Hostinger Review – Worth it for 2022 or Not?
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- Affordable Pricing
- Free SSL certificate
- Money-Back Guarantee
- Support: 24/7 phone and chat
- Managed Wordpress
- Decent Server Speed
If you’ve researched Hostinger a bit, you know how affordable they are. With basic plans starting from just $1.99/mo, Hostinger is among the cheapest hosting solutions available in 2022.
But does it mean you should choose Hostinger based on its affordable pricing and neglect more important factors like server uptime, performance, and customer support? Of course not; the key is to find a good balance between price and performance.
In this Hostinger review, we’ll dive deep into its key benefits and disadvantages to help you make an informed decision. Along the way, we’ll also compare its performance with its top competitors like Bluehost and HostGator. Let’s dive in.
Hostinger Overview
Hostinger came out in 2004 as an employed-owned hosting service and a domain registrar. The company has been on a bumpy ride ever since and now powers millions of websites worldwide. What’s more, this Europe-based hosting service was found to be the fastest-growing hosting service according to research held in 2022.
The unique selling point of Hostinger is its affordable pricing – making hosting services within the reach of most users. Another key feature of Hostinger is the ease of use; the company focuses on providing user-friendly hosting solutions to bring comfort to its customers’ lives.
According to data by BuiltWith, Hostinger has hosted over 2,300,319 websites to date – 1,598,681 of which are currently using Hostinger. This makes it clear that a lot of people trust Hostinger and rely their businesses on it.
As an established hosting service, Hostinger offers a wide variety of hosting packages. Alongside regular hosting services like shared hosting, cloud hosting, and VPS servers, Hostinger also offers specialized plans for WordPress, eCommerce, and Minecraft.
Hostinger Review : Pros
Here we’ll look at the top features of Hostinger’s hosting service:
Affordable Pricing
Hostinger offers some of the most competitive plans among all popular hosting services. Starting with only $1.99/month, its basic plan is perfect for single-site hosting needs with several premium features, like excellent server uptime and backups. Besides, the premium plans are also relatively inexpensive compared to its competitors.
Other than that, Hostinger’s renewal prices are also quite cheap. For instance, the starter shared plan at Hostinger (starting from $1.99/mo) renews at only $3.99/mo. While companies like Bluehost and SiteGround cost $9.99 and $14.99/mo as renewal rates of their starter plans respectively, Hostinger is quite affordable in the long run.
Dependable Uptime
Server uptime is one of the main things you should consider when choosing a hosting provider. A dependable uptime is inevitable when deciding on a hosting solution, and Hostinger takes its uptime seriously. With a guaranteed 99.99% uptime, this hosting company offers one of the best uptime rates on the market.
Fast Enough Loading Speeds
A slow-loading website is a digital suicide because an average user has an attention span of mere eight seconds. If they don’t get the required information and your site keeps loading, they’ll bounce off your website even quicker. This means you may lose potential customers if your website doesn’t load within 2-3 seconds. And, the loading speeds of your website directly depend upon the hosting provider you pick.
Thankfully, Hostinger ensures blazing fast site-loading speeds with its SSD servers. If you’re unsure, SSD storage drives are many times faster than traditional HDD drives. This way, Hostinger offers faster performance with its SSD servers, ensuring your website loads at a blazing-fast speed.
What’s more, Hostinger throws in the LiteSpeed caching feature with all its hosting plans. This feature optimizes your website’s performance in many ways, ensuring your visitors and potential customers enjoy a good user experience on your site. In fact, the websites that enable LiteSpeed caching tend to get a high score on Google PageSpeed Insights.
Managed WordPress
Since WordPress is extremely popular (over 43% market share), most users demand optimization for WordPress from hosting providers. If you’re among them, rest assured, knowing Hostinger has you covered.
Hostinger not only offers pre-installed WordPress with its plans (so you can use it right away) but also offers WordPress-optimized hosting plans. It means Hostinger’s servers and network are optimized for top-tier security and performance of WordPress websites.
Another standout WordPress-friendly feature of Hostinger is automated WordPress updates – meaning you can have up-to-date WordPress all the time without needing to update it manually. Furthermore, the company also offers WordPress optimization, allowing a faster performance of WordPress websites.
Worldwide Data Centers
Though Hostinger is known for offering affordable hosting services, the company doesn’t compromise on performance features. Unlike many top hosting services, Hostinger offers multiple data centers, located in Europe, Asia, and North and South America.
The best part is that all hosting plans at Hostinger give you the freedom to choose from any of these widespread data center locations. It means you can pick a server location near to your target audience so that your visitors enjoy a blazing-fast loading speed.
LiteSpeed Caching
All hosting plans of Bluehost offer an enhanced WordPress website builder for free. It’s a graphical website builder that lets you create professional websites without coding. The web builder packs a drag and drop functionality, allowing you to easily add and adjust elements on your website to customize its appearance.
What sets this WordPress builder apart from the pack is that it neither limits how many pages you can create nor displays ads on your website upon using the free version – making it the best professional website builder you can get for free.
Most importantly, the WordPress website builder offers a range of ready-made website themes that you can preview and customize further to have a professional website at hand without the coding expertise required.
Caching is an integral part of site optimization and speed enhancement. LiteSpeed Cache powers Hostinger’s backend for WordPress. Using this plugin, you can optimize your site and speed up dynamic content, like PHP pages. It also allows automatic page caching, private cache, and scheduled automatic purges for particular URLs.
Here are the top benefits of Hostinger’s LiteSpeed caching:
- Improves your website’s page loading speed and performance with the help of data caching.
- Saves bandwidth which can reduce your hosting costs in the long run.
- Ensures a good customer experience for your visitors so they’re likely to convert into your customers.
- Leads to better rankings on Google for increased visibility of your website (as fast page loading speed is one of Google’s ranking factors).
- Reduces how many hardware resources are needed to run your website so you may not have to pay a lot for hosting.
Lots of Freebies
Despite being a budget-friendly option, Hostinger doesn’t compromise on freebies. Users get multiple additional features on all hosting plans, such as:
Free SSL Certification
Having an SSL certificate installed on your website is crucial nowadays. It ensures there’s an encrypted connection between your website and visitors which cannot be intercepted by bots or hackers.
Due to the better privacy offered by an SSL certificate, web browsers, and search engines trust websites that enable an SSL certificate more. Hostinger provides a free SSL certificate on all its plans to keep your visitors’ sensitive information secure from cybercriminals.
1-Click App Installer
Hostinger includes a custom-developed 1-click app installer for free with all its plans. It lets you install over 100 different widely used hosting apps with the click of a button. The apps you can install with Hostinger’s 1-click installer include WordPress, Joomla, WooCommerce, and a range of other CMS, security, and functionality tools.
Free Email
Whether you’re a blog or an eCommerce store, having a professional email address is a must-have. Hostinger thoroughly understands that and therefore, throws in free email addresses with all its hosting plans. Though the starter plan only offers a single email account, you get unlimited email accounts with higher packages. What else could you ask for?
Money-Back Guarantee
Like every reliable hosting service, Hostinger also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can try their services risk-free during this period, and if you’re not satisfied, you can get a full refund within 30 days after signup.
Ease of Use
Hostinger is an easy-to-use web host that doesn’t require advanced technical skills to set up a website. Most functions are performed with just a few clicks, and you don’t have to dig out essential features from multiple tabs. Beginners can do most of the tasks, like setting up email or installing a CMS, learning the basics as they go. Here are the top user-friendly features of Hostinger:
Quick Setup
Setting up is a breeze with Hostinger. WordPress integration is quite easy and quick, and it works with new as well as pre-built sites. Once you sign up at Hostinger, you’re redirected to your new hosting dashboard within a few minutes. From here, you can install WordPress and set up a domain name. Once you do that, you can start customizing your website right away.
Clean Interface
Even if you have minimal experience in website management, you can use Hostiger’s administrative dashboard without difficulty. Thanks to clear labels and accessibility, you can find what you’re looking for without spending a long time locating it.
Intuitive Control Panel
While Hostinger doesn’t offer the traditional cPanel, it has an easy-to-use interface called hPanel. It could’ve been a deal breaker if it weren’t as simple. Even if you’re used to the traditional control panel, you’ll get the hang of hPanel in no time.
The key features of Hostinger’s hPanel are its minimalist interface, responsiveness, and quick navigation. Moreover, the control panel is graphically aesthetic too, making it pleasant to use. Furthermore, it’s also powerful enough to pull off your requests in no time.
One of the biggest red flags about hosting services is unresponsive or incompetent customer support. Though many hosting companies may advertise round-the-clock customer service, they often require you to wait for hours before getting a reply. And, it can be quite harmful if you contact poor customer support during an emergency.
Luckily, you won’t face that problem with Hostinger’s support. It offers 24/7 live chat support to users, powered by knowledgeable agents. Hostinger’s support is not the most responsive we’ve analyzed so far but you generally get a reply within a few minutes when you start a chat.
Decent Customer Support
One of the biggest red flags about hosting services is unresponsive or incompetent customer support. Though many hosting companies may advertise round-the-clock customer service, they often require you to wait for hours before getting a reply. And, it can be quite harmful if you contact poor customer support during an emergency.
Luckily, you won’t face that problem with Hostinger’s support. It offers 24/7 live chat support to users, powered by knowledgeable agents. Hostinger’s support is not the most responsive we’ve analyzed so far but you generally get a reply within a few minutes when you start a chat.
User-Friendly Website Builder
Besides other site-building options, Hostinger also offers a user-friendly website builder to help you create your own site in no time. This drag-and-drop builder allows you to customize your website without developing knowledge or expertise. Moreover, the default templates are a great starting point for beginners.
Other than that, you still get the option to choose WordPress for building a professional-looking website. Though WordPress’s website builder is not that user-friendly, it’s great for building amazing websites without knowing how to code. The standout benefit of WordPress is the support for thousands of free themes and plugins.
Secure Enough
Every site, especially e-commerce ones, needs to be secure enough, and Hostinger offers all the tools to secure your site. The provider includes the following security tools:
- Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate
- Cloudflare protection
- CloudLinux
- In-house developed WAF
- Auto-updates and automated backups
Hostinger Review : Cons
Below is an overview of Hostinger’s main downsides:
Phone Support is Unavailable
One of the biggest cons of Hostinger hosting service is the lack of phone support. This company offers 24/7 live chat support, but there is no option for a phone call which can be a deal-breaker for many users.
Limited Features on Starter Plans
The cheapest plans offered by Hostinger do not come with a free domain name or unlimited bandwidth. Moreover, daily backups are also available on higher plans. Lower plans also lack advanced WordPress features, like staging tools.
No Dedicated Hosting
Hostinger does not offer any plans for dedicated hosting, which is a type of web hosting that gives a website its own server. It can be a problem for users with high-traffic websites.
Hostinger Pricing
Hostinger offers various hosting plans, including shared web hosting, cloud hosting, WordPress hosting, and VPS hosting. Here, we’ll look at the details of these plans.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is suitable for beginners and small business owners. Hostinger’s shared plans can handle up to 100,000 visits per month, making it suitable for low-traffic sites like blogs, portfolio sites, and small businesses.
Key Features
- Free Email
- Free SSL
- Cloudflare Protected Nameservers
- Weekly Backups
- Managed WordPress
- WordPress Acceleration
- GIT Access
- DNS Management
Pricing
WordPress Hosting
- Single – $1.99/month. Offers mentioned features + 1 website + 30 GB SSD storage + 100 GB bandwidth + up to 10,000 monthly visits
- Premium – $2.99/month. Offers mentioned features + 100 websites + 100 GB SSD storage + up to 25,000 monthly visits + unlimited bandwidth + free domain + SSH access
- Business – $4.99/month. Offers mentioned features + 100 websites + 200 GB SSD storage + up to 100,000 monthly visits + Cloudflare CDN + daily backups + WordPress staging
Hostinger’s WordPress hosting is designed to speed up your sites, drive more traffic, and bring more conversions. With its 1-click installer, automatic updates, and user-friendly control panel, this hosting is ideal for WordPress enthusiasts.
Key Features
- Free Email
- Free SSL
- Managed WordPress
- WordPress Acceleration
- WP-CLI
- GIT Access
- Cloudflare Protected Nameservers
- DNS Management
- Access Manager
- Automated Backups
Pricing
- Single – $1.99/month. Offers mentioned features + 1 website + 30 GB SSD storage + 100 GB bandwidth + up to 10,000 monthly visits
- Starter – $3.99/month. Offers mentioned features + 100 websites + 100 GB SSD storage + up to 25,000 monthly visits + WordPress multisite + unlimited bandwidth + free domain
- Business – $6.99/month. Offers mentioned features + 100 websites + 200 GB SSD storage + up to 100,000 monthly visits + free domain + Cloudflare CDN + daily backups + WordPress staging
- Pro – $11.59/month. Offers mentioned features + 300 websites + 200 GB SSD storage + up to 200,000 monthly visits + unlimited bandwidth + free domain + WordPress staging + Cloudflare CDN + daily backups
VPS Hosting
Hostinger’s VPS hosting is ideal for websites having medium-level traffic. Virtual private servers offer more flexibility than shared plans and are suitable for websites that don’t require a dedicated server.
Key Features
- Dedicated IP
- Full Root Access
- 100 Mb/s Network
- IPV4 & IPV6 Support
Pricing
- VPS 1 – $2.99/month. Offers mentioned features + 1 GB RAM + 20 GB SSD disk space + 1 TB bandwidth
- VPS 2 – $4.99/month. Offers mentioned features + 2 GB RAM + 40 GB SSD disk space + 2 TB bandwidth
- VPS 8 – $77.99/month. Offers mentioned features + 16 GB RAM + 250 GB SSD disk space + 12 TB bandwidth
Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is the right choice if you’re looking for an alternative to the traditional VPS servers. This type of hosting offers maximum flexibility and control, making you in charge of your website.
Key Features
- Free Email and Domain
- Free SSL
- Cloudflare CDN
- Daily Backups
- Unlimited Bandwidth
- Dedicate IP Address
- Free Website Migration
- Managed WordPress
- WordPress Staging
- GIT and SSH Access
- DNS Management
- Cache Manager
Pricing
- StartUp – $9.99/month. Offers mentioned features + 300 websites + 200 GB SSD storage + 3 GB RAM + 2 CPU cores
- Professional – $14.99/month. Offers mentioned features + 300 websites + 250 GB SSD storage + 6 GB RAM + 4 CPU cores
- Enterprise – $29.99/month. Offers mentioned features + 300 websites + 300 GB SSD storage + 12 GB RAM + 6 CPU cores
Bottom Line – Is Hostinger the Right Way to Go?
There’s a reason Hostinger is one of the most popular hosting providers – it offers great value for your money. If you’re looking for an affordable, reliable hosting provider, Hostinger is definitely worth considering. Of course, no hosting provider is perfect, and the same is with Hostinger – it comes with some downsides. But overall, it is a great option for those on a budget who need a provider that can offer excellent uptime and high-end features.