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For years, one of the best web hosts online has been SiteGround.
I’ve recommended them on this website before based on the overwhelmingly positive feedback from online business owners who hosted their websites with SiteGround.
Because I hosted my websites at Wealthy Affiliate, I never got to experience this service first hand but I’ve always said that if I were to migrate my sites, this is where I would go.
However, SiteGround, it seems, is not the same web host as it was a couple of years ago. People are complaining about some issues they’re experiencing with the once beloved web hosting company and its just as overwhelming as the praise they once had.
In this post, I’m going to tell you why I cannot recommend SiteGround anymore. I’ll also point out some issues that people are complaining about that makes SiteGround a not-so-good option if you’re looking for hosting.
I Recently Moved To a New Web Host
Google’s new algorithm changes prompted me to take a look at how my websites were performing in terms of speed.
Being hosted on Wealthy Affiliate’s hosting platform wasn’t helping me as I was getting very poor scores when using PageSpeed Insights (Google’s tool for checking and diagnosing speed issues).
So I decided to move my websites to a more speedier web host.
My decision not to go with SiteGround was easy and was a result of keeping my ear on the WordPress hosting conversation over the years.
I’m a member of a WordPress hosting Facebook group and I also do regular research on different web hosts just to see what they’re offering.
The feedback on SiteGround had been growing increasingly negative for a while, a stark contrast to what you would hear a couple of years ago.
I’m not exactly sure what the reason for this is but I kept hearing the same complaints.
Right now, I’m hosted on WPX hosting and they’re doing all the things SiteGround used to brag about – the speed, the support and more.
What People Are Saying About Siteground
There are three main complaints I keep hearing about SiteGround:
- Big price increases (not just renewals)
- Service complaints (slower speed, more downtime etc.)
- Deteriorating customer service/support
Here’s a screenshot of a fairly recent discussion thread where the commenters express their frustrations about SiteGround web hosting service.
Big Price Increases
Normally when people complain about SiteGround’s prices, its because they don’t realize that the company sells new customers web hosting plans at a deep discount.
They’ll pay for the plan because it’s fairly cheap but when the plan renews at the regular price, they’re shocked because of the huge amount on the bill.
Well the price increase people are now complaining about is the regular price going up significantly even for existing customers.
It’s understandable that SiteGround may be trying to get their prices more in line with the quality they offer for a WordPress host. They recently changed their infrastructure to Google Cloud servers and made improvements to their speed plugin Siteground Optimizer.
While this should mean an improvement in quality, it seems that the quality went down as people are reporting.
Springing constant price increases on loyal existing customers isn’t going to help as price is a big deciding factor when choosing a web host. It’s like asking people to go somewhere else.
Complaints about SiteGround Service
At one time, it was rare to hear any complaints about SiteGround’s service.
Not that complaints were non-existent, because every host has complaints no matter how good they are. It’s just that feedback about SiteGround was mostly positive.
Nowadays, you can tell that they’re losing the love they once had due to changes they’ve implemented in their service.
Here’s an excerpt from a thread over at Reddit which has some of the most common complaints.
To summarize, the user said that he hosted his own sites and client sites on SiteGround for years while describing the host as “reliable, fast and problem-free”, which was the general consensus when it came to SiteGround and the reason why I previously recommended it.
Then SiteGround switched their infrastructure to Google Cloud and removed CPanel replacing it with their own Site Tools dashboard.
The problems?
- websites having frequent occurrences of 502 Bad Gateway errors
- more general downtime than before
- general site speed and time to first byte (TTFB) now inferior to other hosts
To add to these other users complain about CPU limitations.
Generally, there are just too many complaints about SiteGround’s web hosting service, more than you would have heard about two years ago.
Deteriorating Customer Support
This is probably my biggest gripe with SiteGround.
Customer support is a very important part of a hosting service. SiteGround used to brag about having the fastest customer service in the web hosting industry.
Lately, I keep hearing that customer support has now been limited to customers on their most expensive plan which would be the Go Geek plan. I see it in the pricing grid as “Priority Support.”
I’m not sure what type of support the other users have but there are a lot of complaints about the quality of the customer support.
Taken from the screenshot of reviews further up on this page, one user said:
Support quality down (when you are lucky enough to still have a support service as they prohibit some customers to use the chat system to communicate with them).
Another said that SiteGround is now a totally different company and it’s now:
…almost impossible to talk to a human who speaks english without a thick accent.
It’s a shame that SiteGround once had great customer support that they could boast about and now it’s one of the many things that people complain about.
It’s Never About the Affiliate Commissions
Just last week, I read an incredibly glowing review of Siteground on a popular blog where they’ve always appeared trustworthy and transparent.
It sort of puzzled me because I keep hearing real customers (non-affiliates) complain about SiteGround lately that I know they couldn’t be all wrong.
I only recommend stuff that I find value in and stuff that I believe can be helpful to my readers.
I’m not going to lie or turn a blind eye for some affiliate commissions. Besides, almost all web hosting companies have an affiliate program and have a similar pay structure.
SiteGround is just not worth it anymore.
Who To Host With in 2021
Now that I’m no longer recommending SiteGround, you may be wondering which web hosting company is best to host with right now.
There are two web hosts that I can point you to, one of which I’m currently using and very happy with.
I considered both based on informed research and feedback from non-affiliated users and experts on WordPress hosting.
1. WPX
I recently moved from Wealthy Affiliate hosting.
After considering about four companies, I migrated my websites to WPX web hosting.
I chose WPX for a number of reasons but mainly, I needed speed which one trusted SEO blogger said they could deliver.
I’m happy with them because they are indeed fast, their support is quick and knowledgeable and I’m comfortable with the pricing.
Here is my full WPX Hosting review where you’ll see why I choose to host with them over other web hosts.
2. Cloudways
The second web host that I considered which I can recommend is Cloudways.
Over on the WordPress Hosting group and pretty much everywhere you search, there are a lot of people who are moving to Cloudways as an alternative to Siteground.
And they seem to be happy with their choice.
The pricing is a little confusing to me and it appears you have to have a little technical know-how (unless you choose managed service which is more expensive.
Those things aside, people love Cloudways for WordPress sites so this is an option.
Conclusion
So I’m no longer recommending Siteground for web hosting because:
- Their service seems to have deteriorated recently.
- I would hate for someone to go with SiteGround based on my recommendation and complain about the issues above that I’m already aware of.
- There are much better web hosting services available in 2021, one of which I’m using (my opinion).
Just as I would like a worry free experience when it comes to tools and resources for my online business, I would love the same for my readers.
