Hostinger review 2026: tested on our own sites
What we measured on two live Hostinger sites and a clean test site: speed, server stack, backups, security and India prices with GST.
Short answer: Hostinger is a strong, low-cost host for Indian WordPress sites. Our two sites on it answer in 48 ms and 111 ms, and the stack is current (LiteSpeed, PHP 8.2, MariaDB 11.8, Redis extension, Mumbai server). The drawbacks are weekly backups on the two cheapest plans, renewals of ₹289 to ₹649 a month, and a refund window of only 30 days.
Hostinger is a web hosting company, founded in 2004 in Kaunas, Lithuania, that sells shared, cloud and VPS hosting and serves Indian visitors from a Mumbai data centre.
What we tested on Hostinger
Our two sites, digitalpritam.in and investmarathi.com, run on the same Hostinger account, and we also built a plugin-free WordPress lab site on it.
| What | Result |
|---|---|
| Web server | LiteSpeed |
| PHP (web) | 8.2.34 |
| Database | MariaDB 11.8.9 |
| PHP limits | 512 MB memory, 300 s run time, 256 MB uploads |
| Included PHP extras | OPcache, Imagick (image editing), Redis extension, WebP support |
| Server location | Mumbai (the server’s hostname starts in-mum, and the CDN edge answering us was a Mumbai edge) |
| Where we measured from | India, over plain HTTPS with curl |
Speed: 321 ms with no cache, 48 ms with one
Median time to first byte of 11 requests after a warm-up, from India.
What this tells you
- The server itself is quick: a clean WordPress page starts in 321 ms without any caching
- A cache plugin cuts that to 49 ms, and Hostinger’s CDN can serve LiteSpeed Cache pages from the edge
- Our live sites differ because of their cache plugin and content, not the hosting plan
What it does not tell you
- Speed under heavy traffic: we did not load-test
- Speed from outside India
- Uptime over months
Full method and the other cache plugins: best cache plugin for Hostinger and the Speed Lab test. Hostinger’s bot protection also blocked our laptop’s automated Chrome (HTTP 403), so we ran PageSpeed Insights through the web version.
Backups: weekly on the cheap plans, daily above
From Hostinger India’s plan list, 17 Oct 2026. Daily backups are kept 7 days and weekly backups 7 weeks.
| Plan | Websites | Storage | Backups |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single | 1 | 10 GB SSD | Weekly |
| Premium | 3 | 20 GB SSD | Weekly |
| Unlimited | Unlimited | 50 GB NVMe | Daily, with restore |
| Cloud Startup | Unlimited | 100 GB NVMe | Daily and on demand |
We also restored our own test site from backup plugins on this host: UpdraftPlus restored in about 2 seconds and WPvivid in 13. If you are on Single or Premium, add a backup plugin with Google Drive so you are not limited to weekly copies.
Security and AI crawlers
Built in, per Hostinger
- Free SSL, malware scanning, domain privacy, IP and country blocking
- Free CDN on every plan and Object Cache on the plans that include it
- A bot check at the CDN edge
What we saw
- hPanel’s CDN section has an AI Audit tab: on digitalpritam.in it showed 17 AI-crawler requests in 24 hours (GPTBot 7, OAI-SearchBot 3, ClaudeBot 2), all allowed, with a block toggle per crawler
- A fake GPTBot request from our own server got HTTP 429, so the edge seems to verify real crawlers
- The bot check blocked our automated desktop Chrome with a 403
Hostinger price in India
First-term prices with 18% GST at the 16 Oct 2026 cart check.
| Plan | Per month, 48-month term | Renews at | 48 months with GST | Year 5 at renewal, with GST |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single | ₹69 | ₹289/mo | ₹3,908 | ₹4,092 |
| Premium | ₹149 | ₹449/mo | ₹8,439 | ₹6,358 |
| Unlimited | ₹249 | ₹649/mo | ₹14,103 | ₹9,190 |
| Cloud Startup | ₹599 | ₹1,599/mo | ₹33,927 | ₹22,642 |
With code DIGITALPRITAM10, Premium for 48 months costs ₹7,595 including GST instead of ₹8,439 (checked in the cart on 16 Oct 2026).
Opens Hostinger in a new tab and copies the code for checkout.
Who Hostinger suits, and who should look elsewhere
Hostinger suits
- First blogs, portfolios and small business sites on a budget
- Indian visitors: a Mumbai server and rupee billing
- People who want a current stack (LiteSpeed, PHP 8.2) without managing a server
Look elsewhere if
- You need daily backups on a cheap plan: MilesWeb includes them
- You run a busy store or client sites and want to scale by the hour: Cloudways
- You cannot accept a renewal at 2 to 4 times the first-term price
More options on our best WordPress hosting in India page.
What we did not test
We would rather say so than guess.
Not tested
- Support response times and quality
- Uptime over time (we have no monitoring history to publish)
- Email deliverability: WordPress’s default mail did not send from our plugin-free lab site, and we did not investigate why, so plan on an SMTP service or Hostinger’s mailboxes
Also not tested
- Site migrations
- WooCommerce under load
- Cloud and VPS plans
Hostinger review: FAQ
Is Hostinger good for WordPress?
Yes, for most blogs and small business sites. On our own two sites it answers in 48 ms and 111 ms with a cache plugin, and the server stack is current: LiteSpeed, PHP 8.2, MariaDB 11.8, OPcache and a Redis extension. Look at the backup frequency and the renewal price before you buy.
Is Hostinger an Indian company?
No. Hostinger says it was founded in 2004 in Kaunas, Lithuania, is headquartered in Vilnius and is privately held. It does serve Indian visitors from a Mumbai server and bills in rupees. If you want an Indian company, MilesWeb is one; see our Hostinger vs MilesWeb comparison.
How fast is Hostinger?
On a clean WordPress test site with no cache plugin, the page took a median 321 ms to start sending. With free LiteSpeed Cache it dropped to 49 ms. Our live sites measured 48 ms (digitalpritam.in) and 111 ms (investmarathi.com). Speed depends on your theme, plugins and caching, not only the host.
How often does Hostinger back up my site?
Per Hostinger India’s plan list: weekly on Single and Premium, daily with easy restore on Unlimited, and daily plus on demand on Cloud Startup. Weekly backups can lose up to a week of changes, so add a backup plugin on the two cheap plans.
How much does Hostinger cost in India?
Single is ₹69 a month, Premium ₹149 and Unlimited ₹249 on the 48-month term, all paid upfront. Premium for 48 months is ₹8,439 with 18% GST, or ₹7,595 with our code DIGITALPRITAM10. Renewal is ₹289, ₹449 and ₹649 a month.
Does Hostinger have a refund policy?
Yes, a 30-day money-back guarantee on hosting, per Hostinger’s pricing page. Test your site, cache and email inside that window.
Does Hostinger block AI crawlers like GPTBot?
Not by default. The AI Audit in hPanel’s CDN section showed GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot and ClaudeBot visits all allowed on digitalpritam.in (17 requests in 24 hours, none blocked) and lets you block each crawler with a toggle. A request pretending to be GPTBot from our own server got HTTP 429, so the edge appears to check that crawlers are genuine.
What did you not test?
Customer support response times, uptime over months, email deliverability, migrations, WooCommerce under load, and the Cloud and VPS plans. We say so instead of guessing.
Methodology
How this review was built, so you can check it.
| Detail | |
|---|---|
| Date | 17 Oct 2026 |
| Environment | Our two live sites on Hostinger (digitalpritam.in with LiteSpeed Cache, investmarathi.com with WP Rocket) and a clean WordPress 7.1.3 lab site with Twenty Twenty-Five (digitalpritam.in/lab/) |
| Procedure | 12 timed requests per URL with curl from India (the first is a warm-up and not counted), reporting the median; server settings read with a temporary PHP file and WP-CLI; backups and restore from plugin tests; hPanel’s AI Audit read by the site owner |
| Sources | Hostinger India’s plan page and cart for prices (16 to 17 Oct 2026), Hostinger’s About page for company details |
| Limits | Our own sites and one test site; no load test; speed measured from India only; we did not name our hosting plan tier here |
About this page
Pritam Sonone
Founder of Digital Pritam. WordPress developer and designer, WordCamp Kolhapur 2025 speaker. Builds WordPress sites for clients.
How we checked
- Server settings, response times and backup tests measured on our own two Hostinger sites and a clean lab site, 17 Oct 2026
- Prices from Hostinger India’s plan page and cart; company facts from Hostinger’s About page
- Support, uptime and email were not tested and are labelled as such
Sources: Hostinger India plans · Hostinger About page
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Pritam Sonone
Pritam is a full-time blogger, YouTuber, author, and public speaker. He founded and leads Digital Pritam. With over 14 years of blogging expertise, he has assisted numerous aspiring bloggers in achieving their dreams of creating successful blogs.
