Find the right WordPress hosting: 11 ways compared
To put a WordPress website online, you need hosting, sure. However, there are numerous different ways to host a WordPress website, all of which have their respective advantages, disadvantages, pitfalls, and target audiences.
So in this article, I’ll give you an overview of all the options for hosting a WordPress site, so you can choose the right one for you.
1. Free hosting on wordpress.com
Unlike WordPress.org, wordpress.com is a commercial platform maintained and owned by Automattic. Automattic is owned by Matt Mullenweg, the inventor of WordPress who is something like the benevolent dictator of WordPress for life. Hosting on WordPress.com’s platform is very easy to set up and can be used for free, but is limited in the plugins & themes you can use, forcing your site to carry advertising if hosting is to be free, or pay for this service after all. In the premium plans, however, wordpress.com is then anything but cheap and still has many limitations.
✅ Free of charge
✅ Stable and secure platform
✅ Can also use your own domain name
❌ Limited choice in themes and plugins
❌ Advertising is inserted into the page
❌ Automattic can pull the plug at any time
❌ No backups or restore!
❌ Limited community support.
❌ Max. 3GB data storage
❌ No switch to proper hosting possible!
Target audience
People who just want to start blogging and have no other requirements for the website.
Recommendation
Really not recommended! Once you have built a blog on wordpress.com, it will be extremely hard to get it off. Also, you have few options in terms of SEO and the choice of themes and plugins is quite limited, individual pages can be created here as good as nothing.
Here you can find the overview of the packages and prices of wordpress.com
2. Cheap shared web hosting
I’m sure you’ve seen hosting for 10$ a month or so, maybe with the promise of unlimited disk space, unlimited bandwidth, unlimited email accounts, and so on… But let’s face it, the only way this can be achieved involves two really bad ideas: 1. Putting as many websites as possible on one server (we’re talking thousands here!) and 2. Offering very poor support as well.
When you have many thousands of web pages on one server, there will always be competition for computing power, disk accesses, and database calls. You can be sure that at some point the site will start to run slowly, maybe even be down for days. Most of the time, the hoster won’t care about that.
In fact, offering the hosting as such cheap means that they don’t have much money left to pay qualified staff to manage and maintain their systems, or even offer proper customer service. So if the server costs 10$ per month to keep running, then they can only make a profit. Add in the cost of financial transactions and offices, and they might only be able to spend less a month on support.
So don’t expect the best of the best technology, fast response times on the phone, and chat. Also don’t expect the latest and greatest to be installed on the server, i.e. the latest version of PHP for example. Such cheap hosters simply cannot afford to do that for you!
Advantages and disadvantages
✅ Super cheap
✅ You can use any theme or plugin of your choice
✅ Admin panel to manage your website
✅ Possibly free SSL via LetsEncrypt (not guaranteed).
❌ Possibly not the latest software and hardware
❌ Possibility of hackers breaking in from one of the other sites hosted on the server
❌ The server might often run slowly
❌ Support will be hard to reach
❌ The server might be down for days at a time
❌ Any problem will be solved with an upsell to a more expensive hosting package!
❌ Definitely not suitable for e-commerce & online stores!
Target audience
Those who do not value their business enough to invest in it, or who simply need a very simple and, above all, cheap web presence.
Recommendation
Don’t do it. If you really want to appear professional and are serious about your business and online presence. If you’re simply looking for the cheapest hosting possible and get by with little power, go to Hostinger or you can check out the slightly more expensive but significantly better alternatives.
3. Professional shared hosting
Professional shared hosting usually starts at around 30$ a month and like cheap shared hosting, many websites are put on one server. But that’s where the similarity ends.
Companies like HostPress, raidboxes, dogado, webgo, WP engine, DreamHost, Siteground, and co. target this part of the market. Usually, they offer a very well managed hosting package, where there are per month limits on bandwidth and processing, so they can be sure that the server will not be overloaded.
Some of them, such as WP Engine, also have restrictions on which plugins can be installed. This is because, for example, you shouldn’t install a caching plugin as their infrastructure already takes care of that, or they know that a certain plugin uses way too much processing power or has a high risk of the site being hacked if it is used.
In these packages, if you run into problems and need support, you can be sure that they’ll respond promptly and offer upsells less often as a way to resolve issues. Of course, even here, you may need more performance and be advised to update.
Advantages & Disadvantages
✅ Free SSL certificate
✅ Often a free domain in the package
✅ Qualified support staff
✅ Good management tools
❌ Limited available resources
❌ Most of the time you don’t get SSH access
❌ The site may become inaccessible if you have a viral post or run TV ads and haven’t checked with the hosting company beforehand to deal with the extra traffic
Target audience
Those who value their online presence. This is a suitable solution for small business websites.
Recommendation
Professional shared hosting is a good first start for a website. Before booking, consider which company suits you best. For example, some providers offer managed services, others specialize in e-commerce, and still, others cater more to developers, making their lives easier with tools and staging systems. My recommendations here are especially HostPress, raidboxes, and WP Engine.
4. Self-managed VPS
A VPS (Virtual Private Server) is a server that you rent and install anything you want on it. Usually, these run either Windows or a Linux distribution. For WordPress, it is always better to use Linux.
When you rent a VPS, you usually pay for the number of processors you use and the amount of memory you need, and finally the amount of disk space. There are many companies that work in this area. Starting from 45 dollars per month, but of course, you can’t expect much performance for that.
The disadvantage with this type of hosting is that you have to manage the machine yourself. So if something breaks, it’s up to you. You also have to take care of the security, operating system, server configuration, email configuration, and so on yourself. Unless you are a DevOps specialist, I would definitely keep the finders away from a VPS!
Advantages & Disadvantages
✅ Rather inexpensive
✅ Versatile in use
✅ You can install what you want
✅ You can configure the webserver as you like
❌ You manage, maintain, and secure everything yourself.
❌ The administration takes a lot of time
Target audience
Those who are as happy working on Linux as they are configuring and tuning PHP, Varnish, NginX/Apache, REDIS, Memcache, or PostFix. If any of these words scare you or don’t mean anything, don’t choose this option!
Recommendation
If you want to take care of your VPS yourself anyway, I would book it directly with one of the big providers like TheStack, OVH, Hetzner, or a smaller provider like netcup.
5. Managed VPS
Many hosting companies offer you virtual servers that are managed, updated, and secured by their specialists. You can thus concentrate on building and expanding the websites and still benefit from dedicated resources that are guaranteed to be available to you on a VPS. A few providers in this area are for example WP-Project, HostPress, raidboxes, and Savii.
Recently, there is a growing number of companies that even manage and administer external virtual servers. They do this by installing a prepared software stack that they have created and know inside out. Perhaps the best-known names in this area at the moment are Gridpane and Cloudways. There, you can choose from different platforms for hosting, which are then run for you using the same technology stack. For example, you can choose to have a VPS from Digital Ocean or AWS and leave the rest to the managed service.
If you need to install a specific technology stack, that’s not for you. But if you’re just looking for quality hosting at reasonable prices, this is a great option.
Advantages & Disadvantages
✅ Super price-performance ratio
✅ Immediately scales with increased bandwidth requirements
✅ You don’t have to worry about anything
✅ The proven software stack that works
✅ Security is provided by experts
❌ Possibly no SSH access
❌ You can’t install whatever you want (e.g. Fail2Ban, ioncube, etc.)
❌ You have to know your way around to find the system
Target audience
Those who want a professionally managed hosting that can scale without problems and for which you don’t need to hire your own support staff.
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If you simply want a WordPress website online and don’t care about the underlying technology, this is one of the most cost-effective solutions for high-performance websites.
Recommendation
I’ve had very good experiences with managed VPS from the likes of WP-Project and TheStack. If you have something special in mind, before choosing the solution, make sure that your technology stack works on it and you don’t need things that the managed VPS hosting company can’t implement!
6. JAMStack Hosting / Static CMS Hosting.
J.A.M. (Javascript, APIs, and Markup) is the hot shit in hosting. This is where a dynamic website, like WordPress, is turned into a static website and made available on a CDN. At the moment Strattic is the best-known provider for this kind of hosting for WordPress. JAMStack hosting works completely different than any normal hosting.
Every time you want to edit a page or an article, the system starts its own container where your database and WordPress are stored. In it, you make the changes and push all the pages along with the scripts, CSS styles, and images as static HTML to a global CDN. Afterward, the container is shut down again.
This offers such a few advantages, most notably a massive reduction in security issues and power consumption to keep the server running. But there are also disadvantages to this solution. For example, you have to use 3rd-party APIs or self-written APIs if you want to store comments or other interactions on the site in the database. But if your site is virtually just a static brochure, this is probably the best option.
Advantages & Disadvantages
✅ Very secure
✅ Cached in CDN worldwide
✅ Incredibly fast
✅ Reduced CO2 emissions
❌ Must use APIs to use things like comments or contact forms
❌ Can’t save directly to the database
❌ Must first boot the container to perform administrative/editing tasks
❌ No server-side tasks/cronjobs.
Target audience
Those who want the highest security and performance, but do not have a dynamic site. For example, this would be a poor choice for an online store or a site that displays permanently fluctuating stock prices. However, if you have access to an experienced developer who knows Javascript and APIs, you can implement cool stuff with this as well.
Recommendation
In many ways, this is probably something like the future of hosting, but not everyone can afford to always use the latest of the new. I’d say this is mainly for those who rarely have to change websites, so want to put their information up once and then forget about it. But there is still a lot to be done here in terms of simplifying the possibilities, especially in collaboration with content management systems. Currently, I can not recommend JAMStack hosting for WordPress for several reasons.
7. Managed hosting
We now consider the top class of hosters. Managed hosting is right for professional, large companies, or anyone who wants to always be online, with high availability and strong security. There are many companies that focus on this area, for example, HostPress, raidboxes, WP Engine, Kinsta, TheStack, and many more.
Just like the managed VPS, hosting is a tightly controlled environment that you won’t get full access to. But that’s okay because you’re paying money for the hoster to take care of it!
Advantages and disadvantages
✅ Superfast
✅ Closed stack
✅ Strong security
✅ CDN often included in the offer
✅ Some can also do more than just WordPress
❌ Probably no SSH/WP CLI
❌ Support may not be 24/7 or German-speaking
❌ The number of websites is limited that can be operated
Target audience
This is the realm of big business, digital agencies that resell or run websites for clients. Likewise, I recommend managed hosting to any business that doesn’t want to deal with running the website themselves, but still want a secure and fast solution with quality support.
Recommendation
If you can, you should get managed hosting. Especially if you already have a successful online presence! However, before you book anything, you should properly understand your current needs so that you can choose the right offer for you. I can especially recommend TheStack and raidboxes.
8. Dedicated server hosting
Here you have an entire, physical server to yourself. There are two options in it again here: Managed or unmanaged. Unless you have a really good reason, always choose a managed server! Otherwise, you have to take care of everything yourself, just like with the VPS.
If you choose this way, you should schedule a detailed conversation with the hosting company to define the specifications of the machine you need. Otherwise, you’ll risk later upgrades and unexpected costs.
Meanwhile, a fully dedicated server is basically unnecessary with existing server virtualization techniques. A dedicated virtual server is just as good, if not better!
Advantages & Disadvantages
✅ Extremely high speed
✅ No competition for CPU, hard disk, or RAM
✅ Good support
✅ As many web pages as you want
❌ It may cost more than you want to spend
❌ Upgrade to a new server can be costly and time-consuming
Target audience
Businesses that need guaranteed and fast hardware performance. For example, those who are serious about e-commerce and don’t want to risk having another site on their server that could cause anything to interfere with smooth operation.
Recommendations
Like the managed VPS, the hosting company can theoretically be anywhere in the world, so consider choosing one close to your customer base to keep latency low. And don’t forget to make sure that the support hours are available during your working hours. If you want to get your own root server, I would definitely recommend TheStack.
9. Dedicated multi-server infrastructure
Once your hosting needs reach the next level of scale, a dedicated multi-server infrastructure is essential. This means upstream load balancers splitting traffic across multiple cache servers, which in turn connect to multiple web servers, which in turn connect to a matrix of self-replicating database servers, with a dedicated write server for your editors and many databases read servers for your site visitors.
Add to that all the Memcache, Redis, and shared file storage you can think of, and you have a highly complex server infrastructure that can handle extremely heavy loads.
Depending on the hosting company you work with, the hoster will take care of all the infrastructure setup and maintenance, or your DevOps folks will handle the configuration and setup of individual applications themselves.
Advantages & Disadvantages
✅ You can run as many websites as you want.
✅ Support will resolve tickets as quickly as possible.
✅ A properly designed system will be able to handle all visitor rushes
❌ You often pay by GB for file and database storage
❌ Every part of your infrastructure will have a cost
❌ SLAs (service level agreements) can get very expensive
Target audience
Those who have several million visitors per month, need excellent support and want a large amount of flexibility.
Recommendations
Pick a hosting company that is close enough to visit in person sometime. You’re running a premium stack and want to be able to knock on their door if you’re not getting the support or performance you need or to be able to discuss new projects face-to-face. I personally use the services of TheStack for such complex setups.
10. Co-location hosting
Your own physical server is here in someone else’s data center. This means that you really have to buy a real server and take care of ALL hardware and software bugs.
Advantages & Disadvantages
✅ You know your server inside and out
✅ You can upgrade or replace hardware as needed.
❌ No support in case of hardware problems.
❌ No support for software
❌ You have to take care of all upgrades and patches yourself
Target audience
Those who used to have a server room in their building but no longer want that responsibility or it is no longer profitable.
Recommendations
When choosing your location, pay special attention to security, accessibility, proximity to your company, and peering of the data center you choose. With TheStack you are probably right.
11. Redundant failover hosting
Now we come to the absolute top of the line when it comes to WordPress hosting. Redundant failover hosting can be operated with physical or virtual servers that are distributed in different data centers to spring into action when needed. This way you can ensure the operation of the website even if some catastrophic event occurs (e.g. floods, power outages, EMP pulses, terrorist attacks).
The most important thing here is that there is a good connection between the sites so that your database and files can be replicated regularly.
Advantages & Disadvantages
✅ Your business will continue even if the power goes out or some other disaster occurs.
❌ Really very expensive
❌ Regular testing of failover required
Target audience
Those who can’t even afford to be offline for 5 minutes!
Recommendations
Weigh whether you need a ‘like for like’ failover or something that can run in a reduced capacity to reduce your overall cost. Also, consider the human factor in failover! This is an area where I would work with Hostinger.
