Top 15 Hosting Providers of 2018 With Best WordPress Hosting Services

WordPress is undoubtedly the most popular Content Management System (CMS) on the internet. It is powering nearly 30% of all internet sites. Best WordPress hosting services from top web hosting companies is an essential requirement to run a WordPress website to its best performance. Here we are going to present you the top WordPress hosting services with a quick and hassle-free installation of WordPress. So if you are starting a new blog or website or a web magazine or anything like that then WordPress will be a drop in solution.

WordPress offers a vast library of themes and plugins for any requirements of a website. Social Media Integration, Polls, E-Commerce Solutions, etc. are available as a one-click install plugin in its libraries. It also takes care of Responsive Website Design, Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP), Featured Image Galleries, etc.

WordPress is basically a PHP script using MySQL as a database (MariaDB is better though). So to host WordPress we usually need an Apache server and a MySQL server (Nginx and MariaDB recommended for better performance). In shared hosting, usually, a cPanel managed Apache and MySQL combination is provided. For Dedicated or Virtual Private Servers, we can install any combination.

Choosing a best WordPress hosting can ensure that your website is up and running all the time and users can reach you properly. A good WordPress hosting should be fast, secure and reliable.

There are many different types of WordPress hosting options available such as Shared Hosting, Managed Hosting, Virtual Private Servers, Dedicated Servers, etc. Each hosting company has different pricing plans and features. We have looked at all the top WordPress hosting providers in the industry and compare their plans, pricing, features and customer services.

Best WordPress Hosting Services – Features and Pricing

Shared WordPress Hosting

A starter plan usually comes with a Shared Hosting. For a website that is starting up this solution is the best. The cons of a Shared Hosting are that you are in a tank with a lot of fishes in it. The computing power, storage, memory, etc. are all shared with a lot of other websites on the same host. The troubling side of this plan is that if the traffic to your website grows considerably then the website will become slower and that will badly affect the ranking of your website. The better side is that Shared Hosting plans are very cheap, as low as $3.5 per month. And it is very easy to setup and it can hold up to twenty thousand visitors per month.

Pros of Shared WordPress Hosting

• Very low cost/cheap
• Very easy to setup, usually cPanel is included in these plans
• Good customer support, technical expertise and platform resource at low cost

Cons of Shared WordPress Hosting

• Server resources like CPU, RAM, etc. shared with other websites
• If the content goes viral and the site gets more traffic, then the hosting company will want you to move to a higher plan.
• Other websites hosted on the same server may affect your site’s performance.

VPS WordPress Hosting

Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting is another option to host your WordPress site. In VPS your WordPress instance will get a complete server with its own CPU, RAM, and Network. But all those resources are actually shared from a large array of CPUs, RAMs and Network Clusters. In this case, the resources will not be shared to another and the performance is always better. The other side is that it costs more. Normal VPS plans start at $20 per month. This type of hosting is more flexible and tweakable according to the needs of the website. But this needs more technical expertise as you will need to configure a server on your own.

Pros of VPS WordPress Hosting

• The WordPress site gets dedicated resources from the Virtual Private Server
• It can be easily scaled up if more resources needed without changing the server
• Other websites will never affect your site’s performance

Cons of VPS WordPress Hosting

• How much resourced needed is always a tricky decision
• You will have to manually add resources when you need to scale your website for handling unexpected traffic
• VPS Hosting is more expensive than Shared Hosting, or in some cases even more expensive than Managed WordPress Hosting

Cloud WordPress Hosting

In Cloud Hosting we are getting a complete server like in VPS hosting. But some features are extensible like we can add more CPUs and RAMs when needed. The billing is also flexible, i.e. according to the usage of the resources. In this segment, the plans and offerings vary according to Hosting Provider Companies. Some companies offer basic plans starting from $10 per month while some companies offer basic plans starting from $100 per month. This service comes in between the Shared Hosting and VPS Hosting.

Pros of Cloud WordPress Hosting

• Much more secure, faster, and reliable performance than a Shared Server
• Automatic backups, automatic updates, command line control, etc.
• WordPress centric support helps you solve problems quickly

Cons of Cloud WordPress Hosting

• Costs a bit more than Shared Hosting
• Installation of some WordPress plugins could be restricted
• If your content goes viral suddenly, then scaling may cost you more

Dedicated Server WordPress Hosting

In Dedicated Server plan, also known as Managed Hosting, we are getting a complete server. The CPU, RAM and other hardware attached to the server are exclusive to us. But this is the most costly plan in Web Hosting business. In this also the price varies according to the number of CPUs and the amount of RAM attached to the server. The pricing starts at $200 per month and up. Usually, this is used for sites with a very high volume of traffic. Such sites need additional components like dedicated CDN, SSL, etc.

Pros of Dedicated Server Hosting

• Full access to all server resources
• Can test various environments without any restriction
• Get priority support from Hosting Service Provider
• You manage your own computer and can use it for anything you want

Cons of Dedicated Server Hosting

• A lot more expensive than any other hosting plans
• You will need high technical knowledge and more time to take full advantage of your dedicated machine for optimal results
• Even if your traffic drops unexpectedly you need to keep paying the high costs of the full server

For starting a new website (small website or blog), a Shared Hosting plan is the best. But if your website goes viral in a small amount of time then all the companies will force you to move from Shared Hosting to VPS or Dedicated Server Hosting. But VPS and Dedicated Server Hosting are priced way too higher than Shared Hosting. Also, it needs more technical expertise to configure and run services successfully. So be prepared for a transition if your content goes viral and traffic increases considerably.

WordPress.com Paid Plans

• Custom Domain Name (Unlike free WordPress websites which use wordpress.com subdomains)
• Jetpack Essential Features
• Email & Live Chat Support
• 6GB Storage Space
• No WordPress.com Ads
• $2.99/month

Verdict for Best WordPress Hosting Services

If you are a beginner starting a small blog (10-20k visits per month) and plan to grow gradually then Shared Hosting is best for you. In that segment, SiteGround and A2 Hosting are the Best WordPress hosting services.

If you are starting a small business website and plan to grow faster with the more robust environment then it is better to go for managed WordPress services. In that case, WP Engine and Flywheel are the best WordPress hosting services for you.

If you are a technical person who is not afraid to play with servers or if you have some sysadmin friends and you enjoy tweaking server for best performance then cloud hosting service is for you. Linode is the best service provider, but other service providers mentioned above are not bad too.

For Hosting WordPress always choose latest Web Server (Apache 2.4), PHP (PHP 7.2), MariaDB (10) and use some server optimization libraries to get better performance.