Siteground Review

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About SiteGround

SiteGround is one of the fastest-growing web hosting companies today, powering over 1,800,000 live sites all over the world. Why is it so big and popular? Well, it’s because more and more people are using it and more and more people are recommending their services.

For this review, we’re only going to cover their most popular hosting packages under their shared hosting option. They have other hosting solutions such as WordPress, Cloud, and dedicated servers, of course. Their services also include e-mail hosting and domain registration, among others. Right now, they have 500 employees – yes, that’s how big they are.

If you’re concerned about SiteGround’s speed and stability, know that they have 5 data centers that are strategically located in different parts of the world. They have 1 in Chicago, USA, 1 in London, 1 in Sydney, 1 in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and 1 in Singapore.

And if you’re using an open-source platform, know that SiteGround is compatible with WordPress, Joomla, Magento, etc. They also have partnerships with third-party apps like CloudFlare, Softaculous, and Spam Experts, among others.

Concerned about uptimes? Well, we’ll discuss later on that they have a great uptime guarantee. Their networks are also connected with major carriers to further ensure online connectivity. In cases of power outages, they have system backups to handle such problems. They also have power generators, the latest technological facilities, and 24/7 high-end security in all their data centers and offices.

Pricing

SiteGround has very simple pricing packages for their Shared hosting plans.

1. StartUp

This currently costs $2.99 per month. It’s SiteGround’s cheapest plan, that’s why it’s quite limited in features (and power). You can only have one website when you get this package – which shouldn’t be a problem if you’re just starting out. In fact, it’s a waste of money to get a plan with advanced features if you’re not really going to use them (yet). Remember, you can always upgrade to a higher plan (more feature-filled and more powerful) when you need to.

SiteGround’s StartUp plan comes with 10GB storage space, unlimited bandwidth, and 10,000 unique visitors per month. Note that 10GB is quite large for a startup plan.

2. GrowBig

SiteGround’s GrowBig plan, as its name suggests, is for growing sites. It’s definitely more powerful than their cheapest plan with almost double of all its main features. For one, you can host an unlimited number of websites with it. Therefore, you can transfer all your websites from your previous hosting company into this particular hosting package.

For $4.99 per month, this package comes with 20GB storage space, unlimited bandwidth, and 100,000 unique visitors per month.

3. GoGeek

If you want to secure SiteGround’s top-tier shared hosting plan, this is it. Their GoGeek package is currently priced at $7.99 per month and its features and power are suitable for small businesses and online stores.

Like the GrowBig plan, you can also host an unlimited number of websites with the GoGeek plan. However, it has a really large storage space of 40GB. Of course, it also comes with unlimited bandwidth, and you can have up to 400,000 unique visitors per month. Yes, that’s a lot.

In all the plans, you have surely noticed that they all come with unlimited bandwidth – yes, even their cheapest one. Note that all plans also have the following:

• Unlimited e-mails
• Unlimited databases
• Free CDN (CloudFlare)
• Free SSL certificate (from Let’s Encrypt)
• Free daily backups

SiteGround’s GrowBig plan carry these special features:

• Free SSL certificate Wildcard (1 year only)
• 30 backups (plus free restore)
• Staging environment (for WordPress and Joomla)

The GoGeek plan has the following:

• All of GrowBig’s bonus features
• PCI compliant certificate
• 1-click Git repo creation
• Priority support

Also, take note of the following:

1. If you don’t have a domain name, you can purchase one from SiteGround. They have A LOT of domain extensions and you can get the most popular .com extension for $15.95 per year.
2. Renewal rates are higher than their current (introductory) prices.
3. Signing up to SiteGround is quick and easy (it’s a painless experience compared to other hosting companies).
4. Account activation is instant – you can start creating your site right away.

Security features

SiteGround offers some of the best-in-class security features to protect your website visitor data and keep them safe. SiteGround has a strict policy to make sure that all data is kept secure and regularly monitored. They offer a wide range of security features such as SSL certificates, automatic daily backups, attack detection engines, SpamExperts protection and HackAlert monitoring.

SSL Certificates: SiteGround offers free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates with each plan to ensure secure connections for your visitors when browsing your website.

Automatic Backups: All accounts have automatic backups included with their plans so that you can easily recover from a crash or hack attack without any loss of data. The backups are stored on separate servers and can be restored in one click from within the cPanel.

Attack Detection Engines: SiteGround’s servers utilize several layers of network security including innovative attack detection engines to stop malicious activity in its tracks before any damage is done.

SpamExperts Protection: All accounts are automatically protected against e-mail spam using the SpamExperts technology – it is integrated into each account’s cPanel so that you can easily manage it without needing any technical knowledge.

HackAlert Monitoring: SiteGround also provides 24/7 monitoring with HackAlert which monitors malicious activities on your site and sends you notification emails if needed – allowing you to take action in case something goes wrong with your website.

Performance features

SiteGround is well-known for its world-class performance features and technical capabilities.

SiteGround offers its clients access to a server stack architecture that includes several layers of caching solutions such as Memcached, content delivery networks (CDN), and data centers located in multiple countries, offering opportunities for maximum speed and reliability.

The company also offers a range of forward-thinking technical advances. These include technologies such as PHP 7 compatibility, HTTP/2 support, NGINX web server, dynamic caching solutions, and three different types of SSL certificates – Let’s Encrypt Standard SSL, WildCard SSL & GeoTrust QuickSSL Premium Certificates.

Additionally, SiteGround optimizes their hosting platform regularly with its own set of customizations, including SuperCacher for WordPress users to boost performance for relatively high-traffic sites; but if required, the Managed WordPress plans offer an even deeper level of customization from their own talented developers.

All these features contribute to faster page loading speeds which can help improve user experience and, ultimately, business conversions on websites hosted by SiteGround.

Support

SiteGround is known to provide their customers with pleasant experiences when people reach out to them. They’re made up of knowledgeable, experienced, and friendly customer support team.

Their live chat is tried and tested. It’s available 24/7 and they really know what they’re talking about. You see, with other hosting companies’ customer support, you might get standard and template answers – but not with SiteGround. That’s why we like their customer support a lot. You should place great importance to this too as you will need to get in touch with them asap when something terrible happens – and something terrible is bound to happen (sooner or later) when you’re running a website.

SiteGround also has a toll-free number that you can call. Again, this is available 24/7 and response time only takes a few seconds.

For not so urgent matters, you can also submit a ticket via e-mail. For this, their typical response time is more or less 15 minutes – which is not bad. The important thing to remember is that they’ll surely be able to help you with any matter.

Now, if you’re into troubleshooting and self-help, they also have a large database of articles, tutorials, and helpful stuff on their website. You can also look at the content just to learn and understand how something works.

Pros

1. 99.9% uptime guarantee

This is our favorite. SiteGround’s 99.9% guarantee comes with a promise that they’ll compensate you with free hosting when they fail to deliver on this percentage on an annual basis. There are a few exceptions to this, of course – such as when scheduled or emergency maintenance are needed. If your site’s downtimes turn out to be your own fault, they also won’t compensate you for it (which is only fair).

You see, uptime or staying online is very important for a website. If your site is down, it’s as if it doesn’t exist – and that means losing sales or missing out on site visitors. Uptimes is also good for SEO, obviously. Google just wouldn’t want your site to be on and off, that’s why.

2. Great site speed and page loading times

You know what, it’s been said that today’s internet users quickly lose interest when pages load slower than 3 seconds. Fortunately, speed is one of SiteGround’s best features, thanks to their network of global data centers. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for top UK website hosts, web hosts for Canada, Singapore website hosting, or web hosting services for Australia, SiteGround has you covered (even Malaysia would work as they have servers in Singapore). With SiteGround as your host, your site and pages will load even faster than 3 seconds, that’s for sure. So, not only will search engine bots like your site – your site visitors and customers will also have a pleasant experience while on your website.

3. Free site migration

Anything free is a pro in our book. Note, however, that the free site migration is only applicable to the GrowBig and GoGeek plans. If you’re on the StartUp plan, you’ll need to pay a fee for the site transfer. It costs $30 (per site) to migrate a website to SiteGround.

4. Free SSL certificate

Sensitive details are sent back and forth when your site is accessed by someone (a user, visitor, or buyer). With an SSL feature, this information will be protected and secured. It’s a good thing that SiteGround already includes this on all their packages as not everyone knows about it. Also, it costs around $20 per year (if it’s not free).

SSL certificates have become so important that it has now become a ranking signal for SEO. So, you see, it’s not just for online stores that use credit cards. A user’s IP address has also become a target for attacks – and having SSL will conceal said data from those with bad intentions.

5. Free CDN

OK, here’s another freebie. A CDN (Content Delivery Network) is an important feature to have as it can handle large files to ease off servers and make things work a lot faster. In the case of SiteGround, they have a partnership with CloudFlare and you can easily turn this feature on from your control panel.

6. Suitable for beginners and advanced users

One reason why SiteGround is so popular today is that it’s easy to use and it caters to the needs of everybody. If you’re a beginner, you can easily integrate your WordPress, Joomla, or Drupal site with SiteGround as they include 1-click installations for these platforms. There’s no need for you to hire a professional for this, as you can easily do it by yourself even if you know nothing about coding.

Now, if you’re an advanced user, know that SiteGround has Git, WP-CLI, SSH, and phpMyAdmin pre-installed and ready to use. Multi-caching is also available, and you’ll have access to staging environments.

7. Money-back guarantee

We all like money-back guarantees as they’re almost equivalent to free trial periods. Of course, SiteGround also offers this as they’re confident of their services. While VPS, Cloud, and Dedicated hosting plans only have 15-day money-back guarantees, all shared hosting plans come with 30-day guarantees.

For this feature, note that it’s only for new customers who open new SiteGround accounts. It doesn’t apply on renewals, ok? Also, extra features like domain names and transfer fees are not refundable.

Cons

1. High renewal rates

We consider higher renewal rates a con, but it’s actually a common practice among web hosting providers. Their introductory prices are there to convince you to try them out with the hopes of gaining your trust in your first few years so you can renew on their regular rates.

In the case of SiteGround, the renewal rate for their StartUp plan is currently priced at $11.95 per month. The GrowBig plan has a monthly rate of $19.95, and the GoGeek plan is renewable at $34.95.

We urge you to pick their longest plan (3 years) when you sign up with them so that you can maximize your savings on their introductory prices.

Conclusion

You guessed it right – we highly recommend SiteGround. Right now, it’s one of the best choices for a web hosting provider as it can provide for the needs of a website at any starting point. As you can see, you can start at a very cheap price and have a lot of room to grow when you need to scale your site.

The pros we listed above are really very important – uptime, speed, customer support, and all the freebies (SSL, CDN, etc.) that are not present in other hosting companies.

The cons we listed such as higher renewal rates is really common among these types of companies – and in the case of SiteGround, it’s really worth it. And as previously mentioned, you can avoid the setup fee by getting a longer plan and get their full discounts in the process as well.

You can still look around and compare SiteGround with other hosting providers before making your final decision. But if you’re in a hurry to create a successful website, believe us when we say that you’re looking at the right one right now.

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