WP Alpha vs SiteGround
An honest comparison for WordPress site owners weighing up SiteGround. Where SiteGround is the better choice, this page says so.
Side by side
| Compared | WP Alpha | SiteGround |
|---|---|---|
| Server locations | Sydney, Melbourne, London, Chicago | Yes. Sydney data centre (one of 11 worldwide); no Melbourne. Sydney servers are backed up to Singapore. |
| Entry price | A$29, £15.95 or US$24.95 a month | A$4.99/mo (StartUp) prepaid for 12 months, excl GST; renews at A$26.99/mo. Shown in AUD on au.siteground.com. |
| Free migration | Yes, done for you | Yes. Free SiteGround Migrator plugin moves multiple WordPress sites; manual transfers done by staff are a paid service. |
| Updates tested on a staging copy first | Yes | No. Autoupdate stores a backup before each update and lets you restore; no claim of testing on a staging copy first. |
| Backups | Every two hours offsite, plus your own hourly backups to your own storage | Daily backups, up to 30 copies kept, included on all plans; restores free in Site Tools. On-demand backups on GrowBig and up. |
| Malware scanning and cleanup | Daily scans, cleanup included | Site Scanner: FAQ says a scan is free on every plan; paid Premium tier adds 1-click cleanup; manual cleanup is paid Expert Care. |
| Firewall | Business grade WAF on every plan | Yes. In-house WAF rules (virtual patches), IDS/IPS and a custom nginx security module, included on all plans. |
| Traffic limits | None. No metering, no overage fees | WP page says unlimited traffic; web hosting page guides ~10,000 (StartUp), ~100,000 (GrowBig), ~400,000+ (GoGeek) visits/mo. No overage. |
| Support | 24/7 live chat and tickets | 24/7 live chat (typical reply under a minute), tickets, and phone (number shown after login). |
| Contract | None. 30-day money-back guarantee | Promo price needs 12 months prepaid; 30-day money-back on hosting fees, domains not refundable. |
SiteGround column read from SiteGround’s own pages on 2026-10-10, prices in AUD (au.siteground.com shows A$ prices excl. GST; www.siteground.com redirected this visitor to world.siteground.com in USD). Sources: www.siteground.com, world.siteground.com, au.siteground.com, au.siteground.com, au.siteground.com, www.siteground.com.
Where SiteGround is the better choice
- Price-first buyers: A$4.99/mo for the first year with a free domain, free email and SSL included.
- You want domain, email and hosting in one account (free domain and free email are on every plan).
- Unlimited sites on GrowBig/GoGeek, plus white-label access and priority support on GoGeek for small agency portfolios.
Switching from SiteGround
We migrate your site for free. We move it, you approve it, then DNS changes, and 99 of 100 migrations happen with no downtime window. Your old host stays live until you say so.
Backups: Site Tools > Security > Backups (restore included). Files: Site Tools > Site > FTP Accounts. Domain EPP code: Client Area > Services > Domains > Settings > kebab menu > Get EPP Code, after setting Registrar Lock to Off and allowing 24 hours.
Which hosting fits your business?
The simple rule: if you pay for your traffic, in ad spend or in SEO, choose Fully Managed. If customers find you on their own, Basic is all you need.
The one to pick if customers find you on their own
Basic Managed Hosting
A reliable site with minimum hassle.
For businesses that win their work through reputation, referrals and repeat customers. Your site needs to be there, look right and load fast whenever someone looks you up. It is important, but it is not the engine of the business, its traffic needs are small, and it does not need a team working on it.
This is you if
- Your site is a brochure, a portfolio, a local service site or a small store
- Customers find you through referrals, word of mouth or your Google listing
- You are not paying for clicks or running an SEO campaign
- A few hours of downtime would be annoying, not expensive
- You want updates, backups and security handled, and never to think about hosting
On a bad day: the site is slow for an afternoon. We fix it, and nobody is out of pocket.
From A$29 a month
See Basic Managed plansThe one to pick if you advertise
Fully Managed Hosting
For businesses that market online, every day.
For businesses proactively marketing online: running Google Ads or other paid traffic, doing SEO aggressively, including for AI search, and relying on the site day by day, sometimes hour by hour, to generate leads, customers and sales. Downtime and issues have a serious impact on the bottom line.
This is you if
- You run Google Ads, Meta ads or other paid traffic to the site
- You invest in SEO, in Google and increasingly in AI answers, and being found is tied to revenue
- The site brings in enquiries, bookings, calls or orders every day
- An hour of downtime, a broken form or a slow checkout costs real money
- You chose the hosting, and you do not want to be the one who gets the 7am call
On a bad day: the site is slow for an afternoon while your ads keep running. You pay for every click and lose the enquiries. Our job is to make sure that day does not happen, and to catch it fast if it does.
You do not need this if customers find you without ads or an SEO push. Basic will serve you well, and if you ask us, we will tell you so.
From US$99 a month
See Fully Managed plansThe one to pick if you need to prove what works
Fully Managed, with the Conversion Tracking Pack
For businesses that need proof of what the site produces.
Everything in Fully Managed, plus PixelYourSite and CallRail set up and kept working, so every form, sale and phone call is credited to the ad, keyword or page that produced it. Your monthly report shows leads, sales and calls next to speed and uptime.
This is you if
- You want to know which ads and keywords bring in customers, not just clicks
- Phone calls are a large share of your enquiries
- You report marketing results to a boss, a board or a client
- Your ad platforms are bidding without seeing all your conversions
On a bad day: a plugin update quietly stops your forms reporting to Google Ads, and the bidding drifts for weeks before anyone notices. We test the tracking on a schedule, so it is days, not weeks.
Any Fully Managed plan, plus US$99 a month and a US$295 setup
See what is in the packWhat customers say
I have been in ecommerce for 20 years. I WISH I had discovered these guys 20 years ago. Don’t hesitate signing up with them, they always solve the issue when no one else can. Worth every penny.
I worked with Ash who is an amazing guy who quickly made a great plan and helped us fix our site speed. We experienced some issues a few months later after a Wordpress update and he quickly helped us solve those issues. Overall, I’m very satisfied with their service! 🙂
Great work by Ash would highly recommend very fast response times and great customer service
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