WordPress Hosting vs Web Hosting 2021: The Ultimate Comparison

Still figuring out which one is best for you – WordPress hosting or web hosting?

Well, we’re here to help.

If you’re on the go and looking for a reliable and affordable WordPress hosting or web hosting plan, SiteGround is the one to try. Check out our detailed SiteGround review here.

WordPress powers millions of users worldwide and helps them to build beautiful and powerful websites. Owning a WordPress website is great, but the hosting solutions that you need can leave you in a chaotic situation.

If you want to build a WordPress website/blog, you can get started with any kind of hosting. The performance offered by WordPress-specific hosting service providers is top-notch, however, as you get hosting that is specifically tailored to WordPress.

With managed WordPress hosting, everything will be managed by the hosting provider so that you can focus on growing your business.

There are many other aspects that you need to know to differentiate between WordPress Hosting and Web hosting so that you can figure out which is the best for your site.

In this post, we have mentioned some of the major and minor differences between WordPress hosting and web hosting. We have also included a section to help you choose the perfectly tailored hosting solution for your online venture.

What’s more, we have listed some reliable WordPress hosting & web hosting service providers to get you started.

Here’s a quick index to help you navigate this article:

What is WordPress Hosting?
What is web hosting?
Key Difference
What to Look for in a Reliable Web Hosting Service?
Advantages of Using WordPress Hosting
Advantages of Using Web Hosting
Which Hosting is Best for You
Top 5 WordPress & Web Hosting Providers
The Final Verdict

Let’s dive in.

What is WordPress Hosting?

As the name says, WordPress Hosting is a fully WordPress optimized web hosting solution. The features of WordPress Hosting are wholly optimized and dedicated to WordPress only.

This hosting solution is excellent for users who own WordPress websites.

WordPress Hosting offers a targeted solution and increases the speed and performance of your website by giving you solutions that are fully optimized for WordPress.

Unlike Web hosting, WordPress hosting comes in various forms; it can be dedicated, shared, or different entirely.

You get complete dedicated support, pre-installed WordPress, and automatic WordPress updates on all the WordPress hosting plans.

What is Web Hosting?

Basic Web hosting is a form of shared hosting where multiple sites share a common server that is maintained and owned by the web hosting provider.

All the websites share common bandwidth and resources with thousands of other sites. A web hosting provider is responsible for offering security services and updates.

Due to hundreds of websites sharing the same server, this type of hosting can make your site vulnerable to other site’s security mistakes.

As your site grows and you start utilizing more resources than what the host has promised to offer, your account might get terminated, and you will be required to scale up your plan.

Related Reading: 11 Best Web Hosting Providers

The Key Difference Between WordPress Hosting and Web Hosting

General web hosting offers installation of WordPress and supports all kinds of WordPress websites. However, the features and support do not accommodate the issues related to WordPress hosting.

The solution offered by shared hosting may not provide you with maximum performance and speed for your WordPress site, which WordPress Hosting can deliver.

WordPress hosting designs its environment according to WordPress. It offers unique solutions that focus on only WordPress and it delivers the fastest performance to help your website gain more traffic and improve its performance.

Compared to general web hosting, WordPress Hosting offers more customization and tailored WordPress features.

WordPress hosting also shares servers with multiple users, just like general web hosting.

However, the critical difference is that your website will share a common server only with other WordPress users, and all the support and solutions are made to give maximum performance to WordPress users.

WordPress hosting helps you in enhancing your productivity and brings the most out of WordPress.

The pricing of WordPress hosting may be slightly higher than general web hosting because of their servers being highly optimized for WordPress.

What to Look for in a Reliable Web Hosting Service?

Whether you choose WordPress Hosting or Web Hosting, there are numerous parameters that you need to look into when selecting your web hosting solution to keep your website safe, fast, and operational. Some of the must-have features are:

Speed

Speed is one of the most essential features that you need to look at when choosing a reliable web hosting solution.

You must know how long your website will take to load for your audience and what uptime guarantee is offered by the web hosting solution.

Massive downtime can lead to enormous losses; therefore, any web host that provides uptime less than 99% should not be accepted.

You are likely to lose your audience and leads with a slow-loading web host, which is why it is critical to check the loading time to maintain consistency for your site.

Related Reading: How to Speed Up a WordPress Site.

Security

It does not matter whether you are just starting your website or you have been in the web hosting game for too long, your site is at equal risk.

If your website contains a lot of personal information, you need to look for a web hosting provider that offers top-notch security solutions.

Threats and attacks come unannounced, and that is why it is crucial that your hosting solution is already prepared and keeps your site on the safer side. Look for a web host that offers adequate spam protection, a firewall, and backups of your data.

Customer Support

Novice or professional, we all need a little assistance when it comes to managing our websites. A web hosting provider introduces tons of new features that could affect your site and leave you in confusion.

To solve your queries and pull you out of the chaos, you need to look for a web host that offers tons of support and documentation options that match your preferences; that way, you will never get stuck.

Scalability

Your website will go through multiple changes over time for many reasons. It is necessary that your web host offers scalability options. As your business and site grow, you will need to change your plan as well.

Therefore, you need to look for a web host that grows with you and lets you change your plans according to the changes your website is going through, so you do not need to switch between web hosting providers.

Advantages of Using WordPress Hosting

WordPress is a specially optimized WordPress hosting solution that comes with various perks.

Some of the advantages of using WordPress Hosting are:

To protect your site from WordPress-specific threats and attacks by setting up servers for WordPress.
WordPress comes pre-installed with WordPress hosting, which offers a plug and plays environment for developers.
You can apply bulk upgrade and security patches at once with WordPress Hosting.
There are tons of pre-installed WordPress plugins that help with enhancing your website.
WordPress Hosting does not discriminate against users. All customers receive equal maintenance support.

Advantages of Using Web Hosting (Shared Hosting)

Just because Web hosting does not offer WordPress optimized solutions does not mean it is behind WordPress Hosting.

There are tons of advantages that you can avail yourself of. Some of them are:

One of the critical advantages of web hosting is that it is the cheapest web hosting solution. Out of all the web hosting solutions, general web hosting often comes at the most economical and affordable price.
The web hosting is oriented for beginners that need assistance and an easy to use interface to help them get started.
All the general web hosting plans come with tight security measures, such as daily backups, which keep your site on the safer side always.
Most of the web hosting providers provide unmetered bandwidth on general web hosting plans, so you do not have to worry about paying additional bucks for more bandwidth.

Which Hosting is Best for You – WordPress Hosting or Web Hosting?

Many Web hosts offer WordPress related support and features on their general web hosting solutions. However, it is often not enough for WordPress sites.

WordPress Hosting hosts your site with a common server used by multiple WordPress Hosting users. Still, in this kind of environment, fewer websites can be hosted on one server, which results in greater efficiency and flexibility.

General web hosting is often self-managed, where you have to manage all the technical aspects on your own.

You can set up your site through the help of the technical staff. However, many web hosting providers provide fully managed general web hosting too.

WordPress hosting, on the other hand, comes with various options depending on the web hosting provider.

You can choose between a self-managed WordPress hosting solution or a fully managed WordPress solution, where the host takes care of all the technical aspects of your site.

The critical difference is that when you opt for managed WordPress Hosting, with single-client servers, your website runs at better efficiency than web hosting.

WordPress Hosting offers better security as the host is aware of which server is being utilized on all the servers, which helps with installing security software immediately.

The unique security features of WordPress can be installed faster in WordPress hosting.

The support offered in WordPress Hosting is better as the staff does not need to study various platforms.

They can focus on WordPress and offer quicker and more optimized solutions for WordPress-related issues than general web hosting solutions where the staff needs to first look into the kind of server you are using and then answer your query accordingly.

WordPress Hosting is designed for every kind of user. It helps in building a better website with a flexible and efficient environment. The hosting solution that you go for depends on the various needs of your website.

However, if you are focused more on better performance and more optimized solutions, choosing WordPress is a no brainer.

Choose WordPress hosting if:

You own a WordPress site and need fast performance for your website.
You need customization options and security features that are WordPress optimized.
You are a WordPress user who needs to utilize the best of WordPress.
You need more flexibility and WordPress optimized servers that increase your site’s performance.

Choose web hosting if:

You are a beginner who is just starting their website and needs an optimum solution for their site.
You are on a strict budget and need a cheap hosting solution.

Top 5 WordPress & Web Hosting Providers (HANDPICKED)

Now that you know the right hosting solution for you, we do not want you to stay in a state of dilemma regarding which web hosting provider offers the best solution.

To avoid trouble, here’s a list of our handpicked top five web hosting providers that are safe, fast, and reliable for your site.

1. SiteGround – Best WordPress Web Hosting Providers

SiteGround is one of the best WordPress web hosting providers that is officially recommended by WordPress.

SiteGround is well known for its top-notch and friendly customer support 24/7 through multiple channels.

SiteGround has its in-house speed and security solutions to keep your website running, and your website is always protected from millions of threats every day.

Check out our SiteGround Coupon to get an exclusive discount on SiteGround now.

SiteGround provides some of the best features, such as 99.9% uptime, unique security systems, Built-in Caching, one-staging environment, CDN (content delivery network), and more.

SiteGround is one of those hosting providers that lets you choose the data center of your choice.

SiteGround offers various hosting solutions, such as managed WordPress hosting, web hosting, WooCommerce hosting, and cloud hosting.

Web hosting and WordPress hosting plans are both offered at the same pricing. The plan starts from $6.99/month to $14.99/month.

2. Bluehost– The Best Web Hosting

Bluehost is another top-rated Web hosting solution that is recommended by WordPress.

Bluehost offers various web hosting solutions, from cloud hosting, web hosting, managed hosting, and more on affordable pricing plans, all with tons of features.

Bluehost comes with easy one-click installation. Bluehost comes with a free domain name for one year, along with free SSL certifications.

Bluehost serves thousands of users with their excellent, speed optimized web hosting solutions that start from $3.95/month for simple web hosting and go to $13.95/month.

All the plans are equipped with unlimited bandwidth, unlimited domains and subdomains, and more.

Check out our in-depth Bluehost review to get detailed insights into Bluehost.

WordPress Hosting plans start from $3.95/month to $6.95/month. The basic plan lets you host one website, whereas the higher plans allow you to host unlimited websites.

Bluehost provides $200 worth of marketing credits to promote your website, along with high speed and top-notch security solutions.

3. InMotion – Fast Web Hosting

InMotion provides world-class speed optimized web hosting solutions, from beginners to advanced users. InMotion provides excellent speed, with a 99.9% guarantee and award-winning support.

InMotion offers the utmost flexibility and scalability on all its plans. No matter what plan you go with, all the plans come with 90-day money-back guarantees and free migrations.

Check out our detailed InMotion hosting review to get detailed insights into InMotion.

InMotion provides tons of speed and security features, such as letting you choose the data center of your choice, free SSD storage on all the plans, and more.

InMotion provides various web hosting solutions. Their regular hosting plan starts from $5.99/month, and the WordPress hosting plan starts from $6.99/month, and both are equipped with tons of useful features.

If you are a newbie, InMotion also creates a website for you within two days from scratch for just $99.

4. DreamHost– Web Hosting With Purpose

DreamHost is one of those web hosting providers officially recommended by WordPress due to its reliable performance and security solutions at fair pricing.

DreamHost comes with unlimited storage and bandwidth on all the plans, so you do not face any hassles. If you are a beginner, the intuitive interface will allow you to set up your website within a few clicks.

Check out our DreamHost coupon to get an exclusive discount on DreamHost now.

DreamHost does not push you for add-ons. However, if website building is getting tough, you can quickly add a website builder add-on that helps your website run smoothly and quickly.

You get a free domain name for a year on all the new plans along, with a 97 day money-back guarantee.

Their plans start from $2.50/month for both WordPress Hosting and website hosting, and both come with 24/7 US-based customer support.

5. GoDaddy– Lightning Fast Hosting

GoDaddy is the world’s biggest domain registrar. GoDaddy is one of the best web hosting solutions because it offers lightning-fast loading times with a 99.9% uptime guarantee, world-class support, and excellent security features.

GoDaddy provides an easy to use control panel that lets you build and manage your site with ease. It enables you to link your domain name to your site with just one click.

GoDaddy also comes with 24/7 monitoring of your site and 24/7 customer support. You get over 150+ free applications that can be installed with one click.

No matter which plans you go for, you will get unmetered bandwidth. Being one of the most reliable web hosting service providers, it offers various hosting solutions for your site.

The Web Hosting plans start from $3.99/month to $8.49/month.

WordPress Hosting vs Web Hosting: The Final Verdict

Now that we have reached the end, there is no doubt that WordPress Hosting offers features that are more optimized for WordPress and which help with maintaining consistency in the performance of your site.

As we mentioned above, choosing one depends on your requirements. However, the WordPress Hosting plans are a little more expensive than general Web hosting solutions because WordPress offers faster, more secure, and better support.

If you are a WordPress site owner, investing in a WordPress hosting solution doesn’t hurt- especially if you choose one of the hosting platforms that we referred to above.

We hope our article helped you with understanding the difference between WordPress Hosting and Web Hosting. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

Other Hosting Guides:

WordPress Hosting vs Web Hosting 2021: The Ultimate Comparison (Which One to Choose)

What is WordPress Hosting?

What is Web Hosting?

The Key Difference Between WordPress Hosting and Web Hosting