Given the small number of Dutch hosting companies that offer top services and top performances to their customers, Rickid web design went looking for an international hosting partner that does meet these requirements. What followed was a true search through the international hosting landscape for a "high-quality" hosting company. The requirements included: the support team must be available 24/7, 365 days a year and have the right know-how. Hosting must also have shockingly fast loading speeds, super security, correct pricing, a user-friendly interface, good reviews and most importantly, that the support can respond quickly to problems such as a webshop being down. Through this search, Rickid eventually ended up with an international party based in Bulgaria called Siteground. This blog shows what Siteground has to offer and whether it also suits your company.
What is Siteground?
Siteground was founded in 2004 by 2 students and has since undergone an extraordinary development. It now has more than 500 employees and they manage almost 2 million domains including many well-known online users. SiteGround is a web hosting platform that allows users to purchase a space for their website on the internet. This space allows you to put your website or webshop of your company on the internet and therefore you are findable by third parties.
Hosting Types
The company offers 4 plans for hosting types namely:
Web hosting
This plan is designed for small and medium sized business websites, but can also be used by individuals.
WordPress Hosting
This plan would be suitable for users with a WordPress website. It is an easy to use option yet extremely powerful. More information will follow later in this article.
WooCommerce hosting
SiteGround says it is “designed to help you sell more online.” As the name suggests, this hosting is for those who use the eCommerce Woocommerce plugin in WordPress to host their online store. More information will follow later in this article.
Cloud hosting
This hosting, specially built for “high performance sites”, takes a business site to the next level with high performance features.
Pricing
Startup
For $ 6.99/month, this plan offers one website, 10GB of space, 10,000 visits, and unlimited traffic. It also comes with free SSL, daily backup, free CDN, free email, and unlimited databases. The user gets both admin WordPress and a 100% renewable energy match. If the user has any doubts after purchasing this plan, the company guarantees a refund within 30 days.
GrowBig
This one costs $ 9.99/month and promises a wide range of benefits. It comes with unlimited websites, 20GB of space, unlimited traffic, and 2500 monthly visits. Just like the ‘Startup’ plan, GrowBig also offers free SSL, daily backups, free CDN, free email, managed WordPress, unlimited databases, and a 100% renewable energy match. If this plan doesn’t satisfy users, they can still get their money back within 30 days. Some of the other benefits include: on-demand copies, speed-boosting caching, staging, and an option to add collaborators.
GoGeek
If a user pays $ 14.99/month, he will be offered unlimited websites, 40GB web space, 100,000 monthly visits and unlimited traffic. This plan also includes free SSL, daily backup, free CDN, free email, managed WordPress, unlimited databases and a 100% renewable energy match. Again, if this plan is not suitable for a user, they can get a refund within 30 days. There are a number of other benefits that will keep the buyers interested. These are speed-boosting caching, on-demand backups, staging + git, adding collaborators, white label clients, highest tier of resources, ultra-fast PHP and priority support.
Cloud hosting
The prices for the cloud vary quite a bit from the rest of the hosting plans. There are 4 different cloud hosting plans
Access – easy start in the cloud
For $ 80.00 / month this subscription offers
3 CPU cores
6 GB memory
40 GB SSD space
5 TB data transfer.
Business – optimal cloud experience
For $ 120.00 / month this subscription offers
4 CPU cores
8 GB memory
60 GB SSD space
5 TB data transfer.
Business Plus – advanced performance
The plan costs $ 160.00 / month and includes
5 CPU cores
10 GB memory
80 GB SSD space
5 TB data transfer.
Super Power – premium server power
For $ 240.00 / month this plan includes
9 CPU cores,
12 GB memory,
120 GB SSD space
5 TB data transfer.
If you need more SSD space, CPU cores or memory you can increase this by composing your own cloud hosting. Depending on your wishes you can place the sliders in the right position to compose the custom hosting.
Performance
Performance and uptime are the two most essential factors that keep a site running. They ensure that the site is always live for its visitors and that the servers are always up to date. With an average uptime of 99.99%, it is known as the best hosting company in the entire industry.
SiteGround is twice as fast as other hosting companies. Fortunately, you won’t have to wait long for your site to fully load. According to GTMetrix speed tests, the average load time of their sites is only 2.5 seconds. If all this seems too good to be true, users can also test the speed of SiteGround themselves on sites like GTMetrix.
Additionally, Siteground features the latest speed technologies used to make WordPress load faster:
- NGINX-based caching
- SSD drives
- PHP 7
- Cloudflare CDN
- HTTP/2
Control panel
For most of its hosting plans, SiteGround offers the cPanel control panel, which is very easy to use. Even beginners can easily set up their websites with it. A theme called Crystal can help users change their cPanel theme, which offers many other functionalities besides visual changes.
In the Account Information section at the bottom left of the main page, users can find all the necessary details about their hosting account such as expiration date, IP address, nameservers, server hostname, hosting package, and server time.
left panel in cPanel
If a user wants to analyze their site, Account Usage is the place to go. This is located on the left side of the cPanel in the 'Statistics' section. These are the items that one will see: Main Domain, Disk Usage, Inode Usage, Monthly Transfer, Email Accounts, Subdomains, Parked Domain, Added Domain, FTP Accounts and All SQL Databases. The user can further click on 'expand stats' to view other details of their website.
SiteGround also offers backup tools if the user wants to restore files and folders. They don’t have to manually create a backup; SiteGround does the work for them automatically.
Data centers
SiteGround servers are located in the following six areas:
- London, UK
- Singapore, Singapore
- Sydney, Australia
- Frankfurt, DE
- Eemshaven, Netherlands
- Iowa, USA.
The data centers claim to use the “highest level of redundancy for all critical components”. There is little to no chance of power outages as they use multiple power supplies, on-site power generators, and enterprise-grade UPS technology. All of this ensures stable network connectivity. Google, SiteGround’s primary data center partner, is one of the fastest and most powerful networks. Other powerful mechanisms ensure faster connectivity and high bandwidth. Not to forget, SiteGround believes in green-friendly hosting and aims for 100% carbon neutrality.
WordPress Hosting
SiteGround offers some of the best features for WordPress hosting. These include free WP installation, free Migrator, free email, 24/7 WP support, unlimited traffic, one-click installs, managed updates, WP-Cli, WordPress staging and git integration, and much more. Below are some of these options in more detail.
24/7 WP support
WordPress Hosting’s customer support team is one of the top rated and versatile and helpful. They are available 24/7 for their needy customers. By understanding the customer’s concerns and resolving them within no time, they become more approachable.
one click WP installations
SiteGround saves users the time and effort of manually downloading and configuring WordPress. They offer an easy click and install option, and all a user needs to do is simply customize their WordPress site. The WordPress Starter tool offers multiple designs and features to choose from.
Free migration
By simply installing the free Migrator plugin, a user can easily migrate his website. This plugin securely transfers all the content of the website. Download here the wordpress repository migration plugin. A professional website migration service is also offered for 24,00 € / site Excl. VAT. The experts will then perform the migration for you and transfer your files and databases.
Managed updates
SiteGround believes that prevention is better than cure. That’s why it tracks vulnerabilities and exploit patches to protect your site from potential threats. It also automatically updates WordPress sites.
Free Cloudflare CDN and SG optimizer
It offers 'unmatched' speed by touting a 'comprehensive WordPress solution'. It includes free CDN from Cloudflare and free SG Optimiser plugin and is built on the best Google Cloud platform.
WP-CLI
WP-CLI is a command line interface that allows users to manage their WordPress websites from the command prompt. Upgrades can be performed, backups generated, new posts published, and most regular admin actions can be performed using a series of commands. WP-CLI requires SSH access to do this.
WordPress staging
SiteGround has a built-in Staging tool in Site Tools that allows you to create and modify development copies of your WordPress sites. The simple push-to-live functionality publishes the development copy to the live version of your site. Before you publish your site, the tool creates a backup of your live copy that you can later use to restore a previous version.
Git integration
Siteground has a custom Git integration available that allows you to easily create Git repositories of your site. Git is simply a version control system for tracking changes to source code during software development. As such, Git integration is a valuable tool for developers. It allows you to access, download, and edit repositories on local branches in no time.
It can also be used to easily implement updates. The Git integration is supported not only by WordPress but also by other CMS systems such as Joomla, Magento and Drupal.
WooCommerce Hosting
This hosting for selling products and services also gives you all the options that a WordPress hosting plan has.
Pre-installation
This comes with the WooCommerce plugin pre-installed. It also pre-installs the famous Storefront theme, so the workstation is fully ready to further configure the shop. With Woocommerce, you can sell any product or service, whether it is physical products or digital content.
Out-of-the-box payment and shipping
SiteGround offers various options to pay for the product that a user has purchased. In addition, there are options available to configure their shipping cost settings.
Joomla Hosting
Joomla is a popular Content Management System (CMS). It is an open-source platform. SiteGround provides fast and secure web hosting for Joomla sites. One-click solutions bypass all the long and complicated procedures, saving a lot of time. In the Client Area, there are all the essential tools and services that become incredibly useful. Automatic installation is another advantageous option. Other site tools allow quick uploading of files to the server and help in creating databases and emails. For further website management, SiteGround offers top-notch security, easy site and domain management, as well as reliable email services.
Drupal Hosting
Drupal is another free open source Content Management System (CMS). If a user needs high-quality Drupal hosting, SiteGround can be a great solution. It offers free Drupal installation. Drupal and its modules work smoothly on SiteGround servers. The websites created are more secure and faster. SiteGround’s 24/7 expert support is always there to answer any questions a user may have. There are many other features like SSH, Cloudflare CDN, and daily backup.
Magento hosting
SiteGround offers a free Magento installation. There are other features like domain name registration and ecommerce friendly hosting. It optimizes the server to make it compatible. Magento and also offers 24/7 daily backups. There is also free migration assistance and Cloudflare CDN integration.
Benefits of Siteground hosting
- Faster loading sites
- Excellent performance and uptime
- Green-friendly hosting
- Numerous hosting options
- 24/7 customer support
- Free daily backup
- 30 days refund policy
- Pre-installed plugins
- Customizable sites
- User-friendly dashboard
- Simple control panel
- Many data centers
- Free CDN and SSL
- Site Migration Plugins
- Simple sign up process
Disadvantages of Siteground hosting
- Higher price for extension
- A strict policy on excessive data usage
Customer service & support
There are three ways to resolve issues you may experience with your website hosting, namely through the tutorials, the online knowledge base or via direct contact.
Tutorials
There are various tutorials available such as how to start with siteground, WordPress, email, drupal SSH and FTP, Joomla, Cloudflare and php Mysql. In these tutorials you will find various topics that will help you further. Step by step you will be guided through the topic so that you will eventually end up with the solution.
Knowledge base
Another option is to consult the Siteground knowledge base. This covers various questions that you as a user may have, such as "How do I point my website to SiteGround?" or "What is a name server and DNS?".
Contact via chat or telephone
If you prefer to have personal contact with the support department, you can use the contact options. You will then be given the following choices: technical support, advanced technical support, payment issues or affiliate support. Once you have made a choice here, you will need to submit the issue by sending a description of it. Once you have done this, you can choose whether you want to contact support by calling or via live chat. A great advantage is that Siteground support is available 24/7 for their customers, regardless of which account you have.
Conclusion
Rickid recommends SiteGround to anyone looking for reliable and cost-effective hosting options, especially for businesses. SiteGround has tools that make managing WordPress sites easy: one-click installs, managed updates, WP-Cli, WordPress staging, and git integration. Support is very responsive with the necessary WordPress expertise available 24/7. The latest speed technologies are used that make WordPress load faster: NGINX-based caching, SSD drives, PHP 7, CDN, HTTP/2. In addition, SiteGround proactively protects WordPress sites from hacks
SiteGround is popular, especially in the WordPress community, and is recommended by WordPress itself. Well-known websites use SiteGround, such as Syed Balki, founder of WPBeginner and Joost De Valk, Yoast SEO founder. With all the features it offers, it will not disappoint any user. Not only WordPress, but it is also the best and easiest option available on the market for WooCommerce. Other CMS systems such as Drupal, Joomla and Magento are also excellently supported.
Want to know more about Siteground?
Rickid webdesign is a web designer who specializes in building webshops in WordPress and WooCommerce combined with hosting provider siteground. Do you want to have a website/webshop or domain name hosted at Siteground but you don't know how to set it up properly? Contact Rickid Webdesign! Rickid will give you practical information about Siteground. Finally, Rickid can give you a complete inventory of the tools you need for your hosting project. Do you still want to outsource the project? Rickid can help you and also give you a quote and time estimate for hosting your project. Contact Rickid today!
