SiteGround Free Plan: What You Actually Get Before Paying

SiteGround has no free plan and no free trial. Here is what you actually get before paying: the money-back guarantee, the cheapest test, and free features.

By Galactic News Editorial · Published 2026-11-09T07:37:54+00:00 · Updated 2026-11-09T07:37:54+00:00

SiteGround Free Plan: What You Actually Get Before Paying

Here is the direct answer. SiteGround has no free plan, and it offers no free trial. You cannot host a website with SiteGround for $0. What you can do is test it with very little risk. Every shared hosting plan comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, and the cheapest plan costs $1.99 a month for the first 12-month term. You can also buy a single month of StartUp for $24.99 at the regular rate and claim a refund within 30 days if it does not suit you. This guide explains what is actually free, what the cheapest test costs, and what you get from day one.

SiteGround free plan: does one exist?

No. SiteGround sells paid hosting only. Its three shared hosting plans are StartUp, GrowBig, and GoGeek. None of them has a $0 tier. There is also no free trial account. SiteGround states this plainly on its sales pages, and independent guides confirm it. The closest thing to a free trial is the 30-day money-back guarantee on shared hosting plans. Cloud hosting carries a 14-day money-back guarantee instead.

The confusion is understandable. SiteGround includes several things for free with every paid plan. A domain name is free for the first year. An SSL certificate is free and renews automatically. A content delivery network is free and activates with one click. Daily backups are free, with 30 days of restore points. Website migration is free for your first site. Email accounts are free and unlimited. None of these is a free plan. They are free features inside a paid plan.

SiteGround pricing: what you actually pay

Intro prices apply to the first prepaid term only. A 12-month StartUp term at $1.99 a month costs $23.88 for the year. At renewal, the same plan costs $17.99 a month. GrowBig renews at $29.99 a month, and GoGeek renews at $44.99 a month. Prices exclude VAT and other sales tax. The renewal jump is the most important number on the page. StartUp costs about nine times more at renewal than it does in the first year. Budget for the renewal price, not the intro price.

A one-month term is also available. StartUp costs $24.99 for one month at the regular rate. GrowBig costs $34.99 for one month, and GoGeek costs $49.99. Monthly billing does not get the intro discount. The one-month option is the cheapest way to test SiteGround without committing to a year, and the 30-day money-back guarantee still applies.

The cheapest way to try SiteGround before committing

There are two low-risk ways to test SiteGround. The first is the one-month plan. Pay $24.99 for one month of StartUp. Build your site, test the speed, and try the support team. If you are not happy, request a refund within 30 days. Your total cost is $0 if the refund is granted, plus the time you spent testing.

The second is the 12-month intro term. Pay $23.88 for a full year of StartUp at $1.99 a month. That is slightly less than one month at the regular rate, and it gives you a year to decide. The risk is the renewal. If you forget to cancel or move, the plan renews at $17.99 a month. Set a calendar reminder for month 11 if you take this route.

Either way, the test is real hosting, not a demo. You get the full plan: the SiteGround Website Builder or one-click WordPress install, the free SSL certificate, the free CDN across 170 edge locations, daily backups, and 24/7 expert support. There is no trial version with features removed.

What you get from day one on every plan

Every SiteGround shared hosting plan includes the same core features. You get a free domain name for one year, a free SSL certificate, and a free CDN. You get daily automated backups with 30 days of restore points. You get unlimited email accounts at your own domain. You get free website migration for your first site, handled by the SiteGround team or through the free WordPress migrator plugin. Support is available 24/7 by live chat and tickets.

Performance features are included too. Hosting runs on Google Cloud infrastructure, with NGINX-based caching, Memcached, and a custom MySQL configuration. Security includes a smart web application firewall, AI anti-bot protection, and always-on DDoS protection. WordPress users get one-click installation, automatic core updates, and staging environments on GrowBig and GoGeek. GrowBig and GoGeek also support Node.js applications. StartUp supports PHP only.

GrowBig adds unlimited websites, staging, and on-demand backup copies. GoGeek adds more storage and capacity, white-label client management tools, and priority support. For a single small site, StartUp is enough. For several sites or a growing business, GrowBig at $3.99 a month for the first term is the better value.

If your budget is $0, what are the options?

SiteGround is not the host for a $0 budget. It has no free tier, and its cheapest real price is $1.99 a month for the first year. If you cannot spend anything, you need a host with a genuine free tier, and you should expect limits: a subdomain instead of a custom domain, low storage, slower performance, and no support. A free tier is fine for learning or a hobby page. It is a poor choice for a business site.

For a business site, the honest comparison is not $0 against $1.99. It is $1.99 a month for the first year against the cost of a slow or unreliable free host. SiteGround's intro price is low enough that the money-back guarantee makes the test nearly free. If the site earns anything at all, the renewal price of $17.99 a month is a normal business cost.

Bottom line

SiteGround has no free plan and no free trial. The closest you get is a 30-day money-back guarantee on shared hosting. The cheapest test is one month of StartUp at $24.99, refundable within 30 days. The cheapest year is StartUp at $1.99 a month for the first 12 months, renewing at $17.99 a month. Every plan includes a free domain for a year, free SSL, free CDN, daily backups, and 24/7 support. If you want to try SiteGround, buy the shortest term you are comfortable with, test it properly, and set a reminder before the renewal date.