| Rank | Provider | Compare | Monthly term | Refund | Disk space | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Read Review | $4.95 | 97 days | 50 GB | Visit Host |
| 2 |  | Read Review | $5.00 | 30 days | Unlimited | Visit Host |
| 3 | 
| Review soon | $2.88 | 30 days | 20 GB | Visit Host |
Disclosure: if you purchase through any links on this web page, I earn referral fees from partners. These fees do not influence my recommendations.
Other popular hosting providers and their one-month subscription prices:
| Monthly term | |
|---|---|
| Hostwinds | $8.99 |
| A2 Hosting | $9.99 |
| Hostgator | $10.95 |
| SiteGround | $3.95 + $14.95 set-up |
| WPX | $24.99 |
| WP Engine | $35.00 |
| Kinsta | $30.00 |
| LiquidWeb | $29.00 |
#1: DreamHost ($4.95/mo.)
DreamHost takes the lead with a first-term monthly price of $4.95 and no set-up fees.
Of course, if you aren’t happy with their service, you can request a refund. And in case you ever decide to go with their longer hosting terms, you’ll be happy to hear that DreamHost offers one of the longest money-back refund guarantees on the internet.
Surprisingly, DreamHost’s servers are remarkable at handling dozens of concurrent visitors. You definitely don’t expect such robustness at this price point.
Even more, they offer one of the cheapest annual plans and are on our list of hosts with the best email sending limits.
Basic plan highlights:
- Websites allowed: one
- Storage: 50 GB
- Bandwidth: unlimited
- Money-back guarantee: 97 days
- Live chat: 5:30 am to 9:30 PM PT
- DreamHost shared hosting review
#2: InterServer ($5/mo.)
InterServer offers a cheap monthly plan at $5. They also boast a price-lock guarantee, which means that you don’t have to worry about the fee going up if you decide to renew your subscription.
With InterServer, you get excellent website load speeds, impressive server uptimes, and access to some of the most knowledgeable and responsive live chat support agents we’ve encountered. You also get to host as many add-on domains as you’d like, which makes them one of the cheapest hosts with unlimited websites.
Even better, InterServer offers free student hosting.
Basic plan highlights:
- Websites allowed: unlimited
- Storage: unlimited
- Bandwidth: unlimited
- Money-back guarantee: 30 days
- Live chat: 24/7
- InterServer shared hosting review
#3: Namecheap ($2.88/mo.)
You might be wondering why we’re ranking Namecheap at fourth place considering their monthly plan is cheaper than any of the other ones listed above. The reason is that their live chat support is very slow, and their servers do not perform well when faced with sudden traffic spikes – if your website regularly gets more than 5-10 concurrent visitors, expect reduced website load times and performance issues.
Still, their monthly subscription is cheap enough that we had to include them on this list. Plus, they offer free malware detection and clean-up and are also on our list of hosts that offer a free domain (even if just with a .website extension).
Basic plan highlights:
- Websites allowed: three
- Storage: 20 GB
- Bandwidth: Unlimited
- Money-back guarantee: 30 days
- Live chat: 24/7
Popular hosts without monthly-terms:
Some hosting providers do not sell monthly-terms at all or only offer them on their high-end (and more expensive) hosting plans.
Examples include:
- Bluehost
- Accuweb
- PowWeb
- Verio
- IPower
- GoDaddy
- InMotion
Why choose monthly hosting over longer terms?
Although monthly hosting terms come out more expensive per month than annual-or-longer plans, there are some legitimate reasons for preferring a monthly plan over longer ones:
- Being on a tight budget. If paying $40 – $100 for one year of hosting is a tough call, purchasing a monthly plan is a good way to get your feet wet and evaluate whether running a website is worth the investment for you.
- Requiring hosting for a few weeks only. If you need to set up a website for the duration of a short school or work project, monthly hosting plans are an excellent solution.
- Not trusting a host with your money. Although all reputable hosts offer money-back guarantees, some webmasters prefer to er on the side of caution and would rather start with a small payment before making a larger one. If this is your reason for prefering monthly hosting, rest assured that all the hosts listed on this page have reliable money-back guarantees that we personally verified.
Should I go for a monthly or longer hosting term?
In general, we recommend going for the longest term you can afford. Here’s why:
#1: Longer plans are cheaper in the big picture
Web hosts offer hefty discounts on their longer plans; you can usually save between 40-60% in the long run by going with a one- or three-year plan.
#2: The first term is usually cheaper than subsequent terms
Most hosts offer significant discounts on the first hosting subscription you buy from them. If you purchase monthly hosting and then decide to renew, you’ll be charged based on your host’s significantly steeper renewal prices. By going with a longer web hosting term, you can take advantage o first-term discounts for a much longer duration.
#3: You get a money-back guarantee anyway
The vast majority of hosts offer a money-back guarantee for 30 days or longer. This means that if you don’t like their service quality, you can cancel and request a full refund – whether you’re on a monthly or 3-year plan.
#4: Some web hosts offer pro-rated refunds
Most webmasters don’t know that some hosting providers offer pro-rated refunds. In the event that you cancel your hosting package after the money-back guarantee expires, a pro-rated refund allows you to receive a refund on unused subscription months. This reduces the risk of buying a longer web hosting term even further.
#5: You can negotiate better discounts on longer hosting subscriptions
Some hosts have negotiable prices. You can contact them via live chat before you make your purchase and request a discount (in addition to whatever rebates are available publicly through their website).
Hosts are more likely to extend a bigger discount if you go with an annual or three-year plan than if you go with a monthly plan.
Do money-back guarantees apply to monthly hosting terms?
They do at almost all hosts.
If a provider offers a 30-day money-back guarantee, it usually applies to all their shared and WordPress hosting plans, regardless of term length.
Additionally, the refund usually includes any one-time set-up fees, such as the one SiteGround charges on their monthly terms.
One noteworthy exception to the above is GoDaddy: they offer a 30-day guarantee on annual-or-longer hosting packages, but only a 48-hour guarantee on their monthly term.
Check out our hosting reviews or contact your host’s live chat support to confirm the guarantee duration for your term of choice.