As of WordPress does not have to be expensive, after all 15 years, WordPress is free (and open-source). Even the cheapest (shared) hosting plan usually comes with a single click of WordPress Installer, allowing the most green of newbies to blogging to have their first place ready in less than 60 seconds (we tested).
But managing a blog over time is much harder. You will need to find your themes and plugins. And also keep them, and WordPress itself, updated (although you can also get it done automatically).
Blogs are often run by malware, so it’s important that you have a way to detect and delete any threats, and you want regular backups to help you get a broken blog working again.
The best hosts go even further, optimizing their servers to increase the performance of WordPress, and sometimes launching in extras like Content delivery Network (CDN) to offer great speeds around the world.
There is a list of hosting companies that offer managed WordPress plans, but we have chosen some of the best to point in the right direction. Whether you’re a first time user or a big business, there’s something for you here, and with prices starting at about a cent a month, it’s worth taking the time to learn more.
WordPress Budget Hosting can have a lot of appeal, but it usually doesn’t offer the features, performance or reliability that high-traffic sites need. If you are the picky type, opting for a Premium hosting plan will give you much better results.
Bluehost has created own VPS-based architecture to provide maximum performance of WordPress through Nginx, a custom configuration of PHP-FPM and resources intelligently allocated through the KVM hypervisor. (If you’re not a geek hosting, this just means Bluehost has had time to tweak the low-level configuration of your WordPress platform, rather than just doing it with a standard setup.)
The company will not waste time pretending to offer ‘ unlimited ‘ resources, and instead tells you exactly what you are going to get. For the standard WP plan, this means storage 30 GB, 1 TB of bandwidth, and key resources-2GB of RAM, two CPU cores-which are assigned to you, and not shared with anyone else.
This is not cheap, even with the standard basic plan that costs $19.99 per month for the initial term, increasing to $39.99 later. But you found a lot for your money, and if you are more interested in power than the price, Bluehost is even more helpful.
The top high end floor, for example, gives you four CPU cores, 8GB of RAM, 240GB storage and a 4TB of monster bandwidth. SiteLock Enterprise handles all your security and CDN requirements, and there is an SSL wildcard pulled in. Ultimate costs $49.99 per month initially, $129.99 after that, but this is a fair price for this specification, and BlueHost offers a 30-day money guarantee back if you believe the service will not deliver.
Optimized low-level setup-BP Standard €17/mth
Many powerful extras-BP Enhanced €25/mth
BP Premium €33/mth
Web giant 1&1 seems to have a hosting product for all possible needs, and WordPress is no exception. Novice users can test their service at a nominal value of $1.40 a month during the first year ($7), however, the plan still surpasses many competitors.
The storage of 50 GB included means you won’t be out of space in a hurry, for example. There are no bandwidth limits or visitors, and you can set as many email accounts as you need.
1&1 offers the basic functions of management of WordPress that you would expect: A wizard installation, plugins pre-installed, Automatic Updates and support 24/7 (even by phone).
All this is based on a capable platform-nginx, PHP 7.2, OPcache, up to 2GB of RAM guaranteed-to improve the performance of your blog.
There is SSL included and also a free domain pulled in, which is ridiculously good value for money.
1&1 is not only for newbies, however: there is a value for discerning users, too. In particular, the unlimited plan has no limits on websites, storage space, number of databases (1GB Max), visitors, email accounts, or SFTP. Additional features include a CDN and SiteLock malware analysis, and the price looks good at $9.80 per month for the first year, $14 in renewal.
Price for first year-1&1 Managed WP Basic €1/mth
SSL and free domain-1&1 Managed WP Plus €4/mth
1&1 Managed WP Unlimited €8/mth
InMotion Hosting is unusual to offer six plans of WordPress, covering everything from small personal blogs to retailers and large companies. Understand that it is the best product for you will want a little more thought, but at least there is room to update-or downgrade-if circumstances change.
Better yet, InMotion has not artificially limited low-end plans, eliminating key features. Also the reference plan WP-1000s-which costs $6.99 per month initially, $8.99 ($6.40) under renovation-Offers storage 40 GB, unlimited bandwidth and email addresses, pre-installed WordPress, SSL, Backup, Automatic Updates, SiteLock Security, CPanel Management site, and extras like BoldGrid and WP-CLI. The only significant problem is the InMotion suggestion that the plan works best for blogs with up to 20,000 visits per month, and even this will not be a problem for many smaller sites.
Upgrading your plan gives you some extra Premium-themes and plugin subscriptions, a dedicated IP address, support for hosting multiple sites-but it’s mostly about giving you more resources. For example, the WP-6000 high-end plan supports 1.2 million monthly visitors up to 20 sites for $114.99 per month initially (1-year Plan), $142.99 under renovation.
There are cheaper solutions around, but in previous reviews we found InMotion to be reliable, professional and honest, and any price premium is probably worth paying for. You don’t have to take our word for it, however-an exceptional 90 days money-back guarantee gives you many opportunities to find out for yourself.
InMotion WP-1000S €4/mth
InMotion WP-2000S €7.20/mth
InMotion WP-3000S €9.60/mth
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