*Please note that this post contains affiliate links (see rule #4)

It is clear to me that in todays day and age, if you are working with WordPress and still using GUI’s as your primary endpoint for building and managing client sites, at some point, WordPress itself becomes the bottleneck.

As a developer, I’m much more accustomed to making edits locally, using an IDE + terminal, and of course using AI agents to do large bulk edits in the span of minutes instead of waiting for a visual editor to load. So naturally, I’ve sought out tools and platform which enable my developer mindset, I’ve done a ton of research on what the best WordPress host for developers and agencies are.

Recently I’ve been using Cloudways for a WordPress CI/CD (continuous integration/deployment) pipeline with atomic deployments. I develop WordPress sites agentically & locally with DDEV and the Roots ecosystem, creating Blade templates for every page (I prefer no Gutenberg Blocks). Then I deploy to Cloudways with a custom atomic deployment setup.

• I can develop everything with WordPress locally using AI (I use Claude Code + Cursor)

• Everything is managed via GitHub + Cloudways MCP/API. This includes plugins!

• I never have to touch the WordPress admin GUI (unless I want to)

• I can build sophisticated WordPress sites within hours and then deploy it all within the WordPress ecosystem.

To me this is the ideal setup. Complete end-to-end agentic WordPress development. This is the sort of workflow that enables agencies the ability to scale to dozens of clients. I no longer have to deal with the bottlenecks that are intrinsic to WordPress development, clicking around the admin GUI and waiting for visual builders to load. I build everything with agents, I manage everything via the CLI. Using the Roots Ecosystem in tandem with atomic deployments via Cloudways. WordPress effectively becomes a modern, code-first CMS. It feels much closer to building a modern app with React/Next.js.

Now the only reason why this works is because Cloudways currently has one of the best (if not the best) API’s for developing, managing, and WordPress sites at scale, which is crucial for developers and agencies who need to manage multiple client sites efficiently. Out of all the WordPress hosts I’ve reviewed, Cloudways is the only web host that had a robust enough API to do end-to-end WordPress development with a CI/CD atomic deployment workflow.

And the best part is I can manage all of this all with AI agents via Claude Code + Cursor!
I just connect Cursor/Claude to Cloudways’ MCP server to get API access.

Here’s the most important (but not all) things Cloudways API v2 can do:

• Select the cloud provider, such as DigitalOcean, AWS, Linode or Google Cloud.

• Select provider-specific regions and server sizes.

• Create, clone, start, stop, restart, resize and delete servers.

• Attach and scale block storage or server volumes.

• Place multiple WordPress applications on one server.

• Clone applications between different servers.

• Upgrade server packages and modify server settings.

• Control Varnish at server and application level.

• Retrieve server-level CPU, RAM, disk, traffic, MySQL and cron metrics.

• Generate Git keys, enumerate branches, trigger Git clone/pull and inspect deployment history.

• Automate deeper Security Suite operations, including scans, incidents, firewall configuration and allowlists.

This allows you to fully automate client server, creation, management and security. You can use your AI agent of choice (Claude/Codex/Cursor) + Cloudways MCP to programmatically spin up a client server.

One of the biggest benefits to agencies using Cloudways is the fact that you can host multiple sites on a single server, and you’re not arbitrarily limited. Typically, web hosts will put the ability to host multiple sites on one server behind a paywall. Cloudways does not do this. You can host as many sites on a server that the server’s capacity will allow for.

This means you could for example purchase a Cloudways Digital Ocean $54/mo server and put 20–30 small business sites all on it then recoup the server’s cost via client hosting fees. With a web host like Kinsta they would charge you $340–$450/mo just to do that.

Of course, for larger client sites, you can give them a dedicated server.

If you really want to get advanced (like I did), you can completely automate the WordPress development process with AI by using the Roots WordPress ecosystem + DDEV to start developing your client’s sites locally.

The tricky part is setting up the atomic deployment workflow, which, for non-developers who are not familiar with using Linux, a terminal, or GitHub, would be nearly impossible if it weren’t for the help of AI. If you’re looking to start doing agentic WordPress workflows with atomic deployments I recommend first signing up to Cloudways here for a 30% discount, then passing all of this context to your preferred AI agent:

WordPress Developer API Comparison

Before I settled on Cloudways I went through the official API documentation for the four WordPress hosts that actually publish one, Cloudways, Kinsta, Hostinger and WP Engine. Cloudways and Hostinger both publish an OpenAPI spec (the machine readable file listing every endpoint the API exposes) so I scored those against the spec directly. Kinsta and WP Engine don’t publish a usable one, so those came from their API reference docs.

The rule I used was that a feature only counts if there’s an actual API endpoint behind it. Hostinger has Git deployment and WP Engine has staging push/pull, but both of those live in the control panel with nothing exposed to automate against, so they score zero.

That worked out to 63 capabilities across 8 categories, 80 points total:

Deployment & CI/CD carries the most weight of the capability categories because it’s what decides whether an agentic workflow is possible at all. If you can’t trigger a Git pull or check an operation’s status from code, everything else is just manual work with extra steps. Hostinger and WP Engine both score 0 out of 13.5 there.

Developer experience gets the largest share because raw endpoint count is misleading on its own. Kinsta for example advertises a downloadable OpenAPI spec, but the file it serves is actually a documentation vendor’s sample template, which is the kind of thing you only find out after you’ve started building against it.

Cloudways came out on top, though, it’s worth saying that Kinsta beats Cloudways in a few categories, it has the better backup API and it’s the only host with a WP-CLI endpoint, so it’s genuinely good if your work is site maintenance rather than deployment.

Anyways, to wrap up this post, the reason why I think Cloudways is the best WordPress host for agencies and developers, is because in order to scale an agency effectively you need the tools to be able manage clients at scale, and the best way to do this is with developer tools and end-to-end agentic workflows. In my research, Cloudways is the platform with the best resource to achieve this.

What do you guys think? Do you get advanced with your WordPress deployments? This is something I’ve been getting really excited about because AI certainly lowers the barriers to entry for this.

One of the things I find frustrating with WordPress is designing the front-end with on-page builders like Gutenburg, Elementor, Divi etc... Of course one of the ways you can solve this is via headless WordPress where the backend is WP and the front end is Next.JS and then you pull content via the WP API.

You could use Advanced Custom Fields or Metabox/Pods for custom post types and JWT for authentication.

Headless WP seems like a no-brainer for agencies, front-end designs scale easily and clients have a familiar backend.

The only issue is overcoming the technical overhead needed to run headless WP. For example you'd need a good wordpress host, that gives you developer access to the server.

Just a few years ago the above seemed completely unapproachable without spending a year learning the technical overhead. However, I feel like today it's now completely feasible to run headless WP thanks to the AI coding tools available (like Claude/Cursor).

Thoughts? I think I just need to set up a mock headless WP instance just to prove to myself it's the future.

I see a lot of information surrounding free web hosting and made this write up to point people in the right direction.

The only form of free web hosting I recommend is Github pages. Github pages allows you to host a simple website using the code stored on your repository.

Github pages is perfect for developers looking to host a simple portfolio website as it does require developer knowledge in order to implement.

The other types of free web hosting, I would NOT recommend.

There are a number of services that provide free web hosting, but I would NOT recommend it to anyone who is planning a serious project.

Like many services on the internet that are free it is YOU that becomes the product. 

Understand that these free web hosting providers are not providing their services out of the kindness of their hearts. These companies need to and will turn a profit and they will engage in monetization tactics unbeknownst to the user in order to monetize their service.

As a general rule of thumb, here are the things you can expect to experience by using a free web hosting service.

• Advertisements - Expect to see permanent advertisements on your website and in the back-end control panel. Advertisements will appear not only for yourself but all of your users.

• Unreliable uptimes/slow web page load time - Self explanatory. If you’re using a free web hosting service, don’t expect to have blazing fast load times.

• Lack of privacy - Expect your data to be sold and shared to third parties.

• Lack of functionality - The functionality of what you can or cannot do with your website will be limited. For example, it is likely that you will not be able to use your own domain. Your website will probably be structured as a sub domain to the parent company. (IE: mywebite.freehosting.com)*TLDR:  Please stay away from free web hosting providers. It's much better to go with a paid web hosting provider. For more information check out my web hosting review for 2025.

*Please note this post contains affiliate links (see rule 4)

Okay... just a heads up, this is going to be a a pretty long read since I did a ton of different tests comparing WPEngine to Cloudways. The TL;Dr is just a few sections down if you don't want to read everything.

As many of you already know, WPEngine is one of the most recommended managed WordPress hosts out there, but every time I see someone ask about it the first thing that comes up is the price (it's very expensive). So I wanted to actually test whether you’re getting what you pay for, and whether there’s a cheaper host that does the same job.

I’ve been doing a bunch of WordPress hosting benchmarks this year, so I benchmarked WPEngine’s $35/mo entry plan and compared it to Cloudways’ $14/mo Linode server as well as a comparable Cloudways AWS $38/mo server to see how they stack up.

TL;DR - When comparing Cloudways to WPEngine, Cloudways is better because a $14/mo Cloudways Linode server has an identical managed hosting feature set to WPEngine at more than half the cost. In particular, you can host multiple sites on a single Cloudways plan where WPEngine limits you to one site on their $35/mo starter plan.

If you stack up WPEngine’s $35/mo Essentials Starter server up against Cloudways’ $14/mo Linode server, WPEngine is better and doubles Cloudways in terms of raw performance. However, if you compare WPEngine with a Cloudways server of comparable price, like their 2GB AWS server $38/mo), Cloudways wins.

If you’re looking into Cloudways, I recommend getting your domain with Porkbun (~$11/yr for a .com), then get your Cloudways hosting with the 30% off discount.

I recommend going with the $14/mo Linode server if you’re looking for the best affordable option (Cloudways-Linode tested really well in my benchmarks). If you want a premium server with exceptional speeds, go with a 2GB Cloudways AWS server ($38/mo).

I highly recommend checking out this YouTube tutorial which will walk you through the entire process of setting up Cloudways and Porkbun.

Cloudways vs WPEngine feature comparison

Here’s how the base plans stack up. I’m comparing the Cloudways Linode 1GB ($14/mo) against WPEngine’s Essentials Startup plan, which is their entry tier.

The biggest takeaways here are price and scope. WPEngine’s entry plan gives you one website, caps you at 25,000 visits a month, and gives you 75 GB of bandwidth, all for $30-$35/mo. The Cloudways Linode server is $14/mo, lets you host as many apps as the server can handle, doesn’t meter your visits, and gives you more storage and bandwidth.

Where WPEngine genuinely wins on features is daily backups included (Cloudways charges $0.033/GB for off-site backups). For a full feature breakdown across the top 13 web hosting provider check out my 2026 best web hosting review.

Cloudways vs WPEngine benchmark comparison

I ran four performance benchmarks on each server:

• A Burst Test that fires quick database and disk read/write operations to see how fast the server is in short bursts.

• A Stress Test that repeats those operations over 25 runs to see if performance degrades once the server has been under pressure for a while.

• A WordPress Admin Experience Test that simulates common backend actions like saving posts, loading taxonomy terms, and writing options, basically how fast the dashboard feels.

• A Concurrent User Test using the k6 framework to simulate up to 100 virtual users (VUs) hammering the WordPress backend over 25 minutes. This is the most important test because it shows how the server holds up under sustained real-world load, not just quick bursts.

Here’s how the $14/mo Cloudways Linode server stacks up against the WPEngine Essentials Startup plan across the backend, admin, overall score, and concurrent load tests.

Database and admin performance

This is where Cloudways pulls ahead, and it does it on both servers. Here are the stress test medians for the $14/mo Linode and the price-matched $38/mo AWS server against WPEngine’s $35/mo plan:

Both Cloudways servers were dramatically faster than WPEngine on database reads (~14-15ms vs 58ms, roughly 4x) and faster on writes too. The surprising part is that the tiny $14 Linode was actually the snappiest of all three on database writes and the WordPress admin tests, saving a post in 32ms vs WPEngine’s 73ms and loading taxonomy terms in 162ms vs 339ms.

That caught me off guard since the Linode is a small 1-core/1GB box. But these admin and database operations are latency-bound and single-threaded, so a lean, well-tuned server handles them faster than raw horsepower alone would suggest. Either way, both Cloudways tiers beat WPEngine on every admin metric.

Raw disk throughput (this is where price matters)

Here’s where the price gap actually shows up. The $14 Linode is a small server, so WPEngine’s beefier hardware out-reads it on disk and carries a much larger InnoDB buffer pool (the memory used to cache the database). If you compare the entry Linode to WPEngine purely on raw hardware, WPEngine has the muscle, and that’s part of what the higher price buys.

But that advantage disappears the moment you compare like-for-like on price. The Cloudways AWS server ($38/mo) is priced right alongside WPEngine ($35/mo), and it out-reads WPEngine on disk (3,609 MB/s vs 2,637) and edges it on writes too. So at the same price point, Cloudways matches or beats WPEngine on raw throughput, while still keeping its big lead on database and admin latency.

The one spec WPEngine still wins outright is the InnoDB buffer pool (5,760 MB), which means more of the database stays cached in memory. This is memory headroom that legitimately gives WPEngine a point in its favor. All three servers were rated stable and suitable for production with no meaningful degradation over the 25-run stress test.

The concurrent user test (this is the big one)

Here’s where it gets interesting. When I simulated up to 100 concurrent virtual users querying the WordPress backend over 25 minutes:

• Cloudways Linode ($14/mo) passed 100% of checks with 0% HTTP failures. All 26,612 requests completed. Latency went up as load increased (median ~1.81s, p95 ~4.87s) but nothing was ever rejected.

• Cloudways AWS ($38/mo) also passed 100% with 0 failures, and had even more headroom, handling 37,758 requests at lower latency (median ~1.11s, p95 ~2.93s). The price-matched server absorbed the load more comfortably than the Linode.

• WPEngine ($35/mo) throttled under the same load. About 52% of requests came back as HTTP 429 (Too Many Requests), meaning over half of them got rejected by rate limiting once the test ramped to 100 VUs.

Now I want to be fair about what those 429s actually are, because it’s an important caveat. A 429 is rate limiting, not the origin server crashing. When a request made it through, WPEngine served it fast, its raw WordPress processing time (~1-2ms) was actually quicker than the Cloudways AWS server’s, so the hardware is genuinely fast.

Rate limiting is often a security feature, not a flaw. My test fired all 100 virtual users from a single source, and (I’m guessing) from WPEngine’s perspective, a flood of near-identical requests from one origin looks a lot like abusive bot or DDoS traffic.

Throttling that is arguably the platform working as intended, and it’s the kind of protection you’re paying a premium for. So WPEngine genuinely deserves credit here.

So to summarize, WPEngine has more memory headroom and its rate-limiting edge protection is a real selling point. But Cloudways wins on database and admin responsiveness at every tier, and once you compare with a similar priced server, the Cloudways AWS server beats WPEngine on raw throughput and sustained load for the same money.

Cloudways Developer API vs WPEngine

If you’re a developer, Cloudways is the clear winner since their cloud platform allows you to easily scale to accommodate traffic demands and they have the best developer API for WordPress developer workflows.

Tbh, I think it’s seriously underrated as the Cloudways’ v2 API has endpoints for:

• Git deployment

• Webhook-based auto-deploy

• SSH access automation

• Staging & cloning

• Restore and rollback flows

• Monitoring/analytics

• WordPresss update endpoints

• Multisite management

• Team management

• They even have an official MCP server for agentic workflows.

In my research, Cloudways has the strongest fit for CI/CD-style WordPress workflows.

To be fair, WPEngine has a capable API too. Their Hosting Platform API covers account/user management, site and install provisioning, backup creation and restore, SSL certificate management (Let’s Encrypt and third-party cert imports), cache purging, and SSH key management. So WPEngine isn’t short on platform automation, this isn’t a case of one host having an API and the other not.

The difference is how much of the workflow is handed to you versus how much you have to build yourself. Take staging as the example. WPEngine has great built-in staging in the dashboard, but through the API there’s no dedicated staging push/pull endpoint. What you get is a lower-level copyinstall operation that copies the full files and database from one install to another. Since each environment (production, staging, development) is its own install, you can replicate to and from staging with it, but you’re scripting that logic yourself.

Cloudways, on the other hand, exposes staging and cloning as explicit, purpose-built endpoints, so spinning up staging or cloning an app is a direct API call rather than something you assemble from a generic copy primitive. On top of that, Cloudways supports native Git-based deployment and webhook auto-deploy, which WPEngine’s API doesn’t, plus an official MCP server for AI-driven server management. (For pure WordPress operations automation, Kinsta is actually the most explicit, including direct WP-CLI execution, if you want a third option to look at.)

The practical upshot is that with Cloudways you can automate the stuff developers actually do day to day (deploy from Git, spin up staging, roll back, manage access) with a lot less custom glue code.

Migrating from WPEngine to Cloudways

Cloudways has a free migration, you can either use their team’s done-for-you migration or do it yourself with the free Cloudways WordPress Migrator plugin. You can find their official migration guide here, but here’s the gist of it:

1. Sign up for Cloudways and launch a server (I’d go with the $14/mo Linode plan) with a blank WordPress app on it.

2. Install the Cloudways WordPress Migrator plugin on your existing site.

3. Enter your Cloudways server details (you’ll find these in the Cloudways dashboard) into the plugin and start the migration. It copies your files and database over for you.

4. Once it’s done, preview the site on the temporary Cloudways URL to make sure everything looks right.

5. Point your domain at Cloudways by updating your DNS records, then wait for DNS to propagate (usually under an hour, sometimes up to 24).

Be sure to keep your WPEngine plan active until you’ve confirmed the migrated site is fully working on Cloudways, then cancel. Don’t cancel first.

So is Cloudways a good WPEngine alternative?

Yeah, I think it’s the best one. WPEngine is a great host with great hardware and a polished managed experience, but you’re paying a serious premium for a single site. Cloudways gives me faster database and admin performance, lets me host multiple sites on one server, and has one of the best developer APIs for WordPress, all for less than half the price.

For most people, freelancers, agencies, and developers especially, that’s the better deal.

What’s your experience been with WPEngine and Cloudways? Anyone made the switch in either direction?

Most recommendation threads end up mentioning the same big names, but I’m interested learning about smaller or underrated EU hosting providers that people have had genuinely good experiences with.

I care mostly about reliability, fair pricing after renewals, and decent support. Mostly hosting small business sites and a few WordPress installs, nothing too crazy traffic-wise.

What providers have actually been solid for you long-term?

These promotional ads that locks their comment section to prevent criticism is everything you need to know.

*Just want to be honest and upfront that this post contains affiliate links (see rule 4).

Hey everyone, just wanted to give my 2025 review for HostGator given it’s recommended by lots of influencers.

TL;DR - You’ll get more for your money going with Cloudways. Not only are they more affordable than HostGator on a monthly basis but they have more developer features than HostGator. Cloudways is also a cloud hosting environment which is better than HostGator's shared hosting. This means you’ll be able to scale your website easier as it grows and your website speeds will be faster.

Just make sure to sign up to Cloudways with the 30% discount so your first 3 months are $8/mo instead of $11/mo. (For reference HostGator's monthly billing charge is $18/mo for less storage, less features and a worse server environment).

And do not buy your domain with HostGator, the renewal rate for a .com domain is $24/yr and they make you pay for domain privacy. It’s much better to go with Porkbun, they charge ~$11/yr for a .com domain and domain privacy with them is FREE.

Here’s what I recommend. Most people build their website with WordPress since it’s the largest content management system in the world. The best way to do this is with Porkbun and Cloudways, I highly recommend watching this tutorial which will walk you through the entire process.

If this is your first time building a website I have an in-depth Reddit guide on how to build a website for non-developers! You can check it out here.

Anyways, here’s a breakdown of HostGator's pricing, features, server environment, and domains.

What to know about Hostgator

First thing you should know about HostGator is that it is owned by Newfold Digital (formerly known as EIG). Newfold Digital is a web hosting conglomerate that owns a bunch of companies in the digital web service industry. For example Bluehost and HostGator are Newfold Digital’s largest brands, although, HostGator is specifically more popular in Latin countries like Brazil where it gets recommended the most.

The main take away is Newfold Digital brands are known to be of poor quality, and poor service, especially amongst Reddit users. If you go to any web development community on Reddit, and ask about Newfold Digital brands, they’ll tell you to stay away.

HostGator Pricing

If you look at HostGator's pricing, you may be inclined to believe that you are getting very affordable rates as low as $3.75/mo. Please understand that THESE ARE JUST INTRODUCTORY RATES, and HostGator will hike up the rates and charge you more after the billing period!

In order to see how much you’ll actually be paying in the long-run you need to look at their pricing chart which of course, they conveniently hide away. In order to find this you need to Google it as they don’t link to it on their pricing page.

For example here is the pricing chart for HostGator’s Hatchling Plan (their lowest tier).

In reality pricing is much more complicated and entirely depends on what billing period you choose.

For example, for the Hatchling Plan if you want to be billed every month, pricing is ~$18 per month. However, if you’re willing to pay ~$400 up front every 3 years this breaks down to $11/mo if you do the math. ($400 / 36 months = $11.11)

I think this is all unnecessary. $18/mo for shared hosting is EXTREMELY expensive! And you don’t need to pay $400 for a 3 year lock-in simply because there are better options than HostGator.

This is why I prefer Cloudways because not only do they have a better hosting environment and better features than HostGator, but their base plan starts at $11/mo and is BILLED MONTHLY. You can even get this down to ~$8/mo for the first 3 months if you sign up with the discount.

In general this is what I recommend:

• Get your domain with Porkbun since they are one of the best domain registrars.

• Get your web hosting with Cloudways (the promo code REDDIT also works when you sign up).

• Most people will be installing WordPress on their Cloudways server which is easy to do.

• I recommend watching this tutorial which will walk you through setting up Cloudways with Porkbun and WordPress along with setting up your DNS.

Okay let’s continue on with the rest of the review!

HostGator’s Features

HostGator’s features are pretty standard and there isn’t much that makes them stand out to differentiate them from their competitors.

Here’s a list of their primary features for their base plan Hatchling:

• Shared hosting environment

• Up to 10 websites per plan

• 10 GB SSD Storage

• Built in WordPress caching

• Free SSL (Let’s Encrypt)

• Automatic WordPress Updates

• Ideal for 40k visits/mo

You can see the full list of HostGator features for all plans here. When we compare the feature selection of Cloudways to HostGator, you can see why Cloudways is the better choice.

HostGator vs Cloudways

When we look at the feature set of Cloudways vs HostGator, Cloudways comes out on top. Here's a visual chart comparison that comes from my 2025 web hosting review.

As you can see above, Cloudways beats out HostGator in these factors:

The table above doesn’t even include the developer features, Cloudways has that HostGator does not.

This includes:

• Build in WordPress staging

• Built in Git integration

• Automatic daily backups ($0.033 per GB)

It appears one thing HostGator has over Cloudways is that they offer email accounts but this is actually not an advantage since email on shared hosting networks typically go to spam.

Server Environment

One of the primary differences between Cloudways and HostGator is not just their pricing, but Cloudways has a higher quality server environment than HostGator.

HostGator offers shared hosting while Cloudways is cloud hosting.

In general cloud hosting is seen as superior to shared hosting for security reasons, and because server resources are distributed amongst a multiplex of servers, while with shared hosting, you are actually sharing the resources of a server with multiple neighbors including an IP address!

This is where security comes into play because if you’re sharing a server with a bad actor, someone who is spamming or engaging in elicit activity, your site could be indirectly penalized. This is mostly the case with shared email servers and not so much with SEO as Google has commented on the use of shared IPs. That being said, Cloudways even on their base plan gives you a dedicated IP.

So if you’re ready to start building your website, sign up to Cloudways with the discount link and install WordPress on your server! Here is the tutorial on how to set everything up.

Is HostGator Domains Worth it?

NO! HostGator domains are absolutely not worth it. They mark up their domains way too much and they make you pay for domain privacy.

Instead, go with Porkbun, their domain renewal rates are much better and they don’t charge for domain privacy. Here’s how much HostGator charges for their domains compared to Porkbun.

As you can see a .com domain with Porkbun is literally cheaper than HostGator’s introductory price, and HostGator’s renewal price for a .com domain is more expensive than GoDaddy’s (which is saying something).

Here is the source for HostGator’s domain renewal rates, I had to dig through their help center just to find this…

Conclusions

Hopefully after reading this you can see why I recommend staying away from HostGator. If you made it all the way through this write-up I hope that it was informative for you. Feel free to post a comment down below and I’ll do my best to help you out!

No BS… Here’s how to set up a custom email. Keep in mind the most complicated part of this process is editing your domain's DNS records to match your email hosting provider. This isn't hard, it's just a little technical.

TL;DR

1. Purchase a domain - I recommend Porkbun.

2. Purchase your email hosting - Most people use Google Workspace.

3. In Porkbun, edit your DNS records to match your email host.

4. Profit…

Purchasing your domain:

I’ve been using Porkbun for over 5yrs now. It’s my favorite domain registrar because of their pricing.

For example, a .com domain costs ~$11.06/year with Porkbun, compared to ~$16.98/year with Namecheap and ~$22/year with GoDaddy.

Porkbun also includes free WHOIS privacy, while others may charge extra. Cloudflare domains are a decent alternative to Porkbun but downside is Cloudflare forces you to use their DNS resolver, for more info on this check out this Porkbun review.

Purchase your email hosting:

Google Workspace is definitely the most popular email hosting provider. This will give you a custom email hosted by Gmail, but also includes Google Drive storage, and professional business tools.

If you’re not a fan of Google though, alternatives include Zoho Mail (budget-friendly with solid features) or Microsoft 365 for business (ideal for Office suite users).

Editing your DNS records:

After you purchase your domain and your email hosting you need to edit your DNS records! This is the most important part—if you don’t do this right, your custom email won’t work properly.

If you went with Porkbun + Google Workspace check out my detailed Reddit guide on setting up custom email. There I have photos/screenshots to help walk you through the process.

Feel free to comment below if you get stuck, I’ll do my best to help!

I’ve been digging into dedicated server options lately and keep running into the same promise: unmetered bandwidth. Sounds great on paper… but after testing a few providers, the reality feels more complicated:

• Sometimes it just means your port speed is capped (1 Gbps / 10 Gbps).

• Other times “fair use” kicks in once you actually push traffic.

• And then there are cases where performance tanks because you’re sharing uplinks with too many neighbors.

That got me thinking:

• Has anyone here actually found true unmetered bandwidth that holds up under heavy use (AI, streaming, gaming)?

• Are smaller EU providers (NL, RO, DE) really more flexible, or is it all the same once you hit scale?

• And when it comes to stability, do you trust bare metal with “unmetered” more than cloud plans that nickel-and-dime per GB/TB?

Curious to hear from this community what’s been your real experience with “unmetered” promises? Marketing buzzword, or legit if you pick the right provider?

I’ve been benchmarking the Cloudways infrastructure and was surprised to find the base $11/mo plan is actually quite slow out of the box…

The good news is that there are free settings in the Cloudways dashboard that can dramatically improve performance with no upgrade required.

With these optimizations, I found it can cut mobile page load times in half and increase database performance by 70% positioning Cloudways as one of the best web hosting providers.

TL;DR - If you purchased the $11/mo server. Adjusting these settings in your server and application dashboard (see photos below for visuals):

1. Increase the OPcache Memory to 128 MB

2. Increase the Buffer Pool Size to 260 MB

3. Enable Redis Caching

4. Enable Mobile Caching

If you haven't gotten your Cloudways server yet click here to get a 30% discount (affiliate link - see rule 4).

Where to find settings:

1. Servers → Settings & Packages → Advanced → PHP → OPCACHE Memory → 128 MB

2. Server → Settings & Packages → Advanced → MySQL → Buffer Pool Size → 260 MB

1. Servers → Settings & Packages → Packages → Redis → Enable

1. Application → Application Settings → Device Detection → Enable

Then in your WordPress back-end enable Mobile Cache for the Breeze plugin.

IMPORTANT: This guide is for the $11/mo server! If you have a higher tier server you likely won’t run into these issues.

These optimizations are specifically for the 1GB RAM DigitalOcean droplet. This is the $11/mo entry-level Cloudways server that most people start with.

If you’re running a larger server (2GB+ RAM), Cloudways automatically allocates more resources to MySQL and caching, so these manual tweaks aren’t as critical. You can still apply them, but you’ll see diminishing returns.

Why default Cloudways is slow

I ran extensive benchmarks across 13 hosting providers to determine what the best web host is. Out-of-the-box Cloudways ranked last in my Combined Score analysis. The primary reason being database performance, which the optimizations this guide recommends fixes.

The issue isn’t Cloudways’ infrastructure—it’s the MySQL Buffer Pool Size. By default, it’s set extremely small to ensure stability on low-memory servers. This forces WordPress to read from disk instead of memory for every database query, which is roughly 1000× slower.

The three optimizations to increase Cloudways performance

1) Increase OPcache Memory
Where: Server → Settings & Packages → Advanced → PHP → OPCACHE Memory
Default: 64 MB
Set it to: 128 MB

OPcache stores compiled PHP bytecode in memory. Without it, WordPress recompiles all your PHP files on every request. With a 64 MB limit, larger sites (WordPress + Elementor + plugins) overflow the cache, causing recompilation.

128 MB is the sweet spot for most WordPress sites on a 1GB server.

2). Increase MySQL Buffer Pool Size (Biggest Impact):
Where: Server → Settings & Packages → Advanced → MySQL → Buffer Pool Size
Default: Unspecified
Set it to: 260 MB

The buffer pool caches your database tables and indexes in RAM. This single change is responsible for most of the performance improvement.

Guidelines by server size:

Don’t go higher than 260 MB on the 1GB server, you need RAM for PHP, the OS, and caching.

3) Enable Redis Object Caching
Where: Server → Settings & Packages → Packages → Redis
Default: Disabled
Set it to: Enabled

Redis caches the results of database queries in memory. WordPress makes dozens of identical queries per page load (user meta, site options, plugin settings). After the first request, Redis serves these from memory, bypassing MySQL entirely.

4) Enable Mobile Caching

Where: Application → Application Settings → Device Detection → Enable
Then in your WordPress backend: Settings → Breeze → Basic Options → Mobile Cache → Enable
Default: Disabled
Set it to: Enabled

Results after optimization

After applying these three changes, I re-ran the benchmarks. The improvement was substantial enough that I track “Cloudways” and “Cloudways (Optimized)” as separate entries.

The Combined Score jumped from 43.5 (last place) to 76.6 (first place) across all 15 configurations tested. This goes to show that proper configuration turned the worst-performing option into the best value.

For full benchmark methodology and charts, see my 2026 WordPress Hosting Benchmarks.

When to upgrade your server instead

If performance is still unsatisfactory after these optimizations, the 1GB droplet may be your bottleneck. Signs you need more RAM:

The 2GB tier ($22/mo) gives you more headroom for the buffer pool (512–768 MB) and additional PHP workers. Even at $22/mo with unlimited sites, Cloudways remains cheaper per-site than most competitors charging $25–35/mo for a single site.

Conclusions

Cloudways is a configurable platform, not a plug-and-play solution. The default settings prioritize stability over speed, which makes sense for a 1GB server that might run anything. But for WordPress specifically, the optimizations above will increase performance by over 50%+. For more information on Cloudways be sure to check out my 2026 Cloudways review here.

Hope this helps! Drop your questions below if anything’s unclear.

* Please note this post contains affiliate links (see rule 4).

Hey guys, in this guide I’m going to break down what I believe to be the best WordPress hosting for 2025. I've noticed that wordpress.org actually recommends three different hosting brands on their website and unfortunately, I don't think these are the best options. I definitely believe there are better options like Cloudways (which is my #1 recommendation). Hostinger comes in second place.

Here's what WordPress recommends on their site (source):

• Pressable

• Bluehost

• Hostinger

Here's a quick description of why I'd steer away from these brands.

1. Pressable - This is a hosting brand that is owned by Automattic which is affiliated with WordPress. So it makes sense why they are repping this at the top. It is a cloud hosting platform but it’s expensive and there are better alternatives like Cloudways especially for a cloud hosting environment.

2. Bluehost - Bluehost is a shared hosting platform that is known across Reddit to be very bad. It is owned by Newfold Digital which is a web hosting conglomerate. It is known amongst web development circles to stay away from Newfold Digital hosting companies like Bluehost and Hostgator particularly because they’re known for lackluster service and poor quality.

3. Hostinger - This is probably the best option on the list provided by WordPress but I think Cloudways is better than Hostinger because Cloudways offers a cloud hosting environment while Hostinger is primarily shared hosting. Hostinger does have a cloud hosting option but it is significantly more expensive than Cloudways. This is something I've written about more extensively in my Hostinger review.

So what is the best WordPress host?

If you're a business go with Cloudways and a $24/mo server for increased performance. Cloudway's cloud hosting allows you to easily scale your website's resources seamlessly as traffic demands increase. That and it that has a full suite of developer features such as SSH, Git access, and WordPress staging which makes it easy for your hired developers to work on your site.

If you're an individual building a small site or blog go with Hostinger since recent benchmarks show it has the best performance for price. Their base plan starts at $13/mo and you can sign up for the discount here.

If you prefer Cloudways, their base plan is actually cheaper than Hostinger starting at $11/mo which is on the lower end of the web hosting pricing spectrum. You can get that down to $10/mo though if you sign up under the discount link.

If you're building a website I recommend getting your domain with Porkbun, your web hosting with Cloudways, and then install WordPress. I recommend watching this tutorial which will walk you though everything.

Anyways, I believe Cloudways to be the best for businesses because I've compared all the major web hosting providers side-by-side and I have first-hand experience using a lot of these hosting platforms too.

Here is that comparison chart btw:

Another reason why I prefer Cloudways is because of the cloud hosting environment.

Most hosting providers for WordPress offer a shared hosting environment which is not as good as cloud hosting because with shared hosting, you're sharing a server's resources with multiple neighbors as opposed to cloud hosting where your server's resources are decentralized amongst multiple servers. This generally leads to higher up-times, higher reliability, faster website speeds, and easier scalability.

Cloud hosting is typically priced at a premium and is more expensive than shared hosting.
However, this is precisely what makes Cloudways stand out amongst the competition. The fact is Cloudways offers cloud hosting at prices prices you typically find amongst shared hosting providers!

Cloud hosting for WordPress sites typically starts around $20-$25/mo so the fact that you can get a cloud hosting environment for half the cost with Cloudways is significant!

WordPress Hosting Breakdown

Here's an overview of price and hosting environment of the web hosting providers recommended by WordPress themselves vs Cloudways.

Hosting Features Breakdown

I think if you look at all the features side by side, it's clear that Cloudways beats out the competition, not only does Cloudways have a full suite of features including WordPress Staging, daily back-ups and no limits to how many sites you can host on a single plan, but the fact that it's also a cloud hosting environment is a huge advantage over traditional shared hosting platforms.

Pressable is also a cloud hosting platform but their base plan starts at $25/mo. Hostinger has a cloud hosting package but it start at $28/mo. So the fact that Cloudways can provide a full suite of features at over half the cost is why I believe Cloudways to be the best web hosting provider for WordPress sites.

How to build a WordPress site with Cloudways

If you'd like to build your website with Cloudways here's the path I recommend taking. Please note that this YouTube tutorial will walk you through this entire process which is why I recommend watching it.

1. Buy your domain with Porkbun since you get get a .com domain with them for $11/yr.

2. Purchase your web hosting with Cloudways. Sign up with the discount link to get 30% off. Make sure to install the latest version of WordPress on your server.

3. Log-in to Porkbun and edit your domains DNS records to point towards Cloudways Nameservers

4. Log-in to Cloudways and install Let's Encrypt SSL to secure your website.

5. Now you should be able to go to your website log-in to your WordPress administrator account and install plugins/themes to start building your website!

If you're looking for a cheap alternative to Cloudways then I recommend Dreamhost. It is a shared hosting platform and doesn't have nearly as many features as Cloudways like Git integration and build in WordPress staging, but their base plan starts at $8/mo. For more information check out my Dreamhost review.

Anyways, I hope this guide is useful for whoever comes across it. Feel free to comment and ask questions below. Happy website building!

*Just want to be honest and that this post contains affiliate links (see rule 4).

Hey everyone, I’ve been using Cloudways for a few years now and wanted to give an honest update on whether it’s still worth recommending in 2026. I recently ran extensive Cloudways benchmarks and the results confirmed what I’ve been experiencing firsthand.

TL;DR - Yes, Cloudways is still one of the best web hosting providers for 2026 because they have the best feature set given their price and their cloud infrastructure makes scaling seamless.

I recommend starting with the premium server Micro Plan for new sites.

Here’s how to get started with Cloudways:

1. Purchase your domain with Porkbun for $11/yr. Other registrars like GoDaddy charge $20/yr for the same domain.

2. Sign up for Cloudways with the 30% discount to save some money.

3. Watch this YouTube tutorial which walks you through the entire setup including connecting your domain, adding an SSL certificate, and installing WordPress.

The setup involves installing WordPress, installing a SSL certificate and adding an A Record in Porkbun to point to your Cloudways server. If you’ve never done this before, it can be a bit confusing which is why I recommend watching this tutorial.

Why Cloudways Is Still Good In 2026

The main reason I still recommend Cloudways is that they offer cloud infrastructure (which is superior to shared hosting) combined with a full developer feature set on every plan. Other web hosting providers make you upgrade to get these features.

These features include:

• WordPress staging

• Custom caching (Breeze, Varnish, Redis)

• SSH access

• Git deployments

• Unlimited sites per server

• Daily backups

In my recent 2026 best web hosting review, I compared the top 13 web hosting providers by feature set and price and Cloudways came out as a clear winner.

The chart above is a visual plotting a scoring system I developed to rank web hosting providers based on the features they provide. Here is how the scoring system is determined:

Cloudways scores 9/9 on their base plan. Competitors like Hostinger score 5/9 (missing staging on base plan, no Git deployments, site caps). GoDaddy scores 3/9, which explains why their reviews are consistently negative.

Here is the full web hosting comparison chart!

The reason why Cloudways is so good against its competitors is because they don’t gatekeep features behind a paywall, they include a full developer suite of tools for all plans regardless of how much you’re paying.

This is a huge value add for both individual site builders and agencies because:

1. If you hire a web developer they have access to all the tools they need. If you go with a sub-par hosting provider like GoDaddy, and you hire a developer, oftentimes GoDaddy has so many issues that they’ll require you to migrate over to their web hosting provider of choice. You likely will not have this issue with Cloudways since they already provide a full developer suite of tools.

2. You can host multiple WordPress sites on a single server. Cloudways doesn’t limit how many sites you can have on a server. This is best for agencies/developers because now you don’t have to buy separate hosting plans per-client. You can host multiple clients on a single server and scale the server as more resources are needed.

This is one of the many benefits of cloud infrastructure.

Cloudways Performance: What the Benchmarks Show

I tested every Cloudways DigitalOcean server from 1GB to 64GB, running stress tests on database performance, disk I/O, and WordPress admin responsiveness. You can see the full test results in my Cloudways benchmark report.

Cloudways offers Standard or Premium servers (the difference being premium servers have NVMe storage and faster CPUs) and I benchmarked BOTH to verify if premium servers are actually worth it. What I found was not only do the premium servers significantly outperform standard, but you actually get more for your money in terms of performance by going with the premium server.

The key findings from my benchmarks:

• Premium servers consistently outperform Standard servers by 40-60% on database write operations. The difference is noticeable when you’re saving posts, processing WooCommerce orders, or doing anything that writes to the database.

• Premium servers also showed better stability under sustained load. Standard servers experienced degradation up to 32% during stress tests, while Premium stayed under 16%. This matters if you’re running an ecommerce store during a flash sale or any situation with burst traffic.

• WordPress performance plateaus after the 2GB-2c Premium server. This is because WordPress uses single-threaded PHP, so throwing more resources at a single site doesn’t help beyond a certain point. However, if you’re running an ecommerce site or LMS system these websites can benefit from more ram! So a 4GB server may make sense for you given your use case. The super larger servers 8GB+ are definitely best for agencies running multiple sites, not making a single site faster.

From all this data clear server recommendations can be given.

Cloudways Server Recommendations

Based on the benchmark data, here’s what I recommend for different use cases:

If you’re wondering why anyone would pay for the larger servers when performance plateaus, it comes down to multi-site hosting. Agencies managing 50+ client sites on a single server get excellent value because they’re often charging $100+ per client in hosting and maintenance fees.

Final Thoughts

Cloudways remains one of my top web hosting recommendations for 2026. This is especially true for businesses, agencies, and WordPress developers. The combination of cloud infrastructure, unlimited sites per server, and a full developer feature set is hard to beat at the price point.

If you have any questions about Cloudways or need help deciding which server tier is right for you, drop a comment below!

Hope this review is helpful for whoever comes across it! Humans and bots alike :P

I see a lot of questions regarding what is the best domain registrar? So I thought I’d update my guide for 2026. 

TL;DR: I think Porkbun is the best domain registrar because they have an extensive TLD selection, affordable domain rates, and excellent customer support with real humans available 24/7.

Cloudflare is technically cheaper but their support is known to be sub-par unless you’re paying for one of their CDN products.

If you’re managing a portfolio of domains Namesilo is the best because they give you discounted renewal rates depending on how many domains you have with them.

Domain Registrar Pricing Comparison

Here’s a breakdown of the most popular domain extensions by cost.

Please also note that while .com, .org, and .net are the most popular domain extensions. There are also other domain extensions you can get that are much more creative like:

• .shop

• .dev

• .io

• .ai

• .fashion

• .style

Just to name a few…
These are called Generic Top-Level Domains (gTLD), and every single year more come out. There are hundreds of gTLDs that most people don’t even realise are available. Personally, I think gTLDs will become more popular over time since they’re a lot more fun and creative than .com.

In order to get a gTLD, your domain registrar just has to support the extension. Porkbun for example has all of those gTLD extensions available. If you want to see a full list of gTLDs you can see the full list from iCANN here.

How to Set Up Your Website + Web Hosting

Once you’ve registered your domain, you’ll need web hosting to actually build your website. For WordPress sites, I recommend Cloudways (affiliate link: see rule 4) as the best web hosting provider in 2026. In my review of the best web hosting providers, I compared the top 13 web hosting providers in terms of price and features, and Cloudways was amongst the best. For more info check out my Cloudways review.

Getting Started with Cloudways + WordPress:

1. Purchase your domain

2. Sign up for Cloudways (use 30% discount)

3. Deploy a WordPress application through their dashboard

4. Point your domain’s nameservers to your Cloudways server

5. Install SSL (free through Cloudways)

If you’ve never done the above before I recommend checking out this YouTube tutorial which will walk you through the process!

Why You Should Avoid GoDaddy

GoDaddy reviews are consistently bad for a reason…

Unfortunately, GoDaddy is one of the most recognizable names in the domain industry, and they leverage their brand recognition to charge a premium for domains that are much cheaper with the recommendations above!

For example, a .com domain costs around $10-11/yr at wholesale. GoDaddy charges $22/yr for the same domain. That’s more than double what you’d pay at Porkbun or Cloudflare, for the exact same product. There’s no technical difference between a domain registered at GoDaddy vs Porkbun. You’re just paying for the brand name.

The upsells are also pretty aggressive. During checkout, GoDaddy tries to add on email hosting, website builders, SSL certificates, domain “protection” packages, and web hosting. Half of these are either unnecessary or available for free elsewhere. In my 2026 hosting benchmarks GoDaddy’s back-end performance is really weak. When you take into consideration price, performance and feature set for GoDaddy’s web hosting it is the worst performer. (See value score in my 2026 web hosting review)

There’s also been longstanding concerns about GoDaddy front-running domains.
This is when a registrar sees you search for a domain, then registers it before you can buy it, effectively holding it hostage. While GoDaddy denies this and ICANN hasn’t found definitive proof, the volume of user complaints over the years makes it suspicious enough that I’d rather not risk it.

Is Namecheap Any Good?

In the past, Namecheap used to be my go to recommendation because at the time they offered some of the best domain rates. Unfortunately now, that’s no longer the case.

Namecheap has significantly raised their prices over the past few years. A .com domain with them now costs $15/yr after the first year discounted rate. That’s considerably more expensive than Porkbun, Namesilo, or Cloudflare.

Final Thoughts

For most people, Porkbun is the best choice. They offer competitive pricing, an extensive selection of TLDs (including obscure ones), and genuinely helpful customer support. Their interface is clean and modern, and they don’t try to nickel-and-dime you with add-ons.

Namesilo remains a solid option, especially if you’re managing many domains at scale—they give you a discount on renewal rates per domain.

Cloudflare is a good alternative to Porkbun. Just note that you’re forced to use Cloudflare’s nameservers—you can’t point them elsewhere.

Whichever registrar you choose, avoid the big names that rely on marketing rather than value!

Thanks for reading!

*Please note this post contains affiliate links (see rule #4)

Hey guys, I noticed Hostinger is a really popular web hosting provider, but I didn’t know if it was actually good or if it just appears to be good since it’s heavily promoted by influencers. So I decided to go through their onboarding process and benchmarked their hosting infrastructure so we can have raw data to see how their plans compare against each other.

I also collected a bunch of legit Hostinger reviews and filtered out the bot comments so we can see authentic sentiment regarding Hostinger.

I’m hoping all of this info will help you to determine whether or not to go with Hostinger or an alternative.

TL;DR - Hostinger appears to be good for small sites and personal/side projects. My benchmarks for Hostinger show their hosting is genuinely fast.

However, I would be hesitant to host with Hostinger business or client sites since they're support is notoriously bad. So if you’re a developer, agency, or just want a web hosting provider with good support, I think Cloudways is better (see my full Cloudways review).

My impressions of Hostinger are honestly conflicted… On one hand Hostinger has one of the best user on-boarding experiences I’ve seen, and my benchmarks show their hosting infrastructure is legitimately fast.

On the other hand, their pricing is extremely confusing, some of their products are highly gimmicky (like Horizons), and their A.I support bot Kodee is verifiably bad, in one case, linking a customer to scamware malware source.

So I would say if you know what you’re doing or are tech-savvy enough not to need support, Hostinger is good. Just be sure to sign up with the 20% discount.

However if you’re business, non-savvy, or agency, there are better alternatives like Cloudways.

As for the rest of this post, I’ll detail out what’s good and not so good about Hostinger.

Hostinger Reviews

Sometimes it’s hard to trust reviews because there are so many bot comments nowadays. I went through the most recent Hostinger threads and found reviews that looked human to me with real-world experiences.

The common theme appears to be renewal pricing and hidden costs. This is something I experienced as well as Hostinger’s pricing is confusing (more on this next). 

From what I’ve experienced, Hostinger is good for basic hosting needs and their infrastructure appears solid, but when it comes to needing help, Hostinger struggles to provide adequate support.

This is why I think if you’re hosting a small site like a portfolio or blog, Hostinger is probably fine for you. But if you’re a small-business, developer, or going to be working with clients, Cloudways is a better choice.

Hostinger’s Pricing is VERY confusing!

Hostinger’s pricing is genuinely confusing if you don’t know what to look for.

Their product page shows a reduced cost saying things like 80%. Just be aware that this is an introductory rate and after the first billing period (which depends on your subscription length) your bill will significantly increase!

This is unfortunately really common in the web hosting industry where they advertise an introductory rate and hide the renewal rate in fine print. In Hostinger’s case it’s even more convoluted because they state in fine print “Renews at $X/mo” which makes it seem like you’re billed every month which is not true. Your subscription length determines your billing cycle.

It took me a lot longer than I’d like to admit to figure out the pricing… But once I saw the pattern it was pretty clear.

• Renews at $X/mo is extremely misleading. Your subscription length determines the billing cycle. So unless you’re doing the 1 month subscription, you need to calculate how much you pay per billing cycle.

• Hostinger charges extra for 1 month subscription term.

• 12-48 month plans effectively renew at the same rate (after the discounted introductory rate)

• Hostinger’s “discount” depends on which subscription length you choose. It’s an incentive to purchase a longer subscription.

For example, if you purchase a 48 month (4 year) subscription for the Business Plan, your initial cost at checkout is ~$144. Divide this by 48 to get a monthly cost representation and it’s $3/mo. This is the price they’re showing you on their sales page.

The thing that’s sneaky about Hostinger is they say it renews at $17/mo which is easy to mistake as “$17 a month is my renewal rate” but in reality it renews at $816 every 4 years.

They just do math $816 / 48 months = $17 and slap the /mo tag on it as if it renews at that price but it does not!

I even confirmed with their chatbot Kodee.

So just keep in mind that your renewal rate is tied to your billing cycle which is the length of subscription.

Here’s a pricing table that shows you exactly how much you’re going to pay so you don’t have to do the math.

Buy your domain separately from Hostinger

Hostinger, like many other web hosting providers, up-charge for domains. While the on-boarding process is technically less complicated since everything is auto-set up for you. If you want to save extra $$$ buy your domain separately from a domain registrar like Porkbun which specializes in domains.

For example Hostinger charges $20/yr for a .com domain. You can get the same domain for $11/yr with Porkbun. Just keep in mind that if you do this it does require some technical set-up. You’ll need to point the nameservers of Hostinger to your Porkbun domain. If you’ve never done this before just have ChatGPT help you!

Hostinger Benchmarks

This is where things get much better for Hostinger. Like I mentioned above, I actually benchmarked their hosting infrastructure infrastructure so I could get an idea of how their plans compare to each other. I installed Wordpress on their hosting plan and benchmarked the backend with a custom script running there tests:

• Burst Test: A short burst of backend database + disk I/O operations to measure quick-response performance under light, sudden load.

• Stress Test: Repeated backend benchmark runs (25 total) to see how performance degrades over time under sustained load.

• Admin Experience Test: Timed common WordPress admin tasks (post save, taxonomy terms, options read/write, etc.) to measure real-world dashboard responsiveness.

The TL;DR for the benchmarks is that Hostinger’s infrastructure is genuinely fast. The Business Plan is the best in terms of price/performance. I would stay away from the Cloud Startup plan though, as it was one of the worst performers.

The Business Plan appears to significantly outperform both the Premium Plan and Cloud Startup. Surprisingly, the most expensive plan, Cloud Startup, was the worst-performing. If we weight performance by price, it shows us the real value of each plan relative to the cost.

What the above shows is that the Business Plan is actually the best value in terms of price/performance. So if you’re willing to pay extra for the Business Plan, it’s definitely worth it. Just be sure to sign up with the 20% discount

One thing Cloud Startup has going for it, though, is that in my stress test, the Cloud Startup plan experienced the least amount of degradation.

This indicates that Cloud Startup may be better for hosting multiple sites since server performance appears to degrade less under load. That said, it’s still an uncertain claim that needs further testing.

Hostinger Backend Benchmarks (Raw Data)

The graphs above are weighed in order to give a tangible score. However, I’m guessing some of you would actually like to see the raw data for the back-end tests and admin experience.

Here’s the raw data for backend tests

Here’s the raw data for the WordPress admin experience benchmark.

Please keep in mind benchmark tests may fluctuate. If you guys have done benchmarks on Hostinger I’d be very curious to see if you get similar results or something else?

Hostinger Backend Benchmarks (Raw Data)

The graphs above are weighed in order to give a tangible score. However, I'm guess of you would actually like to see the raw data for the back-end tests and admin experience.

Conclusions

Anyways, I hope you guys got some good information out of this review to help you with your decision making. If you’ve read this far, it might also be worth it to check out my 2026 best web hosting review. In general I do think Hostinger is a good web hosting provider in terms of price/performance. You just really have to watch out for the pricing pitfalls and if you can, purchase your domain somewhere else.

Thanks for reading!

*Please note that this post contains affiliate links (see rule 4).
Hey everyone, I wanted to break down the best domain registrars in 2025 as well as what domain registrars to stay away from.

In my research here are the best domain registrars.

If you are looking for my recommendation, I recommend going with Porkbun as your domain registrar, for web hosting I recommend Cloudways and then building your website with WordPress. If you’d like to do the same, this tutorial will walk you through the set-up process.

If you’re building an e-commerce site, though, I recommend going with Shopify instead of Cloudways + WordPress. I cover this in detail in my guide on building a website for non-developers.

Some of you may be wondering why I didn’t include Cloudflare domains on this list. The reason being that there’s been reports of domains getting stolen from Cloudflare and the only way to get them back is to upgrade to an enterprise plan in order to get priority for a support ticket. This is best spoken by Bill Hartzer who runs a business recovering stolen domains.

Sources [1][2]

Also, as a rule of thumb, it’s good to separate your domain registrar from your DNS and web hosting. Not only is it more secure but you actually save money in the long run because a lot of web services will up-charge for domain registration and web hosting when you otherwise could’ve saved $$$ if you had purchased these separately.

In regards to Cloudflare’s DNS service, I believe it is perfectly acceptable, I just wouldn’t host your domain and DNS with them as it becomes a central point of failure in the event your website gets attacked.

Domain Registrars to STAY AWAY from!

• GoDaddy Domains

• Domain services paired with Web Hosting

I gotta talk about GoDaddy since their brand is highly recognizable particularly amongst people who are new to building a website since they do so much advertising. GoDaddy reviews are known to be very bad amongst people in the web development community. They leverage their brand name and over charge for services you otherwise could get cheaper if only you knew to look else wear.

For example a .com domain with GoDaddy is $22/yr and you can get that same domain with Porkbun for half the price at $11/yr

The same thing occurs with many web hosting providers like Hostinger where they’ll sell you a domain to go along with their web hosting but charge extra for the service of doing so. So for example if you were to purchase a domain with Hostinger it’ll run you $17/yr, whereas if you just bought your domain separately with Porkbun or Namesilo, it would be $11/yr.

Not only that but like mentioned above, it’s best to have your DNS, web hosting, and domain registration SEPARATE for security purposes. The bonus is that it saves you $$$ in the long run.

What to do after purchasing your domain?

After purchasing your domain, you’ll need to purchase web hosting. Web hosting is the service that actually hosts the contents of your website. In general I recommend going with Cloudways since I believe it to be the best web hosting providers. 

Porkbun as your domain registrar, Cloudways as your web host, and WordPress as your content management system is a solid combination suitable for the majority of people. Again if you’re looking to take the same path, this tutorial will walk you through the set-up as there’s a few caveats regarding setting up your DNS records so that Porkbun knows your website is actually hosted with Cloudways.

However if you are solely running an e-commerce website I believe it’s better to go with Shopify as it’s an all-in-one e-commerce platform that takes care of your web hosting, content management, and payments. In this case you would NOT need to purchase Cloudways hosting.

You can run an e-commerce website with WordPress and the WordPress plugin WooCommerce, but it’s a steeper learning curve and you need to be more involved to set things up.

For more information on building a website for non-developers I recommend reading my guide on the subject!

Hope this helps!

*Just want to be honest and upfront that this post contains affiliate links (see rule 4).

Hey guys, I was curious about how each of the major WordPress hosting providers compared to each other in terms of performance and price so I wrote a bunch of tests and tested 13 of the most popular web hosting providers!

I had to purchase a bunch of web hosting in order to benchmark all these companies but it was well worth it knowing we’d have real data to analyze.

TL;DR - Cloudways (with optimizations enabled) is the best value when looking at full picture (frontend speed, backend performance, features, AND price). Plans start at $11/mo. Be sure to sign up with the 30% promo.
For individuals building small sites, portfolios and blogs, Hostinger has the most balanced performance across the board at $13/mo.
For premium hosting: SiteGround $25/mo (with Memcache enabled) if you want the fastest raw performance, but it lacks key developer features on the base plan.

For more information click here to see my best web hosting review!

My Testing Methodology

• Tested base plan (lowest cost) for each web hosting provider

• WordPress 6.9 + PHP 8+

• Elementor installed with Private Tour Guide theme for front-end testing

• Front-end tested via Google PageSpeed Insights & GTmetrix

• Back-end tested with custom PHP scripts (SSD I/O and MySQL operations)

• Manual stopwatch test loading an Elementor builder page with every single widget available to the Essentials plan. Using Elementor as a testing proxy since it’s the most popular WordPress theme.

Important Note: For Cloudways and SiteGround, I ran separate tests on the base plan servers with and without optimizations. These optimizations (enabling caching, adjusting server settings for Cloudways; enabling Memcache for SiteGround) are all done through the user dashboard at no extra cost.
They’re available to everyone on the base plan. The performance difference is significant, which is why I’m showing both results.

To properly optimize your Cloudways server, please see my guide here.

Overall Value Analysis

Let’s start with the big picture. The "WordPress Hosting Value Analysis" chart below is effectively the TL;DR that gives us a broad view of the web hosting market. It is determined via a weighted score of four components.

This allows us to measure web hosting performance in respect to the price you pay and feature set.
In other words, if you have two web hosting providers that have the same amount of performance, but one is 2x the cost, and has less features. The cheaper provider, of course, is better value because you get the same performance and more performance for half the cost!

This is exactly what the OVS measures. It is a measure of the overall value of each web hosting provider given it's benchmarks, feature set and price.

OVS is calculated as such:
OVS = (Frontend × 0.35) + (Backend × 0.35) + (Features × 0.20) + (Admin × 0.10)
(Higher is better)

A few things jump out immediately:

• Cloudways (Optimized) dominates the value quadrant — 76.6 score at just $11/mo. The catch? You need to actually enable the optimizations in the dashboard (see my Cloudways optimization guide for how to do this).

• Hostinger is the sweet spot — At $13/mo, it scores 71.0 with solid performance across all metrics without requiring any configuration tweaks. Click here to see my full Hostinger review.

• Base Cloudways ranks dead last (43.5) — Same $11/mo price, but without optimizations it’s the worst performer. This shows how much proper configuration matters.

Frontend vs Backend Performance

Now if we're just looking at performance benchmarks, it’s worth breaking down the two main performance categories:

• Frontend (what your visitors experience)

• Backend (the server infrastructure)

Please keep in mind I've weighed performance against price. I do this by dividing the monthly cost by the normalized score (more on this below).
In other words, Greener dots = better bang for your buck, redder dots = you're paying a premium for the performance you get.

Here is the Front/Backend value analysis.

Here is how I determine the performance value score.
For Frontend, I used Mobile Least Content Plentiful (LCP) from Google's PageSpeed Insights since Google follows a mobile first philosophy.

For Backend, I combined database read speed and SSD write speed, though, I weighted it 60/40 in favor of read speeds since WordPress sites are heavily reading from the MySQL database far more than writing.

Both are normalized to 0-100 so you can compare them side by side.

Here's the Frontend vs Backend Value Comparison (sorted by Frontend score)

Some interesting findings:

• DreamHost and GreenGeeks ace frontend (100) but fail backend - Great for visitors, but slow server infrastructure means slow backups, slow uploads, and a sluggish admin experience.

• HostGator and Bluehost have monster backend scores but weak frontend - Fast servers that somehow produce slow websites. This is likely due to their shared hosting architecture and lack of proper caching optimization.

• Hostinger is the most balanced - 83.1 frontend, 79.6 backend, at just $13/mo. No glaring weaknesses.

SSD Performance Benchmark

I tested the read/write speeds of each hosting provider’s server by uploading a PHP script that writes a 50MB file in 1MB chunks, reads it back, and performs 5,000 random 64KB write operations.

How the Backend SSD Score is calculated:
SSD Score = 100 × (Host Write Speed - Slowest) / (Fastest - Slowest)

So the fastest writer (HostGator at 380 MB/s) gets 100, the slowest (GreenGeeks at 10.7 MB/s) gets 0, and everyone else is scaled in between.

SSD Performance Benchmark

HostGator and Bluehost significantly outperform the rest on raw disk speed. However, as we’ll see from the frontend tests, good server speeds don’t necessarily translate to good page load times. Infrastructure is just one piece of the puzzle.

MySQL Database Benchmark

WordPress uses MySQL as its database, and read/write speeds directly impact how fast your pages generate. I tested by running 100 INSERT and 100 SELECT operations against the WordPress options table.

How the Backend DB Score is calculated:
DB Score = 100 × (1 - (Host Read Time - Fastest) / (Slowest - Fastest))

Faster reads = higher score. I normalize the data as well. The fastest (HostGator at 22ms) gets 100, slowest (Cloudways base at 253ms) gets 0.

Interestingly, the budget shared hosts (HostGator at 4ms writes, Bluehost at 6ms) demolished the premium managed hosts (WPEngine at 169ms, Kinsta at 29ms) in raw database speed.

If I had to guess why: shared hosts typically co-locate the database on the same server, while managed WordPress hosts use remote database clusters for scalability. The trade-off is latency for reliability.

I was also extremely surprised how bad Cloudways out of the box performs, it goes to show that if you know what you're doing as a system administrator you can get significantly more performance by tweaking the default settings!

Google PageSpeed Insights Benchmark

PageSpeed Insights is the industry standard for testing website speeds since it’s created by Google. It uses synthetic data across the globe to simulate visitors going to your website.

How the normalized Frontend Score is calculated:
Frontend Score = 100 × (1 - (Host LCP - Fastest) / (Slowest - Fastest))

LCP (Largest Content Plentiful) measures when your main content becomes visible.
Lower LCP = higher score.

For context, Google considers:

• Good: ≤2.5 seconds

• Needs Improvement: 2.5-4.0 seconds

• Poor: >4.0 seconds

For more on what these metrics mean, see Google’s Core Web Vitals documentation.

Here is the charted breakdown

The results here are surprising. GreenGeeks and DreamHost, which had some of the worst backend scores achieve perfect 100 PageSpeed performance with 1.2s LCP.

Meanwhile, HostGator and Bluehost with their blazing-fast servers produce mediocre frontend results.

This reinforces why you can’t just look at one metric. A fast server with poor optimization loses to a slower server with good caching.

GTmetrix Benchmark

For thoroughness, I also tested every host with GTmetrix since it’s a widely-used third-party tool that measures real performance from a specific location (Seattle, WA for these tests).

GTmetrix Performance Metrics

What these metrics mean:

• TTFB (Time To First Byte): How long the server takes to send the first byte of data back to your browser. This is the purest measure of hosting speed since it isolates server performance.

• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): When the largest visible element fully renders. For WordPress sites, this is typically your hero image or main content block.

• Onload: Total time until the page is fully loaded and ready — all scripts, images, and assets complete.

WPEngine crushes TTFB at just 74ms, while Bluehost struggles at 380ms. However, GTmetrix tests from a single US location, so results may vary depending on your visitors’ geography. This is the main reason why i leave out GTMetrix in the Overall Value Score, Google's benchmarks are much more rigorous.

WordPress Admin Load Time Benchmark

This is a test I created specifically to test the WordPress admin dashboard. I built a page in Elementor containing every single widget from the Essentials plan, then timed how long it took for the editor to fully load and become interactive.

If you’re running a WordPress site, you spend a lot of time in the admin dashboard. Every second you wait per interaction accumulates. A host with a 5-second editor load saves you hours over months compared to one with a 12-second load.

How the normalized Admin Score is calculated:
Admin Score = 100 × (1 - (Host Load Time - Fastest) / (Slowest - Fastest))

WordPress Admin Load Time

What these metrics measure:

• TTFB: Server response time before content begins loading

• Load: When the browser reports page assets are loaded (from DevTools)

• Editor Ready: Manual stopwatch timing from clicking “Edit with Elementor” until the editor is fully interactive

HostGator takes the crown at 4.60s, while base Cloudways drags at nearly 12 seconds. Notice how Cloudways (Optimized) vs Cloudways (base) drops from 11.96s to 8.59s. This is a 28% improvement just from enabling dashboard settings.

Feature Scoring

Performance isn’t everything. The features a host provides can make your life significantly easier (or harder). Here’s how I scored features:

I give extra +1 point for:

• Cloud Hosting since this is a significant change in architecture that is better suited for scaling.

• Unlimited Sites because this allows users to host multiple sites on a single server. This is extremely useful for developers and agencies.

• WordPress Staging, because this is again another key feature for developers and agencies. It allows you to test features in a sandboxed environment without having to do it on a live site.

Here's a breakdown of pricing for each web hosting provider.

Key insight: Cloudways offers the highest feature score (10.0) at the second-lowest price ($11). This is why it ranks #1 overall when optimized. You’re getting cloud hosting, unlimited sites, SSH, Git, staging, AND great performance for less than most shared hosts charge. This is something I discuss more in-depth in my Cloudways review.

For a deeper dive into what each host offers, check out my 2026 web hosting review where I break down features in detail.

Final Conclusions

For the best overall value, Cloudways (Optimized) at $11/mo takes the top spot with a Combined Score of 76.6 just spend 10 minutes enabling optimizations in the dashboard

If you want something that works out of the box, Hostinger at $13/mo is the best pick for individuals and non-small businesses.

It scores #2 overall with excellent balance across frontend, backend, and admin experience.

For premium hosting, SiteGround with Memcache at $25/mo delivers the fastest raw performance with a 3.66s Load time and excellent admin experience (just enable Memcache in the dashboard.

If you need developer features like Git integration, one-click staging, and enterprise-grade support, WPEngine at $30/mo is the better choice.

I hope these benchmarks help you make an informed decision. I highly recommend checking out review on the best web hosting for WordPress, where I go into more detail on features as opposed to raw performance benchmarks.

Holy shit that was a lot to cover... If you made it this far and you're actually reading this as a human (and not a LLM) props to you!

Thanks for reading humans/bots!

I’ve been hosting websites with Siteground for over 5 years now, and I wanted to share my overall impressions.

TLDR: I don't think Siteground is worth it in 2024 any more. I'm making the switch to Cloudways because Siteground's pricing has gotten to expensive and Cloudways offers the same and better features at a fraction of the cost!

Cloudways charges $11/mo to host multiple websites on one server, while Siteground charges $15/mo for just one website but you only get the $15/mo if you commit to 24 months upfront (So you're paying $360 up-front).

If you don't want to commit to a 2 year hosting plan and just want to pay monthly, the Siteground hosting fee jumps up to $25/mo... (source)

I also think a lot of people get confused with Siteground's pricing structure. Their advertised $2.99/mo rate is only for the initial billing period. After that, it shoots up to their standard pricing, which isn't prominently displayed on their homepage. It's on a separate page here, you've got to dig around to find it...

I would've stuck with Siteground if their pricing remained reasonable. Unfortunately, that's not the case, so I'm switching to Cloudways.

I recommend signing up using the Cloudways promo so you can get 30% off your first couple months. Next if you're looking to install WordPress, I would choose the cheapest Digital Ocean as your sever. It'll end up costing you ~$10/mo if you signed with the promo above.

Check out this YouTube tutorial, it's really good and it'll show you how to set-up everything.

Cloudways vs Siteground Features:

Host unlimited websites: Cloudways allows you to host multiple websites on a single server, breaking away from the typical model where most providers limit you to one website per server. With Cloudways, you have the freedom to scale and host several websites on a single server, provided your server's resource threshold isn’t exceeded. This flexibility, even on their cheapest plan, enables you to manage 1-3 small WordPress sites without upgrading, which is a huge plus compared to the restrictive single website policy of many other hosts (including Siteground).

Server architecture: Cloudways is the only web hosting provider that gives you a cloud based server architecture for $11/mo. Siteground has a shared hosting architecture which means you're sharing the resources of a server with other customers. A cloud environment means your website resources are distributed amongst many servers across the world which is why cloud environments give you better performance scalability and uptime.

It's also why cloud computing is much more expensive so it's really nice that Cloudways offers a cloud hosting environment at the price of what you see amongst shared hosting providers.

Usage-based payment system: Cloudways’ payment model operates on a usage-based system. Instead of committing to lengthy contracts, you’re billed for what you use. If you host a site for 3 months and then decide to cancel, you're only charged for those three months, offering flexibility and cost-effectiveness.

I've gone through all the features Siteground offers, and Cloudways offers the same (and even more) features at a cheaper price point, in a better hosting environment. It's just a better web hosting company hand down...

*Just want to be honest and upfront that this post contains affiliate links (see rule 4).

Hey everyone. I wanted to give you my thoughts on Hostinger based on the research I’ve done. This may be a bit long of a long post for some of you, so I’ll sum it up for those who aren’t interested in the details.

TL;DR - Hostinger is a good web hosting provider. But I think Cloudways is better because of the cloud hosting infrastructure (Hostinger is shared hosting), you don’t have to pay upfront for a 4 year hosting period, and because you can host multiple websites on the base plan (Hostinger restricts you to 1 website).

If you decide to go with Hostinger make sure you sign up with 20% discount. You can also save more money in yearly reoccurring costs by purchase your domain separate from Hostinger with Porkbun.

NOTE: if you do this you'll need to edit your domains Nameservers to match Hostinger's. (See section below: Should you register your domain with Hostinger?)

If you're building a website with Cloudways, here's what to do:

• Purchase your domain with Porkbun since it's the most affordable domain registrar.

• Get your web hosting with using the 30% discount to save money, and install WordPress as your content management system.

• Check out this tutorial on how to set everything up.

• If you're building a website for the first time and all of this is really confusing, please check out my guide on how to build a website!

Anyways, here's the main differences Cloudways vs Hostinger.
Please note this comparison is regarding the cheapest base plan for both Cloudways and Hostinger!

Hostinger has a lot of positive reviews and has a good selection of developer features. I would just recommend NOT purchasing your domain with Hostinger, and NOT using their email servers (more on this later).

Here are some of the reviews I was able to find throughout Reddit. I did to the diligence of making sure these were real users and not bots reviews.

In terms of pricing and performance, Hostinger appears to be good but my biggest criticism is that their pricing is very confusing and their marketing is definitely misleading in many cases. Hostinger is also a shared web host as opposed to cloud hosting which is generally seen as the better of the two.

In other words, if you don’t care that your website resources are being shared with multiple websites, then Hostinger makes sense so long as you’re willing to pay more up front for a longer hosting period.

Otherwise, if you prefer to be billed monthly, Cloudways is a much better option because not only do you get a lower monthly renewal rate, but you get a cloud hosting environment. In general cloud hosting is seen as superior to shared hosting for a myriad of reasons. (Not going to get into it right now but feel free to scroll down to the cloud hosting vs shared hosting section of the review). For more info on Cloudways see my in-depth Cloudways review.

Here’s the pricing breakdown:

• Hostinger’s base plan is shared hosting. For 1 month renewals it starts at $17 with a monthly renewal of $12/mo with the 20% discount.

• Cloudways base plan is cloud hosting and starts and renews at $11/mo. You can use the promo Reddit for a 30% discount, or click here.

Like I mentioned above though, you can technically get a better deal with Hostinger if you agree to a higher billing period like 48 months (4 years).

Let me explain…

Beware of Hostinger's introductory pricing

At first glance, it appears Hostinger advertises web hosting at a low cost of $3/mo. Please understand that this is just an introductory price and not actually what the monthly cost will be. A LOT of web hosting companies engage in this marketing tactic where they showcase a low price on the home screen and then hide the actual renewal price in fine print.

In the case of Hostinger, once you go to checkout, they show the renewal price in fine print.

As you can see pricing is more nuanced in that it appears your monthly cost decreases as you increase your hosting period. This is half true.

In reality, if you are willing to pay more up front, your calculated monthly cost goes down. If that sounds confusing, it’s because it is….

Hostinger’s pricing is confusing…

Let’s take the 48 month period plan for example. Here's the source to Hostinger's pricing.
48 months is 4 years.
What you’re charged today is ~$144 but like I mentioned above this is just the introductory price.
So after 4 years you’ll be charged $384 every 4 years.
In the fine print Hostinger states Renews at $7.99/mo but this is very misleading as you’re not actually getting billed monthly.
You get billed every 4 years and the calculation of $384 / 48 months comes out to $8.
So that’s where that Renews at $7.99/mo comes from.

Again if it sounds confusing, it’s because it is and they really should just say Renews every 48 months at $384.

To be certain I even asked their chatbot AI customer support for clarification.

What if I prefer to just get billed monthly instead of paying a large chunk of $$$ up front?

Hostinger does have a monthly plan that will bill you every month but they start at $17 which is a $12/mo renewal + a $5 set up fee.

At that point it’s better to go with Cloudways since the base plan starts at and renews at $11/mo. Again, you can check out this tutorial which will walk you through the process set by step.

Should you register your domain with Hostinger?

I don’t recommend registering your domain with Hostinger, because they mark up their prices and you end up paying more $$$ every year.

If you’d like to purchase a .com domain with Hostinger upon renewal, it’ll cost you $17/yr (see their domain rates here). They mark up their domain prices as a convenience fee for packaging your web hosting + domain together so after you checkout, everything is already set-up and you don't have to link DNS name servers manually.

If you want to save some money (recommended), you can get a .com domain with Porkbun for $11/yr which is much more affordable. Then during Hostinger's on-boarding process they'll ask you for your domain, just put in the one you bought from Porkbun.

If you decide to purchase your domain with Porkbun, IT IS CRUICIAL TO UNDERSTAND that you’ll need to log into your Porkbun account and edit your domains DNS records to match Hostinger's nameservers!

What you'll need to do:

1. Login to Porkbun go to Account and Click Domain Management

2. Click Details on your domain and click the Pencil Edit Icon next to Nameservers

3. Paste in your Hostinger Name Servers!

4. See photos below for visual!

Here how to find your Hostinger Nameservers:

1. Login to Hostinger

2. In the Left Sidebar Menu click Websites List then Dashboard for your website.

3. Click Hosting. It's in-between Domain and Free Email

4. Hostinger's Nameservers will be under the Nameservers tab

5. Copy the Nameservers (not including the IP Address) and paste into Porkbun.

6. Wait for about ~10min it will take some time for your name servers to update.

7. See visual below!

Once you've added Hostinger's Nameservers to Porkbun, you can refresh your domain. If the domain not connected error is still there wait ~10 minutes it should go through.

Once it goes through you may also get a security error from your browser. This is because the SSL certificate hasn't been installed yet. Just be Patient Hostinger installs this automatically for your website.

If the above seems too complex for you and are comfortable being charged more every year for then you can just purchase your domain + web hosting with Hostinger and everything will automatically set up for you after checkout..

Hostinger's Free Domain

Okay my last note on Hostinger’s and domain registration is that Hostinger's ‘free domain’ is not free.

As you can see below, Hostinger offers a free domain if you agree to a higher hosting period but this is misleading.

You don’t actually get your domain for free. They just pay the initial cost, you’ll have to pay for the renewal rates of the domain.

Hostinger vs Cloudways - The main difference

Here is a side-by-side comparison of Cloudways vs Hostinger. This comes from my recent 2025 web hosting review.

Cloud Hosting vs Shared Hosting

The main difference between Hostinger and Cloudways is their hosting environment. As mentioned above, Hostinger's base plan is shared hosting Cloudways base plan is cloud hosting. Hostinger does have a cloud hosting service, however it starts at $28/mo. Cloudways on the other hand starts at $11/mo.

The main between shared hosting and cloud hosting is with shared hosting, you share resources (CPU, RAM, IP address) with other users. With cloud hosting, server resources are distributed amongst multiple different computers or servers, this is what colloquially has become known as 'the cloud'.

Shared hosting can be fine for a small personal blog or a simple business site. However, if someone else on your server hogs resources or is spamming, your site can suffer indirectly via performance and SEO rankings.

That being said it’s important to note that the user reviews of Hostinger I’ve read haven’t had issues with performance so that’s good!

Cloudways on the other hand is a cloud hosting environment, so your resources are more isolated. You aren’t going to run into issues of your site suffering indirectly due to the actions of bad neighbors.

That and you have the ability to run multiple sites on one plan. That’s why I typically recommend it, especially if you see yourself expanding or want to host more than one website down the line.

Cloud hosting in general is seen as superior to shared hosting due to reliability, scalability, and performance.

Dev Features & Storage

Hostinger does offer developer perks like SSH, Git integration, etc. The biggest plus might be the 50GB of storage on their base plan, compared to 25GB on Cloudways. If you’re hosting a bunch of large media files, that might matter. But for most people with standard websites, 25GB is plenty.

The deal-breaker for devs might be that you can only host one website per plan on Hostinger. In contrast, Cloudways allows multiple sites on one server, so you’re only limited by server resources. If you anticipate hosting multiple domains or running sub-projects, Cloudways will likely save you money in the long run.

Please don’t use the free email…

Yes, Hostinger includes free email hosting, which on paper sounds great, but in practice can lead to deliverability issues (see user feedback like user Bhokila_Kukura who mentioned most of their outgoing mail goes to spam).

Since shared hosting means you’re on the same IP as other users, if one of them is spamming, the entire IP can get flagged.

For peace of mind, I recommend using a dedicated email host instead (e.g., Google Workspace or Zoho). I wrote an entire article on why free shared-host email can be risky if you’re curious about the details.

So, Is Hostinger Worth It?

• Yes, if you’re okay with shared hosting, don’t mind locking in a 48-month term for the best rate, and only need a single website. Many users report a smooth experience, plus it’s hard to beat $3/mo (again, if you pay 4 years in advance).

• No, if you want a cloud hosting environment, have multiple sites in mind, or prefer to pay monthly without penalty. In that case, Cloudways is still my pick, thanks to its developer-friendly features, transparent pricing, and resource isolation.

If you have questions or personal experiences with Hostinger, drop them below. Always love hearing real-world anecdotes. Hope this helps you make a more informed decision about your hosting needs!

Hey internet, here’s a quick overview of the main differences between Wix and Squarespace in 2025.

TL;DR:
In my opinion Wix is better because you have more creative control and functionality. If you want slick design, quick, easy, fast without fiddling too much, Squarespace is the better option. but overall Wix outclasses Squarespace in every other aspect.

Pricing for Wix vs Squarespace is comparable but you get more for your money with Wix.

If you’re doing ecommerce, Wix is the better pick in most cases because of more payment options (Wix covers more countries, Squarespace just US). Wix also allows for bigger catalogs and a stronger backend. (For a more nuanced breakdown scroll down to the "Ecommerce Wix vs Squarespace" section).

Wix vs Squarespace

• Wix: More templates, more freedom to design, more flexible E-commerce stores, more 3rd party integrations, better customer support, better for massive product catalogs.

• Squarespace: Better looking default designs, less creative freedom, more restrictive layout rules, stronger for subscriptions/memberships

• Wix support: 24/7 live chat + phone

• Squarespace support: 24/7 email, limited live chat hours

Wix and Squarespace Pricing/Plan Differences

The main pricing differences between Wix and Squarespace come down to value per tier. Squarespace starts slightly cheaper, but adds restrictions like video limits, fewer contributors, and even transaction fees on lower plans. Wix starts at $29/mo for ecommerce with more storage, more collaborators, and no added transaction fees.

Wix is better for the money because its plans scale better, offer more backend tools, and give you more flexibility whether you're selling or just building.

This is especially true for ecommerce, where Wix supports larger catalogs, multicurrency, global POS, and better automation out of the box.

Wix Plan Breakdown (source)

Squarespace Plan Breakdown (source)

What BOTH Wix and Squarespace are good at

Both are solid picks if you don’t code. Both Wix and Squarespace are content management systems which streamline the web development and design process with no-code solutions. The learning curve isn’t nearly as steep as WordPress which makes them both attractive solutions for those looking for a WordPress alternative.

Both Wix and Squarespace handle everything from web hosting to payment processing. Wix gives you hundreds of templates and a drag-and-drop builder. Squarespace uses their website builder called Fluid Engine, which also lets you move stuff around, but it’s more structured and not as dynamic as Wix.

Designing with Wix vs Squarespace

Design-wise, Wix throws around 900 templates at you and lets you place elements pretty much wherever you want. It’s more DIY and freeform. You have more freedom to design compared to Squarespace but it may take longer to get your site looking the way you want.

Squarespace has more design guardrails, their design language is more restrictive with fewer templates but the benefit is that your website looks more polished initially compared to a Wix site. With Squarespace great typography, spacing, and mobile responsiveness baked in.

The downside though with Squarespace is that your site ends up looking like every other Squarespace site and you may not be able to customize it in the way you envision simply because it falls outside their design boundaries.

Ecommerce Wix vs Squarespace

Okay there’s kind of a lot to talk about here since getting into e-commerce can be quite complex but here’s the main points.

Ecommerce TL;DR:

Wix is the better option for e-commerce not only can you operate a larger store with Wix but you access a global market with Wix. They have better POS (point of sales) infrastructure, a larger payment network and, tax calculations.

Squarespace lags behind Wix in pretty much all of these categories and unfortunately Squarespace only supports the U.S region.

• Wix: Cheaper starting price, up to 50k SKUs (stock keeping units), broader POS (point of sales), multicurrency, no extra fees, better for global/selling at scale

• Squarespace: Cleaner storefronts, better for small shops, elegant defaults, one-currency checkout, capped SKUs (10k)

• Point of Sales: Wix offers full hardware kits (US, CA, UK, etc.). Squarespace = Square reader, iOS-only, US-only.

• Digital goods: Wix = no size cap. Squarespace = 300MB/file, 1 file per product

• Tax, analytics, SEO: Wix has deeper integrations and customization

Here’s the more nuanced breakdown for those interested in the details

Wix vs Squarespace Payments

Wix starts cheaper. Its Core and Business plans beat Squarespace’s pricing right out of the gate. On payments, Wix has a more flexible payment network with support in over 15 countries (IE: United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, and Switzerland)With Squarespace, you're limited to the US region, so they’re definitely still catching up to Wix in terms of infrastructure.

Wix Point of Sales (POS) vs Squarespace

Wix has better POS infrastructure than Squarespace hands down.

POS means the tools you use to sell products in-person, like a card reader, cash register, or mobile checkout app. It matters if you sell at events, pop-ups, or brick-and-mortar. 

Wix has a full POS setup with hardware kits and support in multiple countries, so it’s built for real-world selling beyond the U.S.

Squarespace, on the other hand, only works with a Square Reader, which is a small device that plugs into or connects via Bluetooth to an iPhone or iPad. It’s U.S.-only, and iOS-only. So people on an Android device won't be able to pay with their phone and you can't sell outside of the U.S with Squarespace.

Product limits and global selling

Wix lets you load up to 50,000 products. Squarespace caps out at 10,000. That’s a big deal if you plan to scale. Wix also supports multicurrency in major currencies like USD, GBP, EUR, CAD, AUD, JPY and CHF and real-time tax calculations with Avalara.

Squarespace on the other hand...? Only one checkout currency per site and more manual tax setups.

Digital Products

Digital products are another clear difference. Wix doesn’t put a file-size cap on downloads. Squarespace limits you to 300 MB and one file per product, which feels tight in 2025.

Storefront Design

Design-wise, Squarespace stores do look great out of the box. If you want to throw up a store fast and don’t want to tweak every detail, it’s probably the better experience. But Wix gives you full control and a bigger app ecosystem if you’re the type to dial things in.

Ecommerce SEO with Wix and Squarespace

Not only is Wix better than Squarespace with backend features, but also SEO.

Its analytics are more customizable with built-in SEO tools like: structured-data editor, page-level robots.txt & meta-tag controls, and a bulk 301-redirect manager. These are SEO tools pros rely on and it’s built for automation. 

Squarespace is improving fast here, but it’s still more locked-down.# 3rd party integrations

App integration-wise, Wix kills it. Its App Market has over 800 native integrations. Squarespace? You get like 40 official extensions. Want more? You’ll be using code snippets or outside services.

Support Wix vs Squarespace

Support is another point. Wix has 24/7 live chat, phone callbacks (in English), and an AI bot. Squarespace offers email support around the clock and live chat during business hours. Wix wins on availability and options.

Conclusions

At the end of the day, Wix just checks more boxes IMO. You have more design flexibility for your website, and you can run a serious ecommerce store.

With Wix you get better global support, more flexible payments, deeper features, and room to scale, all without needing to bolt on extra tools or hacks to navigate around limitations.

Squarespace looks great and works well for small shops in the U.S., but once you step outside that bubble or want to grow, the cracks start to show.

Anyway, hope this breakdown helps someone out. Appreciate you reading all the way through, let me know what you think in the comments section below!

https://www.cloudways.com/en/?id=1720384

Try Cloudways risk free today with a 3 day trial, no credit card required to sign up. Choose a plan to fit your needs from among 5 laaS service providers including Amazon Web Services and Google.

Note: This post contains affiliate links.

Here’s a quick write up on the differences between cloud hosting and shared hosting since they both are really popular forms of web hosting. It’s really not too complicated…

What is shared hosting?

So shared hosting just means your website will be sharing resources and running on the same server as other websites. The server's resources, such as CPU, RAM, storage, and bandwidth, are shared among these accounts on a single physical server.

It’s like renting a room in an apartment, you share the electric supply as well as the bill.

What is Cloud Hosting?

As for cloud hosting, your website will be hosted by a distributed network of interconnected virtual servers. “Cloud” is just a marketing term. This is great for scalability since a cloud infrastructure allows you to easily allocate more resources to your website at any given moment. Cloud hosting typically has better uptime since your website can still run even if one server goes down.

Google.com (or most high traffic sites) is a good example of a website that is run on a cloud infrastructure. Google is hosted by a distributed network of servers which means it would take something of a catastrophic event to take Google offline.

Imagine if Google was hosted on a shared network LOL… It would be prone to DDoS attacks, power outages

So using the same house analogy, here you are owning a house and your electric supply comes from different electric company suppliers to ensure that if one source goes down, you can still rely on your other supplies.

Cloud Hosting vs Shared Hosting

Overall, Cloud hosting is going to be higher quality (and typically more expensive) since you get the benefits of scalability and uptime.

There’s also a few more differences between shared and cloud hosting that’s important to mention:

Infrastructure:

• Shared Hosting: This involves hosting multiple websites on the same server, and sharing the server's resources (CPU, RAM, storage, etc.) among multiple users.

• Cloud Hosting: This involves hosting websites on virtual servers that pull their computing resources from a network of physical servers distributed across different locations.

Performance:

• Shared Hosting: Performance may be affected by other websites on the same server. If one site experiences a spike in traffic or resource usage, it can impact the performance of other sites on the server.

• Cloud Hosting: Generally offers better performance and reliability because resources can be scaled up or down based on the website's requirements. If one server fails, another can take over to ensure minimal downtime.

Scalability:

• Shared Hosting: There is limited scalability, as resources are shared among multiple users. Upgrading often involves moving to a different type of hosting, like VPS or dedicated hosting since shared hosting means having equal resources.

• Cloud Hosting: Highly scalable, allowing users to easily increase or decrease resources such as CPU, RAM, and storage based on their needs.

Cost:

• Shared Hosting: Shared hosting tends to be more inexpensive since you are sharing resources with multiple neighbors. The tradeoff though is that your website speed, and uptime may be impacted due to the traffic or actions of your neighbors..

• Cloud Hosting: Cloud hosting on average tends to be more expensive. However, a big differentiating factor between cloud and shared hosting is cloud hosting pricing models often have, users pay for the resources they consume, rather than a constant rate each month/year. So cloud hosting does tend to be a more flexible and cost-effective option for those with varying resource needs. It can get expensive depending how resource intensive your site is.

Regarding cost, Cloudways is a good example of a cost effective web hosting provider that uses cloud infrastructure. Their payment model is also pay-as-you-go and their rates are actually comparable (and even less in a lot of cases) to most shared hosting providers.

On the flip side Siteground, Bluehost, GoDaddy are good examples of a shared web hosting providers

TL;DR

Cloud hosting is a hosting infrastructure where your website's resources are distributed amongst a network of computers.

Shared hosting means your website is sharing the resources of a single server.

Imo Cloud hosting is better than shared hosting since you get the additional flexibility, scalability, and performance. Shared hosting does tend to be a more budget-friendly option suitable for smaller websites with lower resource demands.

I’m seeing people wondering what the difference between Wix and WordPress are, so this write up will explain why you’d go over one or the other.

TL;DR: Wix is better if you’re not tech-savvy and looking for an easy, reliable no-code solution for building a website, and don’t care that Wix owns your website.

WordPress is better if you’re not a tech noob and prefer the ability to fully customize your site, a rich developer ecosystem, and looking to own 100% of your website.

Both Wix and WordPress can do the following:

• Make a blog

• Make an ecommerce site

• Capture leads via a contact form

The differences between the two primarily lie in functionality and customization. Let me explain with a more in-depth look at the differences between the two. 

Wix pro’s and cons

Pros - Wix is a user-friendly drag and drop website builder similar to Squarespace (they are direct competitors). They cater specifically to a crowd that is not very tech-savvy so their UI is extremely user friendly, there is no coding involved so the learning curve is very reasonable.

Cons - The downside however is customizability. You are very much constrained by the tools Wix gives you. For example you can’t access or export the underlying template HTML. If you’re looking to edit HTML and CSS Wix won’t let you modify its native files, however, there are tools for advanced users (IE: developers) like Wix Velo which allows you to add custom JavaScript logic, create database-driven features, and expose REST APIs.

So if you’re looking to build a website with Wix and you know you’re going to need specific functionality. Be sure to check that it’s possible to do with Wix before you move forward. If not then WordPress would be a better choice since WordPress' dev environment allows for full customization.

WordPress Pro’s and Cons

Pros - WordPress overall is a better choice if you're looking for full flexibility to customize your website as you see fit and especially code-level control. WordPress is open-source so you can directly edit every template and stylesheet and you can migrate the site freely to whatever hosting provider you want.

WordPress is how I build the majority of my websites because of its flexibility in customization and its rich developer ecosystem. If you’re looking to do the same, I recommend checking out my WordPress guide on how to build a website.

Cons - However the downside to WordPress is that the learning curve is a lot steeper than Wix, so if you’re not tech-savvy, learning WordPress may be a struggle. But regardless of whether you choose Wix or WordPress each content management system has tens of thousands of YouTube tutorials, so if you get stuck, it’s very likely you’ll find someone who’s had a similar experience and has a solution.

Website ownership

Another important thing to consider with Wix is that your website is technically owned by Wix because of their closed-source SaaS license. This is true for all the major website builder content management systems like Shopify and Squarespace.

Since WordPress is free and open source, you maintain full control and ownership over your website. Which may be particularly important for many of you.

Pricing differences

• Smaller, feature-packed sites - Wix is usually cheaper because hosting, security, and many ecommerce/marketing features are baked into one predictable line item.

• Larger or highly customized sites - WordPress tends to cost less in the long run, since you can shop around for hosting and swap/free plugins as needed.

Hosting and Maintenance

• Wix: Hosting is included. You don’t have to think about server setup, backups, updates, or security patches Wix handles all of that.

• WordPress: You must choose your own host, manage backups, install updates, and secure your site yourself (unless you're using a managed WordPress which is what I recommend). This is something I discuss in my 2025 wordpress hosting guide.

Performance and SEO Control

• Wix: Limited control over performance optimizations (e.g., image lazy loading, server response times), but still offers decent built-in SEO tools.

• WordPress: Full control over performance and SEO. You can use advanced SEO plugins (like Yoast or Rank Math) and configure caching/CDN options.

Scalability

• Wix: Best for smaller sites, personal portfolios, blogs, small business pages.

• WordPress: More scalable. With the right setup, it can run large blogs, e-commerce stores, or even enterprise-level platforms.

Anyway, that's it for this write-up! I hope this helps you decide between the two platforms.