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How to choose shared hosting for your website
Shared hosting gives you space on a server that also runs hundreds of other customers' websites. The host sets up and maintains the server, and you get a control panel to upload files, create databases, and connect your domain and email. The comparison currently covers more than 7,600 plans from around 1,600 hosts, with prices starting under half a dollar a month and a median plan of roughly $7–8.
Shared hosting or a VPS
The key difference is who looks after the server. On shared hosting you can't see the operating system or install your own software, but you also don't have to worry about updates, PHP security or the mail server. A VPS gives you guaranteed cores and memory plus full root access, but administration becomes your job.
- Shared hosting is enough for a business card site, a blog, a company site on WordPress or Joomla, or a small store with moderate traffic.
- You need a VPS when the site keeps hitting CPU limits, or you need a specific PHP version, Node.js, Python, background workers or non-standard modules. See our VPS for websites selection for more.
How to read a plan description
Every host presents its plans differently, but the core specs are the same.
- Disk space. The catalog median is 20 GB. A CMS site without a large media library usually fits in 2–5 GB, but keep in mind that email, backups and logs often count towards the quota. Disk type matters too: about a third of plans list NVMe, and the difference from SSD is explained on the NVMe hosting page.
- Number of websites. Many plans don't state this limit at all; among those that do, 1, 5 and 10 sites are the most common. Subdomains and aliases are sometimes counted separately.
- Databases. WordPress needs one MySQL or MariaDB database per site. A plan with five sites but only one database is a trap: you'd have to squeeze all the sites into one database with different table prefixes.
- Control panel. cPanel is the most common, followed by Plesk, DirectAdmin and ISPmanager. If you're already used to one of them, sticking with it saves time.
- Traffic. Almost half of plans offer unmetered traffic. In practice, that means you won't be billed for bandwidth, but CPU and process limits still apply.
- PHP versions. A good host lets you pick the version per site, from legacy 7.x for older projects to current 8.x.
- SSL. A free Let's Encrypt certificate is the norm these days. If a host sells SSL for an ordinary website as a paid extra, treat it as a red flag.
- Backups. What matters is how often they're made, how long they're kept, and whether you can restore the site yourself without a paid support request.
- Email. There are usually limits on the number of mailboxes, their size and the number of messages per hour. Hosting email isn't suitable for newsletters.
First-year price vs. renewal price
Many hosts, especially the big international brands, advertise a promotional price that applies only if you prepay for one to three years, and only for the first term. On renewal the plan can cost two or three times as much. Before you choose, open the plan page and find the renewal price: that's what you'll be paying for as long as the site is live. Budget options are easy to browse in our cheap hosting selection, but this rule matters there most of all.
What hosting actually costs
The price range is huge, from a few cents to tens of dollars a month. Roughly speaking, the market splits into three tiers.
- Up to about $2 a month — one site, a few gigabytes of disk, minimal CPU limits. Fine for a business card site, a landing page or a small blog.
- About $2–9 a month — the bulk of plans, including the catalog median. Typically 10–30 GB, several sites and databases, backups and reasonable process limits. Enough for most company websites and small stores.
- Above $9 a month — plans for busy sites and multiple projects: more cores and memory per account, dozens of sites, priority support. If you run a lot of projects, check out our hosting for 10 websites selection. At this level the price is comparable to an entry-level VPS, so it's worth comparing both options.
How to use the comparison
- Set a price limit and a minimum disk size — that alone filters out most of the noise.
- Filter by server country. Pick a location close to your visitors: for a European audience, Germany or the Netherlands; for visitors in Russia, hosting in Russia.
- If you have several sites, set the number you need: plans marked "?" don't disclose the limit, so check it with the host.
- Choose a control panel and payment method if they matter to you.
- Open two or three plans on the hosts' websites and compare the terms: renewal price, backups, CPU and process limits.
Prices in the table are converted at current exchange rates and shown per month for monthly billing, or calculated from the minimum term. The host shows the final price, including taxes and exchange rate, at checkout.