We Tested SiteGround’s Domain and Hosting (2023)

Do you want to know if you should buy a domain and hosting plan from SiteGround?

SiteGround is a leading web host and is officially recommended by WordPress.org. In this guide, we’ll take a look at everything SiteGround has to offer and also compare them to other popular web hosts so that you can make the right choice.

Let’s get started.

Overview of SiteGround

SiteGround is one of the most popular web hosts in the world and they’re well known for their superior site experience. They have data centers across the globe, so your site will be optimized for speed and performance no matter where you are.

Apart from their hosting service, they also provide SSL, daily backups, caching, Cloudflare CDN, and email service.

Coming to customer support, they are available around the clock. Depending on your plan, you can also get priority support where you only need to wait a few seconds to connect with the support staff.

Now SiteGround is a top hosting provider but their plans are a bit expensive. If you’re just getting started, you may find even their basic plan out of budget.

With that said, let’s first take a look at what SiteGround has to offer then we’ll discuss their pricing plans and the best deals you can get.

SiteGround Highlights

SiteGround has a feature-rich portfolio that they offer to customers. Below, we give you the main highlights that put SiteGround in the best light.

Fast and Secure Web Hosting

SiteGround offers a variety of hosting plans that you can choose from depending on the size of your business and budget.

With the StartUp plan, you can host 1 website with 10,000 monthly visits. You can scale your plan as you grow to the GrowBig plan. This lets you host unlimited websites with 100,000 monthly visits.

They also have dedicated hosting plans for WordPress sites. This makes installing and managing WordPress a whole lot easier.

If you want to run an online store, there’s a WooCommerce hosting plan. Under this plan, WordPress and the WooCommerce plugin, plus the popular Storefront theme, are all pre-installed for you. You simply need to log in and start selling.

Every plan comes with free email, SSL, CDN, and backups. More on that next.

Free Email, SSL, CDN, and Backups

While most web hosts charge you separately for add-ons, SiteGround includes it all in their hosting plans. You’ll get the following:

• Daily backups: Keeps a copy of your website as a backup that you can restore when things go wrong.
• SSL: An added layer of security for your website to encrypt all data transferred from and to your website.
• Email: Get free email boxes that match your domain name. Free spam protection and webmail service are included.
• CDN: Free access to a Content Delivery Network to speed up page load speed for users across the world.

Their CDN includes Tokyo (Japan), Singapore, Sydney (Australia), Warsaw (Poland), Hamina (Finland), London (England), Frankfurt (Germany), Madrid (Spain), Eemshaven (Netherlands), Sao Paulo (Brazil), Council Bluffs (Iowa, US), Moncks Corner (South Carolina, US), The Dalles (Oregon, US), Los Angeles (California, US), Ashburn (Virginia, US), Dallas (Texas, US).

Domains

SiteGround also offers domain registration. You can search for any domain name you want and if it’s available, you can register it right away.

Added to that, they offer domain transfer and DNS services. You can manage your domain and website from the same place.

Ultrafast PHP

On the higher plans GrowBig and GoGeek plans, you get a custom PHP setup for great TTFB (time to first byte) and overall site speed.

Staging Environment

You can create a clone of your website and test any changes you want to make there. You can run updates, install new plugins and themes, and so on. Once you’re satisfied with how your site looks and functions, you can roll out the changes on your live site.

This feature is available on GrowBig and GoGeek plans.

Top-rated 24/7 support

SiteGround has a helpful customer care team that’s always online. You can rely on them for fast pickup and resolution of your query.

You can connect with them via phone and live chat. Plus, there’s an extensive knowledge base that you can use to find answers on your own.

30-day money back guarantee

Every plan comes with a money-back guarantee so you can get started without any commitment. If you’re unsatisfied, you can get in touch with the support team and ask for a refund.

Though SiteGround has a lot to offer, it’s not free of drawbacks. We’ll discuss the cons next.

SiteGround Cons

SiteGround has a few drawbacks that may or may not affect your hosting experience.

No Free Domain

Almost every popular web host offers a free domain name with their plans. This is usually a 1-year registration.

SiteGround’s hosting plans do not include a free domain. You can register it separately.

High Pricing

Many web hosts let you get started for as low as $1.99 to $2.75 per month. Their plans renew at slightly higher rates but at least you can get your website online with a smaller budget.

SiteGround’s pricing is a bit expensive compared to other hosts.

Tiered Plans

Each web hosting plan has limited web space. You get 10GB, 20GB, or 40GB depending on the tier you choose. This means if you need more storage, you’ll have to upgrade to a higher plan.

Now that we have a better view of the pros and cons of SiteGround, let’s put their hosting performance to the test.

SiteGround Performance

SiteGround ensures a 99.9% uptime guarantee but we wanted to put it to the test to see if your hosting plan will be worth it.

We created a standard WordPress site hosted with SiteGround and performed several speed tests on Pingdom, Load Impact, and Bitcatcha. Here are our results.

With Pingdom’s speed test, our website loaded in less than a second using a server in Dallas, Texas.

With LoadImpact, we tested how the website performs when there’s a sudden surge in traffic. The tool sends virtual users (VUs) to our test site to build up to 100 visitors at a time.

In the chart above, the blue line (VUs active) shows the number of virtual users sent to our SiteGround site. There’s also a green line (VU load time) which shows how much time it would take to load a web page for a user.

SiteGround performed well. However, when there were 50 users on the site, there was a spike in load time. It quickly recovered and page load time remained steadily low even with more users.

It’s worth noting that the site never went down during our speed test.

SiteGround’s Ease of Use

SiteGround makes it easy to create and manage a website. You get easy access to cPanel which lets you customize and manage your site’s settings, files, and database.

They also offer dozens of one-click installers for popular website scripts such as WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.

Added to that, every plan comes with a basic drag-and-drop builder. This makes it easy for anyone to create a website.

SiteGround’s Pricing Plans

SiteGround has very consistent pricing across all the plans it offers. Whether you pick shared, WordPress, or WooCommerce hosting, the pricing plans are as follows:

Startup: $3.99 per month.

• 1 Website
• 10 GB Web Space
• 10,000 Visits Monthly
• Unmetered Traffic
• Free WP Installation
• Free WP Migrator
• WordPress Autoupdates
• Free SSL, Daily Backup, CDN, Email
• Enhanced Security
• Ecommerce Enabled
• WP-CLI and SSH
• Managed WordPress
• Out-of-the-box Caching
• Unlimited Databases

GrowBig: $6.69 per month

Everything in StartUp plus added features:

• Unlimited Websites
• 20 GB Web Space
• 100,000 Visits Monthly
• On-demand Backup Copies
• 30% faster PHP
• Staging

GoGeek: $10.69 per month

Everything in GrowBig plus added features:

• Unlimited Websites
• 40 GB Web Space
• 400,000 Visits Monthly
• Staging + Git
• White-label Clients
• Free Private DNS
• Highest Tier of Resources
• Priority Support

That’s SiteGrounds hosting plans. If you’re looking for domains, it can very depending on how valuable your domain name is. Below is their averages pricing.

Domain Cost

• .com: $17.99 per year
• .net: $19.99 per year
• .org: $19.99 per year
• .biz: $19.99 per year
• .info: $24.99 per year
• .xyz: $12.99 per year

Unsure which domain extension to choose? See our guide: How to Choose the Best Domain Name Extension.

Now that we’ve tried and tested SiteGround, let’s compare what other web hosts have to offer.

SiteGround Alternatives

1. Bluehost

Bluehost offers both domain registration and website hosting. Plus, they have a website builder and marketing tools. So you can get pretty much everything you need to start a website.

And they offer their services at really affordable starting and renewal rates compared to SiteGround.

Bluehost gives you a robust setup, a user-friendly interface, responsive customer support, and an extensive knowledge base. So you’re in good hands when you sign up with Bluehost.

See our Bluehost Review »

We’ve worked hard to get you a special discount on Bluehost. You can get started for as low as $2.75 per month (that’s 73% off!). You’ll get a free domain, CDN, and SSL included in your plan.

2. Hostinger

Hostinger offers a number of hosting plans to suit different budgets and website needs. It’s a great choice for beginners as you’ll get a handful of management tools to get started with your first website.

See our review: Hostinger Review: Domains & Hosting Plans Compared.

We believe the best plan from Hostinger is their WordPress Starter Plans. It gives you access to Managed WordPress for up to 100 websites. You’ll never have to worry about bandwidth and database limits. And you’ll be free to customize and scale your website the way you want.

With our exclusive deal, you can get this plan for just $2.69 per month with a 12-month registration.

The plan will include free SSL, free domain, and free email.

3. HostGator

HostGator is a popular web host and they’re also one of the most widely used domain registrars.

If you’re just starting out and are looking for a budget-friendly option, then HostGator is a good option for you.

Their shared hosting plan is the cheapest web hosting option out there. Plus, you get a free domain name. But it’s most suitable for websites that expect low traffic volumes.

If you’re not happy, they’ll refund your hosting fees in the first 45 days.

See our HostGator Review ».

With our special discount, you can grab a HostGator plan for just $2.64 per month.

That’s all we have for you today. Up next, we’ve handpicked these guides for you:

• How to Start a Small Business Website (Step by Step)
• How to Create a Professional Business Email Address for Free
• 8 WordPress Plugins to Step up Your SEO Game

These posts will help you create and grow your website with ease.