4 Type of WordPress Hosting | Which is Best for You?

WordPress is an open-source platform, and to install it, you need WordPress hosting. When you search for WordPress hosting, you will find a variety of plans and hosting offers that can confuse you.

Leaving the choice of hosting provider aside; The first question that should come to mind is, what type of WordPress hosting is best for your website?

In this article, I will explain the type of WordPress hosting, so you can make an informed decision on purchase.

There are four main type of WordPress hosting, that widely popular.

1. Shared WordPress hosting
2. Virtual private servers
3. Dedicated WordPress hosting
4. WordPress Cloud hosting

I will only be focusing on the type of WordPress hosting, not the hosting providers. Once you find out the type of hosting you need, you can go and explore your options.

#1 Shared WordPress hosting

Shared hosting is an excellent option for beginners or those who need a low amount of resources. It is the most affordable option available.

As the name suggests, in shared hosting, multiple sites shared a single server. Each site gets a limited amount of resources (such as bandwidth, storage, RAM etc). This is why shared hosting is so cheap. You share the cost and resources of servers with other site owners.

You can upgrade at any time, and move to a better type of hosting. The pros and cons of the shared type of WordPress hosting depend on your business.

Pros of Shared WordPress hosting:

1. Low cost: Shared pricing among the website owners
2. Quick setup: In most of the cases, you get the WordPress already installed
3. Readily available: Nearly everyone sells shared hosting
4. No need for any maintenance

Cons of Shared WordPress hosting:

1. Low control: There is less to no control over the server, as you are not the only hosting your site on it.
2. Security: Neighbouring sites sharing your server could be infected, and it could harm your site too
3. No support: Company typically don’t give much support to shared hosting 
4. Sharing IP: Beside resources, sites share IP addresses also, and any illegal activities from the neighbouring site can get your site flagged also.

Best for:

1. Starting bloggers with low traffic
2. Portfolio sites that require low resources
3. Developers learning WordPress development
4. Test and development sites

#2 Virtual private hosting for WordPress

Similar to shared hosting, users shared servers in VPS too. However, in VPS, each user gets a private space to host their site.

 It is a mixture of dedicated hosting and shared hosting. The hardware is shared, but still, each user has their own set of resources that they do not share with other site owners.

If a single site owner consumes resources more than as provided in the plan, the site will crash. The overconsumption will not hurt the neighbor sites, as the RAM is fixed for each site owner.

The price of the VPS varies and depends on the resources.

There are two types of VPS: Managed and Self Managed.

In managed, the hosting provider manages the VPS, and in self-managed, the site owner has to maintain the VPS.

Self-managing gives you more flexibility and control over the resources, but you need to know what you are doing.

Pros of VPS WordPress hosting:

1. Separate fixed resources (RAM, Disk space, and Bandwidth)
2. Better protected and security than the shared hosting
3. Neighbour site owners do not eat up all the resources
4. Flexibility and customisation opportunities
5. Better reliability and uptime

Cons of VPS WordPress hosting:

1. More responsibility if you are taking unmanaged VPS
2. Managed VPS is expensive

VPS hosting is best for:

1. Sites with high traffic
2. Large businesses with large sites
3. More flexibility and control over hosting

#3 Dedicated WordPress hosting

Dedicated hosting is the best type of WordPress hosting available. It is the best option for the sites that are generating considerable revenue, and need a secure hosting environment.

With dedicated WordPress hosting, the site gets the entire server’s resources. But then comes the need of managing and maintaining the dedicated server.

You can have managed dedicated servers, but then you will not have much control over the resources, and it will be more expensive.

With an unmanaged server, you have to install WordPress yourself, and even have to set up the WordPress hosting environment.

It is the best solution for the sites and organization that wants total control over the hosting. Many large sites choose VPS or cloud hosting, instead of dedicated servers, due to all the maintenance.

Pros of Dedicated Servers:

1. No sharing of resources and total control over the servers
2. Do anything you like to do with the servers
3. Scalable as the site/business grows

Cons of Dedicated Servers:

1. Expensive to run and maintain
2. Need an expert to manage the server
3. Typically dedicated server has more power than the site needed

Dedicated hosting is best for:

1. Organizations that want to host lots of sites
2. Need security for sensitive data
3. High traffic sites (in millions)
4. Sites with a huge amount of data
5. Need to make customization that other type of hosting can’t adapt to
6. Absolute and total control

#4 WordPress Cloud hosting

Cloud hosting and VPS is almost similar, but there is a slight difference. VPS has a separate machine despite being on the same server. In cloud hosting, the site owner has a private server, just like VPS, but the cloud hosting means the site is part of a network.

The network replicated the site to multiple instances to improve the uptime. This is the newest way of hosting and getting popular faster.

Cloud hosting is quickly scalable, as you can connect more servers to the cloud quickly. In terms of cost, cloud hosting is less expensive than dedicated servers and VPS.

Pros of Cloud hosting:

1. Highly and quickly scalable
2. Fast network speed
3. Better uptime and reliability
4. More flexibility than the VPS
5. Less expensive than VPS and dedicated servers

Cons of Cloud hosting:

1. No or less control over the servers
2. Part of the server network, so you don’t have any server

Cloud hosting is best for:

1. High traffic sites
2. eCommerce sites
3. Need for speed
4. Mission-critical objective

Take Away

Choosing which type of WordPress hosting is best for your site is not a decision you should take in a hurry. Investigate and compare all types of hosting and plans to identify the best one.

In this article, I have mentioned the four most popular types of WordPress hosting. You should remember that you can switch hosting at any time without losing your sight. So, you don’t have to worry about choosing one.

The chances are your requirement will change, and the site will need a different type of WordPress hosting after some time.

However, here is a summary:

• Shared hosting: If you are just starting, and want to learn WordPress
• Virtual Private servers: A secure dedicated solution but in affordable pricing
• Dedicated server: Expensive but total security and control over the servers
• Cloud hosting: Ideal for email business that is looking to scale

I hope this article helps you. If there is any question or query, please leave it in the comment box.