Have you seen those websites that take a lot of time to load? Do you ever wonder why their load time is too high?

Though there are many factors involved in determining your website speed, the hardware used by your host is one of the most important deciding factors. That is why we’ve prepared a list of the slowest web hosts in 2022 to prevent you from the inconvenience of transferring your website to a fast host later.

8 Slowest web hosts in 2022

We haven’t arranged these hosts in the order of speed they offer since loading times differ in different global regions. So here are some of the slowest web hosting providers in random order.

GoDaddy

Established in 1997, GoDaddy has more than two decades of experience in the hosting industry and serves over 20 million customers worldwide. It was preferred by many website owners earlier but its reputation declined with its declining service quality.

Pros of GoDaddy

• GoDaddy offers both Linux and Windows-based hosting plans with cPanel and Plesk control panels respectively.
• The host offers an easy one-click domain setup feature if you have a GoDaddy domain.
• It offers unmetered bandwidth with all its hosting plans.
• You can add over 150 apps, including WordPress, with just a single click.
• GoDaddy offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee for the online availability of your website.
• It also provides a 30-day money-back guarantee for its services.

Cons of GoDaddy

• GoDaddy delivers slow and inconsistent performance for your websites.
• Most of the basic hosting features are available at an additional price with GoDaddy while many top hosts provide them for free.
• FTP upload speed is also quite slow with the host.
• Hosting renewal rates charged by GoDaddy are quite high.
• The RAM and CPU resources offered by the host quickly get saturated.

GoDaddy has become an unethical company over the years and got involved in many controversies because of its bad business practices. Look at the long list of the host’s controversies here.

Speed test results

As seen in the image above, GoDaddy delivers an average response time of over 3 seconds which is too high. It performs the worst in Singapore at 3.77 seconds loading time.

User reviews

You will find many GoDaddy customers complaining about the speed issues:

2. HostPapa

HostPapa is a Canadian host that offers shared, WordPress, VPS, and reseller hosting services since 2006. Their services and hosting prices are targeted to attract small business owners.

Pros of HostPapa

• HostPapa offers free domain transfer and website migration services.
• The control panel (cPanel) and platform provided by the host are beginner-friendly and easy to use.
• You will also receive a free domain and Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate with your hosting plan.
• A 30-day money-back guarantee from HostPapa allows you to try its services.
• The host offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee for its servers.
• HostPapa provides unlimited SSD and email accounts with most of its hosting plans.
• The host is known for its fast and responsive customer support.

Cons of HostPapa

• HostPapa offers automatic website backup as a paid service while some of its competitors provide this feature as part of their hosting plans.
• The renewal prices charged by HostPapa are much higher than its introductory prices.
• The host does not use any caching technology for its servers to improve the speed it delivers.
• There is a huge price difference between the 1-year plans and 3-year plans. Even if you book a 1-year plan, you will have to pay about double the monthly amount charged for a 3-year plan.

Speed test results

HostPapa can be used for websites targeting the Canadian market but in the Asian continent, it performs poorly with a loading time of just under 2 seconds.

User reviews

Here are some of the HostPapa users complaining about its server speed:

3. GreenGeeks

GreenGeeks is an eco-friendly host, serving different website owners since 2008. It offers multiple hosting plans with seamless scalability.

Pros of GreenGeeks

• GreenGeeks offers value for money by providing unlimited websites, web space, email accounts, databases, and unmetered bandwidth with almost all its plans.
• The host’s servers are eCommerce-ready and WordPress-optimized to fulfill the needs of all website owners.
• GreenGeeks provides a 30-day money-back guarantee for its hosting services.
• It also offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee for its servers.
• The host provides multiple freebies with all its hosting plans like a free SSL, CDN, nightly backup, and domain for the first year.

Cons of GreenGeeks

• GreenGeeks does not offer staging even with its highest plan.
• The host does not offer 24/7 phone support.
• Availability of unlimited features comes with restrictions, so you might not be able to utilize them.
• Discounts are available only on the long-term plans and you will have to spend more than triple if you choose a monthly plan.
• GreenGeeks charges an additional price for domain privacy that should be available for free.
• The renewal hosting prices are marginally higher than the initial ones.

Speed test results

As seen in the image below, GreenGeeks is unable to deliver a good loading speed in any of the regions. Load times are worse in the Asian continent with GreenGeeks taking more than 3 seconds to load.

User reviews

Though GreenGeeks offer some performance boosters with its hosting plans, many users aren’t happy with the speed it delivers:

4. HostMonster

HostMonster has been in the hosting industry for more than two decades. It offers Shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting solutions for website owners and businesses.

Pros of HostMonster

• HostMonster offers a beginner-friendly dashboard with well-arranged items.
• The host offers a 1-click installation of WordPress and over 100 other apps.
• You will also receive unlimited websites, email accounts, unmetered bandwidth, and disk space with most HostMonster plans.
• The host provides you with a free domain for one year, a website builder, an SSL certificate, $100 worth of Google Ads credit, and $100 worth of Bing Ads credits.
• HostMonster offers a 30-day money-back guarantee with all its hosting plans.

Cons of HostMonster

• HostMonster does not offer any uptime guarantee for its servers.
• The renewal prices for each term length are double the initial prices charged for the same term lengths.
• The host offers the automatic site backup feature for an additional charge.
• HostMonster has a lot of add-ons and automatically adds them to your bill when you purchase a hosting plan.

Speed test results

The screenshot below shows that HostMonster is unable to handle multiple requests simultaneously and hence has a high wait time. So your website speed will greatly reduce when it will start receiving some traffic.

User reviews

Many existing HostMonster customers also complain about its slow speed:

5. HostGator

HostGator is a US-based host that offers shared, VPS, reseller, and dedicated hosting plans since 2002. The company now hosts over 2 million websites worldwide.

Pros of HostGator

• HostGator offers unmetered bandwidth with all its plans.
• It provides a free domain, site transfers, SSL, website builder, and email with all its plans, including the entry-level shared plan offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee for your websites.
• You will receive a 45-day money-back guarantee with HostGator services.

Cons of HostGator

• HostGator’s customer support is extremely slow. You might have to wait for hours to connect with an executive.
• The host provides daily automatic backups at an additional cost.
• The absence of server-side caching results in slower website speeds.
• The hosting renewal prices are much higher than the initial ones.

Speed test results

The average response time offered by HostGator is good since the host delivers excellent load times in Europe and America. But it needs to improve its server speed in the Asian region.

User reviews

Some HostGator customers complain of its slow speed with the following issues:

6. JustHost

Established in 2008, JustHost has an experience of more than a decade of being in the hosting industry. The company hosts over 1 million websites worldwide.

Pros of JustHost

• JustHost offers a free domain name for the first year, email address, website builder, SSL, and marketing tools for your website’s success.
• The host’s servers are eCommerce-ready and you can install several apps, including WordPress, with a single click.
• You will also receive unmetered bandwidth with all JustHost plans and unmetered web space with the larger plans.
• JustHost offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for its hosting services.

Cons of JustHost

• JustHost does not offer any uptime guarantee for your websites.
• Automatic website backup is available at a premium price.
• The host charges much higher renewal prices than the initial monthly costs.
• JustHost does not provide a monthly payment term for each of its hosting plans. It is available only for some of them.

Speed test results

We performed the speed test for JustHost through the Pingdom speed test tool:

As seen in the image above, the wait time or Time To First Byte (TTFB) is too high at 789.7 ms which slows down the speed of all websites hosted on JustHost servers.

User reviews

Here are some JustHost customers complaining about the poor speed it delivers:

7. iPage

iPage is a US-based host having web hosting experience of over two decades. The company targets budget-conscious website owners with its affordable hosting solutions.

Pros of iPage

• iPage offers unlimited email addresses, domain hosting, bandwidth, disk space, websites, and databases with its hosting plans.
• The host provides a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
• With iPage, it is easy to integrate different eCommerce tools into your website.
• The host offers a free domain for one year, an SSL certificate, and a website builder.
• You will also receive a 30-day money-back guarantee with the host.

Cons of iPage

iPage offers its custom control panel instead of the industry-standard cPanel. Its interface might look confusing to many users.

The host tries to sell you a lot of upsells by automatically adding them to your cart.

iPage charges more than triple the introductory prices for the renewal of its hosting plans.

Speed test results

iPage delivers promising performance in some regions but it does not offer a good website speed in many others:

As seen above, the host provides excellent loading time in many US locations but its server speed is not satisfactory in the Asian continent.

User reviews

Many iPage customers complain about its slow loading times:

8. FatCow

Established in 1998, FatCow is a 100% green host, powering its resources from wind energy. It provides domain names and hosting solutions for small businesses.

Pros of FatCow

• FatCow offers easy PayPal integration and provides other useful tools for running an online store.
• The host provides a free domain name, domain transfer, website builder, Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate and $200 worth of ad credits.
• FatCow offers a 30-day money-back guarantee with all its plans.
• The host allows unlimited domain hosting and provides unlimited email accounts, MySQL databases, disk space, and unmetered bandwidth.

Cons of FatCow

• FatCow offers automatic daily website backups at a premium price.
• The official website of FatCow itself loads too slowly.
• The host charges high renewal costs for all its hosting plans.
• You will find too many upsells on the FatCow checkout page which becomes confusing for the website owners.

Speed test results

With a wait time of 3051.8 ms in the above speed test result, you can easily imagine the pathetic speed offered by FatCow.

User reviews

The existing FatCow customers are not very happy with the loading times it offers while also complaining about its uptime:

Why does Speed matter in web hosting?

Speed is one of the major deciding factors in the success of your online business or the growth of your website. Website loading times are crucial for the following reasons:

Search engine ranking

Google considers website speed as an important ranking factor. It prefers fast-loading websites over slow-loading ones and displays them on the top.

So you must focus on developing a fast website from the very beginning since your website speed will have a direct impact on its search engine ranking.

User experience

The internet generation is fast-paced and lacks patience, so it doesn’t want to wait for anybody or anything. A slow-loading website results in frustration and a bad user experience.

The visitor to a slow website will look for alternatives rather than waiting for it to load. So faster website speed is important to deliver an excellent user experience and build repeat visitors.

Conversion rate

Conversions are essential for the existence of any business and your conversion rate decides the success of your marketing efforts. But this rate is also impacted by your website speed.

A faster website is preferred by all the visitors, especially the ones who come to your site looking for some purchasing info or purchase from your store. If your website is unable to present the desired content in a second or two, the chances of conversion decline substantially.

Conclusion

Your website speed is important for your success and choosing a fast web host is the first step towards a faster website. The above list aims to keep you away from the slowest web hosts who will negatively impact your site’s loading times.

From our list above, GoDaddy is the slowest web host in 2022 with its servers being over-utilized and outdated. Avoiding the host would be in your best interests.

It is also important to mention here that your server location also impacts your website speed. So if you have a WordPress website for your online business, it is best to go for a Managed WordPress hosting solution with a server location closest to your target customers.