2023’s Best WordPress Hosting Companies Compared (Manually Tested & Updated Monthly)

Planning to start your own WordPress website or blog? Before you do, it’s crucial to understand why getting onto one of the best WordPress hosting setups is crucial and can mean the success or failure of your site.

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We’ve done our homework and tested some of the most popular places where you can host your WordPress site, and we’re ready to share what we’ve found out.

Take a peek at the chart below. It’s like a scoreboard that shows how these different hosting companies stack up against each other. And if you want more detail, click through to read the individual reviews of each WordPress hosting platform.

Best WordPress hosting services of 2023: SUMMARY

🧐 Something you should know about our analysis of hosting is that we’ve been looking at this industry for over a decade, meticulously observing the most notable companies, buying their hosting setups for our own money and then testing their performance and features. We do our own tests, plus also conduct annual hosting surveys where we gather direct feedback from hosting users, ensuring our recommendations are grounded in real-world experiences and insights.

Best WordPress hosting services: IN DETAIL

Here are the platforms that have made our shortlist of the very best WordPress hosting offerings that the market has to offer.

Consider this analogy: in a sports match, the difference between an average player and a star player is clear and impactful. Similarly, the decision about where to host, or park your website on the internet, can significantly shape your online presence. Opting for the very best WordPress hosting platforms could be your ticket to standing out among the big leagues in your field. 🏆

Why did we pick those exact hosts? The main things that make a hosting service the best can be remembered as the 7 S’s: speed, security, scalability, support, space, server location, SSL. Scroll down to read more about our methodology.

1. SiteGround (www.siteground.com)

• From: $2.99 / month
• Traffic allowed: 10,000 visits/month
• Uptime: 100%
• Load time: 1.44s
• Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

SiteGround stands out as one of the few hosting services that get the official thumbs-up from the WordPress.org crew, making it a top pick for anyone starting a WordPress website.

It provides a perfect home for WordPress websites of all shapes and sizes, and even makes your life easier by giving you simple tools for setting up your site. In fact, SiteGround will get you started with a fresh WordPress install done for you – no server skills required on your part to start a site.

When it comes to customer service, SiteGround hits a home run, too. They’ve earned rave reviews from users everywhere and they’re there to help you around the clock, whether by live chat or phone.

SiteGround has also always been strong in the performance and uptime department. It will make sure that your site remains available and loading fast.

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Learn more: full SiteGround review

2. Bluehost (www.bluehost.com)

• From: $2.75 / month
• Traffic allowed: unmetered
• Uptime: 99.87%
• Load time: 1.25s
• Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

Another host that’s ready for WordPress – and officially recommended by WordPress.org – Bluehost is a good choice for most users.

It’s cheap and also packs a cool extra perk – a free domain name for the first year.

Recently, Bluehost introduced their revamped user panel, which makes working with your hosting setup easier, especially if you want to launch your site using WordPress, which Bluehost will install for you.

Lastly, there’s 24/7 support, good knowledge base with guides, video tutorials and more.

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Learn more: full Bluehost review

3. WP Engine (www.wpengine.com)

• From: $20.00 / month
• Traffic allowed: 25,000 visits/month
• Uptime: 99.98%
• Load time: 1.27s
• Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

WP Engine is certainly on the more expensive side of the spectrum when it comes to our best WordPress hosting services. But this firm has one huge thing going for it – it’s the most popular WordPress-only host in the market.

For years now, WP Engine has been mastering the WordPress space to figure out what sort of parameters a server should have to offer good performance to WordPress sites and also make sure things run problem-free.

WP Engine is also known for quality support – you can get help via their helpdesk, chat, and over the phone.

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Learn more: full WP Engine review

4. IONOS (www.ionos.com)

• From $1.00 / month
• Traffic allowed: unmetered
• Uptime: 99.91% (last 3 months)
• Load time US: 0.39s
• Load time EU: 0.68s
• Load time Asia: 1.4s
• Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

IONOS first began offering web hosting in 1988, which makes them a certified veteran in the web hosting industry. There aren’t too many other web hosts still around today with that kind of longevity. This means they’ve seen trends come and go, and they understand what consumers’ needs are in a way that many other web hosting companies do not.

They offer a range of different hosting options, including WordPress hosting of course.

IONOS is also able to assist with other elements of your website creation journey. You can secure a domain name and SSL certificate through them, plus they offer website builders for blogs, regulars websites, as well as ecommerce stores.

Finally, if you need some very hands-on assistance, they have a web design service (where they make your website for you).

5. DreamHost (www.dreamhost.com)

• From $2.59 / month
• Traffic allowed: unmetered
• Uptime: 99.81%
• Load time: 2.38s
• Overall: ⭐⭐⭐ / 5

DreamHost has been a solid option among the best hosting services for years now. They have good reviews, offer okay performance, and have been one of the few companies endorsed by WordPress.org – something that should be important to you if you’re planning to build your website on WordPress.

DreamHost gives you access to a 24/7 support that’s a US-based team of professionals. However, since the team is US-based, the live chat support is available from 5:30 am to 9:30 pm Pacific only, but you can submit online support tickets whenever you want to.

DreamHost also offers an overall friendly user panel with one-click instant WordPress installation.

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Learn more: full DreamHost review

6. Rocket (rocket.net)

• From: $25 / month
• Traffic allowed: 250,000 visits/month
• Uptime: 100%
• Load time: 0.52s
• Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

Rocket.net, a new player in the hosting game, is turning heads with its speedy, secure, and easy-to-use WordPress hosting services.

It’s designed with just the right settings for the speed that WordPress sites need, helping improve your site’s visibility on search engines and the number of visitors who actually stay and interact with your site. Rocket.net also promises safety with free SSL, CDN, WAF, and protection against harmful software, ensuring your websites stay online and secure.

Managing websites on Rocket.net is as easy as pie, thanks to their user-friendly control panel. They stand behind their services with round-the-clock expert help, free moves for an unlimited number of websites, and a 30-day money-back guarantee if you’re not happy. The best part? They’re welcoming new users with an amazing $1 offer for the first month.

7. Flywheel (getflywheel.com)

• From: $13.00 / month
• Traffic allowed: 5,000 visits/month
• Uptime: 96.63%
• Load time: 0.88s
• Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

Flywheel is a more boutique WordPress host that aims their services at beginners to the WordPress ecosystem. Flywheel is ideal for users who might not need much server power but would instead like for their hosting experience to be fully hands-off.

This is an excellent managed WordPress host that handles all of the heavy lifting for you, gives you an easy-to-use panel to work with, plus it all comes at an affordable price. Such a setup will be more than enough for new websites.

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Learn more: full Flywheel review

8. Kinsta (www.kinsta.com)

• From $29.17 / month
• Traffic allowed: 25,000 visits/month
• Uptime: 99.98%
• Load time: 1.25s
• Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ / 5

Kinsta is another slightly more expensive web host, but it’s also a more highly WordPress-optimized offering. Kinsta prides themselves on being able to deliver great performance and good scalability for growing WordPress websites.

The entry-level plan will allow you to receive up to 25,000 visitors a month. Kinsta will also be a good platform to grow with if your website starts attracting a bigger audience (the overage charges are half of what they are with WP Engine, for instance).

Kinsta also gives you access to a big number of data center locations around the globe, 24/7 support, and they have a very user-friendly user panel, so managing your server becomes really straightforward.

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Learn more: full Kinsta review

9. InMotion Hosting (www.inmotionhosting.com)

• From $2.29 / month
• Traffic allowed: unmetered
• Uptime: 100%
• Load time: 1.66s
• Overall: ⭐⭐⭐ / 5

InMotion Hosting can be as great choice for at least two reasons. First, it offers very good performance in the US. Second, it’s one of the more affordable options among the best WordPress hosting services if you’re planning to build not one but two websites.

The one downside is that InMotion doesn’t pre-install WordPress on your server. However, you can handle that yourself via a straightforward installer script later on.

On the customer support side, you get access to a whole support center with a number of articles and tutorials, and there’s also live 24/7 support – available by live chat, phone, and email.

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Learn more: full InMotion review

10. A2 Hosting (www.a2hosting.com)

• From $1.99 / month
• Traffic allowed: unmetered
• Uptime: 99.95%
• Load time: 2.08s
• Overall: ⭐⭐⭐ / 5

What sets A2 Hosting apart is mainly their approach towards pricing. While most companies will force you into paying for the whole year up front, A2 lets you pay monthly, as you go. And you can also cancel at any time.

A2 also gives you a working WordPress installation out the box, so there’s no need to install anything by hand.

As for the customer support department, A2 Hosting offers what they call 24/7 Guru Crew Support. They will help you figure out any website related issue you might have.

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Learn more: full A2 Hosting review

11. Hostinger (www.hostinger.com)

• From $2.24 / month
• Traffic allowed: 100 GB of bandwidth
• Uptime: 99.84%
• Load time: 1.15s
• Overall: ⭐⭐⭐ / 5

Hostinger, albeit a newer company in the WordPress hosting space, has been making a name for itself in the industry rather quickly. The main reason is their more than attractive pricing. To get started with Hostinger it’s just $2.24 / month, which is a price that’s hard to beat.

Hostinger also has a range of hosting options available, including shared, cloud, virtual private server (VPS), and even dedicated plans. Apart from that, you also get a free domain name and one-click WordPress installation, which will speed up your website launch considerably.

Then, if you ever need any assistance, the support team is available 24/7 and you can get help in 20+ languages.

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Learn more: full Hostinger review

12. HostGator (www.hostgator.com)

• From $3.75 / month
• Traffic allowed: unmetered
• Uptime: 99.97%
• Load time: 1.33s
• Overall: ⭐⭐⭐ / 5

HostGator is one of the biggest web hosting companies of them all. They’ve been in this market for a number of years, and have won their customers over mainly thanks to their affordable prices and good uptime records.

Though HostGator doesn’t offer much WordPress-specific features on their entry-level plans, you can still configure WordPress pretty easily using single-click installers and then do the rest of your setup in the WordPress dashboard.

HostGator support is available 24/7 via live chat. Though the wait times can get long because of the size of HostGator’s user base. Still, a good alternative to consider when looking for the best hosting services.

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Learn more: full HostGator review

The 7 S’s of best WordPress hosting

Here are the most important traits to look for in best WordPress hosting:

Speed

Did you know that it only takes 2 seconds of loading time for your visitor to decide that they don’t want to wait any longer? Or, to put it in other terms, if your site takes more than 2 seconds to load, people will leave. Bad WordPress hosting won’t give you good results in this realm. They actually hope you’ll never find out that their platform is slow. Luckily, things like speed are easy to test, and we do just that to point you only in the direction of the best performing hosting platforms.

Security

Every year, literally millions of WordPress sites get hacked (example). If your WordPress host doesn’t care, your site can be the next victim. Good hosts have sufficient precautions and procedures set in place to avoid this kind of risk.

Scalability

What happens if one of your articles or posts goes viral and all of a sudden thousands of people go to your site to see it at the same time? Most likely your site will crash. But if your WordPress hosting setup is scalable, it will be able to handle the influx. This we’ve tested as well.

Support

In case you ever need help with anything regarding your WordPress hosting setup or even your website in general, you should be able to reach out to your hosting firm. Though, that’s not always possible in the real world. We’ve tested the support departments of many hosting companies, and simply not all of them stand up to the task. Let us show you who does.

Space

Can you have more than one website on your single hosting setup? Can you host high-quality image or video files? Well, depends on how lucky you were picking a good hosting firm.

Server location

In a nutshell, you want to be able to choose a server that’s near your target audience’s geographical location. Catering to an audience in Germany? You want a server in Germany, simple! However, not all WordPress hosting companies give you a choice.

SSL

Aka. Secure Sockets Layer or HTTPS, is a web protocol. It’s used to make sure that whatever content you’re reading on the web hasn’t been interfered with. In other words, if your site doesn’t have SSL enabled, your visitors might have second thoughts about interacting with it. What’s more, Google now actively discourages people from even visiting websites without SSL. A good host will let you enable SSL on your WordPress website.

Who’s the best WordPress host?

Here’s the main comparison table again, just to show you a short summary of the best WordPress hosting services featured above:

WordPress hosting FAQs

What is WordPress hosting?
WordPress hosting is a type of web hosting service that is specifically optimized for running WordPress websites. It typically includes pre-installed WordPress software, automatic updates, and specialized support for WordPress-related issues. Some WordPress hosting providers also offer additional features such as enhanced security, faster loading times, and backups.

Are there any free WordPress hosting providers?
Yes, there are free WordPress hosting providers available. However, the features and resources offered by free providers are typically limited, such as limited storage space, bandwidth, and no custom domain names. Free hosting may also include ads on your site or require you to use a subdomain provided by the hosting company. Of all the free WordPress hosting options available, 000webhost is arguably the best one and the closest you’ll get to what’s possible with a paid option.

Does hosting matter for WordPress SEO?
Yes, hosting can have an impact on WordPress SEO. Factors such as website speed, uptime, and security are important ranking signals for search engines. A fast and reliable hosting provider can improve website performance, leading to better user experience and potentially higher search engine rankings. Additionally, some hosting providers offer SEO tools and features such as SSL certificates, which can further enhance SEO efforts.

Which is the best WordPress hosting for developers or agencies?
The best WordPress hosting for developers or agencies depends on individual needs and preferences. Some popular options include managed WordPress hosting providers such as WP Engine, Flywheel, and Kinsta, which offer advanced features such as staging environments, developer tools, and automatic backups. These providers also offer specialized support for WordPress-related issues.

Alternatively, cloud hosting providers such as DigitalOcean or Amazon Web Services may be a good choice for developers who prefer more control and customization options. Ultimately, it’s important to choose a hosting provider that meets your specific requirements in terms of performance, security, and scalability.

What to do once you pick a host?

Already have your best WordPress hosting platform set up and ready to house your website? Good! Here’s what to do next:

• How to make a WordPress website
• How to create a WordPress blog in 15 minutes – free guide for 2023