Menu
As a blogger, once you keep walking on this path, one big question that arisses for the website builders is, which Hosting is the best one for WordPress?
The thing is, that as you start, you have no clue to decide which WordPress hosting to choose.
There are hundreds of different hosting service providers, that all offer and say to be the best one.
Well, just reading their websites is not the best way to decide.
They all proclaim to have fast connection, good prices and so on.
I am not a full web developer engineer, but certainly I have learned what has worked and what has not worked among the different WordPress Hosting Services.
In this post I will talk about Godaddy vs Siteground vs Kinsta vs Cloudways, since those are the hosting services that I have used. Of course there might be another good and better services, but probably at different prices.
When I started in this WordPress Blogging world, I started with Godaddy.
Godaddy has been one of the most known services for domain and hosting for websites.
Godaddy had also very cheap hosting services, and as a small blogger this might be one thing to consider, the price.
But eventually, as I kept learning, and as I kept knowing more about WordPress, Godaddy hosting was really slow.
It was getting frustrating, the speed that I was achieving. So eventually I searched for more wordpress hosting reviews, and found about Siteground.
I bought Siteground 3 years GoGeek plan since it was offering multiple website hosting, email hosting and they had a good discount. I think it was during cyber-monday.
Godaddy vs Siteground, it was easy to win the fight here by Siteground. With Siteground, my website increased in speed, and I hosted more WordPress websites on it.
I started to use Elementor on my website and that affected my website speed. The good thing of Siteground was that most of their Customer Service Tickets resolve pretty fast any issue, or they guide you.
That is one of the best things I consider about Siteground, Customer Service.
Eventually, I learned about what was the meaning of shared hosting, and how this can affect your speed.
Many cloud services were starting to become popular. Plus, also listenting too much about Google Cloud Platform made me to have the desire to try Google Clouds Platform for WordPress Hosting.
Since I am not any high tech guy, going into GCP was a bit confusing, and there were some Youtube tutorials that showed you how to use Google Cloud for one Year for free.
Even Google Cloud Platform website recommended the managed services for WordPress, WPengine and Kinsta.
I liked Kinsta website, it seem a good service. So I choose to try the first simple plan that costed around $30.
Here I show the results of GTmetrix and PageSpeed of early 2020.
The WordPress website speed was fast. And even to consider that I didn’t have it properly optimized, but for sure it could have even better numbers.
I was happy with Kinsta, until I got to know their business.
Kinsta counts the number of visits that you have on your website. If you exceed the number of visitors they will charge you. Of course, this will make you to consider jumping into a bigger plan.
The thing is that I didn’t like that in that number of visits, Kinsta also take into account Bots Visits so this was a really pain in the ass.
You have to pay for fake visitors. So I would say that don’t go for Kinsta. As I noticed this, I contacted their support, and of course they helped me to reduce the number of bots visits so that they are not taken into account. Eventually my website exceeded the number of visitors month after month, so I dropped Kinsta and went back to Siteground.
Back again in Siteground, I was finding regular the website speed.
I knew that I have to improve the website speed in order to have a better website, plus it we all know that it is a SEO Ranking Factor.
After reading some Facebook groups comments, I got to learn a bit more about Cloudways.
Cloudways is a managed cloud services that also offer WordPress Hosting.
The advantage of Cloudways is that you can select the cloud service that you want from different provider such as Vultr, Digital Ocean, Google Cloud Platfrom and AWS.
So actually you have the decision to try different cloud services from just one place.
Also, on the Woocommerce Facebook group from Mexico, many web developers recommended Vultr in High Requency.
So again, I jumped to another WordPress hosting Service.
As you can see, my Page Scores improved, and loading time was reduced.
For a blogger it seems, just good. Of course, my next step is to keep optimizing and improve the website speed so that it keep getting faster.
Having Elementor and WPML as plugins doesn’t help that much with speed. And I also need to do image optimization.
Another advantage of Cloudways with Vultr High Frequency is the price. It only costs $13 per month and it doesn’t have the visitors limit as in Kinsta.
Of course Kinsta has brought to me the fastest WordPress blog so far, but you can also use Google Cloud Platform through Cloudways, and you may also skip that limit of the number of visitors.
I don’t recommend Godaddy, because of the slow shared WordPress hosting. And I don’t recommend Kinsta due to the visitors limits and that they take into consideration the bots visits in that visitors limit.
I do recommend Siteground, because they have a really good customer service, it is a shared WordPress hosting at an ok speed and you can also host your email with them. Plus, I recommend Cloudways with Vultr in High Frequency if you are looking for a website with speed at lower price.
Among the hosting websites, Godaddy may be the one that needs the least introduction.
But, in case you don’t know, this is a company that originated in the United States and the latest public figures revealed that they have just over 20 million customers.
It is a fact that they have been at the top for years and have positioned themselves as one of the best internet service companies in the world, being one of the biggest, makes us think what has led them to the resounding success we know today.
We can start by saying the basics and that is that their services are not only offered in English and Spanish, but also in a lot more languages for the convenience of users.
Besides, it has domain name products, web creators, email account and hosting.
Some say that their prices have nothing to do with the quality of their service, but rather are based on the standard of being number 1 in the world to set them. But could this be true or is it just speculation?
To understand a little more about this site we will talk a little bit about the main advantages and disadvantages of Godaddy, so that you get an idea of how good the service they offer really is.
They do not limit the monthly traffic your website is open to receive.
In their plans you can find a great amount of web space so you are able to host all your content and files you want.
You have the ability to choose several regions where you want your website to be hosted. For example, you can choose the United States, Europe, Asia and Latin America.
Depending on the plan you have chosen, you will have to limit your database holdings.
Unless you want to buy one of their more expensive packages, you will not get free SSL encryption. Compared to other providers, this is one of the biggest cons.
Being number 1 in the world is expected to perform well, but in some ways Godaddy's loading speed can be disappointing. Other poor figures that can be highlighted from this supplier are those of availability.
It offers 24-hour support, it's true. But you only have access to it via telephone. It is much more effective nowadays to have the live chat mode, or at least to offer users the option of support via email for greater convenience at the time of service.
This may be one of the most interesting points and that is that knowing Godaddy’s price list and comparing it with what this provider can, or cannot, do for you should be the fundamental factor when deciding whether to have it.
In this sense you should know that Godaddy’s plans come in four completely different presentations, which hope to satisfy the needs that different clients may have when it comes to this type of service.
We will specify them below Godaddy WordPress Hosting:
Godaddy's Basic plan. With only 3,99 euros per month it will be functional for 1 website and will provide you with a total of 30 GB of space and 25000 visitors.
Godaddy Deluxe plan. For only 4.99 euros per month you will have 1 site, and 75GB web space, and 100000 visitors.
Godaddy Ultimate Plan. Its price is about 7.99 euros per month and they also offer 1 website, unlimited web space, with the addition that they will give you a higher performance.
Godaddy E-Commerce. It is 14.99 euros, you will have 1 site and unlimited web space, and Woocommerce setup.
It is also important to note that Godaddy’s hosting has discounts that make their prices much more attractive and all during the first year you hire them.
For this you will have to inform yourself at the time of acquiring the service.
Apart from this, if you have enough interest, but you don’t feel like paying the first month, you can get a free trial for 30 days.
This will give you an idea of how the service will work for you once you have contracted it.
Anyone who has tried Godaddy’s hosting with the intention of not getting carried away by slogans, or by big names, can conclude the same thing.
You don’t have to have a lot of experience to realize the big defects that could be fixed with a little interest.
First of all, one of their strongest points, perhaps, is the discounts during the first year of service.
But you must know that, from the first time you go to try, the prices will go up like foam and it will become one of the most expensive shared accommodations.
Another good aspect is the fact that they do not limit the bandwidth and are extremely generous within the web space theme.
They also have servers in more than one part of the world, for the convenience of their users.
But we must be realistic, Godaddy’s performance could be much better, everything could be a little faster and interruptions could at least be reduced.
Although this shouldn’t be a big problem if you don’t expect to create a website of enormous size.
What if there are better options, we’ll leave it up to you. Because it would be a matter of you knowing a couple more options and deciding which one goes with your website.
But, without a doubt, in terms of performance Godaddy has a long way to go… or hurry up.
If we give importance to the time in the market, we must place SiteGround as another of the best websites hosting today.
This was born in 2004 and since then they have expanded so much that, according to official figures, they host more than 2 million domains.
Very few providers offer guarantees of availability to customers on their servers and this is one of them.
On their website they boast a service available 365 days a year and 24 hours a day.
Aspects that also go into the advertising campaign of this site is that “they care a lot about the loading speed”, but, could it be that they really have a service as good as the one they promote or is it just a strategy to attract those users that hate the slow loading speed’.
We will detail the most important aspects of this website so that you know if it goes hand in hand with your website.
Everything from an objective point of view, so that personal opinions do not get in the way of the professional decisions you will have to make at some point.
These advantages and disadvantages of SiteGround were determined after evaluating the service they offered in general, taking into account all plans that are accessible by the website.
After the research work we can highlight the following:
This is one of the web hosting providers with the best figures when it comes to availability. And the truth is that they are very close to 100%.
It has an intuitive and easy to use system which means that it is simple to follow and its functionalities are perfectly integrated with each other.
SiteGround's customer service is one of the most complete, this can be done both from the phone, email and chat. An important point is also that they have very well elaborated tutorials and guides.
They have a really useful hardware and software solutions, which helps them to have a much higher hosting speed than the average.
Once you decide to open a SiteGround account you have the option to choose servers from Asia, America, Australia and Europe.
You have options that many other hosting websites do not yet have. As is the case with GIT repositories, staging, among others. Besides, it has a very complete backup system. They do not limit the traffic you can receive.
It has a panel where you can manage the websites individually and also make an efficient user management.
The truth is that if we see it from the outside we must accept that this provider has one of the best relationships in terms of quality and price, but even so this does not make it one of the cheapest in the market.
If you require professional SiteGround migrations, you will have to pay about 24 Euros plus VAT.
Each service plan of this provider has a maximum limit for the size of each database you use.
We have already told you a little about the cost of SiteGround, however, we will specify a little more in each plan of this and what it has to offer, so you know if it is what you are looking for, or not.
SiteGround StartUp Plan. For only 12.99 euros per month you will have the opportunity to create a website and have 10 GB of web space.
SiteGround GrowBig Plan. If you invest 22.99 euros each month you can create unlimited websites and have 20 GB of web space. Advanced caching and advanced backup options are also integrated.
SiteGround GoGeek Plan. You will have about 40 GB of space for unlimited websites, they also offer priority support and GIT repositories.
You must take into account that during the first year of service with this provider you will find discounts that go up to 60% of the total cost.
However, they also have offers that are projected well beyond that first year and that if you go for the service contract once for 3 years you would be saving a lot of money in discounts that surely appreciate.
Among the hosting websites that have changed for the better we can mention without a doubt SiteGround, which today presents itself to its potential customers as an intuitive and visually attractive solution. Which makes it easier to use.
We can not ignore that it has one of the best customer services, with a support that we can say that Godaddy envies.
Besides, both its e-mail account management and its loading speed are more than acceptable in this provider, but, is it worth its price?
It’s no secret to anyone, as we’ve mentioned slightly before, that their price range is somewhere between medium and high, but it’s also a provider that has to offer generally more than average.
Having highlighted the above, we must be frank. And is that this hosting website today is not thought for those projects that have a limited budget, or low.
It may sound a bit harsh, but it is currently intended for ambitious sites.
However, its advanced features still place it as one of the best options nowadays. But you should also know that some of these are not available in every one of their plans.
So it’s better to find out before hiring one and get an unpleasant surprise.
If we follow our theme of WordPress hosting websites, there is no other stop we can’t make at this time than Kinsta and that is that this is another provider that is giving a lot of talk, although it is not as old as it is believed.
If you don’t know what Kinsta is the first thing you need to know is that this is nothing more than a premium managed service from WordPress as a host company and its technology stack is running on nothing less than the world’s largest and fastest cloud network: Google Cloud.
This provider was first launched recently in 2013 and its creator was Mark Gavalda, who is currently the company’s CEO.
His most popular collaborations are with companies such as TripAdvisor, Intuit, ASOS, FreshBooks and a couple of other names.
There is a lot of controversy regarding this provider, many people recognize how good it has to offer, but it is impossible to highlight that, in terms of competition, it has factors that usually leave it a little behind in the battle. And you’re about to find out what we’re talking about specifically.
If it comes to telling you the advantages and disadvantages of Kinsta we could be sitting here for hours, but after analyzing them carefully we have made a selection of the most important ones so you can get an idea of how good, or how bad, his service can be.
It works with the Google cloud platform and has undergone a move to GCP VM with computer optimization (C2). This, among other things, makes the data delivered at lightning speed as to when visitors are browsing the website.
We all know that no one likes to be on a slow loading site. This provider is always in charge of guaranteeing its customers maximum speed levels. Many who have tested the site claim that it usually loads in as little as 1.24 seconds, which puts it ahead of its competitors.
This company takes security issues very seriously and implements a couple of policies, together with certain tools, that help ensure that the site's data is always protected. This is the case with live monitoring every minute, for example.
The MyKinsta dashboard may be one of the easiest to use. It is a panel that can be considered not only intuitive, but also has everything necessary for site management, accounting information and many other aspects that we will leave to your exploration.
Perhaps the point that plays most against this provider is that it currently has no domain name registrations, as many of the competitors do. This means that this is a process that must be fulfilled with a third party company.
Kinsta does not offer email hosting, which limits users to creating emails using the domain, which we know is something that adds professionalism to a brand. We still don't know the reason why they haven't incorporated it, but we hope they do soon.
It restricts the use of some add-ons because they are likely to conflict with the services they provide. Some of these are the home wall with sessions and words, performance add-ons such as Better WordPress Minify, among others.
To give you an idea of the cost of Kinsta we can look at the first three hosting plans that Kinsta offers openly to all those users who are interested in becoming part of its network of customers:
Kinsta's engine start plan. Among what this plan offers are monthly visits up to 25000, 3 GB SSD storage, daily backup, 50 GB CDN and 24/7 support. The cost of this plan is $30 per month.
Kinsta's pro plan. This is a plan that gives you 2 WordPress installations and monthly visits take you up to 50,000. Its SSD storage is 6 GB and CDN storage is 100 GB. In site 1 you will have free migration, in both there will be daily backups and 24/7 support. All for $60 each month.
Kinsta's Business Plan 1. This plan gives you access to 3 WordPress installations and will allow you to have up to 100,000 visits, with 10 GB SSD and 200 GB CDN storage. You will also have daily backups and support at all times. They add free SSL certificates, among other features, for only $100 per month.
Knowing whether or not Kinsta’s hosting is a good option for you is a matter of meditating, evaluating what the service, in its different plans, can offer you and whether it meets your needs and the most important limitation: the budget.
What we can tell you is that it is a service with some very strong points, as is the case of loading speed and that this is based on Google Cloud Platform servers.
But, beyond that, is it really what you need?
Something that undoubtedly plays against you is that in their plans is limited the number of visits you can receive per month, so you have to be clear about the traffic of your site.
Be careful, this doesn’t mean that when you reach the maximum they will take down your site so that no one else can see it, the limit only serves so that, if you exceed it, they will charge you an extra amount of money for each visit you generate from it.
This can be a big drawback if you’re on a tight budget. But that’s not all, unfortunately you don’t have full control over the visits, so visits made by some bots will be added to your bill.
We all know that when it comes to advertising all hosting websites will be the best and that when we see some with prices perhaps a bit below average we fear the fact that their service is not the best.
However, Cloudways is one of those providers that have let themselves be defined by offering affordable cloud hosting, but other features that accompany their name is that they are a powerful server and also very simple to set up.
Their developers know that today they must be on hand with WordPress sites and that’s why they’re working harder and harder to offer a complete service in this area.
Although it may not make it into the top 3 due to some drawbacks that are found in it.
Is it possible that this provider works as a fast host, that it remains secure, and that you can have a high level of reliability in it without having to skyrocket its costs, you will have to decide for yourself.
But we will give you the tools to draw your own conclusions.
So that we can begin to evaluate how good, or not, Cloudways service is, we can start looking at the advantages and disadvantages of Cloudways.
We have chosen the most important ones so that you know where they are really strong and where they fall behind in the competition with their peers.
This provider offers hosting for owners of cloud-based websites, such as Digital Ocean, Vultr, AWS, Google Cloud Platform. This means that they are very easy to migrate and that content can be stored on more than one server, among other aspects that play in their favor.
Cloudways' servers are always "on fire" because of how fast they send website content to visitors. At least this is the way to say that they have a great load speed no matter how much traffic the site may be getting.
It has a proactive approach to site security, so it generates great confidence when you need to host sensitive data to this provider. Some of its features are integrated with routine patches and firmware updates, operating system level firewalls, among others.
Support is a high priority for this provider, if you need to contact their customer service system you should know that they have live chat options, or you can send tickets through their ticketing system so that your questions and concerns can be addressed.
Currently, this hosting provider does not offer its customers the registration of domain names, regardless of whether it is integrated into their plans, or you have to pay more for it. In order to carry out these processes, third parties must be used, if they allow it.
In this provider you will not find cPanel and Plesk panels. If there is a console that allows their customers to manage the applications that are hosted on the server in the cloud, but this is a point that can present problems for users who do not get used to this notorious difference.
Cloudways hosting plans do not have integrated mail service. Instead they expect their customers to pay for each account they want to add, something that especially affects those large companies that need to add a lot of emails to their sites.
The cost of Cloudways cannot be generalized, as this is a provider that has many managed hosting plans. However, we can mention some of them to give you an idea of how high, or low, their prices may be in relation to what they offer:
DigitalOcean from Cloudways. Plans in this category are around $10 and $80 per month. They offer a RAM from 1 GB to 8 GB and processors from 1 core to 4 core. Their storage goes from 25 GB to 160 GB and the bandwidth starts at 1 TB and goes up to 5 TB.
Vultr. In this category, plans start at 11 dollars and extend up to 84 dollars per month. They offer a RAM from 1 GB to 8 GB, with processors from 1 core to 4 core and also storage from 25 GB to 100 GB, with a bandwidth from 1 TB to 4 TB.
Amazon Web Services by Cloudways. In this category we have plans ranging from $85.17 to $272.73 per month. RAM starts at 3.75 GB and goes up to 15 GB, with a vCPU from 1 to 4 and 4 FB storage in the whole board. Its bandwidth is 6 GB on the board.
Apart from the categories we have mentioned, there are many others that seek to meet the needs of each client. There are also personalized Cloudways plans to match more with what the client is looking for.
Without a doubt, Cloudways hosting has many strengths, such as the level of security it offers to customers and the loading speed that users will have when visiting the websites hosted by it.
With Vultr High Frequency they have perhaps one of the most attractive offers that not only gives you a low cost for the service, but one of the highest loading speeds.
So, for those projects that don’t have much of a budget, but are in search of a quality hosting provider, Cloudways can certainly be a great option.
