As the name suggests, web hosts make it possible for individuals and companies to make their websites accessible to the entire public domain for a small monthly fee. Your location will determine which web host you can use - if they don’t have a data centre near you, it won’t work. Different web hosts will cater to different people, so once you’ve figured out your needs, carry on reading for a thorough overview of the 10 top web hosting providers available in Canada.
| Image | Product | Features | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
 | SiteGround
| 9.6 | Visit SiteGround |
 | Web Hosting Canada
| 9.5 | Visit Web Hosting Canada |
 | GreenGeeks
| 9.4 | Visit GreenGeeks |
 | HostUpon
| 9.3 | Visit HostUpon |
 | HostPapa
| 9.2 | Visit HostPapa |
 | Hostinger
| 9.1 | Visit Hostinger |
SiteGround
SiteGround offers a range of superb services including cloud hosting, shared hosting, and WordPress hosting, making it an ideal choice for those that prefer the creative flair of a small independent business. Whether you’re a beginner or a veteran, their user interface is easy to follow and comes with a wide range of tools specifically designed for website management. Furthermore, with their excellent customer support, you can work your way through any hurdle you come across.
Key Features
You can rest assured that your website will be online 99.9% of the time thanks to their ultra-fast servers. As a guarantee to you, if your uptime drops below 99.00% you will receive one free month of hosting for every 1% drop; just one way their customer service is excellent. Also, with sophisticated intrusion technology, they constantly scan for and block viruses and malware. If anything does go wrong, your website is fully backed up and will be restored with just a few clicks. Staying online is important to maintain clients and keep a high SEO score.
For an independent business, their support staffing levels are overkill but they work tirelessly to answer calls immediately and respond to web chats quickly. You can get in touch with them via email, phone, and webchat; they take no longer than 15 minutes to answer email tickets.
SiteGround offers three general plans starting at just $6.99 per month for one website, free email, 10GB, and 10000 visits. Plans go up to only $14.99 per month, with the benefits slightly increasing with each setup. Moreover, you are entitled to a 30-day money-back guarantee.Pros
Cons
Web Hosting Canada
Web Hosting Canada (WHC) was established in 2003. This one is primarily for the Canadian hosters out there, with data centres in Vancouver and Montreal. With optimized solutions for WordPress performance, it is ideal for SEO planning to be added to your page. Further, you can benefit from a range of free trials. Unlike SiteGround, there isn’t that much in the way of customer support, and beginners may struggle.
Key Features
WHC employs DDOS protection, automated SSL, and powerful anti-malware firewalls to ensure their servers are well protected. They also have a partnership with SpamExperts to keep your site clean. Also, no matter what your hosting plan, you can benefit from multiple PHP version support, SSH access, and automated Cron jobs. WHC is optimized for Postgres Databases and MySQL.
They have been constantly ranked by the Canadian Internet Authority (CIRCA) as one of the top hosting providers. They offer 99.9% uptime for the most part - if your uptime drops between this threshold, you may be able to claim credits in compensation - they are typically given for downtime not caused by planned maintenance.
Their customer service offers contact across the full spectrum. However, they do not promise urgency, with all customer contact being responded to within 6 hours. So, for people with experience in web hosting sites that want local data centres, WHC would be a top choice.
Price plans are fairly cheap, starting at just $3.89/month for one website and unlimited disk space, and $11.89 for unlimited websites and disk space. Unfortunately, basic plans do not come with an SSL certificate, something which is a normal commodity in this day and age. As with other hosting services, they give a thirty-day money-back guarantee.
Pros
Cons
GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks is independently owned and is a primary choice for small Canadian companies, bloggers, and individuals alike, owing to their range of shared web hosting solutions. They also offer reseller hosting, reliable VPS hosting, and WordPress hosting services. They boast fast and reliable hosting using cutting-edge technology.
Key Features
Every single account is isolated and uses private dedicated resources and a secured virtual file system. This means that you won’t be affected by websites that begin to hog the server. Also, your website will be far from harm’s reach if other sites are attacked by malware and viruses. GreenGeeks will monitor your server in real-time and encrypt your site with an SSL certificate. They don’t believe in downtime, so do their best to keep your uptime high, with compensations being made for significant unscheduled drops.
GreenGeeks boast a response of around 30 minutes for email tickets, with the ability to contact them via phone, email, and live chat. Although not the fastest response, it certainly isn’t the slowest.
With a 30-day money-back guarantee, their plans start at just $2.95 per month for basic performance, which gets you one website and unlimited email accounts. For $11.95 a month you get 4x the performance with unlimited websites and email accounts - this makes it a rather affordable option. Keep in mind that the refund doesn’t account for a domain name or any other fees. Although the price can get expensive down the line, this is a great choice for small businesses and those wanting to get the most out of WordPress with peace of mind that their website is secure.
Pros
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HostUpon
This Canadian hosting company offers affordable, unlimited plans, and is known for being the best hosting solution for growing businesses. WordPress is easy to install with their easy scripts, and there is support for over 100 other packages. With every single plan, there is a free website transfer, which makes a great choice for growing businesses.
Key Features
With data centres in Toronto, Canada and Searle, Washington DC, and Dallas in the US, you can benefit from localised servers. Also, they boast a 99.9% uptime guarantee. However, they don’t notify you of downtime so be sure to check in regularly; you can’t make money if you’re not online.
With a customer service response time of no longer than 15 minutes, HostUpon is a great option for people wanting a cheap unlimited plan without premium security measurements and downtime monitoring.
Unlimited plans start at $5.95 per month and offer double the performance, unlimited websites, and unlimited flexible email accounts. Like most other providers, you can try their service for 30 days risk-free.
Pros
Cons
HostPapa
HostPapa offers a range of services including VPS hosting, shared hosting, reseller hosting, and WordPress hosting. This provider has an edge by offering Office 365 and G Suite integration. Say goodbye to technical issues with excellent responsive customer support.
Key Features
HostPapa has data centres all over the world including, Toronto, Canada; Los Angeles and Chicago, USA, France, Spain, United Kingdom, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand - making it an appealing choice for businesses with clients elsewhere. With a 99.9% guarantee on uptime, there is an offer for potential compensation in uptime, unless it is the user’s fault or planned work.
There are two plans priced at $2.95 and $7.95 per month, with unlimited websites, SSD storage and unmetered bandwidth at the higher end. As with other services, they feature a 30-day money-back guarantee. Once you have paid, you can choose the best data centre. Renewal prices can rise quite high, but despite this, HostPapa makes an appealing choice for customers wanting to migrate an existing website and change provider.
Pros
Cons
Hostinger
Hostinger boasts a secure, affordable and easy-to-use hosting solution. They offer one-click VPS access and an up and running server as soon as you’ve paid for an account. A global server network makes them a strong appeal for growing businesses.
Key Features
The user-friendly interface makes this a top choice for beginners. It uses PHP and MySQL, the most popular combination of scripting languages for web developers. If you need support, their team of service reps will be able to assist you in getting the most out of WordPress, which will help your website’s SEO grow.
They do offer a 99.9% uptime but there is no guarantee on this, leaving you powerless and penniless in the face of problems. However, they do provide outage alerts to customers. Also, SSL certification is included but manual; however, their helpful customer service and user-friendly tools make this a top choice for newcomers and veterans.
Plans start at as little as $9.99 per month, with a step up to only $13.99 at the premium end which offers 100 websites, unlimited email, and 100GB storage. You are entitled to a refund, including any hosting services within the first thirty days. As a customer, you have access to 24/7 customer service no matter what language you speak.
Pros
Cons
Bluehost
This provider is extremely popular as they are an official WordPress hosting provider that offers a range of plans to cater to any needs, whether they are individuals, bloggers, small businesses or large companies. Bluehost offers VPS hosting, shared hosting, as well dedicated server hosting. In terms of uptime, they have been rated as one of the highest in the world.
Key Features
The user-friendly control panel, and easy web development languages through PHP and MySQL, make Bluehost ideal for individuals who are new to the scene. These systems are cost-effective and updated regularly for the best website creation. Users have even more control as FTP gives you the ability to transfer numerous files and directories without losing progress if the connection is lost. Moreover, every site comes with a free SSL certificate, ensuring that your website’s visitors are at far less risk of having their data stolen - more security for website owners and visitors.
They offer great customer service which is available 24/7 but they fall short compared to competitors by not offering premium tech support. However, they provide fast and reliable services by email, chat, and telephone.
Their plans range from $3.58 to $7.09 per month, with the latter offering unlimited websites, unlimited storage, 2 Spam Experts, and unmetered bandwidth. Bluehost is risk-free and offers a generous money-back guarantee in the first thirty days. If you are eligible, you can claim a refund for any extra hosting costs incurred.
Pros
Cons
FastComet
As you’d expect, FastComet is rated highly for its superb uptime and unbeatable customer service. They are one of Canada’s most renowned providers, with servers in seven different countries which allow customers across the planet to connect. FastComet was conceived in 2013 and provides WordPress, WooCommerce hosting, and much more. They employ over 70 employees who work around the clock to serve over 50,000 customers.
Key Features
With 70 employers working together, your questions will be answered with haste across the full range of contact methods. It’s extremely important to have a website backup so that you don’t lose all of your work if you make a mistake - by having the ability to revert to a previous state, you can rest assured. This is included free and is just another way their customer service excels.
With 10 data centres around the world, they will make a suggestion for you based on your location, but the choice ultimately lies with you. As well as global centres, they boast an uptime of 99.9% which is not guaranteed.
Prices range from $2.95 to $4.45 per month, and include SSD storage, visit counters, and unlimited websites in most cases. FastCommet’s staggering 45-day money-back guarantee beats the majority of providers that offer 30. If satisfaction can’t be decided on within that time, then it’s a bad job.
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Cons
Kinsta
Kinsta is a premium managed WordPress hosting provider in Canada with a great reputation. Their dedicated team will look after any website you need to have. For a small business, they pack the power expected from a top-level hosting company. What sets this provider apart from the crowd is its use of Google’s Cloud Platform, the same thing that powers Google. These guys tick all the essential boxes concerning speed, security, and support.
Key Features
Kinsta boasts an industry-leading response time of under two minutes, with access to support 24/7. Also, they look after your security seriously with a hack-free guarantee, IP banning after 6 failed login attempts, daily backups, DDoS attack detection, proactive prevention of malicious code sneaking into the network, and free Let’s Encrypt certificates. This is one powerful punch and it certainly matches the price.
Using Google’s cloud platform is futureproof, as it is reported that the majority of computers are moving towards Google. However, if things go wrong, you can access detailed support for the Google cloud platform.
You get what you pay for, and Kinsta isn’t a cheap solution, with starting prices at $30 per month and upper costs of $100 per month. If you’re unhappy with their service, you should take advantage of their 30-day no-risk guarantee. Also, if uptime is lost for an hour or more, you are entitled to compensation in terms of credits.
Kinsta costs a pretty penny, but with all the power and services they deliver, they’re allowed to. If you want a pristine WordPress hosting service, then choose Kinsta.
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CanSpace Solutions
Finally, the last edition to the list is CanSpace, rated as one of the best Canadian web hosting companies. They offer an award-winning, reliable, and affordable service. Additional features include domain services, free site migrations, and an assurance that there is no downtime during the process.
Key Features
With proactive monitoring, you know immediately when the server is down, and it will be fixed promptly and is guaranteed. As well as this, if there are any cyberattacks, their team will be on the case with integrated security, which will protect you against DDoS attacks. Greater security is offered through the availability of free backups. If you come across any issues, you can benefit from superb customer service with response times of 5 minutes or less.
Plans range from $4.99 per month to $22.99 at the higher end, which includes unlimited websites, unlimited MySQL mailboxes and 200GB disk space. The same as every other service, they offer a cooldown period of 30 days where you can get a full refund.
Aimed at advanced users, there are plenty of additional services to sink your teeth into. For a speedy service and top-tier hosting, choose CanSpace.
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FAQs
Storage space is the total amount of space on the server and is used to create backup web pages. Whereas, bandwidth is the amount of data transferred between your website and visitors.
Content management systems allow you to manage digital content, and here are some popular choices:
- WordPress is the best open-source CMS and is usable with any commercial or personal websites free of charge. PHP and MySQL from its base and it’s GPL license.
- Drupal is an easy-to-use, open-source platform that allows online creation and content management. Use this for simple blogs or large content forums.
- Joomla is a well-known CMS and runs smoothly on the majority of web services. It comes with free to use applications for web and application creation.
- Magento is primarily an eCommerce platform for open-source content creations.
There are several factors that determine the speed but it is largely based on the CPU/server software, SSD disk storage, and network speed.
You can also have an impact on speed by loading the disc with too many images, CCS and JS compression, and site coding and configurations. The more intricate your design, the more of a toll on the hosting speed.
Knowing where the data centres are allows you to see if there is one near you. The closer it is to you, the better ping you will get, and therefore faster loading times.
Make sure you check pricing (including renewal costs), customer support, general reviews, quoted speed, data centre location, and the availability of extra features. If you’re relatively new, you will want a host that can support you with the building process.
- Shared: means that everything provided shares the same server, including other website owners
- Dedicated: is a private plan in which you don’t share the server with anything else or anyone
- Collocated: you purchase the server, but pay the provider to store on their premises
- Cloud: the most in-demand hosting type which allows superb scalability depending on the web traffic.
To program your site for free, you will need to have an understanding of HTMP, CSS, or PHP. Otherwise, a CMS would be your best option.
If you’re in Canada, try and go for Toronto. Failing that, use a server located in the USA.
Yes, but you would need to have extensive knowledge of setting up a server and installing a CMS. If your internet is patchy then your site would have a lot of down time.
This varies depending on the provider, as seen in the above. Typically, introductory plans are cheaper.
Google allows simple website creation through G Sites, but it will be extremely basic.
If you are trying to contact a provider located internationally, avoid the phone as this can be costly. Your best chances are to use the online chat service or email, as this is free.
You can build a website without hosting, but only you will be able to see it. Think of hosting as broadcasting for your site.
cPanel is an extremely popular Linux-based GUI, which collates website management tools under one dashboard.
If you are just starting out, you don’t need a dedicated IP address. However, as your business grows and as your site holds more content, a dedicated IP would be wise.
The primary difference is how much support you get. With paid SSL certificates, you get them issued for 1-2 years, signed by a trusted authority, and access to 24/7 support.
CDN stands for content delivery/distribution network and is responsible for delivering the service to the end user, by means of data centres and proxy servers.
Fortunately, the majority of Canadian providers support custom email domains.
This sort of hosting is where all aspects run through WordPress, from speed to scalability.
Site migration is the process of moving from one hosting service to another.
Softaculous is a commercial script library that allows you to browse and install applications with one click.
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No, paid hosting services will not put adverts on your site as running costs are covered through subscription.
Yes, backing your data up every single day, during low-traffic periods, will help you get back online as soon as possible in the face of corruption or hacking attempts.