SiteGround Review (Aug 2019) - Last 12-Month Performance Stats

The world of website hosting can be a confusing place to navigate. Hosting  companies exist  by the bucketload, and it can be extremely difficult to ascertain which ones are worth your money prior to handing  it over. Today, in this SiteGround review for WordPress, were checking how the companys offering stacks up.Why SiteGround review? Its one of the few companies openly recommended on WordPress.org, and one of the top choices as voted by our users in a recent hosting survey.In this post,  well dissect  SiteGrounds features, support options, performance, and pricing –  enabling you to decide  if its the right WordPress website hosting company for you.Lets get started! SiteGround has a number of WordPress specific features,  including:Simple  WordPress installation: SiteGround lets you install WordPress in a matter of clicks.Free WordPress site transfers: If you have a WordPress.org website hosted elsewhere,  SiteGround facilitates the transfer process.Wor dPress auto-updater: Struggle to keep on top  of updating WordPress? SiteGround takes care of it for you behind the scenes.WordPress SuperCacher: A SiteGround-specific feature that caches your WordPress site on three different levels, resulting in  faster loading times.One-click WordPress staging:  This feature allows  you  to create a staged copy of your website with a single click, enabling you to make edits before moving all new changes to your original (and live) website.Free installation of Git for WordPress: If you enjoy getting your hands dirty with code, SiteGround enables you to  install the  Git for WordPress  tool.Its worth noting that not all features are available to every user – more become available when purchasing SiteGrounds higher-tiered plans.Support optionsWhen vetting a website hosting solution, checking out the available support options is a must. If your website isnt functioning as it should be, youll want help on deck as soon as possibl e  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ no matter what time of the day or night it is.In terms of help and support, SiteGround offers:A 24/7 support system, including live chat, ticketing, and phone support.A detailed and comprehensive  knowledge base.Pre-recorded  webinars to help customers understand the different features  available.Tutorials to help customers use SiteGround more effectively.When working on this SiteGround review for WordPress, we tested out their live chat system for ourselves, and overall found their team very quick to respond, and highly  knowledgeable about their hosting service  and WordPress itself.SiteGrounds live chat service is staffed by  the kind of people  who will fill you with confidence.We posed a number of questions to them, including details on the hosting technology used by SiteGround, and how its WordPress specific features work. The answers we received were prompt and well detailed:This level of support is also confirmed by other users as part of a WordPr ess hosting survey. We also trawled through their webinars, tutorials, and knowledge base – finding them all to be brilliantly insightful.PerformanceWebsite hosting companies typically make use of a number of collaborating technologies to optimize their performance levels, along with various server locations scattered throughout the world. So lets get into the technical part of this SiteGround review for WordPress and check out the  technologies available with their hosting packages:SSD.  Otherwise known as a Solid State Drive, this storage medium is faster than a Hard Disk Drive (HDD). SiteGround offers this hardware on all its servers, to every customer.NGINX. An alternative to the Apache web server, offering potential speed benefits due to a leaner architecture.SuperCacher. A  SiteGround-specific feature, which speeds up WordPress via three different levels of caching.CDN. A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a system of servers that deliver webpages to users based on their geographic locations, increasing website speed. SiteGround uses CloudFlare  as its CDN of choice.HTTP/2. This is  a  major revision of the HTTP network protocol, which further improves website performance.PHP7. This is  the newest version of PHP, with further speed benefits, and can be selected from SiteGrounds control panel if you wish to use  it.Finally, SiteGrounds servers can be found all over the world. To be exact, in London, Amsterdam, Chicago, and Singapore. That being said, the network is not huge, so you can experience lower performance if youre catering to more remote audiences.Server map via https://www.siteground.com/datacentersNow that we have discussed  SiteGrounds performance in theory, its time to put it to the test in practice. In the next part of this SiteGround review for WordPress well be using speed testing tools  Pingdom and Load Impact to judge how well SiteGround stands up.Page speed  tests with PingdomFor this test, we ran our sandbox website through Pingdom three times for each of  three different server locations. After tallying them up, the average times for each server were:Melbourne: 1.563 secondsNew York: 0.645 secondsStockholm: 1.390 secondsGiven how quickly users will abandon a page before it loads, these results look pretty good. Its understandable that the further a server is from a user (as was the case with Melbourne),  the longer the page will load –  but in this instance SiteGround has coped  well.Basic load testing with Load ImpactLoad Impact gauges site speed by simulating around 25  concurrent users hitting the homepage over a five minute period. The results of this test were:Load Generator:  Portland, USTest Server:  Portland, USMinimum Response Time:  0.738 secondsMaximum Response Time:  1.480 secondsThe results from Load Impact back up those from our Pingdom tests. Overall, SiteGround has performed admirably – and regardless of your location, site speed shouldn t be an issue.PricingLike other providers, SiteGround offers several tiered pricing plans:StartUp ($3.95 per month):  As the name suggests, this package is ideal for startups and small businesses who wish to host a single website  with fewer  than 10,000 visitors per month.GrowBig ($5.95 per month): Ideal for larger organizations with multiple websites that may see  up to 25,000 visitors per month.GoGeek ($11.95 per month): SiteGrounds most expensive plan is suited to large companies boasting websites with upwards of  100,000 monthly visits.SiteGrounds cheapest plans more than match their rivals offerings. For example, Bluehosts cheapest managed WordPress hosting plan chimes in at $19.99 per month, while GoDaddys equivalent plan starts from $4-$5 per month.Overall pros and consAfter poring over the various  elements of the companys service in this SiteGround review, lets sum up our findings.ProsExcellent set of WordPress-specific features.The technology used – inc luding  SSDs, CDNs and PHP7 – is  modern and highly reputable.Support options are plentiful, with knowledgeable staff on hand.Page speed was good, and load testing was equally comparable.For a good WordPress hosting solution, the pricing is  competitive.ConsWe found the SiteGround control panel rather  basic looking – a redesign is certainly in order.SiteGround review for WordPress: ConclusionOverall,  SiteGround is a stellar example of a good WordPress hosting solution.It is brimming with WordPress-specific features, helpful support options, and competitive pricing. Its native SuperCaching feature in particular deserves praise,  and coupled with its generally speedy page loading times across the board, it means we recommend SiteGround for those requiring  a solid host that can provide a super fast website.And its not just me talking. Here are some user ratings of SiteGround taken from a recent hosting survey of ours:USER RATINGWILL YOU EXTEND?WORDPRESS- PROFICIENT SUPPORTSiteGround4.6 / 593%4.5 / 5Do you have any prior experiences with SiteGround? Let us know in the comments section below! Perhaps share your own SiteGround review for WordPressFree guide5 Essential Tips to Speed Up Your WordPress SiteReduce your loading time by even 50-80% just by following simple tips. * This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and then purchase the product, well receive a small fee. No worries though, youll still pay the standard amount so theres no cost on your part.SiteGround $3.95 9.3 USER RATING 9.7/10 RELIABILITY 9.3/10 PERFORMANCE 8.9/10 ProsWordPress-specific featuresModern tech: SSDs, CDN, PHP7Great customer support ConsControl panel rather basic lookingSlower load speeds in remote locations Go to SiteGround {"@context":"http:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"Product","name":"SiteGround","image":"https:\/\/mllj2j8xvfl0.i.optimole.com\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:auto\/https:\/\/s15165.pcdn.co\/wp -content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/SiteGround-logo-150x35.png","description":"The world of website hosting can be a confusing place to navigate. Hosting\u00a0companies exist\u00a0by the bucketload, and it can be extremely difficult to ascertain which ones are worth your money prior to handing\u00a0it over. Today, in this SiteGround review for WordPress, we're checking how the company's offering stacks up. Why SiteGround review? It's one of...","offers":{"@type":"Offer","price":"3.95","priceCurrency":"USD","seller":{"@type":"Person","name":"Tom Ewer"}},"review":{"@type":"Review","reviewRating":{"@type":"Rating","bestRating":"10","worstRating":"0","ratingValue":"9.30"},"name":"SiteGround","reviewBody":"The world of website hosting can be a confusing place to navigate. Hosting\u00a0companies exist\u00a0by the bucketload, and it can be extremely difficult to ascertain which ones are worth your money prior to handing\u00a0it over. Today, in this SiteGround review for WordPress, we're checking how the company's offering stacks up.\r\n\r\nWhy SiteGround review? It's one of the few companies openly recommended on WordPress.org, and one of the top choices as voted by our users in a recent hosting survey.\r\n\r\n\r\nSiteGround review for WordPress specific features\r\nSiteGround has a number of WordPress specific features,\u00a0including:\r\n\r\n \tSimple\u00a0WordPress installation: SiteGround lets you install WordPress in a matter of clicks.\r\n \tFree WordPress site transfers: If you have a WordPress.org website hosted elsewhere,\u00a0SiteGround facilitates the transfer process.\r\n \tWordPress auto-updater: Struggle to keep on top\u00a0of updating WordPress? SiteGround takes care of it for you behind the scenes.\r\n \tWordPress SuperCacher: A SiteGround-specific feature that caches your WordPress site on three different levels, resulting in\u00a0faster loading times.\r\n \tOne-click WordPress staging:\u00a0This feature allows\u00a0you\u00a0to create a staged copy of your website with a single click, enabling you to make edits before moving all new changes to your original (and live) website.\r\n \tFree installation of Git for WordPress: If you enjoy getting your hands dirty with code, SiteGround enables you to\u00a0install the\u00a0Git for WordPress\u00a0tool.\r\n\r\nIt's worth noting that not all features are available to every user \u2013 more become available when purchasing SiteGround's higher-tiered plans.\r\nSupport options\r\nWhen vetting a website hosting solution, checking out the available support options is a must. If your website isn't functioning as it should be, you'll want help on deck as soon as possible\u00a0\u2013 no matter what time of the day or night it is.\r\n\r\nIn terms of help and support, SiteGround offers:\r\n\r\n \tA 24\/7 support system, including live chat, ticketing, and phone support.\r\n \tA detailed and comprehensive\u00a0knowledge base.\r\n \tPre-recorded\u00a0webinars to help customers understand the different fe atures\u00a0available.\r\n \tTutorials to help customers use SiteGround more effectively.\r\n\r\nWhen working on this SiteGround review for WordPress, we tested out their live chat system for ourselves, and overall found their team very quick to respond, and highly\u00a0knowledgeable about their hosting service\u00a0and WordPress itself.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nWe posed a number of questions to them, including details on the hosting technology used by SiteGround, and how its WordPress specific features work. The answers we received were prompt and well detailed:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThis level of support is also confirmed by other users as part of a WordPress hosting survey. We also trawled through their webinars, tutorials, and knowledge base \u2013 finding them all to be brilliantly insightful.\r\nPerformance\r\nWebsite hosting companies typically make use of a number of collaborating technologies to optimize their performance levels, along with various server locations scattered throughout the world. So let's get into the technical part of this SiteGround review for WordPress and check out the\u00a0technologies available with their hosting packages:\r\n\r\n \tSSD.\u00a0Otherwise known as a 'Solid State Drive', this storage medium is faster than a Hard Disk Drive (HDD). SiteGround offers this hardware on all its servers, to every customer.\r\n \tNGINX. An alternative to the Apache web server, offering potential speed benefits due to a leaner architecture.\r\n \tSuperCacher. A\u00a0SiteGround-specific feature, which speeds up WordPress via three different levels of caching.\r\n \tCDN. A Content Delivery Network (CDN) is a system of servers that deliver webpages to users based on their geographic locations, increasing website speed. SiteGround uses CloudFlare\u00a0as its CDN of choice.\r\n \tHTTP\/2. This is\u00a0a\u00a0major revision of the HTTP network protocol, which further improves website performance.\r\n \tPHP7. This is\u00a0the newest version of PHP, with further spe ed benefits, and can be selected from SiteGround's control panel if you wish to use\u00a0it.\r\n\r\nFinally, SiteGround's servers can be found all over the world. To be exact, in London, Amsterdam, Chicago, and Singapore. That being said, the network is not huge, so you can experience lower performance if you're catering to more remote audiences.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nNow that we have discussed\u00a0SiteGround's performance in theory, it's time to put it to the test in practice. In the next part of this SiteGround review for WordPress we'll be using speed testing tools\u00a0Pingdom and Load Impact to judge how well SiteGround stands up.\r\nPage speed\u00a0tests with Pingdom\r\nFor this test, we ran our sandbox website through Pingdom three times for each of\u00a0three different server locations. After tallying them up, the average times for each server were:\r\n\r\n \tMelbourne: 1.563 seconds\r\n \tNew York: 0.645 seconds\r\n \tStockholm: 1.390 seconds\r\n\r\nGiven how quickly users will a bandon a page before it loads, these results look pretty good. It's understandable that the further a server is from a user (as was the case with Melbourne),\u00a0the longer the page will load \u2013\u00a0but in this instance SiteGround has coped\u00a0well.\r\nBasic load testing with Load Impact\r\nLoad Impact gauges site speed by simulating around 25\u00a0concurrent users hitting the homepage over a five minute period. The results of this test were:\r\n\r\n \tLoad Generator:\u00a0Portland, US\r\n \tTest Server:\u00a0Portland, US\r\n \tMinimum Response Time:\u00a00.738 seconds\r\n \tMaximum Response Time:\u00a01.480 seconds\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nThe results from Load Impact back up those from our Pingdom tests. Overall, SiteGround has performed admirably \u2013 and regardless of your location, site speed shouldn't be an issue.\r\nPricing\r\nLike other providers, SiteGround offers several tiered pricing plans:\r\n\r\n \tStartUp ($3.95 per month):\u00a0As the name suggests, this package is i deal for startups and small businesses who wish to host a single website\u00a0with fewer\u00a0than 10,000 visitors per month.\r\n \tGrowBig ($5.95 per month): Ideal for larger organizations with multiple websites that may see\u00a0up to 25,000 visitors per month.\r\n \tGoGeek ($11.95 per month): SiteGround's most expensive plan is suited to large companies boasting websites with upwards of\u00a0100,000 monthly visits.\r\n\r\nSiteGround's cheapest plans more than match their rival's offerings. For example, Bluehost's cheapest managed WordPress hosting plan chimes in at $19.99 per month, while GoDaddy's equivalent plan starts from $4-$5 per month.\r\nOverall pros and cons\r\nAfter poring over the various\u00a0elements of the company's service in this SiteGround review, let's sum up our findings.\r\nPros\r\n\r\n \tExcellent set of WordPress-specific features.\r\n \tThe technology used \u2013 including\u00a0SSDs, CDNs and PHP7 \u2013 is\u00a0modern and highly reputable.\r\n \tSupport op tions are plentiful, with knowledgeable staff on hand.\r\n \tPage speed was good, and load testing was equally comparable.\r\n \tFor a good WordPress hosting solution, the pricing is\u00a0competitive.\r\n\r\nCons\r\n\r\n \tWe found the SiteGround control panel rather\u00a0basic looking \u2013 a redesign is certainly in order.\r\n\r\nSiteGround review for WordPress: Conclusion\r\nOverall,\u00a0SiteGround is a stellar example of a good WordPress hosting solution.\r\n\r\nIt is brimming with WordPress-specific features, helpful support options, and competitive pricing. Its native SuperCaching feature in particular deserves praise,\u00a0and coupled with its generally speedy page loading times across the board, it means we recommend SiteGround for those requiring\u00a0a solid host that can provide a super fast website.\r\n\r\nAnd it's not just me talking. Here are some user ratings of SiteGround - taken from a recent hosting survey of ours:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nDo you have any prior experiences with SiteGround? Let us know in the comments section below! Perhaps share your own SiteGround review for WordPress...\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n* This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and then purchase the product, we'll receive a small fee. No worries though, you'll still pay the standard amount so there's no cost on your part.","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Tom Ewer"},"datePublished":"2016-08-31"},"additionalType":"undefined","alternateName":"undefined","award":"undefined","awards":"undefined","brand":"undefined","category":"undefined","color":"undefined","depth":"undefined","disambiguatingDescription":"undefined","gtin":"undefined","gtin12":"undefined","gtin13":"undefined","gtin14":"undefined","gtin8":"undefined","height":"undefined","identifier":"undefined","logo":"undefined","mainEntityOfPage":"undefined","material":"undefined","model":"undefined","mpn":"undefined","nsn":"undefined","productID":"undefined","productionDate":"und efined","purchaseDate":"undefined","releaseDate":"undefined","sameAs":"undefined","sku":"undefined","slogan":"undefined","url":"undefined","weight":"undefined","width":"undefined"}