If you’re getting ready to buy web hosting, one of your first decisions will be choosing the right type of hosting for your site.

Different Types of Web Hosting

There are six primary types of web hosting you’ll come across:

  • Shared hosting: Your website shares server resources with other websites.
  • VPS (Virtual Private Server) hosting: You share a physical server but get a private virtual environment with allocated resources.
  • WordPress hosting: A hosting environment optimized specifically for running WordPress sites.
  • Dedicated hosting: Your website runs on its own physical server without sharing space with other sites.
  • Cloud hosting: Your site is hosted across a distributed network of servers, offering improved reliability and scalability.
  • Reseller hosting: You purchase server space and resell it to other users under your own brand.

It might sound complex, but only a few of these options make sense for most users. Let’s break them down one by one so you can choose confidently.

Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is hands-down the best choice for most people starting a website. If you’re not sure where to begin, start here. It’s the most affordable option and works well for small websites.

With shared hosting, your site runs on the same physical server as other sites. You all split the available resources—processing power, memory, and storage. This setup works fine for most websites, which don’t need an entire server to themselves.

This resource-sharing is what makes shared hosting so cost-effective. Hosting providers can support dozens (or hundreds) of websites per server, allowing them to offer extremely low prices.

However, that shared setup means your site’s performance can be affected by others on the same server. It’s rare, but if one site hogs server resources, it might cause slowdowns for others—including yours.

Think of shared hosting like renting an apartment with roommates. You each have your own room, but share the kitchen, bathroom, and utilities. If someone clogs the sink, it affects everyone.

There are two main limitations to shared hosting:

  • If another website on your server experiences a traffic surge, it could potentially impact your site’s speed or uptime. That said, it’s very uncommon—in nearly 20 years of using shared hosting, I’ve never had it happen personally.
  • Shared hosting providers place strict resource caps on things like bandwidth, storage, or number of sites per account. Once you hit those limits, you’ll have to upgrade to a higher-tier plan or switch to another type of hosting.

Shared hosting is inexpensive for a reason—but if you’re launching a blog or small business website, it’s a fantastic starting point.

Who is Shared Hosting For?

Shared hosting is ideal for beginners, bloggers, and small business owners. If you’re launching a new website or running one with fewer than 10,000 monthly visitors, this is probably all you need.

It’s affordable, easy to use, and doesn’t require technical expertise.

Pros of shared hosting:

  • Lowest-cost web hosting available
  • Quick and simple setup
  • No coding or server management required
  • Perfect for personal sites, blogs, and startups

Cons of shared hosting:

  • Limited ability to scale—high-traffic sites may eventually outgrow it
  • Rare chance that another site on your server could affect yours
  • Support options are usually limited to chat and email tickets

Best Shared Web Hosting Provider — Hostinger

Hostinger landing page

My top pick for shared hosting is Hostinger. I’ve personally used them for years and have consistently had a great experience. Their pricing is especially competitive if you’re willing to commit long-term—just $143.52 for four years of hosting.

Even after the promo period, the renewal price is still only $7.99/month, making it one of the most cost-effective options available. You’ll lock in savings upfront and avoid overpaying in the long run.

The performance has been excellent, I’ve never experienced major downtime, and migrating my site to Hostinger was simple. They also don’t nickel-and-dime you with surprise upsells—everything is transparent.

If I had to start over today, I’d absolutely go with Hostinger again.

VPS Hosting

VPS stands for “Virtual Private Server.” Like shared hosting, multiple websites are hosted on the same physical server—but unlike shared hosting, VPS hosting gives you your own private slice of that server with dedicated resources.

In the past, VPS was a solid middle-ground between shared and dedicated hosting. You’d upgrade to a VPS when your site needed more control, speed, and scalability than shared hosting could offer—without jumping to the higher costs of a dedicated server.

But in 2025, that middle-ground has largely been taken over by cloud and managed WordPress hosting. These modern options offer better speed, scalability, support, and value, often at similar or lower prices than a VPS.

Many VPS providers advertise low base rates—like $15 to $20/month—but be cautious. They often tack on extra fees for essentials like cPanel, automated backups, or basic security. Before you know it, you’re paying $40/month and locked into a multi-year contract.

With a quality WordPress or cloud host, you’ll usually get all those features bundled for around $20/month, plus better performance and support. And if you’re a developer or need full control, cloud hosting gives you far more flexibility than VPS can match.

Bottom line: VPS feels outdated in most situations. It’s less flexible than cloud hosting and offers fewer WordPress optimizations than managed WordPress plans. Unless you have very specific needs, it’s usually better to go with one of the newer options.

Who is VPS Hosting For?

VPS hosting is best for experienced website owners or developers who want more control over their server but aren’t quite ready for cloud or dedicated hosting. If you’re used to shared hosting and want more performance or server-level customization, VPS might be a good stepping stone.

Still, I’d encourage most users—even tech-savvy ones—to consider cloud hosting instead for more scalability and cost-efficiency.

VPS hosting pros:

  • Dedicated resources that aren’t shared with other sites
  • Greater customization and control of your server environment
  • More affordable than dedicated hosting

VPS hosting cons:

  • Not beginner-friendly; you’ll need some technical know-how
  • Can end up more expensive than WordPress hosting after add-ons
  • Less scalable and flexible than cloud hosting
  • Eventually you may need to migrate to a different hosting type anyway

Best VPS Hosting Provider — Hostinger

Hostinger VPS pricing

For VPS hosting, I recommend Hostinger—mainly because of their excellent pricing and performance. Their plans start at $4.99/month (billed for 24 months), which includes:

  • 4 GB RAM
  • 50 GB SSD storage
  • 4 TB bandwidth
  • Weekly backups
  • A dedicated IP address

Even when it renews at $7.99/month, it remains a great value. You can also go month-to-month at $9.99, which is still cheaper than many shared hosting plans after promotional periods expire.

If you’re comfortable managing your own server environment and want more control, Hostinger’s VPS plans give you serious value for the money.

WordPress Hosting

This one can be confusing, because there are actually two types of WordPress hosting:

  • Shared WordPress hosting: Standard shared hosting plans that support WordPress. Most shared hosts today include 1-click WordPress installation.
  • Managed WordPress hosting: Hosting environments built specifically and exclusively for WordPress. You get enhanced performance, support, and features tailored for WordPress sites.

When we refer to “WordPress hosting,” we usually mean managed WordPress hosting. These platforms are built to optimize the WordPress experience from the ground up—and the benefits are significant:

  • Faster performance: Servers are fine-tuned for WordPress, often including built-in caching and CDN integration.
  • Stronger security: Hosts monitor for WordPress-specific vulnerabilities and often include firewalls and malware protection out of the box.
  • Automatic updates: Many managed WordPress hosts update core files and plugins automatically to keep your site secure and running smoothly.
  • WordPress-optimized support: Customer support teams specialize in helping WordPress users specifically.

The catch? Managed WordPress hosting costs more. Plans often start around $20/month. But for the added peace of mind, speed, and support, many site owners find it well worth the price.

Who is WordPress Hosting For?

Managed WordPress hosting is best for:

  • People building large blogs, business websites, or content-heavy sites
  • Anyone who values convenience and is willing to pay a bit more for a better experience

You can still install WordPress on shared hosting (and many people do). But if you’re willing to pay $20/month instead of $5/month, managed hosting can make your life easier and your site more secure and stable.

WordPress hosting pros:

  • Top-tier performance and faster loading speeds
  • Stronger security tailored for WordPress
  • Hands-off maintenance with automatic updates and backups
  • Expert support from WordPress-savvy technicians

WordPress hosting cons:

  • More expensive—expect to pay $20/month or more
  • You’re limited to using WordPress only—other CMS platforms are not supported

Best WordPress Hosting Provider — WP Engine

WP Engine hosting pricing

I’m a big fan of WP Engine—and we actually use it here at Quick Sprout. It’s not the cheapest option, but it’s one of the most reliable and feature-rich managed WordPress hosts available today.

Plans start at $20/month (billed annually), or $30/month with monthly billing. That may seem steep, but for a high-traffic blog or serious business site, the investment quickly pays for itself.

What makes WP Engine worth the price:

  • Industry-leading performance and uptime for WordPress
  • Powerful tools for developers and site managers, like staging environments and Git integrations
  • Effortless scalability—plans grow with your traffic
  • Truly excellent customer support—some of the best I’ve had with any tech product

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated hosting gives you full access to your own physical server. You don’t share resources with any other website—everything is yours to configure, customize, and control.

Before cloud infrastructure became dominant, dedicated hosting was the go-to solution for scaling large websites. As traffic grew, you’d move from shared to VPS to dedicated servers—and eventually start managing multiple physical servers if needed.

Today, most developers skip dedicated servers entirely in favor of cloud hosting. Cloud providers let you scale instantly without hardware limitations. You’re not stuck with one physical machine—you can spin up more resources on demand.

That’s why many web hosts have begun phasing out dedicated server plans. For most scaling needs, cloud hosting is simply more flexible, reliable, and efficient. Every developer I know runs their sites in the cloud; many have never touched a dedicated server.

Still, dedicated hosting has niche use cases—especially when you need complete control over the server hardware itself.

Who is Dedicated Hosting For?

If your organization needs full control over the hardware—say, for compliance, performance isolation, or data sensitivity—dedicated hosting might be worth it. You’re physically isolated from other customers, which can reduce risk in high-security scenarios.

It also appeals to hardcore sysadmins and engineers who want direct access to every layer of the stack, from OS to hardware. If you’re the type who loves Linux, RAID configurations, and bare-metal optimization, dedicated hosting could be your thing.

Dedicated hosting pros:

  • Maximum control over server setup and configuration
  • No performance impact from other websites
  • Highly customizable for specialized or legacy systems

Dedicated hosting cons:

  • Requires advanced technical knowledge
  • Harder to scale—moving to a new server requires manual migration
  • Risk of downtime if your physical server fails

Best Dedicated Hosting Provider — DreamHost

Dreamhost shopping cart page to configure your plan and sign up

DreamHost strikes a good balance between performance, support, and pricing for dedicated hosting. Their entry-level plan starts at $149/month—more than shared or cloud options, but competitive for dedicated environments.

They also stand out for transparency. Many hosting companies obscure renewal rates and charge extra for basic features. DreamHost is clear about what you get—and it’s a solid value. You’ll get:

  • Full root access
  • Ubuntu Linux, Node.js, Ruby, and more
  • Choice of SSD or HDD storage
  • 24/7 support and 100% uptime guarantee

If you truly need a dedicated server, DreamHost offers a modern, no-gimmick experience at a fair price point.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting is the most modern and scalable type of hosting available. Instead of relying on a single physical server, your website runs on a distributed network of virtual servers—”the cloud.”

This approach allows your site to tap into resources from multiple machines, automatically adjusting to traffic spikes, performance needs, or downtime. It’s more flexible, reliable, and often more affordable per resource than traditional hosting.

Cloud hosting takes the same infrastructure that powers AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud and tailors it for website hosting. You pay for exactly the resources you use—CPU, RAM, storage, bandwidth—and can scale up or down instantly.

The biggest advantages of cloud hosting are:

  • Pay-as-you-go pricing: No need to overpay for unused capacity. You’re billed for actual usage.
  • Scalability: Instantly increase server resources as your site grows.
  • High availability: Since your site isn’t tied to a single server, it can recover quickly from hardware failures or outages.
  • Complete control: Developers can configure their hosting environment exactly how they want it.

The only drawback is that cloud hosting requires technical expertise. It’s not designed for beginners—you’ll be managing server configurations, updates, and security on your own unless you use a managed cloud host.

Who is Cloud Hosting For?

If you’re a developer or run a high-performance website, cloud hosting is the gold standard. It offers better scalability and control than VPS or dedicated hosting—and it’s ideal for businesses with in-house technical teams or engineering-heavy operations.

It’s also perfect for SaaS apps, ecommerce sites, and agencies that want freedom to customize everything without the limits of shared or managed hosting plans.

There are a couple of cases where cloud hosting might not be the best choice, even for engineers:

  • For large content sites (especially those using WordPress), managed WordPress hosting is often more efficient.
  • For ecommerce stores, using a dedicated ecommerce platform will save you time and technical overhead.

Cloud hosting pros:

  • Flexible pricing—you only pay for what you use
  • Instant scalability for traffic spikes
  • Highly customizable hosting environment
  • Built for high-performance websites and applications

Cloud hosting cons:

  • Not beginner-friendly; requires server management knowledge
  • Costs can fluctuate unpredictably with traffic spikes
  • More hands-on work for WordPress or ecommerce sites unless you use a managed provider

Best Cloud Hosting Provider — Cloudways

Cloudways cloud hosting landing page

Cloudways is my top pick for cloud hosting. Owned by DigitalOcean, Cloudways gives you access to leading cloud providers like AWS, Google Cloud, and DigitalOcean, but with an easy-to-use management dashboard and support team.

It’s designed for developers, agencies, and startups that want the performance of cloud hosting without the hassle of provisioning and securing everything themselves. You retain full control while offloading tedious configuration work.

Pricing is resource-based. You pay for RAM, CPU, storage, and bandwidth—starting as low as $11/month. You can scale your plan as your site grows and never worry about traffic spikes breaking your budget.

Cloudways is ideal for side projects, SaaS apps, custom CMS websites, and engineering teams that want a smarter cloud hosting stack.

Reseller Hosting

Reseller hosting lets you buy server resources in bulk and resell them under your own brand. It’s popular with agencies and web designers who want to offer clients hosting bundled with their services.

For example, if you run a marketing agency that builds websites, you can offer hosting as an add-on and manage everything for your clients from one dashboard. This gives you recurring revenue and keeps clients from wandering off to another host.

That said, reseller hosting isn’t always worth the trouble. Web hosting is a competitive, low-margin business. Between client support, uptime issues, and billing headaches, your profit can disappear fast—especially if you’re supporting small clients paying $10/month.

I’ve done it myself. While I made money managing websites for a few freelance clients, the occasional emergency (like a server going down at 2 AM) quickly wiped out my profit. I was relieved when I finally moved my last client off my server.

If you’re still curious, we’ve reviewed the best reseller hosting providers to help you explore your options.

Who is Reseller Hosting For?

Reseller hosting is best for agencies, developers, and designers who manage client websites and want to centralize that management under their own infrastructure. If you’re already providing ongoing maintenance or design work, adding hosting could be a natural upsell.

Just be sure to calculate your support time. If you’re constantly dealing with technical issues, it may not be worth the extra revenue unless you charge appropriately.

Reseller hosting pros:

  • Creates a new revenue stream from existing clients
  • Helps you offer full-service website management
  • Gives you centralized access to all your clients’ hosting accounts

Reseller hosting cons:

  • Support obligations can eat into your time and profits
  • Responsibility for uptime and site issues falls on you
  • You or your team may be on call 24/7 if clients depend on your hosting

Best Reseller Hosting Provider — A2 Hosting

A2 reseller hosting landing page

A2 Hosting is a great option if you want to explore reseller hosting. They offer white-label accounts, so clients see your branding—not theirs. You also get:

  • Integrated client billing tools
  • Free SSL certificates
  • Automated backups
  • Scalable plans as your client base grows
  • 24/7 support for resellers

Their entry-level plan starts at $17.99/month with a 12-month commitment. It supports up to 30 client accounts, so you’ll need a few active customers to cover your own costs.

If you can charge $20/month per client and offer some value-added services—like custom support or WordPress maintenance—you can make it work. But you’ll need to deliver consistent quality to justify your rates.