Some of these services don't offer as much customer support as the best services, don't offer as many security features or lack an uptime guarantee. You still might find a service that works for you.
Hosting.com (formerly A2 Hosting)
Hosting.com (formerly A2 Hosting) is an independent web host that offers both managed and unmanaged WordPress hosting. WordPress hosting plans from Hosting.com come with pre-installed WordPress and a suite of performance plugins designed to monitor and improve site speed. These plans also include marketing plugins like All In One SEO and Optin Monster.
All Hosting.com plans run on Turbo servers, which use a mix of LiteSpeed-enhanced servers and proprietary caching methods that theoretically improve site speeds. During testing, however, I discovered that Hosting.com's servers were actually sluggish compared to other hosts like Hostinger and SiteGround. My Hosting.com site also experienced five minutes of downtime during my week of testing, more than most of the hosts I've tested.
Hosting.com offers great security, ranging from the standard SSL certification and firewall protection to advanced malware scanning and 24/7 security monitoring. Automated backups are also included on managed WordPress hosting plans.
Unfortunately, I encountered significant issues when re-testing Hosting.com, including a convoluted purchase process and difficulties reaching customer service. While some of the usability issues I experienced with cPanel and WordPress setup on the basic plan may not apply to the WordPress hosting plans -- which use the Enhance panel, an alternative to cPanel -- this experience makes me hesitant to recommend Hosting.com to WordPress users.
Read our Hosting.com review
HostPapa
HostPapa is a Canadian web hosting company with plans available in numerous currencies, including CAD, Euros and the Australian dollar. In fact, the option to pay in Canadian dollars is one of the primary reasons I chose HostPapa -- it’s the company I’ve used for my personal websites since 2019, and I’ve had an overall positive experience working with its user dashboard and customer service agents. I also appreciate the availability of Canadian servers through HostPapa. However, there's only one server in Europe and none in Asia or Australia, so HostPapa's not an ideal choice for other international users.
HostPapa offers robust WordPress hosting plans with features like pre-installed WordPress and Jetpack (a popular plugin for optimizing your site). The WordPress installer helps you select a theme and plugins suitable for your site during initial setup and, once you’re set up, HostPapa will conduct updates to the core CMS -- and plugins on certain plans -- for you.
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