Pictures say thousands of words. If you are a photographer then you can relate to this;
Taking awesome photos is one thing and marketing them is another thing.
In this digital age, the best medium to showcase your skill is through the website. To have a website you need a hosting service. Since you are here so I assuming that you are searching for the best web hosting for photographers.
Through your website, you can sell stock photos, sell photography courses, show your photography portfolio, and much more. So let’s get started.
What is Web Hosting?
I should start the post with a list of the best web hosting services helpful for photographers. But I think you are the photographer so you don’t have a clear understanding of web hosting. Please don’t get me wrong.
Many photographers doubt why they need to have hosting. Curiosity is a good thing and you should be aware of what you are doing.
In plain English, hosting is like a storage space in your computer that stores all the files of your website. Instead of personal computers, hosting companies use servers to host your website files. You would get an admin panel (mostly cPanel) to manage your website files and backend.
When someone opens your website the required files would be retrieved and displayed. Your website would be functional all the time and ready to showcase your content. So this is a vital requirement for a photography website. Another important thing would be a domain name.
There are several types of web hosting and you would have the freedom to choose from them. It includes Shared, VPS, a Dedicated Server, and Managed WordPress hosting.
If you have not heard this before then it’s OK. You don’t have to dive deep into so many technical things.
In my opinion, you should start with Shared hosting plans. It is the most affordable and easy-to-use plan for your photography website.
List of Best Web Hosting For Photographers
There are many hosting services out there and one can easily get confused. We have done some research and come up with some of the best hosting services for photographers. Let’s check them.
Hosting | Starting Price | Storage | Bandwidth | Free Domain | Link |
1. A2 Hosting | $2.99/Month | 100 GB SSD | Unmetered | No | |
2. DreamHost | $2.59/Month | 50 GB SSD | Unmetered | Yes | |
3. BlueHost | $3.95/Month | 50 GB SSD | Unmetered | Yes | |
4. Siteground | $6.99/Month | 10 GB SSD | Unmetered | No | |
5. HostGator | $2.75/Month | Unlimited | Unmetered | Yes | |
6. GreenGeeks | $2.49/Month | Unlimited | Unmetered | Yes | |
7. Hostinger | $0.99/Month | 10 GB SSD | 100 GB | No |
1. A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is one of the best and high-quality web hosting service providers. It is also one of our personal favorites and has been used for many years.
It is packed with advanced security options and a garden of features. A2 Hosting has been around since 2001 and is mostly known for its 20X faster hosting.
A2 Hosting servers are equipped with SSD storage. So you can expect maximum speed and page loading time on it. Their average load time is 302ms. This is the fastest speed we have ever tested.
This hosting service provides 24/7 support through email, live chat, and phone. They also have a giant knowledge base for beginners. If you have any issue anywhere then head to the knowledge base and get the solution.
All the plans of A2 Hosting offer free site migration. If you have hosted your website anywhere then the A2 Hosting team of experts will move it.
Which A2 Hosting Plan To Choose?
There are many plans in A2 Hosting and I recommend you choose the StartUp Plan under shared hosting.
This plan allows you to host a single website. In addition to that, you would get 100 GB SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited emails, free SSL certificates, free Cloudflare CDN, free website builder, free website migration, and more. This plan costs $2.99 per month.
2. DreamHost
DreamHost has been in the hosting business for 25 years. Currently, they are hosting over 1.5 million domains worldwide.
It comes with an uptime guarantee like most other hosts and you will get free credit if your monthly average is down beneath that threshold. Now they are providing 99.94% uptime.
You would get an easy-to-use control panel to manage your website. In addition to that, there are many one-click installers like WordPress. You would get unlimited disk space and bandwidth.
DreamHost offers a free WP website builder feature. Its drag-and-drop editor allows you to create beautiful websites. You can also find the best theme for your photography website. It is one of the best features for beginners who don’t have coding knowledge.
Most of the hosting providers will give you a 30-day refund period. But DreamHost provides a 97-day money-back guarantee. It doesn’t have any hidden terms and conditions for this. If you are not satisfied with the service then ask for a refund.
Which DreamHost Plan To Choose?
DreamHost offers many plans for various types of hosting. But I recommend you choose the Shared Starter plan.
This plan allows you to host a single website. In addition to that, you would get unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, free automated WordPress migration, WP website builder, free SSL certificate, and more.
3. Bluehost
Bluehost is another well-known hosting company with hours of excellence. Currently, it is powering more than 2 million domain names. This shows the trustworthiness of the company and its best-in-class service.
The specially tuned servers for WordPress keep your website up and running. It pushes automatic WordPress core & plugin updates, website backups & security. So you don’t have to worry about technical things and focus on your photography business.
Bluehost is also known for its affordable hosting plans. As you are getting started with the photography journey then hosting would not make a hole in your wallet. Please note that cheap plans don’t mean the service is also low grade.
Site loading speed is called one of the most critical factors when choosing a host. Bluehost’s average page loading speed is 570ms as per our test websites.
Another biggest advantage of Bluehost is that you would get a free domain name. Each hosting plan allows you to buy a domain name free for 1 year. If you have not purchased a domain name for your photography blog then it would be great for you.
Which Bluehost Plan To Choose?
Bluehost offers a variety of hosting solutions and you can choose your own. But I recommend you choose the Basic Plan under shared hosting.
This plan allows you to host a single website. In addition to that, you would get 50 GB SSD disk space, unmetered bandwidth, a free SSL certificate, 1 domain name including 5 subdomains, free emails, and more. This plan costs $3.95 per month if you buy it for 3 years.
4. SiteGround
SiteGround is always counted in high-quality web hosting. It is also officially recommended by WordPress.org. So one should not raise any doubt about it.
SiteGround can be a good option for photography websites as it is easy to use and reliable. One of the biggest advantages of this hosting service is its infrastructure. They rely on the Google Cloud platform to create a powerful and technically advanced hosting service.
Google is known for its high-end security features and advanced infrastructure. So you can expect maximum website loading speed using this server. The average loading speed of the website is 653ms and it is quite impressive.
Google Chrome has started showing security warnings to people if a website they’re accessing doesn’t have a valid SSL certificate set up. So all the plans of SiteGround come with a free SSL certificate.
Another good news is that you would get free Cloudflare CDN (Content Delivery Network). CDN stores large files in different locations around the globe and serves them as users need. This enhances the user experience and you can get maximum speed.
Which SiteGround Plan To Choose?
There are many plans on SiteGround and I recommend you choose the StartUp Plan under Shared Hosting.
This plan allows you to host a single website. In addition to that, you would get 10 GB disk space, up to 10K monthly visitors, unmetered bandwidth, free SSL certificates, daily backup, free CDN, free emails, an unlimited database, and more. This plan costs $6.99 per month.
5. HostGator
HostGator is one of the biggest and oldest hosting companies. The company hosts over 10 million websites worldwide. It is one of the best web hosting for photographers.
HostGator has been delivering a strong 99.98% uptime over the last 24 months. Strong uptime ensures that your website will be always up and running.
They also offer a free domain name with a 1-year subscription. You must sign up for at least 12 months of Shared, WordPress, or Cloud hosting plans.
As you are the owner or soon-to-be owner of a rising photography website, you should focus on high-end hosting that can manage to deliver a large volume of high-quality images. HostGator provides enough bandwidth and speed for your website.
HostGator provides good customer support email, live chat, knowledge base, and phone calls. You would get a 45-day money-back guarantee with each plan. If you are not satisfied with their service then cancel it anytime and get a refund.
Which HostGator Plan To Choose?
Many hosting plans range in different categories. But I recommend you buy a Starter Plan under shared hosting.
You can host one website in this plan. In addition to that, you would get 10 GB SSD disk space, 100 GB bandwidth, 5 email accounts, unlimited databases, free SSL certificates, and more. This plan costs $2.75 per month.
6. GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks is hosting over 300,000 domains in data centers located in the US, Canada, and the Netherlands. Their servers operate on renewable energy and keep the environment Carbon free.
A 24-month industry analysis shows that they manage to maintain an average uptime of 99.98%. In some months it touched the cent percent mark.
To provide fast page loading and maximum redundancy their servers are equipped with Solid State RAID-10 storage arrays. When you would require more power you can easily upgrade the hosting plan.
Google is more geared towards fast-loading pages and mobile-first indexing. So you need to have great hosting with a properly optimized website. GreenGeek’s page loading time clocks in at around 440ms which is more than the industry average.
GreenGeeks also offers a free domain name with any hosting plan. If your website is already hosted in another hosting, they can transfer your website to their servers for free.
Which GreenGeek Plan To Choose?
GreenGeeks offers a variety of hosting plans. But I recommend you choose the Lite Plan under shared hosting.
This plan allows you to host a single website. In addition to that, you would get unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, a free SSL certificate, free CDN, daily backup, unlimited email accounts, unlimited database, LSCache, and more. This plan costs $2.49 per month.
7. Hostinger
Hostinger is known for its cheap hosting plans. They started in 2007 as a free web hosting service named 000webhost.com with no advertising. Then, in 2011 the Hostinger comes into existence.
They promised to provide great uptime and manages to maintain it. Fast load time is vital for a better user experience and you should not skip it. The high-end servers of Hostinger provide an average load time of 340ms.
Their servers are specially optimized for WordPress-based websites. You will get the best results with the LiteSpeed caching feature and custom built-in advanced optimization.
It also comes with a user-friendly control panel and a rich user experience. There are many one-click software installers for fast website management. So you can launch your new website within a few clicks.
You would get 24/7 customer support via email, live chat, and phone calls.
Which Hosting Plan To Choose?
Hostinger comes with every type of hosting you might need. But I recommend you choose the Premium Web Hosting plan under the shared hosting plan.
This plan allows you to host 100 websites. In addition to that, you would get 20 GB SSD disk space, free email accounts, free SSL certificates, free domain names, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited databases, and more. This plan costs $1.99 per month.
Conclusion
So these are some of the best web hostings for photographers. Some of them come with a free domain name. You can pick a domain name as a free add-on and get started. I have also mentioned the best plan to choose for each hosting.
So you won’t get confused at the time of purchase. Pick one of the above hostings and take your photography business online. It will open a wide range of opportunities for you.