Best Web Hosting Services Of 2021: Forbes Advisor’s Top 10 Picks

MochaHost takes the No. 1 spot on our list because of its outstanding money-back guarantee and its feature-rich yet affordable plans. Typically, VPS and cloud hosting solutions are more expensive than shared hosting since users receive more flexibility and scalability. However, cloud-first provider MochaHost is able to offer an entry-level plan at just $1.95 per month.

With the basic plan, users get unlimited storage, unlimited email and a free lifetime SSL certificate. (Most competitors offer a free SSL certificate for one year.) As your business needs scale, MochaHost has higher-tier plans to match those needs. The business plan comes with a free lifetime domain, a website builder, migration assistance, automatic backups and more.

MochaHost’s Lightning Fast Guarantee claims to load websites faster than any other cloud hosting provider. That’s a big claim, and it’s bolstered with a 180-day money-back guarantee. It works like this: Within the first 30 days you can choose to cancel your plan for a full refund, or you can cancel within 31 to 180 days to be pro-rated for all unused hosting fees.

Who Should Use It: Business owners who have a lot of website content and prioritize website load speed.

If you’re working with a strapped budget, Ionos offers exceptionally affordable introductory plans that cover all of the essentials a business website needs. It’s important to note, however, that renewal pricing changes after your first year of use—so their business plan goes from $1 per month to $10 per month after the first 12 months.

Even at $10 per month, Ionos takes the lead in web page load speed and desirable features such as unlimited storage, earning it a spot in our top ten list of web hosting service providers. All plans include a professional email and free domain for a year.

A refreshing change of pace, Ionos’ breakdown of plans is easy to understand with expert recommendations of the most common customer scenarios—such as needing to host an online store or trying to find a better host for a WordPress website. Their website is fairly easy to navigate, with simple explanations of their services.

Who Should Use It: Business owners who plan to be more hands-on with their website and value personal guidance and knowledge documentation that cuts down on technical jargon.

When it comes to breadth of features and top-notch customer support, TMDHosting thrives. Users will find all types of hosting plans, including web hosting, cloud hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, reseller hosting and dedicated servers. Each type of hosting has multiple plans to choose from, so you’re bound to find the perfect fit.

Web hosting and cloud hosting usually make the most sense for small- to medium-sized businesses. As your business needs and website traffic grow, you might consider upgrading to VPS (virtual private servers) hosting or even dedicated servers. Having the option to move from one type to another all under one hosting provider is convenient and something to consider if you foresee rapid business growth.

Although TMDHosting doesn’t offer live chat support, they offer 24/7/365 support via phone or through their email ticketing system when phone hours are unavailable. Regardless of the method, they promise rapid responses in as little as 15 minutes.

However, if you prefer to learn and solve problems on your own, you may run into some outdated knowledge-base articles and tutorials.

Who Should Use It: Business owners who are on the hunt for a large suite of web hosting features and have high customer service standards.

Interserver made its way onto our best web hosting services list because they provide a lot of bang for your buck. With their standard web hosting plan, users get unlimited email accounts, unlimited SSD storage, free SSL certificates and even free website migration. Moving from one host to another can be a huge pain, so this feature definitely sets Interserver apart from others.

Another unique feature that Interserver offers is Intershield Security, which is an in-house security solution designed to block web attacks and automatically scan for viruses. Plus, it includes a pre-installed firewall powered by machine learning.

Inter-insurance is also included in all plans for free, which is a service that cleans up any compromised, hacked or exploited accounts at no extra charge. If you’re migrating your website, this service can be especially useful to start with a clean slate.

While Interserver may not have the most attractive interface, there are ample in-house solutions built into your hosting plan.

Who Should Use It: Businesses looking for robust website security and maintenance coverage.

InMotion has gained a reputation for being one of the best VPS hosting providers on the market. Although VPS hosting tends to be more expensive than shared web hosting, there are many benefits that support the higher price tag. VPS hosting allows websites to handle more traffic and boosts website speed—which is huge for e-commerce businesses.

InMotion’s VPS hosting plans come with a robust set of features, including unlimited emails, advanced firewall protection, resource monitoring dashboard and SSH and DDoS protection. These plans cost anywhere from $17.99 to $106.99 per month depending on the plan type and contract length.

If you’re looking for something a little more basic to get you started, their entry-level shared hosting plan comes in at just $2.49 per month. It has everything you need to get a business website started, including a free SSL, free email address and unlimited bandwidth. A step up at $4.99 per month is their Launch plan, which comes with a free domain and SSL, unlimited bandwidth, up to 10 email addresses and the ability to host up to 2 websites.

Another interesting service that InMotion offers (and outperforms competitors in) is their reseller hosting services. Reseller plans are white-labeled so you can use your own business branding on hosting services sold, and you get access to free billing software to make reselling easy. This can be a lucrative addition for business owners in the tech industry.

Who Should Use It: Business owners searching for VPS hosting solutions or those in the technology industry who want to resell web hosting services.

A2 Hosting gets an A+ for speed, which is what earned it a spot on our best web hosting services list. Their Turbo Boost and Turbo Max plans claim to be up to 20 times faster than other shared hosting plans. Although these plans are pricier at $9.99 to $14.99 per month, they come with a 30-day money-back guarantee so you can test it out for yourself before committing.

These plans also offer the ability to host unlimited websites and come with unlimited storage, free site migration services and free automatic backups. If you want a speedy website without all the extra bells and whistles, the Startup plan is just $2.99 per month and allows you to host one website with 100 GB SSD storage, and it comes with free website migration services.

A2 Hosting also offers other hosting solutions such as WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, reseller hosting and dedicated hosting—all developed with the mission to provide the fastest hosting services.

Who Should Use It: Businesses seeking the fastest web hosting solution.

If creating a website is totally new to you, the thought of navigating your web host’s cPanel and setting up the back-end might seem intimidating. HostPapa does a great job at making setup easy for anyone—which is why we’ve included them in our list of best website hosting providers.

Even with their basic starter plan, users still receive a free 30-minute training session, free website migration services and access to HostPapa’s 24/7 support team. (Support is available in English, Spanish, French and German.) If you feel like poking around on your own, HostPapa has an extensive knowledge base filled with tutorials and guides.

On to the actual hosting plans. They are jam-packed with features that make website setup, creation and maintenance easy. All plans come with a website builder, custom email addresses, free SSL certificate and security protocols such as server firewall and DDoS attack prevention.

Who Should Use It: Business owners who want high-touch website setup and maintenance support.

As the name implies, GreenGeeks is a green energy web hosting provider. Their platform is designed to maximize energy efficiencies, and they also promise to invest back three times their energy usage in wind energy credits. Summed up, the company isn’t just carbon-neutral but actively works to reduce our carbon footprint.

While their cause is an admirable one, it’s not the only reason it earned a spot on our top 10 list. GreenGeeks has amazing customer service with live chat and email support 24 hours a day every single day of the year—plus phone support for select hours.

Users get a lot of great features with available plans, such as a free domain for the first year, free SSL certificate and nightly back-ups. A free Cloudflare CDN integration also helps ramp up website speed. Although they don’t offer quite as many hosting plans as others, all of their plans are solid options that provide the essentials and more for any business owner.

Who Should Use It: Businesses who want to do their part in supporting green initiatives without compromising on performance or customer support.

GoDaddy is well-known as the go-to for purchasing website domains, and it also offers a variety of web hosting services to get your website up and running. Some of the more attractive draws to GoDaddy are their affordable hosting plans and the fact that you can purchase your domain, hosting and utilize their website builder to conveniently get your website running ASAP.

Their base plan is just $5.49 per month and comes with a 30-day money back guarantee (which is a guarantee that comes with all other plans). GoDaddy has an excellent customer service team available through live chat and the phone. While wait times can get lengthy during peak hours, you’ll get great support once connected.

GoDaddy also excels at providing their customers with thorough, easy-to-understand content in their Help Center, which includes a blog, knowledge base, how-to video library and a community forum.

While GoDaddy might fall short on certain hosting options (for instance, they do not offer cloud hosting), they more than make up for it with great support and a robust resource library to help you take off. They also offer a free hosting plan which is a zero-risk way to get a feel for their services.

Who Should Use It: Business owners with a “DIY” mindset will enjoy the rich resource library and knowledgeable customer support.

What sets Scala Hosting apart is their “Build Your Own Cloud VPS” hosting option. While many competitors offer self-managed and managed VPS hosting solutions, not many allow for the breadth and depth of customization that Scala Hosting offers.

With customized VPS hosting, you can choose the number of CPU cores and the amount of RAM storage and SSD space you’d like. You can even choose your preferred data center location and operating system. For business owners that are tech-savvy or who have a tech team, the level of customization Scala Hosting offers is huge.

On the other hand, if you’re simply looking for a shared hosting or WordPress hosting solution to get your website up and running, plans start as low as $3.95 and include all the essentials you’ll need to run a business website.

Who Should Use It: Business owners who want a customized cloud VPS hosting plan.