Why hosting is so important to WordPress speed
If you are reading this article, you will already make the choice to use WordPress for your website. The most important thing to consider when using WordPress is hosting. Among the numerous terms such as shared, dedicated, and VPN, there is one called WordPress hosting.
What is WordPress hosting
In the simplest sense, you can think of WordPress hosting as hosting that is optimized to better meet your WordPress performance and security requirements. It usually includes a one-click WordPress installation to make it easy to get started with WordPress. Some WordPress hosts even automatically update their WordPress software as needed.
There are two main types of WordPress hosting: shared WordPress hosting and managed WordPress hosting. We will describe each in detail below.
Do I have to use WordPress hosting to run WordPress?
It’s not like that. To run WordPress, you only need a host of PHP version 5.2.4 or higher and MySQL 5.0.15 or higher. If you only meet WordPress’ basic system requirements, that means you can technically handle WordPress.
However, that doesn’t mean that all hosts have the same performance when running WordPress.
Simply put, it can help to run better in the long run, such as the size and speed of your WordPress website in the future.
What is Shared WordPress Hosting?
In general, you will see two types of WordPress hosting when searching.
– Shared WordPress hosting (often referred to as “WordPress hosting”)
Shared WordPress hosting is always the cheaper of the two options.
With shared WordPress hosting, your site “shares” your server with other websites. It provides optimized performance for WordPress, but cannot be used alone. Other sites may slow your site down.
In addition to tuning performance, you can also access some types of one-click WordPress installers. To be honest, cPanel (available on most hosts) doesn’t help much, as it already includes a one-click WordPress installer. However, some of the providers of shared WordPress hosting go a step further and offer the option of pre-installing WordPress.
Finally, some WordPress hosts also offer the ability to automatically upgrade your WordPress software. Sometimes we upgrade plugins and themes too! Keeping your WordPress site up to date is a [mandatory security measure], so this feature is very important.
You can find shared WordPress hosts that offer more WordPress-related features, but the above is pretty much the default standard.
Shared WordPress hosts usually offer huge discounts on first payment. After that, the price is paid at the normal price. For the first billing cycle, you can pay for around $3-4 per month. At the end of the first cycle, you’ll pay your normal price, usually $7-10.
What is managed WordPress hosting?
For example, if your shared WordPress hosting is a clean 3-star hotel, you can think of managed WordPress hosting as using a 5-star resort that offers beachfront views.
In addition to everything that shared hosting has to offer, managed WordPress hosting usually offers:
Faster speed. Managed WordPress hosting offers better hardware specs, which means faster WordPress sites.
Server side caching. Caching is one of the biggest things you can do to speed up your WordPress site. You usually need a plugin to handle this, but managed WordPress hosts provide better caching without user intervention.
Better security. You will get regular malware scans and intrusion detections, as well as a firewall dedicated to WordPress. All these jargons mean a much more secure WordPress site.
Site preparation. Many managed hosts provide a staging site that you can easily test before applying site changes.
Managed WordPress hosting is more expensive. With a few exceptions like SiteGround and Flywheel, it’s common to pay in the range of $25 or more per month for high-quality managed WordPress hosting.
Which to choose between shared or managed WordPress hosting?
We recommend that beginners opt for cheap shared WordPress hosting. Sites with high traffic should opt for managed WordPress hosting.
Time is money.
If you’re just starting out with WordPress, it’s easy to have a hard time doing things like configuring caching and keeping your updates up to date. With managed WordPress hosting, you don’t have to worry about this.
However, the extra cost means you have to reduce the time it takes to manage the performance of your website. $15 per month isn’t that big of a cost to save you 3 hours hitting your head against the wall to figure out exactly the best way to tune your caching plugin.
However, if budget is your primary concern, be sure to use shared WordPress hosting as a beginner. Keep in mind that you are missing out on the concierge service provided by a managed WordPress host at an affordable price.
Featured WordPress Host
So far, I’ve talked about WordPress hosting to the best of my knowledge.
What about WordPress hosting recommendations?
I am commissioned as a freelancer and recommend the WordPress host that the clients are most satisfied with while working on the project.
Siteground – starts at $6.99 per month and offers shared hosting with some management features. go to 👉 Siteground
Bluehost-Starts at $3.95 per month and offers fast and comfortable shared hosting with 50G of storage. go to 👉 Bluehost
A2 Hosting-Starts at $2.99 per month and offers incredibly fast speeds for shared WordPress hosts.
Flywheel – starts at $13 per month and offers managed WordPress hosting.
Kinsta – starts at $30 per month and offers advanced managed WordPress hosting.
