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Shopping around for the right WordPress hosting provider that fits your WordPress hosting cost expectations can be a challenging experience. How can there be so much variance in WordPress hosting costs, with some providers charging $3 per month while others cost up to $500 per month?
The reality is that the advertised sticker price is rarely the final price you pay once you account for common add-ons relating to security, speed, and support. With most providers, you can categorize their WordPress hosting costs into three buckets:
This article breaks down the various tiers of WordPress hosting costs and identifies the key features that justify the investment in each level.
Set realistic expectations when you are considering cheap WordPress hosting, which can range from $3–$15 per month. With an entry-level option, providers typically host your site on a shared server that’s used by hundreds of other websites. Shared hosting prices are low and are a good fit for hobbyist bloggers or temporary landing pages, but probably not a good fit for most businesses.
You gain access to your own domain and the basic resources you need to get up and running, but with limited access to other supporting resources. Additional downsides include slow loading speeds during traffic spikes and limited security features. Activity from all the other sites on the shared server can slow down your site and expose you to potential security risks.
If you are considering an entry-level WordPress hosting plan, be aware that your low introductory rate will likely balloon at renewal. It’s not uncommon for entry-level hosting renewal rates to triple in price. And if you decide to upgrade your site’s speed, security, or support, it will be costly.
With premium WordPress hosting (which can range from $20–100 per month), you can expect a server environment that is specifically tuned for WordPress performance, security, and scalability. Depending on the provider, this may include dedicated resources or a performance-optimized shared environment designed specifically for WordPress.
At the professional tier, site owners typically receive automatic updates and backups. This is a key feature, especially for new or less-experienced site owners. Automatic updates and backups save hours of manual work and prevent your site from crashing. This alone can justify the jump to a professional plan.
High-performance hosting comes with enhanced security, including built-in firewalls and malware scanning to safeguard your site and its data. With the server infrastructure optimized for the WordPress core and database, premium WordPress hosting delivers superior speed. Pressable’s 100% uptime guarantee and built-in global Content Delivery Network (CDN) help it deliver ultrafast speed to your visitor’s page loads.
Consider the cost of downtime when upgrading from entry-level to professional hosting. For a business, the cost of one hour of downtime far exceeds the monthly cost of premium hosting. This is another key upgrade that goes a long way toward justifying the cost of a professional plan.
Another consideration with professional tier WordPress hosting plans is how much customization you want for your site’s design. Unique customizations usually require support from a developer. At this level, you gain access to important developer resources including staging sites and easy collaboration tools. Pressable offers one-click access to staging environments to test out site updates before they go live.
Not surprising, enterprise WordPress hosting for high-traffic ecommerce stores, news and media sites, and global corporate platforms offers a variety of valuable improvements above and beyond the premium tier. Costs are typically $100 or more per month.
Most important is access to high-availability architecture. High availability means that you’re able to deliver greater reliability to your visitors and avoid scenarios where your website is down.
Even large enterprises that host millions of monthly visitors can expect consistently fast performance. Pressable offers automatic scaling to accommodate traffic spikes no matter the size.
Security receives some valuable upgrades, including real-time backup of your website. If your site should go down, you have a backup copy with the most recent updates already added and ready to go. Another common security upgrade is 30-day activity logging that helps with creating an audit trail for accountability in the wake of a security breach. Logging also helps with early threat detection.
Enterprise-level WordPress hosting plans also include priority support from dedicated resources at the hosting provider. You gain 24/7 access to credentialed engineers that are experienced in overcoming complex traffic bottlenecks and custom configurations. This added support provides faster resolution to problems and keeps your site operating in top form.
Beyond the features included in monthly plans, there are some common “hidden costs” that site owners should be aware of and ask about.
While WordPress hosting costs can vary wildly, you generally get what you pay for when it comes to the important site features of speed, security, and stability. If the cost is low, make sure you are informed about potential add-on costs for common site needs. If the cost is high, have a clear understanding of how to best take advantage of what services and tools are included in your plan. No matter what kind of business site you have, managed WordPress hosting typically is the sweet spot for hosting ROI in terms of value and performance. Start today by auditing your current site performance and see if a move to a managed WordPress hosting plan would save you money on maintenance and security in the long run. (In many cases, it does.)
Pressable works with clients of all sizes. Depending on the number of sites you need hosted, the number of visitors to your site, and amount of storage you require, we have a managed WordPress hosting plan that fits your needs and your budget. No matter the size of your business, you can expect our 100% uptime guarantee and unlimited scaling to keep your site highly available and ready for your visitors.
Pressable—part of the Automattic family that also includes WordPress.com, WordPress VIP, and WooCommerce—is staffed by WordPress experts with the skills and knowledge to effectively manage your WordPress site. If you’re thinking about switching to managed WordPress hosting, schedule a demo to see how Pressable supports faster performance, stronger security, and effortless scaling.
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