WordPress hosting is a hosting plan that makes hosting your WordPress site easier and faster. The best WordPress hosting plans offer simplified CMS installation, improved plugin management, automatic updates, one-click installations, and other benefits within a WP preconfigured environment.
At HostAdvice, we always look for the best hosting plans for our readers based on their individual needs and preferences. This article explores the best WordPress hosting providers of 2022 for websites that target users in the United Kingdom.
Our review team applied their web hosting experience and expertise to find the best WordPress hosting providers for those in Britain, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Scotland. Any website operating or targeting users in these areas can be sure to get quality WordPress hosting providers from the companies in this review.
This independent study ranks providers based on their performance during our web testing and reviews from past and present customers. We also consider new features and upgrades and pitch the providers against one another to see which offers the most value for customers.
Key Points to Consider Before Choosing UK WordPress Hosting
Here are five practical-oriented points that you should keep in mind when selecting a UK WordPress hosting provider:
- Reliability: Ideally, you want a provider with a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
- Security: Your WordPress host provider should provide in-house security solutions and allow you to implement your security measures.
- Customer support: Read reviews from other users and contact the customer support agents through all available channels during your testing phase to see how fast, helpful, and accurate the customer support is.
- Cost-effectiveness: Compare the pricing with the features available in each plan to get the provider that offers the most bang for your buck.
- User-friendliness: Even if you are a pro, you need a provider that offers an easy-to-use interface. A user-friendly control panel will make your hosting processes faster, more effortless, and stress-free.
The Best UK WordPress Hosting Services of 2023 (Bought and Tested)
- Overall score: 5.0
- Features: 4.9
- Support: 5.0
- User Friendly: 5.0
- Pricing: 4.9
- Reliability: 4.9
Overall score – 5.0: At the very top of our recommendations is HostArmada because it offers an affordable managed WordPress hosting plan, a 99.99% uptime guarantee, and many great features. These features include unlimited websites and 24/7 support.
Features – 4.9: HostArmada offers all the features we have come to expect and love from a WordPress hosting plan. These features include seamless WordPress installation, comprehensive WordPress security, SSD cloud storage, automatic daily backups, and web server cache. You also get free cPanel and SSL certification in every WP hosting plan.
Support – 5.0: With 24/7 technical support available via chat, ticketing, and phone, you don’t have any reason to worry about this provider. You can reach customer care to migrate your WP site, install plugins and SSL certificates, or optimize your website.
User Friendly – 5.0: HostArmada is very easy to use, even for beginners hosting their first websites. The one-click installation processes and beginner-friendly cPanel will make WordPress hosting seem like a piece of cake. If you encounter issues, you can contact the ever-present and helpful customer care support team.
Pricing – 4.9: You can choose to pay monthly, annually, biennially, or triennially for any of HostArmada’s WordPress hosting plans. You get more discounts and promotions when subscribing for a year or more. The cheapest plan costs $ 2.99/mo (three-year contract) and offers 1 website, 15 GB SSD Storage, 2 Cores CPU, and 2 GB RAM.
Reliability – 4.9: You can expect impressive round-the-clock performance thanks to HostArmada’s Cloud-powered shared hosting servers, SSD storage, low client-server ratio, and a 99.9% uptime guarantee.
Additional parameter – Impressive Cloud WordPress Hosting: HostArmada offers the best WP hosting performance we’ve seen so far. It is no surprise considering that the managed WordPress hosting plan offers the exact specifications as its cloud-shared hosting. They also offer a 45-day money-back guarantee to encourage you to try their service at zero risk to your budget.
HostArmada is widely known for its well-priced WordPress hosting plans that offer excellent value for money and essential features.
Pros
- Free migration
- Free SSL for all domains and subdomains
- Fast loading speed
- Impressive website performance
- Inexpensive hosting plans
- Round-the-clock, helpful customer support
Cons
- High renewal rates
- Some features are only available on higher-priced plans
- Overall score: 4.8
- Features: 4.8
- Support: 4.9
- User Friendly: 4.8
- Pricing: 4.7
- Reliability: 4.8
Overall score – 4.8: Coming in at second best with its blazing server speed is FastComet. Its speed is complemented by its offerings of SSD-only cloud servers, RocketBooster and Cloudflare CDN.
Features – 4.8: FastComet offers shared hosting, cloud VPS and dedicated WordPress hosting plans. Each plan includes 1-click App Marketplace, user-friendly Client Control Area, cPanel/WHM, FastGuard, WordPress Resource Monitoring, and more!
Support – 4.9: There are over 3,000 tutorial pages to help you quickly launch and manage your WordPress hosting. If you need human support, you can reach the technical customer support team on any day of the week via mail, ticket, chats, and calls.
User Friendly – 4.8: FastComet pricing is quite competitive. The cheapest plan costs only $1.99/mo (discounted price) and contains 15GB SSD Space, 2 CPU Cores, and 2 GB RAM. You also get a 45-day money-back guarantee.
Reliability – 4.8: Regarding performance, FastComet delivers excellently due to its out-of-the-box WordPress optimization, superior WordPress security, SSD-only cloud servers, and resource monitoring.
Additional parameter - Fully managed WordPress cloud hosting: Although HostArmada steals the number one spot with super impressive WP hosting plans, FastComet also offers a fantastic deal. It provides an exceptional, fully managed WordPress cloud hosting solution for anyone who wants cost-effective WP hosting with expert 24/7 Technical Support.
Pros
- Incredible loading speeds and website performance
- Free daily backups, website migrations, and domain transfer
- Multiple data center locations worldwide
- 24/7/365 support channel
- 45-day money-back guarantee
- Free CDN
Cons
- Higher renewal fees
- Some features are limited to higher-priced plans
- Overall score: 4.6
- Features: 4.6
- Support: 4.7
- User Friendly: 4.7
- Pricing: 4.6
- Reliability: 4.7
Overall score – 4.6: Cloudways is the best managed WP hosting provider, which shows their server site’s speed, security, and overall performance!
Features – 4.6: With Cloudways, you get fully optimized servers for WordPress with all the latest features such as up-to-date CMS, WP monitoring, automatic backups and restores, and so much more. You can set up, manage and update your hosting environment through 1-click operations.
Support – 4.7: The primary support team is available round the clock to help you with anything you need. If you want special attention, you can get the premium support add-on. Alternatively, you can share your questions in the community forum and get helpful answers from other experienced users.
User Friendly – 4.7: You can find your way easily through the beginner-friendly control panel. You don’t have to go through any complicated processes as you can do everything on the control panel with only a few clicks.
Pricing – 4.6: Cloudways offers many hosting plans so you can configure your environment based on your needs and preferences. The cheapest hosting plan, DigitalOceans, costs $10/mo. It offers 1 GB Ram, one core processor, 25 GB storage, and 1 TB bandwidth.
Reliability – 4.7: You can expect top performance from this UK WordPress hosting provider with its SSD hosting, CDN, built-in cache, dedicated firewall, optimized stack, PHP versions, Breeze plugin, IP whitelisting, and 99.99% uptime guarantee!
Additional parameter: Comprehensive WordPress hosting solution: Cloudways is the best-managed WordPress hosting provider, thanks to its comprehensive services. Users can perform all server operations from installing to upgrading using simple 1-click processes. Furthermore, the provider also offers scalability and complete server management for eCommerce websites and multiple sites. Advanced users can use the API for integration and development.
Cloudflare is famous for its robust protection against DDoS attacks through its in-house security measures and partnership with Cloudflare to offer the enterprise solution for only $5.
Pros
- Over 60 worldwide data center locations
- Complete flexibility and scalability
- High-performance servers
- Cloud-based infrastructure
- DDoS protection
- 24/7 Support and Live Chat
Cons
- Many features come as paid add-ons
- No access to Plesk or cPanel
- Overall score: 4.5
- Features: 4.5
- Suppor: 4.3
- User Friendly: 4.5
- Pricing: 4.8
- Reliability: 4.5
Overall score – 4.5: IONOS offers the most flexibility, allowing you to seamlessly scale your hosting resources up or down. You can switch between any of its WordPress hosting plans without interruptions or downtime. It also includes freebies like domain and SSL certification.
Features – 4.5: IONOS offers an optimized WordPress platform and settings to ensure you get the best WordPress hosting experience. It also provides other features such as SSH access, free SSL certification, WP-CLI control, daily backups and recovery, free caching plugin, DDoS and malware protection, and free domain name for one year.
Support – 4.3: You can access IONOS’ technical support team round the clock via phone. You can also get valuable assistance through its numerous guides and help centers.
User Friendly – 4.5: Thanks to IONOS-managed WordPress hosting, you can quickly launch and manage your hosting environment. The plans also offer automated processes and many great plugins and themes.
Pricing – 4.8: IONOS offers low starting prices. One of the plans begins at $0.5/mo (but renews at $8/mo). However, the cheapest overall plan is the essential plan that starts at $3/mo and renews at $4/mo. It comes with 25 GB SSD storage, 2 MariaDB databases, an Autouptdates option, and a free domain for one year.
Reliability – 4.5: IONOS offers excellent performance and reliability thanks to its 99.97% uptime guarantee, 100% SSD storage, a geo-redundant hosting platform that hosts your data on two data centers, and a free caching plugin. You can also choose from any of its ten ISO-certified data centers in Europe and the USA.
Additional parameter - Flexibility: The first two providers on this list offer comprehensive managed WordPress hosting with seamless downgrades and upgrades, and IONOS is no exception. WordPress website owners can choose from its WordPress hosting options and switch from one hosting plan to another without experiencing server interruptions or downtime!
IONOS is famous for its ten ISO-certified data centers in Europe and the USA and geo-redundant hosting platform.
Pros
- Multiple data center locations
- Free SSL certification
- Supports multiple website hosting
- Competitive pricing
- Money-back guarantee
- Popular among WordPress website owners
Cons
- Platform has a learning curve
- Backup is a paid add-on
- Overall score: 4.9
- Features: 4.9
- Support: 4.9
- User Friendly: 4.9
- Pricing: 5.0
- Reliability: 4.8
Overall score – 4.9 Verpex is the best choice for anyone selling quality WordPress hosting solutions at low prices. This UK WordPress hosting provider offers top-tier hosting solutions for all types of websites, with its plan costing less than a dollar per month!
Features – 4.9: Verpex offers many features for low fees. You get freebies such as domain registration, domain transfer, and SSL certificates. Other great features include WP-CLI for managing multiple sites, Cloudlinux, daily backups, security solutions, phpMyAdmin, MySQL access, and developer tools.
Support – 4.9: Get round-the-clock assistance from Verpex’s helpful and knowledgeable customer support team. You can reach them via phone and live chat.
User Friendly – 4.9: Beginners and advanced users can easily create beautiful, fully functional, and mobile-responsive WordPress websites. Verpex deploys instant setup, migration with expert support, and a top-tier control panel with Softaculous to ensure ease of use and fast processes.
Pricing – 5.0: With Verpex, you can start at $0.50/mo (renews at $5.00/mo) and enjoy enough features for one website. These include 10 GB Bandwidth, 1 GB SSD Disk Space and Free SSL Certificates. There is also a 45-day money-back guarantee.
Reliability – 4.8: Despite its low fees, Verpex servers are the top tier in terms of speed and permanence. These light-speed servers are distributed around the globe and optimized to ensure your website stays online round the clock. They also offer an impressive 99.99% uptime guarantee.
Additional parameter - Affordability: When getting the cheapest yet reliable WordPress hosting service, no provider comes close to Verpex. You can host your website for less than $1. And although the renewal prices are higher than the starting prices, they are still far cheaper than most of the web hosts on this list and the market.
Verpex is better known for its affordable, fully optimized WordPress solutions, including free backups, SSL, and cPanel.
Pros
- Very affordable pricing
- 24/7/365 expert WordPress hosting support
- 99.99% uptime guarantee
- Free domain transfer/registration
- Free SSL certification
- Free cPanel
Cons
- High renewal plans
- 99.50% uptime on the basic WordPress hosting plan
- Overall score: 4.9
- Features: 4.8
- Support: 4.9
- User Friendly: 4.9
- Pricing: 4.8
- Reliability: 5
Overall score – 4.9: Kamatera is our top recommendation for people who need a hosting provider that can easily handle significant web traffic. With its WordPress VPS hosting solution, you can configure your server environment based on your website needs and individual preference.
Features – 4.8: Kamatera is the lead in WordPress-VPS hosting. The provider offers Linux-based VPS hosting with pre-installed WordPress. You can activate the WordPress hosting environment with a 1-click install and configure your server spec and settings to your website needs.
Support – 4.9: You get personalized customer support every hour of every day of the week via email and phone. You can also request managed support, so you don’t need to control the technical aspect of your VPS.
User Friendly – 4.9: The mirror panel has a custom interface that might take a while for beginners to understand. However, it is pretty straightforward, and most people quickly find their way around it. If you ever get stuck, you can contact customer support for assistance.
Pricing – 4.8: Pay by the minute, hour, or month, only for what you use. 30-day free trial and 100% satisfaction guarantee are also included. The cheapest configuration costs $4/mo and offers one vCPU (2667MHz), 1 GB RAM, 20 GB storage, 5000 GB/month of Internet Traffic, and 1 Public IP.
Reliability – 5: Thanks to its VPN solution built on cloud infrastructure, you can expect excellent round-the-clock performance from Kamatera. The provider offers a 99.95% uptime guarantee and data center locations in America, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Additional parameter - Developer tools: Most developers stay away from WordPress hosting solutions because of limited controls. With Kamatera, developers have many tools and resources to configure their hosting environment to their preference and effect server-wide changes (within their virtual server).
Kamatera is the preferred option for developers and high-traffic websites due to its server-wide controls, scalable resources, and advanced developer tools.
Pros
- 99.95% uptime guarantee
- High-end WordPress hosting
- 13 data centers worldwide
- Highly effective security services
- Scalable resources
- Pay-as-you-go solution
Cons
- Slightly pricier hosting plans
- Slight learning curve
- Overall score: 4.8
- Features: 4.7
- Support: 4.9
- User Friendly: 4.8
- Pricing: 4.3
- Reliability: 5
Overall score – 4.8: Kinsta provides everything we expect from a great WordPress hosting provider. Suppose you want a reliable web host that will help you gain web traffic and provide an incredible user experience. In that case, Kinsta should be your top choice.
Features – 4.7: This web host offers many superb features, such as free migrations, daily backups, and high security.
Support – 4.9: Kinsta offers extraordinary customer support. Clients can reach the 24/7 expert in English and other languages. Kinsta provides feature updates, a knowledge base, a blog, free webinars and ebooks, and live chat support.
User Friendly – 4.8: Kinsta is excellent for beginners and those who don’t have any technical knowledge. Advanced users will find this a bonus, not a drawback, as they can easily find everything they need.
Pricing – 4.3: Kinsta hosting isn’t cheap but offers many features to make its price worth it. You also get two months free if you subscribe to a yearly plan. The most affordable plan costs $35/mo and includes 1 WordPress install, 25,000 visits, 10 GB disk space, Free SSL, CDN and staging, and free Migrations.
Reliability – 5: Reliability is where Kinsta shines, thanks to the Google Cloud premium network. The stats say it all: 117 ms website speed, 1.2 seconds loading time, and 99.99% uptime guarantee. Those who target UK audiences will enjoy more benefits with its London-based data center.
Additional parameter - Top-tier communications technology: Kinsta is our top recommendation for reliability due to its use of the Google Cloud power network to offer advanced security, fast loading times, scalability, and impressive website performance. This web host also provides an in-house CDN and offers numerous centers worldwide, with one located in the heart of the UK (London). With these features, you can expect reliable performance for your UK WordPress website.
Kinsta is famous for providing its in-house CDN and Google Cloud power network on its hosting plans.
Pros
- Optimized for WordPress
- Free migrations
- Easy to use
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Automatic daily backups
- 24/7 support
Cons
- More expensive than most web host providers
- No phone support
- Overall score: 4.6
- Features: 4.6
- Support: 4.7
- User Friendly: 4.7
- Pricing: 4.6
- Reliability: 4.6
Overall score – 4.6: Hostinger doesn’t have any edge regarding WordPress hosting, but it doesn’t drop the ball either. It performs well enough to be on the list of the top-ranked WordPress hosts on the market.
Features – 4.6: Hostinger offers excellent features such as free domain, free migration, and its custom-built hPanel.
Support – 4.7: You can contact helpful customer support via live chat and email. You can also get answers and other resources from their knowledge base and tutorials and learn about hosting from the Hostinger Academy.
User Friendly – 4.7: Hostinger is very easy to use, and you can carry out most processes with only a few clicks. And although the custom-built control panel is not what many people are used to, it is easy to learn and intuitive.
Pricing – 4.6: Hostinger offers low prices for plans on more extended contracts. The starting plan costs $1.99/mo (renews at $3.99). It offers 1 website hosting, 50 GB SSD storage, ~10 000 Visits Monthly, 1 Email Account, free domain, and 100 GB Bandwidth.
Reliability – 4.6: You can expect outstanding performance and security from Hostinger servers thanks to its reliance on CloudLinux and its data center locations in Asia, America, and Europe. The company also offers a 99.99% uptime guarantee.
Additional parameter - Website builder: Although many of the other providers in this article provide website builders, Hostinger stands out due to their superb in-house website builder, Zyro. Zyro is an excellent choice for digital creatives looking to create an online portfolio. So if you are a photographer or graphic designer, and require a WordPress website that showcases your work in the best light, then you should consider Hostinger.
Hostinger has the best WP hosting plans for those who want all-around features for a reasonable price.
Pros
- Free SSL Certificates in All Plans
- The Cheapest Offers on The Market
- 30-Day Money-Back Guarantee
- Excellent Set of Features
- User-Friendly Control Panel
- Optimized for WordPress Performance
Cons
- No Free Domain in The Cheapest Shared Hosting Plan
- No Phone Support
- Live Chat Is Limited to Existing Clients
- Overall score: 4.5
- Features: 4
- Support: 5
- User Friendly: 5
- Pricing: 3.5
- Reliability: 5
Overall score – 4.5: WP Engine is the top choice for agencies that want exclusive WordPress hosting. With its GeoTargeting, 40,000 plugin integrations, and other impressive features, you will be hard-pressed to find a worthy competitor in this regard.
Features – 4: As a provider focusing exclusively on WordPress hosting, WP Engine has made its mark with many eCommerce, design, and security features. It supports over 40,000 WordPress plugins and provides over 40 curated templates to help you quickly launch your WordPress website. Other great features include website migration, SSL Certification, automated backups, staging area, malware scans, daily backups, and automated patching and updates.
Support – 5: You can reach the impressive customer service team 24/7/365 via live chat on the basic plan. Higher-tiered plans have phone support. Alternatively, you can resolve your hosting issues via the support documentation.
User Friendly – 5: WP Engine offers a lot of automated processes to make setup and upgrade easy and fast. It provides fully managed plans, so you don’t have to worry about the technical aspects of your hosting plan.
Pricing – 3.5: WP Engine’s plans are far from cheap, but they offer ample resources that make them worth every cent. The lowest plan has a starting price of $20/mo and includes one site, 25,000 visits/mo, 10 GB storage, 50 GB bandwidth/mo, and automated WordPress & PHP updates.
Reliability – 5: WP Engine relies on modern architecture to ensure that users on their shared hosting plan get more impressive performance than they would with traditional hosting plans. Furthermore, they offer a 99.95% uptime guarantee.
Additional parameter - WP Dedicated Solutions: WP Engine is entirely devoted to WordPress hosting solutions. This dedication underscores their impressive performance even on their shared hosting plans. Furthermore, since all they do is WordPress hosting, you can expect their customer support team to know all aspects of WordPress hosting.
WP Engine is better known for its impressive performance, award-winning support, and WP-dedicated hosting plans.
Pros
- Impressive uptime guarantee
- Knowledge customer support team
- Dedicated staging area
- Security features
- Optimized servers
- Automatic plugins and CMS updates and patching
Cons
- Phone support isn’t available to all plans
- Doesn’t offer a Windows-based server
- Overall score: 4.7
- Features: 4.5
- Support: 5
- User Friendly: 5
- Pricing: 4
- Reliability: 5
Overall score – 4.7: WPX Hosting may be the last on our list, but it is in no way inferior to the other providers we’ve mentioned earlier. Interestingly, this provider does more than other big names on the market regarding customer support and satisfaction.
Features – 4.5 WPX Hosting offers fantastic features, such as its in-house CDN, DDoS Protection, Full Backup Manager, and PHPMyAdmin Database Access. It also provides a lot of free stuff, such as SSL certification, unlimited website migrations, CDN, malware detection and removal, site speed optimization, and site fixes.
Support – 5: Very few web hosts can match WPX hosting in customer support. They offer 24/7 live support, and you can also contact them via the ticketing system. The support center also contains a knowledge base to help you resolve specific issues on your own. One unusual but excellent support tool is “Downloads.” You can download website settings to help your website perform better.
User Friendly – 5: WPX is beginner-friendly, so you don’t require any technical skill or experience to use it. You can perform all your processes from the easy-to-navigate customized hosting panel dashboard.
Pricing – 4: Due to their excellent customer service delivery, we have very little to complain about regarding WPX pricing. The Business plan costs $20.83/mo and comes with two months free if you pay yearly. It includes up to 5 Websites, 10 GB storage, 100 GB bandwidth, free malware removal, 30-sec average support response, and a 99.95% uptime guarantee.
Reliability – 5: WPX Hosting uses its custom-made content delivery network and offers three data locations. It deploys PHP 7 X and HTTPS/2 to boost performance. This host provides breakneck speeds of 1.13 seconds and a 99.95% uptime guarantee.
Additional parameter – Customer service: If you are looking for a WordPress hosting provider that prioritizes customer service, then WPX Hosting is the provider you need. Everything from their website to their dashboard ensures you get the most out of them without struggling. The customer support team replies in seconds, and the control panel is beginner-friendly.
WPX Hosting is famous for its impressive customer service and humanitarian efforts.
Pros
- Incredible Speed
- Daily Backups
- Excellent Migration Services
- Excellent Email Services
- User-Friendly Dashboard
- Multiple Data Centers
- Easy Refund Policy
- Great Performance
- Excellent Security
- 24/7 Live Support (30 Seconds Response Time)
Cons
- No cPanel
- No Single Site Hosting
Ranking comparison between the Top Providers
Best UK WordPress Hosting Services: Final recommendations
After reading our extended comparison and review article, you might ask: How do I choose the best UK WordPress hosting service? Without context, our answer would be HostArmada since it provides all the necessary WP hosting features with affordable plans. However, when focusing on specific areas, you will see that some providers have the edge over others. We recommend finding a provider that meets your particular needs and hosting preferences.
However, do not be overly biased in the choosing criteria and ignore crucial aspects. Choose a provider that excels in your chosen aspect but also performs optimally in other standards. For instance, Hostinger is our recommendation for those who want to create an online portfolio of their designs and photographs. Hostinger also scored well in customer support, server performance, and ease of use.
This balanced approach will help you get the right web host while compromising on other areas.
Types of WordPress Hosting and Which Is the Right One for You?
WP hosting is a web hosting plan preconfigured for hosting WordPress websites. It is not a type of hosting solution like shared or dedicated hosting but rather an add-on to these. You can find WP hosting plans based on shared, VPS, or dedicated hosting solutions. This integration makes installing WordPress on servers easier and allows users to enjoy enhanced security, performance, and functionality.
Shared WordPress Hosting
Shared WP hosting offers more benefits than traditional shared hosting plans. They provide one-click installations, automatic updates, a variety of themes and plugins, and a support team to help with any WP hosting issues.
This WP hosting is an excellent option for beginners and small businesses. The web host handles server management and provides ample resources and an easy-to-use control panel. It is also the most ad-possible WP hosting plan.
The drawback to this shared WP hosting is the security risk you face from other websites sharing the server. Furthermore, you have no say over the server configuration, and your website might suffer downtime during server maintenance. You can reduce these risks by going for a quality web hosting provider.
VPS WordPress Hosting
VPS WordPress hosting works like shared web hosting with one distinct feature: you have complete control over your server environment. The hosting provides virtualization technology or cloud hosting to split a physical server into multiple standalone virtual servers. Each virtual server has its share of allocated resources and self-contained software.
Due to these unique features, VPS WP hosting is the perfect choice for businesses with medium to heavy website traffic. Depending on the provider and plan, you may also be able to host eCommerce websites with this type of WP hosting.
On the other hand, VPS WordPress hosting costs more than shared hosting. If your web host offers cloud VPS WordPress hosting, you should expect to spend more during traffic spikes. Furthermore, enterprises requiring hardware control will find a VPS limited and prefer a dedicated web hosting plan.
Dedicated (VDS) WordPress Hosting
A dedicated WordPress hosting solution offers you complete control over the server. You can configure the server to your needs and enjoy all the resources with it. It provides the most performance, security, and functionality.
There are two significant drawbacks to this dedicated web hosting. Firstly, it is the most expensive plan on the market. Secondly, you have to handle server maintenance and updates on your own.
We only recommend dedicated WordPress hosting for enterprises that require enormous resources and complete control over their server hosting environment.
Managed WordPress Hosting
A managed WordPress hosting plan is any plan where the web host offers server optimization and maintenance. You can find this hosting plan on shared, VPS, cloud, and dedicated server hosting.
The key benefit is that the hosting provider is responsible for maintaining the site. The drawback is that the provider can impose certain restrictions to ensure your site’s security.
We recommend managed WordPress hosting for companies and teams without server maintenance knowledge and skills.
Factors to consider when choosing a WordPress hosting plan
There are vital factors you should look out for when looking for a quality WordPress hosting plan for your website. They include:
- Type of WordPress hosting: The first step is deciding on the hosting you need for your business. Your WP-specific hosting can be on shared VPS or dedicated environments. Scroll up to review our examination of these types of WordPress hosting.
- Uptime Guarantee: An uptime guarantee tells you how long the hosting company can keep your site online within a calendar year. We recommend sticking with only providers that offer 99.95% guaranteed uptime and above.
- Loading speed: WordPress-specific hosting should guarantee blazing speed. However, you can get better performance with providers that offer SSD-only storage drives, Cloudflare CDN, caching, a data center near your web visitors, and Apache or Nginx servers.
- WP-Specific Security: WP-specific hosting should also offer a variety of WordPress security solutions, such as Secure Shell (SSH), activity log, 2-Factor Authentication (2FA), Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP), and a dedicated firewall. You can expect other basic security features such as SSL certification, malware removal tools, backup and restore, site cleanup, and a DDoS protection system.
- Traffic Volume: Most WP hosting plans will indicate the traffic volume that the plan can handle. Choose a plan that supports slightly above your expected traffic volume.
- Scalability Options: You should ensure your chosen plan allows you to increase your resources during traffic spikes or when you add more functionality to your website. Cloud WP hosting is the best choice there as it enables seamless upgrades and downgrades of resources.
- Plugin Access: Unmanaged WP hosting plans allow you to install any plugin on your site. Managed plans sometimes place restrictions to secure your website. You should ensure that the restriction does not affect the tools you need for your business.
- WordPress Specific Support: The support team should know WP-specific hosting issues such as plugin conflicts, server issues, and page optimization.
- Money-back guarantee: A money-back guarantee protects you if you’ve made a mistake with your web hosting. However, you should check the refund policy to avoid any unpleasant surprises.
- Pricing: You need to be careful with providers who offer discounts. Usually, the deal doesn’t apply when you’re renewing your plan. So if you choose a monthly plan with a 90% discount, you will pay more than you did the following month. To lock in the deal, you must go for a longer-term contract, usually a year or more. But note that you must pay the original price whenever your contract expires.
- Be wary of free offers: Many providers advertise freebies such as backups and domains. However, these freebies might be limited to specific plans. Read the fine print to know if these freebies are available for the plan that suits your needs. Some also claim to offer unlimited hosting resources. There is always a limit. Ask the customer support team about those limits.
- Website migration: if you are changing WP hosting providers, you must ensure your new provider will migrate your website for free. Not all providers offer this service for free, so you should ask before signing up. If you choose a paid migration service, know how much you’re spending and ensure it is a human making the migration.
- Extra Features: You can look for features such as free domain name, website migration, automatic backups, and WP CLI. Depending on your specific needs, these features might be deal breakers or optional elements.
How do we rank, and how should you choose your UK WordPress Hosting?
- Types of WordPress Hosting Offered5%
- Uptime Commitment8%
- Speed Optimization9%
- Available Space and Bandwidth7%
- Scalability Options6%
- Security7%
- Ease of Use8%
- WP-Specific Support12%
- Developer Tools and Extras5%
- User Reviews30%
- Starting price3%
Here is a rundown of our ranking factors:
- Types of WordPress Hosting Offered (5%): We check to see if the provider offers shared, VPS, cloud, and dedicated (VDS) WordPress hosting.
- Uptime Commitment (8%): Does the provider offer an uptime guarantee of 99.95% or more?
- Speed Optimization (9%): We focus on providers that develop modern hosting infrastructure and offer multiple server locations. These two factors can improve your website’s speed and responsiveness.
- Available Space and Bandwidth (7%): Here, we look at the storage type, memory allocation, available bandwidth, and the number of websites you can host on each plan.
- Scalability Options (6%): Ideally, your provider should allow you to quickly get more resources when you exceed the limits of your WordPress hosting plan.
- Security (7%): We focus on crucial security features such as malware scanning and removal, dedicated firewalls, daily automatic backups, updates, and SSL certificates.
- Ease of Use (8%): A WordPress hosting solution should be beginner-friendly and offer a one-click process to handle installs, add plugins, and more.
- WP-Specific Support (12%): the WordPress hosting plans should include a round-the-clock dedicated WordPress team to quickly assess and resolve hosting issues.
- Developer Tools and Extras (5%): These features are essential for websites that require more control to enhance their functionality.
- User Reviews (30%): Reviews from past and current users give us an overview of how well a provider has performed over the years.
- Starting price (3%): We compare the starting price with the value offered in the plan. Note that the starting price is usually lower than the renewal price.
What is UK WordPress Hosting, and who is it for?
WordPress hosting is a specialized hosting plan for hosting WordPress websites. It is not a hosting solution like shared, VPS, or dedicated hosting. Instead, it works like an add-on for these hosting types.
You don’t need a WordPress hosting solution to host a WordPress website; any of the traditional types of web hosting will do. However, a WordPress hosting plan offers more accessible installation, better performance, security, and overall functionality. It also makes website management more accessible and faster.
A UK WordPress hosting solution is any WordPress hosting solution that offers the most benefits to businesses targeting internet users in the UK. Generally speaking, you don’t need a UK website hosting before users from the UK can access your website. Nevertheless, a UK WordPress hosting solution offers vital benefits that other providers don’t provide.
- Proximity: A UK WordPress hosting provider has data centers in the UK or rejoins close to the UK. Your users will experience faster loading times if your website is in a data center close to their location. The closer the data center is, the better.
- Experience: A UK WordPress host makes web hosting easier due to their experience dealing with users in that region. So if there are region-specific housing issues to address, you can trust your provider to provide sound solutions.
You have a solid web hosting plan when you combine these extra benefits with the general benefits of a WordPress hosting service.