SiteGround Web Hosting Review

What we like about SiteGround

Domain-specific email addresses

Email hosting is an important feature for many site owners, especially businesses. This allows you to create email addresses that end in your domain name, which gives you a professional look. Many hosting companies charge for this feature, but not SiteGround.

You can create as many email accounts as you need without any extra charge through your cPanel. Also, you can set up spam filters, email forwarders, and other related features quickly and easily.

Email migrator tool

Each hosting plan includes a free email migrator tool so you can transfer your emails to SiteGround and have everything hosted in one place. The tool requires only a few clicks, and I found the interface simple.

Out-of-the-box caching

SiteGround offers simple caching solutions on all its hosting accounts. Caching helps a website to load more quickly for people who have been to the site in the past. Having frequent visitors to your site is very important, so this can be a useful feature.

30-day money-back guarantee

SiteGround wants to make sure that all of its customers are happy, allowing you to try the services for a full 30 days. If you don’t love your experience, you can get a full refund.

Daily backups

All hosting packages from SiteGround can enable daily backups. Note you can set up your custom backup schedule if daily is not the right option for you.

Easy-to-use, customized cPanel

SiteGround has customized its version of cPanel to make it easier to use. The company ensures all your most frequently accessed tools will be found at the top of the page so you can access them whenever needed. This intuitive setup makes running a website simpler than ever.

Simple service management

You can manage your whole site from one SiteGround login, but it is where you deal with everything for the servers only. If you install a content management system (CMS) like WordPress, you may create a separate login for that side while creating and administering your website, email, and other services from your cPanel page.

Multiple options for creating your site

No matter which hosting package you sign up for, you can choose from various CMS, including WordPress — likely selecting one of the WordPress-specific options from SiteGround. Even if you are custom coding your website, you can upload those files through either the secured FTP option or the built-in file manager tools.

99.9% uptime guarantee

SiteGround offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee, on par with the industry average. My experience testing SiteGround revealed even greater uptime. It has one of the most reliable hosting environments in the industry.

Technology to support fast page load times

SiteGround knows site loading speeds are one of the most important things for its customers, so this is always a priority. Customers who choose SiteGround will get access to SSD, CDNs, and other excellent technologies that help optimize the speed of your site. It even has hosting servers specifically configured for WordPress, WooCommerce, and other popular types of sites to get the best possible performance.

Free Google CDN integration to speed up your site

SiteGround has partnered with Google for CDN and other features. As Google expands its cloud services, SiteGround will use it for customers. Google has data centers worldwide, so no matter where your site’s visitors are from, they will get the speed boost made possible by this premium CDN.

Advanced security options

SiteGround goes above and beyond with security features. A dedicated team is always looking for ways to improve the security of the servers in general and each site it hosts. Some of the great features and tools that will help to secure your site include:

• Smart firewall configuration
• AI-powered anti-bot filtering
• 24/7 active server monitoring
• Distributed backups
• Advanced WordPress security features
• Free SSL certificate

Free SSL certificate

No matter which hosting package you sign up for at SiteGround you will be given an SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt SSL, a leader in shared certificates. Having this certificate in place will not only help secure your site but boost your rankings with the search engines.

According to our tests, SiteGround servers had an average uptime of 99.989% over the past 30 days, which is quite impressive.

Site response times

Many things will impact a site’s response time; the way a site is actually made is one of the most important. The servers and overall configuration of the web host, however, will also have a big impact. SiteGround does an excellent job of ensuring its servers respond as quickly as possible to every request.

When I ran the tests on SiteGround, the average response time was an extremely impressive 622ms. This is just a measurement of how quickly the servers respond to a request, though, so do your best to create your site in a way that ensures it can load quickly.

SSL certificates

Even shared hosting packages come with a free SSL certificate.

I was very happy with the level of support provided by SiteGround. When you are paying a little more for hosting, you expect to get help when you need it; that is just what the company provided. The customer support team is staffed 24/7 and seems genuinely interested in ensuring you have a good experience.

SiteGround offers support via phone, live chat, and email. You will also get a ticket from the internal system if the company can’t solve your problems on the first call.

Another thing to keep in mind is that SiteGround regularly publishes and updates its help page with many articles that can provide the answers to most questions you may have. A quick search will get you pointed in the right direction so you can move forward immediately.

Compare SiteGround Alternatives

Check out all of our top web hosting picks and use the table below to compare SiteGround to its closest competitors.

How We Reviewed SiteGround

I test web hosts based on the following factors:

• Plan value: What plans are available, and do they offer a good value?
• Ease of use: Is the dashboard easy to navigate?
• Support: How fast can you get help when needed, and is support genuinely helpful?
• Features: What features does the host offer, and how do they compare to similar competitors?
• Security: Does the host offer SSL certificates, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack protection, backup services, and scans for viruses and malware?
• Speed and uptime: Does the provider offer a fast, stable environment for your website? How does it perform in tests, and what kind of servers does the hosting company use?
• Recent improvements: What has the host done lately to update its technology and services?

Learn more about our review methodology.