My personal experience with WordPress is almost 10 years from now.
In the time about 40 different get hosting providers for larger and smaller web projects tried.
I have had many positive but also many negative experiences.
In this guide, I want to share my experiences and my knowledge with you. So you too can find the best WordPress hosting for your blog or website!
Without regretting your choice later. Or too much money to pay.
Why choosing the right hosting is so important?
There are many vendors where you can host a WordPress site. However, there are big differences in price, performance, performance, and support.
A web hoster change can increase the load time of your website. B. significantly improve. This will make your website more user-friendly and improve your Google ranking.
Choosing the right hoster can also save a lot of money. And avoid stress through competent and quick support.
Remember:
Sometimes our choice is not been best.
Mass-hosters like 1 & 1, Strato, Domain Factory or Host attract with great offers. But with poor support, expensive additional services, and unreliable hosting, you'll end up paying for it. That does not have to be.
Some of the WordPress Hosters
1. Webgo
WordPress hosting at webgo
Talking about its customer experience since January 2017 is very satisfied. The English version of Blogmojo for example hosted there.
The web hosting is reliable and thanks to a combination of the server software Apache and Nginx the loading times are very good.
The prices are fair and the web hosting packages are good and modern (PHP 7.3, HTTP / 2, Let's Encrypt, MariaDB, etc.).
The customer service responds quickly and competently to inquiries. Cancellations, the addition of domains, the conclusion of the AV contract or tariff upgrade can be done conveniently via the customer portal.
2. Raidboxes
Managed WordPress Hosting at Raidboxes
Raidboxes' vServers, also known as boxes, are optimized for use with WordPress. The WordPress installation is already preinstalled and configured on each box (so-called Managed WordPress Hosting).
You do not need a backup plugin, because Raidboxes automatically creates daily backups, which can be easily imported via the dashboard.
You can also do without a security plugin because the WordPress installation is well sealed off by Raidboxes against hacker attacks.
By using SSD hard disks, Nginx as webserver software and server-side caching (Nginx + OpCache) they not only load fast but are also well prepared for sudden visitor storms. In the speed comparison, Raidboxes is superior to other hosters like web go or all-inkl.com.
The customer service is also great. Very friendly, competent and fast.
3. Which Hosting Plan is Best for me?
It's stupid to pay for more than you actually need.
But it's just as stupid to pay too little and to have slow load times or downtime due to a weak server.
That's why I have taken the example of two hosting services providers. Please note that these are reference values. How much your server is charged depends on other factors, Such as:
- Number of installed plugins
- Type of plugins installed (e-commerce, membership or forum plugins can be resource eaters)
- Number of your WordPress installations
- Number of posts
- Caching
- Cron jobs
- PHP error
3.1. WordPress Hosting for Beginners
For beginners and smaller websites, which get up to 2,000 page views a day, I recommend so-called shared-hosting. There you share a server with other customers:
3.2. WordPress hosting for medium sized websites
For websites or blogs with 2,000 to 7,000 page views a day or sites with resource-consuming plugins such as: B. Woo Commerce , bbPress, etc., I recommend either a larger shared hosting package , in which you share a server with fewer customers, or a vServer.
In the latter case, you also share a server with other customers, but you have dedicated server resources and are not negatively affected by the overuse of other customers.
4. WordPress Hosting for Large Websites
For websites or blogs with more than 7,000 page views a day, it's best to upgrade to your own server, a Dedicated Server, or a large vServer.
Dedicated servers always have two options: Managed Server or Root Server. In the former, the server software is maintained by the host, the second you have to take care of it yourself.
If you have no idea about server administration, I would always advise you to be a managed server. For getting the maximum performance from a server and securing it against attacks requires a lot of time and expertise.
Raidboxes PRO (and subsequent rates, such as PRO XL, BUSINESS, etc.)
Webgo Managed SSD vServer
Webgo Managed Dedicated Server
5. What should a good WordPress hoster offer?
In order for your WordPress site to run as fast and flawlessly as possible, to be as stress-free as possible, and to keep you safe on a data protection basis, your web host should meet certain criteria.
The two web hosts that we are taking as an example, webgo and Raidboxes meet all listed criteria.
5.1. Contract Processing Contract (GCU)
Hosting providers are processors according to Art. 28 DSGVO. Accordingly, in order to be on the safe side under data protection law, you should conclude a contract processing contract (also called AV contract or AVV) with your host.
The contract should ideally be possible online and with just a few clicks. You can find a selection of different WordPress hosts that offer AV contracts in my list of AV contracts.
5.2. Free SSL Certificate
As per Google statement having SSL certificate is a ranking factor for the website.
Not only for privacy reasons, but also because...
Browsers such as Firefox or Chrome do not brand non-encrypted links to websites as unsafe.
HTTPS offers ranking benefits on Google.
Your site can then benefit from HTTP / 2, which improves your load time.
In the year 2015 ending, hosters have been able to issue SSL certificates to their customers free of charge and automatically via Let's Encrypt.
If a hoster has not integrated, you have to expect per domain with 3-10 € additional monthly costs. That does not have to be.
5.3. Server Location in the USA (or at least in the EU)
In terms of data protection law, it is by far the safest, if the servers of your host are in the USA. The second safest location is within the EU, where the same high level of data protection applies thanks to the GDPR.
As for loading time, your hosting provider should have their data center as close as possible to the location of your visitors. Otherwise, the charging time will be extended by the longer cable path. If your visitors mostly come from the USA, your server should also be in the USA (or possibly in a neighboring country like China or India).
5.4. SSD Hard Drives instead of HDDs
SSD hard drives not only have faster access times than HDDs but can also handle more I / O per second (IOPS). This is also reflected in the load time and load stability of your website. Especially for the MySQL databases, it should be on SSD hard disks.
5.5. Enough Disk Space
Picture galleries, videos or some WordPress plugins need a lot of space. I recommend at least 2 GB hard disk space per WordPress installation, better still 5 GB.
If you use your webspace as an e-mail inbox at the same time, I would even recommend 10 GB per website.
5.6. PHP 7
Good hosting for WordPress should definitely offer PHP 7.x. So WordPress works about twice as quick as PHP 5.6!!
There may be still some of the plugins and themes that are not fully compatible with PHP 7. But normally, using the most advanced PHP version should not be a difficulty.
5.7. The right PHP settings
Apart from the PHP version, the right PHP settings are also important for the performance of your WordPress website. Watch for the following:
Memory limit = at least 128M, better still 256M
Mod rewrite = ON (necessary for nice permalinks)
In addition, it is helpful if you can change important PHP settings yourself, such as: B. upload_max_filesize, max_execution_time, max_input_varsor post_max_size.
5.8. HTTP / 2
HTTP / 2 is the successor of HTTP / 1.1.
By better compressing and aggregating multiple server requests, HTTP / 2 dramatically speeds up data transfer from the webserver to the browser.
That's why it's important that your WordPress hoster supports the new standard!
5.9. Good Support
The ideal WordPress hoster should provide competent support. Best available around the clock and 7 days a week.
Fast response time to requests is also very important. Long downtime, slow website or malfunctions can cause frustration for visitors, loss of revenue and negative impact on your Google ranking.
5.10. High Uptime
In addition to performance, the reliability of WordPress webhosts is crucial.
The fastest WordPress website will not bother you if it's offline for half a day once a week. The ideal is uptime of 99.8% or higher.
6. FAQ
Here are answers to common questions about WordPress hosting:
6.1. Is there free WordPress hosting?
Yes there is.
But free WordPress web hosting always has a catch:
Be it functional limitations, a low memory limit, high downtime, a strong restriction of traffic, little to no support, old server software or security flaws.
Let it be. Believe me.
6.2. Where can I get Support for WordPress?
There are several drop-in centers and discussion forums to ask questions about WordPress and get help:
- The Facebook group WordPress & SEO - General questions
- The support area on WordPress.org (including various support forums)
- The WPDE forum
- The WordPress group at XING
6.3. What are the minimum requirements for WordPress?
WordPress recommends that your web host support:
- PHP version 7.3 or higher.
- MySQL version 5.6 or higher or alternatively MariaDB version 10.1 or higher.
- HTTPS support
- A server running Nginx or Apache (with mod-rewrite module)
WordPress also works with all PHP and MySQL versions. However, using these versions poses a security risk as they are no longer being developed.
6.4. How can I install WordPress?
To install WordPress on your web host the following steps are necessary:
- Set up an SSL certificate (with Let's Encrypt)
- Create a database
- Download the WordPress installation files in a ZIP file and unpack them
- Rename and wp-config-sample.php enter wp-config.php the access data to the database at your web host (database name, database user and password)
- Transfer all files to your FTP server (to the directory associated with your domain) with FileZilla
- Go to your website URL and follow the instructions
- A comprehensive and suitable for beginner’s instructions on how to install WordPress, you can find here: WordPress install: The idiot-proof instructions (including troubleshoot!)
By the way, if you decide to host with Raidboxes, you can save yourself all the above steps. Because WordPress is already pre-installed and configured there.
6.5. How long does it take to install WordPress?
WordPress advertises that the installation takes only 5 minutes. As a beginner, however, I would budget for about 30 - 60 minutes.
6.6. What are the benefits of Managed WordPress Hosting?
- In the so-called managed WordPress hosting, as z. For example, by offering Raidboxes, your hosting provider will take care of installing, configuring, and maintaining your WordPress installation.
- Depending on the provider and tariff this may include the following services:
- Set up the WordPress installation and regular updates for the WordPress Core files
- Updates for plugins and themes
- Automatic backups
- Load time optimization (e.g. gzip optimization, browser caching, own caching systems, etc.)
- Staging environment (so you do not have to make changes to the live site)
- Hedging against hackers and spam
- Regular scans for malware
- Optimal configuration of the server for WordPress
- Support for WordPress problems and questions (support from regular hosts often does not answer questions about WordPress, as third-party software)