We signed up with the basic shared hosting plans at major providers, and compared their affordability, features like SSD storage, bandwidth etc.
Based on our research, HostAfrica is one of the best local Web Host to choose from based on 9 factors. Read the comparison below of each web host we signed up with.
List of Best Web Hosting Companies in South Africa
- HostAfrica – Best Web Hosting South Africa Overall
- Hostinger – Best Cheap Web Hosting South Africa
- BlueHost – Best Web Hosting for WordPress
- Namecheap – Good Web Hosting at Cheap Price for 1 Year
- HostGator – Web Hosting with Discount for Long Term Plans
- co.za – Local Web Hosting in South Africa
In our tests, we checked by signup for the starting hosting plan with each of these web hosting companies, and installed WordPress.
We checked the server speed, customer support for WordPress related issues, security of the server, latency from different locations.
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HostAfrica – Best Web Hosting South Africa Overall
HostAfrica is a local web host, based in Cape Town, South Africa. They have acquired multiple hosting providers in the region recently and have over 20,000 hosted websites on their servers.
They offer cPanel web hosting, VPS hosting as well as Reseller Hosting. Their servers are located in South Africa, so the websites would load faster for local visitors.
Their hosting plans are clear & simple. The lowest monthly cost is R99/mo. You can host 2 websites on that plan and create 25 email accounts.
Their plans include a free .co.za domain registration (even with monthly plan), free SSL certificate, daily backups. You can pay extra for more storage with any plans.
The uptime at HostAfrica is okay, and we had nearly 99.79% uptime during our tests. The support is local, and you can speak to local agents.
| 👍 HostAfrica Pros | 👎 HostAfrica Cons |
| Websites are hosted locally on South African servers, so they would load faster for local traffic. | Limited inodes with Shared Hosting |
| Offers cPanel control panel with all hosting plans | No Unlimited bandwidth |
| Hosting plans are affordable with monthly pricing. | You can only host 2 websites on the Starter plan. For hosting more websites, you would need to buy higher plans. |
| WordPress websites are allowed on all Shared Hosting plans. | Websites are slow to load from outside Africa. |
| 25 Custom emails allowed on Starter plan | |
| Websites are hosted on SSD storage-based servers, so the load time would be less | |
| Daily Backups are available & included with all the hosting plans. | |
| Free SSL is included for all hosted domains | |
| Hosting support is good, and their agents are also based in South Africa & India |
Check the Hosting plans & features on of R99/mo plan HostAfrica’s website
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Hostinger – Best Low-Cost Web Hosting South Africa
Hostinger is a popular foreign web host that is also available in South Africa. They have very affordable web hosting plans when you are buying for multiple years.
Their initial shared hosting plan starts from R36/mo. if you are buying for 4 years. The cost is higher at R180/mo. for the monthly plan.
You can host only 1 website on this plan, with 50GB SSD storage, Unmetered bandwidth. An important point to note is that you can only host a single email account.
Also, Hostinger does not offer cPanel, so if you are a webmaster not familier with other panels, this might be a con for you.
Hostinger’s servers are not located in South Africa, so the latency is higher (slower websites in SA). Their servers are based in Europe, which would increase the latency for South African visitors on your website.
The customer support at Hostinger is good & it is available via live chat and email.
| 👍 Hostinger Pros | 👎 Hostinger Cons
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| Their web hosting is good for WordPress & hosted in Litespeed servers | Hostinger does not support the cPanel control panel. They have their own control panel. |
| Websites are hosted in SSD servers with Litespeed for faster websites | Hostinger does not have local servers colocated in South Africa. Their data centers are located outside of South Africa, so the websites will load slower in SA. |
| Unlimited Bandwidth is allowed. | Only allowed 1 email & 1 website with starter plan. |
| Daily automatic backups are available on higher plans, but these are more expensive | Limited inodes, so no unlimited storage. |
| Free SSL is available for all hosted websites. | Customer support agents are not South African |
| Good Customer support | Expensive lowest pricing of R180/mo. if you are paying monthly |
| Hosting plans are cheap when you are buying for 4 years. |
Visit Hostinger’s website for their R36/mo. hosting plans
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Domains.co.za – Local Web Hosting in South Africa
Domains.co.za is owned & operated by Diametrix, and they are one of the largest web hosting providers in South Africa. This is based on the total number of websites hosted on their servers.
Their Shared web hosting plans are affordable, and you can pay locally in ZAR. They offer hosting plans starting from R109/month for 10GB SSD storage & 5 hosted websites on a DirectAdmin control panel.
They also have cPanel plans starting from R119/month, with Litespeed webservers.
In terms of website speed, Domains.co.za has their servers hosted in datacenters located in Johannesburg and Cape Town, which ensures low latency for South African visitors. If you have a website with local traffic, then you should prefer this option.
They claim to offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and we did not experience much downtime on their servers.
The support at Diametrix is local as they have a South African team, local phone number & live chat on their website.
| 👍 Domains.co.za Pros | 👎 Domains.co.za Cons |
| The hosting plans are of same pricing for monthly & yearly. Also, for renewal, so there are no surprises. | No free domain with hosting packages |
| You can host up to 5 websites on initial plan | cPanel hosting plans are more expensive. By default, you are hosted in DirectAdmin control panel servers
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| The websites are hosting in data centers in South Africa | Limited disk space of 10 GB & lower inodes for entry-level hosting plans
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| SSD storage is available with all hosting plans. | Limited server resources with Shared Hosting plans |
| There is a 60-days money-back guarantee with all hosting plans | |
| Create up to 100 emails with entry plan | |
| Daily Backups are available |
How to Choose the Best Web Hosting Company in South Africa
Here are some important factors that we looked during our research & you should check when comparing web hosts in South Africa:
Server Location (in South Africa or Outside):
When choosing a web hosting provider in South Africa, consider the location of their servers. This choice will depend on your traffic, does your website serve South African users, or global.
Hosting your website on a server located in South Africa will provide faster loading speeds to visitors who visit from SA. But if your website is hosted on servers in UK for example, it will load slower in South Africa, but fast in the UK.
Depending on which region your traffic comes from, choose your server location accordingly.
Only a few local hosts have local servers, for example, HostAfrica, Domains.co.za & Xneelo offer servers in Johannesburg and Cape Town, ensuring fast loading speeds for your website for local visitors.
You should check the location of the web host’s datacenter. For example, below is the press release of the HostAfrica’s datacenter in Johannesburg.
But if you are a blogger, who’s blog gets traffic from the US & other regions, consider a provider who has servers in that region.
Uptime Guarantee & Actual Uptime
An uptime guarantee is very important as this will ensure that you don’t face downtime.
Note that any downtime from software issues, like an issue with your WordPress does not fall under downtime of the servers. The web host must ensure that their webservers are not down, and if there is any issue with any website, the support should offer help.
All the hosts that we have compared have good uptime, and most are above 99.6%. Although this is low, for general websites, any uptime above 99.85% should be considered good.
Local Customer Support:
Only local providers like HostAfrica have their support agents in South Africa. The foreign hosting providers are not local, so there is no local support.
But for most issues, live chat & email support is important. During our tests, Hostinger & BlueHost had good support, and we got answers to our queries within a few minutes even during the nighttime.
cPanel Control Panel:
cPanel is the most popular control panel for managing web hosting accounts, creating emails, managing addons etc.
But some Hosting providers offer their own panels, or charge extra for cPanel hosting. For example, Domains.co.za offers DirectAdmin control panel instead of cPanel, with their main plans. Their cPanel plans are priced higher.
You can see in the screenshot above, that the control panel is not cPanel. So you must check this before you sign up with any hosting company.
Similarly, Godaddy & Hostinger don’t support cPanel. If you are comfortable with only cPanel, they you should check that it is supported or not.
Free SSL:
SSL is important to secure the data transfer with your website, and also for SEO. Most providers now offer free SSL, and auto-SSL or LetsEncrypt is also available in cPanel.
Check if your provider charges any extra cost for SSL. This is a red flag.
Free Backups
Does your web hosting company offer backups in case you run into some issue with your data. Is there any extra cost for it?
Ask these questions. They verify before buying the plan. For example, HostAfrica supports free backups as mentioned on their website.
After verifying that backups are available, check the policy related to backups. Is it weekly, daily or monthly. For how long is the data retained?
Total Cost & Features
The cost which you end up paying is an essential factor to consider when choosing a web hosting provider.
The lowest price we found was N36/mo. at Hostinger with their 4-year plan. But for monthly plans, HostAfrica is affordable for their features.
If you want to host multiple websites on the plan, and host emails, you should check that & then compare the costs, if you had to buy these services as a standalone.
Comparison of Best Web Hosting Company in South Africa
| Web Host | Local Servers in SA | Lowest Hosting Price | Uptime | Storage with Initial Plan |
| HostAfrica | Yes (Johannesburg) | R99/mo. for Starter plan | 99.87% | 20 GB SSD |
| Namecheap | No | Approx. R35/mo. for first year with Stellar Plan | 99.9% | 20 GB SSD |
| Hostinger | No | R35/mo. on promo | 99.95% | 50 GB SSD |
| Hostgator | No | Approx. R55/mo. with introductory offer | 99.9% | 10 GB SSD |
| BlueHost | No | R55/mo. for Basic plan | 99.9% | 10 GB SSD |
| Domains.co.za | Yes | R119/mo. for Starter Plan | NA | 10 GB SSD |
Facts about Web Hosting in South Africa
| ✅ Cheapest Local Web Host | HostAfrica from R99/mo. |
| 👍 Best Web Hosting for features | Hostinger |
| 💻 Local Servers in South Africa | Yes, for some providers |
| 🎛️ Available Control Panels | cPanel, DirectAdmin, Proprietary |
| 🖥️ Webservers Available | Apache, Litespeed |
Frequently Asked Questions – Web Hosting South Africa
Which is the Best Web Hosting in South Africa?
There is no single best web hosting company. HostAfrica is a good option for affordable cPanel hosting on local servers in South Africa. Hostinger offers cheaper hosting for multi-year plans, but their servers are outside South Africa.
You should decide based on multiple factors.
How Much Does Web Hosting Cost in South Africa?
Shared hosting starts from around R100/month for most hosting companies in SA.
But if you are buying for the long term, then the pricing can be lower. For example, N36 per month at Hosting with 48 months (4 years) plan.
But you would have to pay R200-R400/month for mid-range plans if your website gets more traffic. Or you would need to buy VPS hosting which is more expensive.
Which is the Cheapest Web Hosting in South Africa?
Some of the cheapest shared hosting providers in South Africa are Hostinger (from R36/month), HostAfrica (R99/mo.), Domains.co.za (from R109/month), and Namecheap (from R35 month for first year).
But you should check the overall features with each plan before choosing any provider.
Which Hosting Providers Offer cPanel in South Africa?
Local web host HostAfrica, and foreign web hosts HostGator, BlueHost offer cPanel with their shared hosting plans.
Godaddy, Hostinger have their own custom control panels.
