How to find the best WordPress hosting: All you need to know in 2024

WordPress has become the leading choice for managing websites, powering over a third of all sites. Originally designed as a blogging tool nearly 23 years ago, it has since evolved into an open-source platform, free to use and customize. Matt Mullenweg, its founder, ensured its longevity through Automattic, fostering an independent WordPress ecosystem. With continuous development from thousands of developers worldwide, WordPress remains a reliable, cost-effective publishing solution. It's user-friendly, allowing easy content creation with rich layouts, images, and videos, plus customizable themes and plugins for added functionality. For anyone considering a website project, the question often arises: why not use WordPress? And the next step is finding the right hosting provider for your WordPress site.

Understanding managed and shared hosting for WordPress

Shared hosting allows WordPress installation on a portion of a rented server, often via a user-friendly web interface supporting various software installations. It's a cost-effective option to initiate publishing, though it may encounter speed limitations.

Managed WordPress hosting provides access to a dedicated, optimized server exclusively for WordPress, ensuring swift and secure performance.

Another choice involves setting up WordPress on a personal virtual private server (VPS), ideal for those seeking maximum control or a learning experience.

Each option suits different user profiles, such as beginners, nonprofits, small businesses, eCommerce ventures, and bloggers, depending on their specific needs and preferences.

Managed WordPress Hosting simplifies hosting by running fortified WordPress versions on virtual machines, providing security patches for OS, WordPress, and plugins. NameCheap facilitates easy domain integration. Services like EasyWP offer high performance and customization through a user-friendly interface, accommodating up to 500,000 monthly visitors.

Nonprofits, tempted by shared hosting's low cost, may opt for Namecheap shared hosting, requiring some time and self-education. Although shared hosting has drawbacks like unruly neighbors and bandwidth issues, nonprofits can handle them and rely on resources like Google and Reddit for assistance. However, managed WP hosting offers peace of mind for a slightly higher cost, allowing nonprofits to focus more on their mission.

In eCommerce ventures, WordPress offers abundant options for webshop setup, sales management, payment acceptance, and bookkeeping. WooCommerce, a leading eCommerce plugin, covers these aspects and more, including shipping assistance, with its open-source nature and extensive plugin architecture.

While some hosting companies include WooCommerce in pricier eCommerce tiers of managed WP hosting, Namecheap offers WooCommerce integration without added expense.

For small businesses seeking an independent online presence, managed WordPress hosting with a custom domain is a secure choice. Opt for a tier allowing ample customization to align themes with corporate identity easily.

Storage needs for fresh content updates and product promotions likely won't be extensive. Prioritize hosts permitting SEO plugin installation like Yoast for enhanced search rankings.

Digital service agencies may find virtual private servers ideal for WordPress hosting, boosting credibility through server setup and maintenance experience. Advanced site-versioning plugins aid in securely showcasing design iterations to clients, while server-based tools streamline production cycles alongside WordPress installations.

Selecting the best hosting for your WordPress website

Automattic generates revenue through various hosting plans for WordPress sites, ranging from a limited free plan with ads to a high-end VIP program for high-traffic sites. Their Premium plan, priced at $8 per month, includes 13 GB of storage, premium themes, and advanced customization options. However, installing plugins requires at least the $25/month Business plan. Other web hosts also offer WordPress hosting due to its open-source nature, often at no extra cost. However, be cautious with free plans, as they typically offer minimal disk space and limited security measures, making your site vulnerable to various risks. Opting for trustworthy hosts with reliable data centers ensures both affordability and security.

Key players in the WordPress hosting industry

Leading web hosting companies worldwide have developed robust WordPress hosting strategies. While all offer 24/7 support, free migration, and automatic software updates, each differentiates its product range sufficiently to warrant a closer examination.

GoDaddy emphasizes its 30-day money-back guarantee and features Free SSL starting from its $19.99/month Ultimate plan, which includes unlimited storage and visitors. Managed WP hosting tiers start from the $9.99/month Basic plan, offering 30 GB storage, ideal for 25,000 visitors/month, with 90-day backups and 1-click restore.

Hostgator extends its money-back guarantee to 45 days on managed WP hosting plans starting at $9.95/month, offering unmetered storage, free SSL certificate, and 1 GB daily backups, accommodating 100,000 monthly average visitors.

Namecheap introduces a fresh approach with a first-month cost of $1 to $3 for its almost-free trial. EasyWP WordPress plans include free Positive SSL certificates, with the Turbo level priced at $5.74/month annually, offering 50GB storage and up to 200,000 visitors/month. Namecheap's investment in its optimized cloud network and global content-delivery network positions it as a leader in Managed WordPress performance, outperforming competitors like GoDaddy and Bluehost in latency and delivery speed.

BlueHost offers both shared and managed WordPress hosting. Its shared WP plans start at a discounted monthly rate of €2.65 ($2.95) for the first three years, with features like 50GB storage, free Auto SSL certificate, and a free domain name for one year. Advanced features such as spam and malware protection, analytics tools, and SEO tools are available in its fully managed WP Pro plans ranging from $30 to $60/month.