Hosting is the home of your website. A good host keeps your site fast and online; a poor one causes slow pages, downtime and security worries. The good news is that choosing well is not complicated once you know what to look for.

The main types of WordPress hosting

Shared hosting

Your site shares a server with many others. It is cheap, but busy neighbours can slow you down. It suits brand-new or very small sites only.

Managed WordPress hosting

The host is tuned for WordPress and handles updates, caching, backups and security for you. It costs more but saves time and avoids many problems. For most businesses, this is the best choice.

VPS and cloud hosting

You get dedicated resources that can grow with your traffic. It is very flexible and fast, but it needs technical setup and care — or a partner who manages it for you.

What to look for

• Speed: modern servers, the latest PHP versions and built-in caching.
• Uptime: a strong track record and monitoring.
• Daily backups: with easy one-click restores.
• Security: firewalls, malware scanning and free SSL.
• Staging sites: so changes can be tested safely before going live.
• Support: fast, knowledgeable help when you need it.
• Server location: close to your customers, or a CDN to cover the world.

Red flags to avoid

• “Unlimited everything” for a tiny price — there is always a catch.
• No backups, or backups you have to pay extra to restore.
• Old PHP versions and slow support replies.

Cheap hosting is rarely cheap. Slow pages and downtime cost you customers.

Our advice

Start with managed WordPress hosting from a well-known provider, enable a CDN, and make sure backups run every day. If your site grows quickly or runs a busy WooCommerce store, move to a managed cloud server.

Not sure which plan fits? We can recommend hosting, move your site safely and set it up for speed — see our WordPress migration and speed optimisation services.

Further reading

• WordPress requirements (WordPress.org)
• PageSpeed Insights