Choosing a WordPress hosting provider is crucial to your website and in fact, it’s considered one of the keys to running a good online business. You have several options available-there are free hosting services, and then there are also shared hosting, VPS hosting, managed hosting and dedicated hosting. Your choice of web host depends on several factors and in this guide we will discuss what specifications are necessary as well as the elements that must be considered before you make a decision.
Most Basic Requirements
If you want to use WordPress for your website, you just need two basic things:
- PHP V. 5.2.4 or higher
- MySQL V. 5.0 or higher
Fortunately for you, nearly all web hosting services meet these requirements even cheap web hosting packages. But of course, just because majority of them meet the above conditions does not mean any random service is a good choice, right?
Important Factors to Consider
There are other things to consider. Aside from looking into their packages, prices, support and reputation you also have to ask yourself-what do you exactly want from your web host?
As we have mentioned before, there are several kinds of web hosting available for WordPress. Let’s have a quick look at each one to help you decide:
Free Web Hosting-If you are looking for cheap hosting, you might be considering the idea of getting a free web host. But remember, you get what you pay for and this applies even with hosting services. You’ll have to deal with banner ads and limited features, such as a complete lack of customer support.
Shared Hosting-This is perhaps the most popular kind of hosting because a lot of people are looking for inexpensive WordPress hosting. It’s an excellent choice for those who are just starting out and have a limited budget. It’s quite affordable (usually less than $5 a month) because you will be sharing a server with dozens of other websites.
VPS Hosting-This stands for Virtual Private Server and it essentially means having a server within a server. It’s cheaper than dedicated server hosting and yet it’s much better than a shared hosting plan. If you are expecting a bigger traffic as your business grows, this option might be best for you.
Dedicated Server-With this type of hosting, one web host has control over one server and every feature and resource is dedicated to that single account. It’s quite expensive and may be ideal only for established businesses looking to expand their reach online.
Managed Hosting-This option is completely hands-free and it’s best for those who do not want to expend their resources or time to their website maintenance. It’s probably the most expensive type of hosting out there but it is an excellent choice for those who have no technical skills or time to handle all the technicalities of running a WP site.
