Your website is only useful when it’s online and performing as it should. Slow load times, downtime, and glitchy performance are deadly sins that’ll kill your traffic fast. Choosing anything less than the best web hosting Australia may expose you to all these issues.
Who’s the best? That’ll depend on your needs. With hundreds of providers and thousands of packages out there, you have a wide array of choices.
Are you feeling overwhelmed?
Anyone would — there are many options out there. To make things easier, we’ve rounded up the top ten companies providing web hosting in Australia. In this post, we’ll give our frank opinions of each.
Best Web Hosting Australia 2022 - Reviews
1. Hostinger
Hostinger data centres in Asia, Europe, and the USA bring your traffic through fast. Affordable packages, outstanding support, and reliable uptime seal the deal.
For a dollar a month, you can start your blogging empire. You’ll get a whopping 100 GB of bandwidth, one website, and 10 GB of storage.
Be prepared to pay an extra few dollars for your domain name. You don’t get it free with this plan. The Shared Hosting plan provides excellent value for the beginner.
Ramp up your results with the Business Shared Hosting Package. You’ll get ten times the storage, unlimited websites, cron jobs, databases, and free daily backups. The plan includes a free SSL certificate.
If you feel you need even more, the Premium Shared Hosting package gives you 20 GB of space and a more comprehensive range of unlimited options.
The company also provides Cloud, VPS, and WordPress hosting packages.
Hostinger is a reliable host that has an almost perfect uptime. With servers on three continents, it moves web traffic quickly.
Pros
- Inexpensive
- Impressive speed
- Webhost and domain registrar
- Uptime averages at 99.9%
- You may also host your email through them
Cons
- Price soars after the first term
- Support is online only
- The Shared Basic package doesn’t include your domain name
- No free domain name for the basic plan
- No telephonic support
2. SiteGround
SiteGround has data centers in Australia, Singapore, Europe, and the United States. It’s one of only three providers recommended by WordPress, making it one of the best WordPress hosts around.
Plans with SiteGround start at $4.95 per month. If you need a range of features and lightning-fast load speeds, it’s worth the extra cost.
Each package includes:
- Unmetered data transfer and SSD storage to boost load speeds
- Free CDN
- A free web builder
- Unlimited subdomains and databases
- Free backups
- 30-day, money-back guarantee
- Free performance boosters
You then have a choice of three hosting packages.
Startup gives you one website, 10 GB disk space, and allows up to 10,000 monthly visitors. Upgrading is simple enough if you need more room.
For a few dollars more, GrowBig gives you 20 GB disk space, unlimited sites, and up to 25,000 monthly visitors. You also receive on-demand backups and caching.
GoGeek is the top plan. For $14.95, you get 30 GB disk space, unlimited sites, and up to 100,000 monthly visitors. You may also access premier support, white-label clients, and access to all resources.
Pros
- One of the fastest hosts thanks to SSD servers
- Good value for the money
- Data centres in our backyard
- Feature-packed plans
- Excellent uptime
Cons
- Double the initial cost to renew
- Servers are Linux-based
3. A2 hosting
A2 Hosting has data centres in Singapore, Europe, and the United States.
Plans range from introductory prices from $2.99 to $14.99 per month. If your target market doesn’t tolerate lagging load times, you’ll appreciate the server speeds here. The company ensures better resource sharing by using more servers than most.
Consumers may choose between four packages.
Startup gives you a single site, 100 GB disk space, 5 databases, and free site migration. For a little more, Drive gives you unlimited sites, databases and space, free backups, and protection against spikes in traffic.
Turbo Boost is the most popular plan. It adds performance boosters and tools to increase visitors and conversions. Your site will be up to 20 times faster than with the previous options.
Turbo Max is the ultimate package. Your plan includes more storage and all the features the company offers. You may choose your data centre.
Pros
- All plans include CDN and SSL certificates
- SSD or NVMe servers for rapid data transfer
- You may select the best data centre for you
- The website builder is easy to use
- Outstanding speed and uptime
Cons
- Expensive
- Pro-rated refund
4. GreenGeeks
The closest GreenGeeks data centre is in Europe. The rest are in North America. The company makes up for this by providing an excellent range of features.
Why is it called GreenGeeks? The company replaces 300% of the energy its servers use with renewable energy.
The plans range from the introductory prices of $2.95 to $11.95 per month.
The Lite plan includes one site, the domain name for one year, unlimited bandwidth, storage, emails, the website builder, and daily backups. It’s an excellent option for beginners.
The Pro plan has all the same features but allows you unlimited websites. Your site will load in half the amount of time.
Larger businesses and e-commerce stores will appreciate the Premium plan (good if you’re looking for a quality web host for ecommerce). You get a premium SSL certificate and a free dedicated IP address. Your site loads in a quarter of the time.
The firm also provides dedicated hosting. What we like most about this company is that there are no extras added to the bill. The price they quote on the main page is what you pay at the end.
Pros
- Best value for the money
- All the packages include impressive features
- Free domain name
- 300% energy match
- Outstanding customer support
Cons
- No data centres in Australia or Asia
- Renewal costs are high
5. Kinsta
Kinsta has 24 servers worldwide with one in Sydney. Google Cloud powers the servers, so they’re incredibly reliable and fast. They host entry-level companies to large enterprises like Freshbooks.
There are several plans from which to choose. The Starter Plan covers up to 25,000 monthly visitors, so it’s not cheap at $30 a month. You’ll get 10 GB disk space and one WordPress installation.
The upside is that you pay for what you use, so the plans are more customizable than with other options on this list. You may contact the sales department to discuss a tailormade quote for your company.
In return for paying a premium, you get unmatched cloud hosting. If you need a fast, scalable option, it’s a reasonable deal.
What may make it worthwhile is the range of performance-enhancing tools the company provides. They feature self-healing PHP options and auto-optimization of databases. All plans come with in-house caching and are compatible with KeyCDN.
Pros
- Uses Google Cloud Platform
- Security is one of the best in the business
- Added features for developers
- Daily or hourly backups
- Free SSL certificate
Cons
- Support is online only
- Plans start at $30 a month
6. Bluehost
Bluehost has data centres in Hong Kong, Mainland China, India, Europe, and the United States.
The company is one of the most established players in the market. It provides affordable packages, good load speeds, and reliable uptimes. It’s the second company on this list recommended by WordPress.
The shared packages range from $3.95 to $13.95 per month. Clients may also opt for VPS, Dedicated Servers, or WordPress Managed options.
Basic gives you one site, 50 GB disk space, a free domain name, and various parked and subdomains.
The Plus Plan upgrades all the Basic features to unlimited ones. You’ll still only get one free domain name. The plan also allows you access to spam experts and a one-month trial of the Microsoft 365 Mailbox.
The Choice Plus plan includes all the features of the Plus Plan. You also get free domain privacy and backups.
The Pro Plan is the premier option. It features everything that the Choice Plus plan with enhanced performance. You’ll also get a second spam expert and dedicated IP for free.
Pros
- Established company
- Many useful features on all plans
- Affordable
- 24/7 support and helpful tutorials
- Scalable resources
Cons
- No Australian data centres
- Unclear fair usage policy
7. Cloudways
Cloudways has more than 25 data centres globally with one in Sydney.
The company is quite unlike the rest because you choose the resources that you want. Everything is cloud-based, so there are no long-term contracts.
Cloudways prefers to rely on outstanding service and speed to retain clients. The company gives users a three-day free trial to see if they like the platform. From there, you select the speed limits, disk space, and RAM that you require.
The packages are completely customizable, so you’ll only pay for what you use. The packages range from $10 a month to $1,035 a month. Clients may opt to pay an hourly rate if they need greater versatility.
You’ll love this feature if you know something about tech. If you’re a newbie, it’s better to contact support and ask for advice.
Every plan includes:
- 24/7 support
- Staging
- Automatic backups
- SSH and SFTP access
- An SSL certificate for free
- Automatic security patching and updates
- Auto healing
- Secure firewalls
- Easy migration
- Caching
Pros
- No contracts
- No extra costs for products you don’t use
- Scalable
- Reliable hosting and speed
- A data centre in Australia
- Outstanding web-building tools
Cons
- Navigating the package options is challenging
- Only cloud hosting is available
- Fair usage policy is unclear
8. HostPapa
HostPapa has data centres in Canada, the United States, and Europe. The company added the last two centres in May to cope with increased demand.
Shared hosting plans range from $2.95 to $7.95. When selecting your plan, please check the renewal costs. They range from $7.99 to $19.99, so the jump is significant.
You’re able to lock in your initial rate for up to three years to lessen the shock a little.
The Starter plan is suitable for beginners. You receive two sites, 100 GB disk space, unlimited bandwidth, a free SSL certificate, and a domain name.
Upgrade to the Business plan if you want unlimited disk space, unlimited sites, add-on domains, and MY SQL databases. The Business plan is the company’s bestseller.
The Business Pro plan is the premium choice. You get all of the Business plan options, upgraded security, free backups, and additional resources. The sites feature enhanced performance and allow you to create up to 1,000 pages.
Pros
- Outstanding service
- High reliability
- Simple to understand plans
- Free domain name
- Free training to get you started
Cons
- No data centres in Australia or Asia
- The added extras on the bill u up quickly
9. HostGator
HostGator has two data centres, and they’re both in the United States.
The plans are affordable, and the service is reasonable with many unlimited resources. You get good value for the money from a well-established business. The shared hosting plans range from $2.75 to $5.95 per month.
Hatchling works well for someone who needs only one website. You’ll get your domain name and SSL certificate for free. The disk space is unlimited. HostGator’s web builder is free.
The Baby Plan might be for you if you’d like to build multiple blogs or websites. It also provides you with unlimited websites. The Baby Plan is only slightly more expensive than Hatchling, so it offers better value for the money.
You might, at a later stage, want to host a second or third website. Many users host a few smaller websites on the Baby Plan with ease.
There’s a caveat. Unlimited use is subject to their fair usage policy, and the company doesn’t make the terms clear upfront. If you use too many resources, HostGator will throttle your account.
The Business Plan is the premier option. It provides you access to SEO tools, a dedicated IP address, and an anonymous FTP client.
Businesses may also select dedicated or VPN servers. Reseller opportunities are available.
Pros
- No limits on disk space
- Simple and effective web builder included free
- Affordable
- Several resources
- An extensive knowledge base for new webmasters
- Great security
- Support via instant chat, ticket, and telephone
Cons
- Plans renew at far higher rates
- Service leaves something to be desired
10. Dreamhost
Dreamhost only has data centers in the United States.
They’re still worth a second look for an Australian client because of their generous packages. It’s the final company that WordPress recommends on this list.
There is a range of affordable plans. The starting prices range from $3.95 to $16.95 per month, depending on what kind of hosting option you select. The company provides Shared, VPS, and WordPress hosting.
The Shared Plan is inexpensive for one starter site. A free domain is included along with 6 MySQL databases and 6 Shell or FTP clients. The disk space for this package is 50 GB.
The Business plans include unlimited bandwidth, a free domain name and privacy, free web builder, free SSL certificate, and automated WP migration. All Business plans include unlimited bandwidth, but disk space depends on the option you choose.
If you’re not confident about your web design skills, DreamHost has a web design company as a partner. They charge reasonable rates.
Pros
- 97-day, money-back guarantee
- Uptime is one of the best in the industry
- Several hosting options available
- Recommended by WordPress
- Generous packages for the price
Cons
- Support standards have dropped
- Fewer features than we’d like on basic packages
How To Find The Best Web Host for Australia
You’ll spend much time developing your website. It’s your project, and you want it to do well. Now that we’ve given you the top options for Australians let’s narrow down the list a little more.
In this section, we’ll explain some of the jargon hosts use. We’ll go through the terms that you should concentrate on for optimal performance.
If these elements aren’t in place, your site won’t perform well. Be wary of providers that try to bamboozle you with lots of flashy features. It’s the overall user experience that counts more than anything else for visitors.
Get that right, and you’ll win them over.
Server Location
The data centre should be as close to your target market as possible. Data centres store cached versions of your site to help your website load faster.
Having the centre on the other side of the country won’t make much difference in speed. Having it on the other side of the globe will.
Uptime
There’s no point in having a website unless your host has a good uptime ratio. The industry standard is 99.9%. Steer clear of hosts that won’t guarantee that minimum.
It’s also worth looking at what the company will do if you experience significant downtime. Good hosts will often refund some of your hosting fees.
Disk Space
Disk space refers to the amount of space your site may occupy on the host’s servers.
Before you make your final choice, consider how big your website will be. If you have an image-rich site or upload videos, you’ll require more disk space.
Keep in mind that your email inbox counts toward this total.
Bandwidth and Data Transfer
Bandwidth affects the rate at which data moves between your website and the visitor’s device. On shared packages or VPS hosting, you’re sharing bandwidth with other websites.
This fact becomes vital if you’re with a company that’s bad at managing their resources. Check client reviews to get an idea of how the company does here.
Speed
Speed here refers to how long it takes for your website to load. The faster, the better. You may optimize your pages to load more efficiently. How fast your host loads a well-designed site is the real service test.
The speed depends on:
- Server location
- The type of server
- Custom scripts the hosts use to enhance performance
Security
Security is more than a buzzword for today’s web user. Most visitors want to know that their information is safe on your website. Today a valid SSL certificate is the very least you can do.
The certificate is a piece of code that encrypts credit card information visitors enter when they make a purchase. Without this code, Google may deem your website unsafe and warn visitors about this.
Support
It’s critical to get hold of the company quickly if your site goes down. Top providers offer a combination of live chat, phone support, and support tickets. You should choose one that suits you. At the very least, firms should offer 24/7 support options.