After the massive SiteGround price increase, I decided it was time to switch web hosts even though I loved the features. I’d been using SiteGround’s GoGeek hosting plan for seven years, so this wasn’t an easy decision. After doing a lot of research, I finally settled on NameHero hosting. At first, it seems unbelievable that NameHero offers so many features for free.
NameHero coupon for 85%
NameHero has many of the same features, an innovative architecture involving a LiteSpeed web server, MariaDB/MySQL databases, and very personalized customer service. When you find that there is no more SiteGround renewal discount, NameHero is what you should go for.
Here’s a more thorough NameHero vs SiteGround comparison.
Table of Contents
Why Do We Need a SiteGround Alternative?
First-time buyers are lured in by SiteGround’s heavy discounts. But after the first billing cycle, you pay the full price, inducing sticker shock. SiteGround is expensive, and I call it the “Apple” of web hosting because they’re open about the value of the service and its price. But this leaves an opening for other web hosts like NameHero.
Why Is NameHero the Best SiteGround Alternative?
There are several features of NameHero that make it the best alternative to SiteGround:
NameHero Isn’t Overpriced
NameHero is 50% cheaper than SiteGround. SiteGround also doesn’t have any special coupons – what you see on the web page is the price you pay. On the other hand, there is a NameHero coupon for every season, along with special sales along the way.
NameHero also periodically has a “Funds Matching” scheme, where it matches a percentage of the money you deposit towards renewals. During Black Friday, it matches 100% of your funds. That’s equivalent to a 50% renewal discount! SiteGround has nothing like this. So if you’re looking for a cure to SiteGround’s overpriced service, look no further than NameHero.
Server Caching for Free, Like SiteGround
SiteGround has a feature called SuperCacher, which creates static copies of dynamic pages. This is called server-side caching, and it’s superior to plugin-based caching because it’s faster and doesn’t use your account’s resources on shared hosting.
NameHero also offers free server caching using the LiteSpeed webserver on even their cheapest plans. Until recently, SiteGround supported SuperCacher functionality only for the GrowBig and GoGeek plans. The StartUp plan had minimal access where it only cached static files like JS and CSS. But that’s changed with the recent price increase.
But NameHero’s LiteSpeed caching also includes Edge Side Includes (ESI). This lets you cache even highly personalized pages by excluding certain page sections from caching. Here’s a screenshot of NameHero’s caching screen powered by the LiteSpeed plugin:
SiteGround has nothing to match this. So this is why NameHero is the best alternative to SiteGround – it provides a valuable feature to all its plans at a lower price!
Integration with QUIC.cloud
Since NameHero uses the LiteSpeed architecture, you get free EDGE caching with QUIC.cloud, so even your dynamic web pages are stored on servers close to your customers, no matter where they live. Caching dynamic content on the edge is the future of CDN hosting. The location of your backend servers becomes less critical, and SiteGround has no similar feature.
NameHero Has cPanel, Unlike SiteGround
SiteGround’s new interface isn’t bad, and it’s just different from what we’re used to. But for many customers who have grown up on cPanel, it’ll be easier to continue performing the same tasks on cPanel, as opposed to learning a new workflow. You can check out my first impressions of the new SiteGround interface here.
SiteGround probably replaced cPanel because of the latter’s new licensing restrictions. And I would respect that decision if they hadn’t also raised prices. But the increased costs and the loss of cPanel are a little too much. NameHero, on the other hand, retains cPanel, which makes it an excellent replacement for SiteGround.
Backups Similar to SiteGround
NameHero has excellent backup functionality with JetBackup, similar to SiteGround. It takes both daily and weekly backups, and you can restore these automatically from cPanel.
Most web hosts take automatic backups of their client’s accounts, but you need to contact customer service to restore them. Some of them even charge you a fee for restoration.
NameHero also allows you to take a snapshot of your account that stays for 7-days. It’s completely automated, free, and most web hosts don’t have it.
But SiteGround’s backup system is comprehensive, especially on the GrowBig and GoGeek plans. So while NameHero is a good alternative, it’s not quite as good as SiteGround, which saves your automatic backups for 30-days. On the other hand, SiteGround doesn’t allow on-demand backups on the StartUp plan.
Free Malware Protection – Unlike SiteGround
NameHero provides malware protection for free via the Imunify360 plugin within cPanel, as shown here:
SiteGround also provides malware protection, but for a fee. Its SG Site Scanner feature costs around $20 a year. So having the same thing offered by NameHero is a great bonus and cements NameHero as a better alternative to SiteGround when it comes to security.
NameHero Provides a Free Domain, SiteGround Doesn’t
In addition to being cheaper than SiteGround, NameHero also provides a free domain name for all plans purchased for more than a year. SiteGround is one of the few providers that doesn’t do this, and the domain name represents an additional cost.
NameHero has NVMe Drives
NameHero has NVMe web hosting that’s much faster than ordinary SSDs. It’s a protocol for connecting SSD drives using identical subsystems as graphics cards. NVMe drives are more expensive, and not many web hosts take the trouble to install them. NameHero gives you NVMe hosting on its “Turbo” and “Business” cloud plans. To my knowledge, SiteGround hasn’t made any announcement about whether or not they use NVMe drives. That may change in the future, but till then, NameHero is a better alternative to SiteGround in this department.
Amazing Customer Service
One area where NameHero rivals SiteGround is its fantastic customer service. It’s a small company, so it feels like a tiny community, with the CEO, Ryan Gray, constantly chipping in at blogs and Youtube videos. The customer service is very personalized and as good as SiteGround’s (which is very good).
Why Other SiteGround Alternatives Fail
Other web hosts have great features. But they all fail for one reason or the other.
1. KnownHost
KnownHost comes very close to being a suitable replacement for SiteGround, but the backup system is lacking. They save backups only for two days, and backup restoration isn’t as fast. Otherwise, it uses LiteSpeed, which has the same caching benefits as NameHero. It has free malware scanning and removal, which elevates it above SiteGround. Check out the KnownHost coupon code page for all their deals.
You can read more about the difference between the two on my KnownHost vs SiteGround page.
2. A2 Hosting
Like SiteGround, A2 Hosting also has server caching and LiteSpeed. But they typically restrict these features to higher-tier plans, and the same goes for backups. A2 Hosting would be an excellent contender, but I can’t recommend it because of the restrictions.
3. HostArmada
Again, HostArmada has dynamic caching only on the “Speed Reaper” plan, which means that customers on the starter plans are deprived of server-side caching. HostArmada uses the NGINX web server for its lower-tier plans, so they should have implemented dynamic caching, but I think the configuration problems were too complicated. You can check out my complete HostArmada review for more details.
HostArmada is also good because it has a sophisticated backup system on all its shared hosting plans.
4. GreenGeeks Skimps on Backups
GreenGeeks is a pretty good alternative to SiteGround. However, their backup policies aren’t as comprehensive as SiteGround or NameHero. They restrict backups on demand to the “Pro” plan or higher, and they don’t mention off-site backups either. So while they use LiteSpeed on all their servers, they fall short in other aspects.
Bottom Line
I think NameHero is the web host that provides the best alternative to SiteGround. In-built server caching for free with all plans, a comprehensive backup system, and fantastic customer service, all at a lower price, make it a perfect choice.
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