Recently, one of our users asked what the recommended server requirements are for running a WordPress website.
The best thing about WordPress is that it will work in almost any kind of environment. However, when you’re picking a hosting solution for your site, it’s important to check whether it meets the basic prerequisites or not.
In this article, we will share important WordPress server requirements you should know.
Why is it Important to Check Server Requirements?
All WordPress websites on the internet need a server to function. They are used to store and use website files, databases, media files, content, and other important data.
When it comes to running WordPress smoothly, there are some server requirements you should look into. Technically, WordPress will work in minimalist conditions, like on outdated versions of PHP or basic hardware, but it’s not ideal.
WordPress server plays a big role in your site’s performance. Limited server specifications can slow down your site, which can have a negative impact on user experience and keyword rankings.
It will also make it difficult to handle large spikes in traffic. If you run multiple WordPress plugins and third-party tools, then meeting server requirements is critical. Otherwise, you’ll risk breaking your site or experiencing sluggish performance.
That said, let’s look at the server requirements for WordPress. You can click the links below to jump ahead to any section:
To run WordPress, you will need to check some prerequisites. These include the PHP version, MySQL or MariaDB version, HTTPS support, web server type, storage space, and other hardware specifications.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these requirements.
1. Ensure the Server Supports Recommended PHP Version
WordPress currently requires PHP version 7.4 or higher to work smoothly. PHP is a programming language for creating dynamic interactive websites. It is open source and WordPress is written using PHP.
Just like any other programming language, there are many versions of PHP you can use. Each version receives updates and fixes for up to 2 years. While WordPress officially recommends PHP version 7.4, it no longer gets any security updates.
That’s why we would suggest using the latest version. If you already have a WordPress site, then it’s better to update the PHP version at the earliest.
This will protect your site from security vulnerabilities, bugs, malware, and hackers. Plus, it will improve performance by running processes much faster and reducing memory usage.
You can also check the PHP version of your server by going to Tools » Site Health from the WordPress dashboard. From here, switch to the ‘Info’ tab.
Next, you can scroll down to the ‘Server’ tab.
Go ahead and click the tab to expand the Server section and view the server’s system information along with the PHP version.
Besides that, you should also check the PHP memory allocated by the WordPress server. PHP memory is the amount of memory reserved for running PHP-based processes.
The standard PHP memory used by WordPress is 64MB, but this is often not high enough. If a task or process requires more memory to work, then it could lead to the WordPress memory exhausted error.
A simple fix is to increase the PHP memory by manually editing the wp-config.php file or .htaccess file. Or you can reach out to your web hosting provider and increase the limit.
2. Check for Suggested MySQL or MariaDB Versions
WordPress recommends MySQL version 5.7 or greater and MariaDB version 10.4 or higher to function.
MySQL and MariaDB are database management systems used by WordPress to store and retrieve blog information. You only need any one of the systems to install and use WordPress on a server.
You can easily access the databases from your hosting provider’s cPanel. For instance, simply use phpMyAdmin to access the MySQL database in your web browser.
However, when checking the WordPress server requirements, make sure that the database is stored on a solid-state drive (SSD). It is the fastest storage technology currently available and offers quick performance.
You should also see if the server offers automated database optimization and if there is an option for automated database backups.
3. Look for NGINX or Apache Web Server Software
The optimal web server software recommended by WordPress is NGINX or Apache. While it is not mandatory to run WordPress, using either software has certain advantages.
For instance, Apache is an open-source server software that is fast, reliable, and secure. It powers almost 31% of web servers and is highly customizable. You can use different extensions and modules to meet the needs of any environment.
On the other hand, NGINX is newer and faster and requires fewer resources to run than Apache. It runs more than 34% of web servers and is developed to address performance issues. However, it doesn’t offer the flexibility that you’d get with Apache.
When looking for a web server for your WordPress site, either Apache or NGINX is a great choice.
PRO TIP: Many users have had great success with Litespeed server software as well. If you’re interested in checking it out, we recommend using Hostinger because they have optimized Litespeed hosting for as low as $2.99 per month.
4. Support for HTTPS by WordPress Server
HTTPS, or hypertext transfer protocol secure, is an encryption method that secures the connection between your server and your user’s browser. It is an extension of HTTP, and all web addresses begin with HTTPS.
HTTPS makes it harder for hackers to eavesdrop on your connection, and it helps make your site more secure. Plus, it also sends a positive signal to search engines like Google and helps improve your WordPress SEO.
That’s why it’s important to check if your WordPress server supports HTTPS and offers SSL certificates.
When choosing a WordPress server, you should also look into some basic hardware specifications.
That’s because a web server is actually a physical server that stores and shares websites with people on the internet. If the hardware requirements are limited, then you could run into storage issues, poor performance, and other WordPress errors.
Some important hardware requirements include checking the disk space available for storage, RAM (random access memory), and CPU (central processing unit).
Storage (Disk Space) – The minimum disk space requirement for WordPress is 1 GB. However, we suggest looking for servers that offer at least 10 GB or more storage. WordPress will use disk space to store website files, images, videos, plugins, themes, and other data. So, as your site grows, it is better to have enough space to keep your website running smoothly. Plus, look for SSD drives as they are faster than the standard HDD (hard disk drives).
Memory (RAM) – It acts as a link between your server’s hard disk and processor. RAM speeds up server processes by temporarily storing data required by the CPU from the hard disk. WordPress itself only requires at least 512 MB of RAM, but look for a web server that has an option for expansion. As your site grows, you’ll need more RAM to improve performance.
Processing Power (CPU) – The processor or CPU is the brain of your web server, and it controls how many processes can happen at a given time. Its performance is usually measured in gigahertz (GHz) or the number of cores available. WordPress requires only a 1.0 GHz CPU to work normally. However, more powerful processors will have multiple cores and deliver faster performance.
6. Check Your WordPress Server Location and CDN Option
The physical distance between your site’s server location and the user’s location can affect the loading speed of your website. If a user is located near your server, then your site will load faster compared to someone living further away.
It is a network of servers spread across the globe, and they store static versions of your site. When a user wants to view your content, the closest server in the CDN will instantly load the website.
Even though it’s not a technical server requirement, when you’re looking at hosting companies for your site’s needs and requirements, there is an added advantage if the one you choose offers a CDN.
Now that you know some important WordPress server specifications, the next step is to pick a hosting solution that meets these requirements.
In our 16+ years of experience, we’ve tested multiple website hosts. And to help you out, here are some of the best hosting providers you can choose from.
Bluehost is the oldest web host in the market, and they’re an official WordPress-recommended hosting provider.
It offers a free domain for 1 year, a free SSL certificate, and a 1-click WordPress installation with every plan. Plus, you get SSD web storage space starting from 10 GB and going all the way up to 100 GB.
Besides that, it offers free CDN with every pricing plan. If you opt for dedicated hosting, then you get a minimum of 4 CPU cores (2.3 GHz) and 1TB HDD storage.
SiteGround is one of the most popular and highest-rated hosting providers. They provide a unique in-house speed and security solution for WordPress.
With SiteGround, you get free WordPress installation, 10 GB of web storage space that goes up to 40 GB, a free SSL certificate for HTTPS support, free CDN, and more.
It easily meets the minimum WordPress server requirements and offers advanced solutions. For instance, it automatically updates the PHP version once it is stable, and lets you create unlimited MySQL databases, offers SSD storage, and more.
Hostinger is one of the fastest WordPress hosting services in the industry. It offers automatic 1-click WordPress install, free CDN, free domain name, and 24/7 customer support.
The best part about Hostinger is that the minimum storage space it offers is 100 GB, which goes up to 200 GB. Plus, it offers the fastest SSD technology currently available.
Besides that, you get free SSL, unlimited bandwidth, regular backups, unlimited databases, and multiple PHP version support. Their shared plans also run on Litespeed web server software, a popular alternative to Apache and NGINX.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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
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.
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
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
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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
Do you want to migrate your WordPress site but are not sure if everything is ready?
Website migration can be complicated as there are many things to look after. Having a checklist can help ensure that you’ve followed all the steps. This also prevents multiple errors.
In this article, we will share the ultimate website migration checklist and show the steps you need to do.
Here is a quick overview of what we will cover in this guide. You can click the links below to jump ahead to any section:
You can migrate many different things on a WordPress site, including upgrading to new technology, website redesign, restructuring content, or moving to a new server or location.
There are many reasons for WordPress migration. You might want to move to a new content management system (CMS) for better performance and security. Or you’d like to switch hosting servers to scale your site and business.
For example, you’d like to migrate your site from Blogger, Shopify, Squarespace, Joomla, Gumroad, and other platforms to WordPress.
Migration can also take place when your site is going through a redesign for a better user experience. Or you’re updating the site structure and navigation. Moving your site from HTTP to HTTPS also requires careful WordPress migration.
Another reason for migrating your WordPress site is changing your domain name. Let’s say you’re rebranding and going to use another website name. Then, you’ll need to migrate your site.
That said, let’s see how migration can affect your site’s rankings in search engine page results.
How Does Migration Impact WordPress SEO?
WordPress migration is a major change that happens on your website, and it can impact your site’s SEO (search engine optimization).
If done correctly, migration can have a positive impact. For example, switching to a faster hosting service can improve WordPress performance and help boost keyword rankings.
However, the slightest mistake can lead to multiple SEO-related errors like broken links, lost rankings, and missing content.
This is where the website migration checklist comes in handy. You can go through it step by step to ensure everything is working properly.
Let’s look at each step in the website migration checklist.
Tip: Website migration has many moving parts and it can be tricky for beginners. If you don’t want to worry about migrating a website yourself, then you can hire Seahawk. They offer a wide range of WordPress services, including website migration. Seahawk helps transfer any website to WordPress bug-free and ensure smooth functionality.
Website Migration Checklist: Preparing Your Site for Migration
Before you can start website migration, there are several factors to take into account.
Here are a few checklist items you should look into prior to moving your WordPress site.
1. Plan Your Migration and Inform Your Users
When you decide to migrate your WordPress website, it is important to plan things in advance and decide on a time to move your site.
To start, you can set objectives. For example, simply ask why you’re moving your website and if everything is ready.
Next, you’ll need to decide on a particular time to move website assets. Ideally, it should be done when the traffic is low. There will be a small outage when you migrate the site, so there is bound to be a drop in traffic.
That’s why it is best practice to avoid website migration during peak traffic times. You can use a plugin like MonsterInsights to monitor website traffic to find the best time to perform the migration.
Once you’ve settled on migration time, it is also best to inform your users. This way, your audience will know beforehand about your site being unavailable. It will help build trust and credibility.
To inform users about the migration, you can send an email, show a popup notice on the website, or send push notifications.
2. Put Your WordPress Site in Maintenance Mode
Before you start the migration, it is important to put the website in maintenance mode. This will inform visitors that your site is down temporarily and will be restored shortly.
There are several ways to put your site in maintenance mode.
You can use SeedProd to create a custom maintenance mode page and enable it on your site when you’re ready for migration.
SeedProd is the best WordPress theme and landing page builder. It offers pre-built templates and comes with a drag-and-drop builder. Plus, there are several customization options to edit the maintenance mode.
Another important website migration checklist item is making a fresh backup of your site. This way, if anything goes wrong during the migration process, you’ll have an updated copy of your website.
WordPress backups will protect your critical data and help restore the site in case there is a failure during migration.
There are several ways to create a backup of your site. The easiest way is by using a plugin like Duplicator. It is the best WordPress backup plugin and is very easy to use. Simply create a new package, select the storage location, and choose files to backup.
You can also create backups manually by using the cPanel in your WordPress hosting, backup databases, or using an FTP client to access site files.
Next, you should check the website’s SEO health before migration. This will help reveal any issues that may arise during the migration process.
For example, an audit can reveal issues like your pages are missing SEO titles or if there are images without alt attributes. These errors can hurt your SEO when the website is migrated.
You can perform an SEO audit inside your WordPress dashboard by using the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin. It is the best WordPress SEO plugin that helps conduct a complete SEO audit and shows critical issues that need to be resolved.
As an alternative, you can also use the WPBeginner SEO Analyzer tool. It is 100% free to use and helps find critical errors on your site.
5. Disable Caching, Firewall, and Redirect Plugins
Another important step in the migration checklist is to disable any caching, firewall, and redirection plugins. These plugins and tools can cause issues during the migration process.
For instance, you may see 403 Forbidden errors or 500 Internal Server errors if these tools are not disabled. Similarly, a firewall plugin can cause errors by blocking requests made during the migration process for site files.
In WordPress, you can head to Plugins » Installed Plugins and then simply click the ‘Deactivate’ option under these plugins.
6. Prevent Search Engines from Indexing Your New Site
If you are moving your site to a new domain or a new content management system (like WordPress), then you should ensure that search engines don’t index the new site before the migration.
This way, Google and other search engines won’t show both versions on the search results.
In WordPress, you can go to Settings » Reading and then uncheck the ‘Search Engine Visibility’ checkbox.
Besides that, you can also stop search engines from indexing specific pages and posts by using an SEO plugin like AIOSEO.
It offers Robots.txt settings for each content, where you can enable the ‘No Index’ option.
Website Migration Checklist: Starting the Migration Process
Now that you’ve prepared your website for migration, the next step is to start the migration process.
Here are checklist steps to follow during the migration stage.
7. Ensure Your Domain is Pointing to the New Web Host
If you are moving your website to a new web hosting service, then you’ll need to point the domain to the new host.
To do that, you will need to edit the DNS or Domain Name System records. These records help connect your domain name to the new servers that will be hosting your site.
Now, the steps for updating the DNS settings will depend on the hosting provider or domain registrar you are using.
Many WordPress hosting services will have WordPress pre-installed when you migrate a website.
However, if your hosting plan doesn’t come with WordPress, then you can easily add it.
Do note that the steps to install WordPress will depend on the hosting services you are using. You can also use auto-installers or manually install it through cPanel or an FTP client.
9. Set Up and Test Redirects when Migrating to New Domain
Next, you’ll need to set up redirection if you’ve switched to a new domain.
This way, when a user enters the old website URL, they’ll be redirected to the new one automatically.
A simple way of setting up 301 redirects in WordPress is by using All in One SEO (AIOSEO). It offers a powerful redirection manager that you can use to set up redirects and also perform full site redirects.
10. Make Sure the New Site is Indexable and Crawlable
As the migration process nears an end, you should remove any blockades that can stop users and search engine crawlers from accessing your new website.
For instance, if you enabled noindex or any other option to prevent search engines from finding your new domain, then you should remove it. This way, search engines can crawl and index your site in the search results.
One way of checking if your site is being crawled is by using Google Search Console.
It offers a Crawl Stats report that shows crawl requests from your site. If you see a drop, then check your site’s settings that might be stopping your pages from being crawled.
Website Migration Checklist: Monitor and Test Migration
Once the website migration process is complete, you will need to monitor the changes and see their impact.
Here are some website migration checklist items to keep a lookout for after moving your website.
11. Test the Overall Functionality of Your Site
After the migration process is complete, you should ensure that everything is working properly on your site.
For instance, if you redesigned your site, then you should see if all the buttons, links, navigation menus, and other elements are functioning properly.
Besides that, you can also fill out different WordPress forms to see if all the fields are working. Similarly, try leaving a comment under blog posts to check its functionality.
If you have an online store, then try adding products to your cart, go through the checkout process, view each product page, and click the links to check everything.
12. Check for 404 Errors
One of the most common errors you will notice is the 404 error after migrating a website.
404 error occurs when a user is unable to reach a web page because it doesn’t exist. This happens when you migrate a site to a new CMS or hosting service, and the old domain no longer works.
A simple way to track 404 errors is by using the AIOSEO plugin. Its redirection manager lets you track 404 errors and quickly fix them by setting up redirection.
Next website migration checklist item to see the performance of your WordPress site. This is particularly useful if you moved to a new hosting service for faster loading sites.
For example, you should see an improvement in the speed if you’ve upgraded to the fastest hosting provider.
There are different website speed test tools you can use to get started. For instance, Google offers a free PageSpeed Insights tool to test your site’s speed.
Once you’ve completed the migration process, it is a best practice to run an SEO audit of your website again.
This way, you will catch any issues that might have been raised during the migration.
For example, if there are any broken links that need fixing, your content is missing SEO titles, or there are other technical issues to look into.
15. Track Keyword Positions, Traffic, and Conversions
After moving a site to a new CMS or web hosting platform, you should check the keyword rankings, traffic, and conversions of the new site.
Tracking keyword positions will help you see whether there is a boost in rankings or a drop.
There are many SEO rank tracker tools in the market. For example, you can use Semrush to monitor keyword rankings. The SEO tool shows changes in position along with other important metrics.
16. Ensure Your Old Hosting is Closed
Now that the migration is complete, one final checklist item to cross off is to close the old domain hosting account. This way, Google and other search engines will know that this is the new site to index.
However, make sure to set up 301 redirects and ensure they are working before closing the old hosting account. If any redirect is not functioning properly, then you can quickly fix it.
Once you’re happy with everything, go ahead and close the old hosting account.
Your site will now be migrated, and all the content will be visible and available for users.
Do you want to know how your site will perform in case of a traffic surge?
Stress testing a WordPress website will show how your website will perform under different situations. This way, you can ensure fast performance and resolve any issues.
In this article, we will show you how to stress test a WordPress website.
What is a WordPress Stress Test?
A WordPress stress test lets you see how your website will perform in high-traffic situations. It helps you prepare for spikes in traffic and see how your site handles the load.
Usually, the amount of traffic a website can withstand is determined by your WordPress hosting plan. However, stress testing helps find these limits and uncovers issues that might occur due to high traffic.
For instance, a sudden spike in traffic can cause your site to crash and utilize all the server resources. Similarly, you can also see which WordPress plugins, themes, code snippets, and images malfunction in extreme conditions.
With stress testing, you can easily fix any issues or correct a setting that might be misconfigured. As a result, you’ll offer a better user experience and be prepared for high-traffic situations.
That said, let’s see how to stress test a WordPress website.
Stress Testing a WordPress Website
When it comes to measuring the performance of your WordPress website, you’ll find lots of speed test tools, like PageSpeed Insights, Pingdom, or GTmetrix.
While these tools help find out how fast your site loads, they don’t tell you how a website will perform under high traffic.
To stress a WordPress site, we’ll be using Loader.io for this tutorial. It is a free tool that simulates high-traffic situations and performs a series of tests.
Sign Up for a Free Loader.io Account
First, you’ll need to visit the Loader.io website and create a free account. Simply click the ‘Sign Up Now’ button to get started.
After that, you will see different pricing plans offered by the tool.
Go ahead and select the ‘Free’ pricing plan.
Next, you can enter details to sign up for a new account.
Loader.io will ask for a company name, email address, and password. Once you’ve added these details, simply check the reCaptcha box and click the ‘Sign Up’ button.
You also receive a verification email. Simply check your inbox and click the link in the email to verify your account.
Adding a New Host to Loader.io
After that, you can set up a target host by clicking the ‘+ New Host’ button.
Next, you’ll need to enter your domain name.
Once that’s done, simply click the ‘Next: Verify’ button.
Next, you will need to verify your domain. You can do this by verifying over HTTP or DNS.
For this tutorial, we will use the ‘Verify over HTTP’ option and download the verification file. Go ahead and click the ‘download’ link and save the file on your computer.
After downloading the file, you’ll need to upload it to your site’s root folder. This is usually called the ‘public_html’ folder.
After uploading the file, you can return to the Loader.io website and click the ‘Verify’ button.
Upon verification, you should see a success message.
Next, you’ll need to click the ‘New Test’ button and set up a stress test for your website.
Configuring Your Stress Test Settings
On the next screen, you can change the settings for your stress test. You can start by adding a name for your test.
After that, you’ll need to select the test type. Loader.io offers 3 test types, which include:
Clients per test – In this, you can test how your site will work when a specific number of visitors visit your site for a specified amount of time. You can set the number of clients and the duration.
Clients per second – This scenario will test your site for a specified number of client requests per second.
Maintain client load – Under this test type, a constant client count is maintained throughout the duration of the test. It stress tests your site when there is a constant load for a specific time.
We would recommend running multiple tests using each of these types. This will help uncover any issues that your site might encounter under different scenarios.
If you scroll down, then you’ll see Client Requests settings. For general testing, we recommend using the default settings and you don’t need to change anything.
Now, you’re ready to stress test your WordPress site. Go ahead and click the ‘Run test’ button.
Analyze Your Stress Test Results
Loader.io will run the stress test for your website and compile the results. You can then analyze them to see how your site performs under high-traffic situations.
For instance, you can start by looking at the average response time. The lower the response time, the faster your website’s loading speed.
In our testing, the average response time was 590 milliseconds or 0.59 seconds when 250 clients visited the site for 1 minute.
This is fairly decent reading and shows that the website didn’t slow down considerably under high load.
However, the maximum response time recorded was 10489 ms or 10.489 seconds. You can now look at the graph below to see when the response time jumps compared to the number of clients.
For instance, our testing showed that there was a spike when the number of clients exceeded 150 and the maximum response time was seen when the number of clients almost reached 200.
Using these insights, you will have a rough idea of how your site will perform when a certain number of people visit it.
You can now repeat this step and run multiple tests using different scenarios. For instance, try increasing the number of clients, testing the duration, and use different test types.
Tips to Improve Response Time & Boost Performance
If WordPress load tests show slow performance under high-traffic situations, then you can try different things to speed up your site.
Here are some tips for improving response time and handling high traffic load:
1. Upgrade Your WordPress Hosting Plan – If you’re using a hosting plan that has limits on the number of visitors per month, then consider upgrading to a higher hosting plan. This way, you’ll get more server resources and your site can handle extra traffic when there is a spike. You can also see our detailed comparison of the fastest WordPress hosting services to learn more.
2. Use a Caching Plugin – A caching plugin reduces the load on your site’s server and helps improve performance. It serves a static version of the site to users instead of going through the entire process of requesting a webpage. As a result, your site loads faster and you provide a better user experience.
3. Set Up a Content Delivery Network (CDN) – A CDN is a network of servers that deliver cached static content to users based on their location. It helps lower the load on your site server and improve the response time.
4. Optimize Your Images and Videos – Unoptimized images can lead to performance issues on your site and increase load on the server. To start, you can compress large image files to lower response time. If you’re hosting videos on your site, then consider uploading them to YouTube or Vimeo and embedding them in your content.
5. Remove Unused Plugins and Themes – If you have WordPress plugins and themes that are not in use or are resource-heavy, then consider removing them. They can slow down your WordPress site by loading unused scripts and utilizing a lot of server resources.
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.
Here is a quick overview of the topics we will cover in this guide:
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Are you looking for the fastest WordPress hosting?
Fast hosting can help your website load more quickly. Fast-loading pages improve user experience, increase your pageviews, and help with your WordPress SEO.
In this article, we will share our performance test results to help you find the fastest WordPress hosting for your website.
Why Fast WordPress Hosting Is Important
Do you want a fast WordPress website? One way to do that is to choose a reputable WordPress hosting provider that is optimized for speed.
The most important performance indicator is your website’s speed. It not only affects user experience, but it can also hurt your site’s search engine optimization (SEO). Users may leave a slow website before it even loads.
According to a case study that involved Amazon, Google, and other larger sites, a 1-second delay in website speed can reduce your conversions by 7%. A delay of 3 seconds can cost you 50% of your traffic.
On top of that, Google and other search engines penalize slower websites by pushing them down in the search results.
This means slow sites get less traffic, while a fast WordPress website will help you get more traffic, subscribers, and revenue.
How We Tested Website Performance for the Fastest WordPress Hosting Providers
One reason that WPBeginner is the most trusted WordPress resource site is that our reviews are based on actual data and experience.
To find the fastest WordPress hosting providers, we actually signed up with each provider and thoroughly tested their services.
We wanted to accurately measure performance across all WordPress hosting companies, so we created the same sample WordPress site on each hosting provider and used the default WordPress theme.
Then, we used independent third-party tools to test the performance of our sample website on each hosting provider:
We used Pingdom, an industry-leading website speed test service, to get a performance grade for each provider and measure how long it took a page to load.
We used the Load Impact (k6) service to send virtual users (VU) to each website to see how the hosting server would handle multiple connections at once, like peak traffic times of up to 100 visitors at once.
We used Bitcatcha to test server response times across many geographical locations, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Brazil, India, Australia, and Japan. This helps us decide which hosting company is best for each geographical location.
Now that you know our testing process, let’s compare the performance of different hosting companies to see which is the fastest WordPress hosting company on the market.
Hostinger is a popular web hosting provider with a reliable and user-friendly platform to launch websites. They offer affordable shared hosting plans with great customer support, a free domain name, a free SSL certificate, and more.
Here are the Pingdom speed testing tool results for Hostinger.
Our test site loading speed was a fraction of a second at 757 milliseconds, which is great. But keep in mind that this test was performed when the website had no traffic. Let’s take a look at how that speed is affected by more visitors.
k6 Load Impact Test
Here are the k6 performance overview results for Hostinger. To see how more visitors would impact the site’s speed, we gradually built up to 50 unique visitors at once.
As you can see, Hostinger performed really well on this test. As we increased virtual users (purple line), the response time (blue line) remained steady, with an average of 66 milliseconds.
This means that if you have a small business website, an online store, or a growing blog, your Hostinger website will easily handle sudden traffic spikes.
Bitcatcha Server Response Time
The web server’s response time will vary depending on how far your visitors are from the server. The Bitcatcha test measures how fast the Hostinger server actually responds from different locations around the world without loading the web page.
You can see that the response times were great across the board. They were particularly fast in Europe and North America.
Hostinger Pros and Cons
Hostinger is a robust platform to host your website. Now that you have seen their performance test results, you might like to see some of their other pros and cons.
Hostinger is a great option for beginners who want to start a website without spending too much money. Their low-price shared hosting options offer good value for money with great performance and an extremely easy-to-use control panel.
Hostinger Pricing Plans
Hostinger offers many hosting plans with different features starting at $2.69/month. These plans include shared hosting, eCommerce hosting, VPS hosting, cloud hosting, a website builder, and more.
DreamHost is a popular, award-winning hosting company and one of WordPress.org’s officially recommended hosts. Their plans include automatic daily backups, a free SSL certificate, a free domain name, WordPress privacy features, and more.
Here are the Pingdom speed testing tool results for DreamHost.
Our test site loaded in less than two seconds, which is good. This test was done during low traffic, so let’s now see how DreamHost responds during peak traffic times.
k6 Load Impact Test
Here are the k6 performance overview results for DreamHost. We built up to 25 unique virtual visitors at once to see how the server would handle more requests and connections at the same time.
While our site remained available throughout the test, the response time fluctuated as users increased. The average response time was 2,343 milliseconds.
This poor result happened because we turned off DreamHost’s pre-installed WordPress caching solution. So, we tried enabling a caching plugin, and the stress test result improved dramatically. Notice how much lower the light blue line is in the graph below.
This time, our test site handled 40 requests per second (6,600 requests total), and the average response time was a fast 255 milliseconds.
This means that WordPress blogs, small business websites, and eCommerce stores hosted on Dreamhost can easily handle sudden traffic spikes.
Bitcatcha Server Response Time
Next, we used Bitcatcha to test our Dreamhost test site’s response time from different geographic locations.
DreamHost’s response times remained consistent around the world and were fastest in North America and Europe.
DreamHost Pros and Cons
DreamHost has been around for 26 years and is known for making web hosting easy. Now that you have seen their performance test results, you might like to see some other pros and cons.
DreamHost is highly rated for their fast and reliable hosting, which is great for bloggers, online store owners, developers, and web designers. They have won many awards and get excellent reviews from their customers. But they may not be the right choice if you need a lot of help getting started.
DreamHost Pricing Plans
DreamHost’s shared hosting plans start at $2.59 per month (for a 1-year billing period). You can also pay monthly for the Shared Starter plan, which costs $4.95 per month.
WP Engine specializes in VIP managed WordPress hosting, which is an ideal choice for people looking for hassle-free, premium WordPress hosting. They provide automatic backups, security updates, caching, WordPress security, and more.
Here are the Pingdom speed testing tool results for WP Engine.
Our WP Engine test site loaded in just over half a second (656 milliseconds) without any performance optimizations on our end. This is a good result.
k6 Load Impact Test
Next, we tested how WP Engine servers respond under peak traffic using a tool called k6. Here are the results as we gradually built the test up to 50 unique visitors at once.
As you can see, our test WP Engine website maintained an incredible response rate throughout the test, with an average response time of 47 milliseconds. It performed really well with only minor spikes.
Bitcatcha Server Response Time
The Bitcatcha test measures how fast a server responds from different locations around the world. Here are the results for WP Engine:
WP Engine’s server response time was fastest on the east coast of the United States (29 milliseconds), and even its slowest speed of 237 milliseconds in Mumbai is very fast at less than one-quarter of a second.
WP Engine Pros and Cons
WP Engine offers fast servers, security, and peace of mind that users need from a managed WordPress host. Now that you have seen their performance test results, you might like to see some of their other pros and cons.
Pros:
Fast loading times
24/7 expert WordPress support
Advanced security tools to protect your website against DDoS attacks, SQL injections, brute force attacks, and more
WP Engine doesn’t allow you to install some WordPress plugins
Why We Chose WP Engine
WP Engine can be a great option if you are looking for a completely hassle-free web host for your WordPress site. Their advanced features will save you time, and there is plenty of room to scale as your traffic increases.
WP Engine Pricing Plans
WP Engine only offers managed WordPress hosting, and 5 different levels are available, starting at $13/month and going up to $145/month.
SiteGround is one of the most recommended WordPress hosting companies, and we use them ourselves on WPBeginner. Among other features, they allow customers to choose between 6 different datacenters worldwide.
Here are the Pingdom speed testing tool results for SiteGround.
Our SiteGround test site loaded in 417 milliseconds, which is less than half a second. This speed is incredible, but the website had no traffic during this test. Let’s see how more visitors will affect the speed.
k6 Load Impact Test
To test how SiteGround servers would respond to increased traffic, we used a tool called k6 to gradually send up to 50 users to our test website.
Here are the results:
This test shows that SiteGround is a good choice if you are looking for a really fast website. It performed consistently throughout the test without any hiccups and an average response time of 107 milliseconds.
This is partly because of some of the innovations they use. For example, most of their servers are hosted on the Google Cloud Platform, and they have a custom plugin for optimization called SG Optimizer.
Bitcatcha Server Response Time We also ran a Bitcatcha test to see the response time around the world. Here are the results:
The server responded in just a fraction of a second in the United States, making SiteGround a great choice if your target audience is mostly in North America.
It responded quickly in other locations as well. Plus, SiteGround lets you choose a data center closer to your target audience so you can get the best response times in a particular region.
SiteGround Pros and Cons
We found SiteGround to be fast and reliable. Here are some of their other pros and cons.
Pros:
Speedy servers powered by Google Cloud
Excellent customer support
1-click WordPress install
Free domain name, SSL certificate, CDN, and website backups
SiteGround offers fast and reliable web hosting with great customer support. They have hosting plans for every budget, and each plan comes with super-fast servers and the option to pick your datacenter.
SiteGround Pricing Plans
SiteGround’s shared hosting packages are available in three levels to match different budgets. The Startup plan is limited to one website and costs $2.99/month. The GrowBig plan costs $4.99/month, and the GoGeek plan costs $7.99/month. These plans offer unlimited websites.
WPBeginner users get up to an 83% discount and free SSL with our SiteGround coupon code.
GreenGeeks is a web hosting provider whose goal is to be as environmentally friendly as possible. Their hosting plans also offer great performance, managed updates, a choice of 5 datacenters, and more.
Here are the Pingdom speed testing tool results for GreenGeeks.
Without additional traffic, our test site loaded in about half a second (646 milliseconds), which is great. Next, we ran a k6 stress test to see how extra traffic affects the site performance.
k6 Load Impact Test
We used the k6 tool to measure how GreenGeeks performs during peak traffic, gradually building up to 50 unique visitors.
Here are the results:
GreenGeeks performed well under this stress test. Our site remained responsive, and the response time remained steady. There were minor fluctuations as the number of users increased.
When you install WordPress, GreenGeeks automatically installs the Litespeed cache plugin to speed up your website. However, we disabled the cache when we ran our tests.
Bitcatcha Server Response Time
We also tested GreenGeeks’ response time around the world using Bitcatcha. Here are the results:
Our test GreenGeeks site responded quickly for visitors in North America. It was slower in other parts of the world, such as India and the Asia Pacific region, but these times are still quite fast.
GreenGeeks Pros and Cons
GreenGeeks is affordable, and their plans include plenty of useful features. Now that you have seen their performance test results, you might like to see some pros and cons.
Built-in performance tools, including LiteSpeed caching
Cons:
Their phone support isn’t available 24/7
Why We Chose GreenGeeks
GreenGeeks is the most eco-friendly web hosting. It is a good hosting solution for anyone who is just starting out. For higher traffic volumes, you may need to upgrade to a high-performance plan or move to a managed WordPress hosting provider.
GreenGeeks Pricing Plans
GreenGeeks has a wide range of hosting plans for customers of every size, starting at $2.95/month.
Rocket.net is a managed WordPress hosting company offering super-fast and fully managed WordPress hosting solutions. Their plans come with a custom, user-friendly hosting dashboard, a CDN, automated backups, and more.
Here are the Pingdom speed testing tool results for Rocket.net.
Our test website loaded in 588 ms, which is just over half a second.
k6 Load Impact Test
We then used the k6 tool to test how Rocket.net would hold up under traffic spikes. We slowly increased the number of virtual users to 100, sending multiple page requests.
This is an excellent result. Our test site responded quickly, regardless of the number of users and page requests. It also had an average response time of 13.91 milliseconds.
Bitcatcha Server Response Time
Next, we used Bitcatcha to measure response times for Rocket.net from different geographic locations.
These results are incredibly fast. Our test site responded in just a couple of milliseconds for all locations.
That’s because Rocket.net uses a CDN and cloud edge network. Users are sent to the closest server for the fastest response time.
Rocket.net Pros and Cons
Rocket.net offers a fast and reliable platform to host your website. Now that you have seen their performance test results, here are some of their other pros and cons.
Pros:
Very fast servers
Excellent customer support
1-click WordPress install
Free SSL certificate and CDN
WordPress staging tools
Integrated firewall and WordPress security features
Cons:
No free domain
Why We Chose Rocket.net
Rocket.net’s servers are fast and highly optimized for WordPress websites. You also get peace of mind with enhanced security, automatic updates, and knowledgeable support. This is why we recommend Rocket.net as one of our best choices for a managed WordPress hosting provider.
Rocket.net Pricing Plans
Rocket.net offers 4 levels of managed WordPress hosting plans starting at $30/month (billed annually).
WPBeginner users can get the best pricing using our Rocket.net coupon.
HostGator is one of the largest and most popular hosting companies in the world. They offer all kinds of hosting plans, including shared, managed, and VPS hosting.
Here are the Pingdom speed testing tool results for HostGator.
Our test site loaded in less than a second. This is a great result without traffic, so we also ran a k6 stress test to see how extra users affect our site’s performance.
k6 Load Impact Test
We sent up to 50 users at once to our test site using the k6 tool to see how HostGator performs under load. Here are the results:
The average response time of 132 milliseconds is particularly good for a shared hosting account.
Bitcatcha Server Response Time
Response time is also affected by how far your visitors are from the server. We ran a Bitcatcha test to measure response time from 10 locations around the world.
In the United States, our HostGator testing site responded in just 26 milliseconds. Times from other locations were also fast, and the slowest speed in India was still a respectable 261 milliseconds.
You can be confident that a HostGator website will load quickly around the world.
HostGator Pros and Cons
HostGator has grown quickly due to their great shared hosting plans, reliable web hosting, and quality customer service. Here are some of their pros and cons.
Pros:
Reliable web hosting
Free domain and SSL certificate
Free business email address
1-click WordPress install
45-day money-back guarantee
Cons:
Higher monthly pricing
HostGator uses a lot of aggressive upselling tactics
Over 2 million customers trust HostGator. They offer a variety of fast hosting plans that fit all budgets and requirements, as well as the user-friendly tools you will need to build a website.
HostGator Pricing Plans
HostGator plans include shared hosting, VPS hosting, cloud hosting, reseller hosting, and dedicated hosting. The Hatchling plan starts at $2.56 per month and allows you to host only one website.
Bluehost is one of the biggest web hosting companies in the world and an official WordPress-recommended hosting provider. They are a great option for beginners, and their budget-friendly plans are suitable for all kinds of websites.
Here are the Pingdom speed testing tool results for Bluehost.
Our test site loaded in about a second. However, this test was performed when the site had little traffic.
k6 Load Impact Test
We then used the k6 tool to test how Bluehost servers respond to increased traffic. We gradually sent up to 50 visitors to the site to see how it would handle increased requests from multiple connections at once.
You can see that the blue server load time line remained stable even though traffic and page requests increased. There was an average response time of 135 milliseconds.
Bitcatcha Server Response Time
We also used the Bitcatcha server response test to see how the server response time varies around the world.
The fastest response times were for users in the United States and Canada. In other parts of the world, the time was higher, but still acceptable.
Note that this test was performed with a Bluehost server in the United States. If your users come from other parts of the world, then you can change the server location to improve the response time.
Bluehost Pros and Cons
Bluehost is reliable, fast, and affordable, with friendly 24/7 customer support. Now that you have seen the Bluehost performance test results, you can check out their pros and cons.
Pros:
Affordable hosting prices
Free domain name
Free CDN + SSL certificate
Great customer support
Officially recommended by WordPress
1-click WordPress install
Cons:
Higher domain renewal price
Why We Chose Bluehost
Bluehost is often ranked the #1 web hosting provider by many websites. They offer a wide range of hosting options with tons of features that help you easily build your website. All their hosting plans include expert 24/7 customer support from knowledgeable staff. Most importantly, they offer affordable starter plans that fit any budget requirement.
Bluehost Pricing Plans
Bluehost offers a shared hosting package suitable for starter websites. Their shared plan is available at 4 different levels starting at just $1.99/month.
WPBeginner users can get the best price using our exclusive Bluehost coupon code.
Which Is the Fastest WordPress Hosting Provider?
Now that we’ve shared our performance test results for each hosting provider, let’s take a look at which services are the fastest.
Page Load Time
Pingdom assigned a performance grade to each service to give you an idea of how optimized the hosting is for speed. The grade is based on how well the service implemented its recommended performance optimization strategies.
Half the services in this review were given an A, and the rest a B.
A more important metric is the page load time. Here, SiteGround was quickest, with the page loading in just 417 milliseconds.
Most other services had loading times of less than a second, which is very good.
Response Time During Peak Times
The page load times above were tested during low-traffic periods. So, we also tested how each provider’s response time changed when we sent multiple users to the site.
Note that this test didn’t time how long it took the page to load, just how long it took until the server could respond. It also measured how that response time changed as we sent more and more users.
Here are the average response times for each provider during our stress test.
Rocket.net performed especially well in the stress test, and the other services maintained a stable load during the test.
Response Time Around the World
We also tested each provider’s response times from different locations around the world. That’s because the response time will be slower the further your users are away from the company’s web servers.
Here are the response times (measured in milliseconds) for each provider from 8 locations around the world.
Rocket.net recorded blazing-fast speeds around the world.
SiteGround and Bluehost are good options anywhere in the world because you can choose a data center location where most of your users are.
Besides these hosting providers, if most of your visitors are in the United States, then your best options include DreamHost, HostGator, and WP Engine.
Your visitors in Europe will have the fastest experience with Rocket.net and Hostinger, and the Asia Pacific users will enjoy the fastest speeds with Rocket.net.
Based on our performance tests, these are all good choices for fast hosting.
However, if website speed and performance are your highest priority, then you should also look carefully at Rocket.net. They have a better response time under load and around the world than any other provider.
FAQs About WordPress Hosting
Having helped over 2 million+ users start their websites, we have answered quite a lot of questions. Below are some of the answers to the most frequently asked questions about WordPress hosting.
Do I need WordPress hosting to start a website?
If you want to build a WordPress website, then you need web hosting. Your hosting server is where your website files are stored.
Every website that you see online uses a web hosting provider.
In most cases, free WordPress hosting providers put advertisements on your website. They may even distribute malware to your users. Last but not least, they can shut down your website at any time without any notification.
The cost of building a WordPress website varies based on your needs. It 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.
How do I install WordPress on my WordPress hosting account?
Every WordPress hosting provider that we recommend comes with a 1-click WordPress install. You can follow our step-by-step guide on how to install WordPress on your host.
Can I switch my WordPress hosting provider later?
Yes, you can absolutely switch if you are unhappy with your WordPress hosting company.
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.
Best WordPress Guides for Web Hosting
Want to learn more about WordPress hosting? Here are our best guides on the topic:
Do you want to host multiple WordPress websites on a single server?
You can easily manage multiple domains from a single place by hosting them on one server. Plus, it helps save costs as you won’t need to purchase separate servers for each website.
In this article, we will show you how to host multiple websites on one server.
Why Host Multiple Websites on One Server?
If you’re planning on expanding your business from one website to more, then it’s a feasible option to host them on a single server.
That’s because it is easier to manage them from a single place. It can be time-consuming and inconvenient to log in and out of multiple WordPress websites on different servers. If all your websites are on one server, then you can simply switch between them from the same dashboard.
Hosting multiple sites on a single server will also help save and be more economical for your business.
Many hosting providers offer dedicated hosting where you have full control over the server and allow you to set up more than 1 website.
Instead of purchasing individual hosting plans for each site, you can choose a plan that allows multiple WordPress sites on one server. This will also allow you to fully utilize your server resources.
That said, let’s see how you can host multiple websites on one server.
Select a Hosting Service and Buy Domains
Before you can add any website to a server, the first step is to purchase a hosting service and domain names for your websites.
Choosing a WordPress Hosting Provider
There are many services to choose from, but we recommend Hostinger. It is a fast-growing web hosting provider that offers different types of hosting options.
For instance, you can get premium shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, cloud hosting, managed hosting, and more.
In the Hostinger WordPress Starter plan, you can add up to 100 websites, get free email, an SSL certificate, unlimited bandwidth, managed WordPress, and more. You also get 1 free domain name, but you’ll need to purchase other domains.
The best part is that WPBeginner users can get up to 81% OFF on WordPress hosting plans. Simply click the link below to claim the offer.
Another advantage of using Hostinger WordPress plans is that WordPress comes pre-installed. You don’t have to manually install WordPress for your websites.
If you’re looking for alternatives, then you can also use Bluehost or SiteGround to add multiple sites to one server.
Purchasing Domain Names for Your Website
After choosing a web hosting platform, the next step is to purchase domain names that you’ll need to host on a server.
Hostinger lets you buy a new domain or transfer an existing domain. To purchase a domain, simply go to the ‘Domains’ tab from your Hostinger dashboard.
From here, simply select the ‘Get a new domain’ option.
Next, you can search for a domain name.
Go ahead and enter a keyword or brand name in the search bar.
From here, you’ll see a list of URL options along with different domain extensions and prices.
Simply select an option you want and click the ‘Buy domain’ button.
Next, a popup will open with different billing periods for your domain name.
Go ahead and choose a billing period.
After that, you can complete the checkout process by choosing a payment method and purchasing the domain name.
You can repeat this process to purchase as many additional domains as you’d like.
Alternative Method: If you don’t want to buy a domain from Hostinger, then there are many domain registrars that allow you to register a domain name with ease. For instance, you can use Domain.com as it offers top-level extensions, an easy domain registration process, and a bunch of features.
Adding Multiple WordPress Sites to One Server
After selecting a hosting provider and buying domain names, you can add multiple sites to one server.
From your Hostinger dashboard, you can go to the ‘Websites’ tab and click on the + Create or migrate a website option.
Next, Hostinger will walk you through the process of creating a new website on the same server.
For instance, you can select a website type. This includes an online store, blog, business, portfolio, and other types.
After that, you’ll need to select whether you’d like to create or migrate a website.
If you already have a website on another hosting platform, then you can transfer it to Hostinger. Simply select the ‘Migrate my website’ option and follow the steps.
For this tutorial, we will select the ‘Create a new website’ option.
Next, you can select a platform to build a new website. Hostinger will offer 2 methods, where you can use WordPress with artificial intelligence (AI) or use Hostinger’s website builder with AI to create a site.
Go ahead and choose the ‘WordPress with AI’ option.
From here, you’ll need to enter login details for your account.
Simply choose a language, select an administrator email, enter a password, and click the ‘Continue’ button.
In the next step, Hositnger will ask you to add WordPress plugins to your site.
You can simply select the plugins you want to install and click the ‘Continue’ button.
After that, you will need to select a website design.
Hostinger will load the default theme, but you can click the ‘Browse more templates’ option to view more designs.
From here, you can choose a different theme for your website.
You can also click the ‘Show More’ button at the bottom to load more templates.
Once you’re done, simply choose a design and click the ‘Select’ button.
Next, Hostinger will ask you to enter a brand name and a description of your business.
It uses ChatGPT to generate a few pieces of content for your website. Once you are done, simply click the ‘Continue’ button.
You can also skip this step by entering a name and brief description and then clicking the ‘Skip, I will write content later’ option at the bottom.
After that, you’ll need to enter a name for your website. Hostinger will show 2 options, you can either select the ‘buy a domain or ‘use an existing domain’ option.
If you haven’t purchased a domain name yet, then you can select the ‘Buy a Domain’ option and get one with Hostinger.
However, if you already have multiple domains on another provider, then you can select the ‘Use an Existing Domain’ option.
For this tutorial, let’s choose the ‘Use an Existing Domain’ option.
Next, you will need to enter the domain name and click the ‘Continue’ button.
A popup window will now open with details for pointing the domain to Hostinger nameservers.
You can see your domain’s existing nameservers and the required nameservers you’d need to change in the domain registration service. The instructions will vary depending on the domain registrar you’re using.
If you need help with domain transfer, then Hostinger offers step-by-step guides and documentation. You can also reach out to their support for further assistance.
Note: You’ll also need to ensure that the domain you’re transferring is not locked by the current registrar and that 60 days have passed since initial registration.
After noting down the nameservers, you can click the ‘Continue’ button.
Hostinger will then start to set up your website. It will take a few minutes for the setup to complete.
The final step is to click the ‘Connect’ button under the Connect Your Domain option after you’ve set nameservers in your domain registrar.
Once connected, you can view your website from the Hostinger dashboard.
Simply visit the ‘Websites’ tab to see your newly added site.
You can now repeat these steps and click the ‘+ Create or migrate a website’ option to add as many websites as you want to a single server.
Bonus: How to Create More Sites Using WordPress Multisite
A WordPress multisite allows you to run and manage multiple websites from a single WordPress installation. You’ll see multisite networks used by large corporations that need separate domains for each department, universities and schools, news outlets, online businesses, and more.
There is a slight difference between hosting multiple sites on a single server and a WordPress multisite.
In a multisite, you have the same parent domain (example.com), and the new sites are subdomains (blog.example.com). They can share plugins, users, and other elements based on your settings.
On the other hand, hosting multiple sites on a single server means you have different domain names for each website. They’re all completely separate from one another.
You can easily set up a WordPress multisite using any web hosting service, including Hostinger. Once it’s set up, you’ll be able to add multiple sites to the network and manage them from the same dashboard on one server.
Are you wondering what to do if your WordPress site keeps going down?
A website that is down (offline) can hurt your business. It creates a bad user experience for visitors who cannot access your content, and you may even lose customers and potential sales.
In this article, we will share the most important things you need to do if your WordPress website keeps going down.
Why Does Your WordPress Website Keep Going Down?
When your WordPress website is down, your users will see an error message that prevents them from visiting the page.
If your website is down due to one of the common WordPress errors, then you can simply fix it to resolve the issue.
However, if the issue keeps happening, or your website is not showing an error, then you will need to investigate it further.
Website downtime can happen for several reasons, including unreliable hosting, an expired domain, security reasons, an error in custom code, and more.
Another reason for downtime can be increased website traffic that exceeds your WordPress hosting resource limits.
No matter the reason, if your WordPress website keeps going down on a regular basis, then it can harm your business. Your conversion rates may fall, and you might lose customers.
Luckily, we have compiled a list of things to do if your WordPress website keeps going down. These steps will help you troubleshoot the cause and fix it easily.
1. Check if It Is Just You or if the Website Is Down for Everyone
Your WordPress website may not be down for everyone. Sometimes you might just be unable to access your site due to a network error or lack of internet connection.
First, you will need to verify that your website is down for everyone and not just you.
To do that, you can use IsItWP’s free uptime checker.
Click on the ‘Analyze Website’ button, and the tool will tell you if your website is down for everyone or just you.
If it is only down for you, then we recommend checking your internet connection. You can try clearing your browser cache or restarting your network router.
On the other hand, if your website is down for everyone, then continue reading to learn how to fix it.
2. Make Sure Your WordPress Hosting Plan Has Not Expired
One of the most common reasons for website downtime is your WordPress hosting provider. Your plan may have expired, or the provider might be having server problems.
First, you need to make sure that your hosting plan hasn’t expired. You can usually find this information in your hosting account dashboard.
If your plan has not expired, but your WordPress website keeps going down, then you will need to contact your hosting provider. It is possible that they are facing an issue on their end and can provide you with more information about it.
For example, your hosting company might be performing server maintenance, facing DDoS attacks, or may have taken down a few servers. All of these reasons could result in downtime.
Your website may also be down due to the failure of some hardware components of the host’s server.
In these cases, your website should be up and running again once the hosting provider fixes the issues.
If you’re constantly running into issues with your hosting provider, then it’s a good idea to switch to a more reliable managed WordPress hosting company.
Sometimes the website goes down because the domain name you bought when starting your website might have expired. If this is the case, it needs to be renewed.
To check if your domain is still valid, you can use a WHOIS lookup tool. You just need to enter your domain name and click the ‘Lookup’ button.
The tool will then look up details of your domain name. If your domain has expired, it might show as available for registration.
If your domain has expired, then you can now go ahead and renew it using any domain registrar, such as Domain.com.
You can also obtain a free domain from some hosting providers, including Hostinger. This is a top WordPress hosting company that provides a free domain name with any web hosting plan.
You can also use our Bluehost coupon code, which provides WPBeginner users with a free domain name, SSL certificate, and a discount on web hosting plans.
4. Check Your Plugins and Themes
WordPress plugins or themes can sometimes cause website downtime. The software may be outdated and / or have a vulnerability that hackers can use to take down your site.
Similarly, a WordPress theme can conflict with a particular WordPress version or a plugin on your website.
To see if a plugin or theme is causing downtime, you will need to deactivate all of your plugins and switch to a default theme.
Deactivate All WordPress Plugins
Deactivating all of your WordPress plugins can quickly show you if one of the tools is causing your site’s downtime.
If you have access to the WordPress admin area, then you need to visit the Plugins » Installed Plugins page from the admin sidebar.
From here, you can select all plugins by simply checking the bulk select checkbox at the top.
Next, open the ‘Bulk actions’ dropdown menu and select the ‘Deactivate’ option.
After that, click on the ‘Apply’ button to deactivate all of the plugins.
However, if you don’t have access to the WordPress admin, then you can deactivate plugins using a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client.
First, you need to connect to your website using an FTP client or the File Manager app in your hosting account control panel. Once your site is connected, head to the /wp-content/ folder.
Inside, you should see a folder named ‘plugins.’ This is where all your WordPress plugin files are stored.
Simply rename the plugins folder to ‘plugins_deactivate.’ This will deactivate all WordPress plugins installed on your website.
Your WordPress theme may also cause your website to malfunction. This can happen if you are using a poorly coded or outdated WordPress theme that has not been updated for a while.
To find out if your current WordPress theme is causing downtime, you will need to switch to a default WordPress theme.
First, connect to your website using an FTP client or the File Manager app in your hosting account control panel.
After that, go to the /wp-content/themes/ folder.
From here, you need to locate the ‘themes’ folder. This is where all the themes from your WordPress website are stored.
Simply rename the folder to ‘themes_deactivate’ to deactivate your current theme.
Next, you need to create a new folder named ‘themes.’
After that, you can go ahead and download a default WordPress theme like Twenty Twenty-Three from the WordPress themes directory.
Once it has been downloaded, you need to unzip the file.
Next, simply upload the downloaded theme file in the new ‘themes’ folder. This will activate it on your WordPress website.
You can also delete themes using the WordPress database. For more instructions, you can see our guide on how to delete a WordPress theme.
If changing the theme or deactivating plugins didn’t resolve the issue, then continue reading.
5. Check Your WordPress Settings
Your website may also experience downtime due to incorrect WordPress configuration settings. Most commonly, your site may be using the wrong WordPress address.
First, you will need to check if your WordPress address and site address are the same.
The WordPress address is where your WordPress files and folders are stored. By contrast, the site address points to the part of your website that visitors see and interact with.
If you have access to the WordPress admin dashboard, then just visit the Settings » General page from the admin sidebar.
From here, make sure that the ‘WordPress Address’ and ‘Site Address’ boxes have the same URL.
However, if you don’t have access to the WordPress admin, then you can check your site URLs by editing the wp-config.php file.
Permalinks are the permanent URLs for posts and pages on your website.
Your permalinks can break due to installing or updating a particular theme or plugin. Additionally, migrating your website to a new server or domain can also break your permalinks and cause your site to go down.
In this case, you can regenerate your site’s permalinks by going to Settings » Permalinks from the admin sidebar. Here, make sure that you have the right permalink structure selected.
Next, you simply need to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button at the bottom to repair the broken permalinks.
If your website is still down after repairing its permalinks, then you will need to continue reading.
7. Try Reuploading the WordPress Core Files
Updating the core WordPress software can also cause downtime due to changes or corruption of the core files. When this happens, important system files for your website cannot be accessed.
To fix this problem, you can try reuploading the /wp-admin/ and /wp-includes/ folders from a fresh WordPress install.
Note: This method will not remove any information or content from your site, but it may fix a corrupted core file.
First, you’ll need to visit the WordPress.org website and click the ‘Download & Extend’ menu link, followed by ‘Get WordPress’. Next, click the blue ‘Download WordPress’ button to download the .zip folder to your computer.
Next, you’ll need to extract the zip file and find the ‘wordpress’ folder inside of it.
After that, connect to your website using an FTP client. Once you have made the connection, head to the root folder of your website. It is typically called ‘public_html’ and it contains the wp-admin, wp-includes, and wp-content folders, along with other files.
Open the WordPress folder on your computer in the left column. Then, select all of its files and hit ‘Upload’ to transfer them to your website.
The FTP client will now transfer these folders to your server.
Next, it will ask if you would like to overwrite the files. You need to simply check the ‘Overwrite’ option and then select ‘Always use this action.’
Finally, hit the ‘OK’ button. Your older WordPress files will now be replaced with fresh copies.
If replacing corrupted files doesn’t solve the problem, then you need to move to the next step.
8. Install a Firewall on Your Website
Your WordPress website might also be down due to malware or DDoS attacks.
During a DDoS attack, a hacker sends a large amount of data requests to your WordPress hosting server. This causes the server to slow down and eventually crash.
Similarly, malware is software that injects itself into your WordPress files. It uses up your WordPress server resources by attacking other websites or generating spam.
The firewall acts as an filter between your website and incoming traffic. It identifies and blocks all suspicious requests before they reach your server.
It runs on a DNS level and catches DDoS attacks before they can even make a request to your website.
However, if you are looking for a free solution, then we recommend using Cloudflare instead.
You may want to read our article on Sucuri vs Cloudflare for a detailed comparison.
For better website protection, you will also need to use security best practices on your WordPress website. For more details, see our complete WordPress security guide with step-by-step instructions on how to secure your site.
9. Move to a Reliable WordPress Hosting Plan
Finally, if you have tried all the steps above and your website keeps going down, then it might be time to move to a reliable WordPress hosting provider.
If you have a small business or blog, then we recommend moving to Bluehost or Hostinger.
For the last 20 years, the dominant form of hosting has been shared. Something like 20-50 sites stuck on one dedicated server running WHM/cPanel and working out at between $3-5 per site, per month. Sounds like your setup? You’re not alone.
Every site shares the same IP address, every site is vulnerable to one of the other sites hogging all the resources, every site can be damaged by one hack, every site is in the same location.
We know this because we’ve surveyed our members at length and – even though nobody likes it – it’s hard to argue with that cost per site, especially when compared to standard managed WordPress hosting costs.
There are a few conditions that make Quantum able to be a thing.
First up, and perhaps most importantly, unlike the rest of our hosting offers, Quantum is exclusive to our Agency plan.
This excludes, for the first time, all our legacy memberships with the exception of lifetime members (which can only be earned, not bought).
This is both to thank our Agency level members and so that we can provide the same level of 24/7 expert support to this plan that we are committed to providing to every WPMU DEV member.
Find out more about our membership levels here and if you have any questions (or would like to talk about transitioning from a Legacy to an Agency plan) please contact our sales team, they’ll be happy to help.
To make Quantum lean and fast, we’ve also introduced these parameters:
Staging, Multisite and a range of hosting tools are not available with this plan, for the same reasons, find out more on the Quantum page.
Due to these limitations we cannot allow downgrades to Quantum.
We’ve put these in place to ensure that your experience using Quantum, and that of your clients, is out of this world good.
And, of course, if you do need more resources, tools or to remove all limits, you can do that by simply upgrading a Quantum plan to one of our Bronze hosting plans ($12/m or $10.80/m with pre-pay).
Give Quantum a Go
If you are already an Agency level WPMU DEV member you can spin up a site now and give it a go in your Hosting area.
Also, all Agency memberships come with $144 hosting credit per year, so your first 3 Quantum sites will actually be for free!
Agency member? Select Quantum and give your clients an in-credit-able hosting experience!
As with all of our products, it comes with a money-back guarantee, so if you don’t like it / it doesn’t meet your needs, then you can just cancel your plan and ask us for a refund.
Quantum hosting plan…engineered for WordPress and priced for resellers!
As above, if you don’t like it, just let us know and we will refund you any costs incurred.
But we really do think that you’ll actually want to stay!
We’re so excited to bring you a product that we think has the capacity to radically change how WordPress has been hosted for the better (and hey, even make the internet a better place as a result).
Any questions or comments please contact our sales team, we’re standing by and waiting to hear from you.
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 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.
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.
Global Web Hosting Market Share in 2022
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 instancesto deliver high-resolution videos to their customers.
GoDaddy Hosting Market Share
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.
Hostinger Web Hosting Market Share
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.
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 HostGatoris 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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
Imagine a room full of accountants, bookkeepers, and invoicing agents billing your clients, collecting, processing, and instantly depositing their payments into your bank account. That’s what WPMU DEV’s Client Billing does.
Client Billing is an integrated solution that is easy to set up, easy to use…and completely free!
In this article, we’ll explore the full gamut of top-notch features and show you how to set up and automate your client billing by integrating your services, pricing, and clients, with your payment processor account.
“Just now I input all of my websites and hooked it up to client billing, to see my MRR right there motivates me so much I think I will upgrade to the agency plan and push hard with business.” – Web Host Wizards (WPMU DEV Member)
We weren’t kidding when we set out to make an elevated experience out of the customer billing and payment process.
Look at all the features included in Client Billing:
Bill Clients Fast – Create profitable subscription plans, and track your recurring revenue.
Invoice with a Click – Professionally branded invoices, automated and ready to send in minutes.
Clever Client Management – Includes everything you need to monitor clients, invoices, and subscriptions.
Profitable Plans & Subscriptions – Create tiered plans unique to your business, and maximize revenue.
Personalized Client Portal – Branded, user-friendly access for clients to remit payments securely.
Streamlined Payments – One-time or recurring payments, the latter of which auto-charge clients after the first invoice is authorized.
Per-Client Site Billing – Link subscriptions and invoices to site-specific products or services.
The above features are all part of The Hub, our all-in-one WordPress site management tool.
If you’re a member, you’ve already got access to this power performer. And if you’re not, sign up – it’s free – and The Hub & Client Billing are included.
Configuring The Components in Clients & Billing
Because there’s so much you can do in the Client Billing module, I wanted to lay out how we’ll go through the touchpoints.
Connect your Stripe account.
Initial setup of clients and products.
Branding and your business profile.
Create and customize invoices.
There’s a lot of great material to unpack, so let’s have at it. :)
Connecting To Your Stripe Account
Client payments in The Hub are currently made through the Stripe payment platform. Additional payment options (such as PayPal) are on the table for future inclusion, so stay tuned.
To start accepting payments in Clients & Billing, you’ll need to connect your Stripe account, so that’s our first order of business. And don’t worry; if you don’t yet have a Stripe account, you can easily create one through the Hub’s integration wizard.
Login to your WPMU DEV account, then navigate to The Hub > Clients & Billing.
From the Getting Started wizard, click the Connect with Stripe button.
Enter the Email and Password fields, using those you want associated with your Stripe account, then click the Log in button.
If you happen to have more than one Stripe account associated with the email address you’ve entered, they’ll be presented here.
Account selection in Stripe setup.
Select the account you want from the listed options, then click the Connect button.
Continue with any additional steps in the setup wizard. (If you need to start over at any point, just click Return to WPMU DEV on the left side of the screen.)
Upon completing the wizard, you’ll be directed back to the Getting Started screen in your Hub, and prompted to select the currency you want to use in your Client Billing portal.
Click on the box denoting awareness of currency not being changeable later, then you’ll be able to hit Finish Setup.
Your connected Stripe account will automatically import after you select currency.The purple dot is for a Client Billing popup tour, which you can choose to skip.
If you don’t don’t already have an account with Stripe, the Getting Started wizard will prompt you to create one. It’s a quick and simple process, which puts you right back in The Hub upon completion.
Creating a Stripe account through The Hub integration.
If you prefer you can go directly to Stripe’s site, set up your account there, then return to the wizard in the Hub and complete the connection there.
Creating an account directly on Stripe’s website.
Note that you can only connect one platform to any Stripe account at any one time. (This is due to Stripe’s policies.)
Initial Setup of Clients & Products
All of the tools you need to manage the Stripe account connected to your Clients & Billing, such as your business profile, your custom branding, the importing of products and clients, and more, are housed here.
Let’s look at them now.
Managing Your Billing Account
From the Hub’s Clients & Billing page, under Configuration > Billing Account, you’ll see the info associated with your Stripe account (name, email, and connection date).
Stripe account settings in The Hub’s Clients & Billing.
The Payment Preferences section beneath shows the currency you selected, as well as the business name that will appear on your clients’ bank or credit card statements.
If you want to change the statement descriptor, just click on the name or arrow to the right of this row, and edit as desired.
Stripe payment preferences and additional tools.
Finally you’ll see Additional Tools at the bottom, which is where you can import customers or products & services from your connected Stripe account, if there are any associated with it.
To import clients or products & services, click on Import or the arrow to the right of the row.
From the resultant popup, select any clients you’d like to import, by checking the box preceding their email address. (Or, click the checkbox to the left of the email address header to select them all.) Then click the Import button at the bottom, which will reflect the total number of clients you’ve selected.
Client importing in Stripe.
The clients you imported will be listed under the Clients tab, where you can manage all activity relevant to your Hub business. You can also Add New Clients from the Clients tab. (See Adding Clients Manually for details.)
Lather, rinse, repeat for Importing products.
Product importing in Stripe.
Pricing plans associated with an imported product will be imported automatically.
You can also create new pricing plans from the Products & Services tab. (See Adding Products Manually for details.)
Understanding Client Roles & Access Permissions
There’s another element we should take a look as it pertains to our clients: assigning roles.
It’s important to define and understand what the purpose of a client’s site access will be.
For some clients, you’ll want to allow access to billing only. For others, you may want to give access to a couple of different sections, but not full run of the house.
And others still, you may want to allow them to view and edit everything.
Assigning roles gives you complete control over what views and actions clients will have in your branded Hub. This has the following benefits:
Omits unnecessary distractions and clutter; clients see only what you need them to see.
Protects against unintentional actions with potentially dire consequences. (They can’t break what they can’t touch.) This gives you and your client great peace-of-mind.
Allows clients to feel connected to their account information, and see the value of what they’re getting through you.
For illustrative purposes, we’ll target three arbitrary types:
Regular Client = needs access to billing only (to view & pay online)
Hosting Client = needs access to billing and hosting
SEO Customer = needs access to billing and SEO for their website
Example #1 – Regular Client
Regular clients are the ones you’ll be doing all of the WordPress development for. You’ll provide reports, do site edits, and run the entire show. The only thing these clients will need is access to billing information.
Therefore, you just want them to be able to pay their invoices.
Clients & Billing in the Hub comes with three pre-established system roles, which are:
View All & Access Billing: client can access and manage their billing and view site data.
Edit All & Access Billing: client can view, edit, and take action regarding anything on their site and manage their own billing.
Access Billing Only: client can view and manage their own billing.
These preset roles can’t be edited or altered; that’s where custom roles come into play (which we’ll get into later).
Navigate to The Hub > Clients & Billing > Clients > Roles, and select Access Billing Only.
Access Billing Only is one of three predefined roles.
Based on the premise that our Regular Client type will need to Access Billing Only, we’re going to select that as our default by clicking the Make default text in its row.
Now when you add new clients, it’s already established that this is their role. Of course this is editable should we need to change it at any time.
Example #2 – Hosting Client
This client plans on focusing some of their business on hosting in addition to billing. For this case, the client would need access to the following 4 areas:
Sites — to view the list of sites
Hosting — to view the hosting options
Site Billing – to view billing at site level
Access Billing – to view the Billing tab and pay invoices from either the site billing or the global billing tab
Start by clicking on + Create New Role.
It’s just a few clicks away from creating a new role.
Give it a Name (in this example, we’ll call it ‘Hosting’) and select what access the client will have. We’ll enable the 4 areas as listed above.
An example of a Hosting Client, and the roles you would enable for them.
Customize even further when clicking on each category dropdown. You can select View & Edit,View Only, or Custom.
If you select Custom, here’s a look at all the options you could select for the client to have access to in custom role creation, pertaining to Hosting.
Select any hosting options you want.
Customize further by clicking the dropdown in each specific category (Staging, Analytics, Logs, Emails, etc), and selecting any/all of the options.
Here’s what Staging looks like:
There are plenty of options for Staging.
Once you have everything customized, click Save – and that’s it! You now have a new, customized role you can assign to any client.
As you can see, Hosting is now a client role.
Example #3 – SEO Customer
This client wants to view SEO details, in addition to billing. We can take the same approach we just took with our hosting clients: create a new role, name it, and select SEO as an option available to the client.
Specifically for this case, access to the following 4 areas would need to be enabled:
Sites — to view the list of sites
SEO — to view the SEO options
Site Billing – to view billing at site level
Access Billing – to view the Billing tab and pay invoices from either the site billing or the global billing tab
In our SEO client example, we would select the SEO option (instead of Hosting), along with the other 3 options mentioned above.
If you choose to customize your SEO options for your client, they’ll be able to view SEO information, run new SEO Crawl, Apply config – basically anything you select here in permissions.
Choose any options you’d like.
Hit Save, and the new role is now available.
Of course, this was just a demo of three random client types. You can set up ANY client type and customize it to fit your business needs.
Prior to inviting our clients to the portal, let’s customize the emails we’ll be sending.
If you’d like, you can configure an SMTP plugin that allows you to enable your own domain address as the sender email. That would result in a from address like this: admin@yoursitename.com
While your own domain as the from address is the most professional, it isn’t required. Without any changes, your from addresses will be something like these:
Sent from a site without our hosting: wordpress@yoursitename.com
Send from a site with our hosting: noreply@yourwpsite.email
There are a number of different emails that are sent from The Hub Client to you and to your clients, depending on various triggers.
Emails that come to you will be branded with WPMU DEV, while emails that go to your clients will be branded with the logo & colors set up in your Business Profile.
Branding and footer settings for your Hub emails.
Two additional informational pieces can be included or excluded from your email notifications:
Business Branding – toggle for your logo & brand color (from Business Profile).
Emails Footer Note – add a custom message at the bottom of all emails.
Here is an example of an email your clients could get:
A sample email clients could get for a payment processing issue.
Of course any of the placeholder text in double brackets would be auto populated by the associated data in your hub before it is sent to you or your client.
Alright, roles have been considered and created accordingly, emails have been formatted… let’s put the finishing touches on our business profile.
Branding and Your Business Profile
Break out the logos and color codes! We’re going to make these billing materials our own.
From the Configure screen, click on the Business Profile tab.
In the Branding section, you’ll decide on the branding that will appear in your business invoices, emails, and billing receipts. It takes only a few seconds and minimal clicks.
Click on the right side of the Brand Logo row to upload your visual identity; likewise on Brand Color, to select your shade match via color selector box or hex code.
Branding your business documents.
The logo you select will also appear in the top right corner of your clients’ profile menu when they log into your Hub via WPMU DEV.
Now we’ll add our business coordinates in the Business Info section – which will appear in any client documents you produce.
Simply click on Add or the arrow to the right of any row, and you’ll be able to enter every available field. (This info will have been imported if it was set up in your Stripe account, but is always fully editable.)
Adding your business information for inclusion on client docs.
If you created custom fields for your Business Profile, they will appear beneath the main Business Info, under Additional Info.
Custom fields allow for additional information you deem pertinent.
To add or edit custom fields, click on the Custom Fields tab, and enter as many additional items as you’d like in Business, and/or Client Profiles.
Adding Custom Fields is as simple as click, type/select, save.
Creating and Customizing Invoices
Now that we’ve got our documentation branding in place, let’s create an invoice that uses it.
This is what you’ll send to your actual clients, and there’s a lot you can personalize.
Under Configurations, click on Customize Invoices. Click on any of the arrows or toggle buttons from the right-side menu column.
You’ll be able to select your numbering format, add a footer note, choose default language, add a logo, brand color, business name, and client information, as well as any custom fields you have added.
When you’ve got the content the way you want it, click on the Preview Sample button for a quick look-see, and it will open in PDF format.
A sample customer invoice easily produced in Clients & Billing.
With an Invoice template created, let’s make one for a specific client.
Click on the + Bill Client button at the top of the page.
Billing a client in The Hub’s Clients & Billing section.
From the modal popup, take the following actions:
Select the Client from the dropdown.
Select the Website from the dropdown (optional).
Select a Product/Plan from the dropdown, and change the quantity if desired.
Creating an invoice, steps 1-3.
Add another Product/Plan if desired; repeat this step as needed.
Add a Tax if desired, and repeat this step as needed.
Click the blue Continue button.
Creating an invoice, steps 4-6.
This will open the invoice that you’ve created thus far. You can check and see if the content is as you’d like it to be, and add a note if desired.
At this point, you can Preview the invoice, Save as Draft, or Send Invoice.
Confirming an invoice prior to sending.
Click Send Invoice, and we’ll send a white-labeled email to the client you selected. From the Invoices tab, you’ll be able to see it listed now, with status Payment Due.
The list summary of clients billed in Invoices.
Here is the email your client will see:
Client email for a billed invoice.
The client can simply click on the Pay Invoice link in the email, and it will take them to your branded hub, where they can quickly & easily remit payment to you.
That’s a wrap on the initial set up and configurations in Clients & Billing. Now we’ll move on to…
Upkeep and Management of Clients and Billing in The Hub
We’ve completed all of the preliminary steps in Clients & Billing! Now you can quickly and easily bill clients, collect payments, and manage your customers, all from one convenient area.
Of course you’ll want to continually manage this content – from client contact info changes, to invoicing and payment status changes, and your own business details as well.
We’ll look at what’s involved in the continued management of these features, so we can keep all of our information current.
Overview Summary
The Overview section in Clients & Billing allows you to see a collective summary of key data and settings in your portal.
One of the coolest things about Client Billing in the Hub, in my opinion, is the ability to get to everything you want almost instantly.
The Overview section gives you an at-a-glance, sectioned view of the most important details, as well as a path to access these elements on the spot. Revenue, products & services, clients, account configs, billing activities – it’s all here.
This is a clever convenience that makes it a stand-out.
The Clients & Billing Overview screen is a detailed dynamo.
Let’s take a closer look at the displayed sections in the Overview.
Revenue
Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) – the combined total monthly revenue from all active subscriptions, regardless of billing periods
Active Subscriptions – the total number of active subscriptions from all clients
Net Billing – the combined total amount billed for all subscriptions and other products (excluding refunds)
Clients
This module displays three items:
Total Clients – the total of all active, inactive, & pending clients
Average Billing per Client – Net Billing divided by total number of clients
Clients with Active Subscriptions– the total number of clients with active subs
All of the summary totals above do not include any taxes.
To see the full list of Clients in your billing portal, click View All.
Products & Services
This module displays three items:
Total Products/Services – the total number of products & services combined, including those with no pricing plans attached
One Time Plans – the total number of active one-time pricing plans
Recurring Plans – the total number of active recurring pricing plans
To see the Products & Services section in your billing portal, click View All.
Configurations
This module displays the name of the Stripe account you’ve connected to your Clients & Billing portal, and its status. A green check mark verifies that the account is active.
Click any of the configuration line items to see/edit the associated information.
Managing Stripe Configurations from the Clients & Billing Overview.
Managing Clients
As discussed prior, clients must confirm your invitation to be able to access their billing portal in your Hub.
There are three different ways you can send clients an invitation: 1) when you’re initially adding them; 2) from the dropdown menu in the main client screen; or 3) in their individual client overview screen. In all cases, just click Invite/Invite Client.
One of three ways to invite a client to your branded portal – from the client summary list.
This will generate a white-labeled invitation email to that client, which will look like this:
A branded client invite to join your portal, sent in a formal but friendly email.
The Clients tab will populate with summary info about each client, once you have added one or more to The Hub.
Here is the information you will see in the Client overview section in The Hub:
Client Info – the client’s name, email, and Gravatar (if available)
Account Status – status of client email invite acceptance (Active/Pending), or if invite email has not been sent (Inactive)
Sites – the total number of sites managed by this client
MRR (Monthly Recurring Revenue) – this client’s average monthly revenue for all subscriptions (excluding taxes)
Net Billing – the total amount this client has been billed to date, including taxes
A summary list of your clients, with billing details associated to each.
You can access client management options by clicking on the ellipsis icon to the right of any client row.
If you select Manage Client from this dropdown menu, you’ll go to the Overview screen for that client. From here you can view and manage all aspects of the client’s account and subscriptions.
Individual client overview.
Managing Products & Services
Now we’ll look more closely at the Products & Services section.
This is where you’ll manage all the products & services that you offer to your clients within the Hub.
If you hadn’t yet imported products in the Configure module, you’d be prompted to add your first one – either manually, or as an import from Stripe.
We already did that, but I’ll show you how to manually add a product here.
Click the + New Product/Service button, and enter the form fields info in the popup.
Under Pricing Plans, you’ll want to create at least one plan to associate with the product.
Creating a product or service, primary modal.
There are two billing types: Recurring and One Time.
Bill Every and No. of Billing Cycles only appear if you’ve selected Recurring as the type.
Bill Every is the period of time that repeated billing will occur; options are: Day, Week, Month, and Year.
No of Billing Cycles is how many times a client would be billed for a recurring plan before their subscription expires. (Leave this field blank if you want the plan to auto-renew until it’s canceled).
One time billing services are used for creating a single instance of a service rendered, such as a set up fee, or a site creation.
After you’ve added your first plan, click + Add Another Plan for each additional one you’d like to create. You can make as many as you want.
You can add as many pricing plans as you’d like under each service.
Once at least one product has been created, you’ll see it on the Products & Services screen, along with its status and the number of pricing plans associated with it.
In the below example, we created a single product – Support Only – with 2 recurring pricing plans – Yearly and Monthly.
Click Show Plans to view or edit Services nested under Products in the summary list view.Accessing menus is a click away in the Product summary.
To manage options for any product, click the ellipsis icon and select any option from the dropdown menu: View/Edit, Add a Pricing Plan, Duplicate plan, or Archive Product.
Editing a Product or Service couldn’t be easier.
As before, you can manage options for any pricing plan by clicking the ellipsis icon and selecting the desired action from the dropdown menu.
The Plans summary offers slightly different menu options.
The Archive option will deactivate a product or plan, making it unavailable for selection when billing a client. It won’t affect any existing client subscriptions.
When editing a product or plan, only the name & image of a product/plan can be changed. (This is a limitation of the Stripe API, so we are unable to modify it.)
There is an easy workaround though. If you want to make a change to non-editable settings in an existing plan, just make a duplicate, then edit the desired fields of the duplicate before saving it. Afterward, you can archive the original.
A note about deletions: You cannot delete a pricing plan from the Hub. That action must be done directly through your Stripe account, with the caveat that the plan hasn’t been used in a transaction. If it has, then archiving is your sole option.
Subscriptions
Because of the fluid manner of subscriptions, keeping track of them is a necessity. Luckily, managing subscriptions is a piece of cake in Clients & Billing.
Subscriptions are viewable by client. To see them, click on any client, then from the top menu sections – Overview, Products & Services, Invoices – click on Products & Services.
This page will display three Subscription Types, broken out into tabbed subsections, as follows:
Current Subscriptions
One Time
Inactive Subscriptions
Subscription summary in Products & Services.
Current Subscriptions
This is where you’ll see any current subscriptions for this client. The status column will show as Active or Pending.
One Time
Sometimes the need to bill a client for a one time service will come up again. Say, for example, you do another site set up, and need to invoice them for it again.
When this happens, you don’t need to recreate the entire product or service. Just click Bill Again from the ellipsis dropdown menu on the desired line item. This will automatically bill the client again for the same one-time product.
Inactive Subscriptions are any subscriptions that were at one time active, but are no more. The status column will show as Canceled or Expired.
Hover your mouse over the row number beneath the Products column for a popup listing of all products contained in that subscription.
You can easily reactivate any subscription for a client.
Reactive subscriptions in a snap.
Click the ellipsis at the end of the desired row, and select Reactivate Subscription from the dropdown menu. When you reactivate a subscription, it will send a new invoice to the client and create a new subscription, which becomes active upon the client paying that invoice.
Managing Invoices
The more your business grows, the more invoices you will be sending out, and the more they will accumulate for record keeping.
While this could create a cluttered mess of paperwork and file folders, it’s carefully and neatly organized in The Hub’s Client Billing.
Everything is found in the Invoices tab of each client, and the content included is straight forward.
For a quick assessment, a red notifier icon on the Invoices tab header indicates the number of currently unpaid invoices for that client.
On the main Invoices page, you’ll see a summary list of all of the invoices for this client.
Click anywhere on a row to view the actual invoice, or, click on the ellipsis icon at rows’ end to show the dropdown menu for other actions. Depending on the status of a given invoice, the options available will vary.
Client Billing by WPMU DEV is the custom labeled, payment making, subscription managing, email automating, keeper of all things in the accounting realm of your business.
Ok, it won’t file your taxes, but it does allow for including them on a client invoice.
From branding, to invoicing, to automated emails, and in-app, trusted payment methods, the features you can offer your clients (and yourself) in Clients & Billing are hard to match.
Offering both in-depth and at-a-glance views, you get to present visually customized elements to your clients, and maintain them through your professional services (while we handle everything behind-the-scenes).
All that and more is built into the Hub’s Clients & Billing experience. And it’s included at no extra cost in your WPMU DEV membership, along with our 5-star, expert support.
Include our fast-growing, highly-rated hosting, or go for the membership only – either way, you’d be hard pressed to find a better value. (Plus, full refunds are given if you’re not thrilled.)
Set your sites on the most enjoyable billing experience you’ve likely ever had!
Are you looking for the best monthly web hosting plans?
Most popular web hosting companies offer big discounts on annual, bi-annual, and multiple-year payment terms.
These discounts may be promoted as low monthly payments, but when you go to the checkout page, you’ll pay a hefty amount upfront to buy the web hosting.
In this article, we will share some of the best monthly web hosting plans that let you truly sign up for a month-to-month hosting service.
Why Choose a Monthly Web Hosting Plan?
Many web hosting companies only offer discounts if you buy hosting for a full year or multiple years. That makes it can cost hundreds of dollars just to get started.
Plus, if you don’t like the web hosting service, you may not be able to get a full refund, and you will lose your initial investment.
A true monthly web hosting plan will be cheaper to get started. With a month-to-month hosting plan, you won’t commit to a hosting provider long-term, and it’s easier to move to another web hosting company.
DreamHost is one of the most well-known web hosting companies, and they’re an official WordPress-recommended hosting provider. They offer the cheapest month-to-month web hosting plan on the market.
They provide a custom control panel to add your domain name, manage emails, and access web hosting features.
Moreover, DreamHost comes with automated website backups. These daily backups ensure the complete safety of your content.
When it comes to DreamHost’s monthly pricing, their WordPress Starter or Shared plan costs $4.95/month with a free SSL certificate, free website migration, and more.
You will have to pay for the domain name separately, which is fair.
But if you’re willing to commit for the year, WPBeginner users can get up to a 72% discount on their Shared plan with a free domain name, website builder, SSD storage, and more.
Hostinger is one of the leading web hosting companies on the global market. It offers WordPress website hosting, shared hosting, and cloud hosting plans.
The month-to-month shared hosting plan from Hostinger starts at $11.99 for a single website.
If you’re looking for a web hosting plan for multiple sites, then we recommend their WordPress Starter plan. It comes with a free domain name, a free SSL certificate, and free unlimited email accounts.
The Hostinger WordPress Starter plan costs $11.99/month.
You can use WPBeginner’s exclusive Hostinger coupon code to get a discount on your monthly web hosting plan. The Hostinger promo code offers more discounts on longer commitments.
For example, if you choose to pay for up to 12 months, the cost for the WordPress basic hosting plan reduces to $2.99/month.
And WPBeginner users get an additional discount that makes it $2.69/month.
In short, you’ll pay $32.29 at once to get WordPress hosting for the full year.
Their shared hosting plans cost similar to WordPress hosting. However, you’ll need to pay an additional setup fee.
Hostinger also offers Virtual Private Server hosting (VPS hosting) plans, Minecraft server hosting, and other solutions.
We ran several tests on Hostinger, and here’s our complete Hostinger review that may interest you.
Bluehost is one of the most popular web hosting providers and an officially recommended WordPress hosting partner.
Though they don’t offer a month-to-month web hosting plan, the initial cost is so low that we couldn’t resist adding them to this list.
And you’ll save triple your investment with a free domain name, free SSL certificate, and a BIG discount on your web hosting package.
So if you’re just starting out, we recommend Bluehost as the best web hosting for beginners, startups, and small businesses.
The initial cost for your web hosting plan will be as low as $33 for the first year.
This also includes your free domain name, free SSL certificate, and a cPanel for a one-click WordPress installation.
However, on the renewal, you’ll need to pay the full cost for your web hosting plan and domain name. But by then, you’ll be able to grow your business to afford the price.
And if you still want to switch, you can easily move your WordPress site to a new web hosting company for a month-to-month hosting plan. Some web hosting providers also offer free migration services, so you’re safe anyway.
On a side note, we thoroughly tested Bluehost for its features, speed, and uptime. And we recommend it to everyone, all the time.
Most of our WPBeginner users start their websites with Bluehost web hosting and grow their businesses to the next level.
SiteGround is one of the best WordPress hosting providers. Their web hosting is optimized for speed and security. We use SiteGround to host the WPBeginner website.
Among top features, SiteGround offers automatic WordPress updates, a free CDN network to improve page load time, a custom web application firewall to protect your web server against malware and DDoS attacks, and more.
Their customer support team is available 24/7 to help you with any of your concerns, which you may rarely have with SiteGround web hosting.
SiteGround has data centers all over the world since they use the Google Cloud network. It’s the reason they can provide a 99.9% uptime guarantee on their web hosting platform. Over the years of using their platform, we have never had downtime for the WPBeginner site.
The SiteGround’s StartUp plan costs $19.99/month.
It’s an expensive monthly web hosting plan compared to other hosting providers on the list, but it also includes functionality like free site migration, free SSL certificate, eCommerce support, basic WordPress site management, out of the box caching addons, and more.
And WPBeginner’s exclusive SiteGround coupon code lets you buy their WordPress hosting plan with an 80% discount.
This reduces the cost to up to $2.99/month for the StartUp plan.
SiteGround’s discount deal is only valid when you choose to pay for up to 12 months upfront. So you’ll pay $35.88 for 12 months and get access to all their WordPress hosting features.
The best part is that they also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
Aside from WordPress, SiteGround also has cheap web hosting for other content management systems like Drupal, Joomla, Magento, and basically any other Linux based app.
We have done a detailed SiteGround review which shared performance tests from various locations along with coverage of their additional services like Site Scanner.
WP Engine is the most popular managed WordPress hosting company in the market. They are typically the go-to choice for large websites, enterprise customers, as well as small businesses and developers who want a fully managed web hosting platform with speed, security, and support.
WP Engine offers monthly cloud hosting plans starting at $30 per month on a month-to-month billing which gives you access to 10GB of disk space, 50GB of bandwidth, 10 premium themes from StudioPress, free automated migration, automated website backups, and more.
All their plans come with advanced developer tools like one-click staging, dev & prod site environments, threat blocking & security, built-in CDN for turbo website speed, transferable sites for easy client handoff, activity log, and more.
WP Engine also offers managed hosting solutions for WooCommerce online stores starting at $50 per month as well as enterprise cloud hosting starting at $600 per month.
But if you use the WPBeginner’s WP Engine coupon code and pre-pay for annual plans, then you will get 4 months free.
WP Engine also offers additional services like automated plugin updates, extra SOC2 level security with managed WAF, site monitoring, and more which can be purchased separately.
We did a detailed performance test of their platform in our WP Engine review that we highly recommend you check out.
BONUS: Other Popular Month-to-Month Web Hosting Options
6. HostGator: One of the most popular web hosting providers, HostGator offers unmetered bandwidth, a 99.9% uptime guarantee, and more. Their shared hosting plan costs $7.65 for the first month (including tax) for WPBeginner readers. The plan renews at $11.95 per month from the second month.
7. GreenGeeks: The eco-friendly WordPress hosting offered by GreenGeeks comes with multiple types of hosting, including reseller hosting, dedicated hosting for websites, and more. It has built-in caching for fast performance, which costs $11.95 per month. You also need to pay a setup fee of $15 for the first time.
Which Month-To-Month Web Hosting Plan Should I Buy?
If you’re looking for true monthly web hosting with no long-term commitment, then DreamHost has the best monthly web hosting packages.
DreamHost’s top features include free website migration, free SSL, security, and a 97-day money-back guarantee.
With that said, when you’re starting a website, you want to get the best web hosting deal because it’s highly unlikely that you’ll be switching hosting providers every month.
Most people that choose a reliable hosting provider rarely ever switch. In over a decade of running the WPBeginner website, we have switched hosting providers only once, and that was after 10 years when we outgrew our previous provider.
So, in that case, what’s more important is that you choose a provider that’s giving you the best deal with one-year commitment.
Hostinger’s WordPress Starter plan ($32.29 for the first year) is the cheapest web hosting option on paying upfront for 12 months, and you get a free domain name worth $9.99/year.
On the other hand, SiteGround’s StartUp plan on a 12-month upfront payment ($35.88/for the first year) is close to Hostinger’s pricing for the basic starter plan.
However, SiteGround servers are blazing fast since it’s hosted on Google Cloud, and you get tons of advanced performance and security features which is why we use SiteGround for the WPBeginner website.
If you’re looking for a more managed web hosting provider with enterprise support, then WP Engine is going to be your best bet since they offer monthly web hosting plans for cloud hosting.
Note: At WPBeginner, we regularly look into dozens of web hosting companies that are not listed in this article, like A2 hosting, GoDaddy, InMotion Hosting, Cloudways, Namecheap, LiquidWeb (Nexcess), and others. We decided not to list them all in this article because we don’t want to cause choice paralysis. If you choose a host from our recommended list, you won’t go wrong.
We hope this article has helped you find the best monthly web hosting plan.
You may also want to check out our other guides on related web hosting and business growth.
Offering custom design services as part of your overall web development service can help increase your appeal, your revenue, and allow you to add more value for clients. Learn, step-by-step, how it’s done in this article.
Looking to expand your services beyond general web development work? Or maybe you’re learning new web design skills and looking for a profitable way to put them to use?
In this article we’re showing you how to offer specialized web design services to your clients, even if you have ZERO design skills or experience.
FYI, we surveyed our 50,000+ members and researched dozens of professional websites to come to the recommendations and suggestions mentioned in this article.
“The money I’ve made from this side business has paid for vacations and new toys I wouldn’t have been able to afford otherwise.” – Phil (WPMU DEV Member)
By the time you’re done reading you’ll have ideas for…
The best types of web design services to offer to your clients.
What Are Design Services and Which Services Should You Offer?
As mentioned above, our definition of design services are services that go above and beyond your normal theme, template, or page-builder approach.
Branding, rebranding, logo design, landing page design. These are the kind of things a lot of web developers might pass on doing, and that’s fine.
But if you’re up for earning extra income, providing more value for your clients, and making your overall web development service standout from the rest, we’re showing you how to do it.
Also don’t worry if you’re not a designer, or don’t think you have the necessary skills or experience to offer these services.
We’ll provide you with various outsourcing options that still allow you to apply a markup and make a profit.
As we touch on each service you’ll also see we give you a number of tools and resources to use if you want to do the job yourself.
The Top 4 Web Design Services You Can Offer (As Voted By Our Members)
Once you’ve decided on offering these additional web design services, the next question is what type of services you’re actually going to offer.
Rather than taking a stab in the dark, or copying what the top Google result said, we thought we’d ask a group of people who know better than anyone, because they actually do this for a living…
Our 50,000+ web developer members!
Here are the design services that came out on top when we asked them in a recent members discussion:
Branding
Visual Identity
Landing Pages and Lead Generation
Redesign
And the survey says…
Now let’s look at each of these design services in detail. You’ll learn what’s involved with each service, resources, tools, and outsourcing options for each, as well as what you can possibly charge your clients.
Web Design Service 1: Branding
Branding is how a business differentiates itself from other entities, and what customers will identify and associate it with.
You don’t have to go beyond the basics to get a brand up and running, especially if it’s not a massive corporation.
Additional branding components can also be supplemented, if or as they become relevant.
“Start with only what’s required and add more if necessary.” – Databoy (WPMU DEV Member)
–
What’s Involved With Branding Services?
The branding we’re focusing on – based on member community input – is simply creating a brand by incorporating a color palette, selecting fonts, and strategically placing a logo or wordmark (we’ll talk about logo creation separately; see Visual Identity below).
There are some great online tools you use if you need help putting shades together for your clients.
Here are just a few we like, all of which are free.
Color palette tools:
Coolors
With Coolors, you can quickly generate palettes randomly, or more precisely using their color inspector (RGB bars), or by uploading an image – for both solids and gradients.
If you prefer ready-made options, they have a huge library.
Ahoy, mateys! Shipper is positively pink.
This tool is available via iOS and Android apps, a Figma plugin, and a Chrome extension.
They also offer a Contrast Checker, and an Artwork Recolor tool (see my test case in the image above).
Adobe Color
Adobe Color provides their professional color wheel tool, with three modes available: RGB, HSB, & LAB.
Adobe is an industry icon, along with their advanced color wheel.
You can extract a theme from an image to save as a color palette or gradient.
Accessibility tools are another plus; use their Contrast Checker and Color Blind Safe modes to see either, respectively.
Eggradients
Eggradients lets you select from a number of ready-made gradients. These are simple, two color blends, but can be helpful or spark creativity if you’re looking for basic palette approaches.
Ombré omelets, anyone?
Their color palette generator lets you choose from a list of varying shade gradients.
They also have a “50 Shades of Color” section, which will pull random tones in that color family, each with corresponding hex codes.
Choosing Website Fonts
Typography and strong font choice play a crucial role in the success of a new design.
There are several decent tools for comparing and testing fonts, as well as sites that offer access to a robust assortment of the fonts themselves.
Again, these are all free options.
Web Font Tools
Fontpair
Fontpair has a collection of pre-paired fonts on their site gathered from around the web.
They have a suggestions/submissions page, with new pairings added weekly.
Font Pair
Pair & Compare
Pair & Compare makes experimenting with font pairings easy.
You can use Google or local fonts (shared from your device), and have up to three comparatives simultaneously on the screen.
Pair & Compare
There are lots of editing options: size, weight, color, line height, and more.
You can also change any of the sample text, and bookmark fonts for testing later.
Google Fonts
Google Fonts is an excellent resource for finding and using fonts, with nearly 1500 families – including variable fonts and material symbols.
These are all free to use, even commercially or within a product that is sold commercially (example: a logo or wordmark).
Google Fonts
Downloads are available for families, or individual styles, and can be shared with others via links.
To get an idea of how to price your branding services, a useful exercise is to check out what the competition is offering and charging for creation of the same or similar content.
We did this ourselves and here are some relevant examples to draw pricing inspiration from:
There is variance in these prices too, but they’re still helpful to get an idea of what the typical range is for design services.
Knowing this can help prevent you from massively over or under charging, taking your skill and knowledge level (and the scope of a given project) into account.
Of course you can and should price higher the more you’re including in your branding packages.
Average price range for branding services: $1,000-$30,000+
Web Design Service 2: Visual Identity
A visual identity could be a graphic only (logo), artistic text only (wordmark), a combination of both, or the full complement of all.
It could be as basic as a circle with an initial in it, or the business name in a specific font, weight, and color.
Case in point >> WPMU DEV!:
WPMU DEVs fleet of visual identities.
What’s Involved With Providing a Visual Identity Service
Deciding on a logo for a client has varying degrees of difficulty.
It boils down to how particular they are, and what their budget is.
The more complicated or specific a client-envisioned design is, the more likely their needs will be met by going with a custom one.
The other distinct advantage to a custom design is it will be unique. The prefab stuff is available to anyone, so multiple companies could purchase and use the same design.
Just as we checked out some sites that can help with the core elements of branding, we next set out to find resources that offer nice choices for visual identities (logos, wordmarks, etc).
Tools and Outsourcing Options For Creating Custom Logos
These are very basic, premade cookie cutter offerings, but there are a lot of them.
They also allow great variation in color (there’s a Hex field) if you need a very specific shade.
Playing with free logo customization on Logo.com.
Considering these are completely free, it’s a decent option if you don’t need anything intricate or unique.
Creative Market
Creative Market has 150,000+ logo templates for use in corporate branding, e-commerce, and entrepreneurship.
The logo template sets include badges, icons, and other elements for creating unique and modern logos.
Creative Market
These are all pre-made designs, so keep in mind that any number of people can purchase/use the artwork in addition to you. If your client wants a unique logo, this option won’t work.
Fiverr
Fiverr is a highly popular seller marketplace, where you hire an individual artist for any number of design elements offered as Gigs.
Fiverr for logos.
Because this is fully dependent on what designer you happen to pick, your mileage may vary. But in general, reviewers seem pleased on the whole, and feel they got a good deal for what they paid.
The prices range from $5 to $995, depending on the skill level of the artist and the components included.
Logoglo
Logoglo is a premium logo site. Anything you get here would be a unique, one-off design, professionally made from scratch, based on your brief.
Packages include more content as you go up in tiers – such as number of initial concepts, turnaround time, & revision allowances.
Logoglo
This is a great option if you have a client who has a slightly bigger budget, and wants artwork that people won’t come across elsewhere.
99designs
99designs is a subsidiary of VistaPrint, the highly successful online print house.
Offerings include the level of designers, and whether you get a dedicated manager and prioritized support.
The number of presented design concepts starts at 30, and goes up to 90. All designs come with a money-back guarantee, and full copyright ownership.
99designs Design Contest process.
How Much Can You Charge For Visual Identity Services?
Jacob Cass is a brand designer, strategist, and the founder of JUST Creative, an award-winning branding & design consultancy.
JC.com has an article on design cost, with a helpful chart on logo design pricing. Additionally, they provided a list that breaks out the costs in greater detail.
Logo Design cost estimates. Source: JustCreative.com
Logo Design cost estimates. Source: JustCreative.com
Full Branding for global identities is priced extremely high, tapping out at over a million dollars.
This of course is the elite upper echelon, well above average.
For the level we are focused on, you can see the variance goes from $0 for DIY/free logo makers, to upwards of $5K for an experienced designer.
Average price range for visual identity services: $500-$5,000
Web Design Service 3: Landing Pages and Lead Generation
The primary goal of most websites (aside from education and entertainment) is to turn incoming traffic into leads.
Offering landing page or similar conversion-based services to your clients is well worth it.
After all, they’re not likely to turn down the potential of gaining more customers and leads.
“Each page has one purpose, to convert. Make sure you have a clear path on how the client wants to convert, what is the goal that the client wants out of every visitor. Keep your design focused on getting that convert click.” – Chris (WPMU DEV Member)
What’s Involved and The Tools to Help You Provide Landing Page and Lead Generation Services
Landing Pages
You may already have a template you use for client landing pages – either self-created, purchased, or acquired for free.
If you are looking for something fresh, or don’t already have a go-to, here are some options for Landing Page websites.
Tools and Outsourcing Options
Nicepage
Nicepage offers 10,000+ pre-designed Landing pages, or you can make your own.
You can edit any of the pre-made templates, using their own website builder – which allows for drag-and-drop, no coding customizations like content editing, layout changing (blocks), modifying colors and fonts, and making adjustments for different responsive modes.
Nicepage
Nicepage is available for Windows or Mac OS as a WordPress Plugin.
Fiverr
Fiverr’s experienced landing page designers can create the right layout and branding identity for your page.
Expect premium quality images, responsive design suitable for mobile devices and desktop, content upload (of content provided by you) and more.
Fiverr for landing pages.
The prices vary greatly, depending on what you want, how fast you want it, and the self-ascribed skills & experience of the artist you choose. For reference, we found prices ranged from $5 to $1500.
Landingfolio
Landingfolio features a beautiful and diverse collection of landing pages, curated from around the web.
Their offerings include:
Tailwind CSS Site Templates – Figma included on all designs
Logos – a collection by designer Jord Riekwel, donated to the community (they’re free)
Mockup Generator – quickly create device mockups for your app or web design; enter your website URL, and they’ll generate the mockups for you
Landingfolio
Tailwind is a CSS framework like Bootstrap, that speeds up your development time. It uses classes to style elements, so you don’t have to write any CSS.
Popular Page Builders Like Elementor and Divi
Of course, you can always turn to page builders and themes if needed, most of which will help you create quality custom landing pages for clients.
Divi only offers a paid version of their builder, which provides a nice looking end-product when it comes to landing pages and conversion elements. Elementor also has the capability to create landing pages in both their free and Pro versions.
Create Lead Generations Modules With Hustle
Every good landing page needs effective lead generation elements.
You can put together some great lead generating modules with our free Hustle plugin.
Opt-ins, pop-ups, slide-ins, social shares, and embeds – Hustle helps you create them all, designed to drive results and convert visitors.
Just a few of Hustle’s many premade templates.
It’s easy to build great looking modules in minutes with Hustle’s professionally designed templates (18 and counting).
All of which are mobile responsive, and come with a choice of email opt-in forms and informational designs (i.e., users click a button and are sent to another page).
Hustle comes in both free and pro versions. Both give you all of the same great settings and options.
The only difference is the Pro version comes with unlimited Opt-ins, Custom Content, and Social Sharing.
Want more Hustle? Check out these info-packed articles on the blog:
How Much Can You Charge For Landing Page and Lead Generation Services?
F5 Studio, a successful web development outfit that has been in business since 2013, has a great article breaking down the elements of design, and what goes into its landing page pricing.
They say digital agencies charge from about $600 to $3,000 to create a static landing page, and from $2,000 to $5,000 for a dynamic landing page.
Brimar, an award-winning, full-service marketing agency, shared these insights on landing page cost, claiming an agency can charge anywhere from $300 to $3,000 per landing page, depending on the project’s complexity and the clients business goals.
Overall, the cost of creating a landing page varies depending on the complete scope of the job, and how much work will be involved.
Average price range for landing page and conversion services: $300-$5,000
Web Design Service 4: Redesign/Rebrand projects
There are several reasons why a client might benefit from or want a website redesign. The most common are:
The overall look and feel is outdated or unappealing.
The business identity isn’t well-reflected in the design, or soon won’t be due to a planned rebranding.
The usability is poor, making navigation difficult and limiting conversions.
“It is especially important for a complete overhaul (the UI might require a complete rethink) if trying to appeal to a completely different audience—e.g. if a website changes from b2c to b2b.” – Marianna (WPMU DEV Member)
What’s Involved and The Tools to Help You Provide a Redesign Service
Understanding the user experience is key. If a site’s interaction/conversion rates are a lot less than their site traffic, it would behoove you to look into behavior analytics.
Hotjar and Crazy Egg for UX insights
Tools like Hotjar and Crazy Egg can provide great insight on a site’s UX design/usability.
By observing recorded screen behavior, you can pinpoint any weak areas, and make upgrades based on real-use data.
Hotjar offers their service for free, up to a thousand dollars (per month) based on what features you need, and for how many sessions (“Observe”) or responses (“Ask”).
Crazy Egg pricing includes 5 different packages, from less than thirty dollars a month, to priced by quote. Each tier allows greater quantities of services (like tracked page views, snapshots, & recordings).
Learning where customers move their mouses and where they click, what they focus on vs what they ignore, removes any doubt and guesswork, allowing you to focus on the areas specifically highlighted as ripe for improvement.
How Much Can You Charge For Redesign Services?
Redesigns are very similar to new designs in terms of the overall effort required. They involve many of the same elements, tools, and time requirements.
The only price differential with a redesign would be the additional cost of UX insight tools, as explained above.
Average cost to design a website (with basic features): $3,200
Average time to design a website (with basic features): 2 months
The foremost reason people hire a professional web designer (rather than using site building software): the ability to completely customize.
Web Design survey results for overall web design costs. Image creditWeb Design survey results for factors influencing cost. Image credit
Regardless of the reason behind a redesign, it’s important to establishing what the expectations are for scope and cost in advance.
We’re seeing an average of $3+K and a timeframe of about two months for full web designs/redesigns. Factor that into what your average build time is and what services you will include to help set your prices.
Average price range for website redesigns: $2,000-$4,000
Putting All of Your Web Design Components Together
Having gathered information and given it due consideration, you can now construct a menu uniquely tailored to your web design services, providing easy access (and value proposition) to interested clients.
An Example of a Complete Design Services Menu:
Here’s an example we came up with, which includes variations on elemental prices, depending on the components included and expected work involved.
Our full service web development menus, as seen on our sample site.
Get Started Offering Web Design Services To Your Clients
We hope you took away some valuable insights from this detailed look at offering web design services.
If you need any more advice or clarification about anything discussed in the article, feel free to ask us in the comments below.
There are a lot of balls to keep in the air as a Web Developer. At WPMU DEV, our goal is to assist in making that process as easy as possible.
If you’re interested in giving our platform a try, our free plan is the best place to start. It includes unlimited site management, built-in billing, plugins, and more.
Our enterprise-grade, indestructible off-site hosting backups just got even better – now with a new and affordable hourly add-on. Ideal for your mission critical sites, with high profit margin opportunities for hosting resellers.
For a while now it’s been our mission here at WPMU DEV to be your ultimate web development partner.
We continue to do this by…
Providing you with the tools and tech you need to run your business.
Pricing our hosting, plugins, tools, and support in an affordable manner, so you can grow your business.
And today, I’m excited to announce another hotly requested feature you can use to immediately improve your own sites and offer to your clients as an amazing premium service.
Hourly hosting backups for you, or your reseller clients!
That’s right, enterprise grade, off-site, hourly backups, with 30 days of restore points for… wait for it…
Only $5 a month!
Hourly hosting backups have arrived at a low $5/m.
Hourly backups have always been a huge deal for big sites that are always changing.
After all, having them means you can rest easy knowing that if something goes terribly wrong, you are only ever 59 minutes at most away from a quick restore that fixes it.
They are mission critical for big eCommerce sites, communities, news sites and, of course, have always cost an accordingly large amount to maintain (especially because they also need to be offsite in case of a catastrophic data center failure).
That’s when we had a thought… What if we could make hourly hosting backups more accessible and affordable for our members?
Sky high margins for hosting resellers
Currently, hourly backups are only provided by a couple of other well-known hosts in our space, including the always excellent Kinsta.
Now, I’m never unhappy to recommend Kinsta, but that’s a hard sell to your clients and an even harder sell for you to markup on.
Whereas with our $5 backups, you can literally charge $25-50/m and then point to Kinsta (or any other enterprise grade hourly backup service… which will be far, far more) and be offering them a bargain.
Wait, how can we even afford such low pricing?
In short: Relentless, research-based, and innovative work.
Also, this is one of those things that simply wouldn’t have been possible 3-5 years ago, so we have a ‘later mover’ advantage.
And, we’re also making a bet here, we’re hoping that this will both not cost us as much as it could (I won’t go into too much detail as to how costs could overreach… bit of commercial secrecy there ;) and also that having this feature, at this price point, will persuade you to use our services and hosting for your white label reseller work.
We want to be the host of hosts, we want you to have a great business, this is a carrot, we hope it’s super tasty.
Affordable, reliable, and pretty much indestructible (really!)
As well as being great value for resellers, our new hourly backups also “walk-the-walk” leveraging the same “disaster-proof” tech as our regular daily backups.
Without going tooo much into the techy details (you can find more of those here on our hosting backups page)… As well as on-site storage, our redundant AWS/S3 backups are stored safely across multiple devices and facilities.
Rest easy knowing your sites and data are protected by our advanced backups system.
Basically this means that if our data centers are ever compromised (knock on wood!), your backups will still remain fully accessible.
To put the icing on this hosting backups cake, they also use an efficient file system that allows you to create space-saving incremental backups with no load or downtime.
Now available for all WPMU DEV Hosting plans
So you can literally have enterprise level backups on our entry level hosting plan and it won’t even damage your site’s performance.
WPMU DEV Hosting users, if you’re interested – just visit your Hub dashboard and navigate to Site > Hosting > Backups… Or, My Account > Add Ons.
From here you can easily purchase and activate hourly backups in a couple of clicks.
Activating hourly backups couldn’t be easier!
And yes, when we launch reseller automation your clients will be able to purchase and activate this feature at a price you set via The Hub Client (and the same will be true for hosting plans, CDN, backup space and more…).
So consider this the start of some even more amazing things to come to our hosting before the end of the year. We can’t wait for you to experience it all!
Not yet using our Hosting? Being late to the party is actually a good thing. Because our platform grows bigger and better everyday. You’ll just wish you jumped on board earlier!
Or, just between us… The easiest way to take it for a no-risk spin is to trial our Agency plan for free. This plan includes free hosting credit you can use to quickly whip up a WPMU DEV-hosted site.
Most entrepreneurs understand the incredible value obtained from having an effective website or blog. It can be used to promote your brand, reach potential customers, share valuable information, and sell…
Having a slow loading WordPress dashboard is annoying, and it hurts overall productivity when it comes to creating content and managing your website. Also the underlying cause of a slow WordPress dashboard can also impact your website conversions.
In this article, we’ll show you how to easily fix a slow loading WordPress dashboard, step by step.
What Causes a Slow Loading WordPress Dashboard?
A slow loading WordPress dashboard can be caused by a number of reasons, but the most common one is limited server resources.
Most WordPress hosting providers offer a set number of resources for each hosting plan. These resources are enough to run most websites.
However, as your WordPress website grows, you may notice slight performance degradation or slower loading across the board. That’s because more people are now accessing your website and consuming server resources.
For the front end section of your website which is what your visitors likely see, you can easily install a WordPress caching plugin to overcome WordPress speed and performance issues.
However, the WordPress admin area is uncached, so it requires more resources to run at the optimal level.
If your WordPress dashboard has become annoyingly slow, then this means a WordPress plugin, a default setting, or something else on the site is consuming too many resources.
That being said, let’s take a look at how to troubleshoot and fix the slow loading WordPress admin dashboard.
Here is an overview of the steps we’ll cover in this article.
1. How to Test Performance of WordPress admin area
Before making any changes, it’s important to measure the speed of your WordPress admin area, so you can get an objective measurement of any improvement.
However, the WordPress admin area is behind a login screen, so you cannot use the same tools to test it.
Luckily, many modern desktop browsers come with built-in tools to test the performance of any web page you want.
For example, if you’re using Google Chrome, then you can simply go to the WordPress dashboard and open the Inspect tool by right-clicking anywhere on the page.
This will split your browser screen and you will see the Inspect area in the other window either at the bottom or side of your browser window.
Inside the Inspect tool, switch to the Lighthouse tab and click on the Generate Report button.
This will generate a report similar to the Web Vitals report generated by Page Speed Insights.
From here, you can see what’s slowing down your WordPress admin area. For instance, you can see which JavaScript files are taking up more resources and affecting your server’s initial response time.
2. Install WordPress Updates
The core WordPress team works hard on improving performance with each WordPress release.
For instance, the block editor team tests and improves performance in each release. The performance team works on improving speed and performance across the board.
If you are not installing WordPress updates, then you are missing out on these performance improvements.
Similarly, all top WordPress themes and plugins release updates that not only fix bugs but also address performance issues.
To install updates, simply go to Dashboard » Updates page to install any available updates.
3. Update the PHP Version Used by Your Hosting Company
WordPress is developed using an open-source programming language called PHP. At the time of writing this article, WordPress requires at least PHP version 7.4 or greater. The current stable version available for PHP is 8.1.6.
Most WordPress hosting companies maintain the minimum requirements to run WordPress, which means they may not be using the latest PHP version out of the box.
Now, just like WordPress, PHP also releases new versions with significant performance improvements. By using an older version, you are missing that performance boost.
You can view which PHP version is used by your hosting provider by visiting the Tools » Site Health page from your WordPress dashboard and switching to the ‘Info’ tab.
Luckily, all reliable WordPress hosting providers offer an easy way for customers to upgrade their PHP version.
For instance, if you are on Bluehost, then you can simply login to your hosting control panel and click on the Advanced tab in the left column.
From here, you need to click on the MultiPHP Manager icon under the Software section.
On the next page, you need to select your WordPress blog and then select the PHP version that you want to use.
Some WordPress plugins may run inside the WordPress admin area. If plugin authors are not careful, their plugins can easily consume too many resources and slow down your WordPress admin area.
Upon activation, the plugin will add a new menu item to your WordPress toolbar.
Clicking on it will show performance results for the page you are currently viewing on your website.
This will bring up the Query Monitor console.
Here you need to switch to ‘Queries by Component’ tab on the left side. From here, you can see the performance impact of plugins and find out which one is taking up too many resources.
You can now temporarily disable the slow plugins and see if that improves performance.
WordPress caching plugins not only improve your website speed, but they can also help you fix a slow loading admin dashboard.
A good WordPress caching plugin helps you optimize page load speed, CSS and JavaScript delivery, your WordPress database, and more.
This frees up resources on your WordPress hosting server that your WordPress admin area can utilize for improved performance.
We recommend using WP Rocket. It is the best WordPress caching plugin on the market. It works out of the box and makes it super easy to optimize your WordPress performance.
WordPress automatically loads some widgets on the dashboard screen. This includes Quick Draft, Events and News, Site Health, and more.
Some WordPress plugins add their own widgets to the dashboard screen as well. If you have a lot of these widgets loading on your dashboard, it could slow things down.
You can turn off these widgets by simply clicking on the Screen Options button and unchecking the box next to the widgets.
Similarly, you can use the Screen Options menu to show and hide sections on different admin screens.
For instance, you can choose the columns you want to see on the posts screen.
8. Fix Slow WooCommerce Admin Dashboard
If you run an online store using WooCommerce, then there are some specific WooCommerce features that can affect the performance of your WordPress admin area.
For instance, you can turn off the WooCommerce dashboard widget by clicking on the Screen Options menu.
Similarly, you can change the information displayed on the Products page.
After a while, your WooCommerce store may add unnecessary data to your WordPress database.
If you are already using WP Rocket, then you can simply switch to the Database tab under plugin settings. From here, you can delete transients and optimize your WordPress database with a click.
9. Lock WordPress Admin Area and Login Pages
Random hackers and DDoS attacks are common internet nuisances that can affect WordPress websites.
These automated scripts access WordPress login pages and attempt to login hundreds of times in a short amount of time.
They may not be able to gain access to your WordPress website, but they would still be able to slow it down.
If you are on Bluehost, then you can simply go to your hosting control panel and switch to the Advanced Tab. From here, you need to click on the Directory Privacy icon.
Next, you need to locate wp-admin directory (usually found inside public_html folder).
Then simply click on the Edit button next to it.
Next, you will be asked to provide a name for your protected directory.
Click on the Save button to continue. The control panel will save your options and you’ll need to click on the Go Back button to continue.
After that, you will need to create username and password for the protected folder.
Now, when you visit your WordPress admin area, you will be prompted to enter username and password.
Next, you would want to block access to WordPress login page. For this, you’ll need to manually edit .htaccess file on your website and generate a password file.
First, connect to your WordPress website using an FTP client or the File Manager app inside your hosting control panel.
After that, go to the root folder of your website (the root folder is where you can see the wp-admin, wp-includes, and wp-content folders).
Here you need to create a new file and name it .htpasswd.
Next, you need to visit this online tool to generate a .htpasswd string.
You need to use the same username and password that you used for the WordPress admin directory.
Then click on the Generate button.
The tool will generate a username and password string under the output box.
You need to copy and paste this string inside the .htpasswd file you created earlier.
Next, you need to edit the .htaccess file and copy and paste the following code inside it.
### BEGIN BASIC BLOCK
<Files wp-login.php>
AuthType Basic
AuthName "Protected Folder"
AuthUserFile /home/username/public_html/yourwebsite/.htpasswd
Require user jsmith
Satisfy All
</Files>
### END BASIC BLOCK
Don’t forget to replace jsmith with your own username and change AuthUserFile value with the path to your .htpasswd file. You can find it inside the File Manager app.
You can now visit your WordPress login page to see the password protection in action.
10. Manage WordPress Autosave Intervals
The WordPress block editor comes with built-in autosave feature. It allows you to easily restore your content in case you close the editor without saving your changes.
However, if multiple users are working on your website during peak traffic, then all those autosave requests will slow down WordPress admin area.
Now autosave is a crucial feature and we don’t recommend turning it off. However, you can slow it down to reduce the performance impact.
Simply add the following line to your wp-config.php file.
define( 'AUTOSAVE_INTERVAL', 120 )
This line simply tells WordPress to run autosave once every 2 minutes (120 seconds) instead of 1.
Reduce Heartbeat API Calls
WordPress uses something called the heartbeat API to send Ajax calls to a server without reloading a page. This allows WordPress to show other authors that a post is being edited by another user, and it enables plugin developers to show you notifications in real-time.
By default, the API pings back every 60 seconds. If multiple authors are working on your website at the same time, then these server calls can become resource-intensive.
If you are already using WP Rocket, then it will automatically reduce heartbeat API activity to pingback every 120 seconds.
Alternately, you can also use their standalone plugin called Heartbeat Control to reduce Heartbeat API calls.
We recommend reducing them to at least 120 seconds or more.
11. Upgrade or Switch to Better WordPress Hosting
All WordPress performance issues depend on the infrastructure provided by your WordPress hosting providers.
This limits your ability to improve performance to the resources offered by your hosting provider.
The above tips will certainly help you reduce load on your WordPress server, but it may not be enough for your hosting environment.
We recommend using Bluehost, as one of the top WordPress hosting companies. Their shared hosting plans come with built-in caching which improves WordPress performance.
However, as your website grows you may need to upgrade your hosting plan.
At WPBeginner, we use SiteGround to host our website.
We hope this article helped you learn how to fix a slow loading WordPress dashboard. You may also want to see our complete WordPress security handbook or see our pick of the best WordPress plugins to grow your business.
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.
Shared hosting is a popular choice when it comes to hosting websites. This article examines everything you need to know to determine if shared hosting is right for you.
We’ll take a look at what exactly shared hosting is, how it works, its advantages and disadvantages, and check out some shared hosting providers.
You’ll learn all about the advantages — and some disadvantages — of shared hosting.
This article isn’t meant to persuade you to switch to shared hosting; however, it will offer you insight about it that you can use to make a logical decision when it comes to hosting. That way, you can know all the benefits, limitations, costs, and more, so you’ll have a clear-headed idea of if shared hosting is right for you.
Shared hosting is website hosting that divides webserver resources between multiple domains that share a physical web server and its resources among the hosted websites. It can also be referred to as virtual shared hosting.
Users can host a website with other domains and share the server resources, which comes with a lower cost and the exact address IP as other domains from other users.
They (users) get a section of a server shared with hundreds of users. Everyone using the shared hosting has access to features, such as disk space, FTP accounts, monthly traffic, and additional add-ons offered by the host.
The system resources are shared on-demand by users that are on the server.
Who Should Use Shared Hosting?
Shared hosting is best for small websites, blogs, and low-traffic websites that do not require advanced configurations or high bandwidth. It’s also good for websites that do not need a great degree of reliability and can manage with some downtime as a result of things happening on the server (we’ll be going over that later).
Packages for shared hosting are typically minimum for features and support, but a lot of time, users can upgrade for additional costs.
Often, shared hosting is all that is required for small websites. However, if a website grows and starts developing more traffic, an upgrade to managed or dedicated server hosting is often needed.
As we touched on, shared hosting can work perfectly for budget-conscious new site owners and anyone with small, low-traffic sites due to all the benefits (that we’ll be discussing in detail later in this article).
How Does it Work?
We also mentioned this earlier, but shared hosting is where a single server hosts numerous sites. As for multiple locations, that can range from several hundred to thousands. It depends on the available hard drive space, processing speed, and RAM.
The hosting is provided by a machine the same as a dedicated server; however, numerous clients implement its resources.
This is shared hosting in a nutshell.
Separate portions of the server contain the user account’s files and applications. Each has its file directory tree, and users don’t have access to either the root or other files.
As you’ll see, there are many…
Advantages of Shared Hosting
There’s a lot of goodies that shared hosting offers.
You’ve probably already compiled some thoughts and ideas on why shared hosting may be beneficial. That being said, there are a lot of advantages to taking a look at in further detail.
So, let’s check them out.
Cost-Effectiveness
A significant reason to use shared hosting is that it’s very affordable. It’s the most cost-effective solution since many people contribute to the server’s costs, and the hosting company’s costs are distributed amongst them.
You can get a site hosted for as cheap as a couple of dollars per month, depending on your hosting provider and terms.
Flexibility
If you have a new or small website, you can start with shared hosting and upgrade without major obstacles as your site grows.
No Bandwidth Limitations
Whatever web hosting provider you have, they typically will provide you unlimited bandwidth for your website per month. However, be sure not to overload the server, or your account can be suspended.
There are also situations where if you use a lot of bandwidth and it affects the other domains, your hosting provider may indicate to you that you have to upgrade your account. However, it’s pretty uncommon.
Easy to Self-Manage without Technical Expertise
It’s straightforward to set up shared hosting. There are a lot of providers that offer a control panel for website management. Unlike VPS or dedicated servers, it’s simple to add FTP users, compress folders, change passwords, and more.
There are no expensive tools or complicated configurations to figure out.
Host Multiple Domains
For the option of hosting multiple domains, shared hosting has you covered. Most web hosts allow hosting multiple websites. That being said, there can be limitations, such as just allowing several domains per account. But, some may not have any restrictions unless your account gets tons of traffic.
Professionally Managed
When it comes to low maintenance, shared hosting fits the bill. Your hosting provider takes care of your server by ensuring basic server administrative tasks are functioning correctly. You should expect to have professional technical support for everything, including DDoS attacks, network outages, maintenance, and more.
Ability to Host Dynamic Websites
When you have a website that looks different according to who is browsing (e.g. Facebook), that is known as dynamic. CMSs and dynamic sites use programming languages (e.g. PHP), which can all be run on a shared server.
Built-in cPanel
Thanks to cPanel, you’re able to manage your web hosting tasks. With shared hosting, a built-in cPanel can ease control, simplifying setting up emails, databases, addon domains, and more.
Easy Email Hosting and Setup
It’s vital to have an email associated with your domain these days. With shared hosting, having a cPanel on an affordable hosting plan allows you to add email addresses easily. Plus, you can forward emails to other services (e.g. Gmail). Many shared hosting services offer unlimited emails accounts.
Disadvantages of Shared Hosting
Anytime you share something, there can be some disadvantages…
Like anything, there are advantages – and disadvantages. That goes for shared hosting, too.
Here’s a look at some less desirable parts of shared hosting.
Security Issues
Unfortunately, shared hosting can be the most vulnerable type of hosting due to the fact hackers can use one domain to access the whole server – along with all of the other sites hosted on it.
Web hosts want the maximum number of domains hosted on a single server and often overlook security measures.
However, some web hosts mention that they implement domain isolation to prevent other domains from being affected if a particular site is hacked. And a lot of shared hosting companies step up their security more than others.
Speed
One of the major issues of shared hosting is speed. It’s due to many users sharing the server resources, RAM, and CPU – which can slow things down. Plus, if there’s a popular website on the server, it will affect all of the other sites due to the server resources and singular IP address.
This will vary with web hosts but be prepared for a slower site. However, this may not be a huge factor if you don’t get a lot of visitors or have a personal website where you don’t care much about speed.
Server Crashes
A common issue with shared hosting is server crashes. This occurs when sites use excessive CPU and RAM.
The more significant point is that hosting companies often aren’t quick to resolve the issue. It’s a common occurrence for them and not a high priority.
Of course, some good hosting providers do fix the problem and even ban a website that uses all the server resources. If a hosting provider has reviews or good customer support for issues like this, it maybe is worth using them compared with a hosting provider that doesn’t resolve the issue quickly.
Fixing Problems Can Take Longer
This corresponds with server crashes because, as mentioned above, problems sometimes aren’t quick to be determined, making it frustrating for anyone that cares about uptime.
Things can take a while to settle, even if a hosting company has the staff to fix downtime or any issues.
Again, be sure to look at reviews for the hosting company and determine for yourself if the company is good at fixing problems promptly. (And, the hosting companies we will be mentioning in this article all have good support, so keep that in mind.)
When Not to Use Shared Hosting
As discussed, shared hosting uses a common server amongst many websites. The result is that shared hosting is set up to let popular frameworks (e.g. WordPress) run flawlessly with basic configurations.
So, if you want to use a custom site framework that’s not currently installed on the server, or are looking to optimize server resources for specific website tasks, shared hosting might not be suitable for you. You’d be better off with dedicated or VPS hosting since they’ll allow for more customization.
If you need root access to install software or configure, it’s probably best not to use shared hosting since you’re very limited beyond anything basic.
Shared Hosting Providers
Now that you know all about the benefits, disadvantages, and how shared hosting works, you may decide it’s right for you. Here are some recommendations for shared hosting providers.
These companies come with a solid reputation, support and are well established. There are links to each plan, so please refer to those for more information and pricing.
Also, please note that we have no relationship with these companies beyond thinking they offer a solid product. We do not — and will not — post affiliate links here at WPMU DEV (which makes us kinda unique!).
If you’d like to share an opinion or ask a question about either our view on shared hosting or these providers, please do so in the comments at the end of the article.
HostGator
HostGator is one of the most popular shared hosting providers out there.
HostGator is a popular and well-known shared hosting company.
Along with shared hosting, it offers WordPress, VPS, and dedicated hosting – which is great if your site becomes too big. Additionally, there are Linux-based shared hosting packages.
Its shared hosting has month-to-month plans and also has longer terms available. Their rich shared hosting packages include unlimited storage, monthly databases with plenty of growth opportunities, and email.
A big benefit of hosting with HostGator is their 24/7 customer support and reliability. If issues arise, they’re quick to fix the problem.
HostGator is a top-notch option for shared hosting, with a solid reputation for quality and reliable service at affordable prices. It’s highly recommended for shared hosting by numerous reviews and websites.
GoDaddy
GoDaddy is no stranger to shared hosting.
GoDaddy is one of the cheapest options when it comes to shared hosting. It has a decent range of Linux-based shared web servers, plus it will include a free domain name if you sign up for a commitment that surpasses 12 months.
Also, you can always upgrade to VPS or dedicated hosting, if your site starts to surpass what’s passable with shared hosting.
GoDaddy includes great uptime (rarely goes down), useful website-building tools, and options for servers. Plus, their 24/7 support is beneficial if anything goes wrong.
They also have a solid reputation and has been in business for a while. It’s a good option for starting with shared hosting with upgrading in the future.
Domain.com
Domain.com offers more than domains with their shared hosting packages.
Domain.com is known more for their domains. They have shared hosting as well for an affordable price. Their various plans are determined by how many sites you have and all feature unlimited storage.
They include some free perks, such as an SSL Certificate, and a free domain. Along with that, they have 24/7 network monitoring and DDoS protection.
Their customer-friendly control panel makes it easy to use. And if you ever have questions or issues, you can always contact their support.
Hostinger
Hostinger is a great low-cost option for shared hosting.
Hostinger offers some low-cost plans, 24/7 customer service, and their uptime is fantastic. They have three Linux-powered shared web hosting plans, with low cost – but a high commitment for those low costs (one-year to four-year).
They also have WordPress, VPS, and Linux Servers hosting, so you can always upgrade if needed.
A few cons are the lack of dedicated hosting, and not every plan has a Windows option. Plus, though there is 24/7 support, that doesn’t include phone support, which might inconvenience some users.
All this being said, Hostinger has a solid reputation for shared hosting. It can be extremely affordable, just be prepared to make a commitment.
DreamHost
DreamHost can be a dream come true (sorry!) with their shared hosting.
DreamHost is another great option when it comes to affordable shared hosting. It’s geared more towards beginners, considering the tools that make it extremely easy to get up-and-running, support, and a one-click installation feature.
They have two shared hosting plans (Shared Starter and Shared Unlimited). They feature unlimited monthly data transfers and storage. That being said, you’ll need to upgrade to Shared Unlimited for email.
As mentioned, it’s easy to use DreamHost with their domain-management tools. The custom control panel gives you admin access to all of your Dreamhost products. From there, it’s easy to update domain information, adjust settings, add users, and more.
Plus, they have a 100% uptime guarantee. They have multiple data centers, redundant cooling, emergency generators, and are monitoring things constantly to ensure everything is running smoothly.
Bluehost
Bluehost’s ease of use makes setting up a shared hosting site a breeze.
Bluehost is another company that includes a very easy-to-use website builder. It also features resource protection, so your website’s performance stays protected and unaffected even with other sites on the shared server.
They also have terms of use, but you can upgrade to VPS or dedicated hosting if needed. There is also 24/7 support, custom themes, WordPress integration, and a free domain for a year.
As one of PC Ediotrs’ Choice for Hosting, they mention, “The ever-evolving Bluehost is a dependable web host that makes site creation a breeze, especially for WordPress hosting.” That being said, it’s worth trying out Bluehost for shared hosting – especially if you’re using WordPress.
A2 Hosting
We give A2 Hosting an ‘A’ for their shared hosting.
A2 Hosting stands out for its various packages, uptime performance, and great customer service.
It has four tiers of Linux-based shared web hosting. The price varies by storage, emails, and domains.
Each of their servers is optimized for speed and they limit how many clients can operate on each server. They mention that they have 20-times faster page load times than most competitors.
They have a team of experts to help with any account migration, tote a 99.9 uptime commitment, and 24/7 support.
InMotion
InMotion is another easy-to-use platform for shared hosting.
Inmotion has a reputation for excellent uptime, ease of use, and flexibility. It also offers many hosting types, so if you ever need to upgrade out of shared hosting, you can.
It has four Linux-based shared hosting plans ranging from 10GB of SSD storage up to 200GB. The plans are determined by websites, email accounts, and data transfers. They all include free SSL and a free domain.
They have a good reputation for uptime and have 24/7 technical support. Plus, it comes with an easy-to-manage cPanel, which any beginner can appreciate.
iPage
iPage is cheap, yet offers excellent shared hosting features.
iPage is a shared hosting service with extremely affordable pricing plans that vary by term. They power over one million websites and have been in business since 1998.
Some of their benefits include unlimited email addresses, unlimited domains, and 24/7 support. They also include free SSL certificates, a free domain for a year, and a free website builder.
You can also upgrade to VPS and dedicated server hosting if your website becomes too big for shared hosting.
Hosting Shouldn’t Be Spared When Shared
As you can see, there are many benefits to shared hosting. It boils down to that it’s best for beginners, smaller websites, and if you’re on a budget.
You shouldn’t spare your hosting quality if using shared hosting. Use a suitable shared hosting company (like the ones we mentioned), and you should expect quality – even if there may be some occasional hiccups (e.g. downtime). Plus, use a company that makes it easy to upgrade, for when your website grows.
You’re welcome to use this article to reference shared hosting on your website. Or, ahem, with all of this talk about sharing – feel free to share it.
