SiteGround Review
Last updated on Mar 24, 2022
I got a SiteGround account last January because I needed it for a client. Don’t ask why it had to be SiteGround in particular because I don’t really know either. My client just wanted me to use SiteGround for hosting. Anyway, I ended up prepaying for one year although I am usually against it because…
Their One Month Trial Has a Setup Fee!
I mean, come on, seriously? I really hate it when hosts charge setup fees for shared hosting accounts. They’re not really setting up anything manually for you so why should you have to pay? In SiteGround’s case, you have to pay them $14.95 just so you can get an account automatically created for you. Well, I guess that’s just their way of saying “you should sign up for a longer payment term” because all their other payment plans don’t have setup fees.
Hosting Order Page is “Upsell City”
I’m sorry if these things don’t interest you and you’d rather read what I think about their actual service, but I just had to put this in here first. This page instantly reminded me of GoDaddy and their crazy amount of upsell tactics.
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I hate how hosts (or any other type of company) try to trick newbies by having all those unnecessary upgrades checked during checkout. And oh, go take another look at the screenshot above. They have words like “60% OFF” and “Setup Fee: FREE” when their real regular price has been $3.95/month for a very long time now, and setup is really supposed to be FREE ’cause there’s nothing being setup. I guess it’s to make you feel better somehow that you are getting the best deal available.
Neat and Convenient Control Panel
I don’t usually talk about control panels and stuff because most hosts I’ve used use the same control panel called cPanel. While SiteGround also uses cPanel, they made it look really neat (not a fan of that big banner on top though) and they integrated it with support, billing, and resources. Convenience is very important and I’d have to give SiteGround two thumbs up for doing this.
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Good Service and Support
I’ve been managing the SiteGround account for many months now and I haven’t encountered any major issues yet. My client’s site is loading fast and is always up. One thing worth noting about their service is that they have a built-in caching system called SuperCacher. Users who don’t want to tinker with caching options or plugins could activate SuperCacher with a few clicks and this will give their site a decent speed boost.
I can’t really comment much on their support because I haven’t had to contact them about serious issues. I think I only had to contact support once or twice and the response time as well as the quality were okay.
Final Verdict
SiteGround is a definitely a decent host. You can be sure your sites will be up most of the time and their support team is friendly. I don’t have complaints as far as the service is concerned, however I can’t help but give them a lower Price score. This is not because they’re expensive, but because of their pricing structure and marketing tactics. Plus they charge a setup fee if you want to try them for a month.
I’ve been using SiteGround for a few months now (european servers), and I don’t remember seeing that page during sign up – but I signed up directly via SG LiveChat with their sales staff – but IMO SiteGround is still a breeze compared to GoDaddy, whose sign-up page is 10.000 worse than that.
Other than that, from my experience SG is more than decent: they only time I had an issue (a minor, tiny connection one), their support staff was with me and on it in less than 10 minutes and issue was solved in a few minutes; my sites with them is blazing fast and and the control panel is the best cPanel version I’ve ever seen.
“IMO SiteGround is still a breeze compared to GoDaddy, whose sign-up page is 10.000 worse than that.”
It sure is! And yeah their cPanel looks great.
I use siteground on some sites. They have been cool so far, no major issues. I just recently upgraded to their GrowBig plan in order to host more sites. We’ll see how that goes; I expect things to go smoothly with them just as with the starter plan. Only thing I don’t like is that they don’t offer a monthly payment plan, only full annual pay now. Actually more (or all) hosting companies have moved toward this trend. Guess this is just another way to ensure their profits.
I can tell that nobody who has written a review has had them (Siteground) for at least a full year. Here is a big problem with Siteground, and I find it frustrating………..they offer this invitingly low initial rate for the initial term. When it comes time to renew, you will be shocked when you have to pay 2 or 3 times what you did previously. I even wrote to them and asked if they could offer an existing customer some kind of discount; no go. I found my way here because I am searching for a new host who doesn’t pull this kind of thing. Yes, I can say that Siteground has been mostly good over the past year, but what good does it do when you have to pay a real premium price to renew for a few lower traffic WP websites? Now, I have to migrate all my sites to another host…….once again.
I used to love Siteground. But they have removed the reseller credit system. So the only break you get is on the basic account. If your customer goes and reads the pricing table, you are SOL.