Beginner's Guide for Wordpress Hosting

WordPress hosting can be categorized into multiple segments like; Shared WordPress Hosting, Dedicated WordPress Hosting, VPS WordPress Hosting and Managed WordPress Hosting. These types are variant especially in terms of resource allocation, price and performance. I am going to explain more about the two most important segments (Shared WordPress Hosting and Managed WordPress Hosting) and cite out their pros and cons later in the post.

What you should know is 95% of the web hosts out there host WordPress sites, any server that supports PHP is able to host a WordPress site. It’s also recommended to run WordPress on a Linux server and not a windows server though it’s possible to run it on both servers.

Shared WordPress Hosting

Most people nowadays opt for this kind of hosting. They host their WordPress sites on shared servers usually because they are trying to cut costs or because they have less traffic on their website. Before opting for this kind of WordPress hosting you have to be aware that your website will share the same server with a couple of other websites, share the same resources between and for that reason it won’t have the best performance. Sites hosted on shared servers are usually slow and respond slightly slower. When starting up a website, you can host it on a shared server and migrate when your traffic and resource usage shoots up.

Pros of Shared WordPress Hosting

Hosting your WordPress site on a shared server has a couple of advantages. The biggest advantage is the fact that it’s inexpensive and can save you lots of bucks. Usually you’ll get the same services in terms of support, up time guarantee in some cases and more services. However, i haven’t seen any other benefit of shared WordPress hosting besides the cost factor.

Cons of Shared WordPress Hosting

WordPress sites that run on shared servers are usually slower compared to the ones that run on Dedicated Servers or Virtual Private Servers. Their response time is way variant. Besides, in some cases hosting companies become greedy and run too many sites on a shared server which causes a deficit in resource usage leading to regular server downtime. For the best shared hosting packages, i recommend you try out these web hosts:

Managed WordPress Hosting

WordPress has become so popular that a number of hosting companies have come up with separate hosting packages that are optimized to run it smoothly. This is what we refer to as Managed WordPress Hosting but there is a lot attached to it that you need to know.

For Managed WordPress Hosting, all the technicalities associated with running WordPress is handled by the web host. It could be in terms of server resources, security, speed optimization and many more. The bonus to this is a WordPress expert handling all your technical issues in case you need technical support unlike shared WordPress hosting where you are likely to encounter with people who have less knowledge about WordPress.

Pros of Managed WordPress Hosting

Good Performance: Sites hosted on Managed plans are usually fast and have great page load time even when your traffic shoots up. And besides, it’s very hard to hit the CPU limit on your server since enough resources are allocated to ensure your website runs smoothly.
Better Support: Unlike shared hosting, you receive support basically from WordPress experts implicating you are likely to get your technical aspects solved in case you try to reach out for technical support.
Security: WordPress has a couple of security loopholes but very few people know about it. With Managed WordPress hosting you don’t have to worry about the security of your website because it will be taken care of.
Automatic Updates: You also get automatic updates for the WordPress in case new versions are released. You don’t need to worry about the technical issues that might arise from upgrading WordPress because all that is taken care of. The updates also stretch to plugins, not only the CMS.
Free Daily Backups: Some shared hosting plans don’t entitle you to free backups. Usually in most cases you have to pay for it. Well, this is not the case with Managed WordPress hosting. Your website will have a fresh copy of backup on the server every day.

Cons of Managed WordPress Hosting

Price: The price is slight higher than the one for shared hosting. While shared plans go for as low as approximately $3.5 per month, managed WordPress hosting goes for an average of $12 per month and can shoot up to $20+ per month which is quite expensive.
Less Control over your Website: You probably get less control over your website since a WordPress expert is in charge of maintaining it.

The companies below will offer you the best Managed WordPress hosting.

By this point you should be knowing which of the two WordPress packages to sign up for. If your blog is new and receives less traffic then i recommend you try shared hosting else you have to opt for managed hosting. For managed hosting, mostly your site will run on virtual private servers (VPS) or even dedicated servers in rare cases.

Are you running a WordPress blog currently? do you host it on a Managed WordPress package or a Shared package? share your views below.