10 Top WordPress Hosting Providers: What’s the Difference?
If you’re looking for the best wordpress hosting providers, you’ve come to the right place. Here’s a roundup of the top 10 providers based on various criteria.
Features
While most hosts will do everything they can to make your life easier by providing a one-click installer for WordPress, some of the best hosts will go the extra mile and provide you with additional features.
In order to host your website at a top tier web hosting provider, you need to look for a host that offers the best of both worlds: a simple setup and usage experience with advanced features.
Performance
When it comes to speed, nothing beats homegrown (or at least close to it). Regardless of whether you’ve got a sluggish or highly performing website, you’ll want to look for a web host that’s been optimized for speed.
There are two distinct types of speed optimization. The first is what is known as front-end speed optimization, which involves caching and minimization of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. The second type of speed optimization is known as back-end speed optimization, which entails server and query caching. You want to look for a host that is highly optimized for both front- and back-end speed.
If you’re curious about how your specific host’s speed is, you can access their load time results from their dashboard. You’ll also want to look for signs of high availability, as well as a reliable connection that will keep your websites alive and kicking.
User Experience
As we’ve established, speed is critically important when it comes to user experience. In the same way that the speed of your Internet connection influences how fast your pages load, how quickly your users can interact with your content influences how good their experience is.
You want to look for a host that provides a positive user experience because they’ve made all the right optimizations and provided all the necessary features. But more importantly, you want to ensure that each and every interaction is seamless and painless. From the moment your users land on your site, you want them to feel like they’ve found a competent partner in solving all of their problems. When they visit your site for the first time, you want them to feel confident that everything will be okay, and that you can be trusted. When they return a second or third time, they should feel that your site is worth visiting again because you have done something new and special, and that you’ve either improved or added something significant to the content.
Security
You’ll want to look for a host that offers the best security measures to prevent unauthorized access to your content and customer information. While there are dozens of potential threats to consider, including malware, hackers, and rogue employees, you’ll want to focus on the most critical threats first. You’ll need a host that is both secure and reliable.
The first line of defense is in the form of the SSL certificate. This stands for Secure Sockets Layer and it ensures that all the information your users and customers enter on your site is transmitted securely. If a site’s security is not up to scratch, it will show up in your browser’s URL bar as https instead of the usual http. Having an https connection also means that all the information is encrypted and thus inaccessible to any third parties, including hackers.
You’ll also want to look for a host that provides Two-Factor Authentication (2FA) as a secondary layer of security. This involves the user entering a randomly generated six-digit number in addition to their username and password to verify that they are indeed who they claim to be. Many premium hosts provide this feature as a part of their security package. Be sure to investigate this option before making a decision.
Cost
If you’re looking for the cheapest possible price, you’ll want to look for a host that provides the bare minimum. You don’t want to go any cheaper than you absolutely have to, as you may end up with a host that is severely lacking in features. Alternatively, if you’re looking for a host that provides a great value for money, you’ll want to look for one that is highly affordable but still offers all of the necessary features.
Support
As your organization grows, you’ll inevitably need additional help to manage traffic, content, and customer interactions. If you’re looking for a host that provides 24/7 support by a live operator, you’ll want to look for a company that offers this as an extra tier of service.
Depending on your needs, you may want to look for a host offering immediate support by email as well. Alternatively, if you’re looking to build a long-term strategic relationship with a company, you may want to consider a host that offers live chat or phone support via a knowledge base.
No one factor determines whether or not a host is the best choice for you. While speed is critically important, you also want to make sure that all the other factors, including security, cost, and support, align with what you’re looking for in a partner.