Siteground Managed WordPress Hosting Review
We have initiated our own initial coverage and reviews on Siteground, a managed WordPress hosting company. We were intrigued based on three factors:
- Their price points were approximately half the going rate of Premium WordPress hosting companies. After discount their higher level plan currently goes for about $14.95 per month (prepaid for a year).
- They offer free migration from other hosts into Siteground’s own managed WordPress hosting service.
- They offer ‘1 click staging‘ options on their higher level plan.
- We heard some positive anecdotal comments from others.
- Their service runs with something of a souped-up cPanel installation and
- They can include email with their plans as well, something somewhat atypical for Managed WordPress Hosting companies.
Dig in and learn more about Siteground
Does Siteground include a free SSL certificate with any plans?
On certain plans, yes.
Siteground does not offer a free SSL on their entry level plans.
A free SSL certificate is available on their mid tier and higher level ‘Geeky’ plan.
Does Siteground offer a free migration service?
Yes.
Siteground managed WordPress hosting plan includes a free migration service performed by Siteground personnel, as opposed to an automated tool offered by one of their competitors. The service is free for paid accounts. It is not included with accounts running on a free trial.
Does Siteground currently offer any discounts or coupon codes for managed WordPress hosting plans?
Yes.
All three of their plans are currently by approximately 45-60% off depending on which plan you select. Their entry level plan is discounted the most, however if you have more than 1 domain or are looking for 1 click staging and GIT support, you will probably want to look at their higher level plans at 50% off.
No discount code is needed.
Siteground does sometimes offer a slightly bigger discount for 24-48 hours on some but not all major holidays.
Does Siteground offer 1 click Staging?
Yes.
Siteground offers 1 Click Staging on their highest level plan, the Geeky plan for $14.95. This also comes with GIT preinstalled.
How many domains does Siteground Allow on managed WordPress hosting plans?
On their entry level plan, they offer 1 domain. Siteground offers unlimited domains (sub domains as well) on both their mid tier plan and their highest level plan which is currently called the ‘Geeky’ plan for $14.95 per month.
What’s the big deal about Sitegrounds Geeky Highest tier WordPress managed hosting plan?
Siteground does offer a 3rd tier plan. It includes everything their mid tier plan covers, plus the big differentiator is that it includes 1 click staging.
Their mid tier WordPress managed hosting plan currently runs for $7.95/ month with a normal price of $14.95. This is a 45% discount off of their normal price which has been fluctuating for the last couple months, slightly more for a day or two on holidays such as Labor Day.
Their mid tier plan comes with a number of extras. The big additions as compared to their entry level plan includes:
- unlimited website hosting, ergo you can run unlimited domains on the plan
- 30 Gb of storage (triple the storage space as the entry level plan
- targeted for total visitor traffic of 100,000 visitors (a guideline not a restriction)
- 30 past backup copies, faster supercacher, priority support, preinstalled GIT, a free SLL certificate
What doesn’t the mid tier plan offer that the Highest level plan does offer?
1 click staging! From our experience if you are running a semi complex site, this can be well worth the money to save time in development. If you are just running a basic blog or site, it may not be that important.
More on the discounts
We get Preachy about understanding when the discount ends…
It is important to understand that after your initial subscription expires, and renews, the renewal rate will be whatever the current normal price is at that time. From our direct (but limited) experience, Siteground requires a minimum purchase of 1 year at a time and a maximum of three years.
What does that mean?
If you order and prepay for 1 year of hosting in advance at $14.95 (discounted rate) you will be charged up front about $179.40. Then, 12 months from now or when you place your order, when the renewal comes up, your credit/debit/paypal card will be charged for 12 months at the normal rate. The normal rate is currently $29.95 so if that is still the normal rate next year, your card would be charged $179.40.
If you are new to Managed WordPress hosting, this might seem expensive compared to generic shared hosting. However, it is about half the going rate of most managed WordPress Hosting companies with the exception of Godaddy’s plan, but Godaddy does not yet offer 1 click staging.
Year 1 = $179.40 at $14.95/mo rate (50% off)
Year 2 = $359.40 at $29.95/mo rate (0% off)
Save bigger with larger prepayment.
If you know that [clink id=”56″ target=”_self” rel=”nofollow”]Siteground[/clink] is going to be a good fit, or if you are just not worried about it, you can make an initial hosting order of 24 or 36 months.
In such a case the example above would work as follows
Year 1 = $538.20 at $14.95/mo rate (50% off for 3 years!) – A savings of about $538.20 off of their regular price!
Year 3 = $1078.20 at $29.95/mo rate (0% off for the next 3 years)
Considerations and ways to save with Hosting in general
- Hosting is a prepaid expense, so if you quit and move somewhere before the 3 years are up, you can generally get a prorated refund
- Hosting prices often trend downward so the normal rate of $29.95 may (not a promise) decrease to something lower three years from now.
Does Siteground offer a mid tier managed WordPress hosting plan?
Yes.
Their mid tier WordPress managed hosting plan currently runs for $7.95/ month with a normal price of $14.95. This is a 45% discount off of their normal price which has been fluctuating for the last couple months, slightly more for a day or two on holidays such as Labor Day.
Their mid tier plan comes with a number of extras. The big additions as compared to their entry level plan includes:
- unlimited website hosting, ergo you can run unlimited domains on the plan
- 20 Gb of storage (double the storage space as the entry level plan
- targeted for total visitor traffic of 25,000 visitors (a guideline not a restriction)
- 30 past backup copies, faster supercacher, priority support
What doesn’t the mid tier plan offer that the Highest level plan does offer?
1 click staging! From our experience if you are running a semi complex site, this can be well worth the money to save time in development. If you are just running a basic blog or site, it may not be that important.
More on the discounts
We get Preachy about understanding when the discount ends…
It is important to understand that after your initial subscription expires, and renews, the renewal rate will be whatever the current normal price is at that time. From our direct (but limited) experience, Siteground requires a minimum purchase of 1 year at a time and a maximum of three years.
What does that mean?
If you order and prepay for 1 year of hosting in advance at $7.95 (discounted rate) you will be charged up front about $95.40. Then, 12 months from now or when you place your order, when the renewal comes up, your credit/debit/paypal card will be charged for 12 months at the normal rate. The normal rate is currently $14.95 so if that is still the normal rate next year, your card would be charged $179.40.
Year 1 = $95.40 at $7.95/mo rate (45% off)
Year 2 = $179.40 at $9.95/mo rate (0% off)
Save bigger with larger prepayment.
If you know that [clink id=”56″ target=”_self” rel=”nofollow”]Siteground[/clink] is going to be a good fit, or if you are just not worried about it, you can make an initial hosting order of 24 or 36 months.
In such a case the example above would work as follows
Year 1 = $286.20 at $7.95/mo rate (60% off for 3 years!) – A savings of about $252 off of their regular price.
Year 3 = $538.20 at $14.95/mo rate (0% off for the next 3 years)
Considerations and ways to save with Hosting in general
- Hosting is a prepaid expense, so if you quit and move somewhere before the 3 years are up, you can generally get a prorated refund
- Hosting prices often trend downward so the normal rate of $14.95 may (not a promise) decrease to something lower three years from now.
What is Siteground’s Entry Level (cheapest) price for Managed WordPress Hosting?
Currently Siteground is offering about 60% off on all of their plans. We’ve seen this discount slightly higher than that even on special holidays.
After discount their entry level plan costs $3.95 per month. Their normal price is $9.95 per month.
It is important to understand that after your initial subscription expires, and renews, the renewal rate will be whatever the current normal price is at that time. From our direct (but limited) experience, Siteground requires a minimum purchase of 1 year at a time and a maximum of three years.
What does that mean?
If you order and prepay for 1 year of hosting in advance at $3.95 (discounted rate) you will be charged up front about $47.40. Then, 12 months from now or when you place your order, when the renewal comes up, your credit/debit/paypal card will be charged for 12 months at the normal rate. The normal rate is currently $9.95 so if that is still the normal rate next year, your card would be charged $119.40.
Year 1 = $47.40 at $3.95/mo rate (60% off)
Year 2 = $119.40 at $9.95/mo rate (0% off)
Save bigger with larger prepayment.
If you know that [clink id=”56″ target=”_self” rel=”nofollow”]Siteground[/clink] is going to be a good fit, or if you are just not worried about it, you can make an initial hosting order of 24 or 36 months.
In such a case the example above would work as follows
Year 1 = $142.20 at $3.95/mo rate (60% off for 3 years!)
Year 3 = $358.20 at $9.95/mo rate (0% off for the next 3 years)
Considerations and ways to save with Hosting in general
- Hosting is a prepaid expense, so if you quit and move somewhere before the 3 years are up, you can generally get a prorated refund
- Hosting prices often trend downward so the normal rate of $9.95 may (not a promise) decrease to something lower three years from now.
One more thing – Free Trial 30 Day money back Guarantee
Siteground offers a 1 month trial plan. In general, changing hosts can be a little bit of work so we do not necessarily recommend ‘trying’ a host out for a month for the hell of it. Going for the free trial also means that the free migration would not be free and there would be a setup fee. 1 month trial plans are available on all levels of plans from Siteground and they offer a 30 day money back guarantee. Our opinion is that this does show their own belief in the value of their offering and its quality which is a positive, but frankly with the exception of a few scenarios, if someone is using the free trial they are probably wasting their own time and maybe Sitegrounds as well. We’d recommend simply making a decision and moving forward. 🙂
Does Siteground offer email with their hosting plans?
Yes.
Siteground offers free email with all of their managed WordPress hosting plans. Their system runs on cPanel and will be familiar too many that have worked with cPanel in the past, although this cPanel setup is light years beyond most of the average shared hosting companies.
Does Siteground offer Managed WordPress Hosting Services?
Yes.
They also offer other types of hosting plans including regular shared hosting plans or hosting plans for Joomla among other things. The point is, do not become confused if you visit their site and find many options. We only review their managed WordPress hosting solution which they call “WordPress Hosting”