All The Details On WordPress Hosting: The World's Favorite CMS Platform
Without a doubt, WordPress is one of the most important tools on the internet today. The content management system has become almost synonymous with blogs and websites, and for good reason thanks to its expansive SEO and developer tools. Even so, hosting your WordPress website comes with its own set of unique challenges and considerations.
Today, you can find managed WordPress hosting that lets you focus on the important parts—creating an amazing website full of engaging content—and worry less about the nuts and bolts. The best WordPress hosting solutions are optimized out of the box to handle your needs, plugin requirements, and website goals. More importantly, even cheap WordPress hosting offers you great features and benefits if you’re using the CMS to administer your website. If you’re looking for the right WordPress hosting for your new blog, learn more below and read our expert reviews to find the one that works best.
What is WordPress Hosting?
WordPress web hosting is simply hosting that has been designed to get the most out of the popular CMS and meet its security and performance requirements. When you use the WordPress CMS to build your website, you’ll still need to host it somewhere.
You can choose regular web hosts which may or may not include tools to connect with the WP engine (if you’re wondering, “what is WP engine?” it’s simply the infrastructure that makes WordPress run), but it requires some work. Instead, choosing the one that is already configured out of the box will save you time and make it easier to build your website to comply with WordPress’ requirements.
There are two general categories when you’re looking for WordPress hosting—shared or managed. The former simply means that your website will share a server and resources with other websites. This is a great option if you’re seeking to get a starter website up, or if you’re not building a large project. Managed WordPress hosting offers your own server, as well as generally better performance—though it comes with a higher price tag.
When Should I Choose WordPress Hosting?
It’s worth noting that a managed or shared WordPress hosting plan isn’t a requirement if you’re using the CMS to build your website. However, if you are using WordPress, then it would make the most sense to use tools that are already optimized out of the box to use the WP engine to its fullest potential.
The more important question is whether you need shared WordPress hosting or its managed variant. Shared options are a much better choice if you’re just starting out, or if your website is small enough that you don’t require significant resources. Because shared hosting distributes resources among many users, you’ll have slightly slower speeds (though by no means slow), but you’ll also be able to save thanks to more affordable plans.
On the other hand, managed WordPress hosting is ideal if your website is larger, of if you have higher traffic and bandwidth requirements. You’ll also get some speed advantages and added features, but these plans tend to be more expensive, and can be out of content creators’ initial budgets.
The Main Benefits of WordPress Hosting
WordPress VIP Service
Designed for paid subscribers of WordPress, the VIP service is usually included in managed WordPress hosting plans and gives you a significant performance boost. This includes fully administering settings for security and optimization, as well as back-end tools like hourly backups, advanced firewalls, and on-demand scalability.
Exceptional Performance Innovation
WordPress is at the top of the CMS market because it has worked hard to provide a popular and intuitive service. This also extends to the performance side, where it offers outstanding page loading speeds thanks to innovative caching, processing tools, and even search engine optimization. Using WordPress hosting really helps you take advantage of these tools’ full functionality.
Great Software Development
Building a website from scratch is both expensive and time-consuming. WordPress offers built-in tools that make it easy to deploy custom websites that are built directly using templates and assets already on the platform. This cuts down your development time and makes management and maintenance significantly easier.
The Main Questions to Ask when Considering WordPress Hosting
What Are the Server Requirements?
WordPress is a very flexible CMS, but it does have some standards that any website and hosting service must meet. These are:
- HTTPS Support (SSL certificates are required)
- MySQL 5.6 or newer, or MariaDB 10.1 or newer for your database
- PHP 7.0 or newer
Ideally, your WordPress hosting will include these by default.
What is The Page Load Speed?
More than ever, fast loading pages are a must if you want to keep visitors to your site engaged and browsing. It’s vital that your chosen hosting service offer speeds that surpass Google’s page load recommendations. Today, the best WordPress hosting tools offer load times between 200 and 400 milliseconds on average.
What is the Uptime?
Performance is about more than speed, and making sure your website is consistently available online should be a priority. Check your hosting options’ uptimes (which should never be lower than 99.9%) and see if they offer guarantees in their service level agreements (SLA) to ensure their performance.
What Support is Available?
No matter how well you build your website, you’re likely to have some small issues or questions to resolve. Having a support team that is available on multiple channels and around the clock should be a priority. Additionally, look for hosting providers that offer educational resources and extensive knowledge bases.
What’s the Price?
Last, but not least, is considering your budget and which hosting solution meets your needs in that regard. Remember that shared hosting is usually more affordable despite its small disadvantages and can help you get started without putting you in an early hole. However, it’s also worth considering that more expensive doesn’t mean better, and you should choose a plan that checks all your boxes.
How to Choose the Best WordPress Hosting
To make sure you get the most out of your chosen platform and select the best WordPress hosting solution, you can follow these easy steps:
Define What You Need
Not every website is built the same, and not every business has the same requirements. Before putting money towards a plan, make sure you know exactly what you’re looking for. You can accomplish this by defining what your website will do and its scope, as well as by projecting your growth.
Shared or Managed?
Depending on what you need, you’ll be able to choose from a shared and cheap WordPress hosting plan, or a slightly pricier managed solution. The key here is to know what you need and determine which can deliver exactly you what you need without exceeding those very needs. Don’t feel obligated to choose a managed plan when a shared one will do just the same.
Know What Features You Need
This is another important step, because it will inform what type of hosting you get. While the best web hosting for WordPress includes a wide range of features, sometimes you may be better served choosing something a little more back-to-basics that fits your skill level or budget more neatly. Look at what each host offers, and if you really need it.
Read Expert and User Reviews
Before making the final decision and locking in your subscription, it’s worth exploring what others are saying and what experts think of the products you’re considering. Read through our user reviews to see what people like you are saying in real time and dig deeper in our expert reviews which break down each WordPress hosting tool.
How to Install WordPress Hosting
Fortunately, today your WorddPress hosting is usually ready to go as soon as you open it, with very few steps to take. Once you’ve chosen your subscription, you’ll be able to access your hosting dashboard, which will include all the tools you need.
From there, you can use one-click installers such as Softaculous—which most companies offer for free with their hosting—to get started. You’ll need to add your WordPress credentials and URL, but once you’re ready, you’ll be good to start working on building the best website you can. To get the fastest WordPress hosting, make sure you look for an option that comes optimized with better storage, faster connections, and smart resource usage.
