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Since 2016, we have bought and evaluated every distinguished Canadian web hosting company, which includes well-known brands such as GoDaddy, Bluehost, and HostGator.
Our all-inclusive guide evaluates a multitude of factors to aid you in making an educated, data-driven decision when picking a web hosting service for your website. With numerous years of experience working online, we have encountered the drawbacks of opting for a substandard web hosting service, suffering the consequences of that decision on numerous occasions.
After much trial, error, and tribulation, we’ve conclusively found the best Canadian web hosting services.
The Best Web Hosting Services in 2024
At our core, we believe in providing our readers with comprehensive and easily digestible information. That's why we've taken great care in curating a ranking system that accurately reflects our top picks for hosting providers.
Our approach is simple: we've ranked each provider in descending order, with our number one recommendation appearing at the top. We've limited our selection to nine top-notch options, handpicked for their exceptional quality, dependability, and features.
We've dedicated great time and resources towards assessing the performance of a broad array of hosting providers, from giants like SiteGround, Hostinger, and HostPapa to premium players like Cloudways and HostArmada.
Three of our choices truly stand out from the competition, providing unparalleled service, while the remaining provider is still a popular choice, although it has some minor drawbacks.
Here are our top 10 best web hosting reviews by cost, customer service, speed, and uptime.
- SSL security
- Free website builder
- Free domain registration
- Customer support may be slow during peak hours
- Cost: $2.36/month (Deal)
- Uptime: 99.96%
- Average load time: 475 Ms
- Free website transfer
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Free one-on-one training
- Free Cloudflare CDN
HostPapa Review
HostPapa is undoubtedly one of our favorite web hosts — and it isn’t just because they’re a Canadian company.
We use it for just about every one of our sites, and most of our new client sites use it as well.
Besides the fact that it’s not disappointing in any of our criteria and excelling in the majority of them, HostPapa is logistically the best Canadian choice.
Your website will load slightly faster than it would if you were using some other popular web hosts because HostPapa’s servers are located throughout Canada.
Their headquarters are also in Canada (in Burlington, ON).
Since HostPapa loves Canada as much as we do, they are offering huge discounts to all of our readers.
It’s nearly half the price of their regular hosting packages and free upgrades that are otherwise a bit pricey.
The discount they are offering makes a premium choice like HostPapa as inexpensive as some of the cheapest plans.
HostPapa has also been kind enough to offer our readers all of their essential features for free, including their 30-day guarantee, free website builder, free SSL security, free 1-on-1 training, and free domain registration – altogether a $50 value.
Customer Support
HostPapa also excels when it comes to customer support, which is available 24/7 to answer just about any technical question.
Contacting their support team is like having an extremely helpful new employee pop out of nowhere for your website via live chat.
Servers
Since it has data centers all over Canada, website speed and uptime are excellent on all best web hosting plans, but the high performance of the web host isn’t just due to its location.
HostPapa runs SSD on all servers and uses technology that reduces memory addresses that the processor needs to handle.
Friendly UI
HostPapa even offers one-click installation, allowing you to install WordPress with ease. It also has free SSL capability with Let’s Encrypt.
If you’re new to the world of online business and web hosting, HostPapa is user-friendly.
You can quickly launch a personal blog or website – just follow the steps laid out in our HostPapa review.
- Unique website builder
- Github integration
- LiteSpeed cache
- Free SSL and email service included
- No phone support
- You must be logged in to access live chat
- No cPanel
- Limitations of entry planc
- Cost: $1.99/month (Deal)
- Uptime: 99.9%
- Average load Time: 432 Ms
- CMS Auto-installer
- WordPress Tools
- Automatic Malware Scanner
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- 24/7/365 support
- DNS management
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Hostinger Review
Promotional pricing is a rampant marketing tactic in the hosting industry. Hostinger has mastered this strategy, and it benefits you just as much as it benefits them.
Hostinger’s best deal is at $1.99 per month and you can lock this price for 48 months. That’s four years of some of the best web hosting for under $100 any way you swing it.
You might think that their service would be slow and lousy (at least, that was my assumption).
Then I gave Hostinger a try, adding five different websites to their basic plan. Lo and behold, the performance numbers were on par with – and often much better than – other budget hosts (who charged 2-3x).
Website Builder
What surprised me is that Hostinger also has its very own Website Builder – Hostinger Website Builder (formerly Zyro).
It consists of some neat features like the AI Content Generator and Logo Maker and some good old ones – free SSL Certificate, unlimited SSD storage, and unlimited bandwidth.
The new features seem really refreshing, they allow you to focus on your company.
In no time you finish what you set your mind to. Put your creativity to good use with Hostinger’s new feature which allows you to create logos for your brand, Hostinger Website Builder’s Logo Maker.
Hostinger is relatively a newcomer and needs to go through more testing but initially, what we have found is that Hostinger delivers.
Why Hostinger is a Great Choice
This is a great option if you want all of the basic features that other companies provide.
Full disclosure: you won’t get all of the bells and whistles with all of the plans.
So review your feature needs before picking a package. Bottom line is, if you’re looking to save a lot of money when it comes to Canadian web hosting with a performance that delivers, Hostinger is a great choice.
Even with the lowest tier you still receive a 30-day money-back guarantee, a free domain, and free SSL.
To get all the freebies, sign up using this link.
- Choose your own server locations
- Affordable pricing
- Great Security Features
- Lots of included free features
- Renewal costs are high
- Low amounts of storage
- No VPS or Dedicated options
- 99.90% Uptime
- Below 400ms load times
- Free CDN and SSL certificates
- SuperCacher, Ultrafast PHP, SG Optimiser
- Free site migration
- Premium customer support
SiteGround Review
SiteGround is a great choice for anybody looking for a best web hosting service. Whether you’re an expert or somebody just starting their first blog, you’ll find a perfect fit for yourself among their wide variety of hosting plans.
By using Google’s most powerful processors, SiteGround can deliver many things to its customers.
For example, sub-300ms loading speeds and uptimes that are stable at 99.90%. If you’re looking for the most reliable hosting option out there, regardless of the price, SiteGround is the way to go.
As for those who are just starting out in website hosting and want a relatively cheap and straightforward solution, they might look to SiteGrounds more affordable plans.
These start at $2.99/month, and give you a variety of different benefits such as free SSL certificates, a managed WordPress site, and 10GB of storage.
While it lacks VPS and dedicated options, SiteGround offers premium cloud hosting, which will be a great fit for anyone looking for more resources and enterprise businesses.
If your website suddenly grows by such a margin, you can switch plans quickly with the help of SiteGround’s expert support team.
Great Flexibility
That being said, one of the nice things about SiteGround is that it allows you to pick any of their available servers that you want. Choices include the US, UK, Europe, Australia, and Asia-Pacific.
This means that you can cherry-pick your server for the place where most of your traffic would come from, making the website much faster for your users.
There’s also quite a bit of flexibility in pricing, with the lowest option being $2.99/month and going all the way to $7.99/month on the highest shared hosting package.
WordPress & Cloud Ready
Since WordPress has taken the world by storm and a lot of people starting websites are looking for WordPress hosting, we’re happy to inform you that SiteGround does include it in their packages.
The service is completely managed for you, including everything from updates to security, so you have nothing to worry about and can focus on your site.
Another option, if you prefer to take a step up from shared hosting, is one of their cloud hosting packages.
This essentially provides a similar experience as dedicated hosting, with plans starting at $100/month all the way up to $2,100/month if you need particularly powerful specs.
Excellent All-Rounder
Along with all of the perks mentioned above, you get excellent uptime of around 99.90% and low load times (although certainly not industry-leading).
Similarly, you get some really great customer support running 24/7.
SiteGround easily has one of the best starter plans out there, especially so if you’re a beginner or starting a new business.
- Reliable infrastructure
- Strong security features
- Wide range of hosting plans
- Excellent customer support
- High renewal costs
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Robust security measures
- Global data centers
- Linux-based servers
- cPanel and Softaculous
- 45-day money-back guarantee
- 24/7 customer support
HostArmada Review
HostArmada is a global web hosting provider offering a range of services, including shared, reseller, VPS, and dedicated CPU hosting.
The company stands out with its customer-friendly policies, such as no cancellation fees, a 45-day money-back guarantee, a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and 24/7/364 support.
Reliability
HostArmada offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee across all hosting services.
With a dedicated technical support team monitoring the infrastructure constantly, they are quick to address any issues that may arise, ensuring consistent reliability for their clients.
Security
HostArmada provides robust security measures through web server security and environment security fleets. With a wide range of features, such as firewalls, DDoS protection, and malware scanning, HostArmada ensures top-notch security for their clients.
Why HostArmada is a Great Choice
HostArmada offers a range of data centers, uses high-quality software and hardware, and provides competitive pricing for their plans.
Additionally, they offer user-friendly tools, such as cPanel and Softaculous, and a responsive customer support team available 24/7.
See our full review of HostArmada for more information
or visit HostArmada today for 75% Off Shared & WordPress Cloud Web Hosting options!
- Environmentally friendly hosting
- Strong 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Rapid website loading times
- Free domain included
- Generous 30-day money-back guarantee
- Pricing can be more favorable with longer-term commitments
- Cost: Starting at $2.95/month
- Uptime: 99.9%
- Free website transfer
- 24/7 customer support
- Eco-friendly hosting
- Free SSL certificate
- One-click application installation
- Multiple data center locations (Chicago, Montreal, Amsterdam)
- DDoS protection
- Free daily backups
- Password-protected directories
- 1 free site restoration per month
GreenGeeks Review
Founded in 2008, GreenGeeks has established itself as a reputable web hosting company that places a dual emphasis on performance and environmental sustainability. With over a decade of experience in the industry, they have honed their expertise to deliver hosting solutions that meet the evolving needs of a diverse clientele. What sets GreenGeeks apart is their unwavering commitment to not only providing top-tier hosting services but also contributing positively to the environment. This unique blend of technical prowess and environmental consciousness defines their identity in the web hosting landscape.
Eco-Friendly Hosting
GreenGeeks is committed to minimizing its environmental footprint. With a pledge to replace three times the energy they consume with wind power credits, they are an excellent choice for environmentally conscious customers. By choosing GreenGeeks, you not only get reliable hosting but also contribute to a greener planet.
Uptime and Speed
When it comes to web hosting, reliability is paramount. GreenGeeks assures an impressive 99.9% uptime, backed by a track record of consistent performance. Over the past year, they have maintained an average load time of just 500 ms, ensuring that your website remains accessible and responsive to visitors.
Hosting Plans
GreenGeeks provides a variety of hosting plans, including web hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and reseller hosting. Starting at an affordable $2.95 per month, web hosting packages come in multiple tiers, offering enhanced resources and features to accommodate websites of all sizes. Whether you’re a blogger, a small business owner, or an enterprise, GreenGeeks has a hosting solution to meet your specific needs.
Data Centers
Data security and reliability are paramount in the hosting industry. GreenGeeks takes pride in its secure data centers, featuring 24/7 monitoring and state-of-the-art hardware. Their infrastructure includes Intel Xeon processors, SSD storage, and BGP4 gigabit connectivity. Customers have the option to select data centers in Chicago, Montreal, or Amsterdam for their hosting needs. This geographical diversity ensures that your website enjoys optimal performance and data redundancy.
Security
Website security is non-negotiable, and GreenGeeks goes the extra mile to protect your online assets. They offer comprehensive DDoS protection, SSL certificates, password-protected directories, and nightly backups. Moreover, each hosting plan includes one free site restoration per month, adding an extra layer of security and peace of mind.
Customer Support
Responsive customer support is a hallmark of GreenGeeks. They deliver reliable assistance via phone, live chat, and email. They pride themselves on quick response times, guaranteeing an email reply within just 20 minutes. Whether you have technical questions or need guidance, GreenGeeks’ knowledgeable support team is there to help. Additionally, customers can tap into a robust Help Center and a wealth of How-To articles for self-assistance, making your hosting experience smooth and hassle-free.
- Free SSL certificates
- Daily backups
- cPanel included
- Worldwide accessibility
- Free domain and website migrations
- Customer support
- Fairly high renewal rates
- One-click deployment
- Free SSL certificate
- Free Domain Registration/Transfer
- 45 day money back guarantee
- 24/7 support via live-chat
- User-friendly interface
Verpex Review
Verpex is a privately owned web-hosting business and currently have customers in 181 countries, and they host over 250,000 websites.
Let’s take a look at some of the key features of Verpex:
Reseller Hosting
Verpex has a strong reseller hosting service with numerous tools, features, and benefits. Monthly tiers include:
Start-up Reseller: $17.99 USD
Pro Reseller: $30.00 USD
Ultimate Reseller: $59.99 USD
There are significant renewal discounts and frequent sales, so these prices are the worst-case scenario.
Web Hosting
Verpex has 3 web hosting types:
- WordPress Hosting
- Shared Hosting
- Cloud Hosting
VPS (Virtual Private Server) Hosting
Verpex offers managed and unmanaged VPS hosting for Linux or Windows with tiers based on your technical needs.
Domain Services
Verpex has a variety of domain services, including:
- Registration
- Transfers
- Contact Management
- Unlimited domain support
Verpex offers a lot of features for your buck. With frequent discounts, offers and other savings, Verpex is a great partner for your hosting.
- Flexible plans
- Backups and restore function
- 3-day trial without credit card
- CDN & email hosting not included
- Management options are restricted
- One-click deployment
- Team collaboration tools
- 100% uptime guarantee
- Strong security features
- 24/7 expert support
Cloudways Review
Cloudways is a popular, trusted managed hosting provider currently being used by thousands of businesses looking for high performance and reliability for their online presence.
Let’s take a look at some of the key features of Cloudways hosting:
Affordable (for premium service)
Cloudways offers plans that start from $10 a month. Interestingly, it also provides “pay-as-you-go” billing, meaning you only pay for the resources your website consumes each month.
Although cost-effective, Cloudways does not compromise in providing powerful features to its users. Thus, it offers varying amounts of processing power, memory, bandwidth, and storage space. And its most basic hosting plan offers a cloud server with 25 GB of storage, 1 GB RAM, 1 TB bandwidth, and 1 Core Processor.
Great Performance
Cloudways boasts 100% reliability with super-fast page loading times thanks to a combo of Memcached, Apache, Varnish, and Nginx. Their infrastructure is basically optimized for speed, performance, and security.
This provider has a global network of over 150 data centers. You also have the option to use the StackPath CDN (content delivery network), which uses a global network of 65+ PoPs (points-of-presence).
Ease of Use
Configuring your Cloudways server is easy, and even non-tech-savvy customers won’t have trouble getting started.
Here, you can deploy a new site on your server with a single click which applies to WordPress, WooCommerce, and Joomla, as well as CMS and PHP frameworks including Laravel, Symfony, and CakePHP, which get you started in less than five minutes.
Using the control panel, Cloudways users can easily manage the most vital aspects of their website application.
Advanced Features
Its wide range of e-commerce-friendly features makes Cloudways stand out. They come with unlimited storage, managed security, backups, and multi-SSL deployment alongside built-in SSH and GIT integration.
You can further install application-specific add-ons for DNS management, transactional email services, and more. There’s also a one-click install process and free automatic migration service.
Cloudways works with five cloud providers, viz. Digital Ocean, Vultr, Google Compute Engine, Amazon Web Services, and Linode. It also supports several popular e-commerce platforms, including Magento, WooCommerce, and Prestashop.
Another useful feature provided is a log of “white list” IP addresses that you can use to allow access to your server.
Strong Security
Cloudways has a built-in “Let’s Encrypt SSL” to keep your website secure, while two-factor authentication (2FA) offers an extra layer of security against attackers. Its auto-healing feature resolves issues, lowering the risk of your site crashing.
Server monitoring lets you keep track of multiple variables such as incoming traffic, Idle CPU, and Reads per Second.
Excellent Customer Support
Excellent customer support is integral to good service, and Cloudways provides it 24/7. Solving your problems on the spot allows you to save time. You also have the option of the Advanced Support add-on for enhanced support and the Premium Support add-on to gain access to Senior Support Engineers, who act as an extension of your in-house team.
Summary: Great Service Overall
Overall, Cloudways provides the best-managed cloud hosting for non-technical users. Its simple-to-use, affordable services remove all the complexity around hosting while allowing you to scale your websites.
- Fantastic uptime at a low cost
- Knowledgeable customer support team
- Useful website builder available at an extra cost
- More expensive than many of its competitors
- Cost: US$3.75/month
- Uptime: 99.5%
- Average load Time: 657 Ms
- Free SSL certificate
- Free domain included in basic plans
- Free SEO tools with selected plans
- Up to 6 core CPU
HostGator Review
Websites and gators may not seem like two things that just go together, but HostGator has been making it work for quite a while.
It’s the web host of choice for thousands of online businesses and blogs of all sizes.
HostGator is excellent in terms of uptime at a low price, ranging from US$3.75 to US$6.25 per month for the cheapest plan on a 3-year billing cycle. It has helpful customer support agents, and it’s easily scalable, allowing your site to accommodate any level of traffic.
It seems like HostGator and Bluehost have more in common than we previously thought, find out exactly what in our Bluehost vs HostGator comparison.
Bonus Features
Email, SSL, site transfers, site builder, daily site backups.
HostGator also recently launched a website builder, which makes creating your site a breeze for the uninitiated.
Combine that with a good base of global servers, and HostGator is a good second option when it comes to the best web hosting.
Check out our tracking here. We monitor the Gator 24/7 to check speed, latency, and any outages.
- 24/7 website monitoring
- Great scalability
- Quality customer support
- Impressive uptime
- Basic plans pricier than competitors
- Nightly backups
- Server monitoring
- cPanel access
- Free SSL certificate
- Unlimited email accounts
- Load balancing
- RAID configurations
Hostwinds Review
Hostwinds is a versatile hosting provider catering to individuals, startups, and established businesses. With impressive server uptime, generous features, and excellent customer support, Hostwinds offers a range of hosting services to meet diverse needs.
Variety of Hosting Plans
Hostwinds offers four main types of hosting services: shared hosting, business hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting. Clients can choose from various plans and features, ensuring they find the perfect solution at a reasonable price.
Flexibility and Scalability
Hostwinds’ cloud servers provide dedicated resources, enterprise firewalls, and outstanding uptime. Cloud servers are easily scalable, making them an ideal choice for clients who want to grow their online presence. Load balancers can also be added to improve performance and maintain uptime.
Why Hostwinds is a Great Choice
Hostwinds offers a wide range of hosting options to suit any client’s needs, from shared hosting for individuals to dedicated servers for high-traffic websites. With an extensive list of features and a focus on flexibility and scalability, Hostwinds is a great choice for anyone looking to host their website.
- Great for beginners
- Affordable plans available
- Helpful customer support
- Can be pricey compared with its competitors
- Cost: $2.95/month
- Uptime: 99.74%
- Average load Time: 742 Ms
- Free domain name for your first year
- 1-click WordPress installation
- 24/7 support
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Bluehost Review
We aren’t going to mention Bluehost without giving you a fair warning: they are good at marketing and advertising, so once you visit the site, you will start to see their ads everywhere.
You may have heard good things about Bluehost. The truth is, many of the positive Bluehost reviews you’ll read online are spot-on: it is one of the best web hosting services for beginners, period.
Why is it so good for beginners? Bluehost is the easiest to use and to set up, plain and simple.
The company understands that hosting can be confusing for people who are just starting, so they make it as easy as possible. If you’re just starting with a blog, Bluehost is a great choice.
Benefits of Bluehost
The other aspect of Bluehost that makes it great for beginners is the price. You won’t break the bank with Bluehost, which is fantastic for bloggers who might take a while to monetize their website.
On top of that, they have helpful customer support, 30-day money-back guarantee, and an easy to use interface.
Newbies and beginners rejoice, Bluehost is here for you.
- Excellent speeds
- High uptime
- Fantastic customer support
- Fairly high renewal rates
- Cost: US$2.99/month
- Uptime: 99.1%
- Average load time: 287 Ms
- Unlimited SSD space and transfer
- Speed optimized WordPress
- Free automatic backups
- Straightforward and free site migration
A2 Hosting Review
A2 Hosting is a solid all-around web host with extremely high uptime, excellent speed (some of the best in the business), and helpful customer support.
Founded way back in 2001 by a former Unix SysAdmin, A2 regularly makes PCMag’s ‘Best Web Hosting Service’ list year after year.
And we’re inclined to agree that the title is well deserved for both U.S. hosting providers and website hosting in Canada.
We’ve chosen A2 Hosting as one of the top providers for many of the hosting packages reviewed on this site, ranging from basic shared monthly plans, all the way to dedicated service packages.
With data centers in Michigan, A2 Hosting performs extremely well for Canadians.
Best Web Hosting Canada Review Criteria - How We Choose
Website uptime and downtime determine how reliable a host is. These are some of the most important things to consider for any business, as downtime can be a major issue.
It looks unprofessional and can be highly detrimental when it comes to your brand.
When you’re looking for best web hosting in Canada reviews, make sure to consider only services with very little downtime, and on those rare occasions when they go down, it’s typically so they can fix something.
This means that you get advance notice, and a quality host will also try to have that kind of downtime at the most convenient time of the day.
Site speed is another factor that is important for your professionalism, as well as your search engine optimization (SEO).
We’re used to as fast as possible loading speeds, and most people aren’t going to wait longer than a couple of seconds
Our metrics from the previous decade gave us plenty of data to compare the average loading times across all the largest cities in Canada, including Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.
We then checked these results next to the average U.S. speeds. The top recorded load times we found were just 226ms, whereas the slowest were over 2,850ms.
Customer support gets overlooked sometimes with all the attention paid to the features web hosts offer, but it’s an important item to consider because there can be a huge difference when it comes to customer support quality.
When trying to find the best web host, you’ll need to consider customer support seriously as part of your evaluation.
One may answer your questions in less than a minute, and others may keep you waiting for a day or more.
Fortunately, the three web hosts we recommend all provide prompt support and have representatives who are so polite that they could be from Canada.
Our top choice even has some customer service awards to its name. Yay!
We were able to rate customer support without any tests since we’ve used these hosts for years. Here are the signs of topnotch customer support:
- Support available 24/7
- Live chat service
- Agents who are native speakers of your language, friendly and can solve technical issues
- A fast response time without any outdated ticket systems
Luckily, we have actual footage of some of the best web hosting companies’ customer service. Watch and behold.
Best Web Hosting or Worst Hosting?
When it comes to web hosts, never go with the cheapest option. You definitely get what you pay for with web hosting.
There are all kinds of scams in the web hosting industry, as companies offer low rates to get customers who don’t know any better. These hosts often make millions while using very low-quality servers, which leaves them vulnerable to security breaches.
It would be easy to say this and then move on without mentioning who to avoid. But we’ll tell you two of the worst offenders:
GoDaddy
Don’t let the marketing fool you. GoDaddy has low-quality service but doesn’t mind charging you a premium for add-ons that would be free with other hosts.
Often touted as the best web host in Canada, we may as well call them ScamDaddy.
Network Solutions
Poor service and low-quality servers combine to make Network Solutions a terrible choice.
Regardless of whatever Canadian web hosting review, you do read, Network Solutions is a bad pick.
If you go with a cheap web host, you may save money initially, but you’ll either have far fewer features, or you’ll need to purchase all kinds of upgrades and end up paying more anyway.
When you decide to switch to a better provider, it will be a hassle, and you’ll wish you had gone with a quality provider from the beginning.
Canadian Web Hosting Reviews - Things to Avoid
I know keeping business spending to a minimum is important, but saving a few bucks on web hosting in Canada isn’t worth the issues you’ll experience later.
Here are the significant problems you’ll have with a low-cost web host:
- Potential Security Breaches – One self-proclaimed “free” web host called 000Webhost had 13-million user names and passwords leaked.
- Everything Costs Extra – A typical discount host could charge $80 for SSL, $30 for your domain registration, and $30 for basic privacy protection, which comes out to $140 per year.
- Poor IP Neighbourhood – This makes your SEO more difficult.
There are a lot of ways to screw up the process of choosing a good web host, but here are the four most common we see.
Hey, don’t blame yourself. They don’t teach this stuff in school. Or maybe they do, but you were snoozing in the back row.
#1. Going With the Absolute Cheapest Host You Can Find
We’re not going to be the bad guys to tell you that cheap is always bad, but by the time you’ve lived a certain number of years on this planet, you should probably realize on your own that the tradeoff for going with the lowest cost is often a crappy product, bad service, limited features, and a dedicated “we don’t care” approach to the customer service.
When it comes to bottom-feeding web hosts (some of which are literally free), you can add another item to the litany of repugnance. They will upsell you like crazy.
True, you technically receive storage space at no cost, but you will receive little else unless you pay extra.
Need more space or bandwidth? Gotta upgrade.
Want backups and a control panel? Gonna have to upgrade.
Don’t know what you’re doing and need to talk to someone? It costs extra for tech support.
You get the idea. The basic point is that the free package you get is almost non-functional. For function, you have to pay more. Sometimes a LOT more.
Good thing you’re reading our web hosting reviews!
#2. Choosing Any CMS Platform Besides WordPress
The WordPress content management system (CMS) powers more than 43 percent of all websites.
That itself should be enough to sway your decision.
The bottom line is that it doesn’t matter what kind of website you want to build – e-commerce, blogging, online newspaper – WordPress is the easiest to use and comes with a built-in thriving community of developers and mentors.
Before the advent of CMS platforms like WordPress (other popular ones are Joomla and Drupal), web design was restricted to those who could wrap their head and fingers around HTML code.
Building and designing a site of any substance was not something you could knock out over a long weekend.
Things changed in a hurry when the first version rolled out in 2003, and from there, it just got more powerful and user-friendly.
The bottom line. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Pick WordPress, especially if you aren’t a coder.
#3. Ignoring the Fine Print in Your Hosting Package
The first time a new domain name owner heads online to pick a web host, the first thing he or she looks for are the usual suspects for comparison shopping – disk space and bandwidth.
Left unsaid is the reality that these constraints last mattered about two decades ago.
That’s a bit of an exaggeration, but you should know that a monumental shift in the nature of websites is underway, and the factors that hosts use to reel in unsuspecting rookies aren’t the ones that really matter.
Here’s the lowdown. As the design shift continues from static to dynamically generated pages, the chances are that you’ll run up against a trio of limits which have nothing to do with storage space or bandwidth long before you push those boundaries of your plan.
We’re talking about CPU usage, RAM usage, and database connections.
Many web hosts, even some of the good ones, and all the cheap ones have limits on these factors that are detailed in the fine print under the term “resources.”
Our advice. Check out the storage space and bandwidth allotments, but locate and consider what kind of resource limits might be at play as well.
#4. Paying for SSL
This one is short and sweet. If you’re thinking about paying for a secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate – don’t. Legitimate hosts will give it to you for free.
It is important to have, though, for websites that deal with any kind of sensitive information – but maybe not your personal blog. Google has already started the process of degrading search engine rankings for those that don’t. But no need to pay to get one.
Make sure you read reviews or detailed info from your hosting company before signing up.
Top Hosting Types for Canadian Businesses
Most best web hosting plans fall under one of five categories, which are shared hosting, virtual private server (VPS), cloud hosting, dedicated hosting, and reseller. Let's review each kind of hosting plan in detail.
Which CMS Should You Use?
Your content management system (CMS) is what you use to handle all the content on your site, including making modifications to the published content and uploading new content.
Each CMS has its own interface and certain CMS platforms work better with some of the best web hosting options we provided, while others are ideal for specific types of websites.
In general, however, WordPress is likely your best CMS option, especially since there are many fantastic managed WordPress hosting providers to make it easier than ever for you to get setup.
WordPress
If you only knew about one CMS, it was probably WordPress, as it’s easily the most popular choice.
Although it came out way back in 2003, over the years we have seen it rapidly increase in popularity, and it’s now one of the top CMS platforms of choice for blogs, eCommerce, and other business sites.
Most of the top Canadian web hosting reviews you’ll read will involve WordPress.
WordPress has many benefits, with perhaps the most significant being its range of customization options and tools. WordPress add-ons provide use by adding or extending the functionality of your WordPress site. They can help you with various aspects of your site, such as design, security, performance, SEO, eCommerce, and more.
- Creating an online store with WooCommerce or other eCommerce plugins.
- Improving SEO with Yoast SEO or other SEO plugins.
- Adding contact forms with Contact Form 7 or other form plugins.
- Creating a multilingual site with WPML or other translation plugins.
It’s very secure, installation is a breeze, and it’s easy to find support when you need it.
If this is your first time creating a site, I’d highly recommend you choose WordPress when looking for the best web hosting.
There is a bit of a learning period, but that’s true of any CMS, and the popularity of WordPress means it’s wise to know how to use it.
PHP
PHP has been around a long time, and it originally stood for the personal home page. It uses server-side scripting, and many popular CMS platforms, including WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla, use this PHP script.
Although you don’t need to understand PHP to set up a site in your CMS of choice, you will need a PHP developer if you have some very specific apps you’d like your site to run.
Do I need to know Java?
You may know Java as that thing you need to update now and then.
Its main function is web apps, and if you’re on a site with impressive graphics, you can bet that it’s using Java. Java used to be much more popular on smaller sites.
Even though its popularity has declined a bit, it’s still all over some major e-commerce sites, including Amazon and eBay.
If you want the most high-end visuals and features on your site, then Java is just the ticket.
Joomla
When it comes to CMS options, Joomla is likely the second biggest behind WordPress, although there’s still a large gap between the two.
One reason Joomla isn’t as nearly as popular is that it’s not particularly user-friendly and has a steeper learning curve. Joomla also has a lower market share and smaller active community compared to WordPress, meaning that it has fewer add-ons and less support.
Unless you love Joomla, I’d advise going with WordPress, which is also what I tell all our clients. You’ll get up and running faster, and I think it’s also a better choice from an SEO perspective.
Choosing Between Windows-Based Hosts or Linux-Based Hosts
You may remember a section about dedicated servers in our best web hosting Canada review.
Hopefully, you do as it wasn’t that long ago. Well, every server needs an operating system (OS), and the two options here are Windows-based hosts or Linux-based hosts.
Here’s what makes them unique. The best web hosts out there all generally opt to use Windows-based servers. For cPanel goodness, check out this comparison of Plesk vs cPanel.
Windows
Windows has been Microsoft’s OS for decades, and if you go with a Windows-based host, that means you can use Window’s databases and apps, along with ASP.Net and other complicated scripts.
PHP and MySQL are options as well. Typically, you’ll pay a bit more for Windows-based hosts than for Linux-based ones, and even though crashes don’t happen often with either of them, when you choose Windows, they tend to occur a bit more.
Linux
Microsoft may be a giant in the computer industry, but Linux is what most servers use because it’s the industry standard.
You can run almost any application on Linux, the servers are super reliable, and you’re good to go with most of the modern programming scripts.
You may see the term “LAMP” when researching Linux-based hosts, and that stands for Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP.
Best Domain Hosting in Canada
You want a website, right?
Everybody does, but if the thought of trying to understand how to get one out of your head and onto the internet for others to see sends you to the ground in a quivering fetal position, take heart. We’re here to help.
Things like domain hosting, registrars, name records, and best web hosting packages are not as complicated as you might think, even if you have a vivid imagination. Stay calm. Keep reading.
Domains
Even the most clueless among us probably realize that it all starts with a domain.
Before anything else, if you want a website, you need one. An example of a domain would be bestwidgets.com. It makes no difference whether you type or write in capital or small letters.
By the way, a quick check revealed this domain is currently for sale, so if you sell widgets, and they’re the best, you might want to get your offer in.
Back to the idea of a domain. Once you have a domain registered (stay tuned, we’ll talk about this process in a minute), and under your control, you can add as many pages and subdomains as you like.
Want to blog about widgets? Create a subdomain at blog. bestwidgets. com.
Eager to wax rhapsodic about yourself and your love of widgets? Add a page like www. bestwidgets. com/about.
The basic idea is that securing a domain creates the foundation of the entire website to come.
To learn more about this, read our guide to the best domain registrars.
Domain Registrars and Registration
At the risk of making your eyes glaze over, you should understand how domains are sold and accounted for.
Don’t worry. There won’t be a test. Just like when your parents made you eat carrots, this is for your own good.
A register is an organization designated to maintain a list or registry of those who own a Top Level Domain (TLD) like .com, .net, and .org. Obviously, with more than 644 million active websites online, it takes more than a haphazard note scribbled on the back of an envelope to keep everything straight.
Originally, there were only a handful official registers that kept track of everything, but, along the way, a few enterprising entrepreneurs figured out they could contract with these registers to sell domains, turning it into what is today a thriving industry.
The bottom line is that registrars sell domains and registers keep track of them.
Popular registrars include GoDaddy, NameCheap, and many others.
Note, however, that most good hosting companies (like the ones we recommended) will provide you with a free domain when you sign up for a new website hosting plan.
A free domain is a great way to save a few bucks at the beginning of your website building journey and one of the key things we included in our Canadian web hosting reviews.
What is a Domain Name Record?
Another term you might run across is the domain name record. This is a reference to the way that the internet works. The domain you just bought is not actually how the internet servers find and display your website.
Instead, they take a user’s request and match up the domain to a sequence of numbers in the registry, called an IP address, and send over the associated files – which just happens to be your website.
Web Hosting Canada Explained for Beginners
Now we’re getting down to the good stuff and the reason we’re all here in the first place, web hosting.
Once you have a domain and are ready to build a website, how do you actually get it online for servers to find and display?
Good question. You need a web host.
Since you can’t just throw your website’s files on the kitchen table and expect them to magically end up on the internet, another industry has grown up selling online storage space for your website.
Some of these companies that you’ve probably heard of thanks to the ridiculous level of advertising – somebody’s making serious money in this game – but we digress.
We’re talking about names like GoDaddy, HostGator, and Bluehost.
So, you have three choices when it comes to choosing a web host:
- Visit Namecheap.com, buy a domain, and hope you set the nameservers to point correctly to your web host, OR…
- Set up an account with SiteGround, get a free domain in the process, and let them do the hard work for essentially the same price.
- Or use one of the recommended best website builders, such as Wix and Squarespace. These guys take care of all the registration and hosting for you.
Wrapping It Up - Finding the Top Best Web in Canada
That’s a lot of information to process. The best way to use this guide is to reference it as you evaluate web hosts, keeping your specific needs in mind.
Most importantly, don’t shop entirely based on prices. Quality is always most important, especially with something as important as your website.
Summary of our top choices are:
1. HostPapa – Best overall with great starting prices
2. Hostinger – Fantastic additional tools and features for your money
3. SiteGround – Easiest quality hosting service to setup and use
4. HostArmada – Reliable, secure, and super-fast with an amazing support team
5. Cloudways – Premium service and our number 1 pick for small to medium sized businesses
That does it for our reviews. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact us and we’d be happy to answer anything that comes up.
🗣️🇫🇷 Read this guide in French: Meilleur Hébergement Web.
Read more about other types of best web hosting:
