Which WordPress Plan Should You Use? (Expert Answer)

Choosing the right WordPress hosting plan is crucial for creating a high performing, secure, and scalable website. But with so many options to choose from, it can be downright confusing – especially if you‘re new to WordPress.

As a webmaster with over 15 years of experience building websites on WordPress, I‘m going to walk you through everything you need to know to pick the best WordPress hosting plan for YOUR specific needs.

I‘ll explain the key factors to consider, compare the pros and cons of different WordPress hosting plan types, and make recommendations based on your website goals, traffic levels, and budget.

By the end of this comprehensive guide, you‘ll understand exactly which type of WordPress hosting is best for you, learn insider tips to boost your site‘s speed and security, and have actionable steps to get your site launched the right way.

Let‘s dive in!

Key Factors to Consider When Choosing a WordPress Hosting Plan

When selecting a WordPress hosting plan, there are 6 key factors I always recommend users evaluate:

1. Your Budget

Hosting plans range from free options to hundreds of dollars per month. Consider your budget and current monetization goals – but don‘t sacrifice performance to save a few bucks either. A slow site can negatively impact conversions and revenue.

2. Your Website‘s Purpose

A simple blog has very different hosting needs than a high traffic ecommerce store. Make sure to choose a plan that can support your website‘s purpose, both now and as you scale.

3. Expected Traffic Levels

Consider your current and expected website traffic. Higher traffic sites require more server resources to maintain fast performance. Sudden spikes in traffic can cripple underpowered plans.

4. Level of Control Needed

Some plans limit what you can install or configure. If you want full WordPress control, choose a flexible shared plan over a restrictive managed plan.

5. Technical Expertise

Managed plans provide expert support, which is great for users without much technical skill. DIY installs require extensive WordPress and server expertise.

6. Integrations & Features

Look for added value like free domains, email, CDN, security features, backups, and ecommerce functionality. This can save you money on add-ons later.

By evaluating these factors, you can zero in on the right hosting plan for your specific needs and budget. Let‘s explore the popular WordPress hosting plan types in more detail.

Shared WordPress Hosting – Best for Most Small Sites

Shared hosting is the most common starter option for new WordPress users due to its affordability and ease of use.

With shared hosting, hundreds of websites reside on the same server and resources are distributed between accounts. Popular plans like Bluehost and HostGator offer reliable WordPress hosting starting at just $2.95-$5.95 per month.

The Pros of Shared Hosting:

• Very affordable pricing, great for new sites
• Allows full control over WordPress and plugins
• Easy to get started and upgrade plans
• Can easily handle most personal blogs & small business sites

The Cons of Shared Hosting:

• Not ideal for large traffic, ecommerce sites, or complex web apps
• Resources are shared, so performance can vary
• Basic support, not WordPress specialized
• Requires some technical skill for optimal management

Overall, I recommend shared WordPress hosting for any new site with less than 50k monthly visits. It‘s cost effective and provides enough resources for most small blogs and business websites.

However, to accommodate high traffic, ecommerce stores, or sites where uptime is critical, a managed WordPress hosting plan is a better choice.

Managed WordPress Hosting – Optimized for Peak Performance

Managed WordPress hosting provides a highly optimized environment fine-tuned specifically for WordPress. Popular managed providers like WP Engine and Kinsta offer enhanced performance, security, expert support, and premium features.

However, managed WordPress hosting is also more expensive, typically starting around $29+ per month.

Here‘s an overview of the upsides and downsides:

The Pros of Managed WordPress Hosting:

• Optimized servers & architecture for speed
• Premium support from WordPress experts
• Built-in CDN, caching, security, and automatic backups
• Scales to support high traffic loads better
• Simplifies management for non-technical users

The Cons of Managed WordPress Hosting:

• More expensive than shared hosting plans
• Some limitations on customizations/plugins
• Locked into that one hosting provider

I recommend managed WordPress hosting for sites getting over 100k visits per month, online stores, or blogs and businesses where uptime and performance are absolutely critical.

The enhanced architecture, dedicated resources, caching, security, and expert support enable high traffic WordPress sites to run significantly faster and handle fluctuations in traffic smoothly.

Free WordPress Hosting – Good for Testing, Not Long-Term Use

Some providers like WordPress.com offer ad-supported free website hosting. This allows you to test drive WordPress at no cost.

However, these free plans offer minimal storage and bandwidth. They also restrict plugins, themes, and customizations until you upgrade to a paid plan, which starts at $4/month.

The Pros of Free WordPress Hosting:

• Completely free to start a basic site
• Very easy 5 minute setup process
• Don‘t need to purchase a domain name initially

The Cons of Free WordPress Hosting:

• Very limited storage and bandwidth resources
• Cannot install most plugins, themes, or customize much
• Forced to display provider‘s ads on your site
• Missing key features until upgrading to paid plan

The best use case for testing out free WordPress hosting is building a very simple, low traffic personal or hobby blog. But keep in mind you‘ll need to upgrade eventually to remove annoying ads and restrictions.

For any business, ecommerce, or professional sites, even just a basic $5/month shared plan will provide far more value and avoid free hosting limitations.

DIY WordPress Hosting – Advanced Self-Managed Option

Those with extensive technical expertise can opt to host WordPress themselves on a VPS or dedicated server. This gives you maximum control and flexibility but also requires significant effort to configure and optimize.

I only recommend this option for developers and engineers who are intimately familiar with server management, DNS, web performance, security protocols, and have the skills to directly administer the OS, web server software, PHP, MySQL, caching, firewalls, etc.

For most users, the learning curve is too steep, and managed WordPress hosting is a much better solution that handles all this for you seamlessly.

But if you have the technical chops and want ultimate WordPress hosting control, DIY self-managed WordPress hosting may be appealing.

Recommended WordPress Hosting Plans Per Site Type

So which WordPress hosting plan should you actually choose? Here are my top recommendations based on common website types:

• For a new personal blog or very small business site, start with shared WordPress hosting from a reputable provider like Bluehost, HostGator, or GoDaddy. Their entry level plans work well and cost just $3-5/month.

• To launch an online ecommerce store or more complex business website, choose a managed WordPress hosting provider like WP Engine or Kinsta. Their enterprise-grade infrastructure can easily scale to support your growth.

• If building a basic non-profit community site or personal portfolio, free options from WordPress.com or AwardSpace could work initially. You can always upgrade later if more space or capabilities are needed.

• For ultimate control and customization, developers and engineers may appreciate a DIY install on a VPS or dedicated server. This is advanced but gives you full freedom to configure the stack your way.

• If expecting rapid traffic growth in the near future, select a premium managed WordPress host like WP Engine that offers simple scaling. Their architecture is purpose-built to smoothly handle spikes in visitors.

Expert Tips for Migrating to a New WordPress Host

Whenever you switch to a new WordPress hosting provider, follow these pro tips to make the transition as smooth as possible:

• Backup your entire existing WordPress site including files and database
• Enable caching plugins like WP Rocket or WP Fastest Cache to speed up the migration
• Use a migration plugin like Duplicator or All-in-One WP Migration to easily transfer sites
• Update your URLs and DNS records to point to the new host
• Enable CDN and a free SSL certificate on the new host before launch
• Preload cached pages on the new host to prime the server
• Contact support immediately if you run into any issues

Migrating WordPress hosts doesn‘t have to be painful if you plan ahead. Taking these steps will minimize errors and downtime so users won‘t notice a thing.

Tips for Optimizing WordPress Performance as Traffic Increases

As your website grows and attracts more visitors, follow these performance best practices to keep WordPress speedy:

• Enable persistent caching like WP Rocket to reduce server load
• Switch to a managed WordPress host that offers built-in caching
• Configure a CDN like Cloudflare to serve static assets faster
• Setup automated image optimization to reduce page weight
• Delete unused plugins, media files, comments, and data
• Upgrade to a VPS or dedicated server for more resources
• Enable database optimizations and query caching
• Monitor site speed and quickly address new bottlenecks

With the right WordPress hosting plan and performance optimizations, your site can easily scale to handle significantly more visitors while still remaining fast.

Handling Sudden Spikes in Traffic Without Crashing Your Website

Nothing destroys a site‘s credibility faster than crashing from an influx of visitors. Here are my tips for making sure your WordPress site stays up through traffic spikes:

• Choose managed WordPress hosting which scales better
• Enable Redis object caching to reduce database load
• Configure load balancing and auto-scaling rules
• Check for and address slow plugins causing timeouts
• Temporarily activate read-only mode
• Add page caching rules to limit dynamic requests
• Quickly switch to a more robust hosting plan
• Get emergency help from your WordPress host

Don‘t wait for your site to crash from viral popularity. Proactively optimizing your WordPress hosting prepares you to smoothly handle sudden increases in visitor counts.

Keeping Up With the Latest Web Hosting & WordPress Trends

The web hosting industry is rapidly evolving. As a WordPress site owner, stay up-to-date on these key innovations:

• The rise in zero-downtime auto-scaling architecture
• Increasing use of containers & microservices in hosting stacks
• Growing popularity of headless WordPress deployments
• Enhanced AI-driven cybersecurity protections
• New automation capabilities like serverless hosting
• Improved performance from WebAssembly & HTTP/3
• The push for green sustainable web hosting

By keeping up with the latest hosting and WordPress trends, you can ensure your website continually benefits from cutting-edge technologies and innovations as they emerge.

Choosing the Best WordPress Hosting Plan for YOUR Needs

I hope this deep dive has given you clarity in choosing the ideal WordPress hosting plan for your specific website goals and budget.

Here‘s a quick recap on finding the right WP hosting:

• Evaluate your budget, traffic levels, purpose, expertise, and feature needs
• For most new sites, start with shared hosting plans under $5/month
• Blogs, stores, and high traffic sites may benefit more from managed WordPress hosting
• Maximize performance and security by optimizing caching, CDN, plugins, etc
• Monitor your site‘s growth and upgrade plans as needed to scale smoothly

Feel free to reach out if you have any other questions! I‘m always happy to help fellow website owners configure optimal WordPress hosting.