WordPress Hosting vs Web Hosting: What is the Main Difference?
WordPress hosting is specifically optimized for WordPress sites, offering better performance, while standard web hosting can host ANY website, including WordPress sites.
In most cases, standard web hosting is cheaper than WordPress hosting. You can also launch a WordPress site with standard hosting. These two types of hosting have their own advantages and disadvantages. But which one to choose?
In this article, we'll compare the two types of hosting and help you find the option that best suits your needs.
Let's get started without further ado.
Table of contents
WordPress Hosting vs Web Hosting: Differences, Pros, Cons, and More
What is web hosting?
Standard web hosting is general-purpose hosting that can store website files such as blog posts, images, videos, etc. You can host any type of website.
Typically, you rent space on a server so that anyone, anywhere can access your website.
Furthermore, shared hosting is the most common type of standard web hosting. With shared hosting, you share a single server with other websites, meaning your website's resources are not dedicated solely to your website.
Why choose standard (or shared) web hosting? 3 reasons
Here are THREE big reasons to opt for standard web hosting over WordPress hosting.
1. Affordable
The #1 reason to go with standard web hosting is that it's cheap. This is because a single server is distributed across multiple websites in shared hosting.
Shared hosting is the BEST choice if you have a new, smaller site, mainly because of its low cost (often $5 per month or less).
If you are a beginner just starting out, you may want to choose a shared hosting plan because of its price.
2. Flexibility
Another reason to choose normal web hosting over WordPress hosting is FLEXBILITY.
You can host websites that are NOT on WordPress. With shared hosting, you can host any type of website, including:
- Static Websites
- Non-WordPress Sites
- Dynamic websites
- E-commerce websites
- Forum
- Portfolio sites and more
For example, if you want to create a static website, such as a portfolio website, you do not need to use WordPress hosting.
Furthermore, standard web hosting providers typically offer a wider range of hosting plans, including shared hosting, VPS hosting, and dedicated hosting. This gives you greater flexibility in choosing the blogging platform that best suits your needs.
3. Integrated CPanel
Almost all web hosting providers that offer shared hosting plans provide an integrated control panel where you can manage everything, such as:
- Your website files
- Focus Areas
- Backups
- Emails
- Databases and much more
With standard web hosting, it's easy to manage your website, including adding FTP users, adding new website folders, changing passwords, and more.
Advantages of standard web hosting
- The biggest advantage of standard (or shared) web hosting is that it is extremely affordable compared to other types of hosting, including managed WordPress, VPS, dedicated hosting, etc.
- Most web hosting providers offering shared hosting allow you to install popular web applications, such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc., with one click.
- Most web hosting providers offer uptime guarantees of 99% or more.
- Scalability is NOT an issue with shared hosting plans; you can easily upgrade your plan as your website traffic increases.
- Standard web hosting offers you more flexibility, as you can create ANY type of website of your choice and install any script other than WordPress.
- Most web hosting providers allow you to host multiple websites, so you can host multiple sites on a single hosting account.
- With standard web hosting, you will primarily benefit from unlimited bandwidth for your websites.
- Suggest a cPanel, which makes it easy to configure emails, databases, addon domains, and more.
Disadvantages of Web Hosting
- Shared web hosting can result in slower loading times because many other websites are on the same server. You should avoid shared hosting if you want a better website and improved performance.
- Security is one of the biggest concerns with shared hosting because your website shares a server with other websites.
- You will have zero control over the server environment and will not be able to modify server configuration, server files and resources.
- You will receive basic support options with shared hosting, and most essential features (such as daily backups, CDN, etc.) are provided as add-ons, so you will have to pay extra.
What is WordPress Hosting?
WordPress hosting is web hosting designed exclusively for WordPress sites.
If you plan to use a self-hosted WordPress platform to launch your website, opt for managed WordPress hosting providers .
WordPress hosting offers features optimized for WordPress, such as:
- Pre-installed WordPress software
- WordPress automatic updates (core updates)
- Best Security for WordPress Websites and More
Why Choose WordPress Web Hosting? 3 reasons
So why should you consider WordPress web hosting over normal web hosting? Here are THREE benefits.
1. Exclusive Features
With WordPress hosting, you gain access to WordPress-specific features such as:
- Pre-installed WordPress
- Automatic WordPress Updates
- Access to free WordPress themes and layouts
- Dedicated WordPress support and more
You will also have access to all the powerful features such as:
- Website staging: Website staging is the process of creating a live copy of your website. This feature allows you to test changes to your website before putting them online. You can test plugins, themes, and more.
- Daily backups: Daily backups are important to protect your website from data loss. By taking daily backups, you can quickly restore your website files if something goes wrong.
- Caching: All WordPress hosts offer built-in caching which improves the overall loading speed of your website. This is important because users are more likely to leave a website if it takes too long to load.
So, if you're looking for WordPress-specific features to launch your website, go for WordPress hosting.
2. Better performance
One of the main reasons to choose WordPress hosting over standard web hosting is performance.
Without a doubt, websites using managed WordPress hosting are far superior, more secure, and more reliable than those offered by standard web hosts. Managed WordPress hosting providers use high-performance servers optimized for WordPress websites.
Almost all managed WordPress hosting providers offer a FREE CDN. A CDN can deliver your static files, such as images, CSS, JavaScript, etc., to visitors from servers closer to them. This ultimately leads to faster page load times, regardless of where your website visitors are coming from.
3. Save more time
Last but not least, you will save a lot of time by opting for the managed WordPress hosting option.
Most WordPress hosting providers make sure to update your WordPress core, themes, and plugins as soon as new versions are released.
We all know that manually updating WordPress can be time-consuming and complicated, especially for new WordPress users. This is where managed WordPress hosting comes in handy, as they take care of all that for you, so you can focus on creating content and managing your website.
Advantages of WordPress hosting
- The main advantage of WordPress hosting is that it's easy to get started with WordPress. Most web hosting providers install WordPress immediately, so you don't have to worry about downloading and installing it yourself.
- You will receive automatic updates from WordPress, so you won't have to worry about updating it manually (every time there is a new update).
- You'll get better performance with WordPress hosting because it's specifically optimized for WordPress websites. This simply means websites load quickly, which can ultimately help improve your user experience and search engine rankings.
- WordPress hosting providers offer rock-solid security. Most web hosts offer features like firewalls and malware scanning to protect your website from any security attacks.
- Unlike shared hosting, you'll benefit from dedicated resources for your website. This means you won't experience any website downtime if other users on the same servers are using too many resources.
- It offers WordPress-centric features, such as automatic WordPress updates, WordPress-specific security features, access to themes, plugins, expert WordPress customer support, etc.
- Free website backups are provided with most WordPress hosting plans.
- Most WordPress hosting providers (such as WPX, Kinsta, etc.) offer free website migrations, meaning you can transfer all your website files from your existing host for free.
- You will also benefit from 24/7 support from dedicated WordPress experts.
- Above all, WordPress specific hosting can be useful for beginners unfamiliar with WordPress.
Disadvantages of WordPress hosting
- It's expensive compared to standard web hosting plans. For example, Hostinger's standard web hosting costs $2,69/month, while WPX's managed WordPress hosting costs $20/month.
Our recommendations on accommodation
There are hundreds of web hosts that offer shared hosting and WordPress solutions. So which one to choose?
We have tried and tested a ton of web hosting providers over the past 13 years of our blogging journey.
Here are our choices;
Let's quickly talk about these two web hosting providers and their pricing plans so you can choose the one that best suits your hosting needs.
For standard web hosting
Hostinger is the most affordable hosting choice for beginners, used by millions of websites. We recommend their Premium web hosting plan, which costs just $2,69 per month (with our exclusive link).
With their premium web hosting plan, you will get:
- Install up to 100 websites
- 100 GB SSD storage
- Free weekly backups
- Free and unlimited SSL
- Unlimited bandwidth
- Free email
- Free domain ($9,99 value) and much more
If you would like to see other options, here are 4 pricing plans offered by Hostinger for shared web hosting.
- The Single plan costs you $1,99 per month. You can host 1 website with 50 GB of storage and you will get free weekly backups of your website.
- The WordPress Starter plan costs $2,99 per month, where you can host 100 websites with 100GB of storage and you'll get free weekly website backups, a free domain, and much more.
- The Business WordPress plan costs you $3,99 per month, where you can host 100 websites with 200 GB of storage and you will get free DAILY website backups, free domain, free CDN and more.
- The WordPress Pro plan costs you $9,99 per month, where you can host 300 websites with 200 GB storage and you will get free daily website backups, free domain, free CDN, free dedicated IP address and Moreover.
In addition, you will benefit from a 30-day money-back guarantee with all Hostinger plans.
For WordPress web hosting
For WordPress hosting, we recommend WPX.
WPX is the same host we have been using for over seven years.
WPX offers the following pricing plans:
- Business Plan It costs you $20,83 per month (if billed annually), where you can install up to 5 websites with 15 GB of storage and 200 GB of bandwidth.
- The Pro plan It costs you $41,58 per month (if billed annually), where you can install up to 15 websites with 30 GB of storage and 400 GB of bandwidth.
- The Elite Plan It costs you $83,25 per month (if billed annually), where you can install up to 35 websites with 60 GB of storage and unlimited bandwidth.
To start, click this link to visit the WPX website.
Choose any web hosting plan based on your budget and website needs.
Next, he will ask you for a few things (like domain registration, email, etc.).
Make the payment, contact their support staff and they will migrate your site to WPX for free (or help you create a WordPress site if you are a beginner).
WPX also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all its hosting plans. This means they will give you a full refund if you cancel your hosting account within the first 30 days of signing up.
Which one to choose ? Web hosting or WordPress hosting?
If you're still unsure which type of hosting is right for you, here's a quick section summarizing the main differences between standard web hosting and WordPress hosting.
Choose standard web hosting:
- If you are not using the WordPress CMS
- If you have a small website with low traffic
- If you are on a tight budget
- If you are comfortable managing your own website
Choose WordPress web hosting:
- If you use WordPress
- If you expect to have a lot of traffic to your website
- If you want to focus on creating content and not managing your website
- If you want more security and reliability
FAQs | WordPress Hosting vs Shared Web Hosting
Here are some common FAQs that most people ask about web hosting.
Does WordPress host websites?
WordPress offers two versions: free (WordPress.com) and paid (WordPress.org). You don't need any hosting with the free version; you have to pay for hosting if you use WordPress.org, which offers more functionality and control over your site.
What are the recommended WordPress hosts?
How much does it cost to host a WordPress site?
It depends on the web hosting provider you choose. Hostinger is a popular web hosting choice for millions and its premium hosting plan costs just $2,69 per month with a free domain.
Is WordPress a hosting site?
No, WordPress is a CMS (Content management system). However, its free version, which is WordPress.com, allows you to host and manage your site for free.
Which is better: WordPress hosting vs web hosting?
If you use WordPress, WordPress hosting is the best option. However, standard web hosting may be a better and cheaper option if you are using another blogging platform.
Related Resources:
- What is a self-hosted blog?
- How much does web hosting cost? 5 Web Hosting Costs + Hosting Company
- What is the difference between web hosting and a domain name?
- Which WordPress hosting plan should you use? (Expert response)
- 9 Best Minecraft Hosting Servers
Conclusion
Regardless of the type of web hosting you choose, it is important to consider your website's needs and budget.
Choose WordPress hosting if you plan to use WordPress (the #1 CMS). If you have experience managing your own websites, you can try standard web hosting.
So, what do you think? Which one do you prefer? Do you have any other questions? Let us know in the comments.