10 Best Cheap Web Hosting Providers (Tested in 2025)

Personally, I don’t like the word “cheap.” In my mind, it connects with images of low quality and poorly delivered services. That’s why, when testing and reviewing budget-friendly web hosting providers, I always look beyond the price to the quality of the service. I’ve found that in some cases, “cheap” can still mean a good bargain – quality web hosting doesn’t always cost a premium.

Such is the case with the 10 web hosting providers I’ve rounded up in this review. I’ve thoroughly tested each host, going beyond the low prices and looking at what each host actually offers. I paid close attention to their feature sets, renewal fees, and performance scores.

One web hosting provider that met all my hopes for a good quality, cheap host is Hostinger. It scored well in every criteria, from performance scores to wallet-friendly pricing. Read on to find out why Hostinger took first place, as well as for details on the other 9 top cheap web hosting providers.

What We Look for in the Best Cheap Web Hosting Providers

I mentioned that I went beyond pricing when judging inexpensive web hosting providers to include in my recommendations. Each of these 10 hosts earned its place on my list by how well it scored in the following five categories:

• Performance. I made data center locations, global reach, uptime reliability, and page loading speeds my first priority. Why? Because a low hosting price doesn’t do you much good if your site is slow or unavailable to your visitors.
• Features. My next concern was the features offered by each host. Many budget hosts skimp on features such as SSD storage, free domains, email accounts, caching tools, and so on. I made sure the hosts on this list give you everything you need on their cheapest plans.
• Security. From free SSL certificates to malware scanners, automatic daily backups to DDoS protection, the safety of your site is one of my top concerns, too. The internet can be a dangerous place, and having a hosting provider that has your back is vital.
• Ease of Use. A site can perform excellently, have great features, and be as secure as a vault, but if you can’t set it up and manage it easily, why bother? I considered everything from the type of control panel available to support systems, for those times when you need a bit of help.
• WordPress optimizations. Since WordPress is one of the most popular website building platforms, it would be foolish to ignore its importance when judging web hosting providers. Therefore, I looked at how well each host provides for WordPress users.

1. Hostinger: Cheap, Fast Hosting With Premium Features

Hostinger charges just $2.99 for its entry-level Premium plan. Despite the low price, you’ll get great features that you’d pay way more for with other hosts, like LiteSpeed web servers and the LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress (LSCWP) plugin. This plugin provides faster loading speeds and better site performance through its caching capabilities. So, your site’s performance won’t suffer even if your budget doesn’t stretch far.

You get 25 GB of SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, and one mailbox on the Premium plan, more than enough to host a personal blog or portfolio. As your needs grow, the next tier offers 50 GB NVMe SSD with the same unlimited bandwidth – not only is this double the storage, but it’s even faster than regular SSD. Not something you usually see with a budget host.

Hostinger consistently scores excellently during our yearly testing and reviews. The one area where Hostinger falters is in its customer support service. It doesn’t provide telephone support, and chat and ticket response times can be slow. That said, Hostinger does provide a massive knowledge base, and its comprehensive guides are accompanied by screenshots showing you exactly where to find the settings you need.

Features

• Superb performance. I measured 0.7-second average load times and 100% uptime over one month of testing. You and your visitors will benefit from global data centers tuned for top-notch speed.
• Enhanced security. You get an SSL certificate, a malware scanner, DDoS protection, a firewall, and domain privacy, all for free. These security features are easily controlled via Hostinger’s proprietary control panel, hPanel.
• AI tools. Hostinger’s slightly more expensive Business plan offers various AI-powered tools, including a website builder, image creator, content writer, and a blog post generator. Some of these tools can be indispensable to a new site owner, so I’d say it’s definitely worth considering paying a little extra.
• Managed WordPress. If you’d like to use WordPress, Hostinger will keep it updated for you and also provide a theme and plugin compatibility checker. You can focus on your site while Hostinger helps keep everything running smoothly in the background.

For more details, check out our in-depth review of Hostinger.

2. IONOS: Generous Resources at a Budget

IONOS offers generous resources on its entry-level plan – 100 GB SSD storage and unmetered bandwidth is really impressive for a budget host. Plus, it had excellent performance in my tests, delivering page loading speeds under 1 second and 100% uptime.

Surprisingly, you’ll get daily backups across all plans – a lot of cheap web hosts only offer weekly backups, if any. Plus, it’s really easy to recover your site from these backups. IONOS stores each backup for up to six days, and you can restore your site with a click using the recovery tool.

Plans start at $1.00 for the first term. This is great value, but you pay higher fees upon renewal, up to 50% more. Compared to some other hosting providers, however, those higher fees could still be considered budget-friendly.

Features

• Personalized support. You work with a personal consultant who serves as your single point of contact. They’ll get to know your business and goals, so that they can give you custom guidance via phone or chat.
• CDN integration. Activate Cloudflare CDN from the control panel to cache static content, improving global performance. Simply click Activate CDN, select subdomains, and that’s it. You don’t need to be an expert to improve your site’s performance.
• Instant scalability. You can scale up your RAM on shared hosting as needed for a small fee. This keeps your performance smooth, even if your traffic spikes. You can scale back down whenever you wish, too.
• Deploy Now via GitHub. If you need somewhere to host a single-page project, IONOS offers free hosting for up to 3 projects with 50 MB available per deployment.

Read our expert IONOS review for more information.

3. SiteGround: Inexpensive Web Hosting With Strong Security

SiteGround’s dedication to offering serious site security helps it score high on this list. SiteGround has developed its own proprietary AI anti-bot system, along with a Web Application Firewall, to identify and block threats. You’ll also receive daily data backups, proactive monitoring, free SSLs, and site restoration assistance on all plans – not bad for a budget host.

Another of SiteGround’s in-house goodies is its Site Tools control panel. It presents a clean, well-organized interface, making it easier to navigate than cPanel. While cPanel is geared to your entire hosting account, Site Tools is laser-focused on site management. You can more easily manage multiple sites, as each site’s settings and resources are compartmentalized.

SiteGround is another budget-friendly host whose renewal fees are a lot higher than the initial term. Currently, you can start with its aptly named StartUp plan for $2.99 a month. SiteGround’s features and services are well worth the price, even after renewal.

Features

• SiteGround Website Builder. Use this AI-driven site builder to create a professional-looking site in minutes. It includes templates, a content generator, an image gallery, and built-in SEO functionality on all plans. If you’ve not got a website yet, then this could be a good, budget-friendly way to get one running.
• Proprietary WordPress Plugins. SiteGround’s developers have created two plugins, Speed Optimizer WP and Security Optimizer WP. The former supplies dynamic caching and other performance optimizations, while the latter includes malware, brute-force, and anti-bot protection. They’re both available on the cheapest plan.
• Fast, knowledgeable support. You’ll get good support through live chat, ticket, and phone. Response times are fast, and the help is efficient, thorough, and professional.
• Unlimited resources. All plans include unlimited bandwidth and email accounts. The GrowBig and GoGeek upper-tier plans also include unlimited websites.

See our expert SiteGround review for further details.

4. HostArmada: Cloud-Based Web Hosting on a Budget

All of HostArmada’s shared and WordPress hosting plans are cloud-based. This offers your site more reliable performance as it’s easier for the host to scale your resources as needed. My test site with HostArmada consistently loaded in the 1.1-second range and it achieved 99.98% uptime.

Another area where HostArmada includes everyone is its site security. With HostArmada, each plan includes a free SSL, daily backups, malware scanning and removal, and an AI-powered firewall. Where HostArmada’s plans differ is in the total resources available to you and backup retention. Entry-level Start Dock only stores backups for 7 days, while the top-tier Speed Reaper offers 21 days.

One thing I find disappointing in HostArmada’s otherwise high-quality budget hosting is that you have to purchase the Speed Reaper plan to receive the benefits of LiteSpeed servers. Start Dock and mid-tier Web Warp rely on NGINX server technology. NGINX is still fast, don’t get me wrong, but it definitely struggles to compete with LiteSpeed.

Features

• Great for WordPress users. HostArmada offers managed WordPress hosting for the same price as shared hosting. Each plan includes 1-click WordPress installs and a free site migration.
• Cache Commander. HostArmada offers a proprietary caching tool, Cache Commander. This tool gives you control over your static and dynamic caching, which is useful if you feel your site is being cached too aggressively or not enough.
• Excellent support. HostArmada’s support team is one of the best in the budget hosting business. I found the in-house support team was fast and friendly.
• Transparency. With HostArmada, everything is spelled out in plain, easy-to-understand language. Its website explicitly states resource limits and features and the renewal price isn’t hidden in the fine print. There are even pop-ups that further explain details of features on each type of hosting plan.

Our in-depth review of HostArmada includes more information.

5. GreenGeeks: Low-Cost, Planet-Friendly Hosting

GreenGeeks stands out for its eco-friendly hosting, which upholds a 300% renewable energy match. The host partners with an environmental organization that calculates its yearly energy consumption, and then sends 3 times as much energy from renewable sources back to the grid. It even pledges to plant a tree for each new hosting account.

Despite this, plans don’t have an excessively high cost. All plans include unlimited bandwidth, a free SSL, managed WordPress services with LiteSpeed caching, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. You’ll even get staging and Git support on the entry plan, so it’s a good, cheap option for developers.

The only thing I didn’t like is that GreenGeeks is a little stingy with resources. The Lite plan only covers 1 website with 25 GB of storage. Conversely, Hostinger’s Premium plan costs less, provides the same amount of storage, and supports 25 websites.

Features

• Solid performance. During my testing, my site had fully loaded page speeds between 1 and 1.8 seconds. While not exceptional, those results are quite acceptable for a bargain-priced hosting service. Uptime over 30 days was 100%, making GreenGeeks more reliable than some higher-priced hosting providers.
• Exceptional support. GreenGeeks support received the highest score that Website Planet can bestow. No matter which support channel I tried (live chat, phone, or email), all were quick to respond and thorough in their answers. Even the knowledge base offered plentiful, detailed articles.
• Adjustable spam detection. GreenGeeks offers an adjustable spam detector to help you find just the right amount of anti-spam security. That way, meaningful community comments won’t get flagged as spam on your blog, but you’ll still be kept safe from harmful content.
• Free WordPress site migrations. The GreenGeeks support experts will migrate your existing WordPress site to their servers for you. A lot of budget hosts only offer semi-automated transfers using a WordPress plugin, but GreenGeeks’ managed transfers ensure your site is fully functional once it’s in its new home.

Our expert GreenGeeks review has more details.

6. InMotion Hosting: Beginner-Friendly, Cheap Web Hosting

InMotion Hosting’s best feature is just how beginner-friendly it is. The Account Management Panel seems designed with new users in mind. There’s even a helpful category page in the knowledge base that explains all the different menus and options.

What really makes this host wallet-friendly is that it offers a 90-day money-back guarantee, plus a student discount. While a lot of the hosts I’ve covered provide 30 or 45 days, you can’t always see if any performance issues are a one-off or a trend. With 90 days to try the service, you can make sure InMotion Hosting delivers what it promises, and get your money back if it doesn’t.

That said, I do take issue with the lack of free backups on all plans. Of course, you can always manually back up your site, but it feels very cheap given that every host I’ve covered so far offers at least automatic weekly backups.

Features

• Cheap WordPress hosting. For around an extra dollar a month, you can get WordPress hosting that includes a free drag-and-drop builder. InMotion Hosting also supports PHP 8, which is the latest and most secure version of the language that the WordPress CMS runs on.
• Prioritized security. Every plan includes a free SSL, malware scanning and patching, a web application firewall, and DDoS protection.
• Strong performance scores. During testing, loading speeds for our test site averaged between 1.2 and 1.5 seconds. As with GreenGeeks, this is more than acceptable for a budget host. InMotion Hosting also served up a 100% uptime result.
• Good for agencies. InMotion Hosting offers several types of hosting that work for budget-conscious agencies, including managed dedicated servers, VPS hosting, and reseller hosting. Your business or agency can scale up as needed, allowing for uninterrupted service while growing.

Read our complete InMotion Hosting review for more information.

Other Notable Cheap Web Hosting Providers

7. InterServer

InterServer offers a free standard hosting plan for verified non-profits in the US. All you need to do is email support with some documentation that proves your 501C3 status with the IRS. Unfortunately, this is the downside too – in my experience, support isn’t all that helpful, and you should be prepared with follow-up questions if you need extra help getting set up.

The other thing I really love about InterServer is its Price Lock Guarantee. What your hosting plan costs you today is what it will cost for the lifetime of your account. A far cry from the industry’s habit of upping prices by several magnitudes upon renewal.

8. ScalaHosting

ScalaHosting’s budget-friendly hosting is great for those who don’t want to feel locked in to a multi-year hosting plan. Thanks to its anytime money-back guarantee, you can cancel and receive a refund at, well, any time. You’ll get a full refund if you cancel within the first 30 days, and a prorated refund covering any time remaining on your plan if you cancel later.

While customer support is quick to answer, my colleague couldn’t contact the team via phone. If you’ve got any technical questions, you’re better off submitting a ticket or email.

9. Namecheap

Namecheap offers both cheap domain and hosting solutions, which makes it a really convenient option if you manage multiple domains. Its shared hosting is very beginner-friendly and cheap, as long as your needs are fairly basic.

Unfortunately, this convenience is also a drawback. Its main focus is still on domain registration, and hosting seems to take a back seat. It hasn’t got the greatest server reliability or the best support. If you’re managing anything more than a personal or small business site, I’d have to recommend one of our other providers.

10. Kamatera

While I’ve focused on the shared hosting options available from our other inexpensive providers, Kamatera makes the list for its reasonably priced VPS hosting. If your site has outgrown the limits inherent to most shared hosting plans, Kamatera may be your ideal solution. Just be aware that its optional managed support is a fairly expensive add-on.

I really appreciate that Kamatera offers completely customizable VPS solutions at budget-friendly prices. You can choose from a variety of options: number of cores, RAM, operating system, data center location, amount of storage, bandwidth, and even daily backups. Kamatera allows you to set up just the server you need and can afford.

Which Cheap Web Hosting Provider is Right for You?

I’ve outlined 10 of the best budget-friendly web hosting providers in the industry for you. Whether you need ultra-cheap shared hosting, low-cost managed WordPress hosting, or even more technical VPS services, there’s something here for you.

If you’re looking for an excellent all-around shared hosting provider with great performance and features that won’t strain your wallet, you can’t go wrong with Hostinger. It provides plenty of built-in caching features that keep your site’s performance high and your monthly costs low.

If you need a lot of space for a big site, or you just want to ensure you can expand while remaining on a budget, you may want to check out IONOS. The basic plan includes plenty of SSD storage, and you can scale your RAM with just a click.

If you think stress-free site management is out of your price range, SiteGround might just change your mind. This host offers plenty of security features, easy-to-use tools, and managed WordPress services at inexpensive prices.

FAQ

Are cheap web hosting providers reliable?

All of the hosts on this list have uptime guarantees of 99.9% or higher, so yes, a cheap web hosting provider can be reliable. If you are ever in doubt as to your site’s online status, you can use our handy free “Site Down or Not” tool to check your URL.

Can I host a WordPress site on cheap hosting plans?

Most of our cheap hosting providers offer some level of managed or unmanaged WordPress hosting. You can usually host a WordPress site on any shared server via installation through the control panel. If you’re looking for WordPress-specific hosting, Hostinger offers low-cost managed WordPress plans.

Is free web hosting better than cheap hosting?

Usually not. The performance and features available with free web hosting are typically considerably lacking when compared to those offered by our cheap hosting providers. That said, InterServer offers free hosting for non-profits. While this host didn’t make our top 6, it still offers plenty of resources and great reliability.

What are the minimum features I should expect from a cheap hosting plan?

While testing, we judged each host on its performance, looking specifically for an uptime of 99.9% or more and loading speeds somewhere between 1 and 2 seconds. In addition, look for the minimum security features of a free SSL, malware and DDoS protection, and weekly backups. You should also make sure that your host is still easy to use and offers a good level of customer support.

Do cheap hosting providers have hidden fees?

The hosts on my list are transparent about their fee structures, but the thing to note is that the majority of hosting providers will put their prices up at renewal. All list this on the pricing page, but it’s often hidden in the small print. That’s why I liked HostArmada – the renewal price is displayed clearly.

Can cheap web hosts be developer-friendly?

Yes, they can be. IONOS is developer-friendly and offers features such as SSH access, support for a large range of PHP versions, and Git integration. It even offers a free DeployNow plan that lets you deploy 3 small projects from GitHub.