Best Website Hosting for Artists 2019

The media often romanticizes being an artist — enjoying champagne all night while talking about art. In reality, struggling artists have to work super hard to get their “big break”.

What does this have to do with the best website hosting for artists?

Simply put, everything goes online today, and so should your art. And for you to showcase your art, we will be presenting the Best Website Hosting for Artists. Read on to see our picks.

Web hosting vs. Web builders

Before going further to the list, let’s clarify one thing. Web hosting and web builders are two different options for you to choose from. They’re not necessarily complementary to each other.

If you choose the former, it means that you host your site on a “renter” server. You will then have to build your website by either coding manually or using CMS platforms like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.

If you choose the latter, you host your site on a server as well. But, you will use a provided web application to build your website. That explains the name, “web builder”.

People usually favor web builders over CMS based on several reasons — mainly time efficiency and ease-of-use. Either way, both options keep your website up and running.

So What are the Best Website Hosting for Artists?

It doesn’t matter if you’re a musician, designer, sculptor, or any other type of artist. What matters most is that you use the best web hosting for a portfolio and art-related content.

It has to be versatile, cheap, and integrate well with both WordPress and similar platforms.

Note:

1. The listed price is the monthly fee for the shared hosting plan. Please visit the official sites for further details.
2. The pros/cons shown on the tables apply to every plan unless stated specifically.

Let’s continue with our list the best hosting providers for artists:

1. Hostinger

• Standout feature: Fastest servers and the best value-for-money plans
• Price: Single ($1.45), Premium ($2.95), Business ($3.95)
• Free domain: Available for Premium and Business. It costs $8.99/year for Single
• Speed: 58 ms Uptime: 100%

People say that nothing is perfect. But when it comes to uptime, Hostinger is! Their servers are always online — or almost always to be fair. They also have the fastest response time among other providers.

Single Shared Hosting is the most affordable plan that they offer which starts just at $1.45 a month. You get a single MySQL database, one email account, access to an easy-to-use website builder and even SSD storage! Bandwidth is limited to a 100GB though. 24/7 support is included with every plan. It’s perfect if you need to host just a simple portfolio website.

Premium Shared Hosting is the cream of Hostinger’s services. Starting at $2.95 per month, the amount of things you get is amazing value. If something can be measured in quantity, like email services, SSD storage and the like, it simply becomes uncapped. So, you get unlimited storage, emails etc. What you get as a bonus is a free domain to what you’re already getting.

Business Shared Hosting is their most premium standard plan which will set you back $3.95 a month. You get all the unlimited stuff from the previous plan. In addition, you get a free SSL certificate and daily backups. As well as more processing power and memory.

Although affordable, Hostinger is not of lesser quality. It’s their mission to let people unlock the power of internet easily. In fact, their plans are all powerful. Hosting all types of art websites will not be a problem for Hostinger.

Pros

• Spend significantly less, do a lot more
• Super fast and stable
• Performs exceptionally well with WordPress
• 24/7 professional support
• Bundled with solid security features (BitNinja & SpamAssassin)
• Automatic backups and SSD option (Business and Premium plan)
• Rich knowledge base (tutorials, articles, guidelines, and more)

Cons

• If you choose other than the 48-month plan, the pricing might not be as cheap.
• Limited free SSL (only for the Premium and Business plans)

2. Bluehost

• Standout feature: Excellent WordPress & WooCommerce integration
• Price: Basic ($3.95), Plus ($5.95), Choice Plus ($5.95+)
• Free domain: Available on each plan for 1 year
• Speed: 668 ms Uptime: 99.99%

Bluehost’s speed and uptime is not too shabby, but not the best one either. If all you need is showcasing and selling your art at the same time, Bluehost is the boss.

It integrates perfectly with WordPress and WooCommerce. If you prefer using a web builder instead, Bluehost has included Weebly for free in your purchase. You can also speed up your site using CloudFlare CDN, all for free.

Pros

• Officially endorsed by WordPress
• Flexible integration with many platforms
• Fairly affordable
• Free Weebly and SSL
• Automatic backups
• Professional 24/7 customer support

Cons:

• Too many up-selling offers
• No SSD option
• A relatively high renewal fee

3. A2 Hosting

• Standout feature: Advanced options for custom development
• Price: Lite ($3.92), Swift ($4.90), Turbo ($9.31)
• Free domain: Not available. It costs $14.95/year.
• Speed: 78ms Uptime: 99.99%

A2 Hosting is designed by and targeted for developers. Needless to say, any customization is possible.

This is your perfect partner if you want to create a complex art website. With respectable speed and uptime scores, slow performance is almost nonexistent.

Not enough speed? Upgrade to the Turbo plan and make your site 20 times faster! One thing though, you may need a hand from an advanced user to operate it fully.

Pros:

• Advanced customization
• Windows & Linux hosting option
• Uptime guarantee
• Shared SSD storage
• Free SSL, CloudFare CDN, and web migration
• Rich knowledge base

24/7 support channels (ticketing system, Skype, telephone, and live chat)

Cons:

• Relatively expensive. But, with plenty of premium features on each plan, it’s a good trade-off.
• HTTP/2 is only available for the Turbo plan
• No free domain
• Complex control panel

4. Siteground

• Standout feature: Skilled and committed customer support officers.
• Price: StartUp ($3.95), GrowBig ($5.95), GoGeek ($11.95)
• Free domain: Not available. It costs $15.95/year
• Speed: 555ms Uptime: 99.98%

Siteground’s customer support is hard to beat. If they could climb a mountain for you, they would.

Each plan is also equipped with a lot of advanced features — making everything fast and secure. That being said, Siteground is perfect for artists who desire a good mix of professional assistance and stable performance.

You are either a beginner or a busy artist. If you exceed the data and traffic allocation, which is unlikely for art websites, you will have to pay a bit more.

Pros:

• Top-notch 24/7 customer support
• Bundled with managed WordPress hosting
• Free SSL, CloudFare CDN, and web migration
• Automatic daily backups
• No free domain
• SSD storage
• HTTP/2 enabled servers
• Solid security features

Cons:

• Limited data storage for the shared hosting plan, ranging from 10GB to only 30GB
• Unlocking the best features are rather costly
• Limited traffic allocation for the shared hosting plan, ranging from 10000 to 100000 visitors per month

5. Inmotion

• Standout feature: Strong community support and business features
• Free domain: Available on each plan for one year.
• Price: Launch ($6.39), Power ($8.49), Pro ($14.71)
• Speed: 150ms Uptime: 99.94%

Each Inmotion’s business plan is e-commerce ready. They also have active community support and solid learning materials.

In addition, users will also get $250 worth of free advertising on Google, Yahoo, and Bing. Any artist looking for a business-driven web host should choose Inmotion — especially if they have products to sell.

Although rather expensive, Inmotion’s rich features are worth the investment.

Pros

• Free BoldGrid, a premium web builder
• Automatic backups
• SSD storage
• Free SSL certificate, web migration, and marketing tools
• 1-click installer to install over 400 free applications
• Easy integration with Google Apps
• 24/7 support channels (ticketing system, Skype, telephone, and live chat)

Cons:

• The phone verification process may take a while.
• Data centers are only in the US. Websites outside the US might not be as fast.
• Significantly more expensive than others in this list

So which is the best website hosting for artists?

Those are the best web hosts for artists. So, which one should you choose? It really weighs on your personal needs. Simply look at what each option offers and then Take a look at how they might help you.

• Hostinger should be your pick if Flexible customization, blazing speed, and the best pricing plan available is what you’re looking for.
• Bluehost is the way to go if you want a strong platform for showcasing your art.
• A2 Hosting will help you to turn crazy and complex ideas into reality.
• Siteground is suited for you to start off an online presence with premium support.
• Inmotion will let you set up a perfect online art store.

You might also fit into several of these categories. In that case, simply look for other perks of a web hosting service, like pricing and speed. You’re not going to go wrong with a stable foundation after all.

Top Website Builders for Artists

If you choose the ‘web builder’ route, you can do everything by yourself. Web builders make web creation easy and the result is nothing short of stunning.

Here is are our recommendations of the best website builders for artists:

1. WiX

• Standout feature: Ease-of-use and a large selection of beautiful designs.
• Price: Free, Connect Domain ($4.50), Combo ($8.50), Unlimited ($12.50), eCommerce ($16.50), VIP ($24.50)

WiX powers around 110 million websites worldwide. That number alone speaks volumes.

No wonder, creating a website with WiX is super easy. It has a lot of modern designs to choose from — making it perfect for a portfolio site or an online gallery.

If you want to start selling your art, WiX also offers WiX eCommerce and WiX Music.

However, you can only choose one design. You’ll lose all the settings if you switch later.

Pros

• 500+ designer-made templates
• Intuitive drag-and-drop interface
• Secure and relatively fast
• The starter plan still has ads on the site
• Rich knowledge base

Cons:

• Content migration is not possible.
• Not entirely SEO-optimized
• Business optimization only for the eCommerce and VIP plan

2. GoDaddy Website Builder

• Standout feature: Instant access and solid SEO module
• Price: Personal ($8.99), Business ($14.99), Business Plus ($21.99), Online Store ($43.99)

GoDaddy’s web builder doesn’t have the drag-and-drop method. But all you need to do to start a site is to enter your website’s criteria and the builder will then generate it for you.

While it sounds simple, GoDaddy supports 1500 business options. If you want to get your art online ASAP and SEO is a big concern, GoDaddy is the obvious choice.

However, if your art relies heavily on visuals, switch to something else. GoDaddy is not built for aesthetical purposes.

Pros

• Solid SEO optimization and marketing tools
• Automatic backups
• E-commerce ready. However, if your business is big, use Shopify instead.

Cons

• Rather costly
• Content migration is not possible

3. Weebly

• Standout feature: Extra customization with HTML and CSS
• Price: Pro ($12.00), Business ($25.00), Performance ($38.00)

Weebly has two versions, one is bundled with Bluehost, one is hosted by Weebly itself.

In general, Weebly has a solid balance of ease-of-use and valuable features. It may not be packed by hundreds of beautiful designs like WiX, but if you know how to code, customization is easy to do — perfect for artists who desire some room for expression.

Videos and MP3 can also be integrated directly to the site. You don’t need to embed it from YouTube and other platforms.

Pros

• Backup options
• Better web store integration
• Reasonable price
• Easy multimedia integration

Cons

• Some image operations require coding knowledge

4. Ucraft

• Standout feature: The best value-for-money plans for beginners & versatility
• Price: Free, Pro Website ($10.00), Pro Shop ($21.00), BigCommerce ($39.00)

Apart from its renowned ease-of-use, Ucraft is notably versatile. Be it for a landing page, blogging platform, or a web store, each option is equipped with customizable templates.

However, founded in 2014, Ucraft is still the new kid on the block. Its ‘on-going’ development is too risky for complex websites.

But if you’re a beginner, Ucraft is the perfect choice for hosting your portfolio or gallery. You’ll get both power and fair pricing plans.

Pros

• SEO optimized
• Only 40+ templates.
• Large selection of customizable widgets
• Easy registration and affordable price
• Built-in logo maker

Cons

• Undo when editing is not possible
• No backup options

5. Squarespace

• Standout feature: Visually impressive templates
• Price: Personal ($12.00), Business ($18.00). Online store: Basic ($26.00), Advanced ($40.00)

When it comes to a great selection of attention-grabbing designs, Squarespace is second to none. It might be a bit expensive for some, but not for those putting their main concern on visuals.

All that sophisticated look can be done using the drag-and-drop method.

Pros

• More advanced visual editor
• Mobile-responsive templates
• CSS customization
• Built-in e-commerce support for small to medium businesses.
• Squarespace Analytics for measuring SEO and site performance

Cons

• The interface may take some time to get used to.
• Relatively expensive

So Which is the best web-builder?

Still, the best choice is in your hands. Take a look at how these web builders might help you.

• Starting a powerful and cost-effective website for portfolio and gallery: Ucraft
• Setting up a multimedia website with customized settings: Weebly
• Instantly launching a website about poetry: GoDaddy (no heavy visuals)
• Creating a portfolio website for a professional photographer: Squarespace
• Building a multipurpose art website with beautiful designs: WiX

Conclusion

Choosing between a web hosting and a web builder is all about making compromises. The web hosting route offers you far better flexibility for customization through coding.

However, the ease-of-use you’d normally get by going the other route is not present. On the other hand, web builders are fun and games until you realize that you need more advanced features.

Regardless, your art has to go online. Bear in mind that the total number of internet users in 2018 was up by 13%.

On a similar note, 41.9% of young Millenials regard art buying as a good investment.

Whether you’d use your site commercially or not, pick a hosting plan and seize the moment!