Web Hosting vs WordPress Hosting: Differences and Benefits

Deploying your website on the internet requires a web host. That is when you opt for a hosting provider. With myriads of hosting providers flooding the market, and some even providing the option of WordPress Hosting, it can get daunting to choose one. Amateurs who are new to the world of hosting can quickly get confused between different types of web hosting plans such as dedicated hosting, shared hosting, cloud hosting, VPS hosting, WordPress hosting, etc. In this article, we will elucidate the main differences between Web Hosting vs WordPress Hosting and which one would be ideal for your website.

What is Web Hosting?

Web hosting is a service where the vendor provides resources and server space to run and manage your website, thereby making it accessible to the audience online.

Standard web hosting plans generally offer core features such as registering domain names, security tools, backups, recovery, etc. As per your budget, website’s scope, and size, you can choose from various types such as shared, dedicated, VPS, cloud, and more.

Types of Website Hosting Services

• Shared Hosting: In shared hosting, your website shares resources and server space with multiple other websites. It is affordable and a good start for beginners with low traffic volumes but may become challenging if you want to expand your website.
• VPS hosting: Virtual Private Server Hosting involves a physical server allocated to a small group of websites. It is similar to shared hosting, but the virtual servers are independent of each other, providing each user with dedicated resources. Hence the site owner will have better control over their website than in shared hosting. This hosting plan is optimal for freelancers and small businesses.
• Dedicated Hosting: The site owners get a dedicated server without sharing it with any other website. This provides you with full control over the server’s configuration, resources, storage, etc. Such a plan is ideal for large businesses that require high performance and can handle high costs incurred due to advanced server management tools, customization tools, software compatibility, etc.

• Cloud hosting: Such hosting service will host your website over multiple cloud servers for high uptime, making it ideal for websites with large traffic volumes. This offers excellent flexibility, fast performance, and good control over your website.
• Managed hosting: In managed hosting, the hosting provider will take care of all the technical elements of hosting such as setup, backups, maintenance, patching, upgrades, and technical support. It is best recommended for site owners with less technical expertise or those who do not want to deal with the maintenance of the entire infrastructure.

Benefits of Web Hosting

• Supports multiple web CMS and site builders, not just WordPress.
• Provides built-in developer tools for seamless integrations. And, users get the freedom to choose the platform they like.
• The hosting provider will generally offer physical equipment and maintain the hardware.
• Diverse hosting plans are available to choose from, to suit your budget, site’s scope, and size.
• Some hosting plans may offer round-the-clock dedicated support.
• Some hosting providers may offer key features such as a professional email address, free domain name, SSL certificate, etc.
• Offers more control over server setup and settings, especially in dedicated or VPS hosting.
• Freedom to choose caching and performance optimization tools for a custom setup.

Disadvantages of Web Hosting

If you have a WordPress site but choose a general web hosting plan, you would require the latest versions of PHP and MySQL. Still, you may encounter the following issues:

• Some of them may require site owners to manually install WordPress
• Site owners may get technical support but NOT specialized support to handle WordPress-specific issues.
• Users take the responsibility to update plugins, themes, and WordPress core, and perform vulnerability tests without technical assistance.
• Run websites on standard servers and NOT servers optimized specifically for WordPress.
• No access to built-in WordPress plugins to optimize performance.

What is WordPress Hosting? 

WordPress is a flexible and very popular web CMS (Content Management System) that allows you to build and customize websites. By the same token, WordPress hosting is a service that is specially optimized to manage these WordPress websites. It caters to the unique needs of WordPress such as MySQL/PHP compatibility, an additional layer of security, caching, etc.

Even WordPress hosting comprises various types such as cloud, VPS, shared, managed, and dedicated hosting.

Most WordPress hosting plans will offer typical features, such as:

• Premium plugins and themes: Site owners can access or buy premium tools, plugins, and themes to customize their websites in the best way possible, resonating with their brand story.
• Pre-installed or 1-click Installation: Most WordPress hosting plans will help you get started in no time with pre-installed WordPress or just 1-Click WordPress installation.
• Site Optimization and Advanced Caching: To boost the speed and performance of your WordPress site, hosting plans will offer advanced features such as NVME SSDs, object caching, etc.
• Support: Support is specifically tailored as per the requirements of the WordPress site.
• Multisite feature: Allows you to manage multiple WordPress sites from a single dashboard.

Types of WordPress Hosting

• Shared WordPress hosting: In this plan, your WordPress site shares server resources with other WordPress sites, making it an affordable option. This plan commonly has WordPress pre-installed and allows you to manage your server, email services, domains, etc. via a web-based control panel.
• Managed WordPress hosting is when the hosting provider manages and optimizes the server infrastructure, specifically for your WordPress site. It offers features such as automated upgrades, and customized tools for server configuration, site maintenance, patching, security measures, and performance optimization.

Apart from these, you can also host your WordPress site on dedicated or VPS servers if you want greater control and dedicated resources. It all comes down to your site’s hosting requirements and budget.

Regardless, make sure to review all the features offered by your hosting provider to get a better idea.

Benefits of WordPress Hosting

• The server is specifically optimized to manage WordPress sites, hence delivering faster performance. Often includes caching software as well, for faster loading times.
• Web hosts offer WordPress automatic updates and run on the latest software for optimal performance and compatibility.
• Managed WordPress hosting offers expert support for site maintenance and other technical issues.
• Offers security measures such as firewalls, malware scans, etc. to prevent common threats linked to WordPress sites.
• Often includes automated backups regularly along with recovery options in case of data loss.
• Most of the WordPress hosts offer built-in staging environments in the package where you can test updates or changes before deploying them online in a risk-free manner.

Disadvantages of WordPress Hosting

WordPress hosting plans have features curated for websites built on WordPress. So, if you build a site on another CMS platform or build a custom site, you may face limited flexibility. Various server features and configuration is optimized for WordPress; hence you may have lesser control over certain plugin installs as well.

Likewise, WordPress hosting can be a bit more expensive than general website hosting, due to its specialized features, support, and customization for WordPress performance.

What is the Difference between Web Hosting vs WordPress Hosting?

The key difference between Web hosting vs WordPress hosting is that web hosting is a broader concept offering various hosting services such as VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, shared hosting, cloud hosting, etc.

WordPress hosting, on the other hand, is also a type of web hosting with resources and servers specifically optimized to manage WordPress websites. Such a plan often includes specialized features such as WordPress-specific caching, plugins, themes, extra security, etc.

Which one to choose?

Well, if you have a WordPress website and want to reap maximum benefits out of its security, customization, and performance, without worrying about server management and configuration, go for WordPress hosting.

If you have built a custom site or a site using a different CMS platform than WordPress and want more flexibility and control over your site’s configurations, go for standard web hosting. It all zeroes down to your budget and the hosting needs of your website.