Best Cloud Hosting Services In India

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With so many cloud hosting platforms available these days, choosing the right one can feel overwhelming. When narrowing down the field, users should look at features such as scalability, a fast-loading solid-state drive (SSD), free Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and uptime guarantees. To help you make the right choice for your needs and budget, Forbes Advisor India looked at the best cloud hosting services on the market and compared them based on pricing, features and usability.

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Best Cloud Hosting Services 

BEST OVERALL

HostGator

HostGator
4.4
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

INR 219 per month

Storage Limit

Unlimited

Standout Features

Free email, free SSL certificate and around INR 16,393 marketing credit

HostGator
Buy Now

On HostGator's secure website

Starting Price

INR 219 per month

Storage Limit

Unlimited

Standout Features

Free email, free SSL certificate and around INR 16,393 marketing credit

Why We Picked It

HostGator is a great choice for sites hosting blogs and websites. With HostGator, you get free server monitoring, a 30-day money-back guarantee for basic hosting services and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.

HostGator is a user-friendly, one-stop shop for your hosting needs. It conveniently provides everything in one place, including hosting, domains, email, website builder and storage.

Users get automated failover for hardware issues, unlimited storage and an intuitive dashboard that tracks the site’s performance and metrics.

There are three pricing options: Hatchling at INR 479 per month, Baby at INR 599 per month and Business at INR 839 per month. Users should note that all of these are introductory offers, and pricing will increase when it is time to renew.

Who Should Use It:

HostGator is the overall best cloud hosting service on the market, and is ideal for all those types of businesses that need an affordable, fast, responsive host.

Pros & Cons
  • Fast loading times
  • Free domain and website builder
  • Free business email
  • SEO tools
  • 30-day money-back guarantee
  • RAM tops out at just 6GB
  • Initial rates are introductory and prices will increase over time
  • Customer support is lacking

BEST FOR PAY-AS-YOU-GO PRICING

IONOS

IONOS
4.4
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

56/1000th of a cent per hour (max of around INR 327 per month)

Storage Limit

30GB to 480GB

Standout Features

Unlimited traffic, no contracts, about INR 8,200 in credit for first month

Starting Price

56/1000th of a cent per hour (max of around INR 327 per month)

Storage Limit

30GB to 480GB

Standout Features

Unlimited traffic, no contracts, about INR 8,200 in credit for first month

Why We Picked It

Why pay for resources you don’t need? With IONOS’ pay-as-you-go cloud hosting, you only pay for the resources you use. Even better, you won’t have to commit to a contract with IONOS; you can stop or start your plans at any time.

With the entry-level Cloud Server XS plan, you get one vCore CPU, 512MB RAM and up to 30GB SSD for 56/1000th of a cent per hour and will pay a maximum of around INR 327 per month. For more storage, RAM and SSD, you’ll need to upgrade to a higher plan where you’ll pay between 69/1000th of a cent and 44.44 cents per hour, depending on your specific cloud server configuration. All IONOS plans have a max-per-month fee, which ranges from around INR 327 to INR 26,229 per month.

IONOS plans come with 30GB to 480GB of storage; additional storage can be bought in 100GB increments for around INR 590.18 per month (billed per minute).

All cloud plans come with an unlimited number of emails and 2GB storage per inbox. IONOS supports both Linux and Windows platforms, though you’ll pay around INR 819 per vCore per month for Windows.

Who Should Use It:

IONOS is a terrific cloud service for those with moderate to advanced technical skills who want pay-as-you-go pricing.

Pros & Cons
  • Live scaling
  • 99.99% uptime
  • 30-day free trial
  • Around INR 8,196 free credit for first month
  • No minimum contracts
  • Inconsistent customer support quality
  • Not ideal for beginners
  • Add-on fees for extra storage and backups can add up

BEST VALUE FOR BEGINNERS

DreamHost

DreamHost
4.2
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Maximum around INR 368.81 per month

Storage Limit

100GB

Standout Features

Unmetered bandwidth, hourly billing, full root access

DreamHost
Buy Now

On DreamHost's secure website

Starting Price

Maximum around INR 368.81 per month

Storage Limit

100GB

Standout Features

Unmetered bandwidth, hourly billing, full root access

Why We Picked It

DreamHost is one of the only services to provide both cloud computing (DreamCompute) and cloud object storage (DreamObjects).

Users have full root access, can scale their apps both vertically and horizontally and all code is open source, allowing the cloud to grow as needed. The server can be used on a range of operating systems, including Linux, BSD and Microsoft Windows.

The pricing structure is unique and based on usage on an hourly basis, so you only pay for what you use. Rates start at 75/1000th of a cent per hour—with a max of around INR 368.81 per month—for 512MB of RAM. DreamHost cloud hosting rates max out at 15 cents per hour—with a cap of around INR 7,868 per month—for 16GB of RAM. You can purchase additional storage blocks in 100 GB increments for around INR 819 per month.

Who Should Use It:

DreamHost is an ideal solution for beginners who need a budget-friendly, high-quality cloud hosting service.

Pros & Cons
  • Beginner-friendly
  • Affordable per-hour pricing
  • Full root access
  • 99.77% uptime
  • Scalable solutions
  • No phone support
  • Pricey add-ons
  • Limited live chat hours

BEST FOR CONTENT-HEAVY WEBSITES

MochaHost

MochaHost
4.1
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

INR 187 per month

Storage Limit

Unlimited

Standout Features

Unlimited traffic, renewal pricing guarantee, 30-day money-back guarantee

MochaHost

Starting Price

INR 187 per month

Storage Limit

Unlimited

Standout Features

Unlimited traffic, renewal pricing guarantee, 30-day money-back guarantee

Why We Picked It

MochaHost offers several appealing features, including a 100% uptime guarantee, 24/7 tech support, unlimited email, automated backups and unlimited monthly traffic. Even better, MochaHost is one of the few cloud hosting solutions that comes with unlimited disk space on every plan.

The main differences between the four MochaHost plans include price, the number of CPU cores offered and overall server power. Starting prices for MochaHost plans range from INR 187 to INR 881 per month. With MochaHost you have the option to lock in your renewal price, so you won’t experience the 25% to 75% pricing increase other cloud hosting solutions charge for renewals.

MochaHost doesn’t have a free trial, but instead has a 30-day money-back guarantee. You can also try any MochaHost plan for 180 days risk-free; if you decide to cancel your plan within the first 180 days, you’ll receive a prorated refund for hosting fees based on the standard monthly package pricing.

Who Should Use It:

With unlimited disk space included in every plan, MochaHost is a terrific option for content-heavy websites.

Pros & Cons
  • 30-day money-back guarantee
  • Free domain for life
  • Free unlimited SSL certificates for life
  • Free website transfer assistance
  • All plans include automatic weekly backups
  • 180-day risk-free trial
  • No free trial
  • Premium daily backups cost extra
  • Limited to hosting one website on starter Soho plan
  • For best prices, a three-year commitment is required

BEST FOR ADVANCED USERS

InMotion Hosting

InMotion Hosting
4.0
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Around INR 491 per month (billed annually)

Storage Limit

30GB to 540 GB SSD or NVMe SSD

Standout Features

Dedicated IP, 24/7 site monitoring, month-to-month plans available

InMotion Hosting
Buy Now

On InMotion's secure website

Starting Price

Around INR 491 per month (billed annually)

Storage Limit

30GB to 540 GB SSD or NVMe SSD

Standout Features

Dedicated IP, 24/7 site monitoring, month-to-month plans available

Why We Picked It

InMotion Hosting offers shared hosting, WordPress hosting and cloud VPS hosting services. The company has a solid reputation for delivering hosting solutions that are flexible and scalable, and grow with you as your company’s needs change.

All cloud hosting options come with a dedicated IP address and a 99.999% uptime guarantee. Users also have access to their own Resource Monitoring Dashboard to keep track of RAM, bandwidth and load usage

Choose from Cloud VPS SSD plans or Cloud VPS NVMe (nonvolatile memory express) SSD plans. The key differences among the plan tiers are storage capacity, vCPUs, transfer capacity and price. Prices range from around INR 491 to INR 15,738 per month for SSD plans and around INR 573 to INR 18,361 per month for NVMe plans.

Setting up your Cloud VPS hosting requires a fair amount of technical knowledge. That’s why Forbes recommends InMotion cloud hosting for those confident in their technical abilities.

Who Should Use It:

InMotion’s Cloud VPS hosting is affordable, scalable, reliable and secure, though the complex setup makes this solution best for advanced technical users.

Pros & Cons
  • 24/7 site monitoring
  • Excellent scalability
  • Live resource-use monitoring
  • Supports Linux OS, including Ubuntu, Debian or CentOS
  • Monthly and annual plans available
  • Plans get pricey
  • Extra charge for backups
  • Doesn’t support Windows
  • Not beginner-friendly

BEST FOR FAST-LOADING WEBSITES

TMDHosting

TMDHosting
3.9
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Around INR 487.66 per month (with 36-month term)

Storage Limit

Unlimited

Standout Features

Unlimited bandwidth, free domain, 60-day guarantee

TMDHosting

Starting Price

Around INR 487.66 per month (with 36-month term)

Storage Limit

Unlimited

Standout Features

Unlimited bandwidth, free domain, 60-day guarantee

Why We Picked It

TMDHosting offers three levels of cloud hosting plans that support all types of businesses, from startups to enterprises. With six unique levels of combined caching, it’s hard to beat TMD’s website load times. In fact, TMD boasts up to 32 times faster page load times than you could achieve through alternative solutions.

Reliability is another hallmark of TMD cloud hosting solutions, which offers a 99.999% uptime guarantee. Cloud hosting services are available for any open source application, WordPress, SocialEngine, Drupal, OpenCart and PrestaShop.

Starting plans range from around INR 487.66 to around INR 815.43 INR per month. The primary differences among the plans are allowances for RAM, CPU cores and add-on domains. For example, the Starter Cloud includes two CPU cores and 2GB of DDR4 RAM while the Enterprise Cloud plan gives you six CPU Cores and 6GB of DDR4 RAM.

Who Should Use It:

TMDHosting offers excellent cloud hosting services for anyone looking for superfast-loading websites.

Pros & Cons
  • 60-day money-back guarantee
  • Six levels of combined cashing
  • Free domain on all plans
  • Unlimited storage and bandwidth on all plans
  • 15-minute support response times
  • Unlimited email accounts
  • Around INR 982.56 add-on fee for domain ID protection
  • You can only host one website on Starter Cloud plan
  • Renewal prices up to 45% more than introductory price

BEST FOR QUICK WEBSITE DEPLOYMENT

HostWinds

HostWinds
3.8
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Around INR 0.549649 per hour

Storage Limit

30GB to 750GB

Standout Features

Nightly backups, free website transfer, load balancers

HostWinds

Starting Price

Around INR 0.549649 per hour

Storage Limit

30GB to 750GB

Standout Features

Nightly backups, free website transfer, load balancers

Why We Picked It

Hostwinds offers fully managed cloud server hosting that features a per-hour billing model. Best of all, you can launch your website on Hostwinds’ cloud servers in a matter of mere minutes.

The user-friendly Hostwinds Cloud Control Panel features tools you need to manage your site, including DNS, storage and firewall management, plus the ability to deploy load balancers on demand. Hostwinds makes it easy to adjust resources up or down as your needs shift. Choose from 10 cloud server plans that offer one to 16 CPUs, 30GB to 750GB storage and 1GB to 96GB RAM.

With Hostwinds’ Redundant Network, you never have to worry about your site being unavailable. Hostwinds boasts 99.9999% server uptime.

All Hostwinds plans come with 24/7 cloud server monitoring. Should a potential security threat or abnormality appear, you’ll receive an automatically generated support ticket alerting you along with highly responsive technical support from Hostwinds staff.

Who Should Use It:

Users who want a reliable, flexible cloud hosting option and need to deploy their websites quickly.

Pros & Cons
  • 99.9999% uptime guarantee
  • Instant scalability
  • Nightly backups
  • IPv4 and IPv6 management
  • 24/7 server monitoring
  • Site migration services offered
  • Around INR 819 monthly add-on fee charged for load balancers
  • No extra features such as domain and a free SSL certificate are included
  • Limited server customization
  • Bandwidth is limited on every plan

BEST FOR WORDPRESS SITES

SiteGround

SiteGround
3.8
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Around INR 8,191 per month

Storage Limit

40GB to 160GB

Standout Features

Fully managed service, automatic scaling, free CDN

SiteGround

Starting Price

Around INR 8,191 per month

Storage Limit

40GB to 160GB

Standout Features

Fully managed service, automatic scaling, free CDN

Why We Picked It

Why We Picked It: SiteGround offers scalable cloud hosting for websites and businesses of all sizes. We particularly like SiteGround for those managing large or multiple WordPress websites.

All SiteGround cloud hosting plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee and a refund if SiteGround fails to meet a 99.9% uptime rate.

SiteGround plans offer easy onboarding, fully managed service, a powerful hosting stack and an ultra-fast platform. Choose from four SiteGround cloud hosting plans that range from around INR 8,191 to around INR 32,763 per month. The primary differences among the plans include CPU, memory and storage capacity. All plans include 5TB data transfer.

Who Should Use It:

Businesses hosting either a single, large WordPress website or multiple WordPress websites.

Pros & Cons
  • Fully managed hosting services
  • 14-day money-back guarantee
  • Daily backups
  • SG Optimizer plug-in enhances WordPress and Woo site speeds
  • Includes staging tools for site development
  • Pricey plans
  • Doesn’t include free domain
  • No root access
  • Low storage capacity compared to other providers

BEST FOR CUSTOMER SUPPORT

GoDaddy

GoDaddy
3.7
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

INR 219 per month (with 36-month term)

Storage Limit

10GB to 100GB

Standout Features

Unmetered bandwidth, daily backups and up to 100 databases

GoDaddy
Buy Now

On GoDaddy's secure website

Starting Price

INR 219 per month (with 36-month term)

Storage Limit

10GB to 100GB

Standout Features

Unmetered bandwidth, daily backups and up to 100 databases

Why We Picked It

GoDaddy touts itself as the world’s largest service platform for entrepreneurs, offering a variety of hosting services, domain registration, website creation and built-in marketing tools. The company has also built a reputation for providing responsive 24/7 customer support.

The GoDaddy platform provides fast and reliable server performance. A 30-day money-back guarantee is available on all 12-month or longer plan commitments. Those starting with less than a 12-month plan receive a 48-hour guarantee.

GoDaddy has different tiers of pricing plans, with the starter shared web hosting plan costing INR 219 per month with a three-year contract. The top-tier GoDaddy Maximum plan costs INR 1,299 per month and renews at INR 1,919 per month and it includes increased processing power and supports up to 100 databases.

Who Should Use It:

Users who require a user-friendly interface along with easy-to-access customer support.

Pros & Cons
  • Responsive 24/7 customer support
  • Daily backups
  • Free domain
  • Free Microsoft 365 mailboxes
  • 99.9% uptime guarantee
  • Add-on fee for database recovery priced higher priced than several competitors
  • Meager 512MB memory on Starter plan
  • Short 48-hour money-back guarantee for those who don’t sign up for an annual or multi-year plan

BEST FOR CLOUD VPS HOSTING

Interserver

Interserver
3.7
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Around INR 491 per month

Storage Limit

30GB SSD to 16TB HDD

Standout Features

16 plan levels, root access, no contracts

Interserver
Buy Now

On Interserver's secure website

Starting Price

Around INR 491 per month

Storage Limit

30GB SSD to 16TB HDD

Standout Features

16 plan levels, root access, no contracts

Why We Picked It

InterServer is a popular hosting provider that offers standard/shared web hosting as well as Cloud VPS hosting services. Plans are billed month to month; InterServer does not require long-term contracts. Move up or down in plans as your needs expand or contract.

Choose from Linux VPS, Storage VPS or Windows VPS cloud hosting plans—Windows plans start at around INR 819 per month while the others start at around INR 491. Each InterServer Cloud VPS solution has 16 unique tiers to choose from. The main differences among the plans are price, the number of CPU cores plus memory, storage and transfer allowances. A simple slider-scale tool on the InterServer website makes it easier to find the right price/resource combination for your needs.

InterServer provides 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone and an online ticket system. All users get full root access to their data. Choose the control panel that works best for you. InterServer supports DirectAdmin, cPanel or Plesk; you’ll pay an additional licensing fee for control panel hosting.

Who Should Use It:

InterServer offers affordable and flexible solutions for those looking for VPS cloud hosting services.

Pros & Cons
  • Month-to-month billing
  • No contracts
  • 99.9% uptime guarantee
  • No transfer fees
  • Multiple control panel options
  • Supports Windows and Linux
  • No free trial
  • No money-back guarantee
  • Add-on fee for control panel licenses
  • Back-up storage costs between around INR 245 to around INR 3,440 per month

BEST MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE

ScalaHosting

ScalaHosting
3.6
Our ratings take into account a product's cost, features, ease of use, customer service and other category-specific attributes. All ratings are determined solely by our editorial team.

Starting Price

Around INR 2,453 per month

Storage Limit

50GB to 200GB

Standout Features

24/7 management, free SSL certificates and daily disaster recovery backups

ScalaHosting
Buy Now

On Scala Hosting's secure website

Starting Price

Around INR 2,453 per month

Storage Limit

50GB to 200GB

Standout Features

24/7 management, free SSL certificates and daily disaster recovery backups

Why We Picked It

ScalaHosting provides several different hosting services, including shared, cloud and WordPress, but its primary offering is fully managed cloud VPS hosting plans.

Each plan, even the “Mini,” comes packed with features including unlimited bandwidth, free SSL certificate, free domain and rolling backups. If you opt for VPS, the plans are highly customizable, allowing users to configure exactly what they need.

ScalaHosting is so confident that your site will run faster and more securely than ever that the company offers an unconditional anytime money-back guarantee. If at any time you feel you want to deactivate your ScalaHosting services, you will receive a refund for any prepaid and unused hosting fees.

Who Should Use It:

Users who are looking for a flexible hosting solution backed by a generous money-back guarantee.

Pros & Cons
  • Highly configurable VPS plans
  • Unmetered bandwidth
  • Branded and white-label hosting services
  • Install more than 400 scripts with the one-click Softaculous installer
  • Free domain and website migration
  • Pricey plans
  • Low storage capacity compared to other providers
  • Plan fees soar upon renewal
  • No website builder provided

Forbes Advisor Ratings


Company Forbes Advisor India Rating Starting Price Storage Limit Standout Features Learn More
HostGator 4.4 4.5-removebg-preview INR 479 per month (with 36-month commitment) Unlimited Free email, free SSL certificate and around INR 16,393 marketing credit View More
IONOS 4.4 4.5-removebg-preview 56/1000th of a cent per hour (max of around INR 327 per month) 30GB to 480GB Unlimited traffic, no contracts, about INR 8,200 in credit for first month View More
DreamHost 4.2 4-removebg-preview Maximum around INR 368.81 per month 100GB Unmetered bandwidth, hourly billing, full root access View More
MochaHost 4.1 4-removebg-preview INR 187 per month Unlimited Unlimited traffic, renewal pricing guarantee, 30-day money-back guarantee View More
InMotion Hosting 4.0 4-removebg-preview Around INR 491 per month (billed annually) 30GB to 540 GB SSD or NVMe SSD Dedicated IP, 24/7 site monitoring, month-to-month plans available View More
TMDHosting 3.9 4-removebg-preview Around INR 487.66 per month (with 36-month term) Unlimited Unlimited bandwidth, free domain, 60-day guarantee View More
Hostwinds 3.8 4-removebg-preview Around INR 0.549649 per hour 30GB to 750GB Nightly backups, free website transfer, load balancers View More
SiteGround 3.8 4-removebg-preview Around INR 8,191 per month 40GB to 160GB Fully managed service, automatic scaling, free CDN View More
GoDaddy 3.7 3.5-removebg-preview INR 219 per month (with 36-month term) 10GB to 100GB Unmetered bandwidth, daily backups and up to 100 databases View More
Interserver 3.7 3.5-removebg-preview Around INR 491 per month 30GB SSD to 16TB HDD 16 plan levels, root access, no contracts View More
ScalaHosting 3.6 3.5-removebg-preview Around INR 2,453 per month 50GB to 200GB 24/7 management, free SSL certificates and daily disaster recovery backups View More

What Is Cloud Hosting?

Traditional web hosting places all your website resources on a single server. That server may be fully dedicated to your site’s assets (dedicated hosting services), or host several websites simultaneously (shared hosting services). The problem with shared and dedicated hosting is that if the server goes down or encounters a hack, your website will be negatively impacted and could go down altogether.

Cloud hosting uses a network of servers to host your website and data. Should one server experience a failure of any kind, another server steps in to assure your website is secure and available to all those who want to access it.

How Does Cloud Hosting Work?

In the cloud, a pool of servers share resources, including CPU, RAM and storage, which exponentially increases the flexibility and scalability you can achieve. Redundancy is built into cloud hosting, which means the chances of your website going down—or performing below acceptable performance standards because of a hardware issue—diminish considerably.

Some cloud hosting providers even offer a 99.999% or greater uptime guarantee, which translates to less than six minutes of downtime per year.

Top 10 Benefits of Cloud Hosting

Choosing cloud hosting over dedicated or shared hosting services has several benefits. Here are the 10 top benefits of cloud hosting:

1. Increased security: Your files are available on several servers and not stored in a single vulnerable location.

2. Scalability: Since you are no longer confined to one server, there is no limit to how you can scale and expand your website or websites.

3. Reliability: Most cloud hosting providers guarantee exceptional uptime—often 99.999%.

4. Flexibility: Choose the resource capacity and features you need rather than being stuck with pricey capabilities you don’t need.

5. Speed: Cloud server providers are known for delivering superfast site loading speeds.

6. Affordability: There are cloud hosting plans on the market for just about any budget.

7. Easy website setup: Cloud hosting deployment is relatively straightforward, and most providers offer site migration assistance.

8. Better user experience: A fast-loading website makes for a great experience for your site visitors.

9. Redundant servers: Should one cloud server fail, another server ensures your site remains accessible.

10. Disaster recovery: In the event of data loss due to unavoidable circumstances—such as natural disasters or a destructive security breach—top-notch cloud hosts provide exemplary recovery processes.

Disadvantages of Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting costs more than shared hosting, so it’s not a good fit for those on a shoestring budget. Also, cloud hosting is internet-dependent; thus, if the internet goes down, you will not have access to your data during the internet outage.

Cloud hosting does not protect you entirely from cyberattacks; however, since you’re not dependent on a single location for data storage, cloud hosting can help make those attacks less impactful.

The most significant disadvantage of cloud hosting is that you are completely dependent on your hosting service provider. This is why it’s so important to go with a reliable provider that has a solid reputation for quality, security and delivering on its promises.

How To Choose the Best Cloud Hosting Provider

The best cloud hosting provider for you is the one that meets your unique business requirements thoroughly. You must evaluate cloud hosting services based both on your current needs and your goals for the future.

Some cloud hosting features, such as free migration and domains, are nice-to-have bonuses, but aren’t always necessary. Other features, such as security and reliable uptime, are non negotiable when it comes to choosing a provider.

We suggest you take a close look at data storage, speed and performance, security, pricing and customer support when choosing a cloud hosting service.

Data Storage

Before committing to a hosting contract, users need to know how much storage is available and how easy or difficult it is to scale up or down as needed. These terms should be clearly outlined on the provider’s website and available to anyone vetting its services.

Some hosting providers such as HostGator, MochaHost and TMDHosting offer unlimited storage. Other hosting services provide 25GB to 50GB of storage on starter plans, but offer expanded capacity in the range of 100GB to 16TB on top-tier plans.

If you suspect you might require storage capacity beyond what a provider has outlined in its standard plans, you can reach out directly to ask what it would cost to acquire more storage. Most companies offer additional storage for an add-on fee.

Speed and Performance

Several factors impact a site’s speed and overall performance. Poor website design is the main culprit that slows down sites, but other factors, such as inadequate CPU capacity, can negatively impact your website’s user experience.

With HostGator, you can choose from three plans that offer two to six CPU cores, which could be ideal for most small to midsize websites. Both InterServer’s and SiteGround’s top plans max out at 16 CPU cores, which makes these solution providers better for data-intensive websites.

RAM capacity can also have a big impact on site speed and performance. Generally speaking, more memory makes for a faster site. This is particularly important for sites that contain large files.

IONOS is a terrific example of a cloud hosting service that lets you scale memory according to your needs. The IONOS starter plan comes with a mere 512MB of RAM, while the IONOS top plan offers 48GB of RAM.

Security

Whether your website is for casual blogging or big business plans, hosting security needs to be top-notch. To start, you’ll need an SSL certificate, but you also need to assess the hosting vendors’ reputation for compliance and cloud security features.

Specifically, look for how data is protected in transit and at rest, how user identity is authenticated, data encryption standards and cloud server firewalls. Select a provider that offers built-in tools and solid processes for combating phishing, viruses, spyware, worms, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks and other security threats to your website.

Pricing Plans

Cloud hosting pricing should always be transparent and straightforward, with plans easily available for browsing and comparison. Users must decide which features they need, how much scalability they want and what type of contract will work best for them.

Customer Support

Every hosting provider will brag about its excellent customer support, but users must dig deeper during the research phase. If 24/7 service is advertised, does that mean live support? Chat? Video? Phone? The types being offered might make all the difference.

What Does Cloud Hosting Cost?

Cloud hosting providers typically offer a variety of server plans to accommodate various budget levels. Memory, CPU and storage capacity offered have the greatest influence over the price you’ll pay for cloud hosting; the more resources you need, the more you’ll pay.

Some vendors charge on a per-month basis, where you get the best price by committing to a multi-year plan. MochaHost’s plans start at just INR 187 per month with a three-year commitment. SiteGround’s plans start at around INR 8,191 per month.

Other cloud hosting providers charge by the hour. Hostwinds starter plan is around INR 0.549649 per hour. With the IONOS starter plan, you pay around INR 0.81 per hour with a max out-of-pocket fee of around INR 327 per month.

Given the wide range of pricing options on the market, it pays to shop around. Also, when committing to a contract, expect renewal prices to be 25% to 50% more than introductory prices.

Methodology

To choose the best cloud hosting options for this roundup, Forbes Advisor India compared each service based on important factors such as overall value, ease of use, popularity and variety of features offered. We ranked each hosting service based on a five-star rating system, with the highest score being five stars.

Here’s what we looked at to compile each category’s rankings.

Pricing

Cloud hosting services can be costly, no question. Our goal was to provide the top hosts that reflect a range of prices. Paying more means additional features which you may or may not need. We looked at each provider’s starting price, what it charged customers to renew once the initial contract ended, how many sites were covered under the plan, if it offered a money-back guarantee and how long that guarantee was for. This accounted for 10% of our weighted scoring.

Features

A key feature we looked for in a cloud hosting service was an uptime guarantee. We have only listed services with excellent uptime rates, which is one of the main reasons to move to a cloud hosting provider. Another essential feature of most hosting providers is customer support. We looked at services and compared them based on their customer support options, including whether clients have access to live customer support and if it is available 24/7.

We also compared cloud hosting services based on additional functions, giving preference to ones that offer features that should be standard. These include a free SSL certificate, SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth and storage, cPanel availability, free business email address, website builder, content delivery network (CDN), automatic backups and more. We weighted features at 50% of our total score.

Third-Party Reviews

We wanted to know what actual users of these services thought of the providers, so we turned to third-party review websites, such as Trustpilot, to gauge actual responses by users. We looked for reviews that scored at least 3.5 out of 5 on these sites and positive reviews that numbered at least 300 for each provider. Those with fewer than that number scored lower in our ratings. These reviews accounted for 10% of the total score.

Expert Analysis

Continuing with customer reviews, our team of experts looked at several factors important to cloud hosting users, such as ease of use. We looked for cloud hosting services that are easy to use and navigate. We also compared providers based on setup difficulty, giving preference to platforms that require minimal time to launch and offer third-party integrations. Other factors considered by our experts included value for the money, stand-out features and the popularity of the service. This analysis made up 30% of the total score.

Forbes Advisor adheres to strict editorial integrity standards. To the best of our knowledge, all content is accurate as of the date posted, though offers contained herein may no longer be available. The opinions expressed are the author’s alone and have not been provided, approved, or otherwise endorsed by our partners.

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What is the best cloud hosting service?

The best cloud hosting providers are HostGator, IONOS and DreamHost. Each service solution offers a strong value for the number and quality of critical hosting features provided and the level of service delivered.

What types of cloud hosting are available?

How is the cloud backed up?

When should I upgrade to a cloud host?

What is managed cloud hosting?

What's the difference between VPS and cloud hosting?

Is cloud hosting secure?

Is cloud hosting better than shared hosting?

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