What’s the Difference Between Web Hosting and WordPress Hosting?

WordPress now powers more than one third of all websites on the internet. Millions of small businesses around the world, turn to WordPress themes when they need a new website. But once the new website is built, it will need to be hosted and supported. Many business owners don’t know what that means, let along which option is their best choice. One thing to know is that a WordPress site doesn’t usually need WordPress hosting to launch but it has its benefits. Today we’re going to discuss the difference between web hosting and WordPress hosting.

What’s the difference between web hosting and WordPress hosting?

Web hosting is a service offered by hosting companies (or digital marketing companies that offer this service). The company hosts your website’s files so that your site’s pages are accessible to the public on the internet. There are many types of web hosting available.

WordPress hosting is hosting for WordPress websites. The most popular type of WordPress hosting is WordPress managed hosting. When a business chooses WordPress hosting, it’s like hiring a team of WordPress experts to manage your server for you.

The main difference between WordPress hosting and standard web hosting is the server configuration, with WordPress hosting plans often providing resources that are optimized for the platform.

Main benefits of WordPress Hosting:

• WordPress hosting often comes with add-on services that can help a WordPress website run smoothly. Examples include access to themes or plugins and automatic updates.
• WordPress-specific server configuration.
• Predictable server configuration.
• User-friendly.

Standard web hosting can work well for storing a WordPress site and making it accessible to the public. Standard hosting plans often come with benefits such as increased security, performance optimization and even free SSL certificates. The main difference is that standard hosting won’t include resources specifically created for WordPress sites.

Main benefits of standard web hosting:

• Improved site performance.
• Quality technical support.
• Access to email address with your domain name.
• Better website security.
• Increased site reliability.
• Lower cost.

While it is not necessary to use WordPress hosting for your WordPress website, you will need to handle many of the optimization, security and maintenance tasks yourself if you choose web hosting. A maintenance service that includes WordPress support is the best solution if you don’t want to handle these tasks yourself.

How do I decide between web hosting and WordPress hosting?

Web hosting and WordPress hosting have different features and benefits, which means that the right type of hosting for you will depend on your needs, level of experience and the time you want to put into maintaining your website. You may also want to look at your options for web hosting. If you can find one that meets all of your needs, then it may not be worth the expense to switch to WordPress hosting.

In order to determine this, it’s important to consider a number of factors about your website including:

• The type of content you will be using. Will it be heavy in images and videos?
• What add-ons will you need to make your site functional?
• Do you want automatic server maintenance?
• Are you particularly concerned about security?
• Your budget.
• Your knowledge level about WordPress sites.
• The amount of traffic you expect to come to your site.

Contact a WordPress support specialist

Softwired provides digital marketing solutions for our partner agencies and clients, including ongoing WordPress technical support. Here at our agency we take WordPress support seriously; we offer monthly support plans instead of hourly support to proactively prevent the decay of your website. In addition to WordPress support, we’ve got you covered for web design, SEO, local online presence and optimization, digital marketing, digital sales, and digital advertising. To get WordPress PRO Support, click the button below: