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The 6 Best Web Hosting for Malaysia – Local vs Global

“Searching and choosing the best web hosting provider is no easy task. It is even more so when you are based in a relatively small country like Malaysia. There are simply so many factors to consider.”

Should you take into account geography when you are selecting a web hosting provider?

What is uptime?

Where is the customer support like when you are ready to tear out every strand of hair?

Will there be backups readily available for you or do you have to suffer through the torture of losing all your data?

Is it better to go with “Buatan Malaysia”?

What is the cost like? What is the cost like after currency conversion? Are there extra charges? Are there discounts? What the heck is SSL? Can you try it out for free first?

Yes, there are many questions and factors to ponder about. But take a step back, inhale deeply, and have a sip of your Milo Ais.

This is because, today, we are going to cover the main things you should look out for when you are selecting a web hosting provider — with a Malaysian twist, of course.

If you are looking for the most creative way for any Malaysians to do ‘bisnes online‘, make sure you don’t miss out on our practical tips and actionable plans.

There goes our 6 best web hosting for the Malaysia website:

Let’s get cracking!

What to Look for in a Web Hosting Provider

It is extremely easy to be blinded and overwhelmed by the many choices of web hosting providers in the market.

In fact, you may even be tempted to “eeny meeny miny moe” it in order to quickly get it over with.

After all, the providers all look the same after a bit, right?

Well, hold it right there. The providers may come across as pretty similar but, trust us, they are far from the same.

If you need a quick guide of the best web hosting for beginners, here’s our 14 checklists.

Here’s the quick look at things that you should focus on:

So, let’s take a peek at what you should be on the lookout for when you are shopping for web hosting.

1. Speed

It does not matter if you are in Malaysia or if you are in Antarctica; you need a website that has awesome server response time.

This is, essentially, how long it takes to load your pages for your visitors.

In this day and age where everything is just that much faster, speed is everything.

In fact, according to Google research, 53% of mobile site visits leave a page if it takes any longer than 3 seconds to load.

So, you may have the funniest or the most helpful content on your site but if it takes longer to load, you can bid ‘selamat jalan dan datang lagi’ to a majority of your visitors.

As a benchmark, an average server response time of 200ms to 450ms is what you would consider excellent.

Anything above that is somewhat average.

If your average response time hovers around 1s, instead, you need to either fix it or get rid of the host … fast!

Quick Fact:

Please note that we are discussing on the server side response time of the web host and not the overall website loading page. The overall website loading time involve a lot of external factors such as theme, plugins, optimization of code and etc.

2. Targeted Audience

This is less about where your host is based or located and more about its servers’ locations.

In most cases, you have 2 options: you can either opt for a host local to Malaysia or you can go with a global web hosting provider.

The first option is perfect for you if your website is more targeted toward the Malaysian audience.

As most Malaysia-based web hosting providers have servers in Malaysia, this will most probably offer your website a better server response time.

However, a global provider will probably offer you a better response time all over the world because of their dispersed data centers.

Besides that, many global providers also have data servers in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia.

So, be sure to take that into consideration, too.

3. Server Location

Ideally, you want a web hosting provider with servers as close to your target audience as possible.

This is because the closer your visitors are to the server location, the faster the response time will be.

Be sure to check if the provider allows you to choose your data center location.

While this is not the be-all and end-all, it is always better to opt for a provider that can accommodate the selection of server location.

If you are targeting the Malaysian audience, go with a host that has a server in Malaysia or in our neighboring countries.

4. Customer Support

When it comes to hosting, support is everything. Something will go wrong. And when it does, you need a customer support team that you can depend on.

So, you want a helpful and knowledgeable web host that will be there for you 24/7 — just like our friendly 7/11 stores. Always choose a web hosting provider that offers at least one 24/7 contact options.

On top of that, check out the prospective hosts’ available support options.

Are they available through live chat? Or do they only operate via a ticketing system? Are there actual human customer supports or are the systems handled by bots? Can you get in touch with customer support via phone calls?

Besides that, decide on whether you would prefer a local customer support team, too.

While this is not a necessity for many people, it is not the worst idea, either.

First, quite a few providers do not offer 24/7 customer support or, if they do, they limit 24/7 supports to only a few support options.

For example, most providers only offer support by phone calls during the usual business hours.

If you have a problem with your website, do you really want to sit around until it is 9 am in the United States — which is about 9 pm Malaysia time — in order to get in contact with customer support?

Wouldn’t you rather fix the problem as soon as possible and park yourself at a Mamak once you are done?

In short, most of the global web hosts provide 24/7 live chat support while most local hosts’ live chat support is within Malaysian working hours.

5. Cost

There are a couple of things to bear in mind when it comes to pricing.

First, there are no hard and fast rules about the correlation between cost and quality.

Expensive plans do not necessarily equal excellent quality. And vice versa.

Instead, opt for a web hosting provider and plan that offers you the best value for your money.

Apart from that, local hosts are not always cheaper than global providers. But then again, as we mentioned above that is not always a bad thing.

In addition to the above, beware that there may be differences between the introductory prices and renewal prices.

This is a common practice in the web hosting world where providers lure in new customers with low introductory prices.

Then, when it is time for renewal, customers are hit with exorbitant (or, at least, relatively more expensive) renewal prices.

So, ensure that the differences between the prices are not too far apart and that the renewal prices are still in your budget.

Keep in mind also that certain global providers vary the prices of their plans according to location.

Fortunately for us, more often than not, the prices for Malaysia are lower than, say, the United States.

And the cost of maintaining blogging in Malaysia is much lower too.

6. TLD (.my /.com.my/.com)

Do you require a domain with local TLD such as .my or .com.my?

Or simply a global .com or.net will be sufficient?

Getting the domain together with the hosting package with a local hosting provider will be a great idea if that’s a concern.

This will skip all the headaches and registration problems for local TLDs.

Most of the global hosting providers do not hold our Malaysian TLD, especially .my as they are regulated under MCMC (Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission).

The Best Web Hosting Providers for Malaysian Websites

We have waxed lyrical about this provider for a fairly long time. At the rate we are going, we foresee that we will still be waxing lyrical about SiteGround during the robot revolution.

Excellent support time with data centers all across the world. There is even one in Singapore.

Yes, of course, Singapore is not Malaysia.

However, it is just about near enough to help with your server response time if your target audience is based in Malaysia or nearby.

Besides that, SiteGround also has impeccable customer support. You can get in touch with the customer support team via 24/7 live chat, phone support, and by submitting a ticket.

All the agents are efficient and skilled. You will receive replies in mere minutes, if not seconds.

If there are any issues that the agent is unable to solve, the issues will be escalated to the relevant department. In this case, you will receive a reply in less than 10 minutes.

Our one complaint is that the prices are somewhat on the higher side. Plans start from $3.95 per month (after a 60% introductory discount for new users) — that is about RM17 per month.

This goes all the way up to $11.95 per month (about RM50.00 per month). This brings the total to about RM199.00 to RM602.00 per year — depending on your choice of plan.

Our advice on how to combat the high renewal prices is to capitalize on the low introductory prices and sign up for the longest term possible.

Check out our detailed Siteground review.

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An extremely affordable option with some wonderfully-rich features, Hostinger is definitely high on our list of the best web hosting for Malaysian websites.

We will be honest: Hostinger’s speed used to be somewhat all over the place. The same page returned drastically different results multiple times.

However, as of late, it seems that Hostinger is finally rallying and returning some consistently good server response time.

Besides that, just like SiteGround, Hostinger has a data center in Singapore. Even better, it even has a data center in Indonesia, too. Not bad, at all.

Again, just like SiteGround, Hostinger’s customer support is outstanding. You can contact the customer support team via 24/7 live chat, ticket, and by email.

There is, however, no option for help by phone calls. Its agents are extremely friendly and skilled — they could answer even the more technical questions.

Famous for its low prices, you already know you are going to score some great deals. Besides that, Hostinger frequently has big sales throughout the year.

Discounts range from 70% to 90% off. Currently, its prices start from RM36 per year (its cheapest plan, Single) and go up to RM 155.40 per year (Business).

So, you can host your website for only RM2.99 per month. To put it into perspective, that is less than what you have to pay for a strawberry sundae from McDonald’s.

We would advise not to go for the lowest price plan, Single Shared.

As the plan has a cap of 100GB data transfer bandwidth. Unless you have a very low visitor rate or planned to do so such as creating a website presence for your CV. And only limit access to certain parties, you will find yourself in trouble once you run out the cap limit.

Check out our detailed Hostinger review.

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Originally created with developers in mind, A2 Hosting is all about “blazing fast web hosting”.

Boasting data centers all around the world, the provider has one in Singapore, too.

So, if your target audience is right here in Malaysia, you can be assured that all your pages will load “screaming fast”.

A2 Hosting’s customer service — or Guru Crew Support, as they called themselves — is available via 24/7 live chat, phone calls, and submitting a ticket.

The Gurus are polite and appear to be very experienced. They very effortlessly answered even the most advanced technical questions. One minor gripe here is the slightly longer wait time before a Guru actually joins the chat.

Pricing-wise, A2 Hosting is pretty affordable. Its plans start from $5.99 per month (that is about RM25.00) and there are often discounts all year long.

In fact, prices could even go down as low as $1.98 per month (about RM8.00).

Find out more about them in detailed A2 Hosting review.

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Exabytes has won quite a few awards. With data centers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the United States.

Its server response time is rather respectable if your target audience is in Malaysia.

You can reach the customer support team 24/7 via live chat, email, and even (amazingly) Whatsapp.

However, phone support is only available during working hours of 9 am to 5 pm Malaysian time.

Exabytes’ has 3 shared hosting plans and prices range from RM14.99 per month to RM29.99 per month.

While it is definitely not the cheapest provider around, Exabytes does come with some rich features.

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They are a decent web hosting provider in Malaysia since 1998, and are able to provide .my or .com.my TLD when you register a new domain with them.

Not the quickest when it comes to supporting. We tried to reach the support using the live chat function which Shinjiru rely on Telegram. You got to have Telegram installed.

It took about 8 minutes for a meaningful response where I actually went for a tea-break while waiting.

Maybe we are too harsh on them? But it’s quite the contrary where 2-3 minutes is the norm in this competitive web hosting industry.

On the bright side, all their web hosting plans come with SSD storage. While most local web host providers are still using the old and slow spinning HDD for the lower tier of the plan.

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While they might have experience in handling and taking care of over 1000 servers, I still think their pricing is too steep for us as an average user.

Webserver.com.my is a business unit under Acme Commerce Sdn Bhd that was founded back in 1989.

We had an opportunity to look at one of their product, cloud storage beforehand. Feel free to check out the best cloud storage for Malaysia here.

As mentioned above, expensive plans do not necessarily equal excellent quality and we certainly feel so.

Maybe the value lies within their SME customer where they can provide a better and more direct solution for them?

Verdict

There you have it!

Now you know what to look out for in your hunt for the best web hosting provider in Malaysia and also the hosts to check out.

For a reputable provider that excels in almost all aspects (speed, uptime, customer support, and more), go for SiteGround.

If your audience is based in Malaysia, opt for Siteground’s Singapore data center when you register with it.

And if you are just starting out and planning to make money from blogging in Malaysia, go with Hostgator Malaysia.

Most of the web hosting servers are located in Singapore cater to any Asia traffic like for example the best web hosting for India, there’s not much in Mumbai as well.

If you are looking to support a Malaysian host, on the other hand, then Exabytes is the one for you. Decently priced and localized, Exabytes is a solid choice for Malaysians.

Before we recap everything hosted for Malaysia, protect your privacy with our best pick VPN for Malaysia here.

Go to our Google Sheets here for more comparison items and see how we conducted our server response time checking.

Here’s a summary and recap of our recommended best web hosting for all Malaysian.