SiteGround Hosting Review – Fastest Web Hosting
Seeking the best rated web hosting company to give your website the speed and security you deserve? Perhaps, SiteGround is the hosting company for you. Still in doubt? This SiteGround hosting review will provide you with all the details you need with regard to choosing best hosting experience for your needs.
Stat: Switching to SiteGround increased our Google Page Speed Score from 46 to 95!
Table of Contents:
Best rated web hosting
SiteGround Discount for Initial Purchase
SiteGround Hosting Review – SiteGround Alternatives
Bluehost vs SiteGround
SiteGround vs Cloudways
SiteGround vs GoDaddy
Site Ground server response time
SiteGround Optimizer
SG Optimizer Image Optimization
SiteGround Grow Big or Go Geek
SiteGround Hosting Review Summary
Best rated web hosting
SiteGround offers the best web hosting service, especially for WordPress sites. To ensure that visitors on your site enjoy maximum speed SiteGround uses Git integration and “SuperCacher” technology to reduce loading time experienced by users while using your site.
SiteGround Web hosting offers different services ranging from cloud hosting, shared hosting and also reseller hosting services. In the event of any technical hitches you may encounter, SiteGround has a team of highly qualified software and hardware developers readily available to tend to your needs at any time of the day.
SiteGround web hosting remains one of the few among hosting companies that guarantees speed, security, enough value for your money, efficient customer support, innovative features. They also takes the concerns of beginners to heart by providing start up plans which suit beginner needs in the website scene.
SiteGround Discount for Initial Purchase
In addition to SiteGround's best web hosting features, SiteGround’s discount offer on your initial purchase is mouthwatering. A discount of 63% for the first year will save you much-needed cash especially for startups, while giving you much value at the same time.
The SiteGround Promo for your initial purchase on Grow Big and Go Geek hosting plans offer you advanced features that are only available on expensive plans in other hosting companies. With SiteGround, you could get automatic updates, WordPress Super Cacher, and also premium tech support which are all available on discounted GoGeek and GrowBig plans. Click Here for the latest SiteGround deals.
Site Ground web hosting review
To review features available on SiteGround hosting for your WordPress blog or website, we will have to compare it with some other notable website hosts.
SiteGround Hosting Review – SiteGround Alternatives
Bluehost vs SiteGround
Both hosting companies are not new names in the hosting spheres. This review will give you the best option to choose from among the two :
- If your website encounters any challenges on Bluehost. It could take an hour or more before you can get through to a customer support. And even if you do, there is mostly a challenge in convincing the support staff that your issues are from the server.
- Bluehost withholds from the public vital information. This includes which speed technology they use. SiteGround on the other hand uses great speed technologies like SG Optimizer, NGINX, Cloudflare, PHP 8 and their very own Ultrafast PHP coming to the GoGeek and Cloud plans.
- This ensures that websites hosted on it load faster. Plus, they are not afraid to say so.
- Features such as Let's Encrypt SSL are not supported on the Bluehost platform. SiteGround not only supports Let's Encrypt SSL. SiteGround includes new in-house developed Site Tools, which offer a more feature-rich solution with a greater focus on the UI and customer experience.
Bluehost is owned by a company that has many other hosting affiliates. They are popular for hosting too many sites in a single server. This may result in technical problems for hosted websites.
In the company's bid to make profits to satisfy its shareholders, the satisfaction of customers are put on the line. With SiteGround, the topmost priority is the customer's satisfaction so much so that if a case arises that a customer wishes to explore other hosting companies, there is a free migration plugin available. SiteGround clients can also make use of the Migration Specialists and order a manual website transfer which is a paid service provided by SiteGround. There is also a money-back guarantee which lasts for 30-days.
- Bluehost hosting services requires that you pay 3 years upfront. For SiteGround, you only pay for a year. This makes payment and decision making easy for customers.
- Challenges such as bad gateways, internal server errors are not as frequent on SiteGround hosting. But that is not exactly the case with Bluehost.
- Due to certain reasons, the loading speed on sites hosted by Bluehost are known to be slow unlike those on SiteGround whose pages load almost immediately they are clicked. So much so that SiteGround is recommended by WordPress and Yoast.
Check out our Siteground vs Bluehost article or our Hostinger vs SiteGround article for a detailed comparison.
SiteGround vs Cloudways
Although SiteGround offers cloud hosting, it also offers shared hosting. Cloudways on the other hand is mainly a cloud hosting house.
SiteGround Cloud Plans are fully capable of handling projects with high traffic and demand for server resources while maintaining awesome performance. The server infrastructure is also fully scalable so clients can always add more CPU, RAM, or disk space with just a few clicks.
SiteGround vs Cloudways Comparison
Both companies differ in their features, pricing, and customer support infrastructure. Their differences are effectively analyzed below:
- SiteGround is best suited for you if your website falls in the low traffic category. It's low three-year promotional prices for shared hosting is great, but the challenge comes when you want to renew your plan or increase your CPU limit to allow ease of use as your site gets more traffic.
- Although SiteGround has relatively high speed when compared to other hosting companies such as Hostgator, A2, Bluehost etc. Cloudways offers even faster loading speed.
- Many people complain about Cloudways' poor customer support, issues such as difficulty during migration, extra payment requests, unanswered tickets and waiting for long periods before reaching customer support all plague Cloudways' customer support reputation. SiteGround support however, does have a better infrastructure in customer care interaction such that you can get through to a live chat with customer support rep in 30 seconds thereabout. Also, while Cloudways will only attend to your tickets that concern their services, SiteGround customer support will offer assistance beyond their hosting services.
- Pricing policies differ for both companies. Cloudways runs pay-as-you-go services on a monthly basis while SiteGround will require you to pay for a 1 year or 3 year service upfront to obtain discounts.
Cloudways do not have annual contracts in their offers but you can add CPU or RAM to your hosting on additional cost.
SiteGround doesn't have any provision for the addition of storage or server resources unless you upgrade to a different plan.
- The quality of features you enjoy on SiteGround depends on your plan but all features are available for all Cloudways' plans. Though both web hosting companies share similar features like the use of SSD (solid state drives), Cloudflare, back up resource, Let's Encrypt SSL, PHP 7.3 and HTTP/2, they both have distinct and peculiar features. SiteGround for example uses its prototype of cPanel called Site Tools and a cost-free migration plugin when you are on the GrowBig plan.
Also on the GrowBig plan, SiteGround offers staging and advanced caching aided by SuperCacher. Peculiar to SiteGround's GoGeek plan are GIT and Priority support.
All SiteGround plans have Let's Encrypt SSL, email hosting and Cloudflare activation.
SiteGround uses automated daily backups and backups on demand so clients can restore their website at any time with few clicks. Cloudways on the other hand uses features such as staging, single click backups, added premium accessories, free Let's enecrypt SSL and operate its own system interface.
- Cloudways use various uptime optimizing features such as PHP FPM, Redis or New Relic. These features are not obtainable in SiteGround. Also, Cloudways have 25 data centers which exceeds SiteGround's five (5).
- Though both web hosting companies have SSL Let's Encrypt feature, Cloudways provides a great WooCommerce site experience. SiteGround also provides an excellent WooCommerce experience. WooCommerce is supported on all of their plans and they have clients running optimised e-commerce projects even on the Basic StartUp Package. Even more, they are officially recommended by both WooCommerce and WordPress. They offer a hassle-free starting experience since WordPress and WooCommerce come preinstalled along with the popular Storefront Theme. This way, SiteGround clients can directly start listing their products online.
SiteGround vs GoDaddy
Taking cue from SiteGround reviews and GoDaddy reviews from unbiased sources, the comparison between both hosting companies isn't difficult to outline. They are listed below:
- Websites hosted on GoDaddy are generally slower and this is because too many sites are hosted in one server. Though SiteGround is a shared hosting provider, it is much faster than GoDaddy.
- Security is a major priority in web hosting, but this has been one of GoDaddy's challenges. GoDaddy has frequently been in news for the wrong security reasons such as Virus attacks and hacked accounts. The truth about the malware issue remains uncertain to date.
SiteGround WordPress Hosting doesn't only protect your site, it also shows you the security infrastructure used for quality assurance.
- GoDaddy only began using PHP 7 recently and the version upgrade is only available on its Plesk and cPanel hosting plans. This makes GoDaddy slow and unsecured for web hosting.
- GoDaddy also requests payment from its customers to enjoy the PHP 7 upgrade. Currently, it seems to be the only hosting site doing so. PHP 7 is available for all plans on SiteGround, and there are no charges for PHP upgrades.
- One of the greatest difference between GoDaddy and SiteGround is the way customers are treated. GoDaddy's customer support is not as efficient with a lot of unresolved tickets, delayed response and excuses. One attribute you can't take away from SiteGround is its prompt and efficient customer support. This gives it an edge over GoDaddy.
SiteGround WordPress Autoupdater
Site Ground offer a special tool called WordPress auto-updater. This will automatically update all WordPress websites and their plugins. Therefore, protecting them from being compromised due to outdated script.
For other comparisons, check out our SiteGround vs HostGator Review and our SiteGround vs DreamHost Review.
Alternatively, accu web hosting has put together a great list in their Windows VPS Hosting Comparison Guide.
SiteGround server response time
Sites hosted on SiteGround score 100% ratings on GTmetrix and on Google page speed insights they get close to 100%. Though SiteGround speed is super fast, if you still want to reduce response time you can push resources into CDNs.
Additionally, you can cancel out large plugins, do a cleanup of your database and guard against spam bots. With SiteGround, it is simple to set the cache plugins for the best performance.
SiteGround Optimizer
SiteGround is gaining more ground in its quest as one of the best rated web hosting companies. This is due to its innovative addition of the SG Optimizer plugin.
What is the best web hosting experience you can think of? You will find them and more at SiteGround. Plugins used by other caches are file dependent.
But SiteGround's caching uses server-side and certain binaries. This makes it easy to use.
SiteGround SG Optimizer when configured can give you a speed of 1s to about 1.5s of page loading time with 99% page speed.
For example, you will need WP Rocket or WP Optimize to get rid of unwanted files. You can actually get rid of old and unwanted tables from old plugins using WP Optimize. You can also control your WordPress heartbeat by using plugins such as Perfmatter.
Sg Optimizer Image Optimization
When images are optimized for your site, it makes pages containing images to load faster. It ensures that you don't upload pictures whose resolutions are too high, or size too big for your page.
In the case of older pictures, ensure that you backup your picture files first before compressing them. So that in the event of any loss of quality after optimization, you can fall back on your back up.
SiteGround Grow Big or Go Geek
This SiteGround web hosting review aims to explore SiteGround's WordPress hosting offers. These are the StartUp plan, Grow big plan or Go geek plan. But with more emphasis on SiteGround Grow big and Go geek plans.
The following SiteGround WordPress hosting review would help you explore the available plans suitable for hosting your website.
If you intend to run a single website with minimal traffic then StartUp is a good plan for you. Though the StartUp plan can't use large cache plugins or extensive server resources. It features resources such as automatic daily backups and email hosting.
SiteGround’s GrowBig plan offers you the opportunity to host more than one site with much more resources available in the StartUp plan. With the GrowBig plan you will have bigger storage, unlimited email support, staging, database facilities, a website transfer free of charge. GrowBig also includes the SG Optimizer plugin. This comes with all three advanced cache levels which are the static, dynamic and memcached levels.
The GrowBig plan is available for $9.99/month
The GoGeek plan boasts of 4 times more hosting resources than other conventional shared hosting plans. It operates with increased storage space and database. This limits events of fraud when credit cards are used on their e-commerce sites.
On GoGeek, you are assured of getting exquisite treatment. If you experience difficulties installing a shopping cart, SiteGround's customer support team can help you install it. GoGeek plan goes for a value packed sum of $14.99/month.
SiteGround Hosting Review Summary
Now when it comes to your online business, hosting is one of the most crucial factors.
And SiteGround is the Number 1 Hosting for Website Owners that we recommend at WHR Marketing.
Our Website Builders insist on using SiteGround.
From excellent speeds and uptime to outstanding customer support. SiteGround offers the best value by far when it comes to shared hosting. If you have made the mistake of purchasing poor quality hosting (like I did when I first started). Then SiteGround makes it so easy to migrate to them with the help of their expert team.
WHR Marketing recommends taking advantage of the SiteGround initial purchase discount – Click Here
SiteGround FAQS
Is SiteGround any good?
Today SiteGround ranks #1 for speed and uptime in the WordPress Hosting Performance Benchmarks.
Is SiteGround expensive?
Nope. Their cheapest plan starts at $3.95 per month, which means that you can get hosting for just $35.40 per year. Yes, it's cheap!
Is SiteGround good for eCommerce?
Yes – they even offer shopping cart plugins and other tools to help you run your online store faster and better
Which is better WordPress or SiteGround?
Today WordPress is the #1 content management system in the world. However, SiteGround is so much more than just hosting for WP – they are a full-stack tool to help you create everything from simple sites to complex online stores.
Is SiteGround good for beginners?
Yes – they offer a ton of free courses and tutorials in their online academy, and you can contact their support for any question.
Will SiteGround run my WordPress site faster?
Yes! They use advanced caching technology to ensure that your WP site loads 2x to 5x times faster than it would on other hosts.
Why do I need SiteGround?
They are so much more than just hosting. They have an impressive set of tools in their award-winning SiteGround Studio that will help you both create your WP website and manage it after the launch.
How is SiteGround different from any other host?
They offer full-stack services, not just hosting. Their team knows how to run WP websites, and they have all the tools you need to make your online presence a smashing success.
Is SiteGround good for small businesses?
Yes – their business hosting packages offer features like PCI compliance, free Let's Encrypt SSL certificates, support from Google Cloud Platform engineers and much more.
Will SiteGround keep my site up if I get a lot of traffic?
Yes – their servers are fast, scalable and secure. You can choose from 8 datacenters worldwide, including the one in your country so you don't have to worry about speed or uptime ever again.
Is SiteGround good for large businesses?
Yes – they offer support through ticketing system, telephone and live chat. You can add your own IPs, install SSL certificates and much more.
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Affordable Local SEO Services for your Business
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SiteGround Hosting Review, 3rd July 2020 – Updated 31st December 2021