If you’re looking for an alternative to SiteGround you’ve found the best solution, despite the fact that some online say that SiteGround sucks, it’s a pretty good hosting service, perhaps expensive for what it offers. As you’ll see in the post we have lower prices while offering higher limits. The secret? We have fewer advertising expenses.
We limit the number of accounts per server so we can allocate more resources to each account. In addition, this way we ensure that our servers are never overloaded, which ensures that your site is always at peak performance.
SiteGround offers a good service at a very reasonable price. Many people turn to us when it is time to renew. After purchasing the service with an initial discount (the price for the first payment is less than half of the renewal price) many SiteGround customers get an unwelcome surprise on their invoice: a renewal fee they didn’t expect and start looking around for a solution.
In the following paragraphs, let’s see how our plans compare with SiteGround’s. If you’re one of their customers and you’ve decided to take the leap and find a Siteground alternative, we’ll explain the differences. We’ll show you the differences between ours and their service. You’ll see that it’s possible to move your website without the slightest disruption and with a good chance the performance of your website will improve and the volume of visits your site can sustain will increase.
Table of Contents
We constantly migrate customer sites from SiteGround to SupportHost, the migration is super easy since they also use cPanel. Rest assured that your data will not be lost and there will be no downtime for your website. We are an excellent SiteGround alternative.
Since SiteGround changed infrastructure they no longer use cPanel. This is something that many people didn’t like, in fact they went from a professional panel which is the standard in the hosting world to a proprietary panel, which according to the various comments on their site many people didn’t like.
Performance
NOTE: Apparently, since SiteGround changed infrastructure the words “SiteGround slow” and “SiteGround problems” are the most used words in the groups, both in Italian and international groups. These are, in addition to the words that were used until now, namely: “SiteGround costs”, “SiteGround expensive” and “SiteGround renewal expensive”. It’s no coincidence that most customers are fleeing.
For those who are looking for a SiteGround alternative and need to get the maximum performance of their site SupportHost is undoubtedly the right choice. If you run a site with a high volume of visits and you want it to always be at its best, you don’t necessarily need a dedicated server. Depending on your situation one of our semi-dedicated plans could be right for you. If you are not sure which one is the right choice for your situation contact us and we will evaluate your situation and help you choose the best solution for you.
We ran a test on a client’s website on a StartUP plan prior to migration, then migrated the website and ran a new test on a Semidedicated1 plan. When reading the comparisons below please bear in mind that the customer went from a plan that costs about 12€ per month (including the domain cost at renewal) to one that costs 29€ per year with the domain included in the price. If he had switched to a Platinum plan the results in terms of performance would have been very different.
Keep in mind that with us the domain cost is included in the price even at renewal, while with SiteGround from the second year you have to pay the domain cost in addition to the hosting cost.
Any differences in the measurement of page size are due to differences in compression of the two services. On SupportHost in fact, we compress all files, while SiteGround seems to compress only some types of files.
As soon as you check the tests we have done you will see why SupportHost is a viable alternative to SiteGround. In almost every test you can see that SiteGround is slow compared to the performance of the same site on SupportHost.
GTmetrix
LoadImpact allows you to simulate a traffic peak on a site, so you can see how it is handled by the server and the site itself.
We performed a test on SiteGround before the migration:
And another test on SupportHost right after the migration:
The result in this case was impressive. With a peak of 50 concurrent users the loading times on SiteGround increased to 3 seconds, while on SupportHost the loading times remained unchanged at 600ms (so just over half a second) regardless of the number of concurrent requests.
WebPageTest
WebPageTest is considered by many people to be one of the best tools for testing the performance of websites. Again, we performed a before and after test, obviously using the same test location to avoid distort the results.
This is the test result before the transfer:
While below we see the result of the test performed immediately after the transfer to SupportHost:
We detect a modest improvement in the performance of the client’s website.
Pingdom
Pingdom is another great testing tool, but it tends to produce less realistic loading times than the other tools and gives less indication about the actions needed for optimization.
The same test run after migrating to SupportHost:
From this test we can see a significant improvement in the loading time of the site
TTFB
TTFB (Time to First Byte) is the time from sending the browser request until receiving the first byte from the web server. In this case SiteGround performed better than SupportHost by a few milliseconds.
The first test on SiteGround:
Testing on SupportHost immediately after migration:
In both cases, this is a result that can be improved with optimization work on the website and the implementation of a caching system.
Sucuri
Sucuri LoadTimeTester offers a tool for measuring performance from different locations around the globe.
We perform a first test on SiteGround before the migration:
and a second test immediately after the migration to SupportHost:
Not all servers had lower load times, but checking the last line shows that the average load time had a marked an improvement after the migration.
LoadImpact
LoadImpact allows you to simulate a traffic peak on a site, so you can see how it is handled by the server and the site itself.
We performed a test on SiteGround before the migration:
And another test on SupportHost right after the migration:
The result in this case was impressive. With a peak of 50 concurrent users the loading times on SiteGround increased to 3 seconds, while on SupportHost the loading times remained unchanged at 600ms (so just over half a second) regardless of the number of concurrent requests.
Resource Management
In any shared environment it is always necessary to set resource limits. This is to prevent one account from creating problems for all other accounts on the same server.
It could be that a site receives a spike in visits or an attack. This results in higher consumption of resources. If this overload is not stopped, this consumption of resources may become such that it overloads the whole server, creating downtime and slowdowns for all websites hosted on the same machine. These kinds of problems can be avoided with proper resource management.
This is a situation that must be avoided at all costs in a shared hosting service, and the way to avoid such a situation is to limit the resources available for each account.
You can learn more about why it is necessary to have resource limits and why you should be cautious of unlimited hosting offers by reading our articles about it.
Differences in resource management
When it comes to resource limits we use two different systems. SiteGround imposes resource limits at the application level, while we at SupportHost control the resource consumption of each account at the kernel level.
In the past we used a system similar to the one currently used by SiteGround, but not satisfied with the results we decided to change the system to the current one.
Differences in resource management
Managing resources at the kernel level (thus at a lower level) allows us to better manage resources and consequently better serve the customer.
Let me explain it better. As the control imposed by SiteGround is at an application level, the CPU usage time is measured. If this limit is exceeded, whatever the reason, a time lock is activated. That is, your account is locked for a set time, and is not unlocked until this limit is exceeded, or you must contact them for unlocking.
On the other hand, our system is based on real-time measurement of the resources used. With SupportHost, if your website is blocked, our control system continues to keep an eye on your account and unlocks it in real-time as soon as the resource consumption goes back under the limit.
Let’s take a practical example for clarification. Your site has a spike in visits, whatever the reason. If your site is on SiteGround you will receive a block of x minutes (usually 30 or 60 minutes) and during this time no one will be able to view your website.
Your site will experience a spike in visits on SupportHost. The site will show an error but will come back online as soon as the consumption returns to normal. That is to say that at the same time some users are able to view your website, while others receive a warning. Besides, as soon as the resource consumption is back within the limits, your site will be visible to everyone, without the need to wait for a predefined time. Obviously, having the site blocked is not a pleasant situation. However, in some cases, it is necessary to avoid problems in a shared environment. For our part what we do is to offer greater limits than the competition, and to limit to a minimum any blocking due to resource constraints..
SiteGround Alternative: Resource Limits
As stated before we use two different systems, so an exact comparison is not easy.
Remember that in this section we only compare the resource limits. Further below we are going to compare all other features, such as price, space and everything else.
Inodes
An Inodes is considered a file. SiteGround has the following limitations:
- 150.000 for the StartUp plan
- 300.000 for the GrowBig plan
- 450.000 for the GoGeek plan
With SupportHost you have no limit on the number of Inodes. Since we do not limit this parameter the disk space you can use with us is genuine, and not limited by the number of files in your account.
Simultaneous Processes
The number of simultaneous processes indicates the number of simultaneous requests your account can handle. SiteGround has the following limits:
- 10 simultaneous processes on the StartUp plan
- 20 simultaneous processes on the GrowBig plan
- 30 simultaneous processes on the GoGeek plan
With SupportHost the limit of simultaneous processes for semi-dedicated accounts starts from 35 up to 80, depending on the plan you choose.
Other types of resources
As far as RAM and CPU are concerned, a direct comparison is unfortunately not possible given the differences in which they are measured and limited.
However, we have migrated some time ago the site of a customer who complained of continuous blocks with SiteGround given its high volume of visits, receiving several times a day this error that surely you know if you have a site on SiteGround with large volumes of traffic:
After the changeover to SupportHost we checked the resource consumption graphs. No changes have been made on the site in order not to distort the results and the visits were on similar values. Consumption is at a minimum therefore the site is able to support much higher volumes of visits.
This shows that SupportHost’s resource limits are far greater than those imposed by SiteGround. We are also comparing their GoGeek plan with our Platinum2 plan, two plans that have a significant price difference.
After the switch, the customer has not had any more problems due to reaching resource limits despite their site continuing to grow.
Easy Hosting
We at SupportHost have always tried to offer a service that is easy to use, but at the same time, we want to allow the most advanced users to customize the service to the maximum.
For this purpose, we have chosen the most intuitive control panel on the market and we have created tutorials to explain every function of the control panel. And if there’s an operation you don’t know how to perform, you can ask us for a tutorial. With our famous Tutorial on Demand we will create the tutorial especially for you within 24 hours.
PHP Versions
To allow you to get the most out of it we have several versions of versions of PHP available, and we are continuously updating these versions so that all our users use the latest version for performance and security reasons.
At the moment the following PHP versions are available: 4.4 / 5.1 / 5.2 / 5.3 / 5.4 / 5.5 / 5.6 / 7.0 / 7.1 / 7.2 / 7.3 / 7.4 / 8.0 / 8.1 / 8.2 / 8.3
Staging
Let’s try and create a staging version of the main CMS in one click. In this way, you can create a test version on which you can do all the necessary tests and then decide whether to move the changes made in the production version, without ever risking problems to your website.
You can also set a different PHP version in the staging version, in case you want to test the compatibility of the new PHP version.
Please note that SiteGround does not include staging with the StartUp plan, thus making you pay more.
Backups
We give 30 days of daily backups with all plans. That is, we perform one backup of your account per day and keep it backed up for the last 30 days. This ensures that if a problem happens you are in a safe place.
Other advanced options
In addition, we also offer the following on all plans:
- SSH connection available upon request
- GIT available on all plans, SiteGround offers it only on GoGeek plans that cost 36€ per month.
SiteGround alternative: Hosting Features
We have compared our semidedicated hosting plans with SiteGround’s hosting, you can see below the details, so you can see the differences.
Don’t forget that we offer a money back guarantee, as well as the possibility to try our service for free. This way you can do your own tests and decide without any risk if the offered service is right for you or not.
Hover your mouse over the underlined text for more details.
Semidedicated 1 VS StartUp
| Features | Semidedicated 1 | StartUp |
|---|---|---|
| Regular price | 17.50 €/month | 12.04 €/month |
| Regular price | 150 €/year | 144.48 €/year |
| Monthly visits | Variable | 10000 Visits |
| Web space | 60 GB SSD | 10 GB SSD |
| Sites hosted | 6 | 1 |
| Monthly traffic | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Free Domain | ||
| Hosting features | ||
| Unlimited email accounts | ||
| Unlimited MySQL databases | ||
| Unlimited subdomains | ||
| cPanel and Softaculous | ||
| 30 days satisfaction guaranteed | ||
| HTTP/2 | ||
| Free SSL certificate | ||
| PHP version of your choice | ||
| Free site transfer | ||
| Advanced features | ||
| Staging | ||
| GIT | ||
| Free backup restore | ||
| Free secondary MX | ||
| On Demand Tutorials | ||
| Uptime | 99.9% | 99.9% |
| Guaranteed uptime | ||
| Advanced brute-force protection | ||
| Resources allocated per account | ||
| Simultaneous server processes | 35 | 10 |
| Inodes | No limits | 150.000 |
| Maximum database size | No limits | 500 MB |
| Maximum database table size | No limits | 250 MB |
| Maximum mailbox size | No limits | 2000 MB |
Semidedicated 2 VS GrowBig
| Features | Semidedicated 2 | GrowBig |
|---|---|---|
| Regular price | 29.17 €/month | 21.71 €/month |
| Regular price | 290 €/year | 260.64 €/year |
| Monthly visits | Variable | 25000 Visits |
| Web space | 100 GB SSD | 20 GB SSD |
| Sites hosted | Unlimited | 2 |
| Monthly traffic | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Free Domain | ||
| Hosting features | ||
| Unlimited email accounts | ||
| Unlimited MySQL databases | ||
| Unlimited subdomains | ||
| cPanel and Softaculous | ||
| 30 days satisfaction guaranteed | ||
| HTTP/2 | ||
| Free SSL certificate | ||
| PHP version of your choice | ||
| Free site transfer | ||
| Advanced features | ||
| Staging | ||
| GIT | ||
| Free backup restore | ||
| Free secondary MX | ||
| On Demand Tutorials | ||
| Uptime | 99.9% | 99.9% |
| Guaranteed uptime | ||
| Advanced brute-force protection | ||
| Resources allocated per account | ||
| Simultaneous server processes | 50 | 20 |
| Inodes | No limits | 300.000 |
| Maximum database size | No limits | 750 MB |
| Maximum database table size | No limits | 250 MB |
| Maximum mailbox size | No limits | 4000 MB |
Semidedicated 3 VS GoGeek
| Features | Semidedicated 3 | GoGeek |
|---|---|---|
| Regular price | 45.83 €/month | 36.24 €/month |
| Regular price | 490 €/year | 386.88 €/year |
| Monthly visits | Variable | 100000 Visits |
| Web space | 150 GB SSD | 40 GB SSD |
| Sites hosted | Unlimited | 5 |
| Monthly traffic | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Free Domain | ||
| Hosting features | ||
| Unlimited email accounts | ||
| Unlimited MySQL databases | ||
| Unlimited subdomains | ||
| cPanel and Softaculous | ||
| 30 days satisfaction guaranteed | ||
| HTTP/2 | ||
| Free SSL certificate | ||
| PHP version of your choice | ||
| Free site transfer | ||
| Advanced features | ||
| Staging | ||
| GIT | ||
| Free backup restore | ||
| Free secondary MX | ||
| On Demand Tutorials | ||
| Uptime | 99.9% | 99.9% |
| Guaranteed uptime | ||
| Advanced brute-force protection | ||
| Resources allocated per account | ||
| Simultaneous server processes | 60 | 30 |
| Inodes | No limits | 450.000 |
| Maximum database size | No limits | 1000 MB |
| Maximum database table size | No limits | 500 MB |
| Maximum mailbox size | No limits | 6000 MB |
As stated in an earlier section, since we limit resources with a different system it is impossible to make a direct comparison. In the comparison tables above we have limited ourselves to comparing resources that have a direct comparison.
SiteGround alternatives: Cloud features
Both SupportHost and SiteGround offer a VPS cloud hosting. We have compared our cloud plans with theirs based on pricing.
Let’s take a look at the comparison between SiteGround cloud and SupportHost cloud below. Note that we are comparing the same level of service, meaning we are comparing our managed cloud with their cloud (SiteGround does not offer an unmanaged service).
Cloud 1 vs Entry
Our basic plan costs about 16€ less per month, and offers something less than SiteGround’s basic tier.
| Features | Cloud 1 | Entry |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | 68.99 € | 78,08 € |
| RAM | 4 GB | 6 GB |
| CPU | 3 vCPU | 3 CPU |
| Disk space | 80 GB | 40 GB |
| Monthly traffic | 20 TB | 5 TB |
Cloud 2 vs Business
| Features | Cloud 2 | Business |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | 79.99 € | 117,12 € |
| RAM | 8 GB | 8 GB |
| CPU | 4 vCPU | 4 CPU |
| Disk space | 160 GB | 80 GB |
| Monthly traffic | 20 TB | 5 TB |
Cloud 3 vs Business Plus
| Features | Cloud 3 | Business Plus |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | 92.99 € | 156.16 € |
| RAM | 16 GB | 10 GB |
| CPU | 8 vCPU | 5 CPU |
| Disk space | 240 GB | 80 GB |
| Monthly traffic | 20 TB | 5 TB |
Cloud 4 vs Super Power
| Features | Cloud 4 | Super Power |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly price | 130.99 € | 234.24 € |
| RAM | 32 GB | 12 GB |
| CPU | 16 vCPU | 9 CPU |
| Disk space | 360 GB | 120 GB |
| Monthly traffic | 20 TB | 5 TB |
We believe that having such an easy-to-follow mirror makes it easier to choose between different services.
SiteGround GDPR
As of late, the case that has popped up regarding the issue concerning Google Analytics and GDPR is causing much discussion and thinking.
In fact, the issue that has been raised does not only refer to Google services but also extends to all tools and services that can be traced back to U.S. companies (and beyond).
The critical issues, therefore, do not only concern Google Analytics or Google services, but any situation in which there is a transfer of data to the United States or to countries that are unable to provide data protection guarantees.
Consequently, this issue also affects hosting service providers.
Therefore, in order to understand the SiteGround GDPR issue, we need to make some new considerations in light of the situation that is emerging now.
On the one hand, we have the issue concerning the location of servers. Having servers in Europe means that the data is physically stored in a European Union country. But is this enough to make a company like SiteGround GDPR compliant?
In reality, the situation is more complex, because we also have to consider the company that processes the data for all purposes.
Specifically, in the case of SiteGround, the company relies in part on Google Cloud infrastructure. This means that if the company is based in the U.S. it is also bound by U.S. law.
Therefore, at present, there is no guarantee that the data will be processed in an appropriate manner, and therefore GDPR-compliant if the data is transferred to countries outside the European Union.
The SiteGround and GDPR issue cannot be narrowed down to just the physical location of the servers; therefore, one must also consider who actually has access to this data.
As of now, until there is an agreement between the United States and the European Union and guarantees are provided in order to comply with the European regulation, the use of services or even tools that provide for this data transfer will have to be evaluated with due diligence.
In this case, the solution might be to change hosting and choose a GDPR-compliant service that handles all data in Europe and has no data transfers to the US.
SupportHost is GDPR compliant and, moreover, with us, you will not have these problems because all personal data will remain in Europe and will not be transferred or sold to third parties.
Free migration
Unless you’re an experienced webmaster or developer with time to spare, it’s much safer to let us handle the migration work. With all of our web hosting accounts, we offer free migration, unlike SiteGround which requires a payment if you’ve purchased their StartUp plan. We know what it means to change hosting, which is why we offer your website transfer for free and guarantee you won’t have any downtime. We want your experience with us to be the best it can be from the very first moment.
Expert support
Our strong point, the one we have always focused on, is undoubtedly the support service we offer. We are the only ones to offer a guarantee on response times, that is if you don’t receive a response within the set time you are entitled to a refund equal to the cost of one month of your hosting plan.
90% of the tickets we receive are answered within 2 hours, usually much sooner. We don’t just give generic answers, but we check case by case providing decisive answers that not only help the customer but also provide the solution to the problem. Whatever the problem you need to solve we are here. We don’t care if it’s a problem you created yourself or if it’s a technical problem related to the server or some configuration of it. In any case, we are here to help you. You only need to open a ticket to tell us what we can do for you to get help from one of our experts.
We have decided not to offer phone support to avoid our technicians being interrupted all the time. Also by offering online support, we are able to see your situation at the time we respond to you, we have an eye on old tickets and can help you in the best possible way.
However, if you feel you need a phone contact, just leave us a phone number via ticket and we will call you back at a time that is convenient for you.
SiteGround Support
A lot of people recently complained about SiteGround support, which apparently has changed for the worse. Obviously we haven’t had a chance to experience this first hand, as we don’t have a hosting account with them, but this is what we constantly read on the groups and what some of the customers who switched from SiteGround to SupportHost have confirmed to us.
They used to have a phone support service, but now calling their number gets an automated message inviting you to use the chat.
This is also a reason why so many have complained about SiteGround’s support lately. The chat service that used to be easy to find has been moved, to the point that many say SiteGround has hidden the chat.
Affiliate
It is undoubtedly hard to beat SiteGround on their turf, the affiliate program. SiteGround is well known due to the fact that it has always paid its affiliates handsomely, so all bloggers speak highly of it by putting their affiliate link.
But is it really that lucrative?
SiteGround pays a fixed amount per sale, as shown in the table below:
| Monthly sales | Fees |
|---|---|
| 1-5 Monthly sales | 40€ /Sale |
| 6-10 Monthly sales | 60€ /Sale |
| 11-20 Monthly sales | 75€ /Sale |
| 21+ Monthly sales | Custom |
Instead, we offer a percentage of sales. You can choose between 40% on the first payment or 15% recurring (i.e. a 15% commission even in the future, as long as the customer keeps renewing.
Therefore our commissions are different, let’s see the details:
| Hosting account | 15% recurring | 40% one time |
|---|---|---|
| Semidedicated 1 annual | 22.5 € on the first purchase and for each renewal | 60 € on first purchase |
| Semidedicated 1 biennial | 40.5 € on the first purchase and for each renewal | 108 € on first purchase |
| Semidedicated 1 triennial | 57 € on the first purchase and for each renewal | 153 € on first purchase |
| Semidedicated 2 annual | 43.5 € on the first purchase and for each renewal | 116 € on first purchase |
| Semidedicated 2 biennial | 78.3 € on the first purchase and for each renewal | 208.8 € on first purchase |
| Semidedicated 2 triennial | 111 € on the first purchase and for each renewal | 295.8 € on first purchase |
| Semidedicated 3 annual | 73.5 € on the first purchase and for each renewal | 196 € on first purchase |
| Semidedicated 3 biennial | 132.3 € on the first purchase and for each renewal | 352.8 € on first purchase |
| Semidedicated 3 triennial | 187.4 € on the first purchase and for each renewal | 499.8 € on first purchase |
Practically in most cases the commissions are far higher than those offered by SiteGround, unless you choose the 15% recurring payment, which anyway in the long run will bring you more commissions and therefore more earnings.
Leave a Reply