Best Web Hosting for WordPress 2023
Do you want to skip reading and go to my top picks? The best WordPress website hosts for most people are Hostinger and Bluehost.
WordPress is what I use to manage my blog and other sites. Millions of visitors read content and interact with my site every month. Without the best WordPress web hosting, there is no way I can provide a high-performance experience.
This differs from regular hosting in that your provider is only going to host WordPress on the servers you use. It makes it easier to optimize performance and maintain security because it has only one type of software.
So, if you are currently using WordPress or planning to use WordPress for your website, you need to invest in web hosting designed for that platform.
And it is very affordable.
Which WordPress web hosting provider is the best? Keep reading for reviews of the top providers I believe. The reviews are followed by a brief guide to help you find a host that makes sense with your goals and budget.
1 – Hostinger Review The Best for Cheap WordPress Hosting
Hostinger offers optimized WordPress hosting for as low as $1.99/month. Even at that rock-bottom pricing, it has the essential package of features and resources needed to get a WordPress site off the ground and looking sharp.
Everything is easy to set up even if it’s your first time using hosting or WordPress.
A four-year contract is required to get the best value. So, there’s a little bit of a commitment, but the four-year total price tag at that low rate is less than a single year with other options.
You also save with free email accounts, domain names, CDNs, and a free SSL certificate that’s easy to enable Your site will be faster and more secure with little effort on your part.
Hostinger’s entry-level plan isn’t intended for developers and the like who need to put a big push on their site. You get 30 GB of storage, two databases, and weekly backups
The lack of daily backups may not work for some users, but if you don’t need to update your site all the time, a weekly backup is a comforting insurance plan.
At a lower price, there’s obviously no white-glove customer service, but it’s still available 24/7/365. Customers tend to review Hostinger’s support very well, even if the response time is slower than you’d get with a managed plan.
There are going to be upsold on the platform, but no catch. That’s a really great value because Hostinger hasn’t cut costs where it counts.
You get a 99.9% uptime guarantee and a reliable site speed up to 10,000 visitors per month. This is enough if you are just starting out.
And Hostinger has really optimized the WordPress experience. LightSpeed Cache speeds up your site and works well with the most popular plugins
It’s not just a performance boost—Hostinger provides a helpful tool to make your site look professional.
One-click WordPress installation, a site setup wizard and lots of helpful tutorials. You’ll be able to take advantage of free WordPress plugins and themes to enhance your site at no cost.
Hostinger has super-competitive introductory pricing for all WordPress hosting plans they offer:
Renewal rates go up a bit more than initial rates (from $2 more per month to $5 to $7 more on high-octane plans), but that has a lot to do with how much of a discount they offer. Don’t be put off by the price, the full rate is comparable to other shared WordPress hosting.
And, if you snag the best deal with a four-year commitment up front, you won’t have to worry about paying more for your hosting for a good 48 months.
At the end of the day, if you’re looking for a low-cost hosting plan optimized for WordPress, Hostinger is a very good option. It’s a no-frills plan that covers all your bases and delivers great performance.
2 – Cloudways Review — The Best for Total Customization
If you’ve been shopping for WordPress hosting for a while, you’ve probably noticed that many providers start to run together after a while. It can be a parade of largely similar options with slight differences in price, management, or other options.
Cloudways does things a little differently, though—and it might be to your advantage.
This provider aims to strike a unique balance between user customization and the stress-free nature of managed WordPress hosting.
Starts off with something fancy right off the bat. You select your preferred cloud server infrastructure from the five top platforms out there:
DigitalOcean
Amazon Web Services
Google Cloud
Vultr
Linode
Each offers at least eight data centers to choose from, sprinkled across North America, Europe, and Asia (some also have options in Australia, Africa, and South America).
This is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to customizing your CloudWays package. Each infrastructure option comes with four pre-set price packages, but you can easily adjust or reallocate resources after signing up (for free).
Plus, all plans are billed monthly on a pay-as-you-go basis, so you only pay for the resources you actually use and can easily switch plans.
There is even an hourly billing option that can come in handy for very short-term site projects and testing efforts.
Also, depending on your comfort level with server management, there are many ways to fine-tune your hosting experience, including:
One-click backups on demand
Automated backups
One-click application force stop
Varnish cache settings
App web root changes
Supervisord process manager
WP-CLI control over WordPress
Cron job rules and scheduling
You get all this control, plus deep optimization features for WordPress sites, strong security, and expert support with Cloudway.
Pricing varies widely based on the server infrastructure, resource level, and premium options (for DigitalOcean and Vault) you choose. For comparison’s sake, here are Cloudway’s entry-level plans for Digital Ocean:
As you can see, you can get started with just $12 per month with no commitment. This gives you much more storage and bandwidth than many base WordPress hosting plans from other providers while giving you a truly managed hosting experience with extra fine-grained control on your end.
Cloudways is not for beginners, but if you know enough to handle some server-side maintenance and administration, you can get all kinds of benefits from this provider. Get started for free with Cloudway – get everything exactly how you want it without a bill that penalizes you for customization. Use promo code NEIL PATEL to get 25% off for 3 months
3 – Pressable Review — The Best for Agencies, Designers, & Developers
Whether you’re designing sites for clients or developing their entire marketing strategy, adding web hosting to your service suite is a wise move. You can manage one more thing for your clients (making your services more valuable) and with Pressable, give them quality hosting while adding more revenue to your own bottom line.
Pressable offers both managed WordPress and WooCommerce hosting, giving you two options to offer your clients. Whether they need a WordPress site (or multiple) for their campaign or need you to lay the foundation for their web store, you’ve got them covered.
No matter what type of web hosting you need from Pressable, they provide great speed, uptime, and security with their cloud hosting infrastructure.
And, because their hosting services are fully managed, you get the extra help of free migrations, true and attentive 24/7 support, and performance monitoring provided by the Pressable team with every hosting plan. They will help you and your clients get the most out of their web hosting.
You can get all the managed hosting bells and whistles from WP Engine, but Pressable is more valuable to those who are designing and building sites for others. For one, you won’t find migration on every WP Engine plan, something that’s extremely valuable for client-oriented website work.
The entry-level plan starts at just $19 per month, and you get two months free when you prepay for a year. This package supports up to 5,000 visits per month and a single WordPress installation.
Expecting more traffic for single sites, you can upgrade to a personal plan that supports 30,000 visitors for $25 per month.
Prices go up as your traffic grows and you need more WordPress installations, up to 150+ installs and over 3 million site visits per month. So the platform is built to scale.
Pressable also handles WooCommerce packages if you sell online on WordPress via the WooCommerce plugin. This service is offered at exactly the same price as standard WordPress hosting.
If you need more, Pressable makes it ridiculously easy to scale. So, none of your clients can ever complain about the increased prestable hosting that you are providing them.
Learn about Pressable’s great WordPress and WooCommerce hosting and start providing your clients with a high-quality home on the web.
4 – Bluehost Review — The Best for New WordPress Sites
Powering more than 2 million sites worldwide, Bluehost is an industry leader in the web hosting space, especially for WordPress sites. In fact, it is one of the few web hosts that is officially recommended by WordPress.
Bluehost is a great option for anyone building a new website from scratch. When you sign up for hosting, you get a free domain name for one year and WordPress is a one-click install.
A domain name usually costs $10-15, but saves you time in addition to money. Instead of registering a domain and downloading WordPress, you can do everything in a single step.
Also, the cost of WordPress hosting is as low as you can get.
WordPress hosting from Bluehost starts at just $2.95/month. You need to sign a 3-year contract to get the best deal. If you always need hosting, I say lock in the best discount for as long as possible.
Everything is really easy to set up. I walked you through the entire process in my post on how to start a WordPress blog.
Trust me when I say you don’t need any special skills to start blogging right away.
Navigating around your new WordPress dashboard is fairly straightforward, but if you have questions, you can reach out to Bluehost support. Representatives are available any time of the day by phone or live chat.
Many of the best parts are baked right into the service—a free CDN and a free SSL certificate are always active to increase performance and security. You don’t need to configure any of it to benefit from fast speed and secure traffic.
It’s easy enough to take advantage of free WordPress themes and find a layout you like. Also, if you’re willing to spend some money, there are tons of incredible options through the Bluehost WordPress Marketplace.
Other noteworthy highlights from Bluehost include:
Automatic WordPress updates
Unlimited traffic
50 GB storage
$200 in free marketing credits (Google Ads and Microsoft Advertising)
Securely configure your WordPress login credentials
All of this comes with Bluehost basic WordPress web hosting, starting at $2.95 per month. For an entry-level plan, 50 GB of storage is a lot. More than double compared to other plans.
There is no arbitrary limit on traffic, but if your site starts affecting other sites on the server, they may ask you to upgrade to a higher-level plan.
The Plus and Choice Plus plans let you create as many sites as you want, while Basic limits you to just one. You also get unlimited storage (within acceptable usage limits, of course) and more server resources with higher-tier plans.
Bluehost’s managed WordPress hosting starts at $9.95/month with a three-year contract. The introductory rate is very attractive compared to other managed plans, which is great for locking-in managed-level service for the foreseeable future.
However, it lacks some features compared to more powerful managed WordPress plans, such as those offered by WP Engine
But if this is your first site, you shouldn’t even worry about managed hosting. You’ll be better off with shared WordPress hosting. Bluehost will set you up with everything you need at an affordable price.
I really like their online store-specific hosting. It’s a great way to set up a WooCommerce store in a pinch, with an included store builder, pre-installed WooCommerce and Jetpack, a one-click install for payment processing, and the ability to create manual orders.
5 – WP Engine Review — The Best for Managed WordPress Hosting
WP Engine is the original managed WordPress hosting provider and still leads the pack in providing concierge services and expert support. The company has also developed a platform full of exclusive tools designed to help take your WordPress site to the next level.
If you’ve got a small site or blog online, WP Engine is overkill. It’s a good option for people with online stores, multiple sites, and other complex WordPress hosting needs.
WP Engine lets you get high-performance sites without hiring a developer or stressing about maintenance.
You’ll unlock blazing-fast speeds, incredible uptime, and best-in-class security with no work on your part.
In addition to optimizing the IT environment, WP Engine will keep WordPress Core and PHP up to date. The company constantly monitors and blocks threats, keeping your site fast and secure.
WP Engine has a legendary customer service record. The company does not host anything other than WordPress. You’re always going to get a representative who knows the platform inside and out and handles relevant issues all day, every day.
With WP Engine taking care of so much, you have more time to focus on building a great site. 36 premium StudioPress themes are included with every hosting plan.
Usually, it will cost hundreds of dollars, but you can test and customize these powerful themes to your liking.
Some of the other highlights include:
Automatic WordPress updates
Free CDN
Free SSL Certificate
Geotargeted content
Free automated WordPress migrations
Development, staging, and production environments
No other managed WordPress host offers a separate dev/staging environment. This is a boon for WordPress developers, as it solves some of the pesky issues associated with one-click staging environments.
Managed WordPress hosting starts at $25/month with a one-year contract. You can sign up for a month at a time—which some hosting providers don’t allow—and it’s only $30/month.
While WP Engine isn’t cheap, there are no skyrocketing rates or hidden charges. However, you can select some additional features for an add-on cost, such as automatic plug-in updates for $3 per month or an additional site for $17 per month.
The Startup plan works for one site and comes with 10 GB of storage and 50 GB of bandwidth, which can handle around 25,000 visits per month. It recently had a minor price drop.
Upgrading to Professional, Growth or Scale plans will let you build more sites and host more traffic. At the top, Scale, you’re allowed 400,000 visits per month while getting 50 GB of storage per month and 500 GB of monthly bandwidth for $218 per month.
There is also a separate track of plans for eCommerce. These plans scale resources in exactly the same way as standard managed WordPress plans They also include powerful web store features. The Startup plan for WordPress eCommerce starts at $27 per month when paid annually.
With the eCommerce option, you get a platform built to use WooCommerce as well as premium themes designed specifically for eCommerce. Additionally, the automatic plug-in updates I mentioned earlier are included as part of this tier at no additional cost.
For most people, the standard WP Engine plan is everything they need and more. But if you have any expectations of needing eCommerce features, the slightly higher price for this option still provides a good value. Both options have a 60-day money-back guarantee. This is my top recommendation for managed WordPress hosting, and I’m hardly alone in that opinion.
Make WP Engine your first and last stop for managed WordPress hosting. Sign up for a year today, and get two months free.
6 – SiteGround Review — The Best Support for Affordable WordPress Hosting
To get the best possible white-glove, rose-petals-on-your-pillow customer service, you need to get a managed WordPress hosting plan. It’s an order of magnitude more expensive than the shared plan, but you get a level of support that surpasses everything else.
For those who want high-quality support, but aren’t committed to an expensive managed plan, I recommend checking out SiteGround.
What the company offers is called managed WordPress hosting, but in reality, it spans the gray area between shared and managed WordPress hosting plans. Basically, you can get many benefits from managed WordPress hosting at a shared price.
SiteGround is officially recommended by WordPress and has consistently outstanding reviews. You don’t win two Stevie Awards for customer service by accident.
All of their WordPress hosting solutions come with platform-specific support. From assisting with migration to troubleshooting plugins, SiteGround is ready to help. Customer service is always available via phone, live chat, and tickets.
In addition to a solid support, SiteGround takes care of updates, security, and caching configurations that keep your site fast.
Some of the other features include:
Automated WordPress installation and powerful WordPress starter kit
Free website builder
Free WordPress migrations
Managed security and updates at the server and application level
Performance optimized for WordPress sites
Free SSL certificates
Unlimited free email accounts
SiteGround offers a low introductory rate for all plans, starting at $3.49 per month for a one-year commitment:
StartUp – $3.49/mo
GrowBig – $5.99/mo
GoGeek – $9.99/mo
You won’t find a more feature-rich WordPress hosting option with as much support as SiteGround’s Startup plan. And, it’s a steal for just $42 for your first year.
After the promotional price ends, the same plan renews at $14.99 per month. That’s a steep increase, but still very competitive considering it’s a fully-managed WordPress hosting plan with many great features.
GrowBig and GoGeek plans can hold their own with other managed WordPress hosting plans You get a staging area, on-demand backup, improved caching, and more resources to power your sites.
During the discount period, the higher-tier plans are also an absolute steal.
If you’re not ready to pull the trigger on a premium managed WordPress hosting plan, but you still want your provider to handle a good amount of the backend legwork, SiteGround Startup is a good fit.
The company offers a 30-day money-back guarantee.
7 – DreamHost Review — The Lowest Day One Spend for WordPress Hosting
DreamHost is one of the few hosting providers officially recommended by WordPress, along with SiteGround and BlueHost. Unlike the other two providers, DreamHost offers very competitive month-to-month rates.
This is really attractive for people who don’t want to sign a long contract to get a good price. DreamHost offers discounts on some plans with longer contracts, but right now you can get the first month of your WordPress starter plan for just $1.99.
Another reason DreamHost keeps your per-day costs low is that a free domain name is included for the first year. That’s another $10 to $15 savings right there.
DreamHost also includes domain privacy, which keeps your personal information out of public record. It can cost as much as $15 per year with other hosts.
Bluehost will give you a free domain, but you won’t get many tools to help you build your site. DreamHost gives you a complete website builder.
Get set up quickly with over 200 starter sites built for restaurants, real estate, fashion, web design, and more. Use the simple drag-and-drop builder to add your content and finishing touches.
DreamHost handles all WordPress and security updates and includes automatic daily backups. This is unusual for shared WordPress hosting and saves the cost of buying a plugin like Jetpack to back up your site.
You also get:
50 GB storage
Unmetered bandwidth
Free SSL certificate
24/7 ticket support
Live chat support
Developer access
Free automated WordPress migrations
DreamHost offers a wide range of plans to choose from. In addition to affordable shared WordPress hosting, the company offers DreamPress, a managed solution, and WordPress hosting on a Virtual Private Server (VPS):
DreamPress-managed hosting solutions are a cost-effective no-contract option for those who don’t want to spend hundreds of dollars signing up for a traditional plan.
Similarly, VPS for WordPress plans will work well for people who need more resources and control over their servers than a shared plan allows.
Prices are competitive across all DreamHost plans, but there’s nothing to worry about. The company has a 100% uptime guarantee. DreamHost will actually pay you for your trouble if your site goes down unexpectedly.
They also offer an incredible 97-day money-back guarantee. No other host will give you as much time to try their service risk-free.
Dreamhost is confident about the quality of service it provides. You can be too.
Get started with DreamHost today for just a few dollars down
8 – Nexcess Review — The Best for Budget-Friendly Managed WordPress Hosting
Nexcess has a unique pricing and plan structure that puts managed hosting within the reach of businesses that can’t justify the expense required to get WP Engine.
Plans start as low as $19/month, with the first three months billed at just $13.30 as an introductory offer for new customers.
Nexcess is really managed WordPress hosting. One of my favorite aspects of the service is the features they offer that come with every plan.
With SiteGround, another affordable managed to host solution, you’ll need to upgrade to get site staging and on-demand backup. With Nexus, on the other hand, you can move from plan to plan to get more hosting resources, but you never have to upgrade access capabilities.
Nexcess takes care of a ton of tedious maintenance with plugin updates and 30-day backups. Just to note, you only get plugin updates with WP Engine’s Managed Hosting Plus plan, whereas Nexcess includes it as standard.
Other benefits you get with Nexcess-managed WordPress hosting are:
ree CDN
Free SSL certificate
Unlimited email accounts
Thames Security Pro
Visual regression testing
24/7/365 phone, live chat, and email support
I would also like to draw attention to the generous hosting resources. The Nexus entry-level plan, the 15GB of storage available with the Spark is great for the price and the 2TB of bandwidth is beyond belief. That’s four to five times the bandwidth that comes with other more expensive WordPress hosting plans.
And if your site uses more resources than your plan allows, Nexcess will automatically scale it 24 hours a day for free. It’s time to get ahead of a positive trend or random traffic spikes without a problem.
As I mentioned, Nexcess has a really flexible pricing structure that accommodates small businesses looking for top performance and enterprise businesses that need excellence every minute.
Spark fully customizes a site and comes with everything I’ve mentioned so far. The Maker plan is good for five sites, and increases bandwidth to 3 TB and 40 GB of storage The next plan, Designer, works for more sites and gives you more storage and more bandwidth
There are a total of seven different plans. Whether you have one site or hundreds, Nexcess has a managed WordPress hosting solution to fit your needs.
If you want managed WordPress hosting at a low cost, Nexus Spark is your choice. And, you can stick with the company as you grow.
You won’t get all the WordPress tools that come with WP Engine, but you’ll get serious hosting resources and a platform that’s optimized for WordPress. Don’t worry about speed, security or uptime with Nexcess.
9 – A2 Hosting Review — The Best for Moving an Existing Site to Better Hosting
Many providers offer free migrations to help you move your WordPress site from your old hosting situation. What this means in practice is that you can use a plugin that automates many processes.
It’s not too bad, but A2 Hosting has a real team of people dedicated to making the switch.
The result is a stress-free and hassle-free transition. With incredibly fast servers, a top-rated customer support staff, and great value, your site is now in a good place.
Whether you want to be shared hosting optimized for WordPress or a more hands-off managed plan, A2 will work. Account migration is free either way, but you can choose from a variety of options.
Looking at the shared WordPress hosting plans, it’s remarkable how much is included:
100 GB storage
Free SSL certificates
Virus scanning and hack defense,
Ecommerce integrations,
Cloudflare free CDN compatibility
Unlimited email accounts
24/7/365 email, live chat, phone, and ticket support
Yes, I am talking about the basic shared WordPress hosting plan from A2. 100 GB storage is more than other plans. And unlimited free email? Usually, with shared hosting plans, you don’t get few, if any, free accounts.
So if you want to migrate your site to a more feature- and resource-rich platform, but don’t want to commit to managed hosting, A2 is a very attractive option.
One of the benefits of upgrading to Turbo Boost or Turbo Max hosting plans is increased performance. You will be able to handle up to nine times the traffic with A2 Turbo Server and your site speed will be up to 20 times faster.
A2’s managed WordPress hosting starts at $11.99/month with a three-year contract. It has a lot to recommend it, but the renewal price puts it well over solutions like WP Engine.
At the end of the day, A2’s managed WordPress hosting isn’t as convenient as WP Engine or Nexcess’ plans. With A2, you need to use plugins like Jetpack to do a lot of maintenance that is handled for you by other vendors.
You won’t even get a free domain name, but if you’re trying to move your site, you’ve already crossed that bridge. There is no reason to stick with subpar hosting. A2 will make the transition completely stress-free for as little as $2.49/month.
Here’s what I looked for when looking for the best WordPress web hosting
Before you can find the best WordPress hosting plan for your site, you must know what to look for when you shop.
Since I’ve been using WordPress blogs as a major part of my business for many years, I’ve had to use and evaluate multiple web hosting options.
Now you can launch a WordPress site with any web host, but in this post, I’ve focused on providers that offer WordPress web hosting. Unlike general hosting, which can support any type of site, the plans I see only work for WordPress sites.
The downside is that the servers on these hosting plans are fully configured for WordPress. Everything about the backend IT environment is optimized for WordPress in a way that wouldn’t work with other types of software. This improves performance and reduces crashes.
If you want a hosting solution that works for WordPress and other types of sites, I recommend checking out the overall best web hosting services.
If you know you want to host just for WordPress, keep reading. I’ll walk you through the main criteria you should evaluate to find the option that best suits you.
But my recommendations will definitely help you kickstart your search. Here they are, just to recap:
Hostinger – The best for cheap WordPress hosting
Cloudways — The best WordPress hosting for total customization
Pressable — The best hosting for agencies, designers, and developers
Bluehost — The best WordPress hosting for new websites
WP Engine — The best for managed WordPress hosting
SiteGround — The best support for affordable WordPress hosting
DreamHost — The lowest day-one spend for WordPress hosting
Nexcess — The best for budget-friendly WordPress hosting
A2 Hosting — The best for moving an existing site to better WordPress hosting
