10 of the best WordPress hosting providers for starting your own website or blog

What HostGator offers: It's the little things that add up to ensure HostGator stands out in a busy market. It utilizes a CDN (Content Delivery Network), offering multiple caching layers so it's hard to beat this hosting service when it comes to fast load times. Designed with WordPress cloud hosting in mind, it's super fast with one-click scalability for those times when there's a traffic spike on your site. Combined, such features mean it's perfect for a growing business that's keen to go viral from time to time. 

Automatic backups are implemented with one-click restores for added convenience, streamlining any need to go back to an earlier point. There's a free migration service too which takes out all the effort when transferring your existing WordPress setup over to HostGator, with free automatic malware removal, domain privacy, and $100 of Google AdWords credit included to get your business started.

The price: A starter plan currently costs $5.95 for one site, monthly average site traffic of 100,000 and unmetered storage space. A business plan is on offer at $9.95 per month and boasts up to three sites and 500,000 average site traffic per month. 

What DreamHost offers: Recommended by WordPress itself, it's safe to say DreamHost is a reliable option to pursue. It's a fully capable web hosting service that offers shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting solutions. That means no matter what your needs are, DreamHost has you covered. The hosting service automatically updates WordPress as and when needed -- often within hours of a new release -- with a preconfigured installation that's useful when starting out. It also recommends several themes and plugins with hosting optimized for maximum speed and efficiency. 

Alongside the key features is email hosting, 1-click SSL certification installation so visitors can be assured their data is always safely encrypted, as well as automatic backups. Like any great web hosting provider, DreamHost simply just works. An ideal solution for any freelance or business's growing needs, its series of different plans mean it'll quickly adapt for your chosen scenario.

The price: The Shared Starter plan starts at $2.59 per month for shared hosting and 1-click WordPress installation, so it's perfect for low requirements. The Dreampress plan, at $16.95/month provides a fast cloud server with up to 10k monthly visitors, WordPress pre-installed, and daily backups. 

What 1&1 Hosting offers: If you're launching or running a small business, every penny counts, with 1&1 Hosting ensuring your budget will always be sufficient. It has some very low-priced packages making it our pick for the best cheap WordPress hosting. Its managed WordPress functions include a setup wizard along with pre-installed plugins. There are automatic updates too so limited technical knowledge is no issue here, although bear in mind there are no automatic daily backups if you make a lot of changes. 

All its packages offer unlimited visitor numbers along with an SSL certificate for the security conscious. A free domain name for 12 months is also included which will save you even more cash.

The price: The Essential package costs $4 per month billed annually. That allows for one site and 25GB of storage. $8 per month buys you the Business service, which allows for one site but a massive 100GB of storage. Alternatively, the unlimited package costs $16 per month and provides unlimited sites and storage.

What TMDHosting offers: TMDHosting deserves plenty of attention thanks to its fast speeds. Optimized for WordPress, it promises loading times up to 16 times faster than its competitors, thanks to three layers of caching. It's regularly updated too so you won't have to worry about any slowdown. It's ideal if speed is of the essence for your business such as if you have an image-heavy photography portfolio. Other useful features include automatic free installation, free transfers from existing sites, malware protection, daily backups, and a free domain name. There's unlimited storage space and bandwidth for all service plans too making TMDHosting good value for money. 

The price: The starter plan costs $9 per month with unlimited space and bandwidth, as well as a free domain. A Business account promises twice the speedo performance at $12 per month while the Enterprise plan suggests performance boosts of 3 times the starter plan speed. 

What Hostinger offers: Hostinger is a solidly dependable option, delivering precisely what anyone could need from a WordPress hosting provider. It has a one-click WordPress installation process with a series of pre-installed caching plugins that mean your site will run as fast as possible. Alongside that is extensive security technology courtesy of Bitninja so you won't have to worry about malware or automated cyber-attacks. Other features include unlimited bandwidth on all but the cheapest package, Google Ads credit, and extensive storage options. Just bear in mind that this isn't the cheapest of options out there but it's certainly speedy.

The price: The Single WordPress plan costs $8 per month for one site, 30GB of storage, and 100GB bandwidth. Alternatively, the WordPress Starter plan bumps that up to 100 sites, 100GB of storage, and unlimited bandwidth. Businesses may wish to consider the Business WordPress plan which offers 200GB of storage while WordPress Pro provides the same storage but can host up to 300 websites. 

What GoDaddy offers: GoDaddy is one of the most straightforward solutions for any kind of web hosting and that trend continues with WordPress hosting. Besides offering automatic setup and updates, it also includes pre-built sites and built-in SEO optimization so you're good to go immediately. Switch over to GoDaddy's website builder and you can also use a drag and drop page editor if you prefer. Crucially though, its quick start service means you can set up a site within minutes with thousands of high-quality images available to import. 

If you're new to website design, it's hard to fault a service like GoDaddy's with everything catered for including social media features and ecommerce facilities on every package. Switch to the most expensive ecommerce plan and you get appointment scheduling and premium WooCommerce plugin options too. You may pay more for the privilege but as an all-in-one solution, GoDaddy is attractive.

The price: The basic plan costs $10 per month for 30GB storage, up to 25,000 monthly visitors and daily malware scans. The Deluxe package increases storage to 75GB and suits up to 100,000 monthly visitors. Alternatively, Unlimited provides precisely what the name suggests, and ecommerce bundles in premium ecommerce options.

What BlueHost offers: BlueHost offers a lot of different plans which means there's something for every budget and need. It's possible to spend relatively little or quite a lot here, with whatever option you go for offering speedy performance thanks to optimized WordPress hosting. 

In all cases, its hosting platform makes it simple to install WordPress with one click and there are tons of different themes and plugins to install quickly. The Managed WordPress hosting package is the best for features thanks to daily backups, malware detection, and plenty of SEO tools. However, the standard WordPress hosting plan will still satisfy those launching a personal blog. Just make sure to do your research before you commit to a plan.

The price: Standard WordPress Hosting starts at $9 per month for one website, 50GB of storage, and a free domain. A Managed WordPress hosting package begins at $30 per month and provides 20GB of storage, a staging environment, and extensive malware detection along with daily backups. Alternatively, the Standard WooCommerce plan begins at $25 and provides everything you could need to sell through your website. 

What SiteGround offers: SiteGround offers WordPress hosting plans for every need, but it's the GoGeek plan that makes it stand out amongst a busy crowd. The plan includes features we've seen elsewhere like a staging area, but it also offers pre-installed Git which allows you to create a repository of your WordPress installation for later use. There's also command line management support which gives the technically minded even more control over what they're doing. 

It's not a cheap plan by any means and could be overkill for some purposes, but if you're keen to get a bit more involved with the code behind your business site then SiteGround's WordPress hosting packages are ideal. 

The price: Siteground's StartUp plan costs $15 per month for one website and 10GB of storage. There's also GrowBig for $25 offering unlimited websites and 20GB of storage, and GoGeek with its wealth of technical features, unlimited websites and 40GB of storage for $40 per month. 

What Liquid Web offers: If your business needs a high-end, fully managed hosting package for multiple sites, Liquid Web is the best hosting provider for you. It offers staging and testing areas as standard so there's no downtime risk, meaning it's perfect for mission-critical websites. It also has automatic plugin updates, along with core WordPress updates, site management tools, and even automatic image compression. Users get full access to both the database and the server so you have plenty of control. 

Liquid Web is more expensive than the competition by a long shot but for a good reason -- it's far more powerful. Able to monitor everything from your site uptime, to your SEO status, and even if any plugins are conflicting with each other, this is an ideal solution for the high-end user.

The price: The Spark plan starts at $12.67 for one site and 15GB of storage with extensive plans available to extend the amount of sites, storage, and bandwidth made available to you. 

What WordPress offers: The most straightforward option out there, WordPress is ideal if you want to set up a personal blog quickly and easily. Signing up and creating a site takes seconds and you won't have to worry about doing much. That's because set up is a lot like signing up to a social networking site. Thanks to being at the source, WordPress installations here are updated regularly and automatically meaning you can focus on writing. 

There are some limitations though. While a business plan exists, it's more restrictive than the competition and WordPress only offers email forwarding services not full hosting. If you're looking for a business hosting provider, this isn't really it.

The price: An ad-supported free version exists with basic design customization. The personal plan is $4 per month for a free domain and unlimited email support. There's also the Premium plan for $8 per month, including Google Analytics integration, premium themes, and the ability to upload video. Alternatively, the Business plan costs $25 per month and adds plugin support, site backups, and advanced SEO functionality. The ecommerce plan is $45 per month and adds support for payment from over 60 different countries as well as integration with top shipping carriers.