SiteGround review – detailed review of SiteGround shared web hosting
Note: I’ve been using SiteGround for 5 years. My SiteGround review is based on my own experience with their web hosting service.
About SiteGround
SiteGround is one of the most popular web hosting companies set up by college friends in a college dorm in Sofia, Bulgaria in 2004. In 14 years since its founding, SiteGround has become one of the best-known brands in hosting.
The company has several data centers across the world. It has a jaw-dropping customer satisfaction rate of 99.7%!
The company uses Google Cloud servers to offer fast and reliable shared, dedicated, and VPS hosting options. The shared plans start at $4.99/month.
I am not the only one writing positive SitGround review – it has consistently received positive reviews from their users as well as the tech and WordPress community:
Joost De Valk, Yoast SEO Founder and CPO
“We keep track of which hosts we get a lot of support requests for, so we can reach out to them. We had a hard time finding SiteGround in that list as we had so few complaints from customers hosted with them.”
Syed Balkhi, Founder of WPBeginner
“SiteGround is a great hosting solution for all your WordPress projects – both new and established ones. The service they provide is stable, secure, and super fast thanks to the special tools they’ve developed in-house for WordPress users.”
Here are some SiteGroud reviews by customers:
“I wish I would have started with SiteGround right off the bat” – Review on G2.com
“SiteGround has the best support team” – Review on Trustradiius.com
“Managing website easily with site ground faster and promising” – Review on Capterra.com
SiteGround web hosting features for their most popular plan, GrowBig:
Pros and Cons of SiteGround web hosting:
SiteGround is one of only three hosting companies recommended by WordPress.org.
They invest heavily in employee training. It’s reflected in consistently great reviews SiteGround gets for its customer support.
The company has data centres across the globe – SG, US, Italy, UK, and Netherland. So no matter where you are, you can get a data center in your region for faster speed.
SiteGround also has several tools to improve your site’s performance and make it easy to manage your sites. I love the SiteGround SuprerCacher – it does a great job of speeding up your site.
The Cloudflare partnership gives you free access to a world-class content delivery network or CDN. Cloudflare can boost your site’s performance by storing your site’s content on hundreds of servers around the world. When a user visits your site, the CDN delivers files from a server nearest to the user speeding up your site’s performance.
As you can see, there is a ton of stuff to like about SiteGround.
In recent years, SiteGround has increased the prices for all hosting plans. This has created some negative sentiment for the company. But even at the higher prices, SiteGround remains an excellent choice for most small and medium businesses.
What’s so good about SiteGround hosting?
Let’s look at how SiteGround performed in our testing and research.
SiteGround performance – 99.99% uptime
Over the last 5 years, my websites have never gone down due to SiteGround issues. The one time one of my sites did go down was due to hacking.
On two occasions, my email stopped working but was restored promptly by the SiteGround support team. The downtime for emails was under 30 minutes across those events.
Let’s put this number in perspective. I experienced 99% availability over a two-year period with two other popular hosting companies. A drop of 0.99 percentage points may not sound like much but in a year, it works out to 5203 minutes. That’s 86 hours or 3.6 days in a year that my site was down.
Think about how much traffic and business you could lose due to this downtime. Sure, my other host was cheaper but do a few dollars justify losing 3.6 days of business? Not for me.
Let’s compare SiteGround’s uptime to other top 10 hosting companies. Since I don’t have hosting account with all of them, I collected data from customer review sites.
So how does SiteGround achieve such a high availability rate?
The short answer is market-leading technology.
SiteGround has invested heavily in creating in-house tools and technology that help them offer a more stable and robust hosting. Let’s look at some of these.
Linux Containers (LXC) – Linux containers is Linux virtualization method. It allows you to run multiple Linux systems (called containers) with just one Linux Kernel. Containers are similar to a VM image or virtual instance of the operating system but without the overheads of running separate kernels and simulating the underlying hardware.
SiteGround has developed its own LXC technology for its servers. It makes servers faster and more stable – meaning higher uptime and a faster website for you.
The Linux container technology SiteGround developed is so good that some of it have now become part of the official Linux kernel code.
Server Monitoring – Even the best-designed machines can run into problems. That’s why web hosting companies invest in real-time server monitoring to address problems as they arise. But SiteGround has gone one step ahead and created its own server monitoring tool.
This tool is faster and more capable than standard solutions available in the market. SiteGround’s server monitoring system can detect and repair issues as they occur. It can also predict problems before they happen so the support team can address problems before they occur.
The investment in creating these market-leading technologies helps the SiteGround team keep your site up longer than other hosting companies.
You see, it’s not for nothing that I recommend SiteGround.
Speed and Performance review – SiteGround servers are fast
Website speed has a huge impact on your site’s performance. Google has repeatedly said that all things being equal, a faster page will rank higher in search results. Several studies suggest that a slow speed can lead to higher bounce and cart abandonment.
There is no definitive answer to how fast is fast enough. Many reports suggest the page should load within 4 seconds. In a study in 2018, Pingdom found that the average page takes 3.29 seconds to load.
The bounce rate increases from 11% to 24% when page load time increases from 3 to 4 seconds. But if the load time goes to 5 seconds, the bounce rate jumps op 38%. This means that 2 out of 5 visitors to the site are not happy with its performance. This is another reason that if your page should load in 4 seconds or less.
One way to speed up your website is to host it on a fast server. SiteGround hosting uses Google Cloud platform servers and NGINX speed server to load sites faster.
The time needed to load a page depends not just on the server speed but also on the page content. If the page has lots of images, unnecessary code, or makes too many server calls, it will take more time to load.
So we use TTFB or time to the first byte as the benchmark for measuring server speed. It shows how fast a page starts loading, i.e., how fast the user’s browser receives the first byte of information from the server.
Theoretically, both heavy and light pages should have the same TTFB if the servers and network conditions are the same.
I tested three websites hosted on SiteGround. Here are the results:
SiteGround average TTFB: 73ms
| Slowest response | Middle response | Fastest response | Average TTFB | |
| SiteGround TTFB | 93 ms | 68 ms | 57 ms | 73 ms |
SiteGround Support and Customer Service is best in the business
It’s critical to get fast and reliable customer support to keep your online business running in case something goes wrong. While every web hosting company claims that they provide 24×7 fast support, few actually love up to that claim.
The chart below shows the customer support score for some of the most popular web hosting companies. It shows the average score over the last three years. SiteGround tops the chart with a whopping 4.9 out of 5.
I spent hours collecting this data from several customer review sites. It’s one of the most detailed comparisons of web hosting companies’ customer support performance you will find anywhere on the net.
My own experience has been similar. Every time I contact the support team on chat, they respond within 10 minutes. The experience with email support is slightly less spectacular, at 2-3 hours. But that’s much better than 1-2 days most other hosting companies take to respond to support emails.
I have never tried calling them though, so that’s one support channel I can’t say much about.
The fastest way to get support from SiteGround is to get on chat. The support executives know their stuff, are courteous and helpful. I would give a 5 out of 5 for their support.
SiteGround gives free unlimited WordPress migration
Some web hosting companies will migrate one website from another host for free. If you have more than one site, or the host offers free migration, you will pay $30 for transferring each WordPress site.
SiteGround is the exception to this rule. It’s the only web hosting company that has a free WordPress Migration plugin to transfer websites. You can transfer as many sites as you need, for free!
The process is simple and painless:
- Add your domain to your SiteGround account and install WordPress – takes less than a minute to do this step
- Generate your migration code – takes a few seconds
- Log in to the WordPress dashboard on your existing site and install the free plugin – takes about a minute to do that
- Enter your migration code and start the transfer
That’s it!
Site Ground has made moving WordPress sites so easy that it makes you wonder why other companies are not doing it. The answer may be the $30 migration fee they get to charge!
If you’re just starting out, learn how to create your website with WordPress.
Free SSL Certificate
SSL is a necessity for every website. Google Chrome and Edge warn people if they try to go to a website that does not have SSL.
With the increased focus on privacy, all sites must use an SSL to protect information exchanged between a user’s browser and the website. But SSL costs money and takes some technical chops to install it.
Once again, SiteGround has done a fabulous job for its customers. It offers free SSL certificates and has made a tool that deploys it on your site with just one click.
It’s another reason I find it a pleasure to use SiteGround to host my websites.
Free Content Delivery Network (CDN)
To understand the significance of a CDN, let’s say your site is hosted on a server in Chicago. When someone tries to access a page on your site, this server sends the page content over the internet. If the user is close to Chicago, her computer will get the page content quickly and the page will load fast.
But if the user is in India, the page will load much more slowly as the information will take time to travel over the net. The delay happens due to network congestion as the data moves from one node to another. The longer the distance, the more nodes It needs to cross and therefore, more likely it to face delays.
A CDN stores big files like images on servers around the world. It’s’ like a big network of warehouses that store goods close to customers to speed up delivery. When a user tries to access a page on your site, the page is served by the server closest to him in CDN.
Many web hosting companies now offer a bundled CDN with shared hosting plans. But most of them are basic CDNs that barely move the needle on sire performance.
SiteGround has partnered with one of the best CDNs – Cloudflare. So you don’t get a CDN, you get one of the best and fastest CDNs – for free!
You can’t get more bang for your buck than this.
30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
Money-back guarantees are now common in most industries. SiteGround also offers a 30-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee. While I don’t see any reason why you will need to use it, it’s reassuring to know that the option is there.
Conclusion: Is SiteGround the Right Choice for You?
What have you concluded after reading this detailed SiteGround review?
I can say only one thing – if you want a fast and reliable website, then sign up with SiteGround.
Their world-beating customer support will help you fix issues quickly and painlessly.
Just to recap – SiteGround shared hosting includes:
- Fast and reliable servers with lightning-fast SSD storage
- World-class Cloudflare CDN and WordPress Cache plugin
- Free and one-click SSL set up
- 1-click WordPress installer
- Unlimited free email accounts
- WordPress migration plugin for free website transfers
- Top of the line customer support
This is why I use SiteGround to host my websites.
Whether you are just starting a website for the first time, or have multiple sites to host, you will find a plan that fits your needs.
Ready to get started with SiteGround?
Click here to choose your hosting plan.
Frequently Asked Questions about SiteGround Hosting
Is SiteGround any good?
SiteGround is not just good, it’s the best shared web hosting provider. It uses fast Google Cloud servers, NGINX, LXC, Cloudfare and Supercacher for fast and reliable website hosting.
Is SiteGround better than GoDaddy?
There is no comparison between SiteGround and GoDaddy when it comes to quality of web hosting and customer support. GoDaddy may be cheaper so many people go with them for a starter website. But if you’re serious about building an online business, then SiteGround is the best options.
Is SiteGround better than Bluehost?
Bluehost and SiteGround serve different markets. Bluehost is for starter websites. If you are just starting with online business and want a cheap option, go with Bluehost. If you have an established site or want to build a serious internet business, go with SiteGround. See my SiteGround vs Bluehost blog post.
Which SiteGround plan is best?
That depends on your needs. If you have only one site and do not plan to add more in the future, then their StartUp plan is the best option. If you have multiple small websites, then go with the GrowBig plan. If your sites get more than 25,000 visitors in a month, then GoGeek is the plan for you.
Does SiteGround offer free domain?
No – SiteGround does not offer a free domain. If you’re looking for a free domain with the hosting, then go with Bluehost.
Where are SiteGround servers located?
SiteGround has data centers in the United States, Europe, Australia, and Singapore. When you sign up with SiteGround, you will be automatically assigned a data center closest to you. If you want to use a different one, you’ve to pay extra.
Why choose SiteGround for WordPress hosting?
SiteGround has specialized WordPress hosting. You get free, unlimited WordPress site migration with their plugin. They have created a WordPress Supercacher plugin to speed up WordPress sites. Their 1-click WordPress installation makes it a breeze to set up WordPress sites.
SiteGround is one of the three hosting companies recommended by WordPress.org. The WordPress community stars like Joost De Valk of Yoast SEO highly recommend SiteGround.
Does SiteGround support WooCommerce?
SiteGround has specialized hosting for WordPress and WooCommerce. Their in-house tools make it easy to set up WordPress and WooCommerce sites. The Cloudfare CDN, Linux Containers, Cache plugin and other innovations make WooCommerce sites fast and reliable.
SiteGround is one of the three hosting companies recommended by WordPress.org. The WordPress community stars like Joost De Valk of Yoast SEO highly recommend SiteGround.
Does SiteGround offer a website builder?
SiteGround does not offer a site builder because they target a different market. It’s not meant for web novices or school kids to do their projects. It’s meant for business owners.
You have the option to build your site using WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, Magento, Weebly, and many other site builder platforms.
Does SiteGround offer cPanel hosting?
SiteGround used to have cPanel hosting but they no longer do that. They have built an easy-to-use control panel to replace it. Apparently, the cPanel was costing them quite a bit, so they decided to build their own tool. It has been around for some time now and is as easy as cPanel. But like everything new, it takes some time to get used to and find your controls.
Is SiteGround better than Bluehost?
SiteGround and Bluehost offer essentially the same service.
But in the last 2-3 years, SiteGround has built many tools and partnered with others to offer a superior hosting solution. The in-house technology has improved their uptime and website load times. Partnership with Cloudflare CDN has taken its hosting service to the next level.
But SiteGround is about twice as expensive as Bluehost. So if you want a cheaper hosting option, you should go with Bluehost.
Read this detailed comparison between SiteGround and Bluehost to decide between the two.
Can I cancel my SiteGround account and get a refund?
You can cancel your account and your money back within the 30-day money-back guarantee window. But based on my personal experience with them, you are will not want to cancel your account with SiteGround.
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