The company has a reputation for reliability and speed and offers some of the best website hosting value thanks to a variety of features that help you quickly get started. With amenities that include significant space, easy integrations for some of the most popular CMS and ecommerce tools, free website transfers, a free domain, and fully customizable dashboards, Hostinger is one of the top players in cheap web hosting. Read our expert Hostinger review, and see what others are saying in our hundreds of user reviews to see if this is the right hosting solution for you.
Hostinger Pros & Cons
Pros
Fast Loading Times
One of the top finds in our Hostinger review is the company’s commitment to speed. With an average loading time of 368 milliseconds, Hostinger is easily below Google’s recommended speed of under two seconds. More impressively, these speeds were fairly consistent over the span of our tests.
Intuitive Custom Dashboard
While it still offers the standard cPanel dashboard for managing your servers, Hostinger goes a step farther by fine-tuning the program’s UI for its own benefit. The company’s “hPanel” offers a stripped-down dashboard that restructures categories to make finding the tools you need easier.
PHP7 Enabled
For developers, the difference between PHP5 and PHP7 is night and day. The latter offers a significant boost in speed, giving you a much smoother website experience and blazing fast load times. Combined with already fast speeds, Hostinger gives you the ability to optimize your website.
Free Domain on Sign Up
Hosting costs are one thing but adding the price of a domain can quickly strain your budget. Hostinger includes a free domain when you sign up (although you do have to pay extra for WHOIS protection), and you can keep it with you no matter if you transfer to another service.
Cons
No Free Daily Backups
One area where Hostinger can improve is offering backup capabilities. Although the company does offer the option for an additional $0.95 per month, many competitors provide the feature free of charge.
No Phone Support
We were very pleased with Hostinger’s overall support service, but we would have liked to see phone support, which is a crucial channel in an emergency and can greatly assist customers.
Hostinger Prices and Payment Methods
One of the things we liked best about Hostinger is the company’s variety and flexibility when it comes to subscriptions.
- Shared hosting plans come in Single, Premium, and Business varieties, and start at an introductory price of $0.80 (as of this writing) per month. Each account includes free domain hosting and SSL certificates, an integrated website builder, WordPress optimization, around-the-clock support, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
- Cloud hosting plans start at $7.45 a month (introductory price), and include Startup, Professional, and Enterprise plans (which start at $27.45 per month). These plans give you a dedicated IP address and isolated resources, automatic backups, one-click installation, and the company’s caching tools to optimize speeds.
- VPS plans are priced according to the number of virtual CPUs you have active (vCPU) and start at $3.95 per month for a single vCPU. Hostinger VPS plans include both IPv4 and IPv6 capabilities, dedicated live chat support, full root access, automated backups, and 100MB/S speeds.
- You can also choose Windows VPS servers, which offer many of the same benefits as standard VPS servers, but include Windows Server OS. Windows VPS plans start at $26.00 per month.
We were also impressed to see the variety of payment options available, which include:
- Major credit cards such as Visa, American Express, Discover, and MasterCard
- PayPal
- Major cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin and Ripple
Hostinger User Experience
Although web hosting can be complex, and especially depending on the tool you use, we were happy to find that Hostinger largely bucks that trend with its intuitive user interface. Instead of a complicated dashboard, Hostinger’s own “hPanel” offers a much cleaner and streamlined command center to get you started and let you easily maintain your web properties.
To begin, Hostinger provides a simple screen with large tiles, each with a different function and a small description. Once inside the section you want, each category features easy-to-understand tiles that you simply have to click on to access the desired service. Installing tools like Hostinger WordPress integrations takes a few seconds, and often is as easy as inserting your login credentials and URL.
The company’s website builder was also a pleasant surprise. The designer is drag-and-drop, and you can quickly create a website for your new business or venture that fits your needs and looks polished. If you have more experience, you can use the aforementioned WordPress integration, or one of the many other one-click installations Hostinger web hosting offers.
Hostinger Load Times and Reliability
One of the most important requirements in web hosting services is reliability. A website that is constantly unavailable or that crashes unexpectedly will likely leak viewers that prefer more stable web experiences. We were thus happy to see that Hostinger has a sterling track record when it comes to uptime. The company’s servers clocked in at an average of 99.9% uptime, which it guarantees in its SLA, so you can get partially reimbursed if the company fails to meet the mark.
We were also impressed with Hostinger’s loading times, which clocked in as fast as 166 milliseconds (significantly better than the industry average), and only twice clocked in at speeds slower than one second. Overall, the company averages slightly over 200 milliseconds to load a page, which is still one of the best marks in the market.
Hostinger Main Features
Beginners Welcome
Even if you’ve never built a website or had a hosting service before, Hostinger is all about helping you get started the right way. The company’s easy-to-use website builder lets you quickly drag and drop assets onto your website to design it exactly how you want it. Additionally, you get a free domain name and hosting with your plan, reducing your overall costs and requiring one less decision from you.
Commitment to Uptime
As we’ve mentioned above, Hostinger’s blazing times are just one part of its commitment to speed. The company’s 99.9% uptime guarantee means that you’ll likely go months without seeing the slightest outage in your website, and even in our tests, these blackouts lasted just a few short minutes.
One-Click Integrations
To help you build all the functionalities and design you need, Hostinger offers one-click installations for over 100 different apps. This includes everything from Hostinger WordPress features to ecommerce services like Shopify, and a variety of smaller apps that help you manage shopping carts, optimize your marketing tools, and provide better SEO.
Outstanding Knowledge Base
If you’re looking to learn more about hosting to improve your website management, Hostinger has you covered. The company’s knowledge base includes general tutorials on setting up and configuring your hosting alongside more advanced topics for specific features. Additionally, you’ll find video tutorials and guides designed to help you navigate the Hostinger web service.
Hostinger Customer Support
I was happy to see that Hostinger’s customer support is available around the clock. If you encounter a question or a problem that needs a quick fix, you can reach the company’s support team via its live chat service. I would have liked to also have a phone option, but I found that in almost every case, I was able to find the answer on my own, or have a quick solution delivered by the staff. If you’re not in a huge rush, you can also reach Hostinger via support ticket, which also receives fairly speedy responses.
Hostinger Hosting for Free
Although you can’t find a branded Hostinger free plan, the company does offer a free alternative. You can register for Hostinger’s 000webhost service, which includes multiple PHP versions, an easy-to-use cPanel dashboard, and beginner tools to help get you started. Unfortunately, there is no free VPS, but you can get hosting for as little as $0.80 if you combine the company’s excellent deals with a Hostinger coupon.
Final Thoughts on Hostinger
In the end, we have to conclude that Hostinger is a great deal if you’re seeking affordable, fast hosting. The company ensures that all its plans deliver reliability and speed, but it doesn’t skimp on its development environment. With over 100 one-click installations, a drag-and-drop website builder, and an expansive knowledge base, Hostinger is a great alternative if you’re just getting started and want to learn the ropes without sacrificing quality. Read more about the company in our user reviews to see if it’s the right service for your business.
