We are living in the Age of Technology, and having our own website is as easy as ever. We face endless opportunities to run a blog, a community forum for your friends, a portfolio to showcase your skills, or a beautiful wedding page to keep the memory of our happy day forever.

Monetizing our online experience is just as easy. We can open an ecommerce store. Or engage in affiliate marketing. Or better yet — develop the next trendy web app.

All of that starts with a website, and WordPress is one of the top choices when it comes to building one.

The most popular content management system started out as a simple blogging application and now powers around 40% of all websites over the Internet. WordPress is an impressive tool with endless customization possibilities, but it also needs the right hosting WP provider to ensure an environment where you can get the best of it.

Hosting for WordPress

WordPress is an open-source software based on PHP and MySQL. This means that almost every provider with Linux servers passes the minimum requirements for hosting this CMS. But that's not enough as a fast and well-performing WordPress website needs more than the basics.

Searching around for a new host, WP users might find more than option that seems well-suited.

Shared Hosting

Unless you already have a well-populated WordPress website or require advanced functionalities, chances are shared hosting will be more than enough to accommodate you for starters.

In this type of service, you are sharing the same server and resources with many other clients. This configuration cuts the costs for the end user so you can easily find a reliable shared host for as low as $2-$4/mo.

There are some hidden risks, though. Because many websites are utilizing the same CPU, RAM, and bandwidth, it's very easy to drain the server to a point where everyone is suffering. Sites are becoming slower, sometimes even unresponsive.

There's the security aspect as well. Even if you put an impenetrable wall in front of your WP website, a hacker can always breach through a neighbor and gain access to your site as well.

So what else can you do?

WordPress Hosting

Digging around, you can find many providers that offer WordPress Hosting services. Not all of them mean the same thing, though.

Some hosts use the term "WordPress Hosting" mainly for marketing purposes. They understand very well their plans can cover WP's system requirements, so the aim is to attract the growing fan base of the most popular CMS. Still, it's not rare if the host throws in some extra help in the form of a free app installation or plugin update.

Other providers specialize in WordPress and WordPress alone. All their services are geared toward the optimal performance and maximum security of the WP website. The packages are often fully managed and come with professional support from trained hosting operators.

Choosing between the two often boils down to your needs — are you going for a simple website with user-friendly controls or need advanced customizations and premium assistance.

There might be an even better plan, though.

VPS Hosting

Virtual servers are a step up from the standard shared hosting offerings. Through a process called virtualization, the host can isolate each client account and dedicate a set amount of resources. As there are just a few users on each machine, the provider can allocate more than enough resources to handle thousands of site visitors easily.

Scalability is another big advantage of VPS solutions. As your WordPress website grows, you can adjust each server resource without the need for an account upgrade. This means you can add more RAM, a new CPU core, or another SSD drive as the need arises. You also have more control over your budgeting as you can monitor and calculate your monthly consumption at all times.

In short, premium VPS hosting helps WordPress websites be faster, more secure, and give full control over server customizations. A perfect solution for growing businesses and enterprises.

Conclusion

As you can see, knowing your needs and goals will be your best help in finding the right WordPress hosting for your website.
If you have a small blog or are just launching your business — a shared service will be ideal for you.
If you are looking for a more WP-oriented environment and support, there are plenty of WordPress hosting solutions to go around.
And finally, if you need ultimate control and freedom to expand, VPS servers are undoubtedly the way to go.