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First of all, thanks for reading the original article on finding the best WordPress hosting provider.

We really did our very best to provide you with as much information as possible so you can make the right decision for your site’s hosting needs.

I also had a lot of fun running the tests and putting it all together.

Still, which one is the best WordPress hosting provider remains a topic of heavy debate. No wonder, since hosting plays such an important role for your website’s performance and user experience.

That’s also one of the reasons why so many hosting reviews already exist online. However, what’s problematic is that many of them are less concerned about you and your hosting needs and more about something else.

The Problem With Hosting Reviews

Many, if not most of the hosting reviews out there aren’t reliable sources of information.

I know it sounds shocking but is unfortunately true.

That’s because most reviews have one purpose and one purpose alone: To generate its author affiliate income.

Of course, there are exceptions and people who really try their best to provide the very best advice they can give.

However, the fact remains that hosting companies are behind some of the biggest affiliate marketing payouts in the entire online industry and therefore attract many individuals who want to profit from that.

How then, are you supposed to make an informed decision about your hosting provider?

To help you out, I want to do two things:

One, give you a heads up what to look for in “fake” hosting reviews in order to divide relevant information for your purchase decision from articles only aimed at making a quick buck.

And two, give you my honest opinion and personal recommendation as to which WordPress hosting options I consider the best after trying them out in real life.

Sound good? Then let’s do it.

How to Spot Unreliable Reviews

If you come across any of the red flags below in a hosting review, you might want to reconsider taking its content at face value:

1. Shallow Content — The first sign of an unhelpful review is that it just scratches the surface. A dead giveaway is usually when the hosting review sounds very close to the official marketing material.
2. Lack of Data — Posts of this kind also often don’t have hard facts to back up their recommendations and try to make up for it by being overly enthusiastic in their praise.
3. Exaggeration — Generally, over-the-top emotions are a reason for vigilance. If something sounds like the best thing since sliced bread, it probably isn’t.
4. No Personal Experience — One-on-one experience is very important to make fact-based judgments. If a reviewer doesn’t deliver personal insights, he/she likely hasn’t tried the product.
5. Lack of Trustworthiness — Finally, rely on your gut feeling. Do you trust the person writing the review? Do they seem like they are actually trying to be help? If it doesn’t feel genuine, there’s a good chance it isn’t.

By keeping the above guidelines in mind, you are much better equipped to gather information that will actually help you in picking a hosting provider.

And while in the end it’s up to you, if you are interested in what I would decide based one my research, you can find out below.

My Personal Hosting Recommendations

First off, I want to stress that you don’t have to listen to me. As I said, you should make your own decision based on your own personal needs.

However, after diving deeper into this topic I wanted to share my own opinion about which hosting provider I consider the best option.

Yet, my suggestion is different for two different cases:

1. A fledgling site that just started out and has basically zero traffic
2. An established site with decent visitor numbers and growing performance and service needs

Since hosting is not a one-size-fits-all deal, my recommendations for these two situations are also not the same.

The Best WordPress Hosting for Beginner Websites

When you are just starting out, you really don’t need managed hosting. Shared hosting will do just fine.

If someone tells you to get managed hosting anyway for all the benefits it provides, they are most likely trying to tell you something, not help you.

While it’s true that managed hosting makes things much easier, there is a time and place in a website’s development when it makes sense to invest in this type of hosting.

Therefore, for a fresh-off-the-boat WordPress website I can wholeheartedly recommend Siteground.

While performance wise they are on the lower end of the spectrum, especially outside the United States, and they don’t specialize in WordPress, everything else is pretty unbeatable.

The provider offers loads of features (like CDN, daily backups, SSH support) even for their cheapest plan, which many others ask you to pay extra for.

Apart from that, their support quality is excellent. Staff personally reached out to me by phone to see if they can offer any assistance after I signed up, something none of the other providers even came close to.

Also, for beginner sites Siteground’s performance is more than enough, especially if you based in North America and not planning on expanding worldwide too soon.

Plus, we have a deal going on with them that gives you a full 60% off of the normal price and you can claim this discount here.

If You Need a Bit More Power…

When it comes to more established sites with more extensive hosting needs, in my opinion you can’t go wrong with WP Engine. And that’s not only because they topped the list performance wise.

(Though it definitely helps. When the numbers were coming in I was seriously thinking that something is wrong with my test setup. Couldn’t believe it at first.)

However, what I most liked was the turn-key experience. For the first time I felt like I could completely hand off site administration to someone else and completely forget about it.

I’m actually looking into moving some of my own websites to their service just because of the experience I had during the test. I don’t know any better recommendation than that.

While WP Engine is on the expensive side (though not even the most expensive in the test), the quality they deliver is worth it. If you are interested in giving them a try, get your hosting account here (not an aff. link).

In Short…

Deciding on a hosting provider isn’t easy, nor should it be. Where to host your website is a decision that’s not to be taken lightly. The fact that a lot of information on this topic out there is not entirely reliable doesn’t make it any easier.

I hope my additional thoughts on our post on WordPress hosting has further helped you in picking your hosting provider. If you have any additional questions or need help in any form, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us.

P.S. Again, please don’t share this link, it’s really only for the inner circle. Thanks!