The best shared hosting for WordPress websites
As the internet becomes the preferred method of communication for businesses worldwide, the tool of creating and publishing the content is of increasing importance.
WordPress is used by millions to deliver news, messages and articles to the world. It has become not only the blogger’s weapon of choice but also a hugely popular Content Management System.
Learning how to use WordPress is easy. All you have to do is to login, add a new article and either write in WordPress, or copy and paste from your favorite word processor. But WordPress hosting is not for every web service. WordPress requires high standards from the web hosting provider which is why I took a lot of time to discover the best hosts. But first here’s a description of shared hosting and why it might be for you.
Shared Hosting
Shared web hosting is a service where many websites reside on one web server connected to the internet. It is generally the most economical option for hosting, as many people share the overall cost of server maintenance. However, being the cheapest package, it has its disadvantages. Firstly, it usually has a reduced level of security as you are sharing the server with several other websites. Shared hosting also has limited resources causing speed issues at both the back and front ends of your site.
Maybe you are just starting out as a blogger, or maybe you are using WordPress as a Content Management System for your new website. Maybe you are probably not expecting thousands or even hundreds of visitors a day. Does this sound like you? Then you need a shared host.
Recommended shared hosting for WordPress websites
During the course of my research I contacted hundreds of individuals through the WordPress LinkedIn group. Members of this group are high end webmasters with hundreds of sites on their books who have been around the block as far as web hosts are concerned – many of them were using 3 or 4 shared hosts for multiple sites. If you’re into LinkedIn and WordPress I would strongly recommend this group as I have found the advice and discussions there to be top notch!
The three most important factors we discussed in the survey were: speed, reliability and quality of support. We’ve all had the terrible experience of a website not behaving as it should and sometimes a timely and considered approach by the support team is worth a thousand dollars!
Here are the three hosts who came out as the best shared hosts for WordPress by WordPress professionals:
- JustHost. JustHost started providing high quality hosting services in 2008, so, compared to other hosting companies, JustHost is a new kid on the block. But nonetheless it scored high on our three hosting factors: speed, reliability and quality of support.
- Bluehost. The general consensus seems to be that Bluehost is inexpensive and has many powerful tools but support is maybe where it lacks the most. BlueHost is one of the 20 largest web hosts, collectively hosting well over 450000 domains with its sister company, HostMonster.
- Hostgator. The company was founded in 2002 by Chairman Brent Oxley, who started the company from his dorm room at university. With over two million domains, HostGator hosts approximately 1% of the world’s internet traffic. They came up many times in our survey as being a reliable host.
What not to do!
One hosting company’s name came up for all the wrong reasons so many times. The server sluggishness and all round poor performance at GoDaddy was mentioned again and again! So, by all means, register your domain name with GoDaddy, but don’t use them for hosting!
Conclusion
I learnt a huge amount from doing this survey. However, I decided to turn my back on shared hosting for this site and went for a Virtual Private Server (VPS). My next post will be about the best VPS hosts as recommended by WordPress professionals.
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Hi
I register domain names with GoDaddy and have my sites at Hostgator. I’ve never had a problem and the Hostgator pricing is unbelievably good value.
Hey, Neil, me too, I register most of my domain names with GoDaddy. I got a lot of good feedback about Hostgator, thanks for your added recommendation. One thing I didn’t mention, actually, was the prices. They are all pretty cheap. But it is an important point
I like bluehost a lot, especially for cPanel.
I wanted a reseller account so I could create many sites – for myself. Bluehost doesn’t offer that. I found hostnine.com which also has cPanel, but for 20 bucks a month I can make a zillion sites and subdomains.
I’m always making random experiment sites, so it fits nicely. Never had an issue in 2 or 3 years now.
Thanks for your recommendations of Bluehost and HostNine. Lots of people seem to be pretty happy with Bluehost. I’d never heard about HostNine so will have to check them out. You’re right about having a reseller account so you can start up multiple sites at the flick of a switch. Very empowering.
cPanel or an equivalent is essential for me. I’m going to write about it in my next post about VPSs.
Cheers, Douglas, take care!
[...] similar sites their experiences with hosts. Here are the results of surveys I did to find the best shared hosts and VPS hosts for [...]
Don’t use Godaddy for their hosting? Awww come on! At least give ‘em props for the best commercials! lol
haha, Tony!
[...] media later. The first thing you need to do is to decide on your web address, register it and get a shared server or VPS server to host your own personal [...]
I use this BlueHost always it provides seem pretty standard with all of the expected features of a web host such as cPanel, multiple database support, FTP, email, etc. I like this the most!
This was one of the better posts I’ve seen on the subject. I just randomly saw your blog when I was in the middle of doing some work using google. Anyway, wanted to let you know I enjoyed this web site and keep up on doin what youre doing. Also dont forget, enjoy the climb, dont focus so much on the final destination. Ciao, Kyle Bates
Hi Lee, yes, I’ve heard good things about BlueHost and they’ve always been good when I’ve worked with them. Impressed with their speed, actually.
Hi Kyle, thank you. I’ll try to enjoy the climb, thanks for the advice!
Hostgator seem to be the best among the lot. I say this because i’ve used their service personally.
I’ve heard a lot of good things about Hostgator, Afam.