Best Green Web Hosting Company in 2022

To reduce their negative impact on the environment, some web hosting companies implement certain practices on how their data centers are set up and run. The term "green hosting" can refer to centers that are cooled using methods that consume less power, to servers configured with energy-efficient processors or other technologies, or to either run under a renewable energy source such as wind or solar. A hosting company can also buy Renewable Energy Credits to offset the power their data centers use. (One Renewable Energy Credit is created for every one MWh of electricity that's generated by a power company from a renewable source, such as wind or solar, and delivered to the grid.)

Best Overall: GreenGeeks

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GreenGeeks

Green is its business

Reasons to buy

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3X Renewable Energy Credits
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Unlimited bandwidth & storage
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SSD storage
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Domain registration
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SSL certificate
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Unlimited email

Reasons to avoid

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Only one website on cheapest plan

As the name implies, GreenGeeks has an eco-friendly approach to hosting. Electricity used by every website it hosts is offset 300% by wind power Renewable Energy Credits in California. Among the major web hosting companies, GreenGeeks takes the lead in the green hosting front.

If you're looking for basic hosting, GreenGeeks sells three shared plans: Lite, Pro and Premium. They come with unlimited web storage and bandwidth. The storage is on SSD, which results in faster performance by your site. You also get an unlimited number of email accounts, drag-and-drop website builder too, free registration for a new domain for one year, and SSL certificate. The Lite plan only allows for one website to be hosted on it, but you can have an unlimited number on the other two plans.

GreenGeeks sells Lite for $2.95 per month, Pro for $5.95 per month, and Premium for $11.95 per month. Their other hosting products with the following starting prices per month include: hosting for WordPress sites at $2.95, reseller at $19.95, VPS at $5 per month, and dedicated servers at $169. Plans come with a money-back guarantee within 30 days.

Best with Green Data Center: InMotion

InMotion

Green Data Center

Reasons to buy

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Servers in Green Data Center
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Unlimited bandwidth & storage
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SSD storage
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Domain registration
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SSL certificate
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Unlimited email

Reasons to avoid

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Cheapest plan more than competitors'

InMotion opened the first-ever Green Data Center in Los Angeles. Its cooling system vents hot air out of the center and brings in the outside air, but only cooling it when the temperature and humidity outside are too high. This system cuts cooling costs by nearly 70% and reducing carbon output by more than 2,000 tons.

For shared hosting, InMotion offers three plans: Launch, Power and Pro. They come with unlimited bandwidth and storage on SSD. Unlimited email accounts, domain registration, SSL and a drag-and-drop website builder are also included. The Launch plan allows for two websites to be hosted on it, the Power plan increases this to six, you can have an unlimited number under the Pro plan.

InMotion sells Launch for $6.39 per month, Power for $8.49 per month, and Pro for $14.71 per month. Their other hosting products with the following starting prices per month include: hosting for WordPress sites at $7, reseller at $15.39, VPS at $29.19 monthly, cloud hosting at $21.04, dedicated servers at $105.69. Plans come with a money-back guarantee within 90 days.

Best with Most Plans: 1&1 IONOS

1&1 IONOS

A lot of green hosting

Reasons to buy

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Data centers use renewable energy
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Unlimited bandwidth
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Domain registration
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SSL certificate
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Email

Reasons to avoid

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Storage limits depending on plan
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Only one website on cheapest plan

1&1 IONOS is committed to using efficient server processors and cooling systems for its data centers. The data centers in Germany and the U.K. use 100% renewable energy. In other locations, it uses either local renewable sources or are offset by green certificates.

The company sells three shared hosting plans. The Essential plan includes 10GB of web space, the Business plan includes 100 GB, and the Expert plan includes 500 GB. There are no bandwidth limits under these plans, and they also include domain registration and SSL certificate. A certain number of email accounts are assigned to each plan: Essential includes 10 email accounts, Business includes 25, and Expert goes all the way up to 500. Each email account gets 2GB of storage.

1&1 IONOS sells Essential for $4 per month, Business for $8 per month, and Expert for $14 per month. Their other hosting products with the following starting prices per month include: hosting for WordPress sites at just $1 per month, VPS at $2, cloud hosting at $15, and dedicated servers at $45. They also have email hosting starting at $1 monthly. 1&1 IONOS doesn't state a money-back guarantee other than that you can cancel anytime.

Best with Most WordPress Plans: DreamHost

DreamHost

WordPress hosting aplenty

Reasons to buy

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Data centers use high-efficiency cooling, renewable energy
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Unlimited bandwidth
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SSD storage
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Domain registration
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SSL certificate

Reasons to avoid

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50GB storage for cheapest plan
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Email extra for cheapest plan
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Only one website on cheapest plan

DreamHost's data centers use high-efficiency cooling and are powered by wind and other renewable sources. The company implements power-efficient processors in their servers whenever possible.

For shared hosting, DreamHost sells just two plans that both have unlimited storage and bandwidth. On the Starter plan, you can put up only one website, while the Unlimited plan allows for an unlimited number. Both plans include one-year domain registration 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 at $1.67 per month.

DreamHost sells the Starter plan for $2.59 per month, and the Unlimited plan for $5.95 per month. DreamHost's other products include VPS starting at $10 and dedicated servers starting at $149. The company also offers a wide range of hosting options for WordPress sites: They start at $2.59 per month for shared hosting of your WordPress site, $16.95 per month on managed hosting, and $10 per month for VPS hosting of it. Standalone email hosting is also available for $1.67 per month. Plans come with a money-back guarantee within 30 days.

Best Deal Shared Hosting: iPage

iPage

Eco-friendly shared hosting

Reasons to buy

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2X Renewable Energy Credits
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Unlimited bandwidth & storage
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Domain registration
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SSL certificate
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Email
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Unlimited number of websites

Reasons to avoid

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Only one shared hosting plan available

iPage purchases double the amount of energy that its servers use in the form of wind power Renewable Energy Credits. The company sells just one shared hosting plan that includes unlimited storage and bandwidth. It comes with lots of other nice things, too: domain registration, SSL certificate, email, and you can put up an unlimited number of websites. The only other types of shared hosting iPage offers are two configured for WordPress websites to use: Both the WP Starter and WP Essential plans feature unlimited storage and bandwidth, and come with domain registration and pre-installed WordPress themes and plugins.

iPage sells its shared hosting for only $2 and its two WordPress plans at $3.75 and $6.95 per month. The company also offers VPS hosting starting at $20 per month, and dedicated servers can be leased starting at $120 per month. Plans come with a money-back guarantee within 30 days.

Bottom line

If you want your website to have an eco-friendly footprint in the real world, consider GreenGeeks. The company has built their business around green hosting. Even though GreenGeeks offsets a lot of their power usage with Renewable Energy Credits, its hosting plans are affordable and price competitive against that of many other companies.

Howard Wen