Best WordPress Hosting Providers of 2022

Best WordPress Hosting

This comparison of the Best WordPress Hosting providers is based on pure performance data, actual speed test experiments, user ratings from the largest WordPress hosting survey to date, plus our own experience running websites regularly visited by 670,000+ people each month.

1. SiteGround (www.SiteGround.com)

 Overall Best WordPress host ($2.99/mo)

No list of best WordPress hosting could be complete without SiteGround playing a prominent role. The company has been making a name for themselves in the WordPress community for a while now. And not without a reason. Their hosting platform is strong when it comes to for-WordPress optimized servers, plus they offer managed WordPress hosting at price points that are unheard of (read: you won’t find a cheaper managed host of the same quality anywhere else).

What’s also worth pointing out is that SiteGround is one of the few officially recommended hosts by WordPress.org.

For the tests, we went for the StartUp package. Although for a generally more WordPress-optimized package, we’d recommend the GrowBig or GoGeek plan. They are a tad more expensive, but come with additional perks such as advanced caching (custom-built by SiteGround), staging, premium wildcard SSL certificates, and free PCI compliance – should you want to run an e-commerce store.

WordPress installation

Getting WordPress up and running with the built-in installer took just a few clicks. There really isn’t anything more to say here … the installation process really was as seamless as possible.

During this setup process, you also get to choose your server location. There are five data centers available – in USA, Asia and Europe.

Customer support

SiteGround offers what they call “unmatched” support (via chat, phone, tickets, social media), and it’s hard to argue with that, honestly. Apart from being able to access your account and fix any issues, the support agents are also knowledgeable about WordPress and WordPress hosting, and can help you out with a range of other issues that might not be strictly hosting-related.

In our little test, the SiteGround customer support was able to help us get a temporary URL working quickly and efficiently.

Special mention has to go out to the slickness of their customer support software and the extra mile the staff were prepared to go in offering detailed account advice and providing screenshots. (This makes it a great HostGator alternative, for instance, if you want a more refined support environment.)

Performance and uptime

Online reputation according to our hosting survey

• Rated 8.38/10 overall by survey respondents (top-rated company)
• Used by 4.83% of survey respondents
• 2 most popular host in the UK
• The most popular host in Spain
• 93% of users will extend their hosting subscription when it’s up for renewal

2. Bluehost (www.Bluehost.com)

Top value-for-money WordPress hosting ($2.75/mo)

We went for the basic package here. As you can see, a very cheap WordPress hosting option – a shared WordPress hosting plan, to be exact.

One immediate point to note is that Bluehost is the only alternative on the list that doesn’t offer a monthly package. Twelve month commitments are the minimum, though that is offset somewhat by a strong money back guarantee policy that I have personally invoked without issue.

WordPress installation

In addition to the standard cPanel options in place, Bluehost’s one-click WordPress installations are handled by a service called MojoMarketplace.

The MojoMarketplace interface for installing WordPress left a lot to be desired. It was possible to install multiple instances accidentally, and overall feedback on what was happening at any given point was inconsistent and confusing. (For instance, when we look at Bluehost vs SiteGround, the latter gives you WordPress installs in just a few clicks.)

On the plus side, this gave us an instant opportunity to talk to support!

Customer support

Service via chat support was fast and friendly and helped us with clearing up the initial WordPress installation problems and setting up a temporary URL to view our site.

Performance and uptime

Online reputation according to our hosting survey

• Rated 8.02 overall by survey respondents
• Used by 9.61% of survey respondents (top 2 result)
• The most popular host in the US
• The most popular host in the UK
• The most popular host in Canada
• 7% of Bluehost’s customers are first-timers to web hosting
• Bluehost is the first hosting platform ever recommended by WordPress.org

3. DreamHost (www.DreamHost.com)

WordPress-endorsed hosting ($2.59/mo)

We selected the standard shared hosting package with DreamHost, which was the most expensive of the base offerings we tested. Still, a very popular WordPress website hosting in the market.

Overall account signup with this shared WordPress hosting provider was slick and painless, and I was eager to see how DreamHost’s much-touted SSD servers would perform.

WordPress installation

The one-click install options in the backend worked straight out of the gate and the interface was generally straightforward to navigate.

Customer support

We needed some help in configuring a temporary URL as a subdomain on the main DreamHost domain. Customer support was easily reachable via chat and able to help us clear the issue up quickly.

Performance and uptime

Online reputation according to our hosting survey

• DreamHost rated 4.4 / 5 by users when asked how happy they were with the value they’re getting for their money
• DreamHost’s user-friendliness ranked 4.2 / 5

4. Kinsta (www.Kinsta.com)

Best performance among managed hosting ($29.17/mo)

Kinsta is a boutique hosting provider for WordPress that focuses mainly on optimized managed hosting setups. However, them being “boutique” doesn’t mean that they can’t handle the load.

In fact, Kinsta has the full power of the Google Cloud Platform behind it. They take Google’s infrastructure and make it more accessible and easier to use. Kinsta doesn’t use the traditional cPanel UI, but instead gives users a custom panel that puts focus on what’s important while hiding everything else.

The fact that this host is “managed” means that it’s Kinsta who handle every server-management-related task for you.

WordPress installation

As you’re setting up your account, you can tell Kinsta to install WordPress on your hosting account for you. All you need to do is tick one box.

Customer support

Kinsta offers 24/7 chat and ticket support. The representatives know WordPress and can help with anything you might be struggling with.

Plus, the fact that you don’t have to deal with cPanel will also reduce the number of times you need to contact support in the first place.

Performance and uptime

Online reputation according to our hosting survey

• Rated 4.3 / 5 for “value for money”
• Rated 4.8 / 5 for “WordPress optimization”

5. Hostinger (www.Hostinger.com)

Cheapest WordPress hosting on the market ($1.99/mo)

Hostinger is a very appealing option when it comes to best WordPress hosting, and their entry level pricing has a lot to do with that. At just $1.99 / month, you get to build one website and welcome up to 10,000 visitors (/mo). You also get one email account and a free SSL.

Hostinger also has a handful of WordPress-specific features for you. These include a guided installation with a site-building wizard to speed things up.

With WordPress running, you don’t have to do much maintenance of your own. Most things like core and plugin updates are handled by Hostinger and happen automatically. To make sure that your site runs fast, Hostinger uses LiteSpeed Cache and has it pre-configured.

For those who want to tinker under the hood, there’s a whole database of WordPress tutorials, plus you get access to WP-CLI.

WordPress installation

Hostinger offers one-click installation, so there’s not much to talk about in this department.

What’s worth mentioning, however, is that you do get to choose from eight data center locations around the world – in the US, UK, Indonesia, India, Singapore, Brazil, the Netherlands, and Lithuania.

Then, when you log into your user panel for the first time, you can also go through the site-setup wizard. You’ll get to choose from Hostinger’s collection of pre-approved themes and pick the one that suits you best.

Customer support

Hostinger offers 24/7 support. The support team is easy to contact and they will help you with general inquiries (WordPress related and otherwise). Though, you might have to wait a couple of minutes before getting a response.

Performance and uptime