In recent years Hostinger has become a major player in the hosting industry. Its very affordable prices, good performance, and ease of use have definitely played a big role in its popularity. More so, the resources included in web hosting plans are very generous.
But putting the bright things aside, there have been doubts regarding Hostinger’s performance with WordPress as well as shared hosting types, and budget subscriptions come with a smaller selection of features.
However, making final conclusions from a glimpse of information would be wrong. Thus, we have conducted our own research and tested the host in terms of ease of use, performance, security, pricing, and customer support. Read this detailed Hostinger review, and find out if this is a match for you.
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| ⭐ Rating: |
4.8★★★★★
|
| 💲 Price: | Prices start at $2.69/mo |
| ▶️ Uptime: | 100% |
| 🏘️ Hosting types: | Shared, Cloud, VPS, WordPress, cPanel, Minecraft |
| 🌎 Server locations: | UK, US, Brazil, Netherlands, Singapore, Indonesia, and Lithuania |
| 👨💻 Support: | 24/7 live chat and email |
| 🔥 Coupons: | Hostinger coupon 78% OFF |
Hostinger pros and cons
Hostinger has been the leader of the market for a while now. Both users and experts like how well it fulfills its price-to-quality ratio, maintaining excellent performance and being easy to use. Nevertheless, dark spots don’t stay overlooked too. Let’s review the strengths and weaknesses of Hostinger right below:
Hostinger pros
- Cheapest prices for shared hosting
- Servers in 4 continents
- LiteSpeed Web Servers with built-in cache engine
- Free weekly or daily backups
- Free domain name registration
Hostinger cons
- Control panel can be slow
- Customer support team takes awhile to respond
Visit Hostinger to learn more about the features
Hostinger pricing and hosting plans
By far the most popular and affordable option offered by Hostinger is shared hosting – starting price is just $2.69 a month. Other options include cheap WordPress plans, Cloud hosting, and VPS.
| Type of hosting | Best for |
| Shared hosting | For smaller personal sites and business landing pages. Get 78% OFF Hostinger! |
| WordPress hosting | Improved WordPress website hosting. |
| Cloud hosting | Small business owners selling online. |
| VPS hosting | Online stores, web-based apps, and similar projects. A more advanced option. |
It’s obvious that no matter in what stage your project is, there’ll be an option suited for it.
Shared hosting is what most people start with off. 1 thing to note immediately – SSL and a free domain name registration are included with both plans. Keep in mind that it’s only free for a year – Hostinger’s custom domain name renewals will eventually catch up to you. Though they are pretty affordable – .com renews at $10.99/year.
However, let’s take a look at each shared hosting plan to see a full image of what you can get:
| Plan | Features | Price |
| Shared Premium | 100 websites and email accounts allowance, 100GB SSD disk space, bandwidth for 25k monthly visits, and weekly backup. This is the option for medium-sized personal sites or small business websites. | $2.69/mo |
| Shared Business | 100 websites and email accounts allowance, 200GB SSD storage space, bandwidth for 100k monthly visits, free daily backups, and CDN. The plan is best for smaller eCommerce stores and high-traffic blogs. | $3.99/mo |
| Cloud Startup | 300 websites, 200GB SSD storage space, 2CPUs cores, 3GB RAM, cache manager, free daily backups, and CDN. This plan is a good solution for anyone looking for powerful hosting with dedicated resources and enhanced performance. | $9.99/mo |
30-day money-back guarantees have become a casual practice to most of the services. Hostinger is no exception – it generously allows its users to test the service risk-free first before fully comitting. Nevertheless, there are some factors to note before getting started:
- The host offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- If you paid with cryptocurrency, then your purchase is non-refundable.
- Extra services like G Suite, domain privacy protection, and SEO toolkit are non-refundable.
- Country code top-level domains (e.g. .in, .uk, .sg) are non-refundable.
That’s a standard set of terms, but nonetheless, good to know.
All in all, there’s currently no cheaper option than Hostinger. You can get a simple yet good-value web hosting plan for less than $3 or pick the best value for your buck with the more advanced options. Do not forget to check out our Hostinger Black Friday deals list for even higher discounts.
Hosting management – is it easy to use?
When it comes to ease of use, Hostinger is incredibly easy to manage as it is designed with beginners in mind. Automatic wizards will take care of 3 setups: hosting, domain, and SSL.
More so, the control panel is not just good-looking – it combines great simplicity and functionality too.
Hosting setup process
First and foremost, you must decide what type of hosting you need and select the web hosting provider that offers it. For instance, Hostinger has Shared, Cloud, VPS, WordPress, cPanel, and Minecraft hosting types.
After making these decisions, the process of setting up hosting is rather easy and doesn’t need an abundance of technical expertise. Here’s how you set up a hosting plan:
- Once you subscribe to Hostinger, find the Setup option in your control panel
- When the Hello! page opens, hit Start now and provide additional information about your web hosting project
- Choose whether you want to create a new website or migrate an existing one. You may create a new website using Hostinger Website Builder, WordPress, and other website builders
- Name your website by choosing a new domain name or using the one you already own
- Review the summary of the setup process to see if any changes need to be made, and finish up the setup
Hostinger hPanel and features within
While the most popular control panels remain cPanel and Plesk, Hostinger decided to go with a custom option. It’s called hPanel, and it’s effortless to navigate.
We can definitely see some influence from predecessors of this one. If you’ve used cPanel before, this will be both an upgrade, and you won’t be lost. Meanwhile, first-timers should not be scared either – Hostinger doesn’t lack recommendations.
For example, you are navigated to quickly improve your website performance or clear the cache within a click.
Judging by what we’ve noticed over time, Hostinger is committed to its control panel. So much so that the provider is constantly updating hPanel to make it more intuitive and more comfortable for users. So, if it’s going to change a bit while you’re using it, don’t be surprised.
The main things that you’ll be doing in hPanel are:
- Reaching file manager,
- Installing applications,
- Migrating your existing website,
- Checking databases,
- Adding websites,
- Setting the main domain,
- Using website builder,
- Creating email accounts.
Looking in detail, everything is well-organized. The only issue with hPanel is that it can get slow. However, other than this annoyance (sometimes), we’ve found no issues.
Altogether, hPanel is a good tool to manage your website. It has every functionality needed, and, if you can overlook the speed, there’s no other flaws.
Is it easy to install WordPress?
WordPress installation with Hostinger is very simple. All you need to do is find the WordPress icon (it’ll be the first one) in the Websites > One-Click Installs tool and click on it. At the same time, you might never need to use it – WordPress installation can be done automatically in the initial hosting account setup.
If you skipped the first setup or need a second website, then choose WordPress and the installation window will open.
Hostinger picks the newest version of WordPress and creates a new database by default. You can change these settings if you like. And, once you click on the Install button, your website will be ready in a couple of minutes.
Free website migration
Many people don’t know, but Hostinger also has free website migration. You’d just need to ask a support agent, and they would migrate your website in a blink. But there is literally no information about that.
Whenever we needed a transfer, we’d just go in and ask a support agent. Usually, the same person would handle it on the spot, so we’d be able to follow them every step of the way.
So finally we saw some change. Now you can request your free website migration from the dashboard without contacting anyone.
Still, there’s no info about that anywhere on Hostinger’s website. But if you need it, you’re welcome.
To locate the request for migration, click on your name icon in your account.
To get your website transferred, you’ll need to fill out a form. Hostinger can take care of WordPress, cPanel, FTP, and even other control panel migrations.
The only downside is that you need to provide your hosting account password. On the other hand, you’re migrating anyway and will probably cancel that account soon enough. Just make sure that you don’t use the same password on every account you have. Email, Twitter, and bank account included.
So while Hostinger does not brag about its free website migration, it is there and available for free. If you were afraid to leave your current provider because of the daunting migration, there are no more reasons not to do it.
Essential features: free domain and website builder
Now to make the website creation process even more simple, Hostinger includes all the necessary features like a free domain, email accounts, an SSL, and even a free website builder. A combination of all that makes this provider excellent for both personal and small business hosting.
Both Hostinger’s shared hosting plans include a free domain name registration, 100 email accounts, and an SSL certificate. Meaning that even the cheapest shared plan is well suited for small businesses to start with – it’s cheap ($2.69/mo) and has all the necessities included, so you wouldn’t need to spend an extra dime.
The available free TLDs (Top-Level Domains) include: .com; .net; .xyz; .online; .website; .space and many others.
Another topic is how you’re going to build a website. WordPress is the #1 choice for many, but Hostinger also has another tool – you can use Hostinger Website Builder.
Generally, website builders are an easier and quicker way to launch a website. That’s because all design elements are readily available, and absolutely 0 programming knowledge is needed.
Talking about Hostinger web design builder Hostinger review specifically, here’s what you get:
- Over 130+ modern templates
- Drag-and-drop editor functionality
- AI builder powered by ChatGPT
- AI generated website content
- Integrated Google Analytics
- Blogging, SEO, and email services tools
- Free domain and SSL
- Prices start at $2.99/mo.
- You can also read a detailed Hostinger Website Builder review that we did
So if you don’t have experience with WordPress at all, Hostinger Website Builder might be the next best thing.
Hostinger business email
Having a business email account helps you stay in touch with your colleagues as well as clients easily. Additionally, business emails add up to your professional appearance. And it can even help you enhance your email marketing plan.
A professional email address usually consists of your name or specific noun and the company name, for instance, techneurox@gmail.com. And you surely can have a professional-looking email account with Hostinger.
All plans, except the one called Single, can host up to 100 business mailboxes, with a 1GB storage limit per account. Whereas the Single plan users can create only one business email with Hostinger for free.
What’s great is that the business email setup process is very easy with Hostinger. The provider offers detailed guides for this, and the overall process takes up to 5-10 minutes.
Here’s how you can set up a business email with Hostinger:
- Once you signed up for Hostinger’s web hosting plan, head to the hosting dashboard
- Click Email and select Email accounts
- Choose the domain and click Manage
- Select Create email account
- Fill in the required information, and click Create
- Pick the email app or a smartphone to configure the email account. Apple Mail users get an Automatic Apple device setup option
We strongly encourage using this business mailbox feature. You will look more professional with a hello@yourbusiness.com email than with yourbusiness@gmail.com. The response rates will definitely be higher.
Now in terms of the actual mailbox, it’s on the basic side but still better than what a lot of other providers are offering for free.
It will work for individual users or small businesses to get their contact form submissions or for contacting partners.
Mind you, for big email marketing campaigns, you’d be better off with a separate email server. That would guarantee good deliverability.
All in all, Hostinger is easy to use. As you saw, the interface is nice and modern, you can reach all the tools easily, and everything works just fine.
Performance – is Hostinger fast?
We can safely say that Hostinger is an example of how web hosting performance should look like. No matter what you pay for it. This host is stable, fast, and can handle quite some traffic even on cheap plans.
We did 3 types of tests to see if there’s anything at all that would make this provider flinch.
- Server uptime and response time. Hostinger maintained a perfect 100% throughout our testing period. However, keeping 100% uptime is not possible in the long term, so you will see an occasional 1 or 2 minutes of downtime, which is natural. Other than that, the host offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee. The tool also tracks and draws average response time, which came up to 511ms, while the average of shared hosting is 600ms.
- Speed. Hostinger allows you to choose from 8 data center locations – the US, UK, Netherlands, France, Lithuania Singapore, India, and Brazil. The best performance can be seen when testing from the US – just 479ms till Largest Contentful Paint (LCP). For visitors from Europe, this website would take around 1.3 seconds to load. And with a fully built website, LCP increases to 849ms. So if you’re looking for the fastest web hosting, Hostinger is a great choice.
- Stress testing. We’ve sent 50 visitors to our test website. As the number of visitors increased (grey line), response time (blue line) remained the same. Hostinger did not slow down apart from a couple of bumps later on. Overall, it stayed as fast as with 1 visitor.
As a whole, performance-wise, Hostinger appears to have no weak links. The technology used by the provider is the cause for the great Hostinger performance review results we got.
What makes Hostinger load time fast?
We find it very interesting how such cheap provider can deliver performance results comparable to much more expensive hosts like SiteGround or A2 Hosting.
So, what exactly is Hostinger doing to be fast?
- Battling latency – If the server is far from the visitor, it will take longer to load a website. Just like if you are further from a Wi-Fi router, the connection is weaker. Hostinger tackles this problem by offering 8 server locations worldwide – the US, UK, Netherlands, France, Lithuania, Brazil, Singapore, and India. So when setting up your hosting account, pick the location that is closest to your audience.
- Up to dated tech – Hostinger keeps its tech upgraded – from SSD drives to the latest PHP versions or fast LiteSpeed web servers. Once anything new comes up, Hostinger will follow the best practices.
- WordPress optimization – WordPress websites benefit the most from the latest technology and its optimizations used by Hostinger. In fact, the provider checks all the boxes when it comes to optimizing WordPress: it offers the latest PHP version, both HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 (Quic) are there, IPv6 is enabled, and an advanced caching is possible.
Hostinger security
Hostinger has pretty good security features and measures in place, although they are more on the basic side. The servers are taken care of by security experts while yours and your visitors’ data is safe with free SSL. Depending on the plan, you also get weekly or daily backups, and it is possible to set up 2-factor authentication (2FA).
Shall we get into more details?
- Internal server security – the servers are monitored 24/7, and they are equipped with essential security modules like mod_security and PHP open_basedir. Data centers themselves take care of high redundancy. That is definitely not the weak link.
- Daily or weekly website backups – imagine if you could roll back time. For example, one minute your website is functioning fine and the next – there’s some major error. You simply go to the backup manager and roll back the latest version of your site that’s functioning. Time-spinner, no less. Weekly backups are included in all of the plans, while daily backups are provided for the Business plan users
- Free SSL – each of Hostinger’s plans comes with a free SSL certificate, and it took me just a few clicks to install it during the initial website setup. This feature encrypts all data that travels from and to your server so no third party can steal it. By the way, it is a Google ranking factor too, so there’s literally no reason not to activate SSL.
- DDoS protection – there are several layers of protection against DDoS attacks. Traffic is analyzed and blocked through Wanguard that generates firewall rules. There are also Bitninja or Imunify360 web application firewalls on each server. Additionally, you can set up Cloudflare protection on your own or purchase the service from Hostinger. Cloudflare protection distributes content across different servers world-wide and masks server IP address, protecting from DDoS attacks.
- 2FA – even if your password gets into the hands of other people, they won’t be able to log in as the password is simply not enough anymore. Alongside your regular password, you’ll need to use a second layer of security – confirmation via code which only you have access to via an app.
All things considered, Hostinger has security essentials in all of its packages. It might not seem like a lot, but it is definitely enough to protect your website from the most common vulnerabilities. Such a variety of tools place Hostinger among top-3 most secure web hosting companies on our list.
Hostinger for business
Since Hostinger seems to be the Jack of all trades, it’s no surprise that in addition to shared hosting the provider offers many fairly-priced solutions with helpful tools for businesses too.
Hostinger WordPress hosting overview
Among good options for business websites, Hostinger has WordPress hosting plans. These are pretty much the same as shared hosting, yet include a bigger features package. The prices start at $2.99/mo.
All Hostinger WordPress hosting plans include email accounts, SSL, WP-CLI integration, and WordPress-specific features such as WordPress dashboard with caching management.
At the same time, starting with the second, Starter plan ($2.99/mo), WordPress multisite and Jetpack are pre-installed. Meanwhile, Business ($3.99/mo) includes daily backups and Cloudflare CDN too. If you’d like to get a paid version of Jetpack – WordPress Pro ($11.59/mo) includes Jetpack Personal license free of charge.
Usually, we avoid recommending WordPress hosting plans as they tend to be completely the same as the regular shared hosting. In Hostinger’s case, we can see differences in features as well as pricing. So if you’re looking to host a WordPress site – compare which option offers the best value for you and if there are special discounts/terms available.
Hostinger Cloud hosting overview
Among the best business hosting options is cloud hosting. Rather affordable, very much scalable, and powerful, it’s a gateway to VPS and a private server. Pretty good Hostinger Cloud hosting packages start at $9.99/mo.
Hostinger Cloud hosting is seriously business-focused – free domain, email, and SSL are there as well as daily backups, Google Ads credits, and CDN.
The resources go from 3GB RAM, 2 CPU cores, and 200GB storage to 12GB RAM, 6 CPU cores, and 300GB storage. Plus, the Cloud Enterprise plan is hosted on Google Cloud infrastructure.
This is a powerful option for those that have large online stores, membership sites, and commercial blogs – additional security and dedicated resources are there to support it.
We have an online store hosted on Hostinger’s cheapest Cloud plan and haven’t had any issues in a year so far. So it’s a personal recommendation too.
Hostinger VPS hosting overview
For advanced users, VPS hosting is the cheapest most powerful option to look at. Hostinger’s VPS plans start at $3.99/mo.
Hostinger’s VPS hosting is semi-managed. This means that you get a custom VPS control panel and full root access – OS and script installers, easy server reboot, and permission management are done in a visual interface, while root access allows you to customize the server from the backend. Meanwhile, Hostinger takes care of the server launch and maintenance. Not very beginner-friendly, but a manageable option if you are willing to learn.
VPS resources can go from 1CPU, 1GB RAM, and 20GB storage to 8 CPUs, 9GB RAM, and 160GB storage based on the number of slices you need.
Essentially, the resources are dedicated to your account entirely, even though the server is shared. That’s why you can customize it and optimize it the way your project requires.
So overall, VPS is the cheapest way to host a popular website/app that requires dedicated server resources.
Hostinger Minecraft hosting overview
Hostinger is among the few classic providers that offer a dedicated Minecraft hosting environment with all the tools to easily launch and manage your Minecraft server. The prices start at $8.95/mo.
Hostinger’s Minecraft servers are launched instantly after you make your purchase and include a Multicraft gaming control panel with an automatic mod pack and plugin installation. Also, 99.99% uptime SLA and DDoS protection are in place, meaning that chances of getting your game disrupted are minimal.
The resources go from 2GB RAM and 2 CPUs for smaller Minecraft communities to 8GB RAM and 8 CPUs for the possibility to monetize your server.
Overall, among Minecraft-specific services – Hostinger tops the recommendations list. That’s due to affordable prices, ease of use, and powerful hardware with dedicated resources.
Hostinger CyberPanel hosting overview
For users looking to host VPS easier, or those that simply prefere CyberPanel, Hostinger offers CyberPanel hosting. The panel enables users to manage their VPS services much quicker and more securely. Best of all, prices start at just $3.95/mo.
In terms of variety, there are 8 CyberPanel hosting plans to choose from. All plans come with a free SSL, a caching module, ModSecurity package, and automated backups.
The main difference between said plans are the resources included: ranging from 1 CPU to 8 CPUs, 20GB to 250GB storage, 1GB to 16GB RAM, and 1TB to 12TB bandwidth.
As a whole, CyberPanel offers a more efficient way to host VPS. Not only does it make site management easier, but it also offers command line interface for experienced users too.
All things considered, Hostinger has all the basic and premium features required for business hosting. Starting with all-inclusive plans, easy ways to build a website, and finishing off with good scalability options for every budget.
Hostinger for anonymous and adult hosting
Interestingly, one of the very few providers to be confident enough to allow anonymity and adult hosting is Hostinger. Whether you’re protecting your identity or need an adult website, this one provider has the means to help you.
So why exactly is Hostinger suitable for anonymous hosting?
Well, for one thing, it allows you to make payments using cryptocurrencies. Due to their nature, nobody can track them down and see where the money comes from. Your identity is perfectly safe. Hostinger accepts all major cryptocurrencies, and you can choose this method of payment when you check out.
Secondly, when you purchase a plan from Hostinger, you don’t have to go through the account and identity verification. In hopes of preventing fraud, other providers require identity verification. One good example is Bluehost.
So, there you go. You have two good reasons for which Hostinger is excellent for anonymous hosting.
As far as adult content is concerned, Hostinger will accommodate you in this case too. Hostinger is perfectly okay with adult content as long as it is legal and not copyrighted.
We’re not referring here to pornography only, but to gambling, alcohol, and tobacco-related content as well.
Hostinger customer support
| Hostinger | |
| 24/7 live chat | ✅ |
| ✅ | |
| Ticketing system | ✅ |
| Phone line | ❌ |
| Knowledge base | ✅ |
Like any other self-respecting hosting provider, Hostinger offers a great variety of customer support options. We’re talking about a 24/7 live chat, a ticketing system, email, as well as an extensive knowledge base. However, phone support is not available.
When talking about customer support, several things are crucial:
- Can I reach customer service any time?
- Will they respond fast?
- Do they know how to help me?
TL;DR Hostinger ticks all of the boxes. Most of the time. For more details, let’s continue.
First things first, a pinch of constructive criticism.
Remember 2020 pandemics? Well… Hostinger was not ready and that resulted in the live chat becoming completely unavailable. The only option left was email. However, now the chat is functioning well.
Therefore, we contacted the support several times when writing this Hostinger review. Just to ask for clarifications or guidance. On average, we’d get the first response in around 24 minutes.
That’s quite a long time. Providers like Bluehost or GoDaddy usually respond immediately. So that is a downside, definitely. On the other hand, all interactions were very helpful and professional.
Every agent we talked to was very well trained and answered all my questions with grace. Here, we asked about server location choice.
Not only did the agent provide the full list of data centers and explain why we couldn’t choose some of them, but he also offered to make a transfer.
Lastly, while there is no phone support, the live chat was more than enough for me to not feel the lack of it.
Knowledge base
Hostinger has a big knowledge base. And when we say big, we mean, ‘How can they know everything we wanted to ask?’ sort of extensive. But we find that pretty great, especially if you’re a beginner. You’ll find tutorials there too.
From what we can see, the knowledge base is updated constantly. Daily, even.
Hostinger has articles and tutorials both on basic web hosting stuff such as software installation as well as marketing. Plus, there are many troubleshooting guides for common control panel or email problems.
All in all, Hostinger’s customer support service is good. The agents are knowledgeable, incredibly friendly, and they do their best to answer your questions. Unfortunately, the wait times can get long, but in the meantime, you get to scroll through a vast and helpful knowledge base.
Hostinger review – the final verdict
Throughout this Hostinger review, we proved that this web hosting provider had not lost its way. It is still a cheap option that is easy to use. But more importantly, it’s the one that’s both reliable and can be a strong foundation for a fast website.
In summary, how does everything look?
| Feature |
4.8★★★★★
|
High-quality hosting on a budget |
| Pricing |
★★★★★
|
Hostinger is cheap with the lowest price of $2.69/month. To get remotely similar features with other providers, the price would be noticeably higher. |
| Ease of Use |
★★★★★
|
hPanel that Hostinger uses is modern, functional, and easy to navigate. Initial setups help you launch your website. |
| Performance |
★★★★★
|
Hostinger nailed all tests. The provider was highly reliable, very fast, and handled increased traffic on the site like a pro. |
| Security |
★★★★☆
|
The provider takes care of all essential security measures but does not elaborate too much on them. |
| Support |
★★★★★
|
Hostinger has some of the friendliest (and most helpful) customer support agents. You can reach them via live chat or email 24/7. However, the wait time can be a bit long. |
Who do we recommend Hostinger to?
Hostinger is the best option for beginner users building their first websites. It’s cheap yet high-quality, not to mention easy to use. At the same time, more expensive options will be great for small businesses – the performance definitely competes with the top dogs of the industry.
Get started with Hostinger today
