Hostinger is definitely a solid option if you are looking for a cheap web hosting provider to start with.
First launched in 2004, Hostinger is now one of the biggest web hosting providers in the world.
With over 29 million users in 178 countries and 15,000 new customers every day (that is a very impressive one new client every five seconds), Hostinger sure has come a long way since its humble start in Kaunas, Lithuania.
Hostinger started out only offering free web hosting, and they still do nowadays.
But, today, its services include shared web hosting, email hosting, cloud hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, Windows OS-based VPS solutions, and even Minecraft Hosting.
Besides that, it also offers an assortment of other additional services such as website builders, SSL certificates, and domain names as well.
In this Hostinger review, we will be focusing on this giant provider’s shared web hosting plans for the most part.
Let’s have a detailed look at every aspect of Hostinger that matters to ordinary users like you and me and see how they stack up.
This includes response time, data centers, uptime, support, interface, and prices.
Let’s crack on!
1. Server Response Time
Server response time measures how long it takes for a web server to respond to a request from a browser.
Or to put it more simply, it measures the amount of time it takes to load the pages of your website.
Our 14 checklists on the best web hosting should keep you on the page.
Google, itself, advised keeping server response time to under 200ms.
We are constantly monitoring the uptime performance and the server response time for Hostinger.
Check out their latest 7 days uptime performance here.
Without any surprise, they are doing great with response time averaging 4ms, which is much lower than what Google is suggesting.
2. Location
Hostinger claims that it has 7 data centers all over the world.
The centers are in the UK, the US, Brazil, the Netherlands, Singapore, Indonesia, and (of course) Lithuania.
This is great news as, ideally, your site should be hosted as close to your target audience as possible.
It would be the perfect choice as the best web hosting for Malaysia as there are 2 data centers around us, which are Singapore and Indonesia.
The closer the visitors are to the data center, the better the response time will be.
However, oddly, you are not given the option to pick your server location. We said odd because most providers allow you to opt for the data center where you want your data to be stored.
This is a shame as you are probably the one that knows best where your target audience is based.
3. Uptime
Uptime shows how often your website is available and functional.
Just like most bigger and more reputable web hosting providers, Hostinger offers an uptime guarantee.
According to its Hosting Agreement, it offers a service uptime guarantee of 99.9% of available time per month.
In the event that they fail to main this percentage in a particular month, you will receive a credit of 5% of your monthly hosting fee for that month.
At the time of our writing, the uptime performance from Hostinger had been 100%.
4. Support
We are going to come right out and say it: Hostinger offers impeccable customer support.
You can contact the support team via 24/7 live chat, submitting a ticket, and email.
The live chat is, of course, the only method where you can get an almost-instantaneous reply.
So, we tried it to check out how it fares. The reply was quick and friendly — we received a reply in less than a minute.
The agent we contacted was also very well-versed in web hosting. In fact, she was able to answer every single one of our questions, even the more technical ones. If this were a quiz, she would have received an A+.
On top of that, the agent was also extremely friendly and her (also) A+ game when it comes to utilizing stickers and memes in the live chat would make just about every millennial proud.
This adds a very nice touch to what is usually a business-like transaction.
As a side note, the live chat function is only available to an existing client. If you aren’t yet, the only way to get in touch with them would be the email.
If you are seriously looking for an overall great experience on web hosting, go for Siteground instead.
While they are being more expensive, the money is well worth the support and experience you will receive in return. Our Siteground review can tell you more.
5. Freebies
A common practice in the web hosting world to boost sales, many providers include some extra features for free. Hostinger, too, practices this.
Unfortunately, Hostinger’s cheapest shared hosting plan, Single, does not offer all that many free features and tools.
Or any, really, besides free website builder — which is included in all of the plans.
Hostinger’s Premium and Business plans are slightly more generous.
They come with a free SSL certificate — which is extremely helpful.
SSL or Secure Sockets Layer is a security protocol that helps to increase the safety of sending sensitive information (including personal and payment details) over the Internet. If you are on the Single shared hosting plan, you can, however, purchase a lifetime SSL certificate.
Or you can set up a free Cloudflare SSL using a plugin, here’s an incredibly helpful tutorial for it.
Besides that, Hostinger also provides a free domain for its Premium and Business plan users.
This is again, unfortunately, not available to its Single shared hosting users.
On top of that, its Premium plan comes with weekly backups. Its Business plan, on the other hand, provides daily backup.
6. User Interface
Instead of operating with a typical control panel (such as cPanel), Hostinger built its own, hPanel.
hPanel is an extremely intuitive and easy interface to navigate.
You have all your account information on the left such as your domain, IP address, username, emails, and subdomains for easy access.
Besides that, the cloud-based hPanel also regularly gathers user feedback and frequently releases updates, improvements, and new features.
Additionally, the hPanel houses Hostinger’s default auto-installers, too.
This includes one-click installation for content management systems (CMSs) — such as WordPress — and other applications for SEO as well as for e-commerce and business.
7. Price
Hostinger is famous for its affordable prices.
You can get shared web hosting for less than the price of a drink. It is worth it to bear in mind that Hostinger constantly has big sales throughout the year.
We are talking about up to 90% off. So, bide your time and strike when the price is at its lowest.
At the time of writing, Hostinger’s shared hosting plan is now 74% to 90% off.
Many providers often drastically increase prices when it is time for renewal.
But this is not the case here. Instead, Hostinger’s renewal prices remain inexpensive and still very much affordable.
| Plan | International Price |
|---|---|
| Single Shared | $0.99/mo |
| Premium Shared | $2.89/mo |
| Business Shared | $3.99/mo |
Apart from the above, a very interesting tidbit about Hostinger is that it even accepts cryptocurrencies as a payment option in addition to the typical credit cards and PayPal.
All of Hostinger’s plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
However, there are some exceptions to this policy. For example, certain products such as domain renewal and G Suite are not refundable.
Verdict
Hostinger is definitely a solid option if you are looking for a cheap web hosting provider.
A good choice for a hobby blogger.
But if you are serious about blogging and would like to turn it into a real business, you might want to steer away.
While its server response time is excellent, second behind A2 hosting, everything else is more than decent, especially considering its inexpensive price.
Its uptime is excellent and you can take comfort in its 99.9% uptime guarantee.
Besides that, its interface is simple yet so very intuitive. Then, of course, there is beyond excellent customer service.
Hostinger is a very solid choice, indeed.