Hosting

VPS Hosting is the next tier up in the WordPress hosting world after Shared Hosting. With VPS Hosting, the physical server is still shared, BUT each user gets a specific set of resources which are linked to the plan. So the CPU, RAM, disk space and bandwidth resources are dedicated and you’re website is not competing with others for resources. This means VPS environments are more stable and reliable, with fewer crashes or slowdowns.

Because a VPS environment is isolated from other users there is less risk of malware or hacks spreading from neighbouring sites. There are none of the cross-site contamination vulnerability risks associated with Shared Hosting. VPS Hosting allows for the installation of firewalls, malware scanners, and other tools as needed. So you can take far more security precautions than with Shared Hosting.

Many VPS Hosting plans include a staging environment. Even if they don’t, it’s easier to set one up than on a Shared Hosting plan primarily because a VPS allows greater control over the server environment. On a VPS, users can allocate enough memory and CPU for a staging environment without affecting other users (because there are none). A staging environment is a duplicate of the live website, used for testing changes and new features before deploying them to the live site. It’s a safe space to experiment with updates, themes, and plugins without affecting your visitors’ experience. Once you’re satisfied with the changes on the staging site, you can deploy them to the live website.

An often overlooked feature of many VPS Hosting plans is that because users are the owner of the resources, this allows for the setup of multiple websites. So it’s possible to add sites and to increase resources under the same plan if needed. This is a very good strategy if you want to create more than one website without having to spend a lot of money. Obviously, the number of sites you can realistically host depends on your VPS’s resources (CPU, RAM, disk space, etc.), and how resource-intensive each website is, but a good plan can allow for the housing of quite a lot of sites. So, while Cloud Hosting is superior in most ways over VPS Hosting, the number of sites allowed is normally stated in the plan, which means it is not as cost effective in this case. Our approach is to set up small sites using VPS Hosting and bigger ones using Cloud Hosting.

Although Cloud Hosting is not actually the top tier in the WordPress hosting world, realistically it’s the top for individual users or small to medium sized businesses. When choosing your website host, you need to understand exactly what is meant by Cloud Hosting as there is often confusion surrounding this. Some WordPress hosting providers market their plans as “Cloud Hosting” even though they don’t fully meet the technical definition of Cloud Hosting. So the term is used as a buzzword to attract users, which can be very misleading when you are staring out on the journey to build your first website. True Cloud Hosting is a type of web hosting where your website is hosted on a NETWORK of interconnected virtual servers, rather than a single physical server as is the case with VPS Hosting.

Sites run on a cloud infrastructure platforms like Amazon AWS, Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud Platform, Digital Ocean, etc. These providers supply the raw compute, storage, and networking services. On top of these, there are purpose‑built, fully managed WordPress hosts like Kinsta, Cloudways, rocket.net, WP Engine, etc. Those specialized providers lease or orchestrate resources from the big cloud players, then wrap them in a WordPress‑focused control panel, performance stack, and support team – so you get the reliability and scale of AWS/GCP/Azure/GCN/DOCN without having to manage the cloud yourself.

Because it is distributed nature and automated failover capabilities, Cloud Hosting is inherently more reliable than VPS Hosting. Resources can be added almost instantly to scale up and down as needs demand. As a cluster of servers are employed, there is no single point of failure, so if one server fails, another can take over thus ensuring the website remains accessible.

Managed Cloud Hosting plans often include feature which go far beyond Shared or VPS Hosting such as:

• Free migrations or clean Pre-installed WordPress
• Choice of global data centres located worldwide
• Provider’s own Control Panel optimized for their service
• Connection to Premium Content Delivery Network such as Cloudflare CDN
• 24/7 support
• Daily or on-demand backups
• Caching (object/page level)
• Security protection from premium Web Application Firewalls such as Cloudflare WAF
• Optimization tolls such a WP-Rocket
• Better uptime guarantees backed by Service-Level Agreements (SLAs)
• SSD Storage
• Developer tools such as SSH, Git, WP-CLI

Managed Cloud hosting usually includes a staging environment by default, or providers make it easy for users to set one up. Unmanaged cloud hosting does not come with a staging environment, but providers give users the freedom to build one however they like.

As we already mentioned, be aware that not all “Cloud” plans are really Cloud Hosting plans as described on our site. Some providers use traditional VPS Hosting with “cloud” branding. It seems pointless to choose such plans when you can have the real thing for similar prices. So be careful to use an established provider which will deliver all the benefits of Cloud Hosting. Helpful terminology that providers might use to distinguish their Cloud Hosting plans from imitators are words like, “elastic”, “auto-scaling”, “high-availability”, and “distributed” – so look for these in the plans.

Dedicated Hosting is the top tier of the hosting world. It’s used by large businesses and enterprises, high-traffic eCommerce stores, agencies managing multiple client websites, and developers building complex WordPress applications. It’s a specialized type of web hosting service where you rent an entire physical server exclusively for your website or applications. This can either be on a dedicated physical server or a dedicated virtual environment within a cloud infrastructure, depending on the plan. Unlike shared or VPS hosting, there are no other users on the server, all the resources are yours. This gives maximum control and customization, making it ideal for large, high-traffic websites or resource-intensive applications.

As Dedicated Hosting includes the server’s full capacity, it offers a higher performance environment than the other types of hosting, even under heavy loads. It can be tailored to the unique needs of WordPress, often backed by dedicated resources and expert support. Because users control every aspect of the server, dedicated hosting is ideal for websites or applications that demand maximum CPU power, large amounts of RAM, or very fast disk I/O. Users can also install specialized firewall appliances, fine‑tune network stack settings, and even attach specialized hardware in some cases.

Due of the expense, Dedicated Hosting is ouside the reach of most website creators. So this hosting is a premium solution designed for users who need top-tier performance, security, and support for their websites. While it comes at a higher cost compared to other options, the investment is worthwhile for serious site owners who demand speed, stability, and expert care.

As with the other forms of hosting it’s not always clear if a plan is really Dedicated Hosting. Terms like “bare metal” or “single-tenant physical server” give a clue, but you should check to make sure that you know exactly what you are getting. For the sake of clarity and completeness, we should explain that some providers have now introduced the concept of “Dedicated Cloud Hosting”, which is more of a hybrid approach between the Cloud Hosting and Dedicated Hosting we have discussed on our site. Here, you’re given “dedicated resources”, either on a virtual machine in a containerized environment. You may not be on a single physical server, but you’re not sharing resources like you would on shared or regular VPS Hosting. As a result, plans labelled “dedicated” may actually be virtualized environments with dedicated resources – not physical, bare-metal servers. Although such plans are fine (or maybe even superior), we do not consider them in our analysis as they are relatively new and muddy the waters too much!!!

When choosing hosting plan you will see the terms Managed and Unmanaged mentioned in many, regardless of the type of hosting. This is an area full of confusion and ambiguity. You really need to understand what they mean, and because there can be quite a lorge overlap, you need to be clear exacly what’s included in the plan (or to put it another way…what’s NOT included in the plan).

Fully Managed WordPress Hosting is a turnkey concept where the provider handles almost every aspect of running your WordPress site for you. From automatic core, theme, and plugin updates to proactive security hardening and malware scanning, you get a hands‑off experience that lets you focus on content and growth instead of server administration. Managed Hosting should include daily backups (with easy one‑click restores), sophisticated caching layers, staging environments, and expert WordPress support teams who understand the platform’s quirks. The problem for you is that reality rarely fits with the concept, especially for cheap plans. Fully Manged Hosting only really exists with Cloud and Dedicated Hosting.

In contrast, Uunmanaged WordPress Hosting gives you a WordPress optimized environment – often with one‑click installs and basic control panels – but leaves the maintenance entirely in your hands. You’re responsible for keeping plugins and themes up to date, configuring backups, monitoring for security vulnerabilities, and tuning performance (e.g., setting up Caching or a CDN). Unmanaged Hosting plans are generally much less expensive than managed ones. However, the trade‑off is clear, lower cost and greater control versus the time and expertise required to stay on top of everything. Here, the concept and the reality are much better aligned.

Both approaches have their place. If you run a high‑traffic blog, e‑commerce store, or agency that can’t afford downtime- or if you simply want the peace of mind that comes with expert oversight – Managed Hosting is often the best choice. But if you’re building a portfolio site, side project, or have in‑house sysadmin skills, an Unmanaged Hosting plan can deliver solid performance at a fraction of the price. Ultimately, the right fit depends on your budget, technical comfort level, and how much time you want to spend managing the underlying infrastructure.

With Shared Hosting your plan means server resources (i.e. CPU, RAM, disk space and bandwidth, etc.) are shared with many other websites, so these are managed by default regardless of your plan. Nevertheless, most Shared Hosting plans are considered to be Unmanaged which is very confusing as the provider does all the server side management behind the scenes. You have no control whatsoever regarding this as Shared Hosting is always limited in what you can do or manage. “Unmanaged” in this case means you are responsible for managing your website tasks. So users have to manage their WordPress core updates, plugins, themes, backups, security, etc. Support teams usually won’t touch your WordPress setup, fix bugs, or troubleshoot plugin conflicts. They’ll help if the server is down – but not if your website is slow due to bad code or bloated plugins. If your site gets hacked or crashes, the host probably won’t help beyond restoring a backup (if they even offer that).

Some providers also offer Shared Hosting plans which bundle a few conveniet features which otherwise you would have to handle yourself, and then call them “Managed”. Such plans might include automatic updates of the WordPress core ; higher levels of support such as helping with debugging plugin issues, recommending optimizations and restoring broken sites; and better security might be offered with features such as:

• Daily or weekly malware scans
• Automatic quarantining or alerts
• Sometimes auto-removal (though not always guaranteed)
• Better integration with third-party WAFs

For this, you might expect a $3/month Shared Hosting plan to become a $12/month “Managed” Shared Hosting plan. In our opinion it does not make sense to pay much extra for Shared Hosting plans which put an emphasise on their management. Most system-side management tasks are already included and what’s being offered only requires minimal technical skills. You have to decide if such plans are really a good investment, in our opinion they are not and we’d suggest that you should use a VPS or Cloud plan instead.

There are two distinct types of VPS Hosting plans, Managed VPS, and Unmanaged VPS, the difference being the level of server management responsibilities handled by the hosting provider. Managed VPS includes full server management, while Unmanaged VPS requires the user to handle all the server tasks. This means that it’s quite easy to setup a Managed VPS, but users need expert technical skills to maintain an Unmanaged VPS. Actually as Managed VPS Hosting plans include full service support, websites are often easier to setup and manage than with Shared Hosting where there might be no support at all.

Unmanaged VPS Hosting allows for root access, meaning access to the main directory containing your website’s files. Root access grants full control over the server’s core files, plugins, and themes, enabling users to perform essential tasks and customizations such as tweaking configurations, installing custom software, or running advanced scripts. Managed VPS Hosting providers handle server maintenance, updates, and security, so users usually have limited administrative access for managing their specific applications and files, rather than full system control. So, they do not have root access which is probably a good thing as it comes with considerable risks. While it it allows complete control, it also makes your website vulnerable to hackers who could easily compromise your entire system if they gain access to the root account.

For VPS Hosting your site gets a virtual private slice of a physical server with your own isolated resources (i.e. CPU, RAM, disk space and bandwidth, etc.) and the management of these resources varies greatly depending on whether you select a Managed or Unmanaged plan,

With Managed VPS Support you can expect:

• Server setup & OS installation
• Security hardening (firewall, malware scanning, patches, etc.)
• Automatic updates (OS, control panel, etc.)
• Performance tuning (basic caching, PHP limits, optimization, etc.)
• Monitoring & troubleshooting (they’ll fix things if your server goes down)

With Unmanaged VPS Support you can expect:

• No help with software installs, configs, or site migrations
• If your server crashes, you’re on your own to fix it
• They’ll only assist with network or hardware issues

So, although Unmanaged VPS is much cheaper than Managed VPS and offers more flexibility and control, it’s really not an option for most users as they will not have the technical skills required.

As with VPS, there are two distinct types of Cloud Hosting, Pay-as-You-Go and Fixed. Pay-as-You-Go Cloud Hosting plans are predominantly Unmanaged, so the require a high level of technical expertise. Conversely, Fixed Cloud Hosting plans are predominantly Managed.

Itt should be noted when we refer to Mnaged Cloud Hosting on our site, we are not talking about the cloud platforms which are dominated by a few very large players like Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform (GCP). The Cloud Hosting providers we are referring to provide managed services to facilitate the building of websites. They may use AWS/Azure/GCP as the backbone of their services, but this is invisible to the website creators.

With Managed Cloud Hosting, users have no control over their servers because they using a cluster of remote VMs that enable access to an elastic pool of physical or virtual resources. The providers also take care of most of the other aspects of your site such as security, backups, CDN, etc.

With Dedicated Hosting you rent an entire physical server just for your own site. Users are paying top dollar for this, so have total flexibility. While Unmanaged Dedicated Hosting is is highly significant in the developer and enterprise world, most mainstream users choose Managed Dedicated Hosting plans.

Users on Unmanaged Dedicated Hosting plans do everything themselves within limits. They’re responsible for, software, updates, monitoring, maintenance, security, etc. They prefer the freedom and lower cost of unmanaged servers, and they have the technical skills to configure and secure the system themselves

Many businesses and website owners want a Dedicated Hosting plan because they need performance and security, not necessarily because they want to manage servers themselves. Often, they lack the time or expertise to manage a server and want reliable support and maintenance bundled in. In which case Managed Dedicated Hosting plans are available that provide for users that want peace of mind and support. With these plans, the provider handles maintenance, updates, and sometimes backups, and security. More expensive but easier for non-technical users.

WordPress hosting performance is a key factor in determining how fast your website loads, how well it handles traffic, and how smoothly it runs overall. Because WordPress is a database-driven CMS that relies heavily on PHP and MySQL, it benefits from a hosting environment that’s optimized specifically for its technical requirements. High-performing WordPress hosting ensures that your site delivers a fast, reliable user experience which is crucial for search engine rankings, user engagement, and conversions.

Performance in WordPress hosting also ties into how updates, security, and plugins are handled. A well optimized host not only accelerates your site but also monitors resource usage, prevents bloat, and scales efficiently as traffic grows. Whether you run a blog, an online store, or a business site, investing in performance-optimized WordPress hosting can directly impact your site’s success and your visitors’ satisfaction.

Shared hosting performance is generally adequate for small websites, blogs, or entry-level business sites, but it comes with important limitations and performance can vary widely. In a shared hosting environment, multiple websites reside on the same server and share system resources, including CPU, RAM, bandwidth, and storage. This setup is cost-effective but can lead to inconsistent performance, especially when server demand is high. If one site on the server experiences a traffic spike or runs inefficient code, it can affect the performance of all other sites on that server.

The biggest downside of Shared Hosting is performance, especially as traffic increases. If one website on the server experiences a traffic spike, uses poorly optimized scripts, or gets attacked, it can slow down the entire server — affecting the performance of every other site hosted there. This means your site’s speed, uptime, and responsiveness are not entirely within your control.

While some Shared Hosting plans do include caching and CDN integration to boost speed, these measures can only go so far when server resources are limited or overburdened. Users won’t typically get access to server-level performance tuning, and may encounter restrictions on simultaneous processes, database queries, or script execution times. Sshared Shared Hosting providrrs may throttle your site or temporarily suspend it if you exceed certain limits. So if you do not get more than 10k users per month then speeds should be OK, but if you expect more than that, then you should probably choose a different type of hosting. For basic websites with low to moderate traffic, this may not be an issue, but for growing or resource-intensive sites, it becomes a serious concern.

In summary, while shared hosting is affordable and easy to set up, its performance is best suited for lightweight sites with predictable traffic. As your site scales or if performance becomes critical — for SEO, user experience, or uptime reliability — you’ll likely need to upgrade to a VPS, cloud, or managed WordPress hosting plan to achieve consistent, high-speed performance.

It’s not known exactly how many websites use VPS, but a reasonable estimate would be 15%. So it’s a very popular option and is a powerful solution to hosting your site. When well optimized, the performance of VPS Hosting is very good even for high volumes of traffic. We’d recommend it for users who want much better performance than they could expect with Shared Hosting, but who still want to keep within a tight budget.

The performance of VPS Hosting is far superior to Shared Hosting, especially when stressed under heavy loads. However this comes with increased costs. Speeds should be good with VPS Hosting plans if you do not get more than 50k users per month. However, beyond this, you should probably consider moving to a Cloud Hosting plan as this the cost/benefits ratio will probably justify a migration.

Many cloud hosts use SSD storage, global data centers, and integrated CDNs (Content Delivery Networks) to deliver fast load times. Resources are allocated more efficiently than on shared servers, leading to more consistent performance under load.

One of the biggest benefits of Cloud Hosting is you really do not have to worry about your site’s performance. This becomes most evident as traffic increases. Shared Hosting sites slow down quite quickly, and while the speeds of VPS sites is better, they are not comparable to Cloud Hosting sites which cope much better because of the elastic scaling resources employed.

The bottom line is that Dedicated Hosting is great for performance, isolation, and control, but it’s not a good choice if you expect unpredictable growth, traffic surges, or need flexibility. It’s best suited for stable, high-resource applications that don’t require frequent scaling.

Security considerations are critical for any website because they protect the site’s integrity, users’ data, and business’s reputation. In an age where cyber threats are constant and increasingly sophisticated, even a small vulnerability can be exploited to cause serious damage from website defacement to the theft of sensitive customer information like passwords or credit card numbers.

A compromised website can lead to significant consequences. Search engines like Google may blacklist infected sites, causing traffic to drop to zero overnight. Visitors who encounter malware warnings or phishing scams are unlikely to return. Moreover, if your site handles user data, especially in e-commerce, finance, or healthcare, there could be legal consequences or financial penalties under data protection laws like GDPR or CCPA.

Security breaches also erode trust. Your website is often the first point of contact between your brand and your audience. A breach signals that you haven’t taken basic precautions, which can damage your credibility for years. Investing in firewalls, SSL encryption, malware scanning, and secure coding practices not only prevents attacks but also signals to your users that their data and experience are taken seriously.

Ultimately, website security is not optional, it’s a fundamental part of maintaining a healthy, professional, and resilient online presence. Whether you run a blog, a business site, or a full-scale web application, making security a top priority is essential for long-term sustainability.

With Shared Hosting, server-level security like firewalls and brute-force protection is entirely handled by the host which is convenient, but not very flexible or robust. However security for the site itself will be very limited. User isolation will be very weak; firewall customization very limited; brute-force protection basic; and malware scanning dependent on the provider.

As a very minimum, if you are choose to use a Shared hosting plan, we strongly advise that you use a WAF on your site. The WAF will protect your site by monitoring the traffic and scanning & removing malware. It makes little sense to pay for a WAF with Shared Hosting as such plans can be quite expensive, but there are some very good free ones available which can easily be set up to protect your site.

With Unmanaged VPS Hosting, users are responsible for much of the security setup themselves. This should not be a problem as only people with excellent technical skills should consider such a plan. With a Managed VPS Hosting plans, the provider will generally look after the server-side security and work with users to set up security for the website itself. Security with VPS Hosting plans can be much better than with Shared Hosting plans, primarily because of greater control, isolation, and customization. User isolation is very strong; firewall setup customizable; brute-force protection advanced; and malware scanning is fully available.

With Shared Hosting, a compromised neighbour can pose a security risk to your site, With VPS Hosting, your environment is isolated using virtualization, so your resources and files are completely separate from others.

On Shared Hosting, firewall settings are controlled by the host, and apply to everyone on the server. Tools may be limited or unavailable, and you’re dependent on whatever the host enforces globally. With VPS Hosting there is much more flexibility, so you or your host can configure:

• iptables rules
• Fail2Ban for brute-force login protection
• UFW/CSF firewalls
• Application-level firewalls like ModSecurity
• ClamAV or ImunifyAV for malware scanning
• SSH key authentication and port hardening

If you are not very technically aware, make sure you choose a Managed plan, and then the provider will advise you what may be needed and will usually set it up for you.

Whatever security you decide to implement, we strongly advise users who chooses VPS Hosting to also make sure their site is protected by a WAF. Although some VPS Hosting providers do offer WAFs as a standard feature in their VPS plans, while others offer them as an add-on or a premium service, it’s not a standard feature. It’s crucial to check the VPS plan you are considering to determine if WAF protection is included. The WAF will protect your site by monitoring the traffic and scanning & removing malware. Although there are some very good free WAFs, it might be worthwhile to consider a premium one as the extra features will improve the security.

Cloud Hosting security is generally stronger and more flexible than traditional hosting environments like Shared or VPS hosting. The major advantage of is that it’s built on modern infrastructure with advanced security features available at both the infrastructure and application levels.

Typical security features of Cloud Hosting are:

• Data is stored across multiple servers or locations, reducing the risk of loss
• Atomated backups, snapshots, and point-in-time restores are standard
• Configurable firewalls (e.g., AWS Security Groups, Cloudflare integration) are included
• Built-in DDoS mitigation is often included, especially with enterprise-level services.
• Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs) create isolated environments, minimizing attack surfaces
• You can segment services by region, access level, or internal network
• Data encryption at rest and in transit is standard with most cloud providers (e.g., SSL/TLS, AES-256)
• Many offer key management systems (KMS) for encrypted storage and services
• Role-based access controls allow precise control over who can access what

Cloud Hosting introduces shared responsibility concept between the cloud provider and the customer. The provider is fully responsible for the physical data centre and security, and, hardware & hypervisor. Responsibilities for the OS and application security are with both the provider and the user. Whilst the website itself is the responsibility of the user, but he can expect a lot of support from the provider with a Managed plan. So while cloud infrastructure is highly secure, user still need to configure your instances, databases, applications, and access controls responsibly, especially if using they are on an Unmanaged plan.

A WAF is also essential for Cloud Hosting. However it is usually included in most Managed Hosting plans and handled by the provider. So there really is nothing for users to do, and this is one of the many advantages of Managed Cloud Hosting plans.

Dedicated Hosting security is considered highly robust, but how secure depends on how well it’s configured and managed. Because a dedicated server is exclusively the property of the user, it avoids many risks inherent in shared environments, such as cross-site contamination. However, it also demands greater responsibility for setup and maintenance. Users are responsible for most, if not all, of the software security configuration.

For Unmanaged Dedicated Hosting which is the norm, users must monitor and apply updates to OS, CMS, and software. Automatic backups are not provided, so they must be configured manually or with paid add-ons. There is no built-in DDoS protection, 3rd party services (e.g., Cloudflare, Sucuri) are required. IP restrictions, fail2ban, or other hardening tools need to be installed to deal with brute-force and bot attacks.

This is a short list of what a user with a Dedicated Hosting plan should consider adding to protect the site:

• Imunify360 or Maldet for malware scanning
• ModSecurity WAF or Cloudflare WAF
• Fail2Ban for brute-force login protection
• Two-factor authentication (2FA) for control panel and SSH
• Encrypted backups (offsite or cloud-based)
• Security patches and OS updates — regularly scheduled or automated

We would expect that anyone who has chosen Dedicated Hosting can handle such requirements, otherwise they don’t really have the technical skills for such a plan.

Hosting scalability refers to how well a hosting environment can adapt to increasing traffic, data, or resource demands without compromising performance or reliability. In simpler terms, it’s the ability of your hosting to grow with your website – whether that means handling 100 visitors or 100,000 without crashing or slowing down.

Scalability is important as it helps avoid overpaying early on – you start small and grow as needed. In short, it’s about being ready for growth without needing to migrate constantly or risk downtime.

Scaling up means add more CPU, RAM, bandwidth, or storage storage resources, while sacaling down means reducing resources and cost when traffic drops. Elastic scaling means automatically adjusts resources up or down based on load.

Shared hosting scalability is extremely limited, and in most cases, it’s not truly scalable at all.

• You cannot increase your share of the resources
• You cannot decrease usage-based billing as it’s a flat monthly fee
• You are limited by hard caps set by the host, usually without any transparency

If your site starts doing well and you suddenly get more traffic, your provider might might throttle your resources or even suspend your account.

If your resources are not adequate to cope, without upgrading to a new plan or tier which might involve a different hosting environment entirely such as VPS. This is scaling, it’s moving to a bigger shared plan, not adjusting resources dynamically or paying based on use.

VPS hosting offers moderate scalability, far better than Shared Hosting, but more limited and manual compared to Cloud Hosting. This makes it a good plan for users who need predictable pricing but want the flexibility to grow gradually. It gives you a dedicated slice of a server virtualized), so you get guaranteed resources like CPU, RAM, and storage. The key difference in scalability comes down to how resources are increased or decreased.

Scaling up is usually Possible and relatively easy, especially with providers that offer flexible upgrade paths. Many VPS hosts offer tiered plans (e.g., 2 GB RAM → 4 GB RAM → 8 GB RAM) that you can upgrade to with a few clicks. Such upgrades may require a reboot, migration, or a short downtime to apply changes. With Managed VPS Hosting, providers often offer upgrade paths. With Unmanaged VPS Hosting, you can resize the server, but you need to handle configurations yourself. Most VPS plans, wheteher Managed or Unmanaged, require manual upgrades via your control panel.

Scaling down is more complicate and usually not possible at all as lower tiers are cheaper and providers are not in the habit of giving you money back. If you are allowed to sacle down, this may require creating a new server instance and migrating your site manually to it. Really there is no point to scaling down with VPS Hosting.

One of the biggest advantages is on-demand resource scaling. If your website traffic spikes, cloud hosting can allocate more CPU, RAM, or storage almost instantly — without downtime or manual migration. You can also scale down if needed, which makes it cost-efficient. It’s built specifically to handle resource flexibility, meaning you can easily scale up or down based on traffic, workload, or performance needs, often in real-time. There are three scaling techniques involved:

• Vertical Scaling: Adds more power to your current serverncrease RAM/CPU for a high-traffic periods
• Horizontal Scaling: Adds morCommerce or SaaS e servers to distribute the load to handle large platforms (e.g. eCommerce or SaaS) to avoid overloading on a single server
• Auto-Scaling: Dynamic resource adjustments based on load for viral content, sales campaigns, or spikes

Unlike shared or VPS hosting, cloud hosting uses a network of interconnected servers (the “cloud”) rather than relying on a single physical server. This allows your site to:

• Scale up to instantly add more CPU, RAM, storage
• Scale down to save money when demand drops
• Auto-scale based on traffic spikes or dips
• Avoid overloading a single server

The benefits of Cloud Hosting scalability are:

• Elastic resources: Use only what you need, when you need it
• Pay-as-you-go pricing: Available with Unmanaged plans so resource usage is only billed when used
• High availability: If one server fails, another picks up the load
• Global CDN and caching: Faster content delivery across regions
• Ideal for growth: No need to migrate as your traffic increases

Dedicated hosting scalability is limited compared to VPS or cloud hosting. Unlike cloud platforms, there’s no way to automatically adjust resources based on traffic spikes. In a dedicated hosting setup, you rent or lease an entire physical server, and while you get full control and high performance, you’re also bound by the finite physical limits of that machine. It has no elasticity as the server stays the same, whether you’re getting 10 visitors or 10,000.

It’s possible to scale up resources (i.e. RAM, CPUs, storage, etc.), but upgrades are hardware-based, often requiring downtime. This may involve physically modifying the server or migrating to a new one. However, it’s not really feasible to scale down with Dedicated Hosting as once you’ve paid for a high-spec server, you’d need to migrate to a smaller one or cancel and reorder a different plan.

Support refers to the assistance and technical help provided by hosting companies specifically tailored to WordPress websites. The quality, availability, and depth of support can vary significantly depending on the type of hosting plan (Shared, VPS, Cloud, or Dedicated) and whether it’s Managed or Unmanaged; the method it will be handled (i.e. live chat, email, tickets, phone, dedicated Account Manager, community forum, carrier pigeon, etc.); and the hours of support (not many offer 24/7).

WordPress relies on a mix of themes, plugins, and core software, which are updated regularly. These components don’t always play well together, and even a simple plugin update can crash a site. WordPress sites often break after updates or plugin conflicts. Site owners without technical knowledge rely on hands-on help to troubleshoot errors. In these cases, you need fast, knowledgeable support to diagnose and fix the issue without causing more problems. A host with WordPress-trained staff can step in quickly to restore functionality, or at least help you roll back changes or restore a backup.

The best WordPress hosting support is found in Managed hosting plans, where teams are trained to understand the platform inside and out. Such suppor is ideal for non-technical users or site owners who want peace of mind and minimal hands-on server management. If uptime, stability, and quick problem resolution are important to you, choosing a Manage Hosting plan with a good level of support is worth the investment.

Dependant on the plan, Managed WordPress hosting support may include:

• WordPress installation and setup
• Assistance with theme and plugin issues
• Performance troubleshooting (e.g., slow load times, database optimization)
• Help with backups and restores
• Security monitoring and malware removal
• Guidance on updates and compatibility
• Assistance with site migration

This is ideal for non-technical users or site owners who want peace of mind and minimal hands-on server management.

Unmanaged plans often come with limited or generic support, which might not be helpful during urgent or complex issues.

With Shared Hosting the support support is usually general-purpose, not WordPress-specific. Support methods can be live chat (usually 24/7), email, or tickets. You may get help with basic issues like installations or backups, but plugin or theme conflicts may fall outside their scope. Although it’s the cheapest form of hosting, it usually has the fastest chat support, but quite basic. Sometimes phone support is offered during business hours at normal rates, but some low end budget providers may use premium rate numbers. It may seem strange if they offer phone support as the effort on their side must be quite costly. However, we suspect that because of their lower level of technical understanding, users are more likely to prefer the other supprt methods.

VPS Hosting can vary tremendously from basic to expert support. Support typically focuses on infrastructure-level issues (server uptime, OS-level problems).WordPress specific issues (themes, plugins, optimization) are usually not included in the plans.The support methods can be live chat (usually 24/7), email, and tickets – much the same as Shared Hosting which makes sense as many companies offer both types of hosting, so they can use the same support teams for both. Phone support is usually not offered. Although Unmanaged VPS Hosting means that you have to take care of your own server setup and maintenance, the level of support team expertise and help is very high. This is because the problems which do occur can be quite complex and difficult to resolve. Also, the providers know they are mainly dealing with experienced engineers, so it’s in their interest to present a highly professional image.

Cloud Hosting providers probably have smaller support teams, but with higher technical abilities. The plans usually include a lot of features which are handled by the provider (i.e. security, CDN, caching, optimization, etc.), so there is a lot less support actually needed. Providers often help with backups, scaling, patches, and performance. Free migrations are normally offered and the providers are happy to setup a clean WordPress for users to start working on. Live chat and tickets are the main support methods.

The support offered with Cloud Hosting is provided by engineering teams with great knowledge and expertise. Tickets are dealt with quickly and advice and guidance will be of the highest quality. We usually chat to the support team when we need to know something. On the very rare occasions we have issues, we raise tickets

Needless to say, Manged Dedicated Hosting has the highest level of support as it’s the most expensive, whilst Unmanaged Dedicated Hosting support typically focuses only on infrastructure-level issues (server uptime, OS-level problems). WordPress specific issues (themes, plugins, optimization) are usually not included in Unmanaged Dedicated Hosting support (very much like Unmanaged VPS Hosting).

Regardless of whether the plans is Managed or Unmanaged, there will usually be a dedicated Account Manager on hand to offer advice and deal with issues. He will be the point-of-contact to offer a more customized, hands-on level of service for clients. Unlike general support teams, they know your infrastructure setup, use case, and business needs. This will avoid having to repeat your history every time you need help and can allow for faster issue resolution so can save time, reduce stress, and improve uptime and performance.

The providers of Dedicated Hosting services are working for clients with high expectations who expect that their Service Level Agreements (SLAs) will be met and know how to implement penalties clauses if they are not, so the level of technical expertise provided is very high indeed.

There is an enormous variation in hosting prices depending on the type, provider, and specific plan. This is a a very rough summary just to give you some idea of the variations and wide windows:

• Shared Hosting: $2-$10/month, shared server resources with other websites
• VPS Hosting: $5-$80/month, your own slice of a server
• Cloud Hosting: $20-$80/month, scaled dynamic hosting across a network of multiple servers
• Dedicated Hosting: $80-$400/month, full server just for you

It’s not always easy to compare the plans from different providers as they are not always transparent, and in the case of Managed VPS Hosting they can be very opaque indeed. Make sure you are clear what type of plan you are signing up for (i.e. (Shared, VPS, Cloud, or Dedicated) as providers do not always make this clear, especially with Shared Hosting. Also ,make sure you understand what features are included (e.g. storage limits, domain, SSL certificate, email, backups, etc.) and if they are really included and/or free or if you have to have after a year. Make sure you understand and what level of support is included in the plan.

The Shared Hosting market is the biggest and there are hundreds, probably thousands, of providers. This means that plans are very competitive and you can find a very cheap plans. Be aware that predatory pricing is rife in the hosting world, and especially for Shared Hosting, with teasers offering great prices for the first year, but with renewal rates much higher (often two or three times the initial price). Actually it’s quite easy to change your hosting provider as many of their competitors will offer free migrations, but do you really need the hassle. Our advice is choose your hosting plan carefully so you only have to consider changing when your site is so successful you need to migrate to handle the traffic.

If anything the pricing structures for VPS Hosting are even less transparent and more confusing than for Shared Hosting. In theory, it should be easy to access plans…the more resources, the more expensive and the resources on offer are well defined. But actually it’s very difficult to compare plans between different providers, mainly because there are distinct types of VPW, Managed and Unmanaged. Users who know they want Unmanaged VPS Hosting have to be very technically competent and will be able to compare plans as anyway they will have to setup and maintain their own environment without much support. The confusion arises in the Managed VPS Hosting sphere where i’s difficult if not impossible to comprehend the actual level of support.

This is a example of VPS plans we found at random on the internet with very similar features:

We are not really trying to compare the plans here, just showing what a vast difference there is between providers. We have no idea if GoDaddy offer something extra that justifies plans being 5 times more expensive than the IONOS plan. The pricing is made much more confusing because they may be sold directly or via resellers. It must also be remembered that the price of plans, even the most expensive, can increase dramatically after the initial period expires.

You may wonder why prices for similar Managed VPS Hosting plans from different providers can differ so much. Undoubtedly they will offer justification like:

• Proactive Monitoring & Intervention – Provider watches for issues (like memory spikes, service crashes) and takes action automatically
• Support Quality & Speed – 24/7 fast expert support, server monitoring, proactive alerts
• Managed Security Hardening – Provider configures firewalls, fail2ban, mod_security, disable root login, etc.
• Higher DDoS Protection – Often enterprise-level (e.g., Cloudflare Business, custom firewalls)
• Performance Optimization Tools – Server-side caching (LiteSpeed, Redis), PHP tuning, etc.
• Security Services – Included DDoS protection, WAF, malware scanning, backups, etc.
• Automatic Malware Scanning & Removal – Scheduled scans, auto-removal or alerts for infected files
• Software Licensing – Free cPanel licenses (normally $15+/mo), Plesk, security tools
• Backup Solutions – Full daily backups (not just manual snapshots)
• Infrastructure – Faster SSD/NVMe RAID 10 setups, redundant network links
• Free Site Migration – Server team will move your site from your old host
• Staging Environments – Safe test environments for updates or changes
• Brand Premium – Big names (GoDaddy, Bluehost) charge more just because of their brand
• SLA Guarantees – Strong uptime guarantees (99.99%), with compensation if downtime

So there are a lot of additional features that providers may offer and maybe there might be some real advantage in choosing their plan, but most of this is window dressing. The more expensive plans usually don’t give you much more if you examine them in detail. This is where you have to do as much research as possible if you decide you want a Managed VPS Hosting service. Compare the technical details (even if you don’t understand them in depth) and read as many reviews as possible. If there is a feature you really want, check whether it can be provided even if it’s not specifically stated in the plan. We’ve often found that the Managed VPS support teams will do a lot to aid you with the best setup possible if they can usually at no extra cost. Remember that, even though a feature is included in a plan, it may not be the best solution and you’d be better off with a plugin or a subscription to a separate 3rd party provider. Also, many of the “additional” features such as security and CDNs might be available for free anyway is you set them up yourself. The main problem is that the level and quality of support can’t be judged untl you are actually using the service, so we suggest signing up and trying the plan for a short period first (say a month), before committing to longer periods which will be offered at a discount.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud Hosting is based on two different models, Fixed and Pay-as-You-Go (Usage-Based). With a Fixed pricing plan, you choose a plan with a the usual set of the usual standard features (CPU, RAM, Storage, etc.) along with many additional features (Security, CDN, Optimization, etc.) and pay monthly or yearly in the same way as Shared or VPS Hosting. Fixed Cloud Hosting is quite transparent compared to Shared or VPS Hosting as it’s usually quite easy to compare features and prices. is best suited for businesses and consistent traffic. With a Pay-as-You-Go pricing plan, billed hourly or per-second based on services which are actual used. This is best suited for Ideal for developers, startups, and apps with variable traffic. As Pay-as-You-Go Cloud Hosting plans are usually Unmanaged, they nd require a high level of technical expertise and such users will usually already have clear idea regarding what they are doing. Consequently, when we refer to Cloud Hosting on our site we are focused on Fixed Cloud Hosting plans.

Because Cloud Hosting is highly scalable and reliable it is far more costly than Shared Hosting and usually more costly than most VPS Hosting. Having said that, some providers offer very reasonable Fixed Pricing plans and they mostly include optimizing and security features (e.g. WAFs, CDNs, Optimization tools, etc.) which would cost extra with other types of hosting.

Dedicated Hosting

Becuse Dedicated Hosting is the most powerful, it’s by far the most expensive type with costs running into the hundreds and even thousands of dollars per month. With a dedicated server, you’re renting an entire physical machine that’s entirely yours, giving you full control over performance, software configuration, and security. Pricing varies widely depending on hardware specs, management level, and added services.

The key thing to remember is, with dedicated hosting, you’re paying not just for hardware, but for freedom, reliability, and service. If your project demands consistent speed, high availability, or security compliance, the investment can absolutely be justified.

Nobody actually believes that “Red Bull gives you wings”, so similarly you should not believe some of the exaggerated claims of hosting plans. There is no such thing as “Unlimited Bandwidth”, “Unlimited Storage”, and certainly not on a cheap Shared Hosting plan. If you read the Terms & Conditions of the plan (which of course nobody does), there are quite strict limits on bandwidth and storage. If users exceed these limits the providers can (and often do), freeze and suspend user accounts. This means users will be unable to access, upload, or modify files until they resolve the problem or upgrade to a more expensive plan.

If you need better protection and control, especially for business or high-risk sites, VPS hosting, is significantly more secure at the server level than Shared Hosting. Cloud Hosting can offer even more advanced robust security than VPS hosting, but it depends heavily on the provider, the hosting plan, and how it’s configured.

True scalability means resources are scaled up when needed, and scaled down when it’s smart, with minimal friction. Only Cloud Hosting environments really deliver this flexibility. It’s ideal for businesses expecting variable traffic or needing enterprise-grade uptime and performance.

Dedicated hosting offers top-tier isolation and performance, making it ideal for security-conscious organizations, but only if it’s properly secured and maintained. Managed Dedicated Hosting plans relieve most of that burden, while Unmanaged Dedicated Hosting ones give you full control, but with full responsibility.

In summary:

• Apart from cost, Shared Hosting is inferior to all the other types of hosting on all criteria (Performance, Security, Scalability, and Support).
• VPS Hosting scores well on Performance, Security, Scalability, and Support, but it does not scale automatically (a change of plan is needed)
• Cloud Hosting scores well on all benchmarks – it includes flexible, redundant, and scalable infrastructure that offers a performance and reliability advantage over Shared or VPS hosting
• Dedicated Hosting may be even better than Cloud Hosting in many respects, but it also does not scale automatically (as with VPS a change of plan is needed)
• Managed plans bundle in user-friendly features and support, while Unmanaged plans give you the raw power and freedom but require technical knowledge
• Although Shared Hosting is the cheapest type of hosting, there are VPS and Cloud Hosting plans available which are very competitive when you consider all the extra features that are bundled in
• Dedicated Hosting is indeed very expensive so will be outside the budget of most users

Choosing the righ hosting plan is fundamental to creating a good website. In fact you can usually change the plan or migrate to another one but it might be costly as providers will enforce the obligations outlined in their Terms and Conditions.

If possible only commit to a plan for a short period at first (e.g. a month) and make sure there is reasonable cancellation policy if performance and/or support don’t meet your expectations.

We would never use Shared Hosting for our websites nor recommend anyone else to do so as there are far too many downsides. Remember that Shared Hosting is best for low-traffic sites that won’t need resource adjustments. If growth or traffic spikes are likely, consider a more flexible hosting environment from the start. Having said that, over 30% of websites use Shared Hosting so it’s a popular choice for small businesses, blogs, and personal sites. If you have a small site which does not have much traffic, you don’t have any great performance expectations, and are working on a very tight budget, this might indeed be the best hosting solution for you – just be careful regarding proprietary pricing teasing you into plans which jump up dramatically after the the discount time elapses (usually for the second year onwards), and be sure all the features you want are included.

So our advice is that you do a lot of research before signing up for any hosting plan – ask the providers for clarification on points you don’t understand and read as many reviews as you can find.

If you have the budget, then we recommend that at the very least you consider choosing a VPS Hosting plan. The market is very competitive and are some very good Managed plans that are not much more expensive than Shared Hosting. It’s well worth for the much better support you will get.

We use UltaHost for our Managed VPS. Their plans are amongst the best on the market. Their hardware is based on the newest and best technology. The server side setup and maintenance is handles by UltaHost as they only offer managed plans. Prices are transparent and don’t jump up in price after the initial period finishes, rather they give discounts the longer the period you sign up for (i.e. 1/2/3 years contracts become progressively cheaper). AND….their support is excellent. Their live chat team are informative and helpful, and tickets are dealt with quickly and efficiently.

We should mention we use their Hestia Control Panel with UltaHost plan. As well as being free, Hestia is lean and not overloaded with advanced or confusing features. It’s a clean, web-based interface that allows you to manage thir websites without needing to rely heavily on the Command Line Interface. However this may not be suitable for everyone as although it’s quite user-friendly, it might be a bit intimidating for users with basic server management experience. In which case, you might consider adding a a more intuitive Control Panel to the plan like cPanel or Plesk which have better Graphical Interfaces. With these everything is presented in a web-based GUI with icons and grouped menus, so even non-technical users can navigate them. However they add something like $15-20 per month to the plans making them less competitive. Instead of this we would strongly recommend choosing a Cloud Hosting plan instead as the providers will include their own tailored Control Panel as part of the package.

For anyone that can afford it we absolutely recommend that they should choose a Managed Cloud Hosting plan as it bridges the gap between performance and scalability. I’s the ideal choice for businesses that have outgrown Shared and VPS Hosting but don’t want the complexity of managing a server. The provider will manage server updates, performance tuning, and security, which is ideal if you want cloud power without server management hassle. With features like auto-scaling, redundancy, and global reach, Cloud Hosting is now one of the most popular and future richhosting solutions available.

As well as the scalability and reliability, the support with the Managed Cloud Hosting plans is excellent and one of the reasons you should give them serious consideration right from the beginning. If you take into account all the extra features you get that you would have to pay for, and then struggle to setup, in our opinion Cloud Hosting becomes the best hosting type compared to it’s rivals, even the far more expensive Dedicated Hosting.

If staging is important and you prefer convenience over full server control, go with a Managed Cloud Hosting provider that offers one-click staging.

We should warn you that if a host claims to offer Cloud Hosting in a plan, make sure this is true Cloud Hosting as described on this site. A good starting point is to check if they name the cloud infrastructure provider (e.g., AWS, Google Cloud, DigitalOcean, Linode). If not, it may just be VPS rebranded as “cloud.”

We use rocket.net for all our Cloud Hosting. Their plans are very competitive, support fantastic, and the technology is the best on the market. If you do some research you will find they have an excellent reputation and we can confirm it’s well deserved. All their plans include:

• Built-in Cloudflare Enterprise providing edge caching, image optimization, and high-performance DNS
• Full-page caching and optimization at the edge, reducing server load and latency
• High-performance server stack (NGINX, PHP 8+, Object Cache Pro) without needing to install extra caching plugins
• Web Application Firewall (WAF) via Cloudflare Enterprise
• DDoS protection, brute-force mitigation, and real-time malware scanning
• Isolated environments for each site — no shared resources between clients
• Automatic backups, patching, and no need for third-party security plugins
• Extremely clean, modern dashboard — easier to use than cPanel or Plesk.
• Automatic updates, staging environments, and 1-click restores
• Built for non-technical users who want fast, secure WordPress hosting without tinkering
• 24/7 live chat and ticket support
• Staffed by WordPress and performance experts
• Real, human responses — not scripted replies or long hold times

When you consider that all this comes included in all their plans without any extra cost and the rocket.net support team take care of it all, you should be able to see why we hold them in such high regard.