Verdict record
hostinger.com
Prices verified September 2026, from each provider's own pricing and plan-limits pages, cross-checked against independent hosting-price trackers, not a personal account with all three. Hosting prices change often, check the provider's own page before you buy.
Every "best hosting" list eventually has to answer one question honestly: what does this cost once the first-year discount runs out, and what do you actually get for it? Here is that answer for the three shared-hosting plans small business owners ask about most.
I run other sites on Hostinger myself, which is noted where it applies below. The Bluehost and SiteGround entries are built from each company's own pricing and plan-limits pages, cross-checked against independent hosting-price trackers, not from a personal account on either.
All three of these companies run large affiliate programs. A meaningful share of what gets published about them online is written by people earning a commission on the click, this article included, disclosed at the bottom of every page on this site.
That is not a reason to distrust every review. But it is a reason to weigh the actual plan limits and renewal math in the tables below more heavily than star ratings or superlatives like "the best host in 2026."
What actually matters for a small business site
Before comparing prices, it helps to know what to look for. For a store or small business site, the things that matter more than the sticker price are: how many websites and mailboxes the plan actually allows, whether there is a hard cap on monthly visitors, and how often the host backs up your data.
Also worth checking: what security is included versus upsold, how migration works if you are moving an existing site, what support channels are actually available at your price point, and what the plan costs over the years you actually plan to keep it, not just the first one.
None of that is visible from a homepage price. It takes reading each provider's own plan-limits and terms pages, which is what the tables below are built from.
Plan limits, side by side
| Provider | Plan | Websites allowed | Storage | Monthly visit cap | Backups |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | Premium | 3 | 20 GB SSD | None stated | Weekly |
| Bluehost | Starter | 10 | 10 GB | 40,000 | Weekly |
| SiteGround | StartUp | 1 | 10 GB | 10,000 | Daily |
SiteGround's daily backups are a real advantage if your store takes orders every day, losing at most one day of data beats losing up to a week. But its one-website, 10,000-visit ceiling is tight, a single good social media post or a sale day can push a small store past that limit.
Bluehost's Starter plan is the most generous on website count and visit headroom of the three, useful if you run more than one small site.
All three also bundle a free domain registration for the first year with these plans, and all three include some form of CDN, either on by default (Hostinger, SiteGround) or as a one-click add-on (Bluehost).
If you already own a domain registered somewhere else, none of these require you to transfer it. Pointing the domain's website records at whichever host you choose is enough, the domain's registration and its hosting can stay with two different companies indefinitely.
Signup price versus renewal price
| Provider | Plan | Signup price | Renewal price | Term needed for lowest price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | Premium | $2.99/mo | $10.99/mo | 48 months |
| Bluehost | Starter | $3.99/mo | $9.99/mo | 36 months |
| SiteGround | StartUp | $2.99/mo | $17.99/mo | 12 months |
The pattern across all three: the advertised price is real, but it is not the price you will actually pay for most of the time you own the site. SiteGround's jump is the steepest of the three even though its signup price looks the most competitive.
The second tier up, for when the entry plan is not enough
Every provider's entry plan has a real ceiling. Here is what the next tier up actually adds, since a growing store often needs this within the first year or two rather than the entry plan forever:
| Provider | Plan | Websites | Storage | Monthly visits | Signup price | Renewal price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | Business (Unlimited) | up to 50 | NVMe, higher tier | Unlimited | ~$5.99/mo | ~$14.99/mo |
| Bluehost | Plus | Unlimited | Unlimited | Unlimited | $5.95/mo | Typically 2-3x signup, exact published figure varies by source |
| SiteGround | GrowBig | Unlimited | 20 GB | 100,000 | $4.99/mo | $29.99/mo |
The jump from entry to second tier removes the website-count and storage ceilings on all three, which matters more for a growing store than any other single upgrade. SiteGround's GrowBig also adds a staging environment and faster PHP processing, and Hostinger's Business/Unlimited tier adds daily backups and a CDN that the entry Premium plan does not include.
If you already know you will outgrow the entry plan within a year, it is often cheaper over time to start on the second tier than to pay for two migrations.
What three years actually costs
This is the number that matters more than either price above on its own, because the terms are different lengths. Here is the real total if you keep the site for exactly three years, using each provider's own lowest-rate term:
| Provider | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | 3-year total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger (48-month term) | $35.88 | $35.88 | $35.88 | $107.64 |
| Bluehost (36-month term) | $47.88 | $47.88 | $47.88 | $143.64 |
| SiteGround (12-month term) | $35.88 | $215.88 | $215.88 | $467.64 |
Hostinger's requirement to commit 48 months upfront to get its lowest rate is exactly why it wins this table, you are still inside the discounted term for the entire 3-year window. SiteGround looks cheapest on day one and costs more than four times as much as Hostinger by year three, because its discount only covers the first 12 months.
Why do the terms differ at all? Shorter terms are lower risk for you but cost more per month, since the host is betting you might leave sooner. Longer terms lock in a lower rate in exchange for your commitment, and hosts count on a meaningful share of customers not noticing or not switching once the renewal actually hits.
None of the three is doing anything unusual here, this is standard practice across the shared-hosting industry, not a red flag specific to any one of them. The only defense is doing this math yourself before you buy, which is the entire point of the table above.
Security, side by side
All three include a free SSL certificate at every tier, no exceptions. Beyond that, coverage differs.
Hostinger includes a malware scanner and an in-house web application firewall on every plan including its cheapest, plus ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification covering its infrastructure and data handling. Bluehost and SiteGround both offer similar protections (WAF, malware scanning, DDoS mitigation) but more commonly bundle the fuller version into their mid and upper tiers rather than the entry plan. Check the specific plan page rather than assume identical coverage at the lowest price point on every provider.
Backup frequency is really a security feature too: SiteGround backs up daily even on its cheapest StartUp plan, Hostinger and Bluehost both back up weekly at entry and move to daily on their second tier. For a store taking orders every day, that gap is the difference between losing at most one day of data in a worst case and losing up to a week.
Migration, side by side
All three provide some form of free migration help for an existing WordPress site. Hostinger's is a self-service automated tool inside hPanel.
Bluehost and SiteGround both offer migration assistance too, commonly through a support-assisted process or a dedicated migration plugin. It is sometimes capped at one free site migration with additional sites priced separately, worth confirming on the current plan page before you commit if you are moving more than one site.
A non-WordPress static site is the simplest case on any of the three. It is generally a direct file upload with no database to move, which is what moving my own static site to Hostinger amounted to in practice.
Whichever host you migrate to, keep your old hosting account active until DNS has fully propagated to the new one and you have confirmed the new site loads correctly, including checkout if you run a store. DNS changes typically take effect within a few minutes to about 24 hours depending on your domain's TTL settings and registrar, and cancelling the old account before that window closes is the most common self-inflicted migration mistake.
Support channels, side by side
| Provider | Live chat | Phone support | Support hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | Yes | No, at any tier | 24/7 |
| Bluehost | Yes | Only from the second tier up | 24/7 |
| SiteGround | Yes | Yes, even at the entry tier | 24/7 |
SiteGround is the only one of the three that includes phone support on its cheapest plan, part of why it shows up so often in independent reviews as the pick for support quality. If a phone line matters to you and you are starting on the entry tier, that alone may decide it regardless of price.
Where each one actually wins
Hostinger wins on raw 3-year cost and, in my own use running other sites on it, on how fast the account panel feels day to day. The tradeoff is a longer upfront commitment, a 3-website cap on the Premium plan, and no phone support at any tier.
Bluehost allows the most websites (10) and the highest visit ceiling (40,000/month) of the three at its entry tier, and has the flattest gap between signup and renewal, useful if you would rather budget for a predictable number than a steep cliff at renewal.
Its tradeoff is that phone support only arrives from the second tier up, and its published renewal pricing is less consistent across sources than the other two.
SiteGround is the one most often recommended for support quality in independent reviews and forums, and it is the only one of the three with both daily backups and phone support at the entry tier, at the cost of the steepest renewal jump and the tightest visit cap on this list.
Which to pick, by situation
A single small storefront or service-business site, low traffic, want support you can call: SiteGround's StartUp plan fits, as long as you are realistic about the 10,000-visit cap and budget for the year-two renewal jump.
A growing store, or more than one small site: Bluehost's Starter plan gives the most headroom (10 sites, 40,000 visits) without immediately forcing an upgrade, and its renewal price is the least punishing of the three if you end up staying past the first term.
A tight first-year budget, one storefront you plan to keep for years: Hostinger's Premium plan wins on pure 3-year cost, provided the 3-website and 20 GB limits are enough and you do not need a phone line.
An agency or freelancer managing several client sites: none of these entry plans are really built for that. Move straight to the second-tier comparison above, Hostinger Business/Unlimited or Bluehost Plus both remove the website cap entirely, which matters more than price once you are hosting for other people.
What none of these plans actually include
A few gaps show up on all three at the entry tier, worth knowing before you assume a plan covers everything a store needs. None include a dedicated IP address by default, useful for certain payment processors and SSL setups, sold as an add-on on all three.
None include a full business email suite comparable to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 either. The included mailboxes are basic webmail tied to your hosting account, not a separate productivity suite.
And none guarantee a specific server response time in their terms. The uptime guarantee covers availability, not speed, which is a separate thing to test once your site is live rather than assume from a marketing page.
None of the three includes a staging environment at the entry tier either, that shows up only from the second tier up on all three (Hostinger Business/Unlimited, Bluehost Plus, SiteGround GrowBig). If you plan to test theme or plugin changes before pushing them to a live store, factor that into which tier you actually need, not just which entry price is lowest.
The honest recommendation
If your business can commit to a long first term and wants the lowest possible 3-year cost, Hostinger is the reasonable default, and it is the one I can speak to directly from running other sites on it. See our full Hostinger review for the day-to-day detail.
If you run more than one small site or expect real traffic spikes, Bluehost's higher website and visit limits are worth the slightly higher renewal price.
If support quality, daily backups, and phone support at the entry tier matter more to you than price, and you can tolerate a steep renewal, SiteGround is the one independent reviewers point to most often, just go in knowing what year two costs.
What held up
- All three plans include a free SSL certificate and a free domain in the first term
- All three have a documented uptime commitment, not just a marketing claim
- Migration tools exist on all three if you are moving an existing site
- All three include a free CDN, either bundled or available as a one-click add-on
What to watch
- Every plan here renews well above its signup price, by design
- The lowest signup price (Hostinger) requires the longest commitment (48 months) to unlock
- SiteGround's entry plan caps you at one website and 10,000 monthly visits, easy to hit during a sale
- None of these publish a plain month-to-month price without a multi-year discount attached
Frequently asked
Is the cheapest plan always the right pick for a small business?
Not if you plan to keep the site for years. Multiply the renewal price by how long you expect to stay, not just the signup price, before comparing options. See the 3-year total cost table below, the ranking changes once you do this math.
Do I need a business email address included in the plan?
Most of these plans include a small number of mailboxes per domain in the first term, typically one to two, not a full business email suite. If you need more addresses or shared team inboxes, check that cost separately rather than assuming it is bundled.
What actually changes if I outgrow shared hosting?
A real traffic spike or a growing product catalog is usually the trigger. SiteGround's 10,000-visit monthly cap on its entry plan is the one most likely to force an early upgrade. At that point the honest move is upgrading to a cloud or VPS plan rather than squeezing a shared plan past what it is built for.
Can I run more than one website on these plans?
Depends heavily on the plan. Hostinger's Premium tier allows up to 3, Bluehost's Starter allows up to 10, SiteGround's StartUp allows exactly 1. Every provider's second tier up removes this limit or raises it substantially, see the plan comparison above the pricing tables.
Which of these has the best support?
SiteGround is the one most consistently praised for support quality in independent reviews and forums, and it is also the only one of the three with phone support at its entry tier. Bluehost adds phone support from its second tier up. Hostinger has no phone line at any tier.
Do any of these have hidden security costs?
No, not on the security basics. Free SSL is standard across all three at every tier. Malware scanning and a web application firewall are included on Hostinger's plans and commonly bundled into SiteGround's and Bluehost's mid tiers; check the specific plan page rather than assuming parity at the entry tier.
How hard is it to move an existing site to a new host?
All three offer some form of free migration assistance for WordPress sites, either an automated tool or a manual migration done by their support team within a set number of sites. A non-WordPress static site is simpler still, it is usually a file upload with no database to move.
What is the real total cost if I only keep the site for one year?
Year one is close across all three, $35.88 for Hostinger or SiteGround and $47.88 for Bluehost, since everyone is still inside their intro term. The costs only diverge sharply from year two onward, which is exactly why the 1-year price is the wrong number to shop on.
Do I have to buy my domain from the same company as my hosting?
No. All three hosting plans work with a domain registered anywhere else, you point that domain's website records at your chosen host without transferring the registration itself. Keeping registration and hosting with separate companies is a common, completely normal setup.