Last updated - February 2, 2022
For a WordPress website, one of the most important aspects to consider is the hosting. It determines the site performance, and consequently the user experience as well as the success of the site. There are quite a large number of options when you try to choose a hosting service for your store. More than settling for the most popular option, it will be always advisable to go for one that suits the unique requirements of your website. In this article, we will help you choose the best WordPress hosting service for your website.
Website performance
The hosting service that you choose will have a direct impact on the speed and performance of your website. WordPress recommendation for hosting involves the following:
- PHP 7.4 or above.
- MySQL 5.6 or above, or MariaDB 10.1 or above.
- Support for HTTPS.
- Apache or Nginx server.
Most reputed hosting services will have support for these aspects. Though it is a good idea to check before making a decision.
The performance of your website is dependent on the infrastructure provided by the hosting service. You need to have a hosting service that is capable to handle the variations in your traffic effectively. If you are planning to create a busy online marketplace, or a blog with viral content, you need to be able to handle the sudden surges in traffic. Conducting speed tests and load impact tests on your site will give you a clear understanding on how your website can handle increased traffic.
Quite reasonably, an inexpensive shared hosting plan will not be well-equipped to handle sudden surges in traffic. Though when you are just building a website, it could be reasonable to opt for a cheaper plan; though as the site scales, you need to look for better, more capable hosting plans.
Check out our article on shared, dedicated and managed hosting services and their pros and cons for a better understanding of this aspect.
Also read about GTMetrix speed test tool, and how to interpret the test data.
Scalability
When you plan to create a WordPress website, you may have envisioned how it should grow. The hosting service you choose should be able to support the growth of the website. One of the more easy ways to understand whether a hosting service will suit your business idea is to check if they have different plans to accommodate websites of different sizes and scope. If a hosting service has a good number of plans for different kinds of website, you can fairly assume that they will provide options to upgrade your plan easily when needed.
It is a wise idea to have a chat with the customer support team of the hosting service to understand the options to upgrade, as well as the other features of the plan. Many hosting service companies will consult with you and recommend the suitable hosting plans for your business idea. If this is the case, it could be an indication of good customer service as well.
Budget
The cost of website hosting can vary drastically according to the plans that you choose. As discussed above, the size and scope of your website will be determining the cost of your hosting plan. Shared hosting will be obviously cheaper, but for a growing website it may not be the best option. Depending on your technical knowledge and how much help you want in site management, you can choose the hosting plan. To give you a better idea of the cost of different hosting plans, here is a table with the starting prices of different hosting plans of Bluehost. Based on the features you choose, it could vary further.
| Plan | Starting Price |
|---|---|
| Shared Hosting | $2.95 per month |
| Managed WordPress hosting | $19.95 per month |
| VPS hosting | $19.99 per month |
| Dedicated hosting | $79.99 per month |
Uptime
Continuous uptime is one of the aspects that cannot be compromised, if you are looking to build a successful website using WordPress. If your site is down even for a few minutes, it could drastically impact your site’s reputation. The current generation of website users will be looking for instant gratification, and won’t think twice before leaving your site. By choosing a reliable hosting service with a proven track record of uninterrupted uptime, you can be assured about this aspect. Most popular web hosting services will have uptime better than 99%. Still it is best to check reviews and user comments to understand the real-life scenarios.
Security features
This is a no-brainer, you don’t want to choose a hosting service provider that is not serious about security. When you are considering a hosting service, you can check their security features to start with. Do they offer web application firewall (WAF) and protection from DDoS, brute force and spam bots? Most of the good hosting service providers offer these security measures. Additionally, you can check if they offer SSL certificates and help to set it up. Protection from malware and daily backups are also important security features that should be available in a good hosting plan.
Customer support
Customer support is arguably the most important differentiating factors between a good hosting service and a great one. If you get prompt support from your hosting service to manage your site, then you have much less to worry about. Things to look for are whether support is available 24/7 and is it easy to get in touch with the support team. Most reputed hosting services let you connect with them round the clock over email, chat and phone. You can also check average response times and how your queries are answered during the presale period itself. If there are difficulties in the presale stage itself, that could be a clear red flag.
WordPress-specific features
A managed WordPress hosting plan will take care of your site management aspects such as server maintenance and updates, so that you can focus on actual site building. Right from automated WordPress installation and data migration, you will get dependable support. They also offer regular WordPress and plugin updates as well, along with support for performance optimization.
Generally, a fully managed WordPress hosting plan will be expensive. However, you will find a wide range of hosting services with affordable pricing WordPress-specific features, such as one-click install. If you are particular about having WordPress-specific features, it is advisable to check these before finalizing on a hosting plan.
Recommended hosting services
Here are some of the recommended hosting services you can consider.
We hope this article helps you to choose the best WordPress hosting service for your website. Feel free to leave us a comment if you have a query on the topic.
