SiteGround Review: Features, Pricing, and Performance

SiteGround

Introductory price:	Starting at $17.99 per month (for 12 months)
Renewal price for the same plan:	$17.99 per month
Reduced prices for longer terms?	Yes

pros and cons

Per

• Free CDN with all plans
• Free SSL Certificates
• Daily backups
• Automatic WordPress updates

Disadvantages

• Storage limits for all plans
• Renewal rates significantly higher
• No free trial, just a money-back guarantee
• Migration is cumbersome and can result in significant downtime and poor customer service

Who is SiteGround suitable for?

For freelancers, bloggers, and small and medium-sized businesses, SiteGround can be a great way to get the performance and security a web host needs. The StartUp plan is ideal for sites with less than 10,000 visitors per month. The GrowBig plan is for sites with 100,000 visitors, while the GoGeek plan is suitable for around 400,000 visitors per month. Each of the plans includes unlimited traffic and a ton of freebies: domain, WordPress migrator, WordPress installation, email migrator, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL), Content Delivery Network (CDN), and email.

Who should not use SiteGround?

While SiteGround’s pricing is attractive to begin with, the renewal rate is high – up to nearly $45 per month on its most expensive shared hosting plan. Also, every plan has storage limits, while many of its competitors offer unlimited storage even on cheap plans. Users switching to SiteGround should have safeguards in place in case of issues to avoid critical downtime during high-use periods, as there is at least one report where the migration team failed and customer support left the user to fend for themselves on that front.

SiteGround Pricing and Plan Overview

SiteGround offers three shared hosting packages, with an introductory price ranging from $2.99 ​​to $7.99. The price is for annual billing and is only available for the first term. Both the GrowBig and GoGeek packages are designed for an unlimited number of websites, although both packages have storage limits. Below is a summary of the packages:

Best SiteGround plan for small businesses: GoGeek

Although GrowBig is SiteGround’s self-proclaimed best value plan, we recommend the GoGeek plan as it offers the most features at a reasonable price, especially if you get a quote on your first term. The GoGeek plan offers advanced features and higher resource allocations, perfect for small businesses looking to expand.

Other services SiteGround offers

In addition to shared hosting, SiteGround offers several other hosting types and services. These include:

• Free domain: All hosting plans include a free domain for the first year.
• Free SSL Certificates: Each plan includes free Let’s Encrypt Standard and Wildcard SSL certificates, which help improve the security of your site by encrypting the data sent to and received from visitors.
• Free email: Create an unlimited number of email accounts with a webmail interface that includes free spam protection by SpamExperts.
• Automatic backups: SiteGround performs daily backups and stores up to 30 copies so your site can be easily restored if it becomes corrupted.
• Free CDN: All plans include a free CDN service to improve site loading speed worldwide.
• Staging tool: Available on the GrowBig and GoGeek plans, this tool allows users to create a copy of their site to test changes before they go live. This prevents your site from crashing when changes go live.
• Managed WordPress and WooCommerce: Managed hosting for WordPress and WooCommerce, including automatic updates and advanced security measures.
• Developer tools: Advanced users can benefit from tools like WP-CLI, Secure Shell (SSH) access, PHP version control, and Git integration that help with workflows and increase productivity.
• White label resale: The GoGeek and Cloud plans include white label options that allow users to manage their clients’ websites without revealing SiteGround branding.
• Priority Support: GoGeek and Cloud plan users receive priority support.

The SiteGround platform and customer support

SiteGround is easy to navigate and has a clean user interface (UI). The admin dashboard is called Site Tools and you get all the important features in one place. This includes caching options, staging environments, backups and more.

Many web hosts offer 24/7 support, but what they really mean by that is that you have access to a ticketing service or knowledge base. However, SiteGround offers 24/7 live chat, as well as phone support and help desk tickets.

Is SiteGround safe?

There have been no known data breaches involving SiteGround’s services. However, that doesn’t mean the company is immune, or that data breaches haven’t occurred on individual websites, for example through vulnerable plug-ins or malicious actors. SiteGround uses two-factor authentication (2FA), Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) compliance, and SSL encryption to protect your website from malicious use.

SiteGround User Reviews

93% of SiteGround’s Trustpilot reviews are five-star reviews, which is an average of 4.8 out of five stars from 17,274 reviews. The feedback is mostly positive, but the rare negative reviews are isolated cases, such as technical issues or dissatisfaction with support.

Compare SiteGround alternatives

SiteGround GoGeek	DreamHost: Shared Unlimited	TMD Hosting: Pursue
Starting price per Month	Starting price per Month	Starting price per Month
44,99 €	8,95 €	19,99 €
Free trial available?	Free trial available?	Free trial available?
NO	NO	NO
Storage (in GB)	Storage (in GB)	Storage (in GB)
40GB	Unlimited	Unlimited
Unlimited bandwidth?	Unlimited bandwidth?	Unlimited bandwidth?
NO	Yes	Yes

SiteGround vs DreamHost

SiteGround is significantly more expensive than DreamHost and offers fewer features. For example, DreamHost offers unlimited storage and bandwidth for $8.95 per month, while SiteGround’s GoGeek plan only offers 40GB without unlimited bandwidth. DreamHost also beats SiteGround in terms of money-back guarantee – 97 days compared to SiteGround’s 30 days.

SiteGround vs TMD Hosting

While TMD Hosting is more expensive than DreamHost, it is still cheaper than SiteGround. The Enterprise plan includes unlimited storage and bandwidth, while SiteGround has limited storage and bandwidth. It’s worth noting that it’s unusual for web hosts to offer free trials, so this isn’t really a useful benchmark. However, both have a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Is SiteGround right for you?

SiteGround is a great web host for individuals and SMBs who need both performance and reliability, as well as 24/7 support. It’s especially good for businesses with fewer than 400,000 website visitors or agencies managing multiple client websites. It’s easy to use and offers plenty of features, such as a free SSL certificate, daily backups, and unlimited sites. However, if you use a lot of bandwidth or have high storage needs, you may want to consider an alternative with unlimited storage and unlimited bandwidth.

Frequently Asked Questions