Creating a website is essential for establishing your brand and connecting with your audience; however, the cost can be a significant challenge, especially for small businesses. Cheap web hosting is the answer, and we’re here to help you in your search. PCMag has covered web hosting services for more than 10 years, so you can count on our expertise to steer you in the right direction. For example, Editors’ Choice winner AccuWeb Hosting has feature-packed plans and helpful customer service for budget-conscious site builders looking to spend less than $100 per year. It isn’t your only choice, though. See the best cheap web hosts we’ve tested above, and read on for what to look for when selecting the right low-cost service for you.
Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
EDITORS’ NOTE
November 8, 2025: With this update, we have removed DreamHost and Hosting.com from our lineup of cheap web hosting services due to pricing changes. Our remaining picks have been vetted for currency and availability.
(Credit: Hostwinds)
(Credit: Hostwinds)
Pros & Cons
Terrific uptime
Excellent reseller and VPS hosting plans
Good customer service
Minecraft server hosting
Not every plan has a Windows server option
Short money-back guarantee window
Why We Picked It
Hostwinds offers several notable shared hosting plans that start at $6.99 per month (billed annually), which include the excellent Weebly website builder. It’s a great tool for quickly publishing online pages without much fuss.
Who It’s For
Bloggers and extremely small businesses. Shared hosting isn’t the most powerful hosting type, but it gets the job done in a pinch. Hostwinds’ shared plans include unlimited monthly data transfers, storage, and email, providing you with the flexibility to create a low-cost website without many limitations.
Specs & Configurations
Learn More
Hostwinds Review
(Credit: Ionos)
(Credit: Ionos)
Best for Cheap VPS Plans
Ionos
Pros & Cons
Excellent cloud hosting packages
Linux- or Windows-based servers
Easy-to-use website creation tools
Many hosting plans for various budgets and needs
Lacks reseller hosting plans
Sparse email options
Why We Picked It
If your website requires more power than what shared hosting offers, but you don’t want to invest in expensive dedicated hosting, consider Ionos’ VPS packages. In particular, its low-cost, entry-level tier costs an extremely affordable $2 per month.
Who It’s For
Small businesses on a tight budget. For a price less than a cup of coffee, your website can leverage a Linux-based server featuring 1GB of RAM, 10GB of NVMe storage, and unlimited monthly data transfers.
Specs & Configurations
(Credit: Accuweb)
(Credit: Accuweb)
Best for Building Multiple Sites on the Cheap
AccuWeb Hosting
Pros & Cons
Great budget-friendly shared hosting options
Excellent dedicated hosting plans
Offers a choice of Linux or Windows servers
Helpful customer service
Limited email accounts with some plans
Why We Picked It
AccuWeb Hosting is a well-rounded web hosting service that features powerful, Windows-based dedicated servers. However, its shared hosting plans are the packages that will appeal to frugal webmasters. In fact, AccuWeb even has an entire site section devoted to cheap plans.
Who It’s For
AccuWeb is a great hosting option for budget-minded webmasters who need multiple sites. Its GoSolo tier (starting at $7.99 per month) allows you to host an impressive 100 websites and comes with 1GB of RAM, 50GB of storage, and 750GB of monthly data transfers. Want to save more money? AccuWeb’s blogger-friendly Budget tier includes 500MB of RAM, 10GB of storage, and 25GB of monthly data transfers for just $1.99 per month.
Specs & Configurations
Learn More
AccuWeb Hosting Review
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Buying Guide: The Best Cheap Web Hosting Services for 2025
How We Pick the Best Cheap Web Hosts
To be included here, a web host must be evaluated based on its regular annual pricing, not introductory discounts. After all, a web host may not really be cheap if its price doubles 12 months later. Our cutoff for inclusion? A web host must charge no more than $99.99 per year. It means that some of our top overall hosting options, such as DreamHost and HostGator, didn’t make it in. This is true low-cost web hosting! There are even truly free web hosting services, but they come with many caveats and aren’t offered by the major players.
The Cheap Web Hosting Features You Need
A web host is a company that provides servers for storing and delivering the files that make up your website. Large businesses can spend hundreds of dollars each year on dedicated web hosting or virtual private server (VPS) hosting. Still, many web hosts have plans designed specifically for small businesses (and personal use), such as shared hosting or WordPress hosting.
Setting up a website with your domain is easy, and most importantly, it doesn’t have to be expensive. Do you need email, blogging software, email marketing, e-commerce, or file sharing? Many of these features are included with cheap web hosting plans.
Customer support is another notable element. Although it’s nice to have a hosting service with FAQs and forums, you want someone available immediately when it’s 3 a.m. and your website is inexplicably down. Look for 24/7 customer support hours, especially with a company that provides web chat and phone options.
One thing we learned while reviewing web hosting services is that reading the fine print is crucial, especially if you are concerned about keeping costs low. Many web hosts offer multiple service tiers, with introductory features in their starter packages and expanded offerings in higher-priced plans. Don’t get swayed by the big fonts touting the monthly fee: Make sure that a particular tier has what you need. Don’t commit to annual plans until you know what features you need and how quickly you plan to grow.
Uptime Is Important, Even With Cheap Web Hosting
The mentioned features are valuable to the web hosting experience, but none match the importance of site uptime. If your site is down, clients or customers will be unable to find you or access your products or services. Every customer turned away is a potential sale lost and traffic not monetized. So, look for a web host’s uptime guarantee before signing up. You want one with a high uptime promise (such as 99%) to minimize downtime. Some cloud-based web hosts promise 100% uptime, minus scheduled maintenance time.
Should You Use a Linux or Windows Server?
The choice between a Linux and Windows server depends on your needs. For example, Linux is ideal for cost-effective, stable, and highly customizable web servers and development environments. It’s also generally cheaper to operate compared with Windows servers. Think of Linux servers as the flexible all-rounder option. On the other hand, Windows servers are better suited for services created and maintained by Microsoft. If your website is built using ASP.NET or Microsoft’s version of SQL, Windows Servers are the better choice.
Windows hosting is often more expensive than Linux hosting, especially in the dedicated server area (you’ll typically see the price difference as you explore the options before checkout). You’d be hard-pressed to find Windows servers for less than $100 per year. If you are willing to invest in Windows servers, consider services like Ionos and Liquid Web, which offer powerful, business-oriented Windows hosting options.
For more, check out Linux vs. Windows: How to Pick the Best Server OS for Your Website.
What Are the Differences Between Managed and Unmanaged Hosting?
You often see these terms used by web hosting services. To clarify, unmanaged hosting means that you’re responsible for server management, maintenance, and security. The web hosting provider simply hosts your data. You have complete control over how your website runs, but this requires more technical expertise. With managed hosting, the hosting company handles these responsibilities on your behalf. You get optimized performance and excellent support with managed hosting, with the trade-off being less control over the server and a notably higher subscription fee.
You’re unlikely to find managed web hosting for less than $100 per year. If the convenience and comfort of managed hosting sound like a worthwhile investment, consider BlueHost and Hostinger, which provide high-quality managed plans.
Recommended by Our Editors
The Cheap Hosting Alternative: Website Builders
If your primary goal is to find a cheap web hosting service, there’s another option: website builders. If you simply want a good-looking website without any extras—a brochure-ware site, for example—you can skip traditional web hosting and check out website builder services.
If you don’t care about owning a domain and don’t want to do a lot of behind-the-scenes tweaking, you should consider one of these online website builders. They let you create surprisingly attractive and functional sites hosted under their domains. Their prices have crept upward over the years, with many of our top picks no longer meeting our budget criteria. However, some offer free plans, which generally means you must accept the company’s branding on your site. Typically, you can pay for a domain at any time, which removes the branding.
5 Things You Need to Know About Web Hosting
Dependable, Affordable Web Hosting
Not all cheap web hosting services are created equal. For example, some have data transfer allotment and storage caps worth investigating. Read the fine print for the unlimited offerings, too, as there may be gotchas that might sneak up on you later. Other services limit the applications or plug-ins you can use.
If you’re just getting started in the web hosting game, check out 5 Things You Need to Know About Web Hosting Before Signing Up for an Account and Still Not Ranking? Try These 10 Ridiculously Easy SEO Hacks.
Jeffrey L. Wilson contributed to this article.
