We had the chance to connect with Jean from WPMayor during WordCamp Europe, and he sought our expertise in helping individuals select the most suitable hosting for their WordPress websites. Being Savvii, a leading European Managed WordPress Hosting company, we have extensive experience in guiding (potential) customers through the various hosting options.
Determining the right hosting solution typically hinges on three key factors:
- Level of control desired over website and hosting configuration
- Resource requirements of the site
- Special workflow needs
Control
When it comes to control, there is a spectrum spanning from complete autonomy to certain limitations on your hosting account. Unmanaged VPS hosting services like Amazon, Linode, and Digital Ocean offer full control, while generic managed hosting providers, such as shared hosting companies, fall in the middle. On the other end of the spectrum are managed WordPress hosting services like Savvii.
It’s important to note that full control often translates to the responsibility of setting up, configuring, updating, and enhancing your hosting environment. For individuals lacking knowledge in Linux and web servers, managing such tasks for production websites is not advisable. At a minimum, setting up a web server (Apache or Nginx), PHP, a database server (MySQL), and a reliable backup strategy is required.
In managed hosting, whether generic or WordPress-specific, these tasks are all managed for you. However, you may not have the flexibility to adjust web server, PHP, or MySQL settings. While generic managed hosting typically maintains default settings for broad compatibility, managed WordPress hosting fine-tunes these settings specifically for WordPress.
In terms of site limitations, generic managed hosting providers rarely impose restrictions. Conversely, managed WordPress hosting companies often maintain a blacklist of slow or risky plugins and PHP functions to ensure stability and speed. Should you use a restricted plugin, they can usually recommend a suitable alternative.
Conclusion: If you require highly specific hosting configurations, reach out to a managed host beforehand to inquire about customization options.
Resources
The complexity of your site, such as a high number of plugins, or the volume of visitors received, directly impacts the load generated by your site. Sites like WP WooCommerce installations with extensive product listings serve as examples of complex websites.
The hosting setup significantly influences the load capacity your website can handle on a given server size. Utilizing Nginx as a web server instead of Apache can reduce resource usage with high traffic. Additionally, implementing caching layers like Varnish, Memcached, XCache, or Redis enables your website to manage higher loads, features that are typically lacking in generic hosting services.
For sites with lower traffic, generic managed hosting suffices. However, as your site grows, upgrading to your own unmanaged VPS or managed WordPress hosting may be necessary. Scaling a VPS that you already manage is relatively straightforward and can be accomplished with minimal or no downtime.
Special Requirements
If your workflow demands specific features like SSH access, staging sites, direct MySQL-client access, etc., it’s crucial to verify their availability with your new hosting provider. Unmanaged VPS solutions provide the freedom to implement necessary functionalities.
For basic workflows, such as local development or using FTP on your live site, managed WordPress hosting services may offer additional tools for workflow enhancement, like staging sites and snapshot backups.
Other Considerations
It’s important to note that both unmanaged VPS and many managed WordPress hosting providers do not typically offer integrated domain and email services.
This separation is often due to the complexity of delivering a robust email solution, which requires specialized knowledge and extensive customer support but may not yield substantial revenue. Many managed WordPress hosting companies prefer to focus their resources on providing top-notch hosting services, assuming that their target audience likely already has a separate email solution, such as Google Apps or Microsoft Exchange in place.
Since email services are inherently managed, unmanaged VPS providers generally do not include this feature.
Conclusion
By now, we hope you have a clearer understanding of the ideal hosting solution for your needs. If you are exploring different options, consider reaching out via email with hosting- and WordPress-related queries or contacting them directly to evaluate their support. Evaluating reviews or conducting a search on Google or Twitter can also offer valuable insights.
For those with limited budget, time, and/or knowledge: Generic hosting
For those with more budget, limited knowledge and/or time: Managed WordPress hosting
For those with a higher budget, serious website requirements, ample hosting expertise, and time available: Unmanaged VPS
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