In the modern day and age, websites have become an integral part of our lives. From simple blogs to enormous social media platforms to massive online shops with thousands of pages, websites are as ubiquitous and flexible as fire in the stone age.

Websites are the fundamental blocks of the Internet, and, without them, there would be no Internet.

Currently, we’re looking at 1.7 billion websites up and running. Every day, there are another 576.000 websites put up and made operational. But, where are all these websites stored?

Naturally, the answer is servers. There are servers across the whole world hosting all types of websites, so we can access them at any point in time.

So, from this, it is easily surmised that, if you’re going to create a website, you also need to find a server that will host it. But, wait, there are different types of hosting, correct? So, what website hosting do you need? Should you go with simple web hosting, or do you need something more specific like WordPress Hosting?

Well, if you’re unsure, stick around – in this article, we aim to explain the difference between the two, and who will benefit the most from either type of hosting.

What Is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is the simple act of a website being hosted on a server. In essence, you’re renting a space on the said server, and the server then displays your website on the Web.

Hosting is an essential component of any website’s existence.

However, web hosting is a bit of an umbrella term. As we mentioned in the beginning, there are many different web hosting types, such as:

Shared hosting – the most typical hosting, and the one we’ll be referencing the most in this article.

VPS (virtual private server) hosting – a more constrained type of shared hosting with fewer websites per server.

Cloud hosting – a high-speed hosting type that relies on hosting the website on several interconnected servers.

Dedicated server – an exclusive hosting type, where a single server hosts a single massive website.

Which One Should I Choose?

That’s a good question, and the answer is, as always – depends. It depends, primarily, on the size of your website, its complexity, and its projected traffic.

For starters, most websites are hosted as part of shared hosting. As we said, this is the most typical of web hosting solutions, as it is the cheapest and simplest.

Most smaller websites, new websites and most low-to-mid traffic websites choose shared hosting. However, as your website grows, it can outpace the services provided by shared hosting.

If you have a particularly large and complex website, or if your website is garnering a lot of visitors, you will outgrow the bandwidth provided by your host, and you’ll start clogging up the server and slowing down other websites.

For slightly larger websites, VPS hosting is the way to go. With fewer websites on the server, you have much more bandwidth to work with, so you can expand more.

Cloud hosting is a good choice for websites with uneven traffic levels. If your website experiences traffic surges (such as with the arrival of seasonal events and holidays), cloud hosting is perfect, as it allows you to upscale or downscale your website as needed.

On top of that, cloud services are massively gaining in popularity, with a projected 18.3% year-to-year growth by 2025, due to their flexibility, speed and ease of use.

As we said, dedicated servers are exclusive to single massive, complex websites. The most expensive option, it is reserved for large companies with gigantic inventories or hundreds of thousands of visitors per day.

In essence, shared hosting is pretty much the standard and should always be considered unless you’re already working with enough visitors where you think you’ll outgrow your little web “estate” quickly. After that VPS hosting becomes a better option – however, cloud hosting is getting more popular, and is definitely worth the extra money you’ll be paying for it.

WordPress Hosting – What Is It?

WordPress hosting is the practice of hosting websites made exclusively on the WordPress platform. As a website-building platform, WordPress is immensely popular, with 43.3% of websites worldwide being built on it.

It is, then, no surprise that many people that have a WordPress website are looking into WordPress hosting. So, how does it differ from regular hosting?

Well, it doesn’t… And it does.

See, WordPress hosting is just normal web hosting with extra features, geared toward the platform itself. Other than that, the process of hosting, as well as the types, are exactly the same.

So, here’s what WordPress hosting has to offer its websites:

Performance – website performance is vital in today’s day and age, and WordPress servers are built for just that. WordPress hosting is geared toward providing the fastest loading speeds for WordPress websites

Compatibility – WordPress servers offer seamless compatibility between your website and your account, including the latest PHP versions to facilitate fast and effortless coding.

Security – WordPress websites can be quite vulnerable if not updated regularly. However, if you’re choosing to have your website hosted, you can rest assured that your provider will handle all updates for you.

Dedicated support – considering all the websites on a WordPress server are made in, well, WordPress, you are able to have support staff that specializes in WordPress. This means that you have hands-on support for your website should you not be able to solve a problem yourself, or should your coding skills not be as good.

Should You Choose It?

From what we’ve said so far, it would seem that WordPress hosting is the ideal choice for those with a website on the platform.

As we said, WordPress itself is extremely popular, and many people advocate it, including some of the top social media marketing agencies , and top content marketing agencies due to its exceptional presentation, performance and flexibility.

And, indeed, if you do have a WordPress website, then this type of hosting might be your best option.

But, here’s the thing – you don’t have to. There are plenty of websites out there that don’t host their WordPress-made websites on platform-specific servers. It is entirely possible to host a WordPress website on any other server that isn’t tuned specifically to this platform.

Additionally, WordPress hosting is also more expensive than regular shared hosting. If you’re worried about money, you might not want to shell out extra greens for additional features that you might not use.

Furthermore, not all WordPress hosting providers offer the same features. Due to security (or political, or monetary) concerns, providers ban certain WordPress plugins.

And, since the power of WordPress lies in those plugins, you might not like the fact that your favorite one has been blacklisted. It also means that, if you’re already using blacklisted plugins, you will need to either swap it out, or find another, potentially more expensive, provider.

Final Words

In the end, however, WordPress hosting is just that – hosting designed for that platform. Anything that’s exclusive always has the pros of working extremely well with their target, while having the cons of increased price, and, well, exclusivity.

Finally, the ultimate choice falls on you. Naturally, if your website is not made on WordPress, you won’t host it on a WordPress-specific server. However, if you do have one, then it’s up to you and your finances – are you willing, and able, to pay for all the extra features WordPress hosting offers.

Author Bio

Sophie Douglas is a digital marketing specialist and a journalist based in Columbus, state of Ohio. Her characters are passionate, innovative, and ambitious. Before becoming a writer for DigitalStrategyOne, she was writing short stories, screenplays, and directing short films.