5 Best Hosting for Multiple Domain Names

If you own a single domain and a small to mid-sized website you’ve probably picked the most reasonably priced hosting configuration there is – shared hosting. Shared hosting implies that you’re sharing server resources with other sites hosted on the same physical server, but on the other hand, you’re benefiting from the amazing price advantage that comes with such a hosting type.

It may be that one day you may have to or you may want to add other domains to your portfolio, especially if you’re looking to launch multiple websites. You may think that having multiple domains under the umbrella of the same hosting account means that you need to start looking for more powerful plans like VPS or dedicated hosting that usually come with the possibility to host unlimited domains on a single hosting account. The fact of the matter is that the shared hosting plans of the best hosting providers can also give you the advantage of hosting multiple domains, without having to pay more for a VPS or dedicated hosting.

What are the benefits of a multiple domain hosting?

Even if for now, you’re looking to host a single site, you’re still better off choosing a host that allows you to host multiple domains in case you may change your mind later, and find yourself wanting to add another domain to your account, but being unable to. Choosing a multiple domain hosting from the get-go will save you from the trouble of having to upgrade your account or even switch hosts. It will also save you on costs of switching plans and make domain management easy by allowing you to use the same control panel to manage all of your domains hosted under the same umbrella.

How to choose the best multiple domain hosting?

If you’re looking to host multiple domains, you’ll of course need to find a hosting provider that will allow you to do so. Apart from this, there are other crucial aspects to consider:

• Costs: A hosting that costs a lot is not necessary good. A good hosting plan should not cost and arm and a leg, even if it comes with the possibility to host multiple domains. Shared hosting plans may be the cheapest type of hosting plan, but if you simply don’t need the resources offered by VPS or dedicated hosting, there really is no reason why you shouldn’t choose a good shared hosting plan.
• Possibility to upgrade: Choosing a shared hosting plan doesn’t mean that you have to stick with this plan forever. Your websites may expand, you may get more traffic, and you may need more horsepower down the way. A good web hosting will allow you to upgrade whenever these events happen.
• Easy management of multiple domains: The importance of a good control panel cannot be understated. cPanel is currently the industry standard, which has a high usability quotient and will allow you to seamlessly manage multiple domains at once.
• Reliability: A good multiple domain hosting needs to be secure and reliable. High availability, free backups, shared SSL, and spam protection are some of the attributes of a good hosting provider.
• Money-back guarantee and freebies: It’s always good to have a money-back guarantee to fall back on if your hosting provider will end up not being all that was cracked up to be. 30-day money-back guarantee is the industry standard, but some hosts offer even 45-day (HostGator) or 90-day money-back guarantee (InMotion). Freebies included with hosting plans are also not a negligible aspect when choosing a multiple domain hosting. Freebies include free domains, free migration assistance, free website builders, etc.

Which are the industry-leader web hosting providers that offer shared hosting plans with the possibility to host multiple domains? Read our take on which multiple domain host you should consider.

Best Multiple Domains Hosting

When it comes to multiple domain hosting, you don’t necessarily have to jump for the more expensive VPS or dedicated hosting, the following hosting providers will let you have multiple domains under the same shared hosting account at no extra costs:

iPage

iPage is a full-service hosting provider, with various hosting plans, nevertheless, their shared hosting plans are on the affordable end of the pricing spectrum, and they of course allow you to host multiple domains. Like eHost, iPage has a single multiple domain shared hosting plan that is currently available at the amazing price of $1.99/month. The regular price is $11.95/month, so double the regular price of the eHost shared hosting plan. What can the starter $1.99/month price get you at iPage?

iPage’s shared hosting plan is called the Essential, and comes with hosting for unlimited domains, free domain registration, unlimited disk space and scalable bandwidth, unlimited email addresses, unlimited MySQL databases, online store and PayPal integration, 1-click installer, 24/7 network monitoring, 24/7 phone and chat support, 30-day money-back guarantee and several extra features. The extra features include: Weebly website builder, 1-click WordPress installer, compatibility with other CMSs, website backup software, virus checking, spam filters, online marketing credits (Google AdWords and Bing), toll-free phone number for US, vDeck control panel, secure FPT, etc.

Unlike eHost, iPage gives you the option to upgrade when you need more power in the way of hosting resources.

InMotion Hosting

InMotion is another multiple domain hosting provider, where you can choose from 3 shared hosting plans. Unlike the previous two hosting providers, at InMotion you have unlimited domain hosting only with their most powerful shared hosting plan, the Pro plan. The other two shared plans, allow you to host 2 (Launch plan), and 6 websites (Power plan) respectively. InMotion hosting also has plenty of other types of hosting plans so if you outgrow their shared hosting plans, you can switch to superior plans without problems.

 InMotion offers 90-day guarantee with all their plans, as well as free backups, free domain name, SSH Access, free SSD drives, Max Speed Zone, code in more languages, 1-click installer and 310 applications, GoogleApps integration, free advertising credit, free BoldGrid website builder, unlimited disk space and monthly transfers, unlimited MySQL and PostgreSQL databases with the Pro plan, free website transfers, possibility to easily manage multisite WordPress installation with WP-CLI, real-time spam filtering, WordPress, Prestashop and Joomla preinstalled, 24/7 support, and high-availability.

InMotion’s shared hosting plans are slightly more robust than what the previously listed hosting providers offer, a difference also reflected by the prices of these hosting plans. Thus, the Launch plan costs $4.99/month, the Power plan costs $5.39/month, while the Pro plan costs $8.99/month. These prices are discounted prices, regular prices cost a few dollars more.

BlueHost

BlueHost is a respected name in the hosting industry, offering hosting solutions for all types of websites. All but one of their three shared hosting plans include the possibility to host unlimited websites. Their entry-level shared hosting plan only allows you to host 1 website, so we will not be covering it in our review. The two other shared hosting plans are the Plus and Prime, which cost $4.45/month and 10.95/month, respectively. These are discounted prices; regular prices are slightly higher.

Apart from offering unlimited domain hosting, both plans come with unmetered website space and bandwidth, unlimited email accounts, 1 professional email from Google (Prime plan), unlimited email storage, free advertising credit, enhanced cPanel, SpamExperts included, and SiteBackup Pro and Domain Privacy included with the Prime plan.

An advantage of BlueHost is its resource protection technology that identifies websites that regularly use up too much server resources and re-assigns them to isolated systems, thus protecting your website’s performance. A further advantage is the possibility to scale up with a single click, whenever you need to switch to a VPS or a dedicated hosting.

HostGator

The last hosting provider that made the cut in our list of the best multiple domain hosting providers is HostGator. Only two of their entry-level web hosting plans include hosting for unlimited domains, their starter Hatchling plan allowing you to host only a single domain on one account. Their other shared hosting plan, the Baby plan, is now 50% off and costs $4.95/month. It comes with unmetered bandwidth and disk space, free advertising credit, free website builder tools, no contract with 45-days money-back guarantee, instant backups, 99.9% uptime guarantee, 24/7 support, free website/domain migration, unlimited MySQL databases, OpenSSH, unlimited email accounts, audio/video streaming, SpamAssasin, latest cPanel, IP Deny Manager, password protected directories, hotlink protection, private SSL allowed. For only $1 more per month, you can opt for the Business plan that comes with a dedicated IP, free toll-free number, and anonymous FTP.

At HostGator, you can choose to upgrade to more powerful plans if your hosting needs evolve over time.

eHost

eHost is a shared hosting-only provider that allows you to host unlimited websites on your hosting account. They offer a single shared hosting plan, which now has a discounted price of $2.75/month, and also includes unmetered storage and unmetered bandwidth. This low monthly price will also land you other excellent benefits such as a free domain, free drag & drop site builder, 1000s of templates, 45-days money-back guarantee, eCommerce and PayPal payment integration, cPanel, high performance load balance servers, 24×7 network monitoring, 24/7 e-mail, phone and live chart support, customizable e-mail spam filers, virus checking, free advertising credit, and many more features that are worth checking out.

Although there aren’t other types of hosting plans available at eHost, so upgrading is not an option, they do offer a robust and feature-packed multiple domain shared hosting that will meet the needs of those with multiple websites with low to medium traffic, which is why we’ve decided to include it in our list despite its shortcoming in the upgradability department.

The regular price for this shared hosting plan is $5.50/month, which is still good value for money, given the extensive features comprised by eHost’s single hosting plan.

Conclusion

As you can see, multiple website hosting can be good even if it’s implies very low costs. While you can opt for single-domain shared plans that cost a few dollars less per month, it’s probably better to choose a shared hosting plan that allows you to host multiple websites even if you now think that you may not be needing this feature in the future. The hassle that may come with having to either switch hosts or upgrade, especially if you’re choosing a hosting provider that doesn’t make the process as smooth as possible, is simply not worth it.