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Selecting the right WordPress website hosting provider to ensure you get the features, performance and support you need is not an easy task. In the face of many choices, how to distinguish between high-quality and inferior quality, and how to get the most value for money?

This article will help you. In our previous article The Ultimate Guide to Choosing a Hosting Service, we created a list of checklists to help you make informed decisions. This article goes a step further and evaluates five excellent hosting companies one by one for you to compare.

The following are five companies and their self-introductions:

1. Bluehost: "Our mission: empower people to make the most of the network."
2. DreamHost: “We focus on creating successful websites for web designers, developers, bloggers and online businesses.”
3. SiteGround: "Web hosting is our craft. The latest speed technology is our passion. Unique security solutions are our expertise. Amazing technical support is our pride."
4. Flywheel: “Exquisite WordPress hosting and management services for designers and agencies.”
5. WP Engine: “WP Engine provides first-class customer service on top of innovation-driven technologies.”

These companies are not exactly the same. We're not just comparing apples with apples – because you probably don't need apples. After completing the checklist evaluation, you will have a clearer understanding of which type of company best meets your needs.

The top three offer shared hosting with powerful WordPress options, offering a large number of configurations at a low price. The latter two companies focus on low-maintenance WordPress hosting, but the price is higher. In the next list you will see these differences.

Key Points

• Performance Difference: WP Engine and SiteGround lead in speed and performance, which is critical for user experience and SEO, and WP Engine usually loads faster but has a higher price.
• Security and Uptime: SiteGround stands out with its proactive security measures and excellent uptime, implementing custom WAF rules and real-time server monitoring, while DreamHost occasionally makes uptime reliability Have problems with it.
• Excellent Customer Support: SiteGround provides excellent customer support and fast response time, significantly better than competitors like Bluehost in supporting interactions.
• Feature-rich hosting: SiteGround offers a comprehensive feature set at competitive prices, an attractive one for users who need strong hosting capabilities without having to pay a high price. choose.
• Reputation and Reliability: All five providers receive WordPress recommendations, but SiteGround is particularly praised for its community engagement and customer-centric approach, with a reputation that goes beyond technical capabilities.

1. Speed ??and Performance

Your top priority should be to make sure your website loads quickly. Using SSD for storage, supporting the new HTTP/2 protocol, and having servers in multiple continents can reduce loading time. Additionally, content delivery networking and caching options can further speed up your website.

In a thorough WordPress hosting comparison, DesignBombs tested the performance. They tested the loading times of our four websites using LoadImpact and Pingdom. Here are the results, the fastest ones are at the forefront:

1. WP Engine: 260 milliseconds (LoadImpact), 350 milliseconds (Pingdom)
2. SiteGround: 400ms (LoadImpact, after cache), 942ms (Pingdom)
3. Bluehost: 640 milliseconds (LoadImpact), 2794 milliseconds (Pingdom)
4. Flywheel: 1000 milliseconds (LoadImpact), 1580 milliseconds (Pingdom)

SiteGround is undoubtedly a strong competitor in performance. They have data centers on three continents, possess excellent performance-related features, and detail their infrastructure upgrades on their blog.

WP Engine has even better load times, although the price is higher. Their Pro (and above) has excellent performance features, though not as much as SiteGround.

2. Safety, reliability and uptime

Security and reliability should also be a priority when choosing a hosting provider. You need a website that is always online and resistant to hacking. WordPress (and your plug-in) needs to be kept up to date and should be patched quickly with known vulnerabilities. The host should take proactive measures to prevent attacks and should backup regularly in case the worst happens. Finally, your website should be monitored carefully so that the problem can be resolved immediately when the website goes down.

ReviewSignal's WordPress Hosting Performance Benchmark (2015) tests uptime for five of our hosting providers (and others) over 30 days. Here are the results:

• Bluehost 100%
• DreamHost 94.06%
• SiteGround 100%
• Flywheel 100%
• WP Engine 100%

DreamHost does appear to be downtime from time to time, including a 42-hour downtime during the testing of ReviewSignal. Other providers had 100% uptime during testing.

SiteGround actively protects websites at three levels through zero-day vulnerability fixes and custom WAF rules. For example, in 2015, they added 855 firewall rules and 43 kernel patches. This level of care is quite unique among hosting providers.

They also have their own complex monitoring system that actively checks all server processes twice a second, and will automatically fix it if a problem is detected. This means that even if a problem occurs, you are unlikely to realize it – it will usually be fixed in less than a second.

Some commenters find SiteLock (a security service used by Bluehost, DreamHost and other hosting providers) suspicious value. Other providers offer better custom security solutions, as does Jetpack Premium included in DreamHost's DreamPress package. We will cover WordPress security options in more detail in the coming weeks.

3. Customer Service and Support

When you need to contact technical support, you need help, not arguing. What you need is the answer, not the long wait. You need support available 24/7, as well as a lot of self-service resources.

SiteGround quotes their support response time, and it's very good:

• Work order: First reply within 10 minutes
• Online Chat: Instant Reply Time
• Tel: Instant reply time

Designbombs decides to test support response time when doing web hosting comparisons. They asked these hosting providers (and some others) a simple question through online chat and timed the time it took to get a reply. Their conclusion is: "SiteGround absolutely beats the competitor." Here are the results:

1. SiteGround: 15 seconds
2. DreamHost: 6 minutes
3. WP Engine: 11 minutes
4. Flywheel: 15 minutes
5. Bluehost: 40 minutes

SiteGround's response time is excellent, while DreamHost, WP Engine and Flywheel's response time is acceptable. Bluehost's slow response to chat inquiries is worrying.

4. Functions and Limitations

Not everyone needs the same functionality. Geeks like staging and SSL, while beginners value website migration and easy-to-use control panels. Use the table below to determine which companies provide features you value.

SiteGround offers the best range of features at its price. Flywheel and WP Engine didn’t elaborate on their features when talking about features — their services are aimed at companies that are more willing to pay for others to set up and don’t need to know the details. They think the extra cost is cost-effective. They are great choices for these companies.

5. Concept, culture and reputation

WordPress recommended web host

What better recommendation than WordPress recommendations when looking for a host for your WordPress site? Our four companies appear on the official WordPress web hosting recommendation page.

This page is updated several times a year and currently lists the following providers:

• Bluehost
• DreamHost
• Flywheel
• SiteGround

How is the company stable?

How long has the company been around? How many people choose them to host their website?

• Bluehost was founded in 2003 and hosts more than 2 million websites worldwide.
• DreamHost was founded in 1997 and hosts more than 1.5 million websites, blogs, and applications (including 750,000 WordPress installations).
• SiteGround was founded in 2004 and has hosted more than 500,000 websites as of 2016.
• Flywheel was founded in 2012 and is used by more than 50,000 agencies, designers and creatives.
• WP Engine was founded in 2010 and has 60,000 customers in 120 countries, supporting 500,000 "digital experiences".

How human are they?

Without living with them for a while, it is difficult to determine the degree of "humanity" of the company. Here are some metrics from their website and social channels that will help you understand each company.

Bluehost's social channel mainly promotes new blog posts covering topics that are helpful to bloggers and webmasters. There are no mentions of employees or real people on their website. Their "About Us" page explains that the company is part of the Endurance International Group, which includes HostGator, iPage, SiteBuilder.com and Domain.com.

DreamHost blog covers topics related to web hosting, and their social channels are used to promote them. Their homepage explains that they are independently owned, “this allows us to stay true to our values ??and stick to our commitment to our customer community.” They embrace open source software and contribute code to OpenStack.

SiteGround displays photos and descriptions of employees on its friendly website. “We care for our employees as well as we care for our customers. We believe that happy employees bring happy customers, which is why we offer various benefits to inspire and inspire our employees.” They actively give back to the open source community— They participate in over 100 community events each year.

Flywheel website displays photos of all employees and has a section called "Life at Flywheel" written by employee experience coordinator Melanie Phelan. They seem to care about their staff. One of the listed positions is “Happy Engineer,” which is what they call customer support. The company is “the product we believe in” and they created it to “improve the lives of millions of web designers and developers.”

WP Engine website adopts a professional corporate style that matches the target audience. They showed photos of employees on the website along with their introduction. Here is the introduction from founder Jason Cohen: “I created WP Engine because I wanted to solve interesting, real-life puzzles that interesting, real customers encountered and excitedly worked with people around me every day. Somehow, we Luckily for being able to achieve this dream.” When it comes to recruiting opportunities, they used the word “join our big family”.

ReviewSignal WordPress Hosting Rating

ReviewSignal uses an algorithm to rate top hosting providers based on feedback shared on the web. Here is how it works:

Review Signal converts conversations on Twitter into web hosted comments. We have collected over 335,000 reviews about web hosting companies and posted them to consumers. Our mission is to leverage valuable insights that others share publicly and turn them into useful information.

All of our five hosting providers are among the top 13 of their top WordPress hosting companies. Here are their rankings:

1. Flywheel, ranked first, rated 84%

2. WP Engine, ranked third, rated 76%

3. SiteGround, ranked fourth, rated 73%

4. DreamHost, ranked eighth, rating 58%

5. Bluehost, ranked 13th, rating 39%

6. Price

Continuous Cost

Bluehost (Shared Hosting)

• Basic package (single website) $3.95 per month (usually $7.99)
• Plus package (unlimited website) $5.95 per month (usually $10.99)
• Prime package (unlimited websites plus extra features) $5.95 per month (usually $14.99).

DreamHost (WordPress Hosting)

• Shared hosting (multiple sites) $7.95 per month
• DreamPress (fully hosted) $16.95 per month

SiteGround (WordPress Hosting)*

• StartUp (one website, 10,000 visits per month) $4.95 per month
• GrowBig (25,000 visits per month) $7.45 per month
• GoGeek (100,000 visits per month) $10.45 per month

* SitePoint readers can enjoy the current 65% special promotional discount.

Flywheel (Managed WordPress Hosting)

• Tiny package (5,000 visits per month) $15 per month
• Personal package (25,000 visits per month) $30 per month
• Professional package (100,000 visits per month)$75 per month

WP Engine (Managed WordPress Hosting)

• Personal package (single site) $29 per month.
• Professional package (10 WordPress installations) $99 per month.
• Enterprise package (25 WordPress installations) $249 per month.

Refund Policy

Bluehost offers a first-month money-back guarantee. "Try us, like us, or get a refund within 30 days of registration. Your satisfaction is our top priority and we are confident that you will be satisfied with our service."

Dreamhost provides a 97-day money-back guarantee for shared hosting.

SiteGround offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for all shared hosting plans. “Our 30-day money-back guarantee gives you peace of mind and our service will meet expectations set out in the Terms of Service.”

Flywheel does not offer a refund, but you can cancel at any time as there is no contract.

WP Engine offers a 60-day money-back guarantee. "If you are not satisfied, you can cancel within the first 60 days and apply for a refund to retrieve your subscription fee! Premium and business packages are not included."

Which one should you choose?

A lot of information! Which company should you choose? It depends on whether you like apples or oranges.

If you want your hosting provider to do the heavy lifting for you—including making decisions for you and your website that they think are best for you—then check out WP Engine or Flywheel. Their package costs much more, but for many companies it will be worth the money.

If you are willing to do some work yourself and are looking for a value for money, SiteGround (our preferred hosting provider) is the best choice. They offer excellent performance and reliability, and their budget package includes more features and better support than competitors.

Frequently Asked Questions about WordPress Hosting Providers

What are the key factors to consider when choosing a WordPress hosting provider?

When choosing a WordPress hosting provider, you must consider several key factors. These factors include provider uptime guarantees (ideally 99.9% or higher) and server speed (as this can severely affect the performance of your website). Other factors to consider include customer support from providers, security measures, and whether they offer features such as automatic backup and free domain registration. It is also worth considering the provider's pricing structure and whether they offer any money back guarantees.

How does WP Engine compare to other WordPress hosting providers?

WP Engine is a popular choice for WordPress hosting because of its powerful security features, excellent customer support and high-performance servers. However, it is worth noting that WP Engine packages are usually more expensive than those offered by other providers. If you're on a tight budget, you may want to consider other options like DreamHost or Bluehost, which offer competitive features at a lower price.

What is global edge security and how does it benefit WordPress users?

Global Edge Security is a security feature provided by WP Engine. It provides WordPress users with a range of benefits, including prevention of DDoS attacks, web application firewalls, and SSL/TLS encryption. By using Global Edge Security, you can help protect your website from malicious attacks and keep your user data safe.

How does DreamHost compare to other WordPress hosting providers?

DreamHost is another popular choice for WordPress hosting. It offers a range of features including unlimited bandwidth and storage, 100% uptime guarantee, and free domain names for the first year. However, some users have reported customer support issues with DreamHost, so it is worth considering when making a decision.

What are the benefits of sharing WordPress hosting?

Shared WordPress hosting is a cost-effective option that is perfect for small websites and blogs. With shared hosting, your website shares server resources with other websites, which helps reduce costs. However, it is worth noting that shared hosting may not be suitable for large websites or websites with high traffic as it can cause slower website performance.

How does Bluehost compare to other WordPress hosting providers?

Bluehost is a well-known WordPress hosting provider that offers a range of features including a free domain name for the first year, 24/7 customer support, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. However, some users have reported issues with Bluehost uptime and server speed, so it is worth considering this when making a decision.

What is the importance of customer support in WordPress hosting providers?

Customer support is a crucial factor when choosing a WordPress hosting provider. Ideally, your provider should provide 24/7 support through multiple channels such as online chat, phone calls, and email. This ensures you can get help quickly if you have any website problems.

How does SiteGround compare to other WordPress hosting providers?

SiteGround is a highly rated WordPress hosting provider that offers a range of features including free daily backups, 24/7 customer support, and a 30-day money-back guarantee. However, SiteGround packages are often more expensive than those offered by other providers, so it is worth considering this when making a decision.

What are the benefits of hosting WordPress hosting?

Hosted WordPress Hosting is an advanced service where all technical aspects of running a WordPress website are managed by the host. This includes security, speed, WordPress updates, daily backups, website uptime, and scalability. The main benefit is that it provides a worry-free hosting experience that allows you to focus on running your business.

How does A2 Hosting compare to other WordPress hosting providers?

A2 Hosting is a reliable WordPress hosting provider known for its high-speed performance. It offers a range of features including free website migration, automatic backups and 24/7 customer support. However, some users have reported uptime issues with A2 Hosting, so it is worth considering when making a decision.

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