Pros
Great options for WordPress customers
Excellent customer support
Cons
Several upsells throughout the account dashboard
Editors’ Note: SiteFloor presents high-quality managed WordPress internet hosting, full with instruments for quick website setup, improved website velocity and enhanced safety. SiteFloor additionally impressed me with its server efficiency and customer support — one thing most different net hosts fall quick on. All of those elements led to SiteFloor incomes a CNET Editors’ Choice Award as the most effective net host general.Any time the subject of WordPress internet hosting comes up, SiteFloor is advisable — it’s even on our personal checklist of the most effective WordPress internet hosting corporations. I spent one week testing SiteFloor’s companies to see if it lives as much as the hype.I used our course of for testing webhosting companies to judge SiteFloor in 4 predominant classes: ease of use, efficiency, customer support and worth. SiteFloor impressed me at nearly each flip, proving that it actually is without doubt one of the finest webhosting companies for WordPress customers.Plans and pricing: All WordPress on a regular basisSiteFloor presents a number of varieties of webhosting:Shared or WordPress hostingWooCommerce internet hostingCloud hostingReseller hostingReseller internet hosting is geared toward net businesses and small internet hosting corporations, so we’ll deal with the opposite plans. If you’re interested by reseller internet hosting, try our checklist of the most effective reseller internet hosting corporations.Here’s a fast breakdown of the customer-focused sorts of webhosting supplied by SiteFloor: Hosting sort Best forPricingShared/WordPress internet hosting Users who wish to create a for-fun interest website, weblog or a small enterprise web site with WordPressStarts at $3 a month for the primary yearWooCommerce internet hosting Users who wish to create an e-commerce website with WordPressStarts at $3 a month for the primary yrCloud internet hosting High-traffic web sites, particularly websites with a big worldwide audienceStarts at $100 a month Let’s take a more in-depth have a look at these internet hosting classes.Shared and WordPress internet hostingShared internet hosting shops dozens or lots of — typically even 1000’s — of internet sites on one server, allocating a set quantity of storage, bandwidth and processing energy to every website. This limits the variety of pages your website can have and the variety of month-to-month guests it will possibly deal with, however it additionally makes shared internet hosting extra reasonably priced than different kinds of internet hosting. WordPress internet hosting is usually shared internet hosting optimized for WordPress, a content material administration system or CMS for creating and managing web site content material like weblog posts. WordPress internet hosting typically consists of pre-installed WordPress, plus issues like automated WordPress updates, customized themes and customized plugins.At SiteFloor, all shared internet hosting is WordPress internet hosting. The plans on the Web Hosting web page are similar to these on the WordPress Hosting web page. WordPress isn’t pre-installed, however each plan comes with the next WordPress options:WordPress setup wizardAuto-migrator for transferring an current WordPress website to SiteGroundAuto-updates for WordPressWooCommerce enabledSpeed optimizer pluginSecurity optimizer pluginThese WordPress options are so strong that utilizing SiteFloor with a web site builder or one other CMS doesn’t make sense, as you’ll miss out on SiteFloor’s finest options.SiteFloor’s shared and WordPress internet hosting plans additionally embody:Free area for the primary yrSecure socket layer certification for improved safetyDaily backupsCaching and CDN for enhanced velocityFirewall protectionAI anti-bot systemEmail hostingFor most customers, the primary variations between plans are the storage, bandwidth and pricing. Here’s a breakdown of how these variations shake out: Plan StorageBandwidthPriceStartUp 10GB (sufficient for at the very least 100 pages)10,000 month-to-month guests$3 a month for the primary yr, $18 monthly afterGrowBig 20GB (sufficient for at the very least 200 pages)100,000 month-to-month guests$5 a month for the primary yr, $30 a month afterGoGeek 40GB (sufficient for at the very least 400 pages)400,000 month-to-month guests$8 a month for the primary yr, $45 a month after WooCommerce hostingWooCommmerce is a well-liked e-commerce plugin that makes it simple to create an internet retailer. SiteFloor has a web page for WooCommerce plans, however they’re similar to the shared/WordPress internet hosting plans, so that you’ll get the identical service whatever the web page you purchase from.Cloud internet hostingCloud internet hosting includes storing your web site on a number of interconnected digital servers. If a kind of servers goes down, your website stays practical by pulling information from one other server, guaranteeing steady uptime. Cloud internet hosting can also be extremely scalable, permitting you so as to add sources (like bandwidth and storage) as wanted somewhat than forcing you to select from a restricted choice of plans. These advantages make cloud internet hosting an excellent selection for fast-growing websites, particularly enterprise web sites.SiteFloor cloud internet hosting consists of the managed WordPress options we’ve already mentioned, plus the flexibleness of cloud internet hosting. The most reasonably priced pre-built plan is JumpStart at $100 monthly, which incorporates sufficient storage for at the very least 400 pages and sufficient bandwidth for 5 million month-to-month guests. You may also create your individual plan, customizing the bandwidth, storage and processing energy to satisfy your wants.SiteFloor ease of use: Mostly straightforwardI created an account and web site with SiteFloor to find out ease of use for 3 important elements of webhosting: the acquisition course of, account administration and web site/server administration.Purchase course ofThe SiteFloor buy course of is split into two pages. You’ll select your area on the primary web page, then create your account and enter your cost particulars on the second web page. The second web page can also be the place you may choose your contract size and buy any add-ons you’re involved in. Screenshot/CNETI have two points with this web page. The first situation is the tiny textual content beneath the Extra Services space that tells you discounted costs apply solely to your first contract time period. I’m glad the textual content exists — some corporations, like DreamHost, don’t show this info anyplace. But it’s so small that it will possibly simply be missed, particularly because it’s not close to the primary pricing info. Unfortunately, I’ve skilled this situation with many of the internet hosting corporations I’ve examined — with Ionos being a notable exception — so it’s an {industry} downside, not only a SiteFloor downside.My different situation is the Domain Privacy add-on. Domain privateness is a necessary service that forestalls your possession particulars, just like the tackle linked to your area, from being displayed publicly within the WHOIS database. This is especially necessary when you’ve linked your private info to your area, and it’s so essential that almost all area registration companies (together with these offered by different net hosts) embody it as a built-in characteristic. You shouldn’t be paying a further $12 to $24 per yr for this service.Account administrationThe SiteFloor account dashboard shows hyperlinks to the entire capabilities you’ll must handle your account and web site, utilizing giant textual content and beneficiant spacing to make all the things simple to search out. This consists of the Billing space, which is included within the high menu somewhat than hidden away in a drop-down menu like it’s on HostGator or GoDaddy. Screenshot/CNETThe first time you log in, you’ll see your internet hosting plan and a Set Up Site button. After you’ve created your website, the dashboard supplies fast connections to your web sites, domains and e-mail advertising and marketing plans. My predominant annoyance here’s a persistent upsell for premium backups, which I can’t discover a approach to do away with. Screenshot/CNETUpsells are, sadly, a serious a part of the SiteFloor account dashboard. You’ll discover extra of them within the Websites space, and once more, there’s no choice to delete them. Still, when you’ve skilled your self to disregard web adverts (and let’s be actual, most of us have), you may simply skip over them to succeed in the capabilities you want. Screenshot/CNETWebwebsite and server administrationSiteFloor’s web site setup space is very organized, with clear choices for beginning a brand new web site or migrating an current one. You may also select to make use of WordPress, WooCommerce or the Weebly Sitebuilder. This final possibility shocked me, as SiteFloor is primarily a managed WordPress internet hosting firm, with no point out of Weebly anyplace on its plans pages. Screenshot/CNETAfter I chosen WordPress, I discovered… extra upsells. This was one other shock, as Ionos is the one different host that’s tried to promote me new merchandise in the course of the web site setup course of. However, in contrast to Ionos, SiteFloor supplies clear choices for transferring ahead with out making one other buy. Screenshot/CNETOpening WordPress for the primary time takes you to the SiteFloor WordPress Starter. This plugin walks you thru selecting a theme from a curated checklist of themes for varied varieties of web sites. I didn’t discover the theme I needed right here, however this curated checklist is much less overwhelming for newbies than looking out the total WordPress.org theme database. Screenshot/CNETNext, SiteFloor shows plugins for issues like contact kinds, e-commerce performance, picture galleries and extra. You can choose as many of those as you want and SiteFloor will set up them for you. Screenshot/CNETThe course of is straightforward and quick, serving to you get the bones of your website arrange in a couple of minutes. When it’s finished, you’ll be directed to the SiteFloor WordPress assistant, which incorporates fast hyperlinks for viewing your website, managing pages and altering your theme. This characteristic is sweet, however I anticipated SiteFloor — a extremely lauded net host within the WordPress area — to supply performance nearer to the Hosting.com (previously A2 Hosting) Site Assistant. Screenshot/CNETMy last SiteFloor shock was that I wanted to allow SSL certification myself. Setting it up solely took a couple of clicks in Site Tools, however I used to be aggravated that I needed to do it in any respect. Of all the online hosts I’ve examined, solely Ionos and GoDaddy required me to arrange my very own SSL certification. Every different host does this routinely.Server administration duties are additionally performed via Site Tools, SiteFloor’s proprietary reply to the industry-standard cPanel. I loved how simple Site Tools was to navigate, with hyperlinks to its important capabilities within the sidebar. Its simplicity jogged my memory of Hostinger’s hPanel, the most effective cPanel various I’ve encountered to this point. Screenshot/CNETOverall ease of useSiteFloor’s web site creation course of isn’t good, however it’s not troublesome. The upsells can simply be skipped, the WordPress starter is nice and I didn’t must contact buyer assist for help. This earns SiteFloor an 8/10 ease of use rating. The SiteFloor expertise is less complicated than what you’ll expertise with GoDaddy — ranked at 7.5/10 — however more difficult than organising a website with Hosting.com — ranked at 9/10 — or Hostinger — ranked at 10/10.SiteFloor efficiency: Excellent uptime, acceptable speedI examined two elements of efficiency throughout my SiteFloor evaluate:Uptime: The share of time your website spends on-line.Site velocity: The variety of seconds it takes on your website to load.I created a SiteFloor take a look at website utilizing the Total WordPress theme and assessed it for one week to find out how nicely SiteFloor delivers in these areas. I additionally analyzed SiteFloor’s efficiency instruments.Performance instrumentsSiteFloor features a Speed Optimizer plugin with each WordPress set up. Speed Optimizer’s main operate is caching, a protocol for storing website information in one thing referred to as a fast-access layer linked to a central processing unit or CPU — both your server’s or your customer’s. This fast-access layer retrieves info on the CPU velocity stage as a substitute of the slower velocity of the random entry reminiscence or RAM used for conventional information storage. Screenshot/CNETSpeed Optimizer allows Dynamic Caching, which makes use of a cache on SiteFloor’s server by default. You may also allow different varieties of caching to additional enhance your website velocity.Speed Optimizer presents quite a lot of different optimization instruments, together with automated weekly database cleanup, HTML/CSS minification and picture compression. These instruments can dramatically enhance website velocity, particularly in case your web site makes use of quite a lot of pictures or advanced code.A free content material supply community — CDN — can also be included with all SiteFloor plans. This improves your website velocity by storing information in a number of interconnected servers across the globe, permitting guests’ gadgets to drag your website from the server closest to them as a substitute of requesting info from a server on the opposite facet of the world.UptimeIf a customer can’t entry your web site, there’s a great probability they’ll go elsewhere — and with 1.1 billion web sites on the web, there’s at all times elsewhere to go. This makes it essential to maintain your website on-line 24/7, or as near it as potential, to stop it from shedding site visitors, viewers belief or, within the case of a enterprise web site, income.SiteFloor presents the industry-standard 99.9% uptime assure on all plans, that means your website received’t go down for greater than 10 minutes per week as a consequence of server points. I monitored my take a look at website for one week with Better Stack, and it skilled no downtime by any means. This means that SiteFloor exceeds its 99.9% uptime assure.The 100% uptime skilled throughout my week of testing is just like what I’ve skilled with hosts like Hostinger and Ionos. This can also be higher than what I’ve skilled with different common net hosts like HostGator, which had a full 7 minutes of downtime throughout my take a look at week.Site speedBounce price — the share of holiday makers who depart your website after viewing just one web page — will increase by 32% when your website velocity goes from 1 to 3 seconds. In different phrases, a sluggish website makes it much less doubtless that your guests will stick round lengthy sufficient to turn out to be devoted members of your viewers.There are some ways to enhance website velocity, like putting in a caching plugin when you’re utilizing WordPress. However, one of the best ways to ensure good website velocity is to begin with a webhosting firm that gives quick servers.I put two pictures and two textual content blocks on my take a look at website to simulate an actual homepage and used WebPageTest to conduct velocity checks over 5 days. I ran checks at totally different hours every day for each cell and desktop customers in varied international locations to know the location’s velocity for a broad vary of customers.Based on these checks, I got here up with the next common location-based website speeds (bear in mind, decrease numbers are higher): USAUKGermanyIndiaDubaiAustraliaMobile 2.812.843.034.163.753.95Desktop 1.71.751.822.912.432.65 This allowed me to ascertain some general averages:Average cell website velocity: 3.42Average desktop website velocity: 2.21Overall website velocity: 2.81At nearly 3 seconds, SiteFloor’s common website velocity is larger than the two.34 seconds of our second-place net host, Hostinger, however it does fall throughout the advisable most of three seconds. In quick, whereas this website velocity isn’t best, it’s additionally not horrible, particularly since I hadn’t activated the entire Speed Optimizer options or the CDN. You might be able to enhance your website velocity by enabling these options by yourself website.Overall performanceWith wonderful uptime and acceptable website velocity, SiteFloor earns a efficiency rating of 8/10. These outcomes are just like what I’ve skilled with different high-ranking net hosts like Hosting.com.SiteFloor safety: The finest safety WordPress customers can getSiteFloor presents the next safety features to all customers:Secure socket layer, or SSL, certification: An encryption protocol that secures information despatched to and out of your website, like e-mail addresses submitted via a contact kind. SSL certification additionally tells browsers and VPNs your website is protected — some received’t even open a website with out them — so most webhosting corporations embody SSL with all plans. Google additionally penalizes websites with out SSL certification.Firewall safety: Software that scans site visitors making an attempt to enter your website and blocks malware and dangerous site visitors. It’s type of like the web site equal of carrying a masks throughout COVID or flu season: many of the unhealthy stuff is blocked, however the great things (air, or on this case, common net site visitors) will get via. SiteFloor makes use of a customized firewall and updates it often to maintain your website protected.Anti-bot system: An AI system that claims to dam thousands and thousands of threats, like malware, day by day.Security Optimizer: A WordPress plugin that simplifies the implementation of a number of high safety methods, like creating a novel login web page URL.Daily backups: Automated backups that retailer a replica of your web site on a special server out of your predominant server. This lets you rapidly restore your website if one thing goes fallacious.This goes above and past the usual SSL certification and firewall safety supplied by most webhosting corporations. There are some internet hosting corporations with equally strong safety, like Hostinger and Ionos, however the Security Optimizer units SiteFloor aside by providing options you’d in any other case have to put in third-party plugins for. In reality, of all of the hosts I’ve examined to this point, SiteFloor supplies the most effective safety for WordPress customers. This earns it a 10/10 safety rating.SiteFloor buyer assist: Excellence in motionWeb internet hosting customer support needs to be at all times accessible, quick to reply and skilled to cope with quite a lot of webhosting points. SiteFloor has received a number of awards for customer support, so I went into this a part of the take a look at anticipating its buyer assist to be all three of this stuff.SiteFloor presents a information base that will help you carry out easy internet hosting duties your self and 24/7 buyer assist by way of AI assistant, stay chat, telephone and HelpDesk. I examined all of those buyer assist channels to develop a full understanding of whether or not SiteFloor lives as much as its popularity for wonderful customer support.Knowledge baseSiteFloor’s information base is split into two areas: Tutorials and Knowledge Base. Tutorials present step-by-step steering on advanced matters like how you can construct a WordPress web site, whereas the Knowledge Base supplies fast solutions to smaller questions like “how do I upgrade my hosting plan”. Screenshot/CNETIndividual articles are simple to navigate, utilizing beginner-friendly language, step-by-step directions and pictures. However, I didn’t see a single video within the assist articles I learn. This might be irritating when you want to study via video.SiteFloor additionally presents an AI assistant primarily based on OpenAI tech and skilled on the SiteFloor information base. The AI assistant is quick, pulling solutions from the information base in seconds and exhibiting you the primary info on-page with hyperlinks to related articles for extra info. However, it received’t redirect you to an individual. You may also get the identical solutions at nearly the identical velocity through the use of the common search operate, so the AI assistant doesn’t add a lot — the primary factor it does is look flashy.The high quality of SiteFloor’s information base is just like the self-serve buyer assist sources offered by most net hosts I’ve examined, with the primary detractor — a scarcity of movies — current on nearly each internet hosting website. The solely webhosting firm I’ve examined with a greater information base is Hostinger, which supplies quite a few video tutorials.Direct communicationReaching a SiteFloor buyer assist agent is surprisingly troublesome. The Contact Us web page doesn’t show a button for stay chat or a telephone quantity to name. There’s a listing of classes for widespread questions as a substitute. Screenshot/CNETCategory pages show a listing of related points. Selecting your downside reveals directions for fixing it, with hyperlinks to additional tutorials. I clicked “My issue is different” and acquired choices to begin a stay chat or see SiteFloor’s customer support quantity. I had combined emotions about this course of — most internet hosting corporations checklist stay chat and telephone choices straight on the Contact Us web page — however all the things was easy and the instruments offered additionally make it simple to assist your self, lowering the pressure on (and the wait time for) buyer assist. Screenshot/CNETA stay chat consultant responded in lower than a minute. He answered my questions and walked me via some primary settings, serving to me repair a minor situation in about 5 minutes. This is what I anticipated from an award-winning customer support group and similar to what I skilled in my chats with the gross sales rep (hello, Dimitar!) earlier than I signed up. My expertise calling SiteFloor was equally simple. I spent lower than two minutes on maintain, and the customer support agent answered my questions — together with providing plugin suggestions for a operate not constructed into SiteFloor companies — immediately. SiteFloor doesn’t provide normal assist ticket performance. Instead, there are specialised assist tickets for duties like having the assist group switch an current WordPress website to SiteFloor. This ensures that your request goes on to the suitable department of customer support and that they’ll carry out the requested activity with out a lot back-and-forth. I submitted a query and acquired a useful response in about two hours, which is quicker than the response occasions of different high-ranking net hosts like A2 Hosting.Pro tip: To ask a query associated to a assist ticket with out triggering a full assist course of like a website migration, sort “N/A” into kind areas you don’t wish to fill out.Overall customer supportMy expertise working with SiteFloor customer support was wonderful. The tutorials and information base are complete and straightforward to know, serving to even full newbies accomplish website-related duties in minutes. The Contact Us web page doesn’t present contact info immediately, however its classes be sure that you at all times contact the correct group on your particular queries. The customer support brokers are quick, useful and nice to work with.All of this earns SiteFloor an general customer support rating of 9/10. This rating is nice when in comparison with most different net hosts — even Hostinger, the corporate with the second-highest general rating from our hands-on testing, solely achieved a 5/10 buyer assist rating. Ionos, our second-ranking net host, is the one firm to match SiteFloor’s customer support, having additionally acquired a buyer assist rating of 9/10.StatusSiteFloor has a wonderful popularity, with a 4.8 out of 5 star rating on Trustpilot and an A+ BBB ranking with no open complaints. SiteFloor has additionally received quite a few awards, most notably 4 Stevie Awards for customer support.SiteFloor worth: How it stacks up in opposition to the competitorsTo perceive SiteFloor’s worth, you want to perceive what different high net hosts provide. Here’s a fast breakdown of probably the most reasonably priced plans from our three top-ranking net hosts: Host FeaturesPriceAdditional notesHostinger 100GB storage, bandwidth for 25,000 guests, managed WordPress, LiteSpeed servers, web site builder with AI instruments, free SSL, firewall, malware scanner, automated backupsStarts at $3 a month, renews at $8 a month (primarily based on a four-year contract)Site setup could be very simple, however customer support is just accessible via stay chat powered primarily by AIIonos 10GB storage, unmetered bandwidth, 99.99% uptime, free SSL, firewall, malware scanner, each day backupsStarts at $4 a month, renews at $6 a month (primarily based on a one-year contract)Site setup is irritating as a consequence of aggressive upsells, however customer support is superbHosting.com 10GB storage, limitless bandwidth/information switch, WordPress website assistant, WordPress auto updates, LiteSpeed servers, free SSL, firewall, 24/7 safety monitoring, complete safety suiteStarts at $2 a month, renews at $12 a month (primarily based on a one-year contract)WordPress guided set up and website assistant are nice for newbies, customer support may be sluggish by way of telephone and assist ticket There are a couple of conclusions we will draw primarily based on this info:SiteFloor presents common introductory costs, located proper in the midst of Ionos’ $4 a month and Hosting.com’s $2 monthly — and equal to Hostinger’s $3 a month. However, you may solely get SiteFloor’s lowest introductory costs for one yr the 4 years offered by Hostinger.SiteFloor’s excessive renewal value of $18 a month is dramatically dearer than the $6 a month supplied by Ionos or the $8 a month from Hostinger. Only A2 Hosting comes shut in worth, and Hosting.com’s most reasonably priced plan remains to be $6 much less monthly.SiteFloor presents common storage, with the 10GB matched by each Ionos and Hosting.com. Of the three hosts in contrast above, Hostinger is the one firm providing extra storage on its lowest plan.SiteFloor presents nice WordPress options. Both Hosting.com and Hostinger provide WordPress website assistants, and Hostinger features a velocity optimization plugin, however you received’t get an equal to the SiteFloor Security Optimizer from another host.SiteFloor presents good safety, with many of the identical safety features you’ll get from different high net hosts. Hosting.com is the one host with extra server-side safety features, due to its complete safety suite, which incorporates extra superior DDoS safety. However, Hosting.com doesn’t provide something just like the Security Optimizer plugin.SiteFloor presents the most effective customer support, together with a variety of instruments for fixing issues your self and the quickest telephone service I’ve acquired from any net host. Of the hosts listed above, Ionos is the one firm whose customer support even comes near SiteFloor’s customer support when it comes to velocity and helpfulness.Overall, SiteFloor earns a price rating of 8/10. SiteFloor presents top-notch WordPress instruments, however you will get comparable instruments for higher costs from Hostinger and Hosting.com. If you’re keen to handle WordPress your self, Ionos is very reasonably priced and its customer support is pretty much as good as SiteFloor’s. The predominant issues you may’t get from one other net host are SiteFloor’s Speed Optimizer and Security Optimizer, however there are free and low-cost plugins for enhancing website efficiency and safety.SiteFloor: Is it best for you?To reply this query, we have to revisit how SiteFloor carried out in all of our testing classes:Ease of use rating: 8/10Performance rating: 8/10Security rating: 10/10Customer support rating: 9/10Worth rating: 8/10This earns SiteFloor an general rating of 8.6, making it our top-ranking webhosting firm. If you’re in search of high-quality webhosting — and particularly when you’re in search of WordPress internet hosting — SiteFloor is a superb selection. But there’s a catch: SiteFloor is much more costly than most shared and WordPress internet hosting corporations.If you’ve bought a small price range and nonetheless need nice customer support, I like to recommend Ionos. If you’re keen to just accept less-than-perfect customer support in change for strong, low-cost plans, think about Hostinger — or try our information to the most effective low cost webhosting companies. SiteFloor presents nice instruments for newbies, together with wonderful WordPress instruments and complete tutorials on quite a lot of web site internet hosting/constructing matters. Hostinger presents a lot better general worth than SiteFloor, nevertheless, there’s no higher possibility for customer support. SiteFloor does provide a month-to-month possibility. However, you’ll pay a steep worth — $25 a month on the lowest-tier plan — for a month-to-month plan, so it’s higher to decide on a one-year contract. You’ll need to pay for the total 12 months up entrance, however the long-term financial savings is price it, because the one-year cost prices solely $3 monthly ($36 for the yr). SiteFloor is best than HostGator, with higher server efficiency, WordPress instruments and customer support.