WordPress is a fantastic open-source content management system that lets users build a custom website with various templates, widgets, plug-ins, and other additions. If you’re looking to host a WordPress site on your own domain, then you’ll need a hosting provider.
The level of control you want over your website, how many visitors you expect to get, and your budget all influence which WordPress hosting provider is best suited to you. There are thousands of hosting providers out there with varying prices and allowances, so it can be tricky to narrow your choices down to just one. In this guide, we’ll inform you of the different WordPress hosting solutions and help you choose the best web hosting provider for your WordPress website.
Which is the best hosting solution for WordPress?
The best hosting solution for WordPress varies for each user. Factors such as the size of your website, the rate at which it’s expected to grow, and your own level of technical knowledge, all need to be considered before choosing a solution. Here is a brief explanation of the top WordPress hosting solutions to help you decide which is best suited to you –
A great budget option for hosting smaller WordPress sites.
Shared hosting is the most popular solution for beginners due to its affordability. With shared hosting, you share the resources of a single server with multiple other users, making it the ideal choice for those with smaller sites that don’t require many resources. Shared hosting is also ideal for beginners and novices as it doesn’t require as much technical knowledge as other solutions.
Since you’re sharing a server with other users, the cost of shared hosting is significantly cheaper than other options. However, if your website grows considerably, then you might need to consider switching to a different solution. With shared hosting, you may also experience some issues such as slow loading speeds if another site on the server is using too many resources.
VPS hosting
Ideal for websites that are expected to expand rapidly.
VPS hosting is similar to shared hosting, as you’re still running your website on the same machine as other users. However, with VPS hosting, resources are allocated to each website in advance, so you don’t have to worry about one site using up all the server’s memory, for example. This can ensure that your site is much more stable and also provides a higher level of security. The main advantage of VPS hosting is that the other websites on your server won’t affect you, unlike with shared hosting.
With VPS hosting, you have more flexibility than with shared hosting, but this comes at an extra cost. VPS hosting is perfect for websites that are expected to grow as this solution can scale alongside your business, preventing any crashes or other issues. You can choose how much memory and bandwidth you want for your website, and if you experience rapid growth, then your VPS hosting provider can easily allocate you more resources. VPS hosting also grants you root access to your server, which gives you much more control. The main disadvantages of VPS hosting are that the costs are much higher overall and they require users to have more technical knowledge than with shared hosting.
Managed hosting
A more costly alternative for high-traffic websites.
Managed WordPress hosting is a set of WordPress-specific features, security rules, and performance optimizations that help you to manage your site. With this solution, the hosting provider will help you to maintain your WordPress site by taking care of updates, backups, and security checks.
Managed WordPress hosting gives you tools to make managing your site simple and hassle-free, so you can focus on the other aspects of your business. With this solution, you can also ensure that your site is fast and secure since any software and plugins will be automatically updated. One downside of managed hosting is that it’s fairly expensive compared to shared hosting. There are also often caps placed on how many monthly visitors you can have to your site, and if you exceed this cap then you might incur extra charges, Additionally, with managed hosting there can be restrictions on certain plugins that are considered resource-intensive.
Dedicated hosting
Full control over your specialized website at a premium cost.
With dedicated hosting, a single physical server is dedicated specifically to your website. Unlike shared hosting, none of the server’s resources are shared and are instead reserved especially for you, including the power, memory, and disk space. It’s your responsibility to manage and configure your website, and this can include any customization or code modification.
Dedicated hosting is tailored towards those with a technical background and is not recommended for beginners. It allows ultimate flexibility as you have root access, meaning the server is in your full control. Dedicated hosting is one of the more reliable WordPress hosting solutions, but it’s also one of the most expensive. This solution is best for larger websites and users with extensive technical knowledge.
What are the best WordPress hosting providers?
Here is our list of the top three best hosting providers for your WordPress website –
1. SiteGround
Best overall web host
SiteGround is a popular hosting provider that is known for its dependable security, top-notch customer support, and reliability. Their servers are optimized for speed, meaning that your WordPress site can load in less than a second for visitors and will experience less than 0.01% downtime.
SiteGround has three WordPress hosting plans available. The cheapest plan allows users to have one website, 10GB of disk space, and up to 10,000 monthly visits. This plan also includes essential WordPress features such as daily backups, automatic updates, unlimited email accounts, and unlimited sub/parked domains.
Alternatively, the premium plan allows users to have unlimited websites, 40 GB of disk space, and up to 100,000 monthly visits. Although this plan costs more than twice as much as the cheapest plan, it’s well worth the price as it provides additional features such as advanced caching, one-click staging, and ultrafast PHP.
SiteGround has a highly knowledgeable support team that are ready to promptly assist you at any time. This team can also help out with any other WordPress issues, even if they’re not directly related to hosting. This provider also has a massive database of common queries and answers on topics such as SSL issues, security, FTP, speed, and uptime.
All in all, Siteground goes above and beyond when it comes to customer support, which is essential when it comes to web hosting. This hosting provider is reliable, secure, and consistent, so you’ll definitely be getting your money’s worth if you decide to use them as your WordPress host. You can test out any of SiteGround’s WordPress plans for free with their 30-day money-back guarantee to see if this hosting provider is best suited to your needs.
2. BlueHost
Great value for money
BlueHost is one of the few hosting providers that are actually recommended by WordPress and has been since 2006. This hosting provider has a fantastic reputation and currently powers more than 2 million websites worldwide. BlueHost is ideal for beginners who are on a budget but are also looking for exceptional performance and fast speeds.
BlueHost has three WordPress hosting plans available. The ‘Basic’ plan allows users to have one website, 50 GB of disk space, 5 parked domains, 25 subdomains, and one free domain name. The ‘Choice Plus’ plan allows users to have unlimited websites, unmetered disk space, and unmetered bandwidth.
With the ‘Choice Plus’ plan, you’re also allowed unlimited parked and subdomains, as well as unlimited email accounts and email storage. Even better, you’ll also receive free domain privacy and a dedicated IP with this plan. So, it’s safe to say that BlueHost really does the best bang for your buck when it comes to their WordPress hosting plans.
With BlueHost, you’re sure to have dependable uptime and fast load times, so for a speedy website this hosting provider is an excellent choice. They have a consistent uptime of 99.99%, meaning that your website is likely to have less than a few hours of downline each month. This web host also has a very helpful customer support team that are ready to quickly assist you and resolve any issues.
Overall, if you’re looking for an affordable WordPress web host that’s easy-to-use and doesn’t cut corners when it comes to additional features. You can try out BlueHost for free with their 30-day money-back guarantee to test one of their bargain plans.
3. Kinsta
Best choice for managed hosting
Kinsta is a fully managed WordPress hosting provider that’s powered by Google Cloud Platform. With Kinsta, you’ll have the perfect amount of control to effectively manage your website.
Kinsta has a whopping ten different plans to choose from, from ‘Starter’, to ‘Business 4’ and all the way up to ‘Enterprise 4’. The ‘Starter’ plan allows users one WordPress website, 10 GB of disk space, and up to 25,000 monthly visits. The first ‘Enterprise’ plan allows users 60 WordPress websites, 100 GB of disk space, and up to 1,000,000 monthly visits. All ten plans provide users with automatic daily backups, malware removal, 14-day backup retention, performance monitoring technology, and a range of other useful features.
The custom dashboard, MyKinsta, is simple, intuitive, and packed full of time-saving features. It’s designed to help you easily manage and monitor your WordPress website. Users who are familiar with cPanel shouldn’t have any issues adapting to MyKinsta, and even newcomers can effortlessly navigate the well-designed UI.
Kinsta has an experienced and professional support team that can help you out no matter what level of technical background you have. They’re around 24/7 so you can have any questions answered or any issues fixed swiftly.
Overall, Kinsta is slightly on the pricier side compared to our other options. However, this web hosting provider ensures the best performance possible and its specially designed dashboard is packed full of fantastic features. If you’re looking for speed, stability, and security for your WordPress website, then look no further than Kinsta. Try out this web host for free with their 30-day money-back guarantee.