20i vs SiteGround (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, SiteGround grades higher than 20i: 1.8 against 1.6 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
SiteGround grades higher on features. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, ease of use and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
SiteGround
Shared and WordPress hosting on Google Cloud with its own Site Tools
Which one is for you
Pick 20i if
- Fits if you want a UK host with a monthly plan and no contract
- Makes sense if you resell or run many sites and want plans that scale
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a trial or free tier, as there is none
- Tight if you host more than one site, since Startup and Plan 1 allow one
- Pricey as you grow, because plans jump from £10 to £300 a month
- Watch out: prices are in pounds, and the page does not state refund terms for the £1 month
Pick SiteGround if
- Fits if you want daily backups and malware removal without adding plugins
- Works for teams that need many email accounts at your domain, as they aren't capped
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if you stay past year one, when StartUp jumps from $2.99 to $17.99 a month
- Tight if you run more than one site, as StartUp hosts one and suits around 10,000 visits
- Skip it if you want staging or on-demand backups on StartUp, since they start on GrowBig
- Pricey if you pay monthly, at $24.99, or need priority support, which needs GoGeek at $39.99
- Watch out: the 30-day refund covers new orders; renewals are refunded only under policy conditions
How we grade them
| 1.6GPA20iWeak | 1.8GPASiteGroundWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CStartup is £10 a month at renewal, around $13, between the $11 middle and the $19 dearer-quarter line for web hosts. The first month is £1. | CStartUp's first year is $2.99 a month, then it renews at $17.99, so two years cost $251.76, about $10.49 a month. That's past the cheaper quarter of hosts and the dearest of the shared hosts we could price. A 24-month term at $14.99 a month costs more. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan or trial. The £1 first month is a discount, not a trial. | FNo free plan and no trial. New shared hosting orders get a 30-day money-back guarantee, which isn't a trial. |
| Features | CAutoscaling, a CDN, backups, malware scanning and free migration. The entry plan hosts one site and 50 GB of bandwidth. | BEvery plan keeps daily backups, a CDN, SSL that renews itself, daily malware scans with free removal and unlimited email accounts. Staging and on-demand backups wait for GrowBig, but nothing in the core job is missing on StartUp. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. A hosting control panel, DNS and site migration are on you. | CNo app store rating to go on. Each site gets its own Site Tools panel, but there's still a domain, email and a site to set up. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with WordPress, WooCommerce and Magento support. | CA web panel only, with WordPress and WooCommerce as the named integrations. There's SSH and WP-CLI for developers, but no API is on record. |
| Best for | UK-priced web hosting that scales on its own | WordPress sites that want daily backups built in |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: 20i and SiteGround. How we grade
Price against what you get
20i starts at about $13.40 a month and scores 2.0 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. SiteGround starts at $14.99 a month and scores 2.3.
SiteGround scores higher, and starts $1.59 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 23 score higher than 20i for less, and 5 score higher than SiteGround for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
At a glance
| 20i | SiteGround | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | £10 per month at renewal (Startup), after a first month for £1 | $14.99 per month prepaid for 24 months; 12 months is $2.99 a month in year one |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | 20i | SiteGround |
| Price read from | 20i.com | siteground.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
20i
- Prices are in pounds sterling. The £1 first month applies to the first month only; after that the plan renews at its monthly price.
- Startup and Plan 1 host a single website; the Startup plan has 50 GB of bandwidth.
- Each step up the price ladder is large, from £10 a month to £300 a month at Plan 5.
- The page does not say how a plan is refunded or whether the £1 month can be cancelled before it renews.
SiteGround
- The $2.99 a month is for the first year of a 12-month StartUp term only; it then renews at $17.99 a month, and GrowBig and GoGeek at $29.99 and $44.99.
- StartUp hosts one website and suits around 10,000 visits a month; more sites need GrowBig.
- Staging, on-demand backups and faster PHP start on GrowBig, and white-label access and priority support need GoGeek.
- The 30-day money-back guarantee covers new shared hosting orders; renewals are refunded only under conditions in SiteGround's refund policy.
Key features
20i
- Autoscaling resources
- The platform allocates resources across its whole network instead of one server, and sets PHP workers automatically. The page says there are no inode limits.
- Free CDN and edge pre-cache
- Every plan includes a CDN with global edge pre-caching and no bandwidth throttling on the CDN, according to the plan page.
- Security and backups
- Plans include free SSL certificates, a web application firewall with malware scanning and automatic daily backups.
- Free migrations
- Sites can be migrated on demand, with the vendor stating no downtime. Migrations are listed as free and unlimited.
- Data centres in three regions
- Plans can be placed in UK, US or Asia data centres. 20i's own 24/7 support team answers by ticket or live chat.
- Twentie AI assistant
- An AI assistant is listed among the features of every web hosting plan.
SiteGround
- Site Tools panel
- Each site gets its own Site Tools panel for WordPress, email, domains and backups, so access to one site can be shared without exposing the others.
- Daily backups, CDN and SSL
- Every plan keeps daily backups and includes a CDN and SSL certificates that renew by themselves. GrowBig and GoGeek add on-demand backups.
- Malware scans and bot blocking
- Sites are scanned for malware every day with free removal, and an AI anti-bot system and custom firewall rules block attack traffic.
- WordPress services
- Free site migrations, managed automatic updates, WP-CLI and SSH, and an AI agent for WordPress. Staging starts on GrowBig, with Git on GoGeek.
- Unlimited email accounts
- Every hosting plan includes email at your own domain with no cap on accounts, plus webmail and spam protection.
- Website Builder with AI
- A drag-and-drop builder with templates, AI text and image generation and built-in SEO is included alongside WordPress.
Plans
20i
Startup£10
per month at renewal, after a first month for £1
1 website, 10 GB storage, 50 GB bandwidth and 10 mailboxes. The first month costs £1; no contract.
Plan 1£20
per month at renewal, after a first month for £1
1 website, 10 GB storage, 100 GB bandwidth, 20 mailboxes and 5 GB of MySQL storage.
Plan 2£40
per month at renewal, after a first month for £1
3 websites, 20 GB storage, 200 GB bandwidth, 50 mailboxes and 15 GB of MySQL storage.
Plan 3£80
per month at renewal, after a first month for £1
10 websites, 40 GB storage, 300 GB bandwidth, 100 mailboxes and 50 GB of MySQL storage.
Plan 4£150
per month at renewal, after a first month for £1
25 websites, 50 GB storage, 500 GB bandwidth, 250 mailboxes and 125 GB of MySQL storage.
Plan 5£300
per month at renewal, after a first month for £1
50 websites, 100 GB storage, 1 TB bandwidth, 500 mailboxes and 250 GB of MySQL storage.
SiteGround
StartUp, 1 month$24.99
per month
One website, 10 GB storage and around 10,000 visits a month, paid month to month at the regular rate.
StartUp, 12 months$17.99
per month at renewal, prepaid yearly, after a first year at $2.99
One website and 10 GB storage. The first 12 months cost $2.99 a month, prepaid, then the plan renews at $17.99 a month.
StartUp, 24 months$14.99
per month, prepaid every 24 months
One website and 10 GB storage at the lowest regular monthly rate. The sales page shows its first-term discount only on 12-month terms.
GrowBig, 24 months$24.99
per month, prepaid every 24 months
Unlimited websites, 50 GB, staging and on-demand backups. On a 12-month term it is $4.99 a month for the first year, then $29.99.
GoGeek, 24 months$39.99
per month, prepaid every 24 months
100 GB, staging with Git, white-label access and priority support. On a 12-month term it is $7.99 a month for the first year, then $44.99.
Ways to pay less
20i
- Other savings
First month of web hosting for £1
Each web hosting plan is £1 for its first month, then returns to the listed monthly price. The page shows no end date.
SiteGround
- Other savings
First year of StartUp for $2.99 a month
On a 12-month term the first invoice is $2.99 a month for StartUp, $4.99 for GrowBig and $7.99 for GoGeek, prepaid. Renewals are $17.99, $29.99 and $44.99 a month.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, 20i or SiteGround?
As of Nov 12, 2026, 20i is cheaper to start with: about $13.40 a month, against $14.99 a month for SiteGround. 20i starts at £10 per month at renewal (Startup), after a first month for £1, and SiteGround starts at $14.99 per month prepaid for 24 months; 12 months is $2.99 a month in year one.
Which has a free plan, 20i or SiteGround?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither 20i nor SiteGround has a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.