Whether you wish to build a personal site or a business, WordPress is one of the easiest content management systems (CMS). And to host your website with WordPress, you’ll need specific tools and features to manage your site. For that, you’ll need WordPress-specific hosting with optimized servers, automatic installers, auto-updates, and backups. Good WordPress hosting also offers additional tools to secure your website and excellent performance results.
For this review, we have tested the best WordPress hosting services to evaluate their abilities to help you host and build your site successfully. Our testing criteria included support for the WordPress site, tools, performance, server locations, additional features, and a price-to-value evaluation.
Best WordPress hosting: ranked
- Hostinger – best web hosting for WordPress in 2023
- SiteGround – powerful and secure WordPress hosting
- Bluehost – beginner-friendly WordPress hosting solution
- DreamHost – best WordPress hosting for reliable performance
- HostGator – easy-to-use WordPress hosting
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Top WordPress hosting providers in 2023 – our detailed list:
WordPress hosting is one of the most popular hosting types and various hosting providers on the market offer this service. However, to select only the best web hosting provider for your WordPress site, we tested the services ourselves based on their performance, WordPress tools, additional features, and price.
1. Hostinger – best web hosting for WordPress
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Hostinger is one of the best WordPress hosting solutions. It offers some of the cheapest subscription plans compared to other options. In addition, the performance results are the best that we’ve seen, and it’s very easy to use.
WordPress features. For WordPress hosting, Hostinger offers automatic WordPress installation and backups straight from the dashboard, which makes setting up your website very easy. In addition, you’ll get a free website migration and tools for managing general WordPress settings globally.
Performance. To measure Hostinger’s performance, we created a mock-up site and then checked it’s results using GTmetrix. In 2 months, the provider had 0 outages, that’s a 100% uptime result. The average response time was 511ms, and the page load time was 936ms. In addition, there are servers in 8 locations worldwide, including the US, UK, Netherlands, Lithuania, France, India, Singapore, and Brazil.
Additional tools. No matter which Hostinger plan you choose, a free SSL certificate, a custom domain (except for the Single WordPress plan), weekly backups, unlimited bandwidth, and up to 100 email accounts will be there. In addition, all plans include the LiteSpeed web servers, catching, and the newest PHP versions.
Pricing. Hostinger has both shared and WordPress hosting plans that essentially offer the same resources. However, shared hosting starts at $2.69/month, while WordPress hosting is priced at $1.99 a month.
Altogether, Hostinger is a top hosting for WordPress that manages to offer such services at a really low rate. No matter if it’s your first site or a business development project – there’s enough power to support it.
For more information, check out our Hostinger review.
2. SiteGround – powerful WordPress hosting service
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SiteGround is one of the top-rated WordPress hosting solutions with excellent WordPress-centered services. Its whole hosting platform is focused on the CMS, offering custom management, security, and speed solutions to make it even more powerful.
WordPress features. SiteGround offers auto WordPress installation, updates, and migration services. The auto-setup process will also help you launch a website in mere minutes, while the Starter plugin will also help build the site. Additionally, there’s WordPress staging, where you can create a copy of your site to test out changes securely and easily.
Performance. SiteGround has its pre-configured caching system, PHP setup (Ultrafast PHP), and plugin for on-site optimizations. In addition, in over 2 months of testing, SiteGround uptime was 99.99%, and server response time was also speedy, averaging 217ms. Compared to other hosts, SiteGround sets the speed standard for this metric. Additionally, you get to pick where your site will be hosted during the purchasing process – the US, Europe, Asia, or Australia. This helps to cut the latency for your target audience.
Additional tools. SiteGround offers various additional tools like constantly updated WAF, AI anti-bot system, 24/7 monitoring, automated backups with a redundant keeping policy, and a dedicated Security plugin. All plans include free SSLs, native CDNs, daily backups, and caching. You can also take advantage of auto migration and email features.
Price. Among managed WordPress hosts, SiteGround is affordable, but compared to regular shared hosting, it’s a premium solution with prices starting at $2.99/month. Keep in mind that these are highly discounted prices that are available for a limited time.
All in all, SiteGround offers a unique WordPress web hosting solution – by developing its own tools and technology, it’s the best option for those who need a fast, reliable, and very functional solution. Business websites, E-commerce platforms, and agencies are at the top of the list.
Read our SiteGround review to learn more about its features.
3. Bluehost – very beginner-oriented WordPress hosting
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Bluehost is among the most beginner-friendly and affordable hosts that focus its services on WordPress. Its main attraction lies in the functional and intuitive dashboard as well as several helpful features for businesses.
WordPress features. Bluehost has a step-by-step interactive guide that goes through all of the WordPress website launching steps. Meanwhile, the dashboard is full of other management tools that include speed, security, and general website configurations all in one place. Additionally, from the dashboard, you can launch a Google Ads campaign or list your business on Google My Business. Also, you’ll get a Bluehost plugin that features a staging tool.
Performance. Bluehost is not a performance-focused provider, but it always delivers steady results. Over a bit more than 2 months, Bluehost was up for 99.99% of the time. Response time evened out at 361ms, and page load times are steady as well – 1.8 seconds. At the same time, you’d only see such good results in North America since Bluehost only has servers in the US.
Additional tools. With all Bluehost plans, you’ll get a free domain, SSL, unlimited bandwidth, and a free CDN.
Pricing. Bluehost WordPress hosting is on the affordable side, with prices starting at $2.95/month. The cheapest plan is often too limiting. Meanwhile, the Pro plan is way too expensive. We recommend Managed WordPress plans that start at $9.95/month as the best deal.
Altogether, Bluehost checks all the boxes if you’re looking for easy WordPress hosting for your small business website. It’s great for beginners and has many tools to help you start.
Learn more about Bluehost WordPress in our review.
4. DreamHost – highly reliable WordPress hosting
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DreamHost offers no-fuss all-included hosting services with the main focus on WordPress websites with a 1-click installation process.
WordPress features. DreamHost has the WordPress basics such as auto-installation, updates, and website migration available. The main selling point is a WordPress website builder, BoldGrid. It’s a premium builder that comes with its own themes and a drag-and-drop editor to make website development into a visual and beginner-friendly process.
Performance. Over 2 months that we tracked our mock-up site, DreamHost had >99.99% uptime. Response time was equally good, averaging at 231ms. And DreamHost loaded a fully built WordPress website in 1.6 seconds. The only thing that might be not-so-great is that DreamHost only operates data centers in the US. So if your audience is based elsewhere, they might experience slightly longer page load times due to latency.
Additional tools. DreamHost includes everything that’s needed to get your website live without any other expenses and more – free domain, free SSL, daily backups, and domain privacy. More so, a variety of security tools makes it a secure WordPress hosting provider.
Pricing. DreamHost has affordable plans starting at $2.59/month. The best part is it’s affordable with both long-term subscriptions and yearly or even monthly plans. More so, the prices are very reasonable for monthly WordPress hosting, too.
Altogether, if you’re looking for the most reliable WordPress hosting option – DreamHost might be it. We like its transparent approach to prices, ease of use, as well as good performance.
For more information, check out our DreamHost review.
5. HostGator – simplistic WordPress hosting provider
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While HostGator is best known for its affordable and very beginner-friendly shared plans, they are excellent for WordPress website hosting as well.
WordPress features. For WordPress hosting, there are main dashboard features that shortcut to all the essential setup steps: 1-click WordPress installation, SSL, domains, and email. Go through all of them, and you’ll have a website live in less than 5 minutes. cPanel is also available for more advanced management tasks. More so, you can easily create subdomains or reach the file manager there.
Performance. In more than 2 months of testing with GTmetrix, HostGator uptime stood at >99.99%. Server response time was slightly bumpy yet evened out at 525ms. Meanwhile, page load time was exemplary. HostGator loaded a fully built WordPress website in 1.2 seconds. Yet, HostGator’s servers are located in the US alone. So if your audience is based elsewhere, page load times could be longer for them.
Additional tools. All of HostGator’s plans include free domain, SSL, and unlimited storage and bandwidth. Hatchling has a 1-site limit, while Baby, for an extra $0.75/month, lifts it. So, it immediately looks like a better option. Alternatively, Business adds a dedicated IP, Positive SSL upgrade, and SEO toolkit. Automatic backups and malware detection come with premium plans.
Pricing. HostGator is a very affordable host if you’d like to get an “all-included” hosting package. The prices start at $2.52/month for shared hosting plans.
In all, we really enjoyed the smooth experience with HostGator. It’s a perfect option for beginners who want to try out classic web hosting for their WordPress sites.
Learn more in our detailed HostGator hosting review.
6. GoDaddy – WordPress hosting for business sites
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GoDaddy comes with all the essentials to easily start a WordPress website, plus – premium themes and editor you’ll not find with other providers.
WordPress features. Upon your first login to the hosting platform, you’ll get an automatic website setup: WordPress is installed automatically with domain and SSL setup. Plus, you get to choose a server location. More so, there are premium themes and a WordPress website editor for those needing extra help when building a site.
Performance. Over 2 months of testing our mock-up site, the uptime stood at 99.98%. The response time was even better, averaging 341ms. It was pretty stable, too, helping GoDaddy maintain good performance. Meanwhile, talking about speed, GoDaddy loaded a fully built WordPress website in 1.5 seconds. Additionally, you get to pick a server location; available options include the US, UK, and Singapore data centers.
Additional tools. All of the available GoDaddy plans include a free domain, SSL, business email, automatic backups, and malware scanning. However, all plans allow you to host only 1 website. To get more tools, you have to get the Ultimate plan ($14.99/month), which includes unlimited storage, SEO optimizer, and malware removal.
Pricing. GoDaddy is not the cheapest in the bunch, with WordPress hosting prices starting at $2.99/month with annual billing. Good to know is that sometimes you can get a discount for other billing terms.
All in all, if you need the ease of use and all the perks WordPress hosting can offer, GoDaddy is definitely a good option.
Learn more in our GoDaddy review.
7. WP Engine – best managed WordPress hosting
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WP Engine is a WordPress-exclusive provider that offers managed WordPress hosting on Google cloud infrastructure. Its prices are on the higher end of the spectrum. However, you do get premium features designed to enhance and simplify the dedicated WordPress hosting experience.
WordPress features. WP Engine offers various tools/features for easy WordPress management. This includes dev/stage/prod environments to improve development workflow. Then, there is also a custom dashboard, daily backups, and access to StudioPress themes on the Genesis framework.
Performance. To minimize response times, WP Engine has servers worldwide, including in America, Asia, Australia, Europe, and the Middle East. Plus, a global CDN routes local requests to the nearest server. In the 2 months we tested, WP Engine had 0 outages, translating into 100% uptime. The response time was 489ms, which is not the fastest on the list. Now, the page load speed was an impressive 1.1 seconds.
Additional tools. There are 4 main plans, all of which include the same features: free SSL, CDN, caching, daily backups, and staging. More so, WP Engine also developed its proprietary caching technology – Evercache – for better performance. This technology reduces the burden on your WordPress site’s resources by caching static content on your site. Additionally, it helps in improving page loading speed.
Pricing. WP Engine is a premium provider offering WordPress-exclusive plans that start at $20.00/month with a discount applied. You can try out any plan for 60 days and get a full refund.
To be honest with you, WP Engine really fulfills our expectations as a premium WordPress managed hosting provider. Sure, it’s a business and agency option, yet it’s worth every penny.
Learn more in our WP Engine review.
8. Nexcess – secure premium managed WordPress solution
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Nexcess is a more premium hosting service that offers a large variety of fully managed WordPress hosting solutions for both beginners and enterprises. Based on a speedy Cloud infrastructure, Nexcess aims to deliver a smooth and speedy WordPress hosting experience.
WordPress features. Nexcess offers fully managed WordPress hosting, meaning the provider will take care of all the technical bits like WordPress core updates, plugin updates, and PHP optimizations. Lastly, Nexcess includes one-click staging with all its plans, which allows you to safely test potential changes to your WordPress site without affecting the live version.
Performance. The site will be hosted on a cloud infrastructure, and you’ll get speed-boosting tools like multi-layered caching and CDN. Plus, you can choose from 8 US, Europe, and Australia data center locations. In a little over 2 months of monitoring, Nexcess has resulted in a very reliable 99.99% uptime. As for the average response time, it came up to only 479ms, and it managed to load a fully built site in just 954ms.
Additional tools. With Nexcess, you get basic tools like free SSL and automated backups, as well as more advanced ones like the iThemes Security Pro plugin and malware monitoring. Additionally, all plans also have unlimited email accounts, WordPress core and plugin updates, 1-click staging, multi-layer caching, and a Content Delivery Network (CDN).
Pricing. Nexcess WordPress hosting is slightly more premium, with prices starting at $15.83/month. Luckily, there’s also a 30-day money-back guarantee.
All in all, Nexcess is a reliable WordPress-centric host that offers fast speeds and a WordPress-optimized hosting experience.
Learn more in our Nexcess review.
9. Flywheel – best WordPress hosting for creatives
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A WordPress-only managed cloud hosting provider, Flywheel is an addition to WP Engine’s network. Just like the former, it uses the same Google cloud infrastructure. At the same time, it is known as a solution for creatives who want to leave all the management tasks to the provider.
WordPress features. Flywheel offers staging, blueprints, and website cloning. These tools make it easier and faster for you to build, develop, and work on your WordPress site. Besides that, Flywheel also covers the more basic features you need for your WordPress site, like free migrations, updates, nightly backups, themes, SSL certificates, and malware cleanup.
Performance. Flywheel maintained a nice 100% uptime throughout the testing period of our mock-up site. Meanwhile, the average response time was also very speedy at 371ms. Also, Flywheel is among the fastest providers, loading a fully built website in 881ms. With Flywheel, you can also choose a server location from the US, Europe, Asia, and Australia locations. The closer the website is hosted to your main audience, the faster it loads for them due to the minimal latency.
Additional tools. Flywheel comes with some speed-boosting tools, too. One of them is FlyCache – the provider’s proprietary caching technology. FlyCache cuts load times by serving cached content for coming back visitors. Then, Flywheel also has a CDN powered by Fastly to speed up page loads by serving content from the server that’s closest to the audience. Otherwise, all plans include an SSL certificate, StudioPress themes, Genesis Framework, and nightly backups.
Pricing. Just like many other WordPress-exclusive hosts, Flywheel is a premium option. Yet, compared to WP Engine, it has a cheaper starting point at $13.00/month – a great plan for personal use.
All in all, Flywheel, being cheaper than WP Engine, is not just a business solution. You can use it as a personal high-power provider too. However, agencies that want to keep technicalities to the pros can also highly benefit from this host.
Learn more in our Flywheel review.
Video review
Tired of reading? Check out our quick video review of the best WordPress hosting providers and their superb deals.
How we tested the best WordPress hosting services
To curate our list of the best WordPress hosting services, we tested the providers in-depth. The testing process included purchasing hosting subscriptions from different providers and installing WordPress. We considered how easy it was to install WordPress in our evaluation.
Then, we set up our site with some features to measure its performance. For this, we monitored different hosting providers’ performance with the GTmetrix tool for a specific period – around 2 months. Here, we checked the loading time, uptime, and other factors. Afterward, we moved on to the various features that we required to be available.
We paid the most attention to the criteria:
- WordPress tools. We made sure that all the providers offered WordPress-specific plans and tools. That includes easy WordPress installation, plugins, management systems, and themes.
- Performance. To test the hosting providers’ capabilities, we created mock-up sites with each and then tested their performance with GTmetrix tools. We tested their uptimes, load times, and speed and compared them with the industry standard. In addition, we noted the server location options, which affect your website performance.
- Security tools. For this, we analyzed what the providers offer regarding security, like free SSLs, automatic backups, and some additions like malware detection tools and firewalls.
- Additional features. While testing the products, we also noted all of the additional features you can get, like website builders, server optimization tools, email accounts, and more.
- Price. To determine if the provider is worth your attention, we measured its price-to-value ratio, the best price deal, and scalability options.
WordPress hosting comparison
For better visualization, let’s see how all the best WordPress hosting providers stack up against each other in terms of performance, features, and tools included.
How to choose the best WordPress hosting provider?
The sheer number of providers offering WordPress hosting can be overwhelming. To make an informative decision on which one to choose, take these 4 steps:
- Research and evaluate WordPress requirements for best performance,
- Evaluate your website’s size – the bigger, the more resources it’ll need,
- Set a budget – cheapest doesn’t mean the worst or priciest – best,
- See if you need any additional tools – staging, automatic backups, workflow tools.
Let’s jump right into the minimum requirements you need in order to host WordPress.
Step 1: Know the requirements for WordPress hosting – PHP and MySQL versions
For what it’s worth, WordPress’ requirements are fairly basic. In fact, any provider in the market that is worth its salt can support the CMS.
But just to be on the safe side, you’ll need: PHP version 7.4 or greater, MySQL version 5.6 or greater/MariaDB version 10.1 or greater, HTTPS support.
However, there are certain things that make for faster and more powerful WordPress hosting. If you see some of the following, know that you’re in good hands:
- Latest PHP version – currently it’s PHP 8.0, although many providers are still testing it and yet to release for public use. It is a scripting language used for web development. Essentially, it’s a programming language. Each new release focuses on performance and security enhancements.
- Nginx or LiteSpeed – modern and fast web server technology. Web server works to respond to the visitors, that enter your site, requests. LiteSpeed also comes with its own caching plugin, so you can expect an even faster website with it.
- FastCGI/PHP-FPN/LSAPI PHP handlers – handlers allow web servers to interpret the meaning of the code so it can be delivered to the visitor. PHP-FPN is one of the fastest handlers available, although FastCGI is also used as a fast alternative for Apache and Nginx web servers. LSAPI is showing the best results with LiteSpeed.
Basically, this is the foundation that makes up the fastest WordPress stack. So while the basic requirements are simple, looking deeper into the provider’s used tech is helpful to get the best out of the best.
Step 2: Evaluate your needs – is it a small or a big project?
Here, you’ll need to consider your WordPress site’s needs. Start by deciding the parameters of your site – especially in terms of size. Then, you’ll be able to narrow down what you need from your WordPress host including the type of hosting, storage, bandwidth, and more.
Size matters when it comes to WordPress hosting.
- For small-scale projects like personal blogs, small business websites, and portfolios, you can make do with the minimum for resources. In fact, you can probably scrape by with just 1GB of storage and 5GB of bandwidth. Therefore, you can opt for the cheapest shared hosting plan to keep the cost down.
- But, you’ll struggle with those limitations if you’re running medium-sized websites like small online stores. For these, you’ll need at least 10GB of storage and 50 of GB bandwidth. Shared hosting is still fine here but you should probably start considering cloud or VPS services for the not so distant future.
- If you’re a go-big-or-go-home kind of person and need WordPress for large projects, forget about shared hosting. Opt for Cloud or VPS WordPress services, instead. But, if you’re still loyal to shared hosting, bear in mind that you’ll need at least 50GB of storage and 200GB of bandwidth.
Step 3: Think about your budget – from entry level to premium
WordPress hosting can cost anything from less than $1.00 to thousands of dollars a month. This is where a realistic budget will help to narrow down the options to more suitable ones. And, as with most things, hosting services can be classified as entry-level, mid-tier, or premium.
Now, there’s no hard and fast rule on how much the best hosting for WordPress should cost. But, here’s a general benchmark:
- Entry-level ($1.00 – $5.00/month)
This should cover all the essential features. Look for one with an SSL, free domain, and basic WordPress tools (like automatic updates and backups). This is perfect for small projects like blogs, small business websites, and portfolios.
- Mid-tier (less than $20.00/month)
This is great for more complex sites or those that have higher-traffic. You can expect the basics and also some handy extra tools. This includes features like free CDN, caching, and staging.
- Premium (more than $20.00/month)
Premium prices usually mean advanced features. For example, expert and priority support, multisite, CDN, and powerful caching. This is the one for you if you have high-traffic websites, eCommerce, or media-heavy publications.
In brief, opt for a plan within your budget that still meets your needs. And, if this is not possible, you may need to adjust either one or the other.
Step 4: Identify the extras that you need – from staging environment to expert support
WordPress providers often throw in some extra features to attract more users. Some are catered to beginners while other features are meant to reel in veterans and professionals. These additional features can both simplify and enrich your WordPress experience. Hence, a closer look at them is warranted.
Some of the more vital and commonly-offered additional features for WordPress hosting are:
- Staging environments
- Workflow management tools
- Business management tools
- Themes
- Website builder plugin
- Premium WordPress plugins
- Expert WordPress support
So, determine the ones that you need and the ones that can make your life that much easier.
