Disclosure: This content is reader-supported. If you click on some of our links, we may earn a commission. Our rankings are based on 90 days of testing data, not commission rates. Cloudways pays us less than Bluehost. Cloudways still ranks first.
How We Ranked These Hosts
This guide tests 11 web hosts head-to-head (90 days, 5 categories, 30 support tickets). Lifetime, ThatMy.com has tested hosting across many providers with our own money. Zero sponsored reviews. Read our full methodology →
My Methodology: 3 Real Tests, Not Vendor Sponsorships
Before you trust any ranking, ask one thing: how was it tested? Most "best web hosting" lists are commission-sorted. The host paying the highest affiliate kickback wins position #1. EIG-owned hosts (Bluehost, HostGator, A2 Hosting, iPage, FatCow) historically pay $80-$200 per signup. ScalaHosting pays $50-$200 (tiered). Cloudways pays $125 or $30+30%. Hostinger pays $100. The math creates a ranking incentive to push the highest payer regardless of product quality.
Here's what I actually test before publishing a ranking. No exceptions, no spreadsheet shortcuts.
I run k6 load tests with 50 concurrent virtual users for 5 minutes against an identical WordPress install (Astra theme + 6 plugins). I measure TTFB at p50, p95, and p99. A host that ships 80ms cold but 1,200ms under 50 VUs gets disqualified. Cloudways DO 2GB, ScalaHosting VPS, and Rocket.net hold under 200ms p99. Most shared hosts collapse past 600ms.
I open live chat at 3am EST with a real technical question (not "how do I install WordPress"). I time the first human response, the resolution, and whether the rep escalates or fobs me off. ChemiCloud and SiteGround consistently respond under 60 seconds with humans. Hostinger and Bluehost increasingly route to LLM bots before any escalation.
I read every TOS, AUP, and pricing footnote. I look for inode caps, CPU throttling thresholds, "unlimited" with asterisks, mailbox limits, daily process counts, backup retention windows, and migration policies. Hostinger caps inodes at 400,000 on Premium. SiteGround throttles after 10,000 page views/month on StartUp. Most beginners hit these limits in month 6 and don't know why their site slows.
Why do most "best hosting" lists rank Bluehost first? (Affiliate commission rates)
Cloudways on Vultr High Frequency is the best general web hosting in 2026: 72ms TTFB at idle and 98ms at 100 concurrent users (April 2026, WebPageTest Dulles VA, WordPress 6.5, no CDN), 0% error rate, pay-as-you-go pricing across 5 cloud providers. ScalaHosting Managed VPS came second at 28ms TTFB on AMD EPYC 9474F (PassMark #31) if you prefer dedicated VPS resources with email and SPanel included. Full methodology: How We Test.
I tested 11 hosting providers over 90 days using identical methodology and published every metric, including the ones that work against my commission revenue. Most "best web hosting" lists you find on Google rank Bluehost, GoDaddy, and HostGator at the top because those providers pay the highest affiliate commissions. The data does not support that ranking.
head-to-head
load testing
test regions
variables
The three picks at the top of this list (Cloudways, ScalaHosting, Hostinger) cover roughly 90% of realistic web hosting buying decisions in 2026. The remaining picks fit specific use cases: ChemiCloud for the best beginner support experience, Kinsta for premium managed WordPress, ScalaHosting StartUp Shared for users who want a simple shared plan from a brand that does not pull renewal-trap pricing.
Our Top Picks: The 3 Best Web Hosts Right Now
Managed cloud on Vultr High Frequency, DigitalOcean, AWS, GCP, or Linode. Honest flat $14/mo pricing, no renewal markup. Lightning Stack performance layer included. The best buy for 70% of users.
Claim $30 Credit (CLOUDS2022) →Managed VPS with AMD EPYC 9474F, NVMe Gen4, free SPanel control panel, anytime money-back. The fastest dedicated host under $30/mo. Hosts any web stack, not just WordPress.
Visit ScalaHosting →$2.99/mo locked for 48 months upfront ($143.52 total), free domain year one, LiteSpeed shared. Best price-locked option if you can commit 4 years and accept renewal at $11.99/mo after.
Visit Hostinger →How do I pick the right web host in 2026? (5-question decision tree)
I get the same email every week. "I'm starting a [type of site], my budget is [number], should I use [host I saw on YouTube]?" The honest answer almost never matches the question. Most beginners ask the wrong starting question. They ask which host when they should be asking which hosting category. Get the category right and the host falls out of it. Get the category wrong and you spend two years on the wrong stack. This decision tree fixes that in 60 seconds.
The 11-Provider Decision Grid
Skim this table once. The columns I weight most are renewal price, TTFB, and our pick. Intro pricing is marketing theatre, the renewal is what you actually pay 13 months from now. TTFB is the only universal speed indicator that doesn't lie. Our pick is the compressed buying recommendation in three words. Detailed reviews for the top 9 follow this table.
| Rank | Provider | Best For | Type | Intro Price | Renewal | TTFB | Our Pick |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | Cloudways | Performance + value | Managed Cloud | $14/mo | $14/mo (flat) | 72ms | Best Overall |
| #2 | ScalaHosting VPS | Premium speed, dedicated | Managed VPS | $29.95/mo | $29.95/mo (flat) | 28ms | Fastest Dynamic |
| #3 | Hostinger | Cheapest long-term lock-in | Shared | $2.99/mo | $11.99/mo | 178ms | Best Budget Lock-In |
| #4 | ScalaHosting StartUp Shared | Simple sites with brand trust | Shared | $3.95/mo | $5.95/mo | 85ms | Best Honest Shared |
| #5 | ChemiCloud | Beginners + best support | Shared | $2.95/mo | $9.95/mo | 95ms | Best Support |
| #6 | Kinsta | Premium managed WP | Managed WP | $35/mo | $35/mo | 89ms | Premium (Overpriced) |
| #7 | SiteGround | Tech buyers OK with renewal | Shared/Cloud | $3.99/mo | $17.99/mo | 120ms | Renewal Trap |
| #8 | Rocket.net | Edge cache devotees | Managed WP | $30/mo | $30/mo | 140ms (origin) | Old hardware, premium price |
| #9 | WP Engine | Agencies billing services | Managed WP | $25/mo | $25/mo | 120ms | Restrictive walled garden |
| #10 | Bluehost | Avoid | Shared | $2.95/mo | $13.99/mo | 380ms | Avoid (CPU throttle) |
| #11 | GoDaddy / HostGator | Avoid | Shared | $5.99/mo | $14.99/mo | 475ms | Avoid (legacy stack) |
#1 Cloudways: The Honest Managed Cloud That Actually Scales
Cloudways
Managed Cloud · Flat Pricing
Why Cloudways Wins
- Choice of 3 Top Providers (DO, AWS, GCE)
- Varnish + Redis Stack pre-installed
- Scales instantly during traffic spikes
- No long-term contract (Pay-as-you-go)
Potential Downside
- No Email Hosting included
- Slightly technical dashboard
Performance Benchmarks
- TTFB: 72ms avg
- Load Test (100 Users): 98ms (+36%)
- Uptime: 99.981%
$11.00/mo
3-Day Free Trial (No Card)
Cloudways is the only name on this page that I use personally, with money, on income-generating sites, without a discount. That context matters. I am not ranking it #1 because the affiliate payout is $125. I am ranking it #1 because when a retail promo runs on one of my landing pages and 300 concurrent visitors arrive in 90 seconds, it does not collapse. Shared hosting does. Every time.
The product is unusual. Cloudways is a management layer on top of five raw cloud providers: Vultr High Frequency, DigitalOcean, AWS EC2, Google Cloud Compute, and Linode. You pick a provider, pick a server size, pick a region, and Cloudways handles the stack (NGINX + Apache hybrid, MariaDB, Redis, Varnish, PHP-FPM, server-level cache, free SSL, 1-click staging, free migration, managed backups). The underlying VM is yours. No shared tenants. No "unlimited" asterisks. No inode caps. No throttling at mysterious thresholds.
Cloudways Pricing Tiers: Which Plan Is Actually Right For You?
Cloudways pricing is flat. The tier you see at signup is the tier you pay in year three. No renewal spike. Below is the full pricing matrix grouped by underlying cloud. Most users should start with Vultr High Frequency 1GB at $14/mo, then scale up as traffic warrants.
- Vultr HF (fastest)
- DigitalOcean (starter)
- DO Premium (balanced)
- AWS / GCP (enterprise)
Vultr High Frequency: 3.8GHz clock speed, NVMe, the speed champ
1GB: $14/mo · 1 CPU, 32GB NVMe, 1TB bandwidth. My recommended entry plan. 72ms idle TTFB in Tokyo. Holds 100 concurrent users with zero errors.
2GB: $28/mo · 1 CPU, 64GB NVMe, 2TB bandwidth. For WooCommerce or membership sites under 50k monthly visitors.
4GB: $56/mo · 2 CPUs, 128GB NVMe, 3TB bandwidth. For higher-load WooCommerce or SaaS applications.
8GB+: $112-$224/mo · scales linearly. Pick this tier when p99 TTFB starts climbing above 400ms under your real traffic.
DigitalOcean Standard: proven, reliable, lowest cost
1GB: $14/mo · 1 CPU, 25GB SSD, 1TB bandwidth. Functional but slower than Vultr HF at the same price. Pick only if your region lacks a Vultr HF datacenter.
2GB: $28/mo · 1 CPU, 50GB SSD, 2TB bandwidth.
4GB: $56/mo · 2 CPUs, 80GB SSD, 4TB bandwidth.
AWS EC2 and Google Cloud: overkill for most, useful for enterprise
AWS small: from $36.51/mo. You pay the AWS markup for the AWS infrastructure. Worth it only for compliance reasons (HIPAA, SOC2, data residency) or existing AWS tooling.
GCP small: from $33.30/mo. Same logic as AWS. The $30-50 premium above Vultr HF buys you the Google SRE backbone and Premium Tier network routing.
Cloudways Pros and Cons: Where It Wins, Where It Loses
- Flat pricing, no renewal markup. $14/mo today is $14/mo in year three.
- Dedicated VM resources. No "noisy neighbor" throttling.
- Lightning Stack cache. Object cache via Redis, server cache via Varnish, built-in.
- 3-day free trial, no credit card. Rare in managed hosting. Real trial, not a bait.
- Free migration of 1 site (2025 policy change from unlimited). Still free for the primary site.
- 1-click staging, 1-click clone. Staging environments stay free, unlike SiteGround.
- CloudwaysCDN powered by Cloudflare Enterprise at $4.99/mo per domain. Optional, cheap.
- 24/7 live chat, fast escalation to L2 engineers on Premium Support ($100/mo add-on).
- Email hosting not included. Add Rackspace ($1/mailbox/mo) or use Google Workspace/Zoho.
- No free domain year one. Bring your own or buy from Cloudflare Registrar.
- Linux CLI comfort helps. Not strict beginner territory for custom troubleshooting.
- DigitalOcean and AWS plans with Premium Support cost 2x basic. Entry tier support is good, not great.
- DigitalOcean Basic is visibly slower than Vultr HF. Pick the right cloud, not the cheapest.
- Billing is post-paid monthly. No multi-year prepay discount.
- Shared mailbox migration can be clunky if you're coming from cPanel.
CLOUDS2022 at checkout for $30 free credit (covers 2 months of the entry plan). The 3-day free trial is real, no card required. Start the Cloudways trial here →#2 ScalaHosting Managed VPS: The Fastest Single-Server Dynamic Host
ScalaHosting Managed VPS (SPanel)
AMD EPYC · NVMe Gen4 · Root Access
Why We Like It
- True 1Gbps Unmetered Port (Low Density)
- SPanel Included (Free cPanel Alternative)
- Enterprise NVMe & AMD EPYC CPUs
- Daily Offsite Backups Included (Free)
- Fully Managed Support (24/7)
Drawbacks
- Higher renewal rates than budget unmanaged hosts
- Entry plans have limited storage compared to Contabo
Performance Benchmarks
- TTFB: 28ms (VPS cached) / 78ms (shared)
- Load Test (100 Users): 33ms (+18%)
- Uptime: 99.997%
- I/O Speed: 2,457 MB/s (PCIe 5.0)
- PHP Workers: 30+ dedicated
- WooCommerce TTFB: 98ms @ 100 users
$22/mo
Easter Sale
ScalaHosting is the host I recommend second, not because it's second-best at everything, but because its Managed VPS tier beats Cloudways on raw single-server speed. The entry VPS runs on AMD EPYC 9474F processors (48 cores, 3.6GHz base, 4.1GHz boost, 256MB L3 cache) with NVMe Gen4 storage. I measured 28ms p50 TTFB on an idle WordPress install in the Dallas datacenter. That is faster than Rocket.net's Cloudflare edge cache ($30/mo), faster than Kinsta Starter ($35/mo), and faster than Cloudways DigitalOcean 1GB. The only thing beating it on TTFB is a static site on Cloudflare Pages.
The differentiator beyond raw hardware is SPanel, ScalaHosting's cPanel replacement. SPanel is included free with every VPS plan. That alone saves $17-$30/mo in cPanel licensing on competing VPS providers. SPanel includes a 1-click WordPress manager, free SSL, free email, Let's Encrypt automation, daily backups, staging, malware scanning, and a clean account management UI. It is the only VPS control panel I recommend over cPanel.
ScalaHosting Plans: Shared StartUp vs Managed VPS vs Self-Managed VPS
- StartUp (Shared)
- Managed Cloud VPS
- Self-Managed VPS
- Reseller
StartUp Shared: $3.95/mo (36mo), $5.95/mo renewal. The honest shared plan.
Best for simple sites with up to 10k monthly visitors. 10GB NVMe, 1 site, free SSL, free email, SPanel, Let's Encrypt, 24/7 chat. The renewal at $5.95 is the second-most honest in the shared market after ScalaHosting's own Advanced plan.
Managed Cloud VPS: from $29.95/mo. SPanel included. The fastest option here.
Entry ($29.95): 2 CPU cores, 4GB RAM, 50GB NVMe, 1TB bandwidth, SPanel. My recommended tier.
Advanced ($63.95): 4 CPU cores, 8GB RAM, 80GB NVMe, 2TB bandwidth. For WooCommerce under 100k visitors/mo.
Business ($121.95): 6 CPU cores, 12GB RAM, 120GB NVMe, 3TB bandwidth. Multi-site agencies.
Self-Managed VPS: root access, DIY, lower cost
From $10/mo. You handle security patches, OS updates, firewall config, and performance tuning. Only pick this if you know what `ufw`, `systemd`, and `fail2ban` do. Otherwise the $20 premium for managed is worth it.
Reseller: host your clients under your brand
From $14.95/mo. White-label SPanel, client billing, WHM-style limits. For web agencies and freelancers hosting 5+ client sites.
- AMD EPYC 9474F + NVMe Gen4. The fastest hardware under $30/mo.
- SPanel free with every plan. Saves $17-30/mo vs cPanel VPS.
- Anytime money-back. Most hosts cap at 30-45 days.
- Included email hosting, unlike Cloudways.
- 10 global datacenters including Dallas, NY, London, Frankfurt, Mumbai, Tokyo, Sydney, Singapore.
- Free migration from cPanel / DirectAdmin hosts. SPanel has a one-click cPanel importer.
- Daily backups, free SSL, free Let's Encrypt, free WP Manager.
- Full root access on self-managed + managed tiers.
- $29.95/mo entry is higher than Cloudways $14/mo. You pay for hardware and SPanel.
- SPanel has a learning curve if you come from cPanel. Different UI.
- Shared StartUp plan is limited to 1 site. Most competitors give 1 site at this tier too, but it's worth noting.
- No built-in CDN. Pair with Cloudflare free tier or Bunny CDN ($1/mo).
- Support chat volume is lower, meaning response times vary between 60 seconds and 4 minutes.
- Less brand recognition than SiteGround or Bluehost. Not a real problem, just optics.
- Managed plans require 1-year commitment for best pricing. Monthly billing adds ~20%.
#3 Hostinger: The Cheapest Long-Term Lock-In (If You Commit 4 Years)
Hostinger Premium Shared
LiteSpeed + LSCache · 48-Month Lock
Hostinger Pros
- Cheapest Entry Price
- Modern hPanel (Easy to use)
- LiteSpeed Web Server
- Global Data Centers
Hostinger Cons
- Shared Uplink (Speed fluctuates)
- Strict Fair Use Policy
- Semi-Managed Support (AI driven)
Performance Benchmarks
- TTFB: 145ms avg
- Load Test (100 Users): TIMEOUT ❌
- Uptime: 99.95%
- WooCommerce TTFB: 310ms
$5.99/mo
30-Day Money Back Guarantee
Hostinger is the cheapest hosting I recommend, and I recommend it with a warning. The $2.99/mo price requires a 48-month upfront payment ($143.52 total). If you cancel early you are refunded the unused months minus the cost of the free domain they gave you year one. The renewal at month 49 jumps to $11.99/mo. If you stay 5 years the effective average is $4.50/mo. If you stay 7 years the effective average is $6.50/mo. The math is honest if you accept the lock-in. It is dishonest if you assume $2.99/mo is your forever price.
The stack is technically competent. LiteSpeed web server + LSCache + MariaDB + PHP 8.3 by default. Hostinger's own hPanel replaces cPanel and is genuinely easier for beginners. Cloudflare-style CDN is bundled. SSL is automatic. WordPress is 1-click installable. The hardware is shared cloud (OpenVZ historically, now KVM), so concurrent-user performance is capped at roughly 15-25 simultaneous visitors before TTFB starts climbing above 600ms. For a personal blog, small portfolio, or B2B lead-gen site that sees 10-50 visitors per hour, it is fine.
Hostinger Pricing: Where the Lock-In Math Actually Breaks Even
- Premium (best buy)
- Business (more RAM)
- Cloud (higher tier)
- VPS (advanced)
Business Shared: $3.99/mo x 48 months. 3x CPU + RAM vs Premium, daily backups, 600k inodes.
Worth the extra dollar if you expect 50-100 concurrent users. 200GB NVMe, daily backups, object cache pro, free CDN, WooCommerce optimized.
Cloud Startup: $7.99/mo x 48 months. Dedicated resources, 3GB RAM, 200GB NVMe.
The first tier where you escape shared-tenant throttling. 3GB dedicated RAM, 2 CPU cores, free dedicated IP, daily backups, priority support. Good for a serious WooCommerce store under 20k visitors.
VPS KVM 2: $7.99/mo x 24 months. Full root access, 2 CPU cores, 8GB RAM.
If you want a cheap VPS without SPanel or cPanel, Hostinger KVM VPS is the lowest entry VPS I trust. Ubuntu/Debian, root SSH, no control panel included. You manage it yourself.
- Cheapest locked price on the market with honest stack. $143.52 for 4 years.
- LiteSpeed + LSCache. Faster than Apache/NGINX shared hosts.
- hPanel is easier for beginners than cPanel.
- Free domain year one, free SSL, free CDN. Real bundle.
- 30-day money-back guarantee. Unused months refunded minus domain cost.
- Green data centers (Hetzner partnership). 100% renewable for EU region.
- AI website builder included for users who cannot use WordPress.
- 24/7 chat support with generally fast first response.
- Renewal price jumps 4x to $11.99/mo. Lock-in is real.
- Inode cap at 400,000 on Premium. Hits hard on sites with 10k+ posts or WooCommerce.
- Performance collapses above 25 concurrent users. Shared resource reality.
- LLM chatbot routes support before humans as of late 2025. Annoying.
- Backups are weekly on Premium, not daily.
- Only US + EU + Brazil + India + Singapore datacenters. No Australia, no Japan, no LATAM South.
- No staging on Premium tier. Business tier gets it.
- Migration from cPanel hosts requires a paid tier.
Ranks #4 Through #11: The Honest Horizontal Stack
After Cloudways, ScalaHosting VPS, and Hostinger, the rest of the list is context-dependent. None of these are bad hosts, and some are excellent in narrow slots. I rank them the way I do because nine out of ten readers will be better served by the top three. Still, if you have a specific use case (beginner hand-holding, agency scale, WooCommerce at 100k monthly visits), one of the hosts below might be your actual correct answer.
#4 ScalaHosting StartUp Shared: The Most Honest Shared Hosting Renewal Math
ScalaHosting StartUp (Shared + SPanel)
$3.95 intro · $5.95 renewal · LiteSpeedWhy We Like It
- True 1Gbps Unmetered Port (Low Density)
- SPanel Included (Free cPanel Alternative)
- Enterprise NVMe & AMD EPYC CPUs
- Daily Offsite Backups Included (Free)
- Fully Managed Support (24/7)
Drawbacks
- Higher renewal rates than budget unmanaged hosts
- Entry plans have limited storage compared to Contabo
Performance Benchmarks
- TTFB: 28ms (VPS cached) / 78ms (shared)
- Load Test (100 Users): 33ms (+18%)
- Uptime: 99.997%
- I/O Speed: 2,457 MB/s (PCIe 5.0)
- PHP Workers: 30+ dedicated
- WooCommerce TTFB: 98ms @ 100 users
$22/mo
Easter Sale
Every other shared host on this page plays the same trick: cheap intro, renewal triple or quadruple. ScalaHosting is the one exception I have found in 10 years of hosting testing. StartUp shared costs $3.95/mo intro and renews at $5.95/mo. That is a 50% markup, not 300% or 400%. For a user who cannot pay 48 months upfront (Hostinger's price requirement) but still wants shared hosting, this is the correct default.
The stack is shared but technically competent. LiteSpeed Enterprise web server, NVMe storage, free SSL, free weekly backups, free unlimited email, free cPanel-to-SPanel migration. SPanel is ScalaHosting's own control panel and replaces cPanel at no license fee. The performance will not match ScalaHosting's VPS tier (you are on shared hardware), but TTFB at idle sits around 85ms versus Bluehost's 200ms on comparable shared plans. Under concurrent load, expect the same shared-hosting ceiling as every other shared host: 25 to 50 simultaneous visitors before TTFB climbs into the 500ms range.
ScalaHosting StartUp Pricing: The Renewal Math That Actually Works
- Renewal is 50% above intro, not 300%. Lowest honest markup in shared.
- Anytime money-back guarantee with pro-rated refunds. Rare in the industry.
- SPanel included, no cPanel license fee added to renewal price.
- LiteSpeed Enterprise + LSCache on every plan. Faster than Apache shared.
- Free email hosting with real inboxes. No "add $2/mailbox/mo" surprise.
- Free unlimited cPanel migration. Not a teaser, no per-site fee.
- Independently owned since 2007. Not a private-equity roll-up brand.
- Same company as rank #2 VPS. Easy upgrade path when you outgrow shared.
- StartUp is single-site only. Advanced tier ($5.95 intro) for multi-site.
- 10 GB NVMe is tight for image-heavy sites. Advanced plan doubles it 5x.
- SPanel learning curve if you came from cPanel. Familiar concepts, different layout.
- Shared resource ceiling still applies. 25-50 concurrent user limit like any shared plan.
- Datacenter selection is smaller than Cloudways. US + EU + Singapore coverage.
- Intro tier requires 12-month commit. Monthly billing costs more per month.
#5 ChemiCloud: The Beginner-Friendliest Support in the Hosting Industry
ChemiCloud Starter (Shared + cPanel)
LiteSpeed · 10 Datacenters · 45-Day Refund
Chemicloud Pros
- 24/7 Human Chat Support (Instant)
- Free Lifetime Domain Name
- LiteSpeed Enterprise Servers
- Multiple Global Locations (Inc. India)
Chemicloud Cons
- Renewal price is higher than intro
- No monthly billing on starter plans
Performance Benchmarks
- TTFB: 95ms avg
- Load Test (100 Users): 210ms (+121%)
- Uptime: 99.98%
- CPU: #62 (EPYC 9354)
- I/O Speed: 1,200 MB/s
$2.99/mo
45-Day Refund Policy
ChemiCloud is the host I recommend to every friend and family member who has never built a website before. Not because it is the fastest (it is shared hosting and therefore speed-capped) and not because it is the cheapest (it renews at $9.95/mo on Starter). I recommend it because the support team treats shared hosting customers like they matter. In 90 days of testing across 15 hosts, ChemiCloud's average chat first response was 45 seconds. The second fastest (SiteGround) was 5 minutes. That gap is the entire story.
Technically, the stack is middle-of-the-pack-good. LiteSpeed Enterprise web server, LSCache plugin, NVMe storage, free SSL, free daily backups on Pro plan, free domain year one, 10 global datacenters including London, Frankfurt, Singapore, Mumbai, Toronto, and Sydney. TTFB at idle sits around 95ms on a warm shared cluster, which is fast for the category. Under 50 concurrent users it holds well. Above 75 concurrent, the same shared-hosting ceiling every budget host hits: PHP workers saturate, TTFB climbs, error rate goes nonzero. If your site grows past that threshold, upgrade to Cloudways or ScalaHosting VPS.
ChemiCloud Pricing: Intro and Renewal Numbers
- Fastest real-human chat response we measured. 45 seconds average, weekday or weekend.
- Agents who SSH into the server to fix issues live. Not just KB links.
- LiteSpeed Enterprise + LSCache. Server-level page cache, native HTTP/3.
- 10 global datacenters including India, Singapore, Australia. Rare in the shared tier.
- 45-day money-back guarantee. 15 days longer than most hosts.
- Free domain for year one. $9.99+ value on common TLDs.
- Free daily backups on Pro and Turbo tiers. Managed, retained 30 days.
- Free cPanel migration, unlimited sites. Not just the first one.
- Renewal is 3x intro (~$9.95 from $2.95). Honest but still a real markup.
- Starter tier is single-site only. Pro is the first realistic plan for multiple projects.
- Shared-hosting ceiling at around 75 concurrent users. Normal for the category.
- No monthly billing on the intro rate. Annual or multi-year only for the cheap price.
- No staging environment on Starter tier. Pro and Turbo include it.
- Dashboard is still cPanel + custom wrapper. Less polished than hPanel or Site Tools.
#6 Kinsta: Premium Managed WordPress on Google Cloud C2
Kinsta Starter (Google Cloud C2 + CF Enterprise)
$35/mo · 25k visits · MyKinsta APM
Kinsta Pros
- Google Cloud C2 (Fastest CPUs)
- Incredible Dashboard (MyKinsta)
- Application Performance Monitoring (APM)
- 35+ Global Locations
Why Avoid
- **Per-Visit Pricing** (Expensive)
- Low PHP Worker Limits on entry plans
- No Email Hosting
Performance Benchmarks
- TTFB: ~78ms avg
- Load Test (100 Users): ~92ms (+18%)
- Uptime: 99.99%
$35.00/mo
30-Day Money-Back
Kinsta is what managed WordPress hosting looks like when someone builds it properly and charges real money for it. The stack runs on Google Cloud C2 compute-optimized VMs (the fastest general-purpose tier GCP sells), Cloudflare Enterprise for edge caching and WAF, and a custom dashboard (MyKinsta) that includes built-in APM, staging environments, per-site analytics, and one-click backups. Everything feels premium because everything costs premium money.
The reason Kinsta sits at #6 and not higher is the visit-capped pricing model. Starter at $35/mo includes 25,000 monthly visits. Hit 30k and you are paying overage fees or bumping up to the $65/mo Pro plan. For a site with predictable traffic, this is fine. For a site that might catch organic growth or a viral moment, it is a real operational risk. Cloudways at $14/mo on the same Vultr HF hardware handles unlimited traffic within your VM's resource limit, with no metered billing anywhere in the pricing structure.
Kinsta Pricing: Plans and the Visit-Cap Math
- Google Cloud C2 compute. Fastest general-purpose GCP tier, bundled at no upcharge.
- Cloudflare Enterprise included. Argo routing, image optimization, premium WAF.
- 37 global datacenters via GCP. Best geographic coverage among managed WP hosts.
- MyKinsta dashboard with built-in APM. Per-site performance metrics without a plugin.
- Staging, cloning, and per-environment Git deploy. Real developer workflow.
- Free hand-managed migration by engineers. Not an automated plugin handoff.
- 30-day money-back guarantee. Real refund, documented policy.
- Strong uptime track record and fast expert support. L2 WordPress engineers on chat.
- Visit-capped pricing penalizes traffic spikes. 25k on Starter, overage fees above.
- No email hosting. Must use Google Workspace or similar, add $6+/mailbox/mo.
- WordPress-only. Cannot host Node.js, Laravel, Django, or static sites on Kinsta WP plans.
- Starter is single-site. Pro at $65 is the first multi-site tier.
- $35 entry is 2.5x Cloudways entry. Real cost delta over a 3-year window.
- Plugin restrictions. Kinsta disallows some caching, backup, and security plugins by policy.
- Renewal price equals intro price (no discount). Straightforward but not cheap.
#7 SiteGround: Friendly Dashboard, Brutal 5x Renewal Math
SiteGround StartUp (Shared + Google Cloud)
GCP infra · Site Tools UI · 5x renewal jump
Siteground Pros
- Excellent Google Cloud Infrastructure
- Great Security Tools
- Fast TTFB
Why Avoid
- Massive Renewal Price Hike
- Strict CPU Limits (Force Upgrade)
Performance Benchmarks
- TTFB: 164ms avg
- Load Test (100 Users): 503 errors
- Uptime: 99.97%
- PHP Workers: 4 shared
$2.99/mo
Renews at $17.99/mo
SiteGround is the host everyone remembers as "the good one" from 2015 to 2020. The product is still competent. Google Cloud infrastructure (Premium Tier network), NGINX with custom caching, the Site Tools dashboard is the friendliest cPanel alternative on the market, chat support is genuinely strong, and the WordPress-specific features (SG Security, SG Optimizer, auto-updates) are real. The reason it sits at #7 and not #2 is pricing that has drifted from "fair" to "predatory" over the past three years.
The intro is $2.99/mo on a 12-month commit. The renewal is $14.99/mo. That is a 401% markup. Every shared host does this trick at some level, but most stop at 3x. SiteGround doing 5x while also capping the StartUp plan at 10,000 monthly visits is what pushes buyers to Cloudways at $14 flat instead. You end up paying the same $14/mo but on a dedicated VM with no visit cap, no shared-tenant throttling, and no renewal surprise.
SiteGround Pricing: Intro, Renewal, and Visit Caps
- Google Cloud infrastructure. Premium Tier network, reliable underlying hardware.
- Site Tools dashboard. Friendliest custom control panel on the shared market.
- Strong live chat support. Agents resolve real server-side issues, not just KB deflection.
- SG Optimizer + SuperCacher plugin. NGINX + Memcached page cache done well.
- Automatic WordPress core and plugin updates. Configurable staging test before deploy.
- Free daily backups on every plan. 30-day retention on higher tiers.
- Free CDN included. Plus premium CDN add-on at reasonable rate.
- Data centers in US, UK, NL, DE, SG, AU. Broad GCP coverage.
- 401% renewal markup (5x intro). The worst ratio on this page.
- 10,000 monthly visit cap on StartUp. Hit it and SiteGround throttles TTFB.
- No monthly billing on intro rate. Annual commitment required for the cheap price.
- StartUp is single-site. GrowBig is the first realistic tier for real work.
- No free migration on StartUp tier. $30 per site charged as a paid add-on.
- NGINX shared stack, not LiteSpeed. Slightly slower TTFB than LiteSpeed shared.
- PHP worker caps aggressively enforced. Concurrent user limit shows up earlier than competitors.
#8 Rocket.net: Managed WordPress on Cloudflare Enterprise Edge
Rocket.net Starter (Cloudflare Enterprise + Argo)
$30/mo · CF Enterprise edge · 45-day refund
Rocket.net Pros
- Cloudflare Enterprise Included (Free)
- Fastest Global TTFB (<100ms)
- Pre-configured (Zero Setup)
- High PHP Worker Limits
Why Avoid
- Premium Pricing (Starts at $30)
- Storage limits are tighter than VPS
Performance Benchmarks
- TTFB: ~72ms avg
- Load Test (100 Users): ~135ms (+88%)
- Uptime: 99.97%
$30.00/mo
Fastest Global TTFB
Rocket.net's positioning is unique on this page. It is managed WordPress hosting where the primary speed story is not the origin server but the Cloudflare Enterprise edge cache baked into every plan. That cache is usually a $5,000/mo enterprise product on its own. Rocket.net bundles it into a $30/mo managed WP plan. For cached content (blog posts, static pages, product catalogs without login), you get sub-70ms TTFB globally because requests never reach the origin server.
Where the Rocket.net story gets complicated is dynamic content. WooCommerce checkouts, logged-in dashboards, and personalized pages cannot be cached at the edge. Those requests hit a mid-tier origin server that is slower than Cloudways Vultr HF. So for cache-friendly content sites, Rocket.net competes with or beats premium managed WP. For dynamic commerce, it is behind Cloudways and ScalaHosting. The $30/mo entry is also high for a single-site plan. Cloudways plus the optional CloudwaysCDN add-on sits at roughly $19 and covers the same use case.
Rocket.net Pricing: Plans and Edge Cache Details
- Cloudflare Enterprise on every plan. Real enterprise cache, not the free tier.
- Argo Smart Routing included. Faster origin fetch on cache misses.
- Free malware removal guarantee. Real human intervention, documented.
- 45-day money-back guarantee. Generous refund window for a premium tier.
- 250,000 monthly visits on Starter. 10x Kinsta Starter's 25k cap.
- Strong page-cache performance for content sites. Sub-70ms global TTFB when cached.
- Polished dashboard and 24/7 expert support. Fast human response times.
- Free migration included. Engineer-handled for Starter and above.
- $30/mo entry is expensive for a single-site plan. Cloudways + CF add-on is cheaper.
- WordPress-only. No Node.js, Laravel, or static-site hosting.
- Dynamic page TTFB is mid-tier. Cache is the entire value; uncached origin is slower.
- No email hosting. External provider required.
- Starter is single-site. Pro is the first multi-site plan.
- Plugin restrictions typical of managed WP. Some caching plugins disallowed.
- Smaller brand recognition than Kinsta or WP Engine. Matters for agency client perception.
#9 WP Engine: Agency-Grade Managed WordPress With Heavy Tool Stack
WP Engine Startup (Managed + ACF Pro + Local)
$20 intro · $25 renewal · 25k visits
Wp Engine Pros
- Excellent Staging/Dev Tools
- EverCache (Proprietary Caching)
- Great for Agencies/Teams
Why Avoid
- Banned Plugin List (Restrictive)
- Expensive Overage Fees
- No Email Hosting
Performance Benchmarks
- TTFB: 312ms avg
- Load Test (100 Users): 487ms (+56%)
- Uptime: 99.97%
$20.00/mo
60-Day Money-Back
WP Engine is the host agencies build their WordPress practice around. The product is less about raw hosting performance and more about the ecosystem: Advanced Custom Fields Pro (industry-standard custom fields plugin), Local (the best free WordPress dev tool on any OS), Genesis Framework (premium theme framework), and StudioPress (theme marketplace). All of these ship included with every WP Engine plan. If you run 10 WordPress client sites and your team already uses those tools, WP Engine collapses a stack of individual subscriptions into one hosting bill.
The reason WP Engine sits at #9 and not higher is that, as pure hosting infrastructure, Cloudways Vultr HF is faster and cheaper on dynamic content. The ecosystem value only pays off if you actually use ACF Pro, Local, and Genesis. A single blogger or small business owner rarely needs those tools. For that buyer, paying $20 to $25/mo for a hosting plan that is slower than a $14 Cloudways plan is poor value. For an agency, the math reverses.
WP Engine Pricing: Startup Through Scale
- ACF Pro included, unlimited sites. ~$249/yr of license value bundled.
- Local by WP Engine included. Best free WordPress local dev tool, cross-platform.
- Genesis Framework + StudioPress themes bundled. Premium theme library at no add-on cost.
- Strong agency workflow. Multi-site dashboard, per-environment staging, transferable billing.
- Automatic WordPress core and plugin updates with test mode. Visual regression test included.
- Enterprise-grade SLA options. 99.99% uptime and HIPAA-ready on higher tiers.
- Strong agency-focused support. Chat and phone, L2 WordPress engineers.
- Global data centers on Google Cloud. Broad regional coverage via GCP.
- $25 renewal is ~2x Cloudways. Real cost delta for a single-site use case.
- 25,000 monthly visit cap on Startup. Overage fees or plan bump under traffic spikes.
- WordPress-only, no other stacks supported.
- Silver Lake private equity ownership. Post-Automattic split, incentives may diverge from users.
- Plugin restriction list is longer than most managed WP hosts. Some caching plugins disallowed.
- No email hosting included. External Google Workspace or similar required.
- Agency features are wasted on single-site owners. You pay for bundled tools you never use.
#10 Bluehost: Why It Ranks Here, Not #1 Like the Marketing Claims
Bluehost Basic (Newfold Digital subsidiary)
$2.95 intro · $13.99 renewal · Apache shared
Bluehost Pros
- Very Cheap Intro Price
- Beginner Friendly Dashboard
- Free Domain Name
Why Avoid
- Aggressive CPU Throttling
- No Monthly Billing Option
- Slow Support (Outsourced)
- Expensive Renewals ($9.99/mo+)
Performance Benchmarks
- TTFB: 320ms avg
- Load Test (100 Users): 1,240ms (+288%)
- Uptime: 99.91%
$2.95/mo
Recommended by WordPress.org
Bluehost is the host that appears at #1 on most "best hosting" lists you have ever read. It is also the host that appears at #10 on this one. The gap between those two positions is the gap between ranking by affiliate commission and ranking by data. Bluehost pays roughly $105 per signup, higher than almost any other host in this industry. Hostinger pays $55. Cloudways pays $125. ScalaHosting pays $200. The commission rate does not correlate with product quality. The ranking results in the sites you trust often do.
On the actual data, Bluehost is a Newfold Digital subsidiary (rebranded from Endurance International Group / EIG) that runs oversold Apache shared servers on aging hardware. TTFB at idle is 200ms on warm clusters. At 50 concurrent users, error rate hits 8.5% and TTFB climbs past 600ms. Support has been progressively routed through LLM chatbots before escalating to humans since late 2025. The intro price is $2.95/mo, the renewal is $13.99/mo (a 474% markup), and "free domain year one" adds $19.99/yr to the renewal bill if you stay. WordPress.org officially recommends Bluehost, but that recommendation is a paid placement dating to 2005.
Bluehost Pricing: The Intro-to-Renewal Gap
- WordPress.org recommended badge. Paid placement, but real brand reassurance for beginners.
- 1-click WordPress installer. Functional, if slow.
- Free domain year one. Added to renewal bill starting year two.
- 30-day money-back guarantee. Domain registration fee non-refundable.
- US-based datacenters. Fine latency for US visitors.
- 474% renewal markup. $2.95 intro becomes $13.99 at year-three renewal.
- Newfold Digital / EIG ownership. Same parent as HostGator, iPage, FatCow.
- Apache shared, not LiteSpeed. 3-5x slower TTFB under load than LiteSpeed competitors.
- 8.5% error rate at 50 concurrent users. Real documented performance ceiling.
- LLM chatbot routes support before humans. Escalation adds 30 to 60 minutes of wait time.
- Upsell-heavy checkout flow. Pre-checked add-ons add $40 to $80 to the stated price.
- Oversold shared infrastructure. Legacy model, high density per server.
- Email limited to 100 aliases on Basic. Real mailboxes are an add-on.
#11 GoDaddy and HostGator: The Upsell-Heavy Bottom Tier to Avoid
GoDaddy Economy / HostGator Hatchling (legacy shared)
Aggressive upsell · Opaque pricing · Oversold sharedWhy no affiliate card here: Bluehost (rank #10) also earns commission but at least has recognizable brand reassurance for beginners. GoDaddy and HostGator do not meet the bar for a recommendation at any price point. If you are looking at either, read the rest of this section first.
GoDaddy is the largest domain registrar in the world. HostGator is a sister brand under the same Newfold Digital (EIG) umbrella as Bluehost. Both companies sell shared hosting as an upsell pipeline rather than a product. The dashboard is designed to surface upsell modals during nearly every workflow (SSL add-ons, "Managed WordPress" upgrades, email tier jumps, domain privacy toggles, SiteLock security bundles). The hosting itself runs oversold Apache shared clusters on legacy hardware. TTFB is routinely 240ms or higher at idle. Under concurrent load, error rates climb past 12%.
GoDaddy's "Managed WordPress" historically shared database servers across thousands of customer sites, which led to repeated performance outages when any one site misbehaved. Both companies have a documented history of pressuring support refund requests and billing customers for renewals without clear notice. In 2024 and 2025, multiple class-action complaints were filed against GoDaddy's "Managed WordPress" pricing practices. None of this shows up in the marketing. It all shows up in the customer experience.
Why Both Companies Rank at #11 (and Not Higher)
- Brand recognition. Both are household names, useful only for client-sales perception.
- GoDaddy domain registration is competent. Use them for domains if you already have an account. Host elsewhere.
- US-based datacenters. Fine latency for US visitors if you ignore the TTFB numbers.
- Both accept nearly every payment method. Rare for a complaint.
- Aggressive upsell dashboard. Admin UI is a sales funnel, not a control panel.
- Opaque renewal pricing. Monthly, annual, and multi-year quotes vary across pages for the same plan.
- Oversold shared infrastructure. PHP worker saturation at low concurrent-user counts.
- Historically pushy support refund workflows. Documented friction on money-back requests.
- Apache on legacy hardware. 3-5x slower TTFB than LiteSpeed competitors at the same price.
- Newfold Digital ownership (HostGator). Same parent as Bluehost, same incentives.
- Documented class-action complaints (GoDaddy). 2024/2025 filings around Managed WordPress pricing.
- Every use case is served better by another host on this list. Zero scenarios where this tier is the right call.
Every Host We Have Tested (Not Just This Year)
This guide ranks the hosts we tested for the 2026 cohort in depth. But ThatMy.com has reviewed and tracked hosts across many providers over our lifetime. Every one was a paid account, not a press loaner. Many did not make the top list because they failed support, pricing, or load-test benchmarks. We keep them in the database so we can tell you which ones to avoid too. Full list below.
| Host | Rating | Entry Price | Link |
|---|---|---|---|
| ScalaHosting Managed VPS | — | $22/mo | View → |
| Cloudways Managed Cloud | — | $11.00/mo | View → |
| ChemiCloud Shared Hosting | — | $2.99/mo | View → |
| Verpex Hosting | — | $12.00/mo | View → |
| Hostinger VPS | — | $5.99/mo | View → |
| Contabo Cloud VPS | — | $8.49/mo | View → |
| InterServer VPS | — | $6.00/mo | View → |
| Namecheap Hosting | — | $1.98/mo | View → |
| Rocket.net | — | $30.00/mo | View → |
| Kamatera Enterprise | — | $4.00/mo | View → |
| Kinsta Managed WP | — | $35.00/mo | View → |
| WP Engine | — | $20.00/mo | View → |
| Liquid Web | — | $59.00/mo | View → |
| SiteGround Hosting | — | $2.99/mo | View → |
| Bluehost Shared | — | $2.95/mo | View → |
| GoDaddy Hosting | — | $5.99/mo | View → |
| HostGator | — | $2.75/mo | View → |
| InMotion Hosting | — | $2.99/mo | View → |
| Hetzner Cloud | — | $5.49/mo | View → |
| OVHcloud VPS | — | $13.00/mo | View → |
| Vultr Cloud | — | $6.00/mo | View → |
| Linode (Akamai) | — | $5.00/mo | View → |
| DigitalOcean | — | $4.00/mo | View → |
| Flywheel | — | $13.00/mo | View → |
| Shopify | — | $29.00/mo | View → |
| Hostwinds | — | $4.99/mo | View → |
| Hosting.com (Formerly A2) | — | $3.99/mo | View → |
| Hosting.com | — | $3.99/mo | View → |
| FastComet | — | $2.95/mo | View → |
| GreenGeeks | — | $2.95/mo | View → |
| DreamHost Shared Hosting | — | $2.59/mo | View → |
| Vercel Edge Platform | — | $20.00/mo | View → |
| Vodien Web Hosting | — | $10.00/mo | View → |
| Exabytes Hosting | — | $3.99/mo | View → |
| ServerFreak | — | RM 199/yr | View → |
| Shinjiru Offshore | — | $8.95/mo | View → |
| IONOS | — | $2.00/mo | View → |
| HostGator India | — | ₹99/mo | View → |
| MilesWeb | — | ₹40/mo | View → |
| BigRock | — | ₹99/mo | View → |
| Bluehost India | — | ₹199/mo | View → |
| Hostinger — Singapore Data Center | — | S$4.05/mo | View → |
| Cloudways — Singapore Cloud Servers | — | S$19/mo | View → |
| ChemiCloud — Singapore Data Center | — | S$4.30/mo | View → |
| ScalaHosting — Singapore Managed VPS | — | S$40/mo | View → |
| A2 Hosting — Singapore Server | — | S$8.10/mo | View → |
| Exabytes — Singapore Local Host | — | S$5.50/mo | View → |
| Vodien — Singapore Local Alternative | — | S$6.90/mo | View → |
| Nexcess Managed Hosting | — | $21.00/mo | View → |
| HostArmada | — | $2.99/mo | View → |
| AEServer | — | $5.00/mo | View → |
| HostPapa | — | $2.95/mo | View → |
| VentraIP Australia | — | $9.00/mo | View → |
| Neoxea | — | Varies | View → |
| JustHost Shared Hosting | — | $4.95/mo | View → |
| NameHero Web Hosting | — | $2.69/mo | View → |
| iPage Web Hosting | — | $1.99/mo | View → |
| GoogieHost Free Hosting | — | $0.00/mo | View → |
| InfinityFree Hosting | — | $0.00/mo | View → |
Counts update as we test new hosts and retire ones that have been acquired or degraded past usability. Full testing protocol at /how-we-test.
What does 4-year hosting actually cost? (Real renewal math vs advertised monthly price)
Every shared host markets a first-month intro price. Almost none explain what you actually pay across the full lifecycle. The table below models the exact dollars you will hand over in years one through five under each host's default billing cadence. This is the most important buying signal on this page, and it is the signal almost every other "best web hosting" list refuses to print because it exposes the renewal deception.
What hidden costs do most hosting reviews skip? (Migration, email, SSL, backups)
The sticker price on a hosting plan is usually 40 to 60% of what you pay. The rest hides in migration fees, email add-ons, domain renewals, backup pricing, SSL-for-real-certs (not just Let's Encrypt), and staging. A $2.95/mo plan can easily become $14/mo after these six line items. Here is the real audit across the eight most-recommended hosts.
| Provider | Email Hosting | Free Domain (Year 1) | Free SSL | Daily Backups | Free Migration | Staging Site |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudways | $1/mo extra | No | Free (LE auto) | Included | Free (1 site) | Free (1 click) |
| ScalaHosting VPS | Included | No | Free | Free offsite daily | Free unlimited | Free |
| Hostinger | Included | Yes (1 year) | Free | Weekly only | Free (auto tool) | Premium plans only |
| ChemiCloud | Included | Free for life | Free | Daily, kept 30 days | Free unlimited | Free (Pro+) |
| Kinsta | No (third-party) | No | Free | Daily | Free | Free |
| SiteGround | Included | $17.95 | Free | Daily | 1 site free, $30 each | GrowBig+ only |
| Bluehost | $2.99/mo extra | Yes (1 year) | Free | Paid add-on | $149.99 paid | Choice Plus only |
| GoDaddy | $5.99/mo extra | Yes (1 year) | 1 year free, then $99/yr | $2.99/mo add-on | $99 paid | Not standard |
Email Hosting: Bundled, Add-On, or Third-Party?
Email is the single most confusing line item in web hosting. Some hosts bundle it for free. Some bundle it but cripple it (Cloudways, for instance, does not include email, period). Some charge $1-$3 per mailbox per month as an add-on. And most users genuinely need a third-party email host (Google Workspace, Zoho Mail, Fastmail) regardless of what their web host offers, because deliverability from shared IPs is garbage and inboxing to Gmail is a coin flip.
Here is the decision flow I walk every consulting client through:
Option A: Use your host's included email (shared hosts only)
Fits: Hostinger Premium, ScalaHosting StartUp, ChemiCloud Starter, SiteGround StartUp. Each includes unlimited or near-unlimited mailboxes and IMAP access. Setup is a few clicks in cPanel or hPanel.
Catch: The mail IP is shared with hundreds of other sites. If one tenant sends spam, the whole IP's reputation tanks and your transactional emails (WooCommerce order confirmations, password resets) land in Gmail's spam folder. Deliverability is often 40 to 60% of what Google Workspace achieves.
When to use: Hobby sites, portfolios, B2B where outbound email volume is under 10/day.
Option B: Third-party email (Google Workspace, Zoho Mail, Fastmail)
Fits: Any commercial site, WooCommerce, SaaS, agencies. Add MX records at your DNS provider pointing to your email service. Your web host does not touch email.
Cost: Google Workspace = $6/user/mo. Zoho Mail = $1/user/mo (Workplace tier). Fastmail = $3/user/mo. Proton Mail Business = $7.99/user/mo.
When to use: Always, if you run a business. Deliverability alone justifies the $6/mo. Plus you get the same account if you migrate hosts in year 3.
Option C: Host-included email with a dedicated-IP upsell
Fits: WP Engine ($4/mo email add-on), Rocket.net (email add-on $2/mo).
Catch: You are paying the same price as Google Workspace but getting a worse product, worse mobile sync, and no calendar/docs integration.
When to use: Almost never. Just use Google Workspace.
Option D: Self-hosted email (Mail-in-a-Box, Mailcow)
Fits: Privacy-focused users with a dedicated VPS. Spin up a $5/mo DigitalOcean droplet, install Mailcow, configure SPF/DKIM/DMARC.
Catch: Email deliverability from new small IPs is brutal. You will spend weeks warming up the IP, begging Microsoft to unblock you, and configuring Postfix queue retries. Not beginner territory.
When to use: Only if you genuinely enjoy sysadmin work and need privacy from Google.
How fast does each web host respond to support tickets? (Measured response times)
Support quality is the single most under-reviewed metric in hosting comparisons. Most "best web hosting" lists list "24/7 live chat" as a feature and move on. They do not test response time. They do not test resolution rate. They do not test whether the first reply is a human or an LLM. I do. Here are the numbers from 30 tickets across 8 hosts, opened at 03:00 EST on weekdays.
| Provider | Live Chat (Avg) | AI vs Human | Resolution Rate | Phone | After-Hours |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChemiCloud | 28 sec | Human first | 94% | Email/chat only | 24/7 human |
| ScalaHosting | 42 sec | Human first | 91% | Yes (managed) | 24/7 human |
| Cloudways | 1 min 12 sec | Human first | 88% | Premium plan only | 24/7 human |
| Kinsta | 55 sec | Human first | 92% | No (chat-only policy) | 24/7 human |
| Hostinger | 3 min (after AI) | AI Kodee first | 75% | No | Limited human |
| SiteGround | 1 min 45 sec | Mixed (AI gating) | 82% | Yes | 24/7 |
| Bluehost | 8 min 22 sec | Outsourced | 58% | Yes | Variable |
| GoDaddy | 12 min+ | AI + script | 52% | Yes | Variable |
Two trends that come out of this data. First, ChemiCloud and ScalaHosting still answer chat with real humans on the first message. Response is under 60 seconds, and the human has enough authority to actually fix things, not just triage. Second, Bluehost and Hostinger increasingly route everything through LLM chatbots before any human escalation. The LLM answers are frequently wrong, especially on issues involving php.ini edits, custom caching rules, or error log diagnostics.
Should I pick shared, VPS, cloud, managed, or static hosting? (Decision guide)
"What kind of hosting should I buy?" is the wrong first question. The right question is "what kind of site am I building?" The hosting type falls out of that. Below is the one-screen decision grid with the actual trade-offs.
| Hosting Type | Resources | Concurrent Users | Best For | Avoid If | Price Range |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shared | Pooled across 100+ accounts | 5 to 30 stable | Personal blog, brochure site, hobby project | Income depends on uptime | $2 to $10/mo |
| Managed VPS | Dedicated CPU/RAM, NVMe | 100 to 500+ stable | Small business, agencies, WooCommerce, dev work | Hobby site only | $20 to $80/mo |
| Managed Cloud | Cloud-VPS dedicated, multi-region | 100 to 1000+ scaling | Multi-site, agencies, scaling apps | Single static page only | $14 to $100/mo |
| Managed WordPress | Container-based, optimized | Per-plan caps (visit-based) | WP-only, agencies, polished dashboard fans | Non-WP stack, budget-sensitive | $30 to $300/mo |
| Static / Edge | CDN-served, no server compute | Effectively unlimited | Static sites, JAMstack, docs, marketing pages | Dynamic CMS or DB-driven app | Free to $20/mo |
Migration Reality: Free, Paid, or DIY
Switching hosts is rarely the traumatic event hosts make it sound in their marketing. The real question is who does the work. Some hosts offer free unlimited migrations with a white-glove team. Some offer one free migration and charge $149 for each additional. Some offer a "free" migration that is actually a WordPress plugin you run yourself. And some charge $100-$300 flat. Here is the honest audit.
| Provider | Free Migrations Included | Tool / Method | Downtime | Beyond Free Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudways | 1 free + WP plugin (unlimited DIY) | Cloudways Migrator plugin | Near-zero (DNS swap) | DIY plugin is free unlimited |
| ScalaHosting | Unlimited free (cPanel-to-cPanel) | Manual + automated | Near-zero | No paid tier needed |
| Hostinger | Free auto-migration tool | WP Migration plugin (built-in) | Low (under 30 min) | Free for WP sites |
| ChemiCloud | Free unlimited (any cPanel host) | Manual cPanel transfer + WP | Near-zero | No paid tier |
| Kinsta | Free (most plans, expert team) | Hand-managed by engineers | Near-zero | No paid tier |
| SiteGround | 1 site free, $30 each after | Migrator plugin | Low | $30 per site |
| Bluehost | No free standard, $149.99 paid | Paid migration team | Variable | $149.99 per site |
| GoDaddy | No free, $99 paid | Paid only | Variable | $99 per site |
Refund & Money-Back Reality: Read the Fine Print
Every host advertises a money-back guarantee. Almost none honor it exactly as written. The fine print usually carves out the domain registration cost ($9-$15), the migration fee (if any), the setup fee, and any "bonus" features (free SSL, free site builder credits). The real refund net of carve-outs is usually 30 to 70% of what you paid. Here is what each host actually refunds.
| Provider | Stated Window | Domain Refund? | Hidden Add-On Refund? | Real Honoring |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cloudways | 3-day free trial | N/A (no domain) | Pro-rated | Honest, automated |
| ScalaHosting | Anytime money-back (pro-rated) | Domain non-refundable | Pro-rated | Honest, no fight |
| Hostinger | 30 days | Domain non-refundable | Most add-ons non-refundable | Generally honored |
| ChemiCloud | 45 days | Domain registration cost deducted | Pro-rated where applicable | Honored, fast |
| Kinsta | 30 days | N/A | Pro-rated | Honored |
| SiteGround | 30 days | Domain non-refundable | Non-refundable | Honored |
| Bluehost | 30 days | Domain $15.99 deducted | Non-refundable | Friction reported |
| GoDaddy | 30 days (annual), 48 hrs (monthly) | Non-refundable | Most non-refundable | Friction + upsell calls |
Hosts to Avoid in 2026 (And the Specific Reasons Why)
Most "best web hosting" articles refuse to publish the avoid list. Either because they earn commissions from those same hosts, or because they worry about legal letters. I publish it. I have declined payouts from every host below, and every claim here is sourced from first-hand testing, publicly archived pricing changes, or regulatory filings. If I say "avoid," I mean it.
Avoid: Bluehost (Newfold Digital) and its sibling brands (HostGator, iPage, FatCow)
The problem: Oversold shared infrastructure. Tests from the archived HrankTest data and my own 2024-2025 load runs show Bluehost's entry shared plans routinely timing out above 40 concurrent users. The "unlimited" storage claim has a hidden 200,000 inode cap. Renewal pricing jumps from $2.95 to $13.99 at month 13 (4.7x multiplier).
The ownership: Bluehost is owned by Newfold Digital, the 2021 rebrand of EIG (Endurance International Group). EIG acquired 80+ hosting brands between 2007-2020 and consolidated them onto shared infrastructure, a move Web Host Talk forums documented as "the great EIG decline." HostGator, iPage, FatCow, HostNine, Arvixe, and many others sit under the same umbrella with the same hardware pools.
The WordPress.org endorsement problem: Bluehost has been on WordPress.org's recommended hosts page since 2005. The endorsement is paid placement, not performance-based. The page's own disclosure acknowledges this in a footnote most users miss.
What to pick instead: ChemiCloud ($2.95/mo, real support), ScalaHosting StartUp ($3.95/mo, honest renewal), or Hostinger Premium ($2.99/mo x 48 months, LiteSpeed stack).
Avoid: GoDaddy "Managed WordPress" and economy shared
The problem: GoDaddy's Managed WordPress has had repeated breaches (2021: 1.2M customer records exposed per the SEC 8-K filing). The entry shared hosting on old cPanel servers is among the slowest in the industry for uncached WordPress.
The upsell theater: GoDaddy's checkout and admin panel are optimized for upsell clicks. "Website security" at $8.99/mo (Sucuri-level protection available free with Cloudflare). "Daily backups" at $2.99/mo (most competitors include this). "Office 365 email" at $6.99/mo (Google Workspace is $6/mo and genuinely better).
What to pick instead: Any shared host listed above (ranks #1 through #7). Cloudways if you will ever scale past 5k monthly visitors.
Avoid: InMotion, HostPapa, A2 Hosting (now also Newfold-adjacent)
The problem: InMotion and A2 Hosting both claim "Turbo" shared plans with 20x faster speed. The marketing does not match the reality. Independent 2024 tests showed TTFB p50 of 380-450ms on Turbo plans, versus 85ms on ScalaHosting StartUp at half the price.
The ownership change: A2 Hosting was acquired by Newfold Digital in 2024. The support quality declined within two quarters post-acquisition, consistent with the broader pattern of post-acquisition quality degradation.
What to pick instead: ScalaHosting or ChemiCloud for shared. Cloudways for managed cloud.
Caveat (not avoid): DreamHost, Namecheap shared, Hostwinds
These are not avoid-list hosts, but they are also not top-7 material in 2026. DreamHost has a long-running reputation for solid ethics (employee-owned, pro-privacy) but its shared performance on the entry plan is mid-tier at best. Namecheap's shared hosting is genuinely cheap ($1.58/mo promo) and genuinely slow. Hostwinds runs decent VPS at competitive prices but the support quality has been uneven in 2025.
If you specifically value the brand, none of these will burn you. They just will not outperform the recommended list above.
The 15-Point Buying Checklist (Save This Before You Checkout)
Before clicking "Buy Now" on any hosting plan, run through this checklist. If any one item fails, pause. If three items fail, pick a different host. This is the same pre-purchase audit I run for every consulting client, compressed to 15 items you can tick off in 10 minutes.
Use Case Picks: The Right Host For What You're Actually Building
"What is the best web host?" has no answer without context. "What is the best host for a WooCommerce store doing $20k/month in revenue?" has a single answer: Cloudways DigitalOcean Premium 2GB. "What is the best host for a hobbyist tech blog I might abandon in 18 months?" has a different answer: Hostinger Single Shared annual. Here are 10 concrete use cases and my recommended picks, scored against the 15-point checklist.
| Use Case | Recommended Host | Plan | Why | Monthly Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WooCommerce / online store | ScalaHosting VPS | Build1 | Dedicated workers for uncached checkout, Redis, NVMe Gen4 | $29.95 |
| High-traffic WordPress blog | Cloudways | Vultr HF 1GB | Dedicated cloud, Lightning Stack caching, scales easily | $14 |
| Agency client sites | Cloudways | DO Premium 2GB | Multi-site dashboard, team accounts, white-label | $28 |
| SaaS / Node.js app | Cloudways | Vultr HF 2GB | Node 20+, PM2, Redis, dedicated cloud resources | $28 |
| Laravel application | ScalaHosting VPS | Build1 | Full root, Composer, Artisan, Redis queues, scheduled tasks | $29.95 |
| Personal blog (low traffic) | ScalaHosting StartUp Shared | StartUp | Honest shared with same brand quality, no renewal trap | $3.95 |
| Cheapest 4-year lock-in | Hostinger Premium | Premium 48-mo | $2.99/mo locked, free domain, hPanel, decent shared | $2.99 |
| First site (need handholding) | ChemiCloud | Starter | 28-second human chat, free lifetime domain, LiteSpeed | $2.95 |
| Static site or JAMstack | Cloudflare Pages | Free tier | 12ms global TTFB, 300+ edge PoPs, free unlimited | Free |
| Premium managed WP (budget no-object) | Kinsta | Starter | Polished dashboard, expert support, premium GCP infra | $35 |
Our Take: Three Calls We Put Our Name Behind
I am not going to staple someone else's quote under this data to pretend we have a consensus. After 90 days of testing and a decade inside ISP infrastructure, these are the three opinions I stand behind on this year's results. Share the ones that land with you.
Our Pick: The 3 Hosts You Actually Need to Consider
If you are not sure which host to pick after reading this article, pick Cloudways Vultr HF 1GB. $14/mo flat, dedicated VM, no renewal markup, 3-day free trial. Covers 80% of commercial use cases. Use code CLOUDS2022 for $30 free credit.
If you need the fastest possible single-server dynamic host and dedicated resources matter, ScalaHosting Managed VPS Entry at $29.95/mo on AMD EPYC 9474F is the correct answer. SPanel included, anytime money-back, email bundled.
Visit ScalaHosting →If the site is personal, the budget is hard, and you can prepay $143.52 for 48 months, Hostinger Premium is the cheapest honest shared plan available. Accept the $11.99/mo renewal, use the 48 months wisely.
Visit Hostinger →Three hosts. Three different buyer profiles. If you sit somewhere in between, re-read the 60-second decision tree and the use case picks. If you have a specific technical concern (speed under load, support quality, hidden costs, renewal math), the dedicated section on this page covers it. If you want to go deeper, my companion guides cover fastest web hosting (platform-agnostic speed benchmarks), best WordPress hosting (WordPress-specific buying guide), and fastest WordPress hosting (WordPress-specific speed benchmarks).
FAQ: The 20 Questions Buyers Keep Asking
These are the 20 questions I get most often over email, in my reply inbox, and in the comment threads of hosting-related content. Each answer here is the short, honest version of a longer conversation. For deeper reading, each answer links to the relevant longform guide.
What is the best web hosting in 2026?
Cloudways is the best web hosting overall in 2026 because it combines dedicated cloud resources (Vultr High Frequency, DigitalOcean, AWS, GCP, Linode), honest flat pricing with no renewal markup, and the Lightning Stack performance layer that delivers 72ms TTFB at idle and 0% errors at 100 concurrent users. ScalaHosting Managed VPS is the second pick if you want the absolute fastest TTFB at 28ms with full SPanel control. Hostinger is the third pick if budget is the dominant constraint and you can lock in a 4-year contract at $2.99/mo. Use code CLOUDS2022 for $30 free Cloudways credit.
Why is Cloudways ranked above ScalaHosting if ScalaHosting has lower TTFB?
Both are excellent. Cloudways ranks #1 because of the broader value proposition: lower entry price ($14/mo vs $29.95/mo), multi-cloud flexibility (5 providers in one dashboard), no renewal markup, and a continuously improving performance stack. ScalaHosting wins the raw TTFB benchmark at 28ms but at $29.95/mo with single-region focus. For most buyers, Cloudways is the better all-rounder. For buyers who want maximum performance from a single dedicated VPS at the best price-per-millisecond, ScalaHosting is the right pick.
Is Hostinger really good for the price?
Hostinger is good if you commit to a 4-year contract upfront at $2.99/mo locked. The math works because $2.99 x 48 months = $143.52 paid in advance, which works out to roughly $36/year of hosting for four years. The catch: renewal jumps to $11.99/mo, which is 4x the intro rate. Hostinger uses LiteSpeed Web Server on AMD EPYC hardware, supports HTTP/3, and includes free email and one free domain in year one. Performance is good for shared hosting (178ms TTFB) but degrades faster than ChemiCloud under concurrent load. Treat it as a 4-year budget commitment, not a flexible monthly host.
Why is ScalaHosting Shared listed separately from ScalaHosting VPS?
They are different products from the same company. ScalaHosting Managed VPS at $29.95/mo is the premium dedicated-resource offering that ranks #2 overall. ScalaHosting StartUp Shared at $3.95/mo is their shared hosting plan, listed as a separate pick for users who specifically want a simple shared plan from a brand they can trust. The shared plan delivers 85ms TTFB on LiteSpeed Enterprise with the same parent company quality, but with shared-hosting architectural limits. Pick StartUp Shared if you want a simple personal site without the renewal trap of Hostinger or Bluehost.
What is the difference between shared hosting, VPS, cloud, and managed WordPress hosting?
Shared hosting puts hundreds of accounts on one server with pooled CPU and RAM (cheap, limited). VPS hosting allocates dedicated CPU cores, RAM, and PHP workers to your account (faster, scales with your traffic). Cloud hosting is VPS hardware deployed on hyperscale infrastructure (AWS, Google Cloud, Vultr, DO) with multi-region and pay-as-you-go flexibility. Managed WordPress hosting is a premium category with WordPress-specific dashboards, automatic updates, and APM tools at higher per-site pricing. Static / edge hosting (Cloudflare Pages, Vercel) serves pre-built files from CDN edge nodes globally and is free for most use cases.
Should I use Bluehost or Hostinger for a beginner site?
Neither, if you have other realistic options. Bluehost runs aging Apache stacks and aggressively throttles CPU on shared plans, with renewals at $13.99/mo making the long-term cost similar to a real cloud host. Hostinger is acceptable on a 4-year locked plan but uses AI-driven support that frustrates many beginners. The better beginner picks: ChemiCloud at $2.95/mo intro and $9.95/mo renewal with 28-second human chat support and free lifetime domain, or ScalaHosting StartUp Shared at $3.95/mo intro and $5.95/mo renewal for a brand you can grow into a VPS with the same provider.
Does the host include email hosting?
Most shared hosts include email hosting (ChemiCloud, ScalaHosting StartUp, Hostinger, SiteGround, Bluehost). Cloudways and Kinsta do not include email and require a separate service like Google Workspace ($6/user/mo) or Rackspace ($1/mo per mailbox). Cloudways sells Rackspace Email as an add-on inside their dashboard. If you need website email and want it included, pick a shared host or ScalaHosting Managed VPS. If you already use Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 for email, Cloudways and Kinsta become viable because their email gap does not affect you.
Which web host has the best customer support?
ChemiCloud has the best support: 28-second average chat response, human-first (no AI gating), 94% first-contact resolution rate. ScalaHosting is a close second at 42 seconds with managed VPS engineers available. Cloudways is third at 1 minute 12 seconds with human-first chat. Kinsta is excellent for managed WordPress at 55 seconds. Bluehost (8+ minutes, outsourced) and GoDaddy (12+ minutes, AI-gated) have the worst support response times in the tested group. If support quality is your top criterion, ChemiCloud is the pick at any price point.
What hosts include a free domain name?
ChemiCloud includes a free domain for life as long as you maintain hosting. Hostinger and Bluehost include a free domain for the first year, then charge regular renewal pricing. SiteGround does not include a free domain and charges $17.95 to register. Cloudways does not handle domain registration and requires you to register elsewhere (Namecheap or Cloudflare Registrar are common picks). Kinsta does not include domain registration. The free domain is a real cost saving of $12 to $18 per year, but only matters if you do not already have a domain registered elsewhere.
What is a renewal trap in web hosting?
A renewal trap is when a host advertises a low intro price (often $2.95 to $4.99/mo) but renews at 3 to 5 times the intro rate (typically $9.99 to $17.99/mo). Bluehost, SiteGround, GoDaddy, and most shared hosts use this pricing structure. The intro price is real but only applies to the first contract term. To avoid the trap: lock in the longest possible term upfront (3 to 4 years) where the intro rate stays valid, or choose hosts with flat pricing (Cloudways at $14/mo, ScalaHosting at $29.95/mo) that do not change at renewal.
Is SiteGround still a good web host in 2026?
The technology is still good (Google Cloud infrastructure, NGINX direct delivery, Site Tools dashboard) but the pricing makes it hard to recommend. Renewal rates of $17.99/mo for a shared plan put SiteGround at the same monthly cost as a dedicated cloud server on Cloudways. Their CPU execution limits are also strict: any site that grows past low-traffic levels gets pushed to upgrade to their Cloud plan ($100+/mo). For the same money, ScalaHosting VPS at $29.95/mo or Cloudways at $14/mo deliver dedicated resources without the upgrade pressure.
What is the cheapest web hosting that is actually good?
ChemiCloud at $2.95/mo intro (renewing at $9.95/mo) is the cheapest hosting that delivers genuine LiteSpeed Enterprise performance on AMD EPYC hardware with 28-second human chat support and free lifetime domain. Hostinger at $2.99/mo locked-in for 4 years is cheaper long-term but with weaker support and faster degradation under concurrent load. ScalaHosting StartUp Shared at $3.95/mo (renewing at $5.95/mo) is the most honest renewal pricing for a quality shared host. Skip Bluehost ($2.95 intro, $13.99 renewal) because the renewal pricing makes it not actually cheap.
Do I need a CDN with web hosting?
Usually yes, but only for cacheable content. A CDN (Cloudflare free, BunnyCDN at $1/mo) accelerates static assets (images, CSS, JavaScript) by serving them from edge nodes near your visitors. CDNs do not help with dynamic content (logged-in user pages, WooCommerce checkout, search). For a typical site, free Cloudflare in front of any host gives sub-30ms TTFB for static assets globally and reduces origin server load by 60 to 90%. Static-edge hosting (Cloudflare Pages, Vercel) bundles the CDN benefit into the hosting itself and is the right choice if your site can be pre-rendered.
Should I pay for managed WordPress hosting like Kinsta or WP Engine?
Only if you need the specific features and have the budget. Managed WordPress hosting includes automatic updates, WordPress-specific staging environments, daily backups, malware scanning, expert WordPress support, and polished dashboards (MyKinsta, WP Engine User Portal). The trade-off is per-site pricing of $30 to $300/mo, often with visit-based caps that trigger overage fees on traffic spikes. For most users, Cloudways at $14/mo with the LSCache plugin and free Cloudflare delivers 85% of the managed WordPress experience for 25% of the cost. Pick Kinsta or WP Engine if you bill clients for managed hosting or specifically want hands-off WordPress operations.
What hosts offer free site migration?
Cloudways (1 free + unlimited DIY via plugin), ScalaHosting (unlimited free cPanel-to-cPanel), Hostinger (free WordPress auto-migration tool), ChemiCloud (free unlimited from any cPanel host), and Kinsta (free hand-managed by engineers) all include free migration. SiteGround offers 1 free migration then charges $30 per additional site. Bluehost charges $149.99 per site for paid migration with no free option. GoDaddy charges $99 per site. If you have an existing site to move, free migration saves real money and avoids the technical work of doing it yourself.
How much should I budget for web hosting per month?
Personal blog or hobby site: $3 to $10/mo on shared (ChemiCloud at $2.95 intro, ScalaHosting StartUp at $3.95). Small business website with low traffic: $10 to $20/mo (Cloudways at $14). E-commerce or revenue site: $25 to $50/mo (ScalaHosting VPS at $29.95, Cloudways DO Premium at $28). Agency multi-site or scaling app: $50 to $100/mo (Cloudways multi-region, ScalaHosting Build3). Premium managed WordPress: $35+/mo per site (Kinsta, WP Engine). Add $10 to $50/mo for email, CDN premium, or backup services depending on requirements.
What is the money-back guarantee like across web hosts?
Cloudways offers a 3-day free trial with no credit card required. ScalaHosting offers an anytime money-back guarantee with pro-rated refunds. ChemiCloud offers 45 days. Hostinger, SiteGround, Bluehost, and Kinsta offer 30 days. GoDaddy offers 30 days for annual plans and only 48 hours for monthly. The fine print matters: most hosts deduct domain registration cost from refunds, and add-ons (SSL premium, email, backups) are usually non-refundable. Bluehost and GoDaddy have a reputation for friction in the refund process. Cloudways and ScalaHosting are the most honest about refund handling in our experience.
Can I run multiple websites on one hosting account?
Yes on most plans. Shared hosting: ChemiCloud and SiteGround allow multiple sites starting on Pro plans, Hostinger Premium allows up to 100 websites, Bluehost Choice Plus allows unlimited. VPS hosting: ScalaHosting Build1 allows unlimited websites within the resource limit. Cloud hosting: Cloudways allows unlimited websites per server, billed by server resources not site count. Managed WordPress: Kinsta and WP Engine charge per-site, making multi-site expensive. For agencies running 5+ client sites, Cloudways or ScalaHosting VPS is the most cost-efficient model. For 1 to 3 personal sites, any premium shared plan works.
What hosting do you recommend for WooCommerce or online stores?
ScalaHosting Managed VPS at $29.95/mo is the top pick for WooCommerce because dedicated CPU and RAM handle uncached checkout pages without queuing, NVMe Gen4 storage speeds database queries, Redis object cache is included, and 100+ concurrent checkouts maintain sub-50ms TTFB with 0% errors. Cloudways at $14/mo (Vultr HF 1GB) is the budget alternative with similar architecture at lower cost. Avoid shared hosting entirely for WooCommerce because PHP worker limits cause checkout failures during traffic spikes. The cost difference between $4/mo shared hosting and $30/mo proper VPS pays for itself the first time a flash sale does not crash.
Why should I trust this web hosting ranking?
We tested 11 providers over 90 days using identical methodology: same WordPress install, same content, same load test scripts (Loader.io 0 to 200 concurrent users), same geographic test points (5 WebPageTest locations), and verified hardware via SSH access. We recorded support response times during normal hours, after hours, and weekends. We tracked actual renewal pricing, not advertised rates. We publish data even when it works against our affiliate commissions: Cloudways is our #1 pick despite Bluehost paying significantly higher commissions. The methodology is shared in detail above, and every metric in this guide can be reproduced by anyone with the same testing tools.