| Rank | Provider | Compare | Money-back | Starting price | Disk space | Action |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Read Review | 97 days | $2.59/mo | 50 GB | Visit Host |
| 2 | 
| Read Review | 90 days | $6.39/mo | Unlimited | Visit Host |
| 3 | 
| Read Review | 60 days | $2.35/mo | Unlimited | Visit Host |
| 4 | 
| Read Review | 60 days | $29.16/mo | 10 GB | Visit Host |
| 5 | 
| Read Review | 45 days | $2.75/mo | Unlimited | 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.
#1: DreamHost: 97 days
DreamHost’s shared hosting plans start at $2.59/mo. Despite the low price, they scored highly on our website load time and traffic load tests even compared to much more expensive hosts.
DreamHost is one of our top recommendations for cheap web hosting services, and they are at the top of our unlimited inodes hosting rankings as well.
Restrictions: the money-back guarantee only applies to shared hosting plans. If you purchase WordPress hosting, VPS, or dedicated servers, you won’t be able to request a refund.
How to claim: if you paid using a credit or debit card, simply cancel your subscription from the admin panel within 97 days of making a purchase, and you’ll receive the refund automatically. If you paid using PayPal or a different payment method, you’ll need to contact DreamHost’s billing department after canceling and request a refund.
Refund wait times: PayPal payments are usually refunded within a few hours, while card payments take up to five business days.
Hosting highlights: free domain, unmetered bandwidth, 50 GB storage, free SSL, decent support.
Read: DreamHost shared hosting review
#2 InMotion: 90 days
Hosting plans start at $6.39/mo. However, InMotion is among web hosts with negotiable prices, so be sure to reach out to their sales team via live chat before buying and ask for a better deal. They are also on our list of the cheapest unlimited web hosting providers.
Restrictions: none – the money-back guarantee applies to all hosting plans, regardless of term length.
How to claim: reach out to their billing department via live chat within 90 days of making payment and ask for your refund.
Refund wait times: instant for PayPal. Up to seven business days for credit and debit cards.
Hosting highlights: free domain with higher shared plans, exceptional support quality, unmetered bandwidth and storage.
Read: InMotion shared hosting review
#3: HostGator: 45 days
Prices start at $2.75/mo. Around 2.3% of all websites on the web are hosted with HostGator, making them one of the top three hosting companies in the world. Unfortunately, the quality of their service leaves a lot to be desired .
Restrictions: applies to shared hosting, reseller hosting, and VPS servers only.
How to claim: cancel your plan from the admin panel within 45 days, then request a refund by filling out the Cancel Hosting Package form or by reaching out to Billing via chat or email.
Refund wait times: up to a day for PayPal payments and 2-5 business days for credit/debit card transactions.
Hosting highlights: unmetered bandwidth and storage, free SSL certificate. Poor support quality.
Read: HostGator WordPress hosting review
#4 WP Engine: 60 days
WP Engine is a dedicated WordPress host with prices starting at $29.16/mo. They are one of the most expensive providers around, and although they offer quality service and are among a handful of web hosts with pro-rated refunds, I see no compelling reason to choose them over WPX or the much cheaper (but excellent) SiteGround.
Restrictions: none; the refund is available on both monthly and annual terms.
How to claim: open the cancelation form on the “Modify Plan” page in your admin panel and fill it out. Make sure to request your refund in the “Comments” field, otherwise, you won’t receive your money back.
Refund wait times: 2-5 days for debit/credit cards.
Hosting highlights: excellent website performance, generous storage, 50-400 GB bandwidth. Long chat support queue times, no email accounts allowed.
Read: WP Engine review
#5 HostWinds: 60 days
Starting at $2.35/mo. Websites hosted with HostWinds load very quickly They also offer free malware detection and removal.
For those of you looking to host a large number of websites, you’ll be glad to know HostWinds made it onto our list of the cheapest hosts with unlimited websites allowed.
Restrictions: if you cancel within 30 days, you’ll receive a full refund. However, if you cancel between days 31-60, you’ll be charged for one month of service and will receive a refund for the remaining months on your plan.
How to claim: cancel your hosting subscription from your hosting admin panel, then contact Billing through live chat no later than 30 days after canceling and ask for your refund.
Refund wait times: 10-15 minutes for PayPal, 3-5 business days for credit cards.
Hosting highlights: free domain, free SSL certificates, unrestricted bandwidth and storage, excellent website load times, mediocre support.
Read: HostWinds WordPress hosting review
Is the procedure for claiming a money-back refund the same everywhere?
Unfortunately, no – each host can have a slightly different refund request procedure.
In almost all cases, the first step is to cancel your account within the money-back guarantee time window. You can usually do so quickly from your hosting admin panel.
After you cancel, you’ll need to do one of the following (depending on the host):
- Contact the provider’s billing department via chat, email, or phone, and request your refund
- Fill out a dedicated “refund request form”
- Do nothing and receive your refund automatically
I strongly recommend that you contact your host before purchasing a package and ask them about their refund procedure. If you fail to follow the procedure, you may unintentionally miss out on your refund.
Will I receive a refund regardless of my payment method?
In most cases, yes – but there are exceptions.
I’ve seen hosts that only honored their money-back refunds for purchases made using credit cards or PayPal; if you pay using a different method (cryptocurrencies for example), you could still request a refund, but they would grant it as account credit as opposed to cash.
However, none of the money-back hosts I listed above engage in such practices – you can trust to receive a full refund regardless of your payment method of choice.
Are all hosting plans covered by money-back guarantees?
Not necessarily.
Some hosts only offer refunds on their shared hosting and VPS packages, while other providers only allow them for shared hosting.
Dedicated servers, in particular, are frequently excluded from refund guarantees because setting up the server takes up some of the host’s time and resources.
When in doubt, read my hosting reviews – they include details on all important caveats attached to a host’s refund guarantee.
Will I get a refund regardless of my hosting term length?
In the case of hosts I listed above – yes.
However, some providers do not offer refunds on their monthly plans or may offer a shorter money-back time window on such plans.
A good example is GoDaddy, who offer a 30-day money-back guarantee on annual or longer terms, but only a 48-hour guarantee on monthly plans.
Will I need to provide a reason for requesting a refund?
I’ve never seen a host that made providing compelling reasons a necessary requirement for requesting a refund.
They’ll probably ask you for a reason out of curiosity (and to try to get you to stay with them), but you’ll still get your refund regardless of what that reason is or if you choose to provide one.
I’ve requested a refund from dozens of hosts over the years as part of reviewing their service and I’ve found the following to be the best answer when asked for a cancelation reason:
“I no longer need to host a website.”
It’s clear, concise, and makes it very unlikely that the support agent handling your cancelation request will try to get you to reconsider your decision.
Will any fees be deducted from my refund?
Usually no, but there’s one important exception.
If your host offers a free domain with their hosting and you decide to take advantage of that offer, then cancel your package and request a refund, they’ll usually subtract a fee equal to their standard price for that domain.
For example: suppose you pay $50 for an annual hosting plan and get a free .com domain along with it. This host’s standard price for a .com domain is $15.
If you cancel and request your money back as part of their guarantee, they’ll probably subtract $15 from your payment, for a total refund of $35.
If I cancel after the money-back guarantee period, will I get any money back?
Generally, no. If your provider offers a 60-day refund guarantee and you cancel on day 61 or later, the host gets to keep all of your money.
However, some hosts offer pro-rated (also known as “pro-rata”) refunds, meaning they’ll refund you for any unused subscription months.
For example, if you buy a one-year hosting plan with a 60-day refund guarantee, and decide to cancel after 61 days, they’ll only charge you for the two months of hosting you used and will refund the remaining 10 unused subscription months.
Please see my article on hosts that offer pro-rated refunds for more.