Low cost hosting, how to choose the best?

Are you thinking about choosing low-cost hosting, but don’t know where to start?

Let’s have a look at when it is the right solution and when it is better to choose a better performing solution.

We will discover the must-have features and see a comparison between different providers.

But first: is it always worth choosing a cheap service?

Why choose low-cost hosting

Low-cost hosting plans are not suitable for every case. When you find yourself having to choose a hosting, you cannot rely only on general considerations, but you must consider the project specifically.

Want to create a personal blog?

Do I expect many visits every day?

These are some of the questions that must be asked when choosing and which one guides us towards the most suitable solution.

This is why we want to start this post by understanding when it can be useful to rely on low-cost hosting and when, instead, it is better to make a different choice.

Cheap hosting – is it the right choice for me?

If you have a small budget, you will surely have noticed that low-cost hosting offers are very attractive.

Before deciding, however, you need to understand if this choice is really right for you.

The option that allows you to provide a service at a reduced cost is to opt for shared hosting. In this way, by hosting multiple sites on a single server, costs can be contained, and the service can be offered at a low cost.

This means that choosing an economic plan means having limited resources.

This is why low-cost hosting is not the ideal solution for everyone.

Who is cheap hosting suitable for?

We see several scenarios where low cost hosting is a great opportunity.

For those who are creating a new website

If you’re just starting out, it’s best to start with the cheapest plan. If you are about to create the website, you cannot immediately know how much traffic your site will receive and how many resources you will really need.

The most practical solution is to start with a low cost hosting and then upgrade only when you need it.

To meet our customers, we at SupportHost allow the upgrade of the plan without disruption. When switching plans, you only pay the difference between the two services.

For those who want to create a site without making an investment

Needless to say, the main advantage of low-cost hosting is savings.

If you’re on a very tight budget and can’t (or don’t want to) invest in your project, the cheapest plans are for you.

Always keep in mind that the budget to be allocated to hosting is only one of the factors to consider and that the cost of the website must also consider the budget for its construction.

An economic plan is also ideal when you don’t want to create a site to earn online, but only to carry on a hobby or personal project that you dedicate yourself to in your spare time.

For a small blog that will have very few visits or a personal project, the cheapest solutions are perfect because they allow you to have the bare necessities at the lowest possible cost.

For those who want to experiment

Another scenario where cheap hostings are ideal is putting the hosting service to the test.

In our case, you can also take advantage of free hosting and test as many as you want for 14 days. If you already have a site and want to try the service, you can move it in 5 minutes by following this video.

Or it makes sense to start from the cheapest plan even if you need a hosting service just to do some tests before actually realizing a project.

A cheap hosting can also be ideal for a web agency or a web designer who needs to do some tests and also needs, for example, a staging environment.

Who should avoid low-cost hosting?

We have seen several situations where cheap hostings are a godsend. Now let’s see in which cases this type of plans should be avoided.

For those expecting a lot of traffic

If you are about to launch a project that will have to support millions of visits every day, you must opt ​​for an ad hoc solution. Therefore, for a site with high traffic, you cannot consider cheap hosting even at the outset.

Similarly, if you have an ecommerce with thousands of page views per day, you’d better start with a more performing solution such as a cloud plan.

For those who need specific configurations

In addition to sites that need more resources to support high traffic, there are also projects that require the use of specific configurations.

For example the new versions of Magento require elasticsearch, for this it is necessary to host the sites with this CMS on dedicated servers or custom VPS cloud hosting. These are, in fact, the options we offer in our Magento hosting plans.

Low cost does not mean poor quality

We often tend to associate the concept of cheap with that of low quality.

In reality, if chosen well, low-cost hosting can offer you a good service and guarantee excellent performance.

In particular, in a cheap hosting there are some features that you need to pay attention to, above all: uptime, speed and assistance.

Uptime

Uptime indicates the uptime, i.e. the percentage of time in which the server, and therefore also your site, is reachable.

The percentage can never be 100%, but the ideal condition is that it comes as close as possible. On SupportHost we guarantee 99.9% uptime.

If you are looking for cheap hosting that is quality, make sure it guarantees good uptime.

Speed

It is important to have a site that is always online, but it is equally important to have a fast site.

Here are two good reasons why site speed should be a priority:

• users abandon sites that are too slow to load;
• speed (especially from mobile) is one of the factors that influence positioning on search engines.

There’s no need to add anything else, just with these few words you will have understood that performance is important even in cheap hosting.

Assistance

The issue of support also relates to site uptime. Problems can always happen and you can suddenly find yourself having the site down.

What do you do then? Contact support and hope they help you fix it right away.

For this reason, even in low-cost hosting, don’t underestimate the importance of support and focus on those who offer 24/7 availability.

What are the features of cheap hosting?

First let’s start by understanding what we are referring to when talking about low-cost hosting. In general, these are economic plans which therefore cost no more than 140 euros per year.

From this category, therefore, the more expensive options such as VPS cloud hosting or dedicated servers are excluded.

What is it about then? Generally the cheapest plans are entry level solutions and are shared hosting.

To better understand what these plans offer, let’s open a brief parenthesis on the differences between hosting solutions.

Shared hosting is a plan based on a shared server. This means that one physical server hosts multiple sites.

It follows that, given that the resources of a server are only limited, on a shared server there will be limits of hosting resources because defined resources are associated with each account.

If, on the other hand, we take the case of a cloud plan or a dedicated server, we are faced with greater resources. In the first case they are the resources of the virtual machine, in the second we have all the resources of the server available.

In short, there are limits to each case. And these limits are affected by the plan we choose.

What services are included in a low cost hosting?

As we said before, there are factors that cannot be missing even in the cheapest solutions in order not to compromise the quality of the service.

Alongside uptime, speed and support, which we have already talked about, there are other elements that we should consider to understand if they are included in the price.

In a quality low cost hosting we can, in fact, find services such as:

• domain registration included;
• automatic backups;
• multiple or unlimited email accounts;
• multiple or unlimited databases;
• unlimited monthly traffic;
• SSL certificate;
• SSH connection;
• auto-installers to install scripts with one click.

For SupportHost, even the low cost plans include these services and in particular:

• the domain is free forever, not just for the first year;
• we offer daily automatic backups and keep the last 30 copies;
• our plans include unlimited databases, email accounts and subdomains;
• there are no monthly traffic limits;
• all plans include the Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate, also valid for subdomains and which is automatically renewed;
• SSH access and developer tools are included with all plans;
• with Softaculous you can install hundreds of scripts and work in a staging environment.

Is low-cost hosting good for WordPress?

One of the most frequently asked questions about low-cost hosting is this: are they suitable for a WordPress site?

The answer is yes.

In some cases, you can choose shared hosting and then install WordPress yourself. In others, as in our case, the installation of the CMS can be requested when ordering.

Our WordPress plans are shared or semi-dedicated with WordPress pre-installed. Based on your needs, you can choose the plan that is right for you.

For example, you could start with the WordPress 1 plan for just €34 a year or choose our best-selling plan, WordPress 3 and get all the power of LiteSpeed ​​for €69 a year.

Low-cost hosting: problems and limits

As you know, not all cheap hosting is created equal. There are instances where there may be hidden limits or offers that may only be attractive at first and then reveal unexpected charges on subsequent renewals.

Let’s look at some of the more frequent problems.

Higher price on renewal

You have found an unbeatable offer, cheap hosting at the lowest price ever. Not only that, the services offered also look great.

The first thing you need to do is make sure that the price is really the same and that it remains the same when you renew. If you are looking for low-cost hosting, it makes no sense to be fooled by the discount on the first year if the price on renewal, then increases significantly.

To be on the safe side, check all the clauses and compare providers based on their normal price, without considering the discounts that apply only to the first year.

With SupportHost the price does not change

Our policy is based on price transparency. Our plans have the price you see and always remain the same with each renewal.

With all our hosting plans you also have the domain always included in the price. Many hosting services include the domain in the hosting price only for the first year. In our case, the domain is always free, even on renewal.

No guarantees or hidden costs

When choosing a hosting service, it is good to check that there are no hidden costs such as penalties for canceling the service.

Also, you should check what the terms of service are and what guarantees are offered to you.

The guarantees of SupportHost

In our case there are no contracts, you can cancel your plan up to one day before it expires and therefore before the next renewal.

With SupportHost you are covered by the 30-day money-back guarantee. If you change your mind or the service isn’t right for you, you can request a refund.

Also, unlike most hosting services, we offer free trial hosting.

You can try the service for 14 days and then decide if you want to subscribe to a plan. The trial has no strings attached, so you can simply let it expire if you don’t want to upgrade to a paid plan.

Uptime not guaranteed

As we have also pointed out before, uptime is crucial in a good quality budget hosting service.

It is not ideal to find yourself having the site often unreachable, so before choosing a service you should check the reviews (for example on Trustpilot ) and the guarantees offered.

What can affect uptime?

There are cases where providers oversell, i.e. they sell a number of plans that exceed the actual availability of the server.

What happen? If one of the accounts has a resource spike in this case, other sites may become unreachable because all resources are being consumed by only one account.

SupportHost’s solution

We monitor the services every 5 minutes to intervene even before problems arise.

We also limit the number of accounts on shared servers. By not overselling and not overloading the servers we can offer maximum performance to all accounts.

We guarantee a 99.9% uptime, if in the month the uptime has not been respected you will be entitled to a refund.

Slow technical support

One of the disadvantages that usually comes with low cost hosting plans is the technical assistance. To keep costs down, there is a tendency to limit support costs in the cheapest plans.

This translates into responses taking more than 48 hours to arrive or no support over the weekend.

Cheap hosting with excessively slow technical support is a considerable disadvantage for the customer who can find himself needing assistance at any time.

SupportHost and h24 support

In our case you don’t need to worry because you will always find the support team available 24/7.

Our service is based on support and we guarantee fast assistance within 8 working hours with all plans. 90% of tickets are answered within an hour or two.

Safety issues

As we said, low cost hosting plans are generally shared plans. It is often said that shared hosting is more prone to hacker attacks. The fear is that if an account on a shared server is hacked, the attack could easily spread to other accounts as well.

This would put your site and your data at risk, but fortunately there are security systems that allow you to avoid these situations. Let’s see how we solve it in our case.

With SupportHost each account is isolated

As we explained in the cloud vs shared comparison, by choosing our shared plans you will have no security risk.

Using CloudLinux and CageFS we can completely isolate each account. This way, if one account is attacked, the rest of the server is still protected.

Our systems allow us to monitor account status in real time. When there are spikes in resource usage or excessive traffic, the account is temporarily limited.

This ensures that the service is not interrupted for other customers and avoids interruptions ensuring uptime for all users.

Resource Limits

When you discover an unlimited hosting offer, you should always check all the clauses. Yes, I’m also talking about those walls of text, those asterisks and the small print.

Only by doing so, can you understand what resources you will actually have at your disposal.

For example, those who offer unlimited space can place limits on the maximum number of inodes and consequently limit the maximum number of files that can be present on the server. In practice, it is as if it were telling you that you have all the space you could ever want, but you can only keep a limited number of files or emails.

SupportHost’s solution

We don’t like making promises we can’t keep. On the plan pages you will find all available resources specified.

In our shared hostings we don’t offer unlimited space, but unlike other providers we don’t impose limits on the number of inodes. This way you know exactly what you will have available, with no hidden clauses.

Low-cost hosting compared

Now that we have seen what the characteristics of cheap hosting are, let’s see in practice what the different providers offer, starting with our shared and CMS hosting plans.

We will examine the economic plans of 11 other providers. For each one we will indicate the fundamental characteristics, focusing on these points:

• prices
• space
• traffic
• hosting panel
• domain
• subdomains, email accounts and databases
• developer tools
• resources
• backups
• site transfer.

At the end you will find the highlights summarized in a comparative table.

For this comparison we have examined the plans which, even when renewed, cost less than €140 per year and we have considered the prices by ordering the plans for a period of one year.

Keep in mind that some plans have a much lower price for the first year only, so always check what the actual price will be on renewal to avoid nasty surprises.

A note on the comparison: the features and prices indicated below correspond to the information reported on the sites, consulted on January 2023. Since plans and prices often tend to vary over time, we will consider the regular prices as a reference, free of any temporary discounts.

In any case, therefore, I invite you to always check the conditions and plans on the sites because they may vary.

In our case we adopt a price transparency policy, so you will always see the prices and all the resources indicated on the services pages. For any other doubts, just contact us.

Low-cost hosting with SupportHost

In this comparison we have examined the hostings with a price even at renewal below €140.

Our Shared 1 and Shared 2 plans are low cost plans. If you are looking for CMS hosting you can check out our services pages: WordPress hosting, PrestaShop hosting, Joomla hosting and Drupal hosting.

Keep in mind that you can also choose between shared and semi-dedicated plans and request the installation of the CMS you prefer during the order, free of charge.

Prices

Prices are VAT excluded.

The Shared 1 plan costs €34 per year and Shared 2 €59 per year.

We decided to offer shared plans with LiteSpeed ​​as well to offer maximum performance. Also in this case we have economic plans, Shared LS 1 for €44 per year and Shared LS 2 for €69.

The WordPress 3, Drupal 3, Joomla 3 and PrestaShop 3 CMS plans cost €69 per year and include LiteSpeed ​​to give you the best possible performance.

Space

All of our plans use NVMe SSD disks. If you are interested, you can learn more about the advantages of SSD hosting compared to the use of traditional HDDs.

The space available is as follows:

• Shared 1: 15GB.
• Shared 2: 40GB.
• WordPress 3 / Joomla 3 / Drupal 3 / PrestaShop 3: 40GB.

Monthly traffic

All our shared hosting plans and CMS hosting include unlimited monthly traffic.

Hosting panel

cPanel is available on all hosting plans, an easy-to-use and feature-rich control panel.

Is there anything you can’t do? In our tutorial section you will find guides with step-by-step explanations for each operation.

We want to offer our customers easy hosting, so if you can’t find what you are looking for, you can ask us for an on-demand tutorial.

Domain

In the cost of our low-cost hosting plans and in all plans, the domain is always included. You only need to register the domain when ordering to get it for free even at renewal.

All domains include Whois Protection, the function that allows you to protect information and domain registration data.

Subdomains, email accounts and databases

All our hosting plans include unlimited subdomains, email accounts and databases. You can create and manage them directly from cPanel.

Developer tools

We’ve included SSH access for all plans, tools like WP-CLI and Git, and the ability to configure the .htaccess and php.ini file.

Supported languages ​​include Python, Perl and CGI. You can consult the list of scripts compatible with SupportHost or contact us for further doubts.

Softaculous is available with all plans which allows you to install scripts with just one click.

Furthermore, all our plans include site staging, in this way you can create a test environment and do all the tests before modifying the site in production.

Resources

In our plans we do not impose limits on the number of inodes.

Here are the resources for each low cost hosting plan:

Shared 1: 2 core CPU, 2GB RAM, 20 PHP processes.

Shared 2: 2.5 core CPU, 2.5GB RAM, 25 PHP processes.

WordPress 3 / Joomla 3 / Drupal 3 / PrestaShop 3: 2.5 core CPU, 2.5GB RAM, 25 PHP processes.

Backups

With all SupportHost hosting plans you have free automatic daily backups.

We keep the last 30 backup copies and you can restore them yourself directly from cPanel.

Site transfer

If you choose to change hosting and switch to SupportHost you will get the free site transfer.

By ordering the plan you prefer for a year or longer, you will be entitled to a free transfer. After that, just contact us and provide us with the data and we will take care of the migration.

In addition, by doing so you also get 2 months of free hosting.

Low-cost hosting Hostinger

Hostinger offers a single plan: Single Shared Hosting. Let’s see what resources and services are included.

Prices

Prices exclude VAT.

Single Web Hosting: €29.88 per year for the first year, from the following year the renewal is €59.88 per year (€4.99 per month).

Space

The Single plan includes 30GB of SSD disk space.

With SupportHost you have 15GB of space with Shared 1 and 40GB with Shared 2, all our servers have NVMe SSD disks.

Monthly traffic

With Hostinger’s Single plan you get 100GB of traffic.

All our plans have unlimited monthly traffic.

Hosting panel

Hostinger uses a custom control panel, while our plans include cPanel, one of the most popular and popular hosting control panels.

Domain

With Hostinger’s Single plan, domain registration is not included.

In our case, the domain is always included in the price, with each renewal.

Subdomains, email accounts and databases

With the Hostinger Single plan, 2 subdomains, 2 databases and 1 email account are included.

Our shared plans have unlimited subdomains, databases and email accounts.

Developer tools

Hostinger’s low cost plan includes GIT and has a limit of 2 cron jobs. It does not provide SSH access and does not allow site staging.

With all SupportHost plans you will have advanced tools (including Git and WP-CLI), SSH access, site staging and many other features included.

Resources

Hostinger’s Single plan is limited to 200,000 inodes and includes these resources:

CPU: 1 core, 768MB RAM and up to 10 processes.

SupportHost’s shared plans have no limit on the number of inodes and have more resources.

Backups

Hostinger with the low cost plan includes weekly backups.

In our case, all plans include daily backups.

Site transfer

As in our case, site migration is also free by activating one of Hostinger’s plans.

GoDaddy Low-Cost Hosting

GoDaddy has an economic plan, the Starter plan, let’s find out in detail what it offers.

Prices

Prices are VAT excluded.

Hosting Starter: by ordering the 12-month plan you pay €51.09 for the first year and when you renew, you pay €58.41 per year.

Space

GoDaddy’s Starter plan includes 10GB of NVMe SSD disk space.

We use NVMe SSD drives in our plans and you will get 15GB of space with Shared 1 hosting and 40GB with Shared 2 plan.

Monthly traffic

GoDaddy’s Starter plan, like all of our shared plans, has unlimited monthly traffic.

Hosting panel

GoDaddy plans include cPanel, as in our case.

Domain

GoDaddy’s Starter plan does not include the price of the domain. With more expensive plans such as Economy, you have the domain which is only included for the first period and you will have to pay for it separately when you renew.

Subdomains, email accounts and databases

With GoDaddy’s low cost hosting plan you are limited to 25 subdomains and 1 database, while email accounts are not specified.

With our plans you have unlimited email accounts, subdomains and databases.

Developer tools

The Starter plan supports Python and Perl and includes SSH access, while the SSL certificate is not included.

The site staging feature depends on the plan, for example it is available with the WordPress Deluxe plans which have a regular price of €146.25 per year, but it is not included in the basic ones.

At SupportHost we provide developer tools, auto-installer to install scripts in one click, SSL certificate and staging with all plans.

Resources

GoDaddy’s low cost plan is limited to 250,000 inodes and includes the following resources: 1 CPU and 512MB of RAM.

The number of concurrent processes is not specified.

Our low-cost plan, Shared 1 has 2 CPUs, 2GB of RAM, and 20 concurrent processes. We do not impose limits on the number of inodes or the size of the database.

Backups

With GoDaddy, automatic daily backups are an additional service that starts at €2.43 per month, which rises to €3.65 on renewal.

At SupporHost we include daily backups in the price of the plans and keep the last 30 backups.

Site transfer

With GoDaddy, the migration is free, but must be managed directly by the users.

If you switch to SupportHost you have the free transfer which will be managed completely by our staff.

Cost-effective hosting: Bluehost

Bluehost offers highly discounted prices for the first year, but they increase sharply upon renewal.

That is why the plan we have included in this comparison is the Basic plan. Let’s take a look at all the features.

Prices

The prices shown do not include taxes.

With Bluehost you can choose between shared hosting and WordPress plans, so the price does not change.

Basic shared hosting or WordPress Basic costs 2.75€ per month or 32.98€ for the first year. Upon renewal the price becomes regular: costing 9.99$ per month (about 9.42€), making the annual price 113.04€.

Space

On shared plans, Bluehost offers SSD storage space.

The Basic plan includes 10 GB of space. There is also a maximum threshold of files that you can host on your account, which is up to 200,000 files.

Monthly Traffic

Bluehost’s shared plans have “unmetered” bandwidth.

Please note that this does not mean it is infinite, and if you exceed the usage that is considered normal according to their terms of service, you will receive an email urging you to reduce consumption.

Hosting panel

On all Bluehost plans, you will find cPanel as a control panel.

Domain

The Basic Bluehost plan we looked at only allows you to host one domain. If you register or transfer a domain, you will not have to pay for the first year’s registration fees. Upon renewal, the cost of your hosting plan will be added to the cost of the domain.

With SupportHost you will always have the domain included ( not just for the first year only) with the plans we looked at.

Subdomains, email accounts, and databases

With the Basic Bluehost plan, you will have 25 subdomains, and the number of email accounts you can create is not stated. This plan includes 20 MySQL databases with limitations on space and usage:

• 5GB maximum space
• 10GB maximum database usage
• 5000 charts
• 150 simultaneous requests.

Tools for developers

Bluehost plans include SSH access, in some cases, it may be necessary to contact the support center in order to have this feature.

The ability to create site staging (available only on higher plans starting with “Choice Plus”) and advanced tools such as WP-CLI are missing.

Resources

Bluehost’s WordPress and shared plans do not show server specifications. RAM, CPU, or any limits on the number of processes you will have with your plan are not indicated.

Backup

Bluehost’s inexpensive shared plan (Basic) does not include automatic backups. To have backups included for the first year, you must purchase a higher plan such as “Choice Plus” for $18.99 per month (regular price upon renewal).

Site Transfer

By choosing a WordPress plan, Bluehost offers free site migration.

The transfer is not always offered for free, you will be asked to install a plugin and if certain criteria are met you will be able to take advantage of the migration. Otherwise, you will have to proceed on your own or purchase the paid migration service.

HostGator’s low-cost plans

HostGator is another popular low-cost provider. Just as we have seen with Bluehost, plans are shown at a steep initial discount, but the price upon renewal increases and it’s not by a small amount.

Let’s take a look at the current offer in detail.

Prices

HostGator has several hosting plans: Hatchling, Baby, and Business.

First-time prices have introductory offers that make them seem cheap, but upon renewal, the price goes up. This is why we have included only the cheapest plan in this list of low-cost hostings, which in any case upon renewal exceeds 100€ per year.

Note that prices do not include taxes.

The Hatchling shared plan costs 3.95$ per month (about 3.72€) for the first year, with an annual price of 47.40$ (about 44.64€). Upon renewal, the price becomes 9.99$ per month (about 9.42€), making it an annual price of 119.88$ (about 113.04€).

Space

The amount of disk space offered by HostGator with its hosting plans is unmetered.

Again as with other providers offering unmetered space, you will need to abide by the terms of use. In addition, HostGator applies a limit of 100,000 inodes (maximum number of files).

Monthly Traffic

The monthly traffic of plans with HostGator is unmetered.

Hosting panel

With HostGator’s plans, you will find cPanel as the hosting control panel.

Domain

With HostGator’s cheap plans like “Hatchling”, you will have the cost of the domain included only for one year.

Subdomains, email accounts, and databases

The HostGator offer includes unlimited email accounts and subdomains. It does not specify if there is a limit to the number of databases you can create.

Tools for developers

The HostGator plans allow you to log in using the SSH connection. Other advanced tools such as WP-CLI, Git, and staging are not present.

Resources

Server resources in terms of RAM, CPU, and other limits are not specified in HostGator’s hosting offerings.

Backup

HostGator’s shared plans include an automatic backup service that does not specify the frequency. To have daily automatic backups you will have to purchase an additional package starting at $2.75 per month (about €2.59).

Site Transfer

HostGator includes a free migration with shared plans. There are exceptions, however, so to get more details you need to contact them to find out if the plan you choose is compatible with a free site transfer or not.

Cost-efficient hosting: DreamHost

Like other providers we have seen in this list, DreamHost also adopts the technique of heavily discounted pricing for the first year and then increasing upon renewal.

Let’s look at the features of the cheapest plans.

Prices

DreamHost offers several solutions for shared plans: Shared Starter and Shared Unlimited.

Shared Starter: is on offer for the first year at 2.95$ per month (about 2.78€), for an annual cost of 35.40$ (about 33.36€). Upon renewal, the price becomes 6.99$ per month (about 6.59€) costing 83.88$ per year (79.08€).

Since the “Shared Unlimited” plan upon renewal, costs 12.99$ per month (about 12.24€) making it 155.88$ (about 146.94€) for the whole year, we only considered the entry-level “Shared Starter” plan in our comparison.

Note: WordPress Starter and Unlimited plans have the same features and costs as Shared plans.

Space

DreamHost’s Shared Starter plan includes 50GB SSD. With the Unlimited plan, storage space is unlimited.

Monthly Traffic

DreamHost offers shared plans with unlimited bandwidth (unmetered).

Hosting panel

DreamHost uses a proprietary control panel, you will not be able to manage your space with cPanel.

Domain

A Shared Starter plan can only be associated with one domain, to have a multi-domain plan you must purchase Shared Unlimited.

By purchasing a plan with an annual (or three-year) subscription with DreamHost you can have the domain free for only the first year.

Subdomains, email accounts, and databases

The Starter plan includes 5 subdomains, and 6 databases, and imposes a limit of 6 FTP, SFTP, or shell users.

Email accounts associated with the domain are not included in DreamHost’s Shared Starter plan. In order to have them you must purchase the add-on package separately starting at 1.67$ per month.

Tools for developers

DreamHost’s shared plans include SSH access and WP-CLI. The presence of the site staging feature is not mentioned.

Resources

No resources associated with your account (RAM, CPU, etc.) are specified in DreamHost’s shared plan offerings.

Backup

DreamHost’s Starter and Unlimited plans include automatic daily backups. However, it is not specified for how many days the backups are kept and whether it is possible to restore them independently.

Site Transfer

DreamHost gives you access to a plugin to automate the migration of your WordPress site. The site transfer is then done automatically and there is no support team.

Site5’s low-cost plans

Let’s see what low-cost solutions are offered by Site5.

Prices

Site5 offers three plans: hostBasic, hostPro and hostPro + Turbo. Out of these, the one that can be considered low-cost is the entry-level solution.

HostBasic: the regular price is 11.99$ per month (about 11.30€), and for an annual subscription it costs 143.88$ (about 135.60€).

Space

Site5’s hosting plans have no space limits.

Monthly Traffic

Site5 does not impose a limit on monthly bandwidth usage.

Hosting Panel

Site5 uses cPanel as its control panel.

Domain

With Site5’s hostBasic plan, you can host only one domain.

Domain registration is not included in the price of the hosting plan.

Subdomains, email accounts, and databases

Site5 imposes no limits on the number of email accounts and databases you can create. It does not specify whether subdomains are limited.

Tools for developers

All Site5 plans include SSH access. There is no mention of advanced features such as staging or WP-CLI.

Resources

Resources associated with plans such as RAM and CPU are not specified.

Backup

Site5 hosting plans include automatic backups that are performed every night. However, it is not stated how long the backups are maintained.

Site Transfer

If you want to transfer a site, you can outsource the migration procedure to Site5.

Affordable A2 Hosting

A2 Hosting allows you to choose from several shared hosting plans, let’s go over to see what the most affordable plan offers.

Prices

A2 Hosting offers 4 shared hosting solutions: Startup, Drive, Turbo Boost, and Turbo Max. Of these, the low-cost solution is the Startup plan.

Startup: has an initial price of 2.99$ per month (about 2.82€) and a yearly subscription of 35.88$ (about 33.84€). Upon renewal, the price changes to regular prices, which amounts to 107.88$ per year (about 101.69€).

Space

A2 Hosting’s Startup plan includes 100 GB of space on SSD disks.

Monthly Traffic

A2 Hosting does not charge a limit on monthly traffic.

Hosting panel

The hosting panel used on A2 Hosting’s shared plans is cPanel.

Domain

With the Startup plan, you will only be able to manage one domain. The cost of the domain is not included in the hosting plan.

Subdomains, email accounts, and databases

With A2 Hosting’s Startup plan, you will be able to create 5 databases, 1 subdomain, and unlimited email accounts.

Tools for developers

A2 Hosting plans include SSH access, WP-CLI can be requested as an optional service on all plans.

Advanced features such as the ability to clone the site and create a staging environment are not included in the Startup plan, they are only available starting with the Turbo Boost plan.

Resources

The Startup plan provides 1GB of RAM and 1 CPU.

Backup

A2 Hosting includes regular automatic backups with some of its plans, but backup service is not included with the cheapest plan (Startup).

Site Transfer

There is an option to request site migration to A2 Hosting and, in some cases, the transfer will be done free of charge.

Cheap hosting: Comparing providers

We have seen the low-cost hosting plans in detail. In this table we have summarize the main services to offer you a direct comparison.

Let’s first look at the resources offered for each plan.

In the table below, we can see the services included by the different providers under their plans in detail.

Conclusion

We have seen who a low-cost hosting service is suitable for and for which projects it is not suitable. We have focused on the features that we believe are essential in good quality hosting and we have seen what the most common problems with cheap services are.

We then moved on to a direct comparison examining the low-cost hosting plans on the market and the services offered.

Are you looking for cheap hosting? Did you find what you were looking for? Let me know with a comment which are, in your opinion, the features that cannot be missing in a low-cost service.