Best Web Hosting in Canada: 8 Hosts Tested, Who Offers a Canadian Server

ChemiCloud is the best web hosting for most Canadian websites, Cloudways suits a site that needs room to grow, and ScalaHosting Entry Cloud was the fastest plan in this comparison. All three list a Canadian location on their own pages. I benchmarked eight hosts on the same test site and ranked those that let you place a site in Canada, then sorted them on load results and six-year cost.

Here is the limit of what I know. Toronto is one of our 10 measuring locations, but our test sites sat on servers in New York, or in Frankfurt for Hostinger and SiteGround. So a Toronto figure here is the time from Toronto to our New York test server, not to a Canadian data center, and we have no measurement from Vancouver or Montreal. The load and uptime results tell you how good each platform is, and the location list tells you whether you can keep the site in Canada. Prices are in US dollars as our records hold them, and the six-year totals use the renewal price.

Our Picks at a Glance

How We Tested, and Where We Measured

• One WordPress test site per plan, the same site everywhere, with the host's own caching left as it ships.
• The test servers sat in New York or Frankfurt. Hostinger and SiteGround answered fastest from Frankfurt, where their test servers were; the rest from New York.
• Response time (TTFB) from 10 locations: New York, Dallas, Toronto, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt, Sao Paulo, Singapore, Tokyo and Mumbai, at the origin with no CDN. Toronto is one of them, but it measures the trip to our test server in New York, not to a Canadian data center. The Frankfurt-hosted plans have no Toronto figure.
• Load: a ramp from 0 to 250 clients at once. We report the response at the 100-user step and the share of requests that failed.
• Uptime checked every minute for 54 days.
• Canadian locations, plan contents and prices: read from each host's own pages. Six-year cost = the first term at the sign-up price, then the renewal price.

We have not put a test site in a Canadian data center. A host's Canadian location can run on different hardware from the server we tested, so read the speed results as a platform comparison. Full method: How We Test.

Canadian Web Hosting Compared

US dollars, before tax, as our records hold them; we do not convert to Canadian dollars. Six years: the first term at the sign-up price, then the renewal price for the rest. The Toronto column is the time from Toronto to our test server in New York, not to a Canadian data center. Load and uptime come from the same test servers.

#1. ChemiCloud: Best Web Hosting for Most Canadian Sites

ChemiCloud is shared hosting with cPanel and the LiteSpeed web server, and its server locations page offers Montreal for web hosting. On our benchmark Pro held up through the whole load ramp without a failed request: slower than the cloud servers below, but ahead of every other shared plan in this comparison. Our test server was in New York, and Toronto reached it in 109ms.

It ranks first for everyday sites because of the whole package. One bill covers the hosting, the email accounts and the backups, and over six years it is the cheapest of the hosts we tested that offer a Canadian location, at $752 including three years at the renewal price. The low price needs the 36-month term; on 12 months it is $4.49/mo. ChemiCloud bills in US dollars. Current offers: ChemiCloud coupon page.

#2. Cloudways: Room to Grow, in Toronto or Montreal

Cloudways sets up and manages a cloud server on DigitalOcean, Vultr and other clouds, and its Canada page says it offers hosting in Canadian data centers in Montreal and Toronto. There is no contract: you pay for the server by the hour, billed monthly, and resize it when traffic grows. The DigitalOcean Premium server we tested held up through the load ramp without a failed request. We priced the smallest Premium server, because our record does not say which size we tested.

Cloudways does not host email: its Rackspace mailboxes are $1.50 per mailbox a month, or you keep Google Workspace or Microsoft 365. With no renewal jump, six years cost $1,008. Current offers: Cloudways promo code page.

#3. ScalaHosting Entry Cloud: Fastest Plan in This Comparison

Entry Cloud is a managed cloud server with CPU cores and memory reserved for your account, and it was the fastest plan in this comparison: 58ms with 100 visitors at once, and 53ms from Toronto to its New York test server. SPanel, ScalaHosting's own control panel, covers email accounts, DNS, SSL and site installs.

It ranks third, not first, for two reasons. ScalaHosting's network page lists Montreal only under its AWS infrastructure, not among its own data centers (Dallas, New York, Seattle and Sofia) or its Integrated Cloud, and its managed VPS page does not say which locations each plan can use. Our Entry Cloud test ran in New York. Ask its sales chat to confirm Montreal for the plan you buy. It also costs more: $2,336 over six years on the 36-month term. Current offers: ScalaHosting coupon page.

Also Tested, With a Canadian Location

FastComet FastCloud Plus

FastComet has had a Toronto data center since June 2019. FastCloud Plus answered in 420ms with 100 concurrent users and failed 0.19% of requests over the full ramp. It is $6.29/mo on 36 months and renews at $17.95/mo, so six years cost $873, more than ChemiCloud for a slower result under load. See our FastComet review.

Tested, With No Canadian Location on Record

Hostinger Unlimited

Hostinger held up reasonably on our benchmark, 430ms with 100 concurrent users and 0.64% failed, and it is $3.99/mo on 36 months. But its own pages list its North American data centers as Phoenix, Boston and Asheville, all in the US. Our Hostinger test server sat in Frankfurt, so we have no Toronto figure for it. For a site that should stay in Canada, choose a host that can place it there. Details: Hostinger resource limits explained.

SiteGround GrowBig

SiteGround's list of 11 data centers has none in Canada; the nearest are in the US. Under load GrowBig was weak: 780ms with 100 concurrent users and 4% of requests failed on a ramp that stopped at 100 clients. The sign-up price of $6.69/mo lasts 12 months, then it renews at $29.99/mo, which makes six years $1,880. See SiteGround pricing and renewal tips.

GoDaddy Deluxe

GoDaddy was one of the two weakest plans in this comparison. Deluxe answered one visitor in 344ms near its New York test server and 483ms from Toronto, took 950ms with 100 at once, and failed 35.59% of requests over the full ramp. It is $7.99/mo on 36 months and renews at $16.99/mo. We have no record of a Canadian location for GoDaddy. See our GoDaddy review.

Bluehost Choice Plus

Bluehost was the weakest plan in this comparison. Choice Plus answered one visitor in 262ms near its New York test server and 368ms from Toronto, but with 100 at once it took 1240ms, and over the ramp it failed 3,221 of 8,250 requests. We have no record of a Canadian location for Bluehost.

With a Canadian Location, Not Tested by Us

These hosts list a Canadian location on their own pages, but we have not benchmarked them, so they are not ranked. Prices are from our records in US dollars, except Web Hosting Canada, which we quote in Canadian dollars from its own page.

HostPapa

HostPapa calls Toronto its flagship Canadian data center and says customers can choose a data center location to suit their regulatory needs; it also runs data centers in the US and Amsterdam. Its Start plan is $2.95/mo on 36 months and renews at $11.99/mo.

GreenGeeks

GreenGeeks lets you choose Chicago, Montreal, Amsterdam or Singapore when you set up the account. Its Lite plan is $2.95/mo for the first year and renews at $13.95/mo; Pro is $4.95/mo, renewing at $18.95/mo.

HostArmada

HostArmada lists Montreal for its shared, WordPress, reseller, VPS and dedicated CPU hosting. Its Start Dock plan is $1.99/mo on 36 months and renews at $9.95/mo.

Web Hosting Canada (WHC)

Web Hosting Canada bills in Canadian dollars and says its data centres are in Canada, on the east and west coasts; the page we read does not name the cities. On a 36-month term, Go is C$3.89 a month (C$140.04 for the term) and renews at $6.99 a month, and Pro is C$3.92 a month, renewing at $9.99; the page does not mark the renewal figures as Canadian dollars.

Does a Canadian Server Matter?

For speed in Ontario and Quebec, less than you might think. Toronto sits close to New York, and on our benchmark the same server answered Toronto only a little slower than a visitor near home: ChemiCloud 78ms against 109ms, Cloudways 54ms against 76ms. Western Canada is farther from both, and we did not measure it. A server farther away costs more: from London, the same ChemiCloud server took 142ms.

The stronger reason to pick a Canadian location is where your data lives. Some customers, contracts and sectors expect personal information to stay in Canada, and a Canadian location answers that question before anyone asks. A CDN can speed up images and cached pages, but it does not change where your database is stored.

PIPEDA and Where Your Site Is Hosted

PIPEDA, Canada's federal private-sector privacy law, does not forbid storing personal information outside Canada. Your business stays accountable for that information wherever a host keeps it, and you should tell people their information may be processed in another country, where its laws may apply. Quebec's Law 25 adds a step: an assessment before personal information is sent outside Quebec. Some public bodies, health records and contracts require storage in Canada. This is general guidance, not legal advice; the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada publishes guidance on processing personal information across borders.

Which Host Fits Your Canadian Site

What We Have Not Tested Yet

• A server in a Canadian data center. We measured from Toronto, but to test servers in New York or Frankfurt.
• Visitors in Western Canada, Montreal or the Maritimes. Toronto is our only Canadian measuring location.
• HostPapa, GreenGeeks, HostArmada and Web Hosting Canada. Compared on price and locations only.
• Bluehost Business. We benchmarked Choice Plus.

What I Would Choose

For an everyday Canadian website I would take ChemiCloud Pro in Montreal: it held up under load without a failed request, it includes email and backups, and over six years it is the cheapest of the hosts we tested that offer a Canadian location. For a site I expected to grow fast, a Cloudways server in Toronto or Montreal. For a store or booking site, ScalaHosting Entry Cloud, once it confirms a Canadian location for my plan. Whatever the host, choose Canada as the location when you order.

About the Author

Mangesh Supe

Founder of ThatMy.com, Independent Hosting Performance Analyst

I'm Mangesh, the guy behind ThatMy.com. I've spent 10+ years in ISP and network infrastructure, which means I know what a hosting provider is actually doing when they say 'we're fast.' I independently test hosting services using real-world websites, performance testing, and hands-on evaluation. I also read the terms and trace who owns each host. Zero sponsored reviews.

ChemiCloud Pro, Cloudways on DigitalOcean Premium, ScalaHosting Entry Cloud, FastComet FastCloud Plus, Hostinger Unlimited, SiteGround GrowBig, GoDaddy Deluxe and Bluehost Choice Plus, benchmarked with the same test site on servers in New York or Frankfurt and measured from 10 locations including Toronto. Canadian locations from each host's own pages. HostPapa, GreenGeeks, HostArmada and Web Hosting Canada compared on price and locations only.

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Web Hosting in Canada: FAQ

What is the best web hosting in Canada?

ChemiCloud Pro for most Canadian websites: its web hosting can be placed in Montreal, it includes cPanel, email accounts and daily backups, and on our benchmark it answered in 210ms with 100 concurrent users without a failed request. Six years cost $752. Cloudways suits sites that need room to grow, in Toronto or Montreal, billed monthly; ScalaHosting Entry Cloud was the fastest plan in this comparison, but its only Canadian location is on its AWS infrastructure, so confirm it for your plan.

Which web hosts have servers in Canada?

From each host's own pages: ChemiCloud (Montreal for web hosting, Toronto for cloud VPS), Cloudways (Toronto and Montreal; DigitalOcean's TOR1 is Toronto), ScalaHosting (Montreal, on its AWS infrastructure), FastComet (Toronto), HostPapa (Toronto), GreenGeeks (Montreal), HostArmada (Montreal) and Web Hosting Canada (Canadian data centres, cities not named). Hostinger, SiteGround and hosting.com list no Canadian location. We have no location record for GoDaddy or Bluehost.

Did you test these hosts from Canada?

We measured from Toronto, one of our 10 measuring locations, but our test sites sat on servers in New York, or in Frankfurt for Hostinger and SiteGround. So a Toronto figure on this page is the time from Toronto to our New York test server, not to a Canadian data center. We have no measurement from Vancouver or Montreal.

Do I need a Canadian server for a Canadian website?

For speed in Ontario and Quebec, a server in the eastern US is already close: on our benchmark ChemiCloud's New York test server answered in 78ms near home and 109ms from Toronto. We did not measure Western Canada, which is farther from both New York and Toronto. The stronger reasons for a Canadian location are where your customers expect their data to be kept and any contract or sector rule that asks for it.

Does PIPEDA require Canadian hosting?

No. PIPEDA does not forbid storing personal information outside Canada, but your business stays accountable for it and should tell people their information may be processed in another country. Quebec's Law 25 asks for an assessment before personal information is sent outside Quebec, and some public bodies and contracts require Canadian storage. This is general guidance, not legal advice.

Can I pay for web hosting in Canadian dollars?

Some hosts bill in Canadian dollars. Web Hosting Canada's own page says 'Pay in CAD' and lists its plans in Canadian dollars. The prices in our records for ChemiCloud, Cloudways, ScalaHosting and the other hosts on this page are in US dollars; we do not convert them.

Is GoDaddy good for Canadian websites?

Not on our results. GoDaddy Deluxe answered in 950ms with 100 concurrent users and failed 35.59% of requests over the full ramp; from Toronto it answered in 483ms. We have no record of a Canadian location for GoDaddy.