Table of Contents
Hostinger: A Quick Overview
Cybernewsguide.com’s Editor Rating?
What Users Say About Hostinger?
What Are the Pros and Cons of Hostinger?
Who Should Choose Hostinger?
Hostinger Hosting Plans and Pricing
Hostinger Hosting Plan Features
Hostinger Performance and Uptime
Hostinger Site Security
Hostinger Support
Recent Improvements to Hostinger
Compare Hostinger Alternatives
Frequently Asked Questions About Hostinger
What Is Hostinger the Company?
How I Rated Hostinger
Hostinger standout features | |
Performance | Fast and reliable hosting |
Average load time | Approximately .55 seconds |
Average response time | Approximately 116ms |
Free domain | Yes. One free domain for the first year |
SSL | Free SSL certificate from LetsEncrypt.org |
1-click WordPress | Yes, included with all hosting packages |
Support | 24/7 support via email or live chat |
What Are the Pros and Cons of Hostinger?
I love Hostinger for many reasons, including its reliable hosting environments, quality CDN, and proven reputation. While there are no huge problems with this company, there are some downsides to note in case they will affect you in any way. Before signing up for an account with Hostinger, consider the pros and cons:
Pros of Hostinger
- Very popular: Hostinger has over a million sites operating on its servers.
- LiteSpeed: Hostinger uses LiteSpeed, which I am a big fan of. This can give you noticeable performance improvements on most types of websites.
- Affordable hosting: Whether getting an entry-level option or something more advanced, the prices are always favorable at Hostinger. However, you must sign up for at least a year to get the best deals.
- 30-day money-back guarantee: All new customers have a 30-day “no questions asked” money-back guarantee.
- 99.9% uptime guarantee: The hosting environment at Hostinger is very stable, and it is backed up with a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
- CloudFlare protection: All Hostinger web hosting benefits from CloudFlare-protected nameservers.
- Free domain: New customers will be given a free domain for the first year (with a 12-month hosting contract).
- Free SSL certificate: All websites hosted with Hostinger will have access to a free SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt.
Cons of Hostinger
- No dedicated servers: Hostinger does not offer dedicated servers, which some larger companies may require. If your site grows to the point where you want a dedicated server, you must either migrate to another company or consider one of Hostinger’s higher-end cloud hosting options.
- hPanel – The custom control panel used by Hostinger is not perfect. While it is easy to use and allows you to do most things without a problem, I still consider it slightly less functional than the standard cPanel option.
- CloudFlare CDN missing on basic hosting packages: If you opt for one of the two lowest-end hosting packages, you will not get the CloudFlare CDN services.
Free domain on many hosting packages
When you sign up for hosting at Hostinger, you will likely qualify for a free domain name for the first year. Some of its entry-level packages do not include this perk, but I recommend using at least the Premium Shared Hosting package, including the free domain name.
Access to Zyro site builder tools
All accounts with Hostinger are given access to the Zyro website builder. This tool lets you create customized websites in minutes without any need to code or program. The variety of tools, themes, and other features will allow you to make a beautiful site you will love.
Nameserver protection from CloudFlare
All of Hostinger’s nameservers are protected by CloudFlare’s DDoS mitigation services. While the nameservers are shared by all Hostinger customers, this is an important layer of security to have in mind. Unprotected nameservers represent a serious vulnerability with some hosting companies, which could result in unwanted downtime. This may be a simple feature from Hostinger, but I love the added protection it provides.
Free SSL certificate
All hosting packages at Hostinger come with a free shared SSL certificate from Let’s Encrypt SSL that will provide your site with significant security. It also ensures your site is following best practices regarding security, which Google confirms is important for proper SEO.
Custom hPanel
Most web hosting companies today use cPanel for their control pane, but, Hostinger created its own custom control panel called hPanel. I prefer the traditional cPanel, but hPanel is still an intuitive set of tools that makes it easy to manage your site. If you have never run a website before, you will quickly learn how to navigate hPanel and won’t run into any real issues. But if you have used cPanel in the past, it might take a bit to get used to the changes, though it isn’t a huge deal.
This hPanel is also where you reach out to the Hostinger customer support team or browse the store to add new features if needed.
Lots of site add-ons
Once you have your hosting account set up, you can customize it using the included site add-on features. This includes a variety of templates and themes along with convenient backup options.
Domain-specific email addresses
You can add email hosting to your web hosting account or purchase it independently. This premium email hosting option will give you a lot of worthwhile features to help you make the most out of your email.
Once you set up your email accounts, you will have access to email templates, read receipts, follow-up reminders, and much more. Note that email hosting is not a free feature with Hostinger, so you will have to add it on or purchase it separately.
99.9% uptime guarantee
All hosting packages at Hostinger come with a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Your hosting servers will be available to serve traffic at least 99.9% of the time, which aligns with the industry standard. While the company only guarantees that your servers will be up 99.9% of the time, it is much more reliable than that in most situations.
CloudFlare CDN on many hosting packages
Starting with the Business Shared Hosting package, you will get free access to the CloudFlare CDN. This helps to speed up the loading times for your website by housing key site files in data centers around the world. The CloudFlare CDN boasts 152 separate locations, meaning your site will always be hosted in a location physically close to your visitors.
LiteSpeed technology
I love that Hostinger uses LiteSpeed on all of its hosting packages. This allows faster response times on the server compared to other technologies most hosting companies use. In addition, many web hosting packages will give you free access to the CloudFlare CDN, which can further speed up your site’s loading.
Advanced security features
Security is always important with web hosting, and Hostinger takes that responsibility seriously. In addition to offering a free SSL certificate and name server protection, it also scans all files regularly for viruses, offers effective backup options, and makes sure site add-ons are kept up-to-date.
Uptime and reliability
After running extensive tests on Hostinger’s environment, I found it had a 100% uptime over the past 30 days, which is very impressive. The all-time uptime percentage is 99.966%, which is wonderful. After performing these tests, I’m confident you’re not likely to experience significant unexpected outages for your website.
Site response times
Site response times depend on the web hosting company’s servers and infrastructure, which in the case of Hostinger, are superior.
After running multiple tests on the Hostinger side, the average response time was between 450ms and 625ms, which is very good. The response time is the delay from the moment you attempt to reach the servers until you get the first response back. It will include transit time between your computer and the Hostinger servers. Simply put, speed should not be an issue when using Hostinger.
Optimized WordPress hosting
Hostinger has several hosting packages designed specifically for WordPress hosting. If you are using the very popular WordPress CMS, it is recommended to look at these hosting options first. They are optimized to run WordPress-based sites as efficiently as possible.
SSL certificates
SSL certificates have become an essential part of any reputable website today, so it is good that Hostinger offers them for free on all its hosting packages. The free SSL certificates are shared certificates from Let’s Encrypt, one of the leaders in this technology.
In addition to allowing your site to use this standard encryption protocol, it also helps ensure your site can rank as well as possible with the search engines. Google has confirmed it prioritizes sites with SSL certificates over those without.
DDoS mitigation
DDoS attacks are one of the most common forms of cyberattacks, with countless incidents occurring every day. These types of attacks can take a website offline for extended periods if not properly handled. Hostinger has all its traffic flowing through CloudFlare’s DDoS mitigation system to protect your site from this attack.
Hostinger offers 24/7 support to all its customers. You can reach out via live chat or email. Unfortunately, the company does not offer phone-based support. While most people today would prefer live chat anyway, it is disappointing that using the phone is not an option.
In addition to the live support team, there is a great self-help section that will give you answers to most types of questions and assist you through many difficulties. The help page also displays the system status, so you will know when a problem is on Hostinger’s end.
These are some of the recent product improvements made available by Hostinger:
- Easy account sharing: Hostinger recently made it easier to share your account with friends, coworkers, employees, and others. This can make it a lot simpler to manage your site.
- Plan boost: If you are expecting a day with high levels of traffic (such as if you are running a promotion or advertisement), you can engage plan boost, which doubles your hosting capabilities for 24 hours.
- Improved WordPress migration: Hostinger has recently updated its WordPress site migration tools to make it faster and easier to move a WordPress-based site from another hosting company to Hostinger.
- Updated WordPress security: Hostinger regularly updates security across the site, especially on its WordPress hosting environments since those are a primary target by cybercriminals.
Compare Hostinger Alternatives
Hostinger is an excellent hosting company that most people will love. The impressive balance between low prices and great services makes the company an ideal option in many situations. Whenever shopping for any type of service, however, make sure to compare all your options to ensure you are going with the best option for your specific situation.
Let’s look at some of the top-rated hosting companies in the industry to see if Hostinger is the best option for you or if another company may be better:
Frequently Asked Questions About Hostinger
What are the cons of Hostinger?
Can Hostinger be trusted?
What country is Hostinger located in?
What are the best alternatives to Hostinger?
Can I connect to my Hostinger control panel from a mobile device?
How do I find details of my Hostinger hosting plan?
How do you contact Hostinger live support?
If you need help from the Hostinger team, log onto your account and click on the question mark to go to the help page. This will give you access to self-help information as well as easy buttons to email or reach out via live chat.
Hostinger does not offer any phone support. If you need the company for anything, you must use the live chat feature.
How I Rated Hostinger
I test web hosts based on the following factors:
- Plan value: What plans are available, and do they offer a good value?
- Ease of use: Is the dashboard easy to navigate?
- Support: How fast can you get help when needed, and is support genuinely helpful?
- Features: What features does the host offer, and how do they compare to similar competitors?
- Security: Does the host offer SSL certificates, Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack protection, backup services, and scans for viruses and malware?
- Speed and uptime: Does the provider offer a fast, stable environment for your website? How does it perform in tests, and what kind of servers does the hosting company use?
- Recent improvements: What has the host done lately to update its technology and services?
Learn more about our review methodology.