Siteground vs Web.com: guide for 2024

Final verdict

Looking over SiteGround vs. Web.com, it’s clear why both hosts are so popular. They have both hosted millions of
websites that run on WordPress for decades, building up a loyal customer base.

• 
  SiteGround (Overall grade: 8.8)
  
  
  is highly regarded for its superior uptime performance, advanced security features, and excellent customer support. With a 99.9% uptime guarantee and a fast response time of 0.207 seconds, SiteGround ensures reliability that exceeds industry standards. The service offers robust security measures like an AI-driven anti-bot system, daily backups, and a custom Web Application Firewall, coupled with cloud hosting options that provide scalable and high-performance solutions for high-traffic and ecommerce websites. Users also benefit from its user-friendly setup, extensive knowledge base, and top-notch customer support available 24/7. However, some may find its renewal pricing a bit steep and navigating certain features cumbersome. Overall, SiteGround is an ideal choice for beginners, small businesses, and developers looking for a comprehensive, secure, and fast hosting service.
  
• 
  Web.com (Overall grade: 7.3)
  
  
  offers reliable hosting with standard industry features such as unmetered bandwidth, automatic backups, and various supportive tools. It caters well to beginners with its user-friendly website builder and competitive initial pricing. Customer support is accessible via multiple channels like phone, email, and live chat. Although Web.com offers business-centric benefits and complies with GDPR and PCI standards, it falls short in areas of uptime and server response times compared to SiteGround. Advanced users might find Web.com’s feature set and customization options limited, and the lack of cloud hosting plans and certain automated tools might be restrictive. Web.com remains a solid option for cost-conscious users looking for essential and straightforward hosting services, but it lacks the high-performance features found in SiteGround.
  

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: Exceptional uptime performance and stellar response times.

SiteGround offers an outstanding uptime guarantee of 99.9%, with compensation for any downtime beyond the guaranteed limit. Their actual uptime exceeds the guarantee, with just three short outages totaling 7 minutes in nearly two months of monitoring. Moreover, SiteGround boasts the fastest average response time in the last 15 tests conducted by Uptime.com, at 0.207 seconds.

Web.com, with its industry-standard uptime guarantee of 99.9%, has an actual uptime of 99.83%, falling slightly behind SiteGround’s performance. While Web.com provides unmetered bandwidth, automatic backups, and a range of supportive features, its actual uptime and server response times are not as impressive. Despite a strong offering, it does not match the reliability and speed provided by SiteGround.

🏆 Winner: SiteGround: Performance-driven and feature-rich hosting. When comparing general performance, SiteGround utilizes premium Google Cloud infrastructure with SSD persistent storage, ensuring top-notch reliability and site speed. Their custom Ultrafast PHP setup significantly boosts page loading times. SiteGround also offers an in-house built free CDN with over 170 locations and boasts multiple global data centers. This makes it quite a suitable option for ensuring quick content delivery. On the other hand, Web.com has improved its hosting speeds by upgrading to PHP 8.0 and MySQL 8, alongside offering a 99.9% uptime guarantee. However, Web.com lacks a built-in caching plugin and only provides standard unmetered bandwidth without additional speed-boosting features evident in SiteGround.

Website Speed

SiteGround excels in website speed with technologies like Brotli, HTTP/2, and TLS 1.3, along with smart caching solutions through NGINX Direct Delivery and SuperCacher. The in-house Speed Optimizer plugin further enhances media and front-end performance, making websites load up to 30% faster. Web.com also shows significant enhancement in speed with OPcode Cache and faster server response times, but its speed improvements are comparatively modest.

Scalability

SiteGround offers cloud plans that start from $100 per month, giving customers an option for dedicated resources when needed. While it’s not specified if they provide automated scaling, their diverse plans like GrowBig and GoGeek offer scalable features. Web.com supports over 99.5% of customers’ bandwidth demands, indicating some level of scalability, but again, details on elastic scaling or automated upgrades are not provided. No mention of dedicated servers or specific costs for scaling was given.

Overall, SiteGround stands out as a more comprehensive and high-performance hosting solution.

🏆 Winner SiteGround: Exceptional overall security measures for peace of mind.

Technical security measures:

SiteGround provides superior technical security with its 24/7 system administration and AI-driven anti-bot system to block millions of threats daily. Their custom Web Application Firewall (WAF) and distributed backups enhance protection further. Web.com offers sophisticated SSL certificates and PHP 8.0, enhancing both security and performance. However, SiteGround’s consistent updates for WordPress and WooCommerce ensure sites remain secure, a feature Web.com offers but falls short in automation.

Operational security measures:

Operationally, SiteGround excels with automated daily backups, easy restores, and on-demand backups. Their use of Google Cloud’s multi-layered security infrastructure adds another robust layer of defense. Web.com provides similar features like the CodeGuard for backups and SiteLock for malware scanning and removal. The inclusion of a 99.9% uptime guarantee by Web.com is notable, yet SiteGround’s comprehensive multi-layered security and immediate response outshine it.

Compliance and certifications:

SiteGround offers no specified PCI compliant servers but excels in custom security solutions tailored to WordPress & WooCommerce-related vulnerabilities. Web.com is PCI compliant through SiteLock scanning services and adheres to GDPR regulations, ensuring personal data protection. SiteGround’s security protocols meet GDPR standards due to their advanced encryption measures via Google Cloud.

🏆 Winner: SiteGround: A reliable and feature-rich hosting provider offering robust solutions for various website needs.

SiteGround and Web.com both offer a variety of hosting features that cater to different user needs. SiteGround distinguishes itself with its advanced managed WordPress hosting that includes a plethora of features like free SSL, daily backups, and a remarkable caching system for speed. Its cloud hosting options are customizable and come with features like autoscaling, dedicated IP, and collaboration tools, making it a go-to for businesses needing sophisticated setups. Moreover, it includes a free CDN, and offers a user-friendly site builder, free email accounts, and 24/7 robust support, which is crucial for ensuring website uptime and performance. On the other hand, Web.com provides a drag-and-drop website builder that’s easy to use and supports various programming languages, making it suitable for beginners and developers alike. While it offers unmetered bandwidth and a free domain for the first year, storage and FTP accounts vary by plan, which could be a limitation for growing businesses.

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 Web.com 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:

SiteGround provides comprehensive email hosting services that include free email accounts and email migration tools, supporting users who want to set up their own email campaigns. Web.com also includes business email services in its plans, but details on advanced transactional email capabilities or options for reselling third-party services like Google Workspace are not specified, which could limit its appeal for users needing comprehensive email management.

🏆 Winner
SiteGround: It offers a wide range of plans with comprehensive features and environmentally conscious practices.

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.

SiteGround and Web.com offer competitive pricing plans, but SiteGround stands out due to its renewable energy match and additional features like unmanaged WordPress and enhanced security. SiteGround offers three shared hosting plans—from $3.99 to $10.69 monthly—packed with features like daily backup, free CDN, and unmetered traffic. Web.com, starting as low as $2.95 per month for the first year, increases after renewal, offering fewer features but free domain names and easy-to-use website builders. Both providers have dedicated WordPress plans and a variety of cloud hosting options, catering to different business needs without compromising on essential features.

Enterprise plans

SiteGround’s higher tier plans, such as the GoGeek plan, are suited for enterprise-level websites with features like priority support, staging, and enhanced security. Web.com does not offer as many advanced features in their top-tier plans, making SiteGround a better option for managing business-critical and high-traffic websites. For those seeking extensive resources and premium support, SiteGround’s cloud hosting solutions provide robust and scalable options tailored for enterprise needs.

🏆 Winner SiteGround: Offers a more streamlined and user-friendly setup experience.

SiteGround provides an Automated Site Setup Wizard that supports 20+ applications, including popular platforms like WordPress and Magento, which simplifies the overall setup process. The WordPress Starter Plugin helps users quickly add a professional theme and essential plugins, making site launch faster and more accessible. For both technical and non-technical users, the one-click staging tool on GrowBig and GoGeek plans is highly beneficial for testing changes without affecting the live site. The administration panel, coupled with comprehensive customer care, offers an easy-to-navigate environment, ensuring smooth site management and maintenance.

Web.com features a user-friendly Drag-and-Drop Website Builder, which can be particularly advantageous for users who prefer visual design. Their WordPress Hosting package allows for a one-click installation, easing the initial setup for those who opt to use WordPress. The centralized hosting control panels provided by Web.com enable efficient site administration, offering a dashboard to monitor website performance and manage domains, email accounts, and other administrative tasks. However, it lacks the advanced automated tools and staging environments that SiteGround offers, which are valuable for more thorough testing and development processes.

SiteGround excels in migration tools by offering a Free WordPress Migrator Plugin, allowing users to transfer their WordPress sites with ease. This service is user-friendly and does not incur any additional costs. Additionally, for a more hands-off experience, professional expert migrations are available at a fee of $30.00 per site, ensuring that all files and databases are transferred accurately. Web.com provides standard migration assistance, but it doesn’t specify dedicated automated tools or free services for migration, which could make the process slightly more challenging for non-technical users.

SiteGround’s extensive knowledge base includes articles, how-to guides, troubleshooting instructions, and pinned help, providing quick access to common queries. Their automated solution system enhances the user experience by suggesting ready solutions for similar issues. This, combined with 24/7 live support, ensures rapid and efficient assistance. Web.com’s help center also offers knowledge base articles, blogs, self-help guides, and expert assistance. Their customer support is responsive, available via chat, email, and phone. However, SiteGround’s comprehensive support structure and faster response times make it superior.

🏆 Winner SiteGround: A hosting provider with exceptional user management features and flexibility.

SiteGround offers a distinct advantage in managing user roles, permissions, and accessibility over Web.com. SiteGround allows adding team members as collaborators with their own individual accounts, and you can register clients as white-label users without exposing the SiteGround brand. The creation and customization of user roles are straightforward, providing granular control over what each user can access. In contrast, Web.com’s system is more basic, only offering Administrative and Technical roles without the same level of flexibility in defining custom roles and permissions.

In terms of user interfaces and tools, both platforms provide intuitive user management. SiteGround’s interface allows for easy addition and management of users directly from your Client Area, supported by a detailed set of tools available for each custom role. Web.com also offers a user-friendly interface for managing users, though it is more limited to basic role assignments. Web.com’s Account Manager is clear and efficient, but it lacks the same depth of control as SiteGround.

Regarding access control measures and capacity for handling a growing number of users, SiteGround excels with its ability to assign roles and distribute permissions granularly, contributing to efficient management even as user numbers scale. The platform’s white-label feature for clients also ensures seamless and professional access without brand interference. Web.com, while functional, does not provide as robust a system for scaling user management, mainly due to its simpler role designations and limited personalization capabilities.

SiteGround user roles table:

Web.com user roles table:

🏆 Winner SiteGround: SiteGround offers exceptional customer service, providing both 24/7 support and numerous channels to ensure customer satisfaction.

SiteGround and Web.com both provide comprehensive 24/7 customer support options which include live chat, phone, and email/ticket systems. SiteGround distinguishes itself with additional features such as a chatbot and automated solutions, ensuring quick resolutions and empowering users with extensive knowledge base articles and pinned help within the platform interface. SiteGround’s support team is known for its proficiency and customer satisfaction, evident in their high ratings.

Web.com offers reliable technical support around the clock and multiple channels, including phone, email, live chat, and ticket systems, ensuring accessibility for their users. They provide specialized business consultants during weekdays, which could benefit users seeking business-centric advice. While Web.com offers considerable support avenues, it lacks some of the advanced features and user-centric tools available with SiteGround.

User feedback

SiteGround garners consistently high praise for its exceptional customer support and user-friendly tools, frequently being described as reliable and straightforward to use. Users commend the fast and knowledgeable technical assistance, which is available through various channels like chat and phone, often highlighting the effectiveness and patience of support representatives. Despite these positive aspects, some users find renewal pricing relatively expensive and note that navigating to the support section can be cumbersome. Issues with specific features, such as webmail interface and certain plugins, are also mentioned, but overall, SiteGround is recommended for its strong support and ease of use, especially for beginners and small businesses.

The hosting provider offers a comprehensive solution for purchasing domain names, hosting, and website building, making it highly convenient for users managing multiple domains and websites. Users appreciate the convenience of having all services bundled together, but some express concerns about the limitations on hosting unlimited domains and the cost associated with individual website software. Overall, the service is satisfactory and well-rated, though there is room for improvement in accommodating users with extensive hosting needs.

FAQ