Shared hosting vs WordPress hosting: Which plan should I choose?
Confused about which of these two types of hosting you need? This primer will help you make what can be a difficult decision.
There are various different types of web hosting and it is crucial that you choose the appropriate hosting package for your specific needs. Shared and WordPress hosting are two common types. How do you know which is best for you and your website? To help you figure this out, in this article, we are going to compare the two.
Overview
Shared hosting is most popular with smaller websites and blogs, and it’s one of the most common types of hosting because it is the most affordable and very user-friendly. If your website does not require a large amount of resources or server customization, shared hosting can be the perfect solution for your needs, and your gateway to the world wide web.
The best WordPress hosting is designed to host websites which are using the WordPress content management system (CMS). Known for its speed, reliability, and increased security, WordPress hosting allows you to focus on your content while the host handles all of the technical server details. A subset of this is managed WordPress hosting which, as its name implies, is about helping time, knowledge or resource-poor organisations manage their WordPress installations better.
What are the advantages of shared hosting?
Shared hosting has many advantages, not only in terms of cost, but also in features. With most hosting providers, shared hosting offers unlimited storage space, so no matter how large your website may be, shared hosting can store everything.
Unlike WordPress hosting which is restricted to the WordPress CMS, shared hosting allows you to use almost any CMS. Whether you use Drupal, Magento, or a tool like DreamWeaver, shared hosting will support almost all content management systems and web development software.
Shared hosting is known to be the least expensive hosting, making it the most common.
What are the advantages of WordPress hosting?
WordPress hosting brings a whole new level of performance to your website. As it only houses WordPress websites, the server can be optimised in such a way as to allow for advanced server caching. This enables your website to perform at the highest possible speed. This speed optimisation can improve SEO which may ultimately boost your ranking on Google allowing you to be found by many more people.
Keeping your online home up to date is an important part of managing and running a successful website. WordPress hosting provides auto-updates, ensuring better security while giving you one less thing to worry about when it comes to your business’ website.
Also, with a managed WordPress provider, you get a support team that not only understands WordPress but are experts in it. Furthermore, the WordPress host will save you a lot of time and effort by taking care of basic site optimization on your behalf, so you don’t have to rely on a slew of plugins to achieve the same result.
While plugins in themselves aren’t troublesome, it’s always a good practice to use as few as possible for better performance. And you can be sure that the WordPress hosting provider has carefully vetted the plugins to make sure they are of the highest quality and are fully secure.
Despite all these precautions, if something were to happen to your website, WordPress hosting generally provides free automatic backups. This gives you peace of mind, knowing that at any time you can restore your website to what it was in the past. The ease and worry-free features make WordPress hosting stand out from other hosting packages.
What are the disadvantages of shared hosting?
Shared hosting can host several hundred websites on one server, which can negatively affect the overall resources and speed of your website. If your website goes viral and you receive a huge traffic spike, due to resources being shared, your website may experience long load times, leading to downtime.
Another aspect of shared hosting is security. Because your website is on a server with many other websites, there is no way to ensure that all maintenance and security updates have been run across all websites. This opens a potential security threat to your website because you cannot manage other website’s security or content management systems.
Shared hosting does not allow server customization due to the effect it can have on other customers’ websites, thereby requiring you to use the default server settings configured by your hosting company.
What are the disadvantages of WordPress hosting?
WordPress hosting is restricted to only hosting websites built with the WordPress content management system, meaning that any other CMS can’t be hosted on WordPress hosting.
Due to server configuration, WordPress hosting generally restricts the overall amount of disk space that you can use. It can also restrict the number of websites that you host on your account. This can be a disadvantage if you have a website which is large in size.
Similar to shared hosting, WordPress hosting also restricts server customization, as the server is highly optimized to allow for the ultimate in loading speeds.
And finally, WordPress hosting typically costs more than shared hosting.
Which hosting type is the best for my website?
To answer this question let’s look at your needs and desires.
We recommend using shared hosting if:
You want to use a different CMS outside of WordPress. If you want to use Drupal, Magento, OpenCart, or any other CMS, shared hosting may be your best option.
You have a modest or limited budget. Shared hosting is the least expensive, it can be a perfect hosting package if you are working on a restricted budget.
You want to start small and grow over time. Starting small with shared hosting can be a perfect way to begin, as most hosting companies will allow you to upgrade as your website grows.
We recommend using WordPress hosting if:
You are using WordPress as your CMS. Unfortunately, you cannot use other types of CMS with WordPress hosting.
You want to manage a medium-sized website or online store. WordPress hosting offers impressive speed and uptime for medium to larger-sized websites. This is perfect for e-commerce, business, intranet, and community websites.
You want to manage your website content, but not your website’s server security. Providing auto-updates, free automatic backups, as well as increased server security, WordPress hosting allows you to focus on your content and not the technical server details.
Conclusion
Many website owners start off using shared hosting. This gives you the ability to get your website live and available for visitors to view. As the most affordable hosting in the market, shared hosting is usually the best option for small websites.
On the other hand, WordPress hosting has advantages. Whether you are a business owner trying to get started or you are an experienced website developer, WordPress hosting should definitely be given consideration when choosing web hosting. Its superfast speeds, as well as enhanced security features, allow WordPress hosting to stand above shared hosting in many areas.