Overview
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A2 Web Hosting
Best for a Strong Money-Back Guarantee - Jump To Details
HostGator Web Hosting
Best for Linux- or Windows-Based Hosting - Jump To Details
InMotion Web Hosting
Best for Growing Small Businesses - Jump To Details
DreamHost Web Hosting
Best for Low-Cost Web Hosting - Jump To Details
Hostinger Web Hosting
Best for Unlimited SSL Certificates - Jump To Details
GoDaddy Web Hosting
Best for Office 365 Users - Jump To Details
Hostwinds Web Hosting
Best for a Free Website Builder - Jump To Details
AccuWeb Hosting
Best for Cloud Hosting - Jump To Details
FatCow Web Hosting
Best for Reliable Uptime - Jump To Details
Ionos by 1&1
Best for Customer Support
If you want an online presence, be it for business or a personal site, you need web hosting, and shared hosting should be your springboard. These services are the lightweight class of the web hosting world, offering limited resources to host your website online (while being the cheapest web hosting you can commit to outside of free hosting). PCMag can help streamline your search. We've tested web hosting services for more than a decade, and update our reviews frequently as services add and remove features. Our Editors' Choice winning A2 Hosting excels at WordPress hosting, but offers a money-back guarantee if its services dip below 99.9% uptime. InMotion Hosting on the other hand, offers free marketing tools and unlimited monthly data transfers, making it a great choice for small businesses. We’ve selected 10 web hosting services for this list, all of which are excellent in their own ways. Read on to see our top picks, followed by the key factors to consider when shopping for shared web hosting.
Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
A2 Web Hosting
Best for a Strong Money-Back GuaranteeWhy We Picked It
A2 has a well-rounded web hosting catalog, making it a fantastic choice when hunting for quality servers. It excels at WordPress hosting, but its shared servers feature a strong money-back guarantee.
Who It’s For
All the web hosting services we recommend offer a money back guarantee, but A2 is quite generous by offering a prorated refund if you decide to pack it up after 30 days. This makes A2 an excellent choice for novice webmasters, since the money-back guarantee makes commitment easy and painless.
Pros
- Robust hosting packages, particularly WordPress
- Excellent customer service
- Terrific uptime
- Good money-back refund plan
Cons
- Lacks Windows server options
- Relatively expensive
Learn MoreA2 Web Hosting ReviewHostGator Web Hosting
Best for Linux- or Windows-Based HostingWhy We Picked it
HostGator is a top-tier, feature-stacked web hosting service that offers rich cloud, WordPress, VPS, and dedicated server packages. However, HostGator’s shared servers are particularly robust, with cost-effective Linux and Windows options.
Who It’s For
Small businesses and startups that need Windows Server options (the operating system isn't a common one in the shared hosting space). With HostGator, you also get 24/7 telephone support, live web chat support, and a robust online portal packed with reference articles and tutorials.
Pros
- Numerous feature-rich hosting plans
- Excellent shared hosting offerings
- Good for novice webmasters
- Useful site-building software and e-commerce tools
- Helpful, 24/7 customer service
- Outstanding uptime
Cons
- Not all plans have a Windows Server option
- Some annual plans cost more than paying month by month
Learn MoreHostGator Web Hosting ReviewInMotion Web Hosting
Best for Growing Small BusinessesWhy We Picked It
The flexible InMotion hosting has a great feature set that's ideal for both personal users and business users. The web host offers reasonable prices and well-rounded options for shared, VPS, dedicated, reseller, and WordPress plans. To sweeten the pot, InMotion's shared plans all feature unlimited email, storage, and monthly data transfers.
Who It's For
Competition in the web hosting space is fierce, so must companies offer appealing perks to attract potential clients and stand out from the pack. InMotion’s unlimited email, storage, and monthly data transfers make the service an excellent choice for small, growing businesses. After all, you don't want to worry about hitting caps as your company expands.
Pros
- Excellent uptime
- Many hosting types
- All plans offer unlimited email
- Unlimited data transfers with all Shared and WordPress plans
- Lengthy, money-back guarantee
- Easy-to-use website-building software
Cons
- Lacks Windows servers
- Not all plans have month-to-month payment options
Learn MoreInMotion Web Hosting ReviewDreamHost Web Hosting
Best for Low-Cost Web HostingWhy We Picked It
Shared hosting isn’t as powerful as other server types, but it can satisfy a wide range of business needs, in addition to being relatively inexpensive. DreamHost offers solid shared hosting solutions for clients of all types, and these plans are quite wallet friendly. Selecting a server is straightforward: DreamHost provides pricing comparisons with easy to understand values that make browsing convenient for individuals and small businesses.
Who It’s For
DreamHost is a value-friendly service, particularly in regards to its shared hosting tiers. This is great if you're looking to save some money in these economically uncertain times. The packages come with unlimited monthly data transfers, but some plans lack email options.
Pros
- Strong security features
- Extensive domain-management tools
- Excellent cloud hosting offerings
- Unlimited data transfers per month
- Generous shared hosting money-back guarantee
- Useful WordPress staging feature
Cons
- Shared Starter plan lacks email
- No telephone support
- Lacks Windows-based servers
Learn MoreDreamHost Web Hosting ReviewHostinger Web Hosting
Best for Unlimited SSL CertificatesWhy We Picked It
Hostinger is a highly versatile web host that combines excellent uptime, great customer service, and a mix of traditional and cloud-based hosting. The company is constantly expanding and evolving its services to match or exceed competitors. It recently expanded its bundled SSL certificates to include all plans, which is excellent for businesses looking for an extra level of security.
Who It’s For
With such a high degree of flexibility and customization, and free, unlimited SSL certificates, Hostinger is a fine shared hosting choice for businesses handling online transactions. Hostinger also has excellent online support, so you’re always a few keystrokes away from help.
Pros
- High-quality, low-cost plans
- Helpful customer service
- Terrific uptime in testing
- Optional gaming servers
- Excellent AI tools
- Includes the Hostinger Website Builder
Cons
- Lacks dedicated web hosting
- Not every plan has a Windows option
- No phone support
Learn MoreHostinger Web Hosting ReviewGoDaddy Web Hosting
Best for Office 365 UsersWhy We Picked It
As a customer, sometimes it’s more convenient to get all your needs met by a single service rather than shop around for the cheapest deal. GoDaddy is one of the world’s most popular domain name sellers, but it offers excellent hosting options, too. They include attractive and useful features, such as tight integration with Microsoft Office 365.
Who It’s For
Fantastic customer service and expert Microsoft Office 365 integration make GoDaddy an appealing choice for businesses centered on office work. In addition, GoDaddy offers domain services, so it’s a fine one-stop-shop for both domain and hosting solutions.
Pros
- Top-notch uptime
- Linux- and Windows-based servers
- Email tightly integrated into Microsoft apps
- Helpful, 24/7 customer support
- Useful website-builder software
Cons
- Lacks cloud hosting
- Doesn't offer much default email
Learn MoreGoDaddy Web Hosting ReviewHostwinds Web Hosting
Best for a Free Website BuilderWhy We Picked It
For affordable servers at excellent rates, look no further than Hostwinds. This web host has three, great shared hosting plans, each of which comes with unlimited monthly data transfers, storage, and email. Hostwinds' shared servers are quite scalable, so you can buy into a higher tier package if your business grows beyond your starter plan.
Who It’s For
In addition to an excellent feature set, Hostwinds has shared hosting plans that include the Weebly website builder. This is excellent if you want to establish a website, as Weebly is a well-rounded tool for the task. If you’re a hands-on sort of person, Hostwinds’ selection is well worth considering.
Pros
- Terrific uptime in testing
- Excellent reseller and VPS hosting plans
- Good customer service
- Minecraft server hosting
Cons
- Not every plan has a Windows server option
- Short money-back guarantee window
Learn MoreHostwinds Web Hosting ReviewAccuWeb Hosting
Best for Cloud HostingWhy We Picked It
A helping hand is always welcome when working on a website's backend. AccuWeb’s shared hosting packages are managed, meaning someone is monitoring your site for you whenever you are not. These shared hosting plans are surprisingly robust, featuring both SSD and cloud storage options.
Who It’s For
When it comes to shared hosting options, AccuWeb ranks as one of the best we've tested. Not only do you get a choice of SSD or cloud servers, but you can select either a Linux or Windows operating system (this is uncommon with shared hosting). If you need a web host with a high degree of flexibility at the shared hosting level, AccuWeb is worth a look.
Pros
- Great budget-friendly shared hosting options
- Excellent dedicated hosting plans
- Offers a choice of Linux or Windows servers
- Helpful customer service
Cons
- Limited email accounts with some plans
Learn MoreAccuWeb Hosting ReviewFatCow Web Hosting
Best for Reliable UptimeWhy We Picked It
Don’t let the name fool you: FatCow is a high-quality shared and WordPress hosting option. Its services fall just shy of our Editors’ Choice picks, but it's a highly recommended host thanks to its low cost and generous features. Even better, FatCow delivers reliable, top-notch uptime.
Who It's For
Anyone who doesn't want to worry about extended website downtime. Uptime is an essential hosting aspect, since clients or customers will be unable to find your company or access your products or services if the site's down. FatCow lets you avoid that nightmare scenario.
Pros
- A wide array of hosting types
- Strong uptime
- Excellent customer service
Cons
- No Windows-based servers
Learn MoreFatCow Web HostingIonos by 1&1
Best for Customer SupportWhy We Picked It
Ionos excels at cloud-based hosting, but its shared plans are quite good, too. They come in many tiers, with services that are ideal for personal or business use. The downside? Limited email. You get a single mailbox, regardless of the shared plan you choose. The upside? Expert customer service that includes email, web chat, and phone support.
Who It’s For
Webmasters who value customer service will be pleased with Ionos' various support options, particularly the company's phone squad. If your business doesn’t need numerous email accounts, Ionos is an excellent choice for shared hosting.
Pros
- Dependable uptime in testing
- Excellent cloud hosting packages
- Linux- or Windows-based servers
- Easy-to-use website creation tools
Cons
- Lacks reseller hosting plans
- Relatively sparse email options
Learn MoreIonos by 1&1 Review
Buying Guide: The Best Shared Hosting Services for 2024
What Is Shared Hosting?
Unlike a dedicated hosting server that powers a single site, a shared web hosting server houses multiple sites. The upside to shared hosting? It's cheap web hosting. In fact, it's sometimes free web hosting. Shared web hosting is extremely wallet-friendly; you can host a website on a shared server for under $10 per month in most cases. Dedicated hosting, on the other hand, can cost hundreds of dollars per month.
The downside to shared hosting? Potential website instability, as your site shares server CPU resources with other sites. For example, if you're sharing a server and one of the sites on that server has a traffic spike, your pages might load slowly—or not at all. Still, shared web hosting is a super-affordable way to get a site up and running.
That said, not all shared hosting plans are created equal. Sure, all web hosting companies let you store files on their servers, but they offer varying amounts of monthly data transfers, storage, and other features. Even how you pay (month-to-month vs. annual payments) can be radically different, too. Most shared web hosts offer multiple plans that represent their low-, medium-, and top-tier products.
Naturally, you'll pay more for an upper-level service, but you'll get more features. Web hosts typically give you a discount if you sign up for a multi-month plan.
Is Shared Hosting Good?
Many shared web hosts offer unlimited monthly data transfers and storage, so other factors may help you decide which service is best for your business. Note, however, that if you rely on "unlimited" anything, be sure to read the small print to make sure that there aren't any gotchas. Make sure your definition of unlimited matches the hosting service's.
Then there's the operating system question. Do you need Windows servers? Linux servers? It's best to shop around. When it comes to server operating systems, Linux is typically the default option. Still, some services offer a choice of Linux or Windows hosting. If you have specific server-side applications that require Windows, such as SQL Server or a custom application written in .NET, you must make sure your web host has Windows hosting. But don't let the idea of a Linux host intimidate you. Check out Linux vs. Windows: How to Pick the Best Server OS for Your Website for more information.
Nowadays, most web hosts offer a graphical interface or a control panel to simplify server administration and website management. Instead of typing at the command line, you'll click easily identifiable icons.
There are some specs that you may not find while browsing a web host's site. For instance, many web hosts don't list the amount of RAM offered by their shared hosting plans. In such instances, you can safely assume that the RAM total is less than 1GB. A few web hosting services offer premium shared plans that offer 1GB of RAM or slightly more. If you want dependable-under-pressure performance without spending hundreds of dollars per month, look into virtual private server (VPS) hosting. Signing up for a VPS plan gives your future site a significant amount of computer resources.
You'll also want a web host with responsive 24/7 customer support. Forums, knowledge bases, and tutorials are useful tools, but there's nothing like getting another human being on the horn (or at least in a web chat).
On the other hand, if you're looking to create your own web hosting company, but without the associated frustrations, check out reseller hosting.
What Is the Difference Between Shared Hosting and WordPress Hosting?
An alternate form of shared web hosting is WordPress hosting. This option is for people who want to build their sites on the back of the popular WordPress content management system (CMS), but don't want to bother with a lot of the backend stuff, such as updating the apps, plug-ins, and CMS, and enabling automatic backups. Managed WordPress plans typically have security features designed to protect the CMS from ne'er-do-wells.
Some web hosts offer managed WordPress as just one of their many hosting packages. Others specialize in WordPress hosting and don't offer additional hosting plans.
Shared Hosting Uptime
All the aforementioned features are valuable to the web hosting experience, but none matches the importance of site uptime. If your site is down, clients or customers will be unable to find you or access your products or services.
Recently, we've added more-formal uptime monitoring to our review process, and the results show that most web hosts do an excellent job of keeping your sites up and running. If they don't, they suffer for it in our rankings. Even if they get everything else right, sites with uptime problems aren't eligible for top scores. All services suffer ups and downs, sometimes for reasons beyond their control. Those sites that fail to address the problem are penalized accordingly.
Which Is the Best Shared Hosting Service?
Starting a website isn't easy, but our chart gives you a solid foundation on which you can begin your journey. Ready to select a great shared web hosting service? Click the links to read our in-depth reviews of the category's best services.
If you're just getting started with web hosting, make sure to check out our primers, How to Create a Website and How to Register a Domain Name for Your Website. The Best Courses for Learning How to Build Websites is another informative starting point.
