When researching hosting services in Canada, the usual suspects like Hostinger, Bluehost or HostGator quickly turn up in search results. But is a large, multinational hosting provider really the right choice for a website or business based in Canada?
For business based in Canada, relying on a 100% Canada based web hosting company brings many benefits: Proximity, speed, SEO advantages and adherence to local laws, to name a few. To help you make the right choice for your needs, we’ve hand-picked our top 5 hosting services in Canada.
💡 Canadian web designers & advertising agencies, heads up! Are you looking to partner up with a web hosting provider to offer your client exceptional hosting services? In this case, have a look at the “For resellers” section at the end of every provider review!
Our Top 5 Hosting Services in Canada
Or jump direclty to the summary.
Hosting Service 01:
Web Hosting Canada
Website: https://whc.ca/
Supported Languages: Englisch & French
Web Hosting Canada (WHC) is a privately owned Canadian provider based in Montreal, Quebec. What makes WHC stand out is it’s highly praised customer support that quickly resolves issues and answers questions.
What we liked:
✅ focus on green energy
✅ excellent customer support
✅ 30 days money-back guarantee
What we didn’t like:
⛔️ cheaper web hosting packages come with restricted performance
⛔️ email accounts limited to 2 GB (or 50 GB for 10 users)
⛔️ renewals (e.g. for domains) are more expensive than the initial rate
Best for:
Small to medium-sized website businesses that are not that tech-savvy and therefore need to rely on great customer support to resolve possible problems.
Product Range:
- Webhosting packages, dedicated & cloud servers
- Managed WordPress hosting
- Domains
- Business email
- SEO & email marketing
- SSL certificates, security & anti-spam services
➡️ WHC offers a wide product range that caters to many needs, from small website owners up to medium-sized enterprises and applications. The website hosting packages include nice perks like a free SSL certificate, Google Ads credits and an email marketing software (Pro & Enterprise plan).
The Costs:
How much does it cost to host an average WordPress Website with Web Hosting Canada?
For the average WordPress website, the web hosting package “Pro” is sufficient which costs C$ 3.92. It includes a free SSL certificate, unlimited email accounts and “advanced” performance (2x CPU, RAM & disk speed).
How much does a .ca-Domain cost?
.ca domains are available for C$ 10.99 in the first year, after the first year, the domain renews for C$ 14.99 / year.
How much does email hosting cost?
For small business, email hosting is included in the standard web hosting packages. For example, with the “Pro” plan, you get unlimited mailboxes with a maximum of 2 GB storage space (max. 200 outgoing emails per hour).
For medium sized teams, WHC offers the “Business Email” package that allows up to 10 email address with a total of 50 GB storage for C$ 4.99 / month.
Reliability, Performance & Security:
All data centres of WHC are 100% based in Canada and ISO 27001 certified. Redundant networks and generators for up to 48 hours initial autonomy make Web Hosting Canada a very reliable hosting provider. In addition, all data centres are powered by renewable energy and employ special air- and watercooling technology to reduce power consumption.
👍 Web Hosting Canada is a very reliable hosting provider with an uptime of nearly 100%. Incidents are transparently reported on the system status page (https://whcstatus.ca).
Storage & Bandwidth:
For its regular web hosting packages, Web Hosting Canada offers unlimited storage space and traffic and differentiates it’s packages (Go, Pro & Enterprise) based on CPU, RAM and Disk Speed.
Cloud servers start from 2 GB memory, 25 GB SSD Disk Space, 2 CPU cores and 100 Mbps network speed (starter package) and reach up to 16 GB memory, 200 GB SSD, 8 CPU cores and 250 Mbps network speed (beast package).
Dedicated servers are based on Intel Xeon machines and range from 32 GB DDR3 RAM up to 128 GB and a storage capacity from 2x 2TB SATA (or 2x 480 GB SSD) up to 2x 4TB SATA (or 2x 500 GB SSD) storage.
👍 Bandwidth is unlimited for all servers & hosting packages.
Backups:
Web Hosting Canada has implemented a backup system for all web hosting plans called JetBackup. It allows you to easily restore files, folders and emails and even create and download a full backup of your website.
Customer Support:
Web Hosting Canada offers bilingual tech support in English and French that is available 24/7. Customers can contact WHC by opening a ticket or using the highly praised live chat where you are talking to a real human being, no chat bot!
👩💻 Support Resources: WHC Help Center (Tutorials & Articles) • Tickets • Live Chat
For Resellers:
For web developers and web agencies, WHC offers dedicated reseller hosting packages starting from C$ 22.56 per month (50 GB disk space, max. 10 accounts). All reseller accounts are based on cPanel (as are all Web Hosting Canada server solutions) and offer 1-click WordPress installation.
While not offering a maximum of flexibility, Web Hosting Canada is a decent choice for developers and companies that are new to the reseller business. What makes it especially appealing is the great customer support that helps you to resolve your and your client’s issues quickly.
Hosting Service 02:
Canadian Web Hosting
Website: www.canadianwebhosting.com
Supported Languages: Englisch
Canadian Web Hosting is another 100% Canadian based provider that was established in 1998 and is one of the few SSAE 16 certified service providers in Canada. This means that Canadian Web Hosting has a strong focus on compliance and privacy including the Canadian privacy law PIPEDA.
What we liked:
✅ heavy focus on compliance & privacy laws (PIPEDA)
✅ no fuss, easy to understand and differentiate web hosting packages
✅ Full root access for cloud hosting servers
✅ SSH access for shared web spaces (only enhanced plan)
✅ no performance restriction for small packages
What we didn’t like:
⛔️ Managed WordPress hosting packages are quite expensive
⛔️ No daily backup (except if you do it yourself)
⛔️ Site restoration only for a fee
⛔️ Domains are quite expensive
Best for:
Tech-savvy users looking for a reliable, reasonably priced hosting provider based in Canada that comes without a fuzz and allows developers SSH and / or root access.
Product Range:
- Shared web hosting
- Managed WordPress hosting
- Email hosting
- VPS & cloud costing and dedicated servers
➡️ Canadian Web Hosting’s packages come without a fuzz, focusing on what’s important when looking for a hosting provider: It’s easy to differentiate the offered plans based on storage and backup capacity, making it easy to make the right choice without being distracted by add-on services you probably don’t need.
The Costs:
How much does it cost to host an average WordPress Website?
For tech-savvy users, the Lite plan for C$ 4.95 a month is sufficient. For new website owners or not-tech-savvy users, the managed WordPress plan “Standard” (includes 2 email accounts and malware detection) could be the better choice. It costs, however, a whooping C$ 35.95 a month, which is quite expensive.
How much does a .ca-Domain cost?
A .ca domain costs C$ 20.95 per year (plus tax).
How much does email hosting cost?
A hosted email account costs C$ 3,– per mailbox per month and includes 5 GB mailbox storage.
Reliability, Performance & Security:
Canadian Web Hosting guarantees 99.9% availability for it’s shared hosting, dedicated servers, hosted email packages and reseller hosting. For enterprise virtual private servers, an availability of 99.5% is guaranteed. As an ISO 27002 certified company, Canadian Web Hosting implements high security standards for its data centres.
👍 Canadian Web Hosting follows best practices for cloud security as stated by the Cloud Security Alliance (CSA). It’s data centres implement advanced security mechanisms including redundant power sources.
Storage & Bandwidth:
Canadian Web Hosting’s hosting packages come with unlimited bandwidth, storage capacity varies from 5 GB (lite plan) up to unlimited storage (enhanced plan). For managed WordPress hosting, the available storage capacity depends on your plan, starting from 10 GB up to 100 GB with the premium plan.
Backups:
Backups of shared hosting servers are performed weekly and monthly. For a site restore, a fee of C$ 35,– applies. However, you can create your own website backups by using the cPanel admin. For shared web hosting packages, up to 10 GB of backup storage is available.
Customer Support:
Canadian Web Hosting’s support team is available 24/7 via phone, ticket or live chat. The support answers quickly and provides the required information, but does not go the extra mile you might be used from other providers (e.g. Web Hosting Canada).
👩💻 Support Resources: Knowledge Base • Video tutorials • Tickets • Live Chat • Phone
For Resellers:
Canadian Web Hosting offers reseller hosting plans, starting from C$ 24.95 per month (40 GB disk space, 1000 GB bandwidth, max. 5 cPanel accounts and one dedicated IP address).
Since Canadian Web Hosting is not mentioned in the public WHOIS database or the HTTP record of any domain, the providers is a great choice if you’re looking for 100% white-labeled reseller hosting for small and medium clients.
Hosting Service 03:
HostPapa
Website: www.hostpapa.ca
Supported Languages: Englisch, French
HostPapa, based in Ontario, is a well known, large Canadian hosting provider focused on hosting solutions for small businesses.
What we liked:
✅ great and very friendly customer support
✅ good value for money for basic website needs
✅ 30 day money-back guarantee
What we didn’t like:
⛔️ Regular auto-backups only available with a very expensive paid plan
⛔️ Large range of hosting plans can be quite confusing
⛔️ Managed WordPress hosting plans limited to / based on monthly website visitors
Best for:
Small business & website owners that have a web designer who manages their website (so you do not have to purchase the managed WordPress hosting plan). Website owners who are looking for an affordable hosting solution combined with great support.
Product Range:
- Web & VPS hosting
- Optimized & managed WordPress hosting
- VPS hosting
- Domains & SSL certificates
- Webdesign services
- Business email, Google Workspace & MS 365 accounts
➡️ For every category (web hosting, wordpress hosting, vps hosting…), HostPapa offers up to 5 different packages, giving you the advantage of being able to scale your hosting solution easily. However, given the vast range of packages, it’s not easy to initially find the right package to start with.
The Costs:
How much does it cost to host an average WordPress Website?
The cheapest WordPress package is available for C$ 2.95 per month (3 year discount), however, for a medium website, the WP plus plan for C$ 5.95 per month seems more suitable as it allows multiple site installs.
Managed WordPress hosting plans start from C$ 19.95 per month and include auto backups, a CDN and malware scanning & patching. However, the managed plans are limited not only on storage (which is more than sufficient, even for the small plans), but also on monthly website visits.
How much does a .ca-Domain cost?
A .ca domain costs C$ 19.99 per year.
How much does email hosting cost?
The basic email service starts with C$ 1,– per mailbox per month and is limited to 1 GB storage. The advanced plan for C$ 2,– per month has up to 5 GB storage, both plans limit attachments to 35 MB.
For more advanced email needs, you can select a HostPapa Google Workspace or HostPapa MS 365 plan. However, in this case, it’s more advisable to sign up with Google or Microsoft directly, as you receive full control of your account.
Reliability, Performance & Security:
Via the HostPapa status page, the hosting service very transparently reports about the status of its services. Incidents only seldomly occurr and are resolved very quickly. This does not come as a surprise as HostPapa guarantees an uptime of 99.9%.
Storage & Bandwidth:
HostPapas smaller website plans include 100 GB SSD disk storage, larger plans offer unlimited SSD storage. VPS hosting solutions start with 60 GB SSD storage (4 CPUs + 2 GB memory) and go up to 1 TB SSD storage (12 CPUs + 32 GB memory).
Shared hosting plans (including WordPress optimized & managed plans) do not have bandwidth limitations, reseller plans and VPS plans are limited depending on the tier of the plan purchased (1 TB up to 8 TB).
Backups:
Backups are generated daily, but are only available with an additional paid backup plan that starts with C$ 71.99 for 5 GB. Manual backups can be performed free of charge via the cPanel admin tool.
Customer Support:
HostPapa’s customers highly praise the great technical customer support that is very friendly and competent, which is something we can confirm: The live chat answered all our questions very fast and extensively.
👩💻 Support Resources: Knowledge Base & Customer Care Center • Phone • Ticket • Live Chat
For Resellers:
HostPapa offers 5 different reseller packages, starting from C$ 35.99 per month (50 GB storage, 500 GB bandwidth, 20 cPanel accounts). It’s three most expensive plans (starting with the “Gold” plan for C$ 75.99 per month) also include a billing and automation suite that helps to streamline your reseller business.
HostPapa’s reseller packages allow you to manage all your client’s websites and domains in one place and are easily scalable, making it easy to start with relatively low cost and scale as soon as your business grows.
Hosting Service 04:
CanadaHost
Website: www.canadahost.ca
Supported Languages: Englisch
Based in Ontario, CanadaHost is another 100% Canadian based hosting service. The company was founded in 2003 with the goal to meet the growing demand for web hosting solutions that are based in all Provinces and territories of Canada.
What we liked:
✅ Extensive range of VPS and dedicated servers (managed and self-managed)
✅ SSH access for WordPress web hosting packages
✅ Affordable managed VPS hosting
What we didn’t like:
⛔️ WordPress hosting packages do not contain additional security mechanisms (e.g. malware scanning)
⛔️ No 24/7 support
⛔️ Renewal of packages can become quite pricy (as the initial promo code does not apply anymore)
Best for:
Owners of large or high performance websites and applications. While CanadaHost does not really stand out in terms of “regular” web hosting, the managed and self-managed VPS and dedicated servers are more than interesting for everyone with advanced web hosting requirements.
Product Range:
- Web hosting packages
- WordPress hosting
- Email hosting
- Domains & SSL certificates
- Virtual privat servers (managed and self-managed options)
- Dedicated servers
➡️ CanadaHost’s web hosting plans are easy to compare and mainly differentiate in terms of storage space, performance and available databases. The available plus packages provide faster storage (SSDs) and higher public bandwidth as well as a free, dedicated IP. If you run a large application or website, CanadaHost’s managed virtual private servers (starting from C$ 36.76 per month) are an interesting solution with great value for money.
The Costs:
How much does it cost to host an average WordPress Website?
For an average WordPress website, the “Starter” web hosting package, containing 25 GB storage, 10 databases and 1 website domain for C$ 6.96 per month is sufficient. However, it’s restricted in terms of performance. For “premium performance”, at least the “Premium” package (C$ 9.71 per month) is necessary.
A webspace specifically optimized for WordPress is available for C$ 8.96 per month. However, these packages only differ from the “regular” hosting packages by being “optimized for WordPress”, something you can achieve yourself with the standard hosting plans and a little cPanel configuration.
How much does a .ca-Domain cost?
A domain ending with .ca is available for C$ 18.99 per year.
How much does email hosting cost?
All web hosting packages also include a minimum of 1 (up to unlimited) mailboxes. For more advanced needs, you can book a hosted email plan, starting from C$ 3.35 per month for a 10 GB mailbox. The storage capacity of every hosted email plan can be upgraded, e.g. for C$ 2.– per month for 10 GB (smallest package).
Reliability, Performance & Security:
CanadaHost’s data centres are located in Toronto and Montreal and are designed to provide secure high-availability hosting services. With a backup of 11,000 litres of diesel, CanadaHost can keep it’s facilities online for more than 72 hours in case of a power failure.
👍 CanadaHost utilises the latest speed technology and provides high performance thanks to NGINX, HTTP/2 and PHP7.
👎 CanadaHost does not provide a status page showing which services experience problems. Furthermore, we did not find any information about an uptime guarantee.
Storage & Bandwidth:
CanadaHost offers unmetered bandwidth for all accounts. The smallest web hosting packages offers 25 GB of storage space, which is more than enough for most websites, while even large applications can be catered with the web hosting plus package that provides up to 160 GB of SSD storage.
Backups:
Backups can be created manually through the cPanel backup tool. There is no auto-backup feature available.
Customer Support:
Customer support is mainly available through a ticket system. CanadaHost also offers a live chat, however, it is not available 24/7. In general, there seems to be no 24/7 support, which is quite unusual compared to the other hosting services in Canada reviewed in this comparison.
👩💻 Support Resources: Knowledge Base • Tickets • Chat • Phone
For Resellers:
CanadaHost offers three different reseller plans, starting from C$ 25.96 per month, providing between 50 and 200 GB disk space, unmetered traffic and unlimited email accounts. However, be aware that the initial promotional price changes after two years and renewals are +35% more expensive.
Hosting Service 05:
CanSpace Solutions
Website: www.canspace.ca
Supported Languages: Englisch
CanSpace is one of the most reputable Canadian web hosting providers, trusted by many Canadian companies for more than 15 years. Powered by green energy, CanSpace reduces it’s carbon footprint by utilising advanced cooling technology for it’s data centers.
What we liked:
✅ Custom hosting solutions tailored to specific needs available on request
✅ Daily backup, easily accessible
✅ Very transparent pricing, no hidden costs or pricy renewals
✅ Servers are very fast and efficient
What we didn’t like:
⛔️ No live chat support
⛔️ Only a few support resources (FAQs at the end of the product pages) available, no further self-help resources
Best for:
Dare we say everyone? With it’s affordable and beginner-friendly web hosting packages, CanSpace caters to small and medium website owners. For high performance or special requirements, a wide range of VPS and dedicated server solutions is available. Therefore, CanSpace is the perfect hosting solution for companies of all sizes, especially fast growing companies or applications.
Product Range:
- Web hosting packages
- VPS hosting
- Fully managed dedicated servers
- Custom hosting solutions & services (like SEO, web design & development)
➡️ Choosing the right web hosting solution is very easy given the transparent, easy-to-understand pricing and plan structure. For every solution (web hosting, VPS, dedicated servers…), there are three packages available. And for special requirements, CanSpace also offers custom solutions that are specifically tailored to it’s customers needs.
The Costs:
How much does it cost to host an average WordPress Website?
For a medium-sized WordPress website, the starter plan is more than sufficient. With only C$ 3.99 per month, you’re good to go. If you expect lot’s of traffic or need to move larger data amounts regularly, the medium plan (C$ 7.99 per month) provides unlimited bandwidth and up to 50 GB SSD storage.
How much does a .ca-Domain cost?
CanSpace Solutions guarantees the lowest price on a .ca domain and stands true to its promise with an annual fee of only C$ 11.99 per year.
How much does email hosting cost?
Email hosting is included in the web hosting packages, so there is no need to buy additional mailboxes. The starter web hosting plan is limited to 10 email users, while mailboxes are unlimited for all other plans.
Reliability, Performance & Security:
CanSpace Solutions guarantees it’s customers an uptime of up to 99.9%, which makes it a very reliable hosting provider (even though no status / system health page is available). One thing that stands out is the excellent speed of CanSpace’s webspace and server solutions.
Storage & Bandwidth:
CanSpace Solutions web hosting packages start from 5 GB disk space and go up to 200 GB for the “Professional” plan. VPS hosting starts from 80 GB SSD disk space and goes up to 320 GB of SSD with the possibility to add additional GBs of disk space for a monthly fee.
👍 Bandwidth is limited to 15 GB with the smallest web hosting plan, all other plans provide unlimited bandwidth, so do the VPS and managed dedicated servers.
Backups:
A nightly backup is performed every day and free of charge for all plans instead of the smallest “Starter” plan (optional backup available). Unlike many other providers, CanSpace allows it’s customers full access to their backups, so even if you messed up with your website yourself, you can easily access the daily backup that was automatically created.
Customer Support:
The excellent customer support is one of the things many clients praise, even though the recommended way for customers to contact the CanSpace support is by opening a ticket, which is not to everyone’s liking. But as soon as you opened a ticket, you’ll receive very helpful expert support by CanSpace’s technical support team, that is available 24/7.
👩💻 Support Resources: Ticket • Phone • Email
For Resellers:
Reseller hosting packages start from C$ 24.99 per month (8 GB disk space, 1000 GB monthly bandwidth and up to 15 accounts) and go up to 200 GB disk space, unlimited bandwidth and 50+ supported accounts for C$ 59.99 per month.
While the limited bandwidth that comes with the smaller reseller packages might be a problem for some resellers, CanSpace offers individual cPanel accounts for every of your clients and is 100% white-labeled.
Summary:
Top 5 Hosting Services in Canada
Here is our summary of our top 5 hosting services in Canada:
| Aspect | WHC | Canadian Web Hosting | HostPapa | CanadaHost | CanSpace |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Supported Languages | EN + FR | EN | EN + FR | EN | EN |
| Costs ⌀ WordPress Website | $ 3.92 | $ 4.95 or $ 35.95 | $ 2.95 or $ 5.95 | $ 6.96 or $ 8.96 | $ 3.99 |
| Costs .ca domain | first year $ 10.99 (then $ 14.99) | $ 20.95 | $ 19.99 | $ 18.99 | $ 11.99 |
| Paid Email Hosting | $ 4.99 (50 GB, 10 mailboxes) | $ 3.00 (1 mailbox, 5 GB) | $ 1.00 (1 mailbox, 1 GB) | $ 3.35 (1 mailbox, 10 gB) | included in hosting plan |
| Green Hosting | ✅ | ⛔️ | ⛔️ | ⛔️ | ✅ |
| Uptime | 99.9% | 99.9% | 99.9% | not stated | 99.9% |
| Backups | manually | weekly, monthly or manually | manually or daily (additional fees) | manually | daily |
| Support | 24/7, excellent | 24/7, good | 24/7, excellent | no 24/7, okay | 24/7, very good |
| Reseller Packages | starting $ 22.56 | starging $ 24.95 | starging $ 35.99 | starging $ 25.96 | starting $ 24.99 |
| Best For | small-to-medium sized / support heavy websites | tech-savvy users | small businesses | large & high-performance websites | small to large websites |
What would MailJerry choose?
If MailJerry was looking for a hosting service in Canada, it would most likely choose CanSpace. And here’s why: CanSpace provides not only great customer support, but is also powered by green energy 100% produced in Canada. Furthermore, CanSpace offers custom hosting solutions, a very important aspect for an email migration service like MailJerry that has advanced requirements.
However, if MailJerry would only be looking or a reliable place to store its website, all five contenders are a great choice!
