WordPress Hosting Decoded: Know what Platform to Chose and Why

A good WordPress Hosting platform should be reliable, affordable and live up to the user’s expectations.

Let’s first understand the different hosting options available in the market. Knowing their advantages and disadvantages will help you make an informed decision.

WordPress Hosting and server types

A 2015 report by W3Techs says that about a quarter of the best one million websites in the world use WordPress. Arguably, it is the most popular Content Management Software (CMS) right now. WordPress has forums and private messaging facilities that are of great value for ecommerce, community sites and blogs. WordPress is easy to use, adaptable and flexible.

A variety of options are available for WordPress hosting that range from basic Shared Hosting to a Dedicated Server.

Let’s first understand the important features of different types of hosting. This will give you enough information to know what type of hosting suits you the most.

• Unmanaged: The user gets space on the server so that he can decide how he wants to use his space.
• Managed: The hosting company takes care of every requirement, including security needs and server configuration.

While Unmanaged Hosting is easy to set up and operate, Managed Hosting comes with a host of advantages.

Why managed hosting is good?

• In case of trouble, you can fall back on someone who takes responsibility for solving your problem.
• Ports, proxies and server meltdowns can keep you busy as a system administrator. Managed server cuts down on such worries.
• Security of your site is almost foolproof with managed hosting providing automatic upgrade of your WordPress installs with every new release.

Managed hosting is the best WordPress hosting option, but then there are others too with their own set of benefits and limitations.

Shared hosting

The early lessons in WordPress include an introduction to shared hosting. The host gives some space on the server for your site. Other websites share space with you on the server, but you can access only your part of the server.

Benefits

1. Low cost: Space sharing cuts down on your expenses.
   2. Little or no maintenance: You need not worry about the installs and updates like PHP and MySQL. Since you have limited access to the server, the host has to maintain them.
   3. Upgrade support: The host gives you advanced tools if your site is drawing more traffic.

Limitations

1. Less control: Shared hosting prevents you from configuring advanced server options. Know this beforehand so that you are not taken aback later.
   2. More traffic, slow pace: If traffic goes up on the Shared Hosting server, your site is sure to slow down, thus affecting your audiences’ user experience.
   3. Safety: Shared hosting providers take any security threat very seriously. However, the presence of multiple users on one server may still pose security issues.

Virtual Private Server (VPS)

A VPS is good for sites that need resources that cannot be provided by shared hosting. It may not provide exclusive space like a dedicated server, but VPS gives enough ammo so that you get a feel like driving on a road meant exclusively for you.

Advantages

1. A Virtual Private Server gives you better control over your own resources.
   2. Though it is more expensive than shared hosting, VPS still works out cheap because of its adaptability and power.
   3. A quality VPS setup gives you a dedicated space on the server, which protects you from disturbances on other sites present on the same server.

Disadvantages

1. The Virtual Private Server definitely allows you the freedom to change configuration and settings, but the hardware is still out of bounds for you. Will this limitation affect your website performance? Well! It’s a decision you need to take.
   2. You got to be on your toes all the time to maintain the technical set-up of your site.

Dedicated hosting

A dedicated hosting is the best you may find as far as WordPress Hosting is concerned. The biggest advantage it has over VPS is total control over your machine.

The only disadvantage is exorbitant pricing.

In Conclusion…

All WordPress hosting options come with their own set of benefits and limitations. Once you have absolute clarity running a site, the next step is to understand the resource requirement and the cost of fulfilling those requirements.