SiteGround is a professional hosting company that has been in business since 2004.
They are one of the oldest and most well-known hosting companies out there, which makes them a prime choice for most individuals looking to build a website. Despite being headquartered in Bulgaria, they are able to offer their services to site owners worldwide. SiteGround offers a range of high-end hosting solutions from cloud-based servers to dedicated server options.
With a large assortment of hosting services available, SiteGround is a leader in the hosting industry. They provide custom software to entrepreneurs looking to grow a startup as well as a comprehensive customer support angle that makes getting assistance quick, easy and convenient. In fact, when compared to most other hosting companies on the web, SiteGround takes the cake for their customer service department. SiteGround offers a full spectrum of hosting features, which includes cPanel with SSH access, Cloudfare and an unlimited amount of MySQL databases complete with usable bandwidth.
The Pros of SiteGround
SiteGround is the only web hosting company listed on all 3 official hosting pages for WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal…
Unparalleled Customer Service
One of the main features that sets SiteGround apart from some of their competitors is their customer service. In fact, you may have heard of SiteGround in the past simply because of their support agents. While you might be interested in utilizing SiteGround for its superior customer service, you’ll be blown away by the variety of custom-created solutions that will fit each client’s needs. This allows you to have a stress-free experience when hosting your domain name.
SiteGround can be contacted multiple ways, so it is totally up to you how you’d like to get in touch with them for assistance. Their in-house chat system is specific to those who need quick answers to questions they may have. Whether you already have a hosting package with SiteGround or are a curious customer who wants to learn more before getting started, their chat system is effortless and convenient to use. You can also rate and vet different customer service reps, ensuring that you’re able to talk to the same person each time you need help.
SiteGround has their very own ticketing system, which comprises a ground-breaking algorithm system designed to assign the appropriate support tech experts to specific projects. For instance, if you’re contacting the SiteGround team for help with a payment issue, you’re not going to be transferred multiple times just to talk to someone who knows what they’re doing. These specialized agents are there to assist clients of varying needs in a quick and highly efficient manner.
Varying In-House Technology Solutions
Despite their high-end customer service, SiteGround also has a variety of software solutions specifically created in-house. They have applied this specialization to their entire business, which directly benefits the client. Tenko, the owner of SiteGround, has stated that all of their infrastructure and coding is done internally. This provides a more customized approach to hosting than what most other websites offer.
When it comes to shared hosting, SiteGround has created a unique server isolation protocol that prevents risky servers from crashing entire network systems. In the place of VPS hosting, SiteGround has built a cloud-based container which features thousands of files that are designed to provide safety, security and scalability. All users on the SiteGround system benefit from this downtime prevention feature. This has allowed SiteGround to gain a reputation for their uptime rates. Your site will be active online without any errors or downtime 99.999 percent monthly and 99.996 percent each year.
Unique Perks
As a hosting user, you’ll have access to SiteGround’s unique SuperCacher, which allows you to have full control over backup files and cache data. This provides a highly flexible option for those who need to keep track of page load documentation at optimal speed. They provide a customized backup software program that improves this technology, allowing you to download your site’s data at the click of a button. You will receive backups on a daily basis from a recognized system that takes just one hour to run.
User Experience
Without a single doubt, SiteGround is top rated for their customer service experience within the hosting field. They have committed to providing a product that all types of site owners will benefit from using in order to grow their websites. Because of the unique and customized solution packages they’ve built, there is an option for just about anyone who is interested in making use of SiteGround for their own personal hosting needs. Concerning their overall development, SiteGround has devoted a significant amount of time to UX testing, which improves the overall user experience within the network.
Here is a list of some other features available by SiteGround:
- It is free to transfer your site using their one-click installation.
- Daily backups containing email, SSL and CDN at no additional cost.
- Expert support 24 hours a day, seven days a week via phone, chat or email.
- SiteGround has been recommended by WordPress as a top host package provider.
- Ideal for all types of hosting, with a 99.9 percent uptime.
Ease of Use
SiteGround is packed full of free, quick and single-click installation options for domain owners who want to add additional features to their site. There are plenty of add-ons and upgrades to uniquely customize your site and make user experience more enjoyable. Their inclusive UI complete with cPanel is effortless to learn, even for the most beginner user, and it has flexible options for those of varying skill levels. You do not have to be a professional in order to get started on the site. If you require any help setting up a domain hosting account, the staff at SiteGround will be more than happy to assist you.
If you’re not currently hosted with SiteGround and want to see a cPanel demo, this will help you explore the different options once you purchase a SiteGround plan.
You should contact SiteGround’s staff with anything you need assistance with, whether this involves a problem you’re having with an internal server or a question you have concerning marketing. Their team of specialized professionals is there to help in any way that they possibly can. Along with getting detailed support, you can browse the SiteGround site to gain access to tutorials, videos and step-by-step articles that will correlate to what you’re looking for online. These resources make launching the perfect website on SiteGround effortless and practically hassle-free.
It is clear that SiteGround has put a lot of work into their customer service base, since they’ve included a lot of technology to make creating and marketing your website so easy. You can get answers through their online ticketing system or by chatting with a live representative who is available around the clock.
Pricing
SiteGround provides a variety of plans that will meet and exceed your hosting needs. These are even available for those with dedicated and cloud servers, providing them with additional assistance concerning their requirements. Every plan available through SiteGround comes packed with the essentials to get started, which includes app installation, email accounts, website transferring and unlimited MySQL database bandwidth. There is also a 30-day money back guarantee for anyone signing up for a SiteGround account. If you are not at all satisfied with their hosting plans and packages, you can move onto the next best thing and get all of your money back.
The available allotted storage for most SiteGround plans goes from 10GB all the way to 30GB, with sites having the ability to handle up to 100,000 visitors per month depending on the specific plan that you’ve chosen. The SiteGround startup plan is great for those entrepreneurs who are testing the waters of owning a site and need something that is simple and effective. The GrowBig and GoGeek packages allow site owners to build and manage multiple websites complete with tech support, SSL certification and SuperCacher optimal speed. The highest package you can sign up for is their GoGeek option, which includes additional advanced features that provide hardware upgrades, PCI compliance and Git staging.
Any and all of these plans are packed with some of the greatest features SiteGround has available at affordable and competitive pricing. There are many deals, discounts and promotional codes available to individuals who would like to save even more money when signing up for a SiteGround account.
Even if you don’t use a SiteGround promo code, the pricing will be great value for all that you’re able to get.
Reliability
SiteGround is proud of their shared hosting options. In the old days, shared hosts were often weak, insecure and had a lot of downtime errors. Despite being told that shared hosting was an effort in futility, SiteGround broke all boundaries and became one of the first hosting agents to provide shared hosting packages to their clients. This unique system actually isolates different server accounts so that even the most vulnerable sites cannot affect other accounts within the network.
You will get free and automatic daily backups, providing you security if anything should happen to your site’s files. In days gone by, backup systems often took days to generate valuable results, but the SiteGround system provides backups daily and within an hour of implementation. Their backup system is unique to them, and it is not currently used by any other hosting company in the industry.
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SiteGround Cons and Disadvantages
While SiteGround is one of the top-rated hosting providers, they are not without their disadvantages.
Some people have utilized SiteGround and have asked for their money back before the first 30 days have gone by. SiteGround is not for everyone, so considering these cons will help you to determine if they are still worth checking out for yourself if you’re in the market for a valuable new website hosted by an experienced company.
Great First-Time Deals and Then Large Increase when Renewing
SiteGround is well known for their competitive pricing and package deals. They often offer great first-time promotions to users who are just getting started. These deals can be incredibly tempting, especially for a site owner on a budget. The problem comes when you go to renew your hosting package and find that you are no longer eligible for those great promotional deals. The price will increase substantially, especially if you go with SiteGround’s GoGeek package plan.
It is not uncommon for users to create an account with SiteGround because of the deals and first-time user discounts, only to switch hosts later on because the prices are too high for their continued budget. It is crucial that you are aware of the overall prices available through SiteGround so that you do not get sticker shock later on when your promotion expires and you go to renew your hosting plan.
Higher Price Point Than Others
Because of all the features available by SiteGround, you can expect higher prices than most other hosts on the market. SiteGround has three packages available to meet the needs of site owners. Their smallest plan is called StartUp and is available for $9.95 a month. Their second and most popular package is called GrowBig and is $14.95 a month. Their third and largest is known as GoGeek and is available for $29.95 a month. The StartUp plan limits your storage space tremendously and only allows you to work with one domain name.
While their price point is relatively comparable to other hosts in the market, there are many other sites offering similar packages for far less money. However, when you think of the features and customer support that you get with SiteGround, it makes the plan price details well worth it in the end. What you are able to afford is dependent on your budget and website needs. For example, despite the fact that you might be able to afford the largest GoGeek plan, you may only need the StartUp package because you have one small domain.
Plan Limitations
All plans are limited when it comes to storage space and domain capacity. As opposed to limiting domain names and databases, they limit disk storage space. This means that you will have to be careful with the amount of content you try to upload to the system. The reason for this cap comes down to their shared service experience. They need to limit the amount of storage space you have available in order to increase the amount of uptime for visitors. This benefits everyone utilizing the SiteGround system, as they will be able to handle large loads of visitors without crashing the domain entirely.
Site Owner Orientation
Despite the fact that SiteGround totes to be a full-spectrum hosting option, they cater more towards professional site developers. If you’re a simple blogger who just wants to upload their site and keep it updated online, SiteGround might cost too much money and provide too many features for what you need. However, if you’re an entrepreneur or are looking to grow a large and economical website, the SiteGround features are practical for your needs.
This isn’t to say that a blogger couldn’t utilize the SiteGround system if they truly wanted to, but it does mean that you might be paying more for what you actually need. Considering what you get from SiteGround, it is more geared for professional website developers who have multiple domains and are trying to get hundreds of thousands of visitors on a monthly basis rather than run a simple personal blog with back links.
Setup Fee for Monthly Billing
The majority of hosting companies out there will get you locked into a contract for two to three years where you are liable to pay each month for your hosting plan. This is the downfall with most hosting packages and why people wind up paying a lot of money just to publish their site online. However, SiteGround is different in that you’re able to pay month-to-month so that you can back out of the deal if you aren’t finding it representative of your needs. Let’s say that you set up a site, get it hosted and then find three months from now that you aren’t getting the hits that you need, you can effortlessly cancel your plan with SiteGround and delete your site.
However, this is where SiteGround gets users who want to have this flexible and convenient experience. They will charge a setup fee for their monthly billing cycle. This means that in order for you to have your site billed month-to-month rather than annually, you’ll need to pay a one-time setup fee of $14.95. Unfortunately, most clients won’t find out about this fee until they are practically done signing up with an account on SiteGround, so it can be considered a hidden charge that isn’t made publicly known until last minute signup.
Despite its pros and cons, SiteGround continues to be one of the top hosts available on the internet, and they have worked with hundreds of thousands of site owners since their inception in 2004. Their committed development in the field allows users to have a truly unique experience that most other hosting packages do not offer. If you’re interested in SiteGround and the plans they have available, be sure to visit their site and talk with one of their live agents to get some answers before you set up your domain and get your site started.
Get SiteGround’s 60% off discount here