Best Web Hosting for Small Business – Best Website Hosts Compared for 2024

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Are you an experienced business owner looking to create an online site? Or are you just starting a small business and need a web hosting service? Regardless of your experience, the best web hosting for small businesses should be affordable while providing you with all the tools, apps, and plugins you need to build and manage a successful website.

While numerous hosting solutions claim to offer great hosting for small businesses, not all hosts are the same. So we’ve looked at the providers’ plans, features, security, and server speed, among other key details, to help you make an informed decision and find the best website hosting for small business sites.

Best Website Hosting for Small Business

DreamHost – Beginner-Friendly WordPress-Oriented Web Host

DreamHost – Beginner-Friendly WordPress-Oriented Web Host

  • Starting from $2.59/month
9.7
4.5 Stars
VISIT SITE

Bluehost – Easy-To-Use WordPress-Focused Hosting

Bluehost – Easy-To-Use WordPress-Focused Hosting

  • Starting from $2.95/month
9.4
4.5 Stars
VISIT SITE

InMotion Hosting – Great Web Host For Small Businesses

InMotion Hosting – Great Web Host For Small Businesses

  • Starting from $.2.29/month
9.3
4 Stars
VISIT SITE

Liquid Web – Premium VPS Hosting

Liquid Web – Premium VPS Hosting

  • Starting from $20.00/month
9.0
4.5 Stars
VISIT SITE

A2 Hosting – Security and Speed-Focused Web Hosting

A2 Hosting – Security and Speed-Focused Web Hosting

  • Starting from $2.99/month
9.0
4 Stars
VISIT SITE

InterServer – Affordable Monthly Hosting

InterServer – Affordable Monthly Hosting

  • Starting from $2.50/month
8.9
4 Stars
VISIT SITE

IONOS – Secure and Reliable Host For Smaller Sites

IONOS – Secure and Reliable Host For Smaller Sites

  • Starting from $4.00/month
8.7
4 Stars
VISIT SITE

HostArmada – Managed Cloud VPS Hosting with Full Root Access

HostArmada – Managed Cloud VPS Hosting with Full Root Access

  • Starting from $2.49/month
8.5
3.5 Stars
VISIT SITE

Namecheap – Cheap Shared Hosting With 100% Uptime Guarantee

Namecheap – Cheap Shared Hosting With 100% Uptime Guarantee

  • Starting from $1.98/month
7.8
3.5 Stars
VISIT SITE

HostPapa – Secure Hosting for Personal Use

HostPapa – Secure Hosting for Personal Use

  • Starting from $2.95/month
8.5
4 Stars
VISIT SITE

Best Web Hosts for Small Businesses at a Glance

  1. DreamHost – Best small business website hosting provider for beginners
  2. Bluehost – Best business web hosting service for WordPress websites
  3. InMotion Hosting – Fast and reliable web hosting for small businesses
  4. Liquid Web – Fully managed VPS hosting ideal for growing websites
  5. A2 Hosting – Best security and speed-focused web hosting for online business sites
  6. InterServer – Affordable small business web hosting solution
  7. IONOS – Best website and email hosting for small businesses
  8. HostArmada – Best cloud VPS hosting for small business
  9. Namecheap – Cheapest shared hosting with a 100% uptime guarantee
  10. HostPapa – Best WordPress-oriented web hosting service for small businesses

Best Web Hosting for Small Business Reviewed

Here are our in-depth reviews of the best website hosting services for small businesses so you can see exactly what each provider offers and make an informed decision.

1. DreamHost – Best Small Business Website Hosting Service for New Users

Features Free domain, SSL, domain privacy, automated backups, free website builder
Storage Starting at 50GB SSD
Uptime Guarantee 100%
Money-Back Guarantee 97 days
Starting Price $2.59/month
Why We Picked It

We rate DreamHost as the best web hosting service provider for beginners and new users.

With over two decades of experience delivering web hosting services and millions of satisfied customers, DreamHost is one of the top website hosting solutions on the market and the provider of the best hosting for small business for new users.

Features

DreamHost offers a flexible web hosting solution for businesses of all sizes, with customization options to match your business goals. It offers a fully customizable control panel that’s intuitive and easy to use, a range of professional WordPress templates, and a full suite of tools to help you succeed.

The platform’s shared hosting plan offers affordable prices for new sites, including WordPress domains, and equips you with all the tools you need to reach your target audience. This includes a free domain, unlimited traffic support, a WP website builder, fast SSD storage, and free SSL certificates.

Regardless of whether you’re running an ecommerce store, a small business site, or a blog to promote your services, DreamHost provides you with unlimited storage and easy account administration, so you can customize every aspect of your site and easily scale up your account as your business grows.

Other reasons to opt for DreamHost include its fully optimized web servers with a 100% uptime guarantee, advanced resource protection, and 24/7 access to in-house experts with years of experience, who will help you resolve issues as quickly as possible.

In addition to website hosting, DreamHost offers full web design and development services alongside site management and SEO marketing tools to help you get all the monthly visitors you can handle. If you need, you can also scale up on VPS hosting and dedicate hosting plans.

Who It's Best For

With unlimited bandwidth, ample storage, and 100% uptime, DreamHost is one of the best hosting sites for small businesses. It’s also very easy to use, which makes it ideal for beginners and inexperienced users just getting started.

Pros

  • Affordable
  • One-click WordPress install
  • Free WP website migration
  • Unlimited storage with upgrade
  • Robust web design and web development features

Cons

  • Control Panel takes some getting used to
  • Malware removal tool is a paid add-on
DreamHost
9.7
Review

2. Bluehost – Best Small Business Web Hosting Service for Online Stores and WordPress Websites

Features Free domain, SSL, email accounts, AI tools, CDN
Storage Starting at 10GB SSD
Uptime Guarantee None
Money-Back Guarantee 30 days
Starting Price  $2.95/month
Why We Picked It

Bluehost offers a popular WordPress hosting solution with a range of features and useful resources to help you build and manage your small business site. It’s an excellent option for running online stores and for managing WordPress sites.

Features

Bluehost has four Shared Hosting plans, and all come with a free CDN (a Content Delivery Network), a free SSL certificate, custom WP themes, and free malware scanning. You can also get daily website backups by upgrading to the second pricing tier.

What’s fairly unusual about Bluehost is that it allows you to host multiple websites on a single subscription. With the Choice Plus plan, you can host three sites – which would be handy if you wanted to host your online store on one domain and your blog on another, for example.

To help you set up an online store, Bluehost offers a full walkthrough for the entire setup process so you can fully customize your website and sell goods and services to customers around the world.

You’ll also be able to offer discounts and special promotions, see exactly what your website visitors are interested in, design custom account pages for your customers, and optimize every page of your site to ensure you rank at the top of Google search results pages.

If you’re looking for a more traditional WordPress website, you’ll be happy to learn there are also hundreds of professional WP themes at your disposal.

You’ll also get a free onboarding session, so you can start fine-tuning your website immediately, and access to Bluehost’s WordPress Academy, which offers hundreds of tutorial videos covering every aspect of your website.

If you don’t want to do it yourself, you can actually outsource website building to Bluehost’s team of experts and get your site up and running with zero stress. To top it all off, Bluehost offers 24/7 hosting support via Live Chat and phone, so you’ll always have access to an experienced professional who can answer your questions and resolve problems.

Who It's Best For

Bluehost is a great option for small businesses setting up online stores. With its range of excellent features, it’s also a strong option for managing WordPress sites.

Pros

  • Hundreds of professional themes
  • Free SSL, regular malware scanning, and daily website backups
  • Wide variety of features for online stores
  • Free onboarding to get started with website building
  • Access to WordPress Academy with dozens of tutorial videos

Cons

  • Storage limits on all plans
  • Content-heavy sites can slow loading
Bluehost
9.4
Review

3. InMotion Hosting – Fast and Reliable Web Hosting with a Full Security Suite

Features Free domain, SSL, email accounts, automatic backups, free WordPress website builder
Storage Starting at 100GB SSD
Uptime Guarantee 99.9%
Money-Back Guarantee 90 days
Starting Price $2.29/month
Why We Picked It

InMotion offers a variety of hosting options, so you’ll have no trouble finding a plan that fits your needs. With over two decades of web hosting experience, InMotion is among the most reliable website hosting providers, offering a full security suite to ensure your website is up and running at all times and is safe from hackers, malware, and DDoS attacks.

Features

In addition to reliability and iron-clad security, InMotion offers superb server speeds, ensuring your website has lightning-fast loading. If you upgrade to the second-tier plan, your website will be hosted on UltraStack servers.

These feature advanced layered caching and are fully optimized for speed, so they’re up to 20x faster than regular hosting servers.

Another reason to opt for InMotion is how easy the web hosting service is to use. You get a custom Control Panel to handle every aspect of your website, as well as access to an intuitive drag-and-drop builder, so you can quickly add elements while picking from the numerous website themes at your disposal.

Of course, you can also edit text, images, and videos so you can ensure your website is fully optimized for both desktop and mobile.

InMotion also gives you access to a variety of back-end tools with its Hosting Plus feature. These include SSH (Secure Shell) access, Python, Node.JS, Ruby, and GIT version control.

You’ll also get a free SSL certificate, ten professional business email addresses at your domain, a full set of tools for ecommerce support, and 24/7 live chat support for all your questions.

Who It's Best For

InMotion is a great choice for small business owners looking for a reliable hosting service that comes with a range of security features. There are also a wide range of plans on offer, so you can choose the one that’s right for you.

Pros

  • Super-fast servers
  • Free one-click installs for plugins and hundreds of web apps
  • Easy-to-use cPanel and an intuitive drag-and-drop website builder
  • Automatic site backup
  • Marketing tools to help promote your website

Cons

  • Lacks some advanced features
  • The back-end UI could be updated
InMotion Hosting
9.3
Review

4. Liquid Web – Fully Managed Hosting Solution, Ideal for Migrating Existing Sites

Features Free SSL, email accounts, automatic backups
Storage Starting at 40GB SSD
Uptime Guarantee 100%
Money-Back Guarantee 30 days
Starting Price $21.00/month
Why We Picked It

Liquid Web is an established web hosting company that offers a variety of fully managed website hosting solutions, as well as custom-tailored options to help you reach your business goals faster.

It’s a great option if you already have a WordPress website and want to migrate it to a fast and reliable hosting provider. The migration is completely free, and everything is handled by Liquid Web’s team of professionals, so there’s no stress involved.

Features

Liquid Web’s WP hosting servers are optimized for speed, thanks to efficient image compression, object caching, and global content delivery to ensure that your site loads almost instantly and that your users are satisfied.

Liquid Web’s technical staff proactively monitor server performance. This means that the majority of issues are detected and resolved before they can cause any disruptions or website downtime.

In addition to WP hosting, another great option for small businesses from Liquid Web is VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting, which lets you pick and choose the memory and CPU combinations and resources dedicated to your website. This makes it cost-efficient and easy to scale as your business grows.

The VPS service lets you host unlimited websites and comes with an integrated firewall, DDoS protection, ServerSecure Advanced Security, root access, and a dedicated IP address.

With its 30-day money-back guarantee, Liquid Web is risk-free. You can test it out and get a refund if you’re dissatisfied with the service. Moreover, there are no contracts, so you’re free to scale up or down or cancel your subscription at any time.

Who It's Best For

Liquid Web provides a very reliable, premium service. It offers great uptime, and if you want to migrate an existing site, it makes the process extremely simple.

Pros

  • Fully managed VPS hosting
  • Smooth WP migrations handled by Liquid Web’s team
  • SLA 100% uptime guarantee
  • WP hosting servers optimized for speed

Cons

  • No shared hosting option
  • No website builder
Liquid Web
9.0
Review

5. A2 Hosting – Best Web Hosting Service for Small Business Focused on Security and Speed

Features Free SSL, email accounts, automatic backups, CloudFlare CDN, cloning & staging
Storage Starting at 100GB SSD
Uptime Guarantee 99.9%
Money-Back Guarantee 30 days (or anytime guarantee for unused services)
Starting Price $2.99/month
Why We Picked It

A2 Hosting is a highly flexible solution that offers more than 15 different types of hosting packages for businesses, with all the tools you need to get your business off the ground and start generating profit. With its focus on performance and security, it’s a great option for scaling businesses.

Features

All of A2 Hosting’s WordPress installs are pre-configured to ensure the best site speed and come with superb security, thanks to the proprietary A2 Optimized plugin.

The plugin helps with compressing images, caching, and optimizing your CSS, JS, and HTML on your hosting account. The end result is a super-fast website with reduced rendering and load times and improved overall site performance.

An advantage of A2 Hosting over its competitors is the Turbo Server architecture, which allows for site speeds 20x faster than regular hosting servers. It’s a great option for websites with a ton of content and assets.

In addition to lightning-fast performance, A2 Hosting provides industry-leading security, automated daily site backups, and expert 24/7365 support.

One thing worth noting is that if you want to build a new website from scratch, you’ll have to pay an extra $2.99/month for the A2 Website Builder. This is only available on Shared Hosting plans, with limits regarding the number of pages and templates you can access on all but the most expensive plan.

Who It's Best For

With its focus on performance and security, A2 Hosting is a great option for scaling businesses. It’s also an affordable package, and the unlimited bandwidth and generous storage are an added bonus.

Pros

  • Over 15 different hosting plans to choose from
  • Out-of-the-box optimized WordPress installs
  • Turbo Servers for 20x faster site loading speeds
  • A2 Optimized plugin that guarantees improved site performance
  • Professional support available 24/7/365

Cons

  • A2 Website Builder is a paid add-on and only with Shared Hosting plans
  • Website backups are a paid add-on
A2 Hosting
9.0
Review

6. InterServer – Best Website and Email Hosting Service for Small Business

Features Free SSL, email accounts, automatic backups, Intershield protection, free website builder
Storage Unlimited
Uptime Guarantee 99.9%
Money-Back Guarantee 30 days
Starting Price $2.50/month
Why We Picked It

InterServer is a great entry-level option, with fast and reliable Shared Hosting plans starting from as little as $2.50/month. It provides some of the best cheap web hosting for small businesses, even with the starter plan, and has excellent functionality for email hosting.

Features

InterServer provides great value for money. You get unlimited storage, unlimited business email accounts, a free SSL certificate, and complete access to an intuitive website builder.

This hosting provider also includes InterShield for free with each plan. This is an in-house security solution that uses data from thousands of servers to prevent website attacks before they even start. It also automatically scans for viruses and malware, ensuring your website is 100% secure.

With the InterServer hosting solutions, you’ll also have access to over 450+ cloud apps that you can install with a single click. These include everything from blogging plugins and social networking apps to CMS platforms, frameworks, and a wide variety of ecommerce tools.

The one drawback is that the company doesn’t offer a free domain name. If you want to register or transfer your existing domain, you’ll have to pay $7.99 in addition to the hosting fee. Nevertheless, we rate it as great cheap business website hosting.

Who It's Best For

InterServer provides impressive value for money with unlimited bandwidth, storage, and email accounts, and its mail management features are particularly strong.

Pros

  • Best-value-for-money small business hosting web solution
  • Unlimited storage and bandwidth
  • Unlimited business email accounts
  • Over 450+ one-click install cloud apps
  • InterShield Security isuite

Cons

  • No free domain name
  • Not the fastest page loading speeds
InterServer
8.9
Review

7. IONOS – Best Affordable Small Business Web Hosting Solution

Features Free domain and SSL, email account, malware scanning, AI tools, automated backups
Storage Starting at 25GB SSD
Uptime Guarantee 99.98%
Money-Back Guarantee 30 days
Starting Price $4.00/month
Why We Picked It

IONOS provides affordable hosting services for small firms and startups getting their websites off the ground.

Features

If you opt for the Plus plan, you also get unlimited storage, enhanced CPU and memory resources, a free SSL certificate, free mail, and a free domain name for a whole year. You’ll also enjoy daily website backup and recovery and will have access to technical support 24/7 for questions and troubleshooting.

All plans also come with a wide array of apps and plugins you can install with a single click, so your website will be up and running in no time.

If you don’t want to bother with the technical side of running your WP website, you can always opt for a managed WordPress service.

You get to choose between dozens of templates and can fully customize the look of your website, but the IONOS team will handle all the admin and backend tasks, ensuring your website performs optimally at all times for as little as $4.00/month.

On top of hosting, IONOS also offers a variety of other useful services, including email hosting, a website design service, an online store builder, and social media advertising.

Who It's Best For

With its low-priced plans, IONOS is a great pick for small businesses. It provides unlimited bandwidth and a range of features – and, in short, it offers excellent affordable web hosting for small businesses

Pros

  • Best small business email and web hosting on a budget
  • Affordable and highly scalable
  • Fully managed WP hosting options
  • 99.98% uptime guarantee
  • Free SSL, free email, and daily backup and recovery

Cons

  • Dated backend panel
  • Customer service could be improved
IONOS
8.7
Review

8. HostArmada – Best Cloud VPS Hosting for Small Business

Features Free SSL, dedicated IP, automated backups, caching, malware scanning, WAF
Storage Starting at 50GB SSD
Uptime Guarantee 99.9%
Money-Back Guarantee 45 days
Starting Price $29.95/month
Why We Picked It

HostArmada is a cloud hosting provider that offers superb reliability and uptime thanks to its cloud technology. The server architecture allows for effortless scaling if you need more resources down the line, with zero website downtime or loss of data.

Features

All of HostArmada’s servers are optimized for loading speed, and the company offers on-demand, dedicated website optimization to ensure your website loads as quickly as possible, regardless of how complex it might be.

All the cloud hosting plans from the web host include a free SSL certificate, free website migration, unlimited MySQL databases, email accounts, subdomains, and a variety of features to ensure your website is ready for launch.

The experts at HostArmada will help you install apps and plugins and customize and upgrade your website with an intuitive drag-and-drop website builder.

Regardless of the plan you choose, you’ll also enjoy regular free malware scans and automatic malware removal, and your websites will be protected by both WAF (Web Application Firewall) and an IP Firewall, ensuring they’re safe from hackers and DDoS attacks.

Another great thing about HostArmada is the fact that it has data centers around the world, so it delivers lightning-fast site loading speeds whether someone’s visiting from the US, Europe, Asia, or Australia.

Who It's Best For

HostArmada is a great solution for small businesses anticipating large amounts of traffic and for scaleups. It’s also a great pick for security.

Pros

  • Unlimited bandwidth and databases
  • Free website migration and a free, intuitive drag-and-drop site builder
  • Expert help for installing all the apps and plugins you need
  • Superb website security and protection against malware and DDoS attacks
  • Data centers in locations around the world

Cons

  • No money-back guarantee with monthly plans
  • Limited storage on all shared and WP hosting plans
HostArmada
8.5
Review

9. Namecheap – Best Cheap Shared Hosting with a 100% Uptime Guarantee

Features Free domain and SSL, domain privacy, automated backups, free website builder, AI tools
Storage Starting at 20GB SSD
Uptime Guarantee 100%
Money-Back Guarantee 30 days
Starting Price $1.48/month
Why We Picked It

Namecheap is a great option if you’re looking for affordable hosting for multiple small websites. The shared hosting service includes a professional email service, and you can host your sites with a CMS (Content Management System) of your choice.

Features

If you opt for WordPress hosting with Namecheap, you’ll be able to host a single website, but the advantage of this option is that you’ll be able to scale your resources at any time as your website starts getting more monthly visitors.

An added benefit of WP hosting is that you’ll have access to an easy-to-use free website builder and hundreds of professional WP themes and plugins, so you’ll be able to spruce up your website and turn it into a revenue-generating machine.

What’s also great about the web host is that you can manage all your websites from a single dashboard, which saves time and makes it easy to keep everything organized.

Namecheap performs site backups twice a week, with the addition of automatic daily backups if you opt for one of the higher-tier subscriptions.

Who It's Best For

Namecheap is a very competitive, affordable hosting provider for small businesses – and with 100% uptime, it’s also very reliable.

Pros

  • Single dashboard to manage all your sites
  • Hundreds of WP themes and a free website builder
  • Managed hosting solutions that are easy to scale as your traffic grows
  • Superb website security and privacy

Cons

  • Price increase on renewal
  • Only two weekly backups on the starter plan

10. HostPapa – Best Web Hosting for Small Businesses for Managed WordPress Hosting

Features Free SSL and professional email accounts
Storage Starting at 50GB NVMe
Uptime Guarantee 99.9%
Money-Back Guarantee 30 days
Starting Price $2.95/month
Why We Picked It

HostPapa is a solid option if you’re looking to build a managed WordPress website from the ground up and get it ready for launch as soon as possible.

Features

HostPapa’s hosting plans include a straightforward website builder, access to hundreds of WP themes, one-click installs for over 400 apps and other essential small business tools, and free setup and domain name.

All hosting plans include free WordPress installation and updates, a Softaculous installer for all your apps and plugins, a free SSL certificate, and 24/7 professional support.

You’ll also have access to an easy-to-use cPanel control panel and a customized HostPapa dashboard, so you’ll be able to effortlessly manage every aspect of your website.

If you opt for the Pro or Ultra pricing plans, your website will be hosted on low-density, premium servers, so you’ll enjoy lightning-fast loading times regardless of how many website visitors you have.

The web host also provides a website staging area to test new plugins, updates, and features before pushing them to the live site to ensure everything works properly.

These plans also include automated daily backups (up to 5GB), full domain privacy, enterprise-level security, and a fully managed Web Application Firewall.

Who It's Best For

HostPapa is ideal if you want to create a WordPress site and are looking for a managed solution. The web host provides everything you need to get started quickly and without complications.

Take a look at our guide to the best enterprise WordPress hosting for more enterprise-level recommendations.

Pros

  • Free WordPress site installation and updates
  • Easy one-click installer for over 400 apps and plugins
  • Free SSL certificate and enterprise-level security
  • Access to fully optimized servers on higher tiers for lightning-fast site loading speed

Cons

  • No staging area on the cheapest plan
  • No auto-backups for free

Best Small Business Website Hosting Services Compared

Here’s a quick side-by-side comparison of the best web hosting sites for small businesses so you can get a better idea of what you can expect to get for your money from each of the top web hosting companies:

Web Hosting Service Provider Starting Price Uptime Guarantee Bandwidth Storage Free Domain Money-Back Guarantee
DreamHost $2.59/month 100% Unlimited 50GB SSD 97 days
Bluehost $2.95/month None Unlimited 10GB SSD 30 days
InMotion Hosting $2.29/month 99.9% Unlimited 100GB SSD 90 days
Liquid Web $21.00/month 100% 2TB 40GB 30 days
A2 Hosting $2.99/month 99.9% Unlimited 100GB SSD 30 days
InterServer $2.50/month 99.9% Unlimited Unlimited 30 days
IONOS $4.00/month 99.98% Unlimited 25GB 30 days
HostArmada $29.95/month 99.9% Unlimited 50B SSD 45 days
Namecheap $1.48/month 100% Unlimited 20GB SSD 30 days
HostPapa $2.95/month 99.9% Unlimited 50GB NVMe 30 days
Methodology

How We Review And Test Hosting Providers

15 Providers Tested

20 Data Points Measured

300+ Hours Testing

500+ User Reviews Read

To be able to offer our readers factual information and only the best web hosting solutions, we evaluate and test the most popular hosts in the market. Here are the main factors we focus on:

  • Features: We ensure the provider includes basic features like a custom domain, an SSL, generous storage and bandwidth, and email accounts, as well as advanced tools like domain protection, staging, automated backups, and more.
  • Ease of use: It’s important that, regardless of their experience managing a site, all users can quickly and easily navigate the hosting provider’s dashboard. All providers on our list either offer an easy-to-navigate custom panel or a widely used cPanel.
  • Performance: We ensure the provider offers at least a 99.9% uptime guarantee and uses up-to-date and functional servers. We test this by setting up a site with each provider, testing site loading speed and traffic handling capabilities, and monitoring the uptime.
  • Customer Support: We ensure that users can reach customer support 24/7 via various support channels. We also contact them to test whether the support agents are knowledgeable and efficient.
  • Value for Money: We evaluate the features within the package and the price point it retails for. We only recommend plans that offer the best value for money.

What is Small Business Hosting?

Having a website gives businesses a platform for customers to find them, learn what they sell, contact them, and potentially buy things directly from them. Given this, it’s extremely valuable to have a website, no matter the size of your firm.

A website hosting service provider stores and delivers all the assets that make up your website, including documents, images, and videos. You can often also store and manage email accounts on your web host’s servers.

The best web hosting site providers are geared towards businesses will generally offer a range of hosting options, scalable WordPress packages, ecommerce tools, and dedicated support – and the best web host for small business will offer much more.

Which Hosting Package is Best for Small Businesses?

There are many different hosting packages, from shared hosting and VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting to dedicated hosting. The one that’ll be the best fit for your business depends on your industry and the size and content architecture of your site.

If you don’t have a website yet, then the answer is simple – you should generally opt for a shared hosting plan that includes a free website builder and ideally one that offers tutorials on how to use it.

If you’re migrating an existing website, you can also opt for shared hosting, but you have to pay closer attention to what’s included in the package.

Ideally, you want one with free website migration, one-click installation for all your plugins, enough storage to store all your content assets, and unlimited bandwidth so you don’t have to worry about the website slowing down due to increased traffic.

What’s also worth noting is that there are separate hosting solutions for online stores – ecommerce websites – which can significantly differ from one provider to the next.

Still, they’re a much better option for ecommerce than regular hosting solutions since they’re optimized for platforms like Shopify and WooCommerce and offer native integration with a wide variety of apps you’ll need to run your business.

You should also keep in mind any industry-specific rules, regulations, and policies your business must abide by. For example, a healthcare website must adhere to HIPAA compliance rules regarding the protection, backup, and storage of patient data, which often necessitates a custom hosting solution on a dedicated server.

Different Types of Small Business Hosting – From Shared to Dedicated Hosting

When looking for web hosting services for a small business, it’s worth being aware of all the different types of hosting on offer from web hosts. The main types of web hosting for small business are:

  • Shared hosting – An affordable solution in which you share a server with other customers, splitting the RAM and CPU. It’s great for less-trafficked sites and businesses looking to keep costs down.
  • WordPress hosting – Shared hosting that has been specifically optimized for WordPress, so it’s fast and secure.
  • Managed WordPress hosting – This upgraded service has the host managing updates, security, and optimization for you. It’s more expensive but many technical processes are handled for you.
  • VPS hosting – Having a virtual private server means your site has its own allocation on a shared, physical server, so you have greater control and the capacity to handle more traffic.
  • Dedicated hosting – Dedicated hosting means you have a physical server committed to use for your site, giving you better performance and greater security.
  • Cloud hosting – Cloud hosting sees your assets being hosted over a network of servers. You can rapidly scale up capacity based on demand and only pay for the resources you use.

How Much Bandwidth and Storage Do You Need for Web Hosting for Small Business?

Bandwidth and storage requirements are directly tied to the amount of monthly traffic your website receives and the content on the site, so it’s a key consideration when looking for the best web hosting for small business.

The best option, of course, would be a hosting plan with unmetered bandwidth and unlimited storage, but that often comes at a higher cost than introductory hosting packages.

If you’re looking for an affordable option, we’d recommend getting at least 10GB of bandwidth, which should support 20,000+ monthly visits.

As for storage, 5GB should suffice for a static website with limited content, but if you’re running a blog on your site, your best bet is a plan with 100GB+ of SSD storage.

What’s also worth considering is whether the hosting plan is easy to scale. As your business grows, you may find the resources available on your plan are too limited. It’s always a good idea to opt for a hosting provider that lets you upgrade your subscription and access more resources if you need them – upgrading to VPS or dedicated hosting, for example if you need it.

How Much Does the Best Small Business Web Hosting Cost?

Acquiring the best small business hosting for your company can come at an extremely wide range of price points. If you’re hosting a blog with a relatively limited amount of traffic, then it might cost just a few dollars a month.

Packages that include commerce features can cost $15 to $20 per month or more at standard rates and will allow you to promote your wares and make sales.

If you need additional security or the capacity to handle additional traffic, VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting can cost anything from $20 to $145 per month, while dedicated hosting can cost from $70 to $260+ per month at standard rates.

Keep in mind that renewal prices may be higher than introductory rates and you may need to pay extra for additional services.

What you’ll need really depends on how you define small business – Instagram was less than two years old and had 13 employees when it was purchased by Facebook for $1bn, after all.

Are There Any Hidden Costs in Small Business Web Hosting?

Unfortunately, there are hidden costs when it comes to website hosting – so if you don’t carefully read the offer before accepting it, you may end up paying more than you initially thought.

Website hosting companies will often have an introductory discount offer, after which you’ll be charged full price for the service.

So, while $1/month might look like a great deal, you may find yourself paying $14/month after the introductory offer expires.

Other extra costs can come from domain name registration, email hosting, and website builders. Some hosting providers offer these for free with their higher-tier subscription plans, but some only provide them as add-ons.

If you don’t carefully review what’s included in your package, you may end up paying extra for domain name registration and other key services you need to set up and launch your website.

Because of this, we recommend comparing the features available on different plans before you make your final decision. You might just find that the higher-priced subscription tiers are actually more cost-efficient when you add up the price of services you wouldn’t have access to on cheaper tiers.

How to Choose the Best Business Web Hosts

Hosting service providers typically offer a range of hosting solutions, ranging from shared and WP hosting to VPS and dedicated hosting. The suitability of these web hosting services for small businesses depends on the industry you’re in, the number of websites you want to host, their complexity and site architecture, and the features you need to ensure everything is running smoothly.

For example, the best web hosting for a small ecommerce business won’t be the same as the best website and email hosting solution for a company offering consultancy services.

Here’s a rundown of the most important factors to weigh up when choosing the best website hosting service for your small business:

Bandwidth and storageUptimeServer speedSecurityProfessional business emailWebsite builder and domainsWebsite staging areaCustomer experiencePricing plans

Bandwidth and storage

The best web hosting services for small businesses won’t limit the amount of monthly traffic or SSD storage available for your website.

This means you won’t have to worry about scaling up and paying extra for the service as your business grows and you start attracting more website visitors.

If you anticipate larger volumes of traffic, though, read our guide to the best VPS hosting for more advice.

Uptime guarantee

Having a commitment to a reliable, unbroken service is paramount, so make sure the web hosting provider you pick has a very high uptime guarantee at 100% or close to it.

Server speed

Server speed is crucial since it directly impacts how fast your website will load.

For more complex sites with a ton of content, videos, gifs, and other advanced elements, it’s best to opt for a higher-tier pricing plan that ensures your website will be hosted on servers optimized for speed.

If you need local servers for your market, see our guides to the best Australian web hosting companies and the best WordPress hosting in the UK.

Security

Website security is another area you can’t afford to skimp on. Choose a provider that offers a free SSL certificate, regularly checks for and removes malware, and offers protection against hacking, DDoS attacks, and other digital threats facing small business websites.

Professional business email

You should always have an address that ends with your domain name to help build trust with your audience and instill confidence in potential partners.

Opt for a hosting provider that lets you generate addresses for your entire team.

Website builder and free domains

Even if you already have a website and simply want to migrate it, it’s always a good idea to have access to an easy-to-use website builder.

This allows you to expand and add new pages to the site and easily fine-tune, rearrange, or replace existing ones.

Having a free domain bundled in is an added bonus.

Website staging area

The best web hosting services offer a fully featured staging area. This is crucial for businesses that want to experiment with apps and plugins or update the site’s architecture.

It allows you to apply the changes and see them in practice without disrupting your live website, so you can make sure everything works and looks good before you push it live.

Customer feedback and experience

While we test and research providers as much as we can, we can’t replicate the experience of long-term customers who’ve managed numerous sites and set up countless integrations over months and years.

Given this, it’s worth getting a sense of customer feedback on providers and looking for providers that offer excellent customer support via multiple channels.

Pricing and plans

Compare different pricing plans and make sure the one you choose includes all the features you need and provides good value for money. Compare similar plans from different providers and opt for the one that’s the most cost-effective.

It’s also worth looking at money-back guarantees and renewal pricing to frame the real, long-term cost.

Can a Small Business Use a Free Web Host?

There are quite a few “free” web hosting services on the market, but free services often come at a cost. After all, building and maintaining servers for web hosting costs money, and these providers need to make a profit somehow, or they’ll go out of business.

They mostly do it by displaying advertisements on your website and limiting your bandwidth and access to crucial features, so you’ll eventually have to upgrade to their paid web hosting plans.

Even the best business web hosting providers that offer free plans do so to entice you to pick their service over their competitors in the hope of converting free users to paying customers.

So, while you might be tempted to opt for a free web hosting solution due to your tight budget, you should be aware that this is almost never a better option.

With premium plans starting at as little as $1/month, there’s no reason to stunt your business’ growth by opting for an inadequate free plan that limits your bandwidth and storage. We really can’t recommend even the best free website hosting for small business use cases when cheap business website hosting is available.

FAQs

Which is the best web hosting for small business?

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Aleksandar Stevanovic
Software Reviews Expert
Aleksandar Stevanovic
Software Reviews Expert

Aleksandar Stevanovic spent 10 years honing his craft as a freelance content writer. He has a degree in Economics, and extensive experience in software, crypto, and cybersecurity industries. He covers a multitude of topics, writing factual and informative articles, helping individuals better understand the intricacies of the online world. Over the last two years, his research focus shifted more towards tech and software content, as evidenced by his publications on CEX.IO, Business2Community, and Techopedia. He believes in simplifying complex topics and bringing them closer to like-minded individuals. His work is as detail-oriented as it is creative, and is designed to…