French web host: top 3 of the best accommodations

Web hosting comes in different forms and powers that can vary enormously. Shared, dedicated, VPS hosting, free domain name for 1 year or more, free SSL certificates, RAM, cache plugin, monthly traffic limit… It's endless. As much to tell you right away that it is anything but easy to know which are the best web hosts for France.

Over the past few years, we have been able to test and compare a large number of hosts and web hosting companies… whether French or international. For this article, we have managed to reduce the list in order to highlight only the three best French web hosting for the year 2022.

You will find below a description and an analysis of each of the hosts that have caught our attention, advice for making the right choice, and a summary of the best web hosting in France by category (shared, WordPress, dedicated, Cloud, etc.). ).

The best web hosts in France (Comparative 2022)

Before showing you the three best web hosts for France, we wanted to do a quick recap with the five best options, in case you are in a hurry:

We made the decision to present you only the members of the top 3 because the gap with the 4th and 5th was too important. Although OVHcloud and LWS are respectable French hosts, they turn out to be less efficient and do not offer such a qualitative and complete service.

One last small clarification, know that you will find both French and foreign web hosts below. Indeed, as long as they offer a datacenter in France or relatively close, and that they have French-speaking customer support, they can, in our opinion, be considered as French web hosts. This point having been clarified, it is time to move on to the presentations of our top 3 for 2022.

Shared range , VPS, Cloud, Minecraft

Wordpress , Joomla, Magento, Prestashop

30 days money back

Promo : JOURNALDUGEEK (-10%)

9.6 /10

See the siteOur test Characteristics - Special SALE offer -80%- Customer support by chat (in French)- Free migration- Free domain name- Free offer (limited) Our opinion: The best web host with unbeatable value for money. Product rangeReliabilityFeaturesSimplicityCustomer supportQuality / price SEE +1

Shared range , VPS, Dedicated

Wordpress , Joomla, Magento, Prestashop

14 days money back

Promo: PHA-Journal-du-geek (-25%)

9.3 /10

See the siteOur test Characteristics - Free migration- Free domain name- Free offer (limited)- Servers in France and Canada- Telephone support Our opinion: An excellent French-speaking host at attractive pricesProduct rangeReliabilityFeaturesSimplicityCustomer supportQuality / price SEE +2

Shared, Dedicated, Cloud range

Wordpress , Joomla, Magento, Prestashop

30 days money back

8.8 /10

See the siteOur test Characteristics - Telephone support- Servers in Switzerland- Ecological approach Our opinion: A high-quality web host based in SwitzerlandProduct rangeReliabilityFunctionalitiesSimplicityCustomer supportQuality / price SEE +3

1) Hosting

Hostinger is for us the host that offers the best web hosting in France. There is no doubt about it as it dominates the market with high-performance offers, low prices, and impeccable quality of service.

It may not have a datacenter in France, thanks to its datacenters based in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, the host will be able to guarantee you speeds above those of the two other French web hosts of our ranking.

For your information, Hostinger has had all of its Tier III datacenters certified, which will guarantee you an availability rate of over 99.99%. And this does not matter the type of accommodation to which you are going to subscribe.

Hostinger also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee with its offers. If you want to take advantage of the lowest prices, consider using the promotional code JOURNALDUGEEK (-10%) and committing to this excellent web host for France over several years (this can save you up to 80% on monthly price).

Discover Hostinger offers

What are the strengths of Hostinger?

The strengths of the European host Hostinger are numerous. The first, as we have hinted above, is at the level of performance and the stability of its service.

If you are looking to commit to the fastest web host in France, Hostinger is the choice to make. It is simply the best as we were able to find during our detailed test.

You can count on a really low loading time for your site, which will satisfy both your visitors and the search engines (which are paying more and more attention to this for natural referencing).

The second big advantage that Hostinger has is that its accommodations are affordable and numerous. You will not go broke by opting for this web host. To back up our point, here are the prices of its shared plans:

Whatever your needs, you will find an offer that will meet your needs. Hostinger also offers shared hosting, VPS, WordPress, Cloud, and even hosting to mount a Minecraft server.

Even if the prices are low, Hostinger makes it a point of honor to give you access to a large number of features to manage and optimize your web hosting. We find for example: a free domain name, SSL certificates offered (without any limit), credits for a Google Ads campaign (worth $150), a cache plugin called LSCache as well as LiteSpeed ​​technology which improves the speed of your site, and many other things.

Before moving on to the points that the host could improve, we must tell you about the customer support put in place by Hostinger, the best web host in France. The technical teams prove to be reactive and available at all times (24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without the slightest interruption). You will of course be able to communicate with the agents in French. In this regard, you will also find a lot of resources in French in its knowledge base if you want to manage on your own.

Visit the Hostinger site

Points that can be improved

Even if Hostinger offers, in our opinion, the best web hosting for France, it is not beyond reproach. No service is perfect!

The first thing that can be blamed on Hostinger (even if it has no real consequences) is the fact that it does not yet offer a datacenter in France. This may change in the near future given the growth of the host on the French market… but nothing is certain.

The other small regret we have concerns the fact that customer support can only be reached via live chat. Don't get me wrong, this system works like a charm. We have never waited more than 5 minutes in almost a year at Hostinger. But now, for those who are a bit old school and who like to have a more “direct” contact, it would have been nice to find telephone support, for example.

As you can see, the points that could be improved are of the order of detail. This therefore in no way invalidates our feeling, which is that Hostinger is the best web host in France for the year 2022.

2) PlanetHoster

PlanetHoster is one of the best web hosts for France, even though the company is based in Canada.

How is it possible ? Quite simply because PlanetHoster offers French-speaking customer support (its teams are based in Montreal and are therefore French-speaking) and has a datacenter located in France. Or precisely ? In Paris.

When validating your hosting order, you will have the option of making a choice: Canadian or French datacenter. We would also like to point out that the two PlanetHoster datacenters meet the requirements of a Tier III datacenter. What does this mean to you ? That the uptime of your hosting will be greater than 99.982%.

Before showing you the strengths of this host, know that by applying the code PHA-Journal-du-geek before validating your order, you will be able to obtain a 25% discount on all the accommodation offered on its site.

Discover PlanetHoster offers

What are the strengths of PlanetHoster?

PlanetHoster is a relatively simple host with only two offers available:

Our recommendation (in over 90% of cases) is to go for The World plan. Due to its flexibility, its simplicity, and its price, it will cover the needs of the greatest number. Do not hesitate to go to the website of the web host to find the details.

Regardless of your final choice, PlanetHoster will offer you an easy-to-use and clear administration interface. In addition, the whole will be based on cPanel and WHM so that you can administer absolutely all aspects of your hosting.

What we have found remarkable about our use of PlanetHoster's services is the quality of their customer support. Through many means of contact (telephone, online chat, ticket), you will have no trouble talking to an agent. Of course, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We also really appreciated the quality of the tutorials and guides made available in the knowledge base of the web host. And what about the community forum which will give you the possibility of exchanging with other customers but also members of the technical team of PlanetHoster.

In terms of features, PlanetHoster is not left out. It is the only web host in France to offer a free domain name FOR LIFE. By opting for one of PlanetHoster's hostings, you can also count on free SSL certificates, automated backups that can be performed every 12 hours, the possibility of changing the IP of your websites, free incoming migration, a quick installation of CMS (including WordPress), etc.

The last positive point that we really appreciated during our tests of the host, is the fact that it is possible to customize the configuration of your hosting (CPU, RAM, and disk space in the case of HybridCloud ). This applies both at the time of the order and afterwards, which will guarantee you a rather impressive scalability.

Visit the PlanetHoster website

Points that can be improved

What could this excellent web host for France improve in order to appear even better in our comparison?

Well the first thing missing that PlanetHoster could include in its plans is access to LiteSpeed ​​Server technology and the LSCache cache plugin. Like Hostinger does. Because yes, to take advantage of these tools allowing the optimization of the speed of your site, you will have to take a paying option at 2€/month called “VIP”.

The other small regret that we have is that there are only two plans. The World and HybridCloud will meet the needs of a vast majority of people, but we would have liked to find more diversity with, for example, VPS plans, or a real physical dedicated server.

3) o2switch

o2switch is the last member of our ranking for the best French web hosting. For once, this host ticks absolutely all the boxes and can be considered to be 100% French.

o2switch is indeed a company created and based in Clermont-Ferrand, as are its datacenters and technical teams.

Unlike the two excellent hosts mentioned above, o2switch only offers one hosting offer. Do you want to know the very good news?! It is possible to reduce its price by applying the promo code JG15. As the name of the promo code suggests, you can get 15% off on order. Want to know how to use it? In this case, take a look at our guide explaining how to apply a promo code at o2switch.

Discover the o2switch offer

What are the strengths of o2switch?

o2switch did not arrive in our ranking of the best web hosts in France by chance. He has a lot of strengths to show off.

The main asset, for us, lies in the simplicity of its offer. You won't have to rack your brains long to choose the right hosting since only one choice will be available to you: the unique offer available for 6.00€ including tax/month (i.e. 5€ excluding tax).

Even if the price is relatively low, the French web host o2switch does not skimp on the means and will give you access to a more than correct toolbox: free domain name, SSL certificates offered, Varnish cache plugin, monthly transfer unlimited, unlimited disk space and based on NVMe SSD technology, cPanel interface, or the ipXtender function allowing you to change your site's IP on demand.

With o2switch's unique offer, you will have access to 12 CPU threads and 48 GB of RAM and you can host multiple sites through a single hosting plan.

On the performance side, and after testing the set for more than a full year, we can say that o2switch is not the best web host in France. Be reassured, however, the whole remains more than adequate. It's not for nothing that its hosting is part of our comparison for 2022. It's just that overall, the speeds you'll get will be a little worse than at Hostinger or PlanetHoster.

We have already been able to raise it above but the fact that o2switch is a 100% French host is a real strength. We are more and more willing to trust French companies, and know that here you will be served: datacenters and teams exclusively based in France. Is this a first choice criterion for you? You know where to turn now.

Visit the o2switch website

Points that can be improved

If o2switch is only third in the ranking of the best French web hosting, it is obviously because it has certain weaknesses in its offer.

The fact that the French host only offers one offer makes the whole thing more readable. On the other hand, the disadvantage is that you will not be able to upgrade your web hosting at o2switch. You will have to confine yourself to the basic allocated resources. At no time will you be able to add CPUs, RAM… or switch to a dedicated server. To do all this, you will have to go to another web host, which is inevitably regrettable.

That said, be aware that the technical characteristics of o2switch's unique offer remain quite sufficient for most. It's up to you to assess your needs and the future evolution of your site in order to know if you risk finding yourself cramped quickly... or not.

The other point that could be improved by the French web host concerns its customer support. Although it is reactive, we would have liked its telephone support to be a little more available. For comparison, PlanetHoster offers 24/5 phone support, while o2switch sticks to the following hours: Monday to Friday, 9am to 12pm and 2pm to 6pm. The general responsiveness of the support remains good… but by expanding the availability of telephone support, we are convinced that the whole could be even better.

Criteria for selecting the best French web host

You can imagine that in order to carry out the previous comparison, we took into account a lot of different aspects.

Which ? So that you too can compare the French hosts mentioned above, we have decided to share with you the criteria on which you will have to be vigilant. Do not hesitate to establish priorities on your side so that your final choice best meets your expectations.

We hope that with all of these things in mind, you manage to find the best French web host and web hosting to meet your needs. If you still have some doubts, know that you can leave us a comment at the end of the article. Our team of experts will try to advise you on your situation.

The best hosting for France by category (shared, VPS, dedicated,…)

For our ranking of the best French web hosting to be complete, we had to present the best plan for each of the main types of hosting.

Who offers the best shared hosting in France? Best VPS? The best dedicated server? Or the best cloud hosting? Check out our recommendations below:

Remember to read the reviews we have written about recommended hosts. This will allow you to get a better overview of their service, the quality of customer support, the features offered, and more.

Conclusion

Our article dealing with the best web hosting for France is already coming to an end.

Through our presentations and our listing of the best host by hosting category, we hope that you will succeed in finding what suits you.

If you are still hesitating, know that our #1 recommendation in 2022 is to opt for the French-speaking host Hostinger. With it you will have access to a premium service without breaking the bank, you will be able to benefit from many features, excellent performance, and customer support will always be at your disposal, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Discover Hostinger hosting

If the fact that Hostinger does not have a datacenter directly in France bothers you (as a reminder, it has datacenters in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands which are not going to have any negative impact on the speed of your site), we can recommend the French web host PlanetHoster. With its “The World” plan available at €6.00 ​​including tax/month, there is little chance that you will be disappointed.

FAQ on French web hosts

What is the best French web host?

The best French web host currently is Hostinger. This is the finding that our team of experts was able to follow up on testing many French hosts and web hosting providers. It offers the best performance, excellent customer support, will give you access to a lot of advantages and advanced features, all at fair prices (and therefore rather affordable in our opinion). In addition to all this, Hostinger offers you a 30-day money-back guarantee that will allow you to test its hosting without obligation.

Is there free French web hosting?

There are free web hostings on the French market. Now, for us they are not worth considering for the simple reason that they are too limited and they will never allow you to create and put online a professional website and above all capable of positioning yourself as it should be on search engines. The only case in which this can be wise is if you want to get your feet wet before diving into the deep end by taking paid web hosting. In this case we recommend that you opt for the free PlanetHoster offer. It is relatively generous (compared to what OVH and others can offer) and above all, you can switch at any time to one of the paid web hosting options offered by PlanetHoster.

Which web hosting to choose?

The choice of your web hosting will greatly depend on your needs and expectations. If you are looking to start in the world of website creation and/or you don't have a big budget to devote to your web hosting, then you will have to turn to shared hosting (Hostinger offers an excellent one for only €2.89 per month). If you want to have access to more power or want to host a Minecraft server for example, then opting for a VPS is the right choice. Finally, if you need web hosting that will be able to support the visit of several hundred or even thousands of visitors at the same time (without slowing down your site), it is wise to opt for cloud or dedicated hosting. At this level, PlanetHoster's HybridCloud plan is an excellent choice.

What is the advantage of opting for a host with a datacenter in France?

If your goal is to put a site online aimed at a French audience, then it is wise to opt for web hosting offering a datacenter in France, or relatively close. The reason is simple: it will allow you to guarantee better performance for visitors to your website (page loading times, among others).

Hosting

9.6

Editor's note

9.6/10Discover Hostinger