Finding a good hosting server when creating a website is not easy. If you choose the wrong server, various issues may arise, such as frequent disconnections, traffic limitations, and virus intrusions, all of which are particularly annoying.
I have been running websites for 15 years and have switched hosting providers several times before finally settling down with Bluehost.
Therefore, I don’t want you to go through the same detours. Here, I’ve organized a brief overview of some hosts I’ve used before, along with other popular foreign hosting servers. I hope it’s useful for you.
The two most important factors when choosing a server are uptime and loading speed. The better the performance in these two aspects, the better the server. Of course, price is also an important factor.
Here we have listed the top 10 best foreign server providers:
| #1 | Bluehost | $2.95/month, Best Overall and Best for Beginners Hosting Provider |
| #2 | Hostinger | $1.99/month, Most Cost-Effective Hosting Provider |
| #3 | DreamHost | $2.59/month, Cheapest Month-to-Month Hosting Provider |
| #4 | HostGator | $3.75/month, Best Shared Hosting Provider |
| #5 | GreenGeeks | $2.95/month, Most Environmentally Friendly Hosting Provider |
| #6 | SiteGround | $2.99/month, Fastest and Most Secure Provider for WordPress Websites |
| #7 | Hostwinds | $5.29/month, Best Dedicated Hosting Provider |
| #8 | GoDaddy | $5.99/month, Largest Hosting Provider in the World |
| ＃9 | A2Hosting | $2.99/month, Provides Fast and Reliable Shared Hosting |
| ＃10 | Westhost | $3.75/month, Suitable for Small Online Business Websites |
Top 10 Foreign Hosting Providers
1. Bluehost– Best Overall and Best for Beginners Hosting Provider
Pros:
- Good uptime 99.99%
- Fast loading speed 405ms
- One-click WordPress installation
- Officially recommended by WordPress
- Easy to use, even beginners can build a site quickly
- Free domain for the first year
- Free SSL certificate provided
- 24/7 live chat customer support
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons:
- Discount available only for long-term plans
Bluehost started providing web hosting services in 2007 and currently hosts over 3 million websites. It is one of the most popular low-cost foreign website hosting providers.
The service is stable, with strong uptime and loading speeds over the past 24 months: 99.99% and 405ms, respectively.
Their 3-year basic plan costs $2.95/month and includes a free domain for the first year. It supports an AI-powered easy website builder, free CDN, and offers one-click backend installations via cPanel for WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal users. It’s very suitable for beginners and novices. The basic plan includes unlimited bandwidth and 10GB storage space, allowing you to create up to 10 websites.
Price:
- Shared Hosting — $2.95/month (Basic), $5.45/month (Plus), $5.45/month (Choice Plus), $13.95/month (Pro)
- Managed WordPress Hosting — $19.95/month (Build), $29.95/month (Grow), $49.95/month (Scale)
- VPS Hosting — $19.99/month (Standard), $29.99/month (Enhanced), $59.99/month (Ultimate)
- Dedicated Hosting — $79.99/month (Standard), $99.99/month (Enhanced), $119.99/month (Premium)
Bluehost is also an officially recommended hosting platform by WordPress.org, making it ideal for WordPress websites.
Bluehost includes free built-in Cloudflare CDN, which enhances website speed globally, including in Mainland China and other Asian regions. Cloudflare’s network covers 200 cities in 100 countries, ensuring fast loading speeds worldwide.
Bluehost also offers free email accounts, 24/7 customer support, and a free SSL certificate. In addition to traditional shared hosting, it provides dedicated VPS and WordPress hosting plans for websites with higher traffic. If your website grows, you can upgrade to these premium plans anytime.
Initially, I used iPage, which only offers shared hosting. When my site traffic increased, I experienced frequent downtime due to bandwidth limits. I wanted to upgrade to VPS, but iPage didn’t offer this option, so I switched to Bluehost for a higher-tier VPS plan, which took considerable effort. Therefore, choosing a provider with flexible options from the beginning can save a lot of hassle.
All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, so if you’re not satisfied, you can request a refund within 30 days.
If you want to learn how to build a website with Bluehost, please check my Bluehost website-building tutorial.
2. Hostinger – The Most Cost-Effective International Hosting Provider
Advantages:
- Fast loading speed of 350 ms
- Starting price as low as $2.99/month
- Data centers located in the USA, Europe, and Asia
- Choose your data center location after account setup to optimize loading speed for your target audience
- Free SSL certificate
- Free email account
- One-click WordPress installation
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- 24/7 customer support
Disadvantages:
- No free domain included
- Lower-tier plans have bandwidth limitations
Hostinger has maintained an average uptime of 99.95% over the past 24 months, with impressively fast loading speeds averaging 350 ms. It’s also one of the most affordable international hosting options.
With Hostinger’s affordable pricing and solid performance, it’s an excellent choice for first-time website owners on a budget.
They offer a variety of plans, allowing you to start with a basic plan and upgrade as your website grows.
All plans include a free website builder, free SSL certificate, and 24/7 customer support.
Pricing:
- Web Hosting — $2.99/month (Premium Hosting), $3.99/month (Business Hosting), $9.99/month (Cloud Startup)
- Cloud Hosting — $9.99/month (Cloud Startup), $14.99/month (Cloud Professional), $29.99/month (Cloud Enterprise)
- WordPress Hosting — $2.99/month (Premium), $3.99/month (Business), $9.99/month (Cloud Startup)
- VPS Hosting — $3.99/month (VPS 1), $5.99/month (VPS 2), $7.99/month (VPS 3), $10.99/month (VPS 4), $23.95/month (VPS 5), $38.99/month (VPS 6), $57.99/month (VPS 7), $77.99/month (VPS 8)
Hostinger’s cheapest plan starts at just $2.99/month for a 48-month subscription, with a renewal price of $7.99/month. This plan allows you to host 100 websites, provides 100GB of storage, includes a free SSL certificate, unlimited bandwidth, and comes with a free domain.
After purchasing a server account, you can select the data center location in Hostinger’s hPanel. You will also be guided to choose a data center after your purchase. The following four data center locations are typically available:
- Asia (Singapore, India)
- Europe (Lithuania, Netherlands, UK)
- North America (USA)
- South America (Brazil)
You should choose the data center closest to your website visitors to minimize loading times. For instance, if most of your traffic is from the USA, you should select the USA as your server location. However, if you have significant traffic from Asian countries, you should opt for Singapore or India. Once you select a data center, changing it later is nearly impossible, so think carefully before making your choice.
Hostinger also offers cloud services, email hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, and Windows VPS hosting.
All server plans come with a 30-day unconditional money-back guarantee.
3. DreamHost – The Cheapest Monthly-Pay Hosting Provider
Advantages:
- Average uptime of 99.94%
- Lowest price at $2.59/month
- Fast loading times
- Monthly payment options available
- 97-day money-back guarantee
- Unlimited bandwidth and disk space
Cons:
- No cPanel
DreamHost, established in 1996, is a well-known hosting provider that serves over 1.5 million websites, blogs, and applications in more than 100 countries.
In the past 24 months, DreamHost has maintained an average uptime of 99.94% with a loading speed of 648 milliseconds.
Unlike many other hosting providers, DreamHost allows you to pay monthly as well as annually.
You can start with a monthly plan at $4.95 to try it out before deciding whether to purchase a more economical long-term plan. The 3-year plan starts at $2.59/month, which is very affordable, and the renewal price is $4.95/month, making it reasonable.
Pricing:
- Shared Hosting — $2.59/month (Shared Starter), $3.95/month (Shared Unlimited)
- WordPress Basic Hosting — $2.59/month (WordPress Starter), $3.95/month (WordPress Unlimited)
- Managed WordPress Hosting (DreamPress) — $16.95/month (DreamPress), $24.95/month (DreamPress Plus), $71.95/month (DreamPress Pro)
- VPS Hosting — $10/month (VPS Basic), $20/month (VPS Business), $40/month (VPS Professional), $80/month (VPS Enterprise)
The basic plan includes a free domain, 1 website, unlimited bandwidth, SSD storage, and DreamHost’s own drag-and-drop website builder.
The company offers a robust free SSL certificate, various domain management tools, and unlimited bandwidth each month. WordPress is pre-installed when you apply for a server, saving you the hassle of building a website yourself.
Although there is no cPanel that website developers are familiar with, DreamHost provides its own management panel that is very similar to cPanel or Plesk, and is easier to navigate.
All plans include 24/7 live chat support and a generous refund policy of up to 97 days, which is quite impressive.
4. HostGator – Best Foreign Shared Hosting Provider
Pros:
- Average uptime of 99.99%, excellent personal experience uptime
- Loading time of 399 milliseconds
- Free website migration
- Unlimited bandwidth and disk space
- Multiple server locations
- Unlimited email accounts
- 24/7 live chat support
Cons:
- Renewal prices increase significantly
HostGator was established in 2002 and is a well-known provider of shared and cloud hosting services, currently hosting over 2 million websites. It is one of the most recognized foreign server providers.
In the past 24 months, HostGator has maintained an average uptime of 99.99% with a fast loading speed of 399 milliseconds, making it a strong competitor in the overseas server market.
HostGator’s plans include unlimited email accounts, unlimited bandwidth, and unlimited disk space, with built-in caching. All their hosting plans offer 99.9% uptime, free SSL certificates, quick WordPress installation, and a free domain for one year.
They also provide their own Gator website builder, which allows users to create websites using a drag-and-drop interface. This is particularly suitable for newcomers looking to build foreign trade or e-commerce websites.
Pricing:
- Shared Hosting — $3.75/month (Hatchling), $4.50/month (Baby), $6.25/month (Business)
- WordPress Hosting — $4.50/month (Baby), $6.25/month (Business), $13.95/month (Pro)
- VPS Hosting — $36.99/month (Snappy 2000), $53.99/month (Snappy 4000 currently using this plan), $95.99/month (Snappy 8000)
- Dedicated Hosting — $91.98/month (Value Server), $121.89/month (Power Server), $141.99/month (Enterprise Server)
HostGator offers its cheapest plan at $3.75/month, providing 10GB SSD storage, the ability to host 10 websites, a free domain for one year, and free basic email. In addition to shared cloud hosting, HostGator also offers WordPress, VPS, and dedicated hosting plans, serving a variety of businesses and organizations, from small to large enterprises. Thus, if your website’s traffic increases, you can upgrade your plan.
All of its plans come with a 45-day money-back guarantee.
5. GreenGeeks – The Most Environmentally Friendly Foreign Hosting Provider
Pros:
- Fast loading speed of 445 milliseconds
- Stable uptime of 99.98%
- Servers located in the US, Canada, and the Netherlands
- Free site migration
- Unlimited bandwidth and disk space
Cons:
- Price increases when upgrading plans
GreenGeeks has over 14 years of experience and serves over 500,000 websites, making it a well-known foreign server provider.
GreenGeeks maintains an uptime of 99.98% with a loading speed of 445 milliseconds, with prices starting at $2.95/month. They offer a variety of features, 24/7 customer support, and a strong reputation in the competitive web hosting market.
Pricing:
- Web Hosting — $2.95/month (Lite), $4.95/month (Pro), $8.95/month (Premium)
- WordPress Hosting — $2.95/month (Lite), $4.95/month (Pro), $8.95/month (Premium)
- Managed VPS Hosting — $39.95/month (2GB), $59.95/month (4GB), $109.95/month (8GB)
All plans come with a free domain for one year, cPanel, a free SSL certificate, PowerCacher caching solution, unlimited SSD storage, and unlimited bandwidth, making it especially valuable.
If your website grows larger, you can easily upgrade to their VPS hosting. Additionally, GreenGeeks offers free website migration services.
You can choose the data center for your hosting. When creating a hosting account, you can select different data centers to be closer to your customers. They have data centers in Singapore, Phoenix, Chicago, Toronto, Montreal, and Amsterdam.
All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee.
6. SiteGround – The Fastest and Most Secure WordPress Hosting Provider
Pros:
- Average loading speed of 673 milliseconds
- Stable uptime of 99.99%
- Free SSL
- Free daily backups
- 20+ email accounts
- Free website migration
- Knowledgeable customer support that quickly resolves issues
- 24/7 online customer support
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Cons:
- There is a site setup fee for monthly payments (no additional charge for annual payments)
SiteGround is an overseas server provider established in Bulgaria in 2004. They host over 3 million websites and are one of the three officially recommended hosting companies by WordPress.org. For more information on how SiteGround performs, you can check the article SiteGround Review.
SiteGround has many advantages, especially for beginner website owners who are not technically inclined. Overall ease of use is a key feature of their shared hosting services.
SiteGround places a strong emphasis on website security. Even with the entry-level plan, you get DDoS protection, SiteGround’s proprietary security suite plugin, and a free SSL certificate.
Over the past 24 months, SiteGround has maintained a commendable uptime of 99.99% and an average loading speed of 673 milliseconds, making it one of the top 10 hosting service providers globally.
SiteGround’s customer support is well-known in the industry, with a rapidly growing user base. All plans include free website builders like WordPress, email accounts, free SSL certificates, Cloudflare CDN, daily backups, and SSH access.
The cheapest entry-level plan starts at $2.99/month, suitable for new webmasters. It can host websites with up to 10,000 visits per month. The entry-level plan includes 10GB of disk space, unlimited traffic, and 24/7 customer support.
Pricing:
- Web Hosting — $2.99/month (Startup), $4.99/month (GrowBig), $7.99/month (GoGeek)
- WordPress Hosting — $2.99/month (Startup), $4.99/month (GrowBig), $7.99/month (GoGeek)
- WooCommerce Hosting — $2.99/month (Startup), $4.99/month (GrowBig), $7.99/month (GoGeek)
- Managed Cloud Hosting — $100/month (Jump Start), $200/month (Business), $300/month (Business Plus), $400/month (Super Power)
SiteGround offers various services, including WordPress hosting, WooCommerce hosting, cloud hosting, business hosting, and dedicated servers. However, they do not own their servers internally but rent them from Google Cloud.
All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee.
7. Hostwinds – The Best Independent Hosting Provider
Pros:
- Average loading time of 659 milliseconds
- Server uptime of 99.98%
- Servers located in the USA and the Netherlands
- Free website migration assistance
- Supports building platforms like Drupal and WordPress
Cons:
- Renewal fees will increase.
Hostwinds is also a budget-friendly overseas server provider. Its various hosting plans cater to different website scales, from personal sites to business needs.
In addition to shared hosting, it offers cloud services, dedicated servers, and VPS virtual hosting.
Pricing:
- Shared Hosting – $5.24/month (Basic), $6.74/month (Advanced), $8.24/month (Ultimate)
- Fully Managed Linux VPS – $8.24/month to $395.24/month
- Dedicated Server Hosting – Starting at $122.00/month
Their cheapest plan starts at $5.24/month, which includes unlimited bandwidth and disk space, 1 free domain, and a free SSL certificate.
If your website has high traffic, you might consider their dedicated servers starting at $122 per month, which can be configured with up to 3TB of hard drive storage or 1TB of SSD storage and 96GB of RAM. Hostwinds’ dedicated server offerings are quite impressive.
Hostwinds supports a variety of operating systems and server configurations, including CentOS, Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, and Windows, to meet your various website setup needs. They provide 24-hour customer support.
8. GoDaddy – The Largest Hosting Provider in the World
Pros:
- Loading time of 554 milliseconds
- 99.97% uptime
- 100GB website storage
- Supports cPanel and website builders
Cons:
- SSL certificates and email accounts incur additional fees
- No support for website transfers
GoDaddy is one of the leading offshore server hosting providers, supporting 44 million websites. The company has 14 locations worldwide and is recognized as one of the largest domain registrars. They offer web servers suitable for both small and large sites. Similar to SiteGround, they do not own their own servers but rent servers from AWS.
GoDaddy’s average uptime is 99.97%, with a page loading speed of 554 milliseconds, which is quite good. GoDaddy offers a simple drag-and-drop website builder called GoCentral, designed for beginners, making it a great choice for building websites. It also includes tools familiar to developers, such as MySQL, cPanel, CloudLinux, Python, and multiple PHP versions.
Their cheapest hosting plan starts at $5.99/month, providing 100GB of website storage and unlimited bandwidth. It also includes security monitoring and DDoS protection.
Pricing:
- Shared Hosting (Web Hosting) — $5.99/month (Web Hosting Economy), $7.99/month (Web Hosting Deluxe), $12.99/month (Web Hosting Ultimate), $17.99/month (Web Hosting Maximum)
- WordPress Hosting — $10.99/month (Basic), $15.99/month (Deluxe), $17.99/month (Ultimate)
- Business Web Hosting — $24.99/month
- VPS Hosting — $8.99/month (1 vCPU), $17.99/month (2 vCPU), $34.99/month (4 vCPU), $44.99/month (4 vCPU)
However, GoDaddy has many “upsells,” such as the cheapest plan that does not include website backups, SSL certificates, and email accounts. If you need these services, you will need to pay extra.
All of GoDaddy’s plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
9. A2Hosting – Providing Fast and Reliable Offshore Shared Hosting
Pros:
- 99.93% server uptime
- Fast loading speed of 317 milliseconds
- WordPress-optimized servers
- Unlimited bandwidth and website disk space
- 24/7 professional customer support
- Free 20+ email accounts
Cons:
- Prices increase when upgrading plans.
A2Hosting is a US-based web hosting provider founded in 2002, hosting over 500,000 websites. It is one of the fastest shared hosting providers, with an average loading time of an impressive 317 milliseconds.
The speed of A2Hosting is attributed to its servers being optimized for WordPress websites and the use of LiteSpeed caching, significantly enhancing performance.
They have an average uptime of about 99.93%, which is not exceptional but still acceptable.
A2Hosting supports almost all major content management systems, including WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, OpenCart, and Magento, making it suitable for both beginners and web developers. The company offers various hosting plans, all of which include free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates, unlimited SSD storage, and free site migration.
Pricing:
- Shared Hosting (Startup) — $2.99/month, Drive — $5.99/month, Turbo Boost — $6.99/month, TurboMax — $14.99/month
- Managed WordPress Hosting (Run) — $11.99/month, Jump — $18.99/month, Fly — $28.99/month, Sell — $41.99/month
- VPS Hosting (LIFT 4) — $43.99/month, (LIFT 8) — $60.99/month, (LIFT 16) — $74.99/month, (MACH 8) — $65.99/month
The cheapest plan, “Lite,” is priced at $2.99/month, with a renewal price of $7.99/month, supporting 1 website, 25 email accounts, 1 year of free domain registration, free Cloudflare CDN, and unlimited bandwidth/disk space.
A2Hosting has a reliable customer support team available via live chat, phone, email, and posting support. In addition to shared hosting, they offer VPS plans and reseller hosting packages.
All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.
10. Westhost
Pros:
- Average uptime of 99.98%
- Affordable pricing
- Free Cloudflare CDN
- Free backups
Cons:
- No SSL security protocol included
- No cPanel
WestHost is a UK-based web server company.
They have an average uptime of 99.98% and a loading time of 881 ms (which is average). However, due to their low pricing, starting at $3.75/month for a 2-year plan, with a renewal price of $5.00/month, along with free backups and free CDN, they make a good option for overseas web hosting.
Pricing:
- Shared Hosting: Essential – $3.75/month, Personal – $10.75/month, Professional – $14.75/month, Premier – $20.75/month
- WordPress Hosting: Essential – $6.74/month, Personal – $12.74/month, Professional – $15.74/month, Premier – $19.74/month
- VPS Hosting: VPS1GB – $8.00/month, VPS2GB – $16.00/month, VPS4GB – $32.00/month, VPS8GB – $64.00/month
Their uptime is above average, making WestHost a good choice for small online business websites.
However, it does not include SSL installation certificates or free domain names. Additionally, the cheapest plan only provides FTP access, meaning you cannot use a CMS for quick installations like WordPress, which can be difficult for beginners.
Unlike other more popular servers, WestHost only offers standard shared server services. Therefore, if your website grows, you may need to migrate it away from WestHost.
Best International Cloud Hosting Recommendations
Cloud hosting allows your website to be stored across multiple servers, enabling you to pull resources from various locations. This type of hosting is scalable, reliable, and flexible. When one server fails, website files located elsewhere can keep the site running. This makes cloud hosting more reliable than traditional hosting. Additionally, during traffic spikes, cloud hosting distributes the load across cloud servers, ensuring website performance remains unaffected.
| #1 | Hostinger | Best value for money cloud hosting provider |
| #2 | HostGator | One of the cheapest cloud hosting services |
| #3 | Cloudways | Best powerful cloud hosting service for value |
| #4 | Bluehost | Most user-friendly and best cloud hosting provider |
| #5 | Liquid Web | Best managed cloud hosting |
| #6 | AccuWeb Hosting | Best cloud hosting for international sites |
| #7 | HostWinds | Cloud hosting with large RAM offerings |
| #8 | InMotion | Best customer service for cloud hosting |
| #9 | Dreamhost | Best cloud hosting server if you know coding |
| #10 | Nexcess | Best cloud hosting for e-commerce |
Recommended International VPS Hosting Servers
Compared to shared hosting, VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting is a more secure and stable type of hosting. VPS hosting is typically suitable for medium-traffic websites. VPS technology is similar to creating partitions on your own computer. You don’t have to share resources (such as memory, disk space, CPU cores, etc.) with other users; instead, you use dedicated resources within your exclusive partition. With VPS hosting, you have root-level access similar to that of a dedicated server, but at a much lower cost. Additionally, as your website grows, you can easily upgrade server resources (RAM, CPU, disk space, bandwidth, etc.).
| #1 | Bluehost | The most feature-rich VPS hosting service |
| #2 | Hostinger | Best semi-managed VPS hosting |
| #3 | HostGator | One of the most reliable VPS hosting servers |
| #4 | Liquid Web | The fastest VPS hosting service |
| #5 | DreamHost | Ideal for small businesses and personal websites |
| #6 | InMotion | Best VPS hosting for eCommerce websites |
| #7 | GoDaddy | Best self-managed VPS hosting |
| #8 | Media Temple | Best fully managed VPS hosting |
| #9 | InterServer | Best affordable VPS hosting |
Top Recommended WordPress Hosting Servers
WordPress hosting is a type of web hosting optimized for running WordPress websites. With WordPress hosting, you will have access to a variety of tools and services specifically designed for WordPress sites. This typically includes one-click installations, automatic software updates, and dedicated WordPress support personnel.
| #1 | Bluehost | The cheapest and easiest-to-use WordPress hosting provider |
| #2 | SiteGround | The officially recommended hosting server for WordPress |
| #3 | HostGator | The most stable WordPress hosting server |
| #4 | WP Engine | High-quality WordPress hosting for users who need it, high-quality but expensive |
| #5 | DreamHost | The officially recommended WordPress host |
| #6 | GreenGeeks | A green energy virtual hosting provider |
| #7 | iPage | A budget-friendly WordPress hosting provider |
| #8 | InMotion Hosting | A WordPress hosting provider based in the USA |
| #9 | A2Hosting | Suitable for tech-savvy web developers |
| #10 | LiquidWeb | A hosting provider dedicated to WordPress and WooCommerce |
What Factors Should You Consider When Choosing Foreign Server Hosting?
When selecting the right web hosting service, consider the following factors. By taking these key aspects into account, you can find a suitable offshore server hosting solution, saving you the hassle of switching hosting servers repeatedly.
1. Website Uptime
Uptime is one of the most important features of an excellent web host. If your website frequently goes down, you won’t be able to attract good traffic or serve your users effectively, let alone generate revenue.
Most hosting providers guarantee at least 99.9% uptime. Generally, overseas hosting providers are quite reliable and can ensure this uptime, but it doesn’t account for unforeseen circumstances like earthquakes or hurricanes. Therefore, we cannot rely on them 100%. It’s best to regularly back up your website to avoid unexpected issues.
2. Website Loading Speed
The loading speed of your website can significantly impact the user experience. Do you want a higher search ranking? A fast-loading site can boost conversion rates, making it crucial to enhance your website’s speed.
Especially as your website grows in size and attracts more visitors, speed becomes increasingly important. Only high-quality hosting can ensure your website runs smoothly without compromising user experience.
3. Customer Support
Customer support is vital when running a website. Hosting providers must guarantee 24/7 chat support, ensuring assistance is available whenever issues arise. Over time, you’ll realize that various problems can occur during operation, such as a plugin causing site crashes or accidentally breaking the site while modifying code. Additionally, accumulated junk in the database can slow down the site or even lead to downtime, making timely support essential. Remember, time is money.
4. Consider Your Website’s Traffic Volume
If you’re just creating a company profile page with a few hundred visits per month, it may not matter which hosting provider you choose. However, if your traffic is growing rapidly or expected to be substantial, several factors must be considered: Is the PHP version on your server regularly updated? Does your host provide CDN services? Is your site backed up daily, and can you restore it within 15 minutes in case of issues? Does the hosting provider offer SSL certificates? Can the server handle sudden spikes in traffic?
If you plan to build a large website, you’ll need a server provider that can easily scale to higher tiers and offer more resources. For millions of monthly visits, you must find a top-quality hosting provider, even if it comes at a high cost. When aiming for growth, don’t skimp on quality.
5. Price
While you may want to avoid overspending on hosting, you shouldn’t choose a hosting provider solely based on price.
Most basic web hosting packages range from $5 to $20 per month. There are cheaper options, but these often only offer promotional pricing for the first purchase, reverting to the standard rate after the promotional period ends. Consider the price after the promotional period when making your decision.
6. Migration Features
Having the ability to easily and quickly migrate your website is a valuable service.
Even basic WordPress site migrations can be complex. First, you must install a new WordPress instance on the new host. Then, you need to export the content database from the old site and import it into the new one. You also need to reconfigure all aspects of WordPress, including themes, plugins, and settings.
Some hosting providers offer one-click site migration. Some provide this service for free, while others charge a fee, making the migration process smooth and straightforward.
Additional Considerations When Choosing Offshore Servers
1. Website Migration Isn’t Always Free
If you choose an offshore hosting provider and find it unsatisfactory, what can you do? You can migrate your website to another hosting provider.
Migrating your website involves transferring files and databases to the new server, configuring your site on the new host, and directing your domain’s DNS to the new server. Once you select a new hosting provider, they typically can assist you with the migration process. The cost can range from $150 to $400, depending on the hosting service you choose.
However, some hosting services, such as HostGator and GreenGeeks, offer free migration services. If you’re looking for migration assistance without incurring significant costs, consider these two options.
For paid migrations, it’s advisable to migrate multiple sites at once. For instance, migrating five websites and twenty email accounts to Bluehost costs $149.99. The migration process typically takes a few days.
With A2 Hosting, the migration may take between 2 to 4 days.
2. Server Renewal Fees Often Increase
When updating your package, most hosting providers raise their prices by one to three times. For example, if the initial basic package costs $2.99/month, the renewal fee is likely to be around $7 to $10/month.
- For instance, GoDaddy increases its basic package renewal price to $8.99/month.
- Additionally, A2Hosting requires users to submit a written cancellation request 15 days before renewal starts. If you forget to request cancellation, your renewal will automatically begin at a doubled price.
- However, some hosting providers do not increase renewal prices. For example, if you purchase a three-year package from DreamHost, you can renew at the same price.
Moreover, while most web hosting providers offer a “free domain,” this typically applies only for the first year. After that, the annual renewal fee for the domain ranges from $10 to $20.
3. Bandwidth, Storage, and Email Account Limits
There are also limitations when it comes to bandwidth and storage. For example:
- GoDaddy‘s cheapest plan offers unlimited bandwidth and 100 GB of storage, which is sufficient for a single website.
- Hostinger provides 100 GB of bandwidth and 10 GB of storage, while iPage offers scalable bandwidth and unlimited MySQL databases.
- Users interested in unlimited bandwidth and disk storage should check out Bluehost, HostGator, SiteGround, and GreenGeeks.
Website owners who prioritize free SSL security certificates should consider using Bluehost, DreamHost, HostGator, or SiteGround. They include free SSL certificates in all their plans, while some providers, like GoDaddy, charge high fees for SSL certificates.
Regarding email accounts, each hosting package has different offerings.
- For instance, all hosting accounts from SiteGround, HostGator, A2Hosting, and Hostinger include one free email account.
- GoDaddy provides a free business email for the first year.
- GreenGeeks allows the creation of unlimited email accounts.
4. Consider Upgrading Your Hosting Plan After Traffic Growth
Overseas server providers offer various types of hosting plans. If you are just starting out or have a low-traffic website, a shared hosting plan should suffice. However, as your website grows, you may need to transfer to a different provider or upgrade to a higher-tier plan with your current hosting provider. Below are the common types of hosting plans to consider:
Shared Hosting – Ideal for new websites and blogs. All websites are stored on a single physical server, sharing resources like storage, bandwidth, RAM, and processing power. If your website has low traffic, shared hosting is a suitable option.
VPS Hosting – VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. While similar to shared hosting, where multiple websites are stored on the same server, VPS offers more customization options and greater control for users. With VPS, you can scale resources as needed.
Cloud Hosting – This type of hosting allows multiple servers to work together for your website, providing resources from several servers. This ensures website security and improved loading speed. Check out the best cloud hosting recommendations.
WordPress Hosting – Best suited for high-traffic WordPress sites. WordPress hosting not only includes standard hosting services but also optimizes performance specifically for WordPress websites. It is recommended to use professional WordPress VPS hosting for your site.
Dedicated Hosting – Ideal for large enterprise websites. It provides the entire server resources to the website, allowing it to handle high traffic. Users can make specific requests to server providers for CPU, RAM, disk space, and software based on their needs.
Summary
These are our recommendations for overseas server hosting. In addition to considering server prices, stability and customer service response speed are also crucial factors. Overall, Bluehost is the best and easiest overseas server, offering various types of packages suitable for almost any website.
