WordPress Hosting: A Brutally Honest Guide
WordPress Hosting: A Brutally Honest Guide
This is painful to say, however…
Most of what’s published accessible approximately WordPress web hosting is overall crap.
Not simply incomplete statistics. Not just half of-truths.
I’m talking outright lies and boldfaced scams.
You can’t even get straightforward solutions to primary questions like…
Should you go to the problem of putting in a WordPress web site or just start a blog without cost on Medium?
Which corporation is right? Who are you able to agree with?
Are there any decent unfastened WordPress hosting services?
What’s the difference between all of the distinct alternatives?
It’s infuriating, but pay attention…
I make money running a blog because I actually have constructed and run some of the maximum famous blogs in the international, scaling them from nothing to millions of site visitors in step with month. During that process, I found out a whole lot of valuable lessons — frequently the difficult way — approximately what makes a terrific WordPress host.
And nowadays, I’m publishing the guide I wish any individual had given me.
It’s brutally honest. It’s complete of technical details (that I do my great to explain). It’ll additionally save you heaps of money and time.
The Different Levels of WordPress Hosting Plans
To begin, here’s an infographic explaining the everyday path maximum bloggers take:
They start with a shared web hosting plan, after which they grow to a Virtual Private Server, after which they grow to a Dedicated Server.
Wondering how that applies to you?
Here’s the quick answer:
TLDR: The Best WordPress Hosting Right Now (In My Opinion)
If you’re underneath a hundred,000 traffic per month, don’t torture yourself by using getting a VPS or committed server. Just seize a reasonably-priced, no-frills shared hosting account and install WordPress. Most web hosting providers these days offer one-click WordPress installation, which makes the whole method a breeze.
Is it the quality WordPress website hosting inside the international?
No, but it’s manner higher value than the options. Here’s a pricing assessment:
The extra luxurious things get, the greater complex and frustrating it receives too. You’ve by no means skilled distress till you try and optimize a dedicated server for the primary time.
My recommendation?
Keep it easy and cheap. Use a shared host.
Now, that begs the question…
What’s the Most Cost-Effective Hosting for WordPress?
Personally, I use SiteGround (associate link) for all my new WordPress websites. Here’s why:
It’s the best stability I’ve determined of nice and rate. You can locate less expensive hosts, however you can’t find every person reasonably-priced that’s as properly as them.
They are optimized for WordPress. The load times in your website can be quicker there than on many hosts
I use them for my part to host maximum of our sites, and each their servers and aid have usually been brilliant.
That being stated, I’ll be immediately with you…
SiteGround isn’t the most effective terrific host within the global. They’re simply the one I for my part use and endorse to our 3+ million readers. I wouldn’t advocate them publicly while not having quite a few self assurance in them.
But there’s another accurate corporation with a special technique:
Who Is the Best WordPress Host, Regardless of Price?
WP Engine (affiliate) has an impeccable reputation for faultless website hosting, high overall performance, extraordinary uptime, and a dynamite support group. In my opinion, there’s no question they’re higher than SiteGround, but they’re additionally 10X extra high-priced.
Is it worth it?
If you need a controlled WordPress host that can take unlimited site visitors, provide perks like web page migration and WordPress staging, and has WordPress professionals status by using to help you with pretty tons something you need (plus you’re web hosting an e-trade website with a substantial price range), maybe it’s worth the extra price.
Quite a few large blogs host with them, and that they accept as true with it’s well worth each penny.
I’ve additionally been to their workplaces in downtown Austin and met with the executive group. It’s a solid agency that’ll be round for years to come.
The bottom line:
If you need to skip the rest of this submit and just pick a bunch, go together with SiteGround (associate hyperlink) when you have a small price range and WP Engine (affiliate) when you have a massive one. You won’t remorse going with both employer.
Before you pick any WordPress host although, right here’s an vital factor you should recognize:
Most Reviews Are Bought and Paid for
Pretty plenty every blogger making a website hosting recommendation is getting compensated by the host. And sure, that consists of me.
The difference?
I’m now not hiding whatever. I’m pleased with the partnerships I have with SiteGround (associate hyperlink) and WP Engine (affiliate), because I have non-public revel in with each companies, many of my students are customers, and they treat all people extraordinarily properly. I could luckily propose them despite the fact that they weren’t paying me a penny.
And that’s NOT authentic for other bloggers.
Most don’t even use the host they’re recommending. In my opinion, that’s just unethical.
Especially in relation to one precise organisation…
Many Hosts are Owned by means of the Same Terrible Company
Do any of these sound familiar?
2slick.Com
AccountSupport
A Small Orange
ApolloHosting
AptHost
Arvixe
Berry Information Systems
BigRock
BizLand
BlueDomino
BlueFur
Bluehost
BuyDomains
Cirtex Hosting
Cloud by using IX
Constant Contact
Directi
Dollar2Host
Domain.Com
DomainHost
Dot5Hosting
Dotster
easyCGI
eHost
EntryHost
Escalate Internet
FastDomain
FatCow
FreeYellow
Glob@t
Homestead
HostCentric
HostClear
Host Excellence
HostGator
HostMonster
HostNine
HostYourSite.Com
HostV
HyperMart
IdeaHost
IMOutdoors
Impress.Ly
Intuit Websites
iPage
IPOWER/iPowerWeb
IX Web Hosting
JustCloud
JustHost
LogicBoxes
MojoMarketplace
MyDomain
MyResellerHome
NetFirms
Networks Web Hosting
Nexx
PowWeb
PureHost
ReadyHosting
ResellerClub
SEOGears
SEO Hosting
Site5
SiteBuilder.Com
Sitelio
Sitey
Southeast Web
Spry
StartLogic
SuperGreen Hosting
TypePad
USANetHosting
vDeck
Verio
VirtualAvenue
VPSLink
WebHost4Life
WebHosting.Info
WebsiteBuilder.Com
Webstrike Solutions
Webzai
World Wide Web Hosting
Xeran
YourWebHosting
Ever heard of Bluehost?
Or perhaps Hostgator?
Both hosts are owned with the aid of a conglomerate referred to as Endurance International Group (EIG). In reality, EIG runs most of the huge web hosting organizations, and it maintains to shop for new ones all of the time.
So what makes them so awful?
After they purchase a number, they lay off support workforce, stop investing in new technology, and funnel the cash into extended marketing and payouts to shareholders. Sure, they commonly try and entice customers by way of providing perks together with free domains or unlimited web sites, however these quite small perk aren’t well worth it. In each case, the reputation of the host plummets.
Of path, you might be thinking how you discover if they personal your host. Or for that depend, how do you already know in case your host is a great one if almost each assessment is bought and paid for?
The solution:
The Best Way to Get Unbiased Reviews
Web Hosting Talk is the most important discussion board on the web about web hosting platforms, and it has actually millions of website hosting opinions. They don’t allow associate links either, so that you can count on the reviews to be impartial.
Granted, each host — be it SiteGround or WPEngine, DreamHost or A2 Hosting, GoDaddy or InMotion website hosting, or one of the less-than-ideal hosts stated above — receives a horrific evaluate once in a while, but you may comb thru dozens of news to get a far better experience for the reputation of the host, as well as their strengths and weaknesses.
Also, right here’s a bit hack to prevent some time…
Instead of the use of the quest device built into their discussion board, which may be a little clunky, grasp the URL of the discussion board you want to go looking, and then placed the subsequent in Google:
site:URL “host name”
For instance, in case you desired to verify the recognition of SiteGround (affiliate hyperlink), you may visit their list of boards, right click on the one that seems maximum appropriate, and duplicate the link:
From there, use the hunt parameter above in Google. In this example, it’d be:
And voilà, you have a list of evaluations you could effortlessly glance through for dependable records.
In particular, right here’s the biggest element that must have an impact on your selection:
How to Evaluate Customer Support
Customer support. When you’re a beginner or small business, it’s extra critical than something.
No marvel there, right?
But right here’s the huge lesson…
It’s no longer pretty much wait instances or the intelligence of the technicians. It’s also approximately the approach of support, what the host helps, and the helpdesk schedule.
For instance:
Do you have to submit tickets thru their helpdesk and watch for a response, or are you able to do a live chat or telephone name with a technician and in reality have a conversation?
Do they offer WordPress guide, along with the most popular WordPress topics and plug-ins? It’s stunning, however unless they especially point out it, many don’t.
Do they provide aid 24 hours a day, seven days per week, or is it only for the duration of everyday commercial enterprise hours?
Do they do day by day backups?
Personally, I want a number with technicians I can have interaction with in real-time (both via cellphone or chat), have a thorough information of WordPress.Org, and are to be had 24 hours an afternoon, seven days per week. And that’s sincerely noticeably tough to locate at an low cost charge.
That’s why I suppose SiteGround (associate link) is the best host for maximum novices. They give you all the ones things for an entire yr for much less than the cost of a dinner at a pleasing restaurant.
And right here’s what’s even cooler…
Their servers are also configured mainly for WordPress. Let’s talk approximately that subsequent.
The Configuration Matters More Than Tech
Chances are, you’ve visible a web hosting package that appears something like this:
Almost like a overseas language, right? Disk space, RAM, page views, MySQL, cPanel (control panel), records facilities, unlimited email bills, SFTP, WooCommerce, downtime, CMS, WP-CLI, Git integration, accessories, SSDs — what’s it all mean? And for that count number, how are you alleged to recognize which hosting plan is proper for you?
Actually… you don’t should. If you’re running a relatively easy WordPress website, none of those technical details matter lots. You can ignore them.
Here’s evidence:
In 2012, a fellow named Ewen Leith controlled to get a $15 server to run a WordPress website receiving 10 million hits an afternoon.
Granted, it become an exceedingly simple web page the use of a fixed up that could be tough for a beginner to manage, however it’s still evidence the configuration of your net host topics tons greater than having excessive-cease hardware or a loose CDN (Content Delivery Network) like Cloudflare.
That’s every other reason why I advocate SiteGround (associate link) – their servers are configured particularly for WordPress. Your web page may be able to handle some distance extra site visitors with far fewer resources. Over the long time, it interprets into giant savings, due to the fact you have to upgrade much less often.
Granted, SiteGround isn’t the most effective host who does this. If you make a decision to look for a person else, right here’s what to look for:
Litespeed or Apache NGINX
Database caching through Memcached
Support for PHP version 7 and HTTP/2
RAM, SSD garage, bandwidth — for a everyday WordPress site, none of these specifications honestly be counted an awful lot. Ignore them and consciousness at the three above info.
But, also don’t forget:
Installing Too Many Plugins Can Mess up Any WordPress Host
So, you observed a host that’s perfectly optimized for WordPress. Your site must be first-rate and zippy, right?
Actually… no longer always.
If you put in too many WordPress plugins (or maybe simply one really terrible one), you could slow down your web page or maybe motive your host to cancel your account. It’s the maximum not unusual source of troubles. (Plus, an out-of-date plugin can make your website online susceptible to malware and other attacks, so the extra you’ve got, the more your chance.)
So, how do you recognize which plugins to put in and which ones to keep away from?
The quick answer: deploy as few as viable, and if you ever have problems together with your website, the primary component you ought to continually do is strive deactivating plugins. For a detailed answer, take a look at our post on essential WordPress plug-ins.
Make Sure You Get a Free SSL Certificate
Ever since Google announced that having an SSL certificates is now a ranking aspect, it’s turn out to be important that allows you to have one in case you’re extreme about your content material being seen in engines like google.
What’s an SSL certificates?
It’s a further layer of protection and reporting across the safety of your WordPress website. Any site the use of SSL can have the prefix “https” inside the URL.
In the beyond, you had to pay a yearly fee to sign in your SSL certificate, but most of the pinnacle web hosting offerings are now imparting one free of charge via services like Let’s Encrypt. You should take benefit of that financial savings and have your site on https from day one.
The 7 Things That Really Matter When Choosing the Best WordPress Host
By this factor, I wouldn’t blame you if your head is spinning.
We’ve blanketed numerous technical details on this submit, so I concept I would finish with a short checklist to help you pick out the exceptional WordPress host for you. Here are the seven most essential things to remember:
Unless your web page is huge, you don’t want a VPS or committed server. Stick with shared WordPress hosting.
For the affection of God, keep away from any website hosting organization owned by using EIG.
When comparing customer service, search for 24/7 stay chat and/or smartphone assist.
The configuration of your net host topics extra than the technical specifications
Go easy on the WordPress plugins. They can gradual down your web page.
You must assume to get a loose SSL certificate. Use it.
If you’re bored with considering all these items, go with a controlled WordPress web hosting solution like SiteGround (cheap but good) or WP Engine (premium). SiteGround gives a hassle-loose, 30-day money-again guarantee, and WP Engine offers 60 days for new customers.
Follow those pointers, and also you’ll keep your self tons of time, money, and complications. I speak from enjoy.
Ultimately although, the decision is yours. Choose wisely, my pal.