Kinsta vs SiteGround
We give Kinsta a 2.2 GPA and SiteGround a 1.8, out of 4.0. Kinsta grades higher on the free plan and platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Kinsta
Managed WordPress hosting priced by sites, visits or bandwidth
SiteGround
Shared and WordPress hosting on Google Cloud with its own Site Tools
How we grade them
| 2.2GPAKinstaFair | 1.8GPASiteGroundWeak | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CGraded against the other managed WordPress hosts, not cheap shared hosting. Launch is $350 a year after a free first month, so two years cost $700, about $29.17 a month, toward the dear end of that group. Each extra site is $30 a month. | 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 | DThe first month is free on Launch, Single and WP 2 for new customers, but you sign up to a paid plan to get it, so it works like a trial that needs payment details. After that there's a 30-day money-back guarantee. | FNo free plan and no trial. New shared hosting orders get a 30-day money-back guarantee, which isn't a trial. |
| Features | BDaily backups, one-click staging, a Cloudflare firewall and CDN, free malware removal, unlimited free migrations, SSO and its own APM tool for slow plugins. Hourly backups and Redis are paid add-ons, but the managed WordPress job is all there. | 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 app store rating to go on. Kinsta's team moves your sites over for free, which helps, but there are plans, limits and add-ons to get your head around. | CNo app store rating to go on. Each site gets its own Site Tools panel, which is tidy, but there's still a domain, email and a site to set up. |
| Platforms and integrations | BA web dashboard with no app on record, plus a REST API for creating sites and clearing cache, and backups to Amazon S3 or Google Cloud Storage. | 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 | managed WordPress with an API and monitoring | 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: Kinsta and SiteGround. How we grade
Price against what you get
Kinsta starts at $30 a month and scores 2.7 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. SiteGround starts at $14.99 a month and scores 2.3.
Kinsta scores higher, and starts $15.01 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other web hosts on the chart, none scores higher than Kinsta for less, and none scores 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
- Kinsta starts at $30 per month for 1 site, billed annually ($35 billed monthly). SiteGround starts at $14.99 per month prepaid for 24 months; 12 months is $2.99 a month in year one.
At a glance
| Kinsta | SiteGround | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free trial | Paid |
| Starts at | $30 per month for 1 site, billed annually ($35 billed monthly) | $14.99 per month prepaid for 24 months; 12 months is $2.99 a month in year one |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | First month free on Launch, Single and WP 2 plans for new customers, then a 30-day money-back guarantee | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Kinsta Inc. | SiteGround |
| Price read from | kinsta.com | siteground.com |
| Checked | Oct 17, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Who each one suits
Kinsta
- Business sites that have outgrown shared hosting
- Agencies and teams that need staging, user roles and an API
- WooCommerce shops that want a host managing WordPress for them
SiteGround
- WordPress sites that want daily backups and staging without plugins
- Agencies handing clients white-label access on GoGeek
- Small businesses that want email at their domain on the hosting plan
Worth knowing
Kinsta
- Plans cap monthly visits, bandwidth and storage; going over keeps the site online but adds overage fees, with alerts at 80% and 100%.
- Each extra site is $30 a month and each extra 20 GB of disk is $20 a month.
- A visit is each unique IP address in a 24-hour period, and visits to all sites on a plan count toward one monthly limit.
- Redis caching, hourly backups, external backups and premium staging are paid add-ons.
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
Kinsta
- Firewall, CDN and malware removal
- Sites sit behind a Kinsta firewall and Cloudflare with enterprise DDoS protection, are served from a CDN with edge caching, and get malware cleaned up at no charge.
- Daily backups and staging
- Sites are backed up every 24 hours, kept for 14 days on entry plans, and have one-click staging. Hourly backups and premium staging are paid add-ons.
- Kinsta API
- A REST API creates sites, reads site details, clears cache and restarts PHP, so routine work can be scripted.
- Built-in APM tool
- Kinsta's own application monitoring tool traces slow plugins, queries and requests on a site.
- Unlimited migrations and users
- Kinsta's team migrates any number of WordPress sites for free, and you can add unlimited users with their own access levels, with SAML single sign-on.
- 24/7 support in 8 languages
- Support is by chat around the clock, from people rather than a bot.
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
Kinsta
Launch$30
per month for 1 site, billed annually ($35 billed monthly)
Resource-based plan with 75,000 visits, 15 GB bandwidth and 15 GB storage a month. First month free.
Single 35k$30
per month for 1 site, billed annually ($35 billed monthly)
Billed by 35,000 visits a month, with 10 GB storage; Single 20GB is the same price billed by bandwidth instead. First month free.
Launch Plus$50
per month for 1 site, billed annually ($59 billed monthly)
125,000 visits, 25 GB bandwidth and 25 GB storage a month for one busier site.
Build$58
per month for 2 sites, billed annually ($69 billed monthly)
200,000 visits, 40 GB bandwidth and 30 GB storage a month shared by two sites.
WP 2$59
per month for 2 sites, billed annually ($70 billed monthly)
Two sites billed by 70,000 visits or 40 GB bandwidth a month, with 20 GB storage. First month free.
Expand$83
per month for 5 sites, billed annually ($99 billed monthly)
350,000 visits, 65 GB bandwidth and 40 GB storage a month across five sites. Larger plans run to Lead at $250 a month for 20 sites.
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
Kinsta
- Annual discount
Two months off with annual billing
Paying yearly costs ten times the monthly price, for example $350 a year for Launch instead of $35 a month.
- Other savings
Up to $10,000 in hosting credits for agencies
Eligible agencies on Agency plans can get up to $10,000 in hosting credits, plus free hosting for the agency's own site.
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.
