Secure Shell Hosting (SSH) is a protocol that allows you access to run a command-line environment on your web server securely via encryption. You can use it for secure system administration and file transfers.
SSH is often an added feature on many web hosting plans but hosting providers offer them in different ways, so it’s essential to learn about a hosting provider’s secure access before you sign up. This review will show you the best SSH hosting providers and let you know what to look out for when choosing a web hosting company for SSH access.
Here Are The Top SSH Hosting Providers
1. Kamatera – Best SSH Hosting Provider Overall
2. Cloudways – Best SSH Hosting Provider for Easy Setup
3. A2 Hosting – Best SSH Hosting Provider for Speed
4. Ultahost – Best SSH Hosting Provider for Self-Managed VPS Hosting
5. InterServer – Best SSH Hosting Provider for SSH Shared Hosting
6. ScalaHosting – Best SSH Hosting Provider for Fully Managed VPS Hosting
7. Hostinger – Best SSH Hosting Provider for Flexible Payment Options
8. TMDHosting – Best SSH Hosting Provider for Affordability
9. GoDaddy – Best SSH Hosting Provider for Beginners
10. Bluehost – Best SSH Hosting Provider for WordPress
The Best SSH Hosting Providers of 2023 (Bought and Tested)
Kamatera is an industry-leading cloud hosting provider founded in 1995. It offers unmanaged and managed VPS hosting products and other cloud services with more than 13 data centers in Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Israel, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. The web host offers fully customizable hosting plans with unlimited traffic, 99.95% uptime, 24/7 support, and a 30-day free trial. You also get SSH access on all plans.
- Overall score – 5
- Features – 5
- Support – 5
- User-Friendly – 5
- Pricing – 5
- Reliability – 5
Features: Kamatara offers many features on all its cloud hosting plans, including multiple data center locations, support for all popular OS versions, and install scaling and root access to servers. They also offer a mobile-friendly UI, reverse DNS, DDoS protection (paid feature), and SSH access.
Support: You get personalized technical support round the clock via phone, live chat, tickets, and email. The support team is available to answer your questions and resolve issues promptly. The technical team also provides server monitoring, free website migration, and other services for a smooth web hosting experience. You can contact support if you need help setting up your SSH keys.
User-Friendly: Kamatera is 100% user-friendly, but it could be more beginner-friendly. The provider requires you to configure your server from the start, so you need basic knowledge of your hosting needs to make the best out of their plans. But once you have that figured out, hosting your website on Kamatera will be a breeze.
Pricing: The lowest fee for Kamatera hosting is $0.005/hour ($4/Month). This basic configuration includes one vCPU, 1 GB RAM, and 20 GB SSD storage. You can increase your server resources and add other services from the checkout page. You also get 30 days to use the hosting plan for free.
Reliability: You get superb server performance thanks to Kamatera’s cloud hosting technology and modern network infrastructure. They also provide over a dozen data center locations across major continents, so you can choose a data location that provides the best performance to your web visitors. They also offer a 99.95% uptime guarantee on all their plans and instant scalability to allow you seamlessly handle new hosting demands.
Additional Parameter: SSH Hosting (5/5): Kamatera allows SSH access on all plans. Since their plans are VPS hosting, you have the root access to set up your server environment anyhow you want. You can create your SSH keys for your server setup. With these keys, you can access your server remotely using third-party applications like PuTTy.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Provides hourly and monthly billing options
- Offers over a dozen data centers on four continents
- Provides monitoring charts on the admin UI
- Allows easy VPS upgrade and downgrade from the admin console
- Provides a mobile-friendly UI
Cons
- Anti-DDoS protection and backups are paid services
Cloudways offers a fully managed version of cloud hosting solutions offered by industry-leading cloud hosting providers such as DigitalOcean, Linode, and AWS. The underlying servers come from these top providers, while Cloudways offers a simplified user interface and full server management service. The result is a hosting option fully optimized for speed and performance with great ease of use and flexibility.
- Overall score – 4.8
- Features – 4.8
- Support – 5
- User-Friendly – 5
- Pricing – 4.7
- Reliability – 5
Features: All Cloudways plans come with Cloudflare add-ons, 24/7/365 support, free object cache pro, free SSL, free migration, unlimited application installation, team management, dedicated firewalls, and 24/7 real-time monitoring. You also get an automated backup and staging environment optimized with advanced caches, auto-healing, and SSH and SFTP access.
Support: Cloudways offers round-the-clock expert support for all customers. Customers can also get the Advanced Support add-on for an enhanced support experience or the Premium Support add-on to have the web host engineers work as part of your technical crew. You get free website transfer and 24/7 real-time monitoring, regardless of your choice.
User-Friendly: Fully managed plans are user-friendly, and Cloudways is no exception. They offer stress-free access to top-tier cloud hosting infrastructure at affordable prices. They also offer many tutorials to help you set up various aspects of your web hosting, including SSH access. You can also get Premium support which gets the support engineers to work as part of your web hosting team.
Pricing: Cloudways offers transparent pricing. What you pay depends on the cloud provider, hosting plan, and whether you want droplets. The cheapest configuration ($10/month) comes from DigitalOcean with 1 GB RAM, 1 CPU, 25 GB storage, and 1TB bandwidth. This plan will cost you $12/month if you want droplets.
Reliability: Overall, Cloudways is a very reliable web hosting provider. They leverage top-tier cloud hosting infrastructure and data centers from industry-leading cloud providers to provide unrivaled server performance. With their fully managed plans, you can rest assured of round-the-cloud server availability.
Additional Parameter: SSH Hosting (5/5): Cloudways provides SSH hosting and makes it as easy as possible. They encourage users to set up their SSH keys and show them how to do so in multiple guides on their platform. You can contact the support center via the ticket system or live chat if you need extra assistance.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Provides easy-to-use hosting solutions powered by industry-leading cloud hosting providers
- Offers premium support to those who want in-depth technical support
- Affordable cloud hosting plants for all budgets
- Offers three-day trial without requiring credit cards
- Charges only for the times your server is active
Cons
- You need a paid support plan for swift response time
When setting up your website or application for speed, A2 Hosting is one of the best choices on the market. In addition to their turbo servers, they also offer SSH hosting to developers and anyone looking to log into their server environment securely. All their hosting plans come with free SSH access regardless of the OS you are running on your server.
- Overall score – 4.9
- Features – 4.9
- Support – 4.9
- User-Friendly – 4.8
- Pricing – 4.7
- Reliability – 5
Features: No matter the plan you choose, you can expect a lot of great features, such as superfast servers, 24/7/365 customer support, free website migration, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Their shared hosting plans offer SSD storage, a free SSL certificate, and a free cPanel control panel.
Support: A2 Hosting offers round-the-clock customer support to all customers via live chat and phone. All customers get equal access to the support team on general hosting issues. You can use the managed hosting plans if you want an enhanced customer support experience. Alternatively, you can check out the knowledge base for resources on resolving hosting issues.
User-Friendly: Beginners and experienced users will have no issue using any A2 Hosting plans. All users get round-the-clock customer support to resolve issues they may encounter. The provider also offers VPS and dedicated hosting solutions for people needing more web hosting resources and hardware.
Pricing: A2 Hosting’s Shared hosting plans start at $2.99/mo for a 12-month term (renews at $10.99). This plan offers hosting for one website, 100 GB SSD storage, free website migration, and a money-back guarantee. Suppose you need a private server environment with complete control and more resources. In that case, you can go for the VPS plans starting at $4.99 (36-month contract, renews at $8.99) for the unmanaged option or dedicated hosting starting at $105.99/mo (24-month term, renews at $199.99) for the managed option.
Reliability: You get a 99.9% uptime guarantee and superfast server performance. You can also use the pre-configuration to improve your server settings for faster website speed and stable performance. Other performance features include SSD storage, cloud technology, and 20x faster turbo servers.
Additional Parameter – SSH Hosting (5/5): A2 Hosting is one of the top SSH providers regarding speed and reliability. Their SSH connection is faster than the average competitors since they run their services on 40% faster CPUs. However, you should note that the turbo speed is not available for the entry plan.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Superfast SSH hosting powered by turbo servers
- Round-the-clock friendly and helpful customer support
- Provides shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting for all needs
- Offers freebies such as SSL certificate, website migration, and cPanel
- Provides instant SSH access through SSDs instead of the traditional HDDs
Cons
- Turbo servers are not available for the lower-tier plans
UltaHost is an extraordinary web hosting provider that began operations in 2018. The hosting company has its headquarters in the USA and maintains data centers in Canada, Germany, and the United States. It offers shared hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated servers. It is also a domain registrar. Regarding SSH hosting, you can’t go wrong with their unmanaged VPS hosting plan.
- Overall score – 4.9
- Features – 4.9
- Support – 4.9
- User-Friendly – 4.8
- Pricing – 4.7
- Reliability – 5
Features: UltaHost offers a lot of great features on their VPS plans. These features include server security, SSH and SFTP access, staging environment, unlimited bandwidth, dedicated firewalls, CDS add-on, and unlimited application installation. You also get free daily backups, SSL certificates, domain transfer, and website migration.
Support: All customers get 24/7 customer support via live chat and the ticketing system. They also provide an active community where customers can share insights and a knowledge base for DIY customers. You can also get more support by getting either the Advanced or Premium support add-on.
User-friendly: The web host offers a lot of features to ensure you have a hitch-free hosting experience. These include website and server monitoring tools to help you troubleshoot and resolve issues. The support team will help you with server tasks such as security patches and OS updates.
Pricing: UltaHost offers four self-managed VPS hosting packages. Each package allows you to use free panels (Hestia & CyberPanel), Plesk, or cPanel. The most affordable option is the VPS Basic plan with Hestia and CyberPanel control panels. This option costs $56/yr (renews at the same price) and includes 1 CPU, 1 GB RAM, 30 GB NVMe SSD, server management, and 1 IPv4 dedicated IP address.
Reliability: UltaHost offers server management for optimized speed and availability. You get NVMe disks for faster loading speeds, a built-in cache so visitors worldwide can enjoy swift page losing times, and redundant server components to ensure an extraordinary 100% uptime.
Additional Parameter: SSH hosting (5/5): UltaHost gets the total score due to its SSH hosting-specific features. These features include free Premium Support options, entire root and shell access (SSH) for maximum control, and free control panel options. The best part is that you can get these at less than $5/mo if you take advantage of their ongoing promotional pricing.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Offers multiple data centers for high-speed delivery
- Provides SSH and root access for more server control
- Offers server management on self-managed plans
- Plans renew at promotional pricing rates
- Free control panels for those who don’t require Plesk or cPanel
Cons
- DDoS protection is not included in any of the VPS hosting plans
With over two decades of web hosting experience, InterServer has proven to be one of the most reliable providers of scalable and fast web hosting solutions. They offer a vast lineup of hosting products, including shared hosting, cloud hosting, and dedicated servers. Their plans come with 24/7 customer care, DDoS protection, and SSH access.
- Overall score – 4.8
- Features – 4.8
- Support – 4.8
- User-Friendly – 4.8
- Pricing – 4.5
- Reliability – 5
Features: InterServer offers many features, even on their entry web hosting packages. These features include SSDs, unlimited email accounts, a website builder, security solutions, free migration, a free SSL certificate, and hundreds of cloud apps. They also offer global content caching and a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Support: You get 24/7 customer support via live chat, phone, Facebook chat, and ticket system. The team will help you with various issues, from billing problems to server setup and maintenance. They also offer a knowledge base to help you handle issues, such as setting up your SSH keys.
User-Friendly: InterServer offers a Linux-based control panel to help customers manage their websites and configure their hosting environment. They also offer cPanel hosting plans for those who require them. If you change your mind at any time, you can also ask for a refund, provided it is within the first 30 days of signing up for the service.
Pricing: The basic web hosting plan costs $2.50/month when you sign up and $84 for 12 months for renewals. This plan includes unlimited storage and data transfer, weekly backups, free Cloudflare CDN, DirectAdmin control panel, SSL encryption, and an easy WordPress installer.
Reliability: InterServer offers an SLA-backed 99.9% uptime guarantee for network connectivity and 100% SLA-backed power availability. Their servers are powered by high-speed ethernet connections and multiple providers to ensure round-the-clock network availability and stability. Each server is equipped with state-of-the-art hardware with full redundancy for performance.
Additional Parameter: SSH Hosting (4/5): InterServer offers SSH hosting on all plans. However, SSH access is not enabled by default on the shared hosting plans. You must ask the support team via email if you want SSH access. The system will block your IP due to an incorrect password if you attempt an SSH connection on a shared hosting plan before asking for SSH access.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- 30-day money-back guarantee if you are not pleased with the service
- 99.9% uptime guarantee powered by multiple tiers one providers
- 24/7 customer support is available via live chat, phone, ticket system, and Facebook chat
- SSH access on all hosting packages
- Unlimited storage space, data transfer, FTP Accounts, and email accounts
Cons
- Steep renewal price on the web hosting package
ScalaHosting is famous for its fully managed VPS plans and in-house SPanel. Although they are most sought after for their managed VPS hosting plans, the company offers other hosting solutions, such as web hosting and WordPress hosting. Their VPS plans come with SSD-powered servers, instant scalability, 24/7 technical support, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
- Overall score – 4.8
- Features – 4.8
- Support – 4.8
- User-Friendly – 4.8
- Pricing – 4.5
- Reliability – 5
Features: The key features of ScalaHosting web hosting plans include free website migration, SSD storage, unmetered bandwidth, free SSL certificates, 24/7 cybersecurity, and daily backups. You also get the SPanel, blacklist monitoring, and scalable resources on the higher web hosting and VPS plans.
Support: ScalaHosting offers 24/7 customer support on all its plans. The provider promises to respond within 30 seconds if you contact them via live chat and within 15 minutes if you use the ticketing system. The support service covers all web hosting and server issues at no extra fee.
User-Friendly: Anyone can use ScalaHosting for their website and applications. The host offers various products, ranging from managed and unmanaged VPS plans to shared and basic web hosting. Their SPanel is also included for free on most plans and gives users complete control over their hosting environment.
Pricing: The basic web hosting solution starts at $5.95/mo for a three-year content term. This plan offers unlimited website hosting, fundamental security, unmetered bandwidth, free domain, SSL certificate, 1-click installer, and daily backups. The managed VPS hosting plan starts at $29.95/mo (paid triennially). This starter plan offers 2 CPUs, 4 GB RAM, 50 GB NVMe SSD, SPanel, and unmetered bandwidth.
Reliability: ScalaHosting offers improved server performance thanks to its underlying cloud hosting technology. It also combines the OpenLiteSpeed web server and the LiteSpeed cache plugin to make your website lightning-fast and easily accessible.
Additional Parameter: SSH Hosting (4/5): ScalaHosting enables SSH access on unmanaged VPS plans by default. If you want SSH access on your managed VPS plan, you must do so from the SPanel. However, SSH access is only available on VPS plans. So if you are using the basic web hosting plans, you don’t have SSH access.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Provides versatile SPanel for free on all VPS plans
- Automatic data backup with an instant restore button
- Superfast customer support response time
- Anytime money-back guarantee
- Developer-Friendly environment
Cons
- SSH access is not available on the shared hosting plans
Hostinger is a great SSH provider for many reasons. They offer fast server performance, fantastic customer support, and lots of guides to improve your web hosting experience. They offer a vast lineup of hosting products, including web, shared, VPS, and WordPress Hosting. Most of these hosting products have SSH access. One feature that gets little attention is their vast array of payment options. You can pay with credit cards, PayPal, or even cryptocurrencies.
- Overall score – 4.6
- Features – 4.6
- Support – 4.8
- User-Friendly – 4.8
- Pricing – 4.0
- Reliability – 4.7
Features: Hostinger offers a ton of features on its web hosting plan. These features include SSD storage, weekly backups, unlimited free SSL certificates, a website builder, free domain registration for the first year, and SSH access. Other features are a 1-click auto-installer, email storage, unlimited databases, and a 99.90% uptime guarantee.
Support: The hosting customer support team can help you 24/7 via live chat, with an average issue resolution time of 20 minutes. They also offer video tutorials, step-by-step guides, and a vast knowledge base. The team also provides free website migration and round-the-clock server monitoring.
User-friendly: This web host breaks down complex hosting tasks into simple processes with one-click installs. They offer one-click installs for WordPress and other apps. You can also contact the support team for assistance.
Pricing: The single web hosting plan costs $1.99/mo on signup and $9.99/mo after that. The plan features website hosting, 50 GB SSD storage, one email account, 100 GB bandwidth, unlimited free SSL certificate, weekly backups, and a website builder. If you want SSH access, you have to go for either the Premium web hosting ($2.99/mo, renews at $11.99) or the Business web hosting ($3.99/mo, renews at $16.99/mo) plan.
Reliability: Hostinger offers fast and stable performance powered by its supercharged servers. These servers run on CloudLinux and come equipped with the newest LiteSpeed technologies and anti-DDoS protection. While the web host only offers a 99.9% SLA-backed uptime guarantee, they strive to maintain 99.99% uptime to ensure continuous availability.
Additional Parameter: SSH Hosting (4/5): Hostinger offers SSH access for all plans except the Single Web Hosting and WordPress Starter plans. You can set up an SSH connection for other plans from the hPanel. The provider has multiple detailed guides on connecting your server via SSH.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- SSD servers provide faster read/write data times
- Top-tier security solutions for all plans
- Round-the-clock customer support
- SSH access on all plans except the entry web hosting and WordPress plans
- Accepts credit cards, Paypal, and cryptocurrencies
Cons
- High renewal prices
TMDHosting is our top recommendation for those who prioritize speed, security, and customer support without breaking the bank. The web host offers shared, virtual, and dedicated server plans with abundant resources at low prices. They also offer fully managed plans for those who need help managing their hosting packages.
- Overall score – 4.6
- Features – 4.6
- Support – 4.8
- User-Friendly – 4.8
- Pricing – 4.0
- Reliability – 4.7
Features: TMDHosting offers many resources, even on their basic shared hosting plan. These resources include a free domain name, unlimited storage, database, and emails. You also get email protection with POP3, IMAP, and SpamExperts filtering. Other features include many website templates and layouts, Softaculous 1-click auto-installer, and total server management.
Support: The web host support team is available 24/7 to assist with all hosting-related issues. They also offer website migrations and updates as part of their server management offering. Their in-house technicians will also monitor your server to ensure round-the-clock availability.
User-friendly: TMDHosting understands that not everyone has the technical knowledge to set up and maintain their hosting environment. They offer fully managed hosting plans for people without web hosting knowledge or time. However, they also offer extra features such as daily and weekly backups and server monitoring.
Pricing: For just $2.95/month, you can get started on TMDHosting. This low price gives you a starter web hosting plan, with unlimited storage, emails, databases, and bandwidth. You also get a domain name for free for the first year. The best part is that even the entry plan has complete server management. If you have outgrown the starter plan, you can upgrade to the Business Plan for only $5.95/month or the Enterprise Plan for $12.95/month.
Reliability: Hosting solutions from TMDHosting run on data centers located in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. These servers run on the latest technologies and come with built-in redundancy and SSD storage for fast, stable server performance and security.
Additional Parameter: SSH Hosting (3/5): TMDHosting offers SSH access under strict conditions. For them to enable SSH on your account, you need to send a valid means of identification via email. The email should explain why you need SSH access and the IP address you will use to access your SSH account. TMD made these requirements for security, but many people might find them inconvenient.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Unlimited everything, even on the most basic web hosting plan
- Round-the-clock dedicated support and server management
- SSH connection with root access on all plans
- Web hosting plans for both small business and enterprise hosting
- One-click installs with Softaculous auto-installer
Cons
- You must provide a valid ID before the web host enables SSH access to your account.
GoDaddy is one web host that needs no introduction. They are the best domain registrar and one of the industry’s biggest web hosts. They offer a wide range of hosting products, including shared hosting, WordPress, VPS hosting, and dedicated servers. In addition to their SSH feature, they offer superb customer support, fast website loading times, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
- Overall score – 4.6
- Features – 4.6
- Support – 4.8
- User-Friendly – 4.8
- Pricing – 4.0
- Reliability – 4.7
Features: All web hosting plans from GoDaddy come with a free SSL certificate, easy-to-use control panel, one-click processes, unmetered bandwidth, support for popular apps and CMS, 24/7 network security, daily backups, and data center locations in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific.
Support: GoDaddy support team is available round the clock via email, live chat, and phone. You can also get help through unofficial channels such as online forums and social media. Their help center also contains an exhaustive list of guides to assist you with all web hosting issues, including setting up your SSH access.
User-friendly: GoDaddy offers a simple website design and a beginner-friendly dashboard so all customers can easily manage their account and hosting plan. If you run into issues, you can get help from the support team.
Pricing: GoDaddy offers a wide range of hosting plans. Their shared hosting plan (advertised as web hosting) starts at $ 3.99/mo (3-year term) and renews at the same price. The plan offers 512 MB RAM, hosting for one website, 10 GB storage, one database, unmetered bandwidth, daily backups, and a free 1-click WordPress install.
Reliability: The web host offers 24/7 hosting security and anti-DDoS protection. They also offer a 99.9% service uptime guarantee. If you experience downtime beyond the limits of that guarantee, GoDaddy will offer you a discount on your monthly shared hosting purchase during that time.
Additional Parameter: SSH Hosting (3/5): GoDaddy offers SSH connection on its Linux plans. You can enable SSH access from your dashboard. Once you have enabled it, you will need to set up the connection so you can access your server remotely. We gave an average point because setting up SSH access from a Windows plan is more complicated.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Industry-standard cPanel for app installation and server management
- Free SSL certificate and unmetered bandwidth
- 24/7 network security and DDoS protection
- State-of-the-art data centers in global regions
- Substantial I/O Resources to improve website loading times
Cons
- You need a long-term commitment to get the advertised prices
Bluehost is one of the most beginner-friendly web hosting providers. They offer a simple WordPress hosting solution and have an official recommendation from WordPress.org. They also have other sterling qualities such as their mouthwatering discounts, full-service customer support, and freebies such as a free domain for the first year, SSL certificate, and CDN.
- Overall score – 4.6
- Features – 4.6
- Support – 4.8
- User-Friendly – 4.8
- Pricing – 4.0
- Reliability – 4.7
Features: All WordPress hosting plans come with Free SSL certificates, a free domain for the first year, a free CDN, and a free website migration tool. Other features include automatic WordPress updates, exclusive Bluehost plugins, SSD storage, and custom WP themes.
Support: All Bluehost website hosting plans include 24/7 customer support. The support communications are live chat and a ticketing system for around-the-clock support. Phone support is available but only during business hours. The support team is always ready to attend to all web hosting issues.
User-Friendly: Bluehost is as friendly as any web hosting provider can be. The WordPress plans are fully optimized and fine-tuned for performance. The web host also offers marketing and domain registration services to ensure you get all you need under one roof. The customer support team is only a message away if you encounter issues.
Pricing: The basic WordPress plan starts at $2.95/mo and renews at $9.99. This plan offers hosting for one website, 10 GB SSD storage, free CDN, a free domain name for the first year, custom WordPress themes, website security, and a free SSL certificate for the first year.
Reliability: Bluehost offers superfast website loading times with basic speed optimizations. Their server configurations allow them to produce stable performance even during traffic surges. Although Bluehost doesn’t offer uptime percentages, they strive to keep their servers available at all times.
Additional Parameter: SSH Hosting (3/5): Bluehost offers SSH connection to all plans. SSH access is available in Windows, macOS, and Linux. You can contact customer support if you need help generating the SSH keys. To enable SSH access, check the multiple guides provided by Bluehost.
Pros & Cons
Pros
- Mouthwatering rates for first signup
- Unlimited bandwidth on all hosting plans
- WordPress knowledgeable technical support team
- SSH access on all web hosting plans
- 24/7 customer support
Cons
- Higher renewal prices
Ranking comparison between the Top Providers
Best SSH Hosting Services: Final Recommendations
SSH Hosting is gradually becoming a requirement as the world shifts towards remote workplaces and online collaborations on web projects. However, not all providers offer SSH hosting. Even the ones that offer SSH hosting do so in various ways. Some offer SSH hosting on all plans, while others restrict them to specific packages.
If you want a provider that offers SSH hosting on all plans in addition to solid server performance and availability, then Kamatera is your ideal choice. Their flexible payment plans and 30-day trial make their web hosting packages irresistible.
Other great SSH providers include A2 Hosting and Cloudways. These providers offer SSH access on all their hosting plans. You also get solid hosting solutions and uptime guarantees powered by cloud servers. If you need help choosing, check our section on how to choose your SSH hosting provider.
How do we rank, and how should you choose your SSH Hosting?
- Uptime and speed8%
- Ease of Use15%
- Customer Support7%
- Hardware Resources8%
- Security Features5%
- Valuable Extras12%
- Pricing15%
- User Reviews30%
While the essential requirement for a web host is to provide hosting for a client’s website data, many extra factors make a company an ideal SSH hosting provider. Here are the key factors that we use to rank the best SSH Hosting providers:
- Uptime and speed (8%): We are talking about both actual website loading speed and the speed of your SSH connections. Ideally, your web pages should load in a fraction of a second, and your SSH connection should take even less time. Regarding uptime, we recommend focusing more on web hosting providers that have maintained year-long server availability regardless of their actual uptime guarantees. However, the lowest uptime guarantee you should consider is 99.9% uptime and milliseconds of web page loading time.
- Ease of Use (15%): SSH connection isn’t exactly for beginners; expect to spend some time learning how to use it. However, the web hosting providers provide tutorials and guides to help you set up the SSH connection and troubleshoot issues.
- Customer Support (7%): SSH-specific customer support is a big deal even if you used an SSH connection on your previous plan. Each web host has their requirements and processes when it comes to enabling and creating SSH access keys. In addition, the support team should be responsive and able to assist with all other web-related issues.
- Hardware Resources (8%): SSH access is a means of remotely managing your hosting environment. You must ensure that the server resources are sufficient for your hosting needs. Some providers advertise unlimited hardware resources, but nothing is unlimited. In most cases, they offer more resources than the average client would need. Still, read the first print to know the extent of the resources provided.
- Security Features (5%): SSH access itself poses a risk. Anyone with your SSH keys can remotely access your server and cause mayhem. So you are responsible for security on that part. However, you have to ensure the web host keeps your server secure through server monitoring, anti-DDos protection, and physical security of their data centers.
- Valuable Extras (12%): Besides the key factors (hosting resources, customer care, and uptime), many providers offer other features to stay competitive. These include free website migration, free SSL certificates, and even free domain registration/transfer for the first year. If you have a provider that offers freebies essential to your hosting needs, you can add them to your list.
- Pricing (15%): Web hosts do not charge extra for SSH hosting. However, some do not provide SSH hosting on their lowest-tier plans, so you should consider that when comparing plans. Before you choose, ensure all the web hosts you are considering meet your hosting requirements.
- User Reviews (30%): We rate user reviews high as short-term testing of a web hosting feature that only provides half of the picture. Users’ reviews, especially from users who have used the provider for an extended period, provide a complete picture of how reliable a web hosting provider has been. We also test for what other users report during our in-house testing.
Things to Know Before You Purchase an SSH hosting plan
Here are some specific things to consider before showing an SSH hosting provider:
- SSH availability by default: Some providers offer SSH by default. You have to enable it from your control panel or dashboard. Other providers require you to request SSH access, with providers like TMDHosting requiring ID verification before they enable SSH connection. Furthermore, check that your preferred hosting plan comes with SSH access.
- Bandwidth: Typically, many hosting providers offer unmetered bandwidth. However, you should note that there is often a limit on data transfer speed so ensure you read the fine print.
- Storage: Regarding storage type, you have two options: HDD and SSD. HDD is cheaper, so it is an excellent option if you want a lot of space. However, if you value speed and stability, go for an SSD. Most web hosting offer at least 10 GB storage on their starter plan. If you are using a website with medium to high traffic and growing website data, go for a plan that offers at least 50 GB of storage.
- Cost: Your goal should be to find the sweet spot between quality hosting service and affordable fees. When making this comparison, we recommend you use the renewal price, not the starting price. Most renewal prices are two or three times the entry prices.
- Server speed: You ensure you get fast website loading speeds at all times. You must check expert and daily user reviews to ascertain a provider’s web loading speed. You can also look for speed-enhancing components such as cloud servers, SSD storage, built-in cache, and CDN.
- Security: Security is two ways. The web provider should tighten their data center defense by using physical solid and online security solutions. Also, they should offer infrastructure to help you harden your server defense. Some providers make enabling SSH access on your plan stringent to prevent unauthorized access.
- Customer support: Responsive round-the-clock customer support is a must. The two most popular support channels are live chat and the ticket system. Some providers provide phone support, while others add an email and social media chat (Twitter and Facebook).
What is SSH Hosting, and who is it for?
SSH means “secure shell” and functions as a secure way for users to access networks remotely. It is an encryption protocol that users can use to access remote systems using a secure channel over an unsecured network.
Although SSG is primarily designed for Linux and other Unix-derived environments, you can also use it for other operating systems.
You can use SSH to
- Remotely log into servers,
- Execute server commands, and
- Provide authentication for virtual private network (VPN) users.
Who is SSH for?
SSH is for anyone looking for a secure way to access their servers remotely. You can access other parties or create a “passwordless” login to remote servers.
Suppose you are going to pick an SSH hosting for shared Hosting. In that case, you should exercise caution, as shared hosting environments provide less security when compared to VPS and dedicated servers. Ideally, it would help if you did the following:
- Use Linux hosting: Linux works well with SSH, so it is a better option than Windows.
- Choose VPS hosting: VPS grants complete server control and root access, while shared hosting allows only limited access. If you are using VPS, you can use free control panels such as CyberPanel or the paid-for cPanel.
- Look for extra features: Extra features such as an isolated housing environment, SSH key management, and SFTP can improve your hosting experience. Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) allows you to transfer files via FTP securely.