ChemiCloud is the best web hosting for most Indian websites, ScalaHosting Entry Cloud is the fastest plan here, Cloudways suits a site that needs room to grow, and Hostinger is the low-cost choice that bills in rupees. All four let you place the site in India. The first three held up on our benchmark without a single failed request with up to 250 clients at once. This page compares ten plans I benchmarked on the same test site, and it ranks only hosts whose own pages offer an Indian location, because for Indian visitors the location matters more than anything else on the order form.
Here is the limit of what I know. Our test sites sat on servers in New York or Frankfurt, and we measured them from 10 locations, one of them Mumbai. The Mumbai figures on this page are the time from Mumbai to our server abroad, not to a data center in India. So the load and uptime results tell you how good each platform is, and the location list tells you whether you can put it near your visitors. Prices are in each host's own currency, and the six-year totals use the renewal price, because that is what you pay after the first term.
Our Picks at a Glance
ChemiCloud Pro
- Mumbai location
- 210ms with 100 concurrent users, 0 failed
- $2.95/mo on 36 months
cPanel, email accounts, daily backups
See ChemiCloudScalaHosting Entry Cloud
- Mumbai on its AWS infrastructure
- 58ms with 100 concurrent users, 0 failed
- $14.95/mo on 12 months
Email and SPanel included
See ScalaHostingCloudways Vultr High Frequency
- Mumbai and Bangalore
- 74ms with 100 concurrent users, 0 failed
- $16.00/mo billed monthly
No contract; email is an add-on
See CloudwaysHow 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 in North America, Europe, South America and Asia, at the origin with no CDN. Mumbai is one of them. A Mumbai figure is the time from Mumbai to our server in New York or Frankfurt.
- 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.
- Indian locations, billing currency and plan contents: 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 an Indian data center, and we did not test from Indian home or mobile connections. A host can run its Indian location on different hardware from the server we tested, so read the speed results as a platform comparison. Full method: How We Test.
Indian Web Hosting Compared
| Host and plan tested | Indian location | 100 concurrent users | Failed, full ramp | Uptime, 54 days | Price | Six years |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChemiCloud Pro, shared | Mumbai | 210ms | 0% | 99.979% | $2.95/mo 36 months | $752 |
| ScalaHosting Entry Cloud | Mumbai, on its AWS infrastructure | 58ms | 0% | 99.99% | $24.95/mo 36 months | $2,336 |
| Cloudways Vultr High Frequency | Mumbai, Bangalore | 74ms | 0% | 99.99% | $16.00/mo monthly | $1,152 |
| Hostinger Unlimited, shared | India | 430ms | 0.64% | 99.96% | $3.99/mo 36 months | $755 |
| FastComet FastCloud Plus, shared | Mumbai | 420ms | 0.19% | 99.96% | $6.29/mo 36 months | $873 |
| Hosting.com Turbo Boost tested; Pro priced | Mumbai | 534ms | 0.3% | 99.931% | $3.99/mo Pro, 36 months | $863 |
| SiteGround GrowBig, shared | Asia; no Indian city named | 780ms | 4% ramp to 100 | 99.97% | $6.69/mo 12 months | $1,880 |
| Bluehost Choice Plus, shared (US) | not in our records | 1240ms | 39.04% | 99.91% | US plan; Indian prices not on record | |
US dollars, before tax. Six years: the first term at the sign-up price, then the renewal price for the rest. Load and uptime come from our test servers in New York or Frankfurt, not from India.
#1. ChemiCloud: Best Web Hosting for Most Indian Sites
- Mumbai, one of ChemiCloud's server locations, for web, WordPress, cloud VPS and reseller hosting
- 210ms with 100 concurrent users, 0 failed requests
- 99.979% uptime over 54 days
- Unlimited websites and email accounts, daily backups, 45-day money-back
ChemiCloud is shared hosting with cPanel and the LiteSpeed web server, and it lets you place the site in Mumbai. 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.
The reason it ranks first for everyday sites is the whole package. One bill covers the hosting, the email accounts and the backups, and over six years it costs $752 including three years at the renewal price, about the same as Hostinger on the same term. The low price needs the 36-month term; on 12 months it is $4.49/mo. ChemiCloud prices its plans in US dollars, so check that your card allows international payments. Current offers: ChemiCloud coupon page.
#2. ScalaHosting Entry Cloud: Fastest Plan in This Comparison
- Mumbai, India: listed under the AWS infrastructure on ScalaHosting's network page
- 58ms with 100 concurrent users, 0 failed requests
- 38ms for one visitor near the test server, 143ms from Mumbai
- 99.99% uptime over 54 days
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. SPanel, ScalaHosting's own control panel, covers email accounts, DNS, SSL and site installs, so you get a cloud server without a separate email bill.
Two things to weigh. It costs more: $2,336 over six years on the 36-month term. And ScalaHosting lists Mumbai only on the AWS infrastructure it integrates with, not on its own data centers, so ask its sales chat to confirm that the plan you buy can be placed in Mumbai. Current offers: ScalaHosting coupon page.
#3. Cloudways: Room to Grow, Billed Monthly
- Mumbai and Bangalore on Cloudways' own list of data centers; DigitalOcean lists Bangalore (BLR1)
- 74ms with 100 concurrent users, 0 failed requests
- 99.99% uptime over 54 days
Cloudways sets up and manages a cloud server on DigitalOcean, Vultr and other clouds, and lists Mumbai and Bangalore among its locations. Which cloud is offered in which city is shown on the order form. There is no contract: you pay for the server by the hour, billed monthly, and resize it in a few clicks when traffic grows. Its server stack layers Nginx, Apache, Varnish and object caching, and the Vultr High Frequency server held up through our load ramp without a failed request.
Cloudways does not host email: its Rackspace mailboxes are $1.50 per mailbox a month, or you keep Google Workspace or Zoho. It bills in US dollars. With no renewal jump, six years cost $1,152. Current offers: Cloudways promo code page.
#4. Hostinger: Lowest Cost, Billed in Rupees
- India among its locations for web, cloud and VPS hosting
- Prices in rupees on hostinger.com/in, paid upfront, 30-day money-back
- 430ms with 100 concurrent users, 0.64% failed
- 99.96% uptime over 54 days
Hostinger is the one host we tested that combines an Indian location with rupee prices on its Indian site. On our benchmark it held up through the whole ramp but slower than the three plans above, at 430ms with 100 concurrent users and 0.64% of requests failed. Our Hostinger test server was in Frankfurt: 99ms near home, 449ms from Mumbai. Choose India as the location when you order.
On the 36-month term, six years cost about the same as ChemiCloud Pro. On the 48-month term the sign-up price runs a year longer, so it comes out cheaper: $599 over six years. The prices above are Hostinger's US dollar prices; its Indian site shows rupee prices, which we have not recorded. Details: Hostinger India review and Hostinger resource limits explained.
Also Tested, With an Indian Location
FastComet FastCloud Plus
FastComet has had a Mumbai data center since August 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.
Hosting.com
Hosting.com lists Mumbai for its Starter, Pro and Max plans and its cloud servers. We tested Turbo Boost, a plan inherited from A2 Hosting and no longer sold: 534ms with 100 concurrent users, 0.3% failed. The Pro plan that replaced it is $3.99/mo on 36 months and renews at $19.99/mo; we have not benchmarked it. See our hosting.com review.
Tested, Without an Indian Location on Record
SiteGround GrowBig
SiteGround's data center page names Asia among its regions but no Indian city, so we cannot tell you it offers India. Under load GrowBig trailed every host ranked above: 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. See SiteGround pricing and renewal tips.
Bluehost, GoDaddy and HostGator: The Weakest Results
These three brands sell widely in India, and the plans of theirs we tested had the weakest results in our benchmark. Bluehost Choice Plus failed 3,221 of 8,250 requests over the load ramp (39.04%). GoDaddy Economy failed 39.42% and HostGator Baby 31.95%. From Mumbai, GoDaddy's test server answered in 1395ms. We tested their US plans, not their Indian storefronts, and we hold no record of an Indian location for them. That is not a result we would put a business site on. See our Bluehost review and GoDaddy review.
Indian Hosts, Not Tested by Us: MilesWeb and BigRock
We have not benchmarked these two, so they are not ranked. They are here because they bill in rupees and many Indian buyers compare them.
MilesWeb
MilesWeb is an Indian company headquartered in Nashik, Maharashtra. Its site says it has data centers in six countries, India among them, without naming the Indian city. It bills in rupees, lists UPI, RuPay, Google Pay and PhonePe among its payment options, uses the LiteSpeed web server and offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. Its prices exclude 18% GST. Starter is ₹69/mo on 36 months and renews at ₹399/mo; Premium is ₹99/mo on 36 months, renewing at ₹499/mo.
BigRock
BigRock bills in rupees. Its Standard plan is ₹69/mo for the first year and renews at ₹409/mo; Business is ₹159/mo, renewing at ₹649/mo. Its hosting page did not load for us, so we make no claim about its server location.
Why an Indian Server Matters
Every page a server builds for a visitor makes a round trip across the distance between them. On our benchmark the same server answered from Mumbai three to four times slower than near home: ChemiCloud 78ms against 294ms, ScalaHosting 38ms against 143ms, Cloudways 48ms against 180ms. Nothing about the server changed, only the distance between Mumbai and New York.
A CDN helps with images, scripts and cached pages, but it cannot answer what only the server can: contact forms, carts, checkouts, searches and your own admin area. So the order of choices is: a host with an Indian location, then a plan that stays fast under load, then a CDN on top.
Paying From India: Rupees, Cards and GST
- Rupee prices: Hostinger's Indian site, MilesWeb and BigRock show prices in rupees.
- US dollar prices: ChemiCloud, ScalaHosting and Cloudways price their plans in US dollars. Before you order, check that your debit or credit card allows international payments; your bank may add a foreign exchange charge.
- UPI: MilesWeb lists UPI, RuPay, Google Pay and PhonePe. The Hostinger page we read did not name its payment methods; you see them at checkout.
- GST: MilesWeb's prices exclude 18% GST and its site shows a GSTIN. If you need GST invoices for input tax credit, ask the host before you buy.
Which Host Fits Your Indian Site
| Your site | Our pick | Why | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business site, blog or portfolio | ChemiCloud in Mumbai | 0 failed requests, cPanel, email and backups included | $2.95/mo |
| Online store or booking site | ScalaHosting Entry Cloud | 58ms with 100 users, email included | $14.95/mo |
| Growing site, no contract | Cloudways in Mumbai or Bangalore | 74ms with 100 users, resize any time | $16.00/mo |
| Lowest cost, pay in rupees | Hostinger, India location | Indian location, rupee prices on its Indian site | $3.99/mo |
Do You Need a .in Domain?
No. A .in tells visitors the business is Indian, which can help trust, but a .com works for an Indian audience too. What matters more for speed is where the site is hosted. The domain and the hosting are separate purchases: you can register the domain with any registrar and point it at any host on this page.
What We Have Not Tested Yet
- A test site in India. Our test servers sat in New York or Frankfurt; Mumbai was one of the places we measured from, not a place we hosted.
- Indian connections. We have not measured from Indian home broadband or mobile networks.
- MilesWeb and BigRock. Compared on price and features only.
- Hosting.com Pro. We benchmarked Turbo Boost, the plan it replaced.
What I Would Choose
For an everyday Indian website I would take ChemiCloud Pro in Mumbai: it held up under load without a failed request, it includes email and backups, and its six-year cost is among the lowest here. For a store or booking site, ScalaHosting Entry Cloud, after confirming the Mumbai location for my plan; for a site I expected to grow fast, a Cloudways server in Mumbai or Bangalore. If paying in rupees matters most, Hostinger with India as the location. Whatever the host, choose India as the location when you order.
Web Hosting in India: FAQ
What is the best web hosting in India?
ChemiCloud Pro for most Indian websites: it has a Mumbai location, 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. ScalaHosting Entry Cloud is the fastest plan in this comparison, Cloudways suits sites that need room to grow, and Hostinger is the low-cost pick that bills in rupees on its Indian site.
Which web hosts have servers in India?
From each host's own pages: ChemiCloud (Mumbai), Cloudways (Mumbai and Bangalore), Hostinger (India, for web, cloud and VPS hosting), FastComet (Mumbai, since August 2019), hosting.com (Mumbai), DigitalOcean (Bangalore) and MilesWeb (India, city not named). ScalaHosting lists Mumbai on its AWS infrastructure. SiteGround's page names Asia but no Indian city.
Did you test these hosts from India?
Partly. Our test sites sat on servers in New York or Frankfurt, and we measured them from 10 locations, one of them Mumbai. So the Mumbai figures show how long a request from Mumbai took to reach our server abroad; they are not measurements of an Indian data center. The load and uptime results describe each host's platform. When you order, choose the host's Indian location.
Do I need a server in India for an Indian website?
If most of your visitors are in India, yes. On our benchmark the same ChemiCloud server answered in 78ms near home and 294ms from Mumbai. That delay applies to every page a cache cannot serve: contact forms, carts, checkouts, searches and your own admin area.
Is Hostinger good for Indian websites?
On its 48-month term it has the lowest six-year cost of the hosts we tested with an Indian location, and its Indian site shows prices in rupees. Under load it was slower than the three picks above it: 430ms with 100 concurrent users and 0.64% of requests failed over the full ramp. Our Hostinger test server was in Frankfurt and answered in 449ms from Mumbai; choose India as the location when you order.
Can I pay for hosting in rupees or with UPI?
Hostinger's Indian site lists its prices in rupees. MilesWeb bills in rupees and its site lists UPI, RuPay, Google Pay and PhonePe among its payment options; its prices exclude 18% GST. ChemiCloud, ScalaHosting and Cloudways price their plans in US dollars, so check that your card allows international payments.
What is the cheapest web hosting in India?
Among the hosts we tested with an Indian location, Hostinger Unlimited and ChemiCloud Pro cost about the same over six years on a 36-month term, and Hostinger is cheaper still on its 48-month term. Indian hosts we have not tested start lower: MilesWeb Starter is ₹69/mo on 36 months and renews at ₹399/mo; BigRock Standard is ₹69/mo for the first year and renews at ₹409/mo.
Should I avoid GoDaddy, Bluehost and HostGator?
Their plans had the weakest results in our benchmark: GoDaddy Economy failed 39.42% of requests over the load ramp, Bluehost Choice Plus 39.04% and HostGator Baby 31.95%. We tested their US plans, not their Indian storefronts, and we hold no record of an Indian location for them.
Do I need a .in domain?
No. A .in tells visitors the business is Indian, which can help trust, but a .com works for an Indian audience too. The domain and the hosting are separate purchases: register the domain with any registrar and point it at any host on this page.