Best cheap WordPress hosting I’ve tested over 4+ years (2026)
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Finding the best WordPress hosting can be a challenge. Many providers offer cheap, but slow hosting, while others offer prices that jump multiple times upon renewal. Having tried to run WordPress websites of my own in the past, I have gone through several providers and experienced these issues myself, always looking to save as much money as possible.
So in this article, I’ll give you my top 10 cheap WordPress hosting providers based on my personal experience. I’ll rate the providers based on the price-to-value ratio, affordability, speed, ease of use, and reliability I’ve experienced when testing them.
Best cheap WordPress hosting providers 2026 – in short
- Hostinger ($2.69/month) – best overall cheap WordPress hosting (Get up to 81% OFF Hostinger + 3 free months)
- WordPress.com ($2.75/month) – best for managed WordPress hosting (Get 69% OFF WordPress Hosting)
- Bluehost ($1.99/month)– best for performance (Get up to 78% OFF Bluehost)
- IONOS ($1.00/month) – best introductory price (visit IONOS)
- DreamHost ($1.99/month) – best for new websites and beginners (visit DreamHost)
- InterServer ($2.50/month) – best for lowest long-term pricing (visit InterServer)
Best cheap WordPress hosting 2026 – in-depth reviews
To help you pick your next cheap WordPress hosting provider, I break down each provider, looking at each product’s features, and how they compare to the best WordPress hosting options overall.
1. Hostinger – best cheap WordPress hosting overall ($2.69/month)
| Rating: | |
| Pricing: | $2.69/month |
| Full 1-year price: | $21.48/year |
| Money-back guarantee: | ✅ Yes, 30 days |
| Free domain: | ✅ Yes |
| Free SSL: | ✅ Yes |
| Current deal: | Get up to 81% OFF Hostinger + free months |
Hostinger is my top pick for multiple reasons. First off, it’s very cheap, offering a long-term plan that costs $2.69/month and adds 3 extra months. On top of that, it’s fast, reliable, and easy to use, even if you’ve never launched a WordPress website before.
Why Hostinger is good for WordPress on a budget
- Managed WordPress updates even in the cheapest plan. Thanks to this feature, I didn’t have to worry about installing the software manually or maintaining it with updates. Instead, Hostinger would just send me an email about my WordPress being updated to the latest version.
- Easy to use. Hostinger’s control panel made creating a new website and domain management easy – no technical knowledge required.
- Global CDN. Hostinger’s CDN, included in each web hosting plan, helps reduce latency by serving content from locations closest to visitors, improving load times for global audiences.
- Free website migration (unlimited websites). Moving my blog to Hostinger was easy, and the tool ensured that I didn’t have any downtime as the switch was being made.
- AI tools. Hostinger’s Kodee AI assistant, along with its site-building tools, wasere very helpful when setting up my blog.
To learn more about this provider, read my full Hostinger review.
Performance and real-world WordPress experience
In order to test Hostinger, I set up a WordPress website using the standard Twenty Twenty Four theme, as well as the WP Super Cache, Yoast SEO, and reSmush.it Image Optimizer plugins. I then tested it using CatchPoint WebPageTest for speed and Grafana for uptime.
- Site loading time (Speed Index): 0.737s
- Uptime-wise, Hostinger had a 100% uptime with no major outages, and the best response time at 50.73ms.
Pricing: intro vs renewal
Hostinger’s cheapest WordPress plan is the Premium plan, which givesing you 3 websites, 20GB of storage, and includes free managed WordPress installations on a 4-year plan.
- Hostinger starts at $2.69/month with its introductory plan, with 3 free months included in the 4-year plan.
- It renews at $10.99/month, which is quite a big price hike.
My experience using Hostinger for WordPress
Creating a website with Hostinger was very intuitive, and if I had any questions, the Kodee AI assistant was there to answer any questions. I particularly appreciated that the Hostinger setup was embedded in WordPress dashboard.
Hostinger’s AI content creator plugin in the Hostinger WordPress dashboard allowed me to quickly generate content for my website. While the blog posts it created weren’t perfect, they were acceptable filler content or foundations for my own articles.
When my website felt slow, Hostinger offered me the option to troubleshoot it with AI, quickly optimizing its performance with an LLM – no technical knowledge required.Hostinger AI Troubleshooter
Hostinger’s dashboard is very intuitive. Creating new websites, accessing my files, and getting backups were very simple. Finding options didn’t take more than a few clicks, and the entire UI was well designed.
Hostinger’s dashboard is very intuitive. Creating new websites, accessing my files, and getting backups were very simple. Finding options didn’t take more than a few clicks, and the entire UI was well designed.
2. WordPress.com – best for managed WordPress hosting ($2.75/month)
| Rating: | |
| Pricing: | $2.75/month |
| Full 1-year price: | $33.00/year |
| Money-back guarantee: | ✅ Yes, 14-day |
| Free domain: | ✅ Yes |
| Free SSL: | ✅ Yes |
| Current deal: | Get 69% OFF WordPress Hosting |
WordPress.com is a great choice if you want cheap WordPress hosting without dealing with technical setup. I found it especially useful for users who prefer a managed environment where everything works out of the box.
Why WordPress.com is good for WordPress on a budget
- Fully managed hosting. WordPress.com takes care of updates, security, and performance automatically.
- Built-in optimization. Speed and caching are handled on the platform level, so no manual setup is needed.
- Free domain and SSL. Paid plans include a free domain for the first year and SSL by default.
- Unlimited traffic. You don’t need to worry about visitor limits as your site grows
- Simple scaling. You can upgrade plans to unlock plugins, advanced tools, and customization.
Performance and real-world WordPress experience
For consistency, I tested WordPress.com with a fully built WordPress site using a standard theme and essential plugins. The results were among the best in this category.
- Loading speed (LCP): 0.489s
- WordPress.com maintained 100% uptime during testing, with a 54.16ms average response time, which indicates fast and stable performance.
Pricing: intro vs renewal
WordPress.com’s cheapest plan is the Personal plan, which includes hosting, a free domain for the first year, and essential features for a single site.
- Starts at $2.75/month with a long-term plan
- Renews at $3.50/month, which is a relatively small increase compared to many competitors
My experience using WordPress.com for WordPress
Using WordPress.com felt very smooth because everything is managed in one place. I didn’t need to install updates, configure caching, or handle security settings manually.
Another useful aspect of WordPress.com hosting is how it handles plugins. On higher-tier plans, I was able to install plugins directly without dealing with manual setup or compatibility issues. What stood out is that many essential features – like caching, security, and performance optimization – are already built into the platform. This means you don’t need to rely on multiple third-party plugins to get your site running smoothly, which saves time and reduces potential conflicts.
3. Bluehost – best for performance ($1.99/month)
| Rating: | |
| Pricing: | $1.99/month |
| Full 1-year price: | $23.88/year |
| Money-back guarantee: | ✅ Yes, 30 days |
| Free domain: | ✅ Yes |
| Free SSL: | ✅ Yes |
| Current deal: | Get up to 78% OFF Bluehost |
Bluehost is an excellent pick for beginners looking to launch their first website. I found it to be very easy to use, while maintaining solid reliability and speeds.
Why Bluehost is good for WordPress on a budget
- AI site creation tools. Making a new website with Bluehost was a breeze, thanks to AI site creation tools that helped me set up all the basics, allowing me to focus on my content.
- NVMe storage, caching, and global CDN. Since Bluehost uses the fastest possible storage and a lot of useful behind-the-scenes technology, it can load sites very fast – especially for returning users.
- Weekly backups. With my site being saved every week, I didn’t have to worry about any failures wiping out my entire site.
- Staging site. Reworking my website was easy thanks to Bluehost’s staging feature, which allowed me to test changes, like theme modifications or new plugins, without impacting my live site.
- Security features. Bluehost offers free SSL and malware scanning in all its plans, ensuring high security for both site owners and users.
- Managed WordPress updates in every plan. The automatic WordPress updates really let me focus on my content, instead of worrying about the latest security fixes.
To learn more about this provider, read my full Bluehost review.
Performance and real-world WordPress experience
While testing Bluehost, I used the same stack I used for the other providers: the standard Twenty Twenty Four theme, as well as the WP Super Cache, Yoast SEO, and reSmush.it Image Optimizer plugins. I found that Bluehost offered reliable uptime and very impressive load times.
- Loading speed (Speed Index): 0.818s
- Bluehost’s uptime showed that it had 100% uptime with no major failures, and a solid 96.14ms average latency.
Pricing: intro vs renewal
Bluehost’s cheapest WordPress plan is the Premium plan, giving you 1 website, 1GB of storage, and free managed WordPress installations.
- Bluehost starts at $1.99/month with its introductory plan.
- It renews at $8.99/month, which is a smaller increase than Hostinger’s, while still being rather large.
My experience using Bluehost for WordPress
Bluehost embeds its Blu Chat AI assistant into WordPress, which lets me add AI-generated content into my articles without leaving the website or to troubleshoot any issues that may arise.
Bluehost’s WordPress dashboard was pretty useful. It allowed me to manage my hosting without switching to Bluehost’s main dashboard. It also offered some useful features that would usually require installing an additional free plugin, such as coming soon and maintenance pages.
Bluehost lets you manage plugins from its dashboard. This might seem like a redundant feature, but if a plugin causes instability in your WordPress installation, it can be really useful for troubleshooting. Note that you cannot install plugins through this interface, only manage existing ones.
Another useful feature of the Bluehost plugin was its advanced management options. Bluehost allowed me to customize its caching settings, letting me decide how much of the website should be stored in the cache based on how often I update my website. I was also able to set up a staging environment. Of course, this can also be achieved with a free plugin, but this way, Bluehost saves users time and limits the number of plugins they have to install to get their website fully up and running.
If you need to look under the hood, Bluehost offers cPanel. Compared to the dashboard, the cPanel sacrifices ease of use for advanced features. These include advanced email management (email routing, spam filter settings), FTP permission management, advanced database management via phpMyAdmin, and cron job setup. Using these comes with a learning curve, which is worth it in the long run.
Pros
4. IONOS – WordPress host with the cheapest introductory offer ($1.00/month)
| Rating: | |
| Pricing: | $1.00/month |
| Full 1-year price: | $12.00/year |
| Money-back guarantee: | ✅ Yes, 30 days |
| Free domain: | ✅ Yes |
| Free SSL: | ✅ Yes |
| Current deal: | Get up to 94% OFF IONOS |
IONOS offers the cheapest introductory deal on my list, so if you’re looking purely for savings, it’s a good choice. However, I found its performance and features to be slightly weaker than Hostinger and Bluehost, and I believe that the extra $10.00/year is definitely worth it in the long run.
Why IONOS is good for WordPress on a budget
- Cheapest introductory offer. Starting at $1.00/month, IONOS is the cheapest provider on my list by far.
- Free domain and Wildcard SSL. With a free domain and Wildcard SSL, IONOS gives value for both your domain and any subdomains you may be running.
- Daily backups. While Hostinger and Bluehost only offer weekly backups, IONOS includes free daily backups in all plans.
- 1-click restore. I appreciated the fact that in case I made an error modifying the site, I could easily restore to a previous version using only one click.
- WordPress Website Cockpit. It’s aAn additional panel helping you control and optimize your WordPress installation.
- 24/7 support. In case of any issues, IONOS’ support was always available to help me resolve them.
To learn more about this provider, read my full IONOS review.
Performance and real-world WordPress experience
To test IONOS, I used a WordPress setup with the standard Twenty Twenty Four theme, as well as the WP Super Cache, Yoast SEO, and reSmush.it Image Optimizer plugin. IONOS wasn’t the fastest performer on my list, but it still showed to be a solid provider in terms of performance.
- Loading speed (Speed Index): 1.295s
- IONOS’ uptime came in at 100%, with a slower average latency at 200.22ms.
Pricing: intro vs renewal
IONOS’ cheapest WordPress plan is the Grow plan, which gives you unlimited websites, 50GB of storage, and free m
- IONOS offers an introductory deal for its Grow plan starting at $1.00/month.
- The plan renews at $12.00/month, marking one of the biggest price increases on the list.
My experience using IONOS for WordPress
Installing WordPress with IONOS was simple. I clicked Install, and IONOS handled everything for me. Similar to other providers, I didn’t have to worry about setting up a database or considering what prefix I should use.
Like Bluehost, IONOS also offers its own WordPress dashboard. It includes a vulnerability scanner and quick access to hosting management options. While the features aren’t exclusive to it, it’s still a handy tool that makes managing your WordPress easier.
I felt the IONOS dashboard was a bit dated in terms of design, featuring a central block menu rather than a modern sidebar – but it was still very usable, giving me access to all the options I needed to set up my website. Unfortunately, it was also pretty limited compared to Hostinger and Bluehost. IONOS lacked Hostinger’s LLM-optimization features and didn’t offer the detailed control over caching that Bluehost did.
5. DreamHost – best for beginners ($1.99/month)
| Rating: | |
| Pricing: | $1.99/month |
| Full 1-year price: | $23.88/year |
| Money-back guarantee: | ✅ Yes, 30 days |
| Free domain: | ✅ Yes |
| Free SSL: | ✅ Yes |
| Current deal: | Get DreamHost, now 83% OFF |
DreamHost is my pick for the cheapest long-term plan, as you can get up to 4 years for $1.99/month. On top of that, it offers some unique features that can definitely come in handy, especially for newer users.
Why DreamHost is good for WordPress on a budget
- Long plan length. DreamHost lets you purchase a plan for 4 years, securing a low rate for a long term.
- Free handcrafted starter website. DreamHost offers to buy your first starter website and hand it to human designers, rather than an AI.
- Built-in traffic analytics. I found this feature very useful to track my readership and see how my website is progressing.
- Unlimited free SSL. If you’re running multiple websites, unlimited free SSL will ensure that they’re all secure and easily accessible to users.
- 1-click restore. I appreciated the fact that in case I made an error modifying the site, I could easily restore to a previous version using only one click.
- Liftoff AI website builder. On top of the handcrafted website, DreamHost gave me the option to create more websites with the help of AI.
To learn more about this provider, read my full DreamHost review.
Performance and real-world WordPress experience
To test DreamHost, I used the same setup as I did for the other providers: the standard Twenty Twenty Four theme, as well as the WP Super Cache, Yoast SEO, and reSmush.it Image Optimizer plugins. DreamHost’s performance wasn’t quite as impressive as Hostinger or Bluehost, but still showed that it’ll do a good job in real-life scenarios.
- Website loading time (Speed Index): 1.052s
- DreamHost’s uptime was 100%, and it showed a slower latency than BlueHost or Hostinger at 179.66ms
Pricing: intro vs renewal
DreamHost’s cheapest WordPress plan is the WordPress Hosting Launch plan. It offers 25 websites, with 25GB NVMe SSD storage for a 4-year term.
- DreamHost’s cheapest plan starts at $1.99/month.
- After the 4-year term is up, the plan renews at $7.99/month.
My experience using DreamHost for WordPress
When starting with DreamHost, I was given two options. Either a full-on AI-generated WordPress website built with DreamHost’s Liftoff Website Builder or a custom installation based on specific use cases. This is a pretty unique approach to quick installation that I really liked, as it was very simple, yet allowed some customization.
DreamHost’s dashboard was really intuitive. I was able to easily access everything from my billing options to advanced FTP and database settings. Similar to Hostinger, DreamHost has an interface that’s simple to navigate. It divides all functionalities in a clear and concise way, saving time when setting up my website.
DreamHost’s personalized business tools were a really helpful addition to its plan. The chatbot’s biggest pro was that it maintained the conversation's context throughout my time with DreamHost, always remembering what we had discussed previously and expanding on the information it already had.
6. InterServer – affordable hosting provider with cheap renewal ($2.50/month)
| Rating: | |
| Pricing: | $2.50/month |
| Full 1-year price: | $30.00/year |
| Money-back guarantee: | ✅ Yes, 30 days |
| Free domain: | ❌ No |
| Free SSL: | ✅ Yes |
| Current deal: |
InterServer is the provider that I found to offer the best long-term savings. Given that its renewal costs only $7.00/month, if you’re planning to use it for more than 7 years, it is the cheapest option.
Why InterServer is good for WordPress on a budget
- Unlimited SSD storage. This is a very generous feature that can come in handy, especially when hosting large video files or hi-res photo catalogues.
- Unlimited email accounts. InterServer lets you set up unlimited professional [email protected] email addresses, allowing you to professionalize your site.
- InterShield protection. InterServer offers an advanced protection suite that protects websites against even complex attacks with multiple layers of defence.
- Free website migration. Moving my website to InterServer was quick and easy, thanks to its automated transfer tool.
To learn more about this provider, read our full InterServer review.
Performance and real-world WordPress experience
I tested InterServer with a WordPress installation including the Twenty Twenty Four theme, as well as the WP Super Cache, Yoast SEO, and reSmush.it Image Optimizer plugins. I have found the provider to match the top performers in terms of page load speed, delivering a functioning website quickly.
- InterServer’s Speed Index came in at 0.843s, which is one of the best results in my testing.
- InterServer’s uptime was the one of the two in my test that scored below 100%, having a longer outage that caused it to go down to 99.98%, with an average latency of 111.88ms.
Pricing: intro vs renewal
InterServer’s cheapest plan is the Standard Web Hosting Plan. It includes unlimited websites, unlimited NVMe storage, and unlimited speed for a 2-year term. Unfortunately, the plan doesn’t include a domain, which must be bought separately for $7.99.
- InterServer’s cheapest plan starts at $2.50/month.
- After the 2-year term, the plan renews at $7.00/month.
My experience using InterServer for WordPress
InterServer’s Softaculous app manager made it very easy to install WordPress. It only took a few clicks, and it immediately suggested some basic WordPress plugins that I could install to start off my website.
I found InterServer’s dashboard to be a bit dated – especially in terms of its visuals and user interface. Luckily, once I got the hang of it, managing my plan and website was relatively easy. However, I still feel that its interface is structured worse than Hostinger’s or DreamHost’s.
InterServer’s use of DirectAdmin more than made up for its dashboard. Similar to cPanel, DirectAdmin gave me access to advanced features. These included PHP and database settings, email deliverability settings, and cron jobs. Of course, just like cPanel, DirectAdmin has a learning curve. Luckily, once you figure it out, it can be a powerful tool in your arsenal.
7. Liquid Web – best cheap WordPress host for scaling up projects ($3.50/month)
| Rating: | |
| Pricing: | $3.50/month |
| Full 1-year price: | $48.00/year |
| Money-back guarantee: | ✅ Yes, 30 days |
| Free domain: | ✅ Yes |
| Free SSL: | ✅ Yes |
| Current deal: | Get Liquid Web, now 50% OFF |
Liquid Web is my top pick for you if you need a more advanced WordPress platform. While it may seem overwhelming at first, it offers an interesting service for WordPress users like larger WooCommerce sites.
Why Liquid Web is good for WordPress on a budget
- Fully managed WordPress installation. Liquid Web installs, updates, stages, backs up, and provides 24/7 expert support in case of any trouble.
- Security. Liquid Web offers high security, including malware monitoring and the Solid Security Pro plugin, which I particularly appreciated.
- Content Delivery Network. LiquidWeb’s CDN ensures your readers will have fast access to your site – wherever they are in the world.
- Automatic scaling. If your website gets a sudden spike in usage, LiquidWeb automatically adjusts your site’s resources to ensure that it doesn’t crash.
To learn more about this provider, read our full Liquid Web review.
Performance and real-world WordPress experience
Liquid Web’s cloud infrastructure made it load pretty quickly and guaranteed very stable uptime.
- Loading speed (Speed Index): 0.924s
- LiquidWeb’s uptime was 100% with an excellent 83.77ms average latency
Pricing: intro vs renewal
Liquid Web’s cheapest WordPress plan is the WordPress Hosting Launch plan. It offers 1 website, with 15GB NVMe SSD storage for a 3-year term.
- Liquid Web’s cheapest plan starts at $3.50/month.
- After the 3-year term is up, you can switch to the $6.00/month plan.
My experience using Liquid Web for WordPress
Liquid Web gave me the choice between its advanced hosting management Liquid Web portal and its simplified Nexcess portal, which I’d recommend to beginners. I appreciate this approach, as it is suitable for companies of various sizes and users of various technical expertise.
Regardless of which portal you choose, installing WordPress is pretty simple thanks to quick-deploy options. This only takes a few clicks, and you don’t need any technical knowledge to set WordPress up.
Whenever I needed to learn something about Liquid Web’s advanced functionalities, I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of Liquid Web’s knowledge database. It was easy to search and thorough in terms of the information it provided.
8. SiteGround – affordable and secure WordPress host ($2.99/month)
| Rating: | |
| Pricing: | $2.99/month |
| Full 1-year price: | $35.88/year |
| Money-back guarantee: | ✅ Yes, 30 days |
| Free domain: | ✅ Yes |
| Free SSL: | ✅ Yes |
| Current deal: | Get up to 83% OFF SiteGround + FREE TRANSFER |
SiteGround offers an affordable introductory plan, along with a few interesting AI features and advanced security solutions. If you’re looking for an affordable and secure host, SiteGround is a solid option.
Why SiteGround is good for WordPress on a budget
- Managed WordPress updates. With SiteGround taking care of the updates, I didn’t have to worry about my WordPress installation being out of date.
- Advanced security. SiteGround’s Web Application Firewall protects websites from various attacks.
- Automated transfer. Moving my website to SiteGround was quick and easy, thanks to its automated transfer tool.
- Staging tool. Building new versions of my website was much easier, thanks to SiteGround’s staging tool, which allowed me to test the changes out before going live.
- AI agent. SiteGround’s AI agent can do everything from giving tips and tricks to generating entire articles.
To learn more about this provider, read our full SiteGround review.
Performance and real-world WordPress experience
To test the provider, I used WordPress with the Twenty Twenty Four theme, WP Super Cache, Yoast SEO, and reSmush.it Image Optimizer plugins. SiteGround’s performance was on par with the fastest providers on this list, making it an excellent choice if you’re looking for speed and reliability.
- SiteGround’s Speed Index came in at 0.828s, which is one of the best results in my testing.
- SiteGround’s uptime results showed 100% uptime, and an impressive latency of 56.62ms.
Pricing: intro vs renewal
SiteGround’s cheapest WordPress plan is the WordPress StartUp plan. It offers 1 website, with 10GB Premium Google storage for a 1-year term.
- SiteGround’s cheapest plan starts at $2.99/month.
- After the 1-year term, the plan renews at $17.99/month.
My experience using SiteGround for WordPress
SiteGround offers a built-in AI chat called the AI Studio. It gave me recommendations for everything from security to content, and I was quite impressed by how well it integrated with my WordPress installation. It was able to help with everything from plugin recommendations to content generation, which was quite useful.
Installing WordPress with SiteGround was simple. I was able to do it with a few clicks, after choosing between installing a standard WordPress site or one with WooCommerce preinstalled, which would come in handy if you want to sell products through your website.
After picking a non-WooCommerce site, SiteGround asked me what kind of website I’d like to create. Depending on what you need the website for, SiteGround will build a website with an appropriate template and content structure. This is helpful if you’re not sure how you want to structure your site, providing a foundation you can build on.
9. InMotion – cheap WordPress hosting for teams ($2.29/month)
| Rating: | |
| Pricing: | $2.29/month |
| Full 1-year price: | $39.48/year |
| Money-back guarantee: | ✅ Yes, 30 days |
| Free domain: | ✅ Yes |
| Free SSL: | ✅ Yes |
| Current deal: | Get InMotion Hosting, now 81% OFF |
InMotion is my top pick for teams, due to its built-in collaboration tools. Whether you’re a group of hobbyists or a small company, InMotion lets you manage your hosting without forcing you to share one set of credentials between multiple people.
Why InMotion is good for WordPress on a budget
- Multi-user solutions. InMotion caters to teams building WordPress websites, allowing multiple users to manage, collaborate, and stage the website.
- Daily backups. In case something goes wrong, InMotion offers daily backups that ensure your website is recoverable in case of failure.
- NVMe and caching stack. InMotion’s drives and caching infrastructure guarantee fast load times.
- Real-time threat monitoring. InMotion monitors your website to ensure that you’re not exposed to malware or threat actors.
To learn more about this provider, read our full InMotion review.
Performance and real-world WordPress experience
InMotion’s performance optimization stack is claimed to be faster than a regular stack. The results don’t really show a massive speed increase over other providers, with InterServer’s results being slightly slower than the fastest-performing hosts. I used the same testing setup as I did for the other providers: a WordPress installation with the Twenty Twenty Four theme, as well as the WP Super Cache, Yoast SEO, and reSmush.it Image Optimizer plugins.
- InMotion’s Speed Index was 0.939s, which isn’t the best result on the list, but still is below the 1s mark.
- InMotion’s uptime was 100% with only minor reachability issues. It had an average latency of 120.82ms.
Pricing: intro vs renewal
InMotion offers a WordPress plan with 1 website, 100GB NVMe storage, a WordPress performance boost, and a free domain and SSL.
- InMotion’s cheapest plan starts at $2.29/month for 1 year. However, you can also purchase a 3-year plan for $3.69/month.
- After the 1-year term, the plan renews at $12.49/month.
My experience using InMotion for WordPress
I found InMotion’s dashboard the least modern of all the products I tested. Its looks aside, managing your account and plans is simple and intuitive. I didn’t have trouble finding my way around it and setting up my website.
Installing WordPress with InMotion was pretty simple through its dashboard. I was also offered the option to use cPanel or Softaculous if I needed more apps or advanced functionality. The installation included a few plugins, including Jetpack, which was preinstalled, making website setup a bit faster.
InMotion’s WordPress can be managed through cPanel or Softaculous. The process of installing and managing WordPress was pretty straightforward, though it lacked some of the advanced features offered by Hostinger, like LLM optimization. This is also where I added team members to the panel, allowing more people to manage my WordPress installation without sharing credentials.
10. ScalaHosting – reliable WordPress hosting for small websites ($2.51/month)
| Rating: | |
| Pricing: | $2.51/month |
| Full 1-year price: | $35.40/year |
| Money-back guarantee: | ✅ Yes, anytime prorated money-back guarantee |
| Free domain: | ✅ Yes (not in the introductory plan) |
| Free SSL: | ✅ Yes |
| Current deal: | Get ScalaHosting up to 79% OFF |
ScalaHosting is a provider offering cheap WordPress hosting for small websites. It has robust features related to WordPress management and security, and while not providing the best performance or resources, it is still a good choice for a starter.
Why ScalaHosting is good for WordPress on a budget
- Long-term starting plan. ScalaHosting offers its introductory offer for 3 years, giving you an option to save in the long run.
- AI website builder. In case you’re having trouble designing your website, ScalaHosting’s website builder will definitely help you build a foundation.
- WPLock. ScalaHosting lets me lock my core WordPress files, increasing security by preventing unwanted malicious attacks.
- WordPress Manager. ScalaHosting’s proprietary solution offers simple and reliable WordPress installations, management, and automatic update maintenance.
- Anytime money-back guarantee. If you stop needing ScalaHosting’s services, you can apply for a money-back guarantee at any point. The provider will then refund you for the remaining time on your hosting plan, no matter when you apply.
To learn more about this provider, read our full ScalaHosting review.
Performance and real-world WordPress experience
To test the provider, I used WordPress with the Twenty Twenty Four theme, as well as the WP Super Cache, Yoast SEO, and reSmush.it Image Optimizer plugins. ScalaHosting’s performance was on the slower side. While still within acceptable limits, if you want fast servers, I’d choose Hostinger or Bluehost.
- ScalaHosting scored a Speed Index of 1.525s, which is the slowest result among the tested hosting providers.
- ScalaHosting’s uptime results showed 99.99% uptime with an average latency of 136.17ms. ScalaHosting also had the most minor failures, with the lowest reachability on the list.
Pricing: intro vs renewal
ScalaHosting's cheapest WordPress plan includes 10GB SSD storage and unlimited bandwidth for 36 months.
- ScalaHosting’s cheapest plan starts at $2.51/month.
- After the 3-year term, the plan renews at 11.95/month.
My experience using ScalaHosting for WordPress
Similar to InMotion, I found ScalaHosting’s dashboard a bit dated. While not too attractive visually, it’s easy enough to use. It was structured well, and I didn’t have to wonder how to get to any of the functionalities I needed.
ScalaHosting gave me the choice between cPanel and its custom sPanel, which I chose. The sPanel is attractive and modern, and installing WordPress with it was very easy, giving me the choice between a custom install and a store generated with the Spectra Website Builder, which offers some interesting, modern-looking themes and is pretty easy to customize.
ScalaHosting includes free email accounts with all its plans. I was able to quickly create and manage multiple email accounts, which are particularly useful if you’re building a business site.
Testing methodology
At Cybernews, we’ve reviewed over 63 hosting providers. The Cybernews research team thoroughly tests each provider, using a combination of hands-on testing and dedicated tests.
In order to test each provider thoroughly, we purchase a plan, set up a demo website, and evaluate the provider's ease of use and features. Next, we use the demo site to test each provider’s speed and uptime using dedicated tools.
Our in-house research team and expert writers work hand in hand to regularly test hosting services and provide accurate and fact-checked information. Discover the ins and outs of how we test and evaluate website hosting providers.
FAQ
What’s the absolute cheapest WordPress hosting?
Hostinger and InterServer are the cheapest providers for the long term. Hostinger is the best if you want to use it for 5 years, as after its 4-year introductory plan expires, you will only have to pay the full rate for a year, averaging out to around $3.79/month. InterServer has the cheapest renewal rate, which means that the longer you use it, the cheaper it becomes, costing $6.50/month over 10 years.
How do I lock in the cheapest WordPress hosting deal possible?
To lock in the cheapest WordPress hosting deal, pick a long-term, introductory plan and use coupon codes to secure the lowest price.
