Web hosting for nonprofits can be a tricky subject.
Having a website for your organization is essential to promoting your case, raising awareness, and engaging with supporters and donors in previously impossible ways.
But web hosting services can put a dent in your donations.
So how, as a nonprofit organization, can you create a successful website without breaking the bank?
Look no further.
We’ve researched and gathered the best web hosting options for your needs.
How did We Decide?
- Hosting Fit for Nonprofits
- Hosting Speed
- Hosting Uptime
- Customer Service
- Pricing
- Pros
- Cons
Welcome to the list of the best web hosting solutions for nonprofit organizations in 2023.
Opt for any of these web hosts and you’ll be able to focus on making a difference and gaining support for your cause in other ways.
Read on for our top recommendations!
What are the Best Web Hosting Companies for Non Profits?
While we realize that most nonprofits don’t have giant budgets, we can’t stress the importance of getting what you pay for when it comes to web hosting.
As such, all of the companies we’re about to mention are completely worth the prices — most of which are pretty low.
We made sure that each of these companies offers some majorly important qualities for a good web host:
- At least 99.5% uptime so your site is noticeable by search engine crawlers and almost always available for visitors
- Reliable, 24/7 customer support teams in case of error
- Straightforward interfaces so you can leave the tech to the experts
- Reasonable price plans so you can devote the maximum funds to your cause
Web hosting is a necessary part of running your nonprofit website, so why not make the best with a web hosting provider you can trust?
While this list isn’t ranked, we’re including A2 Hosting first because it offers the greatest value for the cost of its plans.
This web host has solid features at an affordable price, particularly for their shared and WordPress hosting deals.
A2 offers a 20% recurring discount for nonprofits, as well as frequent sales on their various price plans.
Key Features
- Knowledgeable and supportive customer service staff available 24/7/365
- Affordable price plans
- Unlimited email accounts for your nonprofit staff
- Unlimited site transfers
- 99.9% uptime
- Free website builder
- Variety of data center locations and option to choose one based on optimal speed
- Free SSL certificate for site security
Pricing Plans
A2’s cheapest plan is their Startup Shared Hosting Plan at $2.99/month with an annual payment.
For a year, this plan amounts to only $35.88.
Then, with the 20% nonprofit discount, you’d only be paying $28.71.
We gotta say, that’s pretty affordable for the robust key features A2 offers.
And if you have a bigger budget, A2 has more features. Just head to their site to get an in-depth look at all they have to offer.
Pros
- Nonprofit discount
- Great customer support
- Money-back guarantee
- Option to install donation-based shopping cart on your site
- Website builder included for free
Cons
- Startup Plan doesn't include domain name for free
If you’re currently (or expecting to be) running a constantly-growing nonprofit organization, you’re going to need a host site with good scalability features.
Scalability simply refers to your web host’s ability to grow at the same time as your site.
If your site is constantly experiencing increased traffic, it’ll probably require increased bandwidth and storage.
Luckily, HostGator offers easy options for growing alongside your organization without depleting your wallet.
Key Features
- Amazing uptime (99.99%)
- Lots of different options for hosting plans
- Easy site transfer
- Unlimited disk space and email accounts
- Domain name is free in any pack
- Free SSL certificate
- Unmetered bandwidth
Pricing Plans
HostGator’s web hosting starts at only $2.75/mo with no nonprofit discount.
This plan comes with all the key features, including a free domain for a year — a rarity in certain web hosting spheres.
If you’re planning a major campaign for your nonprofit, HostGator offers VPS hosting options for only $23.95/month.
HostGator offers way more plans than the few we’ve mentioned.
Review their pricing page to get the full scope of their services.
Pros
- Enticing scalability
- Affordable plans
- Free domain name
- Well-regarded customer support is available 24/7
- Unlimited storage and bandwidth
Cons
- Extra cost for daily backups
- Shopping cart installation not available on basic plans
Bluehost is our recommendation for any nonprofit managers who’d consider themselves, well, tech novices.
Bluehost’s customer support team is widely-lauded as one of the best in the industry.
They offer problem-solving and tech navigation skills that will allow you to consult them for reliable help, rather than spending a bunch of time trying to become a site wizard yourself.
Key Features
- Free domain and free daily backups
- Solid uptime and managed bandwidth on shared hosting plans
- Affordability
- Free SSL certificate
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Malware scanning
Pricing Plans
If you’re looking for affordability, Bluehost has you covered with their Basic Hosting Plan at $2.95/month for an annual rate.
Bluehost should be within most nonprofit budgets, even though it doesn’t offer a specific discount.
This plan doesn’t offer a ton of storage (10 GB) but will be perfectly sufficient for smaller-scale nonprofits on tight budgets.
If this plan doesn’t match your organization’s needs, check Bluehost’s site before giving up on them! They have a plethora of plans we didn’t mention.
Pros
- Impressive uptime
- Reliable 24/7/365 customer support
- Free domain
- Free backups
- Good security features
- Great server speed
Cons
- Discounts are infrequent
- Limited storage
Hostinger is another affordable site that’s easy to manage.
It uses its own site management interface called hPanel, which will allow you to check on your site’s status without getting lost in the world of IT.
It’s also a great option if you want to build multiple sites related to your nonprofit.
This is because its cheapest web hosting plan offers a large amount of storage and the option to host more than one site.
Key Features
- Great performance with nearly 100% uptime and fast loading times
- Easy to manage hPanel
- Decreased prices with long-term subscription commitments
- Multiple server locations
- Manage over 50 websites
- Free domain name with first year
- Easy site builder
- Unmetered traffic
Pricing Plans
Hostinger’s cheapest price plan offers a lot of bang for your buck.
At $2.99/mo for the first year, you’ll receive all the aforementioned key features, and more, including managed WordPress and an easy 1-click installer.
If you’re looking to host more sites or gain more storage, Hostinger has plans for that. Just check their site for more info.
Pros
- Huge amount of key features available with cheapest plan
- Intuitive hosting with Webinars, FAQs, and reliable support
- First year is extra-affordable
- Option to host 100 websites on 100 GB of storage with starter plan
Cons
- Limited email addresses
- Price increase after first year
If your nonprofit organization is small or just beginning, HostPapa might be the most sensible option for you.
This beginner-oriented site offers the training and parental advice needed for your newly-hatched website.
They don’t offer any nonprofit-specific discounts, but they do offer other types if you sign up for a year to begin.
Key Features
- Free domain and SSL
- Amazing learning resources for web hosting
- Impressive affordability across all plans
- Reliable live chat offered 24/7
- At least 100 GB storage on any plan
- Site builder
- 99.9% uptime
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Pricing Plans
HostPapa’s pricing plans are affordable across the board.
Their most expensive plan retails at only $12.95/month, while their cheapest goes for $2.95/month.
Depending on your needs, you can opt for larger price plans that offer more websites and storage.
With any plan, however, you’re guaranteed free site migration, a free domain, a free SSL certificate, and at least 100GB storage.
Beyond these plans, Hostpapa offers many more worth viewing if you’re interested in their services.
Pros
- Scalability for cheap prices
- Beginner-oriented web host
- Reliable customer support and uptime
Cons
- Not the fastest hosting option
Dreamhost is arguably the most exciting hosting provider on this list because it offers free hosting for nonprofits.
It really is a dream!
Along with a free site, Dreamhost offers free donation-based shopping cart add-ons for your page.
Their free plan for nonprofits even includes email features.
Key Features
- Free domain
- Free backups
- Free SSL certificate
- Unlimited monthly visitors
- 99.95% uptime
Pricing Plans
If you’re interested in Dreamhost’s offerings beyond the scope of their free Starter plan for nonprofits, you’re probably looking for more storage or the option to host more websites.
If this is the case, consider opting for their Shared Unlimited plan at $8.95/month.
As the name suggests, this plan offers unlimited websites, along with the key features we already mentioned.
Keep in mind — these aren’t all the pricing plans Dreamhost offers.
Check out their site for more in-depth info on their packages.
Pros
- Free web hosting for nonprofits, with the benefits of a paid service
- Free domain and SSL
- Reliable uptime
- Relatively inexpensive scalability
- Email features
Cons
- No 24/7 customer support with their free plan
Godaddy is our final recommendation for getting your site set up quickly, reliably, and affordably.
It’s ideal for smaller nonprofits, as it remains affordable despite its lack of nonprofit discounts.
Godaddy is lauded for offering a wide variety of domain names and great customer service.
Key Features
- A variety of web hosting options allow for scalability
- Solid site builder
- Email hosting with Microsoft Office
- eCommerce add-ons
- Free SSL certificate
- Free domain name
- Daily backups
- Unmetered bandwidth
Pricing Plans
Godaddy’s cheapest pricing plan is $5.99/month for a three-year subscription.
However, the best-value option is their Deluxe plan at $7.99/month for a three-year subscription.
The Deluxe plan offers the key features we just mentioned for 10 websites with 50 GB of storage.
There’s also a slew of other plans available on Godaddy to fit your nonprofit’s size and needs.
Pros
- Wide variety of free domain names
- Great site builder
- Unmetered bandwidth with any plan
- Daily backups with any plan
- Inexpensive scalability
Cons
- No cloud hosting
- Slightly pricier than other web hosting sites
Best Free Web Hosting for Non-Profits
If you’re unconvinced about paying for web hosting, we can appreciate the need to budget.
Here are our recommendations for free web hosting.
Wix
Wix is probably the best free hosting site overall, whether you’re looking to start a blog, business, or nonprofit site.
Their site builder is highly customizable and easy to use, not to mention that it’s completely free.
Wix is a stellar choice for your nonprofit website if your wallet isn’t so flush.
It even has eCommerce features that you could integrate into a donation shopping cart for your nonprofit.
InfinityFree
InfinityFree is another great free hosting solution.
Its services seem almost too good to be true.
It comes with cPanel, unlimited disk space, and unlimited bandwidth. Indefinitely.
Of course, you can’t get everything with a free plan.
Don’t expect email accounts, stellar speed, or live customer support with InfinityFree.
ByetHost
ByetHost is our last free hosting recommendation.
It made the list due to its unlimited data transfer, automatic WordPress installs, and impressive free site builder.
However, your site visits will be limited, so it’s not a great option if you’re looking to make waves with your nonprofit website.
Fastest Web Hosting Services
Speed is of great importance when it comes to SEO and attracting site visitors.
Many people will click away from sites they’re trying to visit if the loading takes too long.
Furthermore, slow loading times confuse SEO crawlers, making your nonprofit site less likely to wind up on SERPs.
Here are the two fastest web hosts we can think of.
Kinsta
Kinsta is known for its stellar speed performance.
It offers SSD storage, caching at the server level, a CDN, modern servers, 24 data centers, and constant optimization.
All of these factors make for a full-load time of ~1 second. Pretty solid.
Check out our Kinsta review for more information.
Cloudways
Cloudways is a less expensive alternative to Kinsta.
It offers full load times ranging from 1 second to 3 seconds, an impressive feat compared to other web hosting options.
Most Secure Web Hosting Services
To ensure that your site stays online and isn’t subject to hackers, errors, or other glitches, you should opt for a web hosting service with reliable security features.
DreamHost
DreamHost has a team of in-house security engineers to ensure as much as possible for nonprofit websites.
They offer a built-in malware remover and solid encryption.
Hostinger
Hostinger is also renowned for its advanced security features.
These include mod_security and PHP hardening modules on every website, as well as protection for their own servers.
Hosting for Non Profits: Paid Vs. Free Web Hosting
Are free web hosts good enough?
Are paid web hosts worth it?
Do any web hosts offer free web hosting services for nonprofits?
These might be the main questions on your mind if you’re running a nonprofit in need of a web host.
To put it simply, the limited features available with free hosts make the whole concept not worth it.
Even a small expense like $5/month can provide you with truly reliable customer support and necessary storage space.
These are the features that will make your website shine and stand out to potential supporters.
It’s our recommendation to go ahead and make room in your budget for a paid host — the results will be worth it.
We can understand and respect the need for budgeting, especially in nonprofit organizations, though.
That’s why we included free options like Wix in this article.
However, we also care about your site’s security, longevity, and popularity.
To optimize these factors, definitely consider an affordable paid plan for the long term.
Types of Web Hosting
We’d like to quickly note that the web hosting plans we mainly covered in this article are for shared hosting.
Shared hosting tends to be the most affordable web hosting option.
It’s a bit like renting an apartment with roommates.
You have your own room (your site) but share common spaces (the site’s server).
This type of hosting is affordable because it has slightly limited bandwidth and loading times compared to other web hosting options.
It’s a good option for smaller-scale nonprofits, which are the ones likely to be operating on tight budgets.
If you have a bigger nonprofit, a bigger budget, or aspirations for a larger-scale website, there are other hosting options for you:
Cloud Hosting
Cloud Hosting works by operating your website from a computer network called “the cloud.”
Your site resources are dedicated 100% to your site, rather than sharing among multiple sites.
This makes for faster load times and better uptime reliability.
VPS Hosting
VPS hosting is extremely similar to cloud hosting in terms of reliability and scalability.
The main difference is that rather than hosting your site in the cloud, it’s hosted on a single server.
It’s like a mix of shared and cloud hosting since you won’t get the entire server to yourself.
However, the resources your site gets from that server belong to you completely, rather than being shared with other sites.
These two options are slightly more expensive than shared hosting but are still affordable enough for most smaller-sized organizations.
Managed WordPress Hosting
Managed WordPress Hosting is unique to WordPress sites, which make up most of the Internet.
It comes with a slew of services specific to your WordPress site.
These include automatic WordPress updates, WordPress-specific optimization, enhanced WordPress security, and more.
If you have a WordPress site, this is a solid option.
In Conclusion
Choosing a web hosting service is never an easy task.
Balancing web hosting costs with supporting your nonprofit cause can even further complicate things, though.
We hope this overview of the best web hosting for non profits gave you more insight into the best options for you.
The web hosts we mentioned come with valuable features that should fit into the budget of even a new nonprofit.
Keep in mind — you know your organization and its website needs better than anyone.
The point of this guide is to provide resources, not tell you exactly what to do.
We recommend pairing this guide with added research, like reviews and site visits.
We wish you the best of luck in creating a robust and popular site to support your cause!
Non Profit Web Hosting FAQ
Yes!
Some web hosting providers, like Dreamhost, offer free plans for nonprofit websites.
Other providers offer only free options, such as Wix and InfinityFree.
Absolutely.
Most paid web hosting providers offer free domain names for your first year of service.
From there, you’ll likely have to pay for a domain name.
Yes, Wix is free for anyone!
GoDaddy is a solid option for nonprofits with slightly bigger budgets.
We’d recommend Wix for nonprofit websites, due to its impressive customizability and eCommerce options.
Ultimately, we’d recommend paid web hosting for nonprofits.
Paid web hosting services offer the most reliable results, like guaranteed uptime and fast loading speeds.
For the short term, free web hosting can work for nonprofit websites, though.
