SiteGround is one of the popular web hosting platforms. It is excellent for users who want to host their website either using WordPress or other sites.
Over 2 million users are using SiteGround to host their websites. It is one of the trustworthy and reliable hosting platforms with impeccable features. Today, I want to share why I personally use SiteGround for hosting my websites.
In this detailed SiteGround review, I will share my experience with this web hosting provider and will give you a detailed overview of its features, benefits, and more.
Why I Use SiteGround?
SiteGround is considered one of the best web hosting platforms by many bloggers, businesses, and marketers. It offers super-fast web hosting at very affordable prices. Their plans start at $6.99 per month which I’ll get into detail later in the article. Besides that, the site uptime of SiteGround is 99.9% which is pretty impressive.
One of the biggest reasons why I love SiteGround is also how they have structured their pricing. They don’t use any deceptive pricing tactics where you’re promised web hosting for $2.99 and when you check out, they ask you to pay for 2-3 years.
SiteGround has a very clear and transparent monthly pricing structure which I love a lot.
They also offer 24/7 customer support using both chat and phone. I found their support team to be quite responsive, helpful, and respectful. They know how to communicate with both an IT person and a non-IT person.
Lastly, SiteGround uses multi-layered security protocols to protect your data. The added security helps me sleep better at night knowing that my websites are secure from any attacks.
SiteGround Pros
Besides the reasons I listed above for using SiteGround, here are some other benefits of using this web hosting:
Non-EIG Hosting
SiteGround is not a part of Endurance International Group (EIG). Today, everyone is planning to start an online business and the reason behind that is there are plenty of hosting solutions available out there. More importantly, there are too many cheap web hosting providers out there.
EIG is a major player in the hosting industry and it houses hundreds of other hosting providers. You may have even heard some of the names such as Bluehost, A Small Orange, HostGator, iPage, etc.
But, EIG hosting providers have terrible performance and speed and hence should be avoided at all costs.
Moreover, they’re notoriously known for their shady pricing and false advertising tactics.
This is why I recommend everyone to stay away from EIG hosting companies. There are many non-EIG hosting companies and SiteGround is one of the best non-EIG hosting companies.
99.9% Uptime
SiteGround guarantees 99.9% site uptime and I can confidently back this claim. I’ve never faced site downtime ever on SiteGround.
SiteGround's average uptime over 12 months is 99.98%. It only takes 73 minutes of total downtime for a whole year. If you have a reliable uptime, you can ensure your visitors get the best experience on your website.
The following picture will depict the average uptime taken between October 2020 to July 2021.
High Performance & Speed
High performance and speed are important for every website. SiteGround never fails to surprise its customers with high performance and speed options to increase visitors to their site.
They use fast SSD drives that deliver high speed and performance. Their server uses the latest PHP version. It contains a built-in opcode cache. But users may also switch to other servers if needed.
All in all, I’m very impressed by my site’s speed on SiteGround.
Free Website Migration
Usually, people used to worry about moving their website to a new web host. You could have worked for many days and nights. What if you lose your entire data in this process? It will be a great loss.
But with SiteGround you don't have to worry about migrating your site. They will do it for you. Most hosting sites will just move the files. But SiteGround will make all the necessary steps and precautions right from the beginning till the end to ensure your website is migrated to their servers successfully.
You don't have to pay any additional fee for doing this. SiteGround includes WordPress Migrator Plugins in their plan to do that for you.
Free Daily Backups
While many web hosting providers offer only monthly or weekly backups, SiteGround offers you daily backups.
This is quite useful as you can have your latest data backed up and ready to restore in case things go wrong on your website. I also love that they allow you to create manual backups when needed for specific restore points.
Free SSL & CDN
Besides free site migration, SiteGround also offers a free SSL certificate along with a free CDN.
The free SSL certificate will help you keep your site secure for both yourself and your site users. And the free CDN helps a lot in keeping your images, videos, and other large files away from your server.
The free CDN reduces the server load significantly and helps my websites load faster. Not to mention, it also helps me save money from purchasing another CDN service.
Monthly Billing Cycles
I’ve already mentioned this above but I think this is important for many website owners.
SiteGround is perfect for people just starting their website. What attracts many people to SiteGround and what certainly did attract me as well was that they have a monthly billing cycle.
This prevents me from getting locked into one hosting provider by paying them annually.
But SiteGround also lets you change your billing cycle if you wish to pay annually.
You can also change the billing cycle by clicking on user area services > manage > kebab menu. This option will be available next to the upgrade button > Renewal Settings.
SiteGround Cons
While SiteGround has a lot of great features and benefits, there are some things that irked me a bit and I wanted to mention them here.
Expensive Renewal Price
While SiteGround’s pricing is very affordable for first-time.
The pricing of their plans for renewals is mentioned below:
1. $3.95 to $11.95 per month
2. $5.95 to $19.95 per month
3. $11.95 to $34.95 per month
The cost may triple up as well. The best way to avoid this is to sign up for the longest contract which is 36 months. This will help you to pay a low rate every month before you renew for a new plan.
Personally, I don’t mind paying a few extra bucks because I get the best performance and satisfaction from using their hosting.
Storage Limitations
The shared hosting plans have a low amount of storage and it will bother users. If your site is beyond 40GB, you have no other option than to purchase the expensive cloud hosting plans.
The StartUp plan allows your site to visit only 10,00 visitors. If your site grows more than what you have anticipated then you have to upgrade your plan sooner to increase more customers and visitors to your site.
So, if your requirements are high, don’t go for their lower plans.
SiteGround Features
So, you’ve read the pros and cons of SiteGround. Now, it’s time for me to talk about the features of using SiteGround hosting:
Easy To Use
Users can easily follow SiteGround's backend. It is created in an easier way so that you won't get lost in any pages or subpages. They use their own visual interface for hosting needs which will help you to customize it according to your priorities and needs.
For example, it's your choice to decide which section to show and which should not. Their backend is so modern. It was designed in 2019.
Multi-Layered Security Protocols
It offers multi-layered security services. In SiteGround, you don't have to worry about your website being hacked or damaged. They have excellent features to protect your site from hackers. They have many options to protect your sites such as:
- Frequently Updated Server Kennel
- Frequently Updated Control Panel
- Frequently Updated Services (Apache, PHP, MYSQL, Exim, etc,)
- Firewall
- Spam Filtering Service
Excellent Support
Building a website will become a passion if you use SiteGround. They have a good support team. They consistently get 100% reviews every year which says a lot.
They also have a helpdesk ticket system. They used to solve all your issues within 15 minutes so that your time will be saved and you can get back to your work as soon as possible. These things are much needed for a website beginner as you may encounter many problems.
Uses Latest Technology
SiteGround uses only the latest technologies for its hosting plans,
- Powered by Google Cloud
- Ultra-Fast PHP Setup
- Powerful Caching Technology
- Unique MYSQL Setup
- Quick Integration of the Latest Technologies
- Awesome WordPress Performance
Quality Servers
They use super-fast servers that deliver high performance and help load sites instantly. They use the latest PHP version in order to stay updated and ahead of the curve.
SiteGround Hosting Plans
SiteGround offers many different hosting plans. Here’s a detailed overview and explanation of each plan:
Web Hosting
It offers fast and reliable web hosting options for websites of any kind. It has a general web hosting product that is optimized for content management systems such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and more.
The plan starts from $6.99 per month for startups. For GrowBig the plan starts from $9.99 per month. For GoGeek the plan starts from $14.99 per month.
It provides a full website solution that helps you to launch your website quickly and in an easier manner with their full website solution plan. If you are planning to launch an online store, you have the privilege to install the shopping cart free of your choice.
SiteGround offers an easy and affordable domain registration option. So you will be able to manage both your domain and site in a single place without any hurdles.
It will give access to an unlimited number of email accounts when the user creates a domain. It will be perfect for people who want to manage the business in different areas.
WordPress Hosting
Most hosting companies won't offer web hosting options, especially for WordPress. But SiteGround helps you to host your WordPress website. They are highly recommended by WordPress sites.
For startups the plan starts from $3.95 per month. For GrowBig the plan starts from $5.95 per month. For GoGeek the plan starts from $11.95 per month.
You don't have to install and download WordPress on SiteGround. Instead, you can easily process by clicking a single button called WordPress Launch Feature. After successfully logging in to your website you can simply set up your site with SiteGround's WordPress Starter kit. The process will take some minutes to complete for a beginner.
It has a popular feature called Free SiteGround Migrator Plugin. This would be perfect for users who want to host with another website and transfer it to SiteGround. If you are not comfortable with these features you can use WordPress Wiz from SiteGround which will help you in setting up these things at an additional cost.
WooCommerce Hosting
SiteGround offers a variety of hosting options for users who want to open a powerful online shopping site using WooCommerce. It has WooCommerce installed in it which saves your time and hassle. This in turn helps you to add products to your site the moment you open the site.
For Startups the plan starts from $4.69 per month. For GrowBig the plan starts from $7.66 per month. For GoGeek the plan starts from $14.19 per month.
It helps you with any kind of product online. It protects your e-commerce site by keeping your site unique with the features such as a unique AI anti-bot system, free pre-installed SSL, and custom web application firewall.
If you choose to Grow Big or Go-Geek plan, it will contain a convenient staging tool pre-installed. You can easily make your website grow safely, testing any changes on the site, and updates before making your website go live with the help of staging features.
Cloud Hosting
There are four plans for cloud hosting
- Jump Start
- Business
- Business Plus
- Super Power
The pricing for a cloud hosting plan ranges from $100 to $400 per month. The major difference lies in CPU cores, memory, and SSD space.
Cloud hosting is easily available. If you are a first-time user then it would be better if you go with the entry plan.
It is one of the new ways to host your website. It is good for businesses and websites that range from medium to larger sizes. It helps them to grow quickly. For those who are preparing to outgrow their shared hosting plan, then cloud hosting is the best plan for them.
For Entry level the plan starts from $80 per month. For Business the plan starts from $120 per month. For Business Plus the plan starts from $160 per month. For Super Power the plan starts from $240 per month.
It provides you with guaranteed resources for your own RAM and CPU. You have the privilege to upgrade the plans of your CPU, RAM, and Disk Space of your cloud plan at any time. The resources will be added immediately with no downtime process.
SiteGround has a unique auto-scale option that will help you to automate your scaling process. It helps to adjust the needs of CPU and RAM to meet the unexpected traffic surges, which in turn will prevent downtime or slowness.
It allows you to pre-determine the scalable amount so you can have control over the scale's parameters. It includes a free dedicated Internet Protocol. This assures you that your website is safe from the Internet Protocol's blacklist.
Reseller Hosting
It offers a reseller plan for businesses that wish to host websites for primary businesses or users who wish to add hosting as an extra plan. This is mostly used by web designers. They used to offer hosting plans to their clients.
For GrowBig the plan starts from $9.99 per month. For GoGeek the plan starts from $14.99 per month. For Cloud the plan starts from $80 per month.
The reseller price per month is $9.99. All their reseller plans allow you to host an unlimited number of customers. There is no limitation in their plan.
What SiteGround Hosting Plan Should You Pick?
Well, SiteGround has a lot of web hosting plans and if you’re someone who wants to build their first website, you might get confused.
So, here’s a simple flowchart that will help you pick the right SiteGround plan for your website.
Shared Hosting Plan
Users who are starting their own blog for the first time should go for Shared Hosting Plan. Its main purpose is for users to share their own experiences on this site in the form of a blog. It is perfect for bloggers.
Shared Hosting Grow Big Plan
If you have good traffic coming to your site then it is the perfect time to use a shared hosting big grow plan. Increasing regular visitors to your site is not an easy task. But if you get that naturally then upgrading your plan will provide you with lots of benefits in the future.
SiteGround Go Geek Plan
This is for users who have lots of pages or posts on their site. Using a normal plan for lots of pages won't look good. It won't increase your customers in the long run. Using a perfect plan for your site will increase more visitors to your site.
SiteGround Dedicated Hosting
This is perfect for users who want dedicated resources and would like to take total control of the server hardware and software.
SiteGround Cloud Hosting
If your website grows faster than what you have anticipated and needs extra resources this is the perfect time to move to SiteGround Cloud Hosting.
SiteGround Enterprise Hosting
This is perfect for users who want to enterprise level with fully managed, personal manager, and dedicated support.
How To Sign Up for SiteGround?
Ready to get started with SiteGround? Here’s a step-by-step walkthrough on how to sign up for SiteGround.
First, you’ll have to choose the plan and sign up for an account in SiteGround. Once your account is created, you can move to the next step of creating your website.
Setting Up Your Website
You have to select a specific domain for your site. After that start a new site. It will have WordPress pre-installed in it. If you would like to transfer an existing site it will help you to do that with lots of options. Then add an SSL to your site. Start configuring your SSL to work.
Manage Your Domains
First, you have to verify the new domain registration. Then point and transfer the domain to SiteGround. After that, you have to manage the domain registrant's information. Then you have to move on to domain name servers. Manage your domain name servers on this step. If you want you can add additional domains to your site. You can also change your domain name.
Managing Email Accounts
Managing your email accounts is very important. The process will be explained in each step.
No matter what SiteGround plan you purchase you can have unlimited free email accounts under your domain name.
In order to create them, you have to click Client Area > Websites. In Websites choose the Website for which you want to create an email account. After that click on Site Tools > Emails > Accounts.
If you don't have an email account you can always create a new email account. In order to do that you have to type the new email address before the @. Then type a strong password for your email address. It would be good if you use upper case, lower case, special characters, and numbers to make your password strong.
After filling in all the correct credentials click on create. Your new email address will get ready in a few seconds.
Whenever you create a new email account you can manage its settings using the manage email accounts section. Using the actions menu, you can set different values for your email quota.
To do that click on the Actions menu which is next to the corresponding email account. Then click on Change Quota. You should not exceed the current limits. The current limit per account is 10,000 MB.
You can configure your email either automatically or manually. For that click on the Actions menu (next to the corresponding mail account) and select Mail configuration.
A pop-up message will appear which helps you to choose the mail client you are required to configure. When you are ready click the create button and follow the instructions properly in your email client.
For users who are choosing manual configuration, your system will display the email server data. This is used in order to make the configuration.
It provides easy webmail access in this section. To use that, go to the manage email account section. Then click on the Actions menu (next to the corresponding email account). Click on login to Webmail.
It will redirect you to Roundcube where all the features needed for the Webmail client will be provided.
Related Questions
Q. Why SiteGround is considered the best hosting platform?
It has many features and one of the best popular hosting services out there. This is the reason why more than 2 million websites trust SiteGround when it comes to hosting their site.
Q. Will SiteGround support my WordPress website?
Yes, it will support your WordPress site. It has specifically designed features separately for WordPress and the 24/7 WordPress wizard customer support team.
Q. Can I move my site from another web host to SiteGround for free?
Yes, you can move your site from another web host to SiteGround for free. You can do it with the help of SiteGround Migrator which automatically transfers the site to the SiteGround hosting account.
Conclusion: Is Siteground The Best Web Hosting?
I hope this article answers the question of why I personally use SiteGround for my websites. Website hosting is important for everybody. Choosing the right web hosting is crucial and I can guarantee you can never go wrong with SiteGround.
SiteGround has perfect solutions for all your hosting needs. It will help you in hosting your website right from the beginning till the end with 24/7 customer support. For me, SiteGround is one of the best web hosting providers I’ve ever used!
So, I hope this SiteGround review clears up any doubts you may have about this web hosting provider. But, if you have any questions, don't forget to drop them in the comments below.
