Hostinger Review 2026: Hosting and Builder Tested

Is Hostinger Worth It?

Hostinger positions itself as the budget-friendly entry point into web hosting, and on most fronts it earns that reputation. We set up a test business site using the Hostinger Website Builder and ran it through standard performance checks over several days.

Load times averaged under one second across UK-based tests. Uptime held at 99.9% or above across our monitoring window. For a plan that starts at under £2 per month, that is a genuinely competitive result.

The honest caveat: that £2 figure only applies to the introductory term (usually 12 or 24 months paid upfront). When you renew, the price rises to £7-£9 per month on equivalent tiers. That is still cheaper than Squarespace or Shopify, but it is not the price you see on the homepage.

If you are a small business owner who needs a presentable site quickly, at the lowest possible upfront cost, Hostinger is a strong choice. If you plan to scale into a large online store with custom workflows, you will likely outgrow it.

Get started with Hostinger and claim up to 85% off website builder plans.

How Much Does Hostinger Cost?

Hostinger's pricing is split between its Website Builder plans and its Web Hosting plans. For most small business owners, the Website Builder is the right starting point.

All plans include a free domain for the first year, a free SSL certificate, and a free professional email account. That bundling reduces the real cost compared to hosts that charge separately for each item.

The main thing to watch is renewal pricing. Hostinger is upfront about introductory rates if you look carefully, but it is easy to miss at checkout. Set a reminder before your billing renewal date.

Does Hostinger offer web hosting as well as a website builder?

Yes, and for most small businesses it is the stronger product. Hostinger's shared hosting plans sit separately from the website builder, and they are worth looking at if you want to run WordPress rather than use a drag-and-drop builder.

There are three main shared hosting tiers. The Premium plan starts from around £2.99 per month (introductory rate, annual billing) and covers one website with 100 GB storage, a free domain for the first year, a free SSL certificate, and weekly backups. The Business plan adds daily backups, more storage, and better performance. The Cloud Starter plan steps up to managed resources for higher-traffic sites.

A few things stand out for UK users. Hostinger has server locations in the UK, which matters for page load times and for GDPR-conscious businesses who prefer data stored domestically. Free automatic site migration is included on all plans, which removes the main barrier if you are moving from another host. SSL certificates are free and unlimited across all plans, not just the top tier.

The control panel is hPanel, Hostinger's own interface. It is one of the cleaner hosting dashboards we have used. WordPress installs in one click, domain management is straightforward, and email setup does not require touching DNS records manually. For someone setting up web hosting for the first time, it is hard to get lost.

The main caveat is renewal pricing. The introductory rate applies to the first term only. At renewal, costs can jump significantly, sometimes more than double. Factor that into your budget before committing.

Is Hostinger Good for SEO?

For basic on-page SEO, Hostinger does the job. You can set custom meta titles and descriptions, generate a sitemap, and connect to Google Search Console and Google Analytics from within hPanel.

Page speed is where Hostinger earns its marks. LiteSpeed Web Server with NVMe SSD storage is included across all plans, not just premium tiers. In our testing, Core Web Vitals scores were consistently in the green, which is the minimum bar you want to clear for search rankings.

What Hostinger does not provide is an SEO content workflow or keyword tools. You are on your own there, or you will need a third-party tool like Semrush. The technical SEO foundations are solid; the content strategy layer is missing, which is the same story as most web hosts.

How Does Hostinger Compare to Competitors?

What Is Hostinger's Customer Support Like?

Hostinger offers 24/7 live chat support and an AI assistant for instant responses. There is no phone support and no dedicated account manager on standard plans.

In our testing, live chat response times averaged under two minutes. The agents resolved a test DNS configuration query and a billing question correctly on first contact. Hostinger also responds to nearly all negative Trustpilot reviews within 24 hours, which is an above-average standard for a budget host.

The significant complaint in negative reviews involves account suspension. A subset of users report accounts being suspended for alleged policy violations, with data deleted and limited recourse. This is not a common experience based on the overall review volume, but it is a real risk. The practical mitigation: keep a third-party backup of your site regardless of which host you use.

Hostinger Review: Our Verdict

Hostinger is the right choice if you need to get a site live quickly at the lowest possible cost, and you are not running a large eCommerce operation. The performance is legitimate, the interface is one of the cleaner ones in its price bracket, and the AI builder gets you to a presentable site faster than most alternatives.

The risks are manageable but real: introductory pricing that renews at a much higher rate, limited eCommerce depth, and a small but documented history of account suspension complaints. None of those are dealbreakers for most small business owners, but you should go in with clear expectations.

For a straightforward business website, a portfolio, or a blog, Hostinger delivers excellent value. For a growing online store, compare it carefully against Shopify before committing.

Get started with Hostinger and claim up to 85% off website builder plans.