7 Best Linux Hosting Services (Fast & Secure) – Tested in 2024

If you want to take advantage of Linux and all the benefits it brings – better security, versatility, and your choice of scripts – picking the right web host is crucial. While Linux hosting is certainly popular, only a handful of hosts manage to offer a truly impressive platform that lets you enjoy the full functionality of Linux.

After all, Linux is open-source, flexible software. You don’t want a host that limits what your application or site can do. Additionally, Linux is free to license, unlike Windows. While some hosts use this as an opportunity to raise their profit margins, others offer feature-packed plans at budget prices.

To find out which Linux web hosting services are worth your money, I’ve tested dozens and focused on performance, features, reliability, and price. Only seven web hosts made the cut – with Hostinger coming out on top across all categories. Read on to see what other hosts met our rather exacting criteria.

What We Look For in the Best Linux Hosting Services

To place on my list, the web host needed to score exceptionally well in these areas:

• Performance and reliability. Great speeds and reliable uptime mean greater visitor retention. If your website is always slow or routinely unavailable, people are going to bounce off your site and never return. The hosts I’ve picked are both fast and reliable.
• Great value for your money. Quality hosting doesn’t need to be expensive. I’ve prioritized hosts with packed plans at affordable prices.
• Helpful and responsive support. Good support can be critical to your site’s success. That’s why I took a special interest in hosts with support services that go above and beyond.
• Strong security features. While Linux is quite secure, you’ll still be at risk without a strong security solution. The hosts below all take the security of your site seriously.
• Flexibility and access to developer tools. Linux is a great platform for experts and developers to build on open-source software. Hosts that provide plenty of developer tools earned some extra points.

1. Hostinger: Super-Cheap Linux Hosting With Great Performance and Reliability1

Hostinger’s Linux-based shared hosting plans are easily one of the cheapest options on this list. And if you commit to a 3-year plan, the monthly starts at just $2.99/month. Despite the low price, Hostinger manages to provide powerful hosting plans.

You’d think that a budget host would perform terribly, but that’s hardly the case for Hostinger. My colleague performed several in-depth speed tests and monitored uptime over the course of several months. Test results showed fantastic speeds and near-perfect uptime.

Hostinger doesn’t skimp on security features either – its servers are protected by BitNinja, which includes a firewall, malware scanning capability, and more. Hostinger also uses Cloudflare’s DNS firewall to mitigate any DDoS attacks.

Developers will be happy to see Git integration on the cheapest shared hosting plan, along with access to phpMyAdmin, Cronjobs, Curl, and the latest PHP versions. Unfortunately, SSH access isn’t available unless you upgrade to the Premium plan.

Features

• Linux-based VPS plans. If you need more resources than Hostinger’s shared hosting plans – but on a budget – you’re in luck. There are four affordable Linux-based VPS plans with generous discounted terms, and you can get up to 8 vCPU cores, 32 GB of RAM, and 400 GB of NVMe SSD storage.
• Proprietary control panel. You can choose a plan with cPanel, but I’d recommend using Hostinger’s own hPanel instead. I found it to be very user-friendly, and it has an auto-installer for over 100 apps and content management systems (CMSs).
• Optimized WordPress hosting. Hostinger’s WordPress hosting includes automatic installation of WordPress, along with automatic updates of its core software and plugins. It also comes with the powerful LiteSpeed Cache plugin, which gives your site a significant speed boost.
• Weekly automatic backups. Every shared hosting plan comes with weekly automatic backups. You can find your backups in hPanel, and restoration is simple and fast.

To learn more about Hostinger’s Linux plans, see our expert review.

2. A2 Hosting: Secure Linux Hosting With a Unique Refund Policy1

A2 Hosting brings some powerful benefits at low prices. Not only are performance and uptime excellent, but A2 Hosting also has strong security features. Along with the basics, security protocols include daily security updates with no downtime, a sophisticated hack-scan tool that protects your site 24/7, and advanced DDoS protection.

You won’t make it far on A2 Hosting’s site before you see the words “Turbo Server.” This refers to the LiteSpeed web server, which is available on the Turbo Boost and Turbo Max plans. LiteSpeed is much faster than Apache and provides a significant speed boost to your website.

A2 Hosting’s refund policy is also unique – if you cancel, you’ll get a prorated refund for the unused portion of your contract. Not many hosts offer something like this. You get plenty of flexibility if you change your mind down the road.

Features

• Optimized CMSs. A2 Hosting attains impressive speeds through its utilization of optimization plugins. When you install popular CMSs like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla, they come preconfigured and undergo full optimization.
• Git & SSH access. Even the low-cost StartUp plan includes support for Git integration and SSH access. There are also plenty of supported development languages, including Ruby, PERL, and Python.
• Scalability. A2 Hosting has better scalability than most hosts. It lets you scale your account from shared hosting all the way up to a dedicated server.
• Site restoration. If you opt for the Drive, Turbo Boost, and Turbo Max plans, automatic backups are included for free. If anything happens to your site, you can easily restore it from an earlier version right from your control panel.

See how well Turbo Servers performed in our expert A2 Hosting review.

3. Kamatera: Fully Customizable and Scalable Cloud VPS for Linux Hosting1

If you’re a programmer or developer looking for a powerful, completely customizable Linux environment, Kamatera may be the right choice for you. It offers cloud VPS plans, which can be tailored to your exact specifications. This means that you only pay for precisely what you need.

These cloud VPSs are by default unmanaged, giving you full control over your server. This includes root and SSH access, along with the ability to install whatever development frameworks or tools you’d like. Kamatera also offers multiple Linux distributions, including CloudLinux, Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, and more.

Kamatera’s servers are powered by speedy Intel Xeon processors, so performance shouldn’t be an issue. But Kamatera isn’t for everyone. It isn’t beginner-friendly and lacks comprehensive support unless you pay extra. That said, if you’re an experienced developer looking to work with Linux in a flexible environment, Kamatera may be a good fit.

Features

• 30-day free trial with $100 value. Kamatera offers a generous free trial with no commitment. You get a fully customizable cloud VPS with $100 credit and help from support to decide what VPS configuration is ideal for your needs.
• Cloud firewall add-on. For an extra monthly fee, you can purchase a cloud firewall for your server. You can manage the firewall rules to fit your needs, and you’ll be able to set up virtual private networks.
• Optional managed service. If you don’t want to spend time and effort maintaining your server, you can pay Kamatera to do it for you. This includes automatic OS updates, security patches, server monitoring, and more.
• Extended automatic daily backups. You can have your server’s data automatically backed up every day for a low monthly fee. These backups are kept in an external storage array and can be restored at any time.

Learn more about Linux server hosting in our comprehensive Kamatera review.

4. IONOS: Scalable and Flexible Budget Linux Hosting 1

IONOS specializes in Linux hosting, offering you a wide range of the latest Linux distributions like CentOS, Debian, and Ubuntu. You select the distribution that suits your requirements and it provides a tailored environment for your applications.

One great thing about IONOS is that you can seamlessly scale up or down as your demands change without experiencing any service interruptions. You can start small and instantly provision more resources when needed, ensuring optimal performance and cost-efficiency. LIke Kamatera, you only pay for what you use.

IONOS’ Linux-based shared plans come at a pretty low cost, especially for your first term. If you sign up for a long-term plan, pricing starts at just $1.00/month. You’ll also get a wide range of resources, including unlimited bandwidth and SFTP accounts, with support for the latest PHP version and MariaDB 10 or MySQL 8 databases. Plus, all shared plans come with a daily backup and access to 24/7 support.

Features

• Reliable infrastructure. IONOS’s geo-redundant infrastructure stores your website information across multiple secure data centers, ensuring high availability and protection for your files.
• Daily backup and recovery. Automatic backups secure your data for up to six days, allowing you to revert changes or recover lost information easily.
• Flexible payment options. In addition to long-term plans, IONOS allows you to pay month-to-month, making your hosting expenses easier on your wallet.
• MyWebsite Now. This user-friendly website builder lets you design and launch a professional website within minutes, thanks to its AI-generated templates.

Read our in-depth review of IONOS for more details about performance.

5. InterServer: Unlimited Resources for Linux-Based Plans1

InterServer has one Linux shared hosting plan, and it has a lot to like. It’s priced on par with Hostinger in terms of affordability. However, InterServer offers the most value to those who prefer to pay monthly – its monthly plan is one of the cheapest in the industry.

InterServer’s flexible Linux hosting plan has it all: unlimited websites, storage space, and data transfer. There are also weekly automatic backups and InterShield security, which uses a next-generation machine-learning firewall and an in-house malware database to keep your site secure.

Although there are only two server locations in Los Angeles and Secaucus, InterServer’s loading speeds are great in the US, and not bad in western Europe, thanks to global content caching. It’s also highly reliable, with my tests showing great overall uptime.

Features

• Developer-friendly. InterServer features SSH access and support for plenty of popular development frameworks and languages, including Ruby on Rails, Python, node.js, and more.
• Inter-Proxy caching. The proprietary Inter-Proxy caching technology is designed to deliver your content fast and at every level. You’ll get SSD caching, LSCache, and more. Cloudflare CDN is also included.
• LiteSpeed Web Server. InterServer makes use of the powerful LiteSpeed technology, which brings you a significant boost in speed.
• Cloud VPS. If you need a little bit more power, InterServer also offers powerful cloud VPS, sold by the “slice” (core). Each slice is made up of 1 CPU core with 2 GB memory, 30 GB SSD storage, and 2 TB of bandwidth. Buying more slices gets you access to better speeds, more resources, and managed service.

For more details about plans, read our full InterServer review.

6. InMotion Hosting: Linux Hosting With Free Marketing Tools1

If marketing is crucial to the success of your website, InMotion Hosting may be a good choice for you. My favorite perk is InMotion’s offer of $100 in free Microsoft advertising credits, included in its shared and WordPress hosting plans. This extra boost in outreach isn’t offered by many other hosts, especially on basic plans.

Marketing certainly seems to be a focus with InMotion Hosting, as it also offers visitor analytic tools for free with every plan, as well as a drag-and-drop website builder. There’s also a very strong backup solution available, which offers customizable automatic backups to offsite storage. While it isn’t free, it’s affordable and well worth the price.

However, it isn’t all good news – there’s no legal uptime guarantee unless you upgrade to the Pro plan. On this plan, you’ll be able to claim credit on any downtime that exceeds InMotion’s 99.999% uptime guarantee.

Features

• Developer tools. InMotion is a pretty good host for developers. SSH access and support for Ruby, PHP, PostgreSQL, and MySQL are available for all plans.
• Shared hosting plans with unlimited resources. InMotion’s Launch, Power, and Pro plans offer unlimited websites, bandwidth, and email accounts. There’s also unlimited storage through high-performance NVMe SSD storage.
• Google Workspace integration. If you work with Google Workspace, InMotion Hosting lets you integrate Google’s apps into your workflow with ease. Shared web hosting, WordPress, and Reseller plans also offer Google Workspace as an add-on.
• 90-day money-back guarantee. InMotion allows you to try out its services for 90 days, three times longer than the industry standard. You can get a full refund if you cancel within this time period, no questions asked.

Read our InMotion Hosting review to see if it’s the right host for you.

Another Notable Linux Hosting Service

7. Nexcess 1

If you’re looking for Linux hosting for your WordPress, Magento, and WooCommerce website, Nexcess is a standout option. Not only does it offer fully managed hosting, but you’ll also enjoy perks like free migrations, a vast CDN network, staging sites, and specialized plugins. If you’re more of a hands-on type, Nexcess’ cloud-based Linux hosting plans are extremely developer-friendly. These Linux hosting plans do come at a premium, though.

Nexcess justifies its price with a long list of powerful optimization features, including Object Cache Pro, a proprietary performance monitor for WordPress and WooCommerce, autoscaling for Magento stores, and more. If you’re looking for a fully managed solution, Nexcess’ price is reasonable – but if not, the other hosts on this list can provide better value.

Which Linux Web Host Is the Best for YOU?

The right Linux hosting service for you depends on your individual needs. For cheap hosting with great speeds, go with Hostinger1. This host is my top pick for Linux-based hosting because of its affordable plans packed with speed-friendly optimizations and security features.

Choose A2 Hosting for serious security1 at affordable prices. You’ll get daily security updates, KernelCare and HackScan protection, and self-healing servers that revert any suspicious configuration settings. Many hosts charge much more for these features.

If you’re more hands-on, you should consider Kamatera1. This host features completely flexible and customizable plans that are great for developers. Create exactly the server your project (and your budget) needs.

Are you still unsure? Check out the table below for a comparison.

FAQ

What is Linux hosting?

Linux hosting refers to any kind of web hosting where Linux serves as the OS. It’s a popular choice among web hosts because it’s open-source software, free to license, and extremely developer-friendly. This means web hosts can provide budget hosting that offers a lot of versatility and flexibility. If you’re new to website building, Linux-based control panels such as Hostinger’s hPanel can also be very user-friendly.

Which is better, shared Linux hosting or Linux VPS hosting?

That greatly depends on your needs. If you run a small website, you can do quite well with a shared hosting plan. If you’re a budding programmer, designer, developer, or owner of a large website, you may find the flexibility and customization capabilities of VPS hosting more beneficial and suited to your needs. Kamatera’s Linux VPS plans are especially scalable and adaptable for most projects.

Is Linux hosting suitable for beginners?

While Linux hosting can be more technical, many web hosts offer user-friendly control panels. Also, some offer managed hosting, though it usually costs a bit more. For example, you can pay extra for InterServer’s managed cloud plans or automatically qualify for managed hosting if you purchase more than 4 cores.

Why choose Linux hosting over other options?

Linux hosting is often more cost-effective, secure, and customizable than other hosting options. It also offers better performance and scalability for many types of websites and applications. For example, IONOS offers instant scalability for its shared Linux hosting plans, allowing you to adjust resources without experiencing any website interruptions.