might be a better option for increased security and control over your server environment.

There are ways around this. If you use a service like Stripe, payment details never go to your server so you can sell things securely on a shared server without breaking any rules; however, if you are directly taking payment information and storing sensitive customer data then you would probably need a more secure server environment like a VPS.

Cloud hosting

Cloud hosting provides scalability and redundancy because the resources for a website don’t come from a single server. This is great when the peak traffic of a website regularly goes high above the normal load. It’s also good for growing businesses that don’t know how much resources their site will need.

Selection guide

Now you know more about the types of web hosting, you can find the best solution for your use case. I've also put together a handy table to make selection easier.

These figures are based on the most common plans to give you an idea of where you should look first.

There is quite a wide spread on the required knowledge level. This is because even the most complex hosting solutions can come with full management. It will just increase the price tag of the service.

Cloud hosting is more than just a marketing term thrown around. It's a type of hosting that provides scalability, redundancy, and can be more cost effective for the right users. Unfortunately, the phrase cloud has been overly used and misrepresented so understanding what it is and what benefits it has is not the easiest thing to unpack. I've written this explainer to help you understand what cloud really is and whether you need it. This can help you pick the best web hosting for you.

What is cloud hosting?

To understand cloud hosting, we first need to understand traditional hosting. In traditional web hosting you rent a server that contains resources. Resources are the things your website needs to run. The three main resources are CPU, RAM, and storage.

You either share these resources through shared hosting. Share them virtually through through VPS hosting or, don't share them at all with dedicated hosting. The main characteristic here is that this is one physical server with a direct link between the website and the resources in the server.

With cloud hosting the resources don't belong to individual servers. Instead the resources exist in a pool and websites can use what they need when they need it.

You can think of shared hosting like sitting around a table with a bowl of food in the middle. You don't have your own plate everyone just grabs from what's available. If there is a greedy eater at the table. You're going to get less, and you might end up hungry.

VPS hosting is the same scenario but you have your own plate. At the beginning of the meal everyone takes what they want and puts it on their plate. This is much better because greedy eaters won't take food from you and you always know how much food you have.

Dedicated is the same scenario but you're sitting at the table by yourself. Great if you have a big appetite but can be very wasteful.

Cloud is different. Instead of food being served in the middle of the table and people taking what they want at the beginning or free-for-all style cloud is like having your own waiter. Ask for something on the menu whenever you want it and the waiter will bring it immediately.

Benefits of cloud hosting

Scalability

The main benefit of cloud hosting is scalability. By this I mean that you can add and remove resources for your site at the click of a button or automatically. The resources in cloud hosting are not attached to one server so you can pull resources from the entire network.

With traditional hosting you would need to physically add or remove a CPU, RAM, or storage when you needed it which takes time, is risky, and can result in downtime.

Redundancy

Redundancy is another word for duplication. In cloud hosting your site and backups can be duplicated and stored in many different locations (called geo-redundancy). So if the storage fails, no problem, it's already ready to be used in a different location. If a disaster happens that causes the power to be cut off from a datacenter or a datacenter is destroyed entirely. No problem! Your site was never offline because there was another copy in another datacenter.

Cost-effectiveness

It seems counter-intuitive that a type of hosting that has additional features can be more cost effective but it can. At scale, it's cheaper to use cloud resources for redundancy and scalability because you don't need to own and maintain additional equipment. The cost effectiveness is only there at scale though. Unless you will benefit from scalability and redundancy, there is no need to pay extra for cloud.

Who needs cloud hosting?

If your website doesn't need many resources and doesn't see big fluctuations in traffic like a blog or portfolio, shared hosting is absolutely fine. It's the cheapest type of hosting if you're not very technical and you won't suffer any of the negative aspects of shared hosting.

If you need to guarantee resources for your site and you know the resource requirements are the same every month, then using a VPS is a better choice than shared hosting. So, the best VPS hosting is a good option for established sites that get frequent regular visitors that don't need the benefits of redundancy.

Dedicated is for when you need additional security requirements and/or have a website or websites that demand a lot of resources. Dedicated hosting is not that popular anymore and is generally being replaced with cloud hosting because it provides all the benefits of dedicated hosting but cheaper and also has some additional bonusses. Unless you're dealing with highly sensitive information or your business needs are super high like a web developer managing multiple sites and applications, there isn't much need to think about dedicated hosting.

You can benefit from cloud hosting in the following scenarios

New businesses

When starting a new business the last thing you want to be dealing with is hosting issues. You also wont know for sure how many resources you need until you start getting site visits and then, what happens if you get more than expected? Opting for cloud hosting at the beginning can save you hassle and money in the long run. Once you have established what the regular visits to your site are and what resources they require you can try a VPS server to save money;

Online stores

Servers for online stores are doing a lot more heavy lifting than servers for blogs and portfolios due to larger databases, unique users, shopping carts, and taking payments. When a site is the main revenue source it's also a lot more important to make sure it's online all the time. Online stores also get higher fluctuations in traffic from things like promotions or festivals.

Cloud hosting helps alleviate these pressures on servers to ensure that an online store is always ready to go and always has the best user experience.

There are plenty of studies that show that slow sites lose revenue so spending more on cloud hosting can pay for itself in additional sales and higher ranking in searches.

Types of cloud hosting

You might see cloud hosting packaged in many different forms. Some is just fancy marketing. Some is genuine. To help you navigate the market I've broken down some of the key cloud packages.

Shared cloud

It seems odd to say shared cloud because it's technically not shared in the traditional sense and in another sense all cloud is shared. So, what is shared cloud?

Shared cloud is essentially a virtual server with many websites sharing that virtual server. It's the same as the example I gave earlier of people eating at a table from a central pot in the middle. An amount of cloud resources are allocated to that space and the websites have to share whats there.

Many hosting companies now are based on cloud infrastructure and sell shared hosting this way, Some still call it shared, some call it shared cloud.

If shared servers are managed properly then from a users perspective it's essentially the same. If a hosting company is charging more because their shared is cloud, check what cloud benefits the plan has. Are there offs-site backups? If not, then it's not worth the extra price tag.

Cloud VPS

Cloud VPS is the same as above. A virtual environment is created and resources are reserved for it. This is the most common form of cloud hosting and usually comes with all the benefits of cloud like geo-redundancy and scalability. This is the most suitable type of hosting for online stores and growing businesses, or sites that require a custom server environment.

Cloud hosting round up

To summarise, cloud hosting is a type of infrastructure on which hosting plans can be created and managed. Cloud hosting adopts traditional hosting methodology but brings with it scalability and redundancy that traditional hosting cannot provide.

Cloud hosting is excellent for websites that have large fluctuations in site visits, new businesses that don't know what their baseline requirements are, and for online stores that depend on excellent user experience and being always online.

These are the first Black Friday VPS deals I've seen this year. The best Black Friday web hosting deals of 2025 make this time of year the best time to buy web hosting, especially for the best VPS hosting plans that are not usually discounted.

Best Black Friday VPS deals

I've organised these deals by CPU cores and in managed and unmanaged categories

One vCPU core

Two vCPU cores

Three vCPU cores

Four vCPU cores

Five vCPU cores

Six vCPU cores

Eight vCPU cores

Twelve vCPU cores

All Black Friday VPS deals

VPS FAQs

For the avid server host, the best premium game server hosting provides the ultimate gaming experience. In some scenarios, a cheaper game server host can be useful but investing more means you get some of the best game server hosting overall, even when introducing a large community.

For anyone who has ambitious plans or are keen to expand their online community, I've found the very best premium game server hosting. I've looked through the competition and narrowed things down to the best of the best. Many of these options are on a par with the best dedicated servers when it comes to features. There's a focus on Minecraft but these all work for many other games too. Here's what I recommend.

Best premium game server hosting 2026 in full

Best premium game server host overall

ApexHosting is designed for advanced users who already know what they’re doing and it's perfect for some ambitious goals.

Right from sign up, you know what to expect with early options for setting up RCON passwords, organizing your server branding, and other features that usually come along a little later in the process. That’s no bad thing for anyone seeking a premium game server host as odds are you know exactly what you’re doing.

As you progress through the ordering process, fees can add up due to needing to add premium support and a dedicated IP separately but it does mean that you’re only ever going to pay the amount you need to rather than deal with unnecessary additional fees.

Apex Hosting has well distributed servers across the world with 16 locations ensuring it caters for everyone including the US, Canada, Brazil, the UK, Turkey, Germany, France, Israel, Japan, Singapore, and Australia so there’s something for everyone here. Diving into its control panel is a delight too as it’s truly advanced stuff with full server control. Even better, you can always see CPU/RAM activity no matter where you are in the web-based user interface.

Any time you do need guidance, the Apex Hosting Knowledge Base is easy to access with it highlighting commonly asked questions next to whatever section you’re on. There are tons of server version options for whichever game you play with dozens of games to choose from. Automated backups keep everything safe while there are video tutorials if you need additional support away from the 24/7 support service.

Each ApexHosting plan comes with unlimited player slots, dedicated live chat support, a one click pack installer depending on the game (Minecraft being a highlight here), and free server transfers. You’ll need to pay extra for a domain but a free subdomain is bundled in for free to start you off. If you want the ultimate hardware with ApexHosting, you can do so by signing up for its Ex Series plan which offers 4 dedicated vCores with a Ryzen 9 7950X CPU powering proceedings. It also utilizes NVMe SSDs and has 16GB of DDR4 RAM. A free dedicated IP and premium support are bundled in to further sweeten the deal.

Best premium game server hosting for beginners

BisectHosting offers a wide variety of plans with it maxing out at 48GB of RAM for a high-end Minecraft server. All its premium servers use port 25565 -- Minecraft’s default port. It includes DDoS protection as standard for free while all its storage is NVMe-based. 20 different locations are available so it’s ideal for worldwide usage. Each server also comes with seven days of backups along with three custom backup slots so you can keep certain moments on your server safely secure. The Instance Manager makes it simple to switch between different modpacks or server types while playing Minecraft too. Adding to the Minecraft joy, there are over 2,000 modpacks ready through one-click installations.

Away from Minecraft, BisectHosting continues to provide all the essentials and more. Automated updates and backups are pretty much standard along with full mod support wherever possible. A custom control panel is also available and I was quite impressed at how simple it was to use. You can easily create instances for different games on the premium plan, picking and choosing what you’re monitoring with it always possible to see at a glance what the CPU and RAM usage is.

The BisectHosting control panel makes things about as simple as server management could which is why I strongly recommend it for beginners who want to invest in a long-term server plan. Promised instant setup is actually instant.

My favorite feature is how there’s a Quick Console toggle on every part of the control panel. At the tap of a button, you can access the console and initiate commands without having to open a separate tab. It’s little things like that which make BisectHosting pretty welcoming. I always feel fully in control while using this control panel and it adds to the satisfaction. In my experience, BisectHosting support is pretty speedy too with a choice of either an online ticket or live chat, but there's no telephone support unfortunately.

If you’re new to game server hosting but going straight in with a premium plan, BisectHosting mostly ticks all the boxes and is generally more welcoming than a straightforward VPS solution.

Best value premium game server hosting option

Scalacube is generally one of the best game server hosts and it's also ideal for those seeking a more premium server plan. Plans rank up to 32GB of RAM for Minecraft which is a little lower than others listed here but more than sufficient for the majority of needs. In all cases, you get unlimited slots, DDoS protection, plugin and mod support, along with full file access, a free domain, and backup system.

The host is simple to get to grips with. Just pick your game and version and it takes seconds to start up, Once set up, there are typically many mods and plugins ready to deploy with Minecraft immediately offering over 1,000 modpacks.

For Minecraft, there’s full mod and plugin support but you can also edit all server files with FTP and upload mods and plugins as needed. There’s access to a full LAMP stack if you need it but the basic control panel is plenty sufficient for most needs. It brings up all the servers you own with it simple to see how hardware is performing with other options laid out in an intuitive fashion.

As you’d expect from a premium package, you can easily add on a dedicated IP or even create your own launcher for Minecraft. Branding opportunities are pretty good here for those developing a significant community. It all comes together to be intuitive, premium, yet surprisingly affordable.

Best premium US game server host

For US-based users, InMotionHosting is super speedy so it’s the perfect choice if your community is predominantly US-based. Focused on Minecraft means that it knows how to get things right on that front. It takes less than five minutes to start and I was very impressed by its clear control panel. It supports unlimited plugins and mods with multiple server types possible here. Its control panel is more like those you’ll see via web hosting than gaming but it works well here for making it intuitive.

Its servers are powered with great hardware too with Intel Xeon CPUs and NVMe storage. To help you figure out what’s best for your needs, InMotionHosting provides a RAM recommendation guide based on what modpacks you plan on using. As a quick overview, each plan describes who it’s recommended for best. The top plan is best suited for over 100 players with everything from the middling plan upwards supporting all plugins and modpacks. Of course, if you plan on running many at once, you’ll need more RAM. The nice thing here is that it’s always clearly laid out so you won’t end up with the wrong plan for your situation. It might look expensive at first glance but you get a lot for your money.

With all server plans, you get the aforementioned fast NVMe storage and a dedicated IP address. There’s also full access to all your files, FTP access, and MySQL databases. 99.9% uptime is promised while you can potentially have as many players as you want on your server, although InMotionHosting is keen to point out what’s best for your plan. If your plans are high-end, make sure the server you choose is too to avoid lag. There’s also 24/7 server support. That’s primarily via tickets and live chat, but you can also talk on the phone during certain hours. That goes for whether you’re in the US or the UK. It’s a reliable option if you’re happy with solely US-based servers for your Minecraft plans.

Best premium game server hosting FAQs

How I tested the best premium game server hosting

I spent some time with each of the premium game server hosts listed above. That means seeing how the purchasing process went, setting up a server, and looking at how intuitive and practical the control panel was. I also researched speeds and performance to see how robust each server is.

Adding to that, I also reviewed customer support availability in case of any issues to ascertain how well supported you’ll be in your endeavors.

The best Rust hosting is perfect for anyone who wants control over everything possible in the harsh but rewarding setting of Rust. The best game server hosting overall are a good starting point but below, you'll find great dedicated options for the ultimate Rust experience.

I've spent extensive time with all these servers, evaluating performance, stability, and the price ranges available to customers. The list is comprehensive and features some of the best Minecraft game server hosting if you want to branch out. We're focusing on how each server works with Rust here, including newbie friendly options, budget choices, and more premium hosts too.

Best Rust hosting of 2026 in full

Best Rust host overall

Immediately, Scalacube is accessible for anyone keen on buying a Rust server. Its website lists its server plans based on player slots which is the logical choice for this kind of game. Three plans are available with between 150 and 250 player slots an option as well as servers based in one of 10 different locations. Whichever plan you go for, you get near instant setup, full FTP access, and the promise of 24/7 uptime. A domain is also included as standard.

Whichever you choose, you get the typical Scalacube experience which means an easy to use control panel for setup. Plugins can be installed via the file manager section which is fairly well laid out with Scalacube also providing advice each step of the way. As a nice touch, if you simply want to practice the game (I don’t blame you), you can create a private game instance with one click before customizing a bunch of features like world size, loot tables, difficulty levels, and other key settings.

It’s simply done with things laid out in an attractive way so even if you’re new to game server hosting, you can figure things out. Because of how Scalacube is laid out, you won’t find yourself low on resources for plugins as it’s solely focused on player slots. Instead, the biggest decision comes from going vanilla or using a modded Oxide server. Note -- once you choose a plan, you can’t swap to other games which is a minor flaw but less of an issue for the Rust devotees.

Ultimately, Scalacube offers a straightforward experience which can be as advanced as you need it to be making it the best Rust hosting for most people. Novices can get things set up easily enough but the control panel and full FTP access means you’ll never lack control for those times when you want to go more advanced.

Read our full ScalaCube review

Best value Rust host

A consistently good option whatever your server plans, Shockbyte is simple to use and fantastic value. At first glance, it only offers three Rust plans with the option of 40, 75, or 125 players. However, pick a plan and you can adjust a slider to increase the number of player slots to up to 300 if you need to. That means there’s no need to pay for more than you need so it’s perfect for someone with a Rust server and ambitious plans that may need changing over time. All the plans support Oxide, Carbon, and Harmony, so they’re perfect for avid modders and anyone keen to make their server special.

As standard, each plan also has instant setup, auto-wipe support, custom maps, staging branch, automatic backup, DDoS protection and 100% uptime. There’s also 24/7 support although we did find that some tickets took a little longer to reply than others. Support is otherwise strong though and Shockbyte has some comprehensive tutorials and guides to cut down your need to talk to anyone. That includes a YouTube channel with solutions to various issues.

Ultimately, the great thing about Shockbyte is how hassle-free it is. It gets to the point and simply works well. It even offers a free FTP file migration service for anyone switching from a different Rust server host. Impressively, even the most high-end of Rust hosting packages still works out as strong value for money making Shockbyte a consistently appealing option financially.

Its user interface is also simple to figure out. Picking out what you want is a matter of making a few basic selections with Shockbyte fairly good at explaining what everything means even if you’re a novice to the game server hosting world. It’s hard to find fault with other than the occasional slow support and an interface that’s heavy on the gamer aesthetic side of things.

Read our ShockByte review.

Best for experienced users

Hostinger is a fairly easy recommendation to make for pretty much anything hosting-related from website hosting to gaming. It could be more beginner-friendly if it didn't use VPS terminology. Stick with it and you get exceptional value and a control panel that makes a lot of logical sense. Four different plans are available, with the cheapest one packing 4GB of RAM, 50GB of NVMe storage, and 1 vCPU, before latter plans ramp things up to a more impressive 32GB of RAM and 8 vCPUs, as well as 400GB of storage. Crucially, the use of NVMe storage means that Hostinger is consistently speedy. That certainly felt the case in our tests and will make a difference on reasonably demanding titles like Rust.

All of Hostinger’s plans include mod support, complete control, DDoS protection, and automatic off-site backups. Once set up, pick a Rust instance and Hostinger takes just a couple of minutes to install the server. The file manager makes it easy enough to install plugins and mods, but you can also use FTP access if you prefer. Even for beginners, the latter can make more sense.

Alongside that is an extensive array of options to tweak. The basics are there like enabling an anticheat mode, or switching on automatic updates. You can also add a level URL, set how many players can participate, and add branding. The important part here is that Hostinger labels things clearly so providing you have a basic knowledge of the game, you’ll know what each option does.

If you do need assistance, Hostinger's AI assistant -- Kodee -- will answer many queries. It's not perfect but it's a good entry point if you have a question and don't want to deal with support (although Hostinger's support is pretty good).

At all times, you can quickly dip into the console to see what’s going on, as well as check the status section of the site. There, you’ll find information on CPU and memory usage as well as how many players are currently playing. That’s not new information, as pretty much all game server hosts do this via a web-based interface, but Hostinger does so in a much clearer manner than most. It strips back any gamer aesthetic and focuses on the facts you need.

Best premium Rust host

BisectHosting offers a lot of different plans so it’s well known for its inexpensive options for other games. It’s not badly priced on the budget end of the scale for Rust either but we’re more interested in its premium plans. Focusing on RAM, it’s possible to buy a plan with up to 48GB which should provide you with everything you need and more. In reality, even BisectHosting reckons you don’t need to go completely high-end to reap the best benefits from Rust but if you plan on installing dozens of mods, there’s peace of mind here. A slider helps you figure out what's best while there's also some guidance from BisectHosting itself to help you figure out what suits your needs.

All the BisectHosting servers promise instant setup and that rang true in our time with it. Within moments, we were all set with our Rust server. The control panel is a predictably dark moody gamer one but it’s clear to find what you need to do. Dive into startup and you can adjust all the details possible from the server name to what map to use and if there’s a custom map URL. It’s easy enough to figure out what you’re doing with the same being the case when diving into the files and database section. You can also create multiple instances so it’s simple enough to swap between different Rust servers which can be useful for a particular game night you may have planned which differs from the usual format.

If you veer away from Rust for a bit, BisectHosting makes that simple to do as you can just pick a game -- something that not every game server hosting provider has even though it’s such an obvious addition. Continuing that trend of neat touches, I appreciated that no matter where I was in the BisectHosting control panel, I could tap a Quick Console button in the corner and bring up a console box, easily allowing me to enter some commands as needed. It’s a small touch but an important one as it saves you juggling different sections or opening multiple tabs. It also means you can witness the results that bit more speedily.

Read our full BisectHosting review.

Best for hardcore gamers

Right from the start, ApexHosting feels designed for people who know exactly what they’re doing. Head through the shopping cart process and you’re asked to set the RCON password, potentially set up your server branding, and choose a world size. These are all standard features but other game server hosting providers on this list tend to be gentler with their introduction, providing them at a later screen or trickle feeding you what you need to consider. ApexHosting knows it’s pivoted at those who know what their plans are.

Those plans are varied with 12 options in all ranging from between 4GB RAM and 32GB RAM. As expected given how ApexHosting is laid out, not much insight is offered as to what plan is best for which scenario so you'll need to figure that out for yourself .

Its layout is also a good demonstration of how fees can rack up. Initial plans look straightforward and affordable but you can then add premium support or a dedicated IP. Once you’re in, the ApexHosting control panel is clear and feels like a hive of activity. At all times, you can see the CPU/RAM activity graph move in real time which can be useful when troubleshooting any issues or installing mods to see the impact.

Elsewhere, the control panel consistently keeps access to the Knowledge Base at the forefront so you can easily access commonly asked questions, while all the key settings and options are lined up nicely to the side. This may feel like an advanced option on the whole but that’s not to say that ApexHosting is prohibitively complicated. Instead, it works well for everyone with just an edge towards advanced users who know what they’re doing. I found it simple enough to complete all the basics to get a Rust server running well.

All ApexHosting plans include unlimited player slots, dedicated live chat support, one click pack installers, and free server transfers. A free subdomain is included too along with automated backups so you’re pretty much good to go.

Read our ApexHosting review.

Best for unlimited player slots

Nodecraft keeps things welcoming by using a lot of images to demonstrate the games it supports. That’s a small but attractive touch that sums up Nodecraft perfectly. It feels like it gets that gamers may be gamers first and tech savvy second so it's also the best Rust hosting for newbies. Nodecraft offers a 24 hour free trial if you don’t mind dishing out your phone number in exchange for giving it a try with no risk. It’s a basic server but it’s good insight into what to expect from the Nodecraft control panel. Spoiler -- it’s an attractive one to use.

Six Rust server plans are recommended here with Nodecraft doing a reasonable job of also personalizing what you might need depending on your plans. All the plans come with unlimited player slots, automation and tasks, a one click installer, along with a free subdomain and dedicated IP. There’s DDoS protection too. The only difference between the plans is how many save and swap servers you have (for swapping between different games), how much RAM, how much SSD store, and how much room for cloud backups there is.

Once you’ve rented a server, the Nodecraft control panel is easy to figure out. There’s a graph depicting how you’re using resources, while the console helps with console commands, before switching over to the one click installer. The latter offers up official Rust builds along with Umod-Oxide -- a popular add-on you’ll see elsewhere with other server hosts also encouraging its use.

Elsewhere, backups and automated tasks are easily applied. There’s also a section for customizing your server such as by adding images or a URL. You can also generate a different world here or enter a seed number. Adjusting the animal population is a simple matter of tweaking a slider so it’s nice to be able to so easily change how your Rust server plays out. The same goes for weather and even decay.

Read our Nodecraft review.

Best Game Server Hosting FAQs

How we tested the best Rust hosting

With each of the providers above, I spent some time going through the purchasing process, as well as looking at any hidden costs. From there, I set up a server noting how long it took to do so, before experiencing just what it's like to run a Rust server. The best Rust hosting is more than just its specs so it's useful to spend some hands-on time with each to work out which feels best to use.

The best game server hosting gives you extensive control over your favorite games so it's ideal for dedicated gamers. Have you ever had a specific idea in mind for Minecraft or something else? Using dedicated game server hosting means you can make that dream a reality. By using it, you can also create a community for your friends so you always have somewhere to hang out.

There are dozens of options out there, so I've narrowed things down to my favorites and the very best game server hosting around. I've spent extensive time with them all and broken down where they work best. I've listed specific recommendations for your situation from the best Minecraft server hosting to other excellent options.

Best game server hosting services 2026 in full

Best game server hosting for beginners

ShockByte is one of my favorite game server hosting providers and a very easy one to recommend to pretty much everyone. Its price plans are good value and it offers plenty of great features too. There's support for seemingly every game you can think of as well as dedicated plans for everyone's favorite - Minecraft.

All ShockByte plans offer DDoS protection, unlimited bandwidth and NVMe storage, automated instant setup, a free subdomain, and 100% network uptime. The provider also has 24/7 support which is reasonably efficient at assisting you.

I've found that a lot of the time I don't need dedicated support. Instead, ShockByte's comprehensive FAQ section and vast supply of YouTube tutorials solve most of my queries and at a time I want them to be fixed.

ShockByte's control panel is somewhere you'll feel comfortable to spend time in thanks to being intuitive and looking good. Laid out in a straightforward manner, it offers plenty of options without feeling overwhelming. Creating a server takes moments and you can easily access the server from any location. Having used it for months, the uptime promise is accurate too. I’ve never had a problem which is great news.

Shockbyte suggests which plan works best for which situation with Minecraft often providing the very cheapest plans. If you need some guidance, this is a good option thanks to the reliability of the recommendations. If you need to go high-end, options are fairly comprehensive here too. Any time you decide to upgrade, you can do so without feeling tied into anything permanently.

Read our full Shockbyte review.

Best value game server hosting

Hostinger is one of the bigger names in the web hosting and game server hosting world. It's like Scalahosting in that it doesn't appear as obvious as some of the other best game server hosting but it's worth diving deeper. In this case, you're picking a VPS plan over a web hosting service but that gives you plenty of control.

Hostinger's VPS plans are very competitively priced. Even better, there are often sales and discounts so you won't be paying full price straight away. Such deals make it well-suited for small server setups with friends but you can also upgrade to something much more advanced if you have loftier plans. With up to 32TB bandwidth available on select plans, it should cater for many needs.

Once you’ve picked a plan, you can delve into setting up a game server by jumping into the control panel. Hostinger uses AI assistant support called Kodee to solve many queries. It directed me in the wrong direction for one thing but was spot on for another. As with a lot of AI support, it's not perfect but it was a good tool to guide me through a lot of processes without needing to rely on support tickets.

Once in the panel, I found it quick and simple to set up a series of instances relating to all my gaming interests with extensive support for dozens of games. It only takes a couple of minutes to set up a server with the most extensive functionality coming from a Minecraft server.

When setting up a Minecraft server, there's extensive plugin support along with a wealth of options for getting things set up just how you need it. It’s a similar case with other games like Rust with much older games such as Counterstrike 1.6 also supported. It’s not the prettiest of interfaces, but it works well and is fairly clearly laid out. If you experiment a lot, you can create manual snapshots making it simple to undo any changes. Automated backups come as standard with all plans if you prefer to be hands-off. All plans also come with a dedicated IP and DDoS Protection.

Uptime in our tests was very reliable with no issues. We had access to the maxed out KVM 8 plan with 8 vCPU cores, 32GB RAM, 400GB of NVMe disk space and 32TB bandwidth. As standard, all plans come with one snapshot, weekly backups, dedicated IP address, full root access, malware scanner, and AI assistant.

Read our full Hostinger review.

Best game server hosting on a budget

ScalaCube provides highly reliable game server hosting with prices starting from as little as $2 for the first month. Most people will want to spend more than that but it's a good entry point. More substantial plans still start from just $5 so it's a good option for anyone starting out or experimenting in game server hosting.

With all plans, you get one-click installation for modpacks for Minecraft and ScalaCube is consistently intuitive and user-friendly. In very little time at all, you can get set up with the best Minecraft mods. It’s simple to pick your location when buying a server with many areas around the world included. The focus is clearly on appreciating that you might know games but not necessarily server hosting.

The well laid out panel means it’s easy to see how CPU usage is going, and how much storage you have spare. More conveniently, you can easily set up tasks alongside the easy plugin and mod installation Crucially, it’s all laid out in a very easy to figure out way. While some services might be a little complicated in their layout, ScalaCube makes it accessible.

The only thing to be aware of is that ScalaCube can get expensive. Some of its more premium packages live up to their name, while adding on extras like creating your own Minecraft launcher or adding a dedicated IP all increase the price steadily. Despite that, I found ScalaCube to be the better value proposition here. At least you can always see what you're paying for. Also, it’s simple to use and a good entry point for those who are testing the water. Appropriately, it’s highly scaleable.

Read our full ScalaCube review.

Best game variety

Nodecraft is an immediately welcoming proposition for less tech savvy users. Right from the start, Nodecraft's got your back, pointing out if the plan you want is too weak for your intentions. Plenty of games are supported and there's a 24 hour free trial to get you started. A 7-day money back guarantee is also available. It’s a nice idea for a brief taster session if you just want to check out what Nodecraft is like for yourself.

Set up a Minecraft server and there are plenty of plugins which can be installed at the tap of a button. Similarly, you can swap between different versions of the game with one click. Any time you want to set up an entirely different game server, you can choose to archive the current one then pick a different game via its save&swap service which is a useful bonus, especially for Twitch communities which may find their needs changing rapidly.

To an extent, you’re limited by the hardware on the server you’re paying for but you can still often make things work. In particular, that makes the free trial a great starting point as it shows you how easy it is to use Nodecraft. Within a few minutes, I had one Minecraft server set up and archived before opening up a Rust server. If you’re part of a gaming community which swaps around a lot, this is a huge advantage with such flexibility always a neat bonus. Other hosts may provide similar features but none are quite as straightforward or as simple as the Nodecraft way.

Making adjustments throughout is easy enough and you can save up to five instances. Crucially, it’s welcoming. Nodecraft hides all the complex stuff in the background but when you do need support, there are fairly comprehensive FAQs as well as live chat during US hours.

Read our full Nodecraft review.

Best game server hosting for hardcore gamers

If you’re looking for game server hosting alongside establishing a large community, PingPerfect is a good place to go, providing you know what you’re doing. Not everything about PingPerfect is as clear as its alternatives but it has a lot to like. There's support for over 200 games including some old favorites not catered for elsewhere so it's pretty powerful. It promises great hardware across the board even if you go for cheaper packages, with the most high-end plans proving particularly speedy.

Potentially best of all, PingPerfect offers a 48 hour free trial so you can easily check if things work for you. Performance is just as speedy here with no concessions. All you need to do is remember to contact support if you want to switch to a paid plan otherwise the server is deleted at the end of the 48 hours. That’s a minor bugbear but as long as you remember, you’ll appreciate that time to try out your new server. You can't beat hands-on experience for finding what works for you.

Setup takes mere seconds with favorites like Minecraft offering just what you would expect like a mod manager. There are also one click backups and restores, as well as FTP access if you have more ambitious plans. It’d be tough to recommend to newbies given the way that PingPerfect is designed but it gives you extensive control.

Pricing initially looks incredibly cheap but once you add on essentials like sufficient slots, it can go up. There are a lot of options here for customizing PingPerfect just how you want it which means the price can vary significantly. It's worth playing around, especially if you're not certain of what you need. You’ll also want to have your server hosted on NVMe rather than SSD which adds to the price along with bumping up your CPU priority. PingPerfect isn’t super cheap but it’s ripe for a discussion among your clan mates about how far you want to take your server plans. Such flexibility can be quite useful if you're looking for a specific type of server.

Lending itself to those establishing a community, PingPerfect also provides 1GB of free web hosting if you need it. That includes 10GB of traffic per month. It’s convenient to have everything in one place, but count on spending a little time to get things just how you like it. If you’re a novice, you may end up in the support section a lot. Fortunately, it’s pretty extensive.

Best Game Server Hosting FAQs

How we tested the best game server hosting

I spent time with each of the hosts here, using them just like a regular customer. I checked out a mixture of the cheapest plans on a service while also looking at higher end packages. I also took a look at free trials where applicable as that’s where most people will start for themselves.

I looked at specifications like RAM, bandwidth, and storage, but the focus was also on how well everything ran and simply how easy it was to get things running optimally.

Besides trying out setting up a server and looking at the ease of installation, server location, and performance, I also evaluated customer support availability. As an avid gamer too, I know what to look for, rather than just focus on the technical details.

Hunting for a great web hosting deal this Black Friday/Cyber Monday weekend? You don't need to fight through the crowds, but you do need to scroll through lists of deals that turn out to be nothing more than the standard price in disguise.

As the web hosting editor at TechRadar Pro, I've spent the last 12 months covering all of the best web hosting providers, so, I know when a deal is really a deal and whether you'd be better off buying at any other time of the year.

I've also managed to get us some exclusive deals and found some hidden ones - so check out everything I've spotted below.

Best Black Friday web hosting deals of 2025

Black Friday WordPress hosting deals 2025

WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world and powers over 40% of the websites on the internet. Most people whether they know they want to or not will be looking for the best WordPress hosting when hunting for the best Black Friday web hosting deals.

Black Friday VPS deals

The best VPS hosting plans don't often get big discounts and are often the more powerful plans. This means Black Friday is one of the best times of year to buy a VPS and one of the best ways to get the most bang for your buck.

Black Friday Hostinger VPS deals

Black Friday Bluehost VPS deals

Black Friday ScalaHosting VPS deals

Black Friday Liquid Web VPS deals

Black Friday Cloudways VPS deals

Black Friday domain name deals

Why are there not many deals on this page?

These are the only deals I can find that are actually deals. Lots of other publishers are posting deals that can be had at any time of the year.

Black Friday web hosting FAQs

I've spent years using the best web hosting services and best website builders. Now, after months of in-depth testing each platform, exploring business-critical features alongside creative and marketing tools, I've selected the top hosting providers.

In my experience, Hostinger proved the best choice overall - and continues to be the stand-out. 'World-class hosting,' is how I describe it, balancing an easy-to-use interface, reasonably priced plans for businesses of any size, and core extras like cloud storage and mailboxes. It's one of those web hosting services that does it all, and does it well.

For anyone running a dedicated ecommerce store, I particularly liked what Scalahosting offers, while WordPress users will find Cloudways the best WordPress hosting service I've tested thanks to its power and functionality. In this comprehensive guide, I've also featured the services that impressed me most across the best shared hosting and the best VPS providers.

Best web hosting services of 2026

Best web hosting overall

Hostinger key features

Shared Hosting - I've tested the plans and they provide ample performance and reliability. They come with the option of using Hostinger's AI website builder for WordPress and Hostinger's AI website builder. They also come with a free domain, free email for a year and pretty much everything you need for a website. There is also Node.js support for web apps.

VPS hosting - The hosting is not managed but there is an AI sysadmin tool that helps. hPanel is a really good interface for managing VPS servers too. It's very beginner friendly (there are one click installers for popular services like n8n) but it's still a VPS and very much on you. The upside of that is that you're not paying for management so the plans are not expensive and offer some of the best performance and reliability for a low price.

Cloud Hosting - Pretty much the same story as shared but LOADS more power and scalability for things like eCommerce stores.

Horizons - Ever wanted to make an app but don't know how to code? Horizons. Write what you want and it'll build it for you.

Business tools - Email marketing, drop shipping, print on demand

Testing & use

In my intro I mentioned that the web hosting landscape is changing fast and head of the curve is Hostinger. The company is reshaping what we think of hosting.

Horizons lets you build and host apps without writing a single line of code. The shared hosting supports node.js, an AI sysadmin tool makes managing a VPS easier, and an AI WordPress tool makes building and managing WordPress easier. There is also an AI website builder.

If you want to build and host, Hostinger is a one-stop-shop that's incredibly good value and reliable. As an all rounder, you cannot beat Hostinger. Powerful reliable hosting, global datacenters, support, and marketing and business tools like drop shipping and print on demand- it's all there, and it's all great.

Read our full Hostinger review for a more in-depth analysis and full testing scores

Best web hosting for eCommerce

▶ ScalaHosting key features

Scalability - ScalaHosting's cloud infrastructure enables you to easily scale resources for promotional sales periods. The last thing you want is your site going offline at critical periods of the year.

Partnerships - ScalaHosting is official partners with OpenCart. It's also recommended by many industry leaders for WooCommerce. Plus, ScalaHosting is officially endorsed by Joomla CEO Brian Teeman. If none of this says best for eCommerce, I don't know what does.

Quick setups -Far from a one trick pony, ScalaHosting has managed servers for n8n and other popular requirements.

Support - It is a breath of fresh air speaking with ScalaHosting support. You do not need to interact with a chat bot or press and hope and AI tool works. ScalaHosting embrace AI on their side to help them solve your problems. You speak with humans.

Testing & use

Hosting for eCommerce is critical. A slow or down website will directly impact sales. A managed cloud service is the only sensible solution for websites that generate revenue that your business depends on.

ScalaHosting has some of the best user ratings in the hosting industry and are used for Government-level projects. It can be trusted to take care of your business.

If your project requires a custom server environment, that's not a problem. Fully managed at ScalaHosting means fully managed. Support went above and beyond in our tests and helped get our app online.

See our full ScalaHosting review for a more in depth analysis and full metric scores.

Best web hosting for small business

▶ SiteGround key features

Google Cloud infrastructure - SiteGround utilize Google's datacenters so they cover a very wide area. Perfect for local businesses and those with dreams of wider horizons alike.

Professional Email - You get free professional email with every plan. Ideal for businesses that want multiple inboxes and their own bespoke email addresses for the professional touch. There is also an email marketing tool to help you engage with your subscribers.

One click staging - Small businesses don't want to be playing around with a live site. Staging environments allow you to iterate and make changes without impacting your users.

Image optimizations - Businesses with lots of images might find their site struggling under load. SiteGround's image optimizations mean you get all the performance you need to showcase your products and services without needing to upgrade your server.

AI anti bot - The last thing any business wants to deal with is bots. They consume your resources without generating any revenue. SiteGround's security tools prevent that.

Testing & use

Best for eCommerce and small business is very similar but SiteGround is a better all-rounder for small businesses, that may also be eCommerce stores.

The hosting and plans available are less flexible than other managed hosting options, but this is actually a strength rather than a weakness. SiteGround are highly specialized in what they provide and have very good user reviews. All the major content management services are supported- such as WordPress.

In the last year SiteGround has been moving more towards being a platform rather than 'just a hosting provider'. AI tools for app building and their own WordPress website building alternative are all new and exciting features that make SiteGround one of the best hosts for a variety of small businesses.

For a more in depth review and metric scores for SiteGround see our full SiteGround review

Best cheap hosting

▶ Namecheap Key features

AI website builder - Just because this is cheap doesn't mean you miss out on the latest features. Namecheap's AI builder is not just some prompt to template tool. You can actually talk to the builder to get it to do things for you.

Email - When calculating the value of hosting plans I'm usually counting all the things that are free only for one year. This is budget hosting with email included. That makes Namecheap seriously cheap.

Free domain name - Usually I recommend to skip on the free domain and look for a cheap domain name registrar instead. Well, Namecheap are usually that cheap domain registrar so use the domain; that's more dollars saved.

Namecheap's ecosystem - Namecheap provide pretty much every service you could want. Security tools, CDN, backups...You name it, Namecheap probably do it. So, should you want to upgrade or add anything. It's all in one place.

Test results & use

Namecheap started out as a domain registrar. It then branched out with the aim to create cheap but high quality products and services for web developers. It now has a range of hosting plans from shared to dedicated.

Namecheap also has its own range of services including a CDN network, security tools, email, and marketing tools. All of which are low price, as you would expect with a name like Namecheap.

Although Namecheap has developer roots, some effort has been made to make creating a site easy for beginners but it's still not that streamlined website builder experience a beginner would like.

When I spent 60 minutes with Namecheap I was impressed with everything you get for such a low price. I had a deep look into whether Namecheap is still cheap in 2026, and can confirm that this is still the best option for cheap web hosting.

Read our full Namecheap review

Best web hosting for beginners

▶ Bluehost key features

WonderBlocks - This tool sits inside WordPress and allows you to easily edit your WordPress template using blocks instead of trying to remove, create, or edit parts of your site. It's a great deal easier than editing a template.

Documentation - If you want to optimize the performance of your site, it's very easy to look up how to do it and execute it.

Recommended by WordPress - Bluehost are recommended by the CMS making them an excellent choice for the open source platform. The servers are optimally configured and support know it inside out.

Performance - In our tests Bluehost scored very well at handling loads and WordPress benchmark tests.

Testing & use

A lot of the hosts on this page are good for beginners but Bluehost is best. When I tried building and managing a WordPress site with Bluehost in one hour I was so happy that finally a host had made a builder for WordPress that was properly easy.

WordPress is easy to install and it's mega easy to use a template for your site, but editing it? Forget it! Everything is hidden behind toolbars and dropdown lists. Want an extra page element next to the one you have? You can have have it everywhere but where you want it. It's a frustrating experience. Not with Bluehost.

There are some drawbacks. Email is only free for a month and you get upsold a bit. There is better value elsewhere but if you're just looking for an easy experience getting a website fast. Bluehost is the way.

For a more in depth review and metric scores for Bluehost see our full Bluehost review

Best web hosting for agencies

▶ Kinsta key features

Containers - Kinsta host you site in containers. This gives you a lot of the benefits of VPS hosting with less cost and management overheads.

Malware Security Pledge - If your site is infected with malware Kinsta will remove it for you for free.

Up time - Each site hosted at Kinsta is monitored every three minutes to make sure it has the resources it needs.

Unlimited free site migrations - If your agency is managing multiple sites you don't need to worry about the cost of moving over to Kinsta.

Easy to use interface - Kinsta's UI is really user friendly and doesn't bombard you with features that the host is trying to upsell. Plus, the documentation is clear and easy to consume.

Fine grained management - If you have multiple users managing your sites you can rest easy with fine grained control over what each person can do.

Test results

After testing Kinsta and doing a Kinsta vs Siteground comparison it was Kinsta that came out on top as my recommendation for best hosting for agencies.

This is thanks to containerized infrastructure for all WordPress installs which can provider higher levels of performance and stability than shared while not having the management overheads of VPS.

Kinsta also offer a unique security pledge. In the unlikely scenario that one of your sites is infected Kinsta will offer free malware cleaning. Other advantages include a staging area for each site, free hosting for your own company website, listing on an agency directory, and white-labelling options.

Our testing showed that Kinsta outperformed WP Engine on key WordPress benchmarks and database performance.

For full metrics and test results see the Kinsta review

Best web hosting for WordPress

▶ Cloudways key features

Flexibility - You can choose from a range of infrastructure providers including AWS, Google, and Digital Ocean. You also have fine grained control over resources and you can pay per the hour.

Cloudflare Enterprise - Edge page caching, rate limiting, features control, enhanced website security, and the Enterprise CDN. This does come as a paid add-on but it's significantly cheaper with Cloudways.

Auto Scaling - Cloudways autonomous scales your site automatically so you never need to worry about your site going down or being slow at peak times.

WordPress Multisite - There's no limit to the amount of sites you can host and Cloudways are experienced in handling multisites at scale.

PHP 8 ready- The latest, fastest and most secure version of PHP is supported.

Automation - One click server cloning, advanced server management, SafeUpdates for WordPress, and seamless vertical scaling.

Ease of use - In our 60 minute test with Cloudways, Cloudways really made the process of hosting WordPress sites on a VPS incredibly easy.

Testing & use

Any host on this page can handle WordPress and when you compare lower tier plans to lower-spec VPS servers the difference in performance doesn't seem to jump out at you.

The difference is that on a shared server, you are likely to get pushed out if you continue to use too many resources. The performance is there with shared servers but it's not guaranteed.

When I recommend best hosting for WordPress I'm not recommending for beginner WordPress sites. Those can all be hosted on shared servers. I'm recommending for WordPress sites that are already out growing their hosting environment.

Then, managing a server becomes a lot more critical and essential for maintaining and developing your business. Remove the server responsibility and leave it to Cloudways.

Cloudways is highly configurable. So, no matter what you need. You can spec your server out just as required and let them handle it.

For more information and full testing metrics see our Cloudways Review

Best for gamers

▶ Shockbyte Key features

Global servers - The company is based on Australia but has servers and support available worldwide. There are 12 different plans for Minecraft alone. Each plan supports Java and Bedrock Edition. Plus, plans for Satisfactory, Ark Survival Evolved, and many more.

Security - All plans still come with DDoS protection

Ease of use - The control panel is easy to use you can have multiple server configurations on one plan. There are instant mod pack and plug-in installers and instant set up for a wide range of games.

Specifications - AMD EPYC chips, NVMe storage enable powerful server for intense game play.

New control panel - The new control panel from Shockbyte makes managing game servers very easy. So, instead of spending time setting up and managing hardware you can spend more time gaming with your friends.

Test results & use

Minecraft hosting Australia-based Shockbyte is one of the biggest names in Minecraft hosting and has a presence in Europe (the UK, Germany, France, and Poland), Asia (Singapore), and North America (the USA and Canada). As a dedicated gaming server provider with great reviews and a global network, they don't come much better than this. Shockbyte is one of our favorite game server hosts and we rank it top in best Minecraft server hosting and best game server hosting overall.

Read our full Shockbyte review

Best shared web hosting

▶ InMotion Hosting key features

More than WordPress Hosting - On most shared hosting plans you're restricted with what you can host. InMotion Hosting's plans support Python, Node.JS, Ruby, and GIT.

Web development tools - Support for popular frameworks like Laravel and protocols like SSH make this shared hosting suitable for web development professionals.

Free website migration - You can move your sites to InMotion Hosting free of charge with zero downtime.

Faster that other shared plans - Testing shows that sites hosted on InMotion Hosting's shared plans average a 0.77-second server response time. Faster than most shared plans.

Solutions for agencies - You can manage up to four client cPanel accounts and easily create and manage them through WHM. Client environments are also isolated to maintain performance and increase security.

Test results

InMotion Hosting are not what you would usually expect for a shared hosting recommendation.

InMotion hosting are usually recommended for devs and high load websites not beginner/ entry level shared plans.

But that's the thing. These are not your beginner or entry level shared plans. These are shared plans that provide 10K - 500K visits a month.

If you just want to make and host a website then pretty much every host on this page caters for that at different levels, including shared.

If you want serious shared hosting for websites then InMotion Hosting are the best consideration. Ideal for agencies that don't want to spend so much on hosting.

For a complete review and metrics see our InMotion Hosting review

Best VPS hosting

▶ Liquid Web key features

99.99% uptime guarantee - Liquid web has some of the best uptime guarantees in the hosting industry and in recent years has achieved 99.9992%.

Fully customizable - You can select from a range of pre-configured plans or spec out your plan with as many CPU cores and as much RAM as you like.

The fastest VPS speeds - Liquid Web claim to have some of the fastest VPS speeds and our tests collaborate their claims.

Support - Support from Liquid Web is excellent and they make it very clear what you're getting support-wise.

Seamless scalability - All VPS plans are cloud-based so not only do you get high availability but you can also scale on demand.

Test results

Liquid Web is another web host on this list founded before the millennium. Founded in 1997, Liquid Web is an expert provider of top-quality managed hosting solutions for everything from email to WordPress, WooCommerce, VPS, dedicated all based on cloud infrastructure.

The service offers strong performance guarantees and excellent support options - seen when we compared Liquid Web with InMotion Hosting.

Most enterprise level VPS plans can seem daunting but Liquid web certainly make the step up easy.

With fully managed VPS, Liquid Web take care of security updates and performance optimizations.

See my full Liquid Web review for test results

Best web hosting FAQs

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GitHub is an online hosting service for software development and version control. Owned by Microsoft, GitHub is now home to more than 372 million software projects. You can host a blog on GitHub, too. This article looks at the various ways you can host a blog using GitHub and the pros and cons of each. 

What is Git, and why would I use it?

Git is a free distributed version control system for computer files. Its primary use is to enable software developers to work collaboratively on software during development. Git keeps track of different code versions, with a complete history of code changes stored on every contributing developer’s computer. 

Using Git, it’s easier for developers to work in isolation on a project feature before merging the changes into the main code. It’s easy to revert to an older version of code if necessary. Developers can work remotely without being required to have access to the same shared network drive. Senior developers can perform code reviews before contributions from junior members are added to the main branch.

• Deploy Now by IONOS

What is GitHub?

GitHub is a cloud-based hosting platform from Microsoft. It’s a web-based Git repository with millions of software projects in its library.

GitHub offers all the features of Git while adding features that make code collaboration easier. For instance, GitHub has project management, bug tracking, and support ticket management features. 

Code on GitHub can be made public, so any developer worldwide can contribute to your code or make a copy. GitHub offers a code editor and code search tools, and you can get GitHub notifications on the activities you’re subscribed to.

How do I add a blog on GitHub?

GitHub has a site hosting service called GitHub Pages. You can create GitHub Pages for a particular project, user, or organization. Site files are stored on GitHub’s servers, and people can access the site at github.io (e.g. yourusername.github.io). If you own your own domain name, you can point it to your GitHub Pages blog so people can find your blog that way.

You can quickly build a website using a code generator. Frameworks like Hugo, Jekyll, Gatsby, and Gridsome can be used to create blogs in a matter of minutes with just a few lines of written code. 

Alternative hosting for GitHub blogs

Most GitHub blogs are hosted on GitHub servers, but you can choose to host your GitHub blog with another provider. If you have a web server with support for Git, you can make a copy of your GitHub repository to it using the clone command. It's important to know though that many web frameworks such as static site generators require the execution of build steps to turn repo files into website files that should then be published on the server. 

As such, many repo files do not necessarily belong on a web server. Depending on your web host, you may need to make additional changes to configuration files.

Some website hosting services make this process easier by offering deployment tools. For example, with Deploy Now by IONOS, you can develop your site on GitHub and, when ready, deploy your changes to the third-party hosting provider at a click of a button. 

GitHub Pages have limitations

Using GitHub Pages is undoubtedly the easiest way to publish a GitHub blog, and it’s free to boot. But there are several limitations to the service that may make you decide to host your GitHub blog elsewhere.

First, you are not allowed to use GitHub Pages as a free web hosting service for running a commercial business. This includes any ecommerce site offering commercial Software as a Service (SaaS). GitHub Pages shouldn’t be used to send passwords or credit card numbers.

GitHub Pages limits you to 1GB of storage space, and there’s a soft 100GB limit on bandwidth per month. If you receive more than 100GB of traffic in a month, your service may be limited, or you may be asked to move your site to a different hosting service.

GitHub Pages sites are also static, as opposed to dynamic. Static websites are always quite basic because they can’t use any clever backend programming languages such as PHP or ASP. Therefore, GitHub Pages are usually quite simple in scope.

Self-hosting a GitHub blog can remove all these limitations. Keeping your site on your own server allows you to use all the project management and source control features of GitHub yet deploy a more complex site. As long as you choose the right hosting provider, you can have unlimited bandwidth and offer a commercial service.

Self-hosting a GitHub blog requires more setup than using GitHub Pages, and you may need to install additional software and configure your server to get it working. A web host that offers deployment tools for GitHub sites can simplify this process.

If you find GitHub Pages too limiting, consider alternative platforms for your blog. Website builders have robust blogging tools, and big hitters like WordPress have excellent collaboration features so multiple people can work on your blog simultaneously.

GitHub Pages is often suggested as a blogging solution because it's free, and you can make excellent use of it for static support documents for your GitHub projects. But free website builders and free website hosting also exist, so don’t get bogged down on using GitHub Pages if it doesn’t fit your needs.

Conclusion

GitHub is an excellent cloud-based platform for software development. It’s mainly used to make collaborative software development more manageable and less prone to error. 

You can post a blog for free on GitHub using GitHub Pages, but there are several limitations to the free service. 

Self-hosting your GitHub blog is an alternative strategy that removes these limitations but requires more initial setup. Some third-party solutions, such as Deploy Now from IONOS, make it quicker and easier to deploy a GitHub blog to another hosting space.

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Servers are used to host applications, serve files, store customer data, run analytics, and perform all manner of other business processes.

Different server types offer varying speeds, performance, versatility, and monthly upkeep costs. The server type you choose for your application makes a massive difference to how the project will proceed and how successful it will ultimately be. 

This article discusses several important server types and some of the main things to consider when choosing the right server for your needs.

Managed vs. unmanaged servers

One of the first considerations to make is whether to choose between a managed or unmanaged server.

When you choose a managed server, the provider manages and maintains the server for you. This includes performing duties such as installing the operating system, keeping software up to date, monitoring performance, and making security updates. You have more time to focus on your core business, but a managed server is often more expensive than an unmanaged server.

With an unmanaged server, the provider only supplies the physical server and network connectivity, leaving the maintenance and management of the server up to you. Tasks such as managing the operating system, configuring the server software, and keeping security patches up to date are your responsibility. You have complete control over your server, allowing you to customize it to your needs, but it does demand more time and a higher level of technical expertise.

Dedicated servers

A dedicated server is a physical machine with a processor, hard drive, RAM, and operating system. As the name implies, a dedicated server is devoted to a single individual, organization, or application. In short, you don’t share resources with other people.

Dedicated servers are excellent for applications with predictive workloads. They’re a good step up from shared hosting in terms of performance and security. And, because you don’t share a server with anyone else, they’re suitable for handling sensitive data.

You have the choice between managed and unmanaged dedicated servers.

If you’re looking for the best performance from an application, dedicated servers almost always run faster than shared servers and virtualized servers, which we discuss below. 

Dedicated server form factors

If you’re installing dedicated servers in-house, there are a few options you can choose from. Tower servers are the most similar to the home desktop computer. They can stand alone and don’t need to be positioned in a cabinet. However, they do take up quite a bit of space.

A rack server is installed into a cabinet in a dedicated server room. Each cabinet can hold multiple rack servers, reducing the required floor space. Rack servers often require specialist cooling equipment and tend to be more expensive than tower servers.

Blade servers are even slimmer than rack servers, making them the go-to option for large enterprises that need space efficiency. They must be installed in a special enclosure and require specialist cooling equipment. 

Blade servers perform better than rack servers, and they can be managed through a single interface. However, they’re the most expensive server form factor discussed here.

Virtualized servers

A virtualized server, often known as a virtual private server (VPS), is a software construct running on a dedicated server. Using what’s known as a hypervisor, virtualized servers emulate typical compute resources like the processor, RAM, disk, and network. 

A virtualized server can be more economical than a dedicated server, as multiple customers can share the physical hardware. It gives you a dedicated slice of the compute resources, and the actions of other users on the server won’t ever affect the performance you get.

You can choose between a managed or unmanaged VPS server.

In most cases, using a virtualized server feels like you’re running a dedicated server, but you get it at a lower price. For this reason, it’s a good choice for mid-sized businesses that have outgrown shared servers but don’t require a dedicated solution.

Cloud servers

Cloud servers are another type of virtualized server but on a grander scale. You still get a virtualized slice of resources, but this time you’re getting a slice of one or more servers situated in massive data centers.

The most significant benefit of a cloud server solution is its incredible scalability. To reduce costs, you can scale back your provision of services when you don’t need them. It’s also straightforward to scale up your provision when you expect more traffic or need the extra processing power to perform big data analytics at speed.

Cloud servers also offer outstanding redundancy. Your application is typically copied across several servers in different data centers, so if any server goes down for maintenance, there’s always a backup running. If your business needs data to be constantly backed up, then cloud backup servers can be ideal.

Bare-metal cloud

Bare-metal cloud is a mix of cloud services and dedicated servers. You rent a solution from the cloud provider as usual, but you don’t share any hardware resources with other tenants at all. So, no other virtual machines are running on the same hardware.

Bare-metal cloud arguably offers more flexibility, security, and control than traditional cloud servers. Yet it also provides better scalability and redundancy than dedicated servers, making it the best of both worlds if money is no object.

Bare-metal cloud servers are advantageous when you have data-intensive workloads, storage is used frequently and intensively, and calculations must be performed immediately. It’s a good option for artificial intelligence, big data, and machine learning applications. 

Conclusion

Choosing the correct type of server makes all the difference to the success of your project. 

Shared servers are economical but are relatively slow and are prone to drops in performance if the server is oversubscribed. Dedicated servers are the most traditional server, with high performance but increased management costs. 

Virtualized servers offer many of the advantages of dedicated servers at a lower cost. Cloud servers provide outstanding scalability at the expense of a more complex initial setup. Bare-metal cloud servers offer the high performance of dedicated servers with the scalability of cloud servers.

This is just one way to think about the various types of servers available, plus there are many more things to consider based on your application’s requirements. 

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Using the best Minecraft server hosting gives you ultimate control over your Minecraft experience. Whether you plan on playing games with a few friends, or you're looking to cultivate an online community, dedicated server hosting helps you achieve that goal significantly.

I've rounded up all the best game server hosts for your Minecraft needs, based on my extensive time checking them out. I've ranked them according to their respective strengths.

You can quickly glance through the list and find exactly what you want. That could be the best cheap Minecraft host but you might also need more premium offerings so I've included an option for that too. In all cases, every host happily runs both Minecraft Bedrock and Java, plus you can use the host for other games too.

If you'd rather just dive into the game, we've also got a great guide on the best Minecraft seeds so you can quickly gather some essential resources and start building.

Top 2 Best Minecraft server hosting deals in 2026

Best Minecraft server hosting services 2026 in full

Best Minecraft host for beginners

What I like

Shockbyte is super simple to use and its genuinely welcoming interface is one of the main reasons why I recommend it to pretty much everyone. It has a lot of similar features to the competition but it introduces them in a way that is far from off-putting so pretty much everyone can get to grips with it. There’s no gatekeeping here. Want to set up a Minecraft server and never tried doing so before? Shockbyte is the solution while it also offers powerful features that will suit more advanced users too. In no time, you can add the best Minecraft mods or the best Minecraft texture packs with minimal hassle for you.

What I don’t like

Shockbyte is the go-to place for most people, but its 24/7 support could be a little speedier. When I’ve used it, its ticket system always comes back with a useful and helpful answer, but it could be faster. There’s no telephone support either. While I generally prefer online support, in a jam, it’s useful to have a phone number to check in with.

What you need to know

Shockbyte specializes in many games with its core focus being on Minecraft. It's very simple to figure out with a wide range of plans for every budget and requirement. Filters help you narrow things down with suggestions for novices. The most basic plan starts at just 3 players and 1GB RAM with the most advanced plans providing over 60 player slots and 16GB RAM.

Every plan comes with DDoS protection, unlimited bandwidth and NVMe storage, automated instant setup, a free subdomain, a 100% network uptime guarantee and 24/7 support. Also included is the company's attractive looking and easy-to-use control panel. Its server instance feature makes it easy to have multiple server setups, while there's up-to-date support for Java and Bedrock editions of Minecraft, and extensive server versions and types. At all times, there's good guidance on what will work best for you.

Read our Shockbyte review

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Best value Minecraft server

What I like

Hostinger is for those users who want a web server to experiment with. It’s so much more than just a Minecraft host so if you want to explore some extra fun projects alongside that, this is the solution for you. You name it and you can probably do it through Hostinger. For those who love to tinker, it's a useful setup to have available. I also like the AI assistant, Kodee. It’s not always perfect but it has saved me from contacting support on a few occasions.

What I don't like

Hostinger is overwhelming at first. It’s not as user-friendly as dedicated methods on how to set up a Minecraft server as you’re using VPS hosting instead. Knowing how to create a Minecraft server on a VPS isn’t much trickier but that does depend on your technical skills and confidence levels. For some people, Hostinger is overkill.

What you need to know

Hostinger is well known as one of the best web hosting services out there. Besides the usual shared hosting and VPS offerings, it also hides away some highly capable Minecraft server hosting. Its well-designed Game Panel means you can have your server set up and ready-to-go within minutes of your purchase, with AI assistant -- Kodee - offering advice to many common queries. Automated backups are standard along with a dedicated IP and DDoS protection while you can create manual snapshots too.

There are one-click installers for many mods and plugins, but the File Manager makes it simple to do things manually too, with a malware scanner keeping an eye on things. You can even install a new operating system on your VPS with one click which is unnecessary for many but demonstrates the power involved here. It's sometimes intimidating for novices but worth figuring out. Perhaps surprisingly given the amount of features it offers, it can be a very good price depending on your needs.

Read our Hostinger review

• Sign up for Hostinger Minecraft server hosting

Best Minecraft server hosting on a budget

What I like

The price of ScalaCube servers is a huge advantage. Being able to spend just $2 a month is a steal of a deal. It's what I recommend when someone just wants a server for a month such as when coming up with the best Minecraft Christmas ideas. For long term use, you’ll almost certainly need to spend more for something that’s truly effective for your server needs, but for newcomers, it’s a great starting point. It ties in well with any plans to learn how to play Minecraft for free. There are lots of server locations to choose from, even when aiming for budget range options. You don't miss out on options either with this being a simple way to install the best Minecraft shaders and Minecraft mod packs.

What I don't like

While cheap at the budget end of things, ScalaCube can get very expensive if you aim for a high-end server, especially for a Minecraft server host which lacks more than online support. That makes it a better choice for someone seeking budget or mid range servers rather than anything too high-end (Hostinger is the better option there), so it’s important to get that trade-off just right for your budget.

What you need to know

ScalaCube offers ultra-affordable and reliable server hosting for Minecraft with cheap options as well as more premium plans available. As standard, there's one-click installation for modpacks while you can also use custom forge servers to create your own Minecraft launcher. It's intuitive to use and very user-friendly, with full file access, a free MySQL database, backup system, and even a website/forum if you want something different from Discord.

There’s a good selection of server locations across the US and UK, Europe, Asia and Australia for you to choose from, and ScalaCube offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee. When it comes to choosing your Minecraft game server, ScalaCube offers a wide variety of options including Forge, Snapshot, ATLauncher, FTB, Void’s Wrath, Cauldron, Bukkit, PaperMC, Spigot and many more. If you can't decide between ScalaCube or Shockbyte, we have a dedicated guide to that.

Read our ScalaCube review

Best premium Minecraft game server host

What I like

I was most impressed by Apex Minecraft Hosting's reliability. It offers lag-free servers that actually live up to the name. Like with any service, that’s dependent on your own internet connection and location, but pick a server on the same continent as yours, and you should be in luck. We know that different Minecraft servers can optimize gameplay so this is a good choice for those with a community across one continent. It’s worth the extra investment if you already have an established community and need reliability and a silky smooth gaming experience.

What I didn't like

If you want inexpensive, you need to steer clear of Apex Minecraft Hosting. High reliability isn't cheap which makes sense. This is the better option if you're looking for a long-term investment and great reliability, such as if you're hosting a large community which is already established. If you’re serious about becoming one of the best Minecraft servers, this could be the solution for you. At a price.

What you need to know

Apex Hosting does everything you expect, very well. That includes easy-to-use one-click modpack installation which opens up the world of plugins, mini-games, and maps. It also has a huge amount of servers spread around the world, plus there's the typical essentials like full server control, fast connections, and exceptional support. Apex Hosting’s automated backups are another attractive feature in terms of safety for your files too. It's the ideal home if you're keen to install some of the best Minecraft texture packs.

Besides regular 24/7 customer support, Apex Hosting is another host that provides video tutorials for novices, so you're never going to get lost with your plans. If you were a fan of MC Pro hosting and looking for a review, it has now merged with Apex Hosting.

Read our Apex Hosting review

• Sign up for Apex Hosting Minecraft server hosting

Best for hardcore Minecraft server hosts

What I like

Like Hostinger, InMotion Hosting focuses on its hosting and provides Minecraft servers via a VPS plan. That means a ton of power and functionality which is great to see. It’s also reasonably affordable and it clearly lays out what to expect from each plan. InMotion has been around for over 20 years so it's a reliable pair of hands. There's 24/7 support and you're not just limited with online tickets as there's telephone support too if you prefer that option.

What I don't like

InMotion Hosting only has relatively minimal server options. Your choices lie in either the US west coast or east coast, with a central EU option. If you want to have the control of choosing a particular country, this isn’t a good package for you. For those located in other continents, the ping is going to be higher than ideal as well.

What you need to know

InMotion Hosting is a well-established name with 20+ years of hosting experience. Its Minecraft hosting allows you to run any server version, and whatever plugins you like, so it's perfect for those seeking more control than simply using Minecraft modpacks. With each plan, there are baseline recommendations to guide you through what plan to sign up for while premium hardware is used across all its servers.

The hardware includes NVMe SSD storage and Intel Xeon CPUs, while the servers are deployed in data centers positioned at internet exchange points (IXPs) and are supported by Tier 1 internet service providers. To round things off well, support is available via ticket, chat, and phone -- something that not every host provides.

• Sign up for InMotion Hosting Minecraft hosting

Best for game variety

What I like

Nodecraft’s biggest strength is how flexible it is. You can easily switch between different game setups via the save&swap feature. If you’re growing an online community and they don’t always want to play Minecraft, this is a simple way to move between games at the touch of a button. There are other more complicated methods with other server hosts, but you can’t beat the simplicity of Nodecraft’s methods. It particularly stands out for variety streamers or content creators who want to switch between games quickly and with minimal hassle.

What I don't like

The downside to Nodecraft is that it isn’t really aimed at high-end server needs. There’s better hardware available elsewhere. This is a server host best designed for smaller or medium-sized Minecraft servers.That has its own pros and cons, of course, but it’s worth bearing in mind if you’re planning on expanding your server quickly.

What you need to know

Nodecraft provides server hosting for a lot of different games with a gamer-centric aesthetic. From the beginner plan to more premium options, there are unlimited player slots and setup is very simple so you don't need to be a server admin expert. Standing out is Nodecraft's save&swap feature which lets you switch to a different game server while simultaneously saving your progress on the current one you’re playing.

There are a handful of useful plan options with all offering at least two save&swap servers, as well as DDoS protection, and a free subdomain. Service is divided between Nodecraft Lite servers which are only online when in use and are much cheaper than the Nodecraft Premium servers which are online 24/7. If you just want to play with some friends once in a while, Lite will prove the better option here as it's very affordable.

Read our full Nodecraft review

• Sign up for Nodecraft server hosting

Best Minecraft server hosting: FAQs

How to choose the best Minecraft server hosting service for you

After you have decided to run your own Minecraft server via a host, the next move is to find the right hosting provider for you. Naturally, we’ve covered you on that part as we already picked the best hosting options right now (you've just looked through it above!).

Before you pick a Minecraft server hosting provider, make sure you learn all the essentials. Here's what to think about.

Hardware: This is of utmost importance and the primary thing to look out for when running online multiplayer games. While Minecraft isn’t a demanding game on its own, that can change when you add several players and various mods to it. Look at the CPU and RAM as those play a vital role in making sure the multiplayer experience remains optimized. It’s safe to say that the right hardware will either make a Minecraft server or break one.

Pricing: Since you’re relying on third-party services to take care of hosting your Minecraft server, costs will also be a factor. Aside from the hardware, your hosting service will also be providing security, maintenance, plugins, features, the list goes on. The good news is that hosting companies offer several kinds of plans that cater to whatever your needs may be. That's why we've made sure to break things down according to price range. Only you know how much you want to spend.

Easy configuration: Let’s face it, you don’t want to waste time and get frustrated by a convoluted setup process, so providers that offer an easy and swift setup are obviously attractive. That said, it’s one thing to be novice-friendly, but also make sure that the hosting company gives you full control over your server so you can make any necessary changes in terms of settings and so forth. Odds are you'll learn more as you go along so you want a hosting provider that can grow with your skillset.

Support: There’s always a chance that things will go awry, even with the best hosting companies, and so it’s safe to assume that you will need customer support at some point. Whether you find yourself unable to change an important setting, or you need help to defend against or respond to something truly nasty like a DDoS attack, it can be crucial to have customer support which responds quickly. Any downtime could put off your precious players, after all.

Maintenance: Furthermore, in general terms it’s absolutely vital for the server to always be up, otherwise players will leave, take their game elsewhere, and you’ll lose money. This is a scenario you obviously want to avoid at all costs. Some of the things you might want to look for include FTP access for when you’re switching between mods and a web-based control panel.

How we test the best Minecraft server hosting

Our tests and evaluation take into account various aspects such as server locations, ease of installation, server performance and speeds, before exploring the robustness of each offering in terms of their security and stability.

I spent time with all these hosts for varying lengths of time so that I could rely on my personal experience as well as researching the best Minecraft server hosting.

While testing the best Minecraft server hosting, I specifically looked at speed, DDoS protection, mod support, security, reliability, and the host's uptime guarantee. I also looked at value, whether that means something is cheap or merely offering a lot for the money.

I also reviewed customer support availability and response times, and listed any discounts or money-back periods offered. In each case, I set up an account, installed a Minecraft server, and did various other things just like if I was a regular consumer.

I also look at the competition regularly to see if there should be new additions or not. There are dozens of options around but I've focused on the very best.

The best shared hosting providers can give you the best bang for buck but with some compromise. Your site is stored on a web server along with many others, which means everyone shares the server costs and resources and can use a piece of that physical server. A shared hosting plan is popular due to its affordability and ease of use. It is an excellent way to create and maintain a website when you expect little traffic or work with a tight budget. It is also a perfect option for beginners due to its simplicity.

Once you grow out of your shared plan, or if you already have a site that needs it's own resources then you can check out the hosting options on our best web hosting guide.

The best shared web hosting services of 2026

Best shared hosting overall

This shared hosting recommendation is not your run of the mill shared hosting plan. It's not an all-in-one platform style solution for hosting newbies. Instead it's really what you need if you're specifically looking for shared hosting.

InMotion Hosting gives you a lot more for your money than most other companies and supports a lot more than WordPress, including Node.js on shared hosting plans. While many budget hosts limit your space and speed to keep costs down, InMotion provides high-speed storage and plenty of room for your files right from the start.

One of the main reasons people trust them is their long-term trial period. They give you three full months to test their services, which is much longer than the standard thirty days offered by their competitors. This shows they are confident in their service and gives you enough time to make sure your site runs perfectly before you are locked into a long-term commitment.

Security and help are also built into every plan. They include tools that automatically protect your site from hackers and viruses without you having to be a tech expert. If you do run into a problem, they have a dedicated support team available at any hour of the day or night. Because they handle the technical maintenance and security updates behind the scenes, you can focus on your work instead of worrying about your server.

Finally, they make it very easy to get started or move an existing project. If you already have a website elsewhere, they will move it over for you for free.

Read our InMotion Hosting review.

Best value shared hosting

A popular provider, Hostinger somehow manages to delivers plans which combine amongst the longest feature lists in the business, with the lowest of prices.

The Premium plan starts at only $2.49 a month for a 2-year commitment (renews at $12.19 a month), for instance, but it still gives you a free SSL, 1-click WordPress installation, a website builder, a free domain (with free privacy protection), a malware scanner, Cloudflare-protected nameservers, and can host up to 100 websites and 100 email accounts.

There are potential issues, too. The Premium plan only includes weekly backups, perhaps unacceptable for regularly updated sites where you can't afford to lose data. If you'd much rather accept daily and on-demand backups, one of the other two plans will be a better choice. The Business plan is priced at $3.49 a month (renews at $13.99 per month), and you can get the Cloud Startup plan, which can host up to 300 websites, for as little as $7.59 per month ($24.99 per month upon renewal).

Whatever plan you choose, Hostinger's user-friendly and intuitive control panel walks you through the process of creating email accounts, managing domains and other key tasks. Hostinger's servers are distributed across multiple data centers worldwide, minimizing latency and enhancing the overall user experience. Additionally, 24/7 support is available, and they offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee, ensuring your website remains accessible to users at all times.

Overall, we find Hostinger's shared hosting excellent value for money. But if the service doesn't work for you, you're protected by a no-questions-asked 30-day money-back guarantee.

Read our Hostinger review.

Best shared hosting for beginners

We often consider Bluehost an excellent choice for beginners because it removes the technical hurdles typically associated with starting a website. From the moment you sign up, the platform guides you through a setup wizard that handles the complex parts, such as connecting your domain and installing software.

The main advantage for a first-time user is the simplified dashboard. Instead of forcing you to navigate complex technical menus, Bluehost uses an intuitive interface where you can manage your site, email, and security in one place. They also include an AI-powered website builder that lets you create a professional-looking design by answering a few questions and dragging elements into place. This means you can go from having nothing to a live website without ever touching a line of code.

To make the process even more affordable and straightforward, Bluehost bundles all the essentials into its entry-level plans. You get a free domain name for your first year, a free security certificate to keep visitor data safe, and automatic updates to keep your site running smoothly. This all-in-one approach prevents the common frustration of having to buy multiple different services from different companies just to get a single site online.

Best shared hosting for small business

SiteGround offers some low-end shared hosting plans which may cost a little bit more than some budget rivals you’ll find on this page, but the upside is that they include all the core features that you’ll likely need.

The firm’s StartUp account is $2.99 a month initially, and $17.99 for renewal. With that you get unlimited traffic, email accounts and databases, not to mention one-click installation of apps like WordPress. It also bundles features that rival firms often charge for as extras like daily backups or CDN capabilities (Cloudflare).

Prices may seem high, but SiteGround gives you a lot for your money, and its shared and cloud hosting plans could be a smart choice for experienced business users with demanding or high-traffic websites.

StartUp hosting plan supports one website and provides plenty of features: unmetered traffic, free SSL, daily backup, free email, and more. It allows up to 10,000 visits monthly. Advanced plans support unlimited websites and extra web space. GrowBig allows 100,000 and GrowGeek 400,000 visits monthly. Also, backup copies are available on demand; you get 30% faster PHP, and they come with extra features we are sure you will love.

Another nifty touch is the provider’s SuperCacher system which caches frequently-accessed data in RAM, aiming to improve site performance. This could certainly help busy websites. Not everything is rosy here, though – for example the basic account limits you to 10GB of web space. Also, website support via the company’s knowledgebase is a rather shoddy experience, but there are other avenues of tech support which perform much better.

With free installation of the shopping cart of your choice, you can enjoy free features such as SSL, daily backups, and more to the bundle. A website-building option is also available. WordPress or Weebly is included in all plans.

With prices slightly higher than competitors, SiteGround's shared plans could be a good choice for anyone looking for fast and reliable hosting and is more interested in features and service quality than getting the lowest possible price.

Read our SiteGround review.

Best cheap shared hosting

If you want to do web hosting on a budget, then as this provider’s name suggests, it aims to be inexpensive. You get some impressive value-for-money with Namecheap, particularly with an initial discount for the first year, and there are some heavyweight plans here.

However, note the starter ‘value’ plan only gives you 20GB of drive space and 30 email accounts, but you can get that at a price as cheap as $1.58 per month (over a 2-year contract). Note that this plan renews at $4.48 per month, which is also super affordable.

As this provider name suggests, Namecheap is popular for its affordability. The basic plan supports hosting three websites, while most providers only allow a single site on their starter shared plan.

All plans come with unmetered bandwidth, a free website builder, domain name and privacy protection, free automatic SSL installation, and 24 hour website migration.

Softaculous app installs, updates, and maintains WordPress and 150+ other apps. cPanel gives you complete website control via your browser. A good set of core features includes a free domain, free migration, unlimited bandwidth, free website builder, and a minimum of twice-weekly backups. With advanced plans, auto-backup is available.

Namecheap offers a 99.9% connectivity guarantee and is a straightforward service to set up, with an initial welcome email pointing you in the right direction for everything you might need (backed up by some impressive FAQs). It also plays host to an excellent searchable knowledge base.

To round things off, testing proved that this company generally offers above average speeds compared to rivals, making this a great hosting provider for those who aren’t keen on doing too much damage to their wallet.

Read our Namecheap review.

HostArmada

Right off the bat, it’s important to understand the unique advantages of shared cloud hosting – and what HostArmada is trying to offer here. As the name suggests, shared cloud hosting combines the best of both worlds: shared hosting and cloud hosting. From shared hosting, it picks up affordability and resource-sharing, whereas from cloud hosting, it brings the benefits of scalability, geo-redundancy, and better performance.

Speaking of affordability, HostArmada’s packages start from just $1.99 a month (on a 3-year commitment, renews at $9.95 a month). If you don’t want to sign up for that long, however, you'll be glad to learn that both the 2-year and annual plans are also super cheap – at $2.19 (renews at $10.95) and $2.39 (renews at $11.95) a month, respectively. This is for the basic plan, which, despite being cheap, doesn’t pull any punches. You get 15 GB of fast NVMe storage, 2 CPU cores, and 2 GB of RAM, as well as free SSL for your website, unlimited email and FTP accounts, and 7 daily backups.

It’s worth noting that the entry-level plan allows you to host just a single website, but upgrade to the plan right next to it and unlock the ability to create and manage unlimited websites, with double the storage, CPU cores, and RAM. Furthermore, I liked the fact that irrespective of the plan you pick, essential security features such as malware/virus scanning and removal, brute-force protection, and network firewall are all there.

Additionally, quality-of-life features such as free website migration and cPanel for easy management are much appreciated. To round off an excellent package, HostArmada offers 24/7 customer support via live chat and email, meaning you can get your queries ironed out in a jiffy. Lastly, you get an industry-leading 45-day money-back guarantee with all shared hosting plans, giving you ample time to try out the service risk-free before committing.

Read our HostArmada review

• We discuss the merits of shared hosting vs dedicated hosting

Best shared hosting FAQs

How we test the best shared hosting providers

We test shared hosting using the same method we use to test web hosting in general. We sign up to each service provider and host our test website created by our team of experts.

Once we're in, we test the features on offer, the speed, overall performance, and general ease of use. We also use this to compare each pricing plan to work out if each service is good value for money.

Our experts are well versed on what makes a good shared hosting plan in comparison to what makes a great shared hosting plan.

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We feature the best bare metal hosting services, to make it simple and easy to directly control your storage and reduce performance issues.

Bare metal hosting is a physical server dedicated to a single tenant/customer. Each server offered for rental is a distinct physical piece of hardware that is a functional server.

Despite seeing the rise of bare metal servers in recent years, as a category, they are not new and have been commercially available since the early 2010s. Some vendors' offerings tout both the high-performance benefits of a physical server and the multi-tenancy benefits of virtualization.

Despite being often used interchangeably, the terms 'bare metal server' and 'dedicated server' refer to different types of servers. As such, it's worth asking yourself: bare-metal vs dedicated servers: which is the better hosting option? before making a decision.

With all that in mind, here are the best bare metal hosting providers currently on the market.

We've listed the best cheap dedicated server deals.

The best bare metal hosting of 2025 in full: 

Best bare metal hosting overall

If you need a highly tailored bare-metal server configuration that caters to specific workloads, Oracle’s Bare Metal Instances could be for you. Options include a 'Standard' instance configuration for standard purpose workloads, which balances CPU cores, memory and network resources to suit a range of applications and use cases.

'HighIO', for performance-intensive database workloads with high IOPS requirements, offers local NVMe-based SSDs and delivers fast random I/O and high IOPs.

For big data workloads, there is 'DenseIO', and 'HPC Instance' is Oracle's most powerful config designed for massively parallel HPC (or high-performance computing) workloads.

These bare metal servers offer support for applications with intensive needs and can scale up to a whopping 192 cores (the most we've seen anywhere), 2.3TB of RAM, and 1PB of block storage. You can also select the processor you want — AMD, Intel, or Ampere.

For pricing you can check their cost estimator tool or simply scroll through various options. Like the AMD-based instances start from $0.0015/unit per hour.

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Best bare metal hosting for AWS

Amazon's EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud) is a technology which allows you to create and manage computing resources in the cloud.

Although EC2 instances are often virtual servers, Amazon now offers many bare metal options. These are often a better choice for demanding workloads like video encoding, scientific modelling, deep learning inference, multiplayer gaming: anything which needs to avoid being slowed down by virtualization, or needs direct access to physical resources and low-level hardware features.

Avoiding virtualization doesn't mean you have to ignore other AWS services, though, and your Amazon instance can take full advantage of Elastic Load Balancing, Auto Scaling, Amazon CloudWatch, and any other AWS features you might need.

Amazon's free tier includes the use of an EC2 instance for a generous 750 hours a month for a year. That's a virtual setup, not bare metal, but it's still useful as a way to try out Amazon's management features and learn how the service works.

Alternatively, if you're ready to jump in right now, low compute costs and hourly billing makes Amazon a very economical solution for many common tasks.

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Best bare metal hosting for instant setup

Based on the company's next-generation virtualization technology, Alibaba’s ECS Bare Metal Instance offers both the elasticity benefits of virtualization and the performance advantages of physical servers. Compatible with all Alibaba Cloud products, ECS Bare Metal Instance supports CPU configurations of between eight and 96 cores, in addition to instance memory expansion from 32GB to 768 GB.

Storage configurations start from virtual server images or cloud disks and support the mounting of multiple cloud disks for better storage capability. It is all protected by Alibaba’s stringent security requirements, so you will not need to worry about your data's welfare.

They’ve also upgraded their support in recent times with 1-on-1 presale consultations from experienced cloud experts. You also get 24/7 technical support with extended service hours, faster response times, and six free support tickets per quarter.

You also get instant access to hundreds of add-ons, like VPN, Gateway, DNS, and ECS, among others.

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Best bare metal hosting for UK

For companies that want access to data centers and support based in the UK, Fasthosts Bare Metal Servers will let you run projects on single-tenant servers with dedicated resources, purchased by the hour or month with pay-as-you-go billing.

In terms of storage, you can choose between a hard disk for high capacity; SSD (for fast storage); or NVMe for speedy and capacious storage. You can choose up to 18 core processors, up to 80TB storage, and 192GB RAM and select either AMD or Intel processors.

Servers can be spun up in minutes, and they feature integrated load balancing for spreading resources around server infrastructure to optimize performance. Based on the location of your visitors, you can pick where to host your server and deliver an optimized experience (UK, US, Germany, and Spain). You can also choose from a wide range of popular operating systems (Windows and Linux).

Their plans start from £40/month and go up to £720/month. You can even pay per hour, with plans starting from £0.055/hour and going up to £1.200/hour.

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Best bare metal hosting for Europe

Scaleway Elements Bare Metal Cloud Servers offers hardware configurations based on Intel Xeon or AMD EPYC CPUs that are available in Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS and other Linux variants.

Deployable in a snap, configurations include General Purpose (balancing CPU, RAM and Disks for production environments); High CPU (boosted with CPU for big data applications); and High Memory (boosted with memory for virtualization or RAM-demanding applications).

They offer a slew of features that include remote booting from an ISO file, and the ability to manage servers via Scaleway Console or an API (to automate the creation, installation, reboot or deletion of services).

Hosted in France, Scaleway's hardware has been expertly designed and tested under extreme conditions in climatic rooms. Users will enjoy complete integration with Scaleway's cloud ecosystem, and the hosting provider also offers 24/7 technical support.

Plans with no commitment start from €8.99/month, but you can avail a small discount with the Annual as well as the 36 Months plan.

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Best affordable bare metal hosting

IBM positions its Cloud Bare Metal Servers offering as a more affordable alternative to AWS in many cloud computing scenarios. The company acquired SoftLayer and its bare-metal server capabilities back in 2013, and now runs more than 60 IBM Cloud data centers across 19 countries.

Its bare-metal servers can be customized to meet workload needs, with more than 11 million configurations available that can be paid for hourly, monthly, or through reserved capacity pricing. Plus, you also get 20 TB of bandwidth. IBM lets you choose next-generation CPU technology from Intel® Xeon®, and AMD EPYC™, and add the latest Nvidia GPUs, in addition to 1-, 2-, or 4-core Intel CPUs, to chew through heavy workloads. The setup is easy, there's great tech support, and the network is fast.

Users can choose their CPU technology from Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA. The storage can be expanded massively — 36 x 12 TB HDDs (432 TB) or 24 x 7.6 TB SSDs (182 TB) and up to 36 drivers per server.

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Best bare metal hosting for DDoS protection

Redstation's bare metal servers benefit from multiple tier 1 transit and peering partnerships, meaning they are configured to give gamers the lowest pings even if they're located across the other side of the world from their teammates.

The company's fiber network offers unlimited bandwidth and is suitable for hosting applications needed to monitor and optimize performance, monetize moments and deliver advertising. Redstation's servers operate in a DDoS-free environment, so you won't have to worry about your gaming customers falling victim to a DDoS attack mid-session.

Redstation servers come with a pre-built library of operating systems, making them easy to use. Although there's no live chat support or knowledge base, the servers are fully customizable, and there is a 100% power and network guarantee. Note that the uptime guarantee doesn't factor in planned maintenance and upgrades.

Their prices range from the bargain chassis from £22 to a full rack that are around £1,681.68.

Read our full Redstation review

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Best bare metal hosting for control

HEFICED's bare-metal servers promise high performance, robust security, and are available with a high level of customization. Used by companies such as IBM, Avast and PureVPN, the company's servers are located in ISO-certified, state-of-the-art Tier 3 data facilities which feature power and cooling redundancy to ensure maximum uptime and enterprise-grade infrastructure for mission-critical applications.

HEFICED currently has 9 data centers located in Milan, Lagos, Frankfurt, Johannesburg, São Paulo, London and multiple other locations in North America.

They also come equipped with Intelligence Platform Management Interface (IPMI) to ensure easy remote access and monitoring - and you get access to in-house tech support who are responsive and can solve infrastructure-related issues onsite without delay.

HEFICED gives you incredible control over your server, but it is suitable for intermediate and advanced developers, and it doesn't come with a straightforward installer.

You can also avail up to 62% discounts for dedicated servers, which start from $49/month.

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Best bare metal hosting FAQs

How we test the best bare metal hosting

We've compared these bare metal hosting providers across multiple factors, from their technical specifications and customizability to the locations of their data centers and the quality of their server infrastructure. We looked at their security features, pricing plans, and overall performance, among other aspects such as speed of deployment and customizations available.

We checked what type of workloads they could run, their security features, the quality of the facilities the servers are located in, and the ease of signing up and purchasing the service.

Read how we test, rate, and review products on TechRadar

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These hosts offer the best free web hosting on the market today. Unlike other buying guides online, these hosts are actually free and not deals that expire.

Free is great but in reality these host are only good for tinkering around and very small projects. It's unfit for anything professional and not that suitable for beginners. I strongly recommend that you check out the best web hosting providers too or the best cheap web hosting.

The best free web hosting in 2025

Below you'll find full write-ups for each of the best free web hosting providers in our list. We've tested each one extensively, so you can be sure that our recommendations can be trusted.

The best free web hosting provider

InfinityFree started offering free hosting all the way back in 2011, and in its own words, it was only a fun hobby at first. However, as more and more people trusted it to host their websites, it was able to carry on with it and grow into what's the best free host on the market right now.

We’d like to give you a little background on how InfinityFree is able to provide truly free hosting. This is crucial since “free” in this industry is rare and often just clickbait, spammy, or even malicious, with free providers selling user data to turn a profit. However, you'd be glad to know that InfinityFree’s free service is a promotion for iFastNet and its paid-for hosting services. iFastNet has its in-house free hosting brand but allows others to offer the service under their own brand name—because, after experiencing a reliable free hosting experience with InfinityFree, users who want to upgrade to a premium plan for more benefits, are pointed toward iFastNet.

InfinityFree is the only high-quality web hosting service that’s free through and through. It doesn’t offer a limited-time free service like Hostinger or Accuweb and is, therefore, hands down the best option for those who want to dabble in personal blogging without the bells and whistles of a premium provider.

Without even having to enter your credit card details, you get 5GB of disk space, unlimited bandwidth, as well as the ability to create three separate accounts with an unlimited number of subdomains under each of them—what’s not to like? You can choose between ten free domain extensions, including “.lovestoblog.com” and “.infinityfreeapp.com” which I found very neat.

You will love just how easy it is to use InfinityFree, which is also its biggest advantage in addition to being completely free. It’s much simpler to create a website on InfinityFree than, say, Freehostia or GoogieHost. As soon as you sign up, you land on the Accounts page where you can get cracking. Just create an account by entering your details such as email and address (you can use a fake), enter your subdomain name, and you're on your way.

It took me less than a couple of minutes to go from registering with InfinityFree to getting my site live. Although there’s an option to use FileZilla—a free file manager for your InfinityFree website, I found InfinityFree’s online file manager up to the mark and less confusing for beginners.

Another plus point is that in case you do run into an issue where you can’t get your website to show the content you’ve uploaded or you have trouble understanding the ABCs of the control panel, just head over to InfinityFree’s in-depth knowledge base that has both detailed guides as well as videos to help you through everything, including installation, set up, and uploads.

Although InfinityFree (iFastNet) offers super affordable premium plans, you will find better value with Hostinger, DreamHost, or IONOS (all on our list of the best cheap web hosting), as they come with free domain, pre-installed WordPress, daily backups, and excellent customer support, among other best-in-class features.

Read the full InfinityFree review

Best for support

Freehostia was founded in 2005 and it has, through multiple upgrades, managed to become one of the best free web hosting providers on the market right now. It offers an ad-free experience, 24/7 customer support, and a one-click applications installer for free under its Chocolate hosting plan.

It’s worth noting that while the company claims that its free web hosting plan is cloud, it’s actually not. This is because it doesn’t come with benefits like auto-scaling or geo-redundancy that make cloud, cloud. If you’re after a truly cloud hosting service, check out TechRadar’s best cloud hosting page.

Speaking of Freehostia’s free web hosting, one of its standout offerings is that it comes with WordPress pre-installed. As soon as you sign up, your account is immediately active (unlike GoogieHost) and you get an email with your WP Admin URL, login, and password. This is an excellent offering and makes Freehostia perfect for those who’d like to play around with WordPress as a way of managing their website.

It’s worth noting that InfnityFree, too, has an option to install WordPress, but that’s something you will have to do manually by going to its control panel. Although I wouldn’t call that an inconvenience, Freehostia’s way of doing things is just better.

Next, the entire experience is absolutely flawless, with a clean dashboard design and interface and zero ads—Freehostia isn’t spammy at all! I also like that it offers email aliases (so, you get 3 emails and 12 email aliases), and while that doesn’t offset the absence of any sort of SSL certificates, it’s still a nifty security feature to have. If you want a free domain and a free SSL certificate while spending as little money as possible, I would recommend you opt for affordable hosting services like Hostinger and DreamHost.

Although it will say on your Freehostia dashboard that your account will expire 12 months from when you registered it, I’d like you to know that it’s actually free forever—you can keep renewing your plan and adding a year’s worth of validity for as long as you want. This may come across as confusing and even unnecessary, but it’s a really smart way for Freehostia to close down inactive free accounts.

Now, while Freehostia may look like a solid package, and it is, for the most part, what may serve as a deal breaker for a lot of users is that it doesn’t offer a free domain or subdomain unlike InfinityFree and GoogieHost—so, you will have to purchase a domain name before getting started.

This means that it’s not out-and-out free and somewhat even pointless because if you have no budget for hosting, you’re probably thin on cash for a domain, too. However, let’s say you’re an absolute beginner who didn’t know any better and ended up spending all of their limited budget on a domain name, then you can find excellent value in this free web hosting service.

Best for storage

FreeHosting.com, a company based out of France and Germany, has been providing free web hosting services (as well as a good paid tier) since 2010. Like Freehostia, FreeHosting, too, does not offer a free domain/subdomain—so, you essentially need to have a domain name beforehand to benefit from its free web hosting. While you can purchase one directly from FreeHosting itself, I recommend opting for one of the best domain registrars, as they’re not only more trustworthy but also cheaper.

FreeHosting is better for large websites with lots of material i.e. high-quality images, videos, animations, web applications, etc. This is because it comes with a whopping 10GB of disk space, which is 2x of InfinityFree and around 40x of Freehostia.

Next, one of the most likable offerings from FreeHosting is that the entire experience is ad-free—from the signup page to when you are in the control panel playing around with the myriad of options that you get with FreeHosting, you won’t see a single ad on your screen, let alone a pesky popup.

As for the downsides, you can only host one website with FreeHosting—no free subdomains, either. This is quite disappointing, especially when providers like InfinityFree are out there offering unlimited subdomains. All in all, InfinityFree rounds up as a better option overall (the 5GB disk space is almost always going to suffice), but if your use case doesn’t involve tinkering around with multiple subdomains—meaning you want to focus on a single website with heavy resources—then you should consider FreeHosting.

If/when your needs expand, there’s a paid hosting plan by FreeHosting you can take a look at. It comes with unlimited everything, including storage, hosted websites, email accounts, subdomains, and databases. However, it’s not cheap, to say the least, being priced at a staggering $7.99/month. I’d also like to point out that you would rarely ever have to jump from free web hosting all the way up to paying around $100 a year.

The lack of an entry-level plan with FreeHosting means that users who want to ultimately transition from free hosting to a paid service for features that are essential to professional hosting like SSL, fast and reliable servers, prompt customer support, etc., will be better off with one of the best web hosting services of 2026. Around one-third of the providers in there start at less than $3 per month and for downright cheap yet high-quality hosting, check out our best cheap hosting page.

Best for web apps

I made a small app (a couple of hundred lines of code, no database) based on Python that I use on my local machine to efficiently do some administration tasks. Simple things like checking when a page is due an update and checking prices on a web page. I wanted to share it with colleagues so I naturally looked into hosting it.

It only gets used about once a month so even paying the not expensive $14/mo for Cloudways unmanaged hosting with 1 GB Ram, 1 CPU, and 25 GB storage seems excessive.

I looked into cheaper and free ways to host it and decided to go with Google App Engine. It's relatively simple (if you know what you're doing) to set up. Create a YAML file to configure the server and then a few Google searches debugging error codes and it was up and away. I am making this seem a lot easier than it was and if it wasn't for our web Guru Lewis Wright quickly solving problems that he had already solved on other projects it would have been a lot harder and time consuming.

I decided to use the same app to do some VPS testing specifically in regards to support and found that ScalaHosting were by far the most supportive. So, if you do need support I recommend going there but it is significantly more expensive than free and hiring a developer to get something set up once might be more cost effective.

Best free for devs

If you're tech savvy there are a few more options for free web hosting. For example, you can use AWS Lambda to create a serverless web application that allows 1 million free requests a month. It's the not best way to host a site because cold starts and the lack of persistent storage make for slow load times but as a back up for small sites, it's still an option if you can handle more complex operations.

Another option is Kinsta's free static site hosting that allows you to deploy as much of your site as possible to Kinsta's global edge network. This is suitable for simple static sites, sites that are pre-rendered, and sites that have dynamic components that can be ran as functions.

There's also Vercel and netlify which are an easier alternative to Lambda but still require technical knowledge and a GitHub repository.

Free WordPress Playground

This is not free WordPress hosting. Don't get your hopes up. For that, use InfinityFree. This is a web-based version of the WordPress page builder Gutenberg. I've included it on this page because I think it's a great free feature from WordPress to help you get into hosting your own site.

This is likely the page builder that you'll be using when you host and build your first site. So, here is a free chance to get to used it without any of the hassle of hosting.

This is very bare-bones. There are no templates, no plugins, no building tools. This is the raw user interface that you'll be using to edit your site. If you really don't get on with this page builder, don't worry there are tools like Elementor that can help you but you'll need to pay for them and host your own WordPress site.

When you buy hosting, in most cases you get a whole bunch of templates to choose from so building a site is not so daunting. If you really really don't get on with it then maybe hosting isn't for you and maybe one of the best website builders is more your thing.

Don't get put off. WordPress is often said to be easy but I don't think it is and many others don't too. It's easy to install and set up but actually building the web pages can be cumbersome and unintuitive. Stick to it, there are lots of benefits.

Best avoided

GoogieHost

GoogieHost was launched in 2012 by an Indian blogger who wanted to offer free and cheap web hosting with top-of-the-line features. It comes with 1,000MB NVMe SSD storage, 2 FTP and email accounts, and 100GB bandwidth, as well as a website builder—that’s a serious catalog of features to get for free.

However, the service is not without its downsides. A major disadvantage to using GoogieHost is that it takes around 24 hours for your site to go live after you have registered an account, whereas it’s instantaneous with InfinityFree. Plus, you get just 1000MB of storage and two domain extensions, “.c1.is” and “.whf.bz”, both of which are make-do at best. So, it’s easy to see why InfinityFree is far ahead when it comes to free web hosting.

The entire experience was also slightly ruined by the sheer number of ads I ran into time and time again, which you have to be careful about because they are always in places where you might click them – right above the login button, for example. But, if you can bear with the aforementioned inconveniences, you will be greeted with a fairly easy-to-use and no-nonsense free hosting service.

Read the full GoogieHost review

Free hosting FAQs

How we tested these free web hosting services

Generally, our web host reviews aim to consider all the key elements which make up a good, or even the best web hosting provider. This includes us taking a meticulous look at elements that make a top-quality web host, such as features, ease of use, speed, uptime, price, trustworthiness, and more.

What we look out for

Our reviewers test each service by signing up and purchasing a plan to check out what each web hosting provider offers new users, as well as how easy it is to navigate around each brand’s dashboard. We pay a great deal of attention to the support that is offered to you.

We weigh up the details of what you get, (as well as what you don't) and rank each web hosting provider based on the quality of its features that many customers will use, and how clear the web hosting company is on what the customer is getting in every product.

Pros and cons of a free hosting provider

There are way more cons than pros for free website hosting. The main (and only) pro is that it’s free, you really don’t pay a dime for it. This might be an okay choice for just trying out yourself in creating a website but you are almost always better off just paying for a good hosting provider, and there are some cheap ones too.

As you can imagine, there are quite a few cons to free website hosting. Performance is vastly inferior to paid hosting, security is questionable, don’t expect too much from customer support (if there’s any), and more often than not, you’re on your own if there’s some trouble with the website. All in all, if you can, stay away from free website hosting and pick a good cheap hosting provider.

Read more about how we test web hosting providers

Exclusive free Hostinger deal

Wouldn't it be great if you could try the features of the top web hosts - but for free? Free domain name, 24x7 live chat support, regular backup, unmetered bandwidth, fast storage, guaranteed hardware resources, and free migration.

What if you had 12 months to run with your ideas and find your audience online? What if you're not ready to commit to a paid plan and are just interested in learning the ropes and experiencing what it feels like to create and manage a website? We’ve got the perfect solution for you: Hostinger has partnered with TechRadar to offer readers an exclusive deal: a proper shared hosting service (Premium Shared) for free via a cashback arrangement.

Terms and conditions for free web hosting offer

Our preferred partner is Hostinger

1. Purchase the single shared hosting package ($2.59/£2.59 per month for 12 months) from our preferred partner and apply to receive a free Amazon voucher worth £31.08 or a voucher from one our partners worth $31.08 (list here). You may purchase a longer subscription but you will receive the same voucher value as stated above. You MUST use this affiliated link and remain a subscriber for 60 days before you will become eligible to apply for the free voucher.

2. Submit your transaction ID to TechRadar by emailing desire.athow@futurenet.com by July 31st, 2026. Your proof of purchase will include the invoice or order number and the email address that you used to purchase the package. We will verify your purchase with our preferred partner. We reserve the right to withhold the voucher if we are unable to verify your purchase. Our decision is final as to whether or not your purchase is eligible.

3. Please note that it may take up to 15 working days for your purchase to be verified and the voucher to be issued (and in any case will be issued no earlier than 60 days from the date you subscribe). For eligible purchases, the voucher will be an e-voucher sent to the email address you provided us with your submission.

4. The voucher will be issued either in US dollars or Pound Sterling depending on your location. Your voucher can only be redeemed at Amazon.com or through our partners. It is non transferable and cannot be returned or exchanged for cash or other consideration. Your details will only be used to verify the validity of your purchase and not for any other purpose.

5. TechRadar is owned by Future Publishing Ltd (“Future”) of Quay House, the Ambury, Bath, BA1 1UA. Future will deliver the voucher for eligible purchases in accordance with these terms.

6. Future Publishing Ltd reserves the right to change the conditions of the offer at any time including offering a voucher of a comparable value and reducing the value of the voucher offered, should our preferred partner reduce the value of its hosting package.

Hostinger

What you need to know

Hostinger is not necessarily a free web hosting provider but with a year's free subscription it still deserves to be in our list. If you're sure you're not going to make the most of Hostinger's premium features after the first year then read on to our best free web hosting picks but if you want to try a premium web host for free, then this is for you.

Plans and pricing:

TechRadar Pro has partnered with Hostinger to offer a full refund on its Premium shared hosting package. Just pay for your hosting, send us the email you used to buy the hosting package and the invoice number and we will send you an Amazon voucher to cover your costs in USD or GBP only (worth £31.08/$31.08). Other terms and conditions apply.

Speed and performance:

Our test site was hosted on Hostinger's most basic shared hosting plan, but still managed a solid 100% uptime record over 10 weeks of monitoring. Uptime.com recorded a response time range of 171ms to 1.73s, with an average of 382ms, over the last seven days of testing. Starter shared hosting plans typically manage 200-400ms with an average peak of 700-800ms.

But it scored an LCP of 0.607 seconds, the second fastest result in our last 15 tests, just behind HostGator. Most providers have an LCP in the 0.60 to 0.80 area - but it suggests Hostinger isn't cutting corners to hit its low shared hosting prices.

Ease of use:

Hostinger doesn't offer cPanel to its shared hosting users, opting to use its custom hPanel platform, instead. Custom control panels make us wary, probably because most of them are underpowered in the extreme, but hPanel is a rare exception.

Support:

Unusually for a top hosting provider, Hostinger doesn't have telephone support. There's 24/7 live chat, though, and email or ticket support if you prefer.

We opened a ticket asking how we could install WordPress on a subdomain. That's not a complicated technical issue, but it's more involved than a simple product question, and gave us a better chance of getting an interesting response.

The reply arrived only 17 minutes later, just about as speedy as we could expect for ticket support. (Who needs live chat, anyway?)

Read our full Hostinger review

If you’ve ever been looking for a web hosting provider you’ve probably been bombarded with ads promising a 99.9% or 99.99% web hosting uptime guarantee or perhaps even a bold 100% one, yes?

Well, if you’re not sure what to make of them, you’re at the right place. We're going to dive deep into the subject of uptime guarantees — what they are, what they really mean, and why you should bother finding this out.

However, before we go any further, let’s clear up what is uptime as well as its flip side –— downtime. Uptime is measured as a percentage of time a service (web hosting in our case) is available. So, for instance, if a web hosting service is available 99.9% of the time, your website will be up and running for that amount of time.

On the other side, downtime is the amount of time a site is unavailable — whether due to scheduled maintenance, cyber-attacks, hardware or software breaking down, server overload, or other unexpected events.

Whichever the case is, you’ll want to maximize the uptime and minimize the downtime of your site, so your customers can reach it at any hour of the day or night.

So, while choosing the web hosting provider for your site, keep an eye out for uptime guarantees.

What is an uptime guarantee? 

An uptime guarantee of “three nines” or 99.9% is currently considered to be an industry standard for web hosting services and it translates to less than 0.1% downtime in any given month - less than 45 minutes per month, roughly speaking.

So, if your site suffers more downtime than it’s specified in the guarantee, you should receive some sweet compensation – probably in the form of account credits or a partial refund.

These types of guarantees are often backed by Service Level Agreements (SLAs), so make sure to check them out before signing up for a service – and don’t forget about the small print.

How is uptime calculated?

To calculate your uptime score take the number of seconds that your monitor was down within a specific time frame (we mostly take a month or a year with long-term monitoring) and divide this by the number of seconds your monitor was being monitored throughout that time frame. This will get you the downtime percentage.

There are tons of tools out there that can help you translate these percentages into hours, minutes, and seconds, but for the sake of illustration, let’s say that 99% of uptime per month translates to 7-hours, 18 minutes and 17 seconds for that month – it’s a terrible score.

Likewise, 99.9% of uptime translates to 43 minutes and 49 seconds per month, while a highly-desirable 99.99% uptime would decode to 4 minutes and 22 seconds of downtime per month, which can be safely ignored.

So, as you can see, a difference between 99%, 99.9%, and 99.99% uptime can be crucial to your business's success.

What is a good uptime?

Every moment of downtime can affect your business, as website downtime can cost companies an average of $5,600 per minute.

Still, for most websites, especially those on shared hosting, a 99.9% or 99.99% uptime guarantee is sufficient. However, if you're running a business-critical website, you should aim for 99.999% or higher uptime to ensure maximum availability.

Looking at some popular web hosting providers, here's the uptime guarantee they each promiser:

• DreamHost: 99.95%
• Hostinger: 99.956%
• SiteGround: 99.999%
• Bluehost: 99.89%
• ScalaHosting: 100%

Factors influencing web hosting uptime

Web hosting uptime is a critical metric that directly impacts your website's success and visibility. While many hosting providers advertise impressive uptime guarantees of 99.9% or higher, the actual reliability of their service depends on numerous technical and infrastructural elements.

The complexity of modern web hosting infrastructure means that multiple components must work together seamlessly to maintain consistent uptime. When any single element fails, it can result in website downtime, affecting user experience, sales, and search engine rankings. Here are just a few factors that influence web hosting uptime.

• Hardware quality: The foundation of reliable hosting starts with robust server hardware, including high-quality processors, solid-state drives (SSD), and redundant power supplies. This extends to the data center infrastructure, encompassing redundant power systems, climate control, and multiple network connections. Load balancing systems and content delivery networks (CDNs) further enhance reliability by distributing traffic across multiple servers.
• Security infrastructure: A comprehensive security framework is essential for maintaining uptime, incorporating advanced DDoS protection, enterprise-grade firewalls, and real-time intrusion detection systems. Regular security audits, automated malware scanning, and prompt security patches help prevent security-related downtime incidents.
• Technical configuration: Server optimization plays a crucial role in maintaining uptime, including proper resource allocation, database optimization, and efficient caching systems. Regular maintenance schedules, proactive monitoring, and automated backup systems ensure potential issues are identified and resolved before they impact website availability.
• Network architecture: The quality and redundancy of network infrastructure significantly influence uptime. This includes multiple tier-1 network providers, redundant routing protocols, and sophisticated traffic management systems. Geographic distribution of servers and data centers provides additional reliability through redundancy.

100% uptime is rare

We’ve talked about “the nines,” but what about a 100% uptime guarantee? The truth is, it’s not just rare — it’s statistically impossible. No site can be guaranteed to stay up all the time, especially with unpredictable events like natural disasters, labor strikes, or pandemics.

Plus, did you know planned maintenance doesn’t usually count as downtime? If your hosting provider notifies you in advance about scheduled maintenance, that downtime typically isn’t eligible for compensation, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

So, if a web host promises 100% uptime, make sure to check their terms of service or ask their sales team what that guarantee really covers.

What happens if your web host cannot fulfill its uptime guarantee?

Choosing the wrong web hosting provider is a common cause of site downtime, especially with cheaper options that rely on off-shore servers. It’s no surprise that corners are often cut to keep costs low.

If your site is experiencing frequent downtime, a small account credit as an apology isn’t enough to make up for the losses.

Most hosting providers offer compensation like a percentage of your hosting fee, a free month of service, or even a full refund. While this may sound fair, it often falls short — especially if you’re running a growing ecommerce platform where even a few minutes of daily downtime can cost thousands in lost sales.

Downtime hurts your business. If your current provider can’t deliver reliable service, it’s time to find one that can.

Read the fine prints on uptime rates

If everyone took the time to read the fine print on uptime guarantees before signing up for web hosting, there would be far fewer frustrated customers.

For example, a 99.9% uptime guarantee doesn’t mean your site will always be up 99.9% of the time. It simply means you might be compensated if it’s not.

And remember those exclusions we mentioned? Certain situations don’t count toward the uptime guarantee, so it’s important to review these carefully before committing to a service.

Even if your outage qualifies for compensation, you usually don’t get to decide how it's handled. When you do, the compensation is often minimal—around $0.50 for many entry-level shared hosting plans.

On top of that, hosting companies rarely offer cash refunds. Instead, they’ll credit your account with a small amount—usually not enough to cover even a month of hosting.

Why does your website’s uptime matter?

The more downtime an ecommerce website suffers, the more sales will come to a halt, which will result in a loss of revenue.

It doesn’t matter how beautiful your website design is, if it goes down far too often or takes too much time to load, it’s all for nothing — a customer's trust and loyalty will take a critical hit.

Also, if your site remains down for a devastating amount of time, search engines will find it difficult to crawl your web pages. You’ll fail a search engine optimization (SEO) test, too.

If all this wasn’t already enough, too much downtime could indicate serious security issues such as out-of-date software, server vulnerabilities, and a lack of security measures overall. So, if your site is constantly going down, it’s high time to take a look at your web hosting provider’s security protocols.

How to find a hosting provider with good uptime

While uptime guarantees are important indicators, they shouldn't be the only factor in your decision-making process. Many providers advertise 99.9% uptime guarantees, but the real measure of reliability goes beyond these marketing promises.

To make an informed decision, you need to evaluate multiple aspects of a hosting provider's service quality and infrastructure. A comprehensive assessment will give you a better indication of their actual ability to maintain consistent uptime. Look for key indicators like:

• Transparent uptime reporting and historical performance data
• Multiple data center locations with geographic redundancy
• Comprehensive security measures including SSL certificates and regular backups
• 24/7 technical support with multiple contact channels
• Clear compensation policies for downtime incidents
• Modern server technology including SSD storage and current-generation processors
• Proactive server monitoring and maintenance protocols
• Scalable infrastructure that can handle traffic spikes
• Strong customer reviews focusing specifically on reliability
• Clear terms of service regarding resource usage and limitations

Downtime is inevitable, so it's better to be safe

While with all web hosting providers you’re doomed to suffer some level of downtime, you’ll be safer if you go with the one who offers 99.9% of uptime at the least and backs it up with an SLA — suitable small letters included.

Also, instead of focusing all your attention on a good-looking uptime guarantee, it’s smarter to look at ratings and reviews (both professional and customer ones) before choosing the right web hosting provider for your site.

• Check out our list of the best website builder services on the market

The best small business web hosting providers help free you from technical hassles so you can focus on your customers and grow your business. Every small business needs a website and most have higher requirements than lower-end hosting plans.

You might be able to get away with the best cheap web hosting but should you risk it and do you want to be spending the big bucks on the best cloud hosting? This is where small business web hosting comes in. Enough resources to keep your web visitors happy but without the big price tag.

These hosts also feature in my best web hosting guide where you can find more details should you want to know more or you can visit the individual reviews.

The best small business web hosting of 2025

Best small businesses web hosting overall

We've recommended Siteground for small businesses because of their value for money, features, and strong reputation. Plus, their plans can be navigated without being the most tech-savvy. The main reason we recommend SiteGround is for their cloud architecture. It allows you to scale easily to meet demands without downtime or disruption to your customers.

For the first 12 months you get 100,000 monthly visits, unmetered traffic, 20 GB storage, managed WordPress, a CDN, and email for $4.99 a month. The plan later renews at $29.99/mo but that is still good value compared to other providers that offer managed hosting.

Siteground's customer support is a strong selling point. The majority of queries get solved at first contact and their team is very highly trained to help you with the majority of issues. If you're already with another host Siteground currently offer free domain and site transfer with all plans.

Read our Siteground review for more information and test results

Best value small business hosting

Hostinger is just over 20 years old and has over 3 million hosting customers. Their shared plans are great for beginners but also pack the power needed for more demanding sites. Small business owners will benefits from the ease of use and the extra oomph for their website.

The Business plan starts at $4.49/mo for the first 4 years. Then, it renews for four years at $8.99/mo. The standard monthly price is $13.99. This plan supports 50 websites and provides a free domain worth $9.99 for the first year and 100 mail boxes.

You also get managed hosting for WordPress, free SSL, daily backups, and a free CDN. For time saving there are AI tools for most things including building and managing sites and troubleshooting.

Help is available 24/7 though an AI chat bot and by submitting tickets. Support is available in 10 languages and the response time is typically under two minutes.

hPanel, Hostinger's in-house control panel, is easy to use and is very intuitive. Hostinger have managed to pack a lot of website management features and tools in one place. All of this for $8.99/mo for four years is extremely good value.

Read our Hostinger review for more information and test results

Best small business hosting for beginners

Shared hosting can be slower and less reliable than VPS and dedicated plans, but it might still be an option for smaller websites, and the best plans cover all the core business needs.

DreamHost's shared hosting plan scores well on the fundamentals. There are no limits on bandwidth, emails or MySQL databases. Your site is secured by a free Let's Encrypt SSL certificate, and preinstalled WordPress allows you to get a quality site up and running in an afternoon.

Handy extras include the ability to host unlimited domains from a single account. And in a nice touch, DreamHost doesn't just offer a free domain name with each shared hosting plan (except the monthly plan): there's free privacy protection, too. If you've registered a domain without that, and been inundated with emails and phone calls from ‘website designers’ and assorted scammers, you'll know how valuable that can be.

It's a strong all-round package, but if you need more, DreamHost also offers everything from managed WordPress and WooCommerce, to VPS, dedicated and cloud hosting plans.

VPS Business plan is especially suited for small businesses as it was built for them according to DreamHost. You get unlimited everything except for storage (60GB). Since it's a VPS, you'll use your own server resources for unhindered performance and if the need arises, you can easily scale up the RAM.

Billing is flexible. You can sign up for monthly billing, or alternatively choose the three-year plan for the best discounts.

Read our DreamHost review for more information and test results

Best for ecommerce

ScalaHosting's has won 15 different awards for their VPS hosting in 2024 and their plans come with a range of features that make them perfect for businesses. All VPS plans come with free SSL certificates, SShield security, caching, remote daily backups, blacklist monitoring, and a dedicated IP address.

One of the best things about ScalaHosting is that they're cloud-based. If your website or web application demands increase significantly, you're able to scale your resources with zero downtime, and redundancy ensures that issues related to a server wont impact your business.

For VPS options ScalaHosting is slightly above average pricing wise but the support and features you receive make it well worth it. ScalaHosting is one of of top choices for small businesses because of the flexibility of the plans, uptime, backups, and range of features. Compared with unmanaged hosting the price gap is quite large but if you consider the extra management you receive it can work out cheaper.

ScalaHosting also offer an anytime money back guarantee on their 36 month plans but it's unlikely you'll ever use it because ScalaHosting's churn rate is a minimal 2%. That's a great testament to how satisfied ScalaHosting customers are.

Read our full ScalaHosting review

Best for managed hosting

WordPress is the world’s favorite website builder, and it’s easy to see why: newbies can learn the basics in an evening, yet WordPress is so crammed with features that it can also handle the largest and most demanding of sites.

If your web needs are simple, you can install and try WordPress on almost all hosting plans (even the really, really cheap ones.) But if you’re running a business site where speed, reliability and support are critical, then WP Engine is one of the best WordPress hosting providers.

While WordPress is just a small fraction of the typical web host’s product range, for instance, WP Engine sells nothing else. The company is focused entirely on building its own technologies to optimize WordPress and its speed, security and support.

The results are impressive. WP Engine doesn’t just try to accelerate your site by pre-installing standard WordPress plugins, for instance; the company has developed its own custom EverCache technology to maximize WordPress speeds.

There’s more performance-related help in a custom speed test which checks your page size, load time, how long it takes to display, and even keeps a history over time. Sounds simple, but we found this really helped identify which changes improved load times, and which slowed us down.

In another smart and very unusual touch, WP Engine restricts users from installing WordPress plugins which might introduce performance or security issues. We’ve not seen anything like that level of expertise from general web hosts, who (for the most part) will happily let you install whatever problematic plugins you like.

WP Engine support (via live chat and phone for some plans) is outstanding. Most providers have a handful of old WordPress articles on the website, and agents with little WordPress knowledge. We’ve found the WP Engine support team can handle all kinds of complex WordPress queries, and the support site has more high quality guides and resources than we’d expect from a paid course.

All this power comes at a price. The Startup plan includes all the core features we’ve described here for a single site, with free SSL, a free CDN, daily backups and more, but it’s $15 a month on the annual plan, and that’s with a tiny 50GB monthly bandwidth. (WP Engine suggests that’s enough for 25,000 visits a month.)

You can upgrade to lift these limits, but prices stay high. The Growth plan supports 10 sites, and its 20GB monthly bandwidth allowance should cover 100,000 visits, but it’s a chunky $58 a month.

If you need a quality WordPress package but these figures would bust your budget, Bluehost offers three decent plans for under $10 a month over three years.

But if you need the WordPress hosting best, WP Engine would be our choice. It may have a premium price, but it’s also an outstanding premium service, and the lengthy 60-day money-back guarantee gives you plenty of time to see if WP Engine is the best WordPress host for you.

Read our full WP Engine review.

Best for WordPress-based small businesses

Every great web store needs fast, reliable, and secure web hosting, but that’s just the start. The very best ecommerce hosts have specialist WooCommerce plans, take the time to make ecommerce accessible to all levels of user, and have the expert-level support to help build your store, get it online, and keep the site running smoothly.

Bluehost supports web stores on all its products, but the WooCommerce plans outperform most of the competition.

One issue with many ecommerce hosts is they assume a lot of experience in both web design and running a web store. But Bluehost is very different. Every Bluehost ecommerce plan includes its WordPress-based website builder, an AI-powered tool which makes it very easy to create your initial store. Just answer a few questions on your site, its topic, purpose, your preferred colors, fonts and layouts, and Bluehost quickly generates a matching site.

Whatever store you create will benefit from quality hosting underneath. Our speed tests found Bluehost delivered well above average speeds, for example. And although we were a little disappointed to see that Bluehost doesn’t have an uptime guarantee, our test site has recorded a decent uptime of 99.93% over 337 days (that translates to only five hours 54 minutes down over almost a year.) That’s based on Bluehost’s most basic shared plan, too: the ecommerce plans should be better.

Bluehost’s support site doesn’t have much direct WooCommerce help. There’s some excellent background material, though, including a complete WordPress training course (free to non-customers, too), and plenty of general advice on how to build a web store.

If you need specific help on something, we’ve found Bluehost’s phone and live chat support to be responsive, knowledgeable, and willing to spend a very long time to help you solve your problem.

Bluehost’s great signup deals mean its small business plans start very cheap. The Basic plan is only $11.95 a month ($1.99 for the first year), eCommerce Essentials is $6.99 ($18.99 after the first year), and eCommerce Premium is $7.45 ($21.99 for the first year).

Read our full Bluehost review.

Best cheap small business web hosting

Namecheap has some of the cheapest hosting plans available. The shared hosting plans start at $1.98 a month and renew at $4.48 a month. The plans are good value for money at this price but they are lacking in features.

Although lacking in features you still get cPanel and Softaculous to help with server management which is incredibly good value considering how much cPanel licensees cost now.

The features you do get are free domain for the first year, a free website builder, unlimited bandwidth and twice-weekly backups.

Our testing showed 100% uptime and and more than reasonable response times for the cost the plans. If you do need more power Namecheap also offer VPS and dedicated hosting packages so you can scale your site should you need to but I would suggest looking at other options if you have a larger budget.

These plans are good for the lower end of small business hosting but if you're increasing your budget past $10 a month then Hostinger would be better value.

Read our full Namecheap review

Best cloud hosting for small business

Liquid Web's starter cloud VPS product is $5 a month. There are no discounts and you'll need to pay tax on top of that too. This is a very bare-bones product with 1 GB RAM and 1vCPU. It doesn't include a panel or management.

There are three levels of management. Unmanaged is free, Core-Managed is an extra $21 a month, and Fully-Managed is an extra $39 a month. Core-Managed gives you help with installation and support for core software packages while Fully-Managed also provides virus and spam protection together with control panel support.

Liquid Web is not cheap. After support and hosting panels have been added on even the cheapest $5 a month server can be as much as $90 a month. Add those features to the next level cloud VPS with 24 GB RAM and you'll be looking at spending over $200 a month.

Some hosts have cheaper VPS plans, but that's often because specifications have been trimmed to the bare minimum. Liquid Web takes a more honest approach, with even the most basic plans including items that are often chargeable extras elsewhere. For example, that $59 gets you built-in backups, Gigabit transfers, unlimited sites, a dedicated IP address, CloudFlare CDN, DDoS protection, antivirus, antispam, cPanel/WHM or Plesk Onyx, and more.

All VPS plans are highly configurable, with Linux options including CentOS 6, CentOS 7, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04 and Debian 8, and high-level plans support Windows Server 2012 and 2016.

Factor in the 100% uptime guarantee and generous service level agreements and Liquid Web has a lot of business hosting appeal.

Read our Liquid Web review

How we test the best small business web hosting services

Similar to how we test web hosting and website builder services, we dig through those services to find out which ones best suit small businesses.

This is done by identifying what a small business needs from a web hosting solution - anything from 24/7 customer support to custom shared hosting plans depending on the size of your small business.

We also test how reliable these services are and whether it's easy to use for beginners.

Lastly, budget is everything. If you're a small business that is looking to expand online, we are aware that you may not want to fork out a tone of money monthly to keep your site up and running. We choose web hosting solutions that give you more for your money.

What makes a host good for small businesses?

I would say, ease of use, value, and flexibility. You want to be able to implement business strategies quickly without fuss and also possibly have expert support and management to free up your time to focus on those business strategies. Value is of course a point to consider, as it is for everyone, but more so with small businesses. For flexibility, being able to upscale your resources for sales promotions or unexpected traffic peaks is essential to meet customer needs and not lose out on revenue.

The best cheap web hosting means something different for everyone. Some are looking for a great deal on the best web hosting. Others are looking for the cheapest web hosting that stays cheap for the whole the subscription.

What is cheap for SMEs, beginners, and blogs is entirely different so these top hosting picks cater for all.

Best deal

Best cheap forever

Best cheap for business

Best cheap web hosting overall

Namecheap has three cheap shared hosting plans. Stellar, Stellar Plus, and Stellar Business. These three subscriptions are all unmanaged shared hosting plans. While the plans are unmanaged, you don't need to be a hosting expert to use them. That's because each plan uses cPanel (an easy to use interface between you and the server) and provides one click installers for WordPress and anything else that you might need to get started. Very simple to use and very cheap.

The Stellar plan is $4.88 a month as standard and for the first year is only $1.98/mo. Compare that to Hostinger, which is still great value, and you're saving over 50%. The catch is that the Hostinger plans are roughly 70-80% more powerful.

There are more powerful managed hosting plans from Namecheap and these are the EasyWP plans. These are also cheap with the cheapest being $9.99 a month and the most expensive Supersonic plan being $26.88 a month. When we tested the cheapest EasyWP plan it was around 40% more powerful than the Stellar plan but still didn't quite match the power of Hostinger for a plan only a few dollars more expensive.

Overall, if what you're looking for is cheap hosting then Namecheap is the best option in my opinion. It might not have the best website builder , cPanel might be a bit outdated, and performance might not be the best but for simple sites I don't think there is much better.

Read the full Namecheap review

Best cheap web hosting for value

As mentioned above, compared with the cheapest hosting, Hostinger is twice as expensive at $12.19/mo (with the first 48 months costing $2.49 a month) but performance is 70-80% better. For this reason I think Hostinger is one of the top cheap hosting providers when it comes to value for money.

Hostinger is also super easy to use. Some of the WordPress templates can be a bit difficult to get your head around but the AI Agent for WordPress tool can help a lot. This tool is only available from the Business plan onwards which is $14/mo ($3.29/mo for the first 48 months) which is more pricey but I think it's worth it for people that might need a helping hand. After the website it built, you can always down-grade at the end of the plan.

Bottom line is, the price for this host is on par with most hosts of this calibre but you get better performance, better AI tools for building and managing, and long 48-month discounts which make this one of the top web hosts for value.

Read the full Hostinger review

Best for small business

For this recommendation we're venturing outside of what some might consider cheap but remember this is for a small business. SiteGround's GoGeek plan is $44.99/mo after renewal (only $7.99 for the first 12 months) but it supports up to 400K monthly visitors. This is incredibly good value. In comparison WP Engine's plan that supports 400k monthly visits is $194/mo. Now, I'm not saying you should stick a site with 400K monthly visits on shared hosting but if you're going upwards of 100K monthly visits this should be a consideration.

SiteGround is ideal for someone who is looking to start a small business or is ready to upgrade their hosting. When it comes to managed hosting, this platform goes a step ahead and delivers hassle-free website management through its ultrafast managed WordPress hosting. With SiteGround, you get expert server management, including setup, maintenance, and security configurations. Plus, it also offers automatic updates for server software, including the operating system, web server software, PHP, and MySQL, ensuring that websites run on the latest, most secure, and fastest server configurations without manual intervention.

Yes, it's not really considered 'cheap' if you pit it against Namecheap but lets put it in perspective. Compared with the cheapest web hosting SiteGround offers around eight times the performance when it comes to load testing at basic levels. Namecheap wouldn't be able to keep up if we stressed it to the same levels as SiteGround.

Compared with WP Engine, SiteGround is 74% less expensive. We don't know how much better WP Engine is because they throttled our tests.

Other mentions

WordPress

Fully managed VPS hosting

Cheap web hosting FAQs

What is the cheapest web hosting?

The answer to this really depends on what you're hosting and your goals. You can get the best free web hosting but it'll never really be any good. If you're tech savvy you can get free static hosting at Kinsta, Google App Engine has a free tier, and there are other options too.

For non-web-pros the these options are the best cheap hosting choices.

Why are these hosts the same ones you usually recommend?

The web hosting space is really competitive. All hosts are trying to out compete each other on the lowest price with the best performance and most features.

These hosts are cheap anyway. Especially considering the discounted price. If you want something cheap forever then you can use Namecheap but as mentioned earlier, you will be sacrificing on performance.

Can you use free web hosting?

Yes. You can also sail across the Atlantic Ocean in a 1.5m boat but why would you want to?

Websites are important and site performance is important. If you want a website you should do it properly and make the most of all tools available to you.

How to save money on web hosting?

My advice is to get the longest introductory price you can with the most features. You might not use all of them, you might use more than expected.

Once your introductory period is over, migrate to another host on another introductory price. Repeat until you settle on a host that you like.

Can you run a website without hosting?

No. This is like asking if you can click your fingers without a hand.

Web hosting is what makes your website accessible on the internet. Without it your website is just files on a computer somewhere.

Website builders will include hosting in their plans so you never need to think about it but they're more expensive. Purchasing your own web hosting and then putting a website on it is the cheapest way to own a website.

How we tested the best cheap web hosting services

With the best cheap web hosts, our top consideration is the value for money they offer. It's worth noting that we don't always consider the lowest price tag to be the best cheap web host, given how different each provider's cheapest package can be. This is why we put all the top providers side by side and compare their features along with their pricing.

Next, we test the reliability of these services with the help of various tools. While we're at it, we also form an opinion on how easy to use a provider is, and whether it's something we'd recommend to beginners.

Customer support is also an important criteria. In addition to the availability of support agents (24/7 or 24/5), we also look at the channels available (email, phone, and live chat).

Check out how we test web hosting providers for more information.

We list the best managed web hosting, to make it simple and easy to establish and monitor your server with expert security and an improvement to performance, without needing to handle the technicalities.

When you're growing your business the last thing you want to be doing is managing hosting. Making server optimizations, updating plugins, and reacting to new security threats all takes time. That's why it can be best to opt for managed hosting. Most of the best web hosting providers offer managed hosting but these are the ones we think are best.

The best managed web hosting services of 2025 in full:

Best managed web hosting overall

ScalaHosting has established itself as a top choice for managed web hosting by offering a strong mix of innovation, performance, and affordability. Their managed VPS solutions deliver 99.99% uptime and enterprise-level features at budget-friendly prices.

A key advantage of using ScalaHosting is their proprietary SPanel control panel. This user-friendly alternative to cPanel allows easy management of tasks like setting PHP versions and handling SSL certificates, all through a simple interface. Their security features are also impressive, with SShield protection blocking 99.998% of threats, along with malware scanning, DDoS protection, and automated backups.

What sets ScalaHosting apart is their focus on ease of use. They prioritize making high-quality VPS hosting accessible to businesses of all sizes. Their entry-level plans start with 2GB RAM, 50GB NVMe SSD storage, and unmetered bandwidth, delivering plenty of resources for growing websites. Their support team is available 24/7, with response times under 30 seconds for live chat and 15 minutes for tickets.

In terms of performance, ScalaHosting uses SSD storage and LiteSpeed web servers for fast speeds, with average server response times of 608ms in the US. Flexible scaling options let businesses adjust resources as needed, and features like free SSL certificates, daily backups, and a CDN show their commitment to offering complete hosting solutions.

While their pricing is higher than basic shared hosting, ScalaHosting's managed VPS plans provide excellent value through dedicated resources, advanced management tools, and reliable support.

Read our ScalaHosting review.

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Best managed web hosting for configuration

LiquidWeb stands out as one of the most flexible managed hosting providers, offering unmatched customization alongside reliable enterprise-level support and infrastructure. It starts with your choice of control panel—cPanel, Plesk, or InterWorx—so you can work with the interface you know best.

This flexibility extends to server architecture. Whether you need VPS, dedicated, cloud, or hybrid servers, LiquidWeb lets you customize each option extensively. You can select specific CPU cores, RAM configurations, storage options, and operating systems. For developers who require more control, full root access is available without losing the benefits of managed hosting, combining freedom with expert support.

LiquidWeb also excels in technology stack customization. Users can configure advanced server tools like Redis, Memcached, and custom PHP optimizations. The platform supports multiple programming languages such as JavaScript, Java, PHP, Ruby, Python, and Perl, and integrates seamlessly with popular CMS platforms. It’s also capable of handling complex setups like clustered environments and unique architectural designs.

Their management layer ensures that security and performance remain top-notch, offering proactive monitoring, automatic updates, and advanced security features. Yet, users have the option to override these automated systems when needed. The platform is highly scalable, allowing real-time resource adjustments and custom load balancing.

Even with all this customization, LiquidWeb delivers on its promise of fully managed hosting. Their 24/7 expert support team is always available to help with complex configurations and troubleshooting, ensuring that customized setups are stable, secure, and optimized.

Read our Liquid Web review.

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Best managed web hosting for WordPress

Most web hosts provide a basic level of WordPress setup support – a one-click installer, maybe advice on migrating your current site – but after that, you're typically left to fend for yourself.

WP Engine offers a far more comprehensive managed WordPress service that can help you with setup, updates, security, performance optimization, troubleshooting and a whole lot more.

Much of this is invisible to the end user, as a good managed service should be. There is no need to worry about WordPress updates, for instance – WP Engine handles these for you. Not blindly, simply when they're released, like many other hosts: the company tests them carefully first, to make sure they don't cause problems.

WP Engine's abilities become more apparent when you check out its customer support. The website knowledgebase is so crammed with detailed articles and in-depth webinars that it feels like a professional training course, and an expert support team is available via live chat, 24/7, to help you quickly solve any problems.

The powerful WP Engine platform adds many useful extras. A Staging area allows you to work on a copy of your site, which is perfect for testing new themes, plugins or anything else, without affecting the production site. Another major strength comes in the form of integrated performance tests allowing you to benchmark your website, offering up useful speedup tips.

As you might guess, these features and this level of power isn't cheap. Even the most basic WP Engine plan costs $27 a month ($22.5 a month for the annual plan), more than three times the price of the budget competition. But if you're looking for an optimized environment with quality tools and excellent support, this could be a price worth paying.

Read our WP Engine review.

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Best affordable managed web hosting

Namecheap is among some of the cheapest web hosting providers on the market, offering affordable managed WordPress web hosting services. Its EasyWP plan comes with one WordPress website, easy backups and restores, all from an easy to use dashboard. We were able to keep an eye on our WordPress website with ease.

Namecheap promises 99.9% uptime (and even 100% on some dedicated plans) which high-traffic sites will appreciate more than anything. Its managed hosting also comes with SFTP and database access.

A smart choice for WordPress newbies, Namecheap's EasyWP plan add more resources and are specially optimized to deliver better WordPress speeds. Namecheapeven claims that they're at least three times faster than regular WordPress on its shared hosting account.

EasyWP Starter has 10GB storage, a free CDN (Content Delivery Network) to boost performance, and supports a single site with up to 50K visitors a month. It looks cheap at $2.08 a month on the annual plan, $2.91 on renewal, but there's no SSL, which adds at least $0.50 a month with Namecheap's most basic certificate.

The other EasyWP plans include SSL for the lifetime of the plan (not just the first year), and add more storage and resources. The top-of-the-range EasyWP Supersonic plan can manage a mammoth 500K visitors a month, but it's still good value at $4.57 a month on the annual plan, $9.07 on renewal. There's also the option for a free trial which us useful for those still shopping around for the best managed web hosting for individual needs.

Read our Namecheap review.

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Best managed web hosting customization

While all managed hosting providers take on basic website maintenance tasks – monitoring, installing patches – InMotion Hosting can go further, working with high-powered web technologies to set up a custom solution which matches your needs.

This starts in a simple way, with InMotion Hosting's 'Launch Assist'. Included free with VPS, Reseller and Dedicated hosting plans, this gives you two to four hours to have the Managed Hosting Team do whatever you need: migrate websites, install and optimize software, configure security, automate key tasks and just about anything else you might want to do.

Day-to-day management tasks cover all the basics, including regular monitoring of your website and automatic updating of your software. InMotion still delivers more than you might expect, though, for example with a KernelCare feature which allows more updates without rebooting, avoiding costly downtime.

What's even more interesting is InMotion Hosting's ability to customize your site. How well this goes will depend on what you need, but the InMotion website talks about setting up the ConfigServer firewall and OSSec's intrusion monitor, working with NGINX, tuning your Varnish caching, speeding up PHP and more.

The price for all this depends on your hosting plan, but it might be less than you were expecting. If you choose the entry-level managed plan, you'll pay $31.99 per month (on a 3-year contract).

Read our InMotion Hosting review.

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Best managed web hosting for ecommerce

SiteGround is a top choice for managed hosting, especially for ecommerce businesses, thanks to its powerful infrastructure and tailored optimizations. Built on Google Cloud, it offers excellent performance with an average response time of 457ms and 99.99% guaranteed uptime, keeping online stores fast and reliable.

SiteGround’s best feature for ecommerce is its specialized WooCommerce hosting. This includes WordPress, WooCommerce, and the Storefront theme pre-installed. Their SuperCacher technology, powered by NGINX, provides dynamic caching designed for ecommerce sites, improving load times and enhancing the customer experience.

Security is a priority with features like constant monitoring, a custom Web Application Firewall (WAF), and daily automated backups. Integration with Cloudflare CDN ensures fast global page loads, while an AI-powered anti-bot system helps block malicious traffic.

The platform is scalable, supporting growth without technical barriers. Cloud hosting options include auto-scaling during traffic spikes, so your store stays operational during high-demand periods. A staging environment allows you to test updates safely before applying them to your live site.

SiteGround offers 24/7 customer support with teams trained to handle ecommerce-specific issues. Their knowledge base includes detailed guides for WooCommerce optimization and troubleshooting. While PCI compliance isn't included by default, SiteGround provides the security tools needed to help meet compliance when paired with compatible payment gateways.

Read our SiteGround review.

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Best managed web hosting FAQs