Hostinger vs SiteGround:
a fourfold gap. So what does it buy?
We bought both with our own money and ran them for 30 days. We are not going to tell you "both are excellent" — the price gap is large and obvious, and what's useful is knowing what you get back for it.
Hostinger for most people. SiteGround if your income depends on the site.
Hostinger Premium costs $143.52 over four years. SiteGround StartUp costs €611.52 over the same period. Those are two different currencies, so we will not convert them with a rate of our own — but the gap is more than fourfold before any conversion, and since the euro sits above the dollar, converting widens it rather than narrowing it.
And SiteGround still has a real reason to exist: its support was the best of the twelve companies we ran — replies from actual engineers rather than scripts. If your site is your income and downtime is a direct loss, you are not paying that difference for a faster server; you are paying it so that you are not the one solving the problem.
But if your site is a company site, a blog or a small store — which describes most people reading this — Hostinger's performance is enough, and the money you keep buys years of hosting, or domains, or advertising. Start there.
Prices are from the providers' own pages, reviewed 12 August 2026 — the same figures as in our full comparison. The judgements on support and ease of use come from running both for 30 days on real client projects. We publish no performance figures and no count of support contacts: we did not record those in a way we could stand behind, so you get qualitative judgements rather than numbers.
The numbers, side by side
| Hostinger Premium | SiteGround StartUp | |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $2.99/mo | €2.99/mo |
| Term required up front | 48 months | 12 months |
| Renewal price | $10.99/mo | €15.99/mo |
| Renewal jump | about 3.7× | over 5× |
| Websites allowed | More than one | One only |
| Cost over 4 years | $143.52 | €611.52 |
Read two rows together: renewal jump and websites allowed. StartUp does not merely renew at over five times — it does so for a single website. If you have two sites, the comparison changes before it starts.
Why we do not convert the currencies
Because exchange rates move daily, and a number we print today is wrong within a week — we said the same thing in our registrar comparison and published no price table for exactly that reason. What you need in practice: the gap is more than fourfold at the figures as published, and converting euros to dollars increases it. If you want the number in your own currency, open both pricing pages today — the links are in our full comparison.
What the price difference actually buys
This is the part that matters, and it comes from running both rather than from reading their marketing pages:
- SiteGround's support — the best we have used. You ask a technical question and get an answer from someone who understands it, not a link to an article. That is a genuine advantage if you do not want to become your site's systems administrator.
- Managed infrastructure included — daily backups, SSL and a free CDN on every plan.
- Hostinger's control panel — the easiest for a beginner of the twelve, which is an advantage people undervalue because it never appears in a specification table.
- Arabic-language support at Hostinger — replies written in proper Arabic rather than machine translation, which matters in our market and never shows up in English comparisons.
So the summary: you are not paying the difference for "more speed" — pay it so that you are not the one handling the problem. That value depends on your time and your skills, not on the plan's specifications.
When do we recommend SiteGround without hesitation?
- The site is your income and downtime is a calculable daily loss.
- Nobody technical on your team and you want someone who will solve it for you within the hour.
- One important site — because the "one website" limit on StartUp does not bother you at all.
If none of those three describes you, you are probably buying reassurance you do not need yet.
And when is Hostinger the answer?
In the remaining cases, which are the majority: a company site, a blog, a portfolio, or a small store starting out. The performance is enough, the panel is easier, and the money stays in your pocket.
With two caveats we always state: the $2.99 rate requires paying 48 months up front, and it renews at $10.99. If you do not have the full amount today, work it out over a shorter term and compare again — the full arithmetic is in our hosting comparison, and every line item of a WordPress site is in the cost guide.
And before you switch hosts because your site is slow
We say this because it is the most common reason people move and it is usually the wrong one: slowness is normally the theme, the images and missing caching rather than the host, and fixing those is free. Read the speed guide first — it may save you a switch you do not need.
Some links on this page are affiliate links — they cost you nothing extra, and they do not affect how we rank recommendations. Full disclosure.
Comparison questions.
Which is better, Hostinger or SiteGround?
For most people, Hostinger: the four-year price gap is large and the performance covers roughly 90% of projects. For anyone whose income depends on the site and who does not want to handle a technical problem personally, SiteGround, because its support is the best we have used. So the question is not which is technically better but what the price difference buys you.
What is the actual price difference?
The Hostinger Premium plan costs $143.52 over four years. SiteGround StartUp costs €611.52 over the same period. Those are two different currencies so we will not convert with a rate of our own, but the gap is more than fourfold before any conversion — and since the euro is above the dollar, converting widens it rather than narrowing it.
Why does SiteGround rise so much?
Because the €2.99 entry rate is promotional for one year paid up front, and it renews at €15.99 a month — over five times, the steepest renewal jump on our list. Add that the StartUp plan covers one website only.
And is Hostinger's price honest?
The $2.99 rate requires paying 48 months up front, and it renews at $10.99 a month — roughly 3.7 times. So it is not free of a renewal jump either, but the jump is smaller and the prepaid term longer. If you do not have the full amount today the maths changes, and we cover that in the full comparison.
Did you actually try both?
Yes. Both are among the 12 companies we bought with our own money and ran for 30 days on real client projects, which is why we speak about support quality with confidence. What we do not do is publish performance figures or a count of support contacts we did not record in a way we could stand behind — you will find qualitative judgements about support on this page, not invented numbers.
And the other ten?
We bought all of them and ran them for 30 days, and worked out each one's four-year cost — with the renewal price nobody advertises.