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Best Web Hosting For Small Business Success In 2025

These are the best web hosting options for every small business -- from solo portfolios to growing teams.

Our Experts

Headshot of Dianna Gunn
Written by  Dianna Gunn
Article updated on 
Headshot of Dianna Gunn
Dianna GunnWeb Hosting Expert
Dianna Gunn built her first WordPress website in 2008. Since then, she's poured thousands of hours into understanding how websites and online businesses work. She's shared what she's learned on blogs like ThemeIsle, BloggingPro and DomainWheel. She now works for CNET as a Web Hosting Expert, creating in-depth guides on web hosting and reviewing the top web hosting companies to help folks preparing to build a website for the first time.
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The quality of your website can make or break your small business, and building a great website starts with choosing a great web host. You'll want to make sure that your web host can keep up with your business needs, like increasing website traffic, advanced e-commerce features or affordable pricing. I've spent the past year evaluating web hosting companies for the value of their plans, the quality of their website creation tools and the reliability of their servers. Here are the best web hosting companies for small businesses based on my research and testing.

What is the best web hosting for small businesses right now?

AccuWeb is the best web hosting for small businesses on a tight budget. You’ll get top-tier security and performance, plus email hosting for at least five email addresses, for very affordable prices -- there are several plans starting at less than $10 a month. Moreover, the lowest-tier plan doesn’t have increased renewal pricing, so you’ll pay $2.75 indefinitely. This makes it ideal for portfolio and solopreneur websites.

Nexcess is the best web hosting for small businesses with more spending power. Its fully managed plans reduce the time you need to spend on website maintenance. You’ll get excellent security and performance-enhancing features, plus support experts trained in WordPress, WooCommerce and Magento. WordPress and WooCommerce users also get built-in premium plugins. However, the lowest-cost plan starts at $17.50 a month, so this may not be a good option for small businesses on a shoestring budget.

Best web hosting for small business

Best for long-term affordability

AccuWeb

Pros

  • Excellent security protocols
  • LiteSpeed-enhanced servers
  • Email hosting available with all plans
  • Lowest-tier plan has permanent pricing, meaning your cost won’t increase on renewal

Cons

  • Must sign up for three years to get the best discount on shared and WordPress plans
  • Low-tier plans don’t include a free domain for the first year
  • Phone service not available on Sunday

AccuWeb’s affordable web hosting plans are jam-packed with features, making it a great choice for small businesses with tight budgets. Some of the benefits included with all plans are secure socket layer -- SSL -- certification, a custom firewall, antivirus protection, malware scanning, distributed denial of service -- DDoS -- protection and daily backups. AccuWeb servers are also LiteSpeed-enhanced to optimize site speed.

Small business owners will also appreciate AccuWeb’s email hosting. The most affordable managed WordPress plan -- which is also the company’s most affordable option overall -- includes up to five custom email addresses (like yourname@yourdomain.com), and the next level up includes up to 150.

AccuWeb offers 24/7 customer service via live chat and email, plus 24-hour phone service every day except Sunday.

Plans for small businesses

Very small businesses can use the lowest-tier WordPress hosting plan, which costs $2.75 a month forever if you choose a three-year term. This plan offers enough storage to host at least 100 web pages and enough bandwidth (sometimes referred to as data transfer) for 100,000 monthly visitors, plus email hosting for five email addresses.

E-commerce businesses can use AccuWeb’s WooCommerce plans, which feature pre-installed WooCommerce and a free WooCommerce migration. These plans start at $5 a month ($8 a month on renewal) for enough storage to host at least 500 pages, enough bandwidth to handle one million monthly visitors, 150 email addresses and one virtual central processing unit -- vCPU -- for improved ability to handle complex site processes, like playing videos, for many users at the same time. You must choose a three-year contract to get the introductory discount.

If you don’t plan to use WordPress, you can also get regular shared hosting from AccuWeb, starting at $3 a month (based on a three-year contract) for enough storage to host at least 500 pages and enough bandwidth for 750,000 monthly visitors. This plan increases to $7 a month on renewal.

You can also get managed VPS -- virtual private server -- hosting starting at $4 a month (renews at $11 a month), with two vCPUs, enough storage for at least 250 pages and enough bandwidth for 250,000 monthly visitors. Unmanaged VPS hosting starts at $9.30 a month ($11 a month on renewal) for enough storage to host at least 300 pages and enough bandwidth for 250,000 visitors per month. These plans are great if you need to store lots of large files -- like images and videos -- or you want to customize things like your server's operating system.

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Best for beginners

Hostinger

Pros

  • Great tools for website creation and server management
  • Fast, reliable servers
  • Robust security
  • Email hosting for up to 100 email addresses on all plans

Cons

  • Customer service is only available through live chat
  • Must sign up for a four year contract to receive the largest introductory discount on most plans

Hostinger received top marks in our hands-on testing thanks to its easy-to-use website creation and server management tools. Hostinger also has great server performance, with excellent uptime and the second-fastest site speed of any traditional web host we've tested. This performance is ensured through LiteSpeed-enhanced servers and proprietary caching tools may provide better webpage loading speeds versus traditional web server infrastructure. Many Hostinger plans also include a content delivery network -- CDN -- to improve speed for international users by storing data in servers around the globe, letting users' devices pull data from the server closest to them.

Most Hostinger plans come with top-notch security including SSL to encrypt your data and an advanced firewall to protect against both viruses and DDoS attacks. WordPress users can also take advantage of the WordPress vulnerabilities scanner and auto-update tools to ensure site security. Backups are performed weekly (daily on higher-tier plans) so you can restore your site quickly if something goes wrong.

Another benefit of Hostinger for small businesses is email hosting, which lets you create up to 100 custom email addresses.

Plans and pricing

Hostinger's shared hosting starts at $3 a month (renews at $8 a month) for enough storage to host at least 1,000 pages and enough bandwidth to accommodate 25,000 visitors a month. This plan also includes most of Hostinger's managed WordPress features and access to Hostinger's website builder. Hostinger offers WordPress hosting with most of the same features (excluding the website builder) for the same price. You'll need to sign up for four years to receive the full introductory discount.

E-commerce businesses can take advantage of Hostinger's WooCommerce hosting starting at $4 a month (renews at $9 a month). This plan includes enough storage for at least 2,000 pages and enough bandwidth for 100,000 monthly visitors, plus one-click WooCommerce installation. Higher-tier WooCommerce plans also include specialized support from Hostinger's team of e-commerce experts. You must sign up for four years to receive the full introductory discount.

Hostinger also offers unmanaged VPS hosting for small businesses with more complex data needs, starting at $5 a month (renews at $9 a month) for enough storage to host at least 500 pages and enough bandwidth for four million monthly visitors. You can receive this discount with a one-year plan.

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Best premium web hosting for small businesses

Nexcess

Pros

  • Specialized tools for performance monitoring and security
  • Developer tools
  • Comes bundled with premium plugins like Yoast SEO
  • WordPress and WooCommerce experts available for customer support
  • WooCommerce plans include built-in page builders and custom themes
  • Availability of Magento plans for e-commerce businesses that don’t want to use WordPress
  • Above-average uptime of 99.99%

Cons

  • No free domain
  • Introductory prices only last three months and are only available with a three-year plan

Nexcess is a premium web hosting service with plans for small-to-medium-sized companies and even enterprise businesses, making it a great choice if you want a host that can grow with you as your business does.

Nexcess provides fully managed hosting with free SSL certification, daily backups, a wide range of developer tools and an above-average 99.99% uptime guarantee. You’ll also get 24/7 access to expert customer support via live chat, phone and support ticket. You can also create unlimited email accounts on any Nexcess plan. Email hosting space is part of your main storage allocation.

However, there are a couple of drawbacks. You won’t get a free domain for the first year on any Nexcess plan. You also won’t get introductory discounts on the basic WordPress plans outside of certain seasonal sales, and the regular prices are on the expensive side.

Plans for small businesses

Nexcess offers managed WordPress hosting with auto-updates for the core software and plugins. A Solid Security plugin, image lazy loading and compression tools, a plugin performance monitor and a CDN are included for secure, fast and reliable site performance. The most affordable option is $17.50 a month (based on an annual contract) and includes enough storage for at least 150 pages and enough bandwidth for two million monthly visitors.

For e-commerce businesses, Nexcess offers specialized WooCommerce plans bundled with premium design plugins like Astra Pro, Beaver Builder Lite and custom storefront themes. These plans start at $17.50 a month (billed annually) for enough storage to host at least 300 pages and enough bandwidth for three million monthly visitors. You can also get Nexcess hosting for Magento, another popular e-commerce platform. These plans start at $37.52 a month for the first three months ($67 a month after) for enough storage to host at least 500 pages and enough bandwidth for one million monthly visitors.

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Fastest customer service

HostArmada

Pros

  • Top-notch security
  • Cloud-based servers for improved performance
  • Multiple daily backups
  • Unlimited email hosting
  • Fast customer service

Cons

  • No free domain for the first year
  • Introductory discounts for shared and WordPress hosting only available with a three-year contract
  • Introductory discount only available for first quarter on VPS hosting

HostArmada uses cloud-based servers for all types of hosting, reducing downtime and increasing site speed for all customers. HostArmada plans also include security features like SSL certification, advanced firewall protection, malware scanning protection, brute force protection, live server monitoring and multiple daily backups.

Another benefit of HostArmada for small businesses is the unlimited email hosting offered on all plans. This lets you create as many professional email addresses as you need for different employees, departments and campaigns. However, email storage comes out of your total storage amount, so there is a technical limit on how many accounts you can create.

What really stands out about HostArmada, though, is the promised customer service. You can access 24/7 customer service via live chat, support ticket, phone and email. HostArmada also brags about fast response times: instant for live chat and phone, within 10 minutes for support tickets, and within one hour for email.

Plans for small businesses

Small businesses can use the Start Dock plan, which comes in two varieties: shared hosting and WordPress hosting. Both start at $2.50 a month ($10 a month on renewal) for enough storage to host at least 150 pages and enough bandwidth for up to 30,000 visitors a month. You’ll also get two CPU -- central processing unit -- cores and 2GB of random access memory -- RAM -- to ensure fast, reliable performance. The WordPress version also includes one-click WordPress installation and automatic WordPress updates.

You can opt for a bigger shared or WordPress hosting plan if you need more data or bandwidth, or choose managed VPS hosting starting at $30 a month and renewing at $60 a month (based on quarterly payments). The lowest-tier VPS plan includes enough storage for at least 500 pages, enough bandwidth for two million monthly visitors and one CPU. VPS plans are great for businesses that need to store large amounts of videos and images or expecting to receive hundreds of thousands of visitors per month. VPS hosting is also great for companies that need to customize their server, such as businesses that need a Windows-based server to work with specific business tools.

What to Consider

Types of Web Hosting

Performance

Security

Customer Service

Price

Factors to consider when choosing a web hosting for small business

Types of web hosting

As a small business owner, you’ll probably start with shared hosting or WordPress hosting due to their affordable and easy-to-use nature.

Shared hosting splits one web server’s resources -- like bandwidth and data storage -- between many websites. This limits how much content -- like blog posts and landing pages -- your site can store and how many monthly visitors it can handle, but it also makes shared hosting affordable. Low-cost shared hosting plans can usually accommodate up to 10,000 monthly visitors, while high-end plans can typically handle up to 400,000.

WordPress hosting is (typically shared) hosting optimized for WordPress, a content management system -- CMS -- for creating and organizing blog posts and other site content. This includes pre-installed WordPress and may include pre-installed themes or plugins and automated WordPress updates. Low-cost WordPress hosting plans can often accommodate up to 10,000 monthly visitors, whereas higher-cost plans can typically handle up to 400,000.

Cloud hosting stores a website in multiple data centers to improve uptime and loading speeds for users around the globe. This type of hosting is used by popular website builders like Squarespace. Many traditional website hosting companies also offer cloud hosting. Cloud hosting bandwidth varies a lot, but most plans can accommodate at least 10,000 monthly visitors, and scaling up as your site grows is often quite simple with cloud hosting.

Virtual private server -- VPS -- hosting involves creating several virtual servers within one physical server. Each virtual server has dedicated resources, like storage and bandwidth. This typically lets you store more data -- tens or hundreds of thousands of large files like images and videos -- and accommodate more traffic (often several hundred thousand monthly visitors) than shared hosting. You may also get to customize aspects of your server, like the operating system.

Dedicated hosting involves giving one customer a full physical server. Many dedicated hosting plans let you host hundreds of thousands of pages and accommodate millions of visitors per month. However, these plans are expensive and can be complicated to set up, so I generally don’t recommend dedicated hosting for small businesses.

Performance

There are two ways a web host influences your site’s performance: uptime and site speed.

Uptime is the amount of time your website spends online. Most web hosting services guarantee 99.9% uptime, meaning that server issues won’t cause your site to go down for more than 45 minutes a month. Some go beyond this to guarantee as much as 99.99% uptime, meaning your site won’t go down because of server issues for more than four minutes per month.

Site speed is how long it takes for your website to load. As a general rule, shorter load times are better. There are a few things web hosts can offer to improve this aspect of performance:

  • International data centers so you can choose a server close to your target audience and improve loading speeds for them.
  • Caching tools to store key data in users’ browsers and improve loading times on repeat visits.
  • Content delivery networks orCDNs to store data in several locations around the world, allowing users’ browsers to pull from the server closest to them.

Security

Keeping your data -- and your customers’ data -- safe is important, especially if you’re accepting payments or collecting sensitive personal information through your website. Your web hosting plan should provide at least two security tools:

  • Secure socket layer --SSL-- certification: A protocol that encrypts data sent to and from your website. SSL certification also indicates to Google, browsers and VPNs that your site is safe, and some browsers and VPNs won’t even let you open a site without it.
  • Firewall: A software tool that filters out malware attempting to infiltrate your site. Some firewalls also provide protection from distributed denial of service -- DDoS -- and brute force attacks.

Some hosts also provide security provisions like malware scanning/repair to handle any malware that makes it through to your site and automated backups so you can quickly restore your site if something goes wrong.

Customer service

You should be able to reach customer service at any time of day or night via live chat, support ticket/email or phone. When you contact them, customer support reps should be fast to respond and knowledgeable enough to fix your issues in a timely manner.

This is one area where checking reviews is important. Companies always say their customer service is great, but that doesn’t make it true. Look at sources like Trustpilot and our own web hosting reviews to see what real customers have experienced.

Price

There are a few things to keep in mind when considering web hosting costs:

  • Contract length: You may have to buy a one-, two- or even three-year plan -- and pay for all of those months up front -- to access the best price.
  • Renewal pricing: Many web hosts offer low introductory pricing and raise the cost significantly when the contract renews.
  • Additional fees: You may need to pay extra for things like a domain name. You’ll also want to pay attention to transaction fees if you’re choosing an e-commerce plan.
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How CNET tests web hosting

We conduct thorough research on every web host we feature, focusing on:

  • The quality of the plans listed on their website
  • Customer service options listed on their website
  • Reviews from Trustpilot, complaints on the Better Business Bureau website and the host’s overall reputation

We’ve also developed a framework for testing web hosting services that involves purchasing a plan and testing ease of use, uptime and speed over the course of one week. We also test each method of communicating with customer support to test response times and expertise. Notes from these reviews are included in relevant listings and updated as we complete more reviews.

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Other web hosting we've tested

HostGator

HostGator is a popular web host that performed reasonably well in our hands-on testing, with easy-to-use site and account management tools and decent server performance. However, customer service was very inconsistent, suggesting that HostGator’s not suitable for sites with complex support needs.

There have also been some disappointing recent changes to HostGator’s most affordable plan, including the removal of email and phone support and a switch from perma-free SSL certification to only offering SSL certification free for the first year.

Still, HostGator can be a good choice for simple websites, with plans starting at $3.75 a month (renews at $11 a month) for enough storage to host at least 100 pages, unmetered bandwidth and pre-installed WordPress with a proprietary site assistant to simplify setup.

Read our HostGator review.

GoDaddy

GoDaddy is the biggest name in web hosting, powering 15.6% of all websites. I found it relatively easy to work with during my testing, with decent account and site management tools, excellent server performance and fast, knowledgeable customer service.

GoDaddy also seems quite affordable at first glance, with the lowest-cost shared hosting plan starting at $6 a month and rising to $10 a month on renewal. However, there are some caveats. SSL certification is only free for one year, and you’ll have to pay $100 a year after that. You’ll also need to pay an extra $3 a month for basic security protection like a firewall.

Read our GoDaddy review.

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Web hosting for small business FAQs

How much is website hosting for a small business?

I recommend shared or WordPress hosting for most small businesses. Most of these plans start with a price tag of $3 to 5 a month and rise to $10 to 20 a month on renewal. VPS hosting, a good option for businesses with more advanced data needs, can cost anywhere from $3 a month to $100 or more each month.

Cloud hosting, an ideal choice for site owners expecting high traffic levels and especially high international traffic, is only offered by some web hosting services and typically costs $30 or more each month.

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Which web hosting is best for beginners?

Beginners who are good at -- and interested in -- learning new software and want maximum customization should choose shared or WordPress hosting and use WordPress to build their sites. Beginners who want the lowest possible learning curve should choose website builder hosting from a company like Squarespace or Shopify.

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What are the three types of web hosting?

There are several types of web hosting, but the three most common are:

Shared hosting, where one server’s resources — like data and bandwidth — are shared between many sites. The cost of maintaining the server is also split between the sites, making shared hosting highly affordable, often starting at $3 to 5 a month.

Virtual private server or VPS hosting, where a server is split into multiple virtual private servers with dedicated resources. This type of hosting typically provides more flexibility for large and complex websites than shared hosting, resulting in higher costs, often $30 or more a month.

Dedicated hosting, where an entire physical server is dedicated to a single site owner. This often comes with several hundred gigabytes or even a terabyte of data, high bandwidth and full server customization, but it’s also typically hundreds of dollars per month.

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How do I choose a website host for my business?

You should establish an understanding of what type of website you want to create, research important web hosting terms and use that information to figure out what you need from a website host.

Once you know what you need, you can create a shortlist of potential hosts and read in-depth reviews of companies you’re considering. Take your time with this decision, as your choice of web host can make or break your business!

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How much should I pay someone to host my website?

As a small business owner, you should expect to pay $3-6 a month for your first term (one to three years) and $10-20 a month on future contracts if you choose shared or WordPress hosting. You’ll pay $15-30 a month on a permanent basis if you choose website builder hosting through a company like Squarespace or Shopify.

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