Hostinger vs. SiteGround 2023: Both Are Unethical And Have A Range Of Problems

Hostinger vs siteground

If you’re deciding between Hostinger vs. SiteGround, don’t use either!

Hostinger writes fake TrustPilot reviews and their employees pose as customers attempting to trick people into buying their hosting. They were banned from the WordPress Hosting Facebook Group when Hostinger sent an army of employees to vote for themselves in Facebook polls. Their support is also one of the worst out there. With high renewal prices and a security breach affecting 14M Hostinger customers, I wouldn’t trust them with your website.

SiteGround has their own problems. Throughout 2020, they changed so many things about their hosting and many people are leaving them. They increased prices, reduced support significantly, TTFBs have gotten much slower, and they have strict CPU limits that force you to constantly upgrade plans. Site Tools is a mess and their cloud hosting is trash. SiteGround used to be good but they’re not worth it anymore especially after cutting services and raising prices.

SiteGround Hostinger
Speed Slow Average
Support Declining Awful
Ethics Very Poor Very Poor
Cache Plugin SiteGround Optimizer LiteSpeed Cache
Security Great Poor
Inode Limits Very Strict Strict
Dashboard Site Tools hPanel
Features Many Many
Uptimes Great Poor
Data Centers 6 7
Pricing Cheap With High Renewals Cheap With High Renewals
TrustPilot Rating 4.7/5 4.4 (Fake)
Facebook Group Feedback Recently Poor Mixed
Winner No No

 

1. Speed – Hostinger Had A 651ms Faster TTFB

In this test, I signed up for Hostinger’s WordPress Premium plan and SiteGround’ GrowBig plan. Then I installed the same Astra Starter site while measuring key metrics in multiple tools. No caching or CDNs (e.g. Cloudflare) were used since I was strictly measuring their server’s speed.

Hostinger was significantly faster than SiteGround with an average TTFB of 513ms while SiteGround averaged 1164ms (a 651ms difference). Hostinger’s load times were also faster.

Siteground-vs-hostinger-speed-test-2020

SiteGround Reports

Hostinger Reports

The Pingdom test measured 16 host’s load time for a period of 7 days at 30 minute check intervals, meaning 336 individual tests were done on each site. Hostinger had a 1800ms load times while SiteGround had a 2280ms load time (a 480ms difference). Again, Hostinger was faster than SiteGround when measuring load times, but neither host was very fast in this test.

Wordpress-hosting-2020-pingdom-test

Conclusion: Hostinger was significantly faster than SiteGround. While SiteGround uses Google’s Cloud servers and Hostinger uses Litespeed servers, there was a big difference.

 

2. Support – SiteGround Went Downhill, Hostinger Is Worse

Neither Hostinger or SiteGround have great support.

SiteGround used to have awesome support, but they reduced it by disabling live chat, hiding support inside the dashboard, limiting WordPress support, moving priority support from GrowBig to GoGeek, and they constantly try to sell you upgrades on expensive hosting plans.

Siteground-tech-support

Hostinger’s support has always been terrible. They are very slow and unhelpful which is reflected in their TrustPilot reviews (at least the ones that aren’t fake). Several customers have to wait an hour for a reply and their support is outsourced to people who don’t speak English.

Hostinger-bad-review

Conclusion: when it comes to support, SiteGround wins. But it’s not great.

 

3. Ethics – Both Are Unethical In Different Ways

Both Hostinger and SiteGround are unethical in their own ways. Hostinger has been writing fake reviews and is deceptive, and SiteGround makes major changes in the middle of contracts.

Hostinger is unethical because:

  • Their employees write fake TrustPilot reviews
  • Employees pose as customers and trick them into buying Hostinger
  • They send an army of employees to vote for themselves in Facebook polls

Hostinger biased facebook poll

Hostinger banned from facebook groups

Hostinger-fake-reviews

SiteGround is unethical because:

  • They use customers as beta testers for Site Tools
  • They moved customers to Google Cloud even when they’re concerned about privacy
  • They reduce support and change things in the middle of your contract without notice
  • Hristo (SiteGround community manager) is an admin of the WP Speed Up FB Group
  • Hristo says SiteGround has no plans to increase their prices, then does it 3 months later

Wordpress speed up admin hristo

 

4. Cache Plugin – SiteGround SG Optimizer vs LiteSpeed Cache

SiteGround has their own cache plugin (SiteGround Optimizer). Since Hostinger uses LiteSpeed, you would use the free LiteSpeed Cache plugin.

Both cache plugins use server-side caching and address core web vitals, but LiteSpeed is arguably better. It has more features/settings (QUIC.cloud, Redis + memcached, guest mode, ESI, etc). LiteSpeed is also maintained better and has more reliable developers than SiteGround.

Litespeed cache plugin
Siteground optimizer plugin

 

 

5. Security – 2019 Security Breach Affect 14M Hostinger Customers

SiteGround has better security than Hostinger.

The 2019 security breach is just one example of how Hostinger doesn’t fully protect your accounts. To my knowledge, SiteGround has never had a security breach (at least not to this extent) and they provide many security measures also listed on their features page. This includes account isolation, firewalls, ModSecurity, and latest PHP versions and software.

Hostinger security breach

 

6. Inode Limits – How SiteGround Forces You To Upgrade Plans

Both Hostinger and SiteGround have inode limits.

This means your hosting plan only comes with a certain amount of resources. You can see these on these Hostinger and SiteGround pages. If you exceed your inodes limits (by running heavy themes, plugins, tasks, or you get more visitors), Hostinger will start throttling your bandwidth.

Not only does SiteGround have lower inode limits, but they will actually suspend your account if you exceed them (causing all your websites to go down). This can last days or even weeks depending when your CPU limits reset. This is a huge, very common issue on SiteGround and they use it as a ploy to upgrade. I went from paying $14.99/month on GoGeek to $120+/month for their cloud hosting just to avoid CPU limits. It’s also happened to plenty of other customers.

Lowest Plan Mid Plan Higher Plan
Hostinger Inodes 200,000 400,000 600,000
SiteGround Inodes 150,000 300,000 450,000

Siteground cpu limits thread

 

7. Dashboard – Hostinger hPanel vs. SiteGround Site Tools

Both Hostinger and SiteGround have their own custom dashboard.

Hostinger hPanel is very user-friendly (it’s similar to cPanel only it’s even more simplified). Taking backups, creating staging sites, adding SSL, and performing basic tasks are very easy.

Hostinger hpanel

SiteGround’s Site Tools is hit or miss (usually a miss). Customers were pretty upset when SiteGround decided to launch Site Tools since (regardless of their promises), many things were missing and they basically use their customers as beta testers while they figure it out. It’s still pretty user-friendly, but it seems obvious SiteGround was in a rush to launch it as soon as cPanel increased their prices. I, like many SiteGround customers, would prefer to have cPanel.

 

8. Features – Who Has More?

Overall, SiteGround has more features than Hostinger.

SiteGround uses an SG Optimizer plugin, Ultrafast PHP, and free Cloudflare on all accounts. Plus they have less restrictions on number of domains, subdomains, and email accounts. Hostinger is really a “pay to play” type of hosting company with all these premium features. I personally don’t like when you have to pay more features that should be included on all plans.

There have been many reports on TrustPilot that Hostiner’s backup system is faulty, plus you have to pay for SSL.

 

9. Uptimes – Will You Get Downtimes?

You really have to dig through TrustPilot reviews to see this, since uptimes tests usually only measure the reliability of 1 single server.

Hostinger has had some downtime reports in their reviews while SiteGround hasn’t had many at all. The only “downtimes” on SiteGround are when customers exceed CPU limits and SiteGround takes down their website, but otherwise, SiteGround seems to have better uptimes.

Hostinger-website-down

 

10. Data Centers – Hostinger Has 7, SiteGround Has 6

Hostinger doesn’t list their exact data center locations while SiteGround does.

Three of SiteGround’s data centers are heavily concentrated around Europe, which is good news for you if your customers are there, but options are somewhat limited in other continents.

Hostinger Data Centers SiteGround Data Centers
UK Council Bluff, Iowa (US)
US London (UK)
Brazil Eemshaven (NL)
Netherlands Frankfurt (DE)
Singapore Singapore (SG)
Indonesia Sydney (AU)
Lithuania

 

11. Pricing – Hostinger vs. SiteGround Costs

Hostinger and SiteGround start off cheap, but get expensive once you have to renew.

Hostiner is more affordable than SiteGround considering the cheapest plan starts at $2.15/month and only renews to $3.49/month, while SiteGround’s cheapest plan starts at $6.99/month and renews to $14.99/month. SiteGround renewal prices are much higher. But keep in mind, SSL is not even free on Hostinger, so there may very well be added costs.

Hostinger Plan Intro Price Renewal Price
Single WordPress $1.99/month $2.99/month
WordPress Starter $2.99/month $3.49/month
Business WordPress $7.99/month $11.99/month
WordPress Pro $11.59/month $15.90/month

Hostinger plans

SiteGround Plan Intro Price Renewal Price
Startup $6.99/month $14.99/month
GrowBig $9.99/month $24.99/month
GoGeek $14.99/month $39.99/month
Cloud Hosting $100/month N/A

Siteground-plans

 

12. TrustPilot – Do They Have Fake Reviews?

They certainly do!

At least Hostinger’s TrustPilot reviews are definitely fake, considering their CEO openly said “it is their right.” I can’t even begin to tell you how many people have been fooled by Hostinger’s unethical business practices, but it’s the only reason I need to never use (or recommend) them.

Arnas hostinger feedback

SiteGround’s reviews are real, however their support staff directs customers to their TrustPilot profile to leave them a good review. It’s not completely unbiased, but I wouldn’t call it unethical.

 

13. Facebook Group Feedback – What Are People Saying?

Do yourself a favor and join the WordPress Hosting Facebook Group to get unbiased feedback.

The general consensus is that SiteGround has gone completely downhill and Hostinger is a slimey company who doesn’t deserve to be recommended (and was banned from the group).

Hostinger banned

Siteground bad support

 

14. Winner – I Don’t Recommend Hostinger Or SiteGround

When comparing Hostinger vs. SiteGround, Hostinger is unethical but has a better value with faster LiteSpeed servers, while SiteGround has taken a turn for the worse since 2019.

Both have their own set of problems and they’re very different hosting companies. Support isn’t good on either, both get expensive with renewal prices, and features are limited on lower plans.

Personally, I wouldn’t use either.

 

15. Alternatives To SiteGround vs Hostinger

I don’t recommend SiteGround or Hostinger, so who do I?

Cloudways – their Vultr High Frequency plan is very popular in Facebook Groups, at least the ones not moderated by SiteGround. I use it and you can check my TTFB. It’s a little more “techie” only because it requires an extra step to launch a server and they use a custom dashboard. Otherwise, it’s easy to get used to, is monthly pricing with no high renewals, and includes a 3-day trial with a free migration. Cons are email hosting costs $1/email/month, no file manager, and I don’t recommend their Breeze plugin or CDN (StackPath) so you would need to use something like WP Rocket/FlyingPress and Cloudflare/BunnyCDN. They were also voted the #1 host in numerous Facebook polls.

Siteground to cloudways shoutout

Siteground to cloudways happy customer

Left siteground to cloudways

Siteground alternative 2021

Cloudways vs siteground migration (2)

Siteground alternative 2020

Cloudways vs siteground migration

Cloudways vultr high frequency discount
Use the Cloudways coupons page to get 30% off 3 months

NameHero – more beginner-friendly than Cloudways with cPanel, cheap prices, outstanding support, and great feedback in Facebook Groups. They use LiteSpeed servers which are faster than Apache and traditional hosting. Which also means you can use the free LiteSped Cache plugin + QUIC.cloud CDN. These use server-level caching and is faster than WP Rocket’s file-based caching with HTTP/3. Their CEO (Ryan) is a genuinely helpful guy if you watch his YouTube videos. I usually suggest their Turbo Cloud plan which has 3GB RAM + NVMe. Also includes a free migration.

Namehero vs siteground feedback

Namehero to siteground move

Siteground to namehero

WPXfast LiteSpeed servers with great support and a high TrustPilot rating, but they’re expensive and the dashboard is oversimplified and not great. At this price, you’re probably better off going with someone like Kinsta, RunCloud, or ServerPilot.

Kinsta – mainly for high traffic websites if you’re willing to pay more for top-notch support with the ability to handle lots of concurrent visitors. Main con is that plans don’t have enough PHP workers and force you to upgrade. Uses Google Cloud C2 servers. GridPane is also great for high traffic sites which is run by Patrick Gallagher. They don’t have an affiliate program which is why most bloggers don’t mention them.

Cheers,
Tom

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