Disclosure: WebFin is reader-supported. If you buy hosting through links on this page, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Commissions vary between providers and our ratings do not — here’s our full disclosure.
SiteGround measures well and prices awkwardly. Its shared plan finished the benchmark load test at 170 ms with no errors. It scores 8.4 of 10 on that project’s WordPress benchmark, and recorded 99.96% uptime across 2025. Then the renewal arrives, and it depends on the term you signed: $14.99, $17.99 or $24.99 for the same StartUp plan. Two of those choices produce three-year totals of $251.64 and $467.64, a difference of more than two hundred dollars for identical hosting.
Is SiteGround Right for WordPress? The Short Answer
Yes on the measurements, if you buy the 24-month term and diarize the renewal. It is a genuine WordPress host: clean load result, strong benchmark score, phone support and daily backups. The catch is the price after the promotion. It steps by 6.0× over 12 months, and it varies by term in a way no other host in our tables matches.
What Is Measured, and It Is Good
Load test. 170 ms with a 0% error rate over the October 2025 to May 2026 window. That is the figure that covers carts, logins and search, the pages no cache serves.
WordPress benchmark. 8.4 of 10 in the same project, which is upper-tier among shared hosts we price.
Uptime. 99.96% across the full year 2025, recorded as 193 minutes of downtime across 44 outages. Read both numbers: the total is small and the count is high. Our guide to reading an uptime report explains why.
Response time. 632 ms globally, 22nd of 34 hosts, which is the weakest figure in its set and the reason a content network matters here.
| Host | Measurement | Source and date |
|---|---|---|
| WP Engine | Global TTFB 65 ms, 1st of 34 hosts | Hostingstep, 2025 ranking, 40 locations |
| WP Engine | US TTFB 365 ms across 22 locations | Hostingstep, 2025 ranking |
| WP Engine | TTFB 355 ms, 349,920 checks | Hostingstep, Oct 2025 – May 2026 |
| WP Engine | Uptime 99.976%, 10th of 14 managed hosts | Study of 14 managed hosts, 2026 |
| WP Engine | Load 27 ms at 0% errors | Hostingstep, 2026 benchmarks |
| Rocket.net | Cached TTFB 85 ms globally | 12-month test, Mar 2025 – Mar 2026 |
| Rocket.net | Origin TTFB 310 ms; checkout bypasses cache | Same 12-month test |
| Rocket.net | Uptime 99.97%, seven outages in the window | Hostingstep, Oct 2025 – May 2026 |
| Rocket.net | Hardware score fell 8.5 → 7.5; not recommended | Hostingstep, 2026, tracked since Oct 2020 |
| Hostinger Business | Global TTFB 223 ms, 5th of 34 hosts | Hostingstep, 2026 |
| Hostinger Premium | Global TTFB 495 ms, 28th of 34; no CDN | Hostingstep, 2026 |
| Hostinger | TTFB 707 ms; server response 246 ms | Cybernews, June 2026 |
| Hostinger | Uptime 99.99%, 33 min down in 2025 | Hostingstep, continuous since 2021 |
| Hostinger | Uptime 99.93%, 6-month window | HostPro Reviews, 2026 |
| Hostinger | LCP 0.607 s, 2nd of 15 hosts | TechRadar, 10-week window, 2026 |
| Bluehost | Hardware score 9.6 of 10 | Hostingstep, 2026 |
| Bluehost | Load 41 ms at 0% errors after the Oracle move | Hostingstep changelog, 9 Jul 2026 |
| Bluehost | Response 411 ms; uptime 99.99% across 9 outages | Hostingstep, Nov 2025 – Aug 2026 |
| Bluehost | Global TTFB 224 ms across 40 locations, cached | Hostingstep Bluehost review, Jul 2026 |
| HostGator | Global TTFB 1.23 s; uptime 99.68%; 762 ms at 500 users | Hostingstep HostGator review, 2026 |
| HostGator | Hardware joint-highest in the field after the Oracle move | Hostingstep, 1 Sep 2026 update |
| ChemiCloud | US TTFB 531 ms; global 460 ms | Hostingstep, Oct 2025 – May 2026 |
| ChemiCloud | Load 1,068 ms at a 4.2% error rate | Hostingstep, same window |
| ChemiCloud | Uptime 99.76%; overall 6.1 of 10, degrading | Hostingstep, tracked since 2021 |
| GoDaddy shared | TTFB 751 ms; load test did not complete | Hostingstep, Nov 2025 – Jun 2026 |
| GoDaddy shared | Uptime 99.76% | Hostingstep, Nov 2025 – Jun 2026 |
| GoDaddy Managed WordPress | TTFB 344 ms; hardware 3.8 of 10 | Hostingstep, 2026 |
| GreenGeeks | TTFB 395 ms North America, 447 ms Europe | Long-term independent testing, 2026 |
| GreenGeeks | TTFB 580–610 ms Asia and Australia | Same testing window |
| GreenGeeks | Load 26 ms at 0% errors; WPBench 5.0 of 10 | Hostingstep, 2026 |
| GreenGeeks | 25 outages in the window; no integrated CDN found | Hostingstep, 2026 |
| Kinsta | Origin TTFB 525 ms; edge figures differ | Hostingstep, 2026 |
| Kinsta | Load 40 ms at 0% errors; WPBench 8.8 of 10 | Hostingstep, 2026 reviews |
| DreamHost | TTFB 450–500 ms band | Hostingstep, 2026 benchmarks |
| Scala Hosting | Uptime 99.97% across twelve months | Live site, 40,000 monthly visitors, UptimeRobot |
| Scala Hosting | 29 ms at the 95th percentile, 50 users | k6 load test, 2026 |
| InterServer | Uptime 99.98% across eighteen months | Six production sites, UptimeRobot |
| InterServer | Load under 700 ms; under 1.5 s by another source | Two 2026 reviews |
| A2 Hosting | TTFB 150–198 ms | 2026 studies; LiteSpeed on Turbo tiers |
| IONOS | Global TTFB 480 ms; WPBench 7.2 of 10 | Hostingstep, 2026 benchmarks |
| IONOS | Uptime 99.99%; load test failed at 65.4% errors | Hostingstep, 2026 benchmarks |
| Namecheap | TTFB 461 ms; global 448 ms; WPBench 5.0 | Hostingstep, Q4 2025; monitoring paused 30 Jun 2026 |
| InMotion | TTFB 300–500 ms shared | Published measurement, 2026 |
| InMotion | Uptime 99.97–99.99%; one account near 99.5% | Several 2026 sources |
| Hostwinds | No independent measurement found | 99.9999% is the company's own claim |
| Liquid Web | Not covered by the benchmarks we cite | VPS and dedicated are outside their scope |
| SiteGround | TTFB 632 ms; 22nd of 34 hosts | Hostingstep, 2026 benchmarks |
| SiteGround | Uptime 99.96% in 2025; 193 min over 44 outages | Hostingstep, full year 2025 |
| SiteGround | WPBench 8.4 of 10; load 170 ms at 0% errors | Hostingstep, Oct 2025 – May 2026 |
| Scala Hosting | TTFB 465 ms; global 501 ms | Hostingstep, 2026 benchmarks |
| Scala Hosting | WPBench 8.8 of 10; load 48 ms at 0% errors | Hostingstep, 2026 benchmarks |
| Scala Hosting | Uptime 99.98% across the year | Hostingstep, 2026 benchmarks |
| Cloudways | Vultr HF: load 288 ms at 1.7% errors; WPBench 7.6 | Hostingstep Cloudways review, 2026 |
| Cloudways | Uptime 99.996% to 99.999% across five plans | Hostingstep, Oct 2025 – May 2026 |
The Price Depends on the Term, Three Ways
StartUp opens at $2.99 a month. What it renews at is not one number. Our table records $14.99, $17.99 or $24.99, depending on whether you signed for 24 months, 12 months or month to month. As multipliers those are 5.0× over 24 months, 6.0× over 12 months and 8.4× month to month.
The arithmetic that follows is the part worth reading twice. On a 24-month term, three years cost $251.64. On a 12-month term, the same three years cost $467.64, because 24 of those months are billed at $17.99 rather than 12 at $14.99.
⚠️ So the term is not a payment preference here, it is a price. Our page on hosting renewal prices records all three rates, and our guide to choosing between annual and three-year terms covers the general trade.
| Host and plan | How it builds | 36-month total |
|---|---|---|
| ChemiCloud Starter, 36-month term | 36 prepaid months at $2.49 | $89.64 |
| InterServer Standard | 36 months at $2.50, price locked | $90.00 |
| DreamHost Launch, 48-month term | 36 of 48 prepaid months at $2.89 | $104.04 |
| Namecheap Stellar, 24-month term | 24 at $1.98, then 12 at $4.88 | $106.08 |
| Hostinger Premium, 48-month term | 36 of 48 prepaid months at $2.99 | $107.64 |
| HostGator Hatchling, 36-month term | 36 months at $3.75, renewal not reached | $135.00 |
| HostGator Hatchling, with daily backups | 36 at $3.75, plus CodeGuard at $35.88 a year | $242.64 |
| Bluehost Starter, 36-month term | 36 months at $3.99, renewal not reached | $143.64 |
| GoDaddy Economy, 36-month term | 36 months at $5.99, renewal not reached | $215.64 |
| GoDaddy Economy, with SSL from year two | 36 at $5.99, plus $119.99 in years two and three | $455.62 |
| Hostwinds Basic, annual | 12 at $4.54, then 24 at $6.99 | $222.24 |
| SiteGround StartUp, 24-month term | 24 at $2.99, then 12 at $14.99 | $251.64 |
| DreamHost Launch, annual | 12 at $2.89, then 24 at $10.99 | $298.44 |
| Scala Hosting Mini, annual | 12 at $2.95, then 24 at $11.95 | $322.20 |
| Bluehost Starter, 12-month term | 12 at $3.99, then 24 at $11.99 | $335.64 |
| IONOS Plus, annual | 12 at $1.00, then 24 at $14.00 | $348.00 |
| GreenGeeks Lite, 36-month prepay | 36 months at $2.95 | $106.20 |
| GreenGeeks Lite, annual | 12 at $2.95, then 24 at $13.95 | $370.20 |
| SiteGround StartUp, 12-month term | 12 at $2.99, then 24 at $17.99 | $467.64 |
| Cloudways, from | 36 months at $14.00, flat | $504.00 |
| A2 Hosting Turbo Boost, annual | 12 at $6.99, then 24 at $20.99 | $587.64 |
| Rocket.net Starter, annual | 12 at $25.00, then 24 at $30.00 | $1,020.00 |
| WP Engine Startup, annual | 12 at $27.00, then 24 at $35.00 | $1,164.00 |
| Liquid Web managed VPS | 36 months at $33.00 | $1,188.00 |
| Kinsta Starter | 36 months at $35.00, flat | $1,260.00 |
| InMotion Core, 36-month term | 36 months at $3.19, renewal not reached | $114.84 |
| InMotion Launch, 36-month term | 36 months at $4.99, renewal not reached | $179.64 |
What You Get for It
Server-level caching and its own optimization plugin. The caching sits in front of PHP rather than inside WordPress, which is the arrangement our guide to configuring caching recommends where available.
Daily backups. Included, which several cheaper hosts sell separately.
Phone, chat and tickets around the clock. One of the shorter lists of hosts in our tables that publishes a phone line at all.
Staging on higher tiers. GrowBig and GoGeek add it, and GoGeek opens at $7.99 renewing to $44.99. Our SiteGround review prices each tier.
What to Watch
The renewal, and which term you bought. This is the single most expensive detail on the page.
The 632 ms global response. A content network in front of the site fixes this for distant readers, and our guide to setting up a CDN covers the rules.
Forty-four outages. Short ones, but a count that high means a few of them will land at inconvenient moments over a year.
Refunds run 30 days on shared and 14 on cloud. Renewals are refundable within 30 days of payment, and domains and third-party services are excluded. Monthly plans are reported as excluded too.
Which WordPress Sites Fit
A business site or a small store. The clean load result is the reason: checkout and account pages reach the server, and this plan served a hundred concurrent visitors without dropping one. Our list of hosting for ecommerce covers the case.
A site whose owner wants to phone someone. SiteGround publishes a line, which Hostinger and Kinsta do not.
A membership site on a budget. Uncached pages are its strength, and our list of hosting for membership sites ranks hosts by that test.
A site that will be kept for years. Provided you buy the 24-month term and know the renewal.
Which Should Look Elsewhere
A first site on a tight budget. The renewal is the problem, not the hosting. InterServer holds $2.50 locked and Hostinger holds $2.99 for 48 months, which our page on Hostinger for WordPress covers.
A publication with readers on several continents. 632 ms globally is the weak spot, so either add a network or pick a host that includes one.
Anyone who will forget the renewal date. At 6.0× over 12 months, forgetting is expensive.
How to Buy It Sensibly
Pick the 24-month term. It lowers the renewal to $14.99 and saves more than two hundred dollars over three years against the 12-month path.
Write the renewal date and rate down. Then set a reminder a month before.
Decide about the network in week one. Measure from where your readers are, as our guide to testing your site speed properly describes.
Check the backups restore. Daily copies are included; a copy nobody has restored is a hypothesis, which our guide to setting up automatic backups covers.
One Number to Watch After You Buy
Forty-four outages in a year is the figure that changes how you monitor. The total downtime But short outages spread across a year are the kind a site owner never sees and a customer does.
So set up an uptime monitor of your own rather than trusting the dashboard, and keep the notification going somewhere you read. Our guide to fixing a website that is down covers the first checks when one of those alerts arrives.
How We Research
We run no tests. Load, uptime, response and benchmark figures come from Hostingstep. The load and WordPress benchmark come from its October 2025 to May 2026 window, the uptime from full-year 2025, and the global ranking from its 2026 benchmarks. Prices, terms, refund rules and support channels come from SiteGround’s own pages and from reviews published this year, read on 20 September 2026.
SiteGround is privately held and based in Sofia, by its own pages, since 2004. Plugin behavior and third-party services are outside what we review. The criteria behind our scores are on our about page. Our comparison of SiteGround against HostGator sets it beside a Newfold Digital brand.
SiteGround for WordPress FAQ
On the measurements, yes. A load test at 170 ms with no errors, 8.4 of 10 on that project’s WordPress benchmark, and 99.96% uptime across 2025. The weak points are the renewal and a 632 ms global response time.
It depends on the term. Our table records $14.99 on a 24-month term, $17.99 on 12 months and $24.99 month to month, for the same StartUp plan. That is 5.0× over 24 months, 6.0× over 12 months and 8.4× month to month.
The 24-month one. Three years cost $251.64 that way, against $467.64 on the 12-month path. There, 24 months are billed at $17.99 rather than 12 at $14.99.
Yes, phone, chat and tickets around the clock, which several hosts we price do not offer at any tier. No source we found measures the response time.
It is 99.96% across 2025, which the project records as 193 minutes of downtime across 44 outages. The total is small; the count is high, so read both rather than one.
The Verdict
SiteGround is a real WordPress host with a real price problem. The load result and the benchmark score put it above most shared plans we price, the phone line is rare, and daily backups come included. On the 24-month term at $251.64 for three years, that is good value.
On the 12-month term the same hosting costs $467.64. Month to month it renews at 8.4× over 12 months from the intro rate. So buy it deliberately or not at all, and if you know you will forget the renewal date, a locked price serves you better. Our page on what web hosting costs prices the alternatives across three years.