Best Cloud Hosting for WordPress: Which One Should You Choose?
The web hosting industry is a fiercely competitive one, and for good reason: people are consistently searching for the cheapest possible providers for the hosting services they need.
At the same time, they also want the best possible experience when it comes to their web hosting purchases. To satisfy both requirements, most people turn to cloud hosting. What is cloud hosting, you ask? Let’s find out.
The Cloud
Put yourself in the position of a software engineer for a moment. Your team has designed and developed a web app for your company that has been fully tested and works perfectly in the testing environment. You’re now ready to launch the app in production, and—boom!—you’ve just crashed and burned because the host you’ve chosen has some serious performance issues. To make matters worse, you’ve got zero support from the host because they’ve gone out of business.
Or, perhaps you’ve launched your app successfully and are now getting amazing feedback from your users. You’re reasonably certain that everything is working as it should and you’ve got the host’s support because they’re wanting to stay in business.
In a nutshell, the cloud makes scalable and portable computing available through dedicated servers, virtual machines, or both. Think of the cloud as a big, online, collaborative workspace where you can store your files, documents, and run your web apps with no worries about performance.
Why WordPress?
WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world today, powering over 40% of the web. This makes it extremely popular among web hosts, since it’s usually the first thing they work with when they set up a new site.
WordPress also makes it dead simple to launch a new site. All you need is a web host, an easy-to-use template, and some content to get started.
WordPress offers a fantastic all-round experience for users, and that’s partly because the platform is open source. This means that the code is freely available for anyone to review, contribute to, and build upon. It also implies that you’re not alone in securing the services of a competent and reliable web host.
The Three Types Of Cloud Hosting
Depending on your needs, you have three main options when it comes to cloud hosting: dedicated, virtual, and shared hosting. Let’s examine each type in turn.
Dedicated Hosting
Dedicated hosting is ideal if you’re looking for a stable, highly-available, and isolated environment for your website. The benefit is that it gives you full control over the hardware and software that powers your site. This means you can ensure maximum performance regardless of the demands placed upon it.
Dedicated hosting is also the safest and most reliable option for bloggers who need to keep their content fresh for their readers. If you write for money, then you might want to consider dedicating a server that’s specifically tailored to your needs so that you don’t have to worry about speed or reliability.
Dedicated hosting is probably the most popular option among web hosts because it’s so affordable and easy to administer. And with so many companies offering this type of service, it’s easy to find a reputable host with the right features for your needs.
Virtual Hosting
Like dedicated hosting, virtual hosting creates a scalable environment for your website that you can easily manage and grow. The difference is that with virtual hosting, all of the resources are hosted on a single server.
This brings a host of benefits. First, since all of the resources are housed on a single server, you don’t need to worry about capacity. Second, since it’s hosted on a single machine, you can ensure that all of the resources are always available. Third, since it’s portable, you can take your site with you to another server if needed. Fourth, using virtual hosting, you can launch a site extremely quickly and easily without having to worry about performance, speed, or reliability. Fifth, if you have the budget for it, you can opt for a virtual machine with more CPU power than your desktop computer has. This can speed up your site’s performance significantly.
The downside to virtual hosting is that it’s not as secure as dedicated hosting due to the fact that all of the resources are housed on a single server and any one of them can be accessed by an attacker. At the end of the day, however, virtual hosting is still a very popular option among web hosts because of the many benefits it brings.
Shared Hosting
Shared hosting is, in a nutshell, when a website is hosted on multiple servers—usually web servers—so that it can handle more traffic than a single server can. The upside to shared hosting is that since it’s on multiple servers, the performance is normally very good—sometimes even exceptional. This makes shared hosting popular with individuals and businesses who are seeking a cost-effective and reliable way to host their website.
The downside to shared hosting is that if and when one of the servers goes down, all of the websites that are being served from it will be impacted. This usually means that all of their visitors will also be impacted. This lack of reliability makes shared hosting less popular than the other two types of cloud hosting mentioned so far.
Choose A Reputable And Honest Host
Just as with any other product or service, you get what you pay for. When it comes to web hosting, you get what you pay for—more precisely, you get what you deserve. When you choose a host that is reputable and honest, you can be sure that you’re going to get good value for your money. A good host will ensure that your site is running smoothly and will not charge you extra for things you don’t need.
To find a reputable and honest host, you can turn to online directories, review websites, or just ask friends, colleagues, and other bloggers for their opinions.
Make Sure That You’re Getting The Right Features
When choosing a web host, it is essential that you look for a provider that has the features you need. For instance, if you’re looking for a host that is highly available and has high performance, then you should opt for a VPS (virtual private server). Or, if you’re seeking a more traditional shared hosting experience, you should look for a host that offers the features you need in the form of pre-installed software such as WooCommerce, Joomla, or WordPress.
When choosing a web host, it’s important to look at what features you need in order to achieve your goals. This is a crucial step in order to ensure that you get the most out of your web host and that your experience is as good as possible.
Performance Is Key
No matter which type of hosting you choose, performance is always a key consideration. If you’re seeking an inexpensive and easy way to host your website, then shared hosting is the way to go since it usually provides good performance for the price. If you’re seeking a highly-available and isolated environment for your site, then dedicated hosting is the way to go.
Of the three types of cloud hosting, shared hosting is probably the least secure because any one of the servers on which your site is hosted can be accessed by any attacker. However, if you’re looking for a cost-effective and simple way to host your website, then shared hosting is your answer. Just keep in mind that if and when one of the servers goes down, all the sites served from it will be impacted—usually meaning that all of their visitors will also be impacted.
A Good Place To Start
If you’re seeking a reliable and affordable way to host your website, then shared hosting is a good place to start your search. Since it’s so popular, you’ll easily find a reputable host with all the features you need and—most importantly—with a great price tag. Once you’ve found a good host, it’s important to keep in mind the following guidelines:
Be Selective
It is important that you’re selective in your choice when choosing a web host. This means that you should only choose hosts that you can actually trust. Bear in mind that not all cheap and popular hosts are created equal. Some hosts are simply cheaper because they use under-powered hardware or provide a sub-par user experience. It’s crucial that you find a reputable and honest host so that you can get the best possible value for your money. In the end, you’ll be happier and more confident when opting for a host that is well-known and well-trusted. This, in turn, will make all the difference in your ability to grow your business online.