Steve Ramos
In this SiteGround review, we take a deep look at all the features they provide and why they are different from other standard hosting companies.
Should you use SiteGround? That is why you are here right? Well, probably not until you know everything about the hosting provider so you can make a decision.
General info and overview
SiteGround is a Bulgarian company founded in 2004 by university students. Today they are home to over 500 employees and over one million domains around the world. In the hosting space, they are a top-notch choice and can go toe to toe with their competitors.
They are a highly regarded web hosting service for WordPress. They offer excellent security solutions and rank near the top of all hosting companies for both uptime and speed.
WordPress officially recognizes SiteGround, and this recognition is a seal of trust in the company’s capability to build and manage WordPress websites.
SiteGround offers various web hosting solutions such as:
- Shared hosting plans
- Reseller hosting plans
- Cloud plans
- Dedicated server plans
- Servers in three locations (US, Holland, and Singapore)
- Daily backups
- Free setup and transfer of your site
- Domains
- WordPress management tools and auto-updating
- Free Cloudflare CDN
Their cheapest plan starts at $6.99/mo and is ideal for users with a single website with a small/medium-sized website. The basic plan offers all the essential features, but they also provide additional hosting options such as dedicated servers or cloud hosting.
All SiteGround hosting plans come with a CDN, SSL certificate, and email accounts.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- Excellent Customer Service
- Good Uptime
- Fast loading speed
- Free daily backups and restores on all plans
- Free CDN and SSL certificate with all plans
- Free site migration
- Email service
- Free Cloudflare
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Multiple server locations
- Advanced features
Cons
- Relatively low storage
- Higher renewal prices
- No free domain
Performance and Uptime
Uptime
Server uptime is one of the most important things when looking for a hosting provider. This measures the time that your website is online. If your website is down, you lose users and potential clients.
It is important to look for a web host that averages 99,9%. SiteGround offers exactly that. If they don’t reach that level, they compensate their clients. It is very unlikely that you will need to request a refund because of this.
SiteGround tracks their servers in real-time, unlike other web hosts, who track servers in intervals of 1-5 minutes. As a result, if they detect any problem, the issue is fixed much faster.
Performance
Speed is probably the second most important thing when choosing a hosting provider. After making sure that your site will be online 99.9% of the time, you need to ensure that it is fast.
A faster website offers a good user experience and boosts your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) at the same time. Google will show your site to more people if it is fast, so it is very important to ensure a site that loads fast. Site speed is a huge ranking factor with Google, so if you want to place yourself on the first page, you need to have a website that is going to work efficiently.
Overall, Siteground performs very well and ranks near the top of all web hosting companies. Even though the loading speed is affected by many factors, SiteGround averages under one second to load a page. This is very impressive and if you are looking for a fast website, SiteGround may be the right choice for you.
Here you can check out SiteGround’s uptime and response time history in detail.
SiteGround Hosting Plans
Shared Hosting
It’s the easiest and most economical way to get your website connected to the internet so unless you’re managing a large project, this is the option you should choose. Shared hosting is recommended for new websites and beginners. It is suitable for low traffic as you will be sharing the server with other websites.
SiteGround plans for WordPress
SiteGround WordPress hosting is very similar to their shared plans, but it is focused and optimized exclusively for WordPress. If your site is or is going to be based on this platform, this is going to be the best fit for you.
WooCommerce hosting
This is another optimized version of shared hosting designed especially for online stores. This plan improves the performance of eCommerce websites. This is the one you should choose for this kind of website specifically.
Managed Cloud hosting
This plan is distinct from their shared plans and, unless you already have an established website on the internet, you don’t need it. Cloud hosting is an alternative that offers better performance and it is suitable for growing websites.
Siteground CPanel
SiteGround uses CPanel, an easy dashboard to use. It is dummy-proof. You can go in there and have no issue finding the things that you want. SiteGround dashboard is not overwhelming at all like some other software’s out there. You can find everything, it is super, super simple.
If you want to set up an email, for example, you can do that with just a couple of clicks.
SiteGround designed everything to where it is clear, simple, and easy to create and maintain a website. This is how most web hosting services should make it.
Security Features
SiteGround provides intrusion detection and intrusion prevention systems that are always scanning and blocking malware and viruses. Their system enables them to fix most problems immediately. This doesn’t happen with most web hosts, that only perform scans once a day or a week.
They also provide an Artificial Intelligence platform to block malicious bots that might want to try to hack your website. This blocks brute-force hacking attempts from accessing your website.
SiteGround has also an isolation system in place, that protects your website in case someone else on your server is compromised.
SiteGround offers a hack alert, which is an early warning system that can inform you of hidden malware in your site before it becomes activated. They pretty much provide almost every security feature that is to ensure that your website is safe. You are in safe hands with SiteGround in what security concerns.
One of SiteGround’s biggest Pros is their free Daily Backup. This is a huge advantage that most web hosts do not provide for free. You get free automatic daily backups and daily backup copies. You can just restore your website to a previous version easily with a couple of clicks. The backups are free on all plans.
SiteGround Customer Service
They are known for providing great customer support. It is probably the best thing about this company. They have a team of computer experts ready to help you make the best use of your site.
Siteground offers:
- 24/7 support system (live chat, ticketing, and phone support)
- Detailed Knowledge base
- Webinars and tutorials
The live chat system is probably the most convenient way to contact them. Unlike other web hosting providers, we didn’t notice any delay in answers. They are very fast, friendly and helpful.
It is very unlikely that you end up experiencing a bad customer experience with SiteGround.
Free site migration
Your SiteGround membership comes with one free site migration.
Migrating a website from one hosting provider to another can be challenging, especially if you do it manually. Most web hosts offer a ‘DIY migration’ and end up putting more burden on the customer.
SiteGround is one of the few exceptions that make this process very simple.
They have created a free plugin for WordPress websites that you can upload to any site. You just have to generate a token on their website and paste it on the plugin, that will help you do the heavy lifting.
If you prefer to have some professional help, they offer this service and completely migrate the website for you, but at an additional cost of $15.95.
30-day money-back guarantee
SiteGround offers a full 30-day money-back guarantee on all shared hosting plans so you can try their service for free and ask for a refund if you are not fully satisfied.
Just like other web-hosting providers, they don’t refund any other extras or add-ons. Their refund policy is also only for new customers, so you can’t get refunds on renewal plans.
SiteGround Pricing
By now you should know what sort of features your website needs, which will tell you what type of hosting you need.
Here below is an overview of their shared hosting plans and current price list
SiteGround offers 3 pricing plans for shared hosting (includes WordPress and WoCommerce hosting): StartUp, GrowBig, and GoGeek.
They offer additional hosting options for dedicated servers or cloud hosting starting at $80/mo. They are way more expensive than shared hosting. Again, you don’t need those plans for small projects, only for websites with lots of traffic.
Is SiteGround the right web hosting service for you?
If you want a reliable hosting provider, with amazing customer service, great speed, and easy to use and manage, SiteGround is probably for you.
If you are on a budget and want the cheapest option available to have your site online, then you can probably find better options. You can find cheaper options, but don’t deliver the same quality.
SiteGround delivers pretty much everything that you need to manage small/medium projects. Even if you have a website with tons of traffic, SiteGround can provide a decent service.
SiteGround only has a monthly plan, which can be an advantage or disadvantage. If you are looking for an annual plan, then you need to look elsewhere, like Bluehost or DreamHost.
Their customer service is probably one the best in the industry, so if that is something that you value, then SiteGround is the best option for you.
Conclusion
Do we recommend SiteGround? Yes, we do!
They are a great example of an excellent WordPress hosting solution and a solid choice for your web hosting needs if you don’t have a huge project.
SiteGround is one of the best options in the industry because of its performance, pricing transparency, and top-notch customer support.
They deliver a solid uptime, their speed is pretty good, their servers spread out over three continents and they also give your free SSL.
SiteGround alternatives
