Siteground vs MonoVM: guide for 2024

Siteground vs MonoVM: Final verdict

Looking over SiteGround vs. MonoVM, each provider manifests distinct strengths tailored to different user needs.

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  SiteGround (Overall grade: 8.8)
  
  SiteGround impresses with a 99.9% uptime guarantee and actual performance averaging 99.99%. This provider offers fast website speeds powered by Google Cloud infrastructure, advanced caching techniques, and a free CDN service. Security is another strong suit, featuring AI anti-bot systems, Smart Web Application Firewalls, and daily backups. SiteGround’s user management is comprehensive, making it ideal for agencies with collaborative needs and growing client lists. However, while its services are rich with features, some users highlight the high renewal prices as a downside.
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  MonoVM (Overall grade: 6.9)
  
  MonoVM, on the other hand, caters well to budget-conscious users, with competitive initial pricing and robust infrastructure using SSDs in RAID10 configuration. Known for its reliability and performance across 1.2K servers in 10 data centers, MonoVM offers specialized plans for VPS and dedicated hosting, appealing to more technical audiences or those running multimedia-heavy sites. The company lacks a money-back guarantee and faces occasional criticism for customer support and limited scaling options, which may deter users seeking more flexible and extensive features. Despite these gaps, MonoVM’s blend of affordability and essential services holds value for specific use cases.

Hosting types offered

Both platforms provide a variety of hosting types, each designed to meet the different needs of users.

Although both offer a variety of hosting plans tailored to different needs, in
certain cases, one platform may prove to be more suitable.

Detailed comparison

🏆 Winner SiteGround: It delivers outstanding uptime, availability, and customer satisfaction.

SiteGround excels with a 99.9% uptime guarantee, ensuring less than 43.83 minutes of downtime per month. Actual testing reveals an even more impressive 99.99% uptime over nearly two months. Complemented by the fastest response times and global server locations, SiteGround demonstrates excellent performance under stress tests, handling up to 50 virtual users with ease.

MonoVM also offers a strong uptime guarantee of 99.99% and hosts 1.2K servers across 10 data centers. It ensures high availability with 24/7 expert support and enterprise-level SSDs in RAID10 configuration. Though it lacks a money-back guarantee and free domain, MonoVM still provides valuable features like multiple OS support and daily backups, making it a reliable alternative.

🏆 Winner SiteGround: A top-tier hosting provider with superior performance and strong customer support.

Comparing the general performance of SiteGround and MonoVM reveals distinct differences in speed, CDN availability, and data center distribution. SiteGround leverages Google Cloud infrastructure for optimal speed, with SSD persistent storage and custom PHP setups enhancing performance. They offer a comprehensive CDN service for free, leveraging a network with over 170+ edge locations. MonoVM also uses SSDs in RAID10 configuration for fast load times, but their CDN options aren’t specified. SiteGround has multiple global data centers, ensuring robust speed, while MonoVM focuses on high-performance hardware and modern networking technologies without specifying their data center locations.

Website speed

SiteGround excels in delivering fast website speeds thanks to a combination of Google Cloud infrastructure, NGINX Direct Delivery, and a suite of caching methods including SuperCacher and dynamic caching. Websites benefit from integrated speed technologies like PHP versions, Brotli, and HTTP/2. MonoVM offers enterprise-grade SSDs and cPanel with automation tools for Linux hosting. However, SiteGround’s specialized caching and integrated speed enhancements make it a superior choice for website performance overall.

Scalability

SiteGround provides scalable options through their varied plans — StartUp, GrowBig, GoGeek, and Cloud starting at $100 per month. Their Cloud services are particularly scalable, easily accommodating growing traffic needs. MonoVM offers scalability through different hosting plans and supports both Linux and Windows, but details about automatic scaling and dedicated servers are not provided. SiteGround clearly defines their upgrading pathways and associated costs, making scaling straightforward and manageable.

Winner SiteGround: Superior security measures make SiteGround a more reliable hosting provider.

Technical security measures:

SiteGround offers an advanced AI anti-bot system that blocks millions of security threats daily, whereas MonoVM relies on Imunify 360 for malware scanning and firewall protections. SiteGround’s Smart Web Application Firewall is regularly updated with custom-WAF rules, providing robust protection against site attacks. MonoVM provides SSL/TLS management and includes free SSL certificates with various plans, similar to SiteGround’s free SSL certificates through Let’s Encrypt. SiteGround ensures multi-layered security in Google Cloud data centers, and offers daily backups along with distributed backups. MonoVM, on the other hand, includes automatic backups on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis but doesn’t specify multi-layered security measures like SiteGround.

Operational security measures:

SiteGround provides 24/7 system administration to guarantee the smooth operation and security of your site, while MonoVM’s operational security focuses on enhanced email security with two-factor authentication for email hosting services. SiteGround’s automatic updates for WordPress and WooCommerce ensure your site remains protected by the latest security patches. MonoVM’s logging and monitoring tools allow users to keep track of visitor counts, memory use, and bandwidth, aiding in identifying potential threats. Both providers offer data encryption, but SiteGround utilizes phishing-resistant security keys for added protection.

Compliance and certifications:

SiteGround does not provide PCI-compliant servers but manages general security solutions at the server level. MonoVM lacks detailed information about GDPR or HIPAA compliance but showcases a focus on maintaining high security standards through SSL certificates and data encryption. SiteGround’s custom security solutions for WordPress and WooCommerce-related vulnerabilities enhance their compliance strategy despite their lack of PCI certification.

🏆 Winner SiteGround: A versatile and robust hosting provider with superior performance for various web hosting needs.

SiteGround and MonoVM offer a range of features catering to different user preferences. SiteGround excels in managed WordPress hosting, providing a user-friendly website builder along with a comprehensive toolset for complex customization. Its standout features include a free CDN, daily backups, and an easy Git usage facility. On the other hand, MonoVM focuses on robust infrastructure with SSD RAID 10 technology, multiple operating systems, and a powerful firewall for enhanced security. MonoVM includes automation for server maintenance, highlighting its enterprise-grade hardware and software capabilities. Both providers bring unique strengths, yet SiteGround’s inclusion of a free site builder and enhanced security measures may appeal more to newcomers and experienced developers alike.

Both providers support a range of users from beginners to experts with user-friendly website builders and WordPress staging areas. However, in terms of developer tools, both SiteGround and MonoVM offer robust options including SSH access, support for multiple programming languages, and Git for version control, thus appealing to developers looking for advanced capabilities.

Email services:

Email services at SiteGround are provided through a partnership with Microsoft 365, offering a professional email and access to Outlook on a trial basis before transitioning to a paid service. Conversely, MonoVM provides unlimited free professional email accounts, which is particularly beneficial for users requiring multiple email accounts without incurring additional costs.

🏆 Winner MonoVM:Offers greater value propositions with advanced features at competitive pricing.

Evaluating the pricing of plans among various hosting providers can be complex due to their differing pricing and renewal strategies. Additionally, certain plans require annual commitments, which adds to the difficulty of making comparisons. The prices listed are based on monthly commitments; plans requiring annual commitments are indicated. Additionally, although some providers offer identical plans for WordPress and shared hosting, we have created separate tables for each to enhance clarity.

Both SiteGround and MonoVM come with a variety of hosting plans that cater to different needs. SiteGround’s Web Hosting plans start as low as $17.99/mo., while MonoVM’s options are priced starting at $2.09/mo., making MonoVM more budget-friendly. SiteGround typically includes several additional features in their plans, such as Free SSL, Daily Backup, and Enhanced Security. MonoVM offers plans with free SSL, unlimited traffic, and some unique CMS-related services. However, at comparable levels, MonoVM stands out for its lower initial pricing and the wealth of features provided even in base plans.

Enterprise plans

For enterprise needs, SiteGround provides a range of Cloud Hosting plans suitable for high-resource applications, starting from $100/mo. with 4 CPU cores and 8GB memory. MonoVM does not offer direct equivalents in this category but provides advanced managed hosting solutions that can be customized for enterprise needs, signifying lower upfront costs for starting. SiteGround’s plans offer greater resource allocations, especially suited for large-scale operations requiring robust performance.

🏆 Winner SiteGround: A user-friendly hosting provider with efficient setup and migration tools.

SiteGround uses a custom control panel tailored for ease of use, featuring automation and straightforward navigation. This panel offers a streamlined experience, making it accessible for both technical and non-technical users. Features like the Automated Site Setup Wizard and WordPress Starter Plugin allow for quick site launches and easy customization. The one-click staging tool available on premium plans further simplifies staging environments, making it simple for users to test changes without affecting live sites. On the other hand, MonoVM employs cPanel, a highly popular control panel known for its user-friendly interface. It’s suitable for users who may already have experience with cPanel, providing an easy transition. However, cPanel’s breadth of features might initially overwhelm non-technical users, although it is highly manageable with a bit of familiarity.

Both SiteGround and MonoVM offer strong migration tools, but they differ in specifics. SiteGround provides a Free WordPress Migrator Plugin, free and user-friendly for WordPress site migrations. They also offer professional expert migrations for a fee of $30 per site, catering to comprehensive transfer needs. MonoVM offers website transfer assistance as part of their service, handled by their experts, ensuring a seamless migration process. However, they do not specify whether this service is free or comes with a charge.

Comparing support resources shows SiteGround having an extensive knowledge base and multiple support options. Their help center includes how-to guides, troubleshooting instructions, and 24/7 live help via chat, phone, and tickets. Automated solutions and pinned help enhance the user experience. MonoVM’s knowledge base focuses on blogs with tech updates, tutorials, and relevant news, along with 24/7 support and VIP options for personalized assistance. While both are comprehensive, SiteGround’s broader range of support channels gives it a slight edge in accessibility and support quality.

The platforms provide extensive knowledge bases filled with guides, how-to articles, and instructional content. SiteGround offers a wide range of resources alongside 24/7 chat and phone support. MonoVM also boasts a detailed help center with an intuitive search function and around-the-clock support via live chat, phone, and ticketing, ensuring comprehensive user support.

🏆 Winner SiteGround: SiteGround stands out with its detailed user management features, allowing you to add team members as collaborators with individual logins for specific sites. This hosting provider excels in flexibility by enabling the creation and management of custom roles, which you can tailor to your clients’ or team’s needs. With white-label options available on premium plans, SiteGround allows clients to access their site tools without any SiteGround branding, enhancing professionalism. Conversely, MonoVM lacks detailed information on managing user roles and permissions, making it challenging to assess its capabilities in this area.

SiteGround offers a well-organized interface for managing users via the Client Area. Users can swiftly add collaborators and assign custom roles through intuitive, step-by-step instructions. The roles can be tailored by selecting specific tools and permissions, providing granular control over what each user can do. On the other hand, MonoVM’s user interface for managing users remains unspecified, leaving a gap in understanding how straightforward or comprehensive its tools are.

SiteGround’s effectiveness in access control is apparent through its capability to manage a growing number of users efficiently. The provision of white-label access removes any brand visibility, essential for agencies that manage multiple client websites. Additionally, roles can be reassigned, edited or deleted as needed, making it a versatile choice for scaling operations. The uncertainty around MonoVM’s user and access management features leaves its efficiency in accommodating growth ambiguous.

SiteGround User Roles Table:

🏆 Winner
SiteGround: Offers extensive customer support options, including fast and efficient live chat, phone support, and a high customer satisfaction rate.

SiteGround and MonoVM both offer 24/7 customer support, but their services differ in several ways. SiteGround provides chat and phone support for general inquiries, with designated hours for account verification, renewals, and cancellations. Technical assistance is available from 7 a.m. to midnight EST, via phone or a Help Ticket for email support. They have separate contact numbers for US and international customers. However, some users have reported issues such as slow response times and communication difficulties, often attributed to outsourcing.

On the other hand, MonoVM also offers 24/7 support with certified IT experts and specialized VIP support for managed hosting and WordPress services. Despite not having phone support or a chatbot, MonoVM’s email and ticket support, coupled with their strong emphasis on security and regular maintenance, make them a reliable choice for users needing consistent uptime and robust security measures. While MonoVM’s scores are commendable, SiteGround takes the lead with its more versatile and highly rated customer support services.

Siteground vs MonoVM: User feedback

SiteGround receives high praise for its exceptional customer support and user-friendly interface. Users appreciate the quick, knowledgeable, and patient assistance provided through chat and phone, which guides them effectively through technical issues. However, some users find the renewal prices steep and express concerns about their email spam protection system. Despite these drawbacks, the overall sentiment is very positive, with many reviewers recognizing SiteGround as a reliable and superior hosting provider that delivers on its promises.

MonoVM is recognized for offering an affordable array of services, including VPS hosting, web hosting, domain registration, and SSL certificates. Users appreciate its reliability and the user-friendly interfaces that ease account management and support access. However, some customers note that MonoVM lacks certain advanced features and customization options, particularly in higher-tier plans, and may experience limitations in resource scaling and upgrading. Additionally, there are mentions of compromised customer support quality.

Siteground vs MonoVM: FAQ