WordPress hosting 2022: The 3 best providers in comparison

Introduction

 

WordPress hosting I speak from experience…Because in the 11+ years that I have been working with WordPress, I have already tried over 60 (!) different hosting providers for large and small web projects. I have had positive, but also a lot of negative experiences. And in this comparison I want to share these experiences with you! You will find out in detail:

The 3 German WordPress hosts that I can recommend unconditionally
The best hosting plans for different usage scenarios (small websites, WooCommerce, affiliate sites, etc.) What a good WordPress Hoster really needs  So that you too can find the best WordPress hosting for your blog or website! But without trying dozens of providers and burning your money (like me).

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1. Why choosing the right hosting is so important
2. The top three WordPress hosts
3. Which hosting plan is best for me?
4. What should a good WordPress host offer?
5. What is managed WordPress hosting and what are the benefits?
6.FAQs

1. Why choosing the right hosting is so important

 

Providers with whom you can host a WordPress website are a dime a dozen. However, if you compare more closely, there are big differences in price, power, performance and support. A web host change can reduce the loading time of your website and your core web vitals e.g. B. significantly improve. This makes your website more user-friendly and ensures a better Google ranking. And avoid stress with competent and fast support.

Mass Hosters like Strato , Domain Factory or Host Europe lure with great offers. But in the end you pay more due to slow loading times, expensive additional services or unreliable hosting. It doesn’t have to be.

2. The top three WordPress hosts

I have had the best experiences so far with the following three German hosting providers. I have been a satisfied customer of all Hosters for at least 5 years and have two or more active projects there. They also performed above average in my large web hosting comparison . Then let’s start with the WordPress Hoster that I recommend for beginners:

web go

WordPress hosting at web go I’ve been a web go customer myself since January 2017 and so far I’m very happy with it.The web hosting at web go is very reliable. So far I’ve only had one server outage where my websites were briefly offline. Thanks to a combination of the server software Apache and nginx, the loading times are also excellent. In my web hosting comparison , web go performed well above average in the speed tests and was mostly able to secure top positions.

The prices are also fair and the web hosting packages are modern Customer service responds quickly and (usually) competently to inquiries. Cancellations, the addition of domains, the conclusion of the AV contract or tariff upgrades can be done conveniently via the customer portal. If you enter the voucher code blogmojoduring the ordering process (when entering your personal data), you will receive a €10 discount. Start with web go now and get a €10 discount

advantages

fair prices Let’s Encrypt included for free (except in the starter plans)
guaranteed RAM

very good loading times and availability
the first 6 months free of charge
Inclusive domains in every hosting package
Own e-mail inboxes without additional costs
large selection of scripts and server settings
1-Click Installer for WordPress, Joomla and Co.
Databases on SSD hard drives
Termination and conclusion of AV contract can be conveniently done online
Clear contract overview and simple ordering process
Server location Germany
http/2
IP logging can be switched off
PHP 8.0

Disadvantages

unclear tariff selection
Outdated user interface for the web go webspace admin
1-Click Installer sometimes doesn’t have the latest WordPress version

RAIDBOXES

I mainly use RAIDBOXES for larger projects where high availability, lightning-fast support and performance are important to me. Blog mojo and Feminine are currently hosted there and I couldn’t be happier. RAID BOXES is also a good choice for beginners who want to deal less with technology and administration and are willing to pay a little more for it: The RAIDBOXES hosting packages, also called boxes, are specially optimized for the use of WordPress. The WordPress installation is already pre-installed and configured on each box (so-called managed WordPress hosting ).

RAIDBOXES automatically creates daily backups that can be easily imported via the dashboard. You can also do without a security plugin, because the WordPress installation is well protected against hacker attacks by RAIDBOXES. By using servers, SSD hard drives and nginx as web server software, my websites achieve above-average loading times. This has also been confirmed in performance tests . Here e.g. B. the Load time comparison with Pingdom Tools

In addition, the boxes at RAIDBOXES are well equipped to deal with storms of visitors and are stable under high server loads: On May 24, 2018, for example, I had a rush of visitors to Blog mojo with 22,500 page views, which my box in the STARTER tariff easily coped with. Without noticeable performance losses in the WordPress dashboard or in the frontend! The customer service is also top. If you want to know more about RAIDBOXES, then read my detailed test report .

advantages

Easy operation and installation
Top loading times thanks to super-fast server-side caching
Staging (allows you to test design changes without showing on your live site)
No caching plugin required
Automatic daily backups
Secure WordPress installation
PHP 7.4
http/2
Server location Germany
Free SSL certificate via Let’s Encrypt
Switch from http to https at the push of a button (URLs are automatically changed in the database)
Various advanced security settings (security header, single sign-on, XML-RPC blocker etc.)
Fast and very nice support
The boxes can be canceled monthly
Boxes can be tested for 14 days free of charge (from the PRO tariff 4 days)

Disadvantages

no exec() allowed, which means you can no longer use plugins like the EWWW Image Optimizer (only with API) wp-config.php and other WordPress system files not editable (but you can make special entries via box settings, e.g. to limit post revisions) no domain included E-mail inbox costs extra Doesn’t support multisite yet (however, change is in sight, the multisite feature is already in beta phase)

ALL INCL

ALL INCLUSIVE web hosting I’ve been a customer of ALL-INKL since 2014 and so far I can only report a few negative things. Similar to web go, I use it for my smaller and medium sized websites while my main projects are on Raid boxes. The hosting packages are good value for money and include: several inclusive domains (not only .de, but also .com and .NET domains!) lots of storage space
many mailboxes, enough MySQL databases and subdomains

The possibility to activate external domains without additional costs (which unfortunately cannot be taken for granted).
Ideal for hosting one or more WordPress websites! ALL-INKL was also able to convince in the performance comparison and offers important speed-relevant features such as http/2, Apache and the latest PHP version 8.0. Good support, a good average customer rating and fair contract conditions further round off the positive overall picture. You can get over the fact that you only get HDD instead of SSD hard drives, that the customer area is a bit complicated and old-fashioned and that the uptime could be a bit better.

advantages

very good CPU and MySQL performance
the first 3 months free of charge
External domains can be activated easily and without additional costs

IP logging can be switched off
Always current PHP versions available (PHP 7.4)
Discount possible for longer terms (up to 20% for 3 years)
No minimum contract period
Email mailboxes included in all packages
Quick and easy creation of new mailboxes, domains, subdomains, SSL certificates, etc.
Experience has shown that technical management and contract management are very reliable
Long support times
Server location Germany

Disadvantages

Uptime could be a bit better
Technical administration (KAS) and contract administration (Members Area) are old-fashioned and not optimized for mobile use
no nginx, not even as a proxy
no SSD hard drives
no support via live chat

3. Which hosting plan is best for me?

It sucks to pay for more than you actually need. But it’s just as stupid to pay too little and have slow loading times or downtime due to a weak server. That’s why I’ve picked out hosting plans for you for different numbers of page views. Please note that these are guidelines. The load on your server also depends on other factors, such as: e.g.:

Number of installed plugins
Type of installed plugins (eCommerce, membership or forum plugins can be resource hogs)
Number of your WordPress installations
number of posts
caching
croon jobs
PHP error

 hosting for beginners and small websites

For beginners and smaller websites that get up to 2,000 page views a day, I recommend so-called shared hosting .

There you share a server and its resources with other customers:

RAIDBOXES MINI (ideal for a single website)
web go CMS Pro (very good value for money and also suitable for multiple websites)

Medium Site Hosting

For websites or blogs with 2,000 to 7,000 page views per day, I recommend either a larger shared hosting plan where you share a server with fewer customers, or a server . With a server, you also share a server with other customers, but you have permanently assigned server resources. That means you won’t be negatively impacted by other customers’ overuse:

RAIDBOXES STARTER (server)
web go CMS Power SDD (mixture of server and shared hosting)
ALL-INCL Premium

Hosting for large websites and online shops

For websites or blogs with more than 7,000 page views per day or for an online shop, it is best to switch to your own server, a so-called dedicated server , or a large server . With dedicated servers you always have two options: managed server or root server . With the former, the server software is maintained by the host, with the latter you have to take care of it yourself.

If you don’t know anything about server administration, I would always recommend a managed server. Because getting the maximum performance out of a server and protecting it against attacks requires a lot of time and specialist knowledge. RAIDBOXES PRO (and subsequent tariffs, such as PRO XL, BUSINESS etc.)

 Hosting for Affiliates, Web Designers and Agencies

 

Do you operate many niche sites as an affiliate or do you look after the websites of many customers as a web designer or agency? Then you need a solution that can host many websites at once without sacrificing performance. RAIDBOXES Web designer S (and other bulk tariffs such as Web designer, Agency and Agency XL)
web go Managed SSD server

4. What should a good WordPress host offer?

So that your WordPress website runs as quickly and error-free as possible, you have as little stress as possible with it and you are on the safe side in terms of data protection, your web host should meet certain criteria. The three web hosts I trust, web go, all-inkl.com and RAIDBOXES, of course, meet all the criteria listed.

 Order processing contract (AVV)

Hosting providers are processors according to Art. 28 GDPR. Accordingly, in order to be on the safe side in terms of data protection law, you should conclude an order processing contract (also known as AV contract or AVV) with your host. The conclusion of the contract should ideally be possible online and with just a few clicks. For a selection of different WordPress hosts that offer AV contracts, see my list of AV contracts .

 Free SSL Certificate

An SSL certificate is now mandatory for every website. Not only for privacy reasons, but also because… Browsers like Firefox or Chrome will brand non-encrypted connections to websites as not secure .
HTTPS offers ranking advantages on Google.
your website can then benefit from HTTP/2, which improves your loading time.
Since the end of 2015, Hosters have been able to issue their customers free and automated SSL certificates via Let’s Encrypt .

With web go this is easily possible via the webspace admin: Create an SSL certificate for your own WordPress installation at web go
With RAIDBOXES, the whole thing is even more convenient. All you have to do is flip a switch: Enable SSL in Raid boxes settings
If a Hoster does not have this integrated, you have to reckon with additional monthly costs of 3 to 10 € per domain. It doesn’t have to be.

 Server location in Germany (or at least in the EU)

 

In terms of data protection, it is by far the safest if your host’s servers are in Germany. The second safest is a location within the EU, since the same high level of data protection applies there thanks to the GDPR.As far as loading time is concerned, your WordPress host’s data center should be as close as possible to your visitors’ location. Otherwise the charging time will be longer due to the longer cable route.

This means: If most of your visitors come from Germany, your server should also be located in Germany (or possibly in a neighboring country such as Austria or the Netherlands).

 SSD hard drives instead of HDDs

SSD hard drives not only have faster access times than HDDs, but can also perform more inputs/outputs per second (IOPS). This is also reflected in the loading time and load stability of your website. MySQL databases in particular should be located on SSD hard drives.

Enough disk space

Image galleries, videos or some WordPress plugins need a lot of storage space.

I recommend at least 2 GB of disk space per WordPress installation, preferably 5 GB.

If you use your web space as an e-mail inbox at the same time, then I would even recommend 10 GB per website.

 Minimum PHP 7.x

Good hosting for WordPress should offer at least PHP 7.x.

With it, WordPress runs up to three times as fast as with PHP 5.6!

According to a study by the American WordPress hoster Kinsta, the latest PHP version 7.4 manages a whopping 313 requests/second, while PHP 5.6 only manages around 98:

PHP 5 vs PHP 7

 The right PHP settings

In addition to the PHP version, the correct PHP settings are also important for the performance of your WordPress website. Pay attention to the following:

memory limit= at least 128M, better still 256M
mod rewrite= ON (necessary for nice permalinks)
It is also helpful if you can change important PHP settings yourself, e.g. e.g.

HTTP/2 accelerates the data transfer from the web server to the browser enormously through better compression and the merging of several server requests.

That’s why it’s important that your WordPress hoster supports the new standard!

HTTP/2

HTTP/2 is the successor to HTTP/1.1.

HTTP/2 accelerates the data transfer from the web server to the browser enormously through better compression and the merging of several server requests.

That’s why it’s important that your WordPress hoster supports the new standard!

All hosters I recommend (webgo, all-inkl.com and RAIDBOXES) support HTTP/2.

 Good support

 

The ideal WordPress host should offer competent support. For emergencies, it is best to be available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. A fast response time to inquiries is also very important. Long downtimes, a slow website or malfunctions cause visitor frustration, lost revenue and can have a negative impact on your Google rankings.

At RAIDBOXES I made a total of 5 inquiries in 3 years, which were answered in an average of 5 minutes and 36 seconds: Chat support via intercom That’s what I call fast service!

 High Uptime

In addition to performance, reliability is also crucial for WordPress web hosts.

The fastest WordPress website is useless if it is offline for half a day once a week. An uptime (availability) of 99.8% or higher is ideal.

In my web hosting comparison I also tested the uptime, ALL-INKL, webgo and RAIDBOXES did very well:

Uptime of all web hosts tested with Uptime Robot

5.What is managed WordPress hosting and what are the benefits?

With so-called managed WordPress hosting , as it is e.g. B. RAIDOXES offers, your hosting provider takes care of the installation, configuration and maintenance of your WordPress installation.

This is included in all RAIDBOXES tariffs:

WordPress pre-installed
Automatic backups (included in all RAIDBOXES tariffs)
Loading time optimization (e.g. gzip optimization, browser caching, own caching systems, etc.)
Staging environment (to avoid having to make changes to the live website)
Protection against hackers and spam (included in all RAIDBOXES tariffs)
Regular scans for malware (included in all RAIDBOXES tariffs)
Optimal configuration of the server for WordPress
Support for WordPress problems and questions (the support at normal hosters often does not answer questions about WordPress because of third-party software)
In the fully managed tariff for €30 per month (or optionally in any other tariff with a surcharge of €15) you also get:

Updates for plugins and themes
The advantage of this:

You have to worry less about the technology and have more time for other things (website content, your customers, your company, etc.).

6.FAQs

Here I have compiled the answers to the most frequently asked questions about WordPress hosting:

Is there free WordPress hosting?

But free WordPress web hosting always comes with a catch: Be it functional limitations, a low memory limit, high downtimes, severe traffic restrictions, little to no support, old server software, advertising on your website or security flaws.

What are the minimum requirements for WordPress?

WordPress specifies the following values ​​for web hosts in its minimum requirements’ version 7.4 or higher.
MySQL version 5.6 or higher or alternatively MariaDB version 10.1 or higher.
HTTPS support (SSL certificate installable)
A server running nginx or Apache (with the mod rewrite module).
. However, using these versions poses a security risk as they are no longer being developed. An SSL certificate is also not absolutely necessary to run WordPress, but is recommended for security and data protection reasons.

How can I install WordPress?

To install WordPress at your web host, the following steps are necessary:

Set up an SSL certificate (using Let’s Encrypt)
Create a database
Download the WordPress installation files in German as a ZIP file and unzip them
Rename wp-config-sample.phpto wp-config
Using the FileZilla program, transfer all files to your FTP server (to the directory associated with your domain)
Go to your website URL and follow the further instructions
A comprehensive guide, suitable for beginners, on how to install WordPress can be found here: Installing WordPress: The idiot-proof guide (including troubleshooting!)

By the way, if you decide to host with RAIDBOXES , you can save yourself all the steps mentioned above. Because WordPress is already pre-installed and configured there.

What about US WordPress hosts?
I advise against US Hosters such as Bluehost, HostGator, Liquid Web or Engine for a German website.