5 Main Types of WordPress Hosting

When making a new website, the term “WordPress hosting” is likely to come up. A reliable WordPress hosting service makes sure that a website works fast and is always available. But because there are so many companies that offer different kinds of WordPress hosting, it can be hard to decide which one is the best for your business.

In this article, you will gain knowledge more about the five different types of WordPress hosting and what tends to make them different.

1. VPS Hosting:

In VPS Hosting, your site gets its resources from a single physical server. Even though you do not have the entire server to yourself, you own all of the resources that are given to your site (unlike shared hosting). Traditional VPS hosting used to be very popular, but since cloud hosting has grown, it has kind of fallen behind.

Even so, you will still see a lot of hosting companies advertising VPS hosting, so it is important to know about it. Having a virtual server is a less expensive way to have your own server, but it does take expert technical knowledge to run.

2. Shared Hosting for WordPress:

According to macmillandesign.com, shared hosting is the most common and least expensive way to host custom WordPress websites. When you use shared hosting, you share a server with a lot of other people and so you also share the server’s resources. It is basically like living with other people in a house.  Most services that host WordPress offer shared hosting, so anyone can use it. Depending on the WordPress host you use, you may be offering your server with hundreds or even thousands of other sites.

Since many users share the server’s resources, the costs are also shared. This is why shared hosting is the least expensive way to host WordPress. Shared hosting companies also offer some extra features that you may find useful. Often, the following are among them:

• Free domain name
• Free SSL certificate
• Website builder built in
• Help with web design
• User-friendly cPanel
• Number of subdomains that can be used
• Number of email accounts that can be set up
• Boosts performance
• Back-ups and storage

3. Cloud Hosting:

To put it simply, cloud hosting allocates a certain set of server resources to your custom WordPress website within a vast datacenter. This is one of the main advantages of cloud hosting over shared hosting, as your website will have its own set of resources rather than having to share with other sites. This usually makes your site run better because you do not have to worry about how other sites might affect it.

Most people will be best off with cloud hosting because it allows for more flexible scaling. In other words, you can more easily scale up your server configuration as necessary (or reduce resources). The hosting company simply assigns additional (or less) network resources to your account in order to upgrade or downgrade your hosting plan. It is for this reason that cloud hosting has become one of the most rapidly expanding options for web hosting.

4. Dedicated Server Hosting:

With dedicated WordPress hosting, you “rent” a physical server for your site and only your site. You will be the only one using the server’s resources and will have full control over it. No one else has access to it, which gives you security, power, and freedom. It was also made and set up to work with custom WordPress websites.

Dedicated WordPress hosting can give your business endless space to expand and the adaptability you need to get the most out of your custom WordPress website. But you will probably need help from experts to handle it. The good news is that managed services can come with a dedicated WordPress host.

5. Managed WordPress Hosting:

Hosting like this is ideal for WordPress users who are ready to spend a bit extra for conveniences like automated updates, backups, security, and dedicated WordPress support. The term “managed WordPress hosting” is often used as a catch-all for hosting solutions based on a wide range of technologies. In other words, the following technologies are used by managed WordPress hosting:

• Cloud Hosting
• VPS Hosting
• Shared Hosting
• Dedicated Hosting

Though most managed WordPress providers deliver satisfactory performance, the main benefit of using this type of hosting is that it has already been optimised for WordPress, leaving you free to concentrate on site content and promotion. When you use a managed WordPress host, they will often take care of the following things:

• Changing to a newer version of WordPress
• Regularly making backups of your website
• Setting up tools like caching servers and content delivery networks (CDNs) to improve performance
• Implementing solutions like WordPress specific firewalls and others to secure your site

Which Web Host Should You Select?

Think about why you have a website in the first place. There is a big difference in the hosting requirements between a blog and an online shop. Websites like blogs, portfolios, and small businesses rarely exceed a few hundred pages and hence do not require a strong hosting package. However, a larger, more expensive hosting package is required for e-commerce, directory, or social media sites due to the high volume of visits they receive.

Think about the content you are using. A single page website will function fine on a cheap shared hosting package. Having a dedicated server is the greatest option for a large corporate website with many different sections, such as a blog and an internal social network.

Finally, your hosting requirements will be heavily influenced by your site’s traffic. It takes time for a brand new website to get established and attract a steady stream of visitors. If you have not already built up a large following on another network or social media platform, a basic hosting plan should be sufficient for your needs; you can always upgrade later.