Siteground is one of the reputed and highly-rated web hosting brands of 2024. It started its web-hosting services in 2004. SiteGround has now grown to be one of the WordPress-recommended hosting companies besides Bluehost and DreamHost.
SiteGround offers multiple web hosting plans and services to suit any level of WordPress user. SiteGround is best known for its optimum performance, site security solutions, and 24/7 customer support.
With several web hosting companies out there, people keep asking if SiteGround is suited for them. To answer it, we have come up with this SiteGround review article.
We will walk you through its performance, customer service, security options, package plan, and much more.
Let us begin:
Table of Contents
- About SiteGround
- SiteGround Hosting Plans
- SiteGround Shared Hosting Plan and Pricing
- SiteGround Performance
- Pros and Cons of SiteGround
- Conclusion: Is SiteGround Right For You?
- FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
- 1. When to use SiteGround hosting?
- 2. Is SiteGround a Hosting Company?
- 3. Which is better? SiteGround or Bluehost?
- 4. Which is better? SiteGround or DreamHost?
- 5. Is SiteGround Expensive?
- 6. Does SiteGround provide a free domain name?
- 7. Does SiteGround offer Windows hosting?
- 8. Does SiteGround charge monthly?
About SiteGround
SiteGround began its web-hosting in 2004. Now, SiteGround has grown to become one of the top brands for web hosting. The company has its headquarters located in Sofia, Bulgaria. It has offices in six different locations and data centers on three continents. Today, SiteGround has 400+ employees and hosts more than 2,000,000 domains.
SiteGround Hosting Plans
SiteGround offers multiple web-hosting plans to suit any user, be it advanced or a beginner. Below is a list of SiteGroud hosting plans with their features:
- Shared Hosting: Shared hosting plan is best suited for new websites and beginners. If you choose this plan, your server shares its resources with other sites it is hosting. Such a feature makes this hosting plan suitable for low traffic websites.
- WordPress Hosting: WordPress hosting is the optimized version of a shared hosting plan. This plan is suited for WordPress sites. The package offers SiteGround’s built-in WordPress optimization. Such a feature improves your website’s performance.
- Cloud Hosting: Cloud Hosting is an upgraded version of shared hosting for greater flexibility. If you choose the cloud hosting plan, you can use the resources of multiple servers. Such cloud architecture makes cloud hosting plan a suitable choice for popular blogs, websites, and businesses.
- Dedicated Servers: Dedicated server plan assigns a dedicated server for your site. This hosting plan gives you more power. However, you have to manage the server on your own. Also, this hosting plan is a bit more expensive.
- Enterprise Hosting: If you run a large business website with high traffic volume, this hosting plan is for you. You can contact the SiteGround team to build a custom plan to meet your needs.
Check SiteGround Plans and Pricing
We recommend SiteGround’s shared hosting plan if you plan to start a new website. The shared hosting plan is available in three levels to suit different budgets.
| Startup ($6.99 per month) | GrowBig ($9.99 per month) | GoGeek ($14.99 per month) |
| One Website | Unlimited Websites | Unlimited Websites |
| 10 GB storage | 20 GB storage | 40 GB storage |
| ~ 10,000 monthly visits | ~ 25,000 monthly visits | ~ 100,000 monthly visits |
| Unmetered Traffic | Unmetered Traffic | Unmetered Traffic |
| Free WordPress Installation | Free WordPress Installation | Free WordPress Installation |
| Free WordPress Migrator | Free WordPress Migrator | Free WordPress Migrator |
| WordPress Auto-updates | WordPress Auto-updates | WordPress Auto-updates |
| Free SSL certificate | Free SSL certificate | Free SSL certificate |
| Daily backup | Daily backup | Daily backup |
| Free CDN | Free CDN | Free CDN |
| Free Email | Free Email | Free Email |
| WP-CLI and SSH | WP-CLI and SSH | WP-CLI and SSH |
| Unlimited databases | Unlimited databases | Unlimited databases |
| 100% renewable energy match | 100% renewable energy match | 100% renewable energy match |
| 30-days Money-back | 30-days Money-back | 30-days Money-back |
| On-demand Backup copies | On-demand Backup copies | |
| Speed-boosting caching | Speed-boosting caching | |
| Staging | Staging + Git | |
| Adding Collaborators | Adding Collaborators | |
| White-label clients | ||
| Highest Tier of Resources | ||
| Ultra-fast PHP | ||
| Priority Support |
Check SiteGround Plans and Pricing
SiteGround Performance
It is undeniable that a web host should deliver optimum performance. Better performance is something you cannot ignore nor compromise when choosing a web-hosting service.
Note that even a one-second delay in page loading results in an 11% loss in view and a 7% loss in conversion rate. Another study by Google says one to three seconds of load delay increases the bounce rate by 32%. Moreover, speed is an essential factor for a better ranking of your site on Google.
Lucky for you, SiteGround delivers some of the best performance offered by many web-hosting companies. The average page load time in SiteGround is under a second (around 649 ms). The server load time remains almost constant even during peak traffic requests. Also, the server response time is under a second, even with high-resolution images on the site.
Thus, if you want to build a super-fast website with a better response time, SiteGround can be a perfect option. Moreover, with a simple control panel layout, any level user can get along with SiteGround easily.
Check SiteGround Plans and Pricing
Pros and Cons of SiteGround
Nothing is perfect in this world. Everything has its benefits and flaws. The same goes for the SiteGround. This section will talk about the pros and cons of using SiteGround as your web hosting partner.
Pros of SiteGround
Below are the major benefits of using SiteGround:
1. Pricing Plan
SiteGround offers an affordable pricing plan to suit any user, especially for running a new website.
Originally, SiteGround tagged the StartUp web-hosting services at $14.99 per month. Now they have brought it down to $6.99 per month. You get pretty much everything for running a single website at this price.
You get 10GB storage, free SSL certificate, daily backup, WP auto-updates, and much more. At $6.99 a month, it is a good deal for a beginner.
You can check the latest SiteGround pricing plan here.
2. Uptime
Under the Service Level Agreement (SLA), SiteGround guarantees an uptime network of 99.99% annually. This means that if the uptime dips below the threshold, the company compensates as follows:
99.99% to 99.00% uptime – one month of free hosting services.
For every 1% drop below 99.00% uptime – an additional month of free hosting services.
However, there are certain exceptions to this uptime compensation policy. The company is not liable to compensate for uptime drops under the following conditions:
- Scheduled maintenance
- Emergency maintenance
- Any hardware and software failure is resolved under an hour
- Downtime caused by IP address o/or DNS changes you have been pre-notified, but you failed to set configurations
- Hacker attacks, DDOS (Distributed Denial of service) attacks, and other similar events
- Downtime is caused due to your configuration or any third-party applications that you use
- Downtime time is caused when you exceed the highest resource allocation for your chosen plan
- The violation of the TOS causes downtime.
- Downtime during upgrade/downgrade of your Cloud or Dedicated Server resources
- Downtime during the processing of your technical support request(s)
- Any event beyond the company’s control
3. Host Page Load Time
The host page loading time is the second most crucial factor that decides your website’s success or failure.
SiteGround has the latest hardware like SSD disks and software solutions, like SG Optimizer and HTTP/2, to offer an above-average loading time of 673ms.
4. Good Customer Support and Assistance
SiteGround provides excellent customer support. They offer 24/7 live chat and phone support to their customers.
They also provide high-quality tutorials and guides for customers, which helps them find their quick answers.
5. Multiple Server Locations
SiteGround has data centers in Asia, Australia, America, and Europe. You can choose between the server locations you prefer during the signup.
6. Free Content Delivery Network (CDN) and SSL Certificate
SiteGround provides instant setup of Cloudflare CDN. Cloudflare CDN stores large files on many servers in various locations. This makes sure that the visitors can have faster access to those files from the closest server.
SiteGround offers free integration with Let’s Encrypt for SSL Certificate. SSL protects any kind of information that is sent between the user’s device and the website.
7. Free Site Migration for One Website
SiteGround has created the free WordPress Migration plugin, which you can upload to any website. Using this plugin, you can migrate multiple websites at once.
But if you want SiteGround support agents to take care of your website migration, they will provide free service on their higher plans. But after you exceed the limits on each plan, you’ll have to pay $30 each for additional sites.
Check SiteGround Plans and Pricing
Cons of SiteGround
Below are the major drawbacks of using SiteGround:
1. Limited Storage
SiteGround offers only 10 GB of Web Space in its lowest sharing plan to handle around 10,000 monthly visits. This storage is sufficient only for smaller sites or if you’re starting a new one.
However, once the site starts growing bigger, its performance is going to suffer. You will have to upgrade the storage according to their package for increased resources and better performance.
2. No Free Domain Name
Most web hosts provide a free domain name to their customers for the first year. Unfortunately, SiteGround does not offer it.
SiteGround will charge you around $15.95 per year starting from day one if you don’t have a domain name already.
3. Higher Rates for Monthly Renewal
SiteGround’s lowest sharing plan is around $6.99 per month. However, they will charge you double when it is time to renew it. It means that this rate hikes up to $14.99 per month if you choose to renew it monthly.
However, if you sign up for the longest term, you will get a good discount and use it at a lower rate. We recommend signing up for the longest term as SiteGround has the 30-day money-back policy on all their hosting plans.
Conclusion: Is SiteGround Right For You?
Yes, SiteGround is a perfect choice for a small business or a new website. Rarathemes is hosted in siteground and we are quite satisfied with it.
SiteGround provides a reliable hosting service for websites with friendly customer service and support. Their page loading time and server response time are also pretty good. With a simple control panel, it is easier for even beginners to get along with SiteGround.
Moreover, they provide free Cloudflare CDN and Let’s Encrypt for SSL certificate on all of their hosting plans. Their hosting plans also include a one-click WordPress installer, SSD storage, and free migration.
The pricing is also good if you sign up for the longest term. Otherwise, you’ll have to pay the higher renewal rates if you choose the monthly billing.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
1. When to use SiteGround hosting?
If you are looking for a reliable and fast hosting service with amazing customer care service, SiteGround will be a perfect choice for you. SiteGround can also be a solution for small businesses.
2. Is SiteGround a Hosting Company?
Yes, SiteGround is a good web host. Even WordPress recommends SiteGround. SightGround offers better speed (673ms) and uptime (99.99%).
3. Which is better? SiteGround or Bluehost?
If you are hosting a WordPress, Cloud, or Shared websites, SiteGround would be a better choice than Bluehost. Even though Bluehost offers low rates (initial and renewal), SiteGround’s performance, support, and reliability are far better than anything Bluehost has to offer.
4. Which is better? SiteGround or DreamHost?
SiteGround has better customer service, easy-to-use cPanel, and better features as compared to DreamHost. Likewise, DreamHost delivers better performance and more hosting plans to your budget.
Choosing any one among these two completely depends on your personal choice. Check out our article on SiteGround Vs. DreamHost for a comprehensive idea.
5. Is SiteGround Expensive?
When it comes to high-end hosting plans, SiteGround is a bit expensive as compared to their competitors. Well, there are several legitimate reasons for the high cost, which makes it worth it even if you get their expensive hosting plans. However, if you sign up for the longest term, you will get a good discount, and you use it at a lower rate.
6. Does SiteGround provide a free domain name?
No, SiteGround does not provide a free domain name for the first year. They will charge you around $15.95 per year starting from day one if you don’t have a domain name already.
7. Does SiteGround offer Windows hosting?
Unfortunately, SiteGround does not offer Windows hosting. It only offers Linux hosting packages. They offer three Linux hosting packages (StartUp, GrowBig, GoGeek). However, if you want Windows hosting, it is better that you go with other hosting providers such as HostGator.
8. Does SiteGround charge monthly?
Yes, SiteGround offers monthly payment plans for renewal. However, they will charge you double the initial rate if you choose to renew monthly.
But if you sign up for the longest term, you will get a good discount, and you use it at a lower rate. We recommend signing up for the longest term as they have the 30-day money-back policy on all their hosting plans.
