Top 5 Best Web Hosting NZ Picks + Reviews!

Over the past 8 years, I have built over 450 websites for clients, friends, and family in New Zealand.

During this time, I have tried dozens of hosting providers and put them to the test to see which come out on top.

I have tested everything under the sun including speed, uptime, bandwidth usage, and customer support.

From this testing, I have come up with some great data points that have benefited my websites and will hopefully do the same for you!

It’s because of this experience and testing, that I decided to write this guide on the best web hosting NZ picks for Kiwis, from a Kiwis perspective. Ok, let’s get stuck in! 🤓🥝

Host	PRICE	SUPPORT	BANDWIDTH	SPEED	RATING	WEBSITE
	$3.95	10/10	Unlimited	627ms	⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️	Visit Site
	$4.95	9/10	10GB	611ms	⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️	Visit Site
	$6.45	8/10	2GB	598ms	⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️	Visit Site
	$3.92	8/10	Unlimited	812ms	⭐️⭐️⭐️
	$4.99	6/10	Unlimited	619ms	⭐️⭐️⭐️

My Top 5 Best Web Hosting NZ Picks 2021 

1. BlueHost Review (Best Overall Web Host)

Load time: 619ms 

Uptime: 99.99% 

Cost: $3.95/mo

Support: 24/7 Live Chat 

Host With BlueHost Hosting

2. HostGator Review (Best Cloud Hosting Option For Kiwis)

Load time: 762ms 

Uptime: 99.80% 

Cost: $2.99/mo

Support: 24/7 Live Chat 

Host With HostGator Hosting

Next up on my list of the best NZ web hosting picks is HostGator. In many ways, HostGator is neck and neck with BlueHost when comparing speed, customer service and price.

HostGator also provides free SSL certificates to new customers. No free domain name unfortunately though. Nonetheless, a great host that I still use to this day! (Just keep note that their user interface is quite clunky).

3. SiteGround Review (Best All Round WordPress Host)

Load time: 680ms 

Uptime: 99.95% 

Cost: $4.95/mo

Support: 24/7 Live Chat 

Host With SiteGround Hosting

Moving onto my next web host provider is SiteGround. I would recommend this company to anyone who wants a blazing fast WordPress website. This is also another company that WordPress.org officially recommends.

Additional Web Hosts That Made The List But Failed In Either Support, Performance Or Uptime

While I have used all of the below hosts and have had an overall good experience with them. All of them failed in either support, performance, or uptime during my testing. Because of this, they have been put in the naughty corner.

So here they are in numerical order from most recommended to least.

4. A2 Hosting Review

Load time: 812ms 

Uptime: 99.15% 

Cost: $3.92/mo

Support: 24/7 Live Chat 

Host With A2 Hosting

While I really love A2 hosting and currently host dozens of websites with them. I have found one downfall which has made me move to other providers.

Many times during my testing, I kept seeing that the uptime of their servers was falling behind their major competitors.

This is not really an issue for a website will small amounts of traffic. But once you get into the hundreds of thousands, these minor percentages mean you can miss out on leads, customers, ad revenue, and overall dissatisfaction from the visitor.

If you plan on making a small business website or blog, A2 Hosting is still a great pick. Just be aware there may be some scaling issues once your website grows. Overall a good host though.

5. GoDaddy Review

Load time: 812ms 

Uptime: 99.78%

Cost: $3.45/mo

Support: 24/7 Below Average

Host With GoDaddy Hosting

To this day I still purchase all of my domain names from GoDaddy as I find they have the best domain management services. Which is what they are known for.

They also have access to .co.nz, .nz, .com.au, and a long laundry list of other types of domains.

As for their hosting… Well, that is a different story. After being a long with time domain purchaser, I decided to give their hosting a try. In short, I wasn’t overly impressed as there were long periods of downtime and maintenance which kept arising.

After calling them to try and resolve this issue, I kept getting roundabout answers and transfer after transfer. In the end, there was no resolution to this problem.

GoDaddy for domains = Good. GoDaddy for hosting = Average.

The #1 Golden Rule When Picking A Web Host

Here it comes “stay away from cheap web hosting providers”

Over the past 7 years of building and managing hundreds of websites, I have unfortunately found out a few things the hard way. So if you are to take one thing away from this article, I hope it is this!

When I first started out, I went straight to the cheapest of hosting providers, which in retrospect was a hugggeee mistake. I found cheap hosts cap their servers, have zero customer support, the poor security, and almost impossible migration services.

I don’t like to be negative, but here are some companies that I have had some horrible experiences with.

• HostPapa: Is the home brand of hosting that is happy to upsell their garbage.
• WebCow: Don’t even get me started on these guys!

Out of all the cheap hosts that I used, I found one recurring trend among them…

Almost all the budget hosts lure in beginners with ridiculously cheap rates. From there, the performance of the website is severely capped and it is almost impossible to migrate to a new host.

You are also at the mercy of

• Ridiculous upgrade fees which can sometimes be 5-10 times the original price
• An absurd migration fee to leave the host
• Recurring cost for an SSL certificate of $50-$100 (many good hosts provide this for free)
• Hiked fees for standard features like privacy protection and domain registration
• Major security breaches (Millions of stolen passwords from a discount host)

Moral of the story, avoid cheap web hosts like the plague!

NZ Based Hosts = Bad, US Based Hosts = Good

Sorry to all the die-hard Kiwis out there. But quite simply put, New Zealand based hosting companies suck… Don’t want to take my word for it? Here is some unsettling data.

New Zealand doesn’t even crack the top 20…

While South-East Asia, USA and Europe are steaming ahead with their internet speeds. New Zealand is, unfortunately, being left behind in the dust. The reason for this is two-fold.

• We are a long way away: Anyone who has caught a plane out of NZ can agree that we really are on the edge of the Earth. This, unfortunately, makes internet speeds to our county on the sluggish side as they have to come from either Singapore, United States or Hong Kong.

• New Zealand based hosts are stuck in the early 2000’s: It pains me to admit it, but after trying several NZ based hosting companies, my overall experience was incredibly painful. I put this down to the outdated infrastructure which made my website performance abysmal. Not to mention the almost non-existent customer service and minimal hosting choices.

However, not all hope is lost….

Behold The Southern Cross Submarine Internet Cable

While it might sound counter-intuitive. In many instances, it is actually faster for a Kiwi internet surfer to load a website from the USA than in New Zealand.

This is all thanks to the Southern Cross submarine internet cable which services Australia, New Zealand, Fiji, American Samoa, Hawaii and the United States.

Originally built in 1999, with a maximum transfer speed of 120 gigabytes per second. iI has been upgraded roughly every 4 years since. With the most recent one in 2014.

Currently it gives a maximum transfer speed of 3.6 terabits per second thanks to the new fibre optic line. There is another update rolling out in 2018 which will 3 fold the speed to 10 Tbit/s.

But what does this have to do with hosting…

As I touched on above, this fast cable enables many Kiwi websites to be hosted in the United States while still having blazing fast speeds. It also allows visitors from both inside and outside of Aotearoa to access websites more efficiently and affordably.

Its because of this that I haven’t added any NZ based web hosting companies in my list as I believe you can save big and still get fast speeds with their American counterparts.

Tips For New Zealanders Starting Their Own Website + Speed Tips

After building hundreds of websites for Kiwi businesses, e-commerce stores and blogs. I have come up with my own system that helps these websites rank higher in Google, perform faster for New Zealand visitors and look awesome.

While you don’t have to follow these tips to the tee. They are things worth considering when building your first website. Here they are!

Use a .co.nz or .nz Domain If You Want New Zealand Based Traffic

One thing that bugs me when I visit a local NZ business website is when they use a .com domain. My frustration is two-fold.

First being for the actual business owner as they may be losing out on traffic as their website isn’t targeted towards Kiwis. This can mean loss of sales and leads.

Second being that it gives less trust signals to visitors who are seeking out information or services. When you see a .co.nz domain name, you instantly register that with a local business or publication.

If you plan on targeting international visitors to your website, then I would definitely recommend using a .com domain name. Also if you want to target a certain country, you can select this option in the Google Search Console.

Caching, Caching & Caching

Simply put, caching (pronounced cashing) is a way of rendering a web page without draining the server resources. Caching is an ingenious way of delivering just enough of a page without having the whole thing have to load at once.

This means a faster website and less bandwidth on your server. Its a win win!

To implement caching on your website, you can download a wide range of free plugins that only take a few minutes to set up. I personally prefer to use WP Super Cache for my websites and is recommended by both BlueHost and HostGator.

Here is a quick tutorial on how to set up WP Super Cache for your website.

Compress Images Before Uploading To Your Website

I have been guilty for the longest time of not compressing my images on my websites. But now, I wouldn’t dare as I know how much it can slow down a website.

Who said you couldn’t teach an old dog new tricks!

95% of the time when you have an image or graphic, it wouldn’t have been compressed. Typically an uncompressed jpeg or PNG image file can be 500kb to 3mb. If you compound that over 5 images for one page, that could be close to 5mb.

End result = sluggish speed.

However, when you use an online compression tool like CompressJpeg or png2jpg, they can typically reduce the image size by 50%-90%. So what would have been a 5mb page is now closer to 1mb.

End result = fast speed.

Use a CDN (Content Delivery Network)

Another way to make your website blazing fast, like I mean lightning fast, is to use a CDN. In a nutshell, a CDN takes a copy of your database files then distributes them to dozens of servers around the world.

So instead of connecting with a server in the USA, a visitor will be able to connect to a server in Australia which lessens the response time by 70%-90%. This works for visitors all around the world as CDN’s have servers on all major continents.

What makes this even sweeter is that you can pick up a CDN service for free! I have been using CloudFlare for over 2 years now. You can follow this tutorial on how to setup W3 Total Cache and CloudFlare.

I’m not going to lie, it is a time-consuming task and isn’t for the faint-hearted. But you won’t regret doing it!

If You Can, Use a Premium Theme

For the longest time I tried to get away with using free WordPress themes. But 4 years ago I decided to start using a premium website builder and it’s the best investment I have ever made!

While there are dozens of great free themes out there. 95% of the time you will either run into paywalls that restrict the settings or not have support for troubleshooting issues.

Also, free themes have less frequent updates which means they can quickly fall behind industry standards.

At the moment I use StudioPress which this website is built on. StudioPress is a great option for beginners and advanced developers as they have drag and drop builders plus access to all of the code.

All of the StudioPress themes are optimised for SEO and are super lightweight which makes them incredibly fast. If you can fork out a hundred dollars from the outset, I would highly recommend opting for a premium theme.

It will guaranteed save you a lot of headaches!

How I Picked The Best Web Hosting Companies For Kiwis

After using dozens of hosting providers, I have come up with a laundry list of important factors that I believe any good host should provide to their customers. Below you will see how I picked and evaluated the companies for my best web host NZ picks.

Speed

When it comes down to it, speed is the most important factor for any website.

In fact, a recent study has shown that if a website takes more than 5 seconds to load, there is a 90% probability that the visitor won’t stick around for the page to load.

This means loss of revenue, less leads, lost ad revenue and not to mention it makes your brand look unprofessional. In 2020, internet users expect a website to load in under 2 seconds which will only get less with time.

Even Google has announced that slow websites will be penalised in their search rankings as it is a bad user experience.

It’s because of this that I have included web hosts in this guide with load time of under 1 second so you can get more customers and be hight in Google search results.

Uptime

Another important thing I considered when looking at good web hosts for New Zealanders was the uptime numbers. You can think of uptime as how reliable a server is and how often it drops out.

If a web host has an average uptime for 98%, this means that their hosted websites are going down for 2% of the time. Compounded over a year and this could equate to hours, if not days of downtime which can be horrible for any website owner.

If you think a slow website is bad, just wait till someone comes to your site and realises they cant purchase a product or read an article. It is no doubt a very unprofessional look which can be disastrous for sales and brand awareness.

All of the hosts I have included in this website are at a minimum of 99%, with my top recommendation being 99.99%

Security

After reading a lot of reviews and comparisons on web hosts, there always seems to be a lack of focus on security.

I have never had it happen to me, but I have heard a lot of horror stories of fellow web developers who had their whole portfolios of websites hacked and data stolen.

Knock on wood!

After hearing all these horror stories, I only use web hosts with outstanding security ratings and daily backups.

So even is something was to happen, you can rewind a day and then reinstall your website files.

Customer/Technical Support

If you have a website go down, it can be one of the most gut-wrenching feelings, especially if you rely on your website for business. So being able to call your hosting provider and get the issue resolved quickly and easily is paramount.

Depending on the web host, this can take a few minute phone call, or in my experience, a few hours for the same issue. Also for many hosting companies, they provide only online chat or the dreaded email ticketing system.

As customer and technical support is such an important consideration. I have only included web hosts with outstanding customer service and technical support.

While you might never have to use it, you’ll be thankful that its there when things go south.

Backups

After building and hosting hundreds of websites, I have come to realise the importance of backups. Many times I have downloaded a dodgy theme or plugin which has crashed my site. I have also been known to tamper with certain switches that I shunt touch.

Fortunately, with any good web host, they will provide daily backups which means you can go back and pick up where you left off. All of the web hosts in this guide provide great backup support.

Price

Last but not least is the price. While there are dozens of hosting providers out there that are cheaper than my list.

I find they lack in almost every other aspect.

So I have found a good balance of value that include affordable hosts while still delivering great performance and speed.

At the end of the day, it’s only a few dollars extra that will pay dividends in the long term.

Hopefully you won’t fall for the same trap I dit and go straight to the cheapest web host.

What Is Web Hosting?

In a nutshell, web hosting is a service that allows businesses or individuals to upload and store their website to the internet.

Another way to look at web hosting is like a digital highway. It transfers data and information from the hosting provider to the internet user which fuels the website.

Hosting providers will store the website data on their specially designed computers called servers which make the relaying of information possible. When someone wants to view a website, they put in the website address which will connect them to the server.

With many hosting companies, they will have multiple servers around the world with a copy of your website information on each one. This in effect makes a website faster, as an internet user from New Zealand doesn’t have to connect to a server in the USA, as opposed to one in Singapore.

Hopefully that wasn’t too confusing! I know it took me a while to wrap my head around web hosting when I first began. For peace of mind, the web host takes care of all of this. All we have to do is make our website. Simple!

Do You Need Web Hosting?

If you plan on making your own website with a CMS (Content Management System) like WordPress, Drupal or Joomla, then definitely yes! Personally, I prefer and recommend WordPress as my CMS as it is completely free and is the most versatile platform available.

WordPress also has the largest catalogue of free themes and plugins available which gives a website builder endless control. Not to mention the fact that 80 million websites depend on WordPress!

This equates to 50% of the internet. Not too shabby for a free platform!

While there are providers like Shopify, Wix and SqaureSpace who include the hosting for you. There are some major downsides, price hikes and scaling issues when compared to self-hosted websites.

So if you want to build your own website on a CMS and have access to millions of themes and plugins. Self web hosting could be right for you.

Currently, there are over 1 millions websites that use WordPress, which truly is a staggering number. Even some of the biggest companies in the world use WordPress like the BBC and even FaceBook!

WordPress all so has thousands of free themes and plugins to choose from. So you know your website will always be looking good and operating fast.

If you are looking to create a WP site, my best WordPress web hosts for New Zealanders is BlueHost. They really are a great option for speed, affordability, customer service and unlimited server resources.

Different Types Of Web Hosting Available

Just like cars, smartphones and houses. Web hosting comes in many different types and sizes, with each both have their pros and cons. Below I will quickly address the most popular types of web hosting options available. Plus the one I use for my own personal websites.

Shared Web Hosting

Shared web hosting means just that. With shared hosting plans, you can split the bill with other website owners and share the one server. This means you avoid paying hundreds of dollars per month for your own dedicated server.

Typically there will be a hundred or so websites on a single shared server which means you pay only a few dollars a month. (I kind of look at it like renting an apartment in a big complex as opposed to owning a house).

This makes shared hosting a great option for those who are making their first website and are on a budget.

I personally host hundreds of websites on shared hosting plans that get in excess of 100,000 visits per month. So even if you plan on having a high traffic website, shared hosting is still a good option for growth and performance.

While there are lot of benefits to shared hosting plans, one major drawback are speed and performance hikes.

This can happen when another website on the server gets a huge surge of traffic. In turn, the server will need to reallocate its resources to try and stop the website from crashing, which can put strain on other websites.

I have experienced this only a handful of times for my websites and the speed can slow down by a few milliseconds. Which to be honest, isn’t noticeable. Overall shared hosting plans are my favourite, and to this day I still prefer to use them as my best web hosting NZ option.

To learn more, this is a great starting point.

Reseller Web Hosting

In many ways, reseller web hosting is almost identical to shared web hosting. It allows a user to purchase hosting space at wholesale prices and then sell it on to third parties. Typically if you go to a web designer, they will host your website on a reseller hosting plan.

One big advantage of reseller hosting plans is that you have more control to the backend and settings. While this is not beneficial for new website builders, it does come in hander for large scale web developers.

Personally I wouldn’t recommend opting for a reseller hosting plan as there is more upfront costs with almost the same features. You can learn more about reseller web hosting here.

Cloud Based Web Hosting

Cloud hosting utilises a web of separate servers which allows ones websites to load at staggering rates. Instead of allocating all a websites data on one server which can serve as a weak spot. Cloud hosting distributes the load virtually through multiple servers acting as the cloud.

There are many advantages to cloud hosting such as increased security and the ability to process large amounts of traffic.

Cloud hosting is a relatively new technology that is usually reserved for high traffic websites or for sites that have outgrown their current web host. It is also a great scaling solution for any business or e-commerce website.

As you might have guessed, this hosting option does come with significant price hikes. But it is worth the money if you are after a lightning fast and secure website. To learn more, see this guide on cloud web hosting.

Virtual Private Servers (VPS)

One tier up from shared web hosting is VPS which uses the same single server to host multiple websites. However, the key difference is that you are allocated a certain amount of CPU and memory (RAM).

Another way to view it is like getting 1/10 slice of a pie instead of 1/100 which in this case, would be a shared hosting plan.

To keep going with the pie analogy. Even if you won’t eat your 1/10 slice of server space. It is good to have extra in case your website does grow and you need extra resources. Instead of fighting other websites for it on the server, it takes what it needs.

Another benefit to VPS hosting is a website is less susceptible to being affected by other sites that may be draining the server resources.

This makes a VPS a cost-effective and performance savvy option for those who will have a lot of traffic but don’t want to jeopardise their website performance. I would recommend a VPS to someone who has a website in an intermediate growth stage. This is a great guide on VPS hosting to get you started.

Dedicated Web Hosting

Last but not least is the grandaddy of hosting options! If you want ultimate control, iron-clad security and blazing fast performance, a dedicated web hosting plan might be for you. With dedicated web hosting, you essentially you get your own individual server which means no sharing with other websites.

As you might have guessed, dedicated web hosting is the most expensive option available. Typically it starts from a few hundred dollars a month. To learn more, WPbeginner has an awesome guide.

Final Thoughts On The Best Web Hosting NZ Picks

One thing I forgot to mention for those who are building their first website. It is incredibly easy in 2020 and requires zero coding or prior knowledge, zilch, nada, nothing…

This is great for small business owners or for anyone who is looking to make their first website. No more having to pay expensive web developers when you can do it yourself!

While there are endless amounts of hosting providers available, my advice would to pick one, even if it’s not perfect. The most important thing, however, is to take that first action which will lead to your website and who knows where from there.

If I didn’t make that first website 8 years ago, I doubt I would be sitting here writing this and being able to support myself off of my passion.

So hopefully this guide on the best web hosting NZ has given you some value and a clearer path to take. If I have missed out on anything, or if you would like to share your own experience, please comment below!

Who Am I?

Let me introduce myself! My name is James Parker and I am a one-man show who operates my own web design business (sorry, not taking clients at the moment).

I was originally born in Auckland and have been calling Christchurch home for the past 4 years. I now know the importance of thermal undergarments.

Close to 10 years ago I decided to create a website on a whim. Fast forward to the present and I have now built over 450 websites and counting.

So I guess you could say I got hooked…

I am truly passionate about website building as I believe it’s a great way for business owners and individuals to get their voice out in the world.

It’s because of this passion that I decided to create this blog for Kiwis, from a Kiwis perspective. Who knows, you might catch the web site building bug as well.

How I Collected Data For This Guide

I am the first to admit that I love data (I swear I’m not a nerd, well maybe). Throughout my process of building websites, I have been testing and tracking all of their performances with different hosts which I keep on an internal portal.

During this time, I have also been keeping tabs on things such as:

• Speed
• Uptime
• Bandwidth usage

From this data, I have been able to compile a comprehensive analysis on the best web hosting providers which you will see below.

Best Way To Use This Guide

For this guide, I have rounded up and reviewed 5 of my favourite hosts that I have used within the last 8 years. These are companies that I have used personally so you can get my honest opinion on them.

Below the list you will also find other information on best practices, things to avoid and how I chose these hosts. This list is arranged in numerical order with my most recommended web host for New Zealanders at the top.