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SiteGround

SiteGround Review

SiteGround is a leading WordPress hosting service provider. They're officially recommended hosting company by WordPress.org and offer automatic WordPress upgrades, built-in WP caching, CDN, one-click staging, and more. They are one of the few companies that provide location-specific hosting with 5 data centers globally.

Table of Contents
Overall
Rating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star Full   5.0 / 5.0
Features
Rating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star Full   5.0 / 5.0
Performance
Rating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star Full   5.0 / 5.0
Support
Rating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star Full   5.0 / 5.0
Ease of Use
Rating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star Full   5.0 / 5.0
Pricing
Rating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star Full   5.0 / 5.0
FAQs
SiteGround FAQs
User Reviews
1,298 User Reviews
Overall Rating
Rating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star Full   5.0 / 5.0

SiteGround Review: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

siteground-godaddy-hosting-alternatives

Having data centers in 3 continents, SiteGround provides superior site experience to your visitors regardless of their geographical location. SiteGround is one of the few top hosting brands that’s not been acquired by Endurance International Group, a leading web hosting company.

SiteGround stacks up against the competition by providing the latest speed technologies and proactive security practices with all their hosting plans. They offer enhanced performance with NGINX, HTTP/2, PHP7 and free CDN.

They also offer optimized solutions for different open source applications including WordPress and Magneto.

If you need a great hosting service, which is stable, secure and super fast, SiteGround is the best choice.

  • Free auto daily backups
  • Free Cloudflare CDN
  • Free Let’s Encrypt SSLs
  • Files are stored in SSD (Solid State Drive) storage as opposed to HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
  • Regular price $9.95 / mo. but our users pay $3.95 / mo!
  • Get started with SiteGround today!
Cheap Hosting Rating
Rating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star Full   5.0 / 5.0

SiteGround Cheap Hosting Review

siteground cheap hosting

SiteGround offers cheap hosting, also known as shared hosting, which is the best option for users who are just starting out and need an affordable hosting solution. With cheap hosting, many websites will share resources of the same server, which makes the cost low.

Although it’s the SiteGround’s cheapest hosting option available, there’s nothing to be concerned since your files and data will be secure in the server.

SiteGround offers 3 different shared hosting plans: Startup, GrowBig, and GoGeek.

The Startup plan allows you to host only one website. With all other plans, you can host multiple websites.

With every SiteGround cheap hosting plan, you get dozens of one-click installers for WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc. that help you quickly start a website.

The GoGeek plan offers geeky advanced features like PCI compliant server, WordPress and Joomla staging, and one-click git repo creation.

SiteGround doesn’t have VPS hosting plans, but they do offer cloud hosting, which is an in-between solution for sites that outgrows shared hosting but can’t afford to have a dedicated server hosting.

  • Free auto daily backups
  • Free Cloudflare CDN
  • Free Let’s Encrypt SSLs
  • Files are stored in SSD (Solid State Drive) storage as opposed to HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
  • Regular price $9.95 / mo. but our users pay $3.95 / mo!
  • Get started with SiteGround today!
Dedicated Hosting Rating
Rating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star Full   5.0 / 5.0

SiteGround Dedicated Hosting Review

siteground dedicated

SiteGround offers premium managed dedicated hosting for resource heavy websites or the ones that attract extremely high traffic. With a managed dedicated server hosting plan, you lease an entire server for your sole use so you can choose the equipment such as RAM, hard drive and processor. Indeed, it costs more than other hosting types because an entire server is allocated for your sole use.

SiteGround offers 3 different managed dedicated hosting plans for you: Entry server, Power server, and Super power server.

Entry Server uses Intel Xeon E3-1230 SSD, 16 GB RAM and 480 GB SSD storage.
Power Server uses Intel Xeon E3-1270 SSD, 32 GB RAM and 960 GB SSD storage.
Super Power Server uses 2 x Intel Xeon E5-2630 SSD, 64 GB RAM and 2 x 960GB SSD storage.

You’ll be allowed to choose a data center location when subscribing to a dedicated hosting plan.

All hosting plans are fully managed, which means SiteGround will keep its software up-to-date, monitor your machine 24/7 and react immediately in case of an issue.

WordPress Hosting Rating
Rating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star Full   5.0 / 5.0

SiteGround WordPress Hosting Review

siteground

SiteGround offers WordPress hosting solutions for users who want to host their site on a managed hosting environment. There are no significant differences between shared and managed WordPress hosting plans, except your site will be operated under a WordPress optimized ecosystem.

SiteGround is officially recommended WordPress hosting provider by WordPress.org.

With WordPress hosting, you’ll get an additional layer of protection from WordPress specific vulnerabilities. Your core WordPress and installed plugins will be automatically updated to prevent threats from any known vulnerabilities.

  • Free WordPress install with WP-CLI enabled
  • Auto WordPress updater
  • Free Let’s Encrypt SSLs
  • Proactive security
  • Regular price $9.95 / mo. but our users pay $3.95 / mo!
  • Get started with SiteGround today!
WooCommerce Hosting Rating
Rating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star Empty   4.0 / 5.0

SiteGround WooCommerce Hosting Review

siteground woocommerce hosting review

If you want to set up an online store with WooCommerce but not sure about the hosting requirements you’ll need, you just have to choose a SiteGround WooCommerce hosting plan. With SiteGround’s WooCommerce hosting, you can quickly build an online store without having to install WordPress and WooCommerce on your account.

Just sign up for a WooCommerce hosting plan and launch your eCommerce store by logging into your WordPress dashboard. You’ll get all the essential tools including free SSL, Storefront theme preinstalled and hassle-free WordPress management.

You can choose a WooCommerce hosting plan for as low as $3.95 / mo.

  • WooCommerce + Storefront installed
  • Auto WordPress updater
  • Free Let’s Encrypt SSLs
  • Proactive security
  • Regular price $9.95 / mo. but our users pay $3.95 / mo!
  • Get started with SiteGround today!
Reseller Hosting Rating
Rating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star FullRating Star EmptyRating Star Empty   3.0 / 5.0

SiteGround Reseller Hosting Review

siteground reseller hosting

SiteGround’s reseller hosting is geared towards web designers and developers who want to maintain their clients’ website on a long term basis. With a reseller hosting plan, you get all the powerful tools you need to succeed in your reseller hosting business.

You can start as low as $42 per credit for a year and get special domain name deals.

To join the program, you just need to order 5 reseller credits. One credit is equivalent to 1-year hosting. When you purchase more credits in bulk, you’ll get high discounts. Since reseller credits never expire, you can use them anytime to launch or renew hosting accounts for your clients.

Best of all, with SiteGround’s reseller hosting, you get white labeled cPanel and private DNS upgrade.

  • Start by purchasing 5 reseller credits
  • 1 credit per activation
  • Reseller credit never expires
  • Special domain name deals
  • $42 / year / reseller credit
  • Get started with SiteGround today!
DomainNil
Disk Space10 GB
Money Back Guarantee30 Days
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Disk Space480 GB
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Disk Space10 GB
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DomainNil
Disk Space10 GB
Money Back Guarantee30 Days
Claim Special Offer »
DomainNil
Disk Space10 GB
Money Back Guarantee30 Days
Claim Special Offer »

Features

(5.0 / 5.0)

SiteGround comes with a unique set of hosting features that help you create a blazing fast website with ease.

SiteGround Hosting Pros:

Let’s take a look at how SiteGround stacks up against the competition:

  • Choose your data center: Even with a shared hosting plan, you’ll be asked to choose your preferred data center. This way you can ensure your site is hosted on the servers that are closer to your audience geographically.
  • Amazing customer support: SiteGround is well-known for their superior customer support. Best of all, you don’t have to wait more than a few seconds for the next available operator because they overstaff all shifts, so there’s always someone to pick up.
  • Free auto daily backups: All plans come with automatic DAILY backups and they don’t charge for it.
  • Free Cloudflare CDN: Speed up your website with free Cloudflare CDN.
  • SSD storage: Instead of Hard Disk Drives (HDD), SiteGround uses Solid State Drive for storage. Since SSD doesn’t have moving parts, it’s proven to improve your site performance than a website that uses HDD storage.
  • Unmetered bandwidth: The bandwidth is unmetered meaning you’re not charged based on the bandwidth.

SiteGround Hosting Cons:

Here’re some limitations of SiteGround Hosting…

  • Expensive:: Compared to other hosting providers like Bluehost, SiteGround’s pricing is a bit expensive. However, SiteGround offers several unique features than Bluehost for faster page rendering.
  • Website transfer: Free website transfer is only offered with GrowBig or expensive plans. However, keep in mind that some hosting providers, like Bluehost, don’t even offer a free site transfer with any of their plans.
  • On-demand backup isn’t free: Automated daily backups is free with all hosting plans. However, on-demand backup is only free for GrowBig and GoGeek plans.

Performance

(5.0 / 5.0)

SiteGround Uptime Guarantee and Speed Tests

SiteGround ensures 99.9% uptime guarantee. Best of all, if you ever experience more than 0.1% downtime on a yearly basis, you will be compensated.

To test the performance of SiteGround’s hosting server for our SiteGround review, we’ve created a test site powered by WordPress, using the default Twenty Seventeen theme and uploaded some dummy content to mirror the production environment on our test site.

We conducted a few different speed tests on our SiteGround site using the following tools:

  • Pingdom
  • Load Impact
  • Bitcatcha

speed test siteground

According to Pingdom’s website speed test, our test site loads in less than a second for a server in Dallas, Texas. That’s faster than 95% of all tested sites.

Apart from Pingdom, we also used a testing tool called Load Impact to figure out how SiteGround handles visitors during a traffic surge. Load Impact sent some virtual users (VUs) to our site and gradually built up to 100 visitors at a time.

loadimpact-siteground

In the chart, you can find a blue line (VUs active) which shows the number of virtual users sent to our SiteGround site and a green line (VU load time) which represents how much time it would take to load a web page for a user.

SiteGround performed almost consistently except for a spike when there were 50 users on the site. It quickly recovered and page load time remained steadily low even with more users.

It’s worth noting that the site never went down during our speed test. Take a look at the report below.

siteground uptime

SiteGround Server Response Time

The content on your website has a huge influence on page loading time. For instance, if your site has too many images, it will take more time to load than a lightweight site. In fact, images account for most of the downloadable bytes in a typical site.

To get accurate results, instead of the analysis of page load time alone, we decided to test the actual server response time by entirely ignoring the content of our SiteGround site.

To track our SiteGround server response time, we used a tool known as Bitcatcha. Bitcatcha works differently from Pingdom.

Bitcatcha ignores the content of your page and records the page loading time from eight different global locations: New York, LA, London, Brazil, India, Singapore, Japan, and Australia. The speed for each location is measured three separate times, and then the results are averaged.

response time siteground

From the result, it’s evident that SiteGround is the perfect choice if your target audience is mostly located in the United States. In the United States, the server responded in just fraction of a second. In all other locations, except Japan, the server responded within less than a second.

If your target audience is mostly located in Japan, it’s in your best interest to move your site to their Asia-Pacific data center for the best results.

Support

(5.0 / 5.0)

SiteGround Customer Support

Most hosting providers advertise excellent customer support, but SiteGround is the one who actually delivers it. SiteGround’s customer service team is well-known for their quick response time and resolving customer issues quickly.

SiteGround offers 24/7 support via 3 modes: tickets, live chat and phone.

With SiteGround, you don’t have to wait more than a few seconds for the next available operator. They also have extensive documentation that walks you through every aspect of web hosting with SiteGround. You can also find a webinar series where they share hands-on knowledge on the industry trends.

Ease of Use

(5.0 / 5.0)

SiteGround allows you to manage your website and hosting account with cPanel.

They also offer dozens of one-click installer for popular website scripts such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.

You’ll also get a basic drag and drop builder with every SiteGround hosting plan to create a website the way you want.

Pricing

(5.0 / 5.0)

SiteGround Pricing

SiteGround offers one of the most competitive prices in the industry for its level of service and performance.

To make it even better, they’re offering our users an exclusive discount if you use our SiteGround coupon code.

Here are some of the hosting plans offered by SiteGround.

PLANDISK SPACEBANDWIDTHPRICE
Shared Hosting Startup 10 GB Unmetered $3.95 /mo.
WordPress Hosting Startup 10 GB Unmetered $3.95 /mo.
Cloud Hosting Entry 40 GB 5 TB $80.00 / mo.
Dedicated Hosting Entry Server 480 GB 10 TB $269.00 / mo.
WooCommerce Hosting Startup 10 GB Unmetered $3.95 /mo.
Reseller Hosting 10 GB Unmetered $42 / year / credit

FAQs

Having helped thousands of users choose a web hosting plan and start their website, we have answered just about every question you can think of. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions about SiteGround.

Why should I choose SiteGround to host my site?

Below are a few features that make SiteGround hosting sets apart from its competitors:

Even with the basic shared hosting plan, you’ll get…

  • Free auto daily backups
  • Free Cloudflare CDN
  • Free Let’s Encrypt SSLs
  • Your files will be stored in SSD (Solid State Drive) storage as opposed to HDD (Hard Disk Drive), which doesn’t compromise on page speed and overall performance.
  • You’re allowed to choose from 5 different data-centers of SiteGround for the best performance.
  • Unlike most other hosting companies, SiteGround never hard sell hosting addons when you purchase a hosting account.

Which SiteGround plan should I get?

It depends on your hosting needs. If you’re just starting out, we recommend you to choose one of the SiteGround’s shared hosting plans. If you want to quickly launch a WordPress site without having to install WordPress manually, you may choose a WordPress hosting plan. If you’re after an online store powered by WooCommerce, you may choose one of their WooCommerce hosting plans designed to handle eCommerce websites.

Where are SiteGround servers located?

SiteGround has data-centers in five different locations:

  • Chicago, USA
  • London, UK
  • Amsterdam, Netherlands
  • Milan, Italy
  • Singapore

Can SiteGround handle high traffic?

SiteGround is capable of handling high traffic around the clock. They offer different hosting packages to their customers and it all depends on which plan you’re on. If your site is found to consume too many resources, they’ll request you to upgrade to a higher plan.

Can I upgrade my SiteGround plan later?

Of course! When you’re starting out, you can choose the most basic plan. As you grow, you can always upgrade to a higher plan per your needs.

Does SiteGround offer a month-to-month payment option?

SiteGround does not offer month-to-month payment options for their shared plans. For higher plans like dedicated servers, they do offer monthly payment options. However, it’s important to note that they offer significant discounts for longer-term deals.

Can I create subdomains in SiteGround?

Yes, you can easily create subdomains in SiteGround using the cPanel.

Do I have to register my domain name with SiteGround?

No, you do not have to register your domain with SiteGround. You can use Godaddy, NameCheap, or any of your preferred domain name registrar.

Does SiteGround offer free SSL?

Yes, SiteGround offers free SSL with all of their plans. eCommerce plans come with dedicated IPs and private SSL.

Do I need to purchase the addons that SiteGround offers me?

No, you do not need to purchase any addons at the time of purchase. Should you decide that you need them later, you can always add them to your account.

How good is SiteGround support?

SiteGround offers 24/7 support via 3 modes: Live chat, phone, and ticket. SiteGround is well-known for their speedy response. Unlike other hosting providers, they don’t make you wait more than a few seconds for the next available support agent. Their extensive documentation helps you walk you through every aspect of web hosting.

Can I create an ecommerce site on SiteGround?

Absolutely! SiteGround’s WooCommerce hosting plan comes pre-configured with all the things you need to start an online store.

SiteGround vs Other Hosts

Wondering how SiteGround stacks up against other web hosting companies? See our side-by-side comparison to see for yourself.

Final Recap

SiteGround is the best choice for users who need an excellent customer support without compromising on server performance and page speed. SiteGround offers SSD storage for all hosting plans as opposed to HDD like other companies, which has proven to boost the server’s performance.

On top of that, they spend a lot of resources on training, hiring, and managing a great support team. Unlike other web hosting service providers, SiteGround’s support team does not shy away from application-specific questions.

If you want a web hosting provider that keeps the perfect balance of latest technology and excellent customer support, SiteGround is the best bet for you.

  • Free auto daily backups
  • Free Cloudflare CDN
  • Free Let’s Encrypt SSLs
  • Files are stored in SSD (Solid State Drive) storage as opposed to HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
  • Regular price $9.95 / mo. but our users pay $3.95 / mo!
  • Get started with SiteGround today!
DomainNil
Disk Space10 GB
Money Back Guarantee30 Days
Claim Special Offer »

User Reviews

(1,298)
  1. Just spent another 1 1/2 hours with a siteground customer support who sorted out my issues with no problems. Extreme patience and cannot recommend them enough.

  2. Very nice hosting services – but the support team, however, is simply outstanding.
    Always available, super helpful and accommodating – first time in years I have experienced professional service like this.

    Totally recommended ^_^

  3. I’ve been impressed at the level of support and the speed with which they setup my WP site. So far everything has been very smooth.

  4. Jeffrey Quintero June 3, 2015 at 8:30 pm

    So far so GREAT! to be a new SiteGround customer . I was expecting great service and the have delivered it.

  5. Support the moment you need it. Solves your problem in an instant. Absolut top everything.

  6. Instant support at 1 in the AM. Honestly, best ever.

  7. Kay von Randow May 30, 2015 at 4:09 pm

    Just had a 13 minute Live Chat. I’ve been having similar chats, and written to email support, with many other web hosts over the last week, so I’m in a good place to compare. This one today, corrected a mis-conception I’d had about PCI compliancy …… none of the agents from other web hosts realized that I was coming from the wrong direction, so to speak.

    So I’ll be signing up with SightGround !

  8. Victoria Elliott May 26, 2015 at 9:19 am

    Outstanding customer and technical support services! Both services are fast and competent. SiteGround is a great investment.

  9. They are helpful but lacking of technical knowledge.
    Besides, they have silly limitations (for example they did not install the latest PHP imagick version despite of our insists! WTF?)

  10. Fantastic tech support helped me to install a quick start joomla template.

  11. After the initial teething problem of setting up WP hosting for the first time with a more advanced theme, I went nearly 3 months without ever contacting Siteground support. This is a great thing! It means that things works the way it should.

    During the setup phase, Support Team did a nice job of helping me through…even on lighter coding questions on WP that sometimes originated from the theme itself.

    I went through 2 weeks of search before settling on Siteground. I thought it has the best balance of cost/support/reliability/performance. Nearly 6 months later, I’m still happy with my decision. More so when you read about bad reviews of other similar services.

    Support Team at Siteground is definitely one of the best. I normally go through webchat as opposed to calling so I can’t comment on the latter (in term of wait time). In all, if your budget is under $20 USD per month for WP hosting, I can’t imagine better provider.

    Siteground, please keep up the good work as you continue to grow.

  12. I was doing some basic cleanup and made things simpler with the tech assistance. Appreciate the patience and thoughtfulness.

    Thanks!

  13. Best support site. The technical people are very friendly and very fast to support in solving your bugs. I would recommend this company.

  14. Site ground is the best ISP provider service I’ve had so far. I’ve just transferred my hosting from another country to them and I hope the services remain as they are. They just have to reduce the costs a little bit even though, most of the times, it’s worth it.

  15. Brian Pickering May 18, 2015 at 7:23 pm

    You suport guys and gals are A M A Z I N G… so helpful with any minor or major issues (mostly caused by myself I should add!) and answered incredibly fast every single time day or night.

    Very happy too with the overall speed of servers/caching etc – I have been recommending Siteground to clients so will see how many I can get across soon!

    Thanks again

  16. Best support and service I used. Tickets reply very fast and problem solving excellent.
    Thanks to this professional hosting

  17. Siteground support has always been prompt and helpful when I have had problems or even questions – 24/7. I’ve used many other hosting providers and now recommend this one to most people who ask

  18. Siteground’s customer service is SUGAR. l think l’m really planning to adopt this in my company as soon as possible; Steve, (Nigeria).

  19. John Flanders May 13, 2015 at 4:50 pm

    Georgi was incredible. He helped me through some troubles with my site. He kept in touch answering several questions promptly. He also provided me with information that helped me finally resolve the problem with the site. This is just one instance among many that SiteGround’s technical support hasn’t changed a bit. It is off the chain. I just wish they had a 6 star rating!

    Thanks again everyone.

  20. As a Dutch speaking person I can only recommend this very powerfull hosting service. It provides the best technical support via live chat, e-mail and even by a local telephone number. Unavoidable misunderstandings due to the differences is language should not affect your dicision to join Siteground. Somehow the staff is always understanding the critical part of your question and fastly respond with an useful and right answer. For this reason, it is (to my knowledge) the best and largest alternative in Europe if you require excellent hosting from real professionals. Thanks!

  21. Bryan Chaikin May 12, 2015 at 10:57 am

    Siteground’s customer service does not have an equal. Very patient and knowledgeable. Always there when I need them most. Been a Siteground customer for years and never have an issue with their services or pricing. Highly recommend them to anyone with hosting needs.

  22. Tsveta Stefanova May 12, 2015 at 9:59 am

    Hello Mike, we were able to locate your correspondence with the support team and and as we see you have discussed in detail the situation you have encountered. As our Technical Support Manager was able to explain, it seems that the results are connected to 1). the fact that you are forcing SSL connection what affects the speed; and 2). The 2 files you were using for testing purposes, are actually not one and the same file. Those are 2 different files located under different directories on your server. It is only normal to get different results as there are multiple additional rules applied to the second one. There is an extensive .htaccess file with additional rules, as mentioned SSL is forced for this directory, multiple rewrite conditions that should be checked also. Our techs are ready to assist you further with this question if you wish, just update the latest ticket. Please keep us posted on your progress and contact us in case you have any questions in the future. Regards!

  23. Tsveta Stefanova May 12, 2015 at 9:56 am

    Hello Dale, we are sorry to hear you feel this way. We were able to locate your correspondence with the support team and investigate the case in detail. When you signed up with SiteGround initially you were on a shared hosting plan. As you know, that means you share the server resources with other clients, so naturally when our system detected that you were using too many resources and endangered the performance of the other websites on the server, it sent alerts immediately to you. Suggesting an upgrade was the most reasonable thing to do – it would have ensured you more resources and better performance for your websites. From our records we can see that you have upgraded from our biggest shared hosting account to our entry-level cloud server and the issues came back once you started exceeding the memory (and resources) allocated. In several tickets and chats our Customer Care team consulted you about the issue and how to resolve it, but despite the advice (upgrade, auto-scalling etc.) they gave, you decided not to invest in a bigger server and switched hosts. We are glad to hear that you were able to find a new host to host your websites without resource issues, but please note that, as you’ve stated yourself, you are currently using 8 different account instead of a single one as you did with us.

  24. I started using SiteGround almost 1 year ago and I’m so happy with it’s Customer Service that it’s a pleasure to give them a complete positive review!

    I’m a web trainer and web designer but I’ve not a “server guru” in my staff …so I’m with SG because I know I can completely count on the HelpDesk guys for any problem I do have!

    Thanks to you all for you kindness, patience ad expertise

    Nadia

  25. By far, the best customer service I have ever had, hands down. Not only were they extremely knowledgeable, but very quick to respond! I had a pretty technical question, that required specific expertise and I had the problem resolved within 15 minutes (which included live chat and messaging)! I’m very impressed.

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