Web Hosting
Where your website actually lives.
Shared, WordPress, reseller and managed web hosting — assessed on datacentre location, resource limits, backup and migration policy, support model and the real cost after the introductory term ends.
The fastest route to a decision in Web Hosting.
How this market is actually structured
"Web hosting" describes at least five different products, and most buying mistakes in this category are really product-type mistakes. The question is not which host is best but how much of the work you want to keep: patching, updates, backups, caching and support all have to happen somewhere, and the price differences between hosting tiers are mostly a price on that labour.
The second decision is where the server sits. Datacentre region affects latency for a domestic audience and matters directly when data location is a stated requirement. A content delivery network narrows the latency gap for typical brochure and WordPress sites, but it does not change where your data is stored.
The third is renewal pricing. Shared hosting is sold on introductory rates attached to long first terms, and the standard rate afterwards is frequently multiples of the advertised figure. We publish plan mechanics from vendor documentation and no performance figures we have not measured.
What each product type actually does
- Shared hosting
- Many sites on one server, with resource limits per account. The cheapest entry point and the right answer for brochure sites, small blogs and low-traffic stores — provided you are willing to run your own updates and check the renewal price.
- Managed WordPress hosting
- Shared or cloud capacity with the WordPress maintenance included: core updates, platform caching, staging and often migration help. You pay for someone else to own updates and performance tuning. Worth it when the site earns money.
- Cloud hosting
- Capacity drawn from a pooled, distributed platform rather than one fixed machine, so resources can scale without a migration. Priced above shared hosting; the benefit is elasticity and resilience, not automatic speed.
- VPS hosting
- A virtual machine of your own with root access and guaranteed resources. The correct step up when you have outgrown shared limits or need software a shared host will not install — and the point at which patching, hardening and backups become your responsibility unless you buy management.
- Dedicated hosting
- A whole physical machine, priced accordingly. Bought for sustained heavy workloads, specific hardware requirements including GPUs, or compliance situations where shared tenancy is unacceptable.
- Reseller hosting
- One account partitioned into client accounts you administer and bill. An agency product rather than a performance tier: what you are buying is the ability to be someone else's hosting provider.
- Website builders with bundled hosting
- Not hosting at all, strictly — a hosted platform where the hosting is included and invisible. Often the cheaper honest answer for a simple business site, and a duplicated line item if you also buy a hosting account.
WP Rocket
A premium WordPress caching and performance plugin — page caching, asset optimisation and Core Web Vitals work from one settings screen.
SiteGround
Managed WordPress and shared hosting with an in-house control panel, staging, free migration and support across every tier.
DigitalOcean
Cloud infrastructure aimed at developers and startups — simpler than the hyperscalers, and a different purchase entirely from managed web hosting.
Cloudways
Managed cloud-hosting platform (a DigitalOcean company) that provisions and operates servers on DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud or Vultr for you — the operations layer between shared hosting and raw infrastructure.
ShortPixel
Image compression for WordPress and beyond — bulk optimisation, WebP and AVIF delivery, and a credit model that suits sites with a fixed media library.
KnownHost
Managed KVM VPS and cloud hosting for sites that have outgrown shared hosting but have nobody to run a bare server — cPanel or DirectAdmin, with the provider owning the OS layer.
ChemiCloud
Support-led managed shared and WordPress hosting on cPanel, with free migration, daily backups and a long money-back window.
ScalaHosting
Managed VPS and managed cloud hosting with its own control panel — aimed at sites that have outgrown shared hosting but still want the host to run the server.
FastPixel
A WordPress acceleration service that offloads optimisation to the vendor's cloud rather than asking you to tune a settings screen.
Ultra Web Hosting
Long-established independent US host with an unusually broad ladder — cPanel shared hosting, a WordPress-optimised tier, Node.js hosting, an AI-coding tier and dedicated servers.
WebHosting UK
A UK datacentre host offering shared, WordPress, reseller and VPS hosting with 24/7 support across the whole range.
Cherry Servers
Bare-metal and GPU cloud from a European provider — aimed at people who want dedicated hardware without hyperscaler pricing.
Best-of shortlists in Web Hosting
Curated editorial rankings that draw from this pillar. Each guide is refreshed on the same schedule as the underlying reviews.
Recent comparisons in Web Hosting
Web Hosting questions we get asked
What is the difference between shared hosting and a VPS?
Shared hosting puts many sites on one server with per-account limits and no root access; a VPS gives you an isolated virtual machine with guaranteed resources and full control. The trade is responsibility: on a VPS, patching, hardening and backups are yours unless you pay for management.
Is managed WordPress hosting worth the extra cost?
It is when nobody on your team wants to own core, theme and plugin updates, or when downtime costs money. Managed plans bundle updates, platform caching, staging and usually migration help. If you already maintain WordPress happily, standard shared hosting does the same job for less.
Why does my hosting bill jump at renewal?
Because the advertised price is an introductory rate attached to a long first term. Providers publish standard renewal pricing separately, and it is frequently several times the promotional figure. Always compare renewal prices at the term length you intend to buy.
Do I need a host in my own country?
Only when data location is a requirement or your traffic is overwhelmingly domestic. Otherwise a nearby datacentre region plus a CDN generally serves a typical site well.
Software Glossary
The concepts that come up most often when evaluating Web Hosting.
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