The best web hosting services of 2018

We all know why creatives need beautiful websites, but once you've designed yours, you'll also need a reliable hosting service. Web hosting is not the most exciting part of running a successful design business, but it is essential to make the right choice so that you have a robust, reliable website.

Discovering which web hosting service to choose is a minefield, as there are myriad options with various tailored solutions to help your site thrive. Here we try to strip away the jargon and condense the spec sheets into bite-size chunks. Here are the best web hosting services from around the world.

In Motion Web Hosting homepage

InMotion Hosting is one of the world’s largest independent hosting companies. It’s been running since 2001, and offers several shared hosting plans – starting from a tempting $2.95/month – all of which come with a tonne of great free features that other services might charge extra for. Think: malware and DDoS protection, basic backups, ‘spam-safe’ email and a WordPress-based Website Builder.

Technical features include PHP, Ruby, Perl, Python and PHP 7 support. InMotion provides both MySQL and PostgreSQL databases. There's easy Google Apps integration, and 24/7, 365-day US-based support if anything goes wrong.

InMotion offers both cPanel and Softaculous-powered hosting. It also provides excellent technical support – and, in testing, our sister site TechRadar also found InMotion’s overall performance levels are well above average. That’s great good news for anyone who wants to see fast-loading websites.

Overall, there’s a lot to like here - and competitive pricing too. In Motion also smashes the industry-standard 45-day money back guarantee with a 90-day money-back guarantee, just in case you’re not satisfied.

Take a look at the shared web hosting packages from InMotion Hosting

1&1 Web Hosting homepage

Germany-based 1&1 is a huge name in web hosting. It’s the biggest player in Europe, taking on GoDaddy in the quest for world domination. And at under a dollar a month for the first year, 1&1's Basic package will literally get you started for pennies. That will give you enough to kick things off on your site, until the fee is bumped up to $7.99/£5.99 per month after 12 months. At that point you would probably be better switching to the Unlimited Plus package for only two dollars/pounds more per month.

The freebies aren’t bad, either. 1&1 give you a free domain and unlimited storage, with SSL certificates, and 24/7 phone and email support included across all packages. You also get free web design software (NetObjects Fusion 2013), a graphics archive, a 30-day money-back guarantee, transparent replication and a massive 300Gbps network connectivity.

US: Take a look at the web hosting packages from 1&1
UK: Check out the web hosting packages from 1&1

When it comes to cheap web hosting, HostGator’s Hatchling plan is our top choice. The well-known Dallas-based company offers an impressive amount of unrestricted features in its basic Hatchling plan: there are no limits on bandwidth, web space, subdomains, MySQL databases, FTP and email accounts.

There's also one-click WordPress installation, cPanel-based site management and a 99.9% uptime guarantee covering both server and network failures; plus 24/7 customer support, and $200 (£150) worth of Google and Bing Ads credits.

As you might expect with a cheap hosting plan, you can only operate one website on the Hatchling plan. And you won’t get a free domain name for a year, either. But we like the low pricing – it starts at $2.64/£1.95 per month on a three-year contract and the free transfers for new accounts within the first month after you’ve signed up. And a 45-day money-back guarantee means that if you’re not happy with the service, you can cancel it.

Take a look at the cheap web hosting packages from HostGator

DreamHost is keeping things simple – there is only one plan (which comes with a 97-day money-back guarantee) and it provides a free domain for your first year. That's along with annual hosting plans, free domain privacy protection and SSL/TLS certificates, and unlimited storage, bandwidth and domain hosting.

Take a look at the web hosting packages from DreamHost

US-based GoDaddy is one of the largest web hosting companies around. As one of the few that’s done television advertising, it’s probably the best known, too.

Even its cheapest web hosting package ($5.50/£4) comes with 100GB storage, unmetered bandwidth, and a free domain – with plenty of options due to GoDaddy's vast domain name repository. GoDaddy also boasts a guaranteed 99.9% uptime, free backup and restore, and expert hosting support available 24/7/365.

One feature we particularly like is that on every package you can increase hosting capacity on demand directly from your account – handy if you experience a sudden surge in traffic.

US: Take a look at the web hosting packages from GoDaddy
UK: Check out the web hosting packages from GoDaddy

WordPress is still the most popular website builder, and Utah-based web hosting company Bluehost is WordPress’s preferred partner. Bluehost does a good job of balancing price and features for less experienced businesses, while offering lots of options for more advanced users. Its shared hosting packages start with the home user-oriented ‘basic’ plan, which kicks off from $2.99/£2.20 per month (on a three-year contract); with WordPress plans starting at $20/£16 per month - although bear in mind that’s a discounted introductory rate.

For that, you get automated setup for WordPress, as well as other popular apps via a Mojo Marketplace-powered system. Plus, there’s a cPanel-based area, so if you know what you’re doing you can tweak things.

Bluest also gives you a free domain, and provides a free Weebly-based website builder to create a site up to six pages, although website templates aren’t included. And bear in mind that none of the plans include SSL, but certificates are available as an add-on from $50 (£40) a year.

With great customer support on offer too, this makes for powerful, feature-packed, user-friendly web hosting - with customisation options for the more demanding user. That said, people who don't want lengthy commitments will probably prefer HostGator's month-to-month options.

Take a look at the web hosting packages from Bluehost

WP Engine is another WordPress hosting wizard. Unlike the other web host providers here, WP Engine only provides managed WordPress hosting: there are no e-commerce plans, VPS, dedicated servers or anything else. And while it’s expensive for casual users, it offers speed, power and high-end premium features for more demanding users.

There are some valuable benefits to going with WP Engine. The service tests WordPress updates and patches before applying them to your site, while a custom caching system optimises performance. In addition, real-time threat detection is included – and if you do get hacked, the service promises it'll be fixed for free.

The base Startup plan costs $35/£25 per month, although you get two months free if you pay upfront for an annual subscription. This gives you the power to run a single website with 25,000 visits per month and a limit of 50GB bandwidth. An SSL certificate and CDN functionality are included in that price, as is a free migration. WP Engine also promises a 99.95% service availably guarantee.

You can try out any of the WP Engine plans free for 60 days, and with a free site migration service and free SSL certificate, switching over is simple and secure.