With the best shared hosting, you are able to run your website (or websites) in a cost-effective way because you're sharing a server with other users - from the same hardware.
Shared hosting means shared cost as every users get a piece of that physical server to use how they please, making it the cheapest way to get web hosting.
Aside from cheap web hosting as an incentive, shared web hosting generally is the simplest hosting for beginners as web hosts usually make this particular service friendly for beginners.
We've used and reviewed over 160 web hosting services by signing up using a test account and website and found that although shared hosting is extremely affordable, because you're sharing hardware with others, the performance is usually a bit slower than other hosting services where hardware isn't being shared.
That might be fine for sites which don’t have a lot of traffic, but it could be a problem if your bandwidth needs are greater, or reliable and consistent performance is a priority for your website.
So, obviously bear all that in mind, but if you do want to go the shared hosting route in an effort to make some serious savings, we have, below, listed the best shared hosting services on the market.
2023's best shared hosting deals
Why you can trust TechRadar We spend hours testing every product or service we review, so you can be sure you’re buying the best. Find out more about how we test.
The best shared web hosting services of 2023
A popular provider, Hostinger has some really affordable plans, both for individual users and businesses. Starting at just $1.99 per month for a single website, 100GB bandwidth, 30GB disk space, and $2.79 for 100 websites, unlimited bandwidth, and 200GB disk space. The $3.99 plan also delivers four times the processing power and memory. All plans also come with additional features.
A free SSL certificate is included in all plans (you are notified in the shopping cart), and Cloudflare protection. Higher tier subscriptions, like the Premium plan, comes with daily backups, free domain registration, SSH access and more. Hostinger is definitely a capable provider, although some might be bothered by the disk space limitation compared to some rivals. Nevertheless, you also get a 30-day money-back guarantee, so you can always ask for a refund if you are not satisfied with the service.
- Read our Hostinger review
Domain.com is a veteran hosting provider which has been around for nearly two decades, offering a range of services – across Linux and Windows servers – including shared hosting.
The basic shared hosting plan is priced at $3.75 $2.82 per month (when you use the code TECHRADAR at checkout) on an annual contract (unusually, you don’t get cheaper prices for longer terms here), and delivers plenty for the money. That includes unlimited storage (for a single website), as well as free Let’s Encrypt SSL. Domain.com’s customized vDeck control panel is clearly laid out and offers a range of powerful features, and experienced users in particular will have plenty to get their teeth into.
You only get a single website with the basic plan as mentioned, and for unlimited sites, you need to step up to the Deluxe plan which starts at $6.75 monthly (and premium tech support only comes with the tier above that, the Ultra plan). Remember to use the code TECHRADAR at checkout to get 25% off.
Still, even basic support is good – with a high-quality online knowledge base on tap – and in our review, we found that Domain.com offered impressive performance levels. While this web host isn’t the cheapest out there by any means, what you get is definitely worth paying for, and there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee to back up the service too.
- Read our Domain.com review
This web host caters for the more budget-minded, and of course, that’s never a bad thing. Although do note that you only get the really cheap prices when signing up for longer term lengths with HostGator, so something of a commitment is required for the best savings here.
For example, the cheapest shared hosting plan is $2.64 per month if you sign up for 36 months, but $3.58 per month if you sign up for one year.
The good news is that you get plenty for your money, and no annoying limitations, so even the basic plan allows for unlimited bandwidth, web space, email accounts and more. A 99.9% uptime guarantee is also good to see.
Customer support is generally pretty good – although it falls down in a few areas, for example the web help forums aren’t moderated by the company itself – and we found performance was better than average in terms of site loading times.
- Read our HostGator review
As far as quality shared hosting goes, ScalaHosting offers top tier services packed with features that every site needs. Its cheapest shared hosting package comes with one website, unmetered bandwidth, a free SSL certificate, free 1-click installer, unlimited emails & DBs, as well as daily offsite backups.
Like Hostinger, ScalaHosting's shared hosting service is great for beginners mainly because of how straightforward it is to set up, all the essential add-ons included, as well as the price.
Its more advanced plans include a free domain, and real-time malware protection. ScalaHosting also has a website migration service that comes at no additional cost. You can have all your websites migrated to the new server by picking a date and time that works best for you.
As with all shared hosting, if you happen to have a bad neighbor on the server (another website), it may slow down your website at times. ScalaHosting offers NVMe SSD storage in its New York data center for faster website speed than regular SATA SSDs.
- Read our full ScalaHosting review
Don’t fret that the plans from InMotion are marketed as ‘business’ products, because this popular web host is applicable to individual users as well as companies. There’s a good range of choice here, and shared hosting starts from just $2.29 per month.
What’s also good to see is that InMotion incorporates features into its shared hosting plans which other providers charge extra for – like hack and DDoS protection, a system of basic backups, and a WordPress website builder.
Another strong suit here is the way that this web host provides full details of all its services at-a-glance on the website, and makes it easy to compare features, and make your decision when taking the plunge with a subscription.
You also get cPanel and Softaculous-powered hosting, a sterling level of technical support, and in our testing, we found this provider delivered some impressive performance levels when it came to site loading speeds. All in all, there are lots of reasons to go with InMotion, and a 90-day money-back guarantee doesn’t hurt, either.
- Read our InMotion Hosting review
SiteGround offers some low-end shared hosting plans which may cost a little bit more than some budget rivals you’ll find on this page, but the upside is that they include all the core features that you’ll likely need.
The firm’s StartUp account is $3.99 a month initially, and $14.99 for renewal. With that you get unlimited traffic, email accounts and databases, not to mention one-click installation of apps like WordPress. It also bundles features that rival firms often charge for as extras like daily backups or CDN capabilities (Cloudflare).
Another nifty touch is the provider’s SuperCacher system which caches frequently-accessed data in RAM, aiming to improve site performance. This could certainly help busy websites.
Not everything is rosy here, though – for example the basic account limits you to 10GB of web space. Also, website support via the company’s knowledgebase is a rather shoddy experience, but there are other avenues of tech support which perform much better.
- Read our SiteGround review
This is a premium outfit with a well-featured ‘Essentials’ plan which offers a great deal of functionality, and is ideal for those looking to host multiple websites (or those who want plenty of room to grow).
With prices starting from as little as $1.99 per month for the shared hosting basic plan (via an offer at the time of writing), iPage gives you unlimited web space and bandwidth, unlimited email addresses, MySQL databases and even domains.
Not only that, iPage incorporates some very smart extras like a drag-and-drop page builder, with a basic shared SSL certificate thrown in for good measure. This provider also offers good quality tech support via live chat and email (although other support avenues aren’t as strong).
Performance levels seems solid, and this is certainly a web host to bear in mind for experienced users who are dealing with large numbers of sites.
- Read our iPage review
IONOS is a big web hosting player, vying with GoDaddy for world domination, and is the biggest in Europe. Located in Germany, it offers a bewildering array of services with prices starting from $1 per month (for the first year) excluding VAT.
On top of that, this shared hosting provider boasts some smart freebies. They include a free domain, SSL certificates across all plans, free web design software (NetObjects Fusion 2013), 24/7 phone and email support, a graphics archive, a 30-day money-back guarantee, transparent replication (the company calls it geo-redundancy) and a whopping 300Gbps network connectivity.
Also, you get a personal consultant, free of charge, which is a neat touch.
- Read our IONOS review
If you want to do web hosting on a budget, then as this provider’s name suggests, it aims to be inexpensive. You get some impressive value-for-money with Namecheap, particularly with an initial discount for the first year, and there are some heavyweight plans here.
However, note the starter ‘value’ plan only gives you 20GB of drive space and 30 email accounts, but you can get that at a price as cheap as $1.44 per month (over a 2-year contract).
Namecheap offers a 99.9% connectivity guarantee, and is a very easy service to set up, with an initial welcome email that points you in the right direction for everything you might need (backed up by some impressive FAQs). It also plays host to an excellent searchable knowledgebase.
To round things off, testing proved that this company generally offers above average speeds compared to rivals, making this a great hosting provider for those who aren’t keen on doing too much damage to their wallet.
- Read our Namecheap review
Based in London, bang in the middle of startup territory (Shoreditch), UK2 offers starting shared hosting package at around $1.35 (£1) for the first month, then $5.5 (£4) per month, excluding VAT. It also offers affordable unlimited packages with unlimited emails, bandwidth, a free SSL certificate (great for improved security and search visibility), a free domain and a dedicated IP.
Prospective customers will appreciate the lack of setup fees or hidden charges, the 30-day money-back guarantee, plus 24/7 UK-based phone support on a freephone number and UK-based data centers.
- Read our UK2 review
This is another UK-based provider, and Tsohost also plays the value card, with an entry-level Economy shared hosting plan which starts at $5.30 (£3.99) per month (£0.99/mo for the first year) That plan limits you to 100GB storage and you do get unlimited bandwidth, Let’s Encrypt SSL and a hundred mailboxes.
Tsohost’s technical support may not be the fastest out there in terms of response times, at least in our experience, but it did provide clear and accurate answers to queries. Performance levels are also solid, and the company offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- Read our Tsohost review
- We discuss the merits of shared hosting vs dedicated hosting
Best shared hosting FAQs
How we test and choose the best shared hosting providers
We test shared hosting using the same method we use to test web hosting in general.
However, when it comes to choosing the right shared hosting plan for you, you firstly need to know what your website's needs are, and check the subscription person for web hosting contracts. Last thing you want is being tied down to a web host for longer or shorter than needed.
It's also imperative to check for server reliability and uptime guarantees, and check what each web hosting provider has to offer when it comes to its refund policy.
Write out your non-negotiables for features a shared web hosting package must have and be aware of what your upgrade options are.
