What is Web hosting Websites hosting Websites.Expert

What is web hosting exactly?

What Is Web Hosting? Your Guide To Web Hosting Services

 

Website Hosting is a mystery to many. However, like with all things, we here at Websites.Expert will make things easy and clear for you. We provide web hosting for your website at no charge. We are the cheapest hosting company you will find. Nevertheless, here is a lot of details that will help you to understand website hosting – what it is and where to find it and at what cost. Become a website expert yourself.

So the question is: What do all of the sites that currently live on the internet have in common?

No, it’s not that they’re all feeds of cat pictures (although it’s probably over half).

It’s that they’re all hosted on servers.

Whether it’s a newsfeed, a blogging community or a shopping platform, every website needs somewhere to live. That’s what we mean by hosting.

If you want to start a website or a blog, you need the same thing. But hosting can be confusing. If you’re not a techie, how do you cut through the jargon? Or know what website hosting service you need? Or avoid paying over the odds?

Ringing any bells? Don’t worry. This guide tackles the big questions: what is web hosting? And what is a web host? We’ll also explain:

  • How web hosting works
  • Website hosting services and domain names
  • The different website hosting plans (and which one you should pick for your site)
  • How much website hosting costs

We’ll also introduce you to some of the best web hosting services on the market. To save you time, here are the top three in a handy table. But remember at Websites.Expert your hosting wont cost you anything for your basic website requirements. Hurray!

Hostgator web hosting websites.expert

HostGator 4.9 out of 5  TOP CHOICE
 
  1. Hosting 5 out of 5 stars
  2. Features 5 out of 5 stars
  3. Help & Support 5 out of 5 stars
  4. Up Time 4.5 out of 5 stars
  5. Value 4.5 out of 5 stars
 
 

bluehost web hosting websites.expert

Bluehost 4.6 out of 5
 
  1. Hosting 5 out of 5 stars
  2. Features 5 out of 5 stars
  3. Support 3.5 out of 5 stars
  4. Up Time 4 out of 5 stars
  5. Value 4.5 out of 5 stars

Godaddy web hosting Websites.Expert

GoDaddy 4.2 out of 5
 
  1. Hosting 3.5 out of 5 stars
  2. Features 5 out of 5 stars
  3. Support 3 out of 5 stars
  4. Up Time 3.5 out of 5 stars
  5. Value 3 out of 5 stars
 
By the end of this post you too will be a fully-fledged website hosting expert ready to take the next step on your website-building journey.
 
 

1. What Is Web Hosting? A Beginner’s Definition

 

OK, let’s take this back square one. What is web hosting when it’s at home?

Web hosting is a service that lets you get a website or web page live on the internet. Just as you need somewhere to live, so does your website online. The files that make up your website are stored at this virtual location on a web server.

A hosting provider is an organization that supplies the tech you need to get your site hosted. They’re a bit like housebuilders in the real world. These web hosts provide the servers that deliver your site to your user. To simplify things, servers are computers that deliver web pages. They act as a storehouse for data that connect with browsers.

If your head is spinning, don’t worry. Web hosting companies manage the technical side of keeping your site running for you. What’s important at this stage is understanding why you need a hosting provider.

TIP: Remember we are website experts. We do website hosting and web hosting for free!

 
 

2. How Does Web Hosting Work?

So what does all this mean in practice?

Let’s imagine a web user enters your site’s address into their URL. They access your site and their computer connects to your server. Your website is then delivered to them from the server through the browser.

IP Addresses And Domain Names

But with countless servers, how does your site appear in front of them?

Well, servers come with IP Addresses: a series of numbers that identify a particular computer. The internet is made up of a gigantic network of computers linked through cables – a bit like a spider’s web.

Here’s an example of a made-up IP Address: 77.347.77.1.

Could you remember this number? Maybe. Could you remember thousands of IP Addresses and use them to connect with the websites you want to visit? No.

That’s where domain names come in. They convert IP Addresses into easy-to-remember words and mark each web page out from each other. They work like the street name and number of a bricks-and-mortar property. You need a domain name and hosting if you want to run a website.

Buying a domain name normally gives you rights to that name for one year, at which point you can renew your licence. You can, of course, buy a domain name and hosting from the same provider.

This can save you having to manually match up your domain name to your hosting company. Managing and renewing both services is easier if you buy them from the same place.

But you can also buy your domain name separately from a registrar like GoDaddy. Domain names and hosting are two separate services. They do, however, work together, to make websites happen.

Domain Name Servers (DNS) act as a directory of IP addresses. The browser uses it when it needs to identify the domain a user is trying to visit.

So when you enter www.websites.expert, for example, you’re connected to the right server and receive the site you want.

More Domain Name Information:

 
Your domain name identifies your site. Here’s our domain name highlighted in the URL bar.
 
 
 

3. Domain Names And Changing Hosting Provider

Once you’ve secured your domain name, you don’t want to lose it right? After all, a domain name is like a brand name. It’s how your users know you.

If you’re asking, ‘what is web hosting?’, you’re probably also worried about losing your domain name if you switch hosting hosting provider.

Moving hosting provider does not mean you will lose your website’s name.

With a registered domain name, you usually have the right to transfer the name wherever you want. You just need to transfer your site’s files and data, then edit your domain settings and direct them to your new hosting provider.

Think of your domain name like your phone number. You can move network provider but still keep your number. In the same way, you can move hosting provider but keep your domain name.

 

4. How Much Does Web Hosting Cost?

A big part of ‘what is hosting?’ is: how much does hosting cost?

This is a difficult one to answer. It’s not like asking what the price of a can of coca cola is. Your hosting bill will depend on your provider and the plan you choose. The better the plan, the more dollars you’ll need to spend.

Decent shared hosting packages typically start from as little as $3-10. HostGator’s Hatchling plan, for example, costs just $2.75/month – less than a Starbucks latte!

If your website needs more hosting firepower, you can expect to pay $100+ a month for a dedicated plan. HostGator’s Pro dedicated hosting plan, for example, comes in at $129/month. Some dedicated server pricing plans are over $20,00 monthly. Only large sites or established brands will need an advanced, dedicated hosting plan, though.

Somewhere between shared and dedicated hosting, VPS packages will set you back between $20 and $50 a month.

Confused about dedicated and shared hosting? Wondering what web hosting service you need?

Stick around, we’re covering that next.

Comparing Hosting Plans

First, though, a quick word on what to look out for when comparing web hosting plans. The key features of any hosting plan are:

  • Disk space – how much space you have to store your website’s files. Before comparing hosting packages, work out how much space you need. Things like emails, web files and databases take up space. Work out your usage requirements so you can get an appropriate plan.
  • Email accounts – this includes:
    • POP3 – normal inboxes. The server will provide some space for you to store your emails. A login and a password usually equals one account.
    • Forwarding accounts – handy if you employ another company to filter emails  for you. Instead of storing your emails on your server, emails are forwarded on to another address.
    • Alias accounts – similar to forwarding accounts. Some hosts may let you setup a catch-all alias. These are often used to collect emails sent to addresses not identified by your mail server.
  • Bandwidth – to you, bandwidth is the capacity of your site to deal with data. The more bandwidth you have, the more traffic you can handle. Some web hosting services offer “unmetered bandwidth”. This means you’re not charged for what you use. If you exceed your allowance, your hosting provider will notify you.

Extra ‘bolt-on’ products that are worth considering are anti-hacking software and automatic backups. The big one, though, is SSL Certificates. SSL stands for Secure Sockets Layer. It protects the data – often users’ information – moving through your site. If you sell online, an SSL certificate is a must. Suppliers often charge over $100 for SSL certificates; a hosting package that includes one in its plan is good value.

 

5. Different Web Hosting Options

In this section we’ll take a closer look at different hosting options and how you pick the right one.

The main types of hosting plan are:

  • Website builder
  • Shared hosting
  • Dedicated hosting
  • VPS hosting
  • Cloud hosting

Which hosting option is right for you will depend on budget, ambitions for your site and the service offered by the web hoster.

Website Builders and Hosting

One of the simplest way to sort out hosting is through a website builder. As part of your plan, all the technical maintenance of your website is taken care of, including hosting.

It’s why website builders are among the easiest ways to build your online presence.

They’re also one of the most cost-effective. Many website builders have free plans, and premium options are available for under $20/month. For instance, Wix’s Unlimited plan has no cap on bandwidth and offers a solid 10GB of storage. This matches up respectably with the market’s best web hosting services. Plus, with website builders you get a host of features to help grow your site.

Having the hosting included leaves you free to focus on designing and running your website.

More Website Builder Information:

Shared Web Hosting

So what is hosting when it’s shared? The clue’s in the name: you use the same server as a bunch of other websites (they’re a bit like flatmates). Because you split the server, it’s the cheapest hosting option around.

The main downside is that your website’s performance can be affected by the sites you share the server with. If they use up too much technical resource, your site can slow down.

Good if: you are just launching your small business or web page online, or run a small website with modest traffic and want to keep costs down.

Dedicated Web Hosting

A dedicated web hosting service is where you are the sole tenant of a server. Your site’s performance won’t be affected negatively by other websites. You also get more tech resource and better security.

This autonomy and level of service does come at a price: dedicated hosting packages cost more than shared ones.

Good if: your site is growing fast and traffic is increasing rapidly. If you’re a business or online store, dedicated hosting is right if you’re generating solid virtual footfall and sales. Dedicated hosting is perfect if you need lots of disk space (for example, you’ve got a big email database).

 

VPS Web Hosting

Next up, VPS hosting. What is web hosting when you add the initials VPS?

VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. This hosting option is where you share the server, but get your own distinct area. So hardware is split with other websites, but you get your own computing resources.

It’s a good halfway point between cheaper shared and more expensive dedicated hosting.

You can upgrade your site’s bandwidth and storage without sending your bills soaring, and get more flexibility and control.

Good if: your web page is about to outgrow a shared hosting package, but you don’t want to commit to a dedicated plan.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is where the resources your site needs to operate are spread across multiple servers. This collection of servers is what’s called ‘the cloud’.

It means there’s less chance of downtime because of server malfunction. If one fails, another can step in. Plus, because of the extra support, you can handle large volumes of traffic without suffering bandwidth issues.

Cloud Hosting is arguably more reliable than a dedicated hosting package.

Good if: you run a fast-growing site and expect to see surges in traffic – for example, you might run a paid marketing campaign online.

Collocated Hosting

Collocated hosting is where you buy your own server and house it at a web host’s facilities.

You’re responsible for the physical server and are able to install any scripts or applications you want.

This provides incredible flexibility but does require technical skill. This is not a hosting option to consider unless you’re a very advanced site.

Good if: you are a large, successful website with access to quality technical resource.

Personal hosting

You can host your website on your own computer, but this is not advisable for a number of reasons:

  1. It requires advanced technical skill to setup a WWW server – the software you need for internet users to access the web files on your computer.
  2. You’ll need a high bandwidth quota.
  3. Your computer must be on at all times – if you reboot, restart or turn off your computer, your site will also go down.
  4. Domestic internet connections aren’t designed to serve web pages.
 

6. The Biggest Hosting Providers

Now you’re a clued-up hosting expert, it’s about time we talked about hosting providers.

There’s no shortage of choice: there are hundreds and hundreds of hosting services out there. But sorting through them to find the best web hosting for you is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

That’s where we come in. We’ve reviewed the biggest and best hosting providers on the market. Here are some of the top hosting services (click the name to read an in-depth review):

  • HostGator: Snappy Eats Up the Competition
  • Bluehost: The Steady Eddie of Web Hosting
  • GoDaddy Hosting: Solid All-in-One Web Hosting
  • iPage Hosting: Cheap and Somewhat Cheerful
  • InMotion Hosting: Feature-Rich and Business-Focused
  • WPEngine: WordPress Hosting Specialists
  • A2 Hosting: Low-Risk Windows Specialists

We’ve also compiled a list of:

  • The best web hosting for small businesses
  • The best web hosting providers overall

And…

  • The best WordPress hosting provider

Use these resources to find the best hosting provider for your website’s needs.

 
 

7. What Is Web Hosting: Conclusion

The thing about web hosting is: everyone needs it.

Whether you’re a multinational online giant or a one-man-band photographer, if you have a website, you need to sort out hosting.

There’s no shortage of options, but it can be difficult to know where to start. Especially if you’re not a techie. This guide is your hosting starting point.

We’ve covered the big questions: what is hosting? How does web hosting work?

Armed with these essential hosting need-to-knows, you can now compare the best web hosting services and make an informed decision for your site.

TIP: Remember we are website experts. We do website hosting and web hosting for free!

Best Web Hosting Australia

Selecting the perfect web hosting service often feels overwhelming. Every platform claims to be the fastest, safest, or best value. How do you choose?

TIP: Remember we are website experts. We do website hosting and web hosting for free!

After years of testing, we’ve compiled a list of the best web hosting services in Australia. We’ve analysed the site speeds, the quality of the customer support, the ease of use, the security options, and the available features. Then, we’ve combined these metrics to rank your options for you.

Keep scrolling to check out our top ten Australian web hosting platforms. At the end, read on to learn more about what our criteria for great web hosting entails. In case your target audience isn’t from Australia, we do have other lists as well — you can check those out:

  • Best web hosting Canada
  • Best web hosting Malaysia
  • Best web hosting Singapore
  • Best web hosting UK

Best Web Hosting Australia 2020 – Reviews

1. Hostinger – Best Value Web Hosting

Often, when it comes to tech service, you can have quality or affordability. With Hostinger, you can have both. They provide high-quality web hosting at low prices.

Hostinger’s worldwide servers ensure that you can provide the best experience for your audience while retaining access to website support in your time zone. Their tutorials and custom-built user panel make setting up and running your site a breeze. When you need more customised assistance, their chat support is available 24/7.

They guarantee a 99% uptime with 10 GB of SSD disk space. This combination ensures that your site will be online and loading quickly to keep you high in the search engine rankings and to retain site visitors. You can also add VPS, email, cloud storage, or a WordPress optimised setup to your services.

If you’re willing to spend a bit more money, you can choose the Premium web hosting plan. This subscription level includes weekly website backups, your domain (if you don’t have one already), and access to bigger and better servers.

Plus, if you aren’t satisfied for any reason, you can have a full refund within the first 30 days.

Pros

  • Affordable options
  • Satisfaction guarantee
  • Round the clock customer support

Cons

  • Charges in USD

2. SiteGround – Best WordPress Hosting

If you’re looking for a web hosting service that does it all – and does it all well – consider SiteGround. The company’s hosting plans include security services, including free SSL certificates, automatic site backups, and built-in GDPR compliance.

SiteGround’s exclusive plugin, SuperCacher, keeps your site loading faster than many other services. It’s imperative that your site loads quickly, or you’ll lose customers and experience a lower SEO ranking as a result of search engine penalties for slow websites.

Even if you aren’t an experienced website designer or manager, you’ll find SiteGround simple to use. The company provides access to a large variety of educational support materials, including tutorials and e-books. When you need more individualised help, their customer support is available within an average of a ten-minute wait time via chat, phone, or help tickets.

The benefits of choosing SiteGround don’t end there. Basic plans include the promise of a 99% uptime with 10 GB of SSD storage. They also have data centres around the globe to optimize user experiences, regardless of where your ideal customer lives.

Pros

  • WordPress recommends their services
  • Easy to use
  • Lots of included features, including CDN and SSL
  • Fast loading speeds

Cons

  • Expect expensive renewal costs

3. A2 Hosting- Best Reseller Hosting

A reseller website has unique needs compared to other business or lifestyle pages. When you’re selling products to a large audience, you need your pages to be online and to load fast. Plus, you’re likely to have more sales and landing pages than other businesses. That’s why you need a hosting service that understands your business model.

A2 Hosting provides excellent, customised service for resellers. They offer a reseller-specific hosting package, in addition to shared hosting, VPS, or the purchase of dedicated servers.

They claim to have “turbo servers” and live up to that name. A2 Hosting claims to offer 20x the speed of other companies. This fast setup combines with reliable uptimes and four data centres across the globe to ensure your pages will load lightning-fast for your target audience, no matter where you sell.

If you ever have issues, their customer service agents are knowledgeable and always available. They’ll even move your existing website to their servers for free to ensure an issue-free transition.

Pros

  • Extremely reliable
  • Fast customer service
  • Multiple server locations worldwide
  • No storage limits

Cons

  • Charges USD instead of AUD

4. GreenGeeks – Great Web Hosting for Small Businesses

Environmentalists often find themselves stuck between being a successful part of the digital world and living their morals. Hosting a website takes a remarkable amount of energy. With GreenGeeks, you don’t have to choose between your values and your online presence.

This impressive company puts triple their energy consumption back into the grid through renewable energy sources, primarily wind. After over a decade in business, they’ve demonstrated that eco-friendly hosting is here to stay.

GreenGeeks is more than a team of tree huggers. They also offer high-quality service with a thirty-day money-back guarantee. Every hosting plan includes an unlimited amount of storage for email addresses, disk use, and bandwidth.

You can reach the GreenGeeks customer service agents, called hosting specialists, at any hour of the day. They have email, chat, phone, and support ticket help options. Because they’ve been around for so long, there is also a large amount of helpful information across the web.

Pros

  • Reduces the environmental impact of web hosting
  • No limits to email addresses, storage, or bandwidth
  • Data centres in multiple locations

Cons

  • Charges USD
  • Free domain only for the first year

5. Kinsta – Best Managed WordPress Hosting

If you use WordPress for your website design, then consider Kinsta for the best web hosting in Australia. Many household names, like TripAdvisor and FreshBooks, use Kinsta to host their giant sites. If Kinsta is capable enough for these big businesses, then you can feel confident that your website will be in good hands with this company as well.

Kinsta combines multiple technologies and over twenty data storage locations to keep your website blazing fast. They employ Google Cloud servers for data storage, which comes with a 99% uptime guarantee.

Security can be an issue for many WordPress users, but it won’t be when you choose Kinsta for your hosting. They include free SSL certificates with every website, plus DDOS protection, GeoIP blocking, and the Google Cloud firewall. If these measures fail and your site gets hacked, they’ll help you repair it as part of your subscription.

To add even more value to the subscription, Kinsta offers top-notch online customer service. There are no phone options for support help, but you won’t even miss them because the online service is so remarkable.

Pros

  • Optimised for WordPress websites
  • Enhanced security options
  • Quality customer service
  • Google Cloud storage with 99% uptime

Cons

  • Support is only available online

6. Bluehost – Great Web Host for Bloggers

Bluehost was one of the early leaders in the website hosting field. However, they have fallen far from their reign at the top in recent years. Most of the complaints revolve around customer support help and slow speeds.

The company is working to improve their standing once again. As a result, they’re increasing their customer support access and the available hosting options. Bluehost now offers dedicated, cloud, shared, and WordPress hosting in addition to VPS.

Bluehost’s customer support agents are available 24/7. You can reach them via chat, phone, or help tickets. Because the company has been around for so long, there are also many forums, help blogs, and video tutorials.

A redeeming benefit of Bluehost is the site performance statistics included with their subscriptions. Even the cheapest plan includes 25 GB of RAM and pages that load within three seconds. Their “high performance” package reduces the number of pages per server by 80%. This decrease guarantees that your account will have impressive speed and power, even from the other side of the world.

Pros

  • Variety of hosting options
  • Affordable pricing
  • SSL included with service
  • 25 GB of ram with the cheapest hosting

Cons

  • All servers are in the United States
  • History of poor service

7. Cloudways – Best Cloud Hosting

Cloudways’ website hosting service is not for beginners. However, if you have decent computer skills, you can save money using this service. You’ll have an extremely high-performing website at a fraction of the price of comparable hosts.

Instead of having a large facility of servers in a physical location, Cloudways uses existing cloud storage services to hold their website data. The cloud storage eliminates the physical restrictions to your website size or speed. As a result, you can grow your site endlessly without consequence.

The cheapest plan includes 1 GB of cloud memory. This information is cached all around the world to ensure that your website visitors will have positive experiences without lag, regardless of their browsing location.

The customer service team at Cloudways receives rave reviews. Most customers are satisfied with the extensive knowledge of the representatives and with the support they receive. You can contact an agent through a request form, live chat, or you can request a phone call.

Pros

  • Fast speeds and high performance
  • Prompt, knowledgeable customer service
  • Facilitate easy scaling of a website

Cons

  • Not for beginners or users without extensive computer skills

8. HostPapa – Great Web Hosting for eCommerce

If you run an Australian website and want a company that meets your unique needs, consider HostPapa. They offer many Australian-specific services with .com.au domain names and prices charged in AUD.

HostPapa includes many features in its low-cost hosting services. Every website receives 100 GB of storage, an SSL, a domain name, and site migration included in their subscription. Other budgets cannot match these perks.

With 24/7 support available via every method imaginable, you’ll never find yourself struggling with your website alone. HostPapa even includes options for one-on-one virtual training sessions with their expert team. The service upholds their 99.9% uptime guarantee, so you won’t find yourself calling frequently for help with a down website. This allows you to focus on growth and perfecting your online presence, instead of struggling with the same problems repeatedly.

To make HostPapa even more impressive, they offset all of their hosting power consumption with green energy.

Pros

  • Low rates charged in AUD
  • .com.au domain name registration
  • Eco-friendly with energy offsets
  • Free migration
  • 100 GB of storage
  • Supports most other CMSs and offers a local website builder

Cons

  • None

9. HostGator – Decent Web Host for Beginners

Every cent matters when you’re running a business or creating a website on a budget. As a result of choosing the most affordable option, you might find yourself missing some of the features that come from hosting at a slightly higher price point. With HostGator, you will not have the security, speed, or uptimes that other hosting services provide.

The primary benefit of HostGator is the low monthly price and lack of a lengthy contract. They also provide round the clock customer service via phone, chat, screen share, or even fax. You’ll never question if you’re getting your money’s worth out of the HostGator service.

HostGator also allows you to use a combination of HDD and SSD hard drives to customise your website loading speeds. This option is critical when combating the distance between the United States data hub and Australian users. They also allow unmetered bandwidth. Control over these features can help boost your website’s user experience and increase your search engine rankings.

For affordable, acceptable web hosting services without extravagant features, consider HostGator.

Pros

  • Affordable monthly cost
  • Unmetered bandwidth
  • Your choice of HDD and SSD hard drives
  • 24/7 customer support

Cons

  • All servers are in the United States
  • Subscription lacks security features

10. DreamHost

Sometimes, you need a website that you can set up and then ignore most of the time. Not every site has the goal of ranking the highest in Google’s search engine results or experiencing record numbers of visitors every day. If that’s you, then consider DreamHost.

This hosting platform has been around with consistent service for a long time. As other companies constantly shift their pricing structure, feature offerings, and user interface, DreamHost remains relatively the same. They provide service you can depend upon time and again. If an issue arises, they have customer service available via phone, messenger, or help tickets 24/7.

Another benefit of DreamHost is their commitment to keeping both you and your website protected. Every site receives free SSL and whois privacy.

The biggest downside to DreamHost is their location. All of their solid-state data servers are in the United States. For Australian website owners, a storage location across the world can significantly slow down your website.

Pros

  • 24/7 customer support
  • Long-standing reputation for quality
  • Free domain name and SSL
  • 97-day refund policy

Cons

  • Servers are only in the United States
  • Must prepay for three years for competitive pricing

How to Find The Best Web Host for Australia

Ultimately, the best website hosting service is the one that works for you. Elements like your monthly traffic or type of site affect your needs.

Below, we’ve described all of the key features to look for when choosing the best web hosting in Australia for you. These features have the potential to affect the search engine optimisation (SEO) and usability of your website.

If you don’t select a hosting service that will meet your needs, then you’ll have to experience the hassle of switching your website to a new host and might waste money in the process.

Server Location

The Internet makes it possible to send information across the planet in an instant. However, your site will load even faster when the data has a shorter distance to travel.

For a fast site, you want the hosting as close to you as possible. Plus, customer service will be in your time zone.

Uptime

Uptime refers to the amount of time your website is available online. The majority of web hosting providers promise impressive statistics but don’t deliver.

You want a web hosting service that is reliable with stable uptime and response times. Third-party verification like our list provides more reliable information on a service provider than their sales page.

Disk Space

Your host stores all of the data for your website. This information may be a few small files for a blog or small business website, but it can also include many GB’s for more expansive web pages. Check to see how much storage your hosting subscription includes.

Regardless of your site size, try to find an Australian web host that uses SDD drives instead of HDDs. These drives provide faster performance.

Bandwidth and Data Transfer

Bandwidth describes how fast data moves between the host and the website visitor. Data transfer references the volume of data that flows between your host and your site users in a given month.

Many hosting companies limit the amount of data transfer your site can facilitate. Find one with a limit that will allow your website to both function and grow.

Speed

Website speed is one of the factors Google uses when it ranks pages for its search engine results. You need a site that won’t push you down in the rankings.

You want an Australian web hosting service that optimises their systems to have quick response times. Location alone is not enough to keep your site loading quickly.

Support

It’s essential to have options to connect with your website hosting service’s customer support team. The top providers offer a combination of communication options, including phone calls, chat, support tickets, and written or video tutorials.

Check to see if your potential host outsources their customer service. In-house and local support teams typically provide quicker and more helpful information. However, outsourced teams are often more consistently available.

Security

Another feature that Google considers when ranking your website is site security. Before, this was only a requirement for online sellers, but now it is essential for all websites.

A Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is the technology that best protects your digital visitors. Be sure your web hosting service offers this as a feature.

TIP: Remember we are website experts. We do website hosting and web hosting for free!

Best Web Hosting Malaysia

Selecting the best server hosts can be daunting in any context, especially when searching in a specific country for the most competitive hosting service. As an online-based agency with myriad web hosting accounts, we have extensive experience finding the best web hosting Malaysia has to offer.

We would like to share that information with you, so we went through an array of accounts using live tracking. Our panel carefully reviewed which web hosts are working well in Malaysia and which failed to make the cut.

TIP: Remember we are website experts. We do website hosting and web hosting for free!

Below, our team of experts has compiled an extensive comparison page that explores each of those top hosting pages for Malaysia. Our experts have created several other similar lists, if you’d like to have a look:

  • Best web hosting Australia
  • Best web hosting Canada
  • Best web hosting Singapore
  • Best web hosting UK

Best Web Hosting Malaysia 2021 – Reviews

Many factors influence our web hosting reviews, including:

  • Uptime
  • Support Options and Response Time
  • Speed
  • Server Locations
  • Ease of Use
  • Cost vs. Value
  • Disk Space

Support and speed are the top considerations because a one-second delay could cause your page views to decrease by as much as 11%. In simpler terms, your web service provider’s efficiency makes a significant impact on the success of your website.

Here are the Top Ten Best Web Hosting services for Malaysia, detailing the costs, support, disk space, and benefits. Even though Godaddy is not listed here, they too are great and reputable web hosts. You can inspect the Godaddy 2020 Annual Report to see how big they really are. Bigger is however not always better, so enjoy the list below:

1. Hostinger – Best Cheap Web Host

Price: Mid-range

Disk Space: 10 GB

Support: Live Chat

Hostinger was established in 2004 and has over 29 million users. It is popular for providing quality service at attainable prices compared to other web hosting sites that offer the same package. It also has an incredible customer service reputation.

For the basic package, you will get a free domain name, unlimited storage, unlimited bandwidth, hPanel, and localized 24/7 support via live chat.

Hostinger scored 5 ms in Singapore, which means that Malaysia-based customers can expect the same level of responsiveness.

You can rely on Hostinger to provide 99.9% guaranteed uptime, too. Everything is smooth and convenient from the site setup to the daily operations.

Even first-timers can have their site up quickly with Hostinger’s well-planned setup. It guides you through each step, from securing a domain name to installing your preferred CMS.

Hostinger offers a variety of hosting types that include shared hosting (the cheapest option), VPS, Cloud hosting, WordPress hosting, and email hosting.  

The downside is that there’s no free SSL or daily backups unless you opt for their Premium plan, which includes free weekly backups and other server resources.

It also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Pros

  • Competitive prices for plans
  • Excellent customer service
  • Beginner-friendly

Cons

  • No free SSL or daily backups

2. SiteGround – Best WordPress Host

Price: Upper Mid-range

Disk Space: 10 GB

Support: Phone, Live Chat, Tickets

SiteGround is one of the fastest web hosting providers in Malaysia with an A+ rating across the world.

For an affordable price, you receive 10GB SSD storage, cPanel and SSH access, free SSL certificates, and free Cloudflare CDN. You won’t have to worry about losing any of your work with the free automated daily backup feature, either.

If you’re a WordPress user, this is the recommended web hosting provider.

The CDN function runs on Cloudflare, enabling accelerated speed. This feature allows users to access your website on local servers around the world. It also means the service will route any site visitor to the fastest location.

SiteGround also sports a 99.9% uptime guarantee and a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Hosting packages include shared hosting, WordPress hosting, eCommerce hosting, reseller hosting, and cloud hosting. It is incredibly user-friendly and easy to setup.

The premium GrowBig plan and higher packages provide customization features to personalize your hosting setup, too. It uses SuperCacher, a custom-built plugin, to shorten your website’s loading time.

SiteGround’s best feature is its customer support, with an average response time of only ten minutes. The offices are reachable via phone, live chat, or tickets.

The only downside of SiteGround is the expensive renewal (much higher than your initial annual fee).

Pros

  • Affordable
  • Effective hosting
  • Automated features
  • Easy setup
  • User-friendly

Cons

  • High renewal fees

3. A2 Hosting – Best Reseller Web Host

Price: Mid-range

Disk Space: Unlimited

Support: Phone, Live Chat, Tickets

A2 Hosting‘s data center resides in Singapore, which is why it offers accelerated speeds in Asia. If you are primarily targeting a Southeast Asian audience, A2 is one of the best web hosts you will find.

If you are looking at a worldwide audience, A2 still provides moderate loading speeds.

It offers two plans—Swift and Turbo.

The Swift plan provides an array of speed-enhancing features, including PHP 7, SSD storage, and an A2 Optimized WordPress app. It automatically optimizes your WordPress website to ensure the fastest loading speeds available.

The host can also handle migrating your website from your old web hosting provider to your A2 platform for free.

The Turbo plan will give you loading speeds twenty times faster than competing web hosting providers. With an extra fee, it will provide you with more server resources to improve your website speed.

Although it is not recommended for WordPress (WP), A2 still provides excellent performance with WP websites. Apart from WP, the server is well-optimized with other CMS points, such as Joomla. The package also includes one-script installers for added convenience.

In terms of hosting, A2 offers shared hosting, reseller hosting, VPS, and dedicated servers. It provides support through live chat, email, phone, and support tickets.

Pros

  • Great for Southeast Asian audiences
  • Flexible solutions for optimized pages
  • Live support

Cons

  • Not ideal for WordPress

4. GreenGeeks – Best Green Web Host for Small Business

Price: MYR Mid-range

Disk Space: Unlimited

Support: Phone, Live Chat, Tickets

GreenGeeks first entered the web hosting business in 2008, skyrocketing to success. The growth is mostly thanks to multiple data centers worldwide, but it also boasts fantastic performance, excellent support, and advocacy for a greener world.

GreenGeeks reduces its energy consumption as much as three times using wind energy, for example.

Some of the features include unlimited bandwidth, unlimited disk space, email accounts, and a free domain name (registrar service) on your first year of subscription. The customer support is on point through their global workforce, reachable 24/7 in any timezone through email, live chat, ticket, or phone.

Like most web-hosting providers, GreenGeeks offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee in their hosting platform.

It uses Solid State RAID-10 Storage Arrays, PowerCacher, PHP 7, and free CDN through Cloudflare.

Pros

  • Green advocacy
  • Worldwide support
  • Unlimited bandwidth and disk space

Cons

  • Renewal fees tend to increase significantly after the first year

5. Kinsta – Best Managed WordPress Hosting

Price: Premium

Disk Space: 10 GB

Support: Live Chat, Tickets

Kinsta hosts some of the most popular websites, such as Tripadvisor, Ubisoft, and FreshBooks. If you’re looking for a reliable WordPress hosting provider, this is your best option.

It also offers competitive, affordable packages and 99.9% uptime guarantee through the infrastructure that runs on Google Cloud.

Kinsta has over twenty locations worldwide. You can improve the performance of your site since Kinsta created an in-house caching plugin to serve your site and integrate it with KeyCDN. Wherever you are, expect fast and reliable loading speeds.

A recent addition is the self-healing PHP and an auto-optimizing DB feature. On top of the 10 GB storage, the plan comes with a backup system, SSL certificates, and an uptime monitor.

Kinsta doesn’t skimp on security and includes DDOS protection, GeoIP blocking, and the Google Cloud firewall. Should your site get hacked, support will help you out free of charge.

If you have the budget to spend, this is the web hosting provider you need.

The only downside is that Kinsta doesn’t have phone support, though the online support is excellent.

Pros

  • Automated features
  • Backup
  • Trending security
  • Reliable
  • Excellent online support

Cons

  • No phone support

6. BlueHost – Great Web Host for Beginners

Price: Mid-range

Disk Space: 50 GB

Support: Phone, Live Chat, Tickets

Like HostGator, BlueHost has been one of the pioneers in web hosting. It was owned and operated by EIG, which adversely affected its performance and function, but it has been improving the hosting solutions and quality of service ever since.

BlueHost offers a generous 50 GB of disk space, free SSL, and free domain. It also has affordable hosting options, such as shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS, and dedicated servers. The standard shared hosting gives your website an average loading time of two to three seconds—not bad for its price tag.

Premium packages offer lower density servers for quicker loading speed.

The in-house customer support team has extensive technical experience and knowledge, providing quality support services through live chat, phone, or tickets.

The downside is that Malaysia is a continent away from the US, where BlueHost’s data centers reside, which affects loading speeds.

Pros

  • Fair prices
  • In-house customer support

Cons

  • Data centers located in the US

7. Cloudways – Best Cloud Hosting

Price: Upper Mid-range

Disk Space: 25 GB

Support: Phone, Live Chat, Tickets

Cloudways isn’t as intuitive as other hosts, but it has extensive features that allow you to manage, deploy, and monitor high-performance apps and websites directly through cloud servers. If you have experience navigating a server, this host could be a good option for you.

Cloudways has excellent customer support through tickets, live chat, and online forms. You can request a call back 24/7 or access the community forum and receive real-time updates on their system status through the Cloudways System Status page.

Performance-wise, you won’t have any issues. It is built on CloudwaysCDN with a custom plugin for WordPress called Breeze, speeding up loading times for your site. It has also integrated full-page caching for Joomla to maximize loading speed.

Prices vary depending on your choice of plan. As a rule, it uses PHP 7-ready servers and solid-state hard drives for top-performance acceleration compared to other hosts.

It does require more time to learn and setup if you are a beginner, though.

Pros

  • Flawless performance
  • Excellent customer service
  • Direct cloud server support

Cons

  • Not intuitive for beginners

8. HostPapa – Great Web Hosting for eCommerce sites

Price: Lower range

Disk Space: 100 GB

Support: Phone, Live Chat, Tickets

HostPapa offers many freebies and features in an affordable web hosting plan. New accounts will get 100 GB of SSD storage, free migration, free domain name, and free SSL for security, to name a few benefits.

Like other web-hosting providers, there is a 30-day money-back guarantee.

In terms of hosting options, it has shared web hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated servers. The base plan is impressive matched with their 99.9% uptime guarantee service, too.

If you want speed boosters, such as access to premium servers, more resources, and fewer accounts per server, it is available for a higher fee through HostPapa’s Business Pro plan.

The customer support is amazing and highly accessible through email, phone, fax, live chat, and support tickets. The HostPapa support team is reachable 24/7, and you can book a one-on-one online training session with one of their hosting experts.

Pros

  • Affordable base plan with lots of freebies
  • Better performance with premium plans
  • Guaranteed uptime

Cons

  • Renewal fees are higher than normal

9. HostGator

Price: Lower range

Disk Space: Unlimited

Support: Phone, Live Chat, Tickets

HostGator is one of the longest-running web hosting providers out there. If you are looking for an affordable provider with unlimited storage, this is your best bet.

Customer support, performance, and security equal the value represented, however.

The host has a US server, which means slower loading times for Malaysia and other continents. If your target audiences are within Malaysia or Southeast Asia, it would be better to find a local data center.

HostGator offers shared hosting, WordPress hosting, cloud hosting, reseller, VPS, and dedicated servers.

On the plus side, HostGator is easy to reach if you need to report a problem through live chat, phone, fax, or share your screen in real-time. HostGator’s customer support is available 24/7 with access to a comprehensive library of helpful video tutorials.

The best part about HostGator is the unmetered bandwidth and customized server installations for improved speed and more virtual control. It also offers flexible HDD and SSD hard drives.

Pros

  • Unlimited storage
  • Unlimited Bandwidth
  • Affordable plans
  • Tutorials for hosting

Cons

  • US server location

10. DreamHost

Price: Upper mid-range

Disk Space: Unlimited

Support: Phone, Live Chat, Tickets

DreamHost is known for high-quality hosting services and customer support. It is one of the most reliable hosts on the market, providing extra security and privacy for customers.

DreamHost gives free SSL and free WHOIS privacy that conceals your domain registration information, for example.

It provides shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS, and dedicated servers. There is also a wide range of packages with solid-state drives and unlimited bandwidth. If you want faster loading speeds, upgrade to a Fast Cloud Server or a Managed VPS Server.

Customer support is made easy by logging into your DreamHost account. The team is reachable through live chat, email, phone, and ticket submissions. A community forum is also available among DreamHost customers to share experiences and ask questions.

The downside is the US data centers, which slow loading speeds in Malaysia. It also requires a three-year advance payment for lower rates.

It doesn’t sound like the safest option for Malaysian companies, but it does offer a 97-day money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with the service.

Pros

  • SSD-powered servers
  • Upgrades for faster loading
  • Community forum

Cons

  • No local data centers

How to Find the Best Web Host for Malaysia

Finding the best web hosting service in Malaysia can be challenging.

Hosting is a technical matter, but even for techy folks, the complicated concepts and the jargon can be frustrating, especially for region-specific services within Malaysia.

The key is focus. If you’re looking for a hosting provider that suits your website needs, these features are essential:

  • Server Location affects your site performance depending on the location of your site visitors
  • Uptime is how often your site is live
  • Disk Space is your site’s capacity to handle files and text, which take up memory
  • Bandwidth and Data Transfer affect your site’s performance depending on the hosting plan
  • Speed relates to how fast your site loads, independent of your site visitor’s internet connection
  • Support is how users contact your host, and how frequently they respond
  • Security is how well your site processes accounts and payments

Server Location

Determine your target audience and their primary location. Is it in Malaysia? Target a hosting provider that has servers near to where visitors are accessing your site.

Uptime

The best web hosting in Malaysia requires 99.99% uptime. As a website owner, you need your website to run 24/7, especially when you run ads for revenue. Read the reviews on uptime concerns, too.

Disk Space

Your website’s content should have ample disk space allocation from your hosting provider. If you’re managing typical blog content, you’re fine settling for a regular hosting package. If you’re planning a much larger site or hosting subdomains, and web-apps, you should rather look for hosts that use SSD drives with high memory capacity and ultra-fast reading and writing speeds.

Bandwidth and Data transfer

The best web hosting Malaysia services often provide unlimited bandwidth and data transfer but pay close attention to the specifications or disclaimers. It applies especially to large files, like videos, high-resolution images, and complex animations.

Speed

Speed is the most critical consideration for a hosting provider. Site visitors tend to “bounce” away from your site if a page hasn’t loaded within milliseconds.

Speed and performance are significant factors for Google’s Search Engine Ranking algorithms, too. If your site is too slow, visitors become frustrated and click the “back” button, compounding your bounce rate and tanking your search ranking.

Support

Pay attention to how quickly and effectively the hosting provider can help you. Are they contactable via chat 24/7? Do they have an active call hotline? Do they only accept email queries, and what is the general response time?

Security

You may have heard of SSL certificates—the green ‘lock’ icons, usually on the top left-hand corner of a website. SSL certificates are essential, not just to allow your site to process payments and create accounts but also for search engine rankings.

Always choose hosting plans with free SSL certificates.

TIP: It’s also wise to select hosting providers with automated backup technology. Even though you’re searching for the best web hosting in Malaysia, GDPR-compliant services are non-negotiable.

TIP: Remember we are website experts. We do website hosting and web hosting for free!

Web hosting companies Domain name registration Statistics

Top domain name Registrars hosting domain names

Registrar Total % Gain/Loss
GoDaddy 61,587,392 0.19%
Tucows 9,987,230 0.40%
NameCheap 9,304,928 1.62%
Network Solutions 6,743,606 0.18%
HiChina 6,690,633 0.38%
eNom 4,901,482 -0.82%
GoogleInc 4,822,206 2.35%
1 & 1 INTERNET 4,678,599 -0.18%
PublicDomainRegistry 4,460,257 1.16%
GMO Internet 3,920,862 -1.05%

Top Domain Name registering Countries

Registrar’s Country Total % Gain/Loss
United States 121,258,163 0.43%
China 18,843,990 0.31%
Canada 11,495,126 0.21%
Germany 11,327,200 0.21%
India 4,979,815 0.17%
Japan 4,746,087 0.07%
France 3,791,409 0.17%
United Kingdom 2,958,626 0.17%
Australia 1,623,101 0.32%
Spain 1,468,332 0.26%

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