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Compare · hosting types side by side

Compare web hosting types before you compare brands

Choosing between shared, managed WordPress, VPS, cloud and reseller hosting decides more about your site’s speed and running cost than the brand name on the invoice. This page lays the options out in one place, then walks you through a short decision path.
Jump to the decision path
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§01 — The full table

Six questions, five hosting types

Read across a row to see how each type handles the same practical question. The first column stays readable on phones; swipe sideways for the rest.
SharedManaged WordPressVPSCloudReseller
Cost bandLowestLow – midMidUsage-basedMid
ResourcesShared with othersShared, tuned for WPDedicated sliceElastic poolShared, split by you
Root accessNoNoYesUsuallyNo
Who patches the serverHostHostYou or a managed planHost / youHost
Handles traffic spikesPoorlyModeratelyUp to its limitsWellPoorly
Learning curveVery lowLowMedium – highMediumMedium
Typical userFirst site, small blogBusiness site on WordPressGrowing shop, developerLaunches, seasonal trafficAgency, freelancer
Main riskNoisy neighboursPlugin and visit limitsSelf-inflicted outagesSurprise billsSupporting clients’ issues
Cost bands are relative to one another rather than fixed prices, because promotional pricing changes week to week. Exact prices, with the date we checked them, appear in individual reviews.

§02 — Decision path

Answer six questions in order

Most readers reach a clear answer by question three. The rest are there to catch the edge cases.

1 · Is this your first website?

If yes, and it is a blog, portfolio or brochure site, start with good shared hosting or entry-level managed WordPress. You can move up later; moving down is rarely needed.

2 · Is it built on WordPress?

If WordPress is the whole site and you would rather not manage caching, updates and backups yourself, managed WordPress usually saves more time than it costs.

3 · Does traffic jump around?

Launches, campaigns or seasonal sales favour cloud hosting, which adds resources quickly. Steady traffic is cheaper on a correctly sized VPS.

4 · Do you need server-level control?

Custom software, background workers or unusual PHP extensions point to a VPS. If nobody on your team wants to maintain a server, choose a managed VPS.

5 · Are you hosting for clients?

If you build and look after websites for others, reseller hosting keeps each client separate and lets you bill hosting under your own brand.

6 · Check the limits, then the price

Whatever the type, read the fair-use policy, the renewal price and the backup terms before the headline price. That order prevents most regrets.

Line chart on paper showing values rising and falling

Tip from the test bench

Compare the renewal price of each option, not the first-term price. Across categories, the first renewal is where the cheapest-looking plan most often stops being the cheapest.

§03 — Comparing two specific plans

What to line up when you compare two hosts

SSD and NVMe storage are both common now. More useful than the label is the inode limit (number of files) and whether “unlimited” storage has a fair-use cap. Large image libraries hit inode limits long before they hit gigabytes.
These decide how many visitors your site can serve at the same moment. Shared plans often list them only in a resource-limits page. For WordPress shops, PHP workers matter more than the CPU count on the sales page.
Ask three questions: how often backups run, how long they are kept, and whether you can restore them yourself. A daily backup you cannot restore without a support ticket is slower than it sounds.
Pick a server region near most of your visitors. A CDN helps with images and static files but does not fix a slow server for pages that cannot be cached, such as carts and dashboards.
Live chat around the clock sounds equal everywhere. In testing, response quality varies far more than response time. Our reviews quote how long it took to get a correct answer, not just a reply.
Long contracts unlock low monthly prices but may limit refunds. Check the money-back window, whether domains are refundable, and what happens to your data after cancellation.

Narrowed it to one type?

Go to that category in our review index to see the plans we have tested and how they scored.
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