The preferred hosting method is managed shared hosting as compared to cheap shared hosting and private servers. Cheap shared hosting is inadequate for performance, particularly as servers get filled up with noisy neighbors. Virtual private servers have heavier cots, maintenance burdens, and can be a problem during traffic bursts.
To overcome those limitations, modern “managed” shared hosting utilizes a much larger grid of servers, reserving key resources for each site.
I work with a number of quality hosting providers. Here’s some recommended options in alphabetical order:
Pressable
Full service hosting owned by Automattic, uses WP Cloud servers under the hood.
Site Ground
Bulgaria-based, known for cost-effective unlimited sites with CPU thresholds.
WP Engine
Longtime and well regarded full service managed WP host offering the full spectrum
In addition to these, I’m also a WP Cloud partner, which is a WordPress-as-a-Service (WPaaS) venture owned by Automattic.
- Low cost base with affordable PHP Worker growth
- Built-in tools to troubleshoot deep performance issues
- Bursting capability – on-demand PHP workers for anticipated traffic spikes
- Personally managed by an agency or developer rather than a more generic hosting business
Here’s their pricing schedule. They bill me at the end of each month, then I bill clients using their balance of hours rounded up to the nearest quarter hour as my small fee.
| Per site hosting resource | Cost (per month) |
|---|---|
| Base cost | $5 |
| PHP workers beyond the first two | $6 each |
| Storage beyond 25G | $0.25 per GB up to 200GB |
| RAM allocation over 512M | $7 for 2X, $19 for 3X, $31 for 4X |
| Enable Bursting, on-demand PHP workers | $200 includes the on-demand PHP workers |
Calculating PHP workers or CPU resources can be tricky because it depends on the traffic shape (concurrency versus cache-ability), how big / complex the site is, and how many background processes that it runs (think web hooks alerting analytics and marketing services at each order save). It’s recommended to start with four PHP workers for an eCommerce site and grow in steps up to around eight. Larger sites may require Bursting where these PHP workers scale up and down automatically. It’s important to monitor this utilization to ensure that proper resources are allocated.