If you're looking to set up a website that you expect will only get a minimal or moderate amount of traffic, a shared hosting plan can help save costs. Shared hosting means that your website shares storage space and bandwidth on the hosting company's servers with other websites owned by other user accounts. Among the U.S. hosting companies with the largest market shares, DreamHost offers the most features for the best price on their shared hosting plans.
Best Deal Overall: DreamHost
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DreamHost has two shared hosting plans. Both have unlimited storage and bandwidth. The company simply states: "We don't track bandwidth or traffic, so you never have to worry about pesky overage fees." Your files are stored on SSDs under both plans.
On the Starter plan, you can put up only one website with one domain. The Unlimited plan allows for an unlimited number. Both plans include backing up of your sites, domain registration for one year, unlimited MySQL database space, and SSL certificate. All plans feature a one-click interface so you can easily install server apps for your site, such as WordPress. Email hosting is provided under the Unlimited plan, but this costs extra under the Starter plan, starting at $1.67 per month.
Price Specifics: Starter starts at $2.59 monthly when you pay for three years upfront. Unlimited starts at $5.95 monthly for three years. Plans come with a money-back guarantee within 30 days.
Best Including Email, SSD: Namecheap
Namecheap has three shared hosting plans. The Stellar and Stellar Business plans come with 20 GB and 50 GB of space for your website, respectively. The third, Stellar Plus, is unlimited. Your files are stored on SSDs under all three plans. All plans have unlimited bandwidth. But it's not clearly stated on the Namecheap site what could trigger a warning if your website uses what they determine is excessive bandwidth.
The Stellar plan can host three of your domains and 30 subdomains, while the other two plans allow for an unlimited number. All three plans will enable you to park an unlimited number of domains. Plus, you'll be able to take advantage of features like backing up your sites, SSL certificate, MySQL database space, and POP3 email hosting. All plans feature a one-click interface so you can easily install server apps for your site, such as WordPress.
Price Specifics: Stellar starts at $15.44 monthly when you pay for one year upfront. Stellar Plus starts at $26.44 monthly for one year, and Stellar Business starts at $49.44 monthly for one year. Plans come with a money-back guarantee within 30 days.
Best Including Email, Unlimited Storage: HostGator
HostGator has three shared hosting plans. Each one has unlimited storage and bandwidth with an advisory by the company. "If we have concerns about your account's bandwidth or disk space utilization, you will receive an email asking you to reduce usage."
On the Hatchling plan, you can put up one website with one domain. The other two plans allow for an unlimited number. All three plans have an unlimited number of subdomains, and they include features like backing up of your sites, SSL certificate, unlimited MySQL database space, and unlimited POP3 email hosting. Plus, they allow you to set up an unlimited number of WordPress websites. The plans feature a one-click interface so you can easily install server apps for your site, such as WordPress.
Price Specifics: Hatchling starts at $2.75 monthly when you pay for three years upfront, and Baby starts at $3.95 monthly for three years. The Business plan starts at $5.95 monthly for three years. Plans come with a money-back guarantee within 45 days.
Best Including Multiple Domains: Bluehost
Bluehost offers four shared hosting plans. Basic comes with 50 GB of space for your website, while the other three plans have unlimited storage. Your files are stored on SSDs under all four plans, which helps to provide faster performance. All plans have no bandwidth limit, but Bluehost state: "If your account's bandwidth or disk space utilization causes any concern, you will receive an email asking you to reduce usage."
On the Basic plan, you can put up one website with one domain, park up to five domains, and set up to 25 subdomains. The other three plans allow for an unlimited number of these four things. Additionally, all four plans include an SSL certificate. Backing up of your sites is available only for the two most expensive plans: Choice Plus and Pro.
Price Specifics: Basic starts at $3.95 monthly when you pay for three years upfront, and Plus starts at $4.95 monthly for three years. Choice Plus starts at $5.95 monthly for three years, or you can go with Pro, which starts at $13.95 monthly for three years. Plans come with a money-back guarantee within 30 days.
Best Including Domain Registration: GoDaddy
GoDaddy has four shared hosting plans. Economy comes with 100 GB of space for your website, while the other three plans have unlimited storage. All plans have no bandwidth limit, but GoDaddy states: "Should your website bandwidth or storage usage present a risk to the stability, performance or uptime of our servers, we will notify you via email, and you may be required to upgrade, or we may restrict the resources your website is using."
On the Economy plan, you can put up only one website with one domain. The other three plans allow for an unlimited number. All four plans also include database space, domain registration for one year, and Office 365 email for the first year. Backing up of your sites is sold as an add-on feature. SSL certificate is available only for the two most expensive plans: Ultimate and Maximum. Otherwise, an SSL certificate is sold for the Economy and Deluxe plans as an add-on. All plans feature a one-click interface so you can easily install server apps for your site, such as WordPress.
Price Specifics: Economy starts at $5.99 monthly when you pay for three years upfront. Deluxe starts at $7.99 monthly for three years, while Ultimate starts at $12.99 monthly for three years. Maximum starts at $19.99 monthly for three years. Plans come with a money-back guarantee within 30 days.
Bottom line
When it comes to shared hosting, DreamHost offers the essential features to get your site going, plus a few extras. The plans have unlimited storage for your files on SSD for faster performance, unlimited bandwidth, SSL, and domain registration if you need a new domain. DreamHost even throws in backups for your site and lets you run a MySQL database. All of these features are available for a low price on their cheapest plan, Starter, if you're willing to prepay for three years of service. Though Starter doesn't include email hosting, paying for this as an add-on brings the total to only $4.26. This still beats the other major hosting companies in terms of the features you get for the lowest price.
