Web hosting vs WordPress hosting: Which is best?

man sat at computer with wordpress shirt on

(Epitome credit: Photo by Fikret tozak on Unsplash)

Building a website may be easier now than it'due south ever been, particularly with the best website builders, but new website owners notwithstanding face a lot of dissimilar decisions in the process. One of the most important decisions yous take to brand early is figuring out which of the all-time web hosting services are platonic for your website.

You lot'll observe a lot of different terms and categories in your research about web hosts—It'southward a lot to navigate. A question you'll want to sympathize early on is how spider web hosting and the best WordPress hosting compare, and here we pit web hosting vs WordPress hosting to help you lot make a choice between the two.

What is web hosting?

What is WordPress hosting?

Spider web hosting vs WordPress hosting: What's the difference?

The divergence between spider web hosting and WordPress hosting is that web hosting refers to a broad category of services of which WordPress hosting is ane specific blazon. The term web hosting describes a variety of types of web hosting plans, with a range of costs and features. WordPress hosting is a specialized type of spider web hosting for people with websites built on WordPress.

All WordPress hosting plans count every bit a course of web hosting, but only some web hosting plans are WordPress hosting.

WordPress hosting: what to know

WordPress logo

Around 42% of all websites are congenital using WordPress (Image credit: WordPress)

WordPress has its ain category of web hosting services because of its immense popularity. Around 42% of all websites are built using WordPress. That means there'southward enough of a market of WordPress users for web hosting companies to offer plans specifically optimized for WordPress websites.

Reasons to consider WordPress hosting

WordPress hosting plans vary based on the plan and provider, but the best WordPress hosting plans will include some key benefits.

Managed WordPress hosting: Most WordPress hosting plans are a form of managed hosting, where you go to outsource a lot of the technical work of web hosting to your provider. In the case of WordPress, that includes services similar treatment software updates and backups.
WordPress compatibility: Any WordPress hosting plan should promise seamless compatibility between your web hosting account and WordPress itself. That includes working with the most up-to-engagement version of PHP, the programming language WordPress uses.
Enhanced security: WordPress websites face specific security vulnerabilities. WordPress hosting providers should be committed to keeping up-to-date on threats to WordPress and strengthening their security in response.
Automatic updates: WordPress commonly releases updates multiple times a yr, and staying on meridian of them manually can exist tedious. Many managed WordPress hosting plans do the task for you.
Specialized support: A good WordPress hosting plan will provide customer support staff that understand WordPress well enough to provide skillful responses to any questions or issues you have.

Limitations of WordPress hosting

WordPress hosting makes sense for a lot of websites, only information technology's not necessarily for everyone.

Information technology's only for WordPress websites. The most obvious limitation of WordPress hosting is that it'south only useful for websites built on WordPress. If you used a website builder or some other CMS, it won't brand sense for you lot.
It costs more than bones shared hosting plans. WordPress hosting—especially managed WordPress hosting plans—typically toll more than basic shared web hosting plans. If your needs are simple and you only want the most affordable web hosting option, it's not for you.
Not all WordPress hosting plans are created equal. The benefits we listed above are included in many WordPress hosting plans, but not all. Don't assume that but because something'due south labeled "WordPress hosting," you'll become all the features and services yous desire from it. Look closely at each program you consider to learn what it offers.

Spider web hosting: What to know

computer screen with web hosting graphics — Every website needs web hosting to announced online, with multiple types and plans available (Image credit: Shutterstock)

Spider web hosting is a necessary expense for every website, only web hosting plans vary considerably in terms of type, cost, and the features and benefits they provide. The main gene that determines the cost and value of a web hosting program is what type of program information technology is. The main categories you'll see are:

Shared hosting: With shared hosting, your website will be one of many sharing a particular web server. That means information technology's cheaper, but also that y'all accept less bandwidth and infinite to work with. Shared hosting makes sense for many new and smaller websites, but some outgrow information technology.
VPS (virtual private server) : A VPS is still shared, but fewer websites will be on the server, and each one is sectioned off so you don't accept to worry almost your website being affected by the traffic surges of another. It costs more than than shared hosting, just delivers a improve performance.
Deject hosting : With cloud hosting, instead of your website being stored on one server, your provider volition apply a series of different servers that are all continued. For websites with inconsistent traffic levels, cloud hosting makes it easy to calibration up and down as needed.
Dedicated server: For websites or applications that are either especially complex or get a lot of traffic, a dedicated server ensures you lot don't have to share your server with any other website. It costs more other options, but provides the well-nigh ability and bandwidth.

WordPress hosting isn't a dissimilar type of program from these, rather it'south a category that tin fall under any one of them. Depending on the programme you go with, it could be shared WordPress hosting, cloud WordPress hosting, etc, so yous'll want to cheque earlier signing upwardly for a WordPress hosting programme to learn which blazon it is.

The difference with WordPress hosting is less about the server information technology'due south on, and more about the additional features that come with it.

Web hosting vs WordPress hosting: How to decide between the options

If you take a WordPress website, managed WordPress hosting is a good selection if y'all want a web hosting plan that will make your life a little easier, since y'all won't accept to worry every bit much about updates and security. It can also be a smart choice if you aren't particularly tech savvy, and want the convenience of having skilful WordPress support on mitt.

But if y'all either don't take a WordPress website, or if your priority is choosing the near affordable choice, then another web hosting plan may make more sense.

Web hosting vs WordPress hosting: Which is best?