I think you will agree when I say choosing the best WordPress hosting is an uphill task, especially as a beginner.
There are so many considerations and questions, which can make finding the right host for your WordPress website confusing.
In addition, the staggering number of WordPress hosting services offering seemingly the same packages doesn’t make things easier.
Yet it’s imperative to choose the right host for your site, whether you’re starting or switching services.
Why?
The WordPress hosting company you choose can make or break your website. Don’t believe me?
Ask individuals who have lost their sites to hackers due to security issues or anyone who has lost sales thanks to downtime and poor site performance.
Or anybody who has ever had to deal with horrible customer support when they needed it most.
You’ll likely get migraines especially if your livelihood depends on your WordPress site. Now you don’t want that.
To build a successful website that fuels your online business, you need the best WordPress hosting money can buy and nothing short of it.
In today’s article, you will learn how to choose the right host for your website like a pro.
In addition, you will discover some of the best WordPress hosting companies for beginners, e-commerce, small businesses, and even enterprises.
Without further ado, let us get to it!
TL;DR: Hostinger and SiteGround are the best shared WordPress hosting providers. If you need powerful managed WordPress hosting, Kinsta has your back. If you’d like to experience the power of cloud hosting, check out Cloudways or HostArmada.
What Are the Best WordPress Hosting Requirements?
WordPress is a powerful content management system (CMS) used by more than 43.4% of all websites. This includes big-name brands such as Microsoft, Vimeo, and Mozilla.
This might lead you to assume that WordPress is a complex CMS with demanding system requirements, but nothing could be further from the truth.
While it’s true WordPress is a robust platform for websites of all kinds and sizes, you’ll be surprised to learn it has a few hosting requirements.
To run your site, the best WordPress hosting should offer you:
- PHP version 7.4 or greater.
- MySQL version 8.0 or greater OR MariaDB version 10.5 or greater.
- HTTPS support.
- Apache or Nginx server, although any server that supports PHP and MySQL will do just fine.
As a beginner, you don’t have to worry if the above terms don’t make sense. After all, most hosting companies worth their salt support the latest version of WordPress.
Moreover, all the best WordPress hosting companies come with easy one-click installation options that let you hit the ground running.
However, it doesn’t hurt to ask if you’re unsure. Just use live chat or email to ask if they support the above requirements. If not, you still have many options at your disposal.
You don’t want to waste time and money on a run-of-the-mill web host only to find out they don’t support WordPress or any of the other apps you may need down the line.
Do your due diligence and only commit when you’re sure you’re making the right choice.
Suffice it to say that the WordPress hosting companies we recommend later in the blog post all support WordPress.
Let us move on and discover what types of WordPress hosting are available, and what is perfect for your needs.
Which is the Best WordPress Hosting: The Different Types
Unbeknownst to many first-timers, there are different hosting environments and plans from which to choose.
The hosting you choose will boil down to the features and resources your website needs.
For instance, a small blog or portfolio site with fewer than 1,000 visitors a month won’t need as many resources as a high-traffic multi-page e-commerce website with many products.
On top of that, choosing the best WordPress hosting also has a lot to do with your specific needs, such as:
- Are you looking to host multiple WordPress sites or just one? Some entry-level hosting plans, especially by managed WordPress hosts, allow you to host one or a limited number of websites.
- Does the host support unlimited domains or subdomains? If not, you must choose a web hosting company that supports this feature.
- If you’re not tech-savvy and already have a website, does your new web host offer migration?
- Besides WordPress, do you need to install different scripts now or in the future? Does your host support this functionality?
- What kind of website backup options are you looking for?
- Do you need a free domain and SSL certificate?
- Et cetera.
These are some of the questions you should ask yourself when choosing a hosting plan.
Do your research and prepare in advance to clearly understand what you need. Doing so beforehand will allow you to compare different hosting plans and choose just the right WordPress hosting for your site.
That being said, let us quickly go over the different types of hosting available to you as you strive to build and grow your website.
Shared WordPress Hosting
Shared WordPress hosting is the most popular type of hosting for most people. It is also relatively affordable, making it ideal for many beginners and small websites.
As you can probably tell from the name, shared WordPress hosting means sharing the same server with multiple users.
In other words, you will share resources such as bandwidth (transfers), disk space (storage), and RAM.
For this reason, shared WordPress hosting is not as performant as other types of hosting.
Nonetheless, this type of hosting is perfect for new bloggers, freelancers, and generally any low-traffic website that doesn’t require many resources.
It’s an ideal option to get your website out the door since you don’t have a lot of traffic. Besides, you can always upgrade to higher plans as your website grows.
However, choose a different type of hosting if you have already established a huge following on another site or social media platform.
Many companies offer shared hosting plans, including HostArmada, Hostinger, Namecheap, and SiteGround.
VPS WordPress Hosting
The second type is VPS hosting, which is short for virtual private server. In this case, the hosting provider uses virtualization technology to partition one physical server into multiple dedicated private servers.
The user can then install their own OS and software. Think of it as creating multiple partitions on your computer when you want to run different operating systems.
A virtual private server is more stable and secure than shared WordPress hosting. It’s also more performant.
At the same time, it’s important to note that you need some technical knowledge because you will install software (including WordPress), and manage the virtual server settings alone.
It is more affordable than renting a server, making it perfect for medium-sized websites and businesses.
Most companies that offer shared hosting also offer VPS WordPress hosting.
Dedicated Server Hosting
Thirdly, you have dedicated server hosting. Here, you rent a standalone server from the hosting company.
The company maintains the physical server for you but you’re in charge of all settings and software. As such, you must know your way around servers or hire a specialist.
It is more costly but you have the server resources all to yourself, which is ideal for a large website or business.
Due to its highly technical aspect, dedicated server hosting is not recommended for beginners.
Cloud WordPress Hosting
Cloud hosting is a type of hosting that offers you a virtual server hosted on the cloud. The cloud is just a fancy word for a network of servers distributed around the globe.
In theory, your website will never go down because servers should be up and running somewhere in the world at any point in time. In addition, cloud hosting is highly scalable since you can add more resources on demand.
However, note that cloud WordPress hosting is a bit technical. At the same time, some hosting companies offer managed cloud hosting, which is perfect for beginners.
Cloud WordPress hosting is ideal for large-scale projects, big blogs, social networks, or viral websites with fluctuating traffic.
Many companies offer cloud hosting nowadays, but a great example is Cloudways.
Managed WordPress Hosting
Managed WordPress hosting is the most convenient and easiest way to host your website.
The hosting company manages settings and updates, fully optimizing the server for WordPress.
It is one of the best WordPress hosting options since you don’t have to worry about the technical stuff. Just focus on creating and growing your website.
Note that some companies don’t allow you to change certain settings or install some plugins. Also, you can only host WordPress sites.
Most managed WordPress hosting plans are hosted on a cloud platform, making it ideal for websites of all kinds and sizes. There are, however, limits on entry-level plans.
Good examples include EasyWP and WPEngine.
So, how do you choose the best WordPress hosting from the above options? In short, beginners will have a field with shared and managed WordPress hosting.
On the other hand, experienced and tech-savvy users will love the control, power, and flexibility of VPS, cloud, and dedicated hosting.
That out of the way, what are some of the best WordPress hosting companies?
Best WordPress Hosting Companies
With many providers available, which is the best WordPress hosting service? No two companies are the same even if they seem to offer similar features.
Some WordPress hosting companies offer special features that make running your website much easier.
The best WordPress hosting company offers you the features you need for your website.
Consider crucial features like disk space, bandwidth, free SSL certificates, backups, number of sites, and email hosting.
The good news is, nowadays, the best WordPress hosting companies offer all these features in one package meaning you won’t look hard.
Also, don’t fall for the “unlimited everything” ruse meant to get you through the door.
If you have a WordPress portal that gets millions of page views per month, shared hosting probably won’t cut it – even with the unlimited options. – WPExplorer
Once you exhaust the limits of your hosting plan, your website performance will suffer and you will need to upgrade to a higher-tier plan.
So, which are some of the best WordPress hosting companies available?
SiteGround
First, we have SiteGround, which (in my opinion) is one of the most underrated companies in the shared WordPress hosting space.
Don’t get me wrong; they also offer cloud and managed WordPress hosting alongside a formidable email marketing tool.
I gave SiteGround a test run and can confidently say it’s one of the best WordPress hosting solutions for beginners and small businesses.
The company has been around for over two decades and has a stellar rating of 4.8/5.0 from over 17,000 reviews, which means you’re in good hands.
Why is SiteGround one of the best WordPress hosting providers?
First, they offer many features perfect for a WordPress site at incredulously low prices. Second, you have 24/7 world-class customer support at your beck and call.
Speaking of features, SiteGround comes with:
- Free SSL, CDN, email, WordPress installation, and migrations.
- Free WordPress auto-updates, staging, and daily backups.
- Unmetered traffic.
- Unlimited databases.
- Out-of-the-box caching for faster speeds.
- Unlimited websites.
With prices starting as low as $3.99/month (regular $17.99/mo), SiteGround is one of the best WordPress hosting providers for beginners, and small businesses with 10k to 500k monthly website visits.
HostArmada
Second in line we have HostArmada, a relatively new hosting company that promises excellent page speeds, security, and customer support.
The company offers a comprehensive range of cloud-based hosting services, including shared hosting, managed WordPress, VPS, and dedicated server hosting.
For this reason, HostArmada is one of the best WordPress hosting companies for beginner and experienced users.
You can expect features such as:
- Free domain name.
- Free SSL certificates for all websites.
- Free website migration.
- Free web server caches and daily backups.
- cPanel.
- Cloud SSD technology for 99.9% uptime.
- Malware scan and removal.
- Unlimited addon domains.
- And much more!
HostArmada packages start at $2.49 monthly (regular $9.95/mo), making it one of the most affordable yet robust WordPress hosting providers.
Cloudways
If you want to give cloud WordPress hosting a go, then Cloudways is your best bet. And don’t worry, getting started is incredibly easy even as a beginner.
Cloudways allows you to choose WordPress, Magento, and many other apps and host them on top cloud servers such as DigitalOcean, Google Cloud, Vultr, and Amazon Web Services.
Thanks to this and CloudFlare integration, Cloudways delivers superb speeds and performance. Plus, you never have to worry about downtime.
Other features worth noting include:
- Free 3-day trial no credit card required.
- Free migration.
- Free Object Cache Pro (worth $95/mo).
- Staging environment.
- Unlimited apps and websites.
- Free SSL.
- Automated backups.
- 50+ global data centers.
- Etc.
Setting up WordPress is incredibly straightforward. Just create an account, choose your cloud server provider, set up WordPress, and you’re done!
Cloudways prices vary depending on the cloud service provider and your needs. As a baseline, however, expect to pay between $28/month to $84/month for the basic WordPress setup.
Kinsta
If you’re in the market for the best WordPress hosting for your site, Kinsta is the real deal and I’m not sugar-coating anything.
They specialize in managed WordPress hosting, meaning unparalleled speeds, unbeatable performance, and top-notch support.
Kinsta allows you to host your WordPress site on Google Cloud’s fastest servers, and deploy it from 37 data centers around the globe.
With Edge caching, database optimization, code minification, image optimization, and their proprietary feature Early Hints, you can serve your pages up to 30% faster.
The company is one of the best WordPress hosts offering military-grade security.
Key features include:
- Free site migrations.
- Application performance monitoring tool.
- Edge caching.
- Cloudflare integration.
- Intuitive dashboard.
- Free wildcard SSL.
- Site backups and uptime checks.
- Free DevKinsta local WordPress development.
- And much more!
Kinsta’s managed WordPress hosting costs $30/month for 25,000 visits and 10GB of storage. You will also be glad to hear that you can host up to 100 static websites for free. This could be helpful if you want to create a simple landing or email newsletter page.
Hostinger
Bringing up the rear, we have Hostinger, one of the best WordPress hosting services since 2004.
They mainly focus on affordable shared, managed WordPress, VPS, and cloud hosting.
I worked with them before and I must admit the experience was pleasurable. They also used to offer free hosting via the 000webhost.com platform although I highly recommend steering clear of free hosting if you’re serious about your WordPress website.
That being said, Hostinger offers a horde of features perfect for running small and big business websites.
Here’s what to expect:
- Free domain and migration.
- Unlimited free SSL.
- Free email.
- Weekly backups.
- WordPress vulnerability scanner.
- WordPress auto-update.
- Unlimited bandwidth.
- Free CDN.
- WordPress staging.
- And more!
With the features you’re getting at an affordable starting price of $2.99/month (regular $11.99/mo), Hostinger is undoubtedly one of the best WordPress hosting for beginners and pros.
Honorable Mentions
Here are more WordPress hosting providers to consider:
Final Words
Choosing the best WordPress hosting for your site needn’t be challenging. With a little planning to establish your needs, you should be able to pick the perfect host for your business.
Consider the purpose of your site, the features you’ll need, the traffic you expect to get, your available budget, security, and the quality of customer support (test the team’s response times, and use existing user reviews).
Finally, choosing the best WordPress hosting for your site will lead to better website performance, higher user engagement, and more sales.
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