Looking for the best SiteGround hosting review? After using SiteGround hosting for the past 7 years, here is my complete and honest review in 2021.
In 2004, SiteGround launched a website hosting service that has become the gold standard of hosting today and powers over 2 million domains. SiteGround primarily targets small businesses and individual users, providing a service that is suited for new websites that want top-tier performance and customer service at an affordable price.
When it comes to comparing budget web hosting platforms, SiteGround makes a strong case for being the leader in the market. In this article, we will take a look at what makes SiteGround a good choice for web hosting services as well as look at a few areas in their offerings that could use improvement.
Reviewing Siteground Plans
SiteGround currently offers 3 primary plans for personal and business web hosting: StartUp, GrowBig, and GoGeek.
Each plan provides a different level of service and capacity when it comes to the number of websites you can host on the plan, the amount of web space allotted and the number of visitors your site will have the capacity to host each month. Let’s look at each of the service tiers in greater detail:
StartUp
SiteGround’s StartUp plan is the most cost-effective plan that SiteGround offers and provides- the most basic features needed to get your site up and running cheap and fast. With SiteGround’s Startup plan you can host 1 website and have up to 10 GB of web space to use. We typically recommend beginning with the StartUp plan when you initially create your site and don’t have much traffic as this plan can only support up to 10,000 visits per month.
GrowBig
SiteGround’s GrowBig plan is specifically designed for web growth and allows users to host an unlimited number of websites using up to 20 GB of webspace. With greater capacity than the StartUp plan, the GrowBig plan supports up to 25,000 visits per month and offers premium features such as:
- Free site transfers for your websites that are currently hosted on other platforms
- The ability to add collaborators to your account
The GrowBig plan also offers advanced on-demand backup, WordPress staging and SuperCacher (for enhanced speeds) but these features can all be added for free with plugins and do not necessarily justify selecting this plan simply to receive these add-ons.
GoGeek
SiteGround’s GoGeek plan is the premier option for sites that are established and have a lot of web visitors. With the GoGeek plan, you host unlimited websites on 30 GB of web space and can support up to 100,000 visitors a month. In addition to the features provided in the StartUp and GrowBig plans, the GoGeek plan also offers Geeky Features which includes:
- Advanced priority customer
- The highest tier of server resources
What Plan Should I Get? (Analyzing the Siteground pricing structure)
When comparing the SiteGround plans, it is important to note that a majority of what the markets as advanced features or premium upgrades are standard options that can be obtained by using alternate solutions (many of which can be found for free). The most important factor to consider when deciding between the plans is the number of website visitors you expect each month. If you are just starting and don’t expect much traffic from the beginning, the StartUp plan should be suitable to get things rolling out the gate.
Getting a Free Siteground SSL Certificate
One of the best things about hosting on SiteGround is that they offer a free SSL certificate via Let’s Encrypt which is a non-profit authority managed by the Internet Security Research Group (ISRG) that provides certificates for security encryption at no charge. An SSL certificate is a protocol that establishes authenticated and encrypted links between network computers. This ensures that all of the information that is being passed between the web server and private and secure; without this layer of protection, hackers can easily intercept data from the unsecured website.
Sites that have a valid SSL certificate can be identified by having an “https://” in the URL instead of the standard “http://”. The Let’s Encrypt certificate is typically valid for 90 days and can be renewed at any time. SiteGround has partnered with Let’s Encrypt to support its global mission of creating free SSL certificates for all. What this means for you: by using SiteGround as your web hosting provider, you can install an SSL certificate for your site via one-click installation and instantly have a secured web presence.
Siteground login (Step-by-step Instructions)
Once you have created a SiteGround Account and selected your service plan, logging into your dashboard is very simple.
Login to SiteGround account dashboard
- Visit this URL: https://login.siteground.com/loginEnter your SIteGround account username or email to proceed
- Enter your SiteGround account password and select “login”
Login to your SiteGround cPanel dashboard
- Login to your SiteGround account to navigate to your user area
- Select “cPanel”
- You will automatically be logged into your cPanel account via an encrypted connection
Alternate (and easier) method to access your SiteGround cPanel dashboard
- Visit this URL and login to access your cPanel via a non-secure port: https://yourdomainname.com:2082
- Visit this URL and login to access your cPanel securely: https://yourdomainname.com/cpanel
Login to SiteGround WordPress dashboard
- Login to your SiteGround account to navigate to your user area
- Select “WordPress”
- Log in to using your WordPress credentials
Alternate (and easier) method to access your SiteGround WordPress dashboard
- Visit this URL: https://yourdomainname.com/wp-admin
- Log in using your WordPress credentials
Siteground support options
SiteGround has one of the best customer service ratings when comparing many of the budget hosting service providers available; the team does a great job in ensuring that each client has all of the resources available to be successful.
SiteGround support promises a 90% rate of issue resolution on the first contact, extremely fast response times and smart automated solution recommendations by their support system. There are multiple channels of help including instant self-help options and 24/7 live help offered by the SiteGround team.
SiteGround support via instant Self-help
If you are in a rush and want to get your issue resolved without waiting you have the option to troubleshoot your concern using the autonomous tools offered by SiteGround:
- Pinned assistance every page – SiteGround offers pinned help options on each of their web pages without the client interfaces. The team makes it relatively simple to obtain easy access to answers to some of the most commonly inquired questions by pinning relevant support articles for each task.
- Smart Artificial Intelligence Chatbots – SiteGround has developed an AI robot that can solve specific issues using the fastest method possible.
- Automation Tools and Processes – whenever a customer submits an inquiry, the support team at SiteGround analyzes it to see if it was an issue that was ever solved before. If so, the team immediately provides a ready-made solution for customers to get the fastest resolutions.
SiteGround support via 24/7 Live help
While ready-made solutions are convenient, sometimes there is nothing more practical (and helpful) than getting in touch with a friendly human-being. SiteGround offers the following Live help options:
- Live chat – Since talking on the phone isn’t my favorite thing to do, using the SiteGround live chat feature has been extremely convenient for me and my team. Service is really fast and waits times are typically a few seconds to less than a minute until you get someone who can help you solve your issue. There is also a rating system that shows you how customers have rated each agent from their previous interactions. SiteGround agents pride themselves on being able to resolve 90%+ of the inquiries they get on the first try.
- Phone support – Want to talk to a live person? Done. The SiteGround support number is listed on their website and easily accessible to all customers. The average time you will have to wait to get an experienced agent on the phone is roughly 2 minutes.
- Helpdesk support tickets – While I am not a fan of support tickets (because wait times can be so darn long), SiteGround does a great job of quickly getting a resolution and moving the ticket into the “resolved” queue for your approval. There is typically an advanced technician on your helpdesk ticket within 15 minutes (which is lightning fast in this industry) and a vast majority of tickets are resolved on a single reply.
Can I get a free SiteGround domain?
There was a time when hosting companies were offering free domains in a package deal with monthly hosting to get new customers. SiteGround once had this offer as a part of their signup package for new customers but has since discontinued this practice and focused on offering highly competitive hosting service rates and exceptional customer service. While there are still companies that may do this, SiteGround does not currently offer free domain registration with their hosting services.
Accessing SiteGround webmail
SiteGround hosting comes with built-in access to webmail on all of its plans which is great if you want to develop a professional web presence when sending emails using a yourname@yourdomainname.com email box. Setting up a webmail account in your cPanel is pretty simple and can be completed in a few clicks; If you want assistance in getting this done, the SiteGround customer support team can help you achieve this.
Once you have an active webmail account, here are a couple of ways to gain access to your email box.
Login to SiteGround webmail through the cPanel
The easiest way to access your SiteGround webmail account is by going through the cPanel. Once you are in your cPanel, navigate to the “Mail” section and select “Webmail”.
You will then be taken to a page where you are asked to log in by selecting an email client. An Email client is a software you will use to access your webmail – neither is better than the other but each is unique in layout and functionality so try them all out and select one that you like moving forward.
Once you have selected your email client, you will be able to log in to your webmail account and start sending and receive emails.
Login to SiteGround webmail directly (without cPanel)
You can also access your SiteGround webmail account using a special URL that is linked to your domain name:
yourdomainname.com/webmail
Once you have entered this address you will be asked to enter your email address and Password. Be sure that you have a webmail account set up so that you can use your domain’s email address to log in. Simply provide your login credentials and you should be in and good to go.
Using the SiteGround Cloudflare CDN service
SiteGround offers Cloudflare service integration completely free with their hosting plans. Cloudflare is one of the biggest networks on the internet and offers services to help websites improve security as well as performance.
Here is how it works: when you load a website, your request goes from your computer to a server that renders and returns the web pages that you requested. If too many requests go to the service at once, the server could become unresponsive, overwhelmed and crash as a result.
Cloudflare solves this problem by having data centers in over 200 cities across the globe to store and provide content in proximity to each user. This is known as a Content Delivery Network (or CDN), which is essentially a network of geographically distributed servers.
With the free SiteGround Cloudflare integration you can get:
- Faster website speeds
- SSL support (for added security)
- And specific page rules for up to 3 web pages
Should I use SiteGround to host my Website?
There are many great reasons why you should consider hosting on SiteGround which we’ve outlined in this article. The primary benefit of using this hosting service is the highly competitive pricing structure along with the numerous added features that most other service providers do not offer. Top that with an impeccable customer service rating for their expert agents and you have a can’t-miss solution for people who are building out their websites and looking for a budget hosting provider.
I’ve personally hosted many of my starter sites on SiteGround and moved them over to WPX hosting when traffic gets to over 100,000 visitors a month for added support and faster site loading.
I fully recommend SiteGround if you are starting your website and welcome you to try them by visiting this link. Good luck!