SiteGround vs Bluehost vs HostGator: Best WordPress Hosting Review Comparison (2023)

Need a good host for your new WordPress blog or website?

There’s a lot of fluff on the Internet when it comes to hosting reviews.

Listen, we know hosting feels weird at first, and you just want to blog, make money blogging, get traffic aka have fun!

So let us do your homework for you, and checkout this WordPress hosting review guide to figure out the best host for your next project.

WordPress Hosting Review Comparison Chart

In blueprinting this review, we chose 17 data points which (though often overlooked) we believe are the most important to new WordPress.org sites. Some hosts have em, some don’t!

But having helped setup over 10,000 new blogs and websites over 7 years, I’d say we know WordPress hosting.

This is what we found!

	SiteGround	Bluehost	HostGator
1) Discounted Monthly Price	$3.95	$2.65	$2.64
2) Good for Beginners?	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	Yes ✅
3) 1-Click WordPress Install?	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	Yes ✅
4) Money Back Guarantee?	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	Yes ✅
5) Free SSL?	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	Yes ✅
6) Free Themes Included?	Yes ✅	No ❌	No ❌
7) Has Built in WordPress Installer?	Yes ✅	No ❌	No ❌
8) Support in Under 2 Minutes?	Yes ✅	No ❌	No ❌
9) WordPress.org Recommended?	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	No ❌
10) Pagespeed < 2s?	Yes ✅	No ❌	No ❌
11) Affiliate Program?	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	Yes ✅
12) Global Servers?	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	Yes ✅
13) Caching Plugin Built In?	Yes ✅	No ❌	No ❌
14) Core Updates?	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	Yes ✅
15) Minimizes Eco Footprint?	Yes ✅	Yes ✅	Yes ✅
16) Has a Mascot?	No ❌	No ❌	Yes ✅
17) Has a Company Blog?	No ❌	No ❌	Yes ✅
Discounted Links For Your Convenience 👉	Get SiteGround	Get Bluehost	Get HostGator

If the WordPress hosting review table above didn’t provide enough information for you to pick your web host, then keep reading.

Discounted Monthly Price

SiteGround’s price is the highest but you get what you pay for. They are noticeably faster for both audience and site manager. Bluehost offers a discount to $2.65/mo which you can learn how to get here. HostGator is unique in offering discount coupons, try BigBonus.

Good For Beginners

None of us want to have to code HTML, CSS, Javascript or anything to get WordPress.org up and running, and with these three hosts you won’t have to. You don’t need to have any previous techie experience to install WordPress with SiteGround, Bluehost or HostGator. They are all extremely beginner friendly web hosts. It is about as hard as using Microsoft Word.

1-Click WordPress Install

Speaking of being beginner friendly, each of these three web hosts offers a way to create a wordpress blog aka install WordPress onto your domain name with a click of a button. The advantage of SiteGround is they actually built this tool themselves, called Site Tools, so you don’t have to leave SiteGround to do this step. The other two hosts use the older developer friendly tool called cPanel, which is also fairly easy.

Money Back Guarantee

You will have at least 30 days to cancel for a full refund at each host.

Free SSL

An SSL certificate refers to the padlock icon next to your domain name and is now a Google criteria for ranking in Search. It is also essential if you create an online store for eCommerce. Just like with the WordPress install, at SiteGround this tool is built in so you just have to click “on”. At HostGator and Bluehost you will get a free SSL but have to use a WordPress plugin to turn it on.

Free Themes Included

A true kicker. With SiteGround you will get several free templates built off the popular OceanWP and Astra themes to choose from. With Bluehost and HostGator they will simply point you to existing free WordPress themes. So SiteGround really goes above and beyond here, giving you an unseen and unique look right out of the gates if you want.

Has Built in WordPress Installer

As we explained above, SiteGround has their own WordPress installer while Bluehost and HostGator use cPanel.

Support in Under 2 Minutes

How long does it take from when you ask the Live Chat to help out until when they answer? We figured 2 minutes is about the time you’d expect to wait if you pay for this type of service, however it can take up to 5 minutes at Bluehost and 10 minutes at HostGator during peak times.

WordPress.org Recommended

Does the WordPress.org site recommend these web hosts. They do for SiteGround and Bluehost. This is based on years of collaboration and perhaps the smallest amount of unconfirmed favoritism 🙂

Pagespeed < 2s

We went ahead and created demo WordPress websites at each of the three hosts, then tested each website on pingdom.com to determine the page load speed. Only SiteGround achieved a page load speed under 2 seconds, a critical factor in ranking your webpages and blog posts in Google.

Affiliate Program

SiteGround offers you an affiliate (referral) program where you earn $50 for the first 50 customers you send, 75 for then on, and $100 once you hit 11 customers/mo. Bluehost offers you a flat rate of $65/customer. HostGator offers you the highest rates at 50/75/100/125 with the 125 clocking in at 21+ customers. So really each web host presents a great way to make a living recommending the web hosting you use and love!

Global Servers

Each of these web hosts has server locations around the globe, so if you’d like you can move your WordPress install to a different server so it’s closer to your local audience.

Cache Plugin Built In

A cache plugin acts to serve your site up quicker to the web browsers your audience is using. Only SiteGround offers this feature.

Core Updates

You get all the latest versions of WordPress automatically notifying you with each web host when an update is released. Updates are free.

Minimizes Eco Footprint

Each web host above has its own initiatives to minimize the carbon footprint made my hosting millions of domain names. Luckily this is a totally online ecosystem, so much of it really boils down to how the corporation conducts it’s day to day and how each one gives back.

Has a Mascot?

Only HostGator has a mascot, which is Snappy the alligator.

Has a Company Blog

HostGator maintains a blog called Gator Crossing, while Bluehost has a particularly impressive blog you can find here. SiteGround’s blog is still in the works but to be released soon and sure to impress.

And The Best WordPress Hosting Winner Is….

Based on our highly competitive metrics and criteria outined above, the final tallies are:

1st place pick — SiteGround: 15/17

2nd place pick — HostGator: 11/117

3rd place pick — Bluehost: 9/17

SiteGround brings in the “W” meeting nearly every criteria, with HostGator coming in a somewhat distant second and Bluehost at the rear. It’s hard to beat the speed of SiteGround, and it sure helps that they cover their other bases too. Don’t be too surprised or startled, Bluehost and HostGator are great choices for a new blog as well, and we are a happy customer at each of the above three web hosts.

More details to come as we find them, I hope that helps you pick the best WordPress hosting at a glance! 🙂