The Best Web and Cloud Hosting Services of 2021

Bluehost's terms of service include a lot of details about its plans, fees and features. It offers 24/7 support over live chat, phone and an email ticketing system. The company also provides online resources for you to troubleshoot different aspects of your service and learn more about web hosting.

Bluehost provides shared, VPS, dedicated server and WordPress hosting. It offers several plans for each type, and its pricing is comparable with competitors'.

Dedicated servers and VPS are best suited for large corporations that need more storage and higher bandwidth than shared or WordPress hosting can provide. Also, because VPS and dedicated servers are private, there's even higher uptime. These types of hosting are typically not necessary for standard small business websites. Shared and WordPress hosting are cost-effective options that cover the needs of most small businesses.

Bluehost provides shared hosting plans at slightly lower rates than many of its competitors. It has four shared hosting plans: Basic, Plus, Choice Plus and Pro.

Basic: $3.95/month

• One website
• 50GB of SSD storage
• Unmetered bandwidth
• Free SSL certificate
• Standard performance
• One included domain
• Five parked domains
• 25 subdomains

Plus: $5.95/month (includes everything in Basic)

• Unlimited websites
• Unlimited SSD storage
• Unmetered bandwidth
• Free SSL certificate
• Standard performance
• Unlimited domains
• Unlimited parked domains
• Unlimited subdomains
• Spam expert
• One Microsoft 365 mailbox – free for 30 days

Choice Plus: $6.95/month (includes everything in Plus)

• Domain privacy and protection
• Site backup – free for one year

Pro: $13.95/month (includes everything in Choice Plus)

• High performance
• Two spam experts
• Site backup – free for hosting term
• Dedicated IP

You can read more about Bluehost's additional fees in the terms of service. Some important fees to note involve registering or transferring a domain name. Bluehost offers a free domain name for the first year.

There are also some conditions for the 30-day money-back guarantee. If you cancel your subscription within the first three days of activation, you have the option to keep your domain name for a $15.99 fee. If you cancel after three days, you will be required to pay the $15.99 domain fee.

If you decide to cancel after the first 30 days, you are not entitled to a refund of any kind. Bluehost only refunds credit card payments. 

Bluehost's shared hosting plans have solid features. Its pricing stands out, but the relatively low cost doesn't undermine the services you get. The company's transparency with listing the features in each plan is another benefit. Instead of digging for information, business owners can get a quick view of what the company offers and decide whether the services meet their needs.

Storage and Bandwidth

Bluehost provides unlimited storage on its Plus, Choice Plus and Pro plans. Basic plan holders have access to only 50GB of SSD storage. The bandwidth is unmetered for all plans. Most hosting companies provide unlimited storage or unmetered bandwidth; however, these terms do not mean they're infinite. Bluehost uses statistical analysis to define the average parameters each consumer must stay within each month. It monitors your usage and contacts you if you're using more than the allocated amount. Some web hosting companies even suspend service until your usage declines. If you're concerned about the level of bandwidth and storage you need, it's a good idea to talk to someone from the Bluehost sales team.

Security

 Compared with other web hosting companies we reviewed, Bluehost provides limited security measures. It offers site backups, restoration, resource protection, and an SSL certificate on each of its plans, but some plans require you to pay extra for security features such as SiteLock and CodeGuard. Bluehost doesn't provide a lot of information on DDoS prevention, firewalls or other security measures. This is another good topic to discuss with the Bluehost sales team before you sign up.

Domain Transfer

Bluehost includes a free domain name with the activation of a shared hosting plan. This means when you sign up for the service, you won't get hit with an additional fee to set up your domain name. If you sign up for other plans, you may not have access to a free domain name.

Bluehost is not accredited with the BBB. This is concerning, as most companies have at least some kind of BBB score. Its parent company, EIG, has an A+ rating but a lot of negative reviews and nearly 600 complaints. Compared with its competitors, these are negative marks. Bluehost has mixed positive and negative ratings elsewhere online, so it's not clear how supportive the company's customer service is.

Bluehost offers support via phone and live chat. It also has a unique company blog that provides additional online resources for customers to learn more about web hosting services. Considering Bluehost offers some desirable web hosting plans, it is worth testing out its customer support on your own to see how helpful it is.  

Bluehost no longer offers cloud hosting plans, focusing instead on its WordPress and shared hosting options for small businesses. So if you are seeking cloud hosting, you'll have to find another web hosting provider.

Whereas VPS and dedicated servers are robust and cater to bigger businesses, shared or WordPress hosting is appropriate for small and midsize businesses that expect lower web traffic.

Because most small businesses benefit from shared web hosting plans, that's where we focused. We evaluated InMotion's three shared hosting plans: Lite, Launch, Power and Pro.

Launch: $5.99/month (includes all features in Lite)

• Free domain
• Up to two websites
• 50GB of SSD storage
• 10 email addresses
• Free SSL certificate

Power: $8.99/month (includes all features in Launch)

• Up to 50 websites
• 100GB of SSD storage
• Free SSL certificate
• 50 email addresses

Pro: $14.99/month (includes all features in Power)

• Up to 100 websites
• 200GB of SSD storage
• Unlimited email addresses
• 99% uptime

InMotion Hosting provides a free domain name for the first year with your plan, as well as solid security, storage and integration features. If you have or plan to have an e-commerce store, you're limited to InMotion's Power and Pro plans, which support e-commerce. Here's more about InMotion Hosting's features:

Storage and Bandwidth

 InMotion Hosting, like most web hosting companies, advertises unlimited disk space. However, InMotion states in its terms of service that companies that use InMotion Hosting to store or archive electronic files, as well as companies that have sites that affect server and network performance, will be asked to update to a virtual or private server.

Security

InMotion offers spam protection, SSL certificates, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection, hack protection and automatic data backups. Many companies we reviewed have tiered security offerings, so the most expensive plans had the highest level of security. InMotion doesn't do this; instead, it provides the same top-level security across each plan via its Security Suite.

Preinstalled Apps and Integrations

Businesses have access to over 400 applications and other programs. Popular integrations – WordPress, PrestaShop, Drupal and Joomla – are available, too. All applications are one-click installations, plus you have access to the latest version of cPanel to manage and control your website.

Reported Uptime

Almost every company we reviewed claimed to provide 99.9% uptime. Because your account is on a server that's shared with several other customers, there are bound to be instances of downtime. InMotion is one of the few companies that offer a credit (which applies only to the Pro plan) when you experience downtime.

InMotion Hosting has been accredited by the BBB since 2003, earning an A+ rating.

We contacted InMotion through live chat, posing as a small business owner interested in the company's service. Although the chat had a slight lag, the representative provided us with clear, succinct answers. In addition, the rep asked questions about our business and our website and suggested plan options tailored to our needs. Further, they offered us a small discount after our discussion. Overall, the customer support from InMotion was impressive compared with that of other web hosting services we evaluated.

InMotion is one of the few web hosting companies that may charge you a cancellation fee of $50.

Like other web hosting companies, InMotion Hosting advertises unlimited disk space and unlimited bandwidth. We recommend that you speak with an InMotion Hosting rep to learn more about the policy and the restrictions.

This web hosting provider has a wide selection of plans and even offers the choice between managed and shared plans for WordPress. The mix of plans and features is beneficial for small businesses that are looking for a range of options.

In addition to standard shared, VPS, dedicated and cloud hosting, DreamHost provides a large selection of WordPress hosting plans that are unmatched by competitors. Each of these plans and services has different pricing options and available features.

Smaller businesses can benefit from the affordability and usability of shared, cloud and WordPress hosting. Managed WordPress hosting is especially useful for small business owners who have minimal coding and technical skills, as there are usually drag-and-drop features and website-builder capabilities. VPS and dedicated servers, which are typically more expensive, cater to larger businesses with high web traffic.

DreamHost is very transparent about its pricing. Most companies offer promotional or slashed pricing to attract new customers but then raise rates after the first billing cycle. DreamHost advertises its standard WordPress hosting rates, which are competitive with those of other companies we reviewed.

Shared Website Hosting

Shared Starter: $2.59/month

• One website
• Free domain included
• Unlimited traffic
• WordPress preinstalled
• Free automated WordPress migrations
• WP website builder
• Fast SSD storage
• Free SSL certificate
• Option to add email for as low as $1.67/month
• Monthly, one-year and three-year plans

Shared Unlimited: $4.95/month

• Unlimited websites
• Free domain included
• Unlimited traffic
• WordPress preinstalled
• Free automated WordPress migrations
• WP website builder
• Fast SSD storage
• Free SSL certificate
• Unlimited email
• Monthly, one-year and three-year plans

There may be other plan options, pricing and terms for the various services DreamHost provides. Fees may also differ depending on your plan and contract.

DreamHost provides a solid selection of features for its WordPress hosting customers. Its mix of plans means you'll be able to get the features you need, whether you're looking to get started with a basic hosting plan or to host multiple WordPress sites. The company is transparent about its storage and bandwidth offerings, and the service provides site backups and other important security features.

Storage and Bandwidth

Each managed WordPress plan comes with unmetered bandwidth. This is ideal for business owners who are unsure of how much they will be using, since overage fees do not apply.

The DreamPress plan comes with 30GB of solid-state-drive (SSD) storage, an unmetered number of cached visits per month and a moderate monthly allowance for uncached visits. The DreamPressPlus plan gives you these features and 60GB of SSD storage. The DreamPress Pro plan gives you 120GB of SSD storage, an unmetered number of cached visits per month and a high monthly allowance for uncached visits.

Security

DreamHost provides nearly the same level of security for each DreamPress plan. It offers a one-click SSL certificate to encrypt your website, regardless of the plan you sign up for; daily site backups to help in the event of data loss; and WordPress service updates to keep your system patched and fully up-to-date.

Preinstalled Apps and Integrations

DreamHost has its own control panel tailored specifically to its services. Although many competitors use a standard control panel, like cPanel or Plesk, the customized DreamHost control panel can be beneficial for users who want to access their billing and support features on the same dashboard. WordPress has thousands of plugins you can use for your site, and DreamHost supports these plugins with a single click.

Domain Transfer

In some cases, DreamHost will provide a free domain name transfer for the first year of service. This is for the annual shared hosting plans and annual DreamPress plans. It may also extend to other service plans, depending on your agreement.

Reported Uptime

According to DreamHost's terms of service, the company has a 100% uptime guarantee. Just about every provider we reviewed guarantees 99.9% uptime. What separates DreamHost is that if your service is interrupted, you will receive a credit of one day for each hour your service is down. Some hosting companies don't offer a credit or any type of compensation when the service goes down.

DreamHost has a good online reputation. Although it is not an accredited member of the BBB, it does have an A+ rating on the BBB site.

It was difficult to reach a DreamHost representative because the company doesn't have a toll-free customer service line or email. If you're an existing customer, can sign in to your account to be connected with tech support. However, if you're a new customer, it's not so straightforward: On the Support page, you're presented with five options (Sales, Billing, Tech Support, Other, and I Can't Log In to My DreamHost Account) that best suit your question or need. You can then fill out an online contact form to speak with a representative.  When we did secure a representative, we posed as small business owners and asked important sales questions to find out more about DreamHost's offering and test the company's customer service. The representatives we worked with were both pleasant and helpful and, on one occasion, went as far as to search through company blog posts to find the answer to one of our questions.

At no point did we feel on the hook to buy the company's product. Instead, the sales representative answered our questions quickly and accurately via chat support. DreamHost had one of the best customer service experiences of any web hosting provider we reviewed.

While DreamHost says it provides a free domain name for the first year of service, this is only true in certain cases, like for annual shared hosting plans and annual DreamPress plans. If you downgrade from an annual plan to a monthly plan, you will be required to pay for the domain name.

While DreamHost is the only web hosting company we analyzed to provide such a long refund period of 97 days, you may not be entitled to a full refund during this time, depending on the services you signed up for and the fees associated with your account.

In addition to domain registration, A2 provides shared, VPS, WordPress, cloud, dedicated server and reseller hosting plans. Each type of web hosting varies in pricing, features and usage. The type of plan you choose will depend on your business size, budget and needed features.

VPS and dedicated hosting are great ways to have your own distinct service instead of sharing servers with other A2 customers. They provide faster, more reliable services, but they are typically necessary only for large corporations with high-traffic websites.

Reseller hosting is ideal for providing your own customers with web hosting capabilities if you're running a web hosting reseller business. Managed WordPress hosting, like shared hosting, is a good choice for small businesses. However, it is more expensive and benefits those who need a little more help with managing their site and require less personalization. Shared web hosting plans are the most cost-effective option for small business owners.

A2 Hosting has four shared hosting plans: Startup, Drive, Turbo Boost and Turbo Max.

Startup: $2.99/month

• One website
• 100GB of SSD storage
• Free and easy site migration
• Money-back guarantee Free SSL certificate

Drive: $4.99/month (includes everything in Startup)

• Unlimited websites
• Unlimited SSD storage
• Free and easy site migration
• Free automatic backups
• Free website builder
• Money-back guarantee

Turbo Boost: $9.99/month (includes everything in Drive)

• Unlimited websites
• Unlimited NVMe storage
• Unlimited email accounts
• Free automatic backups
• Choice of data center location

Turbo Max: $14.99/month (includes everything in Turbo)

• Unlimited websites
• Unlimited NVMe storage
• Free and easy site migration
• Free automatic backups
• Money-back guarantee

A2 Hosting's shared hosting plans include a wide range of services and features that make it ideal for small businesses. It may be helpful to view a full breakdown of the features to compare the shared plans, but the company's offerings match up with those of other web hosting companies. One category where A2 Hosting stands out is security, as the company offers a suite of security services on each of its plans.

Storage and Bandwidth

A2, like many of the companies we reviewed, offers unlimited storage to its users on  three of its plans. However, in this case, "unlimited" means a level of usage "defined by our experience with similarly situated customers," according to A2's terms of service. If you go over your allotted usage, you'll likely receive a warning or could even have your service suspended until your usage goes back down. A2's offering is consistent with those of many other services we looked at and should support most businesses' needs.

Security

A2 Hosting provides its customers with secure hosting options. Its shared hosting plans, along with many other plans, have access to 24/7 network monitoring, SSL certificates and free HackScan malware protection. A2 also provides KernelCare rebootless updates, a dual firewall, brute-force defense and reinforced DDoS protection. These measures, along with A2's security tools, help to keep your website secure at all times. Some plans even have the option for Server Rewind backups and offsite backups. A2 Hosting offers access to a priority support team in case you have any questions about your site security. 

Preinstalled Apps and Integrations

 A2 provides a wide range of preinstalled apps, including WordPress. You can monitor and control your site with the latest version of cPanel. Because cPanel is so common, you should have an easy user experience and won't have to struggle with learning a unique, custom control panel. You'll also have access to Softaculous, which provides you with one-click access to Joomla, Drupal, CubeCart, b2evolution, phpBB and SMF. Other e-commerce site features – like Magento, OpenCart, PrestaShop and AbanteCart – are also available.

Reported Uptime

A2 Hosting, like most hosting companies we reviewed, says its customers enjoy 99.9% uptime. However, the company doesn't provide a lot of detail on credits or deals should it fall short of this promise. A2's terms of service say the company will schedule periodic downtime for maintenance. In these instances, the company will warn you about the impending downtime.

A2 Hosting is an accredited member of the BBB, with an A+ rating.

We contacted A2 Hosting's customer support team via live chat to test the company's customer service capabilities. We were almost immediately paired with support agents who were knowledgeable and courteous. They provided follow-up links as further resources related to our questions. They even sent chat transcripts at the end of the service for future reference. Based on our research, A2 Hosting has very helpful customer service.   

A2's money-back guarantee is a little more complex than other companies'. While you can technically get a refund at any time in your service, you are most likely to get a full refund during the first 30 days. While you may still be entitled to a partial refund after 30 days, other web hosting providers offer longer money-back guarantee periods of 45 or even 90 days.