Choosing The Best WordPress Hosting For Your Website – 13 Options
Building a website is critical to the success of any business, no matter how big or small. When it comes to web publishing platforms, WordPress is without a doubt one of the most popular options available. The reason is simple: WordPress lets you build a full-fledged website without having to code–and it’s open-source, which means that it’s free to use.
However, when you choose to use WordPress to build your website, you’ll need a server to host it on. There are thousands of WordPress hosting services out there, and choosing the right one is crucial to ensuring that your website runs smoothly without any technical hiccups.
Keeping that in mind, the following is an in-depth guide on choosing the best WordPress hosting provider.
What Makes A Good WordPress Hosting Service
Because there are so many WordPress hosting providers to choose from, you need to know how to identify a reputable hosting service. Not all providers are equal, and selecting a poor host can affect the performance of your website.
First of all, the provider needs to meet the minimum requirements established by WordPress itself. WordPress is a pretty lightweight script, so this shouldn’t be difficult to do. As such, stay away from any provider who can’t manage to meet the following bare minimum requirements:
- PHP version 7.4 or greater
- Either MariaDB version 10.1 or greater, or MySQL version 5.6 or greater
- HTTPS support (SSL) Secondly, you’ll want to consider four vital qualifiers that characterize a hosting provider: speed, security, scalability, and reliability.
Speed: The faster your website runs, the better. Slow speed will hinder the user experience and can cost you potential customers (nobody wants to wait for more than a few seconds for a web page to load, after all).
Security: Poor security can not only leave your website vulnerable to cyber attacks, but can also compromise the privacy of your customers (especially if they’re providing you with sensitive information, such as their names, email addresses, or credit card details). If your website’s security is constantly being compromised, you’ll earn a bad reputation.
Scalability: Your website demands will likely increase over time as your business continues to grow. As such, you’ll want a hosting provider that is capable of scaling your website up or down, depending on your needs. Look for a service that provides flexible plans and that will recommend the appropriate upgrades to you when the time comes.
Reliability: Finally, a reliable provider will ensure that downtime is minimized where possible, meaning that your site will rarely, if ever, go offline. A reliable provider will also offer expensive support options so that you’re not left stranded if anything does go wrong.
A lack of support will mean that issues with your website may go unaddressed for long periods of time, which can damage your user experience and reputation, and ultimately affect your sales.
Things to Consider When Choosing A Hosting Service
In addition to identifying a reliable WordPress hosting service, you’ll also want to find oner that will be able to meet your specific needs. You’ll need to know what those particular needs are and determine whether the hosting service actually offers what you need.
Evaluate Your Website Needs
To identify the hosting service that will best suit your needs, you will have to figure out what those needs are. The following are a few questions you’ll need to answer to do just that:
Are you managing it yourself?
If you have a dedicated web design team that knows what they are doing, building and managing your WordPress site should be a relatively smooth operation. However, if you don’t have such access to an experienced team and plan to manage your site on your own, you’ll want to make sure that you use a hosting provider that offers extensive support.
A provider with good support can walk you through the process step-by-step or even set up the hosting service for you. Such a provider can also be beneficial if you need to migrate your existing website from another platform.
How much bandwidth do you need?
Bandwidth refers to the ability to transfer data between your site, your users, and your server. If you have a large, complex website (for example, it’s chock-full of video content) and you expect a significant amount of visiting traffic, then you’ll need more bandwidth.
You’ll want to compare hosting providers to see how much bandwidth they each offer in their plans and how much they charge for any additional bandwidth space.
Do you need extra cloud storage?
Cloud storage will help improve your website uptime since the hosting provider doesn’t store your data on a single server, thereby minimizing the risk that things go wrong. Additionally, it makes it much easier to scale your business when you need extra space. Extra cloud storage may be a good idea if you think that your website might grow significantly over the years.
Do you need enhanced security?
While you never want to dismiss the security needs of your website, if the most you’re only collecting is email addresses, then your website doesn’t need to be Fort Knox. However, enhanced security is an absolute must if you plan to offer e-commerce services.
After all, you won’t want to take any risks with your customers’ credit card information. Many hosting companies provide free Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates as part of their plans, although some require an additional fee, which means you’ll want to check the details of the plan you choose.
Additionally, some providers also have backup plans in the event of a cyberattack.
Types Of Web Hosting To Consider
Once you’ve determined your specific website requirements, it will be easier to choose what type of web hosting you need. Not all providers offer the same type of web hosting, so understanding the different types is essential if you want to determine which option is best for your website.
The following are the different types of web hostings that are available:
- Free Web Hosting: There are a few free web hosting providers out there, but they are rarely “free.” The provider is often an individual trying to resell some of their own unused server space for a profit. In many cases, you’ll be required to place banner ads on your site that commercialize your web page for the provider.
These ads not only take up valuable real estate, but they can also hurt the professional aesthetic of your site. Not to mention that the provider can stop offering free hosting at any time. It’s better to avoid free web hosting providers, no matter how cost-effective you’re trying to be. - Shared Web Hosting: A provider that offers shared web hosting essentially divides up a single server amongst numerous sites. As a result, shared web hosting plans are much more affordable and can be a good option for smaller companies that are just starting out.
However, there are usage restrictions. If your website gets too big, you may need to upgrade, or else your website will begin performing poorly. Not to mention that if there are too many websites growing too quickly on the server, the other sites on the hosting platform can be affected. - VPS Hosting: Essentially, a Virtual Private Server (VPS) works by partitioning a physical server computer into several servers. A VPS is somewhat similar to Shared Web Hosting in that you share a server with other websites.
However, there’s one significant difference: a VPS will give you much more control–almost as much as a dedicated server would. You’ll also benefit from the privacy that a separate physical computer would provide you.
Medium-sized businesses expecting to scale up in the future often choose to use a VPS host. However, some technical knowledge is required to use a VPS host. If you don’t have the technical know-how, you should look for a managed VPS. - Dedicated Server Hosting: A dedicated server is a physical server that only you will use, meaning that you won’t have to share it with any other hosting platform customers. As you can imagine, a dedicated server will be much more expensive.
However, if you have substantial needs such as a massive website and a high volume of traffic, you may want to lease a dedicated server from a hosting provider to ensure that your website runs as smoothly as possible.
If you don’t have a systems administrator on your team, you’ll need a managed dedicated server host, which means the host will employ administrators to maintain your server. - Managed WordPress Hosting: Anyone that doesn’t have the time or technical acumen to host their site themselves may want to consider managed WordPress hosting. The provider will allow you to host a WordPress site (but nothing more) in addition to optimizing the site performance and ensuring its security on your behalf.
It’s a hassle-free way to host your WordPress site and to obtain extensive support, but it can be a very pricey option as a result.
The Best Hosting Service For Your WordPress Website
Now that you know what to look for in a WordPress hosting service, it’s time to look at some of the most popular hosting services available. If you do just a little bit of research, you can quickly become overwhelmed by the large array of hosting options that are out there. To make it easier for you, the following is a list of 13 WordPress hosting services that we recommend.
1. Leveraging CloudWays
First and foremost, we suggest using CloudWays.
CloudWays differs from most other hosting providers in that they leverage the cloud to host your website. Typically, a provider will host your website on one of their centralized servers. If it’s a shared server, you’ll share the resources on that server with other websites.
With the cloud, a network of data centers will host your website files in a decentralized manner. Your files won’t be on just one server; they will be available throughout the entire network, meaning if one server fills up, another server within the same network takes over. As such, by hosting your site on the cloud, you’ll have access to unlimited server resources.
However, CloudWays is a managed hosting provider and doesn’t have its own cloud. Instead, they manage hosting of WordPress sites on one of five different cloud platforms: AWS, Google Cloud, Vultr, Digital Ocean, and Linode. They also make cloud hosting more accessible to smaller businesses.
By subscribing to one of Cloudways’ plans, you’ll gain access to a wide range of features, most of which are unavailable if you bypass Cloudways and go directly through one of the cloud platforms instead. These features include the following:
Cloudways Features We Like:
- 24/7 customer support
- 24/7 real-time monitoring
- Regular security patching
- Dedicated firewalls
- SSH and SFTP access
- Free migration
- Free SSL certificate
- CDN add-on
- Automated backups
- Unlimited app installation
- HTTP/2 enabled servers
- Staging environments
- Advanced caches
- Auto healing
- Team management
With that in mind, the following are the five cloud platforms that you can choose from through CloudWays:
1. WordPress Hosting On AWS
Cloudways AWS Plans (includes hosting charges):
- $36.51 to $3,567.98/month
- $0.05 to $4.96/hour
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is one of the biggest cloud computing companies in the world. They support more than 9 million websites, accounting for roughly 34% of the top 100,000 websites hosted on the cloud.
However, don’t be mistaken by thinking AWS is a single cloud WordPress hosting service. AWS actually consists of hundreds of different hosting services, including Amazon Simple Storage Service (S3), Amazon Lightsail, AWS Lambda, and more.
Benefits Of AWS Over Other Cloud Platforms
On top of the reliable performance (which is basically guaranteed with every cloud platform you choose via Cloudways), AWS also provides reliable encryption and security–a must for WordPress websites. They also offer managed IT services.
However, the most significant benefit is that AWS is incredibly flexible. You can choose everything from your preferred web application platform to your preferred OS.
Geographical Coverage Of AWS
The geographical coverage of AWS is expansive, which allows for high availability, low latency, infinite scalability, and incredible flexibility. There are 81 availability zones within 25 different geographic regions on six continents, and there are plans for more.
How Hard Is It To Host WordPress On AWS Without Cloudways?
Unless you have some coding knowledge along with cloud experience, attempting to host your WordPress site on AWS without Cloudways is going to be very challenging. You’ll need to understand Linux to configure the server and code.
On top of that, you’ll have to spend hours troubleshooting if anything goes wrong. Cloudways makes the entire process of migrating or setting up your site on AWS straightforward.
2. WordPress Hosting On Google Cloud
Cloudways Google Cloud Plans (includes hosting charges):
- $33.18 to $1290.30/month
- $0.04 to $1.79/hour
Like AWS, Google Cloud also consists of a collection of hosting services that you can use to host your WordPress site. There are almost 37 million websites that currently use Google Cloud, accounting for 13% of the top 100,000 websites hosted on the cloud.
Benefits Of Google Cloud Over Other Cloud Platforms
Google Cloud has a whole host of benefits that have attracted many major companies to their services, including Spotify, Snapchat, Coca-Cola, and Sony Music. One of the biggest reasons for this is that they offer access to some of the most advanced network technology, such as the FASTER cable system, resulting in some of the highest speeds available.
Moreover, Google also happens to be one of the only providers to offer live migrations of Virtual Machines, making it easier to patch, repair, and update both software and hardware without the need for a machine reboot. Google Cloud also provides top-level security, performance, and redundant backups to ensure you never lose any data.
Geographical Coverage Of Google Cloud
Google Cloud is currently available in over 200 countries. There are 146 network edge locations in 88 different zones, located in 29 regions throughout the world. They are planning on expanding their coverage in areas such as Madrid, Paris, Berlin, Doha, and more.
How Hard Is It To Host WordPress On Google Cloud Without Cloudways?
Just like AWS, you’ll need an understanding of Linux commands and of various stacks to host your WordPress site on Google Cloud without the help of Cloudways. Simply setting up your WordPress site is a long and involved process that can become even longer and more complicated if you make any errors.
Managing the server will also require a lot of “know-how”, not to mention time, as you’ll need to execute backups manually, configure firewalls, update your OS, and create software patches when required. If you don’t have a full-time system admin at your disposal, you’ll find that it’s much easier to host your site on Google Cloud via Cloudways.
3. WordPress Hosting On Vultr
Cloudways Vultr Plans (includes hosting charges):
- $11 to $321/month
- $0.02 to $0.45/hour
Established in 2014, Vultr has earned a reputation as a top-performing cloud hosting provider despite having a smaller market share than the big players, such as Google Cloud and AWS.
They have been deployed over 45 million times and have served more than 1.5 million customers worldwide. Vultr tends to be used by smaller-sized businesses, with 74% of their customers having less than 50 employees.
Additionally, 41% of their customers are based in the U.S., while another 13% operate from Australia.
Benefits Of Vultr Over Other Cloud Platforms
Despite being a smaller cloud hosting provider, Vultr has a lot going for them that makes them worth a look. For instance, they use 100% SSD cloud servers to provide exceptional performance and guarantee 100% uptime. If your website uptime drops to 99.99% for less than nine minutes, they will add 12 hours of credit to your account.
The more it drops and the longer it drops for, the more generous the credits become. They also boast a user-friendly control panel that allows many features to be installed with a single click. Additionally, their prices are very affordable.
Geographical Coverage Of Vultr
Even though they are much smaller when compared to behemoths such as Google and Amazon, Vultr does have great global coverage. They currently have 19 locations on four different continents. These locations include Sydney, Singapore, Tokyo, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Miami, Mexico City, and more.
How Hard Is It To Host WordPress On Vultr Without Cloudways?
Vultr is a bit more user-friendly than AWS and Google Cloud. They even boast a one-click WordPress deployment feature. However, it can still be time consuming to manage and monitor your Vultr cloud server.
As such, you’ll want to consider subscribing to Cloudways’ service since they offer features including 24/7 customer support, dedicated firewalls, managed security, managed backups, server, and app monitoring, managed migration, app backup support, and much more.
4. WordPress Hosting On DigitalOcean
Cloudways DigitalOcean Plans (includes hosting charges):
- $10 to $1035/month
- $0.02 to $1.44/hour
DigitalOcean is another smaller cloud hosting provider that has made a name for itself despite competing against giants like Amazon and Google. Founded in 2011, they have grown in popularity due to their focus on being developer friendly and easy to use. Currently, they serve 598,000 customers in 185 different countries.
Benefits Of DigitalOcean Over Other Cloud Platforms
DigitalOcean matches any other cloud provider you’ll find in speed and performance quality with a 99.99% uptime SLA for virtual machines and block storage. In addition to their cloud storage and their scalable virtual machines, which they refer to as “droplets,” they also offer database management, development tools, and other services.
You can choose from options including Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), Platform as a Service (PaaS), and Cloud-Native (managed Kubernetes). If you want to learn about hosting directly to DigitalOcean yourself, they also provide a substantial library of content to learn how to do so.
Geographical Coverage of DigitalOcean
DigitalOcean currently has 13 data centers worldwide, three of which are located in New York City, which is where their headquarters are located. They also have data centers in Amsterdam, San Francisco, Singapore, Frankfurt, London, Bangalore, and Toronto.
How hard is it to host wordpress on digitalocean without cloudways?
Although DigitalOcean has a reputation for having a user-friendly interface, this is regarding the developer community that it targets. Most business owners are not developers, which means that hosting your WordPress website on DigitalOcean without any coding knowledge is going to be quite difficult.
Cloudways will make it much more straightforward. Not only do they offer free migration, but you’ll also be able to deploy your favorite apps to DigitalOcean with just one click.
5. WordPress Hosting On Linode
Cloudways Linode Plans (includes hosting charges):
- $12 to $1205/month
- $0.02 to $1.67/hour
Linode is a Linux-based cloud hosting provider launched way back in 2003. Despite being one of the oldest cloud providers, they’re not on the same tier as Google and Amazon in terms of pure size and market share.
Despite that, they have continued to be one of the go-to cloud hosting providers for developers, in part due to their ability to innovate constantly. They currently serve over 800,000 customers in 196 different countries.
Benefits Of Linode Over Other Cloud Platforms
Linode has a reputation for innovation within the cloud hosting industry. In 2008, they transitioned from user-mode Linux to Xen virtualization. In 2015, they switched to Kernel-based virtual machines.
They also introduced a load-balancing service in 2011 called NodeBalancer. When it comes down to it, they’re always on the cutting edge of the industry, which certainly appeals to its audience of developers. An industry survey revealed that over 83% of developers prefer using Linode for development and deployment.
Besides the fact that they are constantly striving to evolve their services, Linode is also very affordable compared to other providers. As you can imagine, their speed and performance are both top-notch. They also have award-winning customer support.
Geographical Coverage Of Linode
Linode has excellent geographical coverage around the globe. Ten data centers are currently located in Tokyo, Mumbai, London, Toronto, Atlanta, Dallas, Newark, Singapore, Frankfurt, and Fremont.
How hard is it to host wordpress on linode without cloudways?
Very hard. The fact that Linode is Linux-based should give you a hint as to what they’re about. If that’s not enough, consider that Linode began as a service developed for developers by developers. Basically, it’s very developer-oriented. If you don’t have those skills, you’ll need Cloudways to help set up your WordPress site with Linode.
Web Hosts We Have Used Across The Years
While we recommend using a WordPress hosting service on Cloudways (like one of the five providers we just mentioned), those aren’t the only options. There are hundreds of other WordPress hosting options, which means that there are plenty of great alternatives to consider as well.
The following are four WordPress hosting services that we are personally familiar with and that we can recommend:
2. WP Engine
WP Engine WordPress Hosting Plans ($25 to $292/month)
If you’re looking for fast and reliable hosting, as well as extensive support, you can’t go wrong with WP Engine. They provide managed WordPress hosting services along with 24/7 support to make life easier for you. Not to mention, they offer cloud hosting through both AWS and Google Cloud. It’s not surprising that websites such as Asana, Yelp, and PBS use WP Engine for their web hosting.
WP Engine Pros:
- Managed hosting services
- 24/7 chat support
- Free 60-day trial
- Free SSL certification
- Free data backup and restore services
- Threat block and security
- Page performance monitoring
- Fast page loading times due to EverCache technology
- Multiple different hosting plans to choose from
- Large variety of customizations
- Various add-ons available (such as additional sites and automated plugin updates)
WP Engine Cons:
- Much more expensive, even at the most basic tier
- You will be charged for exceeding your plan’s visitor and storage limit
- Not all plugins and themes are allowed
- Basic plans don’t come with 24/7 phone support
3. SiteGround
SiteGround WordPress Hosting Plans ($3.99 to $10.69/month)
Known for its incredible support team, SiteGround is one of the go-to WordPress hosting services for this reason. They are among the few WordPress recommended hosting providers that offer location-specific hosting with six data centers in four different continents.
Additionally, their in-house speed and security solutions allow hosted sites to run as fast and securely as possible.
SiteGround Pros:
- Very fast and secure servers (powered by Google Cloud)
- 99.99%t uptime guarantee
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- 24/7 customer support
- Daily backups and caching
- Automatic upgrades
- Unlimited databases and email accounts
- Free SSL and CDN
- One-click WordPress installation
- Free website migration
SiteGround Cons:
- Domain registration isn’t free
- Renewal costs are more expensive
- No windows-based server options
4. BlueHost
BlueHost WordPress Hosting Plans ($2.75 to $27.95/month)
BlueHost, founded in 1996, is one of the original web hosting services and continues to be one of the most popular providers, hosting over two million websites worldwide.
They are a WordPress recommended hosting provider known for their fast speeds, which means you don’t have to worry about poor loading times even if you have a lot of web traffic. They are also incredibly reliable with a 99.8% uptime and provide extensive support in the rare event you have any problems.
BlueHost Pros:
- Very fast and secure hosting
- One-click install for WordPress
- Minimal downtime
- One year free domain
- Free SSL and CDN
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Free site builder with templates
- 24/7 customer support
- Ten different hosting plans to choose from
BlueHost Cons:
- Renewal rates are higher
- No windows-based servers
5. GoDaddy
GoDaddy WordPress Hosting ($6.99 to $12.99/month)
GoDaddy originally established itself as a domain registration service, but they also provide web hosting services. By using GoDaddy, you can manage your domains and websites from the same interface, which makes things more convenient.
It’s worth noting that their basic plan comes with 30GB of storage and allows up to 25,000 visitors, and also gives you a free domain, SSL certificate, and a free business email for one year.
GoDaddy Pros:
- Unlimited storage and visitors starting at $12.99/month
- One-click restore website backup protection
- SEO optimizer
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- Free business email for the first year
- Thousands of free themes and plugins
- One-click migration
- 24/7 customer support
- Automatic software and security updates
- Linux or Windows hosting options
GoDaddy Cons:
- The lowest tier is priced higher than most
- Advertised prices only available for three-year plans
- Higher renewal prices
- No live chat support
- Customer support has been known to be inconsistent
Other Web Host Options You Have Likely Heard About
We always suggest due diligence when looking at your WordPress hosting options. As you do more research, you are bound to come across a few recommendations that we haven’t mentioned yet.
The following are a few of the other web hosts options that are popular and well-reviewed, and are worth considering as well:
6. Hostinger
Hostinger WordPress Hosting Plans ($1.99 to $11.59/month)
When compared to other web hosting services, Hostinger stands out due to the price of its most basic plan, which is the lowest you’ll find amongst its competitors. However, affordable hosting plans are not all that Hostinger has going for it. It is also swift and reliable, in part due to the seven different data centers it has in four different continents.
Hostinger Pros:
- Affordable plans
- 24/7 live chat support
- 99.9% uptime
- Full website backups
- Automatic updates
- Automatic one-click install
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Free SSL
- Managed WordPress services
- Multiple data centers for increased speed and reliability
- Unlimited bandwidth starting at $3.99/month
- Free email and domain in $3.99/month plan
Hostinger Cons:
- Single WordPress plan is limited
- Renewal rates are higher
7. DreamHost
DreamHost is over two decades old, which speaks volumes about its quality. Not only is it an official WordPress recommended hosting provider that powers millions of websites, but it has a reputation for its exceptional speed.
DreamHost offers several plans for various types of web hosting, making DreamHost a good fit for both smaller websites and enterprise-sized businesses. Not to mention, their most affordable plan comes with unlimited traffic and unmetered bandwidth along with an incredible 97-day money-back guarantee.
DreamHost Pros:
- Affordable plans available
- 100% uptime guarantee
- Shared and VPS hosting available
- Managed WordPress hosting available
- Unlimited traffic
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Free SSL certificate
- 24/7 support
- Free WordPress migrations
- Free domain
- High-speed SSD storage
- 97-day money-back guarantee
DreamHost Cons:
- The control panel isn’t as user-friendly as it could be
- Some complaints have been made about the live chat support wait times
- Need to commit to a three-year plan to get the lowest monthly fee
8. HostGator
HostGator WordPress Hosting Plans ($5.95 to $9.95/month)
HostGator specializes in WordPress hosting with over eight million sites to its name. With almost two decades in the business, HostGator has earned a reputation as one of the fastest web hosts in the world. Their plans have a lot to offer to both bloggers and business owners.
It’s worth noting that, while technically sound, there are some blemishes on their past customer service record. However, they seem to have improved dramatically in this respect since. In addition to their WordPress hosting, they also offer VPS and dedicated hosting plans.
HostGator Pros:
- Affordable plans
- Free site migration
- Free domain and SSL certification
- Fast and reliable hosting
- 45-day money-back guarantee
- 99% uptime guarantee
- 24/7 customer support
- cPanel access for complete control
- $100 Google AdWords credit
- eCommerce tools
- One-click installation
- Unmetered bandwidth
HostGator Cons:
- Higher renewal prices
- Additional fees charged for backup restoration
- Customer support response not always reliable in the past
9. A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting WordPress Hosting Plans ($11.99 to $41.99/month)
A2 Hosting is a WordPress hosting service that has been around for more than two decades. They are known for their strong server speeds and uptime. A2 Hosting also has excellent customer service and is even environmentally conscious. They are partners with Carbondfund.org who support reforestation and renewable energy.
Additionally, they help offset the emissions from their servers through their green hosting initiative, FutureServe.
A2 Hosting Pros:
- Environmentally-friendly practices
- 24/7 live chat, email, and phone support
- Very fast loading speeds
- Money-back guarantee, anytime
- 24/7 monitoring service that scans for malware and attacks
- Reliable uptime
- Free SSL and CDN
- Website staging
- Server rewind data backup
- Optimized WordPress environment
- cPanel interface
- Unlimited storage and data transfer
- Free site migration
- VPS and dedicated hosting are available
- Managed hosting services available
A2 Hosting Cons:
- Renewal rates are much higher
- No free domain name
10. Nexcess
Nexcess Managed WordPress Hosting Plans ($13.30 to $832.50/month)
Nexcess belongs to Liquid Web, a popular web hosting service that has invested heavily into the WordPress hosting space. Nexcess was established to handle their WordPress and WooCommerce hosting plans specifically.
Although they are a little expensive, they provide excellent performance, and their plans are feature-rich. They are a good bet for small to big companies due to the variety of plans that they offer.
Nexcess Pros:
- Fast speeds due to image compression, advanced caching, and CDN
- Multiple servers throughout the U.S. and in Europe and Asia
- No traffic limits or overage fees
- 24/7 customer support
- Free automatic plugin updates
- Free site migration
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Plugin performance monitor
- Seven different plans to choose from
- Staging environments
- Unlimited email accounts
- 30-day backups
- 14-day free trial
- Free SSL certificate
- Cloud auto-scaling for 24 hours
Nexcess Cons:
- High renewal rates
- Renewal rates kick in after only three months
- Plans can get expensive
- Additional fees for auto-scaling after 24 hours
- Users have had some issues with support response
- No free domain
11. GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks WordPress Hosting Plans ($2.95 to $10.95/month)
GreenGeeks is unique amongst web hosting services. While other services also provide SSD storage like GreenGeeks to boost speed and reliability, few are as focused on the environment as this particular provider. It’s even in the name: GreenGeeks.
What makes them so eco-friendly? They return three times the energy they consume back into the grid in the form of renewable energy, which means that by choosing their hosting services, you’ll minimize the impact you have on the environment.
Not to mention, they plant a tree for each client. If you’re a company that focuses on being environmentally friendly, that’s an enormous benefit.
GreenGeeks Pros:
- Eco-friendly practices
- SSD storage
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Low starting prices
- High uptime
- One-click installation
- Excellent 24/7 customer support
- Unlimited data transfer
- Managed WordPress services
- Free SSL and CDN
- Free data backup and restore
- cPanel interface
- Real-time security scanning
GreenGeeks Cons:
- A lack of website staging
- The term “unlimited” isn’t necessarily accurate since it’s a shared hosting service
12. InMotion Hosting
InMotion WordPress Hosting Plans ($6.99 to $26.99/month)
InMotion WordPress VPS Hosting Plans ($19.99 to $89.99/month)
InMotion Hosting isn’t as well known as some of the other top-tier hosting providers, yet it certainly belongs in the same conversation. They have four different WordPress hosting plans alone, including a VPS plan, all of which provide fast speeds and high uptimes.
They also offer exceptional support, with quick live chat response times and the ability to access customer support via Skype.
InMotion Hosting Pros:
- Wide range of plans
- Very fast
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Unlimited email
- Minimum 50GB SSD storage that’s scalable
- Free SSL certificate
- Malware and hack protection
- Excellent 24/7 customer support
- 90-day money-back guarantee
- Free WordPress themes
- Free WordPress site transfer
- 99.99% uptime guarantee
- Uses max speed zone technology
InMotion Hosting Cons:
- The most basic plan doesn’t include automatic offsite backups
- The most basic plan only has one website
- Only two data centers exist, which are both in the U.S.
13. HostPapa
HostPapa WordPress Shared Hosting Plans ($3.95 to $12.95/month)
HostPapa is a Canadian-based web hosting provider with a worldwide presence. Established in 2006, HostPapa rates highly in performance, customer support, and affordability, making them a fantastic option for startups and smaller businesses.
They also use 100% Green Certified renewable energy to run their servers, making them another great option for companies that want to be environmentally responsible.
HostPapa Pros:
- Environmentally friendly
- Low monthly costs
- 24/7 customer support
- 99.9% uptime guarantee
- 90-day money-back guarantee
- Unlimited traffic
- 100GB SSD storage for the basic plan, unlimited for other plans
- 100 emails for the basic plan, unlimited for other plans
- Free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate
- cPanel control panel
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Free WordPress installation and migration
- Unlimited image CDN
- Brute force attack protection and downtime monitoring
HostPapa Cons:
- Chat support response times can be slow during peak hours
- Renewal prices are higher
- Automatic backup is only available on the most expensive plan
- Advanced security features are only available on the most expensive plan
The 13 Best WordPress Hosting Providers: A Recap
Hosting |
Pricing |
SSL |
Host Migration |
Customer Support |
Caching & CDN |
Uptime |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Cloudways (AWS) |
$$ - $$$ |
Free |
Free |
Excellent |
Yes |
99.99% |
Cloudways (Google Cloud) |
$$ - $$$ |
Free |
Free |
Excellent |
Yes |
99.99% |
Cloudways (Vultr) |
$ - $$$ |
Free |
Free |
Excellent |
Yes |
99.99% |
Cloudways (DigitalOcean) |
$ - $$$ |
Free |
Free |
Exellent |
Yes |
99.99% |
Cloudways (Linode) |
$ - $$$ |
Free |
Free |
Excellent |
Yes |
99.99% |
BlueHost |
$ - $$ |
Free |
Free |
Excellent |
Yes |
99.99% |
Hostinger |
$ |
Free |
Free |
Excellent |
Starts at $3.99 |
99.99% |
SiteGround |
$ |
Free |
Free |
Average |
Yes |
99.99% |
DreamHost |
$ - $$ |
Free |
Free |
Average |
Starts at $24.95 |
100% |
HostGator |
$ |
Free |
Free (1-3 sites) |
Average |
Yes |
99.99% |
GoDaddy |
$ |
Free |
Free |
Fair |
Yes |
99.99% |
WP Engine |
$$ - $$$ |
Free |
Free |
Average |
Yes |
99.99% |
A2 Hosting |
$ - $$ |
Free |
Free |
Excellent |
Yes |
99.99% |
Nexcess |
$ - $$$ |
Free |
Free |
Fair |
Yes |
99.99% |
GreenGeeks |
$ |
Free |
Free |
Excellent |
Yes |
99.99% |
InMotion Hosting |
$ - $$ |
Free |
Free |
Excellent |
Yes |
99.99% |
HostPapa |
$ |
Free |
Free |
Average |
Yes |
99.99% |
Tips To Help You Decide
There is a lot of information out there on the various hosting providers. Our list is a helpful resource that can assist you when weighing up the pros and cons of each provider. To make the comparison between each option even easier, keep these tips in mind before deciding on a WordPress hosting service plan:
- Be wary of low starting prices: Plans available at particularly low prices likely have limited features and services. This may be sufficient if you are just starting out, but if your company grows, this may not be enough to meet the needs of your website.
Keep your eye out for the “original” price. If you’re locking into a subscription at a significant discount, odds are the price will jump back to the original price once it comes time to renew your subscription. - Don’t be fooled by unlimited services: In some cases, the features or services offered under the “unlimited” banner may actually be limited. Or, they may be unlimited as long as you consistently and regularly upgrade your plan.
It is likely you will be strongly encouraged to upgrade your plan, especially if you’re on a shared cloud, despite having an “unlimited” service on your current plan. When it comes to unlimited, read the fine print. - Look for free migration offers: Migrating your existing WordPress site to a new host can be incredibly challenging. If you don’t know what you’re doing, it could result in a lengthy downtime, the loss of data, and other issues.
Fortunately, many hosting services offer free WordPress site migration. Look for plans that offer this as a feature as it makes migrating your website much easier. - Understand the difference between web hosting and web building: The last thing you want is to purchase a plan for services you don’t need. Be sure to understand the difference between a web builder and a web host. Think of a web building service as a construction company that helps build your website.
In this example, a web hosting service would be the person selling you the land to build on. Web hosting providers essentially give you the space you need to store the content and images of your site so that it can live online.
Hosting Can Make Or Break Your Website’s Future Success
If anything goes wrong with your website, it will reflect poorly on your business. For instance, a site that loads slowly, is down when someone tries to visit it, or that is easily hacked can cause insurmountable damage to your company’s reputation. Your customers won’t wait around for you to rehabilitate your website; they will simply turn to a competing site.
It is important to carefully consider your options and find the right web hosting provider for your WordPress website. There are many different providers to choose from, all offering a wide range of services and features. Use our list to help with your research and choose the WordPress hosting service that will best suit your needs.