The best WordPress hosting services of 2024: Expert tested

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If you're using a content management system (CMS) to manage your website, there's a very good chance you're using WordPress. According to W3Techs, around 62% of all websites with a known CMS use WordPress, and 43% of all websites on the planet run the backend system.

WordPress is very easy to learn. Nearly every web hosting provider offers WordPress as an option, as all it takes is a relatively modern tech stack and a quick install, so there's a low barrier of entry for a hosting provider to offer support for the CMS. WordPress is also offered as a one-click installation.

That said, just because so many hosting providers offer WordPress support doesn't mean that every service is good value for money, reliable, or trustworthy.

Also: The best web hosting services: Expert tested

What is the best WordPress hosting provider right now?

ZDNET has extensively tested and reviewed many WordPress hosting providers over the years, often designing our own websites using these services. Based on our testing, our pick for the best WordPress hosting service overall is Hostinger. It's an excellent WordPress website hosting solution that combines affordability, support, and scalability and is suitable for the majority of use cases.

During the current Black Friday sale, plans begin at only $1.95 per month, with several months of free service added to the length of your contract.

Read on for the rest of our top picks for the best WordPress hosting providers that provide security, support, and features suitable for various needs and budgets.

Best WordPress hosting providers of 2024

Hostinger

Best WordPress hosting provider overall

Hostinger, which is also one of our top picks for web hosting and email hosting, is our favorite option for your new WordPress installation.

We consider Hostinger a great all-rounder, as it offers affordable pricing tiers depending on your needs. Whether you want a bare-bones package for one website or need support for hundreds of WordPress installations, this could be your best provider.

Review: Hostinger

Hostinger's features include e-commerce support, one-click WordPress installation, automatic updates, management tools, a vulnerability scanner, DDoS protection, and 24/7 support. As a bonus, AI tools and prebuilt website templates are available so you can get online faster. For the majority of customers, this is all you need.

Currently, Black Friday promotions mean you might only pay $1.95 per month, with two months of service thrown in for free. This deal includes a free domain and free website migration.

Customers applaud the customer support team, although some reports note they would like more flexibility in the services provided.

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ScalaHosting

Best budget WordPress hosting provider

ScalaHosting is one of our top choices for long-term affordability when it comes to WordPress hosting. You can spend as little as a few bucks for its entry plan (currently available for $2.66 per month) and around $10 per month for top-tier subscriptions.

It's not just the price point, though, as ScalaHosting offers shared and dedicated WordPress hosting, unlimited website support, free SSL certificates, daily backups, staging features, anti-malware tools, free migration, and a one-click WordPress installer. Storage options range from 10GB to 50GB. A free domain is included in premium plans.

Customer feedback indicates that the helpdesk team is professional and dedicated, with excellent customer support and pricing.

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WP Engine

Best scalable WordPress hosting provider

WP Engine is key among WordPress hosting providers for small and medium-sized businesses.

WP Engine offers two features that stand out to make it our favorite recommendation for these use cases. The first is scalability. You can start with a relatively inexpensive plan and upgrade. WP Engine will not top out if you need a high-performance enterprise-grade plan after a major growth spurt.

Review: WP Engine

Second is what the company calls "transferable installs." While moving a WordPress installation from almost any hosting provider to almost any other hosting provider is possible, it can be a time-consuming process fraught with potential errors. There are migration tools and plugins to make the process more reliable, and you can simply push/pull databases, plugins, and website content.

In addition to these great features for small and large businesses alike, WP Engine is suitable for clients who want to prioritize speed and security. Customers say the live chat support and WordPress assistance are top-notch. Plans begin at $20 per month.

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Pagely

Best for mission-critical hosting

Pagely (a GoDaddy brand) is one of the best WordPress hosting providers for mission-critical websites that require solid uptime.

While it can be expensive, Pagely provides top-tier hosting and supports blue-chip customers such as Disney, VMware, and Cisco through its flexible tech stack. Plans allow multiple WordPress websites and come with features like dedicated and custom CPU resources, at least 4GB of RAM, 50GB of storage, and managed DevOps.

ZDNET author and tech expert David Gewirtz has used Pagely for years, and every time he's had a support issue, Pagely has jumped in and gone above and beyond.

"I also like that Pagely hosts on top of the AWS infrastructure, so I never worry about maintenance and server reliability issues," Gewirtz says. "To be blunt: If I had one hosting provider to recommend, and if you can handle their pricing, I'd unreservedly recommend Pagely. And no, it's not paying me to say that. I pay them every month."

Customers applaud Pagely as a solid platform with great support. Plans begin at $375 per month, so this price point is best suited for enterprise-grade projects.

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WordPress VIP

Best for custom, managed WordPress installs by experts

Automattic, which operates WordPress.com, also offers a top-tier solution for enterprise customers: WordPress VIP.

WordPress VIP provides infrastructure, operations, and security at scale, freeing content producers up to produce content. Think of it as concierge service with a ton of horsepower.

WordPress VIP provides hosting services for a swathe of household names and should be considered if you need a streamlined, flexible content management service with support from an expert team. Products include content analytics by Parse.ly, API orchestration, developer workflow tools, and enterprise-grade security.

Pricing is available upon request, and demos are available.

Alternatively, you can visit WordPress.com to take advantage of a range of plans suitable for personal use or entry-level businesses. Subscriptions start from $4 per month.

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To help you make a decision, we've highlighted each WordPress hosting provider's noteworthy features below.

WordPress hosting service	Starting Price	Multi-domain?	Installation support?	Entry-level plans?
Hostinger	$1.95/month	✓	✓	✓
ScalaHosting	$2.66/month	✓	✓	✓
WP Engine	$20/month	✓	✓	✓
Pagely	$375/month	✓	✓	x
WordPress VIP	On request	✓	✓	x

There are many WordPress hosting providers out there, and we've done our best to highlight the top picks in the market. The best WordPress hosting providers are listed below, depending on your need and particular use case.

Choose this WordPress hosting service…	If you want…
Hostinger	An all-rounder, affordable WordPress hosting service. Hostinger provides everything from multi-domain support to AI tools, making it our top choice.
ScalaHosting	An affordable, solid WordPress hosting provider. ScalaHosting has consistently earned positive customer reviews and provides a range of advanced features on premium plans.
WP Engine	A comprehensive WordPress hosting solution that combines speed, security, and scalability. This is our top pick as a scalable hosting solution.
Pagely	A WordPress hosting provider for mission-critical websites and services. While expensive, this is the best option for enterprises.
WordPress VIP	A dedicated WordPress hosting service that goes above and beyond. This service is best for ongoing support, content creation, and time-sensitive campaigns.

If you're looking at the hosting providers included in this guide, you've already made one decision: To pick a provider experienced in hosting WordPress. Next, you should consider the following factors:

Size and scalability: Depending on how many sites you want to operate and what kind of traffic you expect to have, consider providers that offer hosting capable of adapting and scaling up to your needs.Budget: You should consider your budget and how much you would be happy to spend on your project or business. Keep in mind that hosting multiple websites beyond introductory periods may result in price increases.Customization: Consider whether you need a "one size fits all" WordPress host or one that allows you to perform deep customization.Media: If you intend to showcase bandwidth-heavy media on your website, including 4K videos, you may need to check how much storage and traffic support is on offer.Support and services: The more complex your site, the more you might want WordPress hosting with stronger support and administrative functions. At the very least, you will want to choose a provider that has a variety of customer support channels in case you need technical support or help with migrating your website.Security: DDoS and similar attacks are no joke. They can hamper access to your website and frustrate visitors. Ensure you pick a hosting provider dedicated to security. Free trials: If a service offers a free trial period, test out porting your site, getting support, the dashboard interface, and overall performance before agreeing to a long-term contract.

At ZDNET, when we considered the best WordPress hosting providers of 2024, we took into account a number of factors:

Experience: Many ZDNET authors have personal, long-term experience with the vendors on this list, with everything from budget-conscious WordPress hosting services to enterprise-level support. We also consulted with experts for their recommendations.Customer reviews: We took customer feedback and reviews into account and shied away from vendors with poor track records. We keep an eye on customer reports to monitor for any drastic changes in service. Use cases: We included a range of WordPress hosts suitable for different users and purposes, including vendors offering scalable solutions, products suitable for small businesses and projects, and enterprise-ready WordPress hosting options.Migration, one-click installs: These are two features we like WordPress hosting providers to offer. Setting up a new WordPress backend or moving a website can be time-consuming, and so we appreciate it when vendors provide a way for customers to quickly manage these tasks. Advanced features: We wanted to see optional advanced features for customers who need more than standard hosting. These include SEO assistance, AI-based technologies, e-commerce, security functions, and tailored support.Pricing: The prices set by WordPress hosting providers vary widely, so we have endeavored to include a range of options suitable for most budgets.

Frequently Asked Questions

There's WordPress... and then there's WordPress. Here's a quick breakdown:

WordPress (software) is an open-source content management system written mainly in PHP. You can install WordPress on your own server or contract with a hosting provider to run it for you.WordPress Foundation is a 501(c)3 nonprofit that protects the GPL licensing of WordPress, the WordPress trademark, and provides educational resources for the WordPress open-source community.WordPress.org is the central repository of WordPress information, where you can download the WordPress open-source software, and an online distribution source for the thousands of themes and plugins that work with WordPress.Automattic: This is the commercial company founded by one of WordPress' original developers, Matt Mullenweg. Automattic also owns the popular blogging platform Tumblr.WordPress.com is owned by Automattic and is one of the largest hosting providers for WordPress websites. It offers free, somewhat limited WordPress hosting as well as more advanced plans.WordPress VIP is the top-tier enterprise-level hosting service provided by Automattic for large organizations.

When discussing WordPress, it's generally possible to infer which one by the context of the conversation. If you're unsure, however, ask the vendor.

Absolutely. Download the WordPress package and install it yourself. This isn't a particularly difficult or long process. Some web hosts will also give you one-click WordPress installation options.

One of WordPress' key strengths as a content management system is its ease of use. Indeed, so many website owners opt for WordPress in part because of the thriving community of developers that provides templates, add-ons, e-commerce suites, and functions that can be quickly integrated with little technical knowledge.

Web hosting is required to display a website and store content. WordPress hosting can be considered a subclass of web hosting that is specifically designed to handle WordPress installations, and may also be optimized for improved CMS performance.

Yes. WordPress works with a slew of hosting services, and GoDaddy even offers one-click installation to automatically set up the WordPress CMS for you.

The answer to this question depends on your needs and budget. Go for Wix if you need a simple website and want to try your hand at designing it yourself through the Wix designer platform. If you want to develop a website with additional functionality and explore plugins, WordPress is your best bet.

If you want to host a website on the WordPress domain, you must consider the cost of hosting and a domain name. You may also want to buy premium plugins to improve the functionality of your website or service, or invest in a paid website template.

Shared hosting will be your most economical option. On WordPress, hosting starts at $4 per month.

If the WordPress options above don't quite suit you, or you want to go in a different direction, there are other worthy solutions below that you may prefer. Some have an eco-friendly approach, others are suitable for enterprise clients, and the remaining ones are best for customers who need a small, basic solution that works.