MemberHost vs SiteGround for Membership and Course Sites
Considering a SiteGround alternative for a membership or course site? SiteGround's shared and Cloud plans compared with MemberHost on resources, caching, support scope and uptime terms.
SiteGround sells two kinds of WordPress hosting. Its shared plans (StartUp, GrowBig and GoGeek) start from a low first-year price, prepaid for 12 months, and renew at $17.99, $29.99 and $44.99 a month (SiteGround). Its Cloud plans start at $100 a month for 4 CPU cores and 8GB of memory (SiteGround Cloud). Support runs around the clock by chat, phone and ticket. MemberHost works another way: WordPress membership, course and community sites, each on a node or cluster of its own, set up for the plugins that site depends on.
This comparison was prepared by MemberHost from each company’s public documentation, checked on 15 September 2026. MemberHost is not affiliated with or endorsed by SiteGround or MemberPress, and both names are trademarks of their owners. Contract-specific terms may differ from what is published. If something here has changed, tell us and we will correct it.
At a glance
| SiteGround shared | SiteGround Cloud | MemberHost | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | First-year promotional price, then “Renews at $17.99 /mo” (StartUp) up to $44.99 (GoGeek), “Prepaid for 12 months” (SiteGround) | From “$100.00 /mo”, paid monthly (SiteGround Cloud) | No fixed tiers. Priced per site on traffic, plugin stack and support needs |
| Resources | Hourly, daily and monthly CPU-second limits per plan, and “up to 768MB RAM per process” (SiteGround fair use) | Published cores and memory, “dedicated resources”, and optional autoscaling (SiteGround Cloud) | Each client gets its own node or cluster with dedicated resources, running as virtual machines on bare metal servers from data centre partners, on hardware we specify (performance) |
| PHP workers | We could not find a count publicly documented | We could not find a count publicly documented | Configured per site (concurrent users) |
| Page caching | Full-page caching is on at server level by default; “By default, we do not cache content for logged in users” (SiteGround) | NGINX Direct Delivery, Dynamic Caching and Memcached, plus the Speed Optimizer plugin (SiteGround Cloud) | Configured per site for the plugins it runs (performance) |
| Plugin problems | Support page and Terms of Service describe the scope differently (see below) | Same | Worked on as part of hosting, at the server and application level (performance) |
| Support hours | “SiteGround offers 24/7 support via live chat, phone, and ticket” (SiteGround support) | “24/7 Priority Support” | Not 24/7 |
| Uptime commitment | “We guarantee network uptime 99.9% on an annual base” (SiteGround terms) | Same terms | 99.9% of each monthly billing period (our SLA) |
Resources on launch day
On shared plans, SiteGround measures usage in CPU seconds. StartUp allows 1,000 an hour, GrowBig 2,000 and GoGeek 4,000, alongside a memory limit of “up to 768MB RAM per process” and guidance to keep databases under 1,000MB. SiteGround describes the approach as making sure everyone “gets their fair share of server resources”. It relies on “a series of early warnings when such are possible”, and “in case of an extreme or repetitive over-usage, we may need to limit the access to your website until you take action” (SiteGround fair use; that page was last updated in 2021).
The uptime terms connect to this. Among the events SiteGround does not count against its guarantee is “Downtime caused when you reach the maximum resources allocation for your plan” (SiteGround terms). Our SLA has a similar exclusion for traffic beyond what a client’s plan can handle, and it also leaves out WordPress or plugin downtime while the server stays up (our SLA). So on either host, planning capacity for a launch is on you and the host together, not on the uptime guarantee.
SiteGround’s own answer for sites that outgrow shared hosting is Cloud, with dedicated resources and an autoscale option to “automatically add resources during traffic spikes” (SiteGround Cloud). At MemberHost every client starts on its own node or cluster, and we can copy the site to staging and load test the logins, lessons and checkouts your members use before a launch. A spec sheet won’t show how your launch will go on either host; a load test on your own site will.
Caching and MemberPress on SiteGround
SiteGround caches full pages at the server level by default, “even if you don’t have the plugin installed”, and skips logged-in users unless you turn on a separate cache per user (SiteGround). Its default rules also bypass the cache for the wordpress_logged_in_ cookie and for URLs matching patterns such as wp-login, cart, my-account, checkout and register (SiteGround). Pages for visitors who aren’t signed in yet, such as a course sales page or a login page at a custom address, can still be cached unless they match a rule, so check your membership plugin’s pages against the list.
MemberPress calls SiteGround “a very good host for MemberPress users” and recommends disabling SG Optimizer, or at least making sure the register, thank you, mepr, account, unauthorized and login pages are not cached, and disabling Memcached. Its notice adds: “It appears that Siteground, on its shared hosting plans, caches every page even if you don’t have the SG Optimizer plugin installed and activated”, and asks users to install SG Optimizer and adjust it (MemberPress). In practice: install SiteGround’s Speed Optimizer plugin, add the exclusions MemberPress lists, and test registration, login and checkout before going live.
We configure caching per site, and on MemberPress we test object caching before switching it on, because MemberPress lists the Redis Object Cache plugin as a known incompatibility.
Support: check which description applies
SiteGround’s support page says its team “handles server configurations, DNS, WordPress, plugin conflicts, WooCommerce” and more, and that the team is “100% in-house” (SiteGround support). Its Terms of Service are narrower. Section 13.3.1 lists “Inquiries related to the functioning of scripts, optimizations, SEO services, themes or extensions” and “Issues related to the installation of third-party scripts/applications not provided by SiteGround” as outside free technical support. Section 13.3.2 says such requests may get help “at our own discretion, subject to availability and additional fees”, with your consent before any charge (SiteGround terms). If your problems tend to be plugin problems, ask SiteGround which of the two applies to yours.
At MemberHost, plugin and WordPress-level problems are part of the hosting work, with changes made at the server and application level (performance). Much of the know-how comes via MemberFix, our sister agency, whose membership site work goes back to 2011 (about us).
SiteGround is ahead on reach: chat, phone and tickets at any hour, from staff it employs directly. MemberHost is not a 24/7 service.
Uptime terms
| SiteGround | MemberHost | |
|---|---|---|
| Commitment | 99.9% network uptime “on an annual base” | 99.9% of each monthly billing period |
| What it covers | Network uptime, measured from SiteGround’s internal records; “We will not accept third-party reports as evidence” | “Necessary Services” needed for your site to be reachable |
| Main exclusions | Scheduled maintenance; emergency maintenance and hardware or software failures remedied in under an hour; DNS or IP changes you were notified of but didn’t configure; DDoS and hacker attacks; your configuration or third-party applications; reaching your plan’s resource allocation; breaches of the terms; Cloud resource upgrades; time spent processing your support requests; force majeure | Third-party services, maintenance in a daily 2am to 5am window (data centre local time), emergency maintenance, scheduled outages, force majeure including external service providers, traffic beyond the plan, client code and configuration, changes by other parties, and WordPress or plugin downtime while the server itself stays up |
| Remedy | One month of free hosting for uptime between 99.9% and 99.00%, plus a month for every further 1% lost, capped at your term and at twelve months; the “sole and exclusive remedy” | Credits applied to future invoices, capped at the month’s value, never paid in cash, requested within 30 days, and the SLA’s remedies are the sole remedy |
| Source | SiteGround terms, section 5 | Our SLA |
The percentages match, but they are measured differently: SiteGround’s over a year, ours per month. Neither covers the revenue a bad launch costs, which is the subject of our reliability guide.
SiteGround may fit better when
- Budget comes first and the site is small or just starting, where a shared plan covers the load.
- You want someone on the phone at any hour, from an in-house team.
- Your site is growing and SiteGround Cloud’s dedicated resources and autoscaling suit the next step.
- You want a refund window you can count on. SiteGround offers a “30-day money back guarantee for all of our shared hosting plans and 14 days money back guarantee for cloud hosting plans” (SiteGround).
- You’d rather move the site yourself with its free WordPress Migrator plugin.
MemberHost may fit better when
- Your launches outgrow a shared plan, and you’d rather plan capacity with the people running the server than watch CPU-second limits.
- Plugin problems are the ones you keep hitting, and you want them handled as part of hosting.
- Your stack is MemberPress, LearnDash or BuddyBoss, and you want caching rules written for it before launch.
- You want a clustered setup with failover sync (uptime).
Look elsewhere if money is tight, you need someone on the phone overnight, you’re comparing published price sheets, or you’d rather sign up without talking to anyone.
What switching looks like
SiteGround offers a free WordPress Migrator plugin that you run yourself (SiteGround), and its hosting FAQ says “Your first migration is free” (SiteGround).
Moving to MemberHost, we start by reviewing your plugin configuration and migrate the site during onboarding at no charge. We can load test a staging copy first so you see how your own site behaves. Refund requests that are reasonable, we grant. And if MemberHost ever stops being the right fit, we will fully assist in moving your site out.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is SiteGround good for membership sites?
MemberPress calls it “a very good host for MemberPress users”, with caching changes: exclude its account and login pages, disable Memcached, and configure SG Optimizer (MemberPress). On shared plans, also check that your launch traffic fits the plan’s CPU-second limits.
Does SiteGround have an uptime SLA?
Yes. Its Terms of Service guarantee “network uptime 99.9% on an annual base”, with free months of hosting as the remedy and a list of exclusions that includes reaching your plan’s resource allocation (SiteGround terms).
Does SiteGround help with plugin problems?
Its support page says the team handles plugin conflicts. Its Terms of Service place the functioning of themes and extensions outside free technical support, with paid help possible at its discretion. Ask which applies to your issue (SiteGround support, SiteGround terms).
Does MemberHost offer 24/7 support?
No. SiteGround answers by chat, phone and ticket at any hour and we don’t, so weigh that against the rest of this comparison.