Choosing the Best WordPress Hosting for Your Blog

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Finding the best WordPress hosting for your blog is the most vital aspect of creating one. Your blog’s speed, uptime, search engine ranking, and user experience are heavily dependent on the WordPress hosting service that you choose.

But with so many options available like WP Engine, Bluehost, SiteGround, and Nexcess, how do you know the right pick for your blog? Especially, when you’re just starting. I mean, beyond the ones just mentioned above there are thousands of hosting services all claiming to be the best.

That’s where we come in. There are a couple of features that you must consider before choosing a host for your blog such as uptime availability, which means the guarantee that the host will ensure that your blog is available to users round-the-clock. Or load time speed, which is directly influenced by server location and ensures that users don’t wait long before they can view your content. This is crucial in preventing bouncing, which can affect your search engine rank.

There’s also the factor of customer support. You need to pick a WordPress hosting service with ample customer touchpoints like phone calls, live chat, or email. So you can contact them quickly whenever you run into issues.

So to assist you to choose the best WordPress host we’ve done the heavy lifting for you and come up with an in-depth roundup of the leading WordPress hosting companies for your blog that satisfy the necessary factors for running your website effectively.

With that said, let’s get started.

Best runner-up:
siteground logo

SiteGround

Our pick:

SiteGround wins the battle for us. It provides WordPress bloggers with the most affordable option in this roundup. With regards to the value it provides in exchange for its price, you get the same type of features you can expect from a service like WP engine for less. Also, it is officially recognized as a preferred WordPress host.

Overall rating: 10/10

ยป Try SiteGround ยซ

Best runner-up:
dreamhost

DreamHost

Runner up:
DreamHost also stands out in terms of affordability. However, unlike other officially recommended WordPress hosts such as SiteGround and Bluehost, DreamHost offers competitive monthly rates and does not force users to subscribe for a yearly contract to enjoy such rates. Plus, its shared hosting includes automatic backups, which are quite rare with most WordPress hosts.

Overall rating: 10/10

ยป Try DreamHost ยซ

Environmentally Friendly Solution:
greengeeks

GreenGeeks

Environmentally Friendly Solution:

GreenGeeks is the most environmentally-friendly host in this roundup. The WordPress host matches 300% of the energy usage of their whole operation in RECs. And are even recognized by the USA’s Environmental Protection Agency or EPA.

Overall rating: 10/10

ยป Try GreenGeeks ยซ

SiteGround

sitegroung blog hosting

To get amazing customer service with your WordPress hosting for your blog you have to use a managed WordPress hosting package. It’s a lot more expensive than shared hosting plans but you receive the support level that outweighs everything else.

But for WordPress users that require high-quality support and arenโ€™t ready for an expensive managed plan, SiteGround is a great option. The company offers managed WordPress hosting but in reality, it combines managed and shared WordPress hosting. You can receive a lot of the benefits associated with managed WordPress hosting for a price close to a shared one on other hosting providers.

WordPress officially recommends SiteGround and the web hosting service has consistently gotten outstanding reviews. In fact, they’ve won 2 Stevie awards.

All of SiteGround’s WordPress hosting solutions come alongside platform-specific customer support. From helping to troubleshoot plugins to migration, customer service is always available via live chat, ticket, and phone.

Also, in addition to its solid support, SiteGround handles security updates and caching configuration that ensures your blog is fast for users. This best WordPress hosting includes other features such as automated WordPress installation, free website builder, performance optimization for WordPress websites, free SSL certificates, free WordPress migrations, and unlimited free email accounts.

There’s also a low introductory rate for every plan but it rises considerably on renewal.

Pricing

SiteGround offers 3 pricing plans for its WordPress hosting as listed below:

  • Startup: The Startup plan costs $4.99 per month, discounted from $14.99 per month.
  • GrowBig: The GrowBig plan costs $7.99 per month and it is discounted from $24.99 per month. This plan features managed WordPress hosting, a staging area, and improved caching.
  • GrowGeek: The GrowGeek plan costs $14.99 per month discounted from $39.99. This plan can cater to 100,000 visitors monthly, in addition to every other feature in the above plans and much more.

So if you don’t want to pay for a premium managed WordPress hosting service but still want a provider that will manage a huge chunk of your backend legwork, SiteGround pricing is the best fit. SiteGround also includes a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Pros

  • SiteGround offers the best value for money in terms of the features and costs of its plan.
  • SiteGround features free CDN and out-of-the-box caching to improve load speed.
  • There’s a 30-day money-back guarantee for all plans.

Cons

  • SiteGroundโ€™s renewal price from its introductory offer is quite the jump.
  • This WordPress hosting service is just for small to medium-sized businesses. If you have a website with traffic above 100,000 users you may have to look for another option.

Best For

SiteGround is best for small and medium businesses who want the benefits of a managed WordPress hosting service for an affordable cost.

DreamHost

dreamhost - best wordpress hosting for your blog

Alongside Bluehost and SiteGround, DreamHost is one of the only hosting providers that WordPress officially recommends. However, unlike the 2 providers mentioned, DreamHost gives competitive monthly rates.

This is extremely attractive for WordPress bloggers who don’t want to sign a long contract to get a great price. DreamHost offers discounts with lengthy contracts but you’ll still be able to access their WordPress plan for just $4.99 per month. No long-term commitment, no contract.

Plus, DreamHost keeps your initial spend low due to its free domain name that is included in the package for your first year. This saves you the cost of your domain name. This best WordPress hosting provider also features domain privacy, which ensures that your personal information is secure from the public record. With other hosts, this may cost you as much as $15 annually.

Beyond these, DreamHost offers a complete website builder. And you can start right away with over 200 starter sites developed for fashion, real estate, web design, and a lot more. Then there’s the simple drag-and-drop builder to include content and add your finishing touches. DreamHost handles every aspect of your WordPress updates, as well as security updates. It also adds automatic daily backups for its shared hosting plans. This is quite unusual for shared hosting and saves you the cost of purchasing a plug-in like Jetpack for website backup.

Pricing

Dreamhost offers 3 primary plans:

  • WordPress Basic: The WordPress Basic plan starts at $2.59 per month.
  • Dreampress: Dreampress starts at $16.95 per month.
  • VPS WordPress: The VPS WordPress plan starts at $27.50 per month.

It’s important to note that DreamHost offers an amazing 97-day money-back guarantee. There is no other WordPress hosting service that offers that amount of time to test out their service.

Pros

  • Dreampress pricing plans are very affordable. Especially its starter plan.
  • A free domain is included in your first year.
  • Domain privacy is guaranteed.

Cons

Live chat is limited as you have to choose from a few preset answers to your questions.

Best For

This best WordPress hosting provider is great for users who are on a budget and don’t want long-term commitments for an affordable option with excellent features.

WP Engine

wp engine - best wordpress hosting for your blog

WP Engine is popularly known as the original managed WordPress hosting service. And in terms of expert support and customer service, it stays ahead of others. The brand has also built its platform complete with exclusive tools to help you boost your WordPress blog to the next level.

If you are just getting started with a small blog, WP Engine may not be the best fit. It is a great option for bloggers or website owners with a bunch of blogs, online stores, or other complex WordPress hosting demands.

WP Engine enables you to have high-performance websites without hiring a developer or stressing about maintenance. You have incredible uptime, best-in-class security, and blazing fast speed, without any backend work on your part. Alongside optimizing the IT environment, WP Engine ensures that your PHP and WordPress core is up-to-date. The brand is constantly blocking and monitoring threats, which keeps your blog safe and fast.

With regards to their customer service, it is legendary. This web hosting provider does not host any other platform aside from WordPress. So you’ll always get a customer rep who knows everything about the platform and handles such issues consistently. Since WP Engine handles so much you can focus on creating a great blog. Every hosting plan also includes 36 premium Studio Press themes for your use.

That would normally cost you hundreds of dollars but this is completely free and you can customize and experiment with them as you please.

Its primary features include free CDN and free SSL certificate, automatic WordPress updates, free automated WordPress migrations, geo-targeted server locations, staging and development environments.

There’s also no other best-managed WordPress host that offers different development and staging environments. This is a compelling feature for WordPress developers as it handles some of the annoying problems related to one-click staging environments.

Pricing

WP Engine offers 4 major plans as the below:

  • Managed Hosting: This plan starts at $25 for an annual contract. Billed at $300 per year.
  • Managed Hosting Plus: This plan starts at $28.33 per month and is billed at $340 per year.
  • E-commerce Hosting Startup: This plan costs $30 per month billed at $360 per year.
  • Secure Hosting: Secure Hosting starts at $44.74 months and is billed at $530 per year.

Pros

  • WP Engine offers different environments for development and staging.
  • It features free automated WordPress migrations.
  • Customer reps are experts in WordPress.

Cons

  • For small bloggers, this WordPress hosting service may be a little too expensive.

Best For

WP Engine is best for WordPress blog owners with high traffic numbers and other complex needs.

Bluehost

Bluehost powers over 2 million websites globally and is an industry leader in web hosting specifically for WordPress websites. It is also officially recommended by WordPress.

This best WordPress hosting provider is an excellent choice for people developing a fresh website from the ground up. After signing up for their hosting service, you are given a free domain name for 1 year. They also feature a one-click installation for WordPress.

Domain names usually cost anywhere from 10 to $15 and with Bluehost, you get to save time in addition to cash. So rather than having to register a domain name as well as download WordPress, this is all done for you in just one step.

Their WordPress hosting is also incredibly affordable. However, you have to choose a 3-year contract for the best price. Setting up everything is very simple and doesn’t require any special skills. Also, navigating the WordPress dashboard is very simple but you can contact Bluehost’s support if there are questions. Their customer representatives are available 24/7 via live chat or phone.

They also build a lot of great features into the service. For example, a free SSL certificate and a free CDN to boost security and performance are available. There is no need to configure any of them to gain safer traffic and faster speed.

With regards to their WordPress themes and layout, they are completely free. There are also tons of amazing options you can access through the Bluehost WordPress marketplace if you want to spend some cash.

Other interesting features from Bluehost WordPress hosting include unlimited traffic, automatic WordPress updates, $200 in free Microsoft advertising and Google ads credits, and secure configuration of your WordPress login details.

All these features are available with Bluehost’s basic WordPress hosting plan. There are also no arbitrary limits about your blog traffic but if your website begins to affect other websites on their server they may request that you upgrade to a higher plan.

Pricing

Bluehost offers 3 pricing plans:

  • Basic: The Basic plan costs $2.95 per month if billed for 36 months. However, it renews at the normal rate of $8.99.
  • Plus: This plan costs $5.95 per month if billed for 36 months. But it renews at the normal rate of $11.99.
  • Choice Plus: The Choice Plus plan costs $5.95 per month, if billed for 36 months. However, it renews at the normal rate of $16.99.

Pros

  • Bluehost offers initial affordable pricing.
  • This best web hosting service includes $200 in free advertising credit.

Cons

  • The renewal price is quite a jump from the initial fee.
  • Their introductory discount requires a 36-month commitment.

Best For

Bluehost is best for users who want an affordable option to WordPress hosting.

Nexcess

nexcess homepage - best wordpress blog hosting

Nexcess provides a special plan and pricing structure that enables businesses that don’t have the funds for a service like WP Engine to access managed hosting.

A great feature with this WordPress hosting service is that the functions they offer are available with every plan. With SiteGround, for example, which is another budget-friendly managed host provider, you have to upgrade to get on-demand backup and site staging. Nexcess, on the other hand, allows you to move from plan to plan to access better hosting resources but it never compels you to upgrade to access certain capabilities.

Nexcess also handles a lot of the tedious maintenance needed for 30-day backups and plugin updates. To keep this in perspective, you only get this with WP Engine’s managed hosting Plus plan but Nexcess features it in standard.

Other features associated with this best WordPress hosting provider include free SSL certificate, visual regression testing, free CDN, 24/7 live chat, email support, and phone support.

They also provide generous hosting resources. For example, 15 GB of storage for the entry-level plan and 2TB of bandwidth. That is approximately 5 times the bandwidth other expensive WordPress hosting plans offer.

Also, if your blog consumes more resources than is allowed on your plan Nexcess auto-scales it for 24 hours without charge. This allows you to weather traffic spikes without problems.

Pricing

As already stated, Nexcess offers a flexible pricing structure that can cater to small businesses searching for great performance, as well as Enterprise businesses that require excellence per second. So here are the plans offered:

  • Spark: This plan costs $9.50 per month and then is renewed at $19 per month.
  • Maker: The makeup plan costs $39.50 per month for 6 months and then is renewed at $79 per month.
  • Designer: The designer plan costs $54.50 per month for 6 months and then is renewed at $109 per month.
  • Builder: The Builder plan costs $74.50 per month for six months and then is renewed at $149 per month.
  • Producer: This plan costs $149.50 per month for 6 months and is renewed at $299 per month.
  • Executive: This costs $274.50 per month for 6 months and then is renewed at $549 per month.
  • Enterprise: The Enterprise plan costs $99.50 per month for 6 months and then is renewed at $999 per month.

Pros

  • Nexcess scales your plan for 24 hours automatically during traffic spikes for free.
  • Their entry plans are quite affordable.

Cons

  • Plan renewal after 6 months is quite the jump.

Best For

This WordPress hosting solution is best for blog owners that have or expect huge traffic spikes frequently and require a service that provides auto-scaling.

GreenGeeks

GreenGeeks is a secure and eco-friendly web hosting for your WordPress blog. This best WordPress hosting service features a ton of functions such as a free SSL certificate, free domain for your first year, free backups, free CDN, built-in caching, unlimited databases, free WordPress migration, and WordPress installation. Its standout feature is a 300% green energy match.

Some of its plans like the Pro plan feature multi-user access, on-demand backups, and a WordPress repair tool. With the premium plan, you gain access to object caching to improve speed, free Alpha SSL thatโ€™s $99 in value, and a free dedicated IP valued at $48 per year.

GreenGeeks is also optimized for WordPress, meaning that they are an active part of the community and are experts in everything WordPress. They also guarantee 99.9% uptime and have a WordPress support team on standby.

GreenGeeks also monitors your website for malware and other vulnerabilities through manual efforts and automation. And offer to clean your website if it is infected.

Its standout feature is that GreenGeeks is completely environmentally friendly. They match 300% of the energy usage of their whole operation in RECs. And are even recognized by the USA’s EPA or Environmental Protection Agency.

Pricing

GreenGeeks offers 3 pricing plans:

  • Lite: The Lite plan costs $2.49 per month and renews at $10.95 per month.
  • Pro: This is GreenGeeks most popular plan and it costs $4.95 per month and is renewed at $15.95 monthly.
  • Premium: The premium WordPress hosting plan costs $8.95 per month and is renewed at $25.95 a month.

Pros

  • GreenGeeks is environmentally friendly.
  • They monitor your website for security threats.
  • GreenGeeks provides a built-in CDN for improved speed.
  • Customer support is WordPress knowledgeable.

Cons

  • There is a considerable leap from the initial price to the renewal price.

Best For

GreenGeeks is best for users who want an affordable and environmentally-friendly hosting service for their blog.

Flywheel

Flywheel is a managed WordPress hosting service for your blog that delivers top-notch customer support, fast speed, and solid performance to ensure that your WordPress website runs smoothly. Flywheel also makes it seamless to develop a website from scratch through its one-click staging features and free demo sites.

This best WordPress hosting service is built on a robust network infrastructure optimized for security, scaling, and speed. Their plans feature free website migration, CDN integration, automated WordPress updates, automatic backups, built-in caching, SSL support, and lots more.

Flywheel also provides a generous 30-day money-back guarantee, which enables users to try out the platform. This hosting service is optimized for WordPress, which makes customer support a lot easier as the rep will be knowledgeable about common WordPress issues.

Pricing

Flywheel offers 4 pricing plans for its WordPress hosting:

  • Tiny: This plan from Flywheel costs $13 per month and is billed at $150 per year, inclusive of 2 free months.
  • Starter: This is Flywheel’s most popular plan and it costs $25 per month and is billed at $300 per year. It is also inclusive of 2 months free.
  • Freelance: The freelance plan costs $96 per month and is billed at $1150 per year. It is inclusive of 2 months free.
  • Agency: The Agency plan costs $242 per month and is billed at $2900 per year. The plan includes 2 years free.

Pros

  • Flywheel offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
  • It is optimized for WordPress websites and this makes support a lot easier.
  • Flywheel features CDN integration for improved speed.

Cons

  • Flywheel doesn’t offer domains. So if you don’t already have a website you have to first register one.

Best For

Flywheel is best for website owners searching for a managed WordPress hosting service that’s optimized for the WordPress platform.

Kinsta

kinsta wordpress blog hosting

Kinsta offers a fully managed WordPress hosting service for your blog. It also includes features such as Cloudflare security, free site migrations, daily backups, Google cloud servers, and high speed. The major perk of this best WordPress hosting solution is that it enables you to focus on your business while they handle the IT backend of your website. They even have the option of scaling on demand.

Kinsta provides WordPress-specific customer support as well. This hosting solution also uses a custom control center for your website. And you can do a lot from the control panel such as tracking bandwidth and visitor statistics and creating SSL certificates from just one location.

Other features include automatic database optimization, 24/7 support, staging area, PHP 8.0 support, imported SSL certificates, SSH access, white-labeled cache plugin, WordPress installs, free CDN, and free premium migrations.

Every plan allows you to pick from one of Google Cloud platformโ€™s 28 regional data centers for every one of your websites, export WordPress support, access staging areas, and speed functions such as Nginx, LXD containers, and Maria DB.

Pricing

Kinsta offers a ton of plans but here are the most popular ones:

  • Starter: The starter plan costs $30 per month.
  • Pro: This Kinsta WordPress hosting plan costs $60 per month.
  • Business1: The Business1 plan costs $100 per month.

Pros

  • Kinsta features WordPress knowledgeable customer support.
  • You have the option of choosing from over 28 global data centers, which are extremely beneficial if you have a worldwide audience.

Cons

  • Kinsta uses its custom dashboard, which may require getting used to for users familiar with cPanel.
  • There are so many pricing plans that it can get confusing for newbies.

Best For

Kinsta is the best WordPress hosting for your blog if you’re searching for a managed hosting service affordably priced.

A2 Hosting

a2 hosting

A lot of hosting providers offer free migrations to assist you to move your WordPress website from your old hosting solution. In actuality, this means that you have to use a plugin to automate a huge chunk of the process, which isn’t too bad. However, A2 Hosting features an actual team of people dedicated to helping you make the switch.

The outcome is a hassle and stress-free migration. Also, this feature will work irrespective of if you choose a shared hosting WordPress optimized plan or a managed plan for a hands-off approach. Regardless of the option, site migration is completely free.

Other features also included with A2 Hosting’s offer are free SSL certificates, ecommerce integrations, unlimited email accounts, Cloudflare, free CDN compatibility, 24/7 support via live chat, ticket support, email, and phone.

All these features are available in A2 Hostingโ€™s basic shared WordPress hosting plan, which is quite amazing. So if you want to transfer your website to a feature-packed platform but don’t want the commitments of managed hosting, then A2 hosting is a great choice.

However, in comparison to out-of-the-box plans such as Nexcess or WP Engine, A2’s managed hosting isn’t as convenient. For example, you have to use plugins such as Jetpack to carry out a lot of maintenance that other vendors handle for you.

A2 Hosting also doesn’t offer a free domain name, so if you are just starting this may not be the best choice.

Pricing

A2 Hosting offers 4 plans as follows:

  • Startup: The Startup plan costs $2.99 per month if billed for 3 years but $10.99 if billed monthly.
  • Drive: This A2 Hosting plan costs $4.99 per month if billed for 3 years but $12.99 if billed monthly.
  • Turbo Boost: Turbo Boost costs $6.99 per month if billed for 3 years and $20.99 if billed monthly.
  • Turbo Max: This plan costs $12.99 per month if billed for 3 years and $25.99 if billed monthly.

Each plan provides a money-back guarantee and free website migration.

Pros

  • A2 Hosting features free website migrations for all plans.
  • They have ample customer support channels available.

Cons

  • Except you opt for the 3-year contract, monthly costs are quite pricey in comparison.
  • With the managed hosting option you need to use a lot of plugins like Jetpack for effective functionality.

Best For

This best WordPress hosting service is great for people who want a shared hosting service with enough features like a managed one.

GoDaddy

godaddy blog wordpress hosting

GoDaddy provides a lot of variety with regards to hosting. It offers virtual private servers, shared plans, WordPress-specific offerings, and dedicated options. With regards to features, there are a ton you can access with the basic WordPress hosting plan such as a free domain for 1 year, free business email, automated backups with single-click restore, daily malware scans, automatic WordPress core updates, SFTP access to your server, and out-of-the-box integration with a CDN.

This is a decent set of features, however, there is nothing unique in comparison to other hosts. But with the ultimate plan, there are additional features such as one-click staging, unlimited malware removal, and hack repair. Even more compelling, GoDaddy offers in its eCommerce plan features; free access to premium WooCommerce extensions and WooCommerce subscriptions. These premium extensions are valued at thousands of dollars and offer amazing benefits if you’re building a WooCommerce store.

Their customer support offers 24/7 availability. The easiest way to reach out to an expert is via a phone call. There are also other support channels like getting assistance from the community forums or searching through GoDaddy’s help articles. There’s a live chat option hidden on the product support page, which is most times hard to find for a lot of users. You also have to put your region as the United States to see the live chat button, which may be confusing for particular users.

GoDaddy does offer some features to boost the speed of your blog including load-balance clustered server environments, which are optimized for WordPress. Plus a CDN integration, which is already mentioned and 99.9% uptime guarantee.

Pricing

GoDaddy offers customers 4 WordPress hosting plans as follows:

  • Basic: The basic plan costs ยฃ3.99 per month if you’re out for 3 years and ยฃ6.99 per month for renewal.
  • Deluxe: The deluxe plan costs ยฃ4.99 per month if you opt for 3 years and ยฃ9.99 per month for renewals.
  • Ultimate: This GoDaddy hosting plan costs ยฃ7.99 per month if billed for 3 years and ยฃ13.99 per month for renewals.
  • WooCommerce: This WordPress hosting plan costs ยฃ12.99 per month if you opt for 3 years and ยฃ19.99 per month for renewals.

Pros

  • GoDaddy offers affordable prices for managed WordPress hosting plans.
  • This WordPress hosting service provides premium WooCommerce extensions.
  • GoDaddy has features to boost your website’s load speed.
  • One-click migration is available
  • GoDaddy is compatible with the most recent version of PHP 7.
  • All plans include a free domain for 1 year.

Cons

  • It’s very difficult to search for and use Godaddy’s live chat support option.
  • Most features offered by GoDaddy are generic.

Best For

GoDaddy is best for people who are searching for an affordable WordPress host with adequate features.

HostGator

hostgator wordpress hosting

HostGator is a ready-to-go hosting service that even comes with WordPress installed on your hosting account. The major perk of this WordPress hosting service for your blog is that it makes setting up a lot easier and quicker. The solution offers the latest control panel from which you can access 1-click restores, create automatic backups, and carry out other account management tasks seamlessly.

HostGator also offers a support team that knows the in and out of everything WordPress. And is available 24/7 via phone, live chat, and a knowledge base. So even if issues arise you can be certain that they have capable hands. Also, HostGator provides website security and daily backups alongside their hosting plans.

If you are not satisfied with the service they offer a 45-day money-back guarantee, which is extremely generous. This is also a great option if you receive mid-level traffic, as their plans can cater to visitors from 100,000 to 500,000. All plans also include 100% free website migration carried out by HostGator professionals, free domain, $150 of Google ads credit, free email, 99.9% uptime guarantee, and 1-click WordPress installations.

Pricing

HostGator offers 3 primary plans:

  • Hatchling: The Hatchling plan costs $2.75 per month.
  • Baby: This HostGator plan costs $5.95 per month.
  • Business: The business plan costs $5.95 per month.

The prices listed are all introductory offers and renewal plans are a lot higher.

Pros

  • HostGator offers ample customer support options such as live chat and phone, with WordPress experts as customer reps.
  • This WordPress hosting service for your blog is quite affordable.
  • A free domain is included in every plan.

Cons

  • The renewal costs aren’t stated clearly on their pricing list which may end up blindsiding some users.

Best For

HostGator is best for WordPress bloggers searching for an easy-to-use hosting service.

What You Must Consider When Choosing the Best WordPress Hosting: In-depth Look

Before you can pick the best WordPress web hosting for your blog you need to know what to search for as you shop around. One of the most important considerations is if the provider offers WordPress-specific web hosting. Unlike generic hosting, which is capable of supporting every kind of website, the plans that would work the best are the ones that support only WordPress blogs.

The reason is that servers for such hosting providers are configured to work perfectly for WordPress. The entirety of the back-end environment is optimized for WordPress in a way that won’t work for other solutions. This minimizes crashes and boosts performance.

However, you can still choose a hosting solution that works for other types of websites as well as WordPress but it is recommended to choose one that is WordPress specific. Now let’s have a look at the primary criteria that you must evaluate to pick the best choice for your brand.

Managed WordPress Hosting vs Shared

If you are looking for the most budget-friendly option then choose shared WordPress hosting. It has every benefit of WordPress-specific hosting at an affordable price. If you’re up for shared WordPress hosting you have to carry out the maintenance and updates yourself to keep your blog running smoothly. The great news though is that if you opt for a WordPress-specific hosting the user interface for maintaining your website would be way easier to use than one that was designed for all-purpose platforms.

But if you don’t want to have to bother about the backend maintenance of your blog then you would want to choose a managed WordPress hosting package. This type of hosting plan means that the provider will handle the IT aspect of your blog, ensuring that your site is easy- to-use secure, and fast including:

  • WordPress core updates
  • Automatic daily or weekly backups
  • On-demand backups
  • Malware removal and scanning
  • 24/7 customer support
  • Security patches and updates
  • Staging area to test website performance

So with the managed option rather than having your team fuss about plugins to do all of the above you can focus on creating compelling content.That said, and understandably so, managed WordPress hosting packages are a lot more expensive than the shared option. However, the value of having someone else manage your WordPress blog’s IT backend may be a lot more affordable than hiring an in-house developer to manage it.

It’s also important to state that managed WordPress hosting for your blog doesn’t mean the same thing for every provider. Some offer the same service for cheap in comparison to others because the features of the plan are fewer, so you need to check what is included in the plan.

Your Traffic Volume

What is the size of traffic that your blog receives every month? For starter websites how much traffic do you expect?

Your answer to the above questions will have a major impact on the best WordPress hosting service that’s the right choice for you. A blog that receives 4000 visits monthly should be on a different plan than one with 100,000 visitors monthly. A plan that is capable of accommodating 100,000 visitors monthly won’t be suitable for one with millions of visits monthly.

Now, while some hosts like SiteGround give a clear number for the monthly traffic capability of each plan, some others simply state unmetered bandwidth or unlimited traffic.

For example, shared WordPress hosting from DreamHost, A2 hosting, and BlueHost don’t place any hard limits on traffic numbers. However, this isn’t totally unlimited because the shared server has physical limits. And if your blog receives too much traffic it will affect the resources like memory usage and CPU, which will generate problems for every website using the shared server. So such hosting providers may request that you restrict or upgrade your blog out of courtesy to other users of the shared server.

It means that shared hosting is great for starter websites but isn’t the right choice for high-traffic websites.

Uptime and Speed

Hosting providers like WP Engine, DreamHost, and SiteGround offer WordPress-specific caching tools that amplify website speed. Caching builds a static version of your blog and delivers it to visitors. This reduces the work your server must do in responding to requests. Without this, you would need to install a caching plugin for this function, however, most best WordPress hosting providers for blogs have this functionality inbuilt.

Another factor to consider is to search for a content delivery network (CDN) which most plans include for free. A CDN stores pages, images, and other blog resources across a network of servers spread around the world. A web host with a free CDN will increase speed and make your website a lot more resilient – one hardware failure can’t ruin your website because a lot of your content is distributed.

SiteGround, WP Engine, Nexcess, and BlueHost, all include a CDN with every WordPress hosting plan they offer. With regards to uptime, every option on this list provides stellar uptime. With the majority of them having a 99.9% uptime guarantee.

Customer Support

Just like everything great on the web, WordPress blogs have their not-so-good days. So when there are problems, how quickly can they be resolved? Getting quality and timely support is crucial especially for people who don’t intend to get into the WordPress backend to fix problems.

In such situations, having WordPress-specific hosting for a blog is extremely beneficial as the customer service reps will understand the plugins and common related website issues. However, if you choose a non-specific WordPress hosting then there isn’t a guarantee that support will be knowledgeable about WordPress.

Most of the options on this list offer 24/7 customer support but you need to pay attention to the availability and quality of the support provided. Will you be allowed to make support queries via email responses or live chat. And how quick is the response?

SiteGround, for example, has some great customer support reviews. And A2 Hosting provides email, phone tickets, and live chat support from hand-picked experts. So you would want to pick an option with a support medium that you feel most comfortable with.

The Best WordPress Hosting Service: Conclusion

You need to know if the best WordPress hosting service for your blog satisfies the particular needs of your brand and website. For example, if your business pushes for eco-friendly branding, then GreenGeeks is a great option. Or if you’re on a tight budget but need a managed hosting service, Kinsta and SiteGround offer powerful options.

If your blog receives high traffic and you run a complex site then WP Engine would be a perfect choice. The right pick for your blog all depends on what your brand represents and the goals you intend to achieve. If you see your website scaling fast shortly then you would want to choose an option like Nexcess that allows for auto-scaling free of charge, so you don’t lose out on providing a quality user experience during traffic spikes.

Match up the features of a particular WordPress host to your business and the choice becomes very simple.

Emmanuel Egeonu

Emmanuel Egeonu is a digital marketing consultant/writer that specializes in creating content for targeted traffic, landing pages, sales funnels, and website conversions. He has worked with leading influencers, several A-list celebrities, thought leaders, and Fortune 500 brands.

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