There may be varied reasons why you want to stay anonymous online. These could be anything from avoiding political persecution and evading stalkers to establishing an adult website and running a black hat hacking forum. Regardless, there are web hosts that offer anonymous hosting but first, let’s make the important distinction between anonymous hosting and offshore hosting, as they are often confused with one another.
Anonymous vs. off-shore hosting
Anonymous hosting is purpose-built to obfuscate your identity. Basically, you are not required to register with your actual name or mailing/physical address. The web hosts allow you to pay through means that cannot be used to unmask or trace your identity, such as cryptocurrencies for example. Anonymous hosting is a spectrum, with its most basic aspect being domain privacy. Domain privacy hides your personal data from DNS listings.
More advanced forms of anonymous hosting go further by not requiring you to provide this data in the first place. That’s because, in certain jurisdictions, governments can compel web hosts to disclose your personal information despite your signing up for domain privacy. Your data may also become public if the web host experiences a data leak.
Off-shore hosting occurs when your website is hosted on servers outside your country of residence. If you consider that the data centers of the world’s leading web hosts are located in about one or two dozen countries, off-shore hosting is a common occurrence and often the default albeit unintentionally.
In practice, however, the term off-shore hosting is applied when someone is actively looking to have their website hosted outside their country for a specific reason. Often, it’s for privacy, free speech, freedom from persecution, or tax avoidance. In this sense, the reasons for intentional off-shore hosting are similar to those for anonymous hosting.
Top 3 anonymous web hosting providers shortlist
Hostinger
Hostinger is number one for free SSL certificates, accepting cryptocurrency, a location-diverse data center network, and weekly automated backups.
HostGator
HostGator is second best for the free SSL certificates as well as the non-disclosure of non-US data center locations. All plans include unmetered bandwidth, unmetered storage, and unlimited email accounts.
Hostwinds
Hostwinds takes third place for its free SSL certificates, nightly backups, and cryptocurrency payment options. All plans include unmetered bandwidth, unlimited disk space, unlimited email accounts, unlimited databases, and free dedicated IP.
The best anonymous hosting brands on the market
| Image | Product | Features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
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| 9.6 | Visit Hostinger |
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| 9.5 | Visit Hostgator |
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| 9.5 | Visit Hostwinds |
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| 9.4 | Visit AccuWeb |
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| 9.4 | Visit DreamHost |
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| 9.2 | Visit Namecheap |
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| 9.2 | Visit ScalaHosting |
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| 9.2 | Visit Shinjiru |
1. Hostinger
We ranked Hostinger number one not only because it accepts cryptocurrency payments but also because it has one of the most location-diverse data center networks with data centers on four continents. So if you are looking for anonymous off-shore hosting, it checks all the right boxes. The company has 10 data centers spread across Europe (Lithuania, Netherlands, UK), Asia (India, Singapore), North America (US), and South America (Brazil).
All anonymous hosting plans include free SSL certificates, weekly backups, and access to CloudFlare CDN. Its entry-level plan comes with 50 GB SSD storage space, one website, one email account, and two databases. Hostinger’s proprietary control panel is exclusively designed with ease of use in mind.
Customers get 24/7 support via live chat. Hostinger has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Pros
Cons
Payment plans
UpTime
99.9 percent.
Speed
2. Hostgator
HostGator is our number two pick for anonymous hosting as their offer includes free SSL certificates, unmetered bandwidth, unmetered storage, and unlimited email accounts for all plans. The entry-level plan comes with one website, one email account, two databases, and access to CloudFlare CDN. You get digital advertising credits as well, which is a welcome sign-up bonus.
The company has data centers in the US (Atlanta and Provo) and in other unspecified locations. The non-disclosure of non-US server locations is certainly a plus for customer anonymity. HostGator’s customers have access to 24/7 support via phone, live chat, and social media. The company provides a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Pros
Cons
Payment plans
UpTime
99.9 percent;
Speed
3. Hostwinds
Hostwinds takes third place for its unmetered bandwidth and unmetered disk space that complements the free SSL certificates. The company accepts cryptocurrency payments and has three data centers split between the US (Seattle, Dallas) and Europe (Netherlands).
All Hostwinds anonymous hosting plans also include unlimited email accounts, unlimited databases, unlimited FTP accounts, and free website migration. The entry-level plan (Basic) allows just one domain.
The company does not have a money-back guarantee though you can request a refund on any payment within 72 hours of the transaction. Hostwinds provides 24/7 support through live chat, email, and support tickets. You can choose the location of the data center for your website.
Pros
Cons
Payment plans
UpTime
99.9999 percent.
Speed
4. AccuWeb Hosting
We ranked AccuWeb Hosting fourth primarily for the large number and diverse locations of its anonymous hosting data centers. The company has more than a dozen data centers spread across Europe (France, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, UK), Asia (India, Japan, Singapore, South Korea), North America (Canada, US), Australia, and Africa (South Africa).
Its entry-level anonymous hosting plan comes with one website, 50 GB SSD storage space, 750 GB monthly bandwidth, and 150 email accounts. All AccuWeb Hosting’s plans include free SSL, free daily backups, free spam filter, free website migration, enterprise-level technical support, as well as LiteSpeed web server.
Customers get 24/7 support via live chat, phone, and email. AccuWeb Hosting provides a 30-day money-back guarantee and a 99.9999 percent uptime commitment.
Pros
Cons
Payment plans
UpTime
99.9 percent.
Speed
5. DreamHost
DreamHost is a veteran player in the industry with 25 years of hosting experience under their team’s belt. We ranked the company fifth best for anonymous hosting due to its free domain privacy, free SSL certificates, and automated backups. Also, all anonymous hosting plans include SSD storage and unmetered bandwidth.
These features are in line with DreamHost’s overarching vision and mission to help its customers own and control their digital presence. Their entry-level anonymous hosting plan comes with one website, 50 GB of web storage space, and six databases.
Customers get 24/7 support via live chat, ticket, and email. Phone support callbacks are available as well. The company has an expansive knowledge base that benefits from its extensive industry experience. DreamHost has a bold 97-day money-back guarantee and a 100 percent uptime commitment. It has two data centers, both based in the US.
Pros
Cons
Payment plans
Up Time
100 percent.
Speed
6. Namecheap
Namecheap was one of the first web hosts to accept cryptocurrency payments. Still, that is not the only reason we placed the company in sixth place among the best anonymous hosting providers.
All of its anonymous hosting plans include unmetered bandwidth, domain privacy protection, free SSL certificates, and free access to Supersonic CDN. Namecheap’s entry-level plan comes with 20 GB SSD storage, three websites, 30 email accounts, and 50 databases.
Customers have access to 24/7 support via live chat and help desk tickets. Namecheap has data centers in the US and Europe. Anonymous hosting on the European data centers is about 20 percent more expensive than if you opt for the US-based ones.
The company has a 30-day money-back guarantee. Namecheap is one of the few web hosts that commit to 100 percent uptime.
Pros
Cons
Payment plans
UpTime
100 percent.
Speed
7. ScalaHosting
In business for more than two decades, ScalaHosting has been ranked seventh for its raft of privacy-friendly features. All anonymous hosting plans include unmetered bandwidth, free SSL certificates, free access to CloudFlare CDN, unlimited emails, unlimited databases, and automated daily backups retained for at least seven days. Its entry-level plan comes with one website and 50 GB SSD storage.
Customers have access to 24/7 support via live chat, email, and help desk tickets. The company has data centers in the US (Dallas and New York) and Europe (Bulgaria). ScalaHosting also has access to DigitalOcean data centers in North America (San Francisco and Toronto), Asia (Singapore and India), and Europe (UK, Germany, and the Netherlands).
ScalaHosting has a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Pros
Cons
Payment plans
UpTime
99.9 percent
Speed
8. Shinjiru
Shinjiru rounds out our top eight anonymous hosting providers. The fact that they are last on this list by no means takes the shine away from this web host provider that has been a leader in anonymous hosting for over 20 years. Unlike the top seven, Shinjiru is the only one that has gained a reputation as an offshore hosting specialist.
It makes our best eight list thanks to the company’s central mission of protecting customer and user privacy. Shinjiru runs an in-house 100 Gbps anti-DDoS attack network though this is not included in the plans — you have to pay for it separately.
All anonymous hosting plans are covered by automatic backups and unmetered bandwidth. The entry-level plan includes 100 GB SSD storage, one website, one database, and ten email accounts.
Customers get access to 24/7 support through help desk tickets, live chat, and phone calls. Shinjiru has eight offshore locations spread across Europe (Bulgaria, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and Russia) and Asia (Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore).
Pros
Cons
Payment plans
UpTime
99.9 percent.
Speed
Anonymous hosting FAQ
Start by identifying your primary reasons for seeking anonymous web hosting. Armed with this information, evaluate web hosts to identify the one that provides the best value proposition and has the anonymity strengths you would consider the highest priority.
As with any hosting product, reliability varies from one web host to the next. Still, the eight we have covered here stand out for the reliability of their anonymous hosting solutions.
True to its name, Namecheap has the lowest cost entry-level anonymous hosting plan at $4.48 monthly.
Other than just wanting to maintain your personal privacy, there may be varied reasons why you want to stay anonymous online. These could be anything from avoiding political persecution and evading stalkers to establishing an adult website and running a black hat hacking forum.
Conclusion
Anonymous hosting plans are a spectrum. The most suitable web host and plan will depend on what your reasons are for seeking anonymous web hosting. This review does the difficult groundwork for you so you have a shortlist you can more easily work through to find the most appropriate anonymous host provider and plan for you.