Choose Hostinger if your priority is the lowest total cost over several years; choose SiteGround if you want a higher-priced host with staging, on-demand backups and a clearer traffic guide on its plan pages. On the vendors’ own UK pricing pages, Hostinger’s entry plan renews at £7.99 a month and SiteGround’s at £13.99 a month. That renewal gap, more than the introductory prices, decides which one is cheaper for most buyers.
Disclosure: URIVIO may earn a commission if you buy through some links on this site. That never changes how we rank or describe a product. See our affiliate disclosure.
Quick verdict
- Cheaper over three years: Hostinger, on every like-for-like tier we compared.
- Better fit for sites that need staging and tiered backups: SiteGround GrowBig or GoGeek, where staging is listed as included.
- Better for a single small site on a tight budget: Hostinger Single, provided weekly backups are acceptable.
- Biggest catch with both: introductory prices are tied to a prepaid term, and both hosts raise the price at renewal.
This is a comparison of the vendors’ published plans, not a hands-on test. We have not benchmarked speed or uptime for either host, so we make no performance claims here.
Hostinger vs SiteGround: side-by-side comparison
Figures below come from each vendor’s UK shared hosting page, checked on 8 October 2026. Both pages show prices excluding VAT, in GBP.
| Plan | Intro price (per month) | Renewal price (per month) | Key limits | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger Single | £1.49 (48-month term, £71.52 upfront) | £7.99 | 1 website, 10 GB SSD, weekly backups, 1 free mailbox | Priority 24/7 support |
| Hostinger Premium | £2.99 (48-month term, £143.52 upfront) | £10.99 | 3 websites, 20 GB SSD, weekly backups | Priority 24/7 support |
| Hostinger Unlimited | £3.99 (48-month term, £191.52 upfront) | £13.99 | Unlimited websites, 50 GB NVMe, daily backups | Priority 24/7 support |
| SiteGround StartUp | £1.99 (12-month prepaid term) | £13.99 | 1 website, 10 GB storage, about 10,000 visits a month, daily backups with 30-day history | 24/7 support |
| SiteGround GrowBig | £3.99 (12-month prepaid term) | £23.99 | Unlimited websites, 50 GB storage, about 100,000 visits a month, staging, on-demand backups | 24/7 support |
| SiteGround GoGeek | £5.99 (12-month prepaid term) | £34.99 | Unlimited websites, 100 GB storage, 400,000+ visits a month, staging with Git, on-demand backups | 24/7 support plus priority support |
Date checked: 8 October 2026. Both vendors list a 30-day money-back guarantee. Both include free SSL and a CDN.
Key differences that affect your decision
Renewal pricing
Hostinger’s introductory rate is available on a 48-month term, so you lock in a low price for four years before renewal. SiteGround’s introductory rate covers 12 months. After that, SiteGround’s listed renewal rates are higher than Hostinger’s at every comparable tier: £13.99 against £7.99 for the entry plan, and £23.99 against £13.99 for the mid-range plans.
Visitor guidance
SiteGround publishes approximate monthly visit figures per plan in its FAQ: about 10,000, about 100,000 and 400,000 or more. Hostinger’s page does not list bandwidth per plan and notes that unlimited features are subject to its Fair Usage Policy. If you want a number to plan around, SiteGround is more explicit. If you are wary of how “unlimited” is applied, our guide on what unlimited hosting actually limits explains what to check.
Backups and staging
Hostinger’s Single and Premium plans list weekly backups; daily backups start on Unlimited. SiteGround lists daily backups with a 30-day history on StartUp, and adds on-demand backups and staging from GrowBig. Hostinger’s page does not list staging in the sections we reviewed, so we leave it out of the comparison rather than guess.
Storage
Hostinger’s Unlimited plan lists 50 GB of NVMe storage, the same capacity as SiteGround GrowBig at 50 GB of premium Google storage. The storage types are described differently by each vendor, so do not treat the labels as a performance ranking.
Plan structure and upgrade path
Hostinger’s shared range runs Single, Premium and Unlimited, and the page also groups a Cloud Startup plan beside them at £7.99 a month intro and £20.99 renewal. SiteGround keeps three shared tiers. In both cases the first upgrade matters: moving from a one-site plan to an unlimited-site plan is the step where renewal costs rise fastest, so decide early how many sites you expect to run.
Which is better for your use case?
| Use case | Better pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| One small brochure site or portfolio | Hostinger Single | Lowest entry price and renewal; weekly backups are the trade-off. |
| Several small sites | Hostinger Premium or Unlimited | Three or unlimited sites at a lower renewal than SiteGround’s unlimited-site plans. |
| Business site that you edit often | SiteGround GrowBig | Staging and on-demand backups are listed on the plan. |
| Developer workflow using Git | SiteGround GoGeek | Staging with Git is listed on this tier. |
| Lowest long-term cost | Hostinger | Lower renewal prices and a longer price lock. |
| Traffic planning with stated visit levels | SiteGround | Approximate monthly visits are published per plan. |
Three-year cost comparison
Hosting is where introductory pricing misleads most. The table below uses the monthly rates on each vendor’s page and assumes you stay for 36 months. For SiteGround, we assume one 12-month intro term followed by two years at the listed renewal price. For Hostinger, the cost is the intro monthly rate for 36 months. In practice Hostinger charges the full 48-month term upfront, so the cash you pay on day one is higher than the 36-month figure; the final column shows that. These are our calculations from published rates, excluding VAT, and ignore any domain, add-on or future price change.
| Comparable tier | Hostinger, 36 months at intro rate | Hostinger, 48-month upfront payment | SiteGround, 36 months (12 months intro, 24 renewal) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Entry (Single vs StartUp) | £53.64 | £71.52 | £359.64 |
| Mid (Unlimited vs GrowBig) | £143.64 | £191.52 | £623.64 |
| Top (Unlimited vs GoGeek) | £143.64 | £191.52 | £911.64 |
Even if you compare Hostinger’s full upfront payment with SiteGround’s three-year spend, Hostinger costs less on every row. The mid-range and top rows both use Hostinger Unlimited because it is the closest Hostinger plan with unlimited sites and daily backups; GoGeek offers more storage and staging with Git, so the top row is not a perfect match.
Limitations of each host
Hostinger
- The low price needs a 48-month commitment paid upfront, which is a large lock-in if your needs change.
- Weekly backups on Single and Premium may be too infrequent for a site that changes daily.
- Bandwidth is not stated per plan, and unlimited features fall under a Fair Usage Policy.
- Renewal prices are about five times the Single intro rate (£7.99 against £1.49).
SiteGround
- Renewal prices are high: £13.99, £23.99 and £34.99 a month for the three tiers.
- StartUp is limited to one website and about 10,000 visits a month, so growth pushes you up a tier quickly.
- Staging is not listed on StartUp.
- The intro price only covers a 12-month prepaid term, so the price jump arrives sooner.
Best for Hostinger
Hostinger suits site owners who know they will keep a site for years, publish infrequently and want the lowest bill. A freelancer with a portfolio, a local business with a simple site, or someone running three small projects will find the Single, Premium or Unlimited plans easier on the budget. It is also the stronger choice if you are willing to accept weekly backups on lower tiers and manage your own plugin updates carefully.
Best for SiteGround
SiteGround suits owners who value features around change management: staging to test updates, on-demand backups before risky edits, and visit levels to plan around. A business site with regular updates, or a developer who wants Git on the plan, gets more from GrowBig or GoGeek. You pay for that convenience, particularly at renewal, so it makes most sense when a broken update would cost you more than the price gap.
Alternatives worth considering
- Best WordPress Hosting in 2026: if your site runs on WordPress and you want to compare more hosts before choosing.
- Best WooCommerce Hosting in 2026: if you are building an online shop and need to weigh checkout performance and resource limits.
- Best VPS Hosting for Growing Websites in 2026: if you have outgrown shared hosting and want dedicated resources.
- Managed vs Shared Hosting: if you are not sure which type of plan you need.
Frequently asked questions
Is Hostinger cheaper than SiteGround?
Yes, on the vendors’ published UK pricing. Hostinger’s entry plan is £1.49 a month on a 48-month term and renews at £7.99; SiteGround’s entry plan is £1.99 a month on a 12-month term and renews at £13.99.
Do both prices include VAT?
No. Both UK pricing pages show prices excluding VAT, so your final basket may be higher.
Which host gives daily backups?
SiteGround lists daily backups with a 30-day history on all three shared plans. Hostinger lists weekly backups on Single and Premium and daily backups on Unlimited.
Is there a money-back guarantee?
Both vendors advertise a 30-day money-back guarantee on their pages. Check each vendor’s terms for what the guarantee covers, as we have not reviewed the refund terms in detail.
Which is better for a small business website?
It depends on how often you update the site. If it changes rarely and cost matters most, Hostinger’s lower tiers are enough. If you update often and want staging and on-demand backups, SiteGround GrowBig fits better, at a higher renewal price.
Before you buy either, check three things on the checkout page: the length of the term you are being quoted, the renewal price for that term, and whether any extras such as a domain or email are billed separately after the first year. Hostinger lists its free domain and mailboxes as free for one year on Premium and Unlimited, so budget for them in year two.
Final recommendation
For most UK buyers comparing these two on price, Hostinger is the better choice, because its lower renewal rates are the main reason the three-year totals above come out so far apart. The reasoning is simple: a hosting plan is a long-term cost, and the introductory price is only the first chapter of it.
Choose SiteGround when the features justify the premium. If you change the site often, need staging and want on-demand backups, GrowBig or GoGeek can be worth the extra cost, because they reduce the risk of a failed update. If you are not sure, start by deciding which backup and staging features you truly need, then compare the three-year total rather than the headline monthly price. Our Web Hosting Buying Guide for 2026 walks through that process.
Related reading: Best WordPress Hosting, Best SiteGround Alternatives and Cloudways Pricing Explained.
Sources
- Web Hosting – Fast, Secure & Affordable | Hostinger (Hostinger UK)
- Web Hosting Crafted For Top Website Performance & Speed – SiteGround (SiteGround UK)
Prices and features were checked against the vendors’ official pages on 8 October 2026 and can change; verify before buying.
