Best web hosting for creatives in 2024: Choosing the top web hosting for creatives ensures your website operates smoothly, whether starting an online store or showcasing your work.
A website is essential for displaying your portfolio and selling your designs to customers. It should function smoothly. A dysfunctional website, slow loading times, or security vulnerabilities can drive away potential clients and harm your reputation.
Opt for the top web hosting service for creatives to minimize technical issues and ensure peace of mind. If you still need to create a website, check out our guide to the top website builders, many of which include web hosting services.
The best web hosting for creatives
1. GreenGeeks
Can a web hosting provider be environmentally friendly? Protecting the environment involves more than just addressing pollution from vehicles and industries. Data centers worldwide are significant contributors to energy consumption and the emissions responsible for global warming. Consider selecting a hosting provider actively working to reduce their environmental impact.
How does GreenGeeks accomplish this? It provides a “300 percent renewable web hosting service.” Every unit of energy used to host a website is offset by renewable energy credits through the Bonneville Environmental Foundation. They also commit to planting a tree for each hosting account setup.
You can enjoy excellent service without any compromises. GreenGeeks web hosting is reliable, with a 99.9% uptime guarantee, a 30-day money-back guarantee, and good customer support through live chat, email, and phone. It is available every day from 9 am to 12 am EST. It also provides WordPress hosting plans and a website builder for those who still need to get a website.
2. Hostinger
It’s pretty predictable. For example, a freelance illustrator’s blog post could suddenly become popular if it perfectly captures the current cultural trends. On the other hand, a brand’s design agency could receive a sudden surge of attention if the company is suddenly featured in the news.
If that possibility arises for your site, cloud hosting is worth considering. You only pay for what you need, allowing you to adjust your scale as required quickly. Cloud hosting stores your website’s data on servers in different regions. This feature offers multiple layers of redundancy to reduce the chances of data loss, even in the event of a country-wide outage or disaster.
Hostinger is the top cloud hosting provider we’ve reviewed. With data centers in the USA, UK, Singapore, Lithuania, the Netherlands, and more, this service offers an easy way to launch and maintain a website.
They offer three cloud hosting plans: Single, Premium, and Business. You’ll enjoy high speed and scalability with automated updates, daily backups, and a free dedicated IP included. Commit to a year and receive a Lifetime SSL certificate, daily backups, unlimited email accounts, and a free domain.
Hostinger needs more phone support, and its website’s knowledge base is somewhat limited compared to other providers. It provides the choice of 24/7/365 live chat or ticket-based support. Hostinger may not be the top choice for those seeking advanced features or managed plans. It’s our top choice for cloud hosting due to its simplicity.
3. HostGator
Your website may not be the primary focus of your creative work, at least not at the moment. If you’re looking for an affordable web hosting option, shared hosting is the way. It’s cheaper than cloud hosting or dedicated hosting.
Hostgator is currently the top choice for affordable shared hosting. Its prices are low, providing top-notch uptime, performance, and round-the-clock support through live chat, phone, and email.
Hostgator’s shared plans include a free domain, free SSL certificate, $100 of AdWords and Bing credits, unlimited free email addresses, and a website builder with 100+ mobile-friendly templates and an image library. This package is perfect for beginners setting up their first website.
Hostgator offers three shared hosting options. You’ll need to choose the Business option to sell products or services online. Alternatively, you can select the Hatchling tier for hosting a single domain or Baby for multiple domains. The pricing for all tiers is reasonable, but be aware that the cost more than doubles after the initial term.
4. Bluehost
Are you new to hosting? You prefer clear instructions that allow you to focus on the creative work you enjoy. Time is valuable, especially for freelance creatives who must make every minute count. Bluehost is the top choice for new website owners to learn and use quickly. The interface is user-friendly, and customer service is available 24/7.
An onboarding wizard assists in selecting the necessary features for a smooth start. No prior experience or hosting knowledge is required; everything is explained clearly. After you start, you’ll find a user-friendly control panel to monitor everything. You can use ticket-based support, live web chat, or 24/7 phone support if you encounter any issues.
If you use WordPress, Bluehost is an excellent choice for web hosting. Bluehost will install your WordPress software automatically or with just one click, depending on your plan. Transferring a WordPress site from another host is quick and will be completed within 30 days.
Our testing revealed that this product is suitable for beginners and offers advanced features, including various analytics and SEO tools. If your websites are large and complex, managed WordPress hosting options are excellent.
Bluehost offers budget-friendly prices, starting with a plan that includes 50GB of SSD storage, unmetered bandwidth, a free domain, a free SSL certificate, and additional features. The low price you see at the beginning may change after the initial term, which is familiar to hosting providers.
5. DreamHost
DreamHost excels in shared hosting plans. Unlimited bandwidth, MySQL databases, and emails are included, but email costs extra with the cheap starter plan. WordPress comes preinstalled, making setting up a site quickly if you’re using it as your CMS. Site security is ensured with a complimentary Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate.
SSD storage provides dependable performance. You can also host unlimited domains from one account and get free privacy protection to avoid spam emails. DreamHost also provides VPS, managed, dedicated, and cloud hosting if you’re looking for different hosting options. Small businesses should consider the flexible VPS Business plan. Shared hosting plans start at $2.59, and VPS plans start at $10 monthly.
6. InMotion
If your creative business has expanded beyond a simple website and you’re now developing a larger and more intricate site (such as transitioning from a one-person business to starting your agency), less expensive hosting options might need to provide more capabilities. Moving up, VPS hosting costs more than shared hosting but offers increased control and bandwidth.
We discovered that InMotion is an excellent VPS web hosting option for creative individuals. The VPS plans may be less affordable but offer the best value overall. With the most affordable managed VPS hosting plan, you receive 4GB RAM, 75GB SSD storage, 4TB bandwidth, one dedicated ip, free SSLs, a cPanel, and WHM. InMotion provides dedicated Sysadmin support to help with data migration, server setup, and optimization options for PHP or WordPress sites.
Every plan utilizes 100% SSD servers for 20X speeds and live-state snapshots for easy server rollbacks. The support through phone, live chat, and email is available around the clock and is exceptional.
7. SiteGround
Many creatives today possess some tech skills due to the requirements of creative software, but that doesn’t mean they are IT experts. If you prefer working on creative projects over hosting or researching issues, consider investing in a provider with strong customer support.
SiteGround is our top choice here. We’ve discovered that the staff is friendly, helpful, highly knowledgeable and capable. Support is available through chatbots, phone, email, live chat, and tickets. Calls were promptly answered; tickets typically get a first reply within 15 minutes. With the highest-tier plan, you receive priority ticket support from our most experienced agents.
SiteGround is a solid hosting provider overall. The updated hosting account and website management interfaces prioritize accessibility with high-contrast themes. It offers fast speeds and high uptime, allowing you to select the location of your servers.
It’s an excellent option for e-commerce and WordPress, with valuable features for developers, like creating Git repositories. There are more budget-friendly options for creatives, and they might be too advanced for beginners.
8. Hostwinds
Dedicated hosting is the priciest web hosting option for creatives. It provides top-notch service and robust customization options. Something other than this hosting may be suitable for creative freelancers or small agencies. However, it could be the right choice for those managing complex, large-scale sites for a creative company.
If you’re a creative looking for dedicated hosting, Hostwinds is our top choice. Each server is fully managed, meaning you take care of sysadmin duties, server monitoring, and nightly backups. Hostwinds provides numerous options for customizing your setup. Here’s an example: Servers can come with a mix of SSD or SATA drives, and you can adjust RAM, bandwidth, and IP addresses and select from various Windows/Linux operating systems.
What is web hosting?
Web hosting involves storing all your website’s data, such as code, text, images, and video, so anyone with an internet connection can access and interact with it.
In the early days of the internet, only a handful of people could access the web, and you could host content on your computer. Nowadays, with billions of people using the internet, more is needed. Hosting companies store your data on their powerful computer hardware called ‘server farms’.
Should I get web hosting?
Hosting is necessary to have a website. But do you have to pay for hosting separately? You can do it if you’re interested in coding and creating websites! On the other hand, you can opt for a web builder platform, which allows you to create a website effortlessly without any coding knowledge, thanks to its drag-and-drop interface. These platforms usually include hosting. Popular web builder platforms are Wix, Weebly, Shopify, and Squarespace.
Which web hosting is best for beginners?
If you’re starting with web hosting, we suggest Bluehost. This web hosting is perfect for beginners with its user-friendly interface and round-the-clock customer support through phone, live chat, or ticket system. It’s also quite budget-friendly. If you haven’t created a website, try Bluehost’s Website Builder service.
Where can I find free hosting for my website?
Certain hosting companies offer free services, but it’s essential to approach this with caution. These services have limited security and may only provide a little assistance if issues arise. It’s better to sign up with an affordable hosting provider that can cost as little as a couple of dollars a month.
Consider using free hosting only for experimenting with website building without expecting visitors. Infinity Free is a reliable choice if you’re looking for a good service with no hidden fees.
What is the best website host?
Choosing the perfect hosting involves selecting the ideal company. Above are our top picks, but how can you choose the right one for you?
First, consider the amount of support you will require. Finding adequate support for those new to the industry can be challenging, as not all companies offer the same level of assistance. Some companies provide live chat and phone support. When dealing with others, you must complete a form whenever an issue arises and then wait for a response. It could pose a significant problem, such as if your website crashes and you lose money on a crucial sales day like Black Friday.
Also, consider the amount of storage and bandwidth required. When storage is limited, you may not be able to include as many images, videos, or other large files on your website as you’d like. Having limited bandwidth could result in your website crashing if fewer people try to access it simultaneously. Consider the impact on government websites during tax day or reality show voting websites during the final broadcast. Could your site face similar issues?
Also, how crucial is the speed at which your website loads? The closer the hosting company’s servers are to your audience, the faster it will be. Next, how about security? Some hosts provide encryption, 24/7 performance and threat monitoring, and other features to safeguard your website, while others appear less vigilant.
Consider your specific needs and determine if you require a website host specializing in them. For instance, if your website is on WordPress, you’ll likely need specialized WordPress software, preferably with easy one-click installation. It explains why there are many different types of hosting, which can be overwhelming to someone new.
