WordPress Web hosting costs

For many inexperienced website owners, WordPress web hosting is an ideal way to create a customised online presence at low cost . However, it should be noted that offerings can differ greatly from one another due to the widespread use of WordPress and partly significant differences. Not every WordPress web hosting solution is equally suitable for all purposes, so the optimal choice must be made according to your own requirements and preferences. Many different factors determine the actual total cost of using WordPress such as technical requirements for hosting, the use of commercial plug-ins, themes and templates or add-ons, as well as any additional expenses, for example for domains.

What costs does WordPress web hosting incur?

Grundsätzlich stellt eine minimale Installation von WordPress low technical requirements an die IT-Umgebung - zum Beispiel erfordert es lediglich 512 MB RAM, 1 GB Speicherplatz auf einem HDD oder SSD Laufwerk und eine single-core CPU mit 1 GHz Taktfrequenz. Allerdings wirken sich fehlende Ressourcen selbst bei wenigen Besuchern rasch und unmittelbar auf die Performance aus. Ein WordPress web hosting für kommerzielle Zwecke sollte sich deshalb an voraussichtlichen Spitzenlasten orientieren, um eine bestmögliche Verfügbarkeit und kurze Ladezeiten mit niedriger Server Response Time (SRT) zu gewährleisten.

Praktisch setzen sich die Kosten für ein WordPress web hosting aus mehreren unterschiedlichen, teilweise unabhängigen Faktoren zusammen. Die wichtigsten darunter umfassen:

• Die IT-Umgebung inklusive physischer Hardware und Software wie dem Webserver
• Größe der Webseite, Zahl der Besucher sowie Bandbreite und Menge des Daten-Traffics
• Kostenpflichtige Erweiterungen wie kommerzielle plug-ins
• Monatliche oder jährliche Gebühren für Registrierung einer oder mehrerer Domains
• Kapazität des verfügbaren Webspaces inklusive Downloads und Medien für Streaming
• Zusätzliche Leistungen wie SSL-Zertifikate oder optimisation für schnelles WordPress web hosting
• Verfügbare Zugänge wie SSH accounts, e-mail-Konten und Control Panels etwa durch Webmin, DirectAdmin oder Plesk
• 24/7/365 Service über verschiedene Wege und technischer Support bei Konfiguration oder Problemen
• Laufende Administration, Aktualisierung und Betreuung der WordPress Installation

Die Kosten für ein WordPress web hosting unterscheiden sich deshalb erheblich zwischen verschiedenen Anbietern und deren Pakete, obwohl diese auf den ersten Blick ein nahezu identisches Produkt anbieten. Ein Vergleich der Angebote lohnt sich:

Overview of WordPress hosting costs

Here you will find a rough overview of the possible costs involved in creating a website with WordPress:

If you want to know more, find out more about the topics Domain costs and Web hosting costs.

What determines the costs of WordPress web hosting?

Decisive for the actual costs for the host and its customers are external influences and the guaranteed as well as potentially available resources on a server. Some providers combine all relevant factors in their basic package — in particular domain registration, IT infrastructure, SSL encryption and an unlimited data allowance with high bandwidth of 1 Gigabit or more. Others offer many services only as optional upgrades, which often leads to unexpected additional costs — for experienced users this can also be a decisive advantage. The most important criterion that determines the cost of the ideal WordPress web hosting is primarily the usage. Commercial projects such as online presences of companies or organisations or an online shop with WooCommerce require a high-performance WordPress web hosting for an optimal implementation. For personal sites, by contrast, requirements such as optimised SEO or high bandwidth for fast user load times can be ignored to reduce ongoing costs to a minimum.

Which types of web hosting are suitable for WordPress?

The basic requirement for WordPress web hosting is simply a low‑powered server with a permanent connection to the Internet. In practice, such a system can already be realised with an energy‑efficient embedded computer like the Raspberry Pi and a private DSL connection. However, this is rarely sensible, as even the electricity consumption alone often exceeds the cost of inexpensive WordPress web hosting offers, and additional costs arise from registering a domain and forwarding via dynamic DNS (DDNS).

For WordPress web hosting with commercial IT providers, various alternatives are available depending on your requirements and assumptions. It can run on a Virtual Private Server or a Dedicated Server — this option is particularly suited to administrators with prior knowledge and complex environments and, in addition to flexible web hosting, includes benefits such as an unlimited number of databases, email accounts, OS configuration and system‑wide installation of software. By contrast, specialised WordPress web hosting with expert, ongoing optimisation for maximum performance is usually the ideal choice to operate business websites and e‑commerce securely. A general web space can be cheaper, but is often noticeably slower. A powerful alternative here can be a WordPress VPS.

Also find out about: Is specialised WordPress web hosting worthwhile?

How can costs for WordPress web hosting be optimised?

In many cases, special and tailored offers allow the ongoing costs for WordPress web hosting to be significantly reduced. Particular attention should be paid to a few items that may either be unnecessary or need to be booked additionally. Factors that have a decisive influence on the effective final price include, among others:

• Control panels, domains and SSL certificates included with the package
• Exclusively guaranteed resources on a server
• Limits, such as for email addresses or databases
• Ability to install additional CMSs or WordPress websites
• Available storage including additional features such as external backups
• Combined offers from WordPress and paid extensions
• Web servers optimised for speed
• Extent of user involvement in installation, configuration and administration

In this context it is difficult to give general recommendations, because specific steps depend on the individual situation and many web hosts regularly adjust their offerings in response to demand and technical developments. In general, however, it is advisable to compare as many providers as possible before signing a contract and to check competing offers well in advance of a renewal. Migrating to another WordPress web hosting provider is often less labour-intensive thanks to automated tools and can have a significant impact on costs.

What is the cost difference between WordPress.org and WordPress.com?

Visually, the two websites WordPress.org and WordPress.com look very similar. However, they have a decisive difference, which can already be inferred from the top-level domain. WordPress.org is the main platform for the development of WordPress, from which users and interested parties can also download the current source code free of charge.

The open-source content management system can be downloaded free of charge from WordPress.org to use on your own web hosting.

WordPress.com belongs to Automattic Inc., which was founded by the creator of WordPress, Matt Mullenweg. It is a commercial WordPress hosting service that provides customers with ready-to-use installations including support, a domain name, help resources, FAQs and other proprietary tools. The platform is often the first point of contact with WordPress. It enables simple, versatile and user-friendly WordPress hosting, but does not always offer the most favourable terms.

WordPress.com is a WordPress platform that works like a website builder and offers both free and paid plans.

Are the costs for specialised WordPress web hosting worthwhile?

Many web hosts now offer specialised WordPress hosting plans or have even dedicated their entire business to hosting WordPress websites. The costs for such WordPress hosting are usually higher than for traditional web hosting packages. Nevertheless, there are several reasons to choose a specialised solution:

• Optimised for WordPress: In specialised hosting offerings the servers are optimised to run WordPress. This means WordPress websites typically achieve lower load times and cope better with high visitor numbers.
• Automatic updates: With WordPress hosting providers, updates are often performed automatically for the hosted WordPress installations. This helps ensure websites are kept up to date and receive the latest features and security updates.
• Specialised support: Because hosting providers focus on WordPress, they typically have support staff who are very knowledgeable about WordPress and can assist customers with specific problems and questions.
• Additional features: Many specialised WordPress hosting providers also offer extra features such as pre-built designs in the form of themes, applications in the form of plugins, or full e-commerce integration (for example via WooCommerce).

Web hosts that specialise in WordPress therefore offer optimised performance, additional security, specialised support and extra features for WordPress websites, which can justify the higher costs compared with traditional web hosting packages.

If you need more information on specialised WordPress hosting providers, take a closer look at the offers of the companies listed on Hosttest at:

Raidboxes
Hostpress
WP-Projects
WPSpace

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

Sources & further links on the topic:
https://wordpress.org/ (Open-source content management system)
https://wordpress.com/ (Website builder based on WordPress)