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The 8 Best Web Hosting Software for Small Businesses

Updated
Rose Wheeler
By: Rose Wheeler

Our Small Business Expert

Many or all of the products here are from our partners that compensate us. It’s how we make money. But our editorial integrity ensures our experts’ opinions aren’t influenced by compensation. Terms may apply to offers listed on this page.

With so many hosting options available, choosing one company to host your website can become a stressful task. We put together a comprehensive list of web hosting services to help you narrow down your search.

The search for the best web hosting services can feel overwhelming, especially since there are so many to choose from. But by taking a look at distinct qualifiers, such as ease of use, pricing, and features, we can categorically narrow down the best hosting sites to meet almost any small or growing business's needs. 

All website hosting services should (and do) provide the very basics of getting your site online. But that shouldn’t be the only hurdle they clear. You want an option that doesn’t complicate your setup and doesn’t stunt your company’s ability to scale. 

You want reliable uptime and fast page loading. From testing for an easy installation and setup to looking at key features and crunching some budgetary numbers, we did the trial-and-error work for you and found our top picks for the best website hosting services out there.

Product Description Next Steps
Hostinger
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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= Excellent
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With great speed, excellent features, incredible support, and affordable prices, Hostinger is a favorite among business owners.
SiteGround
Rating image, 4.40 out of 5 stars.
4.40/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
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With reliable, guaranteed uptime and a user-friendly interface, SiteGround is a good and trustworthy web hosting option.
Hostwinds
Rating image, 4.10 out of 5 stars.
4.10/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
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Hostwinds is a well-designed host offering that boasts useful features, excellent customer service, superb uptime, and a user-friendly experience.
DreamHost
Rating image, 4.10 out of 5 stars.
4.10/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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= Excellent
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With affordable monthly plans, very reliable uptime, and a user-friendly setup, DreamHost is a good choice to host small business sites.
Cloudways
Rating image, 4.00 out of 5 stars.
4.00/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
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For an intuitive and innovative web host, Cloudways stands apart from the crowd.
Bluehost
Rating image, 4.00 out of 5 stars.
4.00/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
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For most basic needs and small to medium endeavors, Bluehost is an excellent web host, thanks to great server uptime and security.
WP Engine
Rating image, 3.60 out of 5 stars.
3.60/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
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WP Engine is a hosting server that, while a bit more expensive than some competitors, performs perfectly.
GoDaddy Web Hosting
Rating image, 3.50 out of 5 stars.
3.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
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Despite aggressive marketing and a user-friendly control panel, GoDaddy doesn’t really stack up against the competition.
HostGator
Rating image, 3.30 out of 5 stars.
3.30/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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= Excellent
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HostGator excels at site security and ease of use but falters a bit because of hidden fees and long wait times for support.
Hostinger
Rating image, 4.50 out of 5 stars.
4.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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Bottom Line: With great speed, excellent features, incredible support, and affordable prices, Hostinger is a favorite among business owners.

Hostinger is an affordable and very user-friendly option. It is built for small businesses looking to host only one or a few sites, so installation and setup are easy from the start. As you go through daily use, the interface is clean and super intuitive to work with.

At base level, you are guaranteed 99.9% uptime and some of the fastest page-loading speeds. You also get a free SSL certificate, so your data and visitors’ data are well-protected.

Hostinger’s main dashboard, where you manage your hosting account.

Hostinger has a sleek, easy, and intuitive interface. Image source: Author

You can opt to migrate your existing site to Hostinger. If you don’t have a site built yet, you can even do that right in the system. For WordPress lovers, Hostinger is specially optimized for WordPress sites, giving you peak performance.

Hostinger has a truly exceptional support crew, offering not only fast and reliable help but a humanizing experience, so you feel included and responded to. They even let you use GIFs and emojis in the live chat, which takes the usually stressful experience of contacting support and makes it more down to earth.

The first of Hostinger’s three plans start at just $0.99/month, which is crazily affordable. From there, the middle plan is $1.89/month, with the top tier being only $3.99/month. The top plan gives unlimited bandwidth and daily site backups.

From pricing to user experience, from customer support to features, Hostinger easily delivers an excellent service.

SiteGround
Rating image, 4.40 out of 5 stars.
4.40/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
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Bottom Line: With reliable, guaranteed uptime and a user-friendly interface, SiteGround is a good and trustworthy web hosting option.

SiteGround is not a cheap option for hosting, but it offers enough features, such as email, SSL, and one-click installs, to make it worthy of consideration.

At a core level, a hosting service should be safe, and SiteGround’s 99.99% uptime makes that just about as certain as death and taxes. Not only do its sites stay up and live, but the pages load fast as well, which earns you a higher ranking in search engine algorithms.

In terms of getting set up, SiteGround is relatively painless. It has hosting packages just for WordPress and one-click install options. If you use another content management system, never fear: It is simple enough to migrate just about any web build over to SiteGround.

It also provides helpful onboarding, so if you are a small business just starting out, it’s not hard to get started with SiteGround.

The SiteGround toolbar for managing your web hosting and site.

SiteGround’s basic navigation is clean and simple. Image source: Author

It also comes with free SSL, so both you and your customers know your website is safe to visit. If you make any changes to your site, you have the ability to first back up the existing version so that if anything goes a little south, you can very quickly restore its former glory.

If you manage more than one site, you can have each one back up on its own schedule or can manually do one-off backups as needed.

Since, as a business, you likely have more than just you working for you, you can add multiple users to SiteGround’s back end. What’s more, each user can have unique levels of permissions. Once inside the dashboard, the site is intuitively laid out and easy to use.

SiteGround starts at $6.99/month for its first tier (StartUp), but be aware that this pricing increases to $14.99/month after your first year.

Hostwinds
Rating image, 4.10 out of 5 stars.
4.10/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Bottom Line: Hostwinds is a well-designed host offering that boasts useful features, excellent customer service, superb uptime, and a user-friendly experience.

Hostwinds is widely regarded as a dependable web host, and for good reason. Starting from day one, it offers instant setup, doing all the heavy lifting of getting started for you. You can easily transfer over your current website or start fresh. You don't have to worry about downtime since it guarantees 99.99% uptime.

Even the hosting options are uncomplicated as possible, with Hostwinds not only offering plan tiers but different types of plans based on needs and size: shared, VPS, dedicated, cloud, and WordPress-specific. Hostwinds offers introductory pricing, so keep that in mind as you compare prices, though the shared Basic starts at just $3.29/month.

The Hostwinds dashboard for managing your account.

An overview of your web hosting that’s easy to understand. Image source: Author

Hostwinds software.

When using Hostwinds day-to-day, you’ll find the interface is uncluttered and as intuitive as possible, with clear pathways and tidy tools. It has several optional features so you can add what you need and not be bothered with what you don’t.

All plans come with free SSL certification, so you and your visitors can be confident that data is protected. If you require more advanced protection, it offers that for only another $1.75/month.

There is also peace of mind in getting started with Hostwinds, as, if it isn't a good fit, you can take advantage of a generous 60-day, money-back guarantee.

The customer support is excellent, with three options to contact someone (ticket, phone, or chat). The representatives are always fast to connect and even faster to explain or fix a problem helpfully.

With so many hosting options out there, Hostwinds consistently holds strong.

DreamHost
Rating image, 4.10 out of 5 stars.
4.10/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
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Bottom Line: With affordable monthly plans, very reliable uptime, and a user-friendly setup, DreamHost is a good choice to host small business sites.

DreamHost is an affordable, scalable, and easily navigable hosting option for small and growing businesses. With a clutter-free dashboard and freedom from overly complicated development customizations that you really won’t need, it is not intimidating to install, learn, or maintain. Its shared hosting plans start at $4.95/month and do not increase upon first renewal, unlike many other hosting systems.

Starting with its one-click installation and helpful onboarding process, you can set up your new site (or migrate over) with ease. DreamHost's support over email and live chat is 24/7, and representatives are helpful and fast to respond, so you never have to go it alone.

The DreamHost dashboard for account management.

Getting started and daily use is streamlined on the DreamHost dashboard. Image source: Author

DreamHost software.

DreamHost is specially designed to work with WordPress, so if you’re using one of the internet's most ubiquitous site builders, you can merge with ease. Plus, all plans come with free SSL certificates, unlimited space and traffic, unlimited email accounts, and automated nightly backups, so your site information is always saved.

DreamHost also boasts a crazy consistent uptime, hovering at 100%, or 99.99%, most months. Paired with its incredible loading speeds and uncapped traffic, this makes for a reliably good user experience on your site.

DreamHost knows it has a good thing going since it offers you an almost unheard of 97-day, money-back guarantee if you decide it's just not a good fit. With an easy back end for administrators and a reliable front end for web browsers, DreamHost has pretty much all the tools you need to make website management and hosting a scalable breeze.

Cloudways
Rating image, 4.00 out of 5 stars.
4.00/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Bottom Line: For an intuitive and innovative web host, Cloudways stands apart from the crowd.

Cloudways makes hosting easy from the start. When you sign up, you get a free three-day trial period, so it’s risk-free. As part of your onboarding, it migrates your site for free while you follow the simple one-click process for getting set up.

You can choose traditional monthly billing or their “hourly pricing,” a pay-as-you-go model. You are only charged for the resources you have used and nothing more, making it intuitive and a good choice for those operating on limited budgets.

If you choose a monthly payment plan, you still have peace of mind knowing you can cancel at any time and be charged only for the time used.

Cloudways is simple to use, offering you enough additional features to scale but not overwhelm. When making changes, you can use their staging area to test out updates and edits before going live.

Cloudways’ step-by-step approach to setting up hosting.

Getting started is a simple process with Cloudways. Image source: Author

Thanks to a widely distributed network of cloud servers, Cloudways guarantees excellent uptime and fast page loading speeds without speed throttling, allowing for maximum traffic. And if you encounter any problems, they have a large resource library plus very knowledgeable support on hand for live chat, email, or 24/7 phone support.

Cloudways blends affordability with functionality and innovation to provide a very user-friendly experience that gives peace of mind in performance, billing, setup, and more.

Bluehost
Rating image, 4.00 out of 5 stars.
4.00/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Bottom Line: For most basic needs and small to medium endeavors, Bluehost is an excellent web host, thanks to great server uptime and security.

Bluehost is one of the internet’s largest website hosting platforms, thanks not only to the length of time it's been in action (it was founded in 2003) but also because of its endorsement by WordPress and ease of integration with WordPress and many other CMS software solutions.

Bluehost entices new users with reduced monthly rates upon introduction. The Basic plan is offered at first at only $2.95 per month. After the first year, the price increases to $7.99 per month. If you need additional features, you can always upgrade to the next pricing tier.

No matter the pricing tier you choose, you also have 24/7 access to very responsive and helpful support via live chat, phone, and ticketing, in addition to an extensive library of online resources.

The Bluehost resource widgets for managing your account, such as Help Center and Change Passwords.

There are plenty of options for exploring Bluehost capabilities. Image source: Author

When it comes to hosting, Bluehost gives you the options for either shared, dedicated, or the middle ground of virtual private servers. Regardless of the level of server privacy, however, you get plenty of security and privacy features from regular backups to Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption. It protects site data and keeps websites in good standing with search engine algorithms and regional regulations.

Marketing services are also part of the Bluehost experience. Their team can help with SEO, website migration, and PPC campaigns. Despite all the potential options of services, Bluehost remains a hosting option that is easy enough to use for newcomers and more experienced developers.

WP Engine
Rating image, 3.60 out of 5 stars.
3.60/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Bottom Line: WP Engine is a hosting server that, while a bit more expensive than some competitors, performs perfectly.

WP Engine is a website server host directly associated with WordPress. If you’re running WordPress sites, it’s a fully compatible and optimized hosting solution.

It’s pricey, with its cheapest plan starting at $30/month. However, considering WordPress CMS is free, the cost can be justified.

The abundant options, customizations, and optimizations inherent in the open-source technology, plus its dedicated accounts team make a strong case to justify the cost.

WP Engine’s open-source base offers nearly unlimited add-on options. You can set up your hosting to be as efficient and pared down or as complex and customized as you need.

Speaking of customizations, WP Engine provides excellent onboarding, so your hosting will be optimized from day one. Migrating an existing site from another server is as easy as filling out a one-page form.

The tool to migrate your site to WP Engine.

Simply transfer over an existing site to WP Engine hosting. Image source: Author

WP Engine software.

That support continues with a large library of online resources and 24/7 support in the form of live chat, email, and phone assistance.

Before you launch sites or additional pages, WP Engine performs readiness assessments to ensure your website is optimized for search engine ranking and page performance.

WP Engine maintains excellent server uptimes and consistently fast page loading speeds.

If you are running a WordPress site and have the budget for it, WP Engine is an excellent and optimizable web hosting option.

GoDaddy Web Hosting
Rating image, 3.50 out of 5 stars.
3.50/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
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Bottom Line: Despite aggressive marketing and a user-friendly control panel, GoDaddy doesn’t really stack up against the competition.

GoDaddy all but has the market cornered in terms of branding and marketing. Thanks to its extensive commercials, even if you are not looking for a web host, it’s likely you’ll have heard of the company. However, recognizable branding doesn’t always translate to the most worthwhile experience.

GoDaddy is quite easy to set up and manage. It is user-friendly, with most registrations and installs happening with just one click. Also, the cPanel is easy to navigate, and tools are pretty much foolproof to use. It has excellent customer support with representatives available 24/7 who are friendly, prompt, and helpful.

The GoDaddy dashboard for managing your hosting account.

With GoDaddy, navigating the backend is simple and straightforward. Image source: Author

Here's the catch: GoDaddy is quite pricey when compared to its peers. Monthly pricing begins at $5.99 per month, but be aware that that is simply an introductory promo price, and the monthly cost increases to $8.99 per month at renewal.

This promotional pricing method is true at all four plan tiers, too. Further, many features that come standard with other companies are either not available or are only available for even more additional fees. Things like included SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates and site backups are simply not standard with GoDaddy plans.

While its one-on-one support is excellent, its online resources are lacking and are not easily searchable as a database, so self-solving problems becomes much more complicated. When it comes to uptime, its servers have more recorded downtime than many other companies do.

GoDaddy offers a 30-day free trial period, so you are given ample time to make sure it is a good fit.

HostGator
Rating image, 3.30 out of 5 stars.
3.30/5 Circle with letter I in it. Our ratings are based on a 5 star scale. 5 stars equals Best. 4 stars equals Excellent. 3 stars equals Good. 2 stars equals Fair. 1 star equals Poor. We want your money to work harder for you. Which is why our ratings are biased toward offers that deliver versatility while cutting out-of-pocket costs.
= Best
= Excellent
= Good
= Fair
= Poor
Bottom Line: HostGator excels at site security and ease of use but falters a bit because of hidden fees and long wait times for support.

HostGator is an old-school hosting platform, having been in the game since 2002. Because of this longevity, it has managed to build many safe and secure servers, having options for dedicated, shared, and VPS (virtual private server) choices. Its uptime is relatively consistent, so you won’t have to worry about your site being inaccessible. Plus, every domain you host with HostGator comes with built-in SSL (Secure Sockets Layer).

From a user standpoint, the interface is easy to understand and intuitive to navigate through. The toolbars mirror many CMS or other cloud-based systems, so it is easy to adapt to and use. All servers are located in the United States, making it a great choice for a fully American-based business, but less so for international endeavors.

Each website comes with unlimited email accounts, file storage, and traffic bandwidth. It is also designed for one-click app integration so that you can sync your site (created on your content management system) with ease.

Various file management and storage insight icons, such as Backup and Images.

Access your necessary files and storage with HostGator. Image source: Author

HostGator software.

There are several helpful features, such as site backups and SEO help, but these are only available if you pay extra. Similarly, HostGator's pricing starts at lower introductory rates before rising substantially after the first term. For example, the Hatchling plan starts at $2.75 per month, but it goes up to $8.95 per month when the introductory pricing ends.

HostGator does have a well-kept online library of resources, but if you find yourself needing further help, be prepared for a long wait time to connect via phone or chat. Though help is technically available 24/7, it can often be a frustrating process to initiate.

Overall, HostGator performs the basics of hosting (security and traffic allowances) well, but if you are looking for more from it, be prepared to pay or look elsewhere.

What The Ascent looks for in a great web hosting software

As we take a look at different web hosting services, there are a few essential qualifications that each entry must meet to be considered one of our picks for the best. Not only should they have some key features (security and SSL, file storage, etc.), but they should also have strong showings in the following three categories.

Easy to use

Of course, you want every tool in your business arsenal to be relatively hassle-free, but that is especially true for your website host. As a small business, you likely won't be doing too many crazy customizations on your server, so you don't need anything super complex.

You also know that keeping your website up and running is paramount, so getting that basic function done should be as straightforward as possible.

Seamless integration

You will likely be migrating an already fully formed website that you created elsewhere onto this hosting service, so you will want the process to be as quick and painless as possible.

Migrating domains and syncing servers with content management systems may sound complicated, but the best hosting services take care of the migration for you in as little as one or two clicks.

Excellent uptime

What good is your website if it's never up and running? Or if it crashes when web traffic increases?

The best hosting providers will have multiple physical servers in various locations and round-the-clock maintenance to ensure everything stays up and running as close to 100% of the time as possible, so your audience never encounters problems or obstacles when visiting your domain.

How your business can benefit from using web hosting software

Hosting your website through a reputable provider will not only be good for your site but also for your whole brand and company image as well.

Professional maintenance

Look, you're probably not a developer, right? And you have enough going on that you need to take care of, so you don't need the extra hassle of making sure your server is continuously configured, secure, and running. Let the professionals handle that for mere dollars a month.

Traffic insights

With data reporting and insights into your server usage, you can better understand your website traffic, how your reach is growing, busy times, most-visited pages, etc. This data can help you as you scale your site.

Data and site backups

Without worrying about losing previous site content or important data, you are granted rare peace of mind that even as your business updates and grows, you aren't beholden to a possible mistake or a direction you don't like.

Websites and traffic data take up a lot of space, too, but with it all managed remotely by your web host, you have less clutter in your own operations life.

Our Small Business Expert