BEST WORDPRESS HOSTING PROVIDERS FOR YOUR WEBSITE [2022]
Recommended by WordPress.org and Wpbeginner.com.
(This post has affiliate links)
WordPress has certainly come to be one of the most trusted website platforms on the internet, with over 39% of the web using it to power their websites.
According to WordPress.org, there are over 60 million people around the globe using it.
And why is this?
Well one of the reasons, especially if you are thinking of getting a new website is that it’s very user friendly and doesn’t have a steep learning curve.
Because of this, there are a number of web hosting providers that support WordPress. But a lot of them don’t have dedicated WordPress hosting environments.
As a result, there are extra steps and checks that you would need to go through before your WordPress website is up and running.
And If you are like me, you probably just want a hosting provider that gives you a plug and play option without the need for technical knowledge.
Whether you are registering a new website or switching host providers all you want to do is just click on a button and WALLAH!! Your website is live.
Fortunately, there are hosting providers that offer this and today we will be looking at the 3 popular WordPress hosting providers that also host South African websites.
So….
What are these 3 WordPress Hosting Providers?
Bluehost
Founded in 2003 by Danny Ashworth and Matt Heaton in Provo Utah. It has a long standing partnership with WordPress since 2005 and a team of over 750 employees.
Dreamhost
Founded in 1996 by Josh Jones, Sage Weil, Michael Rodriguez and Dallas Bethune in California. Like Bluehost it has also been a partner of WordPress since 2005 and has a team of over 300 employees.
Hostgator
Founded in 2002 by Brent Oxley in Florida. Started it’s dedicated WordPress hosting service in 2015 and has a team of over 850 employees.
These three hosting companies are rated by wpbeginner.com as the best hosting companies in 2021.
Additionally, Bluehost and Dreamhost are recommended by WordPress.org itself as the best hosting providers.
FYI, Btwmedia.co.za is hosted by Bluehost and I must say, my experience with them has been good so far.
Why are they the best WordPress Hosting Providers?
1. Great customer service
Nowadays customer service is very important, you don’t want to go to a business and be met with a rude person who thinks they are doing you a favour by doing their job.
You also want to know that a competent person is on the other side who will attend to you as quickly as possible. Right?
All these providers have a 24/7 customer service helpline available through a live chat function on their websites.
They also have a phone number on their websites where an expert can help you within a few minutes.
2. Easy installation and transfer
Let’s be honest, not all of us know the technical ins and outs of how to get a website running. We just want something that is user friendly and easy to understand.
Good thing these companies get that, because they enable you to register your domain, install WordPress and have a website up and running with just a few clicks.
The same easy process also applies if you already have a domain hosted elsewhere and would like to transfer it.
They also provide you with easy to understand FAQs to help in answering question that you might have.
3. Amazing money back guarantees
Have you ever gone to a car dealership, looked at a car and said “perfect I will take this one”?
Of cause not! You get a feel for it first by giving it a test drive then deciding whether it’s the right baby for you or not.
The same thing applies here; imagine you decide to get a hosting provider then realise a few days later that “Nope this does not do it for me”.
These hosting providers offer a trial run by guaranteeing you your money back if you feel the hosting doesn’t do it for you after some time.
4. Meet minimum WordPress hosting requirements
WordPress requires a rich hosting environment to function at its best, just like plants need the right environment to grow to their full potential.
Therefore, a good WordPress hosting provider should provide the following minimum requirements (which these hosting services provide out of the box):
-HTTPS support
-Web Server: Apache or Nginx
-Scripting language: PHP version 7.4 or greater
-Database: MariaDB v10.1 or greater/ MySQL version 5.6 or greater
How do these hosting providers differ from each other?
Now you’re probably thinking:
“Okay okay Justice, they offer all these benefits that have earned them spots on wpbeginner.com and WordPress.org, but what makes them different from each other?”
Great question!
We all know that in order to make a good decision before purchasing anything you need to compare it to its competitors.
So this is how they differ…
1. WordPress hosting price
Price is a very important factor to consider when deciding to buy anything. We will be looking at the basic WordPress hosting plans.
Dreamhost and Bluehost win the affordability race here with their yearly basic plans being $2.95/mo* whilst Hostgator starts at $5.96/mo*
NOTE: You might not be billed on a month to month bases, but instead a whole year’s lumpsum might be deducted depending on the chosen plan. So just be sure to enquire first.
2. Money back guarantees
When it comes to the provider that offers the best money back guarantee, Dreamhost takes the cake with a 97-day money back guarantee.
Followed by Hostgator with a 45-day money back guarantee and, in last place, Bluehost with a 30-day money back guarantee.
3. User experience
Bluehost comes number one with its cleaner user interface that offers very easy navigation and is also a bit more beginner friendly than the other two. You can also update your themes and plugins on the control panel.
Dreamhost comes close second with its custom built user interface as well. Its also user friendly and easy to understand.
Hostgator comes last with its Cpanel control interface which is slightly less beginner friendly than the other two but isn’t difficult to learn.
4. Uptime guarantees
When you have a website, you cannot afford for it to go offline for long periods of time because this would give your visitors a bad experience and a lousy impression of your brand.
Therefore, it is it very good when a hosting provider to offers a high uptime.
With that said, Dreamhost guarantees a 100% uptime while Hostgator and Bluehost guarantee a 99.99% uptime.
This is quite high as it means that your website will never go offline or worst case would be down only 0.01% of the time which is hardly noticeable.
So which one should you pick?
Bluehost and Dreamhost seem to be neck to neck with each having 1.5 points. So I would have to give it to Bluehost on the basis of its beginner friendly interface.
At the end of the day the ultimate choice of a hosting provider falls on you.
All these web hosting providers are rated high by WP beginners and WordPress.org for a reason.
Try one and let me know which one you prefer based on your experience