Largest web hosting providers in Germany 2026

Germany's position in the global hosting market

The demand for customised web hosting offers is steadily increasing. Although social media channels are also taking an increasing share of traffic, for many businesses and private individuals there is no substitute for having their own website. Those who want to retain full control over their online content typically turn to the services of a web host to bring their web presence online.

According to studies by Grand View Research, the size of the global web hosting market is estimated at 56.7 billion US dollars (approximately 56.7 billion euros). Furthermore, an annual growth rate of 15.5 per cent is expected going forward.

It will come as no surprise that the largest share of the web hosting market belongs to the United States of America (USA). However, Germany already secures second place.

According to the statistics from Hostadvice, Germany ranks second with around 11.5 per cent market share. The USA lead the ranking with approximately 51.5 per cent. With roughly 4 per cent market share, the United Kingdom (UK) is in third place.

According to the statistics from W3Techs, Germany also ranks second in the distribution of websites by server location with 14.2 per cent. Here too the USA lead with 33.5 per cent in first place. Japan is in third place with 6.1 per cent.

Statistics from w3techs.com (as of May 2026)

Germany's largest web hosts: data basis

Determining the largest web host in Germany is not that straightforward. On the one hand, it is necessary first to establish which criterion should be used to define the "size" of a web host. On the other hand, the selection of the data on which a comparison is based also plays an important role.

To obtain the most meaningful result possible, we use various criteria and data sources to compare the individual web hosting companies on the German market.

For this we use the following:

Market share data for web hosts in Germany from hostadvice.com

The data on the market shares of web hosts in Germany determined by hostadvice.com provide information on how large the revenue share of a particular web hosting provider is of the total market volume.

To collect the data, hostadvice.com uses a specialised procedure in which various data are gathered and then analysed. First, international business directories are crawled to find as many websites as possible in a wide range of countries. These sites are then scanned with a URL crawler that, among other things, collects DNS records, geo information and Whois entries and stores them in a database. In the final step, the database entries are processed by an algorithm that assigns the corresponding web hosting provider to each website. In this way, the revenue share of each web host in a particular market can be determined. The data are published on the hostadvice.com website and updated monthly.

Graphic by hosttest: market shares of the largest web hosts in Germany (as of April 2026) Source: hostadvice.com

The data show IONOS (formerly 1&1) clearly in first place with a share of 28 per cent. In second place is Strato with 16 per cent, closely followed by Hetzner with 13 per cent in third. Host Europe (now GoDaddy) is fourth with 7 per cent, followed by InterNetX with 5 per cent in fifth. Sixth place, with 3 per cent, goes to All-Inkl. The remaining web hosts together account for around 28 per cent.

Data on the usage distribution of web hosting providers in Germany from builtwith.com

The data on the usage distribution of web hosting providers in Germany compiled by builtwith.com indicate which web hosting providers are used by which websites.

To collect the data, builtwith.com uses an extensive crawling process that covers 100 per cent of all country-specific domains (ccTLDs) and generic top-level domains (gTLDs). By crawling and analysing more than 16.4 billion web pages, not only detailed information about the technical infrastructure used can be determined, but also the detailed usage distribution across different local markets. The data are published on trends.builtwith.com and are updated regularly every few days.

Graphic by hosttest: Usage distribution of the largest web hosts in Germany (as of April 2026) Source: builtwith.com

The data show that 32 per cent of websites in Germany are hosted by IONOS (formerly 1&1). This clearly places the web host in first position in this dataset as well. With a share of 11 per cent, STRATO and Hetzner follow in second and third place. All-Inkl is fourth here with a 6 per cent market share, followed by GoDaddy (formerly Host Europe) with 3 per cent in fifth. The remaining web hosts together account for around 37 per cent.

Data on search interest in web hosting providers in Germany from trends.google.com

The data on search interest in web hosting providers in Germany compiled by trends.google.com provide information on which web hosting providers are most frequently searched for on Google.

trends.google.com uses the data collected by its own search engine to compile the information. Every single search query made on Google is precisely logged and, together with the visitor’s usage behaviour, feeds into the Google algorithm. In this way Google can not only work on improving search results, but also build up a valuable data trove of search interests and user behaviour. The data are constantly updated and published on the trends.google.com website.

In the first chart we will look at the search interest for the web hosts IONOS (früher 1&1) as well as Strato and Hetzner. These three providers clearly rank in the top 3 in the other two datasets for market share and usage distribution.

Graphic from trends.google.com (as of May 2026)

The data show here that STARTO used to be the best-known brand name in the web hosting sector. However, 1&1’s web hosting business, which has been operating under the IONOS brand for several years, was able to catch up quickly and has now taken the lead. Together STRATO and IONOS are clearly the two winners when it comes to general search interest in Germany. The Hetzner brand is substantially below them but has been able, particularly in recent years, to make notable gains towards the two major brands.

In the second chart we will look at the search interest in the brand names Host Europe, All-Inkl and GoDaddy.

Graphic from trends.google.com (as of May 2026)

Here, the search interest for Host Europe (owned by GoDaddy) and All-inkl is in a similar range. GoDaddy has been able to make substantial gains in recent years, partly because the US company has grown mainly through acquisitions and has been steadily expanding its brand name in Germany.

In the third chart we will compare the search interest for the web hosts Host Europe and Strato directly.

Graphic from trends.google.com (as of May 2026)

This again makes it clear that brands such as STRATO or IONOS (formerly 1&1) generally have significantly higher brand recognition and greater search interest than the other, smaller hosting providers.

Tip: Also find out about the main providers in the German hosting market and their brands

The largest hosting providers in Germany: Analysis

We will now proceed to the analysis, referring to the various data sources.

When it comes to the question of the largest web hosting provider in Germany, a fairly consistent picture emerges. Both the market share data, the usage distribution data and the search interest data show a certain correlation:

The largest hosting provider in Germany is IONOS. The company not only holds a clear first place in market share and usage distribution, but also has the best-known brand name with the highest search interest.

For the second and third places it is much closer. Although STRATO and Hetzner can clearly assert themselves in terms of market share and usage distribution compared to the other hosting providers, the difference between the two is small. STRATO, however, clearly benefits from a stronger brand name and therefore higher search interest.

The fourth and fifth places go to Host Europe (part of GoDaddy) and All-Inkl. While they are a clear distance behind the top three hosting providers in Germany, they still maintain a significant lead over other market participants and secure places in the top five with regard to market share, usage distribution and search interest.

Tip: Find out who the largest web hosting providers in Austria and the largest web hosting providers in Switzerland as well as the largest web hosting providers in the United Kingdom and the largest web hosting providers in Spain are.

Conclusion of the evaluation:

Not surprisingly, the best-known brands lead the web hosting market as the largest hosts in Germany. That IONOS and STRATO, two brands of the same group, occupy first and second place clearly shows that the web hosting business in Germany is dominated by United Internet AG. Only the Hetzner brand in third place, belonging to Hetzner Online GmbH, appears as a large independent company (with more than 250 employees) with relevant market shares. With Host Europe in fourth place, a foreign group, the US-based GoDaddy Group, has at least managed to establish a noticeable share in the German hosting market. It is interesting that the All-Inkl brand of Neue Medien Münnich, as a relatively small company (with fewer than 100 employees), can assert itself in the top 5.

One final important question remains:

Is the largest web host also the best or most popular on the market?

Now we compare the results of the top 5 largest web hosts with the ratings on Hosttest and Trustpilot. We also look at the result of the annual Web Host of the Year vote (if the respective company took part). The following results emerge:

Place 1: IONOS (formerly 1&1)

IONOS achieves only 2.2 stars for popularity on Hosttest and 4.4 stars on Trustpilot. IONOS last managed to win second place in 2025 in the Web Host of the Year vote in the Shop Hosting category.

Place 2: Strato

Strato achieves only 3.3 stars for popularity on Hosttest and 4.2 stars on Trustpilot. Strato has never taken part in the Web Host of the Year vote.

Place 3: Hetzner

Hetzner achieves only 2.4 stars for popularity on Hosttest and 3.3 stars on Trustpilot. Hetzner has never taken part in the Web Host of the Year vote.

Place 4: Host Europe

Host Europe achieves only 1.6 stars for popularity on Hosttest and 4.3 stars on Trustpilot. Host Europe has never taken part in the Web Host of the Year award.

5th place: All-Inkl

All-Inkl achieves an impressive 4.9 stars for popularity on Hosttest and 4.0 stars on Trustpilot. All-Inkl last won first place in the Web Host of the Year award in the Web hosting category in 2025.

The result is mixed. The top five largest web hosting providers in Germany receive both positive and negative feedback across different review platforms. There is therefore no clear correlation between size and popularity. Instead, it always depends on the individual case whether customers are satisfied with the services offered by the hosting providers.

Conclusion: The size of a web hosting provider alone does not automatically make it the best or most popular provider on the market.

If you are generally interested in web hosting, you can find plenty of further information in our Web hosting 1x1 Guide.

As of May 2026 (this article is updated regularly)