What’s the Best Managed WordPress Hosting for PHP Version?
WordPress is the most popular content management system (CMS) used on the internet today. Many businesses large and small choose to host their WordPress websites on third-party hosting platforms due to the system’s popularity and the range of add-ons and tools available for it.
However, while some WordPress hosting services are good, there are also many drawbacks to them. Because of this, you’d be wise to choose a host that suits your needs. In this article, we’ll identify the best managed WordPress hosting platforms available today.
CloudFlare-Cacheable, SSG Compliant, and More
If your primary concern is performance, you can’t go wrong with CloudFlare. This leading provider of web performance and security products offers a popular and flexible choice of managed WordPress hosting with its CloudFlare-Cacheable product. In fact, we rank it #3 on our list of the best managed WordPress hosting services.
This product features dedicated IPs, world-class support, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. CloudFlare’s fully managed WordPress hosting is completely free, but there are premium plans, too, if you want more features.
Virtually None Of The Fluff That Comes With Traditional Managed Hosting
Traditional managed WordPress hosting, also known as VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting, allows you to rent a virtual machine (VM), along with all the necessary software, from a hosting provider. This type of solution is perfect for photographers, designers, or developers who need a robust and stable hosting environment for their websites.
However, as a customer, you don’t get much choice in term of hosting platforms once you’ve entered the management portal of your hosting provider. That’s because the platform is usually shared with other customers, and it’s generally not possible to choose the OS (Operating System) or the CPU (Central Processing Unit) you want for your virtual machine.
Traditional managed WordPress hosting also comes with a list of basic add-ons that are already loaded on your virtual server, such as PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), MySQL (or MariaDB), and Apache (or Nginx) webserver. These are all necessary to run a WordPress website. However, it’s virtually impossible to install and configure additional software on your own virtual machine. And, even then, you’d be using a tool made for a professional web developer, not for a mere mortal like you or I.
What this leads to is unnecessary complication and a lot of bloat that you don’t need on a personal website. We’d rather pay a bit more for a managed hosting service that comes with fewer extraneous features and a cleaner installation process.
Managed WordPress Hosting With A Focus On Performance
Another important factor to consider when choosing a managed WordPress hosting service is performance. As a general rule, the faster your website can load the better. There are many reasons why performance is so important, but it mainly boils down to user experience. When users experience delay or downtime (unexpected down time) on your site, they’ll quickly leave and not come back. In addition, slow load times negatively impact search engine rankings. This is why you need to choose a reliable host that can deliver fast speeds and uptime as a minimum requirement.
The Best Managed WordPress Hosting Services
Now that you’re equipped with the basics of what to look out for in a managed WordPress hosting service, let’s dive into our top three recommendations.
1. Bluehost
If you’ve been reading our website, you’ll likely know that we like to keep things simple. For that reason, we don’t get too fancy when choosing our hosting solutions. We aim to find services that work well for small businesses and individuals who need simple, hassle-free hosting and powerful tools.
Bluehost is one of the best managed WordPress hosting services available today. This popular choice features a slick dashboard where you can monitor various stats and manage your website through a simple to use, yet powerful control panel.
What we like about Bluehost is that it bundles the basics for websites — a web server and a load of WordPress hosting — with powerful features. For instance, you can use the included CDN (Content Delivery Network) to efficiently pull content from remote servers and caches, and you can take advantage of the free backups provided by the host, with security key and special discounts for hosting multiple websites.
2. HostGator
HostGator is another popular, yet reliable host that provides a secure and stable foundation for your WordPress website. This hosting provider offers a range of plans to suit different needs. If you’re looking for a free starter plan, visit their website now and you can grab yourself a special link that will take you to their shared hosting platform. You’ll find all the information you need in the hosting documentation, including a help desk with email support should you need it.
Like with Bluehost above, HostGator features a slick dashboard where you can monitor your website’s performance and activity. However, their control panel is a bit less user-friendly. It requires a bit more technical knowledge to setup and customize various options for your websites.
3. GoDaddy
Our third recommendation is GoDaddy. This web hosting service provider is extremely well known for its inexpensive, but reliable hosting solutions that scale to accommodate heavy traffic. What we like about GoDaddy is that it offers a fast and stable foundation for your website, as well as the tools you need to make it perform well.
The control panel for GoDaddy’s shared hosting is extremely easy to use and, as we just mentioned, it scales well. In fact, you can use their basic shared hosting to launch your freelance business or to simply manage a personal blog. If you’re looking for a free option, visit their website now and you can get started with their cheapest plan, which comes with limited features.
What About The Rest?
If you’re looking for a more complex solution, there are plenty of other managed WordPress hosting services out there. Just remember that not all of them are made equal. You should focus on finding a reputable company that focuses on performance and can guarantee fast speeds and uptime. With so much competition, it’s essential that you do your research before committing to a hosting service.