Best WordPress Hosting Compared (Based on WHSR 2017 Test Results)

What makes a good WordPress host?

Any host can be turned into a WordPress host as long as they have the two basic requirements: PHP 5.2.4 or higher and MySQL 5.0 or higher.

However, just because a hosting company has PHP and MySQL does not mean it is the right hosting company for your WordPress sites. Not all WordPress hosts are created equal. A good WordPress host should meet the following three requirements:

1. Pre-configured or one-click WordPress installation
2. Built-for WordPress tools and services (ie. WP staging, caching tools, and constant monitoring for WP related vulnerabilities)
3. WordPress expert supports.

So, who has the best WordPress hosting?

The truth is that there’s no one-fits-all answer to this question. What is right for you might not be right for other bloggers or site owners.

However, there are some hosts that seem to go above and beyond when it comes to catering to WordPress users.

The following are our recommendations – based on our test results* and usage experience.

*Note: We signup and test web hosting services ourselves. Till date, we have tested (with the help of Pingdom and Uptime Robot to track server uptime; and Bitcatcha to measure server response speed)  and reviewed more than 50 hosting companies. You can learn more about the hosting companies we reviewed in this list. 

1- SiteGround

SiteGround costs a bit more, but you get what you pay for when it comes to web hosting. This company offers a premium WP hosting platform and tons of handy custom-built tools.

Although the startup plan is only $3.95/month, that is for a mere 10 GB, which likely won’t last you long.

A better, mid-sized plan is the GoGeek plan at $14.95/month. With that plan, you’ll get 30 GB of space and as many as 100,000 visitors a month. You can also host multiple websites if needed. You’ll gain the premium and geeky WordPress features lacking in the StartUp package. All accounts come with free CDN.

What we like about SiteGround WP Hosting

• Hosting speed and reliability – Our test site scores 99.95% uptime and above consistently.
• 1-click WordPress staging and pre-installed Git for WordPress development.
• Choices in server locations – SiteGround runs multiple data centers in Chicago (USA), Amsterdam (Holland), Singapore, and London (UK).
• A legit “customer first” company – Over 97.8% satisfaction with after sales supports and host security based on recent client surveys.

SiteGroud Uptime Record

SiteGroud Speed Test

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2- WP Engine

WP Engine first started business in 2010. The company is founded Jason Cohen and currently run by CEO Heather Brunner.

Over time, WP Engine has grown into an extremely popular web host. Many things have changed since WHSR shifted out. Various new features were added as technology advances, the company is funded by a large group of investors including Automattic (the folks behind WordPress.com), and many bloggers and WP experts regard them as one of the best managed WordPress hosting (there were also some who go against them, more about that later).

I spent two good years hosting at WP Engine and shifted out in 2013. 2 years later I did a re-test and re-review WP Engine and think they are still at the peak of their game.

What we like about WP Engine WP Hosting

• Premium managed WordPress hosting – Extremely reliable and fast hosting; user satisfaction in server performance guaranteed since 2011.
• Worry-free hosting service – Daily backup and malware scan. Plus, the company will fix everything if your site is hacked.
• Scalability – WP Engine’s in-house caching technology, Evercache, is built for massive scalability and speed.

 WP Engine Uptime Record

WP Engine Speed Test

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3- InMotion Hosting

Based in both California and Virginia, InMotion Hosting has been around for more than a decade (established in year 2001).

InMotion Hosting offers a wide range of web hosting services (shared/vps/dedicated) in dozen of different packages. The company is best known with its superior customer service (the company ) and is rated as one of the top hosting providers by many well-known hosting review sites (that includes us!).

We have been using InMotion Hosting since 2009. This site you are reading, WebHostingSecretRevealed.net, is powered by WordPress and hosted at InMotion Hosting.

What we like about InMotion WP Hosting

• Magnificent Hosting Performance – Strong Uptime Record + Lighting Fast Server
• Hosting company with proven track record  – InMotion Hosting has been around since 2001 – they survived the dot-com bubble (2000-2002) and sub prime crisis (2008).

InMotion Hosting Uptime Record

InMotion Hosting Speed Test

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4- WebHostFace

WebHostFace is founded by Valentin Sharlanov just a couple of years ago.

The company released two brand-new Managed WordPress Plans – WP Artists and WP Master, in February 2017.

The new hosting plans promise developer friendly environment, better site security, and better server solution; which include HTTP/2, CDN, NGINX, R1Soft Daily Backup, and PHP 7 preset by default.

Each plan comes with a Personal WP assistant, who provides hand-to-hand WordPress development guides (1 hour/mo for WP Artists Plan, 2.5 hours/mo for WP Masters Plan).

What we like about WebHostFace WP Hosting

• Extra secured hosting environment + daily backup.
• The only managed WordPress hosting company that comes with personal WordPress training.

WebHostFace Uptime Record

WebHostFace Speed Test

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5- BlueHost

BlueHost is a popular WordPress hosting provider officially recommended by WordPress.org.

The company host more than 2 million sites at the time of this writing. They are extremely affordable, with plans starting as low as $2.95 per month.

BlueHost offers unlimited addon domain capacity, 1-Click WP install, and 24/7 customer support. However, they also had several major outages in 2014/2015. If you choose to go with this hosting company, monitor uptime to be sure the outage problems have been resolved and be prepared with a backup plan.

What we like about BlueHost WP Hosting

Solid server performance – our test site at BlueHost scores back-to-back 100% uptime for many months in 2016/2017.

Cheap entry price – starts as low as $2.95/mo.

BlueHost Uptime Record

BlueHost Speed Test

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6- Pressidium Hosting

Pressidium Hosting was launched by a team of experienced engineers and developers.

The company business is focused in providing enterprise level, managed WordPress hosting. Their hosting services come in four different plans :Personal, Professional, Business, and Business Plus.

Pressidium uses a special built security platform (named Pinnacle) with bad bots filtering, malware monitoring, and end-to-end managed security; staging sites, fully burstable elastic cloud, and dynamic load balancing.

What we like about Pressidum WP Hosting

Extremely reliable – Our test site at Pressidium (during 2016 test period) hardly go down in one year.

Pinnacle Platform Pressidium’s built-from-the-ground hosting platforms come with all sort of advanced WP features – including auto updates, staging sites for WP development, and automated backup.

Service backed by SLA – 95% service availability  Customers will receive 5% of customer’s monthly credit for each hour of service interruption in the form of SLA Credits, which are applied to the monthly fee.

Pressidium Uptime Record

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7- A2 Hosting

A2 Hosting has been around since 2001. When it first hit the scene, it was known as Iniquinet, but it was renamed A2 Hosting back in 2003.

If you go with A2 Hosting, you can choose from four different types of services –  shared, VPS, reseller, and dedicated server hosting.

We’ve been using A2 Hosting (under A2 Prime package – an old shared hosting plan) since 2013 and we are extremely happy with its performance. The folks at A2 Hosting are heavily obsessed with their server speed and pride themselves as the fastest host in the market. A basic A2 shared hosting stores everything in SSD and comes with 10 GB redundant networks, 64 GB of RAM, and  12-core server (which is massive).

What we like about A2 WP Hosting

• Extremely fast hosting server.
• Multiple server locations Michigan – United States, Amsterdam – Netherland, and Singapore.
• A2 Hosting released a special plugin named A2 Optimized in October 2014 – a pre-configured for A2 Optimized plugin that work with WordPress that helps non-tech users to auto configure their WP sites for better speed.

A2 Hosting Uptime Record

A2 Hosting Speed Test

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