You only have to look at WordPress statistics to see the influence that WordPress has on the internet. 23% of all websites globally use WordPress, and every day, 50,000 new websites appear. In terms of traffic, 409 million people view WordPress blogs every single month, with over 16 billion pageviews recorded. It’s no wonder so many people choose to use it to create their websites.
But when it comes to hosting, many people want to be able to use the excellent open source platform, and self-host their website elsewhere to increase capabilities. And pretty much every reputable web host out there will have options to run WordPress. All they will need is PHP version 5.5 or greater, and MySQL version 5.5 or greater. This is shared hosting. For nearly all websites, it is more than enough speed and capacity, and is an extremely cost-effective way of building a customisable WordPress website.
Some companies offer managed hosting. Where regular shared hosting will allow you to use WordPress, perhaps with 1-click install, managed hosting is a service provided by some companies where all technical aspects of running WordPress is managed by them. This includes security, back-ups, scalability and speed. You will also receive premium support from experts who have loads of experience with any troubleshooting or customisation.
The advantages to look for when searching include:
If you are looking into the added costs of running an extremely large website and paying system administrators to take on the site's hosting, you are probably better off paying for a managed solution, even though it is more expensive than simple shared options. You also need to feel comfortable passing over the control of the technical aspects, as you might not have as much say over the changes being made behind the scenes. All of our top picks have knowledgeable customer services teams who can help you make the right choice.
1&1 IONOS offers a wide variety of hosting options ranging from shared and WordPress-optimized hosting to dedicated servers and VPNs.
Fasthosts is a UK-based web hosting company with a wide range of plans that can suit the smallest business to the largest enterprise. You can choose from inexpensive shared hosting to large-scale cloud-hosted installations, with an above-average set of features and support for its price.
If your customers are predominantly based in the UK, it’s worth checking out Fasthosts so you can offer them a fast-loading website. Avoid Fasthosts’ cheapest plans, though, as their performance is slower and they have significant limitations.
With more than 2 million websites internationally, Bluehost is one of the most popular web hosting services in the industry. And that’s not hard to understand when you look at what’s being offered. 1-click WordPress installation, 24/7 expert support from trained professionals, and a 30-day money-back guarantee are just a few of the reasons we’re so impressed by Bluehost.
