Greatest webhosting for WordPress

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WordPress is the world's most popular CMS platform. According to a 2020 study, 455 million websites worldwide are powered by WordPress.

This is how I manage my blog here at NeilPatel.com, as well as my other websites and projects.

If you are currently using WordPress or want to use WordPress for your website, it makes sense to invest in WordPress web hosting.

WordPress-specific hosting solutions are the best option in terms of service, updates, performance, and installation for WordPress. Which web hosting provider is the best option in this category? Check out my reviews and recommendations below to learn more.

The top 6 options for WordPress web hosting

  1. Bluehost
  2. DreamHost
  3. SiteGround
  4. WP Engine
  5. A2 hosting
  6. IONOS from 1 & 1

How to choose the best WordPress web hosting for you

Before you can find the best WordPress hosting plan for your website, you need to know what to look for when shopping. Use the following considerations as a guide to buying. This makes it a lot easier for you to narrow down your options.

Traffic volume

How much traffic is your website getting? How much traffic do you expect for new websites?

The answer to this question will definitely have an impact on the type of WordPress hosting solution that is right for you. A site with 5,000 visitors per month should have a different plan than sites with 50,000 visitors per month. Plans that can accommodate 100,000 visitors per month are not necessarily suitable for sites with millions of monthly visitors.

New sites and smaller sites are fine with shared WordPress hosting (more on that in a bit). However, as your website grows, consider a VPS (Virtual Private Server) or a dedicated WordPress hosting solution.

support

Most people don't even think about considering their WordPress hosting provider's customer service. But this factor should definitely be at the top of your list.

Ideally, your website will run smoothly 24/7 and you will never have any problems. Unfortunately, we live in reality – not a perfect world. So one day you will run into a problem and need help.

The best WordPress hosting providers have your back. They are available 24/7 via phone, live chat, and email support. The agents will work diligently to resolve your problems quickly.

For those of you who currently have an active website on a different hosting service, make sure the provider you plan to switch to can help you with the website migration. The best customer care teams do this for free.

Managed versus unmanaged

Your technical experience will help you determine whether you want a managed WordPress hosting plan or an unmanaged WordPress plan.

Traditional WordPress hosting is cheaper. The host makes installing WordPress pretty easy for you, usually with just one click (assuming WordPress isn't pre-installed).

Managed plans are a little more expensive, but you get extended services. The best managed WordPress hosting plans have features like automatic backups, automatic updates, maintenance, and other perks for those of you who prefer not to work.

Site metrics and performance

All web hosting plans marked as "WordPress Hosting" should already be optimized for WordPress. So the performance of your website would be immediately better than with a non-optimized service.

Additionally, there are other factors that affect the two top site metrics that you should monitor – availability and speed.

The type of hosting you choose will have the biggest impact on this. For example, shared hosting is slower than VPS hosting. Your traffic volume also plays a role in your performance metrics.

Some providers are simply better than others in terms of speed and performance. The best way to find out more information on this topic is to read the latest customer reviews. If people keep complaining about unexpected outages and downtime, you should probably stay away. All of the providers on my list below are reputable and pretty much comparable in terms of speed and availability.

The different types of web hosting for WordPress

WordPress web hosting can be broken down into a handful of different categories. Here is a more detailed explanation for each one:

Shared WordPress

As mentioned earlier, shared WordPress hosting is the cheapest option. This is the best choice for new websites, small websites, small blogs, and websites that aren't expecting a lot of traffic. Most hosts make it really easy for you to get started with a common plan, and the maintenance overhead is also quite low.

The downside to shared hosting is performance. As the name suggests, you share server resources with other websites on the same server. As a result, your site could potentially crash or slow down as other sites on this server receive spikes in traffic.

Shared hosting is not suitable for corporate websites. If you're getting more than 10,000-25,000 visitors per month, consider upgrading to another tier.

Virtual Private Server (VPS)

VPS WordPress hosting is a step above shared hosting.

You technically still share a physical server with other websites, but the number of websites on that server is much fewer. In addition, the server is split into multiple virtual servers (hence the name) so that each site has its own dedicated resources.

The anatomy of VPS hosting prevents the traffic on other websites from slowing down your website. The VPS WordPress hosting has improved performance and can accommodate more traffic than shared plans.

Special WordPress hosting

With a dedicated WordPress hosting plan, you will have your own server for your website. This results in the highest possible performance, the ability to handle large amounts of traffic, and the ultimate in customization options at the server level.

It's worth noting that most websites don't require a dedicated server (this can also be very expensive).

This type of WordPress hosting is reserved for large businesses, websites with millions of monthly visitors, and developers who want to customize the hosting environment for multiple websites on a single server.

Managed WordPress hosting

Managed WordPress hosting is usually offered at the shared or VPS level. It is definitely an upgrade from traditional hosting and you will get tons of benefits.

The speed, performance and customer support is better. Everything becomes more secure behind the scenes (which means the site is also more stable). You don't have to worry about updates, installations or security – all of this is done by your host.

Managed WordPress plans are priced higher than basic shared or VPS hosting solutions. But for the service and extras you get, the cost is definitely justified.

# 1 – Bluehost – Best WordPress New Website Hosting

Bluehost operates more than 2 million websites worldwide and is an industry leader in web hosting. This provider has been recommended by WordPress for over 15 years, which makes it a top consideration for most websites.

WordPress hosting from Bluehost starts at just $ 3.95 per month.

Bluehost is a great option for anyone building a new website from scratch. You can bundle your hosting and domain registration into a single plan with a free domain name for one year. Other notable highlights from Bluehost include:

  • Automatic WordPress installation
  • Hundreds of free WordPress themes
  • Free SSL Certificate
  • Automatic WordPress updates
  • Free $ 200 Marketing Credits (Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising)
  • Configure your WordPress credentials securely

WordPress has excellent customer service and plans to accommodate budgets of all sizes. Bluehost's support experts are available 24/7 via phone and live chat. They even have dedicated solutions for advanced WordPress users and ecommerce websites.

It's easy to get started, and all plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

# 2 – DreamHost Review – Most Versatile WordPress Hosting Plans

DreamHost is another hosting provider that is recommended outright by WordPress. You have been on this list for over ten years.

Regardless of your website type, budget, or hosting needs, DreamHost has a WordPress hosting solution for you. Plans start as low as $ 2.59 per month.

DreamHost has over 750,000 WordPress installations in stock. They have basic WordPress hosting plans for new websites, managed WordPress hosting plans, and VPS for WordPress.

All of DreamHost's WordPress hosting plans come with the following features and benefits:

  • Award-winning customer support available 24/7
  • Automatic WordPress updates
  • Instant WordPress setups
  • Free SSL Certificate
  • Free privacy protection
  • Free domain
  • Free email hosting
  • Advanced control panel options
  • Automatic daily backups

Whether you want a shared plan, managed plan, or VPS to power multiple WordPress sites, DreamHost can meet your needs.

They have special servers that are optimized for WordPress and offer a 100% availability guarantee. DreamHost has a dedicated team of WordPress experts who can help you solve problems big and small.

You also benefit from a 97-day money-back guarantee. No other host on the market today offers this kind of promise.

# 3 – SiteGround Review – The Best for Scalable Traffic

SiteGround is the third hosting provider directly recommended by WordPress. They offer managed solutions for websites of all sizes.

Whether you have 10,000 monthly visitors, 100,000 monthly visitors, or anywhere in between, SiteGround can meet your needs.

SiteGround's WordPress hosting entry-level plans start at just $ 6.99 per month. Here are some of the features you can get from this provider:

  • 24/7 support from experienced WordPress agents
  • Automated WordPress installation and powerful WordPress starter kit
  • Free WordPress Migrations
  • Managed security and updates at the server and application level
  • Performance optimized for WordPress sites
  • Free SSL Certificates
  • Free daily backups
  • Unlimited free email accounts
  • Staging tools and developer toolkit
  • Collaboration tools and white label access

If you are expecting your website to scale and need to update plans to accommodate your growth, then SiteGround is the place for you. Your WordPress hosting plan is backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.

# 4 – WP Engine Review – Best Managed WordPress Hosting

With a name like WP Engine, it shouldn't come as a secret or surprise that this hosting provider specializes in WordPress hosting. More than 120,000 customers in over 140 countries rely on WP Engine for web hosting.

Your managed solutions are fast, reliable and secure. Plans start at $ 25 per month.

WP Engine's pricing is a bit higher compared to other options on our list. But their services are unmatched in the world of managed WordPress hosting.

These solutions are designed for larger websites. For example, the entry-level plan can accommodate up to 25,000 visits per month, which is 2.5 times higher than most other entry-level plans. They even managed WordPress solutions for websites with millions of dollars in monthly traffic.

Other notable highlights from WP Engine include:

  • Premium WordPress themes and Genesis framework included ($ 2,000 value)
  • Reliable hosting architecture
  • Optimized for developers
  • Unmatched speed and reliability
  • Integrated with solutions like Cloudflare, Google, Amazon, BigCommerce and more
  • Application performance monitoring

WP Engine is a great option for large websites, developers, businesses, agencies, and marketers. If you are looking for an advanced WordPress hosting solution, this is the best option for you.

# 5 – A2 Hosting Review – The Best for Site Migrations

A2 Hosting is another reputable and well-known provider in the field of web hosting. You have shared WordPress hosting plans from $ 2.99 per month and managed WordPress solutions that start from $ 11.99 per month.

Whether your requirements are simple, complex, or somewhere in the middle, A2 has a plan for you.

Not many hosting providers offer both shared and managed WordPress solutions. Most of them specialize in one thing or the other. The fact that A2 offers the option to choose is definitely a unique highlight.

For those of you who already have a website and want to switch providers, A2 Hosting offers free and easy website migrations. You also benefit from features such as:

  • Automatic WordPress setups
  • Free SSL Certificate
  • Global data centers
  • Turbo server up to 20x faster (with selected plans)
  • Developer-friendly tools
  • Free automated site backups
  • Unlimited storage (with selected plans)

If you read the reviews of current A2 customers, you will quickly see why this host is so popular. For fast, reliable and secure WordPress hosting, A2 Hosting is just the thing.

# 6 – IONOS by 1 & 1 Review – The best for pro users

IONOS from 1 & 1 is not necessarily the best-known name in the web hosting world. However, that shouldn't stop you from thinking about your solutions.

This provider is my top recommendation for WordPress professionals.

Some of the key highlights and features of the WordPress hosting plans are:

  • Multisite management tools
  • Easy migrations
  • Stage test
  • Smart updates
  • SSD for fast loading times
  • NGINX cloud server
  • Third party optimizations
  • CDN caching
  • Server generated HTML and REST API caching
  • Browser caching and dynamic content caching
  • Free SSL Certificate
  • Daily cloud backups
  • Free domain and email accounts
  • 24/7 support

For developers and WordPress experts who manage multiple websites, IONOS by 1 & 1 is the best option. Plans start at $ 18 a month. The best part is that you are not tied to a long-term contract. With IONOS by 1 & 1, you can cancel at any time.

Summary

If you run a WordPress website, you should definitely consider a hosting plan optimized for WordPress.

Which plan is the best? It depends on what you are looking for. The recommendations listed above are definitely the best place to start your search.

Just use the buying guide at the beginning of this post to narrow down your options.

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