When searching for website hosting options in Australia, you want the best.

Website hosting is the real estate that your website lives on, and where on the map you choose to park it will have a big impact on its success.

You want to make sure that you have all the features you need on a budget that suits you and your business. This includes considerations such as how much bandwidth you will have access to, how quickly your customers will be able to access your pages, the support offered and how you will manage updates and upgrades, among other things.

Take a look at our list of the top 5 website hosting providers in Australia to get an understanding of the cost and features of the various website hosting plans on offer.

1

WPEngine

WPEngine is positioned as the best choice for managed WordPress hosting. This is great news for the millions of WordPress users worldwide — the popular content management system is estimated to power almost 40% of internet sites in 2021, up from 35% last year. 

WordPress uses integrations and plugins to help business owners — as well as individual users — build highly responsive and functionality-rich websites. WPEngine is designed to support this functionality perfectly, making it the ideal fit if you are using WordPress to build your website.

Advantages of WPEngine

  • You will be able to benefit from automated updates for your WordPress modules.
  • WordPress’s expert support team provide assistance and guidance.
  • You can access additional WordPress styles and features for free as part of your hosting.
  • There is a high level of available functionality, even with the basic hosting level.
  • You can apply Let’s Encrypt SSL protocols free of charge.

Disadvantages of WPEngine

  • You won’t be able to use WPEngine on non-WordPress-built sites.
  • You are limited to the features offered by WordPress.
  • Not all plugins and themes are supported, even if they are supported by WordPress.
  • At the basic subscription level, you are limited to 25,000 visitors a month.
  • Going over the limits of your account may incur fees as a result

WPEngine pricing

The cost is around $28 AUD per month for the basic package (on an annual subscription).

2

Hostinger

Hostinger is something of an all-rounder, providing a great entry-level hosting option for small business owners. The hosting provider aims to do everything ‘fairly’ well — in other words, you’ll get reasonably fast and responsive websites and a decent amount of space. The solution will also be affordable.

Of course, this also means it won’t excel in any capacity. If you are looking to spend a bit more and find something ultra-fast, with heaps of additional space to grow into, you might need a different option.

Advantages of Hostinger

  • You will gain unlimited bandwidth when you choose Hostinger.
  • Your site will have 100 GB SSD storage at the basic level.
  • The subscription includes a free domain, as well as SSL security.
  • Hostinger provides support around the clock.
  • Your site will achieve consistent connection speeds around the world.

Disadvantages of Hostinger

  • At 93 ms on a standard Sydney connection, it’s not the fastest hosting option.
  • You will need to pay for the full 100 GB even if you don’t want to use this.
  • Hostinger does not offer daily backups.
  • Hostinger does not have an Australian data centre.
  • This option may lack some of the business-specific features of other providers.

Hostinger pricing

Hostinger costs $8.40 per month.

3

SiteGround

SiteGround is aimed at providing businesses with the great-quality hosting they need, positioning itself as the first choice for medium- and larger-scale enterprises.

While SiteGround is not Australian-run, they do have a data centre based on these shores. The Sydney data centre makes SiteGround a good choice for anyone who wants to achieve fast speed in the Australian market.

Advantages of SiteGround

  • SiteGround works with Google Cloud for additional flexibility.
  • The hosting provider has response speeds of 3 ms in Sydney.
  • You will also achieve industry-leading response speeds from around the world.
  • You will benefit from around-the-clock tech support.
  • The SuperCacher feature enables flexible caching to improve website responsiveness.

Disadvantages of SiteGround

  • Visitors are limited to 25,000 per month on the basic subscription.
  • Siteground’s 20 GB of SSD storage is a little light compared to others on this list.
  • The quoted 3 ms speed is for Sydney only — other international locations are not as fast as this, although the hosting provider still performs well globally.
  • Testing suggests that the visitors from the UK might experience some of the slowest response times, at around 295 ms.
  • The hosting option is a little more expensive than other providers.

SiteGround pricing

SiteGround costs $12.59 per month.

4

Bluehost

Bluehost is one of the oldest providers of web hosting in Australia, and it’s still amongst the best. However, it is most suitable for those looking for smaller-scale websites, such as blogs and other relatively lightweight web properties. Those looking for a large-scale business website may not find Bluehost to be the best fit.

For this kind of smaller website, Bluehost is another great all-rounder. The hosting provider offers swift responsiveness for websites, as well as Linux and cPanel features for increased flexibility and control.

Advantages of Bluehost

  • You’ll get unlimited resources for your website.
  • Your website will be protected with CodeGuard Basic.
  • Bluehost offers very responsive connections in the United States and Canada, hitting 23 ms in testing from the West Coast of the US.
  • Bluehost uses Cloudflare as a content delivery network for better caching.
  • You will be able to increase your page’s loading speed with easy configuration.

Disadvantages of Bluehost

  • Bluehost may not be suitable for larger enterprise-level websites.
  • The ultra-fast speeds of North America are not reflected everywhere across the globe.
  • In the Asia-Pacific region, speeds are among the slowest, hitting 168 ms in Sydney during testing.
  • Bluehost does not offer an Australian data centre.
  • The support team lacks the resources and capabilities of some of the others on this list.

Bluehost pricing

Bluehost is priced at $10.43 per month.

5

Crucial

Crucial is Australian based, owned and operated. This is certainly useful if you are targeting customers primarily in the domestic market, as the hosting provider offers ultra-fast responsiveness for users in Sydney and elsewhere in the country.

Support is also delivered from Australia and is offered around the clock. Businesses that need quick and easy assistance may find that this is the best option for them.

Advantages of Crucial

  • Crucial offers lightning-fast 1 ms response times in Sydney.
  • Crucial’s data centres are Australian based.
  • All of Crucial’s support is provided by an Australian-based team.
  • The hosting provider is actively reducing its carbon footprint, offering green hosting.
  • Emails are unlimited with Crucial.

Disadvantages of Crucial

  • Crucial’s response speeds are significantly slower outside of Australia.
  • You will get 50 GB of storage on the basic plan, although this might not be enough for some businesses.
  • You will also receive 10 domains for your business — again, some companies might want more.
  • There is no private server option on the basic plan.
  • Crucial may seem a little expensive considering the international limitations.

Crucial pricing

Crucial costs $19.08 per month.

Find the right website hosting solution for your business

Choosing a hosting provider is a big decision. This article highlights some of the differences that are present between different providers, and each provider will offer differing levels of plans within their platforms.

At Kicking Pixels, we make it our business to know what is out there, and offer our clients the best value for money, a delicate balance between features/benefits and cost. Our dedicated, top of the art servers, are optimised for Australian WordPress websites to ensure it delivers on the lean code we build with.

Reach out to our team to find more about our Kicking Pixels hosting plans and position your website for success.