While there are plenty of blog hosts (both free and paid) to choose from, not all blog hosts are made the same. In this blog post, I’m going to review the best blog hosts for beginners.
Before I show you my personal picks for the best blog hosting, I’m going to answer 3 important questions:
- What is blog hosting and do I need it?
- Why should you avoid free blog hosts?
- What should you look for in a blog host?
Let’s get started.
What is blog hosting?
If you want to start a blog and make money, you need three things to get started:
- Domain name
- Blog hosting (start with HostGator)
- and WordPress
Think of blog hosting as paying rent for your home on the web. You’re going to need it, so be sure and pick a good one! This blog post will help.
Choosing a blog host important and is #1 on my blog launch checklist.
Why you should avoid free blog hosts
Let’s get this one out of the way first.
Blog hosting is not expensive. Compared to the cost of starting a physical business, starting a blog biz doesn’t compare.
When you choose a free blog host, you’re going to face some restrictions, such as:
- You get stuck on a subdomain like yourname.wordpress.com
- You’re limited in monetizing your blog, some don’t allow ads.
- You can’t design your blog the way you want to.
- You don’t own your website, they do.
The bottom line is this: free blog hosts are for personal bloggers – they are not for people who want to make money online.
Choose WordPress as your blog platform
The best blogging platform, hands down, is WordPress. It is the most widely used, most versatile blogging platform around.
While there are other blogging platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and Weebly, nobody comes close to what you can do in WordPress.
Here is why WordPress is the best choice for a blog platform:
- Whether you’re using it as a personal blog or a blog to make money, WordPress is free, open-source software.
- With a theme like Astra and a page builder like Elementor, you can visually design every aspect of your blog.
- Lots of free plugins to enhance your blog, like WP Rocket for speed enhancements.
And since WordPress is so popular, if you ever run into any tech issues, there’s likely already a detailed how-to on how to fix it.
What to look for in a blog host
With so many blog hosting options. to choose from, how do you know which one to pick? Here are a few things to look for in a blog host:
- Blog hosting companies come and go, only host your blog with companies with a proven track record.
- Choose a host with a 99.9% uptime guarantee that offers 24/7 phone or chat support.
- Use a blog host that offers one-click installation of WordPress, so you can get started building your blog right away.
- Find a blog that doesn’t overload their servers with thousands of other sites, resulting in sluggish performance.
- Only sign up with a blog host that offers an unconditional money-back guarantee so you can test the service.
So who are the best blog hosts? Let’s start the list!
1. WPX – Best blog host for speed and performance
A fast blog is essential for both a good user experience and for Google rankings. Google admitted as much 10 years ago when they stated their algorithm takes into account site speed as a ranking factor.
As a blogger, you need to make sure your site loads fast. You can help your own cause by having the following:
- WordPress theme optimized for speed like Astra (the theme I use)
- Optimizing your images with Optimole.
- Install a caching plugin like WP Rocket.
- Use a CDN (content delivery network) like Cloudflare.
But the biggest factor that affects blog speed is your web host.
And if blog speed is your #1 concern, look no further than WPX. Here’s what sets WPX apart from the rest:
- WPX cloud
A CDN (content distribution network) is a network of servers that store multiple copies of your website all around the world.
The CDN automatically serves up the copy of your website that is currently hosted closest to your blog visitor’s geographic location.
WP has its own CDN, called WPX Cloud, with 20+ endpoints across the world.
- In-house caching
Because of the way WordPress code was designed to work, it uses tons of queries back and forth from the database to do something as simple as loading a blog post.
9 times out of 10, when you create a post or a page in WordPress, you probably won’t be changing it, so there’s no need for the server to handle all of these back and forth queries every single time someone visits this page.
With WPXs in-house caching, their servers will automatically cache your blog pages, thereby reducing database calls and speeding up your site.
And, should you run into a problem, their average response time for support issues is 40 SECONDS.
WPX caters specifically to customers with WordPress-powered blogs who care about site speed.
2. Siteground blog hosting
If you want to avoid Bluehost for one reason or another, SiteGround is a good second choice.
Here’s why.
- It’s just $3.95 per month
This is an amazing deal for beginner bloggers. The best part is that you can pre-pay for 3 years and lock in that crazy low rate.
- SiteGround is recommended by WordPress
The group behind the blogging platform WordPress has officially recommended SiteGround as one of their recommended blog hosting services.
- Free SG Optimizer WordPress plugin
They have a WordPress plugin that boosts your site speed, which is an important ranking factor in Google search.
- Automatic daily backups
These plans make it quick and easy to install, set up, and configure a WordPress site or blog.
Siteground will keep your blog backed up every single day, just in case.
I’ve used this host before. Their speed optimizations make it faster than other entry-level hosts. They also have great customer support.
3. WPEngine
If you want a focus on WordPress speed optimization, look into hosting your blog with WPEngine. Their sole purpose in life is to serve up super fast WordPress sites and blogs. That’s literally what the WP in their name stands for, WordPress.
WPEngine is optimized specifically for WordPress. Because of this, they are able to tweak their servers in a very specific way that most other web hosting companies can’t do.
They’ve got two more unique features that have landed them a spot on this list:
- Traffic Prioritization
WPEngine can tell the difference between a human visitor and that of a bot or spider.
They are then able to prioritize this traffic and determine who gets to have the fastest load times and who can wait an extra fraction of a second.
- EverCache Technology
This is proprietary to WPEngine and only available to their customers. With this evercache technology, their server load is reduced, which will improve your page speed.
Want to know who hosts WordPress blogs on WPEngine? Big-name clients include Instacart, Under Armor, Ticketmaster, Dropbox, and Microsoft.
4. HostGator WordPress hosting
HostGator has been one of the most dominating players in web hosting for nearly two decades.
Just because they aren’t the most widely used service among bloggers doesn’t mean they should be discounted.
HostGator has years of experience with everyone from web designers and bloggers to small business entrepreneurs and fortune 500 executives.
What makes HostGator such a good blog hosting service?
- Their servers just don’t crash
HostGator has retained 99.9% uptime through some of the worst natural disasters to hit the United States in the last 15-20 years.
Their data centers are extremely secure and the redundancy setup means if one goes down, the others pick up the slack.
- HostGator has really low prices
HostGator has a WordPress-specific hosting plan that includes a free domain name and it only averages out to be $5.95 per month.
- HostGator has one-click WordPress installs
It takes just a few minutes to install, set up, and configure WordPress before you’re up and running.
- HostGator has free SSL certificates
You get a free SSL certificate so your domain will have the lock icon in the browser.
- Really fast customer service
Most hosts only offer email support, but HostGator has a 24/7 call center so you’ll be helped regardless of what time it is or what time zone you’re in.
- HostGator offer easy scalability
Should your blog grow quickly, HostGator makes it super easy to migrate to a VPN or dedicated server without any interruption in service.
Entry-level shared hosting. I have used them in the past to take advantage of a discount they were running at the time.
5. DreamHost blog hosting
Dreamhost is more than just a web hosting company. They are also a cloud-solutions provider.
By offering data storage and cloud computing solutions, their data centers and web hosting servers go way beyond that of HostGator and BlueHost.
- 100% uptime guarantee
You will not find this guarantee with any other hosting provider anywhere out there. If Dreamhost goes down, even for a minute – you get a refund for the time it was down.
- Free domain name
No matter which of the Dreamhost plans you go with, they all include a free domain name. Great for those that are just starting a business.
- Money back guarantee
Despite their low prices, they offer a 100% money-back guarantee that extends out to about 100 days from the time you purchase.
- Dreamhost loves WordPress
They offer simple WordPress installation and even have WordPress-specific blog hosting plans.
- Dreamhost has in-house WP experts
They understand how popular WordPress is so they employ WordPress experts that are on standby ready to help you out.
Another host I’ve used in the past. They have very attractive introductory offers.
6. Cloudways
Headquartered over on the island of Malta (though that’s not where their data centers and web servers sit), Cloudways is a fully managed, cloud-based hosting platform that was started in 2009.
And while they haven’t been around as long as someone like Bluehost, over a decade of success in the web hosting business is no small feat.
- Dedicated Server Environment
Every single server Cloudways deploys is given dedicated resources.
Unlike many hosting providers who use shared hosting plans, where resources are shared among other web hosting clients, the servers at Cloudways will always be dedicated for every customer they host for.
- SSD Hosting
Like BlueHost, Cloudways uses SSD hosting as well. Did we mention that SSD-based hosting is up to 300% faster than traditional HDD hosting?
- Proprietary caching plugin
Caching pre-loads designs and ‘pre-compiles’ code so that it can be served up MUCH faster for your website visitors and blog readers.
This same plugin also comes with database optimization built into it to ensure queries are handled fast.
While Cloudways is very fast – their servers are not fully managed. In other words, this probably isn’t the best hosting service to use if this is your first blog.
What’s the final verdict on best blog host?
Who the best blog host is depends on where you’re at in your journey.
If you are a beginner who wants to launch your blog, you’re going to want to choose HostGator.
HostGator is designed with the beginner blogger in mind. You can get your blog is instantly set up so you can get started building your website and writing content from day 1.
If you’re a more experienced blogger who wants to upgrade to fast blog hosting, choose WPX.
WPX is where I host DoSixFigures.com, and I can personally attest to how fast their servers are and how great their customer support is.
Hope this has helped you find the best blog hosting! Any questions? Let me know in the comments!
Until next time,
Edwin, DoSixFigures.com
