Best for: Cost-sensitive site owners who still want modern managed features.
Avoid if: You want phone support and a support team that routes complex tickets in minutes.
Biggest tradeoff: Hostinger saves you money; SiteGround gives you a more premium support and agency workflow layer.
Scope first, so you know what this comparison is and is not. I reviewed public plan specs and pricing pages from both providers on February 17, 2026 (US market, promo pricing shown at checkout). This is a hosting buyer comparison, not a vendor-sponsored benchmark. Performance conclusions are based on published platform specs, included tooling, and operational limits, not a fresh identical lab test run by me this week.
Head-to-Head: hostinger vs siteground
| Decision factor | Hostinger | SiteGround | What It Means in Practice |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry promo price | Premium: $1.99/mo (48-month term) | StartUp: $2.99/mo (12-month term) | Hostinger has the lower door price, but term length is much longer. |
| Renewal price signal | Premium renews at $10.99/mo | StartUp renews at $17.99/mo | Both jump at renewal; SiteGround jumps harder on entry plans. |
| Mid-tier value | Business + AI: $2.99/mo, renews $16.99/mo | GrowBig: $4.99/mo, renews $29.99/mo | For multi-site owners, Hostinger usually keeps yearly cost lower. |
| Site allowance | Up to 3 sites (Premium), 50 sites (Business + AI) | 1 site (StartUp), unlimited on higher tiers | SiteGround StartUp is restrictive; Hostinger gives more room earlier. |
| Storage | 20 GB SSD (Premium), 50 GB NVMe (Business + AI) | 10 GB (StartUp), 20 GB (GrowBig), 40 GB (GoGeek) | Hostinger gives more storage per dollar at equivalent spend. |
| Traffic guidance | No strict visit cap shown on these plans | ~10k / ~100k / ~400k suggested visits by tier | SiteGround’s visit guidance is clearer for capacity planning. |
| Backups | Weekly on lower tier, daily + on-demand higher | Daily backups across shared tiers, on-demand on higher | SiteGround backup policy is cleaner; Hostinger tiers matter more. |
| Support channels | 24/7 chat; typically under 2 minutes; no phone support | 24/7 chat, phone, tickets; tickets first reply ~15 min avg | If you want to call someone, SiteGround is the obvious choice. |
| Dev workflow tools | Staging and stronger tooling on higher tiers | Staging on GrowBig+, Git on GoGeek | Both support developers, SiteGround’s tooling structure is more explicit. |
| Upscale path | Cloud Startup: 2 CPU, 4 GB RAM, 100 PHP workers | Cloud starts at $100/mo with dedicated resources/autoscaling | Hostinger scales cheaper early; SiteGround cloud is more premium from day one. |
The short read: Hostinger is usually the better buy for most small businesses, bloggers, and first projects. SiteGround is better when support access quality and managed workflow depth are worth paying for.
One warning before you buy either host: low intro pricing is the appetizer, renewal is the bill.
Pricing Breakdown
The big pricing story in 2026 is not who has the cheapest first month. It is who hurts less after year one.
At the starter tier, Hostinger Premium is listed at $1.99/mo on a 48-month commitment and renews at $10.99/mo. SiteGround StartUp is $2.99/mo on a 12-month term and renews at $17.99/mo. For someone launching one brochure site, both are affordable up front, but the renewal gap is meaningful if you stay beyond the promo period.
At the growth tier, Hostinger Business + AI is $2.99/mo and renews at $16.99/mo, while SiteGround GrowBig is $4.99/mo and renews at $29.99/mo. This is where many real businesses land, and the annual delta can fund other essentials like email tooling, backups, or a CDN upgrade.
At the higher shared tier, Hostinger Cloud Startup is $6.99/mo and renews at $25.99/mo; SiteGround GoGeek is $7.99/mo and renews at $44.99/mo. SiteGround gives a strong managed stack, but the long-term price is substantially higher.
Hard implication: if you keep hosting for 2-3 years, renewal pricing dominates total cost. Intro discounts matter less than people think.
Pricing sources (checked February 17, 2026):
- Hostinger WordPress hosting page: https://www.hostinger.com/wordpress-hosting
- Hostinger cloud hosting page: https://www.hostinger.com/cloud-hosting
- SiteGround feature/pricing pages: https://www.siteground.com/features/Family-hosting.htm
- SiteGround current shared rates KB: https://www.siteground.com/kb/current-rates-shared-hosting-plans/
Where Each Tool Pulls Ahead
Performance
- SiteGround publishes clearer capacity signals on shared hosting: ~10,000, ~100,000, and ~400,000 monthly visits by tier.
- Hostinger gives stronger resource language on cloud entry: 2 CPU, 4 GB RAM, 100 PHP workers on Cloud Startup.
- Practical consequence: SiteGround makes planning easier for traffic-based decisions; Hostinger makes planning easier for resource-based decisions.
Support
- SiteGround claims phone/chat/ticket coverage 24/7, ~15-minute average first ticket reply, and 90%+ first-contact resolution on chat.
- Hostinger highlights 24/7 support with typical replies under 2 minutes and confirms no phone support.
- Practical consequence: Hostinger is fast for chat-first operators; SiteGround is safer for teams that escalate complex issues and want phone as an option.
Control panel and dev tools
- Hostinger’s hPanel is beginner-friendly and fast to learn; staging and stronger WP workflows are concentrated in higher tiers.
- SiteGround Site Tools is cleaner for technical teams that want staging on GrowBig and Git on GoGeek without hunting around.
- Practical consequence: first-time users usually move faster on Hostinger, while agencies and dev-heavy teams often prefer SiteGround’s workflow fit.
Scalability
- Hostinger moves from low-cost shared to lower-cost cloud plans earlier, with a gentler price slope.
- SiteGround’s cloud platform starts at $100/mo, but includes a stronger premium posture like autoscaling and dedicated resources from the outset.
- Practical consequence: Hostinger is easier for budget-led growth. SiteGround is a better fit once uptime sensitivity and team velocity become more expensive than hosting fees.
If your project is still proving product-market fit, paying for premium cloud headroom too early is a very expensive hobby.
The Verdict
Winner for most users in 2026: Hostinger.
Why: better long-term affordability, strong core feature set, and fewer budget shocks at renewal. For bloggers, creators, small business sites, and early WooCommerce projects, Hostinger is the easier default recommendation.
SiteGround still wins specific cases. If your team values phone support, tighter support escalation, clearer shared-tier traffic guidance, and polished agency workflows, SiteGround can justify the premium.
Ranked picks by user type
- First-time site owner or blogger: Hostinger Premium or Business + AI
- Freelancer managing several client sites on a budget: Hostinger Business + AI
- Agency needing reliable support escalation and collaboration tools: SiteGround GrowBig or GoGeek
- Established business where downtime risk costs real revenue: SiteGround (or move directly to cloud-tier infrastructure)
Switch trigger: Move from Hostinger to SiteGround when support depth and workflow speed become a bigger bottleneck than hosting cost; move from SiteGround to Hostinger when renewal pricing is outpacing the value you actually use.