As a website owner and hosting expert, I have tested hundreds of hosting providers and can tell you that SiteGround is one of the very best on the market. Plus when 3 million website owners trust you with their domains, you are doing something right.
In the rest of this SiteGround review, we’ll take a tour through the web host’s plans, pricing, features offered, real-life performance stats, customer support, and other important considerations every webmaster should consider. Within the hour, you’ll decide for yourself if it’s the web host for you.
Fun fact: Our website Unite.AI is hosted on SiteGround!
SiteGround Review
SiteGround was founded in 2004 and has grown over two decades into one of the most reputable privately owned web hosts globally. The provider offers shared hosting, cloud hosting, reseller hosting, and WordPress-specific plans. They also have hosting plans tailored to agencies and a built-in email marketing tool.
SiteGround currently hosts over 3 million domain names across 11 data centers. For whichever of SiteGround’s plans you go for, you get a free SSL certificate, free email, daily backups, free CDN integration, and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
SiteGround is also a fan favorite because they are eco-conscious. Their data centers match 100% of the energy consumed by their global operations with renewable energy. The company has been reviewed by over 16,000 people on TrustPilot and scored an impressive 4.8 stars.
Pros and Cons
- SiteGround has excellent performance stats
- They offer affordable hosting plans
- They are one of the 3 WordPress-endorsed hosts
- SiteGround is incredibly beginner-friendly
- They offer daily backups on all plans
- Exceptionally reliable resources built on Google Cloud
- No dedicated hosting is listed on their site
- Their shared hosting plans have limited storage
- Their plans get pricier upon renewal
SiteGround Rating – My Personal Take
Do a quick search on Google and you’ll find thousands of web hosting providers on the market, all claiming to offer the best services for every website need. In my experience reviewing hosts, I have found that it’s logical to create a standard way to compare web hosts and rate them properly.
Considering the important features SiteGround offers and how they perform, here’s how I’d rate the web host on a scale of 1.0-5.0. Note that these scores are not static and may change as the host improves their offering:
| Quality | My rating | Why I gave this score |
| Features and specs | 4.8 | Free SSL, CDN, email migration, renewable energy match, free WordPress migration, and out-of-the-box caching are some of the features that make SiteGround amazing. However, not offering dedicated hosting and no free domains, are why the host doesn’t get full points. |
| Pricing | 4.9 | Starting at $3.99 per month, SiteGround is one of the most affordable hosts on the market. There are, however, cheaper hosting plans from other providers. |
| Performance stats | 5.0 | An incredible time-to-first-byte of 92 ms puts SiteGround at the very top in terms of server response time. SiteGround also uses SSD storage and gives you a 99.9% guaranteed uptime. |
| Ease of use | 4.9 | SiteGround has its own native control panel called Site Tools. In addition, free WordPress integration and an intuitive user interface make the provider’s software very easy to use. |
| Customer support guarantee | 4.7 | SiteGround has a thriving support center – Live chat, email tickets, and a knowledgebase. They also have a horde of WordPress-specific tutorials. However, to enjoy their support you need to be a customer – i.e. buy one of their plans. |
SiteGround Hosting Plans & Pricing – 2024
SiteGround offers shared hosting, cloud hosting, reseller hosting, WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, and web hosting for agencies. For most of their plans, you get a 30-day guarantee, giving you enough time to decide if it’s for you.
Once you have decided on a plan from SiteGround, you can pay via card – VISA, MasterCard, American Express, and Discover.
SiteGround’s shared hosting plans
StartUp
Space offered – 10 GB
Bandwidth – Unmetered traffic
Number of websites – 1 website allowed
Price – $3.99 per month billed annually
GrowBig
Space offered – 20 GB
Bandwidth – Unmetered traffic
Number of websites – Unlimited websites allowed
Price – $6.69 per month billed annually
GoGeek
Space offered – 40 GB
Bandwidth – Unmetered traffic
Number of websites – Unlimited websites allowed
Price – $10.69/month billed annually
SiteGround’s GrowBig shared hosting plan gives you the most value for money. 20 GB of storage, unlimited websites, and unmetered traffic at $6.69/month is a great deal.
Who this is for:
Like any other web host, SiteGround shared hosting plans involve sharing server resources with other website owners and are best for small or new websites like portfolio websites, dropshipping landing pages, blogs, etc. that don’t need a lot of resources. If you won’t be using more than 40 GB of storage, then their shared hosting plans are best for you.
SiteGround’s cloud hosting plans
Jump Start
Space offered – 40 GB SSD storage
Bandwidth – 5 terabytes
Memory – 8 Gigabytes
Price – $100/month billed annually
Business
Space offered – 80 GB SSD storage
Bandwidth – 5 terabytes
Memory – 12 Gigabytes
Price – $200/month billed annually
Business Plus
Space offered – 120 GB SSD storage
Bandwidth – 5 terabytes
Memory – 16 Gigabytes
Price – $300/month billed annually
Super Power
Space offered – 160 GB SSD storage
Bandwidth – 5 terabytes
Memory – 20 Gigabytes
Price – $400/month billed annually
SiteGround’s Business cloud hosting is best for you if you have outgrown your shared hosting plan. For $200/month, you get 12 GB of memory, 80 GB SSD storage, and a bandwidth of 5 TB.
SiteGround Custom Cloud
Aside from these fixed plans, SiteGround also offers Custom Cloud plans that allow you to tweak exactly how many CPU cores, how much memory, and storage space you want, without overspending.
These are super awesome if you need more resources than the Jump Start plan but less than the higher tiers – you can make fine adjustments to your resource demand.
Who this is for:
SiteGround’s cloud hosting plans are best for websites and stores that need more resources than shared hosting offers or have traffic that peaks at intervals – e.g. eCommerce stores during sales events or brands that sell seasonal products, web application providers, etc.
With cloud hosting, you have more control over the resources you use and how much you spend.
SiteGround’s WordPress hosting plans
StartUp
Space offered – 10 GB
Bandwidth – Unmetered traffic
Number of websites – 1 website allowed
Price – $3.99 per month billed annually
Extra features – Free WP installation, Free WP migrator, WordPress auto-updates, WP-CLI and SSH included, Managed WordPress hosting.
GrowBig
Space offered – 20 GB
Bandwidth – Unmetered traffic
Number of websites – Unlimited websites allowed
Price – $6.69 per month billed annually
Extra features – Everything in StartUp plus access to on-demand backup copies, faster PHP, and a website staging tool built-in.
GoGeek
Space offered – 40 GB
Bandwidth – Unmetered traffic
Number of websites – Unlimited websites allowed
Price – $10.69/month billed annually
Extra features – Everything in GrowBig plus free private DNS and priority when requesting support.
Like their shared hosting plans, I’ll recommend SiteGround’s GrowBig WordPress hosting plan if you’re just starting with them. SiteGround’s WordPress plans are their shared hosting plans plus WordPress-specific features.
Who this is for:
SiteGround’s WordPress plans are meant for… you guessed it!… websites built on or that you intend to build on WordPress. You get free WordPress website migration, automatic updates of the WordPress software, the WordPress command line, etc. all in a comprehensive managed WordPress package.
SiteGround’s reseller hosting plans
GrowBig
Space offered – 20 GB storage
Features – Free WP installation, WordPress auto-updates, Free WP Migrator plugin, free SSL, CDN & email, WP-CLI & SSH
Price – $6.69/month billed annually
GoGeek
Space offered – 40 GB storage
Features – GrowBig features plus free private DNS and priority support
Price – $10.69/month billed annually
Cloud
Space offered – 40 GB storage
Features – GoGeek’s features plus access to customize client access and tailor your resources
Price – $100/month billed annually.
SiteGround’s GoGeek reseller hosting plans are excellent for new hosting resellers. 40 GB of storage, WordPress-specific features, free private DNS, and priority in support, all for $10.69/month.
I like how their reseller hosting plans are pooled from their shared and cloud hosting plans. Their Cloud reseller hosting plan is their basic cloud hosting plan allowing you to configure your resource demand.
Who this is for:
SiteGround’s reseller hosting plans are designed for website developers, marketing agencies, IT guys, and web hosting entrepreneurs who want to sell hosting plans as theirs without needing to invest in actual physical data centers.
You can integrate these hosting plans as cross-sells to your core services to make more money from your clients.
SiteGround’s WooCommerce hosting
SiteGround’s WooCommerce hosting plans are an exact match with their WordPress plans. However, this time, we recommend the GoGeek plan priced at $10.69/month. On all plans you get WooCommerce pre-installed, built-in payment acceptance methods, a free CDN, a custom web application firewall (WAF), and other features adapted for WordPress eCommerce sites.
Who this is for:
SiteGround’s WooCommerce plans are best for business owners who want to run their eCommerce stores on WordPress. WooCommerce comes built-in and is one of the best WordPress eCommerce store-building tools.
SiteGround’s Features
Here’s an overview of the core features offered by SiteGround across its hosting plans:
- SSD storage
- Free website builders – WordPress and Weebly
- Daily backups
- WordPress acceleration features
- Free email tools
- Out-of-the-box caching
- Renewable energy match
- Free SSL and CDN
SiteGround offers many of the industry-standard features you’d expect from a world-class host but one thing that makes them stand out is that their technology is built on Google Cloud making them one of the swiftest and most reliable hosts on the market:
They are also one of the few hosts on the market that have ditched the traditional cPanel and provide a custom control panel called Site Tools. The result? A dashboard that makes managing your website’s backend incredibly easy.
SiteGround Performance Tests
When considering a new web host, you should evaluate their real-life performance and not just assume the figures they claim on their websites. Some important performance parameters to consider include – speed (average server response time), uptime, and overall performance in search engines.
A web host’s speed is how quickly their server starts to send back data after a user tries to visit a website hosted by them. The uptime measures how reliably the website is available online and is typically scored as a percentage – 99.9% is the industry standard.
The lower the web host’s response time, the quicker your website will load, meaning less customer bounce and more potential conversions. And high uptime figures mean your website will experience little to no downtime.
To save you the hassle of finding a website hosted on SiteGround, I did the hard work for you and used GTMetrix to measure the host’s average speed and performance. These were the results:
SiteGround is super impressive and their servers responded in as little as 92 milliseconds – 0.092 seconds. The overall performance of the website hosted on their platform was 95% which is also incredible.
To test their uptime, I used Uptime Robot and evaluated the website’s availability over the last 30 days:
Over the last 30 days, the website was available 100% of the time, proving their 99.99% uptime claim.
SiteGround’s Customer Support
SiteGround has a thriving customer support hub to answer and solve queries 24/7 via:
Live chat
SiteGround allows you to chat live with their agents 24/7. However, I was a bit disappointed because you’d have to be a paying customer before you can chat with their live agents. Many other web hosts allow you to chat with an agent and make inquiries before you choose a plan.
Phone support
SiteGround also offers different phone lines to reach their agents and talk in real-time. However, like their live chat, you must be a paying customer to see their phone lines and place a call. Also, the phone lines are limited to English.
An extensive knowledge base
It’s always great to see a knowledge base that answers questions on everything from how to use the host’s particular features to everything else like domain name issues, WordPress maintenance, the control panel, etc. – and SiteGround doesn’t disappoint.
The web host’s knowledge base page also has a built-in search engine to make finding the right resources as easy as possible.
Email support tickets
SiteGround also offers support via email. You can create support tickets on their website that will automatically be forwarded to your email where an agent will reach out to you.
A blog section
Want to stay up-to-date with industry news, marketing trends, tips, and strategies? SiteGround’s blog section is rich with informative posts you’ll surely find helpful.
WordPress tutorials
If you plan to build your website on WordPress, you’ll be spoilt silly with resources on SiteGround. The provider has several help portals specifically tailored for WordPress owners including a WordPress Tutorials page, a WordPress optimization ebook, a WordPress security ebook, and a WooCommerce ebook.
SiteGround’s security features
SiteGround takes your website security seriously and you should carefully analyze those offered by any host you are considering to protect yourself from DDoS attacks, cross-site forgery, malware, and other security threats.
On every one of SiteGround’s plans, you get their custom web application firewall (WAF) built-in with regularly updated security rules. SiteGround also boasts an AI-powered anti-bot system to protect your site from bad bots trying to scrape your website, take over your account, or steal card details via carding.
And on every plan, you get a free SSL certificate, giving you the ‘padlock’ seal of trust and ‘HTTPS’ badge that is now a Google ranking factor.
SiteGround’s website builders
Many website owners like you want to consolidate their web hosting, domain name registration, and website building from the same provider. While SiteGround doesn’t offer free domains, you can register domains via their platform.
And when it’s time to build your website, you can use their free website builders – WordPress and Weebly offered free of charge on every package:
It’s important to note that these website builders are somewhat limited – well, they are free. If you want more functionality, you’ll have to pay for premium website builders like Wix or Squarespace.
SiteGround’s User-Friendliness
How easy is SiteGround to use – setting up an account, managing your website’s backend via the control panel, and installing WordPress? Let’s see:
Registering an account with SiteGround
To register an account with the hosting provider, you only need to pay for one of their hosting plans.
Step 1:
Navigate to the hosting type you want and choose a package. Click on ‘Get plan’. You’ll redirected to the ‘specify your domain’ page:
Step 2:
If you have an existing domain you want to use, check the ‘Existing domain’ box and move forward. If you don’t you can type in a new domain you are interested in and if it is available, you will move onto the checkout page with the domain price added to your overall cost.
Step 3:
Here, you type in your email and confirm your password. Next fill in your personal details, address, and company name. Finally, you’ll need to fill in your payment details and then choose your payment schedule – monthly, annually, or every 2 years:
You can also choose the Site Scanner as an addon that runs daily scans on your website to detect and quarantine malware.
Step 4:
Finally, agree to SiteGround’s policies and click ‘Pay now’’. And voila! Your account is created and you can enjoy the web host’s support and services to the fullest.
SiteGround’s intuitive Control Panel
SiteGround is one of the few hosts on the market who have dared to ditch the traditional cPanel and created their intuitive custom control panel – Site Tools.
And boy was I impressed! Site Tools is very easy to use, even for web hosting newbies. From the dashboard, you can install WordPress in 1 minute, set up email accounts, manage your website files, and access the Site Scanner, and the content delivery network.
One really fun feature of Site Tools is the built-in analytics tool:
You can see how many unique visitors to your domain per day and your page views.
At the left menu bar, you can access every setting related to your website, security, loading speed, domain name, email, and developer tools if you are no stranger to code.
How to install WordPress on SiteGround
Installing WordPress on SiteGround is incredibly easy and the quickest way is using Site Tools. Simply click on ‘Install and manage WordPress’ on your dashboard:
Next, choose whether you want to create a WordPress website alone or WordPress + WooCommerce.
Now, fill in your domain name, select your language, and specify the installation path. Choose a username and password and click ‘Install’:
And in just one click, WordPress will be installed on your website:
Server footprint and CDN
You should also consider the server footprint and content delivery network (CDN) on any web host. The more servers your web host has and the more widely spread they are, the quicker your average website load speed will be for website visitors globally.
On the other hand, using a content delivery network (CDN), your web host caches your website’s data and distributes it across a network of servers to improve your website load speed.
Websites hosted on SiteGround have access to a network of data centers spread across four continents. This network is then expanded by 170 CDN edge network locations around the world. SiteGround’s website caching solution is powered by Google Cloud – no wonder their incredible performance.
Conclusion: Should you choose SiteGround?
SiteGround is an incredible web hosting provider and one of the best on the market. And the reviews from so many customers are singing their praises. I recommend SiteGround as your next hosting provider whether you are creating a new website or looking for better services than your current provider.
Their server response speeds and reliability are simply unmatched. And if you are new to web hosting, you’ll find Site Tools incredibly easy to use to manage your website’s backend.
SiteGround gives you everything you need to get your website running from scratch – well almost. You’ll have to pay extra to register a domain name. Their Site Scanner tool also comes with a fee. However, we recommend SiteGround!
FAQs
Does SiteGround offer free hosting?
SiteGround doesn’t offer a free web hosting package like other hosts do – for example, Hostinger. Their most basic shared hosting plan, StartUp is priced at $3.99/month and billed annually.
Is WordPress free with SiteGround?
For every plan on SiteGround, and more so for their WordPress hosting plans, you get WordPress for free. You also get a free WordPress migrator and the WP-CLI built-in.
Which one is better Bluehost or SiteGround?
BlueHost and SiteGround are both WordPress-accredited hosts, so this is a tough matchup. In terms of performance, SiteGround trumps BlueHost. On the other hand, BlueHost’s plans are cheaper and start at $2.95/month. Plus, BlueHost’s platform is to use.
Overall, I think SiteGround is a bit better than BlueHost.
What are some great SiteGround alternatives?
Some excellent SiteGround alternatives if you are looking for cheaper packages or free hosting and easier-to-use backends include Hostinger, BlueHost, Cloudways, and A2Hosting.
https://www.unite.ai/siteground-review/
