Best Web Hosting for Nonprofits You Should not Miss [2024]
Truly the best shared, WordPress, and cloud hosting services for nonprofits. You can even create your nonprofit website entirely for free with our picks. The top five providers:
Hostinger
Bluehost
Dreamhost
iPage
First, thank you for making this world better. We really appreciate it and do understand that running a website can be quite costly.
What is nonprofit hosting, and is it real? Or is it another term marketers use to maximize their sales?
The good news is that some hosting companies do support nonprofit organizations with discounts or even free hosting.
After thorough analysis, we have the 7 best web hosting companies for nonprofits.
Caution: We advise you not to use free web hosting providers, as they tend to lack the most important hosting features. Worse still, they are not secure and reliable.
Are you looking for other nonprofit-orientated services? Then, also check out:
What are the Best Web Hosting Providers for Nonprofits in 2023?
- Hostinger – The best value for money for nonprofit organizations.
- Bluehost – The best web hosting for WordPress nonprofit sites.
- Dreamhost – Top web hosting services with full support for US nonprofits.
- iPage – One of the cheapest hosting providers with many unlimited features.
- Cloudways – The best cloud hosting for nonprofits with 20% discounts.
- Interserver – Full support for nonprofits and proprietary security features.
- A2 Hosting – The best web hosting with discounts for nonprofits in different countries.
Procedures and eligibility requirements for nonprofit hosting will vary depending on the provider. However, in all cases, you should legally prove that you are a nonprofit entity.
For example, Dreamhost and A2 Hosting require a 501(c)(3) determination letter (US tax status) as proof, which illustrates your tax-exempt status. Remember that the documentation can vary from country to country.
Note: Web hosting providers tend to offer lower introductory prices. When your plans renew, be ready for higher rates. Ensure you check the renewal rates for the chosen host. For the most up-to-date pricing, visit the site of the provider.
1. Hostinger
The Best Value for Money for Nonprofit Organizations
Hostinger is one of those household names in the hosting industry and for a good reason. It somehow manages to offer free and unlimited features while having one of the cheapest hosting plans.
Best Features
Free Website Builder
One benefit of upgrading to paid plans is Hostinger’s free website builder. The builder has an intuitive interface for beginners and supports ecommerce features. It is not comparable to WordPress in terms of functionality, but you can still create mobile-friendly and responsive nonprofit websites pretty quickly. Sometimes, more is less.
Easy to Use hPanel
Hostinger has its equivalent of cPanel, which is hPanel, with a neatly organized interface. hPanel is equipped with a one-click installer for all popular website building and management apps, including WordPress. You can create email accounts & subdomains, access file manager & databases, and manage DNS from there.
Security and Reliability
Hostinger is a very secure web hosting with a 99.9% uptime guarantee. There are various protection layers, ranging from unlimited free SSL certificates to Cloudflare-protected nameservers. It also has automated weekly backups, but you should not rely entirely on them. We advise you to manually back up your nonprofit website regularly. Besides, starting from the Business Web Hosting Plan, you receive a proprietary web application firewall (WAF).
Generous Features
While Hostinger provides free SSL, 100GB bandwidth, and 50 GB of storage space on its lowest plan, you get the best value from the second-tier package. It adds a free domain name,100 email addresses, and unlimited bandwidth. You can host up to 100 websites on this plan, and the cost is just $2.79 per month.
WordPress-friendly Host
Hostinger’s team has extensive experience in hosting WordPress websites, and its plans include ample WordPress features. They are auto-updates, WordPress multisite, WordPress Acceleration, and staging. Updates keep sites protected from vulnerabilities, while WordPress Acceleration is a special cache mechanism to optimize the loading speed of your WordPress site.
Pricing
Hostinger has free hosting, which is quite limited, and we do not recommend it for your nonprofit website. It also has 3 paid shared hosting plans that nonprofits can benefit from:
- 1 Website
- 50 GB SSD Storage
- 100GB Bandwidth
- 1 Email Account
- Managed WordPress
- 100 Websites
- 100GB SSD Storage
- Unlimited Bandwidth
- 100 Email Accounts
- Free Domain Name
- Unlimited FTP Accounts
- 200GB SSD Storage
- 2 CPU Cores
- 1.5GB RAM
- 100 Parked Domains & Subdomains
Read more Hostinger pricing or Hostinger review
2. Bluehost
The Best Web Hosting Provider for Nonprofit Sites Built on WordPress
WordPress and Google Domains cite Bluehost as a trusted partner. If you are looking for high-end WordPress hosting for your nonprofit website, consider Bluehost.
Best Features
High-end WordPress Hosting
Starting from proprietary solutions, Bluehost has developed a special dashboard, which is called Maestro, for managing multiple WordPress sites in one place. Secondly, you can browse Bluehost Marketplace in case you need WordPress themes or plugins. When you are in the marketplace, look for Bluehost Certified Themes. The provider checks every template, and if it meets the quality criteria, it becomes certified. The criteria are compatibility with the latest WordPress version, mobile-friendliness, the last update date, and overall theme maintenance.
Freebies
You receive a free domain name, free SSL certificate, and free CDN starting from its lowest plan (Basic) on WordPress and shared hosting. However, on the Basic plan, the certificate will be valid for one year, and you will have to buy it next year. Also, if you plan to host multiple nonprofit websites, you should upgrade to the second-tier offering (Plus).
Full Functionality
If these freebies are not enough, you can always subscribe to either Choice Plus or Pro plans. The added benefits of these plans include free domain privacy and Codeguard automated backups for one year. Besides, you receive many Pro WordPress tools like staging, multisite, or plugins collections. The last two features are particularly useful If you plan to build multiple websites. Plugins collections let you gather plugins from the previous site and install them on your next sites in a couple of clicks.
Pricing
- Free Domain & SSL (1st Year)
- 20 SSD Storage
- Optimized WordPress Hosting
- 1 Website
- Daily Backups (1st Year)
- 40 SSD Storage
- Free Yoast SEO
- Unlimited Websites
- Unlimited Products
- Customer Accounts
- Store Analytics
- PayPal Support
- Optimized CPU Resources
- 100 SSD Storage
- Free Dedicated IP
- Malware Scanning
Read more Bluehost pricing or Bluehost review
Bluehost does not offer free hosting or special discounts for the nonprofit sector. However, its web hosting packages are quite affordable, and it has the same pricing for shared and WordPress hosting services.
3. Dreamhost
The Best Hosting Services for US-based Nonprofit Support
Dreamhost is the second WordPress-recommended host with a free website builder, unbeatable reliability, and full nonprofit support.
Best Features
Shared Unlimited Plan
Like with the Shared Starter plan, you do not have to worry about the number of visitors or the amount of data transferred (bandwidth) on your nonprofit site. However, compared to Shared Starter, you receive unlimited websites, unlimited disk space, and free email hosting. It is undisclosed which shared hosting plan nonprofit organizations will be granted for free.
Free Automated WP Migrations
Dreamhost offers a special plugin for this purpose, which is called Dreamhost Automated Migration and can be downloaded in the WordPress Plugin store. To ensure migrations without downtime or other technical problems, watch their informative video tutorials or contact the support.
WordPress Site Builder
Its free website builder is powered by BoldGrid, a beginner-friendly drap-and-drop website constructor. You can publish your website in roughly six steps. Some of these steps include picking a theme, customizing pages & individual blocks, and filling in the website content. It can go pretty quickly with its straightforward setup wizard, 200+ design-wise themes, and pre-build content blocks.
Unbeatable Reliability
Most web hosting companies tend to outsource their customer support, but Dreamhost has an in-house team. In-house teams are often more knowledgeable about the features and technicalities of the hosting. We also find it unique that Dreamhost has a 97-day money-back guarantee and a 100% uptime guarantee. Last but not least, it is the second WordPress-recommended host after Bluehost.
Optimized Performance
Dreamhost really cares about performance, like other companies on our list. You get SSD storage, resource protection, and built-in catching from higher plans. For example, resource protection ensures fair use of server resources on shared and WordPress hosting. If it were not for this mechanism, many websites could experience low performance and even higher downtime because of noisy neighbors.
Pricing
- One Website
- 50GB SSD Storage
- 6 MySQL Databases
- 5 Subdomains
- Unmetered Bandwidth
- Unlimited Websites
- Unlimited SSD Storage
- Unlimited MySQL Databases
- Unlimited Subdomains
- Free Email
It is undisclosed which of the two shared hosting plans nonprofits receive for free.
4. iPage
One of the Cheapest Web Hosting Services with Many Unlimited Features
iPage has a pretty usable control panel and an intuitive & free website builder. It spices its hosting packages with many unlimited features and freebies.
Best Features
Usability for Beginners
iPage has a simplified custom control panel that is free from clutter. It is optimized in such a way that the most used tools and functions appear first. You can also purchase add-ons and update billing information right from there.
Free Website Builder Included
If WordPress is too complicated for you, give a try to the iPage free website builder. It is the best fit for creating small nonprofit websites, and it comes with a drag-and-drop interface, mobile-friendly themes, and decent analytics. The good news is that you can connect to Paypal to accept donations with the iPage website builder.
Unlimited Features and Freebies
You receive many free or unlimited features for a couple of bucks. The freebies include a free domain name, and SSL certificates, while websites, storage space, and bandwidth come unlimited.
Enhanced Protection for WordPress
iPage understands how vulnerable WordPress is and provides the Sitelock security tool for free with its hosting. The tool comes with automatic malware removal and daily security scans.
Shared and WordPress Hosting Pricing
- Free Domain Name & SSL
- Unlimited Websites
- Unlimited Storage & Bandwidth
- Free Email Hosting
- 24/7 Chat Support
- WordPress-Optimized Hosting
- 1 WordPress Site
- Free Domain Name & SSL
- Unlimited Storage & Bandwidth
- Pre-Installed Themes & Plugins
- WordPress-Optimized Hosting
- Unlimited WordPress Sites
- Free Domain Name & SSL
- SiteLock Security
- Auto Malware Removal
5. Cloudways
The Best Cloud Hosting Provider for Nonprofit Organizations
With Cloudways cloud hosting solutions, be ready to pay as you go and scale whenever you want. You should also prepare for enterprise-grade protection and performance. Sounds fantastic? Let's explore.
Best Features
Pay-as-you-go Model
Cloudways has various predefined plans, but its services are still based on the pay-as-you-go model, which means you pay for what you consume. You will get an invoice at the start of the month containing the total sum. The more resources or services you use, the higher the amount will be. This provider has also developed a Real-Time Billing feature, which helps to anticipate your hosting expenses.
Scalability
Another limitation of traditional hosting, despite forced subscriptions, is that it is not flexible when it comes to websites with varying traffic. This is not the issue with Cloudways. With Cloudways Vertical Scaling, you can easily add RAM, storage, and bandwidth or even upgrade the processor at any time in no time. Imagine you have launched a charity campaign, and this month you are awaiting thousands of website visitors. Now you have to upgrade with traditional hosting, and after the traffic drops – downgrade not to waste money.
Enterprise-grade Security
The cloud hosting services come from the top cloud service vendors, such as AWS or Google Cloud, which already sounds secure. However, Cloudways has gone further with its dedicated firewalls, 24/7 website monitoring, auto-healing, and automated daily backups. Also, there is a Cloudflare Enterprise add-on for enhanced DDoS protection and performance.
Performance
Cloud hosting is known for its strong worldwide networks providing faster load times. When signing up for Cloudways, you can choose between 60 data centers. As vertical scaling is available, you can increase RAM and upgrade the processor for better performance. Another speed-enhancing feature is Free Object Cache Pro for Cloudways-optimized WordPress software. We will not dive into the technicalities, but it by far outperforms Redis, Litespeed, and W3 Total caching solutions.
Pricing (Digital Ocean)
Cloudways offers a variety of cloud hosting packages from 5 cloud vendors: Digital Ocean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, and Google Cloud. If you qualify, your nonprofit can receive a 20% discount on the chosen package.
6. Interserver
Best Web Hosting Services for Proprietary Security Features
Interserver gives a full shared hosting plan for free with lots of features and freebies, which are enough for running a small to medium site.
Best Features
Free Shared Hosting
Nonprofits can apply for free hosting that comes with several unlimited features, such as bandwidth, disk space, and email accounts. It is also WordPress-friendly, thanks to its auto-updates and one-click installer for the content management system. You will control your hosting resources via the Direct Admin control panel. Free migration and Free SSL
Proprietary Security Features
Interserver has developed an advanced security tool called Intershield, which will scan your nonprofit site for viruses daily. The tool has a database with known malware and uses machine learning algorithms to prevent malicious attacks. If your WordPress site has been hacked, Interserver will clean it up at no cost.
Solid Email Hosting
You can create unlimited email accounts with Interserver and can be sure that all your emails will be delivered thanks to the antispam technology called Mail.Baby. There are special non-delivery reports to find out and resolve the issues. This technology will also protect you from unwanted emails. It includes various evaluation mechanisms honed to identify spam emails.
Guarantees
Besides a 30-day money-back and 99.9% uptime guarantee, you get a one-of-kind price lock guarantee. It states that the price of hosting will remain the same for a lifetime. For example, if you have signed up for 8/month, the price will never increase. We also cannot believe it, but it is true!
Pros
- Free hosting for nonprofits.
- Free website builder (SitePad).
- Unlimited disk space.
- Unlimited bandwidth.
- Free email hosting with robust antispam protection.
- Very affordable prices.
- The price lock guarantee.
Cons
- No free domain.
- No cPanel on shared hosting.
- No live chat for pre-sales questions.
- The website is not so intuitive.
Pricing
If your nonprofit is eligible, you get free shared hosting from Interserver. However, if you plan to use WordPress, you may consider its managed WordPress hosting, which is $8 per month. It has some unique features like Hacked WordPress Cleanup and daily backups.
Note: The pricing is the same whether you pay monthly or yearly.
7. A2 Hosting
Best Hosting Services with Discounts for Nonprofits in Different Countries
Best Features
Special Treatment for Nonprofits
The discount is undisclosed, but it is not limited to US nonprofits. You should just provide legal proof, and then you will receive a special discount code, which can be used during the subscription.
Super Optimized Performance
You will get SSD storage and so-called A2-optimized WordPress on every web hosting plan. If the software is A2 optimized, it means improved Core Web Vitals and decreased server response time (Time To First Byte). These results are achieved by different cache mechanisms, code minification, database optimization, and Gzip compression. Also, A2 hosting is serious about resource protection on its shared hosting plans, which ensures that your website performance will not suffer from other websites on the server. If you can pay for the Turbo Plans, A2 Hosting promises 20x faster loading speeds.
Hardened Security
All the plans contain various protection layers to secure your site and visitors against different cyber threats. The provider has built a special security suite for it called Perpetual Security. It features the following prevention mechanisms: system and software updates, a virus scanner, DDoS protection, brute force defense, and a firewall. The HackScan feature prevents malware from seriously damaging your site If you are hacked.
Managed WordPress Hosting
If you are ready to pay for managed WordPress hosting services, you can enjoy added benefits. First, WordPress is preinstalled and preconfigured, and you will not have to deal with updates for plugins, themes, or WordPress core in the future. Secondly, you get Turbo Servers from the lowest plan, which are claimed to be 20x faster than normal servers. Finally, If something goes wrong, you have daily on-site and off-site backups to restore your files. These are some notable benefits of A2 Hosting managed WordPress hosting.
Pros
- Discounts for nonprofits in different countries.
- Unlimited email hosting.
- Free migration.
- Free SSL certificates.
- Unlimited SSD storage from the second (shared hosting) and third-tier plans (WordPress hosting).
- Optimized performance.
- Strong security protection.
Cons
- Pricey.
- No free domain.
Pricing
A2 Hosting offers discounts for nonprofits, but you should contact them first. If you are eligible, the support will give you a special discount code, which you should provide during your subscription.
It has four shared hosting packages, as follows:
- Startup – $2.99
- Drive – $5.99
- Turbo Boost – $6.99
- Turbo Max – 14.99$
The following are managed WordPress hosting plans:
- Run – $11.99
- Jump – $18.99
- Fly – $28.99
- Sell – $41.99
How Nonprofit Web Hosting Works and What to Remember
Bear in mind the following:
- Not all web hosting companies support nonprofit organizations.
- Consider your nonprofit website needs. Sometimes, the offered free plans are not enough for your campaign, and you should opt for the provider with the best value for money, like Hostinger.
- The majority of web hosting companies supporting nonprofits tend to have country limitations. For example, they may provide aid only to US-based entities.
- There are two types of support offered to not-for-profit organizations: special discounts & free hosting. For example, Cloudways offers 20% off on all cloud hosting plans, while Dreamhost provides a robust free hosting plan.
- You will probably get shared hosting or WordPress hosting for free. During our research, we did not find hosting providers offering free dedicated hosting or VPS packages. You can always contact the hosting company, and it can make an exclusion.
- You may not be able to host multiple websites. For instance, Dreamhost allows only one website on its nonprofit hosting plan, and you will lose free hosting if done otherwise.
How to apply for nonprofit hosting?
Procedures and eligibility requirements will vary depending on the provider. However, in all cases, you should legally prove that you are a nonprofit entity.
For example, Dreamhost and A2 Hosting require a 501(c)(3) determination letter (US tax status) as proof, which illustrates your tax-exempt status. Remember that the documentation can vary from country to country.
We advise contacting support of the chosen hosting solution for further instructions.
What is the best way to build a nonprofit website?
Definitely, go for WordPress. WordPress.org is a free content management system for everyone. It has an intuitive drag-and-drop website builder, an array of free themes, plus a supportive & passionate community. You do not need to hire a web developer because you can create a website yourself. Yes, there is a bit of a learning curve, but it is the best solution for the long term.
Do you plan to accept donations? If so, WordPress has numerous donation plugins and other extensions to streamline your nonprofit operations. For example, you can display how much money has been collected on the site and how much you need to achieve the nonprofit campaign goal.
Most providers offer managed WordPress hosting services, which means they will take most of the routine site maintenance on themselves, such as updates for WordPress core and plugins.
Is it possible to create a free nonprofit website?
Technically, yes, the website with simple functionality, but it depends on your needs and preferences. Even if you go with free hosting and a free website builder or content management system like WordPress, there may be other expenses that you cannot foresee.
FAQ about Best Web Hosting Services for Nonprofits in 2023
Yes, they are, and we have provided only secure web hosting services for nonprofits. Please, avoid using free web hosting providers, as they may damage your organization's reputation and harm your audience.
Technically, yes. You get a multitude of free resources and discounts to build a website in a few easy steps, such as free hosting, unlimited email accounts, nonprofit templates, free website builders, and more. It is your job to create a nonprofit website.
Fortunately, Godaddy supports nonprofits by providing one free domain name and free shared hosting for one year. After the first year, it grants nonprofits a 40% discount for 2 years. This is good news because Godaddy offers one of the best website & domain hosting services.
Wix does not mention information about nonprofit discounts on the site, but you can always contact its support to clarify. It has a free plan for everyone, but it is very limited in terms of features. For example, you cannot accept donations, have a custom domain, and your site will contain Wix ads.
However, they have good educational resources teaching how to build and maintain a nonprofit website, as well as several nonprofit website templates. You may consider upgrading to the paid plan.
Google Domains is not free for nonprofits. The registrar does not provide any information about nonprofit support on the site (domains.google).
We have found out that Google provides nonprofit support for Google Workspace, Google Ad Grants, and other products. However, there is no information about Google Domains. We conclude that it is not free.
It depends on your site. If you are satisfied with the features on plans, go with free hosting for your nonprofit organization. Remember that you will receive shared or WordPress hosting for free.
The first option that comes to mind is ‘ORG,’ but there are more domain extensions, including ‘CHARITY,’ ‘GIVES,’ ‘NGO,’ ‘EDU,’ and many others.
According to the NonProfit Tech For Good 2017 report, donors trust ‘ORG’ websites and emails the most (68%), followed by ‘EDU’ (7%) and ‘NGO’ (6%).
Yes, it is. There are two kinds of WordPress: WordPress.org and WordPress.com. While the first is a content management system free for everyone, the second offers WordPress hosting services.
It is great for nonprofit organizations in the long term, but there is some learning curve for building and maintaining websites. If you are not a tech-savvy person, consider WordPress alternatives. However, WordPress outperforms even the best website builder software in terms of features and customization.
Recap: Which Nonprofit Web Hosting to Choose in 2023
We hope now you know enough to make a decision and choose the best nonprofit web hosting. Let’s take a look at the top five one more time: