Many web hosting providers claim to offer budget-friendly or affordable packages. However, what you see in those marketing messages may not necessarily translate into your ideal cheap web hosting Australia plan.
Don’t assume the advertised price tag is all you have to pay for the package. Some companies offer really low price tags in the beginning, only to force you to sign up for long-term contracts with heftier price tags later on.
How To Pick a Cheap Web Hosting Australia
There are two main payment methods for Australian web hosting plans:
- Monthly plans where you pay a fee every four weeks
- Annual plans where you sign up for a contract lasting a year or more
Most buyers prefer monthly payment plans. Signing up for a multi-year plan can be cumbersome. You may not be able to cancel after purchasing it either.
However, annual plans are well suited for business buyers. If you don’t want to keep switching the web host, consider an annual plan.
Annual plans may seem expensive compared to monthly plans. But this is not always the case.
Some per-month price tags can be misleading. There are long-term annual contracts where the price you pay per month is surprisingly low.
Australian buyers should be aware that web hosts charge for essential features offered with packages, such as security tools. That means the amount you pay per month goes up.
Not all web hosts resort to such tactics to sell you a plan. The best-known brands in the industry offer genuinely affordable hosting packages.
Here is a list of affordable but feature-rich web hosting packages you won’t regret purchasing:
Bluehost
Bluehost is a famous name when it comes to web hosting. This provider is best known for offering highly affordable shared hosting packages.
You can buy Bluehost plans on a per month basis to keep overall costs low. The price for starter packages can be as low as $3.
Despite the low price tag, Bluehost offers a variety of features with packages. Each package comes with a single free domain name and 24/7 customer support.
New users will also benefit from the free website builder included with the plans. Bluehost makes it extremely easy to build a site.
What’s more: Bluehost ensures a 99.99% uptime guarantee for all plans. With certain plans, you can enjoy unlimited bandwidth too.
Though known for its shared plans, Bluehost offers a variety of plans suited for growing or large websites. Their dedicated, cloud, VPS, and reseller hosting plans may cost more, but you will get great value for money overall.
There are some downsides to consider as well. Bluehost noticeably offers only a limited number of Windows-based servers. The vast majority of their servers run Linux.
Bluehost has been accused of unwanted upselling by some users. That means that you are lured in with monthly plans but the web host makes you commit to long-term contracts later.
The bottom line is that Bluehost plans are highly budget-friendly. You won’t lose a lot of money just to check out this web host. Bluehosts alternative is Godaddy.
SiteGround
SiteGround is one of the most popular web hosts in Australia. That’s mainly because of the supremely affordable shared hosting plans the company offers.
You can subscribe to a basic SiteGround plan for around $4 a month. The company offers a variety of packages that you can upgrade to as your website grows.
Their cheapest options are shared and VPS packages. Dedicated packages can be a little costly with SiteGround.
Affordability is not the only reason to get on the SiteGround bandwagon. The company has a data centre in Singapore, which means Australian customers can enjoy some of the speediest pinging times locally.
SiteGround guarantees a 99.99% uptime. You can enjoy benefits like unlimited bandwidth with higher-end packages.
Each plan includes a free website builder, 24/7 customer support, and a free domain name. That’s a bargain if there ever was one.
HostGator
HostGator is another famous brand name in the hosting field. They offer plans starting at around $4 a month to Australian buyers.
HostGator plans are best described as budget-friendly. The cheapest plans offer some of the essentials such as site-building software, customer service, and a reliable uptime guarantee.
However, if you want extra features like more RAM, email servers, or security tools, then you would have to pay more.
This provider is typically recommended for newbie website owners. HostGator is a great provider for those just starting out. When your website gets bigger, you can easily make the switch.
HostGator has some downsides, notably the lack of Windows-based servers. The company offers no Windows-based VPS hosting.
If you are a Linux user, HostGator should be one of your top choices as a hosting provider. Thanks to speedy delivery and reliable packages, this is definitely one of the most affordable providers for cash-strapped Aussies.
GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks offers 300% eco-friendly hosting services. Their plans in Australia start as low as $4 per month.
What exactly does the company mean by being “green”?
The web host powers their servers using wind energy. The company also uses superb energy-efficient Intel Xeon processors.
GreenGeeks offers a valuable deal to Australian buyers. The company promises their customers these perks:
- 9% uptime
- Complete customer satisfaction
It may sound like a marketing gimmick, but GreenGeeks does offer uptimes that can reach 99.94%. There are several other tools that ensure speedy services, such as SSD storage acceleration.
The affordable price tag also includes a free domain name and unlimited space. The company assures users that they are not upselling the budget plans.
InMotion
InMotion plans in Australia are surprisingly cheap and the have wordpress 1 click installs. The basic plan costs only around $8. The company offers newcomers discounts that bring down this cost to around $3.
InMotion doesn’t just offer cheap shared hosting plans. The company also has a reliable array of budget-friendly reseller plans.
What’s more, all plans, even the cheapest, include unlimited email. A free website builder is included as well.
Everything is near perfect with InMotion plans except for the glaring lack of Windows-based servers. The company doesn’t offer cloud hosting either.
Buyers should be aware that not all InMotion plans charge on a monthly basis. The low prices are sometimes attached to long-term payment contracts.
The affordability of the web hosts listed above is based on the prices of the starter packages each offer. Prices can vary and become more expensive with packages that offer more data storage and RAM capacity.
All in all, you will get the cheapest quotes for shared hosting packages. If you want more with your plan, consider VPS hosting, which can be both affordable and feature- rich.
Prices for dedicated and cloud hosting are always higher. You would have to compare individual plans to find out which cost the lowest.
If you want the best cheap hosting package, don’t go by the upfront costs. Instead, compare the value of the plans by weighing features offered against the price. This is the best way to land yourself a web hosting plan that truly offers good value for the money you spend.
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