SiteGround reviews 2021: 7 Shocking Hidden Facts of SiteGround
SiteGround offers a full suite of web hosting services for new, growing as well as established websites. Powered by Google Cloud Platform, the company delivers a powerful and ultra-reliable hosting service backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. However, they do have some downsides. In this article, we will discuss all Factors of SiteGround Reviews.
- Country:
- India
SiteGround is a popular name in the web hosting industry. Based in Bulgaria, SiteGround has been in the hosting business since 2004, and, currently, the company hosts 2,000,000 domains around the world.
From small and medium websites to high-performing sites, the company provides hosting services for all types of business sites. These include:
- Shared hosting
- WordPress Hosting
- WooCommerce Hosting
- Reseller Hosting
- Cloud Hosting
- Enterprise Hosting
- Student Hosting
This post will highlight some shocking facts about SiteGround while also providing an in-depth look at the various web hosting services/plans offered by the company:
7 Shocking Hidden Facts of SiteGround
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Google Cloud Platform
A big part of SiteGround's infrastructure is powered by Google Cloud Platform that ensures robust built-in redundancy and application availability with its ultra-fast networks and distributed storage. -
Eco-friendly hosting
In addition to providing ultra-reliable hosting services, SiteGround is also committed to sustainability. While all of its data centers are green-friendly, its primary data center partner Google is already an energy efficiency leader. -
Recommended by WordPress
WordPress.org, the most popular open-source software for website-building globally, officially recommends SiteGround as one of the best web hosting service providers for WordPress sites. -
Top-notch security
SiteGround's in-house system monitors the server status every 0.5 seconds and immediately fixes the issues it detects. Additionally, the system is programmed to prevent a multitude of problems automatically. The company has also deployed an artificial-intelligence (AI) based smart system to detect and stop malicious traffic before it reaches its customers' sites. -
Customized interface
In 2019, SiteGround introduced new in-house interfaces to make site management more intuitive, replacing the previous and the most commonly used cPanel interface. -
Location-specific hosting
SiteGround allows its clients to pick the best data center location for their website as server location impacts web pages' loading speed. It would be wise to choose a location where most of your site visitors come from, as geographical proximity helps minimize network issues and improves the website's performance. -
CDN
SiteGround has partnered with Cloudflare to lets its customers use a free content delivery network service to speed up page loading time for visitors. Spanning across 90 countries globally, CDN caches the site's content and loads them for visitors from their nearest geographic locations.
SiteGround Shared Hosting Reviews
SiteGround Shared Hosting is ideal for personal and small-to-medium business websites. It is offered in three tiers:
- Startup: suitable for 10,000 monthly visitors
- GrowBig: suitable for 25,000 monthly visitors
- GoGeek: suitable for 100,000 monthly visitors
The SiteGround StartpUp plan allows for hosting a single website, and this package is suitable to accommodate 10,000 monthly visitors. The TheStartpUp package includes 10GB of web space, unmetered data transfer, automated daily backup.
On the other hand, the SiteGround GrowBig and GoGeek plans allow for hosting unlimited websites and unmetered data transfer. Both the higher shared hosting plans allow for creating up to 5 on-demand backups at a time, along with the ability to add collaborators.
It is worth noting that the top tier plan - GoGeek- includes ultrafast PHP that cuts time to first byte (TTFB) and allows the server to load the webpages faster than usual. GoGeek plan also includes pre-installed Git and advanced priority support wherein the company assigns customer issues with priority to its most-experienced support agents.
SiteGround Shared hosting plans.
With each shared web hosting plan, SiteGround includes the following features:
- Free drag and drop Weebly site builder
- Free CMSs installation - WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, and more
- Unlimited free email accounts
- Unlimited MYSQL databases
- Site Tools for website management
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- SSD storage
- Free Cloudflare CDN
- HTTP/2 enabled servers
- Free automated SSL by Let's Encrypt
Additionally, SiteGround offers automatic tools through which its customers can install Magento, an open-source shopping cart application, in just a few clicks. The application supports various payment processors and shipping methods. Besides Magento, the SiteGround auto-installer tool also allows users to install other applications such as PrestaShop and WooCommerce, among others, on their shared hosting account.
SiteGround Cloud Hosting Review
For those unaware, Cloud hosting is ideal for growing websites that need more resources and flexibility than provided by shared web hosting. SiteGround Cloud Hosting allows its customers to manually add resources - CPU, RAM, and storage - with one-click or utilize an auto-scale option that automatically adds more resources - CPU and RAM - to meet unexpected traffic spikes, all without affecting the speed and uptime.
SiteGround Cloud hosting is a fully managed service, and it is offered in four levels with options to configure plans - Custom Cloud - as per your website needs. The cloud plans include:
| PLAN | CPU cores | Memory | SSD space | Data transfer | Price |
| Entry | 4 | 8GB | 40GB | 5TB | USD110/month |
| Business | 8 | 12GB | 80GB | 5TB | USD210/month |
| Business Plus | 12 | 16GB | 120GB | 5TB | USD310/month |
| Superpower | 16 | 20GB | 160GB | 5TB | USD410/month |
Each cloud hosting plan also includes:
- SSH & SFTP access
- Dedicated IP
- Free CDN
- Free Let's Encrypt SSL
SiteGround Reseller Hosting Review
SiteGround Reseller Hosting provides you with all the necessary tools needed to build and manage multiple sites for your clients easily. SiteGround's Client Area allows you to manage multiple sites from a single easy-to-use dashboard, and there is a search tool that lets you jump to a specific site.
Image Credit: SiteGround
The company offers Reseller Hosting in three tiers - GrowBig, GoGeek, and Cloud - with each plan including:
- Unlimited websites
- Free WP Installation and migratory plugin
- WordPress Auto-updates
- Daily and on-demand backups
- Freebies - SSLs, CDN, and email
- WP-CLI and SSH
- Unlimited Databases
- Speed-boosting Caching
- Easy StagingCollaborators
While the GrowBig plan includes 20GB webspace, the mid-tier reseller hosting plan provides 40GB of web space and additional features, including:
- White-label Clients: By registering your clients as users on any of your websites, you can grant them full white-label access to the Site Tools, but the SiteGround logo or branding will not be visible to them.
- Ultrafast PHP - a performance-boosting server that boosts website speed up to 30 percent as compared to the Standard PHP setup
- Priority Support- for faster technical support
As for the Cloud Reseller hosting plan, it grants more than 40GB of web space along with advanced functionalities such as:
- Customize client's access - This feature allows you to customize access to the Site Tools control panel for your clients. You can enable your clients only to see the tools of your choice
- Tailor site's resources - With this option, you can create custom hosting packages for each of your websites and allocate hosting resources like space, email accounts, and databases.
SiteGround WordPress Hosting Review
SiteGround is among the top three web hosting providers recommended by WordPress.org. SiteGround provides Managed WordPress hosting with the following WP-specific features:
- Automated WordPress installation - SiteGround provides a simple click-and-install option to install WordPress in no time. Using the WordPress Starter tool, you can pick a professional site design of your choice, add key functionalities, and a fully-functional website will be ready without requiring any technical skills.
Image Credit: SiteGround
- Smooth WordPress transfer - The SiteGround Migrator plugin allows you to freely transfer as many WP sites from other hosts to SiteGround. All you need to do is install the Migrator plugin to your WP account, generate a migration token in Site Tools and paste it into the plugin. The company also provides a professional website migration service wherein SiteGround experts transfer your files and databases.
- WordPress Autoupdate: This in-house feature keeps your WP software and plugin up-to-date with the latest available version.
- Unmatched performance: Hosted on Google Cloud Platform, SiteGround guarantees a great performance for all websites. Apart from this, the company's superior SuperCacher service, along with NGINX-based dynamic cache and Memcached service, dramatically speed up WordPress sites.
- WordPress Advanced security: SiteGround keeps track of WP-related vulnerabilities, and if any major vulnerability is detected, the company applies server-level fixes before releasing an official security update.
SiteGround Managed WordPress hosting and shared hosting plans are nearly similar except that the former has WordPress-specific features and optimization tools to build and manage WP sites. It has three levels - StartUp, GrowBig, and GoGeek.
Apart from the aforementioned features, the higher SiteGround WordPress hosting plans- GrowBig and GoGeek- include:
- WordPress Special Cache - for blazing-fast websites
- One-click WordPress Staging tool - to easily create staging copies of your WP website and test new features in a safe environment before uploading them live
- SG-Git - to create a repository of WordPress
SiteGround E-commerce Hosting Review
For e-commerce sites, SitGround offers many applications, including WordPress + WooCommerce, Magento, PrestaShop, and OpenCart. WooCommerce is one of the most popular e-commerce plugins installed with WordPress to set up an online store. Here are some of the features it offers to set up an online store easily:
Products and services: From simple physical products to members-only digital content, the powerful platform allows you to sell any product on your WordPress WooCommerce store.
Multiple Payment channels: WooCommerce accepts both online and offline payment options. Apart from getting bank transfers (BACS), checks, PayPal, and cash on delivery (COD), WooCommerce can integrate with 140 region-specific gateways such as Apple Pay, Alipay, etc.
Customized shipping options: WooCommerce allows you to offer free shipping and the ability to customize shipping costs according to shipping zones or type of product. With additional plugins like ShipStation, you can further the shipping functionality and user experience.
In addition to these features, you can enhance your WooCommerce store with features like StoreFront Theme, Automated Taxes, and Facebook. Furthermore, you can connect your store to Jetpack for better security, store statistics, store monitoring, product promotions, and more benefits.
SiteGround WooCommerce hosting includes:
- Free SSL certificate
- Automatic updates for software as well as plugins
- Free automated daily backups
- On-demand backups (only with GrowBig and GoGeek plans)
- Custom Web Application Firewall (WAF) to protect stores from site attacks
- 24/7 expert hosting support
SiteGround Performance Review
SiteGround leverages Google Cloud Platform's state-of-the-art network to make the sites run faster. Apart from this, the company uses advanced performance-boosting technologies to ensure that your sites run faster, even in the event of sudden traffic spikes. These include:
- Ultrafast PHP: For GoGeek and Cloud hosting plan users, SiteGator provides the UltraFast PHP setup for up to 30 percent faster websites than the Standard PHP setup.
- SuperCacher: SiteGround's in-house caching solution that dramatically accelerates your website's loading speed. The company provides three caching options: NGINX Direct Deliver for caching static resources, Dynamic Cache for dynamic content and Memcached for boosting database and API calls, and page rendering.
- Free Cloudflare CDN included with all plans.
- Server-level solutions: SiteGroud has deployed multiple server-level software solutions, including HTTP/2 and QUIC protocols. It also provides additional PHP setup optimization via OPCache extension.
- SG Optimizer plugin delivers an additional 20-30 per cent performance improvement for well-optimized WordPress sites and up to 500% for sites with poorly-optimized content.
SiteGround Hosting Plan Pricing
SiteGround offers a suite of web hosting plans and packages. These mainly include- Startup, GrowBig, and GoGeek. While the StartUp plan is suitable for users who want to host a single website, the higher plans with premium features are ideal for growing and established websites that need more server resources and best performance.
Here are the prices of the various web hosting packages offered by HostGator:
Shared/WordPress/WooCoomerce hosting
- StartUp: USD6.99/month
- GrowBig: USD9.99/month
- GoGeek: USD14.99/month
Reseller hosting
- GrowBig: USD9.99/month
- GoGeek: USD14.99/month
- Cloud: USD110.00/month
Cloud hosting
- Entry: USD110.00/month
- Business: USD210.00/month
- Business Plus: USD310.00/month
- Super Power: USD410.00/month
SiteGround Pros
- Multiple data center locations: SiteGround's data centers are located in Iowa (USA), Eemshaven (Netherlands), Frankfurt (Germany), Sydney (AU), London (UK), and Singapore (Asia). During the sign-up process, the company lets you choose between various data centers to deliver the highest speed and reliability level. For instance, if most of your site visitors belong to Australia, you can switch to the Sydney server to improve the page loading times. However, if they are scattered globally, you may activate CDN (content delivery network) service for boosting the site speed.
- Customer support: SiteGround provides multiple ways - live chat, phone, and helpdesk tickets - to assist its customers 24/7 and resolve their issues. The company also offers a paid support service for requests that are outside its free technical support scope. Additionally, the company has a knowledge base that features a comprehensive list of help articles to answer all your hosting questions.
- Reliable hosting: SiteGround's hosting services are backed by an annual 99.9% network uptime guarantee. The company leverages the Google cloud platform with SSD-persistent storage and ultra-fast network, ultrafast PHP, SuperCacher, and CDN to ensure that your sites run faster.
- Free and easy-to-use site building tools: All hosting plans from SiteGround include WordPress and Weebly - two of the easiest and most widely used site-building tools.
- Money-back guarantee: With 30 days and 14 days money-back guarantee for shared hosting and cloud hosting plans, respectively, SiteGround makes it 100 percent risk-free for you to try their hosting services. If the company fails to meet the expectations set out in the Service Level Agreement (SLA), your hosting fees will be refunded. The company claims to offer 1 month of free hosting for uptime ranging between 99.9% - 99.00% and an additional month of free hosting for every 1% of uptime lost below it.
- WordPress auto-migration: If you wish to migrate your WordPress sites from other hosts to SiteGround freely, you can utilize the WordPress Migrator plugin. You can also go for the 'Professional Migration' service wherein the company's experts transfer your website.
- WordPress staging: SiteGround's built-in one-click staging tool (Site Tools > WordPress > Staging > Create New Staging Copy) lets users test any new significant change in a separate, safe environment, without affecting the live version of the website. Additionally, the push-to-live functionality allows users to deploy the changes to their live site.
SiteGround Cons
To know the pros and cons of each type of hosting and which form will be best for your site, read our previous post on" Top 10 Best Web Hosting for Small Businesses".
- High renewal prices: SiteGround's hosting renewal prices are higher than their discounted introductory prices. For instance, its cheapest shared hosting plan costs USD6.99/month, and its renewal price is USD14.99/month, more than double the initial term price.
- Paid migration: While many web hosting companies provide free site migration, SiteGround offers professional website migration services for USD 30 per site. It is worth noting that SiteGround offers free website migration only for WordPress sites.
- No free domain: SiteGround charges USD15.95 annually for domain registration instead of many other web hosts that provide a free domain name registration for one-year to new customers.
- Hosting limitations: One of the major drawbacks of SiteGround is that the company does not offer dedicated / Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting.
Final Word
SiteGround is an excellent choice for small and medium sites; SiteGround's shared hosting service might be an ideal option as all its plans include free daily backups, free CDN service, unlimited databases, and unmetered traffic.
SiteGround is also an excellent choice for those looking to host WordPress sites, as its also recommended by Wordpress.org. While the company offers free WordPress installation with all plans, the higher plans - GrowBig and GoGeek - come with unique features like a safe site staging environment and speed-boosting caching that ensures top WordPress site performance. Most importantly, SiteGround WordPress hosting is a fully managed service.
Further, if you plan on building an online store, you may choose SiteGround as your web host. With SiteGround's click-and-install wizard, you can install popular shopping cart applications including WooCommerce, Open Cart, Magento, and more to create a fully-functional online store in no time.
If your business/website is quickly growing, you can move from shared to cloud hosting plans. The best thing about SiteGround's Cloud hosting service is that it provides the flexibility to customize the plans as per your needs. For instance, you can pick the number of CPU cores - between 4 to 33 cores - memory - from 4GB to 130GB - and SSD space - from 60GB to 1TB. Further, with the auto-scaling feature, you don't have to worry about unexpected traffic spikes as it automatically adds resources to prevent downtime and traffic loss.
If budget is not a concern and your main focus is performance, then SiteGround is the best fit for your hosting need.
- READ MORE ON:
- Siteground reviews
- SiteGround reviews 2021
- Facts of SiteGround
- SiteGround Shared Hosting Reviews
- SiteGround Cloud Hosting Review
- SiteGround Reseller Hosting Review
- SiteGround WordPress Hosting Review
- SiteGround E-commerce Hosting Review
- SiteGround Performance Review
- SiteGround Hosting Plan Pricing
- SiteGround Pros
- SiteGround Cons
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