Introduction

Selecting the right Web Hosting Service might be one of the major decisions you will take for your business. This is because a web hosting service can have an important factor. It can have a direct and indirect impact on your revenues, sales, and profit margins.

Many companies look to Speed, Security, Uptime, Backups, and Tech Support when choosing the best web hosting service. A bad hosting service can eclipse all your efforts and investments in no time. Hosting services can start for a few dollars and can easily end up in the thousands.

Depending on the nature of your business needs and interests, it is important to evaluate your consideration. This article will help businesses, decision-makers, and entrepreneurs select the best web hosting service.

What is Web Hosting Services?

For many businesses, especially the ones in Ecommerce, websites are their standalone business. A web hosting service helps you host your website run efficiently and powerfully. In other words, if you want to get the most of your digital presence and performance, you need to collaborate with the best web hosting service.

The servers of a web hosting provider help store data, backups, ensure site speed and promote security. While bigger companies can have financial resources, smaller companies and startups cannot afford to do the same. This is why selecting the right web hosting service becomes more important for smaller businesses.

Even if you are running on a budget, you can afford some fantastic hosting services on a budget. Hosting companies also offer many discounts and coupons that can help reduce prices. In the following section, we look at some factors; you need to consider while choosing the best web hosting service.

The Criteria We Used to Select the Best Web Hosting Services

We test web hosting services in several fields to ascertain the quality of service that they provide. The main categories include;

Performance: In this case, we look at server optimization, page loading speed, and uptime.  A web hosting service that provides a reliable service will help you to attract and retain traffic. It is the best way to curb the challenge of the bounce rate.

Features: This refers to the number of resources that a plan provides. You will be looking at the special tools and other bonuses in every plan.

Ease of Use: Look at the ease of signing up for a service, using the available features, and managing your hosting.

Support: Elements like courtesy, professionalism, availability, and support channels matter when choosing the best web hosting services.

Best Web Hosting Services for 2021

  • Company
  • Main Features
  • Price
  • Rating
  • More
1
  • Beginner Friendly
  • Fast Server Speeds
  • Bundled Daily Backups
  • Incredible Server Uptime
  • Highly Scalable and Flexible
  • From
  • $2.95
  • 100%
  • score
2
  • Fast Server Speeds
  • Site Security Features
  • Stable and Strong Uptime
  • 45-Day Money-Back Guarantee
  • Free cPanel and Site Migrations
  • From
  • $2.75
  • 98%
  • score
3
  • Superb Uptime
  • Free Data Backups
  • Free SSL Certificate
  • Google Apps Integration
  • 90-Days Money-Back Guarantee
  • From
  • $3.99
  • 90%
  • score
4
  • Free CDN and SSL
  • Good Performance
  • Load Times of 673ms
  • Free Website Migration
  • 30 Day Money-Back Guarantee
  • From
  • $3.95
  • 100%
  • score
5
  • A2 Hosting is Fast
  • 24/7 Guru Support
  • Super-Fast Turbo Servers
  • 4. Uptime Guarantee of 99.9%
  • Anytime Moneyback Guarantee
  • From
  • $2.99
  • 94%
  • score
6
  • Website Backup
  • Basic Cheap Plan
  • Good Uptime of 99.97%
  • Single-Click Installation
  • Great Page Loading Speed
  • From
  • $4.99
  • 100%
  • score
7
  • Level of Control
  • Unlimited Features
  • Excellent 24/7 support
  • Allocation of Resources
  • Easy One-Click Installations
  • From
  • $0.99
  • 100%
  • score
8
  • Secure Infrastructure
  • Free malware cleanup
  • Unlimited email accounts
  • Power-Packed Hosting Plans
  • Datacenter Throughout the USA
  • From
  • $1.00
  • 100%
  • score
9
  • Nightly Backups
  • Firewall Protection
  • Optimized Website
  • Managed Server Options
  • Boost Speed and Security
  • From
  • $19
  • 80%
  • score
10
  • Free CDN
  • Free Website Migration
  • Good Page Loading Time
  • 30-day Money Back Guarantee
  • Good Support & Quick Answers
  • From
  • $2.95
  • 100%
  • score

Summary

How to Select the Best Web Hosting Service in 2021

The first step to creating your own website is buying website hosting. There are so many web hosting services out there, and you have to make sure that you are getting the best for your needs. However, we have so many people who are struggling with choosing the best web hosting service.

If you are going through such a situation, then you are not alone. This topic is a complex one, and it is not easy to discuss it comprehensively. This section will help you understand the most important things that you need to look for when buying a website host.

To start with, you need to ask yourself a few questions. If you get the answers right, you can be sure of getting a host that will meet your needs with the highest level of precision.

1. Should you Look at the Bandwidth?

The first thing to do when looking for the best web hosting services is to evaluate your bandwidth and disk space needs. If your website features so many graphics, lots of pages, and large traffic amounts, you will need a lot of disk space and bandwidth.

You can go for unlimited plans because they will make your life much easier. If you have a simple site that will not generate so much traffic, you can get away with less bandwidth and disk space.

2. Is Compatibility an Important Factor?

You also need to keep the element of compatibility in mind. When excited about looking for a web host, you can overlook the critical element, the kind of supported operating systems. No one wants to switch OS, so you need to double-check those before settling for a provider.

3. What About the Reliability of the Web Host?

When shopping for the best web hosting services, some of the critical characteristics to consider are availability and reliability. The best web hosting services will guarantee you an uptime of 98 to 100 percent. The rule of the thumb is that the higher the uptime, the better.

Some companies are quick in making these claims, but you have to prove that they are up to the task. The other element that you also need to look at here is the loading speed. Customers are looking for reliable websites that load fast.

4. Does the Security of the Host Matter

The other essential concern when looking for the best web hosting services is security. It is a big mistake to choose a host without learning about its security features. Some of the things to include here are authentication, daily backups, and firewalls.

It is good to get notifications whenever some changes have been made. The host should also alert you whenever these are suspicious activities. Closely evaluate these things so that you choose a host that will meet your needs best.

5. Are you Creating a Hobby Website or Business Site?

You need the right answer to this question. If you are developing a personal blog or hobby website, you will not require a top-tier hosting service as you will not be receiving a lot of traffic.

You can easily use shared or cheap plans for this purpose. However, if you create a website that requires a professional look, you should go for high-performance plans. It will make sure that you are always online and more secure.

6. Do You Need a Specialized Hosting?

Some of the common types of specialized hosting include podcast hosting, Windows hosting, and Linux hosting. There are only two cases that will make you worry about specialized hosting.

The first one is using an uncommon CMS (Content Management System) or custom-built sites. The second case is creating a website with so many media files that may overload an ordinary hosting plan.

7. What is Your Technical background?

If you are not familiar with the process of setting up a server, or simply you don’t want to do that, then you will want to stay far from dedicated hosts and servers such as the DigitalOcean. It is better to go for a plan that comes with a simple control panel and a managed server for managing your websites.

8. How Many Sites do You Have?

You will discover that every hosting company offers several plans for a single type of hosting. One of the differences between the plans is the number of resources such as the hard drive space and bandwidth.

These features determine the number is websites that you can host on one hosting plan. If you are developing one website, there is no need to go for so many resources.

However, if you plan to create 10 to 20 websites on one hosting plan, the cheapest plan will not work for you. Make sure you choose a hosting plan that can accommodate the number of sites you want to build.

9. Where is the Location of Your Audience?

The data of your website is stored on a server that your host either rents or owns. When visitors get to your website, they have to request the server's data before obtaining it.

The site will load faster if your visitors are close to the server. Therefore, it is wise to choose a host with servers from where most of your audience resides. Some hosts allow you to select the location of the server, while others don’t.

10. Is Support Important to You

The other question that you need to ask yourself is to what extent is supported important to you? If you have a difficult time with the technical elements of hosting a website, then the support team will come in handy.

You will need a host that offers 24/7 support to help you in case you get stuck. However, you need to be aware of the cheap hosting companies that offer 24/7 care. Most of them outsource the services, and their support may not be so helpful.

Common Website Hosting Solutions

Different website hosts offer varied types of hosting. You have to make sure that you choose the right type of hosting, depending on the website you want to build. Here is an overview of every type of hosting and when to choose the option.

1. Shared Hosting

This is the cheapest option and is easy to find. If you come across a plan that just costs a few dollars per month and does not tell you which plan is this, just know that it is the shared option.

Your website(s) will share the resources from one server with other users and sites. The unfortunate thing is that if the other users have websites with so much of the shared resources, your website will become slower or even go down.

2. VPS or Virtual Private Server

Like the shared hosting plan, you will be sharing a server with the other users. However, there are many resources specially reserved for your website(s) when it comes to VPS hosting. It makes sure that the performance is more consistent, but you will pay slightly higher.

3. Cloud Hosting

The hosting companies that offer cloud hosting own so many servers, which are typically in various locations. When it comes to cloud hosting, you will use a small section of the multiple servers that are required.

You will typically be paying for cloud hosting as you utilize it and get a bill at the end of the month, depending on the number of resources you used. If you have a spike in traffic, the cloud network of servers will easily handle the extra resources without affecting your website.

If you are not sure of your website(s) resources, you need to go for cloud hosting. It is the best option if you suspect your website will go viral at some point.

4. Reseller Hosting

With the reseller hosting plan, you will be able to sell the hosting to other users. A host gives you so many resources and allows you to divide them; however you wish. You will be able to create your own small hosting plan that is powered by a bigger host.

5. WordPress Hosting

Typically, WordPress hosting is a cloud, Shared, or VPS hosting. It explains why the pricing for this plan tends to vary from one host to another. The main difference is that the servers that are used in WordPress hosting host the WordPress CMS alone. It means that you can optimize these servers to run WordPress more securely and faster. Also, it is usually automatic to install WordPress

6. Joomla Hosting

Like WordPress Hosting, it can be cloud hosting, shared hosting, or any other plan. However, the servers that the company uses for this plan are typically optimized for Joomla. Your website will basically run faster, and the installation is also faster.

7. Drupal Hosting

Drupal is another popular content management system, and this explains why some web hosts offer a specialized hosting plan for it. The servers that serve this hosting plan are optimized to run Drupal more securely and fast.

8. Linux Hosting

Linux is an operating system like Windows, and most hosting services run on it. However, you can come across some hosting plans marketed as ‘Linux’ hosting, but they target developers.

Linux hosting can be any type of hosting among the ones that we have discussed above. It comes with route access that grants developers more control over the software that can run via a hosting account.

FAQs

Hosting control panels allows you to access and modify website files easily with no need for technical knowledge. Unless you know how to use a terminal to configure a server, the only option you have is using a control panel. The most popular control panels are the cPanel and Plesk. The cPanel is the host, and most web hosting companies offer at least one of them. However, some companies will charge you an extra fee for the same.
Control panels such as contain have auto-installer scripts that make it easy to install common open-source software such as Joomla and WordPress, among others. You choose the software you wish to use, type in a few details, and get installed on the hosting server you are using. It is much easier and faster than using a terminal to install the software.
When someone talks about ‘resources,’ they are referring to disk space and bandwidth. Bandwidth refers to when data is being transferred from the host server to the website of the visitor. The more pages a person visits, and the bigger the pages are (like those with lots of images), the more bandwidth it will consume. Disk space is the amount of space that is on the server. If the hosting plan is giving you 1GB of disk space, your site's files cannot exceed that amount. Large websites call for more disk space.
Managed hosting implies that the hosting company will take care of your backend server maintenance and setup. It entails keeping your website as secure as possible by making backups and updating software. Managed WordPress hosting is usually offered because WordPress tends to have so many huge security holes if it is not updated regularly. If you just go for regular WordPress hosting services, you will have to take care of your own updates.
So many people find the term ‘server’ to be intimidating. A server is more of a computer with no monitor and is stored in a huge data center. Servers are used in storing website files that visitors will request upon visiting your site.
Several web hosts offer an uptime guarantee to customers. The meaning is that if your website is down for a certain time within the month, you will be entitled to a certain form of reimbursement. Most of them offer an uptime guarantee of at least 99%, which is quite impressive. If the uptime is crucial for your brand, go for a host with an uptime guarantee of 99.99% or higher. Very few companies offer an uptime guarantee of 100%. However, this does not imply that companies with a low or no uptime guarantee will be down most of the time. What they don’t have is just a guarantee, but they could be the best.
Some hosting companies, such as GoDaddy, do offer email hosting. It is a premium email service that is tailored towards enterprises hosted to servers dedicated to receiving and sending emails securely. Some hosts will offer you free email accounts, but they are not secure. Small and medium-sized enterprises that need so many emails for their employees or require handling sensitive data need to purchase email hosting.
The best web hosting services normally secure their servers with proactive malware monitoring. The backup will also protect your site in case someone tries to compromise it. Besides, all business websites should use SSL because it is cheap and easy to setup. Most web hosts will give you a free SSL certificate that is quite easy to install.
A content delivery network refers to a network of servers that are distributed all over the world. You can store the website files on a CDN, and it will replicate them on multiple servers globally. It helps the visitor to load your site quickly regardless of their location.
The term CMS refers to a content management system, a software piece that helps users create and publish content like media, pages, or blogs on websites. The most popular content management systems are Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress.
It is difficult to tell the storage and bandwidth you need if you don’t have historical data. There are storage and bandwidth space calculators that you can use in trying to estimate what you need. Generally speaking, a standard WordPress website just needs a few hundreds of MBs. Therefore, new websites can begin on websites that don’t offer a lot of space. New sites don’t have so much space, and all that you need are just a few GBs of bandwidth.
Websites with SSL protection will give your browser that tiny lock sign adjacent to the URL bar as you visit it. SSL (secure sockets layer) makes the website more secure to your visitors once they submit their data like payment information, email address, etc. It encrypts data transfers on your website so that malicious third-party people cannot steal it easily.
If buying and setting up a host is overwhelming to you, you can alternatively use a builder like Weebly or Wix. The website comes with inbuilt hosting, so the only thing you will worry about is building your website. The only weakness is that you will have to utilize the website builder you choose instead of choosing a popular CMS such as WordPress.
If you are leaving your website host, either because you have outgrown what they have to offer or their service is no longer good enough, you will have to migrate to a new website host. Migration refers to the transfer of the files for your website and the settings to a new host. Most hosts provide free migration if the host you are coming from uses a control panel such as cPanel.
We have websites that offer unmetered or unlimited or unlimited bandwidth and disk space. If you choose such a plan, you will not have to worry about bandwidth or disk space. However, unlimited hosting plans are typically offered on shared plans. However, this will not assure you that your website will perform optimally because it may still load slowly.

Conclusion

From this discussion, you have a brief overview and features of some of the best web hosting services in the market. What is good for one website owner will not necessarily be a great option for another person.

You need to choose a service and plan depending on your current and future web hosting needs. It explains why we explain how to choose the best web hosting services and the various options in the market.

You need a service that will accommodate all your data and one with the best uptime and response rate. With the best choice, you can be sure that you will have an exemplary customer experience for your users.

You will not miss a chance to get more revenue because of relying on unreliable web hosting services—all the best as you shop for the best web hosting services that match your needs.

Mashum Mollah

Mashum Mollah has been there in the blogging industry for over a decade. He has always believed that blogging holds the most potential in the digital marketing industry. With years of research, he has created some of his best blogging practices, which have helped him establish himself in the industry as a Blogging Engineer. Now he is on a mission to help others and spread the concept of Blogging Engineer.