12 Best Cheap Web Hosting Deals in USA (Oct 2026) 🇺🇸
Every host here had to sell a plan with at least one US data center. Shared plans needed a published renewal rate, either on the plan card, a renewal page or the cart. Hostwinds shows no renewal rate at all; we kept it because it shows no intro discount either. We capped prepay terms at 48 months, the longest any host here asks for.
Our main yardstick is the 4-year total, worked out the same way for every host. It's the cheapest way to pay for exactly 48 months: any first term the host sells, then renewals on whichever listed term costs least. We assumed you can renew on a different term from the one you first bought. That rewards a low renewal more than a low sticker, which is the point for a budget buyer. Refund terms weigh next, then the number and spread of US data centers.
Entry prices follow one rule too. Each is the lowest monthly rate on the host's pricing page, shown with the prepay term it needs.
Sources were the providers' own pricing pages, carts, renewal tables, terms of service and data center pages. Carts were read only up to the price summary, with a placeholder domain where one was required. We checked Reddit for recent renewal complaints. Prices are in USD as listed on each US storefront, with no tax line shown, unless a section says otherwise.
What we didn't do matters too. We didn't host a site on any of these plans, run load tests or measure page speed. Our one first-hand number is network latency, explained in its own section below. Contabo stays on the list as a VPS alternative, because it no longer sells shared hosting.
Last reviewed: October 2026. Prices and features verified.
Jump to: SiteGround, Hostinger, HostArmada, Ultahost, ChemiCloud, FastComet, HostPapa, InMotion Hosting, Hostwinds, GreenGeeks, DreamHost, Contabo.
We added up 48 months of bills for twelve hosts that sell to US buyers, and ten could be totalled. The totals run from USD 95.52 to USD 683.52, yet both ends advertise under USD 3 a month. The renewal rate and the prepay term decide which end you land on. We also pinged each host's US data centers from six home internet connections, from Virginia to Seattle. The best data center of the fastest and slowest host differed by about 10 ms, so price decides this list far more than location does.
SiteGround - Best for Picking One of Four US Data Centers
Stats: USD 2.99/mo, 12-month prepay, then USD 17.99/mo | 10 GB, 1 site | 4 US data centers | Best latency 40.3 ms (Dallas)
Over four years, SiteGround is the most expensive host on this page by a wide margin. The StartUp plan's intro lasts 12 months, then renews at USD 17.99 a month. That's a 6.02x jump and a 48-month total of USD 683.52. Hostinger's comparable total is USD 143.52, so SiteGround costs USD 540.00 more for the same stretch.
What you get for it is choice of location. SiteGround's knowledge base lists Ashburn, Council Bluffs, Dallas and Los Angeles, all on Google Cloud. Its Dallas servers posted the lowest average of the four in our test, at 40.3 ms across all six probes. Ashburn answered Virginia in 10.6 ms, and Los Angeles answered Santa Rosa in 23.5 ms. Its own hosting page, oddly, says "six global data centers" while the knowledge base lists eleven.
The plan card now lists a free domain on every plan, plus free SSL, CDN, daily backups and email. A CDN (content delivery network) caches your pages on servers closer to visitors. That's a change worth noting, since older roundups still say StartUp has no free domain. Storage stays small at 10 GB for one site. GrowBig adds unlimited sites and 50 GB, but it renews at USD 29.99.
Pros:
- Four US data centers, including a central Dallas option
- Free domain, daily backups and CDN on the entry plan
- Renewal printed on the card, not hidden in the cart
Cons:
- 6.02x renewal, the second steepest here after ChemiCloud's 6.13x
- Only 10 GB on StartUp
- Intro rate covers just 12 months
Pricing: USD 2.99/mo prepaid for 12 months, then USD 17.99/mo prepaid yearly. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Best for: a one-year business site that needs a server in a specific US region.
Skip if: you'll keep the site past year one; Hostinger renews at USD 10.99.
Verdict: Buy SiteGround only for a short project where the Dallas or Los Angeles location matters. Anyone planning three years or more should pick DreamHost or HostPapa instead.
Hostinger - Best for Node.js and Store Tools on a 4-Year Budget
Stats: USD 2.99/mo, 48-month prepay (USD 143.52 upfront), then USD 10.99/mo | 20 GB SSD, 3 sites | Boston 46.9 ms
You want three small sites, a free domain and one invoice you won't see again until 2030. Hostinger's Premium plan does exactly that for USD 143.52, paid once for 48 months. The cart then says it "renews after 48 months at USD 10.99/mo for 12 months", so year five costs USD 131.88.
It isn't the cheapest four-year bill, though. DreamHost's 4-year Launch costs USD 95.52, USD 48.00 less, with 25 sites against three. Hostinger's case is the toolset: its Premium card lists Node.js, ecommerce and an AI builder with 5 credits. It still beats Ultahost's USD 151.98 by USD 8.46, and its 48-month term stays refundable for 30 days.
Plan limits are the thing to read. Premium allows 3 websites and 20 GB of SSD storage, with weekly backups and two mailboxes per site, free for a year. One Reddit thread from 17 September 2026 shows why that matters. A Premium customer was quoted USD 107.88 for a 12-month renewal, while a new 12-month plan cost USD 47.88. Another customer replied that the new plan carries 20 GB, against 100 GB on their own older plan.
Hostinger lists US data centers in Phoenix, Boston and Asheville. Boston averaged 46.9 ms across our six probes, strong in the East at 20.8 ms. Phoenix averaged 54.8 ms. There's no central US option, which is why Hostinger posted the slowest best-data-center average of the hosts we measured.
Pros:
- USD 143.52 covers four full years, refundable for 30 days
- Node.js, ecommerce and AI builder listed on the entry plan
- Renewal and term printed on both card and cart
Cons:
- USD 48.00 more than DreamHost over four years
- Weekly, not daily, backups on Premium
- No central US data center; 46.9 ms best average
Pricing: USD 2.99/mo on a 48-month prepay (USD 143.52), renewing at USD 10.99/mo for 12 months. Free domain for one year. 30-day money-back guarantee. The cart added a tax line for our location.
Best for: small sites that need Node.js or a store on a four-year budget.
Skip if: the lowest four-year bill is all you want; DreamHost costs USD 95.52.
Verdict: Hostinger is the pick if you want Node.js or store tools on the entry plan for four years. For the lowest bill alone, DreamHost costs USD 48.00 less.
HostArmada - Best for the Cheapest 3-Year Prepay With Backups
Stats: USD 1.99/mo, 36-month prepay, then USD 9.95/mo | 15 GB NVMe, 1 site | Dallas 44.7 ms
HostArmada and FastComet advertise the same USD 1.99 entry and the same USD 9.95 regular rate. The difference is the term behind the number. HostArmada's USD 1.99 needs a 36-month prepay, while FastComet's USD 1.99 is a one-year rate. For three years, HostArmada costs USD 71.64 against FastComet's USD 118.46, a gap of USD 46.82.
On the card, HostArmada also promises two free months and a free domain, though the cart showed only the free domain. Its pricing data shows an exact 5.00x renewal on every shared tier and term. Start Dock renews at USD 9.95 on three years, USD 10.95 on two and USD 11.95 on one. Monthly billing costs USD 12.95 with no discount at all.
Start Dock itself lists 15 GB of NVMe storage (fast flash storage), 2 CPU cores and 2 GB of RAM for one site. It also lists seven daily backups, a malware scan with removal and a web application firewall. Its 45-day money-back window ties ChemiCloud for second longest, behind InMotion's 90 days.
HostArmada's location page lists San Francisco, Dallas and Newark, while its cart offers Dallas, New York and San Francisco. Its data center page publishes only a Dallas test host, which sits on Leaseweb's network. That host averaged 44.7 ms and answered Midland, Texas in 28.5 ms. Older test hosts for New Jersey and California still resolve, but they answered neither pings nor TCP connections.
Pros:
- USD 71.64 covers three full years
- Seven daily backups and malware removal included
- 45-day refund on shared hosting
Cons:
- Exact 5.00x renewal to USD 9.95
- One site and 15 GB on Start Dock
- Only the Dallas test host is published
Pricing: USD 1.99/mo on a 36-month prepay (USD 71.64), then USD 9.95/mo on a 3-year renewal or USD 11.95/mo yearly. USD 215.04 over four years. 45-day money-back guarantee.
Best for: a single site you'll keep about three years, with daily backups.
Skip if: you'll stay past year three; Ultahost renews at USD 2.88.
Verdict: HostArmada is the best buy for a three-year horizon on one site. Past that, its renewal flips the math, and Ultahost or Hostinger cost less.
Ultahost - Best for a Price That Never Rises
Stats: USD 2.88/mo, 36-month prepay, renewing at USD 2.88/mo | 30 GB NVMe, 1 site | New York 43.5 ms
Ultahost's best price is one you can't refund. Its Starter costs USD 103.59 for 36 months, and the cart shows the same USD 103.59 as the recurring charge. Add a 12-month term at USD 48.39 and four years cost USD 151.98. Its refund page, though, says "biennial and triennial plans are not eligible for a refund".
[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="628"]
The outlined sentence takes refunds away from the two- and three-year shared terms. Ultahost cancellation and refunds policy page, captured 1 October 2026.[/caption]
The shared hosting page makes this easy to miss. Its billing toggle opens on the two-year term, and every plan card says "Free 30-Days Money-Back". Monthly and annual plans keep the 30-day refund. So the refundable options are USD 4.39 a month or USD 48.39 for a year.
Ultahost raised its shared Starter plan's monthly price from USD 3.80 to USD 4.39 on 1 August 2026, according to its own pricing update post. Guides still quoting USD 3.80 as the flat rate predate that change. Two years now cost USD 82.59, or USD 3.44 a month.
Starter includes 30 GB of NVMe storage for one domain, sized for about 10,000 visits a month, plus free daily backups. That's double HostArmada's 15 GB at a similar monthly price. The cart offers Dallas, Los Angeles and New York in the US. New York averaged 43.5 ms and answered our New York probe in 16.3 ms; Los Angeles averaged 51.8 ms.
Pros:
- Renewal equals the entry price on every term
- 30 GB NVMe and daily backups on the entry plan
- Monthly billing at USD 4.39 with a 30-day refund
Cons:
- No refund on the 2-year and 3-year terms
- Starter's monthly price rose 15% on 1 August 2026
- Card says free domain transfer; cart says free registration
Pricing: USD 2.88/mo on 36 months (USD 103.59), USD 3.44/mo on 24 months (USD 82.59), USD 48.39 a year, or USD 4.39 monthly. All renew at the same rate.
Best for: a site you're sure about keeping for years, with no refund needed.
Skip if: you want a safety net on a multi-year prepay; Hostinger refunds its 48-month term.
Verdict: Commit to Ultahost's three-year term only if you've already tested the service. Start on the USD 4.39 monthly plan, which is refundable, then switch.
ChemiCloud - Best for East Coast Speed on a Small Budget
Stats: USD 1.95/mo, 36-month prepay, then USD 11.95/mo | 20 GB NVMe, 1 site | Washington, D.C. 41.3 ms
ChemiCloud's Washington, D.C. location produced the fastest East Coast result of any shared host we measured. It answered our Virginia probe in 9.0 ms and averaged 14.3 ms across the two East Coast homes. Across all six probes it averaged 41.3 ms, close to DreamHost's Ashburn servers at 41.1 ms.
The Starter plan opens at USD 1.95 a month on a 36-month term. Its pricing data lists the regular three-year rate as USD 11.95, a 6.13x renewal and the steepest on this page. The page itself says pricing reflects a discount on the first invoice only. Renew yearly instead and the rate is USD 14.95.
For USD 1.95 you get 20 GB of NVMe storage, double FastComet's 10 GB. You also get a free domain, ten daily backups and LiteSpeed servers. LiteSpeed is web server software with built-in page caching for WordPress. The money-back window is 45 days, though a refund keeps back the domain's regular fee.
Location is where older lists go wrong. ChemiCloud's server page now lists Portland and Washington, D.C. for web hosting, and its published test addresses sit on OVH and Akamai networks. Portland's test address dropped most pings, so we timed TCP connections instead: 59.8 ms on average, 9.9 ms from Seattle.
Across four years, ChemiCloud costs USD 249.60, USD 11.52 more than HostPapa's USD 238.08. HostPapa's USD 8.99 three-year renewal also undercuts ChemiCloud's USD 11.95 by 24.8%.
Pros:
- 9.0 ms from Virginia, the best East Coast reading for shared hosting
- Ten daily backups and LiteSpeed on the entry plan
- 45-day money-back guarantee
Cons:
- 6.13x renewal to USD 11.95
- Portland location dropped pings in our test
- Domain fee deducted from refunds
Pricing: USD 1.95/mo on a 36-month prepay, then USD 11.95/mo on a 3-year renewal or USD 14.95/mo yearly. 45-day money-back guarantee.
Best for: one WordPress site with mostly East Coast visitors.
Skip if: you care about the year-four bill; HostPapa renews at USD 8.99.
Verdict: ChemiCloud is the pick for a single East Coast site over three years. For a longer stay, HostPapa or Hostinger hold the renewal lower.
FastComet - Best for the Cheapest Single Year
Stats: USD 1.99/mo, 12-month prepay (USD 23.88), then USD 9.95/mo | 10 GB NVMe, 1 site | Dallas 46.2 ms
Prepay longer at FastComet and you pay more per month. Its checkout prices Starter at USD 1.99 a month on a one-year term. The two-year term costs USD 4.49 a month, and the three-year term costs USD 3.29. That's the opposite of how almost every other host here prices its terms.
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The outlined 3-year box costs more per month than the 1-year term beside it. FastComet checkout for the Starter plan, captured 1 October 2026.[/caption]
For one year, that makes FastComet the cheapest first year here at USD 23.88. HostArmada's one-year rate is USD 2.39, or USD 28.68 for the year. The trouble starts in month 13, when the regular USD 9.95 applies. Over four years the one-year route costs USD 382.08, against USD 237.86 if you buy three years upfront.
Starter includes one site, 10 GB of NVMe storage, LiteSpeed Enterprise and a malware scanner. FastComet's homepage says the promotional price "is for the first term only and renews at the regular rate". The money-back window is 30 days.
Location choice has shrunk. FastComet's data center page still lists Dallas, Newark and Fremont. Its checkout offers only Dallas in the US for this plan. The published Dallas test address answered neither pings nor TCP connections. So we measured a host of FastComet's data center operator, Akamai, in the same Dallas facility: 46.2 ms on average.
Pros:
- USD 23.88 for a full first year
- LiteSpeed Enterprise on the entry plan
- Renewal clearly labelled as the regular price
Cons:
- Longer terms cost more per month than one year
- Only Dallas available in the US at checkout
- 10 GB of storage, the smallest here with SiteGround
Pricing: USD 1.99/mo for 12 months (USD 23.88), USD 4.49/mo for 24 months (USD 107.77) or USD 3.29/mo for 36 months (USD 118.46). Regular rate USD 9.95/mo. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Best for: a one-year project, test site or event page.
Skip if: you'll keep the site two years or more; HostArmada's three-year price is lower.
Verdict: Buy FastComet's one-year term for a site with a known end date. For anything longer, HostArmada or Hostinger cost less per year.
HostPapa - Best for Renewals You Can Plan From a Public Table
Stats: USD 2.95/mo, 36-month prepay, then USD 8.99/mo | 25 GB NVMe, 1 site | Latency not measured
USD 8.99 a month is HostPapa's three-year renewal for Essentials. Among plans here that start on an intro price, only DreamHost's USD 7.99 on its 4-year term renews lower. It's 9.6% below HostArmada's USD 9.95 and 18% below Hostinger's USD 10.99. The multiplier is 3.05x, against 6.13x at ChemiCloud.
HostPapa also publishes a full renewal table, which few hosts do. Essentials renews at USD 12.99 monthly, USD 10.99 on one year, USD 9.99 on two years and USD 8.99 on three. That lets you plan year four before you buy.
The fine print sits in the extras. Essentials includes 25 GB of NVMe storage, one site, CDN and staging. The free domain and the 1 GB automated backups are both free for the first year only. Add both after year one, and the low renewal isn't the whole bill.
HostPapa lists five data centers, three of them in the US: Los Angeles, Buffalo and Miami. It publishes no test address, and we couldn't find a shared server name to measure. So HostPapa is the one host on this page without a latency figure. HostPapa also bought Hostwinds, which appears later on this list, on 29 April 2026.
Pros:
- USD 8.99 three-year renewal, second lowest after an intro price
- Public renewal table for every term
- Three US data centers across both coasts and the Southeast
Cons:
- Backups and domain free for year one only
- No published test address to check network speed
- Headline rate needs the 36-month prepay
Pricing: USD 2.95/mo on a 36-month prepay, then USD 8.99/mo on a 3-year renewal or USD 10.99/mo yearly. USD 238.08 over four years. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Best for: a budget site owner who plans past year three and wants a known renewal.
Skip if: you want backups included for good; HostArmada keeps seven daily backups in the plan.
Verdict: HostPapa is the host to pick if you want every renewal rate in writing before you buy. For a lower four-year bill, DreamHost costs USD 95.52.
InMotion Hosting - Best for a 90-Day Refund and 100 GB
Stats: USD 4.79/mo, 12-month prepay, then USD 14.99/mo | 100 GB NVMe, 2 sites | Ashburn area 42.4 ms
Say you run a small US business, you've never hosted a site, and you want months to change your mind. InMotion's 90-day money-back guarantee is three times the 30 days most hosts here give. Its Launch plan also carries 100 GB of NVMe storage for two sites, five times Hostinger's 20 GB.
InMotion prints a renewal price on every plan card, for every term. The terms behave oddly, though. One year costs USD 4.79 a month and renews at USD 14.99. Two or three years cost USD 4.99 a month and renew at USD 13.99. So the shortest prepay has the lowest monthly entry and the highest renewal.
The cheapest way to cover four years starts with the three-year term, then adds one year at USD 14.99, for USD 359.52. That's 3.76 times DreamHost's USD 95.52, which is the price of the long refund and the storage. Month-to-month billing costs USD 16.99 with no discount. Launch comes with live chat support; phone support starts on the Power plan.
InMotion lists Los Angeles and Ashburn as its US data centers. We measured one of its shared servers, which sits on InMotion's own network. Traceroutes (tests that list every router on the path) from California and Chicago reached it through a Washington, D.C. router. That matches the Ashburn site. It averaged 42.4 ms and answered Virginia in 12.2 ms.
Pros:
- 90-day refund, the longest here
- 100 GB NVMe for two sites
- Renewal printed for every term
Cons:
- USD 359.52 over four years
- No phone support on Launch
- Page says both "every plan" and "select terms" get a free domain
Pricing: USD 4.79/mo on a 12-month prepay, then USD 14.99/mo. USD 4.99/mo on 24 or 36 months, then USD 13.99/mo. 90-day money-back guarantee.
Best for: first-time owners who want a long trial and room to grow.
Skip if: the four-year bill matters most; DreamHost costs USD 264.00 less.
Verdict: Choose InMotion when a 90-day exit and 100 GB justify a higher bill. Price-first buyers should take DreamHost or Hostinger instead.
Hostwinds - Best for Unlimited Disk With No Intro Trick
Stats: USD 6.99/mo on the plan page (term not stated), USD 8.99/mo in the store | Unlimited disk, 1 site | Dallas 43.3 ms
Hostwinds gives you 72 hours to request a refund, and only a prorated one. Its terms say the request must come within seventy-two hours of the payment, after you cancel in the client portal. That's the tightest window among the hosts here that offer a refund at all.
Pricing is the other puzzle. The shared hosting page lists Basic "starting at USD 6.99". Hostwinds' own store lists the same plan "starting from USD 8.99". Neither page mentions a renewal rate, and the order form shows no price per billing term. Without those, we can't work out its cheapest four-year total.
The plan page also advertises nightly backups. The order form, though, comes with a USD 3.00 a month cloud backup add-on already ticked. And the terms of service state that Hostwinds "does not take backups of any kind of customer data". Leave that add-on in, and four years cost USD 144.00 more.
So untick it before you pay.
On the plus side, Basic has unlimited disk space, the only uncapped storage among these twelve hosts. The order form lists Dallas, Seattle and Amsterdam. Dallas averaged 43.3 ms and answered Midland, Texas in 13.8 ms; Seattle answered the Seattle probe in 3.8 ms. HostPapa completed its purchase of Hostwinds on 29 April 2026.
Compared with Ultahost, Hostwinds' page price of USD 6.99 is 2.43 times Ultahost's USD 2.88. Neither raises the rate on renewal.
Pros:
- Unlimited disk space on the entry plan
- No intro discount that expires
- Dallas and Seattle data centers
Cons:
- 72-hour, prorated refund window
- Plan page and store disagree by USD 2.00
- Pre-ticked paid backup add-on
Pricing: USD 6.99/mo on the plan page or USD 8.99/mo in the store, with no renewal increase published. Refund requests within 72 hours, prorated.
Best for: a site with lots of files whose owner already knows Hostwinds.
Skip if: you want time to test; InMotion gives 90 days.
Verdict: Hostwinds suits experienced buyers who need disk space and will untick the add-on. Everyone else gets better terms from Ultahost or InMotion.
GreenGeeks - Best for Central US Latency on Shared Hosting
Stats: USD 2.95/mo, 12-month prepay, then USD 13.95/mo | 25 GB, 1 site | Chicago 38.5 ms
GreenGeeks' Chicago data center posted 38.5 ms across all six probes. That's the lowest average of any shared host we measured, 8.4 ms better than Hostinger's best of 46.9 ms. Chicago answered the Chicago probe in 16.2 ms and stayed at 30.3 ms on the East Coast. Only Contabo's St. Louis VPS beat it overall.
Price is where it slips. Lite costs USD 2.95 a month, prepaid for 12 months, then renews at USD 13.95. That's a 4.73x jump after just one year. Its cheapest four-year route, one promo year then a 3-year renewal for USD 484.20, costs USD 519.60. That's the second highest here and 5.44 times DreamHost's USD 95.52.
The next tier up doesn't fix that. Pro adds unlimited websites and 50 GB for USD 4.95 a month, then renews at USD 18.95. Lite's USD 13.95 renewal is also 55% above HostPapa's USD 8.99 for the same 25 GB.
Lite includes 25 GB of storage for one site, unmetered traffic, free email and SSL. It also adds a free domain for the first year, CDN and daily backups. The card lists a 99.9% uptime guarantee and a 30-day refund. GreenGeeks also markets its hosting as "300% green".
Chicago is the only US location on GreenGeeks' data center page, next to Montreal, Amsterdam and Singapore. Its published Chicago test address sits on Internap, the data center operator.
Pros:
- 38.5 ms average, best among shared hosts
- Daily backups and CDN included
- Published test address for checking speed yourself
Cons:
- Intro rate lasts only 12 months
- USD 519.60 over four years
- One US data center
Pricing: USD 2.95/mo on a 12-month prepay, then USD 13.95/mo, or USD 484.20 for a 3-year renewal. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Best for: a nationwide audience on shared hosting, for a one-year project.
Skip if: you'll stay three years or more; HostPapa renews at USD 8.99.
Verdict: GreenGeeks wins on central location, then loses on renewal. Take it for one year only, or pick HostPapa for the long run.
DreamHost - Best for the Lowest 4-Year Total
Stats: USD 1.99/mo, 48-month prepay (USD 95.52 upfront), then USD 7.99/mo | 25 GB NVMe, 25 sites | Ashburn 41.1 ms
DreamHost's 4-year Launch plan is the cheapest way on this page to cover 48 months. Its pricing page lists it at USD 1.99 a month, and the cart bills USD 95.52 for four years. It then renews at USD 383.52 per four years, which is USD 7.99 a month.
That undercuts Hostinger's USD 143.52 by USD 48.00, with 25 websites against Hostinger's three. Launch includes 25 GB of NVMe storage, daily automated backups, unmetered bandwidth and a free domain for the first year. Its USD 7.99 renewal is also the lowest of any plan here that starts on an intro price.
Shorter terms cost far more. One year is USD 2.89 a month, then USD 10.99. Two years cost USD 59.76, then USD 215.76 per two years. Monthly billing is USD 4.99 for three months, then USD 11.99. DreamHost's main hosting page shows only monthly and yearly billing; the 4-year term sits on its pricing page and in the cart.
DreamHost's terms of service, last updated 27 August 2026, limit the 30-day refund to website hosting. VPS, dedicated servers, email and Remixer are excluded. The guarantee also applies only to credit card and PayPal payments. Older reviews still quote a 97-day refund, which no longer exists.
DreamHost lists Ashburn and Hillsboro as its US data centers. Ashburn averaged 41.1 ms and answered Virginia in 12.1 ms. Hillsboro averaged 53.4 ms but answered Seattle in 6.7 ms.
On monthly billing, Ultahost is cheaper: USD 4.39 a month against DreamHost's USD 11.99 after month three.
Pros:
- USD 95.52 covers four years, the lowest total here
- 25 websites and daily backups on the entry plan
- USD 7.99 renewal, the lowest after an intro price
Cons:
- Refund limited to card and PayPal payments
- Short terms renew at USD 10.99 to USD 11.99
- 4-year term missing from the main hosting page
Pricing: USD 1.99/mo on a 48-month prepay (USD 95.52), then USD 7.99/mo. Also USD 2.89/mo for one year, then USD 10.99/mo, or USD 4.99/mo for three months, then USD 11.99/mo. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Best for: anyone who can prepay four years and wants the lowest bill.
Skip if: you won't commit four years; Ultahost's refundable monthly plan costs USD 4.39.
Verdict: DreamHost is the cheapest four-year buy on this page, and it's refundable for 30 days. If you can't prepay four years, start on Ultahost's monthly plan instead.
Contabo - Best for Self-Managed VPS Power per Dollar
Stats: USD 5.28/mo, 24-month prepay (VPS), plus a US location fee | 4 vCPU, 8 GB RAM, 100 GB SSD | St. Louis 36.3 ms
36.3 ms. That's the average from our six US homes to Contabo's St. Louis data center, the lowest on this page. Contabo also runs Seattle and Carlstadt, New Jersey. But Contabo isn't shared hosting. It sells virtual private servers (VPS, a slice of a server you manage yourself), and its product list has no shared plan.
Cloud VPS 4 costs USD 5.28 a month "for the first 24 months", or USD 126.72 upfront. It includes 4 vCPU cores (virtual processor cores), 8 GB of RAM and 100 GB of SSD storage. That's four times the 2 GB of RAM on HostArmada's Start Dock. A US location adds USD 1.30 a month for St. Louis, USD 1.60 for Seattle or USD 1.90 for the East.
Three things need a careful read. Contabo publishes no price for month 25 onward. Its terms list only 1, 3, 6 and 12-month initial terms, while the page sells 24. And the VPS page labels prices "Excluding VAT" while its footnote says they include applicable taxes.
There's no money-back guarantee either. The terms give consumers a 14-day right of withdrawal, which isn't the same thing. You also install and secure your own software; no control panel is included. Monthly billing costs USD 6.60.
Pros:
- 36.3 ms average from St. Louis, the best here
- 8 GB RAM and 4 vCPU for USD 5.28 a month
- Three US regions
Cons:
- No shared hosting and no control panel
- Price after 24 months not published
- No money-back guarantee
Pricing: USD 5.28/mo on a 24-month prepay (USD 126.72), or USD 6.60 monthly, net of tax, from Contabo's own USD price catalogue. US location fee USD 1.30 to USD 1.90 a month.
Best for: developers who can run a Linux server and want resources, not support.
Skip if: you want cPanel (the usual hosting control panel) and someone else managing the server; HostPapa's shared plans include it.
Verdict: Contabo gives the most hardware per dollar and the best central location here. Beginners should stay on shared hosting with Hostinger or HostPapa.
SiteGround
Hostinger
HostArmada
Ultahost
ChemiCloud
FastComet
HostPapa
InMotion Hosting
Hostwinds
GreenGeeks Web Hosting
DreamHost
Contabo
