If you’re looking to create a WordPress website, one of the most important things to consider is how it will be hosted. After you secure a domain name, the next step is to choose a hosting provider. A hosting provider stores all the files, images, and code that your website uses on a server, and makes them visible to anyone who visits your website, so it’s important to choose the right type of hosting for your site. Read on to learn the difference between shared and managed WordPress hosting, and see which one is right for your site.
Things to Consider When Choosing a Hosting Provider
When you’re looking to find a hosting provider for your WordPress site, there are a few things that you should think about to help you make your decision. First, consider what type of site you’re building. Is it a simple blog? Or will it be a more complex eCommerce site? Depending on what type of site you’re building, you’ll need different amounts of bandwidth. A site with a lot of different product pages, images, and descriptions may need more bandwidth than a site with just a few pages.
Think about other factors like pricing options, security, and how reliable the hosting provider is. Be sure to do a little research into different options before you make a decision. You’ll likely come across two main options for your WordPress site, shared hosting, and managed hosting. Both have pros and cons, and which type is best will depend on your individual situation.
With shared hosting, your website shares storage space on a web server with many other sites, which means that the hosting provider can offer their services at a relatively affordable rate. In addition, shared hosting providers often have different price points, each offering a different level of service, which means that you can find an option that fits well into your budget.
However, sites using shared hosting can sometimes run into technical problems, especially if they get a sudden surge of traffic. It’s also worth it to note that sites using shared hosting get a limited amount of resources dedicated to them because they’re sharing the same server with many other sites. Shared hosting may be a good idea for small sites like personal blogs and those who want to keep their costs low, but businesses often need a more powerful solution.
What Is Managed Hosting?
Managed hosting is a high-powered solution designed specifically to optimize WordPress sites. This means the hosting provider is an expert and knows all the ins and outs of the WordPress platform, making them a great choice if you want to get the most out of your WordPress plan. Though it may be a bit more expensive than shared hosting, it offers a more feature-rich solution, saving you time and resources in the long-run.
WordPress is a unique platform and a managed hosting provider can help make sure that you’re taking advantage of all the platform has to offer. In addition, a managed hosting provider also recognizes the challengers a WordPress site may face and works to help make sure your site stays updated, secure, and functioning smoothly.
Managed WordPress hosting is a great solution if you’re a business who is looking for a provider who can scale with you as you grow and offer you the personalized care that your site needs.
How Do the Two Types of WordPress Hosting Compare?
- Cost – without a doubt, shared hosting is always cheaper, with prices as low as $3 a month. Consider, though, that the hosting provider is making little to no profit on this option, so you’ll likely be hit with hidden fees, or may not get the best possible service. In the case of hosting, you often get what you pay for. Managed hosting often has a monthly fee of upwards of $20 or more if you need more storage space or expect hundreds of thousands of monthly visitors.
- Reliability – frequent technical issues or a lot of downtime can mean bad news for your site. With shared hosting, you often end up sharing a single server with dozens or even hundreds of other sites. If another site on the same server has some kind of issue, it may end up causing problems for your site, too. Because managed hosting is specifically optimized for WordPress, it can help your site load faster and will improve your reliability.
- Security – when running a website, you want to make sure all your data is secure. If your site is hacked and information is lost, what can your hosting provider do for you? Managed hosting recognizes the unique security challenges that WordPress sites face and often offer regular backups so that you can restore your site if something happens. In addition, a managed host can help you keep your site and all of its plugins up-to-date so that there will be a smaller chance of a hack or other security breach.
While it’s likely that cost is a big deciding factor when you’re thinking about which type of hosting to choose, it’s also important to consider the time and effort you put into maintaining your site. While shared hosting will be a more cost-effective solution for someone who is just starting with a website, if you want a more growth-oriented option, managed WordPress hosting is a great solution.
While WordPress is extremely user friendly and you don’t need to be very tech-savvy to create a beautiful website, it can be helpful to have a team with technical knowhow to support you if something goes wrong. A managed WordPress hosting provider can give you the peace of mind that if something goes wrong, your site can be restored quickly and easily.
While there are plenty of managed WordPress hosting options to choose from, WPFarm promises speed, functionality, and reliability at a price point that will fit into your business’s budget so that you can make the most of your WordPress site.
