The right web host is the one that keeps your site running, lets it be maintained, and lets you get it back when something breaks. The headline price tells you very little about any of that. For a business, an afternoon of downtime on the contact form, the catalogue or the checkout usually costs more than the few pounds saved on a subscription.
Start by separating three things that are often sold together: the domain name, which is the address; the hosting, which runs or serves the site; and the software or service you build it with. A single invoice does not make them a single decision. Renewal terms, transfer rules and exit conditions have to be checked one by one.
Most hosting disappointments are not really caused by the server. They come from a mismatch between what the plan actually includes, who is expected to do the maintenance, and what happens on the day you need a restore or a move.
Managed platform or hosting your own CMS
A managed platform takes on part of the operational work in exchange for a subscription and a set of constraints you do not control. Hosting for WordPress or another CMS leaves you more choice, but the maintenance tasks then have to be shared out explicitly. Paying more does not automatically buy full freedom to export or customise.
Write down your requirements before you compare plans: brochure site, shop, client area, languages, forms, media volume, integrations. Then write down who works on the site week to week. A team with no system administrator does not have the same options as an organisation that can run and monitor a server.
Shared hosting can be perfectly adequate for a business site. A VPS or a dedicated server is not automatically faster or safer: it has to be configured, patched and watched. Ask precisely what the managed service covers, and where support stops being infrastructure and becomes your application.
Check compatibility beyond the WordPress logo
At the time of writing, WordPress recommends PHP 8.3 or greater, MariaDB 10.11 or MySQL 8.0, and HTTPS. That is a baseline for the environment only. Your theme and your plugins also have to work on the version you settle on, which is something you test on a copy rather than assume.
Check the official PHP supported versions calendar as well. An older site still running happily on an old branch is not evidence that the branch still receives security support from the PHP project. Ask which versions the host offers, how changes are announced, and whether you can roll back if a plugin breaks.
Then look at the operational limits, which is where otherwise identical plans differ most: memory, concurrent processes, database size, storage, file counts and the maximum execution time allowed for scheduled tasks. The word “unlimited” is almost always framed by a fair-use clause. A shop needs particular attention, because cart, checkout and account pages cannot be served from the same page cache as public pages. If a WordPress redesign is already on the table, settle the hosting requirements while the specification is still open.
Compare the full cost over the same period
Write down the introductory price, the renewal price, the tax treatment, the commitment length and the options you genuinely need. A discount conditional on paying three years up front is not the same product as a rolling monthly price. Add the domain, mailboxes, backups, restores, support and any overage charges, then compare like for like across the same number of months.
| Question to ask | Answer you need |
|---|---|
| What is paid once the promotion ends? | The renewal price for the same configuration, not the entry plan. |
| Are backups included? | Frequency, retention, where they are stored, and the cost of a restore. |
| Who maintains the site itself? | What the host does, what an agency does, what stays with you. |
| How do you leave? | Exports, access, notice period, fees and how long retrieval takes. |
| What does support cover? | Server incidents, CMS, plugins, and the hours cover actually applies. |
A domain that carries little traffic may still be handling email, redirects from an old brand or verification records. Check what it is used for before letting it lapse.
Measure performance on your own pages
A benchmark run on an empty test page describes almost nothing about a shop with its catalogue, its filters and its plugins. Test representative pages — a product page, a category page, a form — on mobile and on desktop, with the images and scripts that are really there. Keep server response time separate from the rest of the loading process.
If the site is slow today, find the cause before you migrate: oversized images, third-party scripts, slow database queries, a cache that does not apply to the pages that matter, or genuinely insufficient resources. Moving host fixes some of those and none of the others. A technical audit is usually cheaper than a year on a larger plan bought for the wrong reason.
Ask for a trial, or for a migration procedure that lets you check the result before DNS is changed. Serving from a location close to your visitors can help latency; network quality, caching and available resources matter just as much. The country of the server does not by itself guarantee performance.
Treat backup and restore as two separate checks
A backup that has never been restored is an assumption, not a safety net. Check that it contains both the files and the database, that you can retrieve it from outside the main hosting account, and that its frequency matches the amount of data you could afford to lose.
France’s data protection authority, the CNIL, publishes backup guidance whose principles travel well: copies should be protected, tested, and kept separate from the production site. Run a restore into an isolated environment, with outgoing email and payments disabled so the test cannot send real messages or trigger real transactions. Record who is allowed to start that restore, and how long it takes.
For a shop, restoring yesterday’s copy can erase the orders taken since. Decide in advance how you will reconcile transactions and customer records after an incident. That is a business decision, and no backup contract makes it for you. The same tension appears with a hacked WordPress site, where the clean copy and the most recent data are rarely the same copy.
Look at access, data and support
Keep the domain and hosting accounts in the company’s name, with individual logins for everyone who works on them. Turn on the protections offered, store credentials in a shared password manager rather than a spreadsheet, and keep a recovery procedure that more than one authorised person can follow. A supplier leaving should never leave your domain attached to somebody’s personal mailbox.
The CNIL also sets out the guarantees to look for in a processor: the contract, security measures, the chain of sub-processors and the effective location of the data. The same questions are worth asking under the UK GDPR. Find out where backups are held and from where support staff can reach your data. A data centre in one country does not rule out transfers further along the chain.
Before signing, send support a specific technical question — not “do you support WordPress”, but something like how they would handle a PHP rollback, or a database that has grown past the plan’s limit. Judge the clarity of the answer and the scope they accept. A chat widget is not evidence that an application-level incident will be resolved on a Sunday evening.
Read the reviews, then plan your exit
Comparison sites are a reasonable way to build a shortlist and a poor way to make the final decision. Check when the test was run, on which plan, and whether the links are commercial. Then take the shortlist back to each provider’s own documentation and terms. A score out of ten is not the contract you will be signing.
If you do migrate, inventory everything first: domains, mailboxes, DNS records, files, databases, scheduled tasks and any keys tied to the server. Take a protected copy, rebuild on the new host, test the functions that earn money, then plan the switchover and the rollback. The sequencing in our website redesign guide applies to a move as much as to a rebuild.
Keep the old service running while you check. Do not cancel because the home page renders — check email delivery, forms, payments, redirects and indexing coverage first.
A sound hosting decision comes down to a clear answer on four points: the plan suits the site, responsibilities are known, the data can be recovered, and the cost is still acceptable after the promotional period. It is an operating foundation, not a route to more sales or better rankings.
Common questions
Is a VPS always better than shared hosting?
No. A VPS needs administration, whether that is yours or a managed service you pay for. Compare the resources you actually need and how the maintenance is shared out, rather than the perceived status of the server type.
Does WordPress require the very latest version of PHP?
The official requirements page currently recommends PHP 8.3 or greater. Choose a branch that is still maintained and compatible with your theme and plugins, after testing on a copy. An upgrade should never be improvised in production.
Is a daily backup enough?
It depends on how often your data changes and how much loss you could absorb. Check what the backup contains, how it is protected and whether a restore actually works. An active shop often needs something more frequent for order data.
Does hosting inside the UK or the EU make me GDPR compliant?
No. You still need to look at the contract, the sub-processors, support access and any onward transfers. Where the server sits is one element of the file, not proof of compliance on its own.
Will changing host always make the site faster?
No. Separate server limits from images, scripts, plugins and slow queries. A diagnosis first avoids moving the same problem to a more expensive plan and being disappointed twice.
Can I cancel the old hosting as soon as the new site appears?
Wait until you have checked email, forms, payments, files, data and the DNS switchover. Keep a rollback path and a usable copy of the old site before you close the account, not after.