How to choose the best WordPress Host
The minimum requirements for a self-hosted WordPress Blog or Website are:
- PHP version 5.2.4 or greater
- MySQL version 5.0 or greater
WordPress.org adds that they ‘recommend Apache or Nginx as the most robust and featureful server for running WordPress, but any server that supports PHP and MySQL will do. That said, we can’t test every possible environment …’.
In theory these guidelines are great but in practice things can get messy, not because of WordPress software but often because of how the Host has setup their Web software. Below I recommend the factors that generally constitute a good match between a Host and WordPress (it’s assumed below that you are happy with shared hosting).
Which Host to Choose
Without hesitation I recommend that if you have a choice of Host then have your WordPress Site hosted on Linux servers running cPanel. cPanel is widely used and WordPress is simple to manage when installed on a Host running cPanel.
There are Hosts running Microsoft IIS for example and you shouldn’t have problems hosting WordPress on their servers if the Host has setup their servers to be WordPress compatible. It’s seldom that problems with WordPress occur on Windows servers but inexpensive and reliable Hosting available using Linux/cPanel I don’t recommend using a Microsoft powered host unless you have a valid reason to.
As for Nginx powered Web-servers, WordPress is said to work very well on nginx Hosts and nginx is gaining market share rapidly.
Which Hosts to Avoid
I’ve had the misfortune to setup numerous WordPress Websites on Zeus Web Server. In fairness to Zeus, I’m sure that the Hosts must have setup their hosting incorrectly but, in my experience, hosting WordPress on a Host using Zeus WILL cause you problems.
If you need WordPress hosting and want recommendations or discounts contact me.
