Do you want to find the best hosting plan for your WordPress site?
Choosing a good web host for your WordPress site is far more important than most website owners think.
There are cheap web hosts that let you get started on a small budget. But if you want to optimize speed and performance, improve search engine rankings (SEO), and actually make your website a success, then you need to use a reliable WordPress hosting company.
That said, there are so many companies that offer hosting plans, so how do you choose?
Even if you narrow down to the popular ones like Bluehost, SiteGround, HostGator, and WP Engine, how do you know which is the right WordPress host for your needs?
To help you pick the right WordPress host, we did the research for you and created a detailed comparison of the top WordPress hosting companies.
Whichever host you choose, you need to make sure that you use these top 3 most important factors in choosing a WordPress hosting company:
- Speed (load time): Speed is a critical element to provide the best user experience on your site and boost your SEO.
- Availability (uptime): Users expect your site to be up around the clock, so you’ll need to choose a WordPress hosting with maximum availability.
- Support: Choose a WordPress hosting that has a good reputation for resolving customer issues in a timely manner.
With these factors in mind, let’s take a look at the top WordPress hosting providers.
Top Best WordPress Hosting Companies (with Pros and Cons)
Before we start, we must tell you that the reviews below are based on actual data and experience. We used test sites to put each of these companies through multiple tests (speed, uptime, features, support, and pricing).
If you’re interested to know more, we’ve added an explanation of our detailed WordPress hosting review process.
Now, if you want to skip all the details and get the top choices right away, here’s a table with the top 5 WordPress hosting companies along with the details you need:
| WordPress Hosting | Cost | Money Back Guarantee | Load Time | Uptime | Support |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Bluehost | $1.99/month | 30 days | 689 ms | 99.99% | 10/10 |
| 2. Hostinger | $2.69/month | 30 days | 181 ms | 99.96% | 10/10 |
| 3. SiteGround | $2.99/month | 30 days | 649 ms | 99.98% | 10/10 |
| 4. Dreamhost | $2.59/month | 97 days | 445 ms | 99.90% | 7/10 |
| 5. WP Engine | $20/month | 60 days | 582 ms | 99.99% | 9/10 |
From the data above, our top picks are Bluehost and SiteGround. We’ll tell you why below as we discuss the top WordPress hosting companies along with their features, cost, pros and cons.
1. Bluehost
- Load time: 689 ms
- Uptime: 99.99%
- Support: 9/10
- Website: Bluehost.com
- Highlight: High performance with affordable plans
Bluehost is one of the largest web hosting companies in the world, powering over 2 million websites worldwide. Since 2005, they’ve been involved in the WordPress community and it’s worth noting that they are officially recommended by WordPress.org.
We recommend Bluehost to anyone who wants to start their WordPress blog, eCommerce store, or any kind of website with ease. You’ll get a fast and secure hosting plan at an affordable rate.
Pros:
- You get a free domain name (for 1 year), free SSL, and free site transfer.
- Their hosting servers are secure and you get free malware scans from Sitelock.
- With their custom shared WordPress setup, Bluehost makes it easy to build a website even if you’re an absolute beginner.
- Free Cloudflare CDN
- They offer tiered plans so you can choose one according to your needs for SSD storage, bandwidth, and multiple domains.
- Free Softaculous Apps Installer
Cons:
- They no longer provide email-based support for technical assistance. However, you’ll get superior support via live chat or phone.
- Monthly billing option is not available.
- To avail maximum discount, you’ll need to opt for 3-year hosting plan.
Pricing:
When you purchase WordPress web hosting with Bluehost, you’ll get over 50% discount on your hosting fees, a free domain name, and free SSL. Hosting packages start at as low as $1.99 per month.
2. Hostinger
- Load time: 181 ms
- Uptime: 99.9%
- Support: 10/10
- Website: Hostinger.com
- Highlight: Simple with advance optimization features
Hostinger is a professional WordPress hosting provider offering different web hosting plans. It also offers WordPress cloud hosting and dedicated WordPress hosting solutions along with a website builder to build your website right away.
It has a simple and intuitive setup. From hosting to a domain name, everything is available on a 1-click button. It provides quick WordPress installation and advanced optimization to ensure fast websites.
You should check out our complete Hostinger review for more details.
Pros:
- Free domain name with premium plans (for first year)
- WordPress multisite support WP-CLI integration
- 30-day money back guarantee with each plan
Cons:
- It offers only 1 business email account.
- It has entry level hosting options. Doesn’t provide dedicated hosting solutions.
- No email or phone support.
Pricing:
Prices start at $2.69 per month.
3. SiteGround
- Load time: 649 ms
- Uptime: 99.98%
- Support: 10/10
- Website: SiteGround.com
- Highlight: Superior speed and security
SiteGround is a reliable hosting company and one of the few top hosting brands that’s not been acquired by Endurance International Group, a leading web hosting company.
SiteGround is a bit more expensive than other traditional web hosts because they offer superior speed, auto-updates, along with proactive security and backup.
For example, they operate on Google Cloud to create a powerful and technically superior hosting service.
All of their hosting plans are eCommerce enabled and come with out-of-the-box caching features and unlimited databases.
We recommend SiteGround to users who need a great hosting service, which is stable, secure, and super fast. Check out this SiteGround coupon.
SiteGround is a leader in the hosting industry and outperforms most web hosts in terms of speed and features.
Pros:
- For blazing fast website, you’ll get Solid State Drives with any SiteGround plan.
- Get enhanced performance with NGINX, HTTP/2, PHP7 and free CDN.
- Data centers in 3 continents for superior site experience.
- Geeky WordPress features such as WP Staging and Git Integration are available for advanced users.
Cons:
- Starting plan is a bit costlier than other hosting providers.
- You can’t waive off the domain name registration fee.
- For geeky WordPress features like special cache, 1-click WordPress staging and repo creation, you’ll have to choose their expensive GoGeek plan.
Pricing:
Hosting plans start as low as $2.99 per month.
4. DreamHost
- Load time: 445 ms
- Uptime: 99.90%
- Support: 7/10
- Website: Dreamhost.com
- Highlight: High speed and easy website creation
Get started with DreamHost »
DreamHost is a leading web hosting service provider that hosts around 1.5 million websites, with over 400k happy customers, spanning throughout more than 100 countries.
Like Bluehost, Dreamhost is also an officially recommended hosting provider by WordPress.org. It’s a PCI compliant web hosting too.
DreamHost comes with everything you need to start a WordPress site. For effortless website creation, your hosting account will be preinstalled with WordPress. All plans include a free domain name, free SSL certificate and free website firewall.
If you’re looking for a superior WordPress host that offers effortless website creation with high-speed SSD storage, then DreamHost could be the best choice.
Pros:
- Unmatched 97-day money back guarantee
- Independently owned and operated
- Powering millions of websites since 1997
Cons:
- Low uptime
- Live chat support is not available 24/7.
- Phone based support requires additional payment.
Pricing:
Prices start from $2.59 per month.
5. WP Engine
- Load time: 582 ms
- Uptime: 99.99%
- Support: 9/10
- Website: WPEngine.com
- Highlight: Best managed WordPress solutions
WP Engine is a leading managed WordPress hosting service provider based in Austin, TX. Being one of the first companies to offer best managed WordPress hosting solutions, they boast an impressive customer list including Yelp, Asana, National Geographic, PBS, and MyFitnessPal.
To offer your WordPress website the highest possible availability, speed, scalability, and security around the clock, they’ve partnered with Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform.
WP Engine also has a PHP Test Driver to preview your site on a new PHP version to make sure it’s not broken. There’s no site migration needed as all you need to do is select the desired PHP version with a single click!
We recommend WP Engine to users who need reliable managed WordPress hosting for their high-traffic website. WP Engine will take care of WordPress updates and PHP updates, while also proactively blocking cyber threats to ensure the best level of website security.
Pros:
- They’re more than just a managed WordPress hosting company and equip you with a suite of high-performance solutions for your WordPress site.
- 24/7 WordPress support via chat.
- One-click staging tool for testing new WordPress plugins and other features before pushing it to your production site.
- Automatic updates after analysis and testing
Cons:
- Plans are expensive for small websites.
- Built specifically for users who want managed WordPress hosting. Unmanaged WordPress hosting option isn’t available.
- In order to ensure high website performance, not all plugins available in the WordPress repository are allowed to install on the WP Engine environment.
Pricing:
Prices start at $20 per month.