You are probably searching for web hosting and trying to figure out how to build your website. When it comes to making your website live, web hosting is essential. This article will help you understand web hosting, its benefits, and how we can help you get your website up and running.
Choosing the right hosting for your WordPress website is very important. Your WordPress site’s health will rely on the hosting provider you use.
But how do you know which one is the best WordPress host?
Hostinger, Bluehost, DreamHost, and HostGator are just a few of the many options available.
No matter which host you choose, these are the three most important aspects of WordPress hosting.
Your website’s uptime and speed will vary depending on many factors such as the hosting plan you choose, the size of your website, and how many visitors it receives.
What is web hosting?
Web hosting allows you to upload your website files to the internet. Anyone can access your website from anywhere on the internet. It is usually the service that you receive from a web host provider such as one.com.
Although you could theoretically host a server for your website from home, there are many benefits to using a web hosting provider.
How does web hosting work?
Companies like ours rent technology and services to host websites on the Internet. Your website will be accessible online once you have chosen your domain and signed up for a hosting plan.
Your web host is responsible to ensure that your server is running when you use web hosting services. It is the host’s job to protect your server from security breaches, and store all of your files, assets, and databases on the server.
What are the different types of web hosting?
Many web hosts offer various types of hosting, and each one will have a different cost. It all depends on what your website needs are. Below is a list to help you decide which type of hosting would be best for you.
1. Shared Hosting
A shared hosting service is where a web host hosts multiple websites on one server. Because you use the same server, it is the most cost-effective type of hosting. Shared hosting is an option if you’re looking to launch a blog, or if you have a new business.
In the past, sharing servers could cause problems. A spike in traffic or resource use from one site could slow down its “neighboring” sites. Web hosting subscriptions now come with plenty of resources to ensure high performance.
2. WordPress Hosting
WordPress Hosting is hosting that has been optimized for WordPress at the server level to ensure smooth sailing.
What makes WordPress different from regular web hosting? Although details may vary from provider to provider, the majority of WordPress hosting packages share these characteristics:
WordPress hosting can be run on shared, dedicated, or VPS servers.
3. VPS Hosting
VPS stands for Virtual Private Server. VPS websites share a server with other websites, much like shared hosting. Each VPS tenant is granted its own partition and has access to guaranteed resources. You often have more storage, processing power, and memory available than you think. This comes with a higher price.
VPS hosting is best for experienced server managers. Customers who have a VPS account can access their partition from the root and configure their server software such as Ubuntu, CentOS, or Windows Server. This allows for high customization in order to run web apps that were built for these systems.
Some hosting providers may use the terms “Premium Hosting” and “Business Hosting” to refer to VPS Hosting that is managed by their own experts. You should research the services carefully before you sign up. Subscription details, prices, and support levels can vary greatly.
4. Dedicated Hosting
You have access to the entire server with dedicated hosting. This hosting allows you to access the entire server as a VPS but does not require you to share it with other websites or apps. You are effectively leasing a web server that is physically located at the facility of your service provider. Professional support and expertise are available if needed.
Only highly-demanding enterprise-grade websites are eligible for this top-end web hosting. A dedicated web server is not necessary for small and medium-sized companies.
5. Cloud Hosting
Cloud hosting is a confusing term these days. We recommend that you carefully review what you get when you sign up for cloud hosting.
Cloud hosting was originally a VPS that could be scaled to multiple servers. This way, if you have a website with a high traffic spike, your system can provide additional resources to keep it running smoothly. Cloud hosting will have flexible specs and a variable pricing model.
Some companies are now co-op hosting for their shared or VPS servers, due to the rising popularity of cloud computing. Cloud computing services are also offered by other providers such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. These include cloud hosting, along with a variety of advanced tools for cloud-based operations. Hosting a website with these “hyperscalers”, which can run millions of servers, is possible. However, it can be difficult to host a site.
How to Choose the Right WordPress Hosting Company?
The most important decision you will make is choosing the right web hosting company.
Before you make your final decision, take a look at these main points.
1. Look for Built-in Security Features
You put in a lot of effort to build your site, create great content, and drive traffic.
It would be shameful to lose all your hard work due to a hacker or distributed denial-of-service (DDoS), attack.
Most reliable web hosts are aware of the importance of hosting plans with security features such as:
2. Research Scalability
WordPress hosting companies that are good at what they do know is that people want their websites to grow. Scalability is an essential feature of any hosting company, whether you want repeat customers or loyal readers.
You should ensure that you have a range of plans when looking for a hosting company. You should ensure that they offer plans for people just starting out, people who are already seeing more traffic, and people with established websites that get a lot of traffic each day.
Also, be sure to check for storage and bandwidth limits. You should also consider what happens if your site visitors exceed these limits. If you exceed your allocated amounts, some hosting companies may charge you a high price. Others will see that you are growing and will help you scale up. Others will shut you down simply because they cannot handle the traffic.
Amazon lost almost $2 million or $66,240 per second in their most well-known site outages. This is a significant amount of revenue that Amazon could lose due to a website outage.
While it is unlikely that you will lose much, the truth of the matter is that there are still potential losses if your host is unable to manage your website.
3. Check for Customer Support
It is not easy to manage a WordPress site. Even if your web developers are skilled, you will run into issues on your website that you cannot resolve.
This is where superior customer service in web hosting providers can be helpful.
The following should be provided by your host’s customer service team:
You can also ask trusted web developers what they think. Word of mouth and personal experience is powerful. Who better to trust than people who are well-informed about the services web hosting companies should offer customers?
4. Check for Guarantees
If you are not happy with your hosting, no reputable company will make it difficult for you to leave. Most of the top WordPress hosting companies offer money-back guarantees that range from 30 to 90 days.
You should also be able to migrate your site to another host easily if your contract ends with your web host.
The cancellation or renewal of your service should be easy for your original web host. You can also transfer your site to a different host easily.
You should find a web host that makes the process as simple as possible when choosing a new host. Most web hosts will transfer your WordPress site for free. So you don’t have the hassle of making mistakes that could cause your website to go down.
Top 7 Best WordPress Hostings List
Let’s start with the best web hosting providers, and then we will move down to find out which ones to avoid. Here are the top WordPress web hosts:
1). Hostinger
Hostinger was originally from Europe, but they have data centers in the USA and Asia. Hostinger doesn’t allow you to choose a data center right away.
However, once you have signed up, your support can help you change the location of your server from the US to Asia or Europe. This is a great feature that not many web hosting companies offer.
A WordPress website builder is also included. While it’s not ideal, it can be very helpful for beginners.
Hostinger offers a 24/7 live chat service that is friendly and helpful, and also has a large library of tutorials and guides for WordPress.
Their performance is quite good, despite being the most expensive WordPress host. They were only beaten in terms of load times (345 ms) by A2 Hosting and HostGator.
Their uptime is very competitive. However, in September 2020 they experienced a 14-hour outage that dropped their overall uptime down to 99.74%. Their annual average uptime was 99.96%.
The cheapest WordPress hosting plan starts at $1.99/month if you sign up for a 48-month plan. After that, it renews at $3.99 per month.
The plan comes with 100 GB bandwidth and 30 GB disk space. All plans include a free email account, an SSL certificate, and site migration.
You can return your money 30 days after signing up if you are not happy with their service.
2). BlueHost
Bluehost is a popular WordPress host for bloggers and small businesses. Bluehost’s initial price is $2.95 per month. They are simple to use (one-click installation for WordPress) with very few performance issues.
Bluehost had the highest price-to-value ratio. Pingdom, our speed monitoring tool, reported an average uptime of 99.95%. Only 38 outages were reported, each lasting less than one hour. There was no impact on overall customer numbers.
WordPress.org recommends them as one of the best web hosts. All plans come with free SSL and an easy WordPress install feature.
Bluehost does not offer site migration for free with their cheapest plans. Transferring one site would cost $150. Sign up for the Plus plan to receive a free migration.
Bluehost prices start from $2.95 per Month (with a 36-month contract) and include a free domain with SSL for one year. The renewal cost is $9.99/month. Bluehost offers a 30-day guarantee of satisfaction.
Bluehost offers a large number of WordPress tutorials. All plans include reliable, fast 24/7 live support.
3). HostGator
HostGator hosts over 10 million domains, making it one of the most popular web hosting providers. HostGator offers WordPress hosting services similar to Bluehost.
These plans are ideal for websites that have high traffic and require faster loading speeds. HostGator WordPress plans make your website more responsive for mobile users in different countries.
The average load time over the past 12 months was an amazing 267 ms Uptime availability was 99.97%. They experienced just 3 hours of downtime per year with only 18 outages.
All plans include unlimited bandwidth, storage, email accounts, and site migration.
HostGator support can be reached by phone, or better yet via live chat. HostGator customer service is fast, friendly, and available 24 hours a day.
Their introductory prices start at $5.25/month (if signed up for a 36-month plan), but their renewal fees start at $9.95/month. You can get it for only $2.75/per month.
HostGator offers a 45-day money-back guarantee.
4). GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks offers WordPress users fast, secure, and scalable web hosting. Its name is derived from its environmentally-friendly approach to hosting websites.
All WordPress plans include free SSL, free CDN, and unlimited email accounts. They also offer unlimited bandwidth and unlimited SSD storage. After signing up, you can choose from different server locations within the USA, Canada, or Europe. WordPress site transfers are completely free
Support is available via live chat, email, and phone 24/7. They also have many tutorials and guides related to WordPress. Their support is quick and reliable.
GreenGeek performance is excellent, particularly speed (465 ms), and uptime is usually reliable. However, in December due to our own error, our tracking went down for 20 days during the holiday season. This year’s recorded uptime was only 94.08%. Their last year’s average was 99.95% with 110 outages and a total time of 4 hours and 24 mins of downtime.
Their higher renewal fees are the only problem. The $8.95/month price for the cheapest plan is $2.95/month. The money-back guarantee lasts for 30 days.
However, if you take their “free” domain name offer, your refund will be deducted by $13.95 to cover a domain registration fee.
5). InMotion
InMotion another US-based WordPress host hosts more than 350,000 domains.
InMotion is a great choice for WordPress users because of many reasons. Every plan includes a free SSL, CDN, and unlimited email accounts. There are also 200 free WordPress themes. The only thing they restrict is how many sites and disk space you can have.
You can reach them via live chat or phone in the USA. They are fast and reliable. Site transfers are available for free, which is a great perk. You can also try the Bold Grid preinstalled website builder.
InMotion Hosting has one drawback. You can’t access your account immediately. If you are an international customer (for example outside North America), there may be delays and hassles when trying to verify your account.
They are reliable, with average uptime and speeds. They have a 99.93% uptime rate and an average speed of 460 ms over the past 12 months.
InMotion offers multiple WordPress plans starting at $2.49/month (renew $8.99/month), and up to $12.99, which vary from maximum websites, storage size, and bandwidth (max visitors).
InMotion is also one of the few hosts that offer dedicated WordPress solutions.
InMotion offers a money-back guarantee of 90 days.
6). DreamHost
DreamHost a well-known and established US hosting company with more than 340,000 customers, is highly regarded. They are recommended WordPress hosts by WordPress.org, just like SiteGround and Bluehost.
DreamHost’s mission is simple: To be reliable, fast, and optimized for WordPress users.
All plans, Shared, Managed, and VPS, offer a WordPress website builder, a free SSL, and SSD storage with unlimited bandwidth.
Site transfers cost $99 but they are included in their Dream Press plan for $16.95/mo. There is no 24/7 support. Although live support chat is available, it’s only available between 5:30 AM and 9:30 PM Pacific Time. However, it’s at least available seven days per week.
They are not the best host for websites that serve visitors from Asia or the USA. Our international server testing has shown them to be a poor choice. The page loading speed is 1190 ms on average and 99.62% uptime.
The cheapest plan starts from $2.59/month (3-year commitment) or $3.95/month. DreamHost offers “high performance” managed WordPress plans that cost $16.95 per month. Email accounts are $19.99/year more and the domain renewal fee is $15.99/year.
DreamHost offers a 97-day money-back guarantee, which is unlike other providers.
7). iPage
iPage primary goal is to provide the best experience from registration to customer service.
Two WordPress plans are available from iPage. Each plan comes with a domain name free for one year, as well as one-click WordPress installs and a free SSL certificate. Bandwidth is unlimited, as well as storage.
The downside is that iPage does not offer any content delivery network (CDN), it can’t change data centers (only the USA), and site transfers are not free.
iPage provides support via phone or live chat 24/7. They also have a knowledge base.
Their uptime (92.2 ms) and load times (922 ms) aren’t as high as other WordPress-oriented web hosts. The performance is also lacking.
For 1/12/24/36 months, the cheapest plan is $1.99. Backups are $1.00 per month, email addresses cost $6 through Google Suite.
All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee
WordPress Hosting Summary:
A detailed review of the top 7 WordPress hosting providers.
Hostings | Price | Money Back | Load Time | Uptime | Rating |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hostinger | $1.99/mo | 30 days | 345 ms | >99.74% | ★★★★★ |
Bluehost | $2.95/mo | 30 days | 249 ms | >99.95% | ★★★★★ |
HostGator | $2.75/mo | 45 days | 267 ms | >99.97% | ★★★★★ |
GreenGeeks | $2.95/mo | 30 days | 465 ms | >99.95% | ★★★★ |
InMotion | $2.49/mo | 90 days | 460 ms | >99.93% | ★★★★ |
DreamHost | $2.59/mo | 97 days | 1190 ms | >99.62% | ★★★ |
iPage | $1.99/mo | 30 days | 922 ms | >99.80% | ★★★ |
Conclusion
Each review was based on the speed, uptime, cost, and quality of our test site. Pingdom and third-party sources were used to analyze and monitor performance.
We recommend that you use a web host provider that offers a good uptime of at least 99.94%, and a load time below 700 ms.
Bluehost, Hostinger and HostGator WordPress Managed are the best choices. All of them offer high uptime, quick page loading times, and great customer support.
This guide will help you if you are already a web host and want to change hosts. However, you should make sure that certain web hosts offer site migrations free of charge.
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