Best Australian Web Hosting for Small Business 2024

Nathan Finch——Last Updated on February 26, 2024

Your choice of best Australian web hosting for small business matters a lot more than you'd think.

It's not just a platform to launch your eCommerce website, your hosting selection also affects website performance reliability, and security.

You want to make sure that it provides adequate resources for your traffic and type of content, that there's reliable support that's accessible when you need it, and that it's cost-effective for you to use.

If your business is a startup or you don't have much experience with web hosting, there may be some things you don't know.

One is the issue of uptime/downtime. This is essential to your website's reliability. If customers can't access your content when they need assistance, information, or to place on order, they'll leave and find a company who can give them what they need.

Not only does uptime affect your bounce rates, it can also impact your finances and search engine rankings. Studies show that downtime costs the average business website about $7,908 per minute. Uptime/downtime is usually expressed as a percentage.

Hosting companies that promise an uptime of 99.8 percent uptime won't tell you that it translates to an average downtime of 18 hours per year.

Even a slight fraction of a percentage changes that equation drastically; uptime of 99.999 percent per month - which is called 5-9s, will reduce the amount of downtime to a more manageable 5 minutes and 15.6 seconds annually.

Business owners looking for reliable, affordable web hosting for small business service are on the right page. We've got the top four web hosting small business services right here.

While all are great for business hosting overall, each excels in their respective "best of" categories in some way.

Our reviews cover price, uptime, ease of use, and support. We'll also tell you what to look for in a hosting service and compare the key features of each provider.

Now, we get to the meat of our review, the companies themselves. We've thoroughly tested and reviewed many in order to give you the best of the best in four categories:

Best All Around, Best High-End Provider, Best Managed Hosting, and Best Budget Option. That gives a little something for everyone to consider.

All of this information was accurate and double-checked at the time of this writing.

Changes in pricing or terms are at the whim of individual companies. See related articles: Best Australian Web Hosts and Best Cheap Hosting.

Your business is unique, even among others in the same industry. That's why we're including an in-depth discussion about what goes into choosing the provider that's right for your type of business.

There are several questions to consider when choosing a hosting service for your company.

Technical Skill

If you're a complete novice, you're going to need a service that offers more tech support than if you have a lot of technical skill and knowledge.

You should consider either managed hosting or a very simple service if you have a lot of static content or less traffic.

What's Your Budget?

A professional website for a sole practitioner or a smaller startup with few employees can make do with a less expensive plan than a large enterprise with more content and high traffic volume.

Shared plans may offer you the resources and support you need while helping you stay within your budget.

Larger companies will probably need a dedicated service or private server that' made for enterprises. These can cost upward of $1,000 per month for the top tier of service.

How Much Traffic Do You Expect?

If you're expecting a high volume of traffic, sudden traffic spikes during seasonal sales, or fast growth, you're going to need a better hosting service with more resources and the ability to scale up or down quickly.

Those with very aggressive marketing that expect to drive more sustained traffic would also benefit from the higher security and available resources of a dedicated or cloud hosting service.

Many web hosting small business companies offer a free trial or pay-as-you-go service, so you can always try before you buy and switch if necessary before you commit to a long-term contract.

Key Features

• One-click installations and auto-updates
• Free website builder
• Free SSL, CDN, E-mail
• Daily Backups
• Out-of-the-box caching
• Enhanced security
• Collaboration tools

• Premium WordPress hosting
• Plans packed with features

• High renewal prices

SiteGround may not be the cheapest option, but it has a lot to offer in terms of unique in-house built tools and features. SiteGround also has the versatility to power multiple content management systems (CMSs), and you can install most with just one click.

The company also provides the Optimizer plugin that takes care of all front-end optimization.

This includes an all-inclusive security plugin, collaboration tools on each plan, free SSL, CDN, unlimited email accounts, the ultrafast PHP, the supercacher to ensure top loading speeds and a bunch of other unique tools and features.

These extras give you significant value for your money, because they are usually paid with other providers. In our opinion, SiteGround is an ideal best Australian web hosting for small business option for those with multiple websites or companies to manage.

Overview

Once the hosting service for college dorms everywhere, SiteGround now boasts a client roster of more than two million websites. The company is headquartered in Bulgaria, and it is now considered one of the top hosting services in the world.

Let's take a look at what SiteGround has to offer.

Features

There are only three providers that are specifically recommended for WordPress hosting. Since WordPress powers more than one-third of all websites on the internet, that' a huge recommendation.

It's not just great for WordPress hosting, though.

It also enables one-click installation for other content management systems like Joomla and Drupal, and there's a dedicated WooCommerce hosting for WordPress eCommerce sites.

For those who are building from scratch, SiteGround has a free website builder with drag-and-drop functionality. All you have to do is buy a domain.

All plans come with free SSL certification and daily backups, and they guarantee 99.98 percent uptime. That translates to less than an hour of downtime for a whole year.

In general, SiteGround offers an affordable and at the same time premium managed WordPress hosting, and it's great for DIY website builders

The company uses Google’s most powerful processors, has developed its own speed boosters and offers full caching with all plans, puts a special focus on security and has even utilized AI to monitor servers every 0,5 to stop brute force attacks.

If for some reason, you are unhappy with the service, You'll also get a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Support

SiteGround support is fast and knowledgeable and it is available 24/7 via live chat, by phone, and help desk ticket.

Pricing and Plans

Shared hosting: Ranges from $5.99 – $10.69 per month

Cloud hosting: Ranges from $100 – $400 per month

WordPress Hosting: Ranges from $5.99 – $10.99 per month

Read our full SiteGround review here.

Key Features

• HTTP/2
• PHP 7.3
• SSH
• CDN
• MariaDB
• Let’s Encrypt SSL
• Daily backups
• Malware removal

• Staging area availability
• Choose your own server location
• Extensive knowledge base
• Free migration

• No management functions on dashboard
• Expensive compared to other hosting services
• Only supports WordPress websites
• Support is only available via chatbot

This hosting service has the distinction of being the only fully managed WordPress-exclusive hosting platform.

It was created in partnership with Google Cloud Services (GCS), and the in-house tech and support team are all experienced WordPress developers.

That means you'll have some expert support and specialized features for your WordPress eCommerce website no matter how big or complex.

Overview

This is considered a high-end selection due to its high-price and high-quality features. The idea was to create a dedicated platform for WordPress site wonders with the best platform, features, and technical team.

The main reason it wasn't selected as the best WP hosting platform is that it is price-prohibitive for smaller companies with less money to spend on hosting.

However, if you have a large WP or WooCommerce website, a lot of traffic, and a big budget, this is a very good managed hosting option.

In fact, they check each and every website 720 times per day for uptime, which is near 100 percent.

Features

This company gives you a lot of premium features and some of the most current technology in their effort to provide the ultimate WP hosting experience.

Their GC servers are strategically positioned in 20 different locations around the world and monitored around the clock. With their top tier of service, each website is containerized with LXD to isolate them and them and enable auto-scaling in case of sudden spikes in traffic.

So, what kind of features does Kinsta offer?

In addition to one-click migration, installation, and staging, there's a lot to love in terms of security and enhanced performance.

Support

Kinsta support is available 24/7/365 and fielded by WordPress experts. You can reach the company through online chatbot exclusively.

Pricing and Plans

The company offers four tiers of service, with several sub-tiers for those who need a more customized level of service.

Basic plans all include at least one install, OHO workers, storage, and high bandwidth. The pricing and standard features break down like this:

Starter: This plan begins at $30 per month, and you'll get one WordPress install, 20,000 visits per month, two PHP workers, 5GB of storage, and 50GB of CDN bandwidth.

Pro: The Pro plan starts at $60 per month. You still get two PHP workers, but other basic features bump up to two installs, 40,000 monthly visits, 10GB of storage, and 100GB CDN bandwidth.

Business: You'll pay $200 per month for the first tier of Business plans, which is ideal for a WooCommerce store that's PHP-heavy.

For that amount, you'll get 20 installs, four PHP workers, 20GB of storage, 300 GB of CDN bandwidth, and 250,000 visits.

Enterprise: If you're a major player with many websites attracting a lot of traffic and transactions, an Enterprise plan may be a bargain for you at a starting price of $1,500 per month.

This one will give you 150 installs, three million visits per month, 16 dedicated PHP workers, 250GB of storage, and 1,000GB of CDN bandwidth.

To check out other options in the WordPress space, read our guide to best Wordpress hosts.

Read our full Kinsta review here.

Key Features

• Lightning Fast
• Lots of Free Upgrades
• Host Multiple Sites
• 24/7/365 Support
• Free SSL

• Uptime of 99.99%
• High-quality hosting
• Lots of features

• Interface is a little dated
• Domain is only free for the first year

HostGator is our top pick for overall best hosting provider. It's generally considered the best Australian web hosting for small business from our reviewers and users alike for several reasons.

The platform is really user-friendly, especially for beginners, with tons of features, a high rate of guaranteed uptime, and unrivaled speed and performance.

Overview

Our recommendation of HostGator as the best hosting service overall is due to its top marks in comparative research, which ranked it at 92 percent overall.

It has a great price, user-friendly interface with a shallow learning curve, and range of options.

With all this platform has going for it - including amazing customer support - it's no wonder that HostGator is home to more than eight million domains.

Features

Eight off the bat, HostGator guarantees uptime of 99.9 percent as part of your service level agreement. What that means is you'll have to deal with downtime of less than one hour.

That's the kind of reliability businesses needs to provide great service to their customers.

In fact, the guarantee even comes with a refund of one month's service if they ever break that promise. Not many platforms are going to back up their promises to that degree.

Now, for the downside of using HostGator. The cPanel interface looks a little last century, although it's easy to learn and use once you get used to the crowded dashboard.

The company also doesn't give you any free domains, so you'll have to purchase and register through them or another registrar. However, WordPress users won't have to worry about accessing cPanel.

The Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate is a $100 value and protects the data traveling through your website.

This is reassuring for your customers, especially if you have a website that provides financial services or performs a lot of financial transactions.

Having this certificate will produce a green padlock on your website's URL. telling visitors they can trust you.

Each plan also includes unlimited emails, which is uncommon for hosting services, one-click installation for WordPress and Drupal websites, and unmetered bandwidth.

The pricing is very reasonable for what you get with the packages, and there are advanced services for large enterprises and websites with special technological or security requirements.

Support

This service offers very responsive support that's available 24/7/365 via online chat or toll-free calling. There's also a knowledge base on their help page that will help you find answers to a variety of issues.

Pricing and Plans

There's plenty to choose from when you sign up with HostGator. They offer three shared plans, which are good for smaller websites, sole practitioners, and beginners.

The three website hosts for small business shared packages are:

Hatchling Starts at $2.75 per month. It's an entry-level choice that offers great value for the money.

Baby Starts $3.95 a month and offers more support for a growing business.

Business This one starts at $5.95 a month and offers the resources needed to support a website with a high expectations for growth and traffic. Once you move up to this level, you'll unlock additional features like:

• SSL certificates
• Dedicated IP address
• VoIP phone service

If you want to start big or your business outgrows the three shared basic plans, HostGator offers VPS hosting, WordPress, and dedicated hosting packages. Here's a breakdown of what you'll get.

Dedicated server plans: This is a good option for medium to large businesses who need more resources and features.

It starts at $79 per month, and you'll get all the hardware you need to handle high traffic volumes.

These plans include weekly backups, which is a great security features, but you'll have to maintain the hardware, software, and upgrades yourself.

Good for those with some tech knowledge and a need for more control over their platform.

VPS plans: These range in price from $19.95 per month for the Snappy 2000 Plan to $29.95 monthly for Snappy 8000. As your business scales up, you'll get more bandwidth, disk space, CPU, and RAM. The last two features are meant to deliver more power and speed to your website, so they're great if you have a lot of media content.

Overall, we feel that this is the best web hosting for small business for websites of all types.

Read our full Hostgator review here.

Key Features

• Daily backups
• OpenResty nginx+lua
• Access Manager
• CloudLinux
• Custom hPanel
• CloudFlare and LetsEncrypt integration
• Automated server deployments

• Multilingual chat support
• Free website builder and domain name
• Less than $1 per month to start
• Amazingly fast and reliable

• Some hidden fees
• No cPanel
• You have to pay for additional domains
• 80-cent monthly price only available with four-year contract

When you're looking for a budget-friendly best Australian web hosting for small business selection that doesn't skimp on performance or service, consider Hostinger.

This European hosting service grew from an unknown free service to a full-fledged competitor with more than 29 million websites on its platform in a little over a decade.

Even with that level of growth, they've managed to keep their services insanely affordable.

Overview

Aside from its budget-friendly starting price, Hostinger is a broad-ranging eCommerce host that supports WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, PrestShop, and OpenCart.

Unlike a lot of virtually free hosting platforms, you won't have trouble with high downtime or lack of speed and security. In fact, our testing clocked load times that averaged 369ms.

The company has servers located in Asia, Europe, and North America, and each is powered by networks with 1000 Mbps connections.

Hostinger’s Website Builder: Zyro

Zyro is a website builder that comes with a lot of classic features but with a couple of new ones as well.

Free SSL certificate, unlimited SSD storage, and bandwidth are just one of the many features it offers.

A couple of the new ones we felt like we needed to talk about are the enormous library of free images you can use to add to your website.

And one even more daring - Logo Maker, this feature allows you to redesign your logo with ease. No designer needed and no coding as well. Do it yourself in a blink of an eye.

However, the most interesting feature is, without any doubt, the AI Writer. Zyro’s AI content generator analyzes hand-picked copy from each industry.

Then, it generates a copy that follows the best online copywriting and SEO practices. It does the hard work to let you focus on growing your eCommerce business.

Support

Support is available online 24/7 via chatbot, and it's offered in several languages. Unfortunately, you must be logged in to your Hostinger account for live chat.

Pricing and Plans

This company offers four tiers of service, with contracts ranging from monthly pay-as-you-go service to 48-month contracts. The more you commit to when looking for a best Australian web hosting for small business, the better the price.

However, renewals are at the monthly pay-as-you-go rate once your initial contract expires.

Monthly service is $7.99 per month, 90-day plans start at $2.15, one-year contracts begin at $1.95, two-year contracts start from $1.45, and a four-year contract is $0.80. They do offer a 30-day money back guarantee.

Read our full Hostinger review here.

What do you get with a Hostinger plan?

All best Australian web hosting for small business plans will give you one free migration and domain as part of your plan. The packages include:

• One website
• 10GB disk space
• 100GB bandwidth
• One MySQL database
• One FTP user
• One email account
• Easy website builder
• Auto installer

• Unlimited websites
• Unlimited SSD disk space
• Unlimited bandwidth
• Unlimited MySQL databases
• Unlimited FTP users
• Unlimited email accounts
• Easy website builder

This one comes with everything you'll get with the other plans, plus:

• Daily backups
• Deluxe live support
• Free SSL certificate
• Double the processing power and memory

The comparison of blogging platforms is meant to provide you with a detailed analysis of the best platforms for your blog. That way, you can make an informed decision.

For those of you who just want a few brief answers to common questions about blogging platforms, here's our best Australian web hosting for small business FAQ.

How Much Does Web Hosting for Small Business Cost?

Hosting ranges from monthly pay-as-you-go service to yearly, two-year, and three-year contracts. Many offer a free trial and/or a 30-day money back guarantee.

The benefits of monthly service is you're not locked into a long term contract. Small businesses usually go for shared plans, which are the least expensive regardless of type of plan.

Many have very low promo rates and higher rates upon renewal. Make sure to find out about this before you sign a contract.

What Are the Most Important Web Hosting for Small Business Features?

The single most important feature is guaranteed uptime. Next to that, you want responsive customer support, on-click installation, and one security features.

Other than that, features and various plans depending on the size and type of website you own and your budget.

What Is the Difference Between Shared, VPS, Cloud, and Dedicated Hosting?

Shared hosting is when you share the server and resources with other websites. With dedicated, you have your own server and more control.

A virtual private server (VPS) is a virtualized server that acts the same as a dedicated server. However, it offers a nice middle ground because it's hosted on a shared physical server.

Cloud hosting is a virtual server that exists only in cyberspace. It offers the best scalability and virtually unlimited resources for those looking for the best web hosting for small business.

What Is the Cheapest Way to Host a Business Website?

Generally, there are two payment options when it comes to website hosts for small business: monthly or annually.

Choosing a long-term contract will mean paying less per month overall, but many are billable at that lower rate up front. Once you sign a contract, you're locked in at that rate.

Monthly billing is more expensive, but you aren't committed for more than 30 days at a time.

It's important to choose the right tools for any job. In the end, it comes down to your personal preferences and requirements.

Just keep in mind that in order for your online business to make money, you need a high-quality host.

We've given you a lot of food for thought, and hopefully provided you with the guidelines you need to make an informed decision.

Carefully think about your type of website, expected growth and traffic, and how much technical support you'll need to give your customers the kind of reliable service they deserve.

Generally speaking, though, SiteGround offers the most comprehensive all-around package. Its features are unrivaled and should have plenty of resources to handle your site as you grow from a small business into a large empire.