The Best WordPress Hosting Recommendations for 2021

If you decide to build a standalone site with WordPress, then choosing a good and reputable WordPress hosting is the most important aspect of building a website.

A good WordPress host will help improve search engine rankings (SEO), enhance user experience and help you ultimately succeed.

If you are new to WordPress hosting, it can be difficult to know which is the best WordPress hosting company. There are hundreds of hosting companies on the market, with dozens of well-known ones like Bluehost, SiteGround, HostGator, WP Engine and other popular hosts, so which one is the best WordPress hosting for you?

I have been using WordPress hosting to build websites for 13 years, during which I have changed several WordPress hosting providers and have some experience in this area. In order to help you choose the right WordPress host, I combine my own experience to recommend the top WordPress hosting providers that work well and make a detailed comparison to help you choose the right hosting company for you.

No matter which host you choose, you need to consider the following most important factors when choosing a WordPress hosting company:

• Speed (load time): Speed is crucial to provide the best user experience for your website and improve your SEO search engine rankings.
• Online rate (uptime): It is also extremely important that your website runs 24/7 without downtime, so you need to choose the most stable WordPress managed hosting.
• Price: The price should be reasonable, too expensive and unaffordable.
• Customer support: Choose a WordPress hosting service with a good reputation, professional and friendly customer support is also extremely important to ensure that problems encountered can be solved in a timely manner.

Combining these factors, let’s take a look at the top 10 WordPress hosting providers in the world with their extreme advantages and disadvantages.

Top 10 Best WordPress Hosting Recommendations (Pros and Cons)

We measured these WordPress hosts mainly in terms of speed uptime, features, support and price. You can read this article in detail to find the best WordPress host for your needs. We also have a quick comparison table of the best WordPress hosts, so you can check them out at a glance.

Next, let’s go straight to the top-ranked WordPress hosting companies. These WordPress hosting providers offer both shared hosting, as well as VPS web hosting and dedicated hosting.

We don’t recommend domestic WordPress hosting here, because domestic WordPress is relatively expensive and has limited features. I only recommend foreign well-known WordPress hosting services.

1. bluehost

Loading time: 689 ms
Uptime: 99.99%
Customer Service Support: 9/10
Website: Bluehost.com

Bluehost is one of the largest web hosting companies in the world, powering over 2 million websites worldwide. Since 2005, they have been building easy-to-use and professional WordPress hosting. They are also an official recommended hosting provider by WordPress.org.

For easy installation and use of WordPress blogs or websites, I highly recommend Bluehost, which is also the WordPress host currently used on this site.

Bluehost’s WordPress hosting is inexpensive and offers great discounts on first-time purchases, free domain name fees and free SSL for the first year, etc.

The shared price is as low as $3.95/month; VPS web hosting is as low as $19.99/month.

Pros.

• Free domain name for the first year, free SSL and free move site service.
• WordPress one-click site builder with no setup. Even if you are new to WordPress, Bluehost can help you to build a website with light delivery.
• Users can also customize WordPress settings.
• WordPress.org official recommended hosting.
• Bluehost has a built-in free CloudFlare CDN, which can accelerate websites around the world including mainland China and other parts of Asia for free.
• Support live chat or telephone customer service.
• 30 days money back guarantee for hosting service. (Domains purchased with hosting service can be returned within 3 days. More than three days can not return the domain name)

Cons.

• Only annual payments are available, monthly payments are not supported.
• Purchase a 3-year hosting plan to get the maximum discount.

2. SiteGround

Loading time: 649 ms
Uptime: 99.98%
Customer Service Support: 10/10
Website: SiteGround.com

SiteGround is also one of the top WordPress hosting brands and is an official WordPress recommended hosting provider.

SiteGround is a little more expensive than other web hosts because they offer higher speed and security than other cheaper hosts. They run on Google Cloud, which speeds up the loading of websites around the world.

Prices are as low as $6.99 per month.

Pros.

• Offers solid state drive storage for faster website access.
• Supports NGINX, HTTP/2, PHP7.
• Provides free CDN for faster website loading.
• Data centers located on three continents to provide excellent website user experience.
• Premium users can use Geeky WordPress features such as WP Staging and Git Integration.
• Free site migration.
• Free SSL.
• 30-day money back guarantee.

Cons.

• More expensive than other web hosts.
• Does not offer free domain name for the first year.

3. HostGator

Load time: 691 milliseconds
Uptime: 99.96%
Customer Service Support: 10/10
Website: HostGator.com

HostGator hosts millions of domains around the world. Their shared hosting space is exceptionally cheap. There is also a money-back guarantee of up to 45 days, so you can try their WordPress hosting service risk-free.

Setting up with HostGator is also very easy, registering for an account provides a login cPanel panel, which can also be easily installed using the built-in cPanel WordPress installer.

Pros.

• VPS web hosting is cheap.
• 24-hour live chat and phone support.
• Offers one-click WordPress installation with unlimited multiple email addresses.
• 45-day money back guarantee.

Cons.

• Does not offer first year free domain name.
• For shared hosting, SSD SSD access is not supported.
• The site building process is not as smooth as other WordPress hosts such as Bluehost. May be a bit difficult if you have never used cPanel before.

4. WP Engine

Loading time: 582 ms
Uptime: 99.99%
Support: 9/10
Website: WPEngine.com

WP Engine is a leading WordPress hosting provider based in Texas, USA. They have many clients including Yelp, Asana, National Geographic, PBS and MyFitnessPal.

They have partnered with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform for the fastest speeds and best security for your WordPress website.

I recommend WP Engine for those who have high traffic websites and need high quality WordPress hosting.

Pros.

• Professional managed WordPress hosting service.
• It is not only a WordPress hosting company, but also offers a full suite of high performance solutions for WordPress websites.
• Provides 24/7 chat support.
• Provides testing tools to test WordPress plugins and other features before publishing a website.

Cons.

• Expensive price.
• Only offers WordPress hosting, no support for other site builders.

5. DreamHost

Loading time: 445 milliseconds
Uptime: 99.90 percent
Customer Service Support: 7/10
Website: Dreamhost.com

DreamHost is a leading web hosting provider, hosting approximately 1.5 million websites in over 100 countries worldwide, with over 400,000 satisfied customers.

DreamHost is an officially recommended hosting provider by WordPress.org. It is also PCI compliant VPS web hosting.

With DreamHost hosting you can install WordPress websites. Your hosting account comes with WordPress pre-installed. all packages include free domain name, free SSL certificate and free website firewall.

It also provides high speed SSD storage which can speed up WordPress website access.

It is inexpensive, starting from $2.59 per month.

Pros.

• Officially recommended hosting provider for WordPress.
• Up to 97-day money-back guarantee.
• Independently owns and operates its own servers.
• Hosting for millions of websites since 1997.

Cons.

• Website uptime is a little shorter than other hosting providers.
• Does not offer 24/7 live chat support.

6. GreenGeeks

Loading time: 697 ms
Uptime: 99.92%
Customer Service Support: 9/10
Website: GreenGeeks.com

GreenGeeks is the number one green energy web hosting provider in the world. It is the excellent WordPress hosting provider that provides security, reliability and performance while staying green.

Whether you need WordPress shared hosting or VPS hosting, the GreenGeeks platform has you covered.

GreenGeeks offers fast access to SSDs. 24/7/365 customer service is also supported. They also offer a 99.9% uptime guarantee and a 30-day money back guarantee!

Prices start at $3.49 per month.

Pros.

• Offers SSD storage for fast website loading performance.
• Offers free domain names and free transfers.
• Green web hosting.
• 30-day money-back guarantee.

Cons.

• Hosting costs can be a bit expensive, as they only offer SSD storage.
• Slightly shorter uptime

7. iPage

Loading time: 2.60 s
Uptime: 99.98%
Support: 8/10
Website: iPage.com

iPage has always been known for its cheap prices. It was founded in 1998 and now has over one million sites worldwide. It has offices in 6 regions around the world and 2 data centers in the United States.

iPage is the best cheap colocation service when it comes to shared hosting. They offer a 30-day unconditional money back guarantee.

iPage’s WordPress hosting plan is $3.75.

Pros.

• One-click WordPress installation with free domain name and SiteLock security tools.
• Unlimited email addresses can be created.
• No hidden fees.
• 30-day money-back guarantee.

Cons.

• Basic plan does not offer cPanel panel.

8. InMotion Hosting

Loading time: 982 milliseconds
Uptime: 99.91%
Customer Service Support: 9/10
Website: InMotionHosting.com

InMotion hosting comes with many nice features including SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth and free domains. Unlike most other shared hosting services, InMotion hosting supports a choice of supplying data centers. You can choose the nearest data center to shorten the page load time.

They offer up to 90 days money back guarantee to try their services with confidence.

They offer email, phone and live chat customer support.

Prices start from $4.99 per month.

Pros.

• All hosting plans support SSD storage. Can greatly improve site performance.
• Unlimited bandwidth.
• Free automatic data backups.
• First-class money-back guarantee. Free 90-day trial.

Cons.

• More expensive than other WordPress web hosts.
• Multiple website hosting is not supported in shared hosting.

9. A2Hosting

Load time: 1.28 s
Uptime: 99.90 %
Customer Service Support: 9/10
Website: A2hosting.com

A2 Hosting is suitable for technically savvy web developers and offers you great flexibility in building your website. a2Hosting offers unlimited disk space and bandwidth. Users can choose from Windows or Linux based hosting platforms and install WordPress using a one-click installer.

The flexible money back guarantee is one of the main factors that make A2 Hosting stand out. A2 Hosting offers a money back guarantee at any time to try their services risk free.

If you are not satisfied with their web hosting, then you can cancel your hosting account and request a full refund within 30 days. Even after 30 days, you can get a pro-rated refund for the unused portion of the service.

It prices start from $3.92 per month.

Pros.

• Developer-friendly hosting platform
• Two great OS options to choose from – Windows or Linux
• Money back guarantee at any time

Cons.

• Offers 4 different WordPress hosting plans, which can be difficult to choose from if you don’t know basic hosting knowledge.
• Uptime is slightly shorter than other hosting providers.

10. liquidWeb

Loading time: 901 milliseconds
Uptime: 99.99%
Support: 10/10
Website: LiquidWeb.com

Liquid Web is the leading King Site hosting company specializing in WordPress hosting and WooCommerce hosting and more.

Liquid Web technicians handle all the technology of hosting servers, so users can easily set up their websites without having to worry about the challenges of maintaining or optimizing their servers.

Liquid Web will also automatically update your WordPress plugins to protect your website from any potential virus threats.

Its WordPress hosting prices start from $19 per month.

Pros.

• No page views or traffic limits
• WordPress plugins are automatically updated and easily hosted
• Easy website setup with development tools.

Cons

• Too expensive for small sites with minimal traffic.

What are the factors I should consider when choosing a Managed WordPress Hosting?

I have been using the WordPress blogging system to build websites for many years and have used several different WordPress hosting providers. In this post, I’ve highlighted a few high-profile, well-serviced WordPress hosts that basically offer good support and configuration for WordPress sites. Their back-end IT environment settings are optimized for WordPress, which can greatly improve WordPress performance and minimize downtime.

The following are the factors to consider when choosing a managed WordPress host.

Website traffic (Traffic Volume)

How much traffic is your website expected to have? This question is important.

A website with 5,000 hits per month should be considered for a different package than a website with 100,000 hits per month. The package should be chosen accordingly to the number of hits the site is expected to receive.

Some hosting providers will provide approximate figures for the amount of traffic each package will support. For example, SiteGround gives each package an indication of the number of monthly visitors it can carry.

However, some hosting provider websites say they will offer unlimited traffic. For example, Bluehost, Hostinger, Dreamhost and A2 Hosting’s shared WordPress hosting will not set any hard limits on traffic.

However, it is not really unlimited. If you have too much traffic to your site, it can strain the resources such as CPU and memory usage of the server it is hosted on, which will cause problems for other sites on the server.

For example, the cheapest package of Dreamhost Basic is less than $3/month and comes with “unlimited traffic”. You will not be charged for excess traffic, but Dreamhost may ask you to upgrade or limit the amount of traffic to your site.

If you have too much traffic, you can upgrade to a virtual server VPS. Your site will be isolated from other sites on the same server, providing more dedicated resources and self-control. Unlike shared hosting, VPS hosting is not affected by spikes in traffic from other sites. 2.

Loading Speed and Uptime

SiteGround, Dreamhost and WP Engine have WordPress caching tools to improve site speed. Caching creates a static version of the site to display to visitors, reducing the amount of work required by the server to respond to requests.

Usually, you have to install a caching plugin to perform this, but most WordPress hosts have this feature built in.

Another thing to look for is a content delivery network (CDN), which stores images, pages, etc. through a network of servers distributed around the world. Having a CDN configured will improve site speed – and a single point of hardware failure won’t affect the site because a lot of your site’s content is distributed.

Nexcess, SiteGround, Bluehost and WP Engine all offer free CDN services for WordPress sites.

Regarding uptime, Hostinger guarantees 99.9% uptime for its WordPress hosting packages starting at $1.59/month. A2Hosting offers 99.9% uptime.

One thing to keep in mind about speed and uptime is that your site’s performance depends on how well your site is managed. Even with the best hosting environment and configuration, a faulty plugin can have a huge negative impact.

Customer Service Support

Any website, including Baidu and Google, is inevitably subject to problems, and WordPress sites are no exception. The question is how quickly can you resolve issues when they arise?

Getting timely and quality support is important, especially for newbies who are just starting out with WordPress.

One of the benefits of WordPress hosting is that technical customer service is usually knowledgeable about plugins, themes, and other common site issues. Hosting sites must provide 24/7 customer service support, with technicians available at all times to resolve issues.

When it comes to customer service, A2 Hosting and SiteGround both have great customer service. A2 offers support from hand-picked expert technicians. Any time you have a problem, you’ll be helped quickly. And A2 also offers free site migration, which saves you a lot of trouble.

How to choose the right WordPress hosting

Most hosting providers offer various WordPress hosting plans. Basically, there are the following types.

WordPress Shared Hosting

If you are just starting out and your traffic is expected to be small, choosing a shared hosting service is the most economical way to build a WordPress site. With shared hosting, the server resources (including RAM and storage space) you can build a website with minimal cost.

Although the resources are shared on the server, there is no need to worry because you will have a dedicated account and password, and only you can access the site files.

Shared hosting is suitable for personal blogs with little traffic, personal websites, and small businesses. It is the best entry point for users who are just starting to use WordPress websites.

Shared hosting usually offers complete foolproof features such as one-click WordPress installation, excellent uptime guarantee, etc.

You can install WordPress using the one-click WordPress installation wizard and easily customize your website and build content by logging into your WordPress dashboard.

Managed WordPress Hosting

If you want to create a WordPress site with an optimized server built specifically to improve the performance of your WordPress site, you need to use managed WordPress hosting.

Managed WordPress hosting has the following advantages and disadvantages compared to unmanaged WordPress hosting.

Pros.

• Easy to manage: If you choose a managed WordPress hosting service, you do not have to deal with the technical aspects of maintaining your server. Your hosting provider will manage it, so you can focus on the business/marketing side of things, with a primary focus on creating and publishing boutique content.
• Security: Most managed WordPress hosting services support automatic updates, automatic WordPress vulnerability remediation and regular data backup features, which provide an extra layer of protection for your website. This also gives you peace of mind as you don’t have to install and manage complex WordPress security plugins.
• Speed: Most reputable managed WordPress hosting providers such as WPEngine and Liquid Web offer content caching on their servers, so you don’t necessarily need to use a content caching plugin or CDN to speed up your site.
• Expert Support: If you need help with WordPress website performance and issues, you can get help from WordPress experts from customer service.

Cons.

• Expensive: Managed WordPress hosting is relatively expensive compared to shared hosting.
• Limitations: Some managed WordPress hosting providers (e.g. WPEngine) do not allow you to use certain plugins that may conflict with their hosting services.
• WordPress sites only: Users cannot build non-WordPress sites on a managed WordPress hosting account.

If your WordPress site exceeds the resources provided by your existing web hosting and you are technically bottlenecked and need to use a professional to guide the optimization of your WordPress site, you may need to choose a managed WordPress hosting service.

Conversely, if you are new to WordPress and want to build a WordPress site quickly and easily, then shared hosting may be the best option. All major shared hosting providers make it easy to build a WordPress website with a one-click installation.

WordPress VPS Hosting

VPS hosting stands for Virtual Private Server web hosting. Compared to shared hosting, VPS hosting offers greater power and flexibility.

VPS is basically a separate partition of a physical server. It allows you to create multiple virtual partitions of a physical server, giving you effective control over your resources and configure them in your own way.

While you will still share server resources with other sites hosted on the same physical server, a VPS can give you almost as much control as a dedicated server. You’ll also get a lot of bandwidth and storage space reserved just for your site.

For sites with fast-growing traffic, WordPress VPS web hosting may be the best choice.

Most importantly, VPS is scalable and your hosting provider can adjust the amount of server space allocated to your site based on your needs.

To learn about the best VPS hosting, check out our recommendations for the best VPS hosting abroad.

Dedicated WordPress Hosting

If you have a very high traffic website and do not want to share your resources with any other users, you need to purchase a dedicated server to host your WordPress website. With a dedicated server, you only need to rent the entire physical server to host your WordPress website.

This also means that you have full control over the server, including choosing the operating system, hardware, etc. Since you are leasing the entire server, it is also much more expensive.

Of course, if you don’t want to hire a system administrator, it is highly recommended that you buy a managed dedicated server (Managed Dedicated WordPress Hosting).

Summary

Anyway, the WordPress hosting service you choose should be fast, affordable and easy to use. If you ask me for advice, I would recommend Bluehost, which is relatively inexpensive for blogs and small websites, and is officially recommended by WordPress.org as a WordPress hosting provider.

If you think it’s not the right choice for you, don’t worry. You can easily switch to other WordPress hosts.