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SiteGround

SiteGround Reviews

SiteGround is one of the most popular and highest rated hosting provider in the WordPress community. They provide unique in-house WordPress speed and security solutions to make your site as fast and secure as possible. They are known for the best 24/7 support in the industry which is why they’re an official ‘WordPress’ recommended hosting provider. SiteGround features include automatic upgrades, built-in WP caching, CDN, one-click staging and GIT version control. They are also one of the few companies offering location specific hosting with 3 data centers in USA, Europe, and Asia. On top of all this, they have а special 70% discount for WPBeginner readers.

Last seen 8 hours ago
Reviewed by: Syed Balkhi
Rating:

SiteGround Review from Our Experts

Siteground is one of the most recommended WordPress hosting companies. They are known for their top notch customer support and fast reliable hosting plans. Their WordPress optimized hosting includes everything you’ll need to create and grow a successful blog. Read our complete SiteGround review to find out if SiteGround is the right host for you.

In this detailed SiteGround review, we will put their promises to test. These are the areas we will look into:

  • Performance: Speed is crucial for the success of your website. How fast will your website load with SiteGround?
  • Reliability: Will your website be available 24/7/365 without facing any downtime?
  • Customer Support: Can you count on their customer support?
  • Features: Do they offer all the features and tools you will need to build your website?
  • Pricing: How much it would cost you? Are there any SiteGround deals that can save you money?

Bottom line: Don’t want to read all the details? Let us summarize it for you. We found SiteGround to be noticeably faster and extremely reliable. Their hosting plans are flexible, and their customer support is one of the best in the industry.

That’s why we’ve chosen to recommend SiteGround as one of the best WordPress hosting companies.

Now let’s dive into our detailed SiteGround review, so that you can see how we reached that conclusion and decide for yourself.

About SiteGround

SiteGround was founded in 2004, and since then it has grown into one of the most well known hosting companies.

It is headquartered in Sofia, Bulgaria with offices in 6 locations and data centers in three continents. Today, the company has more than 400 employees and hosts more than 500,000 domains.

Siteground

Pros and Cons of SiteGround

Each hosting company has its own pros and cons. Some advantages can overshadow the disadvantages, but some cons can be a total deal breaker for your individual needs.

Before making a decision, you may want to review these SiteGround pros and cons.

Pros

Here are some of the advantages that make SiteGround one of the top rated hosting companies in the world.

  • Super fast servers: All SiteGround servers are highly optimized for speed. They are equipped with latest hardware like SSD drives and custom software to make sure that your site is super fast.
  • Top Notch Customer Support Their customer support is amazing to say the least. They offer 24/7 phone, live chat, and ticket based support.
  • Free CDN and SSL They offer instant setup of Cloudflare’s free CDN and free SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt.
  • Multiple Server Locations They have data centers in three continents. You can choose the location you prefer during signup.

Cons

As we mentioned earlier, there are some downsides with every hosting company. These are some disadvantages of choosing SiteGround as your host.

  • Limited Storage: Their plans come with fixed storage. However, this storage is quite large, and if you are just starting out, then you will most likely never need extra storage.
  • Setup fee for monthly billing: There is a $14.95 setup fee if you choose monthly billing. But if you sign up for a longer billing period, then you’ll get bigger discount and no setup fee. They offer a 30 day money back guarantee anyway, so it’s a good idea to choose a longer billing period when you sign up.

SiteGround Performance

While price often plays a significant role when choosing a web host, you cannot compromise on performance.

This is why we decided to run our own tests to thoroughly review SiteGround’s performance.

SiteGround Speed Test Results

Speed is one of the most important performance metric that you should look for. A faster website offers good user experience and boosts your SEO at the same time.

In fact, a single second delay can cause 7% decrease in conversions, 11% fewer page views, and 16% decrease in customer satisfaction.

Website speed study by Strangeloop

We created a WordPress powered test site on SiteGround and filled it with dummy content for theme development with images.

After that, we used Pingdom’s website speed test tool to run our tests. These were the results we got:

SiteGround speed test

As you can see, our test site loaded in less than a second (649 ms to be precise) for a server in Dallas, Texas. That means our site is faster than 95% of tested sites.

This is incredible, but this website had almost no traffic so the Pingdom test alone is not sufficient.

To test how SiteGround servers would respond to increased traffic, we used a tool called LoadImpact.

This tool gradually sends up to 100 users to see how the server would respond to increased traffic from multiple connections.

You can see the results in the chart below:

SiteGround loadimpact test results

The blue line is the number of active virtual users on the site, and the green line is the server load time. SiteGround performed almost consistently except for a spike when there were 50 users on the site. It quickly recovered and page load time remained steadily low even with more users.

This test shows that if you are looking for a really fast website, then SiteGround can be a perfect choice for you.

Typically, websites hosted on shared hosting account slow down a bit during top traffic hours. That’s because your site is sharing resources with other websites on that server.

Most shared hosting companies automatically kill server process if your site is taking too many resources. This causes downtime on your website.

We tested our SiteGround site for the downtime and got 100% uptime result.

SiteGround uptime test results

SiteGround Server Response Time

Your website’s content has a huge impact on page load time. For example, if you have high resolution images on a page, then it will significantly increase the overall page load time.

This means that speed test results may not accurately reflect how fast your hosting server really is.

Instead of analyzing page load time alone, we decided to test the actual server response time as well.

To do this we used a tool called Bitcatcha. It ignores page content, and only tests response time of the server.

Bitcatcha also gives you average loading speed from different global locations. The speed for each location is measured three separate times, and then the results are averaged.

Take a look at the results in the screenshot below.

SiteGround server response time from multiple locations

As you can see, SiteGround is a great choice if your target audience is mostly located in the United States. The server responded in fraction of a second in the United States.

It responded within less than a second for all locations, except Japan. If your target audience is mostly located in Japan, then you can ask SiteGround to move your site to their Asia-Pacific data center.

SiteGround Hosting Plans and Features

SiteGround offers shared hosting, WordPress hosting, cloud hosting, and dedicated hosting plans. If you are just starting out, then their shared hosting plans would be a perfect fit for your needs. However, your site will eventually grow, and you want to make sure that they have other plans that you can upgrade to.

Let’s check out SiteGround’s hosting plans and their features.

  • Shared hosting: Shared hosting is recommended for new websites and beginners. It is suitable for low traffic websites as you will be sharing resources with other websites hosted on the server.
  • WordPress hosting: This plan is WordPress optimized version of their shared hosting plan. It comes with SiteGround’s in-house WordPress optimizations to improve performance of your website.
  • Cloud hosting: Cloud hosting is a flexible upgrade to shared hosting. It allows you to use resources of multiple servers on a cloud architecture. It is suitable for growing websites, popular blogs, or businesses.
  • Dedicated servers: Dedicated servers give you a complete server for your website. It is more expensive but gives you a lot more power. The downside is that you will have to manage the server yourself.
  • Enterprise hosting: This plan is for large businesses and high traffic sites with challenging server requirements. Get in touch with SiteGround team and they will create a tailor-made plan to suit your needs.

Breakdown of SiteGround’s Shared Hosting Plans

SiteGround’s shared hosting is the best way to start a new website. Their shared plans are available in three levels to match different budgets.

  • Startup: This plan is limited to hosting one website. It includes 10 GB disk space and is suitable for hosting a website having 10,000 monthly visitors. You’ll also get all essential features like 1-click WordPress install, free setup, website transfer, daily backups, and more.
  • GrowBig: The GrowBig plan lets you host unlimited websites. It comes with 20 GB disk space and is suitable for hosting websites having 25,000 monthly visitors. You’ll get all the features of the Startup plan, plus you’ll get premium features like Super Cacher, 1-year free wildcard SSL, and more.
  • GoGeek: GoGeek plan is suiteable for small eCommerce websites. It can handle websites having 100,000 monthly visitors. In addition to all GrowBig’s features, you’ll get access to more advanced features like one-click git repo creation, WordPress and Joomla staging, and more.

SiteGround shared plans

SiteGround Support and Customer Service

You will see high praise for SiteGround’s customer support service everywhere. They are remarkably good at offering quick, helpful, and knowledgeable support to their customers.

Their customer support includes 24/7 phone, live chat, and ticket-based email support. Their phone and live chat response times are almost instant. Email’s get first response within less than 10 minutes.

For users who prefer to fix things on their own, SiteGround offers a large collection of knowledge base articles with screenshots, videos, tutorials, and guides.

Conclusion: Is SiteGround the Right Choice for You?

After reading our detailed SiteGround review, you might be wondering if SiteGround is the right choice for your website?

If you want fast and reliable web hosting service with great customer support, then SiteGround is perfect for you. They have hosting plans for every budget and each plan comes with great set of features.

All their shared hosting plans include SSD storage, easy setup of Let’s Encrypt free SSL and Cloudflare CDN service, 1-click WordPress installer, and free migration.

If you are just starting a website for the first time, then you will certainly appreciate SiteGround’s customer support.

Ready to get started with SiteGround? Click here to choose your hosting plan today.

SiteGround Coupon

WPBeginner users get an exclusive 70% off discount and free SSL with our SiteGround coupon code.

All you have to do is click on this link to purchase. The discount will be applied automatically.

3,869 SiteGround User Reviews

  1. Amanda says:
    Jan 16, 2020 at 4:31 pm

    Great service once again! He helped me update my PHP code without me having to go in and do it. Thank you!!!

    Reply
  2. jim groves says:
    Jan 16, 2020 at 10:54 am

    Twice in 2 days Siteground rescued me from a site problem. A well-known 2FA provider had a problem with a file injection “mo-waf.config.php” which caused me to lose access to wordpress dashboard. The second instance was entirely my fault (I read the 2FA provider’s comments that the bug had been fixed so I reinstalled). Siteground staff (Vasil and Viktor) solved my problem and rescued my site in double-quick time on each occasion and with great patience and understanding. Cannot recommend highly enough. There may be cheaper hosts out there but there are none better when it comes to the crunch and you need help.

    Reply
  3. Chintu Gandhi says:
    Jan 15, 2020 at 1:08 pm

    Great support, prompt, patient, and won’t quit till your problem is solved.

    Great work!

    Reply
  6. Catherine says:
    Jan 14, 2020 at 12:29 am

    Konstantin was by far the most helpful, kind, thoughtful and genuine person that has ever helped me at siteground. He deserves a raise! Others could learn a lot from him about how he handles chat questions so quickly and kindly. What a great guy! thanks so much again :)

    Reply
  7. Matt Hodel says:
    Jan 13, 2020 at 9:40 pm

    Ever time I have a hiccup on my WordPress pages, Siteground is so professional and prompt. I have never had an unresolved ticket and they are usually completed in under an hour.

    So awesome.

    -Matt

    Reply
  9. Andreas says:
    Jan 13, 2020 at 4:18 am

    Come on! SiteGround support (via tickets AND chat) is phenomenal. Always blazing fast, extremely efficient and as polite as it gets. What else would one need?

    Tsacho and Yavor were the last ones who helped me and they were excellent, but so was every other one I stumbled upon!

    Thank you, SiteGround!

    Reply
  10. Gary Driscoll says:
    Jan 12, 2020 at 8:24 pm

    These folks are top rate and solve the issue! Go the extra mile and the best host I have worked with the last 20 years!

    Reply
  11. Kamaljit Suman says:
    Jan 12, 2020 at 9:01 am

    The support at SiteGround is always excellent with virtually no wait time. The support has always made it easy for me to fix issues. Everyone you speak to is patient and courteous. Thank you Siteground!

    Reply
  12. Levi says:
    Jan 11, 2020 at 10:21 pm

    George immediately knew what the issue was after describing the problem and gave great instructions on how to fix it. Normally I have mixed results with live chat but this was probably the best or one of the best experiences I’ve had. Give that man a raise!

    Reply
  15. Rachid says:
    Jan 10, 2020 at 1:54 am

    George T. is very nice and helped me well. he also reminded me of other things that I had completely forgotten.

    Reply
  16. Gabe says:
    Jan 9, 2020 at 2:53 pm

    I made the best decision with SG, as all the guys in Support Tema helped me in no time with my problems. Thank you

    Reply
  17. Zaneta says:
    Jan 8, 2020 at 9:14 pm

    I’m a new customer and just got everything transferred to this hosting platform. The transfer came with free SSL but when it transferred, I didn’t have a lock symbol and my site was still saying “not secure”. I contacted the SiteGround support team and they told me my site http needed to be changed to https. So the gentlemen Peter that I spoke to on the phone, created a tech support ticket for me and the issue was fixed in less than 10 minutes!
    Thank you so much for your excellent customer service and care for your clients. I’m so glad I chose this company as my new hosting platform!!

    Reply
  18. Pamela J Sampel says:
    Jan 8, 2020 at 8:06 pm

    Kiril was great–gave me the information I needed quickly and it worked perfectly. I appreciate the quick and accurate service.

    Reply
  19. Tiffany Dawson says:
    Jan 8, 2020 at 4:08 pm

    Victoria was so helpful. I thought I lost all my work, but she helped me and I feel so relieved that I still have the website I built. Looking forward to resolved.

    Reply
  20. Christopher M. says:
    Jan 8, 2020 at 2:25 pm

    I was very impressed with the quality of customer service in both their attitude and knowledge to fix my website’s issues quickly. They were helpful and polite throughout the process and found a solution in a few hours. The initial response was quick and they made me feel like an important customer. Great service. Thank you! – Chris

    Reply
  24. Alaa Zabalawi says:
    Jan 7, 2020 at 3:34 pm

    Diana K. is a marvelous customer service agent. She has it all. She’s brilliant, gifted, and talented. She delivered an excellent and exceptional customer service and help.

    Thanks and congratulations for having her among your team.

    Alaa Zabalawi

    Reply
  25. Alta says:
    Jan 7, 2020 at 2:32 pm

    Thanks for continuing to improve your server architecture. Love that WordPress sites actually load fast here at Site Ground. Great chat support too.

    Reply
  26. mohammed nadeem says:
    Jan 7, 2020 at 1:29 pm

    truely speaking , siteground provides great services. i was using godaddy for my WordPress websites earlier. Siteground provides great services at an affordable price. Godaddy has lot of limits when compared to siteground, in my experience siteground is best choice if you are using wordpress. You siteground guys are insanely awesome keep it up.

    Reply
  27. Paul says:
    Jan 7, 2020 at 10:54 am

    I highly recommend Siteground. Excellent interface and outstanding support. Everyone should sign up.

    Reply
  29. Geoffrey Hadley says:
    Jan 6, 2020 at 2:35 am

    Sorted my issue in warp speed and I didn’t need to do a thing. All happened in the background. I am really liking this so far!

    Reply
  31. Dean Allen says:
    Jan 5, 2020 at 2:02 am

    Absolutely thrilled with SiteGround’s tech support. Outstanding team you have assembled!!! Was with GoDaddy for many years and just switched to SiteGround. I couldn’t be happier!!! Keep your business model as is and you will keep getting the new clients, and keep them once they are with SiteGround!!

    Reply
  34. Tracey Patrick says:
    Jan 4, 2020 at 12:14 pm

    Even though I knew I wanted SiteGround for their superior speed and great customer service, I put it off for the longest time transferring my site to them. I was very hesitant of making the change because I’m not a techie. They transferred my site lightening fast in time and speed and were so very helpful and professional. It was painless and I couldn’t be more pleased. SiteGround’s customer service rocks! If you are on the fence because you think it will be a hassle, don’t wait because they make it super easy and don’t make you feel like an idiot. They have a customer for life with us.

    Reply
  35. Jennifer says:
    Jan 4, 2020 at 1:23 am

    Fantastic friendly help always and manage to sort the tech stuff out quickly for me. I am hopeless and totally lost when it comes to the technical side of the website.

    Reply
  37. Christopher Randolph says:
    Jan 3, 2020 at 3:08 pm

    My rep was GREAT ….had alot of patience with me as I m a relative newbie to the development world….he is a great asset to your team

    Reply
  39. Bruce Wilson says:
    Jan 2, 2020 at 4:27 pm

    Very fast and accurate support. There were several items that needed to be done to fix one main issue. And each one needed to be done in order to see the next problem. So each of the three issues were treated with the same speed and accuracy of fixing each problem. When all items were done everything worked perfect. These were odd little problems that individually all happened on the same day to cause a larger problem. The stars did not align correct for me this morning. But Siteground and more importantly the tech that helped me were excellent.

    Reply
  40. Linda Day Harrison says:
    Jan 2, 2020 at 2:48 pm

    I am so thankful for the most incredible support I have ever gotten from anyone over my many years of being in the online industry. SiteGround the absolute top and best! No matter how bad my problem is, SIteGround comes through for me. I am immensely grateful to them and their team.

    Reply
  41. Alan Hill says:
    Jan 1, 2020 at 6:22 pm

    I am a complete novice, running our club web site with WordPress, learning as I go. I transferred our site to SiteGround 2 years ago because of the good reviews. I have not been disappointed. I have needed tech help twice. It has always been excellent with a fast response.

    Reply
  42. Eugene Goetsch says:
    Dec 31, 2019 at 7:45 pm

    My move to SiteGround via SiteGround pro site-migration from WP-Engine was smooth, thanks to Valeri Krtunkov and Georgi Georgiev Senior Technical Support at SiteGround. Hey SiteGround Mgmt. how about giving them a raise :)
    Have a great new year,
    Eugene G.

    Reply
  44. Aaron Ryan says:
    Dec 31, 2019 at 7:10 am

    Entry time I need support from Siteground they exceed my expectations! Pleasantly surprised every time!!

    Reply
  46. Anthony says:
    Dec 30, 2019 at 1:44 pm

    Gergana was really helpful in resolving my issue! I highly recommend Siteground for it’s amazing support and superior hosting service!!

    Reply
  47. Diana Kosmanto says:
    Dec 29, 2019 at 11:39 pm

    Diana is very friendly, you will mostly like her.
    And also we have the same first name and also Initials.

    Reply
  49. Nick says:
    Dec 28, 2019 at 4:32 pm

    I had some tricky issues on configuring a staging server. I did place a couple chats, and on the second time, was speaking with Gabriel. He was super fast, knowledgeable and helpful. Best of all he didn’t just fix my issues, he explained it to me so I could fix them myself in future without bothering support. Top man.

    Reply
  50. Vishnu Bharadwaj says:
    Dec 28, 2019 at 1:56 am

    I own a web agency and it was just a few days ago that I decided to try Siteground for all my back end needs. Let me tell you this, I am never going to any other service provider. Siteground has everything covered and their customer service has blown my mind. They are kind, humble and gentle. They dedicate their time to resolve every problem that I face. I’m so happy with siteground

    Reply

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