Smart works are always rewarding.
If you have a website whose visitors are located in Malaysia, Singapore or any nearby country, here is one smart thing you can do today:
Move your site to a web host in/close to the country of your main audience.
Today we will be discussing how hosting locally is more beneficial over any offshore hosting and what are the best places to host your Malaysian or Singaporean website.
By locally, I mean hosting companies with a data center in the local area (Malaysia / Singapore). It doesn’t have to be a Malaysian or Singaporean-owned company – what we need is the web server located close to our audience.
Malaysia and Singapore hosting market is crowded with hundreds of providers and brands – each with different options and deals.
Our aim with this post is to clear the smoke screens and focus on things users actually care about – hosting performance (locally), price, and customer service.
Are you ready? Let’s roll!
Also check out: WHSR’s top 10 web hosting picks for International websites.
Best Hosting for Malaysian / Singaporean Websites
Here are the 8 companies who made out to our list in the following order. In the following ranking, we considered not only the latency but also the customer support, price, and the company reputation.
FTC Disclosure
We use affiliate links on this page – this means WHSR receive referral fees from companies mentioned in this article. Our opinions are based on real experience and actual server data. Please read our review policy page to understand how our host review and rating system works.
1. SiteGround
Website: https://www.siteground.com
Besides the USA and Europe, SiteGround is offering web hosting services in Asia from their data center located in Singapore.
Their servers are customized with CentOS and have a mixed web technology of Apache and NGINX.
They offer a wide range of web hosting services including Shared, Dedicated, Cloud, and Reseller.
All SiteGround shared hosting plans come with SuperCacher – an in-house caching system for maximum website performance.
SiteGround is best known for its fast and commendable customer support. The live chat is available 24/7 to solve your problem, while they do also have phone support and email ticketing system.
Learn more about SiteGround in Jerry’s review.
Notable features for Malaysia / Singapore users
Pros
- Server Location: Singapore
- Advance server / speed technology – HTTP/2, NGINX, Built-in cacher, SSD storage, etc
- Officially recommended by WordPress.org and Drupal.org
- Free Let’s Encrypt Standard and WildCard SSL
- Good feedback from other SiteGroudn users
- Free site migration for new customers
- Free automated daily backups on all plans
Cons
- Mixed results for International server speed tests
- Instant backup not available for SiteGround StartUp and GrowBig Plans
- Hosting price increases after first bill
Price
- Shared hosting starts at approx. S$5.36/month
SiteGround Latency Test Results
Bitcatcha (Singapore): 9 ms
* Click to enlarge image.
WebPageTest.org (Singapore, EC2, Chrome): 0.585s
* Click to enlarge image.
Back to comparison table
2. TMD Hosting
Website: https://www.tmdhosting.com
With over 10 years of hosting experience, TMD Hosting has gone from a single data center in Houston, Texas, to multiple operation centres located all over the U.S. and Amsterdam. They also have global hosting locations including United Kingdom, Netherlands, Singapore, Japan, and Australia.
As a performance oriented provider, you can expect to have access to features such as NGINX servers and basic caching on their Starter Plan.
My previous review of TMD Hosting scored high marks due to their extremely fast loading speed and reliable server uptimes. In addition to that, their plans are reasonably priced and they have a great customer support team.
Learn more in my TMD Hosting review.
Notable Features for Malaysia / Singapore users
Pros
- Server Location: Singapore
- Great speed features for shared hosting plans – NGINX server, memcache up to 256MB, SSD storage
- Generous server resources for shared hosting plans – use up to 2,000 CPU seconds per hour
- Free Let’s Encrypt SSL
- 60 days money back guarantee
- Excellent customer support based on my experience
Cons
- Price increases during renewal
- Customer complaints on cloud hosting plans
Price
- Shared hosting starts at S$4.05/month
TMD Hosting Latency Test Results
Bitcatcha (Singapore): 8 ms
* Click to enlarge image.
WebPageTest.org (Singapore, EC2, Chrome): 0.237s
* Click to enlarge image.
Back to comparison table
3. Hostinger
Website: https://www.hostinger.com
Hostinger has one data center in Malaysia and others in the USA and UK. All of them are interconnected by 1000MBPS connection lines for increased performance and stability.
They generally offer Shared, Business and VPS hosting service.
In addition to them, there is one free shared hosting plan that comes with 1000MB disk space and 10GB bandwidth. Interestingly, there are no ads in this plan even though it is free.
The entry-level shared hosting doesn’t have much to offer, but their Premium and Business plans have solid hardware and freebies like free domain, free SSL, daily backup service and deluxe live support.
Learn more about Hostinger in Jason’s review.
Notable Features for Malaysia / Singapore users
Pros
- Server Location: Malaysia
- Cheap VPS hosting plans, starting price at RM25.68/month
- Accept wide range of payment options
- Free website builder with pre-designed templates
- Easy to use control panel (custom cPanel)
- Free no ads shared hosting offered through 000webhost.com
Cons
- Price increases during renewal
- One-click installation only partially supported for Single Shared Hosting Plan
- Live chat is not available for pre-sale queries
Price
- Shared hosting starts at RM7.99/month
Hostinger Latency Test Results
Bitcatcha (Singapore): 8 ms
* Click to enlarge image.
WebPageTest.org (Singapore, EC2, Chrome): 0.191s
* Click to enlarge image.
Back to comparison table
4. A2 Hosting
Website: https://www.a2hosting.com
A2Hosting has cutting-edge technologies concerning website speed (RAID-10 with SSD, RailGun Technology, Turbo Server).
They have one data center in Singapore and other three in Arizona (US), Michigan (US), and Amsterdam (NL).
What so special about the turbo server is that this server uses custom .htaccess, PHP API and APC which have proven to increase website speed up to 20 times.
They have come up with pre-configured server settings for popular website platforms such as WordPress, Joomla, Magento etc.
Regarding their customer support, they offer the popular forms of support which includes 24/7 live chat, phone call and email ticketing.
Learn more about A2Hosting in Jerry’s review.
Notable Features for Malaysia / Singapore users
Pros
- Server Location: Singapore
- Turbo servers make websites up to 20x faster
- Anytime money back guarantee – Try it out for free
- Free site migration for new customers
- Reasonable rates and special signup discounts
- Pre-configured server settings for websites (A2 Optimized)
- Free regular server rewind backups on Swift and higher plans
Cons
- Turbo plan does not support Ruby or Python application
- Live chat support isn’t always available
Price
- Shared hosting starts at S$5.34/month
A2 Hosting Latency Test Results
Bitcatcha (Singapore): 12 ms
* Click to enlarge image.
WebPageTest.org (Singapore, EC2, Chrome): 1.795s
* Click to enlarge image.
Back to comparison table
5. Exabytes
Website: https://www.exabytes.my
Exabytes is one of the oldest hosting providers in Southeast Asia with headquarter in Penang, Malaysia and external branches in Singapore and Thailand.
The company made their establishment back in 2001.
Exabytes offer some economically crafted small business hosting plans where the highlights are free domain, free SSL, free backup service and free domain privacy protection.
Those who are looking forward to migrating away from their current web host – Exabytes offers free website transfer along with the facility to top up remaining hosting period from their previous host to the new Exabytes account (up to 12 months).
Learn more about Exabytes Singapore in our interview.
Notable Features for Malaysia / Singapore users
Pros
- Server Location: Malaysia and Singapore
- Free website starter kit (domain, SSL, backup service, domain privacy)
- Remove server backup with 14 days retention period
Cons
- No live chat or phone call support
- Host only 10 domains and 50 databases for mid-level plans (S$5.99/mo)
- Hosting migration chargeable – S$150 per task
- Technical support chargeable (and expensive) – S$200/task
Price
- Shared hosting starts at RM14.99/month or S$3.99/month
Exabytes Latency Test Results
Bitcatcha (Singapore): 19 ms
* Click to enlarge image.
WebPageTest.org (Singapore, EC2, Chrome): 0.174s
* Click to enlarge image.
Back to comparison table
6. Vodien
Website: https://www.vodien.com
Vodien is a popular internet service provider in Singapore who started their journey in 2002.
Their main headquarter and the data center are located in Singapore. They have peered connections with several data centers around the world.
They have flexible shared web hosting plans and also some premium business hosting plans that feature SSD Storage, SSL, Dedicated IP, spamGuard, and A.I. Sentry.
Vodien has 24/7 phone call, live chat and email support. The resolution time for common problems, as they say, is 6 hours.
Notable Features for Malaysia / Singapore users
Pros
- Server Location: Singapore
- Flexible normal shared and business shared plans
- Free .com.sg or .sg domain for business registered within last 90 days
- Weekly automated daily backup (stores last 2 backups)
Cons
- SSD is available on Business plans only
- Shared hosting plans are overpriced
Price
- Shared hosting starts at S$10.00/month (price lock)
Vodien Latency Test Results
Bitcatcha (Singapore): 7 ms
* Click to enlarge image.
WebPageTest.org (Singapore, EC2, Chrome): 0.107s
* Click to enlarge image.
Back to comparison table
7. Shinjiru
Website: https://www.shinjuru.com.my
Shinjiru, founded in 1998, has two data centers in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur, Cyberjaya) and others are across 5 different countries.
They have the most extensive internet services in one place. Services include Normal Shared, Business Shared, VPS, Dedicated, Cloud, Email, Bitcoin Hosting and Domain Registration (ICAAN accredited).
Shinjiru’s customer support has fewer complaints and offers all traditional forms of support (24/7 live chat, phone call, email ticket and even Skype).
Notable Features for Malaysia / Singapore users
Cons
- Server Location: Malaysia
- Flexible hosting plans covering all small to large companies
- Bitcoin hosting to anonymously host your business
- ICAAN accredited domain name registrar since 2013
- Free website starter kit (domain, SSL, R1Soft backup service)
- Free one .com, .com.my or .my domain with any shared plan
Cons
- Occasional down times reported by users
Price
- Shared hosting starts at approx. RM12.6/month (recurring approx. RM15.75/month)
Shinjuru Latency Test Results
Bitcatcha (Singapore): 24 ms
* Click to enlarge image.
WebPageTest.org (Singapore, EC2, Chrome): 0.119s
* Click to enlarge image.
Back to comparison table
8. FastComet
Website: https://www.fastcomet.com
FastComet offers beginner-friendly cloud hosting with SSD storages.
Lots of freebies are included in their shared plans including free domain name, free daily and weekly backup service and free drag-and-drop website builder.
The SpeedUp shared plan is their most generous offer. It is powered by RocketBooster servers which features 3x more CPU and RAM, 3x fewer uses, Varnish+Memcached caching technology and BitNinja security.
Their pricing comes at great transparency and stability. It is locked for life. You will pay the first-time buying price at renewals.
Learn more about FastComent in Timothy’s review.
Notable Features for Malaysia / Singapore users
Cons
- Server Location: Singapore
- SSD-only cloud hosting at normal shared hosting price
- Free website starter kit (domain, SSL, backup service, site builder)
- High-performance hosting by RocketBooster (on SpeedUp plan only)
- BitNinja Server Security on all plans
Cons
- Account setup fee on monthly billing cycle
- Slow server response time in one of our tests
Price
- Shared hosting starts at approx. S$4.00/month
FastComet Latency Test Results
Bitcatcha (Singapore): 6 ms
* Click to enlarge image.
WebPageTest.org (Singapore, EC2, Chrome): 0.622s
* Click to enlarge image.
Back to comparison table
Top Picks = SiteGround and TMD Hosting
Here you go – our list of best hosting for Malaysian / Singaporean websites.
If you are looking for a hosting provider that can handle traffic from both Malaysia / Singapore and other countries – then SiteGround and TMD Hosting should be your best bet.
To recap
SiteGround
Website: https://www.siteground.com
Pros
- Server Location: Singapore
- Advance server / speed technology – HTTP/2, NGINX, Built-in cacher, SSD storage, etc
- Officially recommended by WordPress.org and Drupal.org
- Free Let’s Encrypt Standard and WildCard SSL
- Good feedback from other SiteGroudn users
- Free site migration for new customers
- Free automated daily backups on all plans
Cons
- Mixed results for International server speed tests
- Instant backup not available for SiteGround StartUp and GrowBig Plans
- Hosting price increases after first bill
Price
- Shared hosting starts at approx. S$5.36/month
TMD Hosting
Website: https://www.tmdhosting.com
Pros
- Server Location: Singapore
- Great speed features for shared hosting plans – NGINX server, memcache up to 256MB, SSD storage
- Generous server resources for shared hosting plans – use up to 2,000 CPU seconds per hour
- Free Let’s Encrypt SSL
- 60 days money back guarantee
- Excellent customer support based on my experience
Cons
- Price increases during renewal
- Customer complaints on cloud hosting plans
Price
- Shared hosting starts at S$4.05/month
Why Host Your Websites Locally?
Advantage #1. Faster Website for Local Audience
Quite a distance to travel from Malaysia / Singapore to United States West Coast.
Consider it like a flight. When a Malaysian uses a website hosted in the United States, his requests fly from Malaysia – USA – Malaysia to return a result.
If it was hosted in Malaysia, the requests would have flown inside Malaysia only, minimizing the travel time.
The exemplified travel time of the flight has a technical term – ‘latency’.
The higher the latency is, the slower your website loads.
You can minimize this travel time, so is the latency, by choosing to host on a local server.
Latency Test Samples
Here is a real life example to demonstrate how server location affect latency.
Our website, WebHostingSecretRevealed.net, is hosted on a server located at the west coast of United States. Due to its peculiar server location, the website responses within 8ms in the USA (W) and 76ms in Singapore (see image #1 below).
In comparison (image #2), our test site hosted at TMD Hosting Singapore data center has a much better response speed in Singapore (8ms).
Image #1: WHSR (hosted at United States West Coast) site speed test – 8ms response time from U.S. (W), 76ms response time from Singapore.
Image #2: Our test site (hosted at TMD Hosting, Singapore Data Center) site speed test – 237ms response time from U.S. (E), 8ms response time from Singapore.
Advantage #2. Local Payment Methods
Payments in foreign currencies could be a real pain sometimes. You must have an internationally accepted payment method (with USD currency generally) for making payments.
Where local hosting companies would accept any local bank/credit card, you can see the price in your own currency and there is no currency conversion charge associated.
Advantage #3. Customer Support in Local Language
I bet you are definitely more comfortable talking in your first language than the second one.
All international web hosts use English for communication (assuming that English is not your first language) and you have to maintain their local office time for phone call support.
With a local company, there will be no time complexity. Some companies offer customer support in their local language. Plus, calling to a local phone number is cheaper and easier.
Other considering factors in choosing a web host
Bear in mind that, however, there is never a fixed solution to one’s web hosting needs. Other factors you should consider when choosing a web host include:
1- Price
Cost of web hosting is a major concern for small and medium-size websites. They cannot just go for any company for the budget constraints.
Local web hosts usually have competitive and affordable pricing to upsell. Their shared plans can start at as low as S$4.00 or RM12.00 a month.
However, the lowest, although good for your pocket, is not always the best for you. You have to give heed to your business’s size and requirements in the first place.
It is better to ask the company in advance how many visitors a package can accommodate and which is recommended for your size of business.
2- Reliability
The question remains. Local web hosts sound very attractive. How reliable are they?
Local companies definitely understand how important the reliability is. They have major focus to ensure more than 99% of uptime and faster support when needed.
In the case of reliability, hybrid companies are one step ahead (who provide both local and global hosting; i.e.: SiteGround, A2Hosting). They have a larger workforce and more experience in handling businesses.
3- Valuable add-on services
What so special about the local companies is that they are more generous to offer add-on services at free of cost.
For setting up a website, you may need SSL certificate, website builder, domain privacy and more on the list.
Therefore, it is recommended to compare hosting plans for those free added services. The more you can get, the better you can save.
Many companies also offer one free domain name, sometimes even for life. So check and you may get one.
In case you are still undecided, check out WHSR web host choosing guide to better understand your needs and other factors to look into.