5 Best Web Hosting Companies In India For 2020
[Compared]
We analyzed the best web hosting companies in India.
What did we find?
There are only five providers worthy of this title.
That’s why on this page you’ll find:
- Our expert in-house methodology.
- An actionable five-step buyer’s guide.
- The importance of having a good local hosting provider in India.
But most importantly – you’ll check out our in-depth, data-driven reviews of each of the best companies.
That’s how you can easily choose the best hosting provider for your website.
Last Updated: July 25, 2020
Top 5 Web Hosting Companies In India 2020
Hostinger
- Lightning-fast servers
- Very affordable starting prices
- Sales support often adds a few freebies to the deal
SiteGround
- Stellar support
- Top-notch support team
- Excellent for WordPress and other PHP-based apps
BigRock
- Competitive pricing
- Good overall performance
- Both Linux and Windows plans available
1. Hostinger
Hostinger is known for its robust services and hefty discounts. It’s even more affordable in India, and the support often spices up the offer with additional features, making it one of the top choices. Full Review
- Lightning-fast servers
- Very affordable starting prices
- Sales support often adds a few freebies to the deal
Hostinger is known for its robust services and hefty discounts. It’s even more affordable in India, and the support often spices up the offer with additional features, making it one of the top choices. Full Review
2. SiteGround
SiteGround’s features, performance, and support are among the best in the business. It’s the go-to provider if you need WordPress hosting in India. Full Review
- Stellar support
- Top-notch support team
- Excellent for WordPress and other PHP-based apps
SiteGround’s features, performance, and support are among the best in the business. It’s the go-to provider if you need WordPress hosting in India. Full Review
3. BigRock
BigRock offers powerful solutions and backs them up with high performance and decent support. It’s a respectable local company with a competitive offer for both Linux and Windows users. Full Review
- Competitive pricing
- Good overall performance
- Both Linux and Windows plans available
BigRock offers powerful solutions and backs them up with high performance and decent support. It’s a respectable local company with a competitive offer for both Linux and Windows users. Full Review
4. GoDaddy
GoDaddy’s offer is complete with unique plans and toll-free phone support for India. It lets you take advantage of some decent deals, especially if you’re a local business owner. On top of that, we give you a 50% discount on your plan. Full Review
- A few special plans for India
- Toll-free number
- Hefty initial discounts
GoDaddy’s offer is complete with unique plans and toll-free phone support for India. It lets you take advantage of some decent deals, especially if you’re a local business owner. On top of that, we give you a 50% discount on your plan. Full Review
5. BlueHost
BlueHost India uses Mumbai-based servers to offer robust Linux and Windows hosting plans. It’s an excellent and affordable option, especially if you’re in the market for WordPress-optimized plans. Full Review
- Excellent WordPress features
- Linux and Windows hosting
- Reasonably priced
BlueHost India uses Mumbai-based servers to offer robust Linux and Windows hosting plans. It’s an excellent and affordable option, especially if you’re in the market for WordPress-optimized plans. Full Review
Our Methodology
Here’s how I tested the providers.
- First, I assembled a list of all the reputable hosting sites in India. One requirement was for the host to be optimized for the Indian market, in part by having a datacenter close enough to deliver data reasonably quickly.
- Second, I needed to know about any red flags to look out for. I checked out each provider’s offer. Plus, I reviewed what users had to say about their experience with the providers.
- Finally, I got a plan with each provider and took it for a spin.
This is what I looked at:
- Uptime—If you host data, you want it available at all times. Unfortunately, 100% uptime is unrealistic for anyone—even websites like Facebook have outages. However, each minute of downtime hurts you, so the higher the uptime percentage, the better.
- Speed—Speed is a massive predictor of website success. Yet, a website can only be as fast as its server. I hooked up the plans to speed testing tools and tested how hosts performed in major Indian cities.
- Support—Support is your safety net if something goes wrong. I contacted each team with a variety of queries to see how well it handles them. If the support has a local phone line, it’s a massive plus.
- Features—This is sort of an umbrella term for everything in a provider’s arsenal. I checked if the company covered the basics well—robust security, user-friendly control panel, etc. I also took note of any outlying features that give it an advantage over other hosting providers in India.
- Pricing—The whole reason shared hosting came into being is to make hosting affordable and available to everyone. The pricing needs to be fair according to the resources, features, and performance you’re getting.
- Transparency—Shady hosts often look to cut corners, which leads to a nasty experience down the road. I checked each company’s terms of service to see what it really offers. If a provider uses too many upsells, gimmicky marketing, or has misleading wording, it’s a red flag.
All that info went into creating these comprehensive reviews of the best web hosting companies in India.
Detailed Reviews
- Very affordable starting prices
- Lightning-fast servers
- Sales support often adds a few freebies to the deal
- Pricy plan renewals
With 29 million users, Hostinger is known as one of the largest—as well as the fastest—independent hosts.
But let’s see how its Indian services perform.
Hostinger Performance
Hostinger’s uptime averages around 99.9%, which is the industry standard. However, it has dipped below this number at least once.
It can be a bit of a problem, but you do have an uptime guarantee. If you get excessive downtime, you get several days to a week of free hosting.
What Hostinger is known for are its blazing speeds. With 0.25 seconds to respond in India, Hostinger scores impressively.
Note that Hostinger’s nearest datacenter is in Singapore. This is the only reason Hostinger doesn’t outperform every web hosting company in India. Still, its servers respond much faster than most of the competition with local servers.
Hostinger Features
Hostinger has an extensive feature offer. It includes:
- SSD storage
- Weekly backups
- Nginx caching
- A website builder
- Git support
…and more.
Only the most expensive shared plan comes with daily backups.
Hostinger usually offers either a free domain name or an SSL certificate. Unfortunately, this promotion is only sometimes on offer in India.
That said, you may get both as a freebie. The support team seems to be authorized to give extra sign-up bonuses to Indian customers.
All in all, the offer is decent. The only feature Hostinger lacks is website migrations. If you already have a website, you might want to consider one of the other providers here.
If you’re a first-time website owner, Hostinger is the best place to start with web hosting in India.
Hostinger Support
Unfortunately, Hostinger’s support is only available by chat or email. You have to rely on these.
On the other hand, the quality of the support is excellent. The agents are efficient and are proper professionals in all hosting-related matters.
They work exceptionally hard at helping beginners get the hang of everything. Having an excellent knowledge base as well, Hostinger is the go-to host in India for first-time website owners.
When I inquired about hosting plans in India, the support offered me a few extra freebies like a domain name and an SSL certificate—such a nice surprise. Give it a shot and contact them yourself—you may very well get a sign-up bonus too.
Hostinger Pricing
Hostinger recently changed its payment structure. While the prices for the U.S. went up, the hosting services in India actually got cheaper.
- The pricing now starts at ₹49.00/month for the Starter plan.
- The Premium plan starts at ₹129/month.
- The Pro plan is at ₹208/month.
The catch is you must commit for four years to get these prices. Still, it’s the best introductory deal you’ll find.
The renewal is steeper—the fees are ₹470/month, ₹719/month, and ₹956/month. The renewal costs are average, but you can find lower rates if you want an affordable long-term deal.
A total of ₹2,352.00 for four years of hosting is incredibly budget-friendly, though. It does offset the steeper renewal.
Hostinger offers some of the best web hosting in India. If you enjoy hunting for a good bargain, take advantage of its discounts.
- Excellent for WordPress and other PHP-based apps
- Top-notch support team
- Stellar support
- Hidden setup fee
SiteGround might just be the fan-favorite among website hosts. It boasts incredibly favorable reviews, both by users and experts. The word of its services travels quickly.
So let’s see what makes SiteGround unique and how strong its web hosting services in India are.
SiteGround Performance
SiteGround’s outages are few and far between. The average uptime is well above 99.99%—that’s around 4 minutes of downtime per month. Needless to say, the uptime is excellent.
As with Hostinger, the nearest server is in Singapore. SiteGround actually outperforms Hostinger with a response time of 0.15 seconds.
Plus, SiteGround’s servers are expertly configured. It sports some of the fastest loading you can achieve with shared hosting.
The lack of a server in India takes very little away from SiteGround’s performance. The results peg it as one of the most reliable web hosting providers in India.
SiteGround Features
SiteGround has the same offer everywhere in the world. There are no location-specific features.
Fortunately, SiteGround’s default plans are fantastic. Here’s what you get:
- SSD storage
- Cloudflare CDN
- Daily backups
- WildCard SSL
- Website migration
…and much more.
SiteGround is also proud of its proprietary features. It has so far developed a custom caching plugin, several security measures, a WordPress caching solution, a migration plugin, a cPanel overhaul, etc.
As an official WordPress provider, SiteGround’s plans are also WordPress-optimized. You can get fantastic WordPress performance plus a few perks like automated updates.
The feature list goes on and on.
Put all of it together, and you end up with one of the most powerful shared hosting solutions. If you’re looking for the best WordPress hosting in India, SiteGround is likely the best host for the most popular CMS.
SiteGround Support
SiteGround invests a lot into training a well-rounded and professional support team. They have shown themselves to be fantastic at resolving all issues that came up in our testing.
Support is available 24/7 via phone, email, and chat.
SiteGround’s website states you get a support phone number based on your location. Unfortunately, there is no phone line for India, so you can only get the U.S. phone number.
Granted, the lack of local phone support is a nuisance. Still, this is one of the top support teams in the industry. It will have no trouble resolving your issues through email or chat.
Few website hosting services in India can match SiteGround’s support.
SiteGround Pricing
SiteGround doesn’t list specific prices in Indian Rupees. The official payment methods are Visa and MasterCard, so you have to go by the bank’s conversion rate.
One alternative is to pay via PayPal. You have to contact SiteGround support to use this payment method, though.
The three pricing plans in dollars are:
- StartUp—$3.95/month, renews at $11.95/month
- GrowBig—$5.95/month, renews at $19.95/month
- GoGeek—$11.95/month, renews at $34.95/month
Here’s what each plan includes:
- StartUp lets you create 1 website with 10Gb of storage. The server resources are ideal for up to 10,000 monthly visitors. This is generous for running a starter website.
- GrowBig offers unlimited websites with 20Gb of storage. It can accommodate up to about 25,000 visitors. The resources are still generous, but you might reach the cap if you run several large websites.
- GoGeek raises the storage to 30Gb and works with up to 100,000 monthly visitors.
SiteGround also offers WordPress and WooCommerce-optimized plans, but the pricing and resources are identical. It’s perfect if you want top-notch WordPress performance without overpaying.
SiteGround’s offer is fantastic. You’d be hard-pressed to find more robust WordPress hosting in India.
- Good overall performance
- Both Linux and Windows plans available
- Competitive pricing
- No SSD storage with shared hosting
Most hosting providers are looking to expand to India. BigRock, on the other hand, started as a hosting company in India and is expanding outward.
It is now a part of EIG (which also owns BlueHost and HostGator) and has a separate offer for India. Let’s see how well it works.
BigRock Performance
BigRock has the same 99.9% uptime guarantee as most providers. However, you can’t check server availability from the control panel.
According to my monitoring tools, BigRock honors the guarantee. The uptime goes up and down, but it averages around 99.95%, which is decent.
Unlike previous hosts, BigRock has a server in Mumbai. It can deliver data much faster than companies that handle web hosting in India with remote servers.
Consequently, response times in Bangalore are as low as 90 ms, which is impressive.
However, BigRock does lack modern speed features like SSD storage, so data delivery could be faster. The overall speeds are impressive, but they can still improve.
BigRock Features
BigRock has an extensive feature offer. It includes SiteLock security, an SSL certificate, a CDN, cPanel, and more.
One thing to note is you can also get Windows hosting in India. The plans come with fewer resources relative to the price. Windows hosting is generally more expensive, though, so this is expected.
BigRock also offers a one-page website builder, Cloud for Business hosting plans, and dedicated servers—features exclusive to users in India.
The offer is top-notch. It puts BigRock among the more robust website hosting services in India.
BigRock Support
BigRock covers the usual support channels—phone, chat, and email.
A benefit for users from India is that BigRock has local support. You can phone the support team without making an international call.
BigRock’s support team is decent. The agents resolve problems with ease. While they get the job done, though, I must admit they’re a little slower than SiteGround’s.
One factor is that live chat support is too eager to escalate issues to email tickets. You have to wait longer for solutions you could arguably get via chat.
Otherwise, the support performs splendidly.
BigRock Pricing
BigRock’s pricing starts at ₹89/month. After that it becomes a mess, as BigRock has the most complicated pricing structure among all web hosting services in India. You can check out the complete pricing structure on its website.
The prices range from ₹89/month to ₹949/month for shared hosting. WordPress and Windows plans are more expensive than standard Linux Hosting.
The pricing further depends on how long you prepay for. BigRock lets you pay 10 years in advance, which is the longest prepay period I’ve seen in hosting. It’s also the only way to take advantage of the lowest ₹89/month offer.
As far as resources go, they are generous. You can keep your website on the same plan for quite a while, though there’s a strong possibility you’ll outgrow at least one plan if you get ten years of hosting.
BigRock has one of the most affordable offers out there. If you are sure about making a ten-year commitment, you get quite a bargain.
BigRock might struggle against its US competition, but BigRock India is one of the top hosts in its country.
- A few special plans for India
- Toll-free number
- Hefty initial discounts
- Aggressive upsells
In the world of hosting, GoDaddy is a giant. It is one of the most influential companies, rivaled only by EIG. It is well-known for its aggressive expansion and ridiculous discounts.
More importantly, it looks to India for future growth. Let’s see what it has to offer.
Godaddy Performance
GoDaddy takes its infrastructure seriously. Uptime rarely dips below 99.99%, which is excellent. Your website practically remains available at all times.
Like Hostinger and SiteGround, GoDaddy has a server in Singapore. Unfortunately, the distance leads to some questionable performance for users in India.
GoDaddy’s speeds are in the same ballpark as Hostinger’s. Doubtless, it is fast, but not as blazing-fast as a few other website hosting companies in India.
Godaddy Features
All plans come with cPanel, security monitoring, a website builder, and 125+ 1-click installs.
Features like SiteLock security, a domain name, SSL certificates, backups, and malware scanning are only available with some plans.
If you want one of the features from an expensive plan, you can get them anyway, but at a price. In fact, GoDaddy will try to upsell you several times, which can be annoying.
The offer is enough to run a decent-size website without problems. Still, GoDaddy lacks some features to compete with other web hosting providers in India.
Godaddy Support
GoDaddy support is available via live chat and phone.
The support is proficient enough at resolving easier queries. It does struggle with complicated issues, though.
The lack of email support is apparent. Agents can’t escalate queries, so they have to bounce you around from one agent to another.
On the positive side, GoDaddy has a toll-free number in India. You can use phone support for more complicated matters.
Support is more competent than that of many companies, but it has some way to go before it’s the absolute best.
Godaddy Pricing
GoDaddy’s standard offer includes three plans:
- Economy—₹199/month starting price, ₹449/month on renewal
- Deluxe—₹299/month starting price, ₹599/month on renewal
- Ultimate—₹449/month starting price, ₹999/month on renewal
GoDaddy adds a starter plan for users in India. The plan lets you create one website with 30Gb of storage. It costs ₹99/month for the first term and ₹199/month to renew. In the long run, this is the cheapest web hosting plan in India.
GoDaddy also has a special offer for business owners looking to go online. It’s called an Online Starter Bundle.
For ₹49/month, you get a .in domain name, an email inbox with 10Gb of storage, and a one-page website with a year of hosting. It’s perfect for adding a website to an already-existing business.
Keep in mind this hosting is meant for a business card website. If you want to host something more complicated, you need a shared plan.
While GoDaddy has its flaws, the extensive plans with affordable prices make a strong case for it having the best domain hosting for India.
- Excellent WordPress features
- Linux and Windows hosting
- Reasonably priced
- Paid site migrations
BlueHost is one of the most popular hosting providers. Its acquisition by EIG has been bumpy, but it is now back to full power and looking to grow.
It has teamed up with ResellerClub to create a separate hosting platform for India. BlueHost India, as it’s called, boasts exciting plans, so let’s see what it has in the mix.
Bluehost Performance
BlueHost offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee. The actual uptime averages around 99.95%. This means about 20min of downtime per month, which is decent.
BlueHost uses ResellerClub’s servers in Mumbai. This way, it can deliver content much faster.
The servers take 105 ms to respond, which is excellent. Only BigRock manages to get faster web hosting in India.
BlueHost’s speed optimization is on point as well. You can expect lightning-fast load times.
Bluehost Features
BlueHost’s features are similar in India as worldwide.
Here’s what you get:
- SSD storage
- SSL certificates
- 1-click installers
…and more.
CodeGuard malware scanning and SiteLock security are available for purchase during checkout. These features go a long way in protecting your website against cyberattacks.
A small difference is that users outside India get a customized cPanel, while Indian users get the standard one. The control panel looks a bit rough, but it has all the essential functionality.
If you get BlueHost’s WordPress hosting in India, you also get a host of cool features like data mirroring, Nginx caching, and a content delivery network.
BlueHost offers Windows hosting as well. The features are more or less identical to Linux-based hosting. It’s a decent solution if you want to run Windows apps.
BlueHost has a robust offer, especially if you’re interested in WordPress.
Bluehost Support
Support is available via live chat, email, and phone. A local support team is reachable through a local phone line, which always makes things easier.
The support agents are real experts, especially in WordPress hosting. Their average time to resolve a query is between 5 and 20 minutes, so you’re in good hands.
The support puts BlueHost’s shared hosting in India in the same league as SiteGround’s. And that’s no small achievement.
Bluehost Pricing
BlueHost offers three shared plans:
- Standard—Starts at ₹259/month, lets you create one website
- Business—Starts at ₹309/month, lets you create three websites
- Pro—Starts at ₹419/month, lets you create unlimited websites
The price depends on the length of your subscription. You must prepay for three years to get the best rates.
The Windows-based and WordPress-optimized plans are only marginally more expensive than the standard Linux hosting.
All plans come with unlimited bandwidth, storage, and email accounts. The prices are fair, albeit steeper than those of a few other providers.
The offer is fantastic, especially if you’re hunting for cheap WordPress hosting in India. Considering the features, it’s well worth the money.
Five Things to Check Before Buying Indian Web Hosting
You now know who has the best website hosting in India. You can check them out yourself and make sure they are right for you.
Here are a few things to look out for before you choose your host.
- Hosting features—Even if a provider gets excellent reviews, its features may not match your type of website. A provider that’s excellent for WordPress blogs might struggle with ecommerce sites. That’s why it’s essential to check the feature list and see if the provider fits you.
- Support—Many users overlook support because it seems less important at first. Once they have a problem, though, they quickly realize their mistake. Contact support and see if it’s available 24/7 and if it’s competent. Also, check if there’s a local phone line.
- Scalability—If you’re just starting out, you’ll likely get the starter plan. Still, it’s crucial to have room to grow. Check out the more expensive plans, and see if you can stick with the same provider if your website blows up in popularity.
- Price—Finding cheap web hosting in India is relatively easy. Just check the renewal price and cost of any extra features. Planning out expenses is key to making sure your hosting stays budget-friendly.
- Features geared towards the Indian Market—Many providers claim they are optimized for India. However, some just copy/paste existing plans and convert the price to Rupees, which is less than ideal. A provider should at least have a server near India. Any location-specific features or discounts are a bonus.
The Importance of a Good Local Hosting Provider
Quality hosting provides a strong foundation for a website. Without it, you have to deal with a host of problems like slow load times, buggy features, and even security issues.
While a bunch of quality providers is out there, they all specialize to a certain extent. A provider, ideal for North America, might struggle to deliver content to Asia or Europe.
That’s why finding the best web hosting services in India means going with a provider, whose plans are geared towards the Indian market. Local visitors always get faster load times if the website is actually hosted near India.
Plus, the costs of running a data center are lower in India. Which is why you can get more affordable and faster plans in India.
There are more benefits, but these are the most crucial factors. Not only do you get better performance, but you also have fewer hosting expenses.
Conclusion
You now know the hows and whys of picking website hosting in India. Feel free to take any of the top providers above for a spin and see if website ownership is for you.
FAQ
Starting a website is straightforward. All you need is proper web hosting. You can check out my reviews of the best web hosting in India above.
Once you have hosting, you need to create a website.
In 2020, most providers offer 1-click installations for WordPress and other popular CMSs. These make website ownership easy if you have no experience with code. Even complete beginners can create a basic website in all of five minutes.
Most of the best hosting companies in India offer a no-questions-asked money-back policy. This usually lasts for the first 30 days, so website ownership is risk-free. Feel free to try any of them out—you might find running a website is just the thing for you.
Now, I didn’t yet point out which provider is the absolute best. That’s because the best provider depends on your needs.
SiteGround, for instance, is a very well-rounded and powerful provider. The optimization makes it excellent for WordPress, and the extra security does wonders for ecommerce.
The downside of SiteGround is that it’s relatively expensive, which is a turnoff for some users. If you want hosting that’s beginner-friendly and affordable, Hostinger offers cheap hosting in India. Plus, its offer is nothing to sneeze at.
If you need something smaller, GoDaddy’s plans are a perfect match. The Online Starter Bundle is ideal for business card websites. The starter plan is also a fantastic solution if you want just a simple, no-nonsense website.
In short, when it comes to hosting sites in India, there’s something for everyone. It’s just a matter of finding the right provider.
It varies from company to company, but hosting is generally cheaper in India than in the US.
If you’re looking for the best discount, Hostinger’s shared plans start at ₹49/month. You must get four years of hosting to take advantage of this price, but it’s the best deal out there.
If you’re looking for a long-term deal, GoDaddy India has special plans that cost ₹199 to renew. The introductory price is steeper than Hostinger’s, but renewal is more than twice as cheap.
Starting a hosting company can be tricky. Server maintenance has more to it than just splitting up the resources and selling hosting accounts.
A relatively low-risk option for those new to the hosting business is reseller hosting. Some of the top providers like InterServer started this way.
The way reseller hosting works is you purchase a large amount of server resources. You can split these into hosting accounts and resell them to your own clients.
The solutions are white labeled, so from the outside, it looks like you’re using your own servers. The reseller hosting provider also maintains the servers to an extent, so you can focus on serving your clients.
Reseller hosting is a straightforward way to start selling hosting without having to invest a lot of money. Once you get enough clients, you can switch to your own servers.
As for reseller hosting in India, BigRock has robust reseller plans. These are available for both Linux and Windows hosting, so feel free to check out either version.
Plenty of providers offer free hosting. Hostinger, for instance, provides free hosting under the name of 000webhost.
Still, free hosting is restrictive compared to paid plans. It’s more suitable for testing or experimenting. You’ll find running a legitimate website on it nearly impossible once visitors start rolling in.
If you’re just looking for a cheap option, you might appreciate Hostinger or BigRock. Both offer some of the most fantastic web hosting in India while maintaining affordable pricing.
