On LinuxAndUbuntu, we have discussed hosting WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and other popular software on practically all major web server software.
If you’re planning to launch a website, web hosting is one of the crucial factors you need to consider. Web hosting is essentially the service that allows your website to be accessible to anyone online. Choosing the right web hosting provider is crucial to the success of your website. But, with so many options available, it can be overwhelming to select the right one.
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While some web hosting services can cost a fortune, there are affordable options available that offer reliable service. In this article, we will explore the cheapest web hosting services available.
Before we dive into the list of the cheapest web hosting services, it’s essential to understand what you need to look for in a web hosting provider. One of the crucial factors you need to consider is reliability. A web hosting provider that offers 99.9% uptime guarantees that your website will be available to visitors most of the time.
Another factor to consider is the ease of use. A user-friendly interface is essential, especially if you’re new to web hosting. A provider that offers an intuitive dashboard and easy-to-use tools can help you manage your website efficiently.
The next factor you need to consider is security. Cyberattacks and online threats are prevalent in today’s digital world. A web hosting provider with robust security features like firewalls, malware scanners, and SSL certificates can help safeguard your website against online threats.
Finally, it would help if you considered the pricing of the web hosting provider. While we’re looking for the cheapest web hosting services, ensuring that the provider offers value for your money is essential. Don’t compromise on quality for the sake of affordability.
In this article, we’ll focus on the most affordable web hosting services available. We will examine their features, pricing, and overall value for money. Whether you’re launching a personal blog, an online store, or a business website, we’ve got you covered. We will help you decide and select the best cheap web hosting provider for your needs.
So, without further ado, let’s explore the cheapest web hosting services and find the perfect one for your website.
Cheapest Web Hosting
There are hundreds of web hosting services, but Google, AWS, and some other handful web services are mostly considered because of their popularity. It is easy to understand why one would choose a renowned web hosting provider such as Google, AWS, or Hostgator. However, while Google and AWS provide high-quality servers with high uptime, they are not accessible to everyone due to higher prices.
A small eCommerce store may cost hundreds of dollars to host on either of these popular hosting packages. The higher the server resources, the higher the price.
On the other hand, other web hosting services provide quality servers at an affordable price. The web hosting companies I will highlight are known for providing cost-effective VPS and Dedicated servers.
Shared hosting vs. Dedicated server
I do not like shared hosting services that share one server resource among ten or twenty consumers. I have tested and used almost all popular shared hosting services. The main issue with most shared hosting services is that consumers need more CPU power.
Most of the time, CPU consumption exceeds 90%, even though the consumer still needs to set up something. Very few could provide quality services, while most shared hostings crawled when set up to serve WordPress or other CMS.
In another article, I discussed the difference between shared and dedicated hosting. A dedicated server is a way to go when getting high uptime and fast performance. Please read the article to determine better what type of server you require.
All the cloud providers in this list provide both VPS and a dedicated server. So I suggest you find out what you need for your desired website or application.
Dynamic Pricing
VPS and dedicated server pricing can be volatile. If someone purchases more add-ons, the price may rise—for instance, automatic backup, more IP addresses, additional storage, etc. I’ll look at three main components in this article: CPU cores, Memory (RAM), and storage.
We will start the list in descending order, putting the highest price on #4 and the lowest on #1.
Cheapest Web Hosting Services
4. MassiveGRID
MassiveGRID offers various hosting solutions, including shared hosting, cloud-dedicated servers, and bare-metal dedicated servers. After evaluating MassiveGRID, we moved LinuxAndUbuntu to MassiveGRID in October 2019. After discovering a more cost-effective solution, we hosted LinuxAndUbuntu on MassiveGRID till April 2022.
| Server type | Starts from (monthly) | vCPU | Memory (RAM) | Storage | Storage Type |
| VPS (Shared CPU) | $15 | 2 | 2GB DDR4 | 32GB | SSD |
| Cloud Dedicated Server | $51.84 | 2 | 4GB DDR4 | 64GB | SSD |
| Bare metal dedicated server | $176.20 | 4 | 32GB | Addon | SSD/NVMe |
VPS hosting costs as little as $15 per month. You should be able to host blogs, eCommerce websites, and custom apps with two virtual CPUs and two gigabytes of DDR4 RAM. If you need more processing power, you may have to upgrade the server to a Cloud dedicated server or bare metal.
It is vital to note that when using a bare metal dedicated server, users must pay an additional price for storage.
| 2x450GB SSD NVMe Soft RAID | $81 |
| 2x450GB SSD NVMe Soft RAID + 2x2TB HDD SATA Soft RAID | $97 |
| 2x1920GB SSD NVMe Soft RAID | $120 |
3. DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean is the most popular cloud service among the others listed here. It is well-known for offering fast cloud servers at a low cost. A virtual private server with 1 vCPU, 1GB RAM, and a 25GB SSD costs $5. A $5 upgrade gets you 50GB of SSD storage.
| Server type | Starts from | vCPU | Memory (RAM) | Storage | Storage Type |
| VPS (Shared CPU) | $5 | 1 | 1GB | 25GB | SSD |
| Dedicated Server | $60 | 2 | 8GB | 25GB | SSD |
2. Vultr
I have been using Vultr for testing custom web applications. Vultr is extremely useful for testing and hosting custom applications. It provides a small IPv6-only VPS for as low as $2.5/month. With $3/month, you can also get IPv4. Server management is very similar to DigitalOcean because it allows you to create, delete, and manage servers easily.
| Server type | Starts from | vCPU | Memory (RAM) | Storage | Storage Type |
| VPS (Shared vCPU) | $2.5 (No IPv4) | 1 | 0.5GB | 10GB | SSD |
| VPS (Shared vCPU) | $3 (IPv4) | 1 | 0.5GB | 10GB | SSD |
| Dedicated Server | $30 | 1 | 4GB | 30GB | NVMe |
Best Self-hosted Email Clients
Self-hosted email clients are those that we can host on our own server or on our local network. The advantage of using a self-hosted email client is that it makes your email accounts accessible to any devices on a network.
1. Contabo
Contabo is at the top of our list. Contabo offers servers at an unbelievably low price with resources no competitors can match. So far, I have not discovered a server hosting service as inexpensive as Contabo. At least I’ve not found any. We migrated LinuxAndUbuntu to Contabo in April 2022, and it’s been excellent for me so far.
Pricing begins at $6.99 monthly for a VPS with four vCPU, 8GB RAM, 200GB SSD storage, or 50GB NVMe storage. One can select the type of SSD to install on their servers. If you are hosting an application that does not require fast storage, go with SSD; otherwise, go with NVMe.
For heavy tasks, virtual dedicated servers provide powerful computing instances. It’s ideal for launching custom applications or high-traffic WordPress sites.
| Server type | Starts from | CPU | Memory (RAM) | Storage | Storage Type |
| VPS (Shared vCPU) | $6.99 | 4 | 8GB | 200GB | SSD |
| VDS (Virtual Dedicated Server) | $49.99 | 3 | 24GB | 180GB | NVMe |
| Bare meta Dedicated Server | $180.98 | 10 | 256 GB REG ECC | 500GB | SSD |
Their VDS pricing goes as high as $168.99/month for 12 physical CPU cores, 96 GB RAM, 720 GB NVMe, and 1 Gbit/s port.
Contabo dedicated servers, like MassiveGRID, necessitate the purchase of extra SSDs. On the other hand, bare metal dedicated servers are the most powerful servers. You have complete access to robust hardware with outstanding performance. Pricing is $169.99 monthly for 10 CPU cores, 256 GB REG ECC RAM, and a 1 Gbit/s port.
| Storage Size | Type | Pricing |
| 500 GB | SSD | $10.99 |
| 1 TB | SSD | $28.99 |
| 2 TB | SSD | $43.99 |
| 4 TB | SSD | $109.99 |
| 480 GB | NVMe | $25.99 |
| 1 TB | NVMe | $48.99 |
| 1.9 TB | NVMe | $79.99 |
| 2 TB | HDD | $7.99 |
| 6 TB | HDD | $37.99 |
| 12 TB | HDD | $68.99 |
There are 12 drive slots, meaning one can attach multiple disks to a single compute instance. Each HDD takes two drive slots, each SSD takes one drive slot, and each NVMe takes 1 PCIe slot.
32 TB bandwidth
Contabo offers 32 TB of outgoing bandwidth and unlimited in. It’s the highest I’ve ever seen. DigitalOcean and the other prominent cloud services supply bandwidth based on the plan, which still needs to be improved. Contabo includes 32 TB of traffic with each plan, with the opportunity to upgrade (in case you consume 32 TB in a month).
Conclusion
All service providers featured here have knowledgeable staff to assist their clients. If you get locked out of your server, their automatically reset root password will help you get back in. If you require additional information, please visit the relevant website or leave a comment below this article; I will do my best to respond as quickly as possible.
This was my list of the cheapest web hosting. Because I was solely concerned with inexpensive cost and high-quality servers while writing this article, the list only comprises four providers. I will consider suggestions for adding more server providers to the list.