Many hosting solutions are available and it is not always easy to make a choice. Indeed, little information on Joomla's resource consumption is available and it is always difficult to know on what server resources focus and what are the best hosts.
Having try many hosts through my various Joomla projects, I think I finally clearly identified the servers on which I would install my future Joomla Web sites (and next versions of NosyWeb.fr 8-) ).
Podium of the best Joomla web hosts
If you are web integrator using Joomla, thereby understand if you are not a developer/programmer or a network administrator, but you are using Joomla, the following three hosts are probably the best alternatives on the market.
In the third place, I would choose CloudAccess.net. Recently elected hosting No. 1 by the international Joomla community, we are here on an almost 100% accommodation designed for Joomla! Unfortunately, the problem is the price. Expect to pay $ 19.99/month minimum, and administration server is a bit complex for a novice.
In the second place, I would choose 1and1 thanks to two non-negligible arguments : unbeatable price / performance and free support. The first argument about the price is especially on their dedicated offers. So with their key-in-hand solution, it allows you to have a dedicated server AND outsourcing for only 59.99 $. For comparison, if you are not network administrator and do not know how to deploy a dedicated server and manage its maintenance, it will cost several hundred dollars per month in the competition (including OVH) to outsource this kind of service and have the equivalent of a key-in-hand ... In summary, if you need a powerful server because your website traffic starts to be important, you should necessarily switch to a dedicated server. Without knowledge in network administration, 1and1 seems to be the best choice.
In the first place, I would choose SiteGround which combines the advantages of the previous two hosts (except the 1and1's dedicated offers) with Joomla optimized servers and support / customer service as we rarely see. Icing on the cake, it offers a free migration from your Joomla website to your new SiteGround hosting.
I invite you to read the rest of this article where I describe specifically the reasons for my choice for SiteGround.
SiteGround : Optimized environment for the Joomla CMS
I recently discovered the performance of Siteground.com, already known for its large free Joomla templateslibrary which offers Joomla-optimized shared hosting and dedicated servers, with a very low price especially on shared hosting.
SiteGround offers a bespoke hosting service for Joomla and is hosting about 80 000 Joomla Websites. The service offers secure configuration for Joomla, excellent loading speed (Good point for SEO) and Joomla-specialized support that often surpasses services provided by many so-called "Joomla-specialized" companies.
Joomla's regular users, like me :-), and key members recommend this type of hosting and are overwhelmingly satisfied with SiteGround services. Furthermore, they recently (June 2013) improve safety, speed and support of their servers through new infrastructure and new offerings.
More secure Joomla website with SiteGround
Siteground.com protects Joomla on 3 levels with the help of their internal security technologies and continuous monitoring of the security status. Each Joomla website installed by SiteGround (because it offers an integrated installer if needed :-) ) has a "built-In" protection against the most common forms of hacker attacks.
This protection is actually provided by their free extension jHackGuard, available in JED and providing protection against :
- XSS attacks
- SQL injections
- Inclusions files
In the context of shared servers, the accounts are isolated from each other and the vulnerability of Joomla a website will not affect the other ones.
Finally, if a major vulnerability appears in Joomla or one of its tools, SiteGround applies security patches and sometimes even before their official release.
Also, I recommand Admin Tools Professionnel to enhance your Joomla website, and its complementarity with Akeeba Backup makes it an essential extension.
Faster Joomla website with SiteGround
Speed tests were realized with a single Joomla installation and simple data on 14 major hosting companies (dont GoDaddy, BlueHost, HostGator,...) and 3 Joomla-specialized hosting companies (Rochen, iRedHost and CloudAccess). This ones offer better results than the majority of general hosting providers, however, the best performance was by far achieved by SiteGround :
Comparative servers' speed for Joomla!
I have personally notice speeds up to three times faster with SiteGround against 1and1 et OVH. All on shared hosting in equal monthly price (about 5 € / month).
Oriented support and Joomla expert with SiteGround
Unlike most general hosting service supports, which can not know everything, SiteGround offers Joomla-specialized support and you're sure to have someone trained in Joomla and often active in the Joomla community.
Apart CloudAccess.net which is specialized to Joomla, this is a rather rare and is very convenient. For example : I turn on caching on my Joomla website and I one of my extensions do not work. I'll be able to contact the SiteGround support that will do everything to solve it.
Icing on the cake, this support is free and the Speed is quite exceptional to be said. Here's a quick summary of the waiting time based on channel you choose :
As you can see, in addition to providing 3 channels including a chat, very convenient when you want to take the time to formulate your problem and having a constructive dialogue, waiting times are exceptionally low and away from several hours it takes with OVH !
Anyway, from my point of view, when you choose a host, the quality of support is critical especially when you are only a Joomla integrator without technical skills. I am very happy with SiteGround and I'm not the only one (see the returns on the french NosyWeb forum). See an example.
High quality webinars on Joomla!
Finally, SiteGround also offers free webinars to its users (which I participated) to help them develop a powerful Joomla website.
The latest is on the topic of the optimization of the display speed of a Joomla website, in which we can learn manipulations to be undertaken to achieve optimum results :
| Optimization of the display speed (PPT) | Optimization of the display speed (Youtube) |
|---|---|
The last Webinars SiteGround on Joomla took place on 12 and 19 June respectively on the topic of security and the extension : Akeeba Backup. You'll find them on YouTube.
The international Joomla community recommend SiteGround
People that are very influential in the Joomla Community like Nicholas Dionysopoulos recommend SiteGround :
Admin Tools and Akeeba Backup developer, I think we can believe him !
Note that Brian Teeman, Joomla's co-founder, recommends SiteGround to his professional relations, as he did recently with Peter van Westen, founder of NoNumber.nl and Joomla extensions developer as Sourcerer, Tabs, Sliders, ReReplacer, Content Templater, Advanced Module Manager, ...
Additional Information
- I recommend StartUp plan to begin knowing that it is very easy to upgrade later
- Find SiteGround offers on their official website
