These web hosts offer good services but may require add-ons or charge renewal fees of $11-$13 per month for their cheapest plans.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy is one of the biggest names in the web hosting business, powering 15.6% of all websites. GoDaddy also performed quite well in our tests, with relatively easy account setup and site management, great server performance, and fast customer service.
GoDaddy’s Shared Hosting Plans This includes a free domain for the first year, unlimited bandwidth, automatic daily backups, and the ability to choose the data center where your site is stored to improve site performance for your primary audience based on location. You also get free cPanel-based email.
GoDaddy’s cheapest plan is the Web Hosting Economy plan, which includes 10GB of storage and everything mentioned above. This plan starts at $6 per month and goes up to $10 per month if you buy a three-year plan. However, you’ll pay more than the list price to keep your site secure – a firewall is only available as an add-on for $3 per month, and SSL certification costs $100 per year after the first year.
Read our review of GoDaddy.
A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is a beginner-friendly web hosting service that performed well in our experience, with great site setup tools and solid server performance. The only downside was slow customer service via support ticket and phone.
All from A2 Hosting Shared Hosting Plans include at least 100 GB of storage space, unlimited data transfer, and unlimited email addresses. A2 Hosting also offers advanced security for all shared hosting packages, including permanent SSL certification, an advanced firewall, DDoS protection, brute force protection, and a virus scanner.
A2 Hosting’s cheapest shared hosting plan starts at just $2 per month if you pay for a three-year term, and you don’t have to pay for any add-ons, but you’ll pay $13 per month upon renewal.
Read our review of A2 Hosting.
HostGator
HostGator is a popular web host that performed quite well in our tests, with good site management tools and server performance but inconsistent customer service.
All HostGator plans include a free domain for the first year, unlimited bandwidth, pre-installed WordPress with HostGator Site Wizard, advanced firewall protection including DDoS protection and malware scanning. Email hosting for at least one email address is also included in all plans.
The cheapest HostGator plan is the Hatchling shared hosting plan, which starts at $3.75 per month and increases to $10 per month upon renewal, based on a three-year term. This plan includes 10GB of storage and everything listed in the previous paragraph.
Unfortunately, the Hatchling plan only offers SSL certification for the first year. After that, you’ll have to pay $40 per year to maintain your SSL certification, even if you’re on a three-year contract. Customer support is also limited to live chat on the Hatchling plan.
Read our HostGator review.
Namecheap
Namecheapis best known for its domain registration services, but it also offers cheap web hosting. The cheapest plan starts at just $1.58 per month, and the renewal fee is a low $3.49 per month if you opt for a semi-annual plan – and just $4.48 per month on a monthly plan. All plans include a free domain, basic firewall protection, and email hosting for at least 30 email addresses.
However, Namecheap does have a few drawbacks – the biggest being that you’ll have to pay an additional $13.20 per year for SSL certification after the first year. Customer support is also limited to live chat and email.
