CreateaWebsiteNow Editorial

average uptime study Average uptime of 32 shared web hosts is 99.59%.

The average website is offline 3 hours per month due to web hosting downtime.

Many surveys have indicated that uptime is the number one factor when choosing a web host and although most, if not all, web hosting services “promise” 99.99% uptime, it’s not the case with our case study.

According to our latest research, the average uptime of 32 shared web hosting providers is 99.59%. That’s approximately 35 hours 32 minutes of downtime per year, per website.

And downtime even happens to online giants. A Dun & Bradstreet study found that nearly 60 percent of Fortune 500 companies experience a minimum of 1.6 hours of downtime every week.

As a rule of thumb, if you are experiencing an uptime of 99.90% or below, you should switch your web host. A good web host should provide you with an uptime of at least 99.94%.

Average Web Hosting Uptime Throughout 2018

* comes with an uptime guarantee. If they’ve failed promised uptime, you can ask for your money back.

Web Hosting ProviderAverage UptimeTotal OutagesTotal Downtime Per Year
1. MidPhase99.991%19 outages45 minutes
2. Bluehost99.991%7 outages52 minutes
3. DigitalOcean*99.989%11 outages58 minutes
4. SiteGround*99.988%26 outages73 minutes
5. Site5*99.986%16 outages83 minutes
6. HostGator*99.984%19 outages84 minutes
7. A Small Orange*99.978%52 outages125 minutes
8 iPage99.975%72 outages131 minutes
9. HostPapa99.975%39 outages144 minutes
10. FastComet99.973%44 outages146 minutes
11. LunarPages*99.972%20 outages153 minutes
12. Hostinger*99.971%28 outages154 minutes
13. WebHostingBuzz99.969%28 outages163 minutes
14. GreenGeeks*99.969%11 outages164 minutes
15. JustHost99.968%28 outages165 minutes
16. GoDaddy99.965%47 outages184 minutes
17. HostRocket99.960%31 outages202 minutes
18. HostMonster99.955%40 outages235 minutes
19. DreamHost*99.953%40 outages239 minutes
20. Hosting2499.951%31 outages264 minutes
21. WestHost*99.948%48 outages271 minutes
22. WebHostingHub99.948%76 outages278 minutes
23. inMotion Hosting99.935%90 outages341 minutes
24. A2 Hosting99.928%64 outages375 minute
25. HostMetro99.852%247 outages763 minutes
26. MDD Hosting*99.833%76 outages874 minutes
27. FatCow99.829%377 outages899 minutes
28. NameCheap*99.826%453 outages917 minutes
29. HostNine99.723%241 outages1448 minutes
30. One.com99.593%419 outages2132 minutes
31. WebHostingPad97.588%1655 outages9 days
32. Arvixe*91.098%20051 outages1 month

If you are into each month brake-down with more detailed data, take a look at these pages below:

1. MidPhase.com | 99.991% | 1 Hour of Downtime

MidPhase 2018 statistics

No uptime guarantee:

Although MidPhase doesn’t mention any uptime guarantee on their website, they are the clear winner of this case-study hitting nearly 100% uptime in 2018.

2. Bluehost.com | 99.991% | 1 Hour of Downtime

Bluehost 2018 statistics

No uptime guarantee:

Similarly to MidPhase, Bluehost doesn’t offer any uptime guarantees either (just a network/server uptime agreement). However, their servers have been working very steadily, with the exception of one bigger outage (42 minutes).

3. DigitalOcean.com | 99.989% | 1 Hour of Downtime

Digital Ocean 2018 statistics

Uptime guarantee available:

DigitalOcean is a cheap cloud hosting that promises 99.99% uptime which they have greatly succeeded in our test. If you see uptime less than 99.99% using DigitalOcean, you can ask for your money back.

4. SiteGround.com | 99.988% | 1 Hour of Downtime

SiteGround 2018 statistics

Uptime guarantee available:

SiteGround is a hosting provider with an excellent uptime score. They also offer uptime guarantee, providing you with one month of free service if uptime falls below 99.99% and an additional month if uptime falls below 99.90%.

5. Site5.com | 99.986% | 1 Hour of Downtime

Site5 2018 statistics

Uptime guarantee available:

99.98% is still decent uptime. What’s even better – Site5 comes with an uptime guarantee of 99.9% – anything below that is eligible for a % of a credit back. They even offer 100% credit back when uptime falls below 99.5% on their fully managed VPS

6. HostGator.com | 99.984% | 1 Hour of Downtime

HostGator 2018 statistics

Uptime guarantee available:

HostGator comes with decent uptime. On top of that, they even provide an uptime guarantee of 99.9% and you get credit back when it falls below. Just beware that it only applies to the actual server downtime excluding server maintenance.

7. ASmallOrange.com | 99.978% | 2 Hours of Downtime

A Small Orange 2018 statistics

Uptime guarantee available:

ASmallOrange offers an uptime guarantee of 99.9%. When it’s below that, you get a refund of one day of service per every 45-min downtime. Beware of the specific clauses. Just note the high number of outages we experienced in the test period.

8. iPage.com | 99.975% | 2 Hours of Downtime

iPage 2018 statistics

No uptime guarantee:

iPage does not offer an uptime guarantee. Luckily, considering their ranking in overall uptime, we’re pretty sure you wouldn’t need it anyway. One thing to be aware of is the high number of outages we experienced.

9. HostPapa.com | 99.975% | 2 Hours of Downtime

HostPapa 2018 statistics

No uptime guarantee:

Even though they mention under their Terms of Service using “reasonable efforts to maintain 99.9% of uptime”, HostPapa does not exactly provide an uptime guarantee.

10. FastComet.com | 99.973% | 2 Hours of Downtime

Fastcomet 2018 statistics

No uptime guarantee:

Even though their live chat agent said that they guarantee a 99% uptime, there is no official uptime guarantee on FastComet’s Terms of Service or refund/credit policy if it falls below what’s promised. The total amount of outages is somewhat concerning.

11. LunarPages.com | 99.972% | 3 Hours of Downtime

LunarPages 2018 statistics

Uptime guarantee available:

For every 15min of downtime, LunarPages credits the client’s account with an equal of a full day of service. That guarantee excludes scheduled maintenance.

12. Hostinger.com | 99.971% | 3 Hours of Downtime

Hostinger 2018 statistics

Uptime guarantee available:

Hostinger’s above-average uptime is backed up by their uptime guarantee of 99.9%. As in all cases, scheduled maintenance is excluded.

13. WebHostingBuzz.com | 99.969% | 3 Hours of Downtime

WebHostingBuzz 2018 statistics

No uptime guarantee:

WHB does not provide any uptime guarantee per se. Based on our experience, you most likely wouldn’t need one anyway.

14. GreenGeeks.com | 99.969% | 3 Hours of Downtime

GreenGeeks 2018 statistics

Uptime guarantee available:

GreenGeeks offers a 99.9% uptime guarantee. However, it only applies to their own servers and is not applicable for client errors.

15. JustHost.com | 99.968% | 3 Hours of Downtime

JustHost 2018 statistics

No uptime guarantee:

There’s no uptime guarantee on their website, whatsoever.

16. GoDaddy.com | 99.965% | 3 Hours of Downtime

GoDaddy 2018 statistics

No uptime guarantee:

Despite their big name, huge client-base, and decent service, GoDaddy does not provide any uptime guarantee. You should also beware of their rather high number (compared to other top hosts) of outages.

17. HostRocket.com | 99.960% | 3 Hours of Downtime

HostRocket 2018 statistics

Limited uptime guarantee:

HostRocket has an official 99.5% uptime guarantee. Like others, it only applies to their own direct services.

18. HostMonster.com | 99.955% | 4 Hours of Downtime

HostMonster 2018 statistics

No uptime guarantee:

Even though you can find a statement claiming to strive for their best, there is no official uptime guarantee.

19. DreamHost.com | 99.953% | 4 Hours of Downtime

Dreamhost 2018 statistics

Uptime guarantee available:

Finally, there you have it – an official 100% uptime guarantee.” DreamHost guarantees 100% uptime. A failure to provide 100% uptime will result in customer compensation pursuant to guidelines established herein.”

20. Hosting24.com | 99.951% | 4 Hours of Downtime

Hosting24 2018 statistics

Limited uptime guarantee:

They offer a service uptime guarantee of 99.9%. It’s solely determined by them and you get 5% of your monthly hosting fee as a credit back. It’s only used to purchase further service of products from Hosting24.

21. WestHost.com | 99.948% | 5 Hours of Downtime

WestHost 2018 statistics

Uptime guarantee available:

At the close investigation, we found a 99.9% service uptime guarantee. When outages happen which are directly related to WestHost, you get a credit of 5-100% of your monthly hosting fee depending on the total downtime.

22. WebHostingHub.com | 99.948% | 5 Hours of Downtime

WebHostingHub 2018 statistics

No uptime guarantee:

WHH claims on their front page to have a 99.9% uptime guarantee. Unfortunately, we did not find an official guarantee under their terms of service and other binding policies.

23. inMotionHosting.com | 99.935% | 6 Hours of Downtime

inMotion Hosting 2018 statistics

Limited uptime guarantee:

Uptime guarantee only applies to Business Pro accounts. Even though it’s a really sweet one (99.999%), there is no uptime guarantee for other hosting plans.

24. A2Hosting.com | 99.928% | 6 Hours of Downtime

A2 Hosting 2018 statistics

No uptime guarantee:

A2 comes with a 99.9% uptime commitment. Similar to other hosting providers, when it comes to credit, there are clauses related to server maintenance and the outage being not their responsibility.

25. HostMetro.com | 99.852% | 13 Hours of Downtime

HostMetro 2018 statistics

Limited uptime guarantee:

When the total uptime in a year is less than 99%, you get a 1-month service for free.

26. MDDHosting.com | 99.833% | 15 Hours of Downtime

MDD Hosting 2018 statistics

Uptime guarantee available:

They have an official 1000% service uptime guarantee (it’s not as cool as it sounds).

“If your server has a physical downtime of more than 1 hour, you can request 10 times (1000%) the actual amount of downtime. This means that if your server has a physical downtime of 1 hour, you will receive 10 hours of credit.”

27. FatCow.com | 99.829% | 15 Hours of Downtime

FatCow 2018 statistics

No uptime guarantee:

It doesn’t seem that uptime is one of the strengths of FatCow – despite our research, we did not find any uptime guarantee.

28. NameCheap.com | 99.826% | 15 Hours of Downtime

NameCheap 2018 statistics

Uptime guarantee available:

NameCheap offers one full day of service for every 1h that your server is down in a month. Beware that the first 45min is not applicable.

29. HostNine.com | 99.723% | 1 Day of Downtime

HostNine 2018 statistics

No uptime guarantee:

An uninspiring total uptime is even further disappointing as there is no uptime guarantee under their ToS.

30. One.com | 99.593% | 1 Day of Downtime

One.com 2018 statistics

No uptime guarantee:

A day without service is a serious issue by itself. Despite our serious efforts, we could not find any uptime guarantee either that would make you eligible for at least some credit.

31. WebHostingPad.com | 97.588% | 9 Days of Downtime

WebHostingPad 2018 statistics

Limited uptime guarantee:

There is a 99% official uptime guarantee. However, it’s most likely that you wouldn’t really care about the few free days you get when the service performance is this bad.

32. Arvixe.com | 91.098% | a Month of Downtime

Arvixe 2018 statistics

Uptime guarantee available:

Despite their bad performance (the worst ever, by far, anywhere…), Arvix actually does have an official uptime guarantee of 99.9%. But does it really matter to get a refund or some credit when your website has lost all its traffic because of its non-existent performance?