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March 15, 2024

6 Best Cheap WordPress Hosting (Compared)

Are you looking for a cheap hosting plan for your WordPress website?

When creating a new WordPress website, you will need to choose a hosting provider and a domain name. If you are starting out with a limited budget, then you need an affordable option.

In this article, we will share some of the best cheap WordPress hosting plans.

Why Choose Cheap WordPress Hosting?

When you create a WordPress website, you will need to pay for two things: a web hosting plan and a domain name. Web hosting is where your website files and content are stored, and a domain name is the address your users will use to visit your site.

Because all websites need these, WordPress hosting prices are very competitive and often cover the cost of your domain name for the first year.

If you are just starting out or have a tight budget, then you may be looking for the best cheap hosting you can find. Or you might prefer not to spend much on hosting if you are creating a test website or a site for students to practice on.

We recommend that you avoid free website hosting. These companies may try to save money by limiting your website traffic, and will often try to make money by displaying ads or upselling their other services, leading to a poor experience for you and your visitors.

You will have a better experience by choosing an inexpensive plan from one of the best web hosting companies.

How to Get the Best Cheap WordPress Hosting

Reputable web hosting companies usually offer multiple pricing options so that you can find something that fits your needs and budget. Here are a few ways you can save money.

Save Money on Hosting by Choosing the Cheapest Plan

If you are just starting out or have simple needs, then you can save money by choosing the cheapest plan the hosting company offers.

But be aware that you get what you pay for. A company’s cheapest hosting plan is designed to save beginners money and is cheap because it is limited.

For example, the cheapest plans can usually only host one website and offer less storage space than more expensive plans. They also may lack features offered by other plans.

So make sure that the cheapest plan meets your needs before you choose it.

Save Money on Hosting Using an Introductory Offer or Coupon Code

Most hosting companies offer heavy discounts to new customers. That means when you first sign up for hosting, you will be paying a fraction of what the hosting normally costs.

To save even more money, you can use one of our coupon codes. We have negotiated the best web hosting deals for WPBeginner readers, so make sure you don’t miss out.

Save Money on Hosting by Paying in Advance

To get the special initial price, most hosting companies will need you to pay at least a year in advance. That’s a good thing and will save you money because you will be charged the normal amount when it is time to renew your hosting.

You can save even more money by paying for multiple years in advance. Some hosting companies allow you to pay for 3-4 years upfront.

Save Money on Hosting by Considering the Renewal Price

If you are looking to save money in the long term, then make sure you consider the renewal cost. The introductory discount lasts for just one payment, and the renewal price is what you will be paying for years to come.

By default, most web companies will automatically renew your hosting for the same period as when you first signed up. You can save money by renewing 12 months or more in advance.

Lower Individual Payments by Paying Month-to-Month

To get the best deal on web hosting, you need to pay for a year or more in advance. While you will be saving money in the long term, your individual payments will cost more.

If you have limited money on hand, then you may prefer to pay for your web hosting month-to-month. While you will end up paying more in the long term, your monthly payments will be more manageable.

However, since the cheapest web hosting plans cost just over $30 for the first year, we recommend that you choose the month-to-month option only when absolutely necessary.

All that being said, let’s take a look at the best cheap WordPress hosting companies.

1. Bluehost

Bluehost is a good option for beginners, and their budget-friendly plans are suitable for all kinds of websites. They are one of the biggest web hosting companies and an official WordPress-recommended hosting provider.

Learn more in our complete Bluehost review.

Their Basic plan is the cheapest, and this lets you create one website with 10GB of storage and chat support. It also includes a free domain name and SSL certificate for the first year.

If you upgrade to their Choice Plus plan, then you can create 3 websites with 40GB of storage. You will also be able to contact customer support via phone.

Bluehost Pros and Cons

Bluehost is reliable, fast, and affordable. Here are some pros and cons.

Pros:

Cheapest hosting prices for new customers
Free domain name
Free CDN + SSL certificate
1-click WordPress install
Excellent customer support
Officially recommended by WordPress

Cons:

Hosting renewal prices are not as affordable as the cheapest companies
Higher renewal price for domains
They don’t offer month-to-month hosting

Why We Chose Bluehost

Bluehost offers affordable starter plans that fit any budget requirement, and they are often ranked the #1 web hosting provider. Their hosting plans offer tons of features and excellent support.

Bluehost Pricing

Bluehost offers many payment options. Here are some options for their Basic plan:

Month-to-month pricing: Not available
Cheapest rate: $1.99 for the first 12 months using our Bluehost coupon
First year in advance: $23.88 using our Bluehost coupon
Renewal price: $143.88 for 12 months

2. HostGator

HostGator is one of the most popular hosting companies in the world. We consider them one of the best web hosting options for businesses.

You can learn more in our complete HostGator review.

The company’s cheapest plan is the Hatchling Plan, which lets you create a single website with unlimited bandwidth and 10GB of storage. This plan also includes free domain name registration for your first year, but support will be by chat only.

Some users may prefer to upgrade to the Baby plan. This lets you create 2 websites with 20GB of storage and allows you to contact customer support via phone or chat.

HostGator Pros and Cons

HostGator offers reliable web hosting and quality customer service. Here are some of the company’s pros and cons.

Pros:

Affordable introductory hosting prices
Free domain and SSL certificate
Free business email address
1-click WordPress install
Reliable web hosting

Cons:

The cheapest plan includes chat support only
Renewal prices cost more than the cheapest companies
Higher monthly pricing
HostGator uses a lot of aggressive upselling tactics

Why We Chose HostGator

HostGator offers a variety of fast hosting plans that fit all budgets and requirements. They are trusted by over 2 million customers.

HostGator Pricing

HostGator offers many payment options. Here are some of the pricing options for their Hatchling plan:

Month-to-month: $4.78
Cheapest rate: $2.52 for the first 36 months using our HostGator coupon
First year in advance: $30.84 using our HostGator coupon
Renewal price: $143.88 for 12 months

3. DreamHost

DreamHost is one of WordPress.org’s officially recommended hosts. They offer affordable introductory pricing, better-than-average ongoing renewal pricing, a free domain name and SSL certificate, automatic daily backups, and WordPress privacy features.

Learn more in our complete DreamHost review.

DreamHost’s cheapest plan is Shared Starter. This allows you to host one website with unlimited traffic. It includes a free domain name and SSL certificate.

When you upgrade to the Shared Unlimited plan, you can host unlimited websites.

DreamHost Pros and Cons

DreamHost is known for making web hosting easy and affordable. You might like to see some pros and cons for the company.

Pros:

Officially recommended by WordPress
Award-winning hosting
Affordable introductory deals for new customers
The second best ongoing renewal pricing when paying a year or more in advance
Best price on month-to-month hosting
Free domain name, SSL certificate, and privacy
1-click WordPress install
Excellent customer support
Automatic daily WordPress backups

Cons:

No free business email address

Why We Chose DreamHost

DreamHost offers fast and affordable hosting that is suitable for bloggers, online store owners, developers, and web designers. They are recommended by WordPress, have won many awards, and get excellent reviews from their customers.

DreamHost Pricing

DreamHost offers many payment options. Here are some of the pricing options for their Shared Starter plan:

Month-to-month: $4.95 for 3 months, then $7.99
Cheapest rate: $2.59 for the first 36 months using our DreamHost coupon
First year in advance: $35.40 using our DreamHost coupon
Renewal price: $83.88 for 12 months

4. Hostinger

Hostinger is a popular web hosting provider that offers affordable shared hosting plans with great customer support, a free domain name, a free SSL certificate, and more.

You can learn more in our complete Hostinger review.

Their cheapest plan is the Premium plan, which lets you create up to 100 websites with standard performance. It includes a free SSL certificate, unlimited bandwidth, and a free domain name. Customer support is by live chat.

Hostinger Pros and Cons

Hostinger is a robust platform to host your website. You might like to see some of their other pros and cons.

Pros:

Affordable introductory hosting prices
Renewal pricing is also the most affordable when paying a year or more in advance
3 months free when you sign up
Free SSL certificate
1-click WordPress install
Performance-optimized hosting
Excellent customer support
Many data centers across the world

Cons:

Month-to-month pricing is a bit higher and requires an initial setup fee

Why We Chose Hostinger

Hostinger is the best choice for beginners who want to start a website without spending too much money. They offer great introductory deals to new customers, as well as the cheapest ongoing renewal pricing.

Hostinger Pricing

Hostinger offers many payment options, such as these options for their Single plan:

Month-to-month: $10.79 plus $4.99 setup fee
Cheapest rate: $2.69 per month for the first 48 months using our Hostinger coupon
First year in advance: $34.45 using our Hostinger coupon
Renewal price: $143.88 for 12 months

5. GreenGeeks

GreenGeeks is an environmentally friendly web hosting provider whose goal is to be as effective as possible. Their hosting plans are not the cheapest but offer great performance while saving the planet.

You can learn more in our complete GreenGeeks review.

The cheapest GreenGeeks plan is Lite, which is suitable for small websites that are just getting started. You will be able to host a single website with 50GB of storage space.

The plan includes unlimited bandwidth, a free domain name, a free SSL certificate, a free CDN, and one tree planted.

If you need more, then the Pro plan lets you host unlimited websites with unlimited storage.

GreenGeeks Pros and Cons

GreenGeeks offers affordable plans with plenty of useful features. You might like to see some of their pros and cons.

Pros:

Introductory pricing for new customers is competitive
A free domain name
Free SSL certificate, CDN, and website backups
Environmentally-friendly hosting
Built-in performance tools, including LiteSpeed caching
Great customer support
1-click WordPress install

Cons:

Renewal prices are more expensive than the cheapest companies
Their phone support isn’t available 24/7

Why We Chose GreenGeeks

GreenGeeks offers web hosting that is environmentally friendly and suitable for anyone who is just starting out.

GreenGeeks Pricing

GreenGeeks offers many payment options, such as these choices for their Lite plan:

Month-to-month: $11.95, plus a $15 setup fee
Cheapest rate: $2.95 for the first 12 months using our GreenGeeks coupon
First year in advance: $35.40 using our GreenGeeks coupon
Renewal price: $143.40 for 12 months

6. SiteGround

SiteGround is one of the most recommended WordPress hosting companies. While the introductory deal for new customers is very competitive, renewal prices for their hosting plans are more expensive.

However, SiteGround hosting is very reliable, and they provide a 99.9% uptime guarantee, so many users find the extra cost worthwhile. In fact, we use SiteGround hosting on WPBeginner.

Learn more in our complete SiteGround review.

SiteGround’s most affordable plan is StartUp. It is suitable for one website and includes 10GB of storage space. It also includes a free SSL and CDN, but not a free domain name.

Some users will want to upgrade to the GrowBig plan. It lets you host an unlimited number of websites using 20GB of storage space. However, you will still need to pay separately for a domain name.

SiteGround Pros and Cons

We find SiteGround hosting to be fast and reliable. Here are some of their pros and cons.

Pros:

While SiteGround doesn’t focus on budget hosting, their introductory prices for new customers are comparable to other hosting companies
Free domain name, SSL certificate, CDN, and website backups
Free website migration
1-click WordPress install
Speedy servers powered by Google Cloud
Excellent customer support

Cons:

Renewal prices are more expensive than other hosting companies

Why We Chose SiteGround

SiteGround focuses on fast and reliable web hosting with great customer support. While they are not the overall cheapest option, they have hosting plans for every budget.

SiteGround Pricing

SiteGround offers many payment options. Here are some of the pricing options for their StartUp plan:

Month-to-month: $19.99
Cheapest rate: $2.99 for the first 12 months using our SiteGround coupon
First year in advance: $35.88 using our SiteGround coupon
Renewal price: $215.88 for 12 months

What Is the Best Cheap WordPress Hosting?

Now that we’ve looked at the best cheap WordPress hosting providers, let’s put all of their pricing options into a table so we can compare them more easily.

	Cheapest Monthly	First Year	Annual Renewal	Month-to-Month
Bluehost	$1.99	$23.88	$143.88	n/a
HostGator	$2.52	$30.84	$143.88	$4.78
DreamHost	$2.59	$35.40	$83.88	$7.99
Hostinger	$2.69	$34.45	$143.88	$10.79
GreenGeeks	$2.95	$35.40	$143.40	$11.95
SiteGround	$2.99	$35.88	$215.88	$19.99

As you can see, Bluehost has the cheapest introductory pricing for the first year overall. This makes it easy to get started with your first website. However, you will pay more each year from your second year onwards.

HostGator is another good option. Their cheapest introductory rate can be used for the first three years of hosting. This will make the initial payment more expensive but is better value in the long run. Besides that, their renewal price for subsequent years is quite affordable.

Alternatively, DreamHost is a great choice if you are looking for the best cheap hosting. The introductory deal for new customers is very competitive, and the renewal price is the most affordable when paying for 12 months or more in advance.

DreamHost is also the best choice when paying for hosting month-to-month.

However, price is not the only consideration when choosing a hosting plan for your new website. You may like to see our guide on how to choose the best WordPress hosting. It includes a helpful quiz that will help you work through the issues and choose the best option.

FAQs About WordPress Hosting

Over the years, we have helped over 2 million users start their websites, so we hear a lot of questions about WordPress hosting. Here are some of the answers to the most frequently asked questions about WordPress hosting.

What are the costs of creating a new website?

When creating a new website, you will need to pay for web hosting and a domain name. These are ongoing costs that you will need to continue paying as long as your website is live.

Some users may pay additional costs, such as purchasing premium plugins and themes or hiring professional developers and designers.

The cost of building a WordPress website depends on what you need and can range from $100 to as high as $30,000. We have created a detailed guide explaining how much it really costs to build a WordPress website.

Do I need WordPress hosting to start a new website?

Yes, you need to choose a WordPress hosting plan before you can build a WordPress website. This is where your website files are stored.

How do I install WordPress on my WordPress hosting account?

Installing WordPress is easy. Our recommended WordPress hosting providers let you install WordPress easily with a single click.

You can see how this works in our guide on how to install WordPress on your host.

Can I change to a different WordPress hosting provider in the future?

Yes, you can absolutely switch if you are unhappy with your WordPress hosting company or your needs or budget change.

Most WordPress hosting companies offer free migration services, which makes the process fairly smooth. However, if you want to do the migration yourself, then you can follow our step-by-step guide on how to move WordPress to a new host with no downtime.

Should I use free WordPress hosting?

No, we highly recommend that you stay away from free website hosting companies.

That’s because free hosting providers usually put advertisements on your website and in some cases may even distribute malware to your users. They may also shut down your website at any time without any notification.

You can learn more in our guide on why having a ‘free website’ is a bad idea.

Expert Guides for WordPress Hosting

Now that you have learned about the best cheap hosting providers, you may like to see some other guides on WordPress hosting:

We hope this tutorial helped you find the best cheap WordPress hosting. You may also want to see our guide on important reasons why you should use WordPress for your website or our expert pick of the best analytics solutions for WordPress users.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 6 Best Cheap WordPress Hosting (Compared) first appeared on WPBeginner.

March 13, 2024

How to Renew a Domain Name (All Major Hosting Registrars)

Are you wondering how to renew your domain name?

Having an active domain name is essential for your business. Otherwise, your audience won’t be able to view your content, products, and services. Domain registration renewals often happen every year, but you can choose to pay for multiple years at once so your site is in no danger of losing its URL.

In this article, we will show you how to renew a domain for all major hosting registrars.

What is Domain Renewal?

Domain renewal is a process where you renew your domain name by paying a fee to a registrar.

It is essential that your WordPress website is active so users can easily read your blog posts, subscribe to newsletters, purchase products and services, or contact you. If your domain name expires, they won’t be able to do any of this.

Plus, an expired domain can be auctioned off to the highest bidder on different domain registration websites. Or it will become available in the market again, and anyone can purchase it. As a result, you’ll lose your website and have to find a new name and URL for your business.

Now, the domain renewal costs usually depend on the domain extension (like .com, .net, .org) you’re using. You can also renew a domain for multiple years, depending on the domain registrars and hosting services you are using.

Most domain registrars and web hosting services have an auto-renew option enabled by default for domain names. They also inform users a few weeks before a domain expires, usually by email.

That said, let’s look at how to manually renew a domain name in major WordPress hosting services. You can click the links below to jump to your preferred hosting or domain registration service.

Domain Name Renewal in Bluehost
Renewing Domain Name in Domain.com
Renew Domain Name in Hostinger
How to Renew Domain Name in SiteGround
Renewing a Domain Name in HostGator
Domain Name Renewal in Namecheap
How to Renew a Domain Name in GoDaddy
Renewing a Domain Name in WordPress.com
Bonus Tip: Transfer a Domain Name for Lower Rates

Domain Name Renewal in Bluehost

Bluehost is one of the largest WordPress hosting companies in the world and is the official WordPress-recommended hosting service. It delivers fast performance, 24/7 support, and a wide variety of pricing plans for all types of businesses.

With Bluehost, you get a free domain name and SSL certificate with each hosting plan. Plus, it offers a free content delivery network (CDN), so you get fast load times.

You can read our detailed Bluehost review to learn more about the hosting service.

To renew a domain name in Bluehost, you’ll need to log into your account and head to the ‘Renewal Center’ from the menu on the left.

On the next screen, you can select the ‘Domain Name’ option.

After that, go ahead and click the ‘Renew’ button at the top.

Next, you can go to the cart page and proceed with the checkout process.

There is also an option to choose the number of years for domain renewal (like 1 year). Plus, you can also renew any addons, like domain privacy.

Once you complete the purchase, your domain will be renewed in Bluehost.

Renewing Domain Name in Domain.com

Domain.com is one of the leading domain registrars that helps you find the right name and extension for your website. It also offers web hosting services, domain protection features, a WHOIS lookup tool, SSL certificates, and more.

To renew your domain name, you’ll first need to log in to your Domain.com account. Next, you can click the domain name or the gear icon to open the settings.

After that, you should see a summary of your domain.

Simply click the ‘Renew Domain’ link at the bottom.

Next, you can follow the checkout process and complete the payment to renew your domain.

Domain.com also lets you choose the number of years for domain renewal. For instance, you can select anywhere from 1 to 5 years.

Once the purchase is complete, you will receive a confirmation email notifying you that your domain has been renewed.

Renew Domain Name in Hostinger

Hostinger is one of the fastest web hosting services in the market. It offers a variety of hosting plans, including WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, cloud hosting solutions, and more.

With Hostinger, you get a 1-click WordPress install, automatic updates, free CDN, free domain name, enhanced security features, free SSL, and different website speed acceleration features.

You can renew a domain name in Hostinger by logging into the dashboard. From here, head to the ‘Billing’ tab at the top.

Next, you will see your domain names.

Simply click the ‘Renew now’ button for the domain you want to renew.

After that, a popup window will open where you can select the number of years for domain renewal.

From here, go ahead and click the ‘Choose payment method’ button.

Pay for your domain renewal in Hostinger

Lastly, complete the checkout process to make the purchase and renew your domain name.

If you want to learn more about Hostinger and its features, then you may want to see our detailed Hostinger review.

How to Renew Domain Name in SiteGround

SiteGround is the highest-rated WordPress hosting service. What’s great about them is that they offer in-house WordPress speed and security solutions.

It is also an officially recommended hosting solution by WordPress, providing one of the industry’s best customer support around the clock. This is why we use SiteGround to host the WPBeginner website.

You can easily renew a domain name by logging in to your SiteGround account. Once you’re on the dashboard, head to the ‘Billing’ tab.

Under the Billing tab, you’ll see more options. Simply switch to the ‘Renewals’ tab.

After that, click the checkbox to choose your website and renew its domain name. There is also an option to choose the time period for domain renewal. You can select anywhere from 1 month to 24 months.

Next, you can scroll down to enter the payment details.

Simply click the ‘Pay Now’ button after entering the payment information, and your domain name will be renewed.

Renewing a Domain Name in HostGator

HostGator is another popular WordPress hosting service and domain registrar. It offers 24/7 support, 1-click WordPress installation, free domain name, free SSL certificate, and more.

To renew a domain name in HostGator, you will first need to log in to your account. After that, you can click the ‘Renewal Center’ option from the menu on the left.

On the next screen, you will see different products and services you’ve purchased in HostGator.

Go ahead and click the ‘Domain Name’ checkbox to select it, and then click the ‘Renew Now’ button at the top.

After that, you will see your cart with domain name renewal.

You can also change the number of years for renewing the domain name. By default, it will be set to 1 year. But you can click the dropdown menu and change it to a maximum of 5 years.

Next, you can click the ‘Continue to Checkout’ button and complete the purchase process.

Once that’s done, your domain will be renewed in HostGator.

Domain Name Renewal in Namecheap

Namecheap is a popular domain registrar that helps users find the right domain name for their website.

You can renew a domain in Namecheap by logging in to your account. From here, you can head to the ‘Domain List’ tab from the menu on the left.

Now click the ‘Manage’ button next to the domain name you want to renew.

Next, you can head to the ‘Status & Validity’ section.

Go ahead and click the ‘Add Years’ button for your domain name.

After that, you can click the dropdown menu to select the number of years to renew your domain name.

Once that’s done, you can click the ‘Confirm Order’ button.

From here, simply follow the checkout process and complete the payment to renew your domain name.

How to Renew a Domain Name in GoDaddy

GoDaddy is one of the biggest and most popular domain registrars. It also offers managed WordPress hosting, website builder, security features, automatic updates, daily backups, and more.

You can log in to the GoDaddy Domain Portfolio to renew a domain name. To access the Domain Portfolio, click the dialpad icon at the top next to My Account and click the ‘Domains’ option.

Next, you can select the domain name you want to renew by clicking the checkbox.

After that, you’ll need to click the ‘Renew Now’ option at the bottom.

A new popup window will now open, where you can select the domain name renewal length. GoDaddy lets you renew a domain from 1 year to 9 years.

From here, simply click the ‘Continue to Checkout’ button.

Next, you can view your cart and complete the checkout process to renew the domain name.

You may also want to see our guide on how to move a GoDaddy website builder site to WordPress.

Renewing a Domain Name in WordPress.com

WordPress.com is a hosting service by Automattic, the company led by WordPress co-founder Matt Mullenweg.

Most people often confuse WordPress.com with WordPress.org, but they are very different. WordPress.org is a popular website platform and is open source. While WordPress.com is a propriety blog hosting service.

To learn more, please see our comparison of WordPress.org vs WordPress.com.

In WordPress.com, you get a free domain name with its hosting plans. To renew the domain, you’ll need to log in to your account. From here, head to the ‘Purchases’ tab from the menu on the left and then select your domain.

On the next screen, you will see details of your domain name.

Simply click the ‘Renew now’ button at the top or bottom of the page.

After that, you can head to the checkout page, select the renewal length, and complete the payment process.

That’s it. Your domain will be renewed on WordPress.com.

Bonus Tip: Transfer a Domain Name for Lower Rates

When you’re renewing a domain name on your preferred registration or web hosting service, it’s better to compare prices on other platforms as well before paying.

Sometimes, the renewal costs can be higher on your existing service. This is where you can transfer a domain name to another web hosting company or domain registrar.

For instance, Hostinger offers a feature to transfer a domain easily without any hassle.

You can also find this feature in other WordPress hosting services.

Besides that, here are more useful guides to help you out with domain names:

We hope this article helped you learn how to renew a domain name in all major hosting registrars. You may also want to see our guide on the difference between domain name and web hosting, and must-have WordPress plugins.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Renew a Domain Name (All Major Hosting Registrars) first appeared on WPBeginner.

October 19, 2023

How to Determine the Ideal Size of a Web Server for Your Website

Are you trying to pick the ideal web server size for your website?

The size of a web server depends on different components and resources. More popular websites will need a larger web server, but lower-traffic websites can get by with a smaller one.

In this article, we will show you how to determine the size of a web server best suited to your website.

Choosing the perfect web server size for your website

Here is a quick overview of the topics we will cover in this guide:

What Is a Web Server?
What Makes Up the Size of a Web Server?
How to Calculate the Web Server Size You Need
Shared Hosting Web Server Sizes
Managed WordPress Hosting Web Server Sizes
VPS Hosting Web Server Size
Dedicated or Enterprise Hosting Web Server Size
Frequently Asked Questions About Web Server Size

What Is a Web Server?

A web server is a computer that stores and shares websites with people on the internet.

You can think of it like a librarian who keeps websites neatly organized and gives them to anyone who requests them so that they can see the information on their computer or phone.

To do all this, these computers have specialized web server software installed on them. The most common web server software currently in use are Apache and Nginx.

A web server can have different configurations just like a home computer, making it less or more powerful.

You can rent out web servers from companies specializing in website hosting. These service providers offer web servers in different configurations and pricing to cater to a wide variety of needs.

As a customer, you can choose the web server size you want to start with. Later on, you can upgrade your web server with more powerful components as needed. These upgrades can be more storage space, processing power, memory, and more.

What Makes Up the Size of a Web Server?

The size of a web server is determined by the capacity of the components installed on it.

Higher capacity components increase the web server size, making it faster and more powerful.

By contrast, lower capacity components reduce the web server size, making it less capable of working efficiently under peak traffic.

Here are some of the most important components of a web server that determine its size and performance.

Processing Power (CPU)

Each web server has a computer processor or CPU (central processing unit). This processor is the brain of your web server and helps it put all the website’s pieces together quickly.

It grabs the text, pictures, and videos, mixes them up, and serves them to a user’s computer or phone so they can see the website.

The faster and more powerful the processor is, the quicker the web server can do this job. This is super important because it makes websites load faster and work smoothly.

More powerful processors may have multiple cores (dual-core, quadcore, and higher). Each core adds a separate brain to your processor, making it faster by allowing it to do many tasks at once.

Memory (RAM)

Memory or RAM (random access memory) is a super-fast memory area where a web server can temporarily store needed files.

RAM allows your web server to temporarily collect all the files needed to display a webpage for quicker access.

More memory gives your web server more temporary storage for those files, allowing it to work faster and more efficiently.

Storage (Disk Space)

Storage or disk space is the physical storage the computer has. A higher storage size allows you to keep more data on your website.

You can think of storage as a big, digital closet where the server keeps all the website’s files, like pictures, text, and videos.

If your closet is well organized, it helps you find things more quickly and easily. Similarly, having more space allows you to store more items and quickly find them.

Like the closet analogy, having plenty of well-organized storage for your WordPress website makes it more efficient.

Internet Speeds & Bandwidth

A web server needs to be connected to the internet so that it can receive user requests and send back data.

If your website is hosted on an internet server with high bandwidth, that will help it send data more quickly.

Bandwidth is the amount of data your website can send. You can think of bandwidth as a straw. A narrow straw doesn’t have much space (low bandwidth), so you will not be able to drink much water. However, a wider straw (higher bandwidth) allows you to sip more water.

Increasing the internet and bandwidth size can make your website respond to user requests more quickly and send data much more efficiently.

How to Calculate the Web Server Size You Need

Now that we know what makes up the web server, you will need to calculate the size that fits your needs.

This is important because web hosting costs money, and bigger web servers with many resources are expensive.

Here is our formula to calculate the ideal web server size for your WordPress website.

1. Average Bandwidth and the Amount of Data Your Website Serves

Each time a user makes a request, your web server sends them data. More data means using more server resources.

You can calculate how much data your WordPress uses by first seeing your average page size.

This is easy to do by running your 10 most popular pages through website speed checker tools like GTMetrix.

You then need to multiply the average page size by your website’s monthly page views.

Google Analytics collects data about the traffic to your website, including page views, average session duration, and more. While you can go directly to Google Analytics to see your page views, it’s much easier to use a WordPress Google Analytics plugin.

You can get the total number of page views using MonsterInsights. It is the best Google Analytics plugin, and it helps you track your website traffic and see all the data from your WordPress dashboard.

Simply go to Insights » Reports in your WordPress dashboard.

Then, you can use our sample formula to calculate the average amount of data your website consumes:

Average page size x total monthly pageviews = average bandwidth consumed

For example, it might be:

200KB x 60,000 views = 12,000,000 KB bandwidth used

You can then convert it into MB or GB for convenience:

12,000,000 KB / 1,000 = 12000 MB
12,000 MB / 1,000 = 12 GB bandwidth consumed per month

2. How Much Storage You Will Need

You will also need to know how much storage space your website requires. You can calculate this by tracking the storage your website is currently using.

The easiest way to find this is by using the Site Health tool. Just go to the Tools » Site Health page in your WordPress admin dashboard and switch to the ‘Info’ tab.

From here, you can calculate the disk space used by your WordPress files and database.

As you can see in the screenshot above, our test site’s Total installation size is 1.30 GB. The ‘Total installation size’ shows how much storage space your website currently needs.

However, as your website grows, you also need to estimate how much data it will upload each month.

The easiest way to calculate this is by monitoring the total installation size each month and noticing the difference from the one before.

For instance, if your total installation size was 1.0 GB last month, and this month it is 1.4 GB, then you uploaded 0.4 GB or 400 MB of data.

We recommend choosing a web server that has at least 3 times the storage your website currently uses.

Now that you have calculated the web server size you need, you can shop around for web hosting services to meet your requirements.

Shared Hosting Web Server Sizes

On shared hosting plans, your website shares its server resources with other sites. This allows the hosting company to offer cheap hosting plans for smaller websites and blogs.

Suitable For: Small websites and blogs under 10,000 page views per month.

Web server size: Most good shared hosting companies spend a lot of money to ensure that their shared servers have fast processors, sufficient RAM, and plenty of storage.

The resources provided by a host vary a lot. If you cannot find this information on their website, then you can ask individual hosts before signing up.

Typically, you get a single-core CPU with 1 GB of RAM and 10 GB of disk storage for a starter shared plan.

However, the amount of web server resources available to your website will depend on the number of sites sharing those resources.

Our Recommendation

We recommend Bluehost as the best WordPress hosting company offering shared hosting plans.

Their web servers use state-of-the-art components, unlimited bandwidth, and highly optimized software to manage resources so that your site gets 99.9% uptime.

Depending on which plan you choose, you will get access to either 10 GB, 40 GB, or 100 GB of disk storage.

→ Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←

Alternatives: Hostinger and HostGator

Managed WordPress Hosting Web Server Sizes

Managed WordPress hosting is an upgrade from shared hosting services. It allows users to use a custom-built platform for WordPress websites.

Managed WordPress hosting companies offer automatic updates, additional security, and easy options to scale your website as it grows.

You can think of it as a concierge service for your WordPress website.

Suitable For: eCommerce websites, growing blogs, and small to medium-sized businesses. Starting from 25,000 page views.

Web Server Size: The web server size varies based on your plan. Managed WordPress hosting companies also have strict disk and bandwidth limits to ensure fair usage.

Typically, you can expect at least 10 GB storage, 50 GB bandwidth, single or dual-core CPU, and 1 GB RAM.

Our Recommendation:

We recommend WP Engine as the best managed WordPress hosting provider.

They are the pioneers in the managed WordPress space and consistently raise the bar with state-of-the-art infrastructure.

Their plans range from 10 GB of storage and 50 GB of bandwidth to 50 GB of storage and 500 GB of bandwidth per month.

Alternative: SiteGround

VPS Hosting Web Server Size

A VPS hosting plan allows you to create a virtual private server and use it as your site’s web server. It is an upgrade from managed and shared WordPress hosting plans.

The advantage of VPS hosting is that you can choose your web server size and scale it as your website grows.

This ensures that you get the amount of resources you need without upgrading to a dedicated server or enterprise hosting plan.

Suitable For: eCommerce stores, large and content-rich websites with a lot of multimedia files like hosted audio or video files. Ideal for 30,000 to 100,000 page views, depending on the server configuration.

Web Server Size: Server configurations vary among companies and are priced accordingly. You can choose from different configurations or create your own from a hosting control panel.

Our Recommendation:

We recommend SiteGround VPS hosting plans. They offer generous web server sizes starting from 4-core processors with 8 GB memory and 40 GB storage space.

They have a powerful hosting infrastructure built on top of Google Cloud. Plus, you get all the features of managed WordPress hosting with access to additional developer tools.

Alternatives: Bluehost VPS

Dedicated or Enterprise Hosting Web Server Size

Dedicated or enterprise hosting is the ultimate upgrade, with custom-made web server sizes designed for the highest performance and massive amounts of traffic.

On a dedicated server, your website doesn’t share any of its web server resources. You can choose the processor speed and cores, RAM size, disk storage, and the bandwidth you need.

Enterprise hosting plans are the last tier of dedicated hosting plans. One of these plans gives you access to the hosting company’s engineering team. They will manage the hosting infrastructure according to your needs, with 24/7 phone support from your dedicated support team.

Suitable For: Big-name brands, mission-critical websites with massive traffic, and larger eCommerce stores. Ideal for 200,000 to millions of page views.

Web Server Size: Companies offer dedicated servers with different configurations. Typically, you can expect dual or quad-core CPUs with 4-8 GB RAM and 500 GB to 1TB disk storage. You can also configure your own dedicated server with different components.

Our Recommendation:

We recommend SiteGround’s dedicated hosting plans. Hosted on the Google Cloud platform, you can choose up to 33 core processing power, 130 GB memory, and 1TB of SSD storage.

Alternatives: DreamHost dedicated servers

Frequently Asked Questions About Web Server Size

Following are some of the most commonly asked questions about choosing a web server size.

1. How much disk space does a web server need?

The amount of disk space a web server needs depends on how much data you will be uploading to your website. Typically, starter hosting plans start with 5-10 GB of disk storage, which is enough for a small business website or a starter blog.

2. What is the average size of a web hosting server?

Most websites are hosted on shared hosting web servers. The average size of a starter shared hosting web server is under 10 GB of disk storage, 1 GB of RAM, and a single or dual-core processor.

3. What does unlimited bandwidth mean?

Normally, shared hosting companies advertise unlimited bandwidth with their hosting plans. However, bandwidth costs money, and there are usually restrictions on how much bandwidth your website can use based on a fair usage policy. You can get further information by asking your hosting provider about their fair usage policy for bandwidth limitations.

We hope this article helped you learn how to choose the ideal size of a web server for your WordPress website. You may also want to see our WordPress performance guide to make sure your WordPress website is ready for peak traffic and our expert pick of the best monthly web hosting plans.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Determine the Ideal Size of a Web Server for Your Website first appeared on WPBeginner.

June 22, 2023

How to Set Up WP Mail SMTP with Any Host (Ultimate Guide)

Do you want to set up WP Mail SMTP on your WordPress site?

WP Mail SMTP is the best WordPress SMTP plugin that allows you to easily send WordPress emails using a secure mail transfer protocol (SMTP). It makes sure your emails go to the inboxes of your users and not to the spam folder.

In this article, we will show you how to easily set up WP Mail SMTP with any host or third-party SMTP service.

Setting up WP Mail SMTP with any WordPress host

This is a lengthy article, so we have added a table of contents. If you know what you are looking for, then you can click the link to jump to that section:

What Is WP Mail SMTP, and Why Do You Need It to Send WordPress Emails?
Hosting SMTP Server vs. Third-Party SMTP Server – Which One Should You Use?
Installing and Setting Up WP Mail SMTP
Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on Bluehost
Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on SiteGround
Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on HostGator
Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on DreamHost
Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on InMotion Hosting
Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on GoDaddy
Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on iPage
Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on GreenGeeks
Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on JustHost
Setting Up WP Mail SMTP With Third-Party Email Services

What Is WP Mail SMTP, and Why Do You Need It to Send WordPress Emails?

WP Mail SMTP is the best WordPress SMTP plugin on the market. It allows you to send all your WordPress emails using an SMTP server.

Once you set up your WordPress site, you may notice that you are not getting any emails from WordPress. These include WordPress notification emails and emails from your WordPress contact form plugin.

The reason you are not getting emails is usually that WordPress uses the PHP mail() function to send them.

Most WordPress hosting companies do not configure this function properly, and some simply disable it to prevent abuse.

The easiest fix for this issue is to use SMTP to send WordPress emails.

SMTP stands for ‘secure mail transfer protocol’, and it is pretty much the standard way to send emails. It requires you to log in to a mail server to send emails. This prevents the abuse of the hosting server and improves email deliverability, which means that you and your users will receive all WordPress emails.

Hosting SMTP Server vs. Third-Party SMTP Server – Which One Should You Use?

Most WordPress hosting companies offer free business email addresses that you can use with your own domain name.

We recommend setting up a separate email address for your WordPress website. It can be anything like support@example.com or info@example.com.

However, your WordPress hosting provider does not specialize in sending emails. Their SMTP servers are basic and have strict limits on the number of emails you can send.

If you run a small business website or a blog, then you will probably be fine with your hosting provider’s SMTP servers.

On the other hand, if you run an online store or a membership website, then emails become mission-critical for your business. You want to make sure that your customers get important email notifications delivered to their inboxes.

This is where you need a third-party SMTP service provider. These companies specialize in securely sending large numbers of emails without triggering spam filters.

We recommend using SendLayer, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), or SMTP.com for most online businesses. They are reasonably priced and can scale as your business grows.

For more information, you can see our article on the top SMTP service providers.

Once you have chosen an email delivery method, the next step is to connect your WordPress website to your mail server.

This is where the WP Mail SMTP plugin comes in. It allows you to send WordPress emails via SMTP by entering your SMTP credentials.

WP Mail SMTP is the most popular SMTP solution for WordPress, currently used by over 3 million websites. It’s maintained by the same team as WPForms.

There is also a free WP Mail SMTP lite version that is fully functional and can be used with any WordPress hosting company or third-party SMTP service provider.

The premium version of the WP Mail SMTP plugin supports all the top SMTP service providers and works with any WordPress hosting company that offers email accounts.

It also comes with powerful features like email logs, email controls, priority support, and a white glove setup.

Installing and Setting Up WP Mail SMTP

The first thing you need to do is install and activate the WP Mail SMTP plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon activation, you will see the setup wizard. You can skip it as we will show you how to set up WP Mail SMTP manually.

Just click on ‘Go back to the Dashboard’.

Next, you need to visit the WP Mail SMTP » Settings page to configure the plugin settings.

You need to enter your SMTP settings to use WP Mail SMTP. The first part of the settings will be similar regardless of your hosting company. It includes the following fields:

From Email – This email address will be used to send all WordPress emails.
From Name – This name will be used to send emails. We recommend using your website’s title.
Return Path – Check this box to receive delivery notifications or bounced messages.
Mailer – You need to select ‘Other SMTP’ here as you will be sending emails using your host’s SMTP server

Note: If you want to use third-party mailers, follow this guide to send WordPress emails via Gmail SMTP. We also have a similar guide for the Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) SMTP setup.

WP Mail SMTP return path and mailer settings

If you want to continue using your host, you need to select ‘Other SMTP’ and enter the SMTP server settings provided by the hosting company.

SMTP Host – The SMTP host address provided by your hosting company.
Encryption – The encryption method used by your mail server to send emails. Usually, it is TLS.
SMTP Port – The port used by the outgoing mail server.
Auto TLS – This setting should be set to On.
Authentication – Needs to be On.
SMTP Username – Usually the email address you are using to send emails.
SMTP Password – The password for the email account you are using to send emails. We don’t recommend saving SMTP passwords here. Instead, you need to store your password in the wp-config.php file.

These settings are required to connect with any SMTP server. However, their values may differ from one WordPress hosting company to another.

Let’s see how to set up the WP Mail SMTP plugin with different hosting companies.

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on Bluehost

Bluehost is one of the biggest hosting companies in the world and an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider.

We recommend Bluehost to all users who are starting a WordPress blog or making a small business website.

Here are the SMTP settings you will be using to connect WP Mail SMTP to the Bluehost SMTP server:

SMTP Host – mail.example.com
Encryption – TLS
SMTP Port – 587
SMTP Username – Your email address (e.g. wordpress@example.com)
SMTP Password – Your email account password

Don’t forget to replace example.com with your own domain name.

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on SiteGround

SiteGround is another popular WordPress hosting company. They offer excellent shared, managed, and WooCommerce hosting services.

Here are the SMTP settings you will be using to connect WP Mail SMTP with SiteGround servers:

SMTP Host – mail.example.com
Encryption – TLS
SMTP Port – 587
SMTP Username – Your email address (e.g. wordpress@example.com)
SMTP Password – Your email account password

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on HostGator

HostGator is another popular WordPress hosting company. WPBeginner is hosted with HostGator, and we have been using them for over a decade.

Here are the SMTP settings you will be using to connect WP Mail SMTP with HostGator servers:

SMTP Host – full.servername.com
Encryption – SSL
SMTP Port – 465
SMTP Username – Your email address (e.g. wordpress@example.com)
SMTP Password – Your email account password

You will notice that instead of using your domain as the SMTP Host, it uses the server name. You can find the server name in your cPanel hosting dashboard.

Simply log in to your cPanel, and you will see the full server name in the right column towards the bottom.

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on DreamHost

DreamHost is a popular WordPress hosting company. They have been around since 1997 (way before WordPress, Google, or Facebook) and offer shared WordPress hosting, managed, and VPS hosting plans.

Here are the SMTP settings you will be using to connect WP Mail SMTP with DreamHost servers:

SMTP Host – full.servername.com
Encryption – SSL
SMTP Port – 465
SMTP Username – Your email address (e.g. wordpress@example.com)
SMTP Password – Your email account password

You will notice that Dreamhost doesn’t use your domain name as the mail server. Instead, they use different servers to manage emails, and you will need to find out which one is used by your hosting account.

You can do this by logging in to your DreamHost hosting panel and then going to the Support » Data Centers page. From here, you need to scroll down to the Mail service section.

You will find the name of the email cluster under the Details column next to your domain name.

Next, you need to visit DreamHost’s email configuration page and scroll down to the ‘Where to find your mail hostname (cluster) name’ section.

Here, you can match your email cluster with the names in the table and copy the outgoing server address next to it.

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on InMotion Hosting

Here are the SMTP settings you will be using to connect WP Mail SMTP with InMotion Hosting servers:

SMTP Host – server##.inmotionhosting.com
Encryption – SSL
SMTP Port – 465
SMTP Username – Your email address (e.g. wordpress@example.com)
SMTP Password – Your email account password

InMotion Hosting SMTP settings for WordPress

In the SMTP host field, you need to replace ## with your server number.

You can find this by logging in to your cPanel dashboard and then clicking on the ‘Account Technical Details’ icon.

Finding your InMotion Hosting server number

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on GoDaddy

GoDaddy is the world’s most popular domain name registrar, managing more than 76 million domain names for over 17.5 million customers. They also offer different hosting plans (For details, see our article on the difference between a domain name and web hosting).

Here are the SMTP settings you will be using to connect WP Mail SMTP with GoDaddy shared hosting plans:

SMTP Host – mail.example.com
Encryption – TLS
SMTP Port – 587
SMTP Username – Your email address (e.g. wordpress@example.com)
SMTP Password – Your email account password

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on iPage

Here are the SMTP settings you will be using to connect WP Mail SMTP with iPage hosting servers:

SMTP Host – smtp.ipage.com
Encryption – TLS
SMTP Port – 587
SMTP Username – Your email address (e.g. wordpress@example.com)
SMTP Password – Your email account password

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on GreenGeeks

Here are the SMTP settings you will be using to connect WP Mail SMTP with GreenGeeks:

SMTP Host – mail.example.com
Encryption – SSL
SMTP Port – 465
SMTP Username – Your email address (e.g. wordpress@example.com)
SMTP Password – Your email account password

GreenGeeks SMTP settings for WP Mail SMTP

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on JustHost

Here are the SMTP settings you will be using to connect WP Mail SMTP with JustHost:

SMTP Host – mail.example.com
Encryption – SSL
SMTP Port – 465
SMTP Username – Your email address (e.g. wordpress@example.com)
SMTP Password – Your email account password

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP With Third-Party Email Services

Some managed WordPress hosting companies do not offer email services as part of their hosting plans. So, you will need to use a third-party SMTP service provider to send emails.

WP Mail SMTP supports multiple popular mailing services, including SendLayer, Gmail/Google Apps for Work, Microsoft Outlook and Office 360, Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), SMTP.com, and more.

Simply click on the mailer service, and the plugin will show you the information required to use that mailer.

For details, you can see our tutorial on how to use a free SMTP server to send WordPress emails.

We hope this article helped you learn how to set up WP Mail SMTP with any host. You may also want to see our guide on why you should never use WordPress to send your newsletter emails and our expert picks for the best newsletter plugins.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Set Up WP Mail SMTP with Any Host (Ultimate Guide) first appeared on WPBeginner.

October 7, 2022

Ultimate Web Hosting Statistics and Market Share Report (2022)

Are you looking for the latest web hosting statistics and market share information?

Web hosting is one of the key parts of every successful website. By understanding the hosting market and all of the major players, you can choose the best provider for your WordPress website.

In this article, we’ve gathered tons of web hosting statistics and market share information.

Ultimate web hosting statistics and market share report

Ultimate List of Web Hosting Statistics

We’ve divided this list of web hosting statistics into several different categories. You can use the links below to jump to the section you’re most interested in.

Global Web Hosting Services Market Size in 2022
Global Web Hosting Market Share in 2022
Domain Registration Statistics
Shared Hosting Stats (Including Average Cost of Web Hosting)
VPS Hosting Stats (Including Hosting Costs Per Month)
Dedicated Hosting Stats (Including Web Hosting Market Size)
Most Popular Web Server Software Stats
AWS Web Hosting Market Share
GoDaddy Hosting Market Share
Namecheap Pricing and Web Hosting Statistics
Hostinger Web Hosting Market Share
WP Engine Group (Managed WordPress Usage Statistics)
HostGator Web Hosting Statistics
Bluehost Pricing and Web Hosting Statistics
Shopify Hosting Stats
Squarespace Web Hosting Stats

Global Web Hosting Services Market Size in 2022

Global web hosting market size statistics

The global web hosting market is projected to grow to $267.10 billion by 2028 at a compound annual growth rate of 18%.
In 2020, the global market was valued at $75 billion.
Web hosting is expected to generate $79.25 billion in revenue in 2022.
By 2027, it’s predicted that the web hosting space will generate $144.40 billion.
According to experts, the growing number of small and medium businesses is the biggest factor driving the industry’s growth.
Market share differs dramatically depending on location. While Amazon rules the US market with a 3.9% share, in Germany the most popular web hosting provider is 1and1 (18.29%), while in Italy Aruba has an impressive 30.71% market share. Similarly, the most popular cloud hosting provider in the United States is Amazon (31%) but the Google Cloud platform has the biggest share of India’s cloud computing market (39%).

No matter whether you run an online store, a nonprofit organization, or an affiliate marketing business, every organization needs a website. That means a big demand for web hosting.

In fact, at the start of 2022, there were around 1.8 billion live websites and over 5.1 billion internet users.

When you consider the stats, we can see that web hosting is a billion-dollar industry that’s only going to grow in the future.

In 2020, the North American web hosting industry was valued at $34.32 billion.
Experts predict that the United States will have the largest market share right up until 2026, with Europe forecast to have the second biggest market share.
In 2022, analysts predict the United States will generate the largest web hosting revenue ($5,832 million). In second place is the UK, which is predicted to generate $5,832 million, followed by Japan ($5,666 million), China ($4,930 million), and Germany ($4,435 million).
Asia Pacific is expected to grow at the highest CAGR throughout 2021-2028, with the market in the Asia Pacific expected to reach $2.5 billion by 2026.
Experts also predict that the Middle East and Africa will show steady growth in the web hosting space due to an increasing focus on digitization.
China is forecast to reach an estimated market size of $16.9 billion in the year 2026, with a CAGR of 15.6% for the period 2021-2026.

The Asia Pacific region is expected to grow rapidly throughout 2021-2026. Experts say this is due to the growing popularity of online platforms and improved connectivity in the region.

Governments have also invested lots of money in small and medium enterprises, startups, and side businesses, which is fueling the growth in web hosting. For example, in 2019 the Chinese government announced a special investment of $894 million for small and medium enterprises, and in 2020 it invested $140 million into developing more startups.

With that being said, we expect to see the number of websites continue to grow. By investing so much money into startups and small businesses, governments in the Asia Pacific region are creating a huge demand for web hosting in these areas.

Domain Registration Statistics

Balloons showing different domain extensions

A domain name typically costs $10–$15 per year, although the most expensive publicly reported sale was carinsurance.com, which sold for $49.7 million.
GoDaddy has over 78 million registered domains, which gives them a 12.77% share of all registered domains. That makes GoDaddy the world’s most popular domain registrar.
Namecheap is GoDaddy’s closest competitor with over 17 million registered domains. This gives it a 2.87% share of all registered domain names and makes Namecheap the second most popular domain registrar.
37.20% of domains are top-level domains (TLDs).

Choosing the best domain name for your website is crucial, and many sites even use a domain name generator to pick the perfect domain, fast.

Once you’ve chosen a domain, the next step is to properly register that domain name.

The good news is that many of the top web hosting providers are also domain name registrars, so you can often get a domain and hosting from the same provider.

Interestingly, GoDaddy is both the most popular web hosting provider and the most popular domain registrar, which suggests a lot of people choose to use the same company. Since it’s such a popular choice, we expect to see more web hosting companies also offering domain registration in the future.

If you haven’t purchased a domain name yet, then please see our expert pick of the best domain registrars.

Shared Hosting Stats (Including Average Cost of Web Hosting)

Shared hosting plans typically cost between $2.51-$4.63 per month.
On average, an entry-level shared hosting plan will cost $2.5 –$3.72 per month.
Typically, you can expect to pay between $4.63–$6.52 per month for mid-tiered shared web hosting.
Experts predict that the shared hosting market will grow at 15% CAGR and reach $72.2 billion by 2026.
75% of the websites on a shared hosting plan use GoDaddy.

Shared hosting is where multiple websites share a server. By hosting several sites on the same server, web hosting companies can reduce their costs and offer hosting at a lower price, as the stats show.

To help you decide whether shared hosting is right for you, we’ve published this guide on the real truth about the best shared web hosting services.

VPS Hosting Stats (Including Hosting Costs Per Month)

You can typically expect to pay between $13.41-$21.89 per month for VPS hosting.
Entry-level VPS hosting costs $13.41–$15.57 per month.
For mid-range VPS hosting, the average cost is $21.89–$25.17. However, when publishing these figures researchers pointed out that the range is skewed by a small number of premium service providers.
21% of the websites on a VPS hosting plan use GoDaddy.

Similar to shared hosting, VPS hosting runs multiple sites on the same server. However, VPS uses powerful virtualization technology to create a digital barrier between each site. This gives customers guaranteed access to a percentage of the server’s resources. They also have greater control over how their server is set up.

As we can see from the web hosting statistics, extra flexibility, security, and improved performance come at a cost. On average, even entry-level VPS plans are noticeably more expensive than shared hosting.

To help you choose the right VPS hosting plan for your budget, we’ve created a guide to the best VPS hosting.

Dedicated Hosting Stats (Including Web Hosting Market Size)

In 2021, dedicated hosting had 25.5% of the global web hosting services market.
Dedicated hosting is predicted to grow at 11.1% CAGR throughout 2021-2026.
GoDaddy is the most popular dedicated hosting provider. When we look at all the sites that are known to use dedicated hosting, 35% of those websites use GoDaddy.

Dedicated hosting is where a single customer has private access to an entire server. Dedicated hosting plans are mainly used by big websites that get lots of visitors and need a high level of performance and security.

Dedicated plans are expensive, but they’re not the only way to create a top-notch website.

For example, if you’re using WordPress then there are lots of ways to boost WordPress speed and performance. Plus, you can use security plugins to help protect your site.

Most Popular Web Server Software Stats

Nginx is used by 34.2% of all websites whose web server is known, making it the most popular server technology. Alipay, TikTok, and Zoom all use Nginx.
31.2% of all the websites with a known web server use Apache. Some big names that use Apache hosting services include eBay, Spotify, Dropbox, and Salesforce.
21.6% of all websites with a known web server rely on Cloudflare Server. This includes some big names such as Zoom, Indeed, Etsy, Discord, and Fiverr.

The web hosting stats show that over 50% of all websites use open-source server software.

Open source gives you the freedom to use, change, extend, and redistribute software without having to pay anything. Immediately, open source helps you run a website for less and creates a sense of community and collaboration that benefits everyone who uses the software. With that being said, it’s not surprising that it’s one of the major hosting trends.

As well as open-source server software, almost half of the web (43%) uses the WordPress open-source content management system. It’s clear that in 2022, the world wide web runs on open source.

For more details about open source and WordPress, you can check out our guides on why WordPress is free and how much it really costs to build a WordPress website.

Over 57 million websites use Amazon as their hosting provider.
6.2% of all websites use Amazon as their host, which gives Amazon Web Services (AWS) the biggest share of the web hosting industry.
Some of Amazon’s most well-known customers are Reddit, Netflix, TikTok, Twitch, Zoom, and eBay, plus Amazon themselves.
Out of the top 1 million websites, 22.23% use Amazon as their provider.
41.08% of the top 100K websites use AWS, plus 53.76% of the top 10k websites.

Amazon has the largest market share and is also clearly a favorite among high-traffic sites.

This popularity could be down to Amazon’s reputation, as they’re known to provide robust and scalable hosting to some of the biggest companies in the world.

In fact, Netflix alone uses over 100,000 Amazon server instances to deliver high-resolution videos to their customers.

Despite the name, the GoDaddy Group owns several web hosting providers including Host Europe and Media Template. When we look at the entire GoDaddy Group, 3.9% of all websites use one of the company’s hosting providers.
GoDaddy is the Group’s most popular brand. Out of all the sites that use the GoDaddy Group, 78.5% choose GoDaddy as their web host.
Over 41 million websites use GoDaddy’s data centers.
When we look at the top 1 million websites based on traffic, 2.27% use GoDaddy as their hosting provider.
1.76% of the top 100K websites use GoDaddy, plus 1.78% of the top 10k websites.

GoDaddy may have a mixed reputation, but it still has a big market share and hosts over 41 million websites.

This may be because of how much GoDaddy spends on marketing, as they invested over $100 million during the second quarter of 2022 alone.

However, it’s always smart to consider all your options. With that being said, you may want to see our expert pick of the best GoDaddy alternatives.

Namecheap Pricing and Web Hosting Statistics

Over 5 million websites use Namecheap as their host, which is 1.0% of all websites.
Out of the top 1 million websites, 0.75% use Namecheap as their hosting provider.

Namecheap is best known as a domain registrar, but they’re also a popular hosting provider since their plans are very affordable.

For example, Namecheap’s shared hosting plans start at $2.18 per month, which is low when compared to the shared hosting average of $2.51-$4.63.

As we’ve previously seen, Namecheap is also the second most popular domain registrar. For website owners who want to buy their domain and hosting from the same company, this makes Namecheap an attractive choice.

Over 1 million websites use Hostinger as their provider, which is 1.3% of all websites.
Out of the top 1 million websites, 0.5% use Hostinger as their hosting provider.

Hostinger may not have a huge share of the high-traffic market, but they have a significant slice of the wider web hosting market.

This is likely because they offer affordable, all-in-one hosting packages complete with 24/7 live chat support, managed automatic updates, a free CDN service, and free site migration. They also have a 1-click installer that makes it easy to install WordPress plus other popular software.

For a detailed look at Hostinger’s strong points and weak points, you can check out our expert Hostinger review.

WP Engine Group (Managed WordPress Usage Statistics)

2.2% of all websites use one of WP Engine Group’s brands as their hosting provider.
81.5% of all sites that use WP Engine Group, choose WPEngine as their provider.
Flywheel is used by 18.5% of all websites that use the WP Engine Group.
Some of WP Engine Group’s biggest customers include Indeed, Udemy, SoundCloud, and Mozilla.

WP Engine is one of the world’s leading managed WordPress hosting providers, used by 2.2% of all websites.

A managed hosting plan is perfect for busy website owners who want to avoid time-consuming admin tasks.

With its advanced security features, protection against DDoS attacks, and built-in CDN in partnership with MaxCDN, WP Engine is powerful enough to support larger businesses such as Mozilla and SoundCloud.

For more information, please see our expert review of WP Engine.

HostGator Web Hosting Statistics

HostGator is part of the Newfold Digital Group, which was formerly known as the Endurance International Group. HostGator is the company’s most popular web hosting provider. In fact, HostGator is used by 30.8% of all websites that use a Newfold Digital Group brand.
HostGator is used by 1.4% of all websites.
Over 960,000 sites rely on Hostinger as their hosting provider.

With 1-click WordPress installation, a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and 24/7 support, it’s easy to see why HostGator is used by 1.4% of all websites.

They also offer shared hosting, Virtual Private Server hosting, dedicated hosting servers, and managed WordPress hosting plans, so website owners can choose the plan that works the best for them.

To see whether HostGator is right for you, check out our expert review of HostGator.

Bluehost Pricing and Web Hosting Statistics

The Bluehost special offer for WPBeginner readers

Bluehost is also part of the Newfold Digital Group and is the company’s second most popular hosting provider. Bluehost is used by 27.4% of all websites that use a Newfold Digital Group brand.
Over 2 million websites are hosted on Bluehost, which is 1.2% of all websites.
Out of the top 1 million websites based on traffic, just 0.39% use Bluehost.

Bluehost is an affordable hosting provider, especially when compared to the average prices we’ve seen earlier.

WPBeginner readers can get a 60% off discount with Bluehost. You can purchase a shared plan for just $2.75 per month, which is at the lower end of the $2.51-$4.63 average. Plus, it comes with a free domain name!

→ Click Here to Claim This Exclusive Bluehost Offer ←

These affordable prices may explain why Bluehost is used by 2 million websites. As well as offering low prices, Bluehost is one of the few hosts officially recommended by WordPress.

To learn more about Bluehost, you can see an in-depth Bluehost review from our experts.

Shopify Hosting Stats

Almost 4 million websites use Shopify as their hosted solution.
In 2020, Shopify’s market share was just 1.8%, but by 2022 it was 4.4%. That’s an increase of 2.6% in just 2 years.

Shopify is a popular website builder, similar to Wix and Squarespace. Shopify has seen rapid growth from a 0.4% share of the web hosting market in 2016 to 4.4% in 2022. This is likely due to the rising popularity of online shopping, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.

With physical shops closed around the world, many businesses needed to create an online store, fast. As a fully hosted eCommerce platform, Shopify saw good conversion rates and lots of new customers during the pandemic.

However, Shopify does force you to use its Shopify Payment platform. If you want to use a different payment processing solution, then you’ll need to pay an extra 2% transaction fee which is very high compared to other eCommerce platforms.

With that in mind, we may see Shopify’s growth slow as store owners start to look for more affordable Shopify alternatives. For example, we’re starting to see more people move from Shopify to WooCommerce.

Squarespace Web Hosting Stats

Over 4 million websites use Squarespace as their hosting solution, which means 2% of all websites use Squarespace.
When we look at the 1 million sites based on traffic, 0.69% of them use Squarespace.
1.36% of the top 100k websites use Squarespace, plus 3.16% of the top 10k sites.

Similar to Shopify, Squarespace’s market share has grown very quickly. In 2016, Squarespace had just 0.3% of the market, but by 2022 it had 2.0%.

Despite this, today only a small percentage of the top 1 million sites use Squarespace. This could be because Squarespace forces customers to use its built-in drag and drop builder which can be restrictive.

Bigger organizations are more likely to choose a flexible hosting plan and open-source CMS such as WordPress, rather than a hosted solution and restrictive web builder.

For more information, you can see our guide on Square vs. WordPress – which one is better?

Sources:

Internet Live Stats, Internet World Stats, GoDaddy, Global Industry Analysts, Fortune Business Insights, W3Techs, Statista, BuiltWith, Domain Name Stat, AWS.

We hope this ultimate web hosting statistics and market share report will help you find the best hosting provider for your website. You may also want to see our research on the latest blogging statistics as well as new marketing trends and stats.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post Ultimate Web Hosting Statistics and Market Share Report (2022) first appeared on WPBeginner.

September 17, 2021

6 Best Reseller Hosting Plans of 2021 (Best Value + Quality)

Are you looking for the best reseller hosting?

Reseller hosting lets you sell hosting services just like a web hosting company. Web designers, developers, and agencies can offer reseller hosting as an addon service for clients and customers.

In this article, we’ll share our favorite reseller hosting so that you can choose the right hosting company for your business.

What is Reseller Hosting and Who is it For?

With reseller hosting, you purchase web hosting services and then sell the server space and features to other customers.

Think of it like running your own web hosting business, but without all of the expensive costs like hardware, servers, maintenance, support, and more. Every technical task is managed behind the scenes by the web host.

It’s important to choose a high quality hosting provider, since their service will be the foundation for your business.

If you’re a developer, agency, or manage WordPress websites for clients in any way, then reselling hosting can be a great way to make money online.

With that said, let’s take a look at some of the best reseller hosting options available on the market today.

1. SiteGround

SiteGround is a popular hosting provider that’s known for its high quality support and fast loading speeds. It’s also one of the hosts officially recommended by WordPress.

The reseller hosting plans let you pass on all of SiteGround’s great hosting features to your clients.

All reseller packages support an unlimited number of hosting accounts, have free WordPress installation and updates, daily backups, and more.

Free SSL certificates, email accounts, and a CDN are included with your customers’ hosting accounts too.

You can also offer your clients access to the site staging features, datacenter selection, and free migration for those coming from other web hosts.

Pricing: SiteGround reseller plans start at $7.99 and include 20GB of storage and support for unlimited websites. If you want custom branding for your account, then you’ll need one of the higher priced plans.

For more details, see our SiteGround review to learn more about the features, performance, and more.

2. HostGator

HostGator is one of the top WordPress hosting providers in the world. They’ve been around since 2002 and have grown to become one of the biggest and most beginner friendly hosts in the market.

The reseller hosting offers great features like unlimited domains, a free SSL certificate, dedicated IP addresses, FTP accounts, private name servers, automated backups, and more.

Every reseller plan comes with the WHM control panel for easier client management and server control. You can monitor and control the server bandwidth and disk space for every customer server.

It also includes WHMCS billing software to easily automate your billing.

Finally, HostGator includes 24/7 support via live chat and phone.

Pricing: HostGator reseller plans start at $19.95 per month and have 60GB of disk space and support for unlimited websites.

To learn more about HostGator, see our in depth HostGator review where we evaluate their speed, performance, and support.

3. GreenGeeks

GreenGeeks is well known in the hosting industry for being an environmentally friendly host. They offer very fast loading speeds, 24/7 US-based support, and power over 600,000 websites.

Every reseller plan includes unlimited disk space and bandwidth, a free CDN, and automated daily backups. Plus, high level plans can support eCommerce stores across different platforms like WooCommerce.

If your clients are more advanced users, then you can offer support for multiple versions of PHP, FTP access, WP-CLI, Git, and more.

White label services are also available, so you can sell hosting under your branding instead of GreenGeeks.

Pricing: GreenGeeks reseller plans start at $19.95 per month with 60GB of disk space and support for 25 cPanel accounts.

To learn more about GreenGeeks, see our in depth GreenGeeks review where we cover the pros and cons in depth.

4. WP Engine

WP Engine is known for its managed WordPress hosting plans, rock solid support team, and fast speeds.

It’s very popular with WordPress developers since it offers support for up to 30 websites on managed hosting when you choose the Managed Hosting Scale plan.

You get access to 24/7 support, automated migrations, daily backups, SSH access, and a free SSL certificate with managed hosting.

Plus, with WP Engine, you get access to 10 different StudioPress WordPress themes that you can use on client websites.

Pricing: WP Engine starts at $241.67 per month when billed yearly and supports up to 30 websites.

For more details, see our in depth WP Engine review where we highlight the pros, cons, performance, and more.

5. A2 Hosting

A2 Hosting is a web host known for its speed, performance, and reliability. There’s also 24/7 tech support to assist with any website issues.

All of the reseller hosting plans are managed with the Web Host Manager (WHM) tool, which makes it easy to keep track of your client websites.

Plus, you can white label the hosting to create a branded experience for your customers.

The reseller plans also include free account migration, SSL certificates, automated backups, and a CDN.

Pricing: A2 Hosting reseller plans start at $24.99 per month when paid yearly, and include 60 GB of disk space, a money-back guarantee, and more.

For more details, see our detailed A2 Hosting review for an in depth look at the hosting features, performance, and plans.

6. InMotion

InMotion is a popular host that offers reliable performance for business websites. The technical support team is very helpful, plus there’s 99.99% guaranteed uptime.

Every plan has high bandwidth and disk space to support more websites and traffic at an affordable price.

All plans come with a free cPanel or WHM control panel, root server access, and built-in DDoS and malware protection. This offers your customers flexibility and improved website security.

White label services and billing software are included for free. So, you can easily manage payments while offering customers a hosting experience with your own branding.

If you want to sell domain names too, then you can use the domain reseller account also included in the reseller program.

Pricing: InMotion Hosting reseller plans start at $29.99 per month when paid yearly and offer 80GB storage and support for 25 websites, along with a 90-day money-back guarantee.

To learn more about InMotion, see our in depth InMotion Hosting review where we highlight the performance, speed, and pros and cons.

What is the Best Reseller Hosting? (Expert Pick)

All of the reseller hosting services above are great choices. The best reseller host for your business will depend on your goals and the kind of websites you’ll be hosting.

If website speed and high quality customer support are important, then SiteGround is the best option.

If you want a beginner-friendly host that your customers can grow and scale their websites with, then HostGator is perfect.

We also looked into other reseller web hosting providers like Liquid Web, GoDaddy, Bluehost, etc but we decided not to list them here to help you avoid choice paralysis.

We hope this article helped you find the best reseller hosting to help you start your own reseller business. You may also want to see our guide on choosing the best website builder and our expert picks on the best business phone services for small businesses.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post 6 Best Reseller Hosting Plans of 2021 (Best Value + Quality) appeared first on WPBeginner.

August 2, 2021February 14, 2024

How to Update Your PHP Version in WordPress (the RIGHT Way)

Do you want to update the PHP version of your WordPress site?

Using the latest version of PHP in WordPress can significantly improve your site’s performance and user experience. Many web hosting providers make the update process rather easy, but you may need to check several things before doing it.

In this article, we will show you how to easily update the PHP version of your WordPress website.

How to Update Your PHP Version in WordPress (the RIGHT Way)

Why Update PHP Version in WordPress?

Updating your WordPress website’s PHP version can boost your site’s performance.

You see, WordPress is developed using an open-source programming language called PHP. At the time of writing this article, it requires at least PHP 7.4 or greater.

New PHP versions usually come with patches for security vulnerabilities and bugs, protecting your site against malware and hackers. It also includes new features to make running processes much faster and reduce memory usage.

Because of this, we strongly recommend updating your WordPress to the latest stable version of PHP. At the time of writing this article, that is PHP 8.3.2.

If you use an older PHP version, your website may be less secure, slower, and prone to errors due to compatibility issues with WordPress core, plugin, or theme. You can learn more about this topic in our article about how PHP updates by your web host impact WordPress.

Thankfully, most WordPress hosting companies strive to offer the newest PHP versions to meet WordPress’ requirements. They may also automatically update PHP behind-the-scenes and you may not notice any change.

That said, we suggest keeping up-to-date with the latest PHP news. Check what kind of features or changes may affect your WordPress website. A plugin, theme, or software may not work after the update and you have to switch back to an older version of PHP in the meantime.

With that in mind, let’s look at how you can check your current PHP version in WordPress. We will also show you a step-by-step tutorial on how to update your PHP version in different hosting providers.

How to Check Your Current PHP Version in WordPress
What to Do Before Updating PHP in WordPress
How to Update Your PHP Version in Bluehost
How to Update Your PHP Version in Hostinger
How to Update Your PHP Version in SiteGround
How to Update Your PHP Version in HostGator
How to Update Your PHP Version in DreamHost
How to Update Your PHP Version in WP Engine
How to Update Your PHP Version in Other WordPress Hosting Providers
Changing PHP Versions in WordPress: Frequently Asked Questions

How to Check Your Current PHP Version in WordPress

WordPress makes it easy to check the version of PHP used by your host. What you need to do is log in to your admin dashboard and head to the Tools » Site Health page.

Then, switch to the ‘Info’ tab.

Opening the Info tab inside the Site Health menu in the WordPress admin area

Next, you need to scroll down a little and click to expand the ‘Server’ tab. This section shows your server’s system information, including its PHP version.

As you can see in the screenshot, our demo website uses PHP version 8.1.

Checking your server's PHP version in the WordPress Site Health page

What to Do Before Updating PHP in WordPress

As with any updates, you want to make sure your live site won’t experience any errors before making the changes official. For this reason, you need to do the following before updating your PHP version:

Update WordPress core, themes, and plugins – Doing this can ensure they can operate effectively with the new PHP. Must-have WordPress plugins from reputable developers will usually be readily compatible with newer versions of PHP.
Back up your website – Use a backup plugin like Duplicator to create a website backup in case of issues. You can easily restore your site to an error-free version if disaster strikes.
Create a staging site – We recommend trying to update your PHP in a staging environment so that any errors caused by the new PHP version won’t affect your live site.
Use the PHP Compatibility Checker plugin – Created by WP Engine, this plugin can identify potential issues that may come up from the new PHP version.

How to Update Your PHP Version in Bluehost

First, you need to log in to your Bluehost hosting account’s control panel and click on the ‘Websites’ tab in the left column.

After that, select the website whose PHP version you’d like to update, and click the ‘Settings’ button.

Now, go ahead and switch to the ‘Settings’ tab.

This is where you can see and configure the advanced settings of your WordPress blog or website.

Opening the Settings tab inside the Websites menu in Bluehost

What you need to do now is scroll down to the PHP Version section.

After that, click ‘Change’ next to your current PHP version.

Clicking the Change button in Bluehost to update a website's PHP version

Now, go ahead and select the PHP version you want to update to. Then, simply click the ‘Change’ button.

Bluehost will now start using the selected PHP version for your website.

Selecting a PHP version to update to in Bluehost

How to Update Your PHP Version in Hostinger

First, log in to your Hostinger account dashboard and switch to the ‘Websites’ tab.

From here, you need to click the ‘Manage’ button next to the website where you want to change the PHP version.

This will take you to that particular website’s dashboard.

Switching to the Websites tab in Hostinger and clicking the Manage button

Next, locate the ‘PHP Configuration’ tab under the Advanced menu from the left sidebar.

Hostinger will now show you available and supported PHP versions to choose from.

Select the PHP version you want to use and click the ‘Update’ button to save your settings.

A popup will appear asking you to confirm your website, blog, or online store’s PHP update.

Simply click ‘Confirm’ to continue.

Confirming a PHP version update in WordPress

How to Update Your PHP Version in SiteGround

If you are using SiteGround, then here is how you will update the PHP version of your WordPress website.

First, you need to log in to your SiteGround account dashboard.

After that, go to the ‘My websites and services’ section and click the ‘Manage’ button inside Websites.

Clicking the Manage button inside the SiteGround control panel

You will now arrive at the My Websites page.

Just click on the ‘Site Tools’ button under the website you want to update the PHP version in.

Clicking on Site Tools inside the SiteGround control panel

Next, you need to select the ‘PHP Manager’ menu inside the ‘Devs’ section from the left column.

From here, you can scroll down to the PHP Version tab and click the pencil button next to your PHP version.

Opening SiteGround's PHP Manager and clicking the pencil button there

This will bring up a popup. You first need to select ‘Change PHP version manually’ under the ‘Set PHP Version’ option.

After that, you will be able to select your PHP version from a dropdown menu.

Don’t forget to click on the ‘Confirm’ button to apply your changes.

How to Update Your PHP Version in HostGator

What you need to do first is log in to your HostGator hosting account dashboard and click on the ‘Websites’ section.

After that, click the ‘Settings’ button on the website whose PHP version you want to update.

Opening the Websites tab in HostGator and clicking the Settings button

Next, simply switch to the ‘Settings’ tab.

In this section, you can manage your website’s advanced settings.

Opening the Settings section in HostGator

At this stage, just scroll down to the PHP Version section.

Then, click ‘Change’ next to your current PHP version.

Clicking the Change button in the PHP Version section inside HostGator

You will see a popup asking you to select the PHP version you want to update to.

Once you’ve made your choice, just click the ‘Change’ button.

How to Update Your PHP Version in DreamHost

If you are a DreamHost user, you need to log in to your hosting account’s control panel. After that, navigate to the ‘Manage Websites’ tab from the left-side panel.

On the list of websites, just click the three-dot menu and choose ‘PHP Version.’

Opening the Manage Websites section and clicking PHP Version in DreamHost

You will be directed to the PHP settings page inside the control panel.

Go ahead and choose a PHP version from the dropdown menu. Then, click ‘Change PHP Version’ to continue with the update.

How to Update Your PHP Version in WP Engine

WP Engine is a managed WordPress hosting company, which means they automatically upgrade the PHP version for you. However, you can also manually upgrade and downgrade the PHP version for your websites.

Simply log in to your WP Engine dashboard. On the ‘My Sites’ page, click on the PHP version next to your selected website.

Clicking the PHP number link in WP Engine

This will bring you to your website’s Overview settings. Here, WP Engine has a feature where you can preview your website on the latest PHP version without actually changing the PHP version.

If you want to try it out, go ahead and click ‘Preview PHP …’

The PHP Test Driver feature in WP Engine

To actually update PHP in WP Engine, scroll down to the ‘Updates’ section.

Then, click on the PHP version number link.

Now, just choose the ‘Upgrade to PHP … ‘ option.

After that, click on the ‘Confirm’ button.

Confirming to update the PHP version in WP Engine

How to Update Your PHP Version in Other WordPress Hosting Providers

Most WordPress hosting providers organize their settings in a more or less similar way. You will most likely find the option to change a PHP version in the advanced settings of your cPanel or any other hosting control panel.

If you cannot find it, then you can check your provider’s knowledge base or contact their support team to change the PHP version of your website. For more information, you can check out our article on how to ask for WordPress support.

Changing PHP Versions in WordPress: Frequently Asked Questions

Now that we’ve discussed how to update your PHP version in WordPress, let’s cover some frequently asked questions about the topic.

What should you do after updating the PHP version?

After updating the PHP version for your WordPress website, you may want to ensure that everything is working as expected. We recommend visiting your website to see if there are any immediately noticeable issues.

After that, you can log in to the WordPress admin area of your website. Ensure your website uses the latest version of WordPress and all your plugins and themes are updated.

See our beginner’s guide on how to safely update WordPress for more information.

What do I do if a PHP update breaks my WordPress website?

It is unlikely that a PHP update will break a WordPress site. However, with the abundance of free and premium plugins, there is still a chance that a single line of poor code can result in any of the common WordPress errors.

First, you must ensure it is not a plugin or theme causing this error. To do that, you need to deactivate all your WordPress plugins and switch to a default WordPress theme.

If this does not solve your issue, then contact your web host’s support team. There is a good chance that the issue you are facing will already be on their radar, and they will be able to assist you.

If your web host is unable to help you out, then you can downgrade your PHP version using the methods described above.

We hope this article helped you learn how to update the PHP version of your WordPress site. You may also want to see our list of the fastest WordPress hosting providers on the market or our ultimate WordPress SEO guide to boost your search engine rankings.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Update Your PHP Version in WordPress (the RIGHT Way) first appeared on WPBeginner.

November 16, 2018

How to Start a Blog for Beginners – Hostgator Edition

Are you new to blogging and need some guidance? Just follow the steps below to start the process and get one step closer to sharing your knowledge with the world. Step 1: Get a Domain...

Why Choose Cheap WordPress Hosting?

How to Get the Best Cheap WordPress Hosting

1. Bluehost

2. HostGator

3. DreamHost

4. Hostinger

5. GreenGeeks

6. SiteGround

What Is the Best Cheap WordPress Hosting?

FAQs About WordPress Hosting

Expert Guides for WordPress Hosting

What is Domain Renewal?

Domain Name Renewal in Bluehost

Renewing Domain Name in Domain.com

Renew Domain Name in Hostinger

How to Renew Domain Name in SiteGround

Renewing a Domain Name in HostGator

Domain Name Renewal in Namecheap

How to Renew a Domain Name in GoDaddy

Renewing a Domain Name in WordPress.com

Bonus Tip: Transfer a Domain Name for Lower Rates

What Is a Web Server?

What Makes Up the Size of a Web Server?

How to Calculate the Web Server Size You Need

Shared Hosting Web Server Sizes

Managed WordPress Hosting Web Server Sizes

VPS Hosting Web Server Size

Dedicated or Enterprise Hosting Web Server Size

Frequently Asked Questions About Web Server Size

What Is WP Mail SMTP, and Why Do You Need It to Send WordPress Emails?

Hosting SMTP Server vs. Third-Party SMTP Server – Which One Should You Use?

Installing and Setting Up WP Mail SMTP

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on Bluehost

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on SiteGround

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on HostGator

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on DreamHost

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on InMotion Hosting

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on GoDaddy

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on iPage

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on GreenGeeks

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP on JustHost

Setting Up WP Mail SMTP With Third-Party Email Services

Ultimate List of Web Hosting Statistics

Global Web Hosting Services Market Size in 2022

Global Web Hosting Market Share in 2022

Domain Registration Statistics

Shared Hosting Stats (Including Average Cost of Web Hosting)

VPS Hosting Stats (Including Hosting Costs Per Month)

Dedicated Hosting Stats (Including Web Hosting Market Size)

Most Popular Web Server Software Stats

AWS Web Hosting Market Share

GoDaddy Hosting Market Share

Namecheap Pricing and Web Hosting Statistics

Hostinger Web Hosting Market Share

WP Engine Group (Managed WordPress Usage Statistics)

HostGator Web Hosting Statistics

Bluehost Pricing and Web Hosting Statistics

Shopify Hosting Stats

Squarespace Web Hosting Stats

What is Reseller Hosting and Who is it For?

What is the Best Reseller Hosting? (Expert Pick)

Why Update PHP Version in WordPress?

How to Check Your Current PHP Version in WordPress

What to Do Before Updating PHP in WordPress

How to Update Your PHP Version in Bluehost

How to Update Your PHP Version in Hostinger

How to Update Your PHP Version in SiteGround

How to Update Your PHP Version in HostGator

How to Update Your PHP Version in DreamHost

How to Update Your PHP Version in WP Engine

How to Update Your PHP Version in Other WordPress Hosting Providers

Changing PHP Versions in WordPress: Frequently Asked Questions