We tested and analysed the leading web hosting companies serving South Africa—local and international. Here’s how they stack up for speed, uptime, support, and value.
| Provider | Type | SA Latency | Panel | Standout | Ideal For |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hostinger | International | 150–220ms | hPanel | LiteSpeed+CDN | Most sites |
| Afrihost | Local | 10–30ms | cPanel | Local billing | Local SMEs |
| Axxess | Local | 10–30ms | cPanel | Value bundles | Brochure sites |
| MWEB | Local | 10–30ms | cPanel | Local presence | Legacy sites |
| Texo | Local | 10–30ms | cPanel | SA support | Designers |
| GoDaddy | International | 180–250ms | cPanel | Domain bundles | Simple sites |
| AWS | Cloud | Variable | Console | Scalability | Developers |
| Google Cloud | Cloud | Variable | Console | Global network | Apps/APIs |
| DigitalOcean | Cloud | Variable | Panels via partners | Simplicity | Devs |
| Squarespace/Weebly | Hosted builder | N/A | SaaS | Design-first | Portfolios |
Note: Latency measured from SA networks; CDN can mitigate higher round trips.
If your audience is mostly in Polokwane, Cape Town, or Johannesburg, local hosting may feel snappier. If global traffic matters, consider international hosts with robust CDN.
We focus on plans that include SSL, email, backups, and clear renewals. For ultra-budget and free options (with caveats), see Cheap and Free Web Hosting.
Many hosts run aggressive promotions in November. Track renewal prices, not just intro discounts, and read the fine print on resources and email limits.
WordPress benefits from LiteSpeed/NGINX, object caching, and staging. See our curated list in Best WordPress Hosting in South Africa.
If you manage multiple client sites, reseller accounts or high-resource VPS/cloud may be more cost-effective. Start with Reseller Hosting South Africa and the Hosting Types guide.
Ready to decide? Compare specifics, then deep-dive into our Hostinger South Africa review.