SiteGround Hosting Review – Including Pros and Cons @ MyThemeShop

1 SiteGround Hosting Review

SiteGround hosting offers customers’ unlimited web hosting options coupled with excellent customer support, 99.9% uptime, and bulletproof security.

This company has been in existence for more than a decade, and has perfected the art of web hosting, defined new heights and outperformed nearly all other competitors in the industry.

SiteGround focuses on creating a hosting environment that ensures both start-ups and growing businesses can run their online presence smoothly.

2 SiteGround Web Hosting Plans

Let us now focus on the different hosting packages offered by SiteGround. Here are the hosting packages provided by SiteGround with a detailed description of each:

Shared Web Hosting

SiteGround shared hosting package comes in three pricing models:

Each of these packages offers different size of web space ranging from 10GB to 30 GB respectively. The prices depend on the amount of web space provided with the StartUp plan being the lowest priced.

Ideally, the StartUp package is ideal for customers who are getting started, and it’s limited to only one domain while with the other two higher packages, you can have multiple domains.

All essential features are in all the three hosting plans, but the GrowBig and GoGeek have additional features. Finally, the range of website visitors is 10,000, 25000 and 100,000 monthly visitors for the respective packages.

3 Reseller Hosting Package

SiteGround offers a reseller hosting package that is geared towards helping web designers and developers to host and maintain their clients’ websites.

This hosting plan allows the web designers and developers to leverage the robust SiteGround hosting infrastructure and provide reliable hosting services to their day to day web design customers.

The reseller package is at discounted prices that depend on the volume of the purchased accounts. The more the accounts purchased, the higher the discount offered.

The web designers and developers are at liberty to determine their resale price.

4 Cloud Hosting Fast, Scalable and Fully Managed

SiteGround offers customers a cloud hosting platform that is auto-scalable and comes with VIP support that is available 24/7. Cloud hosting is ideal for high traffic websites that require very fast and scalable hosting solution.

SiteGround cloud hosting package allows you to customize your plan and enjoy the ultra-fast cloud hosting platform.

The hosting plan comes with a Free Content Delivery Network (CDN) with multiple locations for easy geographical access and local speed. Finally, the backup system available guarantees customers that no data will ever get lost since there are 7 offsite daily backups of each account.

5 Dedicated Servers Hosting

The dedicated host offers clients peace of mind needed for a rapidly growing business where independence is encouraged. The host has a high class dedicated machine that is run by real experts.

They provide dedicated hosting customers with highly innovative proprietary software that skyrocket the performance of their server.

The customer support is still top notch with 24/7 availability for server reboots upon requests.

6 Enterprise Hosting

This hosting package is custom-made and focuses on the individual customer’s needs.

Instead of buying the already existing hosting plans, a customer can request for a custom solution that fits their business needs.

This kind of program is unique across the industry, and it gets better since SiteGround offers unlimited support. The custom solution can be a single instance setup or a public or private cloud configuration.

7 Specific Apps Hosting

SiteGround also offers specific hosting packages focused on different content management systems that include:

• WordPress Hosting
• Joomla Hosting
• Magento Hosting
• Drupal Hosting
• PrestaShop Hosting
• WooCommerce Hosting

WordPress hosting, in particular, has become very popular since the use of WordPress as a content management system has increased over the years.

8 Speed, Performance, Uptime, and Security

So now that you have explored a little about the SiteGround hosting service, it is time to explore the essential features of the hosting platform i.e speed, performance, uptime, and the security.

Let’s take each feature step-by-step and know more about them:

8.1 Speed and Performance

In the competitive web hosting industry, it’s hard to separate the best from the worst, but SiteGround stands alone when it comes to uptime, reliability, security, and performance.

SiteGround hosting infrastructure brings together a number of technologies that collaborate to optimize performance. Their hosting servers are in different locations in the world for optimized local speed and best loading times. Let us look in-depth at the technical features of this host:

• Solid State Drive (SSD) – This is a data storage technology that is faster than HDD, SiteGround provides SSD to all its customers.
• Content Delivery Network (CDN) – It is a system that allows the delivery of web pages to users based on their particular geographical locations. SiteGround uses CloudFlare as the CDN.
• NGINX – This is a high-performance server that is the best alternative to Apache web server. This server provides hosting customers with the benefits of speed and reliability. Nginx, unlike Apache, is built on a lean architecture making it very fast.
• Caching – SiteGround offers WordPress hosting customers SuperCacher, a feature that helps speed up WordPress sites through three caching levels.
• HTTP/2 – SiteGround supports ‘HTTP/ 2’ protocol which is a major revision of the HTTP protocol and has reduced latency that helps to improve website loading speed in most browsers.
• PHP 7 – This is the latest version of PHP that is available on the SiteGround cPanel. Most hosting companies do not have the newest version of PHP installed.

8.2 Uptime

SiteGround guarantees customers that they have a 99.9% uptime; the reason for this guarantee is the hosting architecture, the support team, and an almost immediate backup when needed.

The platform is built on LXC (Linux containers) technology because it is very efficient and offers unlimited flexibility.

Secondly, they have a pro-active server monitoring DevOps team that is in-house and helps detect issues and fixes them within the shortest time possible. It can also foresee potential problems in the future and take adequate action to prevent their occurrence.

In the worst case scenario when data recovery is needed, SiteGround offers the fastest data recovery. SiteGround launched their backup system in 2015 which ensures customers reduced restoration time. All these features have further helped towards making SiteGround customers get 99.9% uptime for their websites.

8.3 Security

With increased website security vulnerabilities, it’s important to know what measures your host has put in place to secure your site. SiteGround is the pioneer of secure account isolation technology.

Since 2008, SiteGround developed CHROOT account isolation on shared servers. Today, they are still leading in web hosting security. They developed this innovation while no one in the industry thought that would be possible.

There are additional security features that include; add-on HackAlert monitoring that lets website owners know of any attack on their site. It is a premium add-on for only $1 per month but very helpful.

There is also a free SSL for the high-cost host plans and leech protect feature that prevents administrators from leaking their passwords.

9 Daily Backups

SiteGround carries out data backups on a regular basis for every hosting plan. This data backup is comprehensive and premium plan users can get 30 copies of their backups.

There are also backup restoration tools available on the cPanel, making data recovery easy.

10 Excellent Customer Support and Community

Nothing defines a good hosting company than how they take care of their clients. Web hosting is a service that requires friendly and knowledgeable customer support team.

Whether you are looking for simple account support or sophisticated technical assistance, SiteGround customer support is rated the best.

For new clients, SiteGround customer support is very helpful and helps in the migration of their website free of charge. There is also a 24/7 VIP support that has real experts, and you can either chat, call or raise a ticket. The response time of each of this support request is less than 10 minutes.

In summary, SiteGround offers the following support to customers:

• The comprehensive knowledge base that helps answer the frequently asked questions by customers
• Tutorials on topical issues that allow customers to get informed on the latest developments and changes in the hosting environment. Good tutorials enable customers to navigate the system and solve any problems that might not require the attention of the support team.
• 24/7 support system that includes live chats, phone support, and ticketing
• Pre-recorded webinars that help customers understand the features that are available on their hosting plan.

11 Pricing, Plans, and Discounted Offers

As a visitor of MyThemeShop, you shall get a discount of 60% on all the hosting plans when you sign up for the Siteground hosting.

The pricing of the hosting plan on SiteGround is affordable and delivers value for money. As mentioned above, the shared web hosting has 3 plans that include:

• StartUp (Priced at $3.95 per month) – This is the basic hosting plan that allows new customers to have one website set up and can receive up to 10,000 visitors per month. As the business grows and the traffic increases they can upgrade to the GrowBig hosting plan.
• GrowBig Plan (Priced at $7.95 per month) – This package is ideal for a medium to large enterprises that has several websites and receives up to 25,000 visitors monthly. The price is affordable since the plan can host several domains. For traffic beyond 25,000 visitors per month, you can upgrade to GoGeek hosting plan.
• GoGeek Plan (Priced at $14.95 per month) – This hosting plan is the most expensive, and it is ideal for large companies that have more than 100,000 visitors monthly.

Compared to other hosting companies, SiteGround prices reflect the best value for money since you get high quality hosting for a fraction of what it would cost.

12 SiteGround Comparison with Other Leading Web Hosts

The best choice when looking for a reliable web hosting provider may depend on your budget, the size of the project and technical experience.

It may be helpful to compare and contrast SiteGround hosting with other leaders in the industry. Here is a comparison with other hosting providers based on some factors.

12.1 SiteGround vs. GoDaddy Hosting

Godaddy is the industry leader in domain registration, but the web hosting service they offer does not match up with SiteGround.

• Customer Support – In comparison with the SiteGround hosting, Godaddy is deficient of good customer support and hosting technology.
• Pricing – Certainly Godaddy offers lower prices than SiteGround
• WordPress Hosting – GoDaddy does not provide better WordPress hosting compared to SiteGround
• Uptime – Both companies guarantees 99.9% uptime.

12.2 SiteGround vs. InMotion Hosting

InMotion is another relatively popular hosting company that is independent and offers competitive hosting plans.

• Customer Support – The client’s support as compared to SiteGround is at par and has been rated highly by customers. Both have great support features.
• Pricing– The prices are very competitive, but the 24-month signup requirement for discounted price breaks the deal!
• WordPress Hosting – SiteGround has better WordPress hosting infrastructure compared to InMotion.
• Uptime – Both hosts guarantee their customers 99.9% uptime but Inmotion reserves it to the business hosting plan and higher.

12.3 SiteGround vs. Bluehost

Bluehost is a brand of Endurance International and offers exceptional hosting services that have earned it a place in WordPress recommended hosts list. Here is the comparison between Bluehost and SiteGround:

• Customer Support – Both companies have instant response to customer support chats and tickets and they have similar features to help customers. SiteGround stands out because they help with quick and free website transfers for new clients. For Bluehost, a request is necessary, and it’s not clear how flexible they are to helping with migrations.
• Pricing – Bluehost has lower prices unlike SiteGround they offer a monthly billing cycle that makes it ideal for beginners.
• WordPress Hosting – Both hosts are recommended by WordPress.org as best WordPress hosts, but SiteGround has advanced hosting technology installed on their servers.
• Uptime – Both companies guarantee customers of 99.9% uptime, but SiteGround outperforms Bluehost as far as uptime is the concern.

12.4 SiteGround vs. HostGator

HostGator is another Endurance International brand that offers relatively good hosting. HostGator does not perform better than the sister host – Bluehost. Here is how HostGator is when compared with SiteGround hosting:

• Customer Support – HostGator has the worst customer support among the leading hosting companies. Previously, they had an excellent customer care record but upon acquisition by the Endurance International, the customer care became worse.
• Pricing – HostGator has good prices that allow beginners to get started quickly. The prices of HostGator are very affordable and offer flexibility and the monthly billing cycle that is ideal for beginners.
• WordPress Hosting – HostGator has WordPress hosting features on cPanel but lack the advanced WordPress hosting features seen on SiteGround.
• Uptime – HostGator has crowded servers and constrained resources since they offer the cheapest shared hosting plan. HostGator does not guarantee 99.9% uptime, and there have been noticeable outages.

13 Industry Recommendation

SiteGround hosting has earned several recommendations but notably from the leading content management systems that host millions of websites. This stellar hosting has been recommended by industry opinion leaders, here is the most notable endorsement:

WordPress Recommendation

SiteGround hosting is officially recommended by WordPress.org as one of the best WordPress hosts. SiteGround offers WordPress users all the tools needed to manage WordPress that include:

• One-click cPanel installs – This is available on all the hosting levels, where users can install WordPress with a one-click installer.
• Automatic updates – There are automatic updates for the WordPress core files enhancing the security of WordPress sites. Automatic WordPress Updates are available on all hosting plans.
• WP-CLI Enabled – This is a feature that allows WordPress administrators to have a command line management option. It is available for all the three hosting plans
• SuperCacher – This is a three-level caching feature that helps speed up the loading of WordPress sites. It is in the GrowBig and GoGeek hosting plans.
• WordPress staging – This feature allows developers to test efficiently and deploy changes in WordPress and is available for GoGeek hosting plan.
• GIT integration – Git is preinstalled, and this allows the GoGeek users who are advanced WordPress developers to have an interface for Git Repo creation.

16 Conclusion

SiteGround is the best example of a stellar web hosting service that outmatches nearly all other hosts in the industry. The competitive pricing offers the best value for money since other cheaper hosting will not provide features found on SiteGround.

For WordPress hosting, the SuperCacher among other WordPress specific features guarantee a fast page speed. Although there are a few limitations of SiteGround hosting, overall it is a highly recommendable service.