Shared Hosting is the most popular — and also the most affordable — web hosting plan. It’s super-easy to manage a shared hosting plan and it’s equally good for beginners as well as experienced webmasters. Shared hosting basically means that you’re sharing your server (resources as well as the cost) with hundreds (or even thousands) of other websites. And that makes it affordable for everyone.
The majority of websites on the web are actually hosted on a shared hosting plan. It can cost as low as $1 per month to as high as $25 per month depending upon the hosting brand and their resources. If you have a new website or an existing blog or website that’s not getting a lot of traffic then a shared hosting plan is all what you need.
Also, it’s good for a personal website or a small business website (assuming that they do not get a ton of traffic every single day and all they need is an online presence plus business email). And hey, a shared hosting is all you need to host multiple websites as well — as long as they are not getting thousands of visits a day.
Affordable Shared Hosting Plans are best suited for small as well as medium websites (with low traffic). If you are a beginner and is kickstarting your first website/blog then it’s a great fit as it doesn’t cost you more than $36-$100 per year. At the same time you can enjoy all the benefits of owning a website like your own server space plus custom email accounts. And can easily host all your websites in one account (provided you purchased a hosting plan that supports as many addon domains as you want).
Top 10 Affordable Shared Hosting Plans (Comparison)
| Companies | Price Comparison | Web Hosting Comparison Chart |
| Hawk Host (Primary Plan) Linux Platform cPanel Control Panel » Sign Up |
$4.99 (monthly) $47.88 (annually) $71.76 (biennially) N/A (triennially) $47.88/year (renewal) |
10 GB Disk Space, Unlimited Bandwidth, Websites, Emails, Subdomains, Parked Domains & Databases cPanel Control Panel, Linux Platform, Softaculous, 30-Day Money Back Guarantee No Setup Fees, Accepts PayPal, Free Website Migration, Free Data Backups Comments :: SSD Storage; No Live Chat Support; Domain Name costs $10.95/year; When you apply a coupon code the discount is applicable for the first term as well as the renewals. |
| A Small Orange (Small Plan) Linux Platform cPanel Control Panel » Sign Up |
$5 (monthly) $50 (annually) $100 (biennially) $150 (triennially) $50/year (renewal) |
5 GB Disk Space, 50 GB Bandwidth, Unlimited Websites, Emails, Subdomains, Parked Domains & Databases cPanel Control Panel, Linux Platform, Softaculous, 90-Day Money Back Guarantee, Free Domain Name (1st Year) No Setup Fees, Accepts PayPal, Free Website Migration, Free Data Backups, 24/7 Live Chat Support Comments :: SSD Storage; There’s also a “Tiny Plan” (with 500 MB disk space and 5 GB bandwidth) to host one website and it costs $35 annually or $75 biennially or $105 triennially. |
| HostMetro (Mega Max Plan) Linux Platform cPanel Control Panel » Sign Up |
$7.95 (monthly) $53.40 (annually) $82.80 (biennially) $88.20 (triennially) $53.40/year (renewal) |
Unlimited Disk Space, Bandwidth, Websites, Emails, Subdomains, Parked Domains & Databases cPanel Control Panel, Linux Platform, Softaculous, 30-Day Money Back Guarantee Accepts PayPal, Free Website Migration, Free Data Backups, 24/7 Live Chat Support Comments :: Price Lock Guarantee; $14.49 Setup Fees (for monthly plans); Domain Name costs $14.49/year after the first year. |
| Namecheap (Value Plan) Linux Platform cPanel Control Panel » Sign Up |
N/A (monthly) $9.88 (12 months) N/A (24 months) N/A (36 months) $38.88/year (renewal) |
20 GB Disk Space, Unlimited Bandwidth, 3 Websites, 50 Emails, Subdomains & Databases, Unlimited Parked Domains cPanel Control Panel, Linux Platform, Softaculous, 14-Day Money Back Guarantee No Setup Fees, Accepts PayPal, Free Website Migration, Free Data Backups, 24/7 Live Chat Support Comments :: SSD Storage; Domain Name costs $10.69/year; It’s possibly one of the cheapest web hosting plan — provided by a reputed domain registrar (a GoDaddy.com alternative). |
| MDDHosting (Basic Plan) Linux Platform cPanel Control Panel » Sign Up |
$7.50 (monthly) $76.50 (annually) $153 (biennially) $229.50 (triennially) $76.50/year (renewal) |
5 GB Disk Space, 250 GB Bandwidth, Unlimited Websites, Emails, Subdomains & Databases cPanel Control Panel, Linux Platform, Softaculous, 30-Day Money Back Guarantee No Setup Fees, Accepts PayPal, Free Website Migration, Free Data Backups Comments :: SSD Storage; SSH Access; No Live Chat Support; Domain Name costs $14.95/year; It’s an affordable web hosting package of a standard web hosting company but surprisingly there’s no live chat support. |
| MonsterMegs (Professional) Linux Platform cPanel Control Panel » Sign Up |
$6.95 (monthly) $71.40 (annually) $142.80 (biennially) $N/A (triennially) $71.40/year (renewal) |
10 GB Disk Space, 250 GB Bandwidth, Unlimited Websites, Emails, Subdomains & Databases cPanel Control Panel, Linux Platform, Softaculous, 30-Day Money Back Guarantee, Free Domain Name (1st year) No Setup Fees, Accepts PayPal & Bitcoin, Free Website Migration, Free Data Backups Comments :: SSD Storage; SSH Access; No Live Chat Support; 2-Hour Support Response Guarantee (not verified but it says you can request a $1 credit if you didn’t get a response within 2 hours). |
| HostWinds (Advanced Plan) Linux Platform cPanel Control Panel » Sign Up |
$7.50 (monthly) $66 (annually) $120 (biennially) $162 (triennially) $66/year (renewal) |
Unlimited Disk Space & Bandwidth, 4 Websites, Unlimited Emails, Subdomains & Databases cPanel Control Panel, Linux Platform, Softaculous, 60-Day Money Back Guarantee No Setup Fees, Accepts PayPal, Free Website Migration, Free Data Backups, 24/7 Live Chat Support Comments :: Free Dedicated IP Address; Domain Name costs $11.99/year; The pricing and 24/7 Live Chat support is attractive but their website looks really dull. |
| Eleven2 (SSD-100 Plan) Linux Platform cPanel Control Panel » Sign Up |
$5.95 (monthly) $59.40 (annually) $85.68 (biennially) $178.20 (triennially) $59.40/year (renewal) |
5 GB Disk Space, 50 GB Bandwidth, 10 Websites, Unlimited Emails, Subdomains & Databases cPanel Control Panel, Linux Platform, Softaculous, 60-Day Money Back Guarantee No Setup Fees, Accepts PayPal, Free Website Migration, Free Data Backups, Live Chat Support (but not 24/7) Comments :: SSD Storage; Domain Name costs $15/year; You can choose a hosting location of your choice (U.S., Europe, or Asia) during the signup process. |
| Arvixe (PersonalClass Plan) Linux Platform cPanel Control Panel » Sign Up |
$7 (monthly) $60 (annually) $96 (biennially) N/A (triennially) $60/year (renewal) |
Unlimited Disk Space & Bandwidth, 6 Websites, Emails, Subdomains, Parked Domains & Databases cPanel Control Panel, Linux & Windows, Softaculous, 60-Day Money Back Guarantee, Free Domain Name For Life No Setup Fees, Accepts PayPal, Free Website Migration, Free Data Backups, 24/7 Live Chat Support Comments :: Free $100 Google Adwords Credit (U.S. & CA only); Free $100 Bing Ads Credit (U.S. only). The pricing is attractive and they also offer a “Returning Customer Discount” (when you purchase additional hosting accounts). |
| CrocWeb (Egg Croc Plan) Linux Platform cPanel Control Panel » Sign Up |
$5.95 (monthly) $59.40 (annually) $94.80 (biennially) $106.20 (triennially) $59.40/year (renewal) |
10 GB Disk Space, Unlimited Bandwidth, Websites, Emails, Subdomains, Parked Domains & Databases cPanel Control Panel, Linux Platform, Softaculous, 60-Day Money Back Guarantee No Setup Fees, Accepts PayPal, Free Website Migration, Free Data Backups Comments :: SSD Storage; No Live Chat Support; Domain Name costs $11.95/year; It’s a Canadian web hosting provider. |
| One.com (Starter Plan) Linux Platform cPanel Control Panel » Sign Up |
N/A (monthly) $3-13.80 (12 months) N/A (24 months) N/A (36 months) $22.68/year (renewal) |
15 GB Disk Space, Unlimited Bandwidth, 1 Website, Unlimited Emails & Subdomains, 1 Database cPanel Control Panel, Linux Platform, 15-Day Money Back Guarantee, Free Domain Name (1st year) $13.80 Setup Fees (when 1st year is free), Accepts PayPal, Free Data Backups Comments :: Free SSL, Free $100 Google AdWords Credit, No Live Chat Support; Domain Name costs $13.80/year after the first year; Not sure whether they’re offering free website migration or not. |
| WebHostFace (Face Extra Plan) Linux Platform cPanel Control Panel » Sign Up |
$5.45 (monthly) $65.40 (annually) $130.80 (biennially) $196.20 (triennially) $65.40/year (renewal) |
20 GB Disk Space, Unlimited Bandwidth, Websites, Emails, Subdomains, Parked Domains & Databases cPanel Control Panel, Linux Platform, Softaculous, 30-Day Money Back Guarantee, Free Domain Name For Life Accepts PayPal, Free Website Migration, Free Data Backups, 24/7 Live Chat Support Comments :: SSD Storage, SSH Access, $9.95 Setup Fees (for monthly plans); There are also Lifetime Hosting Plans (a limited offer) and that’s the primary reason why I have included WebHostFace. |
Affordable Shared Hosting Plans | Standard Shared Hosting Plans | Premium Shared Hosting Plans
Reseller Hosting Plans | VPS Hosting Plans
I haven’t reviewed the performance or support of individual web hosting companies. Instead, I have shortlisted the web hosts based on features, pricing (current as well as renewal), user experience, and some criteria that I set personally.
For instance, I only considered the web hosting plans that lets you host more than one website (that’s why I have selected the second plan over the first for few web hosting companies).
You can always consider higher plans of a specific web hosting company — and it shouldn’t cost you a lot of money — if the one that I have chosen didn’t meet your personal requirements.
Just pay ‘special’ attention to the renewal pricing of those web hosting plans as the first year or rather the first hosting term could be well discounted.
In fact, I have also considered the promotional pricing for 12-month, 24-month, and 36-month hosting plans. But since it can change anytime I have also included the regular renewal pricing of annual plans (as it rarely changes over time).
You should always consider renewal pricing to compare different hosts in a more sensible way. Because once the first hosting term is over you will be billed at regular rates (even if you applied a coupon code during the sign up process).
Needless to say, the above web hosting comparison chart is not ranked and is not sorted based on any rating — it’s just a random order. And I was not recommending a specific web hosting company personally as its choice should entirely depend upon your current as well as future requirements.
Got a question or noticed an error? Do let me know as a comment below!
So, which is your favorite web hosting company and why? 🙂