Here is the latest SiteGround price increase data from June 2020:
| SiteGround Plan | Old Price | Old Renewal Price | New Price | New Renewal Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| StartUp | $3.95 | $11.95 | $2.99 | $14.99 |
| GrowBig | $5.95 | $19.95 | $4.99 | $24.99 |
| GoGeek | $11.95 | $34.95 | $7.99 | $39.99 |
I had already stopped recommending SiteGround because of their cPanel licensing changes in 2019 – even though they were one of the few hosts that could afford to keep them. But this latest price increase is the last straw. Here’s a screenshot from their pricing page:
They’ve almost doubled their initial prices and hugely spiked up their renewals as well!
Time to Switch to KnownHost -the Alternative
When I discovered KnownHost, I immediately recognized them as one of the leading alternatives to SiteGround. And since I first wrote about them, they’ve gotten even better.
Why KnownHost is Better than SiteGround
- Offsite backups (compared to SiteGround’s onsite ones)
- LiteSpeed web server (What is LiteSpeed?)
- Server caching for ALL plans (not just advanced ones)
- Free malware scanning
Here’s the best KnownHost promo code, along with a complete review of all their features. Click here for a 61% discount:
And all this was before SiteGround’s price increases. Even then, KnownHost was cheaper. With this latest price update however, it’s become a no-brainer. KnownHost is the superior host in almost every way.
SiteGround is Premium – But this is Too Much!
I’ve often compared SiteGround to Apple. They have higher prices and have a much more restrictive lineup compared to their competitors. So I didn’t really grudge them pricey margins. After all, they use low density servers, and offer caching solutions that not many others do.
But there’s a limit to how high they can raise their prices. They were already pushing the boundaries of what was acceptable, and it only got worse when they introduced their new interface and ditched cPanel.
But these massive increases are just too much. There’s no way anyone can be okay with this. As of now, I’m updating all my previous SiteGround articles to reflect this latest change, and to suggest KnownHost as the best alternative.
SiteGround Analysis – The Fall of a Giant
This latest development is so sad because SiteGround was once a darling of the web hosting world. It appeared that they could do nothing wrong, and many customers happily paid the higher prices – even though they often complained about the renewal costs. The customer service was excellent, and they were grabbing an increasingly large share of the market.
Unfortunately, all that has now changed. To be honest, I’m not sure what caused it. It couldn’t have been a lack of finances, since they already had some of the most premium offerings in the shared hosting market. They didn’t offer a free domain name, their cloud offerings were far more expensive than anything else on the market, and also doubled up as a VPS. So it’s not as if their margins were under pressure.
So what caused this? It’s not even as if cPanel’s licensing changes affected them, since they just went ahead and implemented their own interface! It’s hard to see SiteGround’s price increase as anything more than a naked power grab. True, they’re moving to Google’s Cloud network, but that shouldn’t increase their costs – if anything, their costs should come down!
Bottom Line
Whatever the reason, this price increase from SiteGround is sure to drive away hordes of customers. They’ve not only lowered their value by ditching cPanel, but also hammered in the nail by hiking their offerings by 50%. It’s not even a subtle change! And it makes me sad to view the fall of a superb web hosting company in real time.
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