Every online business requires web hosting, but when it comes to WordPress, we should look for a more specialized hosting. I know finding the best web hosting company is not an easy task. Many of the WordPress hosting reviews that I have read online are not valid at some point. So I decided to make this post which will show you some of the best WordPress hosting companies, and I will also explain why they are so good.
No doubt, WordPress is one of the most customizable and flexible CMS of all time. It does require a specialized hosting service which can handle PHP calls and database connectivity, overall. There are many types of WordPress hosting are available on the internet, and to pick the best WordPress hosting service type, we should take care of the official WordPress hosting requirements. There are thousands of web hosting brands are available in the market today that claim as the best host. I do agree that some of them are legitimately a great hosting company, if not all, but the question here is how to pick the best WordPress hosting.
Here is your answer,
Table of Contents
How Should We Choose a Best WordPress Hosting?
I have manually tested various hosting providers and found some of the best in the business that gives value for the money. So here are the criteria I have been following to see in WordPress hosting.
- A powerful hosting plan (CPU + RAM + Bandwidth)
- High uptime ( > 99.91%)
- Budget pricing
- Global data center availability
- Well optimized web server
- Premium like after-sales support
In one of my articles, I have already explained why I do not consider “page load speed” while choosing a web hosting service, go read it. So in this post, I will not be comparing web hosts by their page load time because it will not do the correct judgment to them. I know that many hosting reviews suggest the web hosting companies by “page load speed” but not me. I do believe that the most important factors while choosing a WordPress hosting company is uptime and hardware (CPU, RAM) resource. The more are uptime and hardware, and the more reliable is your hosting.
Finally, here are the five best WordPress hosting.
1. A2 Hosting (Fastest)
| Features | Details |
|---|---|
| Uptime | 99.92% |
| Support | 4.5 Points |
| Price | $3.92 / Month |
| Servers | 4 Locations |
| Our Ratings | 4.5 Stars |
| → Visit A2 Hosting |
Listed as the fastest WordPress hosting company in one of my posts, A2 Hosting is our choice for speed. Why speed? Because speed is important. The reason I am referring to it “fastest web host” is because of the way it controls WordPress cache. If you don’t know about the cache, it is a crucial storage memory that handles the load on your server. All hosting plan comes pre-installed with an A2 Optimized (a cache plugin) that makes your WordPress site load faster than a typical site.
One more reason that I have listed A2 Hosting on the top is that of its international server reach. I mean, you can choose any of the data center locations, depend on your target audience. Not all web hosting companies give freedom to choose to host location which is an essential factor in selecting a web host. The server locations are USA-Michigan, USA-Arizona, Europe-Amsterdam, Asia-Singapore.
Top Features of A2 Hosting
- CDN integration with Free Cloudflare
- Free SSL certificate (HTTPS via Let’s Encrypt)
- Great monthly uptime of 99.92%
- Unlimited disk space and bandwidth
- One-click WordPress installation
- SSD powered drives (3 times more transfer rate)
- cPanel dashboard, unlimited email
- Worldwide data center availability
- Anytime money-back guarantee
Disadvantages
- Uptime needs to improve a little bit
- Price can increase in next renewal
A2 Hosting also has a “Turbo Plan” which costs a little high ($9.31 per month) but it a more powerful web hosting plan. This plan lets a fewer number of the user to signup on the main server, that makes it 20 times faster. Also, you can host multiple websites on this plan, and it is a great option to create staging sites. Nonetheless, the Lite and Swift plan is also suitable for a good amount of traffic (around 30k monthly).
Another reason why A2 Hosting is my favorite is its advanced cache system. You cannot expect a web page loads instantly without caching control unless it has been operated on a dedicated server. Not everyone can afford a dedicated server. But comparatively, A2 Hosting is really doing a great job by providing maximum possible performance in a shallow price segment.
2. SiteGround (Recommended by Wordpres.org)
| Features | Details |
|---|---|
| Uptime | 99.99% |
| Support | 5 Points |
| Price | $3.95 / Month |
| Servers | 4 Locations |
| Our Ratings | 5 Stars |
| → Visit Siteground |
It is not just me, SiteGround is also recommended by Official WordPress.org (creators of WordPress). It is an excellent hosting platform for bloggers and small business agencies like photographers, designers. SiteGround’s plans cover small website traffic to average traffic (up to 100k monthly), so it is a good platform to get started quickly.
Just like A2 Hosting, SiteGround also gives you to the Cloudflare global CDN network feature. Cloudflare makes a cached copy of all the WordPress static files and server them to your visitors through the closest location possible. This is how your site launches electric fast, and it keeps the connection alive even if your primary host is offline.
Top Features of Siteground Hosting
- Free SSL certificate for your domain
- Incredible uptime of 99.99%
- Disk space of 10 GB, 20 GB, 30 GB are available
- Quick WordPress installation with staging option
- Daily hosting backup without an additional fee
- SSD drives everywhere
- Free website builder tool and cPanel dashboard
- 30 days money-back guarantee
Disadvantage
- Renewal cost can be pricey
So, there is no denying the fact that SiteGround knows what is important for your WordPress site. That is why they have highly tweaked servers that can handle your site traffic more professionally. If you are interested in SiteGround, please refer to the link below.
3. Cloudways (Managed Hosting)
| Features | Details |
|---|---|
| Uptime | 99.99% |
| Support | 5.0 Points |
| Price | $10 / Month |
| Servers | 70+ Locations |
| Our Ratings | 4.8 Stars |
| → Visit Cloudways |
Cloudways is a next-generation managed WordPress hosting that has taken hosting to the next level. The way Cloudways works is entirely different than the other hosting providers that I have listed here. Basically, Cloudways gives you the power to manage different Cloud hosting like DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, Amazon AWS and Google Cloud Platform using a simple dashboard. More importantly, a Cloud hosting has huge advantages over conventional web hosting, on controlling the servers and get the maximum performance out of it. But it’s not easy to do it without Cloudways.
Let’s take an example here to understand the application of Cloudways.
Suppose, you want to host a WordPress site on DigitalOcean. So it really requires a lot of backend coding skills to bring your website online. Apparently, that’s not the case with Cloudways. Cloudways gives you a simple tool (a dashboard) where you can start using WordPress in a few clicks. I mean no coding skills required which is the advantage of using Cloudways. On top of that, you get priority support from the Cloudways team.
Top Features of Cloudways Hosting
- Fully SSD powered WordPress site from database to disk
- The worldwide reach of data centers
- Incredible uptime up to 99.99% on average (100% mostly)
- Get more optimized WordPress performance
- Scalability to increase and decrease server power anytime
- Charges hourly and billed every month (no annual contract)
- Root access to fine-tuning your hosting server
- Free SSL certificate for website’s security
- Free global CDN network (kudos)
- The ridiculous interactive support team
Disadvantage
- A bit highly monthly price
- No cPanel (100% managed by Cloudways)
I would really like to list Cloudways on the top of our best WordPress hosting providers, but I know a lot of people still prefer cPanel hosting.
Cloudways is pure gold for a more dynamic serving of your WordPress content. I would highly recommend Cloudways to a developer or a programmer. Even if you are not a skilled programmer, you can simply use it for a WordPress site and ask for as many help you want.
As a matter of fact, Cloudways covers traffic from many countries like India, Australia, Europe, UK, South Africa, Nigeria, Pakistan, Canada (you name it). In other words, you have 72 server locations to choose from for your WordPress site, which is marvelous. Most importantly it is flexible too. This means you can also change the server location anytime you want (you always be billed on hourly bases).
4. Bluehost (Value for Money)
| Features | Details |
|---|---|
| Uptime | 99.98% |
| Support | 4.8 Points |
| Price | $2.95 / Month |
| Renewal Price | $7.99 / Month |
| Servers | 4 Locations |
| Our Ratings | 4.8 Stars |
| → Visit Bluehost |
The reason why I have listed Bluehost here is the overall performance, and you know what, it is one of the few most popular hosting companies. Bluehost has already served web hosting to millions of domains. It is a clean and easy web hosting service for any beginner and learner. Be it pricing, performance, support and all the essential hosting feature, Bluehost has got you covered. I am not saying that I am indeed a great fan of Bluehost, but It gives you so many benefits in lowest price possible. Yes, it gives you a free domain, hosting package, WordPress ready blog at a special price of $2.75 per month.
Of course, Bluehost is offering free .com domain name with any hosting plan, but they are missing features like Free CDN, Cache and Free SSL Certificate in their hosting packages. That is why Bluehost is currently not in our first position. However, I can still recommend you to try Bluehost as you can even get the remaining free benefits. All you need is to read my website speed up post and try to implement the things manually. So finally, you will get the power of Bluehost service and an optimized WordPress blog at a low competitive price.
Top Features of Bluehost Hosting
- Cheap monthly pricing
- Easy setup to WordPress
- Unlimited bandwidth and 50 GB disk
- Free .com domain name included
- Excellent technical support reach over calls, chat, email, tickets
- 30 days money-back guarantee
Disadvantage
- Price can increase in next renewal
Overall, Bluehost is a very robust hosting platform and gives a consistent performance. Also, the other reason to choose Bluehost is incredibly high uptime. So there will be less downtime, and as a result, your visitors will get a great experience while browsing your website content. However, at the end note, I would only recommend Bluehost for the US, Canada and Europe based traffic for better performance.
5. HostGator (High Reliability)
| Features | Details |
|---|---|
| Uptime | 99.96% |
| Support | 5.0 Points |
| Price | $2.75 / Month |
| Servers | 2 Locations |
| Our Ratings | 4.7 Stars |
| → Visit HostGator |
HostGator, I am sure you must have heard this name in the web hosting world. It is because of its popularity throughout the years for being a highly reliable web host for small businesses. There are very few dissimilarities between HostGator and Bluehost plans. Do you that both of these companies are owned by the same brand i.e., Endurance International Group. Said that it doesn’t mean that they are using the same servers. Actually, HostGator has a straightforward hosting plan that includes all the essential elements to bring any new website online on the same day.
HostGator has transparent usage terms and hosting package details. However, shared hosting is only good for low traffic websites as per my knowledge. If you want to host a small business eCommerce website, perhaps, you should go with the HostGator Cloud hosting plan instead, which is more powerful. Or, if you just want to host a personal WordPress blog, you can stick with the shared hosting plan.
For example, if you believe, you will get super intense traffic in the future (like 100k+ monthly) then go for the HostGator cloud plan. Otherwise for website traffic below 20k/monthly HostGator offers the best WordPress hosting at a reduced price.
Top Features of HostGator Hosting
- Free domain transfer and website migration
- Website builder with 100+ mobile templates and images
- An SSL certificate is also included
- 99.96% of average monthly uptime
- cPanel to control your website more easily
- Awesome staff support for technical issues
- 45-Days money-back guarantee if not satisfied
Disadvantage
- Renewal cost can be pricey
Speaking of essential elements, HostGator offers everything basic of Hosting plan but most importantly the Uptime. Uptime is very crucial for your long-term online growth. If your website gets down more often, the loyal blog readers will surely start to decrease gradually. Even the biggest giant websites like Facebook, Instagram, Twitch, Youtube also go down which creates confusion among users. Believe me, downtime is not good for a healthy business. However, the good thing is that HostGator’s servers are very sturdy and give a consistent industrial level uptime.
So that’s all my views on picking the best possible WordPress hosting in the year 2019. I will keep on tracking the performance of these web hosting providers and will list some more potential hosting provider in the future. Also, make sure to give your valuable feedback on your experience with any one of these listed web hosts. Your valuable review can be beneficial to someone.