Is specialized WordPress hosting worth it?

As WordPress is widely used by most website owners nowadays, alongside traditional web hosting packages, you can also find increasingly specialised WordPress hosting offers on the market. But is using WordPress hosting for your own website really worth it, or is conventional hosting sufficient? This is the question we aim to answer in the following article.

Why is WordPress so popular?

For creating their own website, most users rely on the Content Management System WordPress. The open-source software is not only free to use but also impresses with its easy handling and versatile applications. Whether as a personal blog, a company website, or an online store, WordPress can be expanded and customised almost limitlessly with the help of themes and addons.

According to the latest statistics from w3techs, WordPress is used by nearly 60 percent of all websites that use a Content Management System. This figure corresponds to over 25 percent of all websites accessible on the internet. Such widespread use of the Content Management System has led many hosting providers to offer not only traditional web hosting packages but also special WordPress hosting.

WordPress is popular for several reasons:

• User-friendliness: WordPress is known for its user-friendly interface and intuitive design. With minimal technical know-how, users can create new pages, publish blog posts, insert images and videos, and much more. This allows for managing content quickly and efficiently.
• SEO-friendliness: WordPress was developed with search engine optimisation (SEO) in mind. It utilises high coding standards and generates clean, semantic code that is easy for search engines to read. Additionally, there are numerous SEO plugins like Yoast SEO that help optimise your website for search engines.
• Customisability: WordPress is extremely flexible and customisable. There are thousands of themes and plugins available that allow for changing the design and functionality of a WordPress website without the need for programming knowledge. This enables customising a website to specific use cases.
• Integrability: WordPress can easily integrate with a variety of other tools and platforms, including social media platforms, email marketing services, CRM systems, and more. This means that, for example, marketing activities can be centrally managed across multiple platforms.
• Community and Support: Being open-source, WordPress has a large and active community. If you encounter an issue or need help, there are numerous forums, blogs, tutorials, and other resources available to assist you.
• Scalability: WordPress is highly scalable, meaning it can grow with your business. You can start with a small website and expand it as needed without having to switch platforms.
• Security: With the right security measures and regular updates, WordPress is a very secure platform for web projects of all kinds.

What are the requirements for WordPress?

As a Content Management System, WordPress has certain requirements for web hosting to function smoothly. For example, it requires a MySQL database and support for PHP scripting languages. Additionally, sufficient storage space must be available. You can also read the detailed requirements in our WordPress Web Hosting Comparison.

These days, almost every web hosting package meets the requirements for WordPress. Furthermore, the Content Management System can be installed directly on the webspace by most providers through the management interface, without the need to manually upload and set up the data via FTP.

What are the benefits of specialised WordPress web hosting?

Providers of WordPress web hosting offer their customers additional premium features alongside the hosting itself. Therefore, the monthly WordPress web hosting costs for such packages are usually higher than with basic web hosting packages. The most common features include the following:

Enhanced Customer Service

One of the key factors favouring the choice of specialised WordPress web hosting is the enhanced support offering. While customer service with regular hosts is typically limited to the accessibility of the webspace, here specific questions regarding WordPress, various themes, and plugins are also answered. Customers always have a competent contact person available to address problems or questions. WordPress web hosting comes with special security features that make the website more secure against online attacks. Measures such as automatic updates, hardware firewalls, brute force protection, and daily scans for malicious code and security vulnerabilities ensure increased security.

Improved Speed

WordPress hosting is usually implemented on a virtual private server or cloud server, with system resources exclusively available to the customer. Unlike traditional hosting packages, which are typically on a shared server, customers here have access to the entire hardware resources. This ensures there is always sufficient performance available to handle unexpected spikes in website traffic. Additionally, the server systems are optimised for running WordPress.

Automatic Backups

In case of any issues with your own website, various backups are available with WordPress hosts that can be restored if needed. The backups are created and stored automatically, without the customer having to worry about it. Especially with Content Management Systems like WordPress, creating backups can be more complex, as not only the website data but also the database entries need to be secured.

Additional Developer Level

Another advantage of specialised WordPress hosting is an additional developer level. This is a mirrored version of your website that can be used to test changes and updates without affecting the actual website. Only once the tests on the developer level have been successfully completed can they be safely transferred to the live version.

What other benefits does Managed WordPress Web Hosting offer?

Managed WordPress Web Hosting is a specialised service where the web host takes care of all technical aspects of a WordPress website, including security, performance, updates, and backups, allowing you to focus on your website's content and growth.

With Managed WordPress Hosting, you can expect the following:

• Automatic Updates: With Managed WordPress Hosting, WordPress updates are carried out automatically. This means you don't have to worry about missing the latest security patches or features.
• Security: Managed WordPress Hosting providers place special emphasis on security. They often offer advanced security features such as malware scans and removal, firewall settings, and DDoS protection. This minimises the risk of your website being hacked and helps keep your data secure.
• Performance: Managed WordPress Hosting often provides server-side caching optimised for WordPress. This means your website loads faster, leading to a better user experience and potentially higher search engine rankings.
• Scalability: The Managed WordPress Hosting provider allows for easy scalability. As your traffic grows, you can easily upgrade to a more powerful plan. Some providers even offer automatic scaling during traffic spikes to ensure your website runs smoothly at all times.

Managed WordPress Hosting may be more expensive than traditional WordPress Hosting, but the additional features can be worth the higher price, especially if you don't have the time or technical skills to manage your website yourself.

Is using specialised WordPress web hosting worth it?

In summary, it depends on individual needs and the planned website. In general, WordPress can be run on any web hosting package that meets the system requirements of the Content Management System. If someone wants to start a small personal blog, they do not necessarily have to opt for expensive WordPress hosting, but can also realise the project on an affordable web hosting package. However, if planning a more extensive commercial web project and wanting to benefit from premium features such as increased security, more service, and higher speed, then using a specific WordPress hosting or Managed WordPress hosting makes sense.

Our article is based on our own experiences and research, as well as information from external sources.

Sources & further links on the topic:

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Werner Moser on Pixabay