WordPress Hosting vs. Web Hosting: 6 Key Questions

Picking the right web hosting service for your WordPress website is a very crucial task that should be given a lot of careful consideration. This is a decision that can have a dramatic effect on your website’s accessibility and performance, and can to a large extent make or break your online business.

The first thing you have to decide on is whether you want to use a normal web hosting service or a WordPress hosting service. But what’s the difference between these two anyway?

To put it simply, a generic (non-software specific) web hosting service comes with a general server setup and general features that can suit any third-party or custom-made content management system (CMS), script, application, etc. WordPress is just one of many systems that you can host with a normal web hosting plan.

On the other hand, WordPress hosting is a subtype of web hosting that is primarily designed for WordPress sites. This typically comes with optimized server software and configurations, higher amount of server resources, enhanced security, and other features that are fine-tuned for WordPress.

In a nutshell, you can expect better performance, faster loading speed, and hardened security when you use WordPress-optimized hosting compared to generic shared web hosting.

Six Key Questions to Ask

If you are still not sure whether you should choose a premium WordPress hosting plan or a cheaper shared hosting plan, the following key questions and answers may help you make up your mind.

1. Do you know how to install WordPress on your own?

If you are not a tech-savvy person and have never installed a WordPress site before, you may be more comfortable working with WordPress hosting because this usually includes the system preinstalled or automatically installable with one click.

But it’s not really that complicated of a task to install WP on your own. It only takes a few steps that can be completed in a matter of minutes for someone who has done it before.

Even a total beginner can quickly learn how to do it themselves, thanks to the countless how-to articles and videos out there that thoroughly explain the process.

So, if you prefer to upload and install WordPress on your server using your own skills, then you should opt for a regular web hosting service.

2. Is server performance critical for your website?

WordPress consumes high amounts of server memory and CPU power, and more so when it is using complex themes and plugins, such as WooCommerce. The system also does a lot of data transfer to and from the storage device.

One of the primary reasons to choose WordPress hosting is that it often comes with higher RAM and CPU allocations, as well as faster storage devices like NVMe SSD. This translates into improved performance and speed of your website.

3. Do you need a staging tool?

If you aren’t familiar with site staging, it’s basically a way of testing modifications and updates in a separate, temporary replica copy of your site. A staging tool allows you to create a clone version of your website where you can test any code and/or design changes without affecting your live website.

Once you are happy with the modifications, you can then push/publish them to the live website and they become permanent.

WordPress hosting normally includes a staging feature out of the box. If you choose regular web hosting instead, you will likely have to use a third-party plugin for staging purposes.

It’s worth noting that some shared hosting services include a staging feature as part of a cPanel add-on, such as the staging tool in Softaculous.

4. Can you handle website security on your own?

Since WordPress is the most widely used content management system that millions of websites are using nowadays, it is not surprising that it’s one of the top targets of hackers and spammers.

Protecting your website against malware, hacking attempts, spam bots and other malicious activity requires taking different steps at the server level as well as at the site level.

In case of WordPress hosting services, you often get certain security enhancements that may include server access restrictions, malware scanning, server environment isolation, automatic updates, brute force protection, and others. Some companies may offer a premium security tool or plugin as a standard feature.

With normal web hosting services, you do get some general security features, but for certain WP-specific security requirements, you may need to do some customizations yourself or use a third-party tool for this purpose.

5. Do you need to host other sites/apps?

WordPress hosting plans are typically restricted to websites that exclusively run this system. In case your chosen plan allows you to host multiple websites, all of them must be using WordPress.

So, if you are looking to host different websites that use different content management systems or custom scripts, you should pick a generic web hosting plan that is not restricted to any specific system.

6. Are you on a tight budget?

Most WordPress hosting providers charge a higher price than what shared hosting providers charge. The premium cost can be justified by the additional features we discussed above.

Small business owners don’t usually mind paying the higher price if it offers them better performance, stability and peace of mind.

But if your website isn’t mission critical and you are looking to save some money, you should be fine with a less pricey shared web hosting plan. This may require you to spend more time doing manual installations and modifications, but it’s your time and it’s your money, so you set your own priorities.

WordPress Hosting vs. Web Hosting: Summary

For a quick recap of what we discussed above, the following table summarizes the main differences between WordPress hosting and normal shared hosting.

	WordPress hosting	Web hosting
Installation	Preinstalled or automatic	Manual
Server performance	Higher	Normal
Staging	Standard feature	Not included
Security	WordPress-optimized	General server security
Cost	Higher price	Cheaper plans