Not all website owners want a long-term web hosting commitment, tied into a contract that’s going to cost them a lot of money upfront. While it’s common for web hosting companies to advertise their cheapest prices for 24-month or 36-month terms, we understand that kind of commitment isn’t for everyone.
Much shorter-term web hosting plans tend to cost a lot more. We don’t think that’s fair, so we’ve scoured the web hosting market to find you the cheapest and best month-to-month hosting packages in 2023.
We’ve broken this down into categories so you can find the right month-to-month web hosting plan for your requirements. Whether you’re looking for month-to-month shared hosting, WordPress hosting, or VPS hosting, we’ve got you covered.
If you’re still confused about what monthly web hosting is, Dreamhost have summarized it in one simple sentance below!
Monthly Web Hosting is web hosting that is paid on a monthly basis with no long term commitment.
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Best Month-to-Month Shared Hosting
We’ve put together our recommended web hosts for the best month-to-month hosting plans for shared hosting. While many people think that “cheap hosting” doesn’t reflect good quality, we’re here to banish those demons and show you just how could cheap shared hosting really can be.
All of the shared hosting companies recommended by us are reputable and well-known in the hosting industry.
1. Namecheap ($2.88/mo)
Namecheap is a well-known domain registrar, but many people aren't aware of their cheap shared month-to-month hosting. From just $2.88 per month, you can host 3 websites, use up to 20GB SSD storage, and claim a free CDN. You'll also get unlimited bandwidth, a free website builder, a domain name with privacy protection, and a free SSL certificate.
When you first land on Namecheap’s shared hosting plan, the default pricing option will be set at 2-yearly. However, it’s easy to change this using the buttons above the pricing plans. Simply set the option to “monthly” and you’ll see the pricing change to $2.88 per month for their Stellar plan.
When you’re ready to get your new monthly hosting plan set up, select “get started” to choose your domain name. Remember, with all of Namecheap’s shared hosting plans you get a free domain name, so you can register the details on the next page.
The hosting plan will automatically change to the month-to-month option and display the correct price of $2.88 per month in your basket. When you’re happy with the details, click “add to cart” to complete your purchase.
2. Dreamhost ($4.95/mo)
Dreamhost is one of the recommended web hosting companies from WordPress. They are well-known for their shared hosting and WordPress hosting plans, optimized for WordPress websites. You can choose between a 3-year plan, 1-year plan, or monthly plan which starts at $4.95 per month. You'll get hosting for 1 website, unlimited traffic, WordPress pre-installed, and 50GB SSD storage.
Dreamhost is one of the few shared hosting providers that don’t charge an extortionate amount of money to switch between a 3-year or 1-month hosting plan. You can easily switch your commitment options via their pricing page by selecting the monthly option.
When you get to the checkout page, you’ll be asked to choose a domain, register a new domain, or input your existing domain name details. Unfortunately, Dreamhost doesn’t offer a free domain with their monthly hosting plans, so if you want to claim a free domain, you’ll need to change your plan to a yearly plan.
You can clearly see which plan you’ve selected in the right-hand corner of the “pick a plan” screen. Make sure you’re happy with your monthly selection at $4.95 per month, then you can proceed to checkout.
3. HostGator ($10.95/mo)
HostGator offers a great balance between price, performance, and quality. Their shared hosting plans come in all shapes and sizes, offering plenty of free features like unlimited bandwidth, a free domain, free SSL certificate, and more. While their introductory price is based on a 36-month term, they do offer month-to-month hosting starting from $10.95 per month on their Hatchling plan.
Signing up to HostGator’s monthly shared hosting is really simple. Once you’ve decided on your shared hosting plan (Hatchling, Baby, or Business), you simply have to click “buy now”. One of the main differences between HostGator’s Hatchling and Baby plans is the number of websites you can host. With the Hatchling plan, you can only host one website, whereas you can host unlimited websites on the Baby plan.
When you click “buy now” you’ll be taken to HostGator’s checkout page. Here you can choose to register a new free domain or input the details of an existing domain. In section 2, there’s the option to change your package type as well as determine your billing cycle. This is by default set to 36 months @ $2.75 per month.
To choose HostGator’s month-to-month plan, you’ll need to select the “billing cycle” drop-down and select 1 month @ $10.95 per month. With HostGator’s 1-month hosting plan, you’re not tied into any contracts, allowing you to continue hosting with HostGator on a monthly basis, signing up to a longer-term commitment, or moving to another host.
Best Month-to-Month WordPress Hosting
There’s a clear difference between web hosting vs WordPress hosting, so if you know you’re in the market for WordPress hosting, we’ve got you covered.
Here are our recommendations for the best 1-month WordPress hosting plans, ensuring you aren’t tied into any long-term hosting contracts for your WordPress website.
4. Hostinger ($7.99/mo)
Hostinger is a popular web hosting company that is known for its rock-bottom low prices. While their shared hosting plans start at $0.99 per month, this is for a whopping 48-month commitment, which many people aren't happy with upfront. Thankfully, Hostinger also offers monthly hosting plans, which start at $7.99 per month for their Single WordPress hosting plan.
Hostinger’s Single WordPress hosting plan is great for beginners who aren’t necessarily sure what kind of plan they’ll need for their website. You’ll get hosting for one website, 30GB SSD storage, 1 email account, a free SSL certificate, managed WordPress, WordPress acceleration, and a choice of multiple data centers.
5. WP Engine ($30/mo)
WP Engine is a managed hosting provider known for its high-end servers and website performance. WP Engine is recommended for small to large businesses that require professional WordPress services and features. You'll get full support from WP Engine and the option to pay monthly from $30 per month.
WP Engine’s cheapest month-to-month WordPress hosting plan is $30 per month. You’ll get hosting for one website, 10GB storage, and 50GB bandwidth. One of WP Engine’s main selling points is that your WordPress website and server are managed by a professional, ensuring your website receives regular updates, security checks, and daily backups.
Best Month-to-Month Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is often more expensive than shared or WordPress hosting. It’s a scalable solution that allows website owners to be more flexible when it comes to their hosting resources. Some cloud hosting is charged by the hour, so there’s more choice in month-to-month cloud hosting pricing.
6. SiteGround ($100/mo)
SiteGround is one of the highest-performing web hosting companies worldwide. Their prices are much higher than other web hosts, but in a lot of cases, you get what you pay for. In our SiteGround testing, SiteGround has always shown reliability with 100% uptime, and fast speeds in server response time and website loading time.
SiteGround’s cloud hosting plans start from $100 per month and offer 4 CPU cores, 8GB RAM, 40GB SSD storage, and 5TB data transfer. Their cloud hosting is a fully managed service, so you’ll have a professional on-hand to deal with any aspects of your website’s maintenance. You can add resources at any time with the click of a button, making SiteGround’s cloud hosting extremely scalable.
7. Cloudways ($10/mo)
Cloudways is a managed cloud hosting provider that allows you to choose a cloud hosting plan that suits your budget and requirements. There's also the option to chose which data centers you want your hosting with, such as, DigitalOcean, Linode, AWS, and so on. All of their cloud hosting plans have the option to be paid hourly or month-to-month.
Cloudways month-to-month cloud hosting starts from $10 per month and offers 1GB RAM, 1 CPU core, 25GB storage, and 1TB bandwidth. While it’s much more affordable than SiteGround, you don’t get as many resources. However, you do have the option of choosing your data center, as well as a wealth of features like a free staging environment, free SSL certificate, and free migration.
Best Month-to-Month Hosting Conclusion
Now that you know the different pricing options for the best month-to-month hosting for shared hosting, WordPress hosting, and cloud hosting, it’s time to decide whether it’s right for you.
If you’re new to hosting, you might prefer a month-to-month plan as you’re not tied into any contracts or long-term commitments. Perhaps you only need web hosting for a short time if you’re working on a client’s website short-term.
Here’s a quick overview of the best month-to-month web hosting plans and their prices:
- Namecheap ($2.88/mo)
- Dreamhost ($4.95/mo)
- HostGator ($10.95/mo)
- Hostinger ($7.99/mo)
- WP Engine ($30/mo)
- SiteGround ($100/mo)
- Cloudways ($10/mo)