Hosting for WordPress – Essential Requirements
Dozens of free and paid WordPress hosting services can be found on the web, but not all of them are able to meet your needs. Consider the following requirements:
- Easy and fast installation.
- Speed — or how much time it takes your WordPress to load (no more than 1000 ms is desired).
- Uptime — or its working condition that should be at least 99.99% (needs to be tested over a certain period).
- Load impact test (multiple requests to a site) – 0.009 sec average.
- Support — or the responsive (clear, fast, and friendly) client service to solve related issues.
There are various tools for measuring website speed – Google’s Page Speed Insights, DareBoost and WebPageTest. To see the true results, you should make up to 10 tests with the same tool computing the average. Not all data you have reflects the hosting’s speed. Only DNS, connect, SSL response times, the time it takes for the browser to get the actual web page and static assets.
To make sure your hosting meets all those requirements, you should choose the right one. You’ll certainly think of versions that are free or require minimum tariffs, but note that when picking «bad hosting» you will not be able to develop your project because of the lack of functionality. For example, some themes in WordPress require more resources than your tariff plan provides. Besides, you should look for hosting with extra space provided in case you add multiple domains. Next, figure out if you need FTP / SFTP access among your WordPress hosting options to move plenty of files safely.
In 2022, most of the paid hostings that support MySQL and PHP are suitable for WordPress. Some of the hosting providers even offer special tariffs for WordPress CMS.
How to choose a hosting plan for a travel blog
To help your travel blog succeed, you should look for hosting that can offer the following opportunities:
- A wide range of tariff plans, including plans for beginners in case you’re a rookie.
- Available features to enhance your website – automated backups, convenient control panels, etc.
- Security is included this list because travel bloggers are not always near internet access, and they need reliable security to keep their site safe and to prevent problems before they appear.
- Free encryption with HTTPS to keep visitor information private and secure.
- Easy user experience and site management (travel bloggers are usually not developers and need clear controls for handling their site).
- Scalability, which is the host’s ability to meet your growing requirements. The host should scale well to allow you to constantly publish plenty of articles to get more visitors, and in other words, to reach its full potential.
The more visitors you get, the faster speed, the better performance and the more options you need. If you have up to 1,000 visitors per month, a cheap WordPress hosting may fit. If you have 10,000 visitors or more, it’d be better to consider premium plans. Great projects on WP need extra settings to operate well, even on the best hosting. Hosting is important, but the setting of your website also influences how your website works.
What Is the Difference Between Shared Hosting, Vps and Server?
- Shared hosting
It is shared among users and everybody gets his/her own portion of resources, without the opportunity to exceed them. You even have to share an IP address, which offsets privacy. This type of hosting is able to perform a properly optimized WordPress blog of up to 30,000 – 40,000 monthly unique visitors. It is cheap, and a piece of cake to manage, but it lacks power and server controls. One bad user can crash your entire website.
Shared hosting can be the best WordPress hosting for beginners who don’t need a ton of space or processing power. Nevertheless, think of other variants for fast growth. Most free options are the shared hosting with low limits of everything.
- VPS
Virtual Private Server costs more than shared hosting, but also offers more server control and power to enhance your blog’s performance while it’s growing. It has only a few clients on a server, insulates them from one another, and provides good uptime, delivering you full root access to the server. A perfect system administrator is desired to run the server hassle-free.
It is relevant to start new projects of any website size, or multiple sites, as well as to meet high traffic demands. VPS is a balanced solution for anyone, who lacks the skills to set the server, but also needs more space and freedom from the «hosting-mates».
- Server
The independent server (dedicated hosting) gives you access to all the resources available on it without anyone else’s accounts. You get both virtual and physical resources, while VPS and shared hosting can offer only virtual resources. The host takes care of maintenance, but the client can manage their own hardware.
Dedicated hosting for WordPress website is the most expensive option. Large businesses choose this because they usually plan rapid growth and significant traffic spikes.
Best WordPress Hosting Services for 2022
Here, you can see the list of ten trustworthy services for choosing the best WordPress hosting 2022 to start and scale your travel blog. It is based on all the quality criteria mentioned above, including pricing and limitations.
| Hosting | Uptime | Load time | Support | Prices (from) | Traffic limit (up to) |
| Bluehost | >99.99% | 419 ms | 24/7 by phone, email or live chat | $2.95/mo | – 50,000 files (INODE) limit per account
– 2GB per MySQL database size limit – 1,000 database tables limit |
| HostGator | 99.97% | 421 ms | 24/7 by phone, email or live chat | $13.99/mo | Unmetered bandwidth,
30,000 – 35,000 users/day |
| SiteGround | 99.99% | 714 ms | 24/7
by phone, live chat or ticket | $3.95/mo | – Unlimited websites,
– 30GB Web Space, – 100,000 users/month |
| A2Hosting | 99.91% | 392ms | 24/7 by phone, email or tickets | $3.93/mo | – 2M inodes for VPS Hosting accounts
– 600,000 inodes for Shared Web Hosting accounts – Unlimited for Dedicated Hosting |
| Site5 | 99.98% | 704 ms | 24/7 by email or chat | $6.95/mo | Unlimited websites
suitable for ~25,000 visits |
| iPage | 99.98% | 831 ms | 24/7 by live chat or phone | $1.99/mo | – Unlimited disk space
– Scalable bandwidth – Unlimited domain names – Unlimited MySQL databases |
| Dreamhost | 99.94% | 724 ms | 24/7 by email, live chat or social media | $7.95/mo | Unlimited traffic, space and bandwidth |
| InMotionHosting | 99.94% | 803 ms | 24/7 by support chat, Skype or phone | $4.99/mo | Unlimited websites, disk space and MySQL databases |
| GreenGeeks | 99.93% | 520 ms | 24/7 by phone, email tickets or live chat | $3.95/mo | Unlimited |
| WPEngine | 99.99% | 352 ms | 24/7 by phone, email or live chat | $35/
mo | – 15 sites
– 3 environments/site – 400K visits/month – 400GB bandwidth |
3 Best Paid WordPress Hosting Services for Beginners
The following services are rather easy for beginners to manage, but have enough functionality to launch a serious travel blog with a vision for fast improvements. They are not free, but only demand a few dollars to start.
Siteground
The platform was created in 2004 and it has managed to get 800,000 domains and servers in different countries. The host offers data centers in three world regions – USA, Europe and Asia – and you can choose any location. WordPress officially recommends it as a fast and reliable platform with flexible plans, and as the best WordPress hosting service for beginners.
Features you’ll get:
- Simple WordPress installer in 1 click.
- Automatic updates to make your site correspondent to the latest WP versions.
- Built-in WP caching
- Improved performance with free CDN, NGINX, HTTP/2 and PHP7.
- WP staging to prevent your website from crashing or being unavailable.
- Free SSL.
- Git Integration to work with both local and remote repositories.
Advantages and Disadvantages
| PROS: | CONS: |
| Free transfer of the existing site | Load time could be better |
| Stable speed | Paid domain registration |
| High uptime percentage | Limited storage (however, it is still large) |
Prices
|
Web hosting | |||
| StartUp | GrowBig | GoGeek | |
| 3.95 €/month | 6.45 €/month | 11.95 €/month | |
|
|
Cloud hosting | ||
| Entry | Business | Business Plus | |
| 64.00 €/month | 96.00 €/month | 128.00 €/month | |
|
Dedicated servers | |||
| Entry Server | Power Server | Super Power Server | |
| 219.00 €/month | 299.00 €/month | 599.00 €/month |
Support
Issues can be handled by phone, chat or ticket. Most users note a high level of support for getting fast and clear answers to their questions.
Bluehost
This platform is a “dinosaur” that started in 1996. It is in great demand for bloggers and small businesses, and it hosts more than 2M sites. It is also among the recommended hosts by WP. The host allow users to create websites based on easy-to-use templates.
Features you’ll get:
- Free Blue Spark service as full support for WordPress rookies.
- SiteLock Pro to prevent malware attacks.
- CDN to optimize performance.
- Independent IP.
- ManageWP to handle several websites at the same time.
- Auto Updates to the most stable WP version.
- Free SSL Certificate.
Advantages and Disadvantages
| PROS: | CONS: |
| Free domain name | No ticket-based support, which would be helpful if the issue requires more than one live chat or phone session |
| Free site transfer to new accounts | Free domain renewal price is higher than average. |
| 30-day money-back guarantee | Too many upselling add-ons |
Prices
| Shared hosting | ||
| Basic | Plus | Choice Plus |
| Now $2.95/month instead of $7.99 | Now $5.45/month instead of $10.99 | $5.45/month instead of
$14.99 |
| VPS Hosting | ||
| Standard | Enhanced | Ultimate |
| Now $18.99/month instead of $29.99 | Now $29.99/month instead of $59.99 | Now $59.99/month instead of $119.99 |
| Dedicated hosting | ||
| Standard | Enhanced | Premium |
| Now $79.99/month instead of $119.99 | Now $99.99/month instead of $159.99 | Now $119.99/month instead of $209.99 |
Support
One can call, chat in real time or email them anytime of the day or night. Support via tickets is also available. Bluehost also provides an impressive library of articles, guides and video tutorials that are very helpful for newcomers.
Wp Engine
WP Engine is one of the most popular hosting services for WordPress with such eminent clients as Yelp, HTC, National Geographic and MyFitnessPal in its portfolio. If you are committed to developing high-traffic website, this service will meet your needs. WP Engine is able to provide the website with the best speed, scalability, availability and security.
Features you’ll get:
- A tool for testing new WordPress plugins and other features before implementing them into your site.
- Easy integration with a variety of marketing applications into the WordPress site.
- Handles any system administration tasks.
- Includes insights powered by Google Analytics on the performance of your content, page and application within your WordPress admin.
- Automatic security updates.
- Automatic caching.
- Daily backups.
Advantages and Disadvantages
| PROS: | CONS: |
| 30% off on your first 3 months | Expensive plans for small websites |
| All features are within the WordPress dashboard | Some plugins aren’t available in the WordPress repository |
| Advanced techs for your site security | No domain registration |
Prices
| Startup | Growth | Scale | Custom |
| $35/month | $115/month | $290/month | Contract price |
Support
WP Engine is ready to help all of its customers around the clock via live chat. However, the 24/7 phone support is available for Growth, Scale, Premium and Enterprise plans only. Ticket based support works for individuals, but not enterprises.
3 Best Free WordPress Hosting Services for Beginners
Free WordPress hosting makes it possible to try this niche and start blogging without hurting a wallet. Certainly, big projects need premium solutions, but free services let you host a simple site to learn and to study WP development.
WordPress.com
The service is based on free software to solve simple tasks. You can create the initial website and have it free forever. Over time, you can migrate to one of the affordable plans with extended options. It’s the most appropriate variant for blogging with its streamlined interface and the design similar to any other website builder. Note that advanced service is available for paid plans only. It deals with a custom domain name, premium themes, the tools for monetization, etc.
Features you’ll get:
- Plenty of free templates and themes.
- The opportunity to publish your site online.
- 3 GB of storage space.
- Community support.
- Basic design customization.
Advantages and Disadvantages
| PROS: | CONS: |
| The blog editor is tidy and friendly | WordPress ads in free version |
| Adding a team of writers for contributing to your blog is possible | Needs basic coding to develop the site |
| 294 responsive themes | No drag-and-drop, which means pages design within context |
Accuweb Hosting
This service is affordable, flexible and comes with a high-powered infrastructure. It is remarkable for SSDs and cloudflare delivery – even to shared servers. You can only have one site with traffic near 5,000 visitors and 30 GB of bandwidth monthly. You can also get up to 10 email accounts and 2 GB of SSD storage. However, you can’t expect any essential support, because that is only available for paid plans.
Features you’ll get:
- cPanel control panel, PHP7 and HTTP/2 support.
- DDos Protection.
- SSD Drives.
- Backup of the website from the available recovery point.
- In-memory data structure store Redis.
Advantages & Disadvantages
| PROS: | CONS: |
| No ads, pop-ups or banners | You should have a paid domain name to use the free plan |
| Auto updates | Too much personal information required for registration |
| Pre-installed WordPress blog | You can’t use the service for sub-domains |
Freehostia
This hosting service for WordPress has a free plan that fits for personal websites and small online businesses, including blogging. A free hosting account is created for forever, without further fees. Besides, you get a 30-day free trial and many free templates. The free plan allows users to have up to five domains, but offers just a few email accounts – three is the maximum.
Features you’ll get:
- Shared SSL IPs.
- SSD data caching.
- Several levels of protection.
- Plenty of site management tools.
- Traffic and CPU stats.
Advantages and Disadvantages
| PROS: | CONS: |
| High server uptime – 99.99% | Its speed is below average |
| Good package of technologies including cluster hosting | Poor email service |
| Support responds immediately | Glitches at times |
WordPress Hosting FAQs
Let’s deal with the most widespread questions related to the right choice of the best hosting service for WordPress 2022. Then, let’s discuss the reasons for using free or paid plans and how to get a good start on creating and developing a blog.
How to Choose the Best Hosting Service for You?
Adam Berry, a digital director at Wingard Creative, claims that three keystones should be in the foundation of your choice – the provider’s speed, support and security. The Head of Nasdaq Corporate Solutions, Simon Ball, insists that scalability is crucial, because you might want to develop your online presence by creating more pages and loading more diverse types of content. They are both right and that’s why you should try to choose a provider that can boast well-balanced features.
What to Look for When Choosing a Good Hosting Service?
While looking through the various offers from providers, everybody used to pay attention to the tariffs. However, you should also consider the options included in each plan to choose the functionality you need. For example, there is no need to overpay for the plan for large businesses if the intention is to create and promote a travel blog.
In addition, look for good support and simple management if you are a beginner. You can’t just say, “Hey, host my WordPress site,” (Especially if you’ve signed up for a free or basic plan) but you have to deal with many issues on your own.
How Do I Get Started With WordPress?
On the host, in cPanel or ISP Manager, you can install WordPress in a few clicks. Then, the procedure is almost as simple as Microsoft Word. You’ll have your own dashboard to view statistics, make updates, draft a publication, etc. If your WP vocabulary is poor and you experience difficulties in understanding the terminology, use a WP glossary for a hint.
Should I Choose Free or Paid Hosting?
Sometimes hosting providers attract us with the same security, bandwidth and speed for both free and paid plans, but the features included are always different. So, the paid hosting service is at your disposal, if you need plenty of email accounts, huge storage, data transfer, etc. In other words, you are going to launch a great project. The other reason to pay, is the desire and financial opportunities to scale your new online business as fast as possible.
If you’re starting a new travel blog, personal website, portfolio or any other individual project, free hosting will be sufficient. Note that many free plans display ads on your site and offer limited, low-response support (via forums, discussions inside the community or email only, for example). It is most often worth it to pay for the hosting service from the very beginning. this small investment will pay you back with a smoother start to your project.