Basic website hosting price shootout

South African businesses can get a basic website hosting package from prominent South African providers for as little as R33 per month, a MyBroadband analysis has revealed.

More people prefer to shop online than ever before in South Africa, making an online presence essential for South African businesses.

According to PwC’s latest Global Consumer Insights Survey Pulse, online shopping in South Africa has increased significantly in 2023, making it essential for businesses in the country to build an online presence.

It found that 31% of respondents preferred to buy more items online. However, it noted that most respondents belong to younger generations.

“We have seen that smartphones are playing a crucial role in facilitating smart shopping and enhancing the ‘phygital’ shopping experience, which involves a seamless blend of digital and physical shopping,” said PwC partner Anton Hugo.

“This underscores the importance for retailers to enhance their online presence and cater to the needs of this important consumer segment.”

Entry-level web hosting price showdown

MyBroadband compared basic website hosting packages from prominent South African providers, including Absolute Hosting, Afrihost, Xneelo, Domains.co.za, and 1-Grid.

We found that Absolute Hosting sells the most affordable entry-level hosting package in South Africa at R33 per month.

This includes one MySQL database, a free domain and website builder, ten email accounts, and 1GB of storage.

It should be noted that the provider offers an even cheaper package that costs R19 per month.

However, we included its Directadmin SSD Palladium package as it is more comparable to the entry-level offerings from other hosting providers.

Its nearest competitors are Afrihost’s Linux Silver and Axxess’s S packages, which cost R59 a month.

The former includes 1GB of storage, 50 email accounts, a free website builder, and one domain and MySQL database.

Axxess’s S package includes 3GB of storage, 200 email accounts, and 10 MySQL databases. It also provides one free domain and a free website builder.

South African businesses can sign up for 1-Grid’s Small hosting package, featuring 10GB of storage, 100 email accounts, and one MySQL database and website domain, for R30 more per month.

However, the package doesn’t include a website builder. Instead, customers can sign up for a website builder package with prices from R119 per month.

Xneelo’s Basic and RSAWeb’s Business Hosting packages have similar pricing at R99 per month.

However, the Xneelo package includes higher storage and MySQL database allocations. At the same time, RSAWeb’s package has a free website builder, while Xneelo’s does not.

Xneelo customers must pay an additional R39 monthly for access to a website builder.

Domains.co.za’s Sitebuilder Lite is the most expensive of the lot at R129 per month. It offers 10GB of storage, 100 email accounts, five MySQL databases, and five domains, and it includes a website builder.

Below is a price comparison of entry-level website hosting packages available from prominent South African providers.