Do you know who hosts over 2 million websites and is officially endorsed by WordPress and Drupal? Ding, ding, ding! It’s SiteGround!
To dive deeper into this web host, I’ll be doing an in-depth SiteGround review on such things as uptime, website speeds, usability and heaps more.
Even better is that this review is tailored for those in the UK. So no more inaccurate speeds and numbers that simply don’t relate.
SiteGround Review UK 2024 (All The Ins & Outs)
Quick SiteGround Overview
When I first signed up for SiteGround, I honestly wasn’t expecting much from their service. But boy was I wrong!
After making my first WordPress website with SiteGround, I knew instantly they were different from the other EIG hosts (more on that below). In short, SiteGround excels in:
- Stupid fast load time for UK websites
- Almost perfect 100% uptime
- Has UK & EU based servers (plus 2 other continents)
- Charges in GBP
- Recommended by both WP and Drupal
- Affordable pricing (£2.95/mo)
- Awesome customer service
- 1-click WordPress installs
- Beginner-friendly interface
For these reasons and more, I have really enjoyed my experience with using SiteGround and wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to anyone in the UK. Highly recommended!
Brief History Of SiteGround
Founded in 2004 by then law student Tenko Nikolov, he decided to drop his law degree and pursue his passion in technology. Let’s just say that was a wise move…
Fast forward 15 years and SiteGround now hosts over 2 million websites on their servers which is growing by the day.
SiteGround also employees 500 staff members worldwide with their headquarters based in Bulgaria. They currently also have multiple data centres in the USA, Europe, and Asia.
SiteGrounds Plans & Pricing
While SiteGround started as a shared web hosting provider back in 2004. They have now grown to offer up a long laundry list of hosting services.
Some of their most notable offerings are their:
- WordPress managed hosting
- WooCommerce hosting
- Cloud hosting
- Reseller hosting
- Enterprise hosting
- Dedicated hosting
- Shared web hosting
As you can see, SiteGround really does offer up a massive lineup of hosting options. So if a user is ever to outgrow their shared hosting plan, they’ll be able to easily scale up and move over to cloud or managed plans.
While these are all great hosting options, I’ll only be focusing on the shared hosting plan as this is the one I have personally used. It’s also the most accessible to new website makers ☺️(see below).
When I first signed up with SiteGround, I was originally on the StartUp plan as I first wanted to test the waters before choosing their premium plan.
This particular plan gave me 10GB of SSD storage, 1 website hosting, free SSL certificate, free CDN, free daily backups, 10,000/mo traffic, cPanel/ SSH and 24/7 support.
As for the price, it was a moderate £2.95/mo (which is 67% discounted) for either the 12, 24 or 36 month period. I opted for the 36 option as I was able to lock in those juicy savings for 3 years. SiteGround also charges in GBP!
After using SiteGround for 3 months, I quickly decided to upgrade to the GrowBig plan as I was really happy with the platform.
Once I made the jump up in plans, the price also went up to £4.95/mo which has all the added benefits of the StartUp plan included. The one major difference, however, is that I could now host an unlimited amount of websites 😱.
So if you plan on making just the 1 website, the StartUp plan is an uber value option at a great price. For ultimate website domination and growth, you can’t go wrong with the GrowBig plan.
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SiteGround Is a WordPress & Drupal Recommended Web Host
When I was originally shopping around for a web host, I first wanted to see who the actual website builders like WordPress, Drupal, and Joomla recommended.
So after a bit of digging, I realised there was a common thread between all of these recommendations.
And that was that SiteGround consistently recommended. This alone put a lot of weight into my decision as I wanted a vetted web host that was recommended by the most used content management systems in the world.
To check out the recommendation pages, you can see the WordPress, Drupal and Joomla ones learn more. You can also see my guide on the top WordPress web hosting companies.
SiteGround UK Speeds (455ms On Average)
Ok, so SiteGround has got the recommendations and a feature-heavy service, but as we all know, popular isn’t always good (cough, cough Geordie Shore?).
Well, from my own testing (with using the Pingdom speed test tool), SiteGrounds speeds are hands down the fastest that I have seen for my UK based websites.
On average, I got speeds around 455ms when tested from London, which is a phenomenal score.
As for doing tests from other geographic locations, SiteGround also crushes it in these areas too. Here are some more speeds that I got from other pinged locations:
- Frankfurt, Germany: 353ms
- San Fransisco, USA: 821ms
- Sydney, Australia: 769ms
What makes these speeds even more impressive is that SiteGround is able to deliver these lightning-fast scores day in and day out.
When it comes to the reasons behind why these scores are so fast, it comes down to SiteGround having servers in 3 continents which results is less latency/ faster speeds (more on that below). Not to mention their SSD drives, CDN integration, and their own caching plugin.
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SiteGround Uptime Numbers (99.99% On Average)
Another important factor that I considered in my SiteGround review was uptime. While this is a lesser spoken about topic, uptime is a highly important factor with any host.
So how does SiteGround stack up?
Even though SiteGround does give a 99.90% uptime guarantee. From my own tracking (with the tool UpTime Robot), I have found they far out deliver this promise by a long shot!
On average, I got consistent uptimes over a 2-year time frame of 99.99%. Which are some of the best results that I have gotten from any web hosting provider.
As a side note, SiteGround also offers their own internal tracking tool for users to take advantage of which is actually quite surprising.
Many times web hosting companies don’t like to have a live data feed of their performance, as it keeps them accountable. But SiteGround flips that on its head and does the exact opposite. Two thumbs up!
SiteGround Is a Non-EIG Provider
In my other reviews, I have covered both BlueHost and HostGator (which I also use) which are considered “EIG hosts”.
One little fact that many people don’t know about is that a LARGE portion of web hosting companies are all owned by one company….
And that company is EIG (Endurance International Group) which has a habit of gobbling up great web hosts and adding them to their collection.
While I have had positive experiences with EIG hosts, unfortunately, many have not. In the early days of these takeovers, many staff and resources were cut which understandably made existing customers angry.
Getting back on track, SiteGround is one of only a few large hosting companies left that are privately owned and not operated by a large corporation.
This independence from takeovers has allowed SiteGround to still keep a strong emphasis on great customer service which has almost given them a cult-like status.
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SiteGround Has United Kingdom & EU Based Servers
One of, if not the biggest advantages to using SiteGround is that they have servers located throughout the world.
These locations include the USA, UK (London), Netherlands and Singapore which is 3 more locations than their major competitors (BlueHost & HostGator).
While it might not seem like a big deal, having these different server locations is invaluable as it delivers up faster speeds to internet searchers. No matter where they are visiting from.
Say for example someone is doing an internet search from Wales and your website is hosted on servers in the USA. That data has to be now be sent via long underwater cables which results in a longer latency/ slower speeds.
On the flip side, if a website owner had a SiteGround UK based server. That same internet search from Wales only has to get data from London.
Simply put, there is less distance for data to travel which results in blazing fast speeds for those in Europe and the UK. SiteGround for the win!
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Rock Solid Customer Service
One thing I couldn’t overlook in my SiteGround review definitely had to be customer service. And when it came to this category, SiteGround had to be the best that I have ever come across.
Not only are their staff members super helpful, they are actually on the front foot and proactive in the way they approach problems. Whether it be their or my fault.
SiteGround also puts a face and a name to each representative you speak to, which makes the who experience more human. Not to mention it’s really easy to follow up with the same person.
As for their contact channels, SiteGround offers 24/7 phone customer support, live chat and a ticketing portal which are all great avenues to resolve issues.
1-Click Website Builder Installs
Another advantage to using SiteGround is that it’s insanely effortless to get a new website up and running.
Once I signed up for my SiteGround plan and picked my domain, I was greeted with an option to download a CMS (Content Management System) of my choice.
As I had used WordPress in the past and it runs 29% of all websites online, I decided to stick with them.
After I had selected WordPress, I had to wait 1-2 minutes for WordPress to install and then viola! I had a brand new website online and ready to go. All up, this process only took 5 minutes and even my grandma could do it!
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SSL Certificate & CDN Included
Included in all SiteGround shared hosting plans are free SSL certificates and CDN (Content Delivery Network) integration which is a huge bonus.
Having the free SSL certificate saved me about £25/yr which is the going rate for an SSL certificate from a domain registrar.
I was able to easily activate the SSL with one click which meant my website was now meeting Google guidelines (if a website doesn’t have an SSL from 2019 onwards, they will get a “not secure” message in the search bar). Not a good look!
Along with having the free SSL, SiteGround has also partnered with Cloudflare which enables users to cache their website files to hundreds of locations throughout the world.
While Cloudflare does offer a free service, having this integration is a massive time saver and only takes 1 click. P.S. SiteGround also has their own caching plugin for even faster speeds!
Free Daily Backups On All Shared Host Plans
Unlike many other shared web hosts out there who offer infrequent or no backups at all. SiteGround again is on the front foot as it offers up daily backups.
This feature is music to my ears as backing up a website can be a pain at times, to say the least. So by having this feature baked in, it is a big headache and time saver.
As for finding the backups, they can easily be found in the SiteGround cPanel under the backup tool icon.
Once in there, users can see backups completed which are signified in blue circles. From there, I can easily download or restore from any of these backups. Nice! For more information, check out my guide on web hosts with daily backups.
Included Email Accounts
Another premium feature that SiteGround includes in their shared web hosting plans is premium email accounts which are great for small business websites.
These email accounts can easily be set up within the cPanel which only takes a few minutes. As for the allocated storage of these email accounts, the below storage is available for the shared hosting plans.
- StartUp: 2000MB per email account
- GrowBig: 4000MB per email account
- GoGeek: 6000MB per email account
While I personally use and recommend Google Gsuite for professional emails (is only £5mo). This is nonetheless still a good add-on to have.
Security Features & Systems Of SiteGround
For myself personally, I make my living through making websites. So as you might imagine, I am insanely security conscious. Because if something was to go wrong, I could possibly lose my livelihood.
To pour fire on this concern, a data centre gets about 500,000 – 2 million brute-force attempts…. per hour. Gulp. This fact makes me feel more justified for my concerns.
But after researching SiteGrounds security protocols and redundancies, I can safely say that I sleep soundly at night.
SiteGrounds security works in two ways. The first being their inbuilt technologies, Linux servers, Anti-spam systems, and even their own artificial intelligence that prevents unauthorised attempts and DDoS attacks.
Another way SiteGround protects their data is by treating their physical storage centres like Fort Knox. Some systems they have in place are multiple electricity sources and generators, 24/7 manned patrols, biometric access only and even bulletproof lobbies!
So yeah, SiteGround doesn’t mess around when it comes to security and personal data.
Free Website Migrations
While site migrations are a service that users don’t typically use, it is nonetheless a great thing to have if the situations ever arises.
Luckily SiteGround offers free site transfers and migrations from existing providers which is a nice touch. In my UK web host roundup, I saw that many providers actually charge around £50 – £150 for a transfer. Ouch!
So if you are coming from another web host, then this is an extra cost that you won’t have to worry about.
Downsides Of Using SiteGround
While I have really enjoyed using SiteGround and recommend them to many Brits. There are somethings thing I have found that did let me down.
In saying that, these aren’t deal-breakers in any way, just a critical view of the service and maybe where they can improve.
So here are the things that I have found while using SiteGround that I would have a gripe about.
1. No free domain: As I touched on briefly above, SiteGround, unfortunately, doesn’t offer a free .com, .net or .co.uk domain name. While this isn’t a deal-breaker, this is a service that many other providers offer which is an instant saving for those on a budget.
As for the price of a SiteGround domain, a .com starts from £10/yr and is £12/yr for a .co.uk. If you are looking for a wide range of domain suffixes, then you can check out my UK domain registrar guide.
2. Pricey renewal rates: Even though SiteGrounds shared hosting plan starts at £2.95/mo. One thing to keep in mind is that this is a 67% discounted price. This means after the initial signup, the price will revert back to the original price tag of £8.95/mo.
While this is still a moderate price, I would say that this is above average when compared to other providers like BlueHost or SiteGround. This is why I usually advocate for a longer signup period as you’ll actually save a considerable amount.
3. Limited storage & bandwidth: When looking at SiteGrounds storage and bandwidth, they are respectable and are great for any new website makers. But when you compare it to its competitors, there is a bit lacking.
The StartUp plan, for example, has 10GB as opposed to BlueHosts 50GB. But in saying that, a website is highly 2GB in size, so it’s actually quite hard to run out of storage.
Also, SiteGrounds states bandwidth is limited to 10,000 visitors instead of “unlimited” from other providers. But from my own experience, I have got well over 10,000 visits to my SiteGround websites.
Final Verdict
So do I recommend SiteGround? You bet I do! After using a handful of web hosts over the past 9 years of making websites, SiteGround is by far one of the standouts. Especially for those in the UK with their London based servers and insanely fast load times. Highly rated and recommended!
If there is anything that you think I have missed in this SiteGround review, please let me know as I’ll be happy to update this article in the future. Thanks for reading!