📋 Best Hosting Cheat Sheet

By Tech & SaaS Stack — Independent hosting reviews since 2025.

Quick Decision Framework

If You Need...	Best Choice	Why
Budget shared hosting	SiteGround	WP.org recommended, free SSL/backups, great support
Price lock guarantee	InterServer	$2.50/mo forever, unlimited NVMe/bandwidth
Pay-as-you-go cloud	Cloudways	Hourly billing, DO/Vultr/Linode/AWS/GCP, free migrations
Managed VPS + custom panel	ScalaHosting	SPanel (cPanel alt), SShield security, NVMe
Premium managed WP	Kinsta	Google Cloud C2, 260+ PoPs, auto-scaling, free migrations

Hosting Comparison at a Glance

Provider	Type	Starting Price	Key Feature	Best For
SiteGround	Shared	$2.99/mo	WP.org recommended	Beginners, small sites
InterServer	Shared/VPS	$2.50/mo	Price lock forever	Long-term savings
Cloudways	Cloud/VPS	$11/mo	Hourly billing, any cloud	Developers, agencies
ScalaHosting	Managed VPS	$29.95/mo	SPanel + SShield	Privacy, control
Kinsta	Managed WP	$35/mo	Google Cloud C2, 35k visits	High-traffic, ecommerce

Red Flags to Avoid

Unlimited everything (usually means throttled)
No free SSL (Let's Encrypt is free)
No staging environment (critical for safe updates)
Forced annual contracts (no monthly option)
Hidden renewal pricing (intro vs. renewal gap > 50%)
No free migrations (you'll pay $100-300)
EIG-owned brands (Bluehost, HostGator, iPage — often overloaded)

Essential Features Checklist

Feature	Must Have?	Notes
Free SSL (Let's Encrypt)	✅ Yes	Auto-renew
Daily automated backups	✅ Yes	14-30 day retention
Staging environment	✅ Yes	One-click push to live
Free site migrations	✅ Yes	Saves $100-300
24/7 expert support	✅ Yes	Chat preferred
CDN included	✅ Yes	Cloudflare or similar
Malware scanning	✅ Yes	Automated
PHP 8.2+ support	✅ Yes	Performance + security
WP-CLI / SSH access	For devs	Essential for workflow

Quick Questions to Ask Before Buying

What's the REAL renewal price? (Not intro price)
Is staging included on ALL plans?
How many CPU cores / RAM guaranteed? (Not "shared")
What's the backup retention period?
Can I pay monthly?
Do you own your data centers or resell?
What's your uptime SLA? (99.9% minimum)
Free migrations — any limits?

My Top 3 Recommendations

🥇 SiteGround — Best Overall Value

WP.org officially recommended
Free SSL, daily backups, SuperCacher, staging
$2.99/mo intro, ~$14.99/mo renewal
Best for: Beginners, small business, blogs

🥈 InterServer — Best Price Lock

$2.50/mo FOREVER (shared), VPS from $6/mo
Unlimited NVMe SSD, bandwidth, email
30-day money-back, price lock guarantee
Best for: Long-term projects, budget-conscious

🥉 Cloudways — Best for Developers/Agencies

Hourly billing on DO/Vultr/Linode/AWS/GCP
Free migrations, staging, Cloudflare CDN, SSL
$11/mo (1GB RAM), pay only for what you use
Best for: Agencies, high-traffic, multi-site

Quick Links

Resource	Link
Full Hosting Reviews	techsaasstack.com
Best Deals Page	/best-deals/
How We Test	/how-we-test/
Privacy Policy	/privacy/
Contact	jon.techsaasstack@gmail.com