Unbiased Hostinger Review: An Exclusive Insider Look

Among the different web hosting plans Hostinger in Canada offers are:

When I stacked up all the types of web hosting that exist out there, shared web hosting turned out to be the most popular one.

Why? For starters, it's incredibly beginner-friendly and affordable, making it one of the top picks for cheap web hosting in Canada.

After all, you're sharing the server with other fellow users. This means they can access the same storage, bandwidth, and processing power as you.

Hostinger presents two shared web hosting plans for Canadians:

1-month plan

• Premium Plan: $11.99/month
• Business Plan: $13.99/month

1-year plan

• Premium Plan: $2.99/month
• Business Plan: $3.99/month

2-year plan

• Premium Plan: $2.99/month
• Business Plan: $3.99/month

3-year plan

• Premium Plan: $2.99/month
• Business Plan: $3.99/month

You’ll need to dive into the fine print of each to see which one best fits your needs. For instance, the Hostinger web hosting Premium plan includes:

• Unlimited bandwidth
• Up to 100 websites
• 100 GB SSD storage
• A free domain name
• 1-click WordPress installation
• Weekly backups
• AI website builder
• Access to 150 templates.

The Business Plan adds on top:

• Free CDN
• Daily backups
• 200 GB NVMe storage
• Ecommerce features
• WordPress AI tools
• AI image generator
• AI blog generator
• … and more!

With this type of hosting, you get dedicated webspace and resources for complete control over your site. This also means more privacy, and it's much more suitable if your platform pulls in heavy traffic. Pricing varies depending on the dedicated CPU, RAM, and SSD storage.

Since Hostinger in Canada offers self-managed VPS hosting—in which you're in charge of everything inside the server—it's more affordable than competitors. There are four plans available, all of which come with a dedicated IP, automatic weekly backups, and 24/7 customer support.

1-month plan

• KVM 1: $9.99/month
• KVM 2: $15.99/month
• KVM 4: $27.99/month
• KVM 8: $59.99/month

1-year plan

• KVM 1: $5.49/month
• KVM 2: $7.49/month
• KVM 4: $11.99/month
• KVM 8: $24.99/month

2-year plan

• KVM 1: $4.99/month
• KVM 2: $6.99/month
• KVM 4: $10.49/month
• KVM 8: $19.99/month

Cloud hosting comes with high uptime and great scalability since it uses a network of remote servers to keep your website running smoothly. In other words, there won't be any interruptions; if a server is down, another one immediately steps in to keep your website live.

Hostinger’s cloud web hosting plans include free CDN and domain registration, daily backups, SSL certificates, marketing integrations, ecommerce features, and Google Analytics integration. Pricing grows with the allocated NVMe storage, RAM, and CPU core sizes. It all depends on your traffic potential.

1-month plan
● Cloud Start up: $24.99/month
● Cloud Professional: $39.99/month
● Cloud Enterprise: $64.99/month

1-year plan
● Cloud Start up: $9.99/month
● Cloud Professional: $16.99/month
● Cloud Enterprise: $39.99/month

2-year plan
● Cloud Start up: $8.99/month
● Cloud Professional: $15.99/month
● Cloud Enterprise: $34.99/month

3-year plan
● Cloud Start up: $7.99/month
● Cloud Professional: $14.99/month
● Cloud Enterprise: $29.99/month

WordPress hosting, as you might guess, revolves around the WordPress (WP) content management system. This positively affects the site's performance and security with quicker load times, which means a smoother user experience, improved search engine optimization (SEO), and higher conversion rates.

Also, modern protocols like IPv6 and HTTP/3 cut down on latency and speed up data transfers. And, you get access to WP-specific features like the WP-CLI and SSH, WP compatibility checker.

The best thing about Hostinger is that it bundles all WP features with the shared and cloud web hosting plans, so you won't have to pay extra to use WordPress.

Hostinger's hosted business email service gives your business up to 50 email aliases. On top of that, you'll acquire up to 30 GB of storage, help with setting everything up, and the ability to manage your emails from anywhere.

You'll also be able to send 3000 emails daily and configure up to 50 forwarding rules to redirect messages automatically.

1-month plan

• Business Starter: $2.99/month
• Business Premium: $4.99/month

1-year plan

• Business Starter: $1.59/month
• Business Premium: $3.99/month

2-year plan

• Business Starter: $1.29/month
• Business Premium: $3.49/month

3-year plan

• Business Starter: $0.99/month
• Business Premium: $2.99/month

No matter if you're selling physical goods or digital downloads and services, Hostinger's managed WooCommerce hosting plans allow you to build an online business by effortlessly adding products, setting up secure payment gateways, and handling orders from a single outlet.

Pricing goes as follows:

1-month plan
● Business: $13.99/month
● Cloud Start up: $24.99/month
● Cloud Professional: $39.99/month

1-year plan
● Business: $3.99/month
● Cloud Start up: $9.99/month
● Cloud Professional: $16.99/month

2-year plan
● Business: $3.99/month
● Cloud Start up: $8.99/month
● Cloud Professional: $15.99/month

3-year plan
● Business: $3.99/month
● Cloud Start up: $7.99/month
● Cloud Professional: $14.99/month

There's no one-size-fits-all solution for selecting the right web hosting. You might be starting a small blog, expanding an ecommerce store, or setting up professional email hosting. They all require different features and capabilities. Here's a table to break it down for you:

We can't call this a Hostinger review without talking about performance, right? I put its uptime to the test myself, and I actually got a solid 99.95% uptime record—pretty impressive. In over ten  weeks of monitoring, our site was always live and kicking, day and night. 

 I dug deeper and performed two speed tests on Hostinger in Canada. I started by testing the connection latency from my network to Hostinger's server, which came in at 65ms. Next, I installed a fresh WordPress site with no optimizations. According to Pingdom tools, the average load time was 432 ms, which totally blows away the average of the top Canadian hosting providers. I love the fact Hostinger consistently updates its systems with cutting-edge LiteSpeed technology.

They've got local data centres all around the world, too, so your site automatically connects to the nearest one for faster performance. The list includes France, Lithuania, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the USA, India, Indonesia, and Brazil. However, since it doesn't include Canada, I highly recommend using the Hostinger CDN to ensure your content reaches users quickly, regardless of location.

I found it very easy to create a website with Hostinger thanks to its free AI Assistant, which you can easily add to your WordPress site or use when starting fresh. Here's a quick step-by-step process to follow:

• Set up your account and head to the Websites tab at the top menu.
• Click Add Website and pick WordPress.
• Answer a few questions about the type of website you're building, how you want to start, and which plugins you'll need.
• After that, give it a moment while Hostinger sets up WordPress, and you'll be good to go.

The dashboard will show everything you need—domain info, performance stats, email, and security details.

 Instead of more popular control panel options like cPanel or Plesk, Hostinger uses its own super easy-to-navigate convenient panel called hPanel, in which you're able to manage files, install apps, migrate your site, check databases, add websites, set your main domain, use the website builder, and create email accounts all in one place.

I can only speak highly of the Hostinger web hosting security features. For starters, you can keep your files safe with two-factor authentication (2FA), so no external parties can log in, even if someone gets hold of your password. You'll need a second layer of security—a unique code from an app only you can access.

You're also able to protect your website traffic against DDoS attacks with Cloudflare-protected nameservers and get full encryption with unlimited SSL certificates. I really like how Hostinger steps it up further by offering automatic daily and weekly backups for both websites and emails.

Hostinger's got 24/7 live chat, but you've got to sign in first before chatting with their support team. Despite this inconvenience, it was pretty reliable for me, and every question I asked was answered in under five minutes.

Otherwise, they also offer the option to book a call with sales and an email option, with an average wait time of up to one business day. Plus, you can access a collection of tutorials, including the Hostinger Academy, blog posts, and knowledge-base articles. However, while helpful, they're just not the same as having someone walk you through things on a call when you're feeling frustrated.

With Hostinger, you might be initially drawn in by the price. But it's the quality hosting experience that will keep you around. I confidently rank it alongside industry leaders like HostGator and Bluehost in terms of service.

To close this Hostinger review, here's my final perspective on the five most crucial key pillars: