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Hostinger Review: An In-Depth Overview In 2023
Updated on December 7, 2023 – Written By: Shant Alexanian
Within the past few years, Hostinger has made a huge impact on the web hosting industry. Its budget-friendly prices, quality performance, and intuitive interface have all been contributing factors to its phenomenal success.
Hostinger’s prices are among the lowest in the market, yet it does not compromise on resources or performance. Its plans include generous storage space and unlimited bandwidth, as well as features like a free domain name, SSL, professional email accounts, and automated updates. On top of all that, its performance is very fast and reliable.
In this Hostinger web hosting review, we will conduct an in-depth investigation of whether Hostinger lives up to its promises. We have taken our own research into account and personally tested the host according to criteria such as ease of use, pricing, performance, security, and customer support.
Pros and Cons of Hostinger
Pros
- Affordable prices for shared hosting
- LightSpeed Web Servers
- Free weekly and daily backups
- A website builder is included
- Great uptime during testing
- Minecraft servers
Cons
- The control panel can be slow
- Lacks dedicated web hosting
- Not every plan has a Windows option
- Lacks phone support
- At times, customer support takes a long time to respond
Hosting Management: is Hostinger User-Friendly?
When it comes to ease of use, Hostinger has been designed with beginners in mind so that even the most inexperienced user can manage it. Hostinger’s automatic wizard takes care of three tasks: hosting, domain registration, and SSL installation.
Not only is the control panel visually appealing, but it also boasts a perfect balance between ease of use and functionality.
All in all, the setup process is very easy – all you have to do is read and follow the instructions on your screen, fill in a few fields, and that’s pretty much it.
Hostinger hPanel And Its Features
Hostinger decided to create its own control panel called hPanel. Rather than following suit with other web hosting companies who use mainly cPanel or Plesk, hPanel is designed to be very simple to navigate.
The hPanel is certainly influenced by its predecessors, with features familiar to anyone who has used cPanel before. You won’t have any trouble navigating it, so don’t worry if you’re a novice; each tool has an explanation provided.
It is clear from our observations that Hostinger holds its control panel in high regard. So much so, that Hostinger is regularly updating hPanel to create a more user-friendly experience for its users. Therefore, if you see some slight changes, don’t be surprised.
The main tasks that you will be performing in hPanel are:
- Reaching the file manager,
- Installing applications,
- Analyzing databases,
- Migrating your website,
- Adding domains,
- Using the website builder,
- Creating professional e-mail accounts.
Looking in detail, everything is neatly organized. The only issue with hPanel is that it can be a bit slow at times; however, aside from this minor annoyance, no other issues were encountered.
All in all, hPanel is a great tool for managing your website. It comes with every necessity you can think of, and if you are willing to overlook the minor speed issue, there is nothing else wrong with it.
Is it easy to install WordPress with Hostinger?
Installing WordPress with Hostinger is easy. All you need to do is find the “Website” link on the left-hand side toolbar and click on it; then, you will get a drop-down. Now, locate the “Auto Installer” link and click on it.
After clicking on the auto-installer link, you will end up on a page similar to the screenshot below.
Select WordPress to move on to the next step.
Now, you must fill in your website credentials, such as your website title, admin email, admin username, and admin password.
After filling in all the necessary information and then clicking next you should see a page similar to the one below.
By default, Hostinger chooses the most recent WordPress version and creates a new database. If desired, you can customize the settings. Now, click the “Install” button, and your website should be up and running in a couple of minutes.
Essential features include: a free domain and a website builder
To simplify the website creation process even further, Hostinger bundles all of the essential features such as a free domain name, email accounts, an SSL certificate, and a free website builder. With all of these features offered, it is a good choice for hosting a personal blog or small business.
Both Hostinger’s Premium and Business Shared Hosting Plans include a free domain name registration, 100 email accounts, and a free SSL certificate. Not only is a shared hosting plan the cheapest option, but it is also incredibly suitable for small businesses. For just $2.99/mo, you get access to all of the features and services that you need.
The available free top-level domains (TLDs) include .com, .net, .online, .website, and many others.
Now, how are you going to build a website? WordPress is the number #1 choice for most, but Hostinger also has its own Website Builder.
Website builders are a great way to quickly and easily launch your website with minimal fuss. With the variety of design elements readily available, you don’t need any coding knowledge or experience to utilize them.
Talking about Hostinger’s website builder, here is what you get access to:
- Over 130 modern templates.
- Drag-and-drop editor.
- Blogging, SEO, and email service tools.
- Free domain and SSL certificate.
- Prices start at $2.99/mo.
Therefore, if you are a novice when it comes to building WordPress sites, Hostinger’s Website Builder might be your next best bet.
Hostinger offers free website migration
Many people don’t know that Hostinger also offers free website migration; however, for some reason, Hostinger doesn’t promote it anywhere. But if you do need it, you are welcome.
Easily request a free website migration directly from your user dashboard without the need to contact support.
To submit a migration request, simply click on the profile icon located in the upper right corner of your dashboard.
To initiate your website transfer, simply complete the form. Hostinger is capable of transferring WordPress, cPanel, FTP files, and other control panel migrations.
Hostinger does not boast about its free website migration service, but it is indeed offered for free. Don’t let the daunting thought of migrating to a new provider keep you from making the switch; there is no reason to be afraid.
Hostinger offers free website migration
Yes, Hostinger offers professional emails for its premium and business shared hosting plans. You can host up to 100 business mailboxes, each with a 10 GB storage limit.
Here are some parameters and limits you should be aware of:
- Send up to 100000 emails per account,
- Messages per day 2000,
- Forwarder limit (hPanel / Webmail) is -4,
- Recipients per message are 100,
- Alias limit 50.
Hostinger uses TITAN email services, which seems like a decent company with various filters and measures in place to keep your inbox free from spam.
Now in terms of the actual mailbox, it’s very sleek and modern looking.
Hostinger’s emails will work great for individual users or small businesses to get a professional-looking email.
On the other hand, if you are planning a large-scale email marketing campaign, it would be in your best interest to invest in an individualized email server. By doing so, you can ensure that your emails will reach their intended recipients.
Overall, Hostinger is incredibly user-friendly. As you have seen for yourself, the interface is modern and sleek; plus, all the tools are easily accessible, and everything functions well.
Hostinger Performance and Uptime
We had an exceptional experience with the Hostinger server that our website was hosted on; it was both fast and dependable.
To start with, we ran a test to measure the host’s uptime using Uptime Robot:
To ensure peak performance, we kept a close eye on Hostinger for seven days. Miraculously, there were no outages recorded, and it maintained a 100% uptime. We have tested other hosting providers who have had outages within two or three days of monitoring.
Even though Hostinger proved to have 100% uptime during testing, that doesn’t account for any unforeseen incidents or necessary server maintenance. But rest assured, Hostinger does guarantee a 99.99% uptime.
To top it off, Hostinger has accomplished tremendous achievements, with its average response time being only 104 milliseconds— nothing short of lightning speed.
In comparison to the typical 300ms response time experienced with other providers, Hostinger went far beyond our expectations, at only 104ms.
Unquestionably, Hostinger is an incredibly reliable platform that has excellent uptime and fast response times.
Hostinger website speed test
In this part of our Hostinger review, we conducted a speed test to determine the loading times of both a blank website and a fully constructed website. To measure these loading times, we used the GTmetrix tool to generate our results.
To grasp a full comprehension of the results, here are 3 essential metrics to consider:
- The Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is the amount of time it takes to load a page’s primary content. To maximize your website performance and ensure a better chance in the top spot on Google, make sure that your LCP is under 2.5 seconds. This one key factor will have an immense impact on how well you rank on search engines. So, keep this in mind when choosing a web hosting provider.
- Fully Loaded Time – this is how long it takes for a site to become fully operational. This is a crucial metric to pay attention to; anything over 3 seconds is likely to cause visitors to “bounce” out, so your website speed is essential for success.
- Speed Index- to guarantee your customers have an exceptional experience, they should be able to access the content on your page in 1.3 seconds or faster.
To kick off our test, we measured the loading time of a blank WordPress site from three separate locations. The hosting plan we tested was Hostinger’s premium shared plan. The US test server achieved the greatest success with a blazingly fast LCP score of only 428ms.
Hostinger’s largest contentful paint (LCP) results in London, UK, and Mumbai, India turned out to be a bit slower, with a result of 873ms in the UK and 1.3s in India. Even though the results for the UK and India were slower, they still passed the loading speed mark of 2.5s set by Google for e-commerce sites.
As you can see in the screenshot below, Hostinger achieved tremendous performance results when testing a blank website from a server located in San Antonio, TX.
Even though the website was hosted on a U.S. server, our performance was remarkable. Our fully-loaded time was 494ms—that’s fast! We have seen faster from other providers, but it is still very speedy for the price.
Now, what would happen if we switched from an empty site to a fully built one?
After the website was fully built, the LCP increased to 1.2 seconds from 428ms; it had definitely slowed down, yet it was still quite fast. Our five-page WordPress website, with six images on the homepage, loaded in 1.2s; see the screenshot below.
Our website had a decent “Fully Loaded Time” of 1.4 seconds, well under the suggested maximum load time of 3 seconds—not bad at all.
The image below provides an in-depth look at the performance metrics and data associated with the completed website.
As demonstrated in the screenshot above, Hostinger achieved an incredible “Speed Index” time of 769ms—barely a second! This achievement proves that, even after your website is completely built, you can still get outstanding results with Hostinger.
Hostinger has passed all our tests with flying colors, so it deserves a spot among one of the most reliable and fastest hosting companies. This provider not only offers speed but also reliability and power.
To sum it up, Hostinger’s performance is nothing short of remarkable. Their advanced technology is undoubtedly responsible for the exceptional results we experienced during our tests.
What Makes Hostinger Fast?
It is astonishing to us how a low-cost web hosting provider can offer performance results that are on par with those of high-end hosts, such as SiteGround or A2 Hosting.
So, what exactly makes Hostinger fast?
- Battling latency – By selecting a hosting provider near your target demographic, you can guarantee fast page loading times. Hostinger has an impressive international presence with data centers in South America (Brazil), Europe (France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom), Asia (India), and North America (the USA, North Carolina).
- Up-to-date technology – Hostinger ensures their technology remains as up-to-date and advanced as possible, with everything from the most recent SSD drives to updated PHP versions or high-speed LiteSpeed web servers. Once anything new arises, Hostinger will likely follow the best practices.
- WordPress optimization – By leveraging Hostinger’s latest technologies and optimizations, WordPress websites can enjoy maximum performance benefits. When it comes to optimizing WordPress, this provider certainly doesn’t miss a beat! It offers the latest version of PHP, both HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 IPv6 is enabled, and advanced caching is possible.
How Secure Is Hostinger?
Hostinger is equipped with an array of security features that are quite basic yet reliable. Expert security personnel ensures your servers remain secure, while free SSL keeps both you and your visitors’ data protected. Depending on the plan you choose, you also get either weekly or daily backups. Additionally, a two-factor authentication (2FA) setup is possible as well.
Shall we dive deeper into the details?
- Internal server security – Hostinger’s servers are monitored 24/7 for your safety and peace of mind, armed with important security features such as mod_security and PHP open_basedir. High redundancy is a cornerstone of data centers; therefore, this is not a weak point.
- Free SSL – Hostinger’s plans are all equipped with a free SSL certificate, so it only took us a few clicks to install the certificate when we were setting up our website. This feature ensures that your data is securely encrypted as it travels from and to your server, keeping prying eyes away. Additionally, SSL is a Google ranking factor as well.
- DDoS protection – Hostinger has implemented several safety layers. Traffic is monitored and blocked with Wanguard’s advanced anti-DDoS security system, while each server is also equipped with Bitninja or Imunify360 web application firewalls for an extra layer of defense. Furthermore, you can either opt to configure Cloudflare yourself or purchase the service from Hostinger. Cloudflare safeguards content across countless servers around the globe while concealing essential server IP addresses, ensuring maximum protection from devastating DDoS attacks.
- Daily or weekly backups – Picture an ability to turn back the clock. Suddenly, your website is running smoothly, and then out of nowhere – a massive error pops up. You can instantly restore the earlier, fully-functional edition of your website with a few clicks in the backup manager–a lifesaver for sure. Weekly backups are included in all plans, while daily backups are only available for Business plans.
- Two-factor authentication – To keep yourself secure you’ll need more than a simple password; two-factor authentication provides an additional layer of protection that allows you to ensure that all logins to your account are made by you.
Ultimately, Hostinger provides comprehensive security features in each of its packages. Though this might not seem much, it is more than enough to protect your website from most security threats. Hostinger’s extensive selection of tools puts it firmly among the top 5 most secure web hosting companies on our list.
Hostinger Plans and Pricing
Undoubtedly, the most appealing and cost-effective plan offered by Hostinger is their shared hosting, with prices starting at only $2.99 per month. Additional cost-effective options include WordPress plans, cloud hosting, and a virtual private server (VPS).
Type of hosting Best for:
Shared hosting is best for small personal sites and business landing pages.
WordPress hosting is best for WordPress websites since the plans are optimized for WordPress sites.
Cloud hosting is ideal for high-traffic websites selling online.
VPS Hosting is the ideal solution for small-to-medium-sized websites that want flexibility, security, and performance.
It is apparent that no matter what stage your project is in, there will be an option suited for it.
For those just starting out, shared hosting is the perfect solution. A couple of great perks for both plans are that you get a free SSL certificate and free domain name registration. However, please note that while the domain name is initially free for a year, it won’t remain so; Hostinger’s renewal fees will eventually be due, although .com renewals are reasonably priced at $13.99 per year.
Plan Features Price:
The Shared Premium plan offers hosting for 100 websites, 100 domain-based email accounts, 100GB of SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, and weekly backups, making this package ideal for those operating average-sized personal websites or small businesses at only $2.99/mo.
The Shared Business plan offers hosting for 100 websites, 100 domain-based email accounts, 200GB of SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, free daily backups, and unlimited free SSLs, making this package ideal for those operating eCommerce stores or high-traffic blogs at $3.99/mo.
The Cloud Startup plan offers hosting for 300 websites, plus 200GB of SSD storage, 2 CPU cores, 3GB of RAM, a dedicated IP address, free daily backups, 100 domain-based email accounts, and a CDN. This plan is ideal for those wanting a superior hosting package with dedicated resources and maximum performance – all starting at just $9.99/mo.
When it comes to server resources, Hostinger is generous and forthcoming compared to several of its competitors, offering a much higher storage capacity. Furthermore, unlimited email accounts are no longer a viable option; however, with Hostinger you can create up to 100 domain-based email accounts.
However, not all things are of the same value.
In our point of view, these two plans provide the most bang for your buck:
- If you are a newbie, the Premium plan is perfect for you. It comes with all essential tools, such as free domain registration, SSL certification, and email accounts; it has everything you need to get going.
- When it comes to getting the most bang for your buck, the business hosting plan is the way to go. With this plan, you will get far more resources than with the Premium plan, such as daily backups and a WordPress staging tool.
Undoubtedly, Hostinger is unparalleled in terms of pricing. Not only are the introductory prices unbeatable but so too are their renewal fees.
Another issue we need to address is the money-back guarantee. We realize that more often than not, you might miss reading through the terms of service – don’t worry, we have it taken care of for you.
Here are a few things you should be aware of:
- They offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
- If you have paid using cryptocurrencies, tokens, or digital assets, they are non-refundable.
- The following ccTLD registries (e.g., .in, .uk, and .ca) are non-refundable, just to name a few.
- Not eligible for refunds, SEO marketing panel, Google Workspace email, VPS licenses redemption fees, domain name renewals, privacy protection services, or SEO toolkits.
These are the standard terms set forth, but it is still useful to be aware of them.
All in all, Hostinger is the best “bang for your buck,” with plans ranging from $1.99 to $3.99 per month, making it one of the most cost-effective options available. With its cheap prices and wide range of features, Hostinger provides a good value that cannot be beaten by any other provider out there right now.
Hostinger Business Solutions
Not surprisingly, Hostinger also has a range of web hosting options for businesses. In addition to its shared hosting, the provider also offers many useful tools for businesses.
Overview of Hostinger's WordPress Hosting
Hostinger has a remarkable WordPress hosting plan that is similar to shared hosting but with more features. This package starts at $1.99/mo – making it one of the most cost-effective options for businesses looking for website solutions.
All of Hostinger’s WordPress hosting plans come with email accounts, plus Cloudflare-protected name servers, a free website migration, a malware scanner, WordPress acceleration, and access to multiple data centers.
Furthermore, starting with the starter plan ($2.99/mo), WordPress Multisite and Cloudflare are included. Not to mention, the business plan ($3.99/mo) provides daily backups and a WordPress staging tool. Now, the WordPress pro plan ($9.99/month) is built on a cloud infrastructure, so you never have to worry about sharing resources with anyone else.
Generally speaking, we tend to steer people away from WordPress hosting plans, as they are usually the same as shared hosting plans. In Hostinger’s case, however, we can see variations in both features and price. Now, if you are considering hosting a WordPress website, check out which option provides the most bang for your buck and see if any discounts are available.
Overview of Hostinger's Cloud Hosting
One of the best business hosting options is cloud hosting. Not only is it affordable and powerful, but also highly scalable – making it the ideal gateway to virtual private servers or dedicated servers. Hostinger has pretty decent Cloud hosting plans starting at $9.99/month.
Hostinger’s Cloud hosting is very business-focused, offering a free domain, 100 email accounts, unlimited free SSLs, daily backups, and Cloudflare-protected nameservers.
The features available range from 3 GB RAM, 2 CPU cores, and 200 GB of storage to 12 GB RAM, 6 CPU cores, and 300 GB of storage. Furthermore, the Cloud Enterprise plan is hosted on Google Cloud Infrastructure.
This is a good option for those who have large online stores, stream media files daily, or run e-commerce sites; additional security and dedicated resources are available to support them.
Overview of Hostinger's Minecraft Hosting
Hostinger stands out as one of the few providers that provide a tailored hosting environment for Minecraft players. This service is available for just $6.99/mo, allowing you to quickly and easily launch your own server.
Once you purchase your Minecraft server from Hostinger, it is ready to be used right away and comes with a Multicraft gaming control panel, automated mod packs, and plugin installations. Furthermore, an SLA with 99.99% uptime and superior DDoS protection is in place, drastically reducing the chances of experiencing an interruption while gaming.
The Minecraft features available range from 2GB of RAM and 2 CPUs for small Minecraft communities to 8GB of RAM and 8 CPUs, allowing for the possibility of monetizing your server.
All in all, among Minecraft-specific services, Hostinger has proven itself to be a top choice, predominantly due to its affordability, simplicity of use, and robust hardware with dedicated resources.
Overview of Hostinger's CyberPanel VPS Hosting
Hostinger offers CyberPanel hosting for those who want to host VPS more efficiently or just prefer using CyberPanel. The panel provides users with the capability to manage VPS services quickly and securely, and best of all, prices start at just $3.99/mo.
In terms of plans, Hostinger offers 4 CyberPanel hosting plans to choose from. All plans come with a free SSL, full root access, a ModSecurity package, and weekly backups.
The key difference between the said plans is the resources available, which vary from 1 to 8 CPUs, 20GB to 250GB of storage space, 1GB to 16GB of RAM, and 1 TB to 12 TB in bandwidth.
In a nutshell, CyberPanel offers a more efficient approach to VPS hosting that not only simplifies site management but also features a command-line interface for those with more technical experience.
All in all, Hostinger has all the basic and advanced features required for business hosting solutions; from budget-friendly hosting plans to an easy website builder and cost-effective scalability solutions for every budget.
Is Hostinger Customer Support Helpful?
Hostinger, just like other popular hosting providers, offers a great variety of customer support options. We’re talking about 24/7 live chat, a ticketing system, email, and an expansive knowledge base. Phone support is unfortunately not available.
When talking about customer support, a few things are crucial, such as:
- Is customer service available 24/7?
- How fast will they respond?
- Are they knowledgeable?
In a nutshell, in most cases, Hostinger checks all the boxes! For more details, let’s continue.
We contacted Hostinger’s live chat a few times during this review; once because of an error, and the other couple of times to ask for clarifications or guidance. On average, we got the first response in around 15 minutes.
One of the reasons we contacted support was due to an issue we encountered when trying to upload a template using Hostinger’s website builder; our URL kept displaying a 403 error code.
So, when we contacted the live chat support agent, she did a very good job of getting us up and running. The whole thing took her around 20 minutes to fix; not too bad.
We captured a screenshot of the discussion with Sabrina from Hostinger’s customer service, who did an excellent job in fixing the error.
The wait time might be a bit long for some folks. Providers like Bluehost or A2 hosting usually respond immediately in most cases. Despite this downside with Hostinger, all the interactions were incredibly helpful and professional.
Lastly, even though Hostinger lacks phone support, the live chat was more than enough for us to not feel its absence.
From what we can see, Hostinger’s knowledge base seems to be constantly updated.
Hostinger provides a wealth of articles and tutorials for web hosting, ranging from software installation to marketing strategies. On top of that, there are also troubleshooting guides for common control panel or email issues.
To sum it up, Hostinger’s customer service is great. Their agents are not only knowledgeable but also friendly and strive to answer any questions you may have. While the wait times may be long, you can use this time to explore Hostinger’s vast knowledge base.
Hostinger Review – The Final Verdict
In this Hostinger review, we have demonstrated that they still provide top-tier web hosting services. Not only are they budget-friendly and easy to use, but more importantly, they are reliable and can provide a powerful foundation for an incredibly fast website.
In summary, let’s recap its pricing, ease of use, performance, security, and customer support.
Pricing – Hostinger is budget-friendly, starting at $2.99/mo. With other hosting providers, you would have to pay a higher price tag to access similar features.
Ease of use – The hPanel that Hostinger uses is modern, sleek, and easy to navigate. When initially setting up, Hostinger helps you launch your website.
Performance – Hostinger achieved exceptional results in all tests, proving to be incredibly reliable and speedy.
Security – Hostinger takes all necessary steps to ensure maximum security, though they opt not to disclose too many specifics.
Customer Support – Hostinger’s customer support team is incredibly friendly and eager to provide guidance. You can contact them through live chat or email 24/7; however, the wait time can be rather long.
To whom would we recommend Hostinger?
Hostinger is ideal for those who are just building their first website. Not only is it cheap and high-quality, but it is also easy to use. Meanwhile, more expensive solutions are ideal for small businesses; their performance is equivalent to that of the major players in the industry.
FAQs About Hostinger Web Hosting Review
Is Hostinger free?
No, Hostinger is not free; however, one of its daughter companies, 000webhost, is. If you don’t have the financial resources to purchase a web hosting service, or if you want to understand more about how it works, then consider giving free web hosting a try.
Is Hostinger Safe?
Yes, Hostinger is certainly safe when it comes to servers and websites. It provides essential security features, such as SSL, monitoring, and firewalls, along with extra layers of protection via Cloudflare, automated backups, and two-factor authentication.
Is Hostinger good for Beginners?
Yes, Hostinger is incredibly user-friendly and perfect for beginners. The hPanel offered by the provider boasts an easy-to-navigate platform that even novice users will be able to understand easily. Plus, each of its shared hosting plans comes with essential features such as a free domain name, SSL certificate, professional email accounts, automatic backups, and more.
Is Hostinger good for WordPress?
Yes, Hostinger is perfectly suited for WordPress. It features LiteSpeed Cache which will ensure great performance and lightning-fast site loading speeds. Plus, it makes WordPress installation very quick and simple, with its one-click auto-installer.
Does Hostinger give a free domain?
Yes, with their Premium and Business Shared Hosting plans, you will get a free domain to use with your account. In addition, having a free domain included with your hosting can make it easier to set up your website, as you won’t have to worry about finding and registering a domain name by yourself.
Is Hostinger a good domain registrar?
Hostinger is an exceptional domain registrar that offers a broad selection of domain extensions. Not only are its initial prices affordable, but renewing the domains won’t cost you an arm and a leg.
Can I change my plan in Hostinger?
Yes, you can change your plan in Hostinger. You can upgrade your plan at any time by going to the “Billing” section of your account. If you require more resources than what your current plan provides, you can upgrade to a higher plan. If you no longer need certain features, you can downgrade to a lower plan.
Where are Hostinger data centers located?
Hostinger has data centers located in South America (Brazil), Europe (France, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom), Asia (India), and North America (the USA, North Carolina).