If you’ve created your site using WordPress and are currently using their hosting plans, you may be able to find a more affordable option. Several WordPress hosting services offer much more functionality at a much cheaper price point.
In this post, I’ll review the best WordPress hosting sites for bloggers. We’ll explore key features, discuss plans and pricing, and find your blog’s best (and hopefully fastest) web hosting.
How to Choose Web Hosting for WordPress Sites
If you’ve built your blog using WordPress.org, your chosen WordPress hosting services will need to satisfy some specific requirements, including:
- The latest version of PHP and MySQL
- HTTPS support
- Sufficient disk space and bandwidth to support your theme and any features or pages you want to add in the future
- Minimum 99.9% uptime (not completely necessary, but very beneficial)
You’ll also need to check whether the hosting is shared, VPS, cloud, or managed, as these plans each offer different advantages and disadvantages. Here’s some more information about the common types of hosting plans:
Shared Hosting – You’ll share server resources with other blogs and websites, making shared hosting the cheapest option. But this means you’ll have less control over server settings and may see slower loading speeds. Shared hosting is an excellent choice if you’re just starting out.
Virtual Private Servers (VPS)—Your virtual server will have dedicated resources allocated to it, providing increased performance compared to shared hosting. While VPS is slightly more expensive, it offers scalability without the cost of a dedicated server. VPS hosting is ideal for bloggers who require more control over server settings but don’t want to commit to a cloud or managed plan.
Cloud Hosting—Cloud hosting utilizes a network of interconnected servers, adjusting resources dynamically depending on your blog traffic. It also offers on-demand scalability when your blog starts to grow. While cloud hosting is a dependable option for bloggers looking to expand their online presence, it comes with a bigger price tag to match.
Managed Hosting—Your WordPress hosting company will fully manage your servers, providing comprehensive support and site maintenance. Security updates, backups, and performance optimization will also be handled. The full-service nature of managed hosting makes it a great choice if you prefer to focus on your blog’s content.
The Best Website Hosting for WordPress
Now that you know all about hosting your blog through WordPress hosting companies, let’s explore some of the best options available to you. We will start with a pretty popular selection for web hosting: Bluehost.
Bluehost
Trusted by millions of bloggers, Bluehost is one of the best-loved and fastest WordPress hosting sites beyond WordPress itself. They offer tailored WordPress managed hosting, perfect if you’ve already built your site through WordPress.org. However, they also offer shared servers if you want slightly more affordable WordPress hosting.
Bluehost Pros:
Bluehost Cons:
Bluehost Pricing:
Bluehost’s Basic plan starts at $2.95 per month for the first year, the Plus plan at $5.45 per month, and the Pro plan at $13.95 per month. If you want to scale your blog quickly, opt for the Plus or Pro plans. But bear in mind that if you renew, you’ll pay $21.99 or $28.99 a month, respectively.
Verdict
For such an established WordPress hosting site, BlueHost doesn’t charge exorbitant amounts for its hosting services. With the Bluehost basic plan, you can make your blog findable through search engines for less than $3 a month.
Often, companies reward returning customers with lower prices. Unfortunately, this is not the case when using Bluehost for WordPress hosting services. Bluehost’s prices increase with each renewal, with the basic plan jumping from $2.95 to $11.99 a month after the first term.
As mentioned, Bluehost’s basic plan offers a dependable host. However, it limits you in terms of the sub-domains you can add to your site, the number of backups you can make, and the volume of email marketing you can do.
Find out more about what Bluehost’s WordPress hosting services can offer you here.
DreamHost
DreamHost has been hosting websites since 1997. They’ve certainly learned a thing or two about what makes WordPress the best hosting platform at that time. Offering WordPress-specific features, if your blog is built and ready to go, DreamHost will have you hosted in no time.
DreamHost Pros:
DreamHost Cons:
DreamHost Pricing:
Shared WordPress hosting through DreamHost starts at $2.95 per month, making it one of the cheapest web hosting for WordPress options. However, managed WordPress hosting plans from DreamHost show a significant monthly price increase of $16.95. Take some time to consider your goals for your blog before committing to one of these plans. If you want the best of both worlds, it’s worth exploring their VPS-hosting options, which start from $10 a month.
Verdict
DreamHost’s control panel is incredibly intuitive, allowing you to access everything from file databases, content delivery networks (CDN), plugins, email accounts, and backups all in one place. Plus, even though it’s not the industry-standard cPanel, the control panel is completely customizable.
DreamHost’s WordPress Starter hosting plan includes unlimited traffic and a free SSL certificate. You can also migrate your site for free, so if you’ve been hosting through WordPress, you can easily make the switch.
DreamHost’s data centers are currently located in the US. The further your readers are from these data centers, the longer the loading times will be. If you tailor your blog to readers outside America, it’s worth looking elsewhere.
Many customer reviews of DreamHost praise their reliable uptime, unmetered bandwidth, and comprehensive plans. However, some bloggers have struggled to get the support they need when things go wrong. DreamHost doesn’t offer a helpline and only provides live chat from 5.30 am to 9.30 pm PST.
Find out more about DreamHost’s good WordPress hosting here.
Hostinger
Finally, Hostinger offers managed WordPress hosting plans from as little as $2.99 a month. Their plans are some of the most comprehensive and affordable WordPress hosting options available for bloggers, and they’ve got excellent reviews to prove it.
Hostinger Pros:
Hostinger Cons:
Hostinger Pricing:
Hostinger’s Premium plan starts at $2.99 a month. Their Business plan, priced at $3.99 a month, includes a free CDN and basic WooCommerce functionality. With just a dollar difference between the two, it might be worth strapping in for the four-year Business plan upfront.
Verdict
CDNs improve website loading speeds by caching content and are vital if you regularly add new pages and features to your blog. However, Hostinger doesn’t offer a free CDN in their basic plan. Fortunately, they have so many data centers because you’ll rely on them to provide an optimized experience.
Although Hostinger offers the cheapest web hosting for WordPress, you must commit to a four-year plan to take advantage of these discounted prices. This isn’t great if, a few months in, you find out you’re not a fan and want to make a change.
To learn more about Hostinger’s affordable WordPress hosting plans, click here.
In Conclusion…
Finding a WordPress hosting service is essential, but that doesn’t mean you need to go through complex processes or pay high amounts to get your blog online.
With these best web hosts for WordPress sites, you’ll save money, time, and effort while getting affordable prices with great bandwidth, uptime, and customer support.
If your recommended web hosting for WordPress didn’t appear on this list, let us know what it is in the comments below!
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