Category: Web Development

  • Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder: Which is the best visual builder for web developers?

    Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder: Which is the best visual builder for web developers?

    When it comes to developers tool for web designing, both Thrive Architect and Divi Builder are receive equal shares of likes (and dislikes).

    The biggest question would be – which is the better choice for website developers? Which tool is a better option for designing websites faster, more effective and most importantly, cost efficient?

    Let’s dive into the comparison of both Thrive Architect and Divi Builder, and ultimately deciding which is the best for website designing projects.

    What is Thrive Architect?

    Thrive Architect Review

    Previously known as Thrive Content Builder, Thrive Architect is a WordPress editor that allows you to customize any WordPress website in real time.

    Thrive Architect is a standalone WordPress editor plugin and it is also apart of the Thrive Themes plugins when you sign up for the Thrive Themes membership.

    Read more about Thrive Themes membership here.

    What is Divi Builder?

    divi 3.0 review

    Divi Builder is pretty similar to Thrive Architect in many ways and the most visible one is the WordPress drag and drop editor. Divi Builder isn’t that popular compared to Thrive Content Builder (on papers) for many reasons.

    One of the main reasons is of course, due to the indirect competition from Divi 3. Divi 3 (or Divi 3.x) is a WordPress theme builder that allows website developers to build website faster and more efficient.

    Read more about Divi from Elegant Themes here.

    Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder: Which is better for a web developer?

    This is a tough call, but let’s compare them side by side, shall we?

    1. Visual builder

    When comparing Thrive Architect vs Divi, both are pretty close in terms of functionality. This is how you can use Thrive Architect for building custom WordPress designs.

    thrive architect font customizationthrive architect hover effectcustomize buttons using thrive architectthrive architect attention grabbing elementsthrive architect column layoutthrive architect customize width

    Using Thrive Architect, you can customize everything under one roof using the super intuitive visual builder. Thrive Architect is green in colour and I think that gives a nice view for the eyes as it is not overly empowering after a long usage.

    On the other hand, Divi Theme Builder is also a greta choice in visual building tool. It works similar to Thrive Architect in many ways — and I know it is one of the most popular developer’s visual builder tool for many.

    divi 3.0 drag and drop website buildercheap drag and drop website builder 2018divi 3.0 reviewdivi customization feature review

    Divi Theme is considered more robust especially with the functionality that you will get in just a few clicks. Take a look at the image above and judge for yourself!

    2. Speed — Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder

    Speed is all about efficiency and which is faster? If you are using a shared web hosting service, website loading speed should definitely be your top concern!

    Lucky for you, both Thrive Architect and Divi Builder are both very effective in terms of website loading speed.

    But make no mistake — both of these visual builder can easily create massive page size which affects your loading speed. Therefore, I highly recommend you to use elements that you really need to reduce the webpage size.

    The clear winner for for speed is Thrive Architect as it comes with a nice ‘Remove Theme CSS’ which helps improve the website loading speed. Take a look at this video to under how this option is implemented.

    3. WordPress support — Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder

    Last but not least, developers are going to have a massive head if there is no support for the visual builder tool.

    On the surface, both Thrive Architect and Divi Builder comes with unlimited support (as long as you are paying for the tools). When deciding on support level, my bet goes to Thrive Architect as the support forum is massive. Click here to see their forum.

    Thrive support team are working around the clock to answer all the questions you had in mind and that is a feature worth mentioning. Compared to Divi Builder, they have a support forum but it is not as great as compared to Thrive’s in many ways (feel, support level, activeness of the forum etc.).

    4. Pricing — Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder

    Last but not least, pricing is all that matters, right, right?

    How much does Thrive Architect costs?

    The smallest plan starts at $67 for a single website and a full year support.

    how much is thrive architect

    In terms of pricing, you can also consider getting Thrive Themes membership that comes with 10 premium Thrive Themes and 9 Thrive plugins including Thrive Architect. Read more about Thrive Membership here or see the pricing table below.

    thrive membership for website developers

    As a website developer, signing up for Thrive membership is definitely the best bet money can buy (and it’s really affordable too!).

    Get the latest Thrive Membership discount here.

    Divi Builder on the other hand is priced differently and very attractively (I got to say).

    divi 3.0 pricing

    Divi Builder or Divi 3.0 pricing is indeed very interesting. For only $89 per year or $249 one time payment for lifetime access are definitely more interesting compared to Thrive Themes (or Thrive Architect) in anyway!

    Unlike Thrive, Divi does not limit you to how many websites and domains you can use. Therefore, you are to use it as much as possible and this means unlimited usages to all Elegant Themes WordPress themes and plugins.

    Check out the latest discount or try Divi Builder for free here.

    Thrive Architect vs Divi Builder — Which is better for web developers?

    This is a tough call. On one hand, Thrive Architect and Thrive Membership comes with massive features and benefits which web developers can leverage almost instantly. On another hand, Divi Builder comes with a simple pricing structure which is very interesting especially for freelance web developers who are on a budget.

    Click on the buttons below to choose your option now!

    What do you think? Leave a comment below and tell me what you think!

  • Two Tools To Create Custom WordPress Design (Without Hiring Developers)

    Two Tools To Create Custom WordPress Design (Without Hiring Developers)

    Custom WordPress design is eye-popping, head turning and above everything, awesome. However, the process of creating custom WordPress theme is long-winded and expensive.

    If you don’t have coding skills, you are going to spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars in hiring web developers to get the job done for you. And that if you are able to find the right web developer.

    Headache, headache and more headache.

    In this article, you are going to discover how to create custom WordPress design without hiring developers (and spending a lot of money).

    What tools do you really need?

    Let’s face it. There are many fancy tools you can have in your arsenal but the truth is, you only need one — WordPress visual builder as what we call it.

    What is WordPress visual builder?

    A WordPress visual builder is a drag and drop website builder (some call it visual frontend site editor) that allows you to drop different elements on a WordPress post or page without using a single line of code. At the same time, visual frontend editor allows you to customize the site design at real time. Thus, changes are immediately visible which is known as what you see is what you get (WYSIWYG).

    But there are so(ooo) many options!

    Choosing the right WordPress visual editor is a challenging task. To make your task easier, here are the only two tools you should be using to create custom WordPress designs.

    Option 1: Divi Theme Builder

    Divi is a powerful WordPress editor that allows beginners and advanced users to build custom designs without coding skills.

    This is what I mean.

    divi 3.0 drag and drop website builderdivi 3.0 reviewcheap drag and drop website builder 2018

    Years back, building WordPress website designs requires a lot of coding works including HTML and CSS.

    Building a website design from scratch would take days if not weeks — not to forget the massive manhours needed to check the codes and testing.

    Yes, those are no fun at all.

    html css to build custom wordpress design

    With the birth of WordPress website builders such as Divi, creating custom website design is no longer a hassle. As a matter of fact, it can be done and completed in a very short time (without breaking your neck or budget).

    Divi backend system is extremely easy to use (big kudos to the guys behind it — Elegant Themes).

    These are just some of the element options you can use to create your ultimate WordPress design.

    divi elements

    It’s a massive list, right?

    Click here to learn more about Divi by Elegant Themes.

    Option 2: Thrive Architect

    The beauty of Thrive Architect is the pricing (apart from similar features with Divi).

    While Divi is build up entirely as a theme, Thrive Architect is a plugin and is compatible with most WordPress themes available on the market.

    The advantages using Thrive Architect is that it is able to integrate with most themes, including popular ones such as StudioPress child themes. As I know that you probably have some theme installed, changing theme including widget areas could be time consuming.

    If you are looking for a quick solution, Thrive Architect is definitely your best bet here. You can build both WordPress posts and pages using Thrive Architect.

    fast loading speed

    One of the best advantages using Thrive Architect is the ability to important demo content. At this point of time, there are over 100 different templates that you can choose from and installing them with just one click. No coding, nothing.

    choose real estate landing pages demo

    Thrive Architect comes with over 100 landing page templates, including homepage and blog post templates.

    Just like Divi, Thrive Architect allows you to modify anything and everything when creating custom WordPress designs without using a single line of code.

    thrive architect font customizationthrive architect customize widththrive architect hover effectcustomize buttons using thrive architectthrive architect attention grabbing elementsthrive architect column layout

    Lastly, Thrive Architect is very light and therefore, it is not going to affect your website loading speed in anyway. The plugin also offers options such as removing theme CSS is a huge plus in making the page loads faster.

    Watch this video to see how it is done.

    Like what you see?

    Click here to learn more about Thrive Architect.

    Summary: How To Create Custom WordPress Design (Without Hiring Developers)

    Website builders such as Divi and Thrive Architect helps you to create custom WordPress designs fast and without those messy codes. Plus, you can now save a huge portion of the money as you can create your own design without hiring freelance website developers!

  • How To Create A Beautiful Single Page WordPress Websites?

    How To Create A Beautiful Single Page WordPress Websites?

    Single page WordPress website is getting really popular nowadays. Everyone been talking about it and even using it.

    What is a single page WordPress website?

    A single page WordPress website displays all the essential features of your website on the home page. It makes easy for the users to get all the required information within a single page.

    Single page WordPress website taking the hit as a popular option because it is easy to setup with the right WordPress tools.

    How does a single page WordPress website looks like?

    single page WordPress website

    Pretty cool, right? Single page WordPress website is best for website owners who doesn’t have the time for constant updating and would like to feature all the information under one page (for better user experience).

    However, single page WordPress website can be long and boring. Here’s how you can create single page WordPress website that looks great to the eyes and convert visitors into customers.

    How to create beautiful single page WordPress website?

    The first step is to use the right tool — in this case, I highly recommend using Thrive Architect to create single page WordPress website.

    Click on the play button to learn how you can create beautiful single page WordPress website using Thrive Architect.

    Should you be using a single page WordPress website?

    If you are running a business website, I see no reason why you shouldn’t be using it.

    A single page WordPress website is easy to create and manage. Plus, you can save thousands of dollars from hiring web developers and replace the entire process with a flexible do-it-yourself using Thrive Architect.

    BONUS: Looking for Thrive Architect discount? Sign up for Thrive Membership for only $19 per month and get saving up to $500 a year! You can also read about the Thrive Membership review here.

  • How do I reduce website loading time?

    How do I reduce website loading time?

    I like to believe that bloggers are cursed. Please allow me to explain myself (before you decide to throw rotten eggs at me).

    We are website owners who probably love to write (that’s why we blog) and at the same time, making money online. We bootstrap everything – from buying a domain to choosing the best web hosting service.

    While all of those are important, there’s something even more important … website loading speed.

    Ask any blogger and I’m sure that they are always thinking “How do I reduce website loading speed?”

    how do I reduce website loading time

    As a blogger myself, I love to have my website loads at super fast speed.

    If possible, I want it to load under 1 second!

    Too much to ask? No really.

    In this article, I’ll share some quick ways you can reduce website loading time.

    1. Use the right web hosting service

    If you are looking for the best free web hosting service, nothing come close to 000webhost (click this link to try it out).

    When it comes to web hosting, and website loading speed, what you pay is what you will get. You can start by choosing a web hosting service that offers great uptime and zero tolerance overselling the server.

    Want to reduce website loading time? Spend a little bit more and get managed WordPress hosting services such as WP Engine and Kinsta. Trust me, you can thank me later!

    WordPress Speed Test

    2. Plugins will impact the website loading time

    Do you know that the more plugins you have installed on the site, the slower your website will loads?

    plugin affects loading speed

    Generally speaking, plugins will have a dear impact on your website loading time. Therefore, uninstall (not just deactivate them) any plugins that you no longer in use.

    If your website is still taking a long time to load, run the P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler) plugin test to determine the plugin that is taking the longest time to load.

    3. Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) service

    CDN allows you to serve static content faster and more efficiently. This ensures that your website will take a shorter time to load and overall, this is going to impact your website loading speed.

    CloudFlare is a great free CDN service that you need to use to have a faster website loading speed.

    Want an improve website loading speed?

    Make your website load faster by using CloudFlare Page Rules. Read this guide for further information.

    4. Optimize images to reduce loading time

    Optimizing images may be a challenging task but trust me, it is worth it especially when you are looking for ways to reduce website loading time.

    An optimized image takes a short time to pull it from the server and cumulatively, it will make your website loads faster.

    You should optimize your images using WP Smush or image optimization using LiteSpeed cache.

    5. Use clean WordPress theme

    A good WordPress theme is going to help a lot, especially when it comes to website loading speed.

    SpeedTest_Thrive_Themes

    If you are serious in reducing the website loading time, consider using WordPress themes that are optimized for speed. WordPress themes such as Thrive Themes and StudioPress are great options to start with.

    6. WordPress Content Builders?

    Do you know that WordPress content builder can harm your site, especially when it comes to website loading time?

    There are many website builder in the market today but sadly, only a few are really working to provide user-ability, flexibility and performance (website loading speed).

    Website builder such as Thrive Architect and Divi are excellent options if you are serious in improving website loading time. These website builders allow you to control and manage the number of elements on a page, thus giving your website a faster loading speed.

    As they are light and well coded, you don’t don’t have to worry that these website builders will increase your loading time. 

    divi 3.0 drag and drop website builder

    So, you can customize your site easily and without worry.

    7. Scale your web hosting service

    Last but not least, consider spending a little bit more money on web hosting services.

    For example, using an optimized shared hosting would easily give me a 1.37 seconds loading speed.

    fast website loading speed

    Website loading speed using Host With Me hosting plan

    Spending a little bit more (approximately $15 per month) by using managed WordPress hosting such as WP Engine or Kinsta will ensure that my website loads under 1 second.

    kinsta website loading speedhow fast is kinsta

    The reason behind this is simple. Most managed WordPress hosting services come with content delivery network feature and optimized servers. With the right setup, you can easily reduce the website loading time dramatically (and without using a single line of code).

    What is Host With Me?

    Host With Me is a web hosting service created by me and currently managed by Hostingify.com. It is an optimized web hosting service that offers flexibility, affordability and excellent support, 365 days a year. Find out more here.

    Summary: How do I reduce website loading time?

    If you want to manage a successful blog, the first step is to make sure your website is loading at optimal speed. In other words, reducing website loading time must be your utmost concern.

    I hope you find these seven steps effective in helping you to reduce website loading time.

  • Kinsta WordPress Hosting Review 2018: How good is Kinsta?

    Kinsta WordPress Hosting Review 2018: How good is Kinsta?

    When it comes to managed WordPress hosting, big names such as WP Engine and FlyWheel will be the first in your mind. I recently came across Kinsta and I realized that there aren’t many Kinsta WordPress hosting reviews out there.

    You see, I have a thing for web hosting and I love trying out new hosting services. Yes, I tried out Kinsta by hosting my new project, Hostingify and I was instantly hooked! Of course, more on that later.

    Let’s go right into the introduction and the review, shall we?

    What is Kinsta WordPress hosting?

    Here’s a fact — Kinsta isn’t the most popular WordPress hosting in town because there are other big players in the industry who are offering better prices.

    So, what Kinsta did was simple. They revamped their pricing strategy and makes it more affordable for people like you and me.

    Kinsta doesn’t only offer WordPress hosting, they are the first of its kind to offer managed WordPress hosting on Google Cloud Platform. As a result, your website will load faster (like seriously fast).

    Premium WordPress hosting for everyone, small or large

    Kinsta is a managed WordPress hosting provider where we take care of all your needs regarding your website. We run our services on cutting edge technology and take support seriously. View Kinsta plans here.

    Kinsta WordPress Hosting Review

    Why should I be using Kinsta WordPress hosting? Continue reading to find out more!

    What does Kinsta offers?

    Just like any other managed WordPress hosting, Kinsta offers a nice set of features which will make your website management life much easier.

    kinsta managed hosting features

    Kinsta managed WordPress hosting comes with several plans, and each of the plan comes with specific features such as security, fast loading speed and daily backups.

    Kinsta offers a worry-free managed hosting so that you can leave all the website hosting matters to Kinsta — and focus on your business.

    Kinsta offers reliability, performance and security under one roof. It’s custom-built infrastructure along with Google Cloud Platform allows websites to load at blazing fast speed and scalability.

    Kinsta WordPress hosting review: How fast is Kinsta?

    When I choose a web host, my biggest concern is the speed and I will test it out to ensure that my site is loading fast (thus, happier website visitors).

    In this Kinsta WordPress hosting review, I believe it is only fair for me to include my speed test results using Kinsta.

    I started with a brand new website and installed the basic theme, along with three plugins (Hello Dolly, Akismet and Jetpack).

    kinsta website loading speed

    0.7 seconds website loading speed tested on GTMetrix

    how fast is kinsta

    550 ms (0.55 seconds) website loading speed tested on Pingdom

    W-O-W!

    I know a lot of shared web hosting in the market is not able to perform at this speed. Sure, you may debate that the page size is smaller than most standard websites but website loading speed under 1 second is definitely something to shout about.

    How to setup website on Kinsta?

    Setting up a website is always the hardest part. With Kinsta managed WordPress hosting, you can easily migrate websites to Kinsta or create a brand new one from scratch.

    Follow these steps to get started on Kinsta.

    1. Getting started on Kinsta

    Kinsta dashboard is the first thing you will see when you login to the backend.

    kinsta dashboard

    Kinsta management dashboard is beautiful and it is very easy to use. You need to click on the “Add Website” button to add your first website to Kinsta managed WordPress hosting.

    This is what you will see after clicking on the “Add Website” button.

    how to add website to Kinsta hosting

    2. Creating a new account and choosing the datacenter

    The next step is to create a new account for your site. This is what it looks like by default.

    how to add new site to Kinsta

    Kinsta runs on Google Cloud Platform. Therefore, you can easily choose different datacenters closest to your target audience.

    where is Kinsta datacenters

    You can choose to host your website from 15 different datacenters around the world

    The next step is to name the instance, selecting the custom domain option and the decision on installing WordPress to your site’s account.

    Kinsta WordPress hosting review

    Note from the editor

    Do not forget to select “Add a brand new WordPress install” if you are adding a fresh website to your Kinsta account.

    3. Describe your new site

    kinsta hosting review

    Enter the details of your new site and you can select additional options such as multisite, installing WooCommerce and installing Yoast SEO plugin by default.

    Once the setup is done, click on the “Add” button Kinsta will automatically create the new site for you. This is what you will see.

    creating new site on Kinsta

    4. Migrating website to Kinsta

    Already have a website and want to migrate to Kinsta?

    Use Kinsta free migration service to migrate your site over!

    free kinsta migration service

    Every new Kinsta account is entitle for one free migration. If you need help migrating your site to Kinsta, you can request the free migration service through the Kinsta management dashboard.

    5. Kinsta DNS

    This Kinsta managed WordPress hosting review is not complete without mentioning Kinsta DNS service.

    What is Kinsta DNS and how it works? See the image below.

    what is Kinsta DNS

    Using Kinsta DNS is a great way to make sure your website connection is always safe and reduce the chances of server downtime.

    Kinsta review

    It is recommended for you to use Kinsta DNS

    how to change DNS record on Kinsta

    Changing record is important to use Kinsta DNS

    change A record on Kinsta hosting

    Changing A record using Kinsta DNS

    change CNAME record on Kinsta hosting

    How to change CNAME record using Kinsta DNS

    6. Kinsta Content Delivery Network (Kinsta CDN)

    Once your website is propagated correctly to Kinsta DNS, the best way to speed up your site is through enabling Kinsta CDN. Kinsta CDN is a free service that comes with all Kinsta packages.

    Kinsta CDn

    Kinsta Managed WordPress Hosting Review

    Once you have finished all the steps above, you have successfully create a new site (or add a site) to your Kinsta hosting.

    But wait, that’s not all!

    Kinsta managed WordPress hosting comes with several features which are extremely important.

    kinsta managed wordpress hosting review

    As you can see above, there are several options in the Tools segment including:

    • 1-click site cache purge
    • Free SSL certificate using Let’s Encrypt
    • Selection of PHP Engine
    • Restarting the PHP Engine
    • Integration with New Relic for website monitoring
    • Search and Replace tool (so you don’t need to mess the database)

    I love the way user interface and friendliness of the Kinsta management system or dashboard as it makes is super easy for beginners to manage their websites.

    Backup and restore easily using Kinsta

    Kinsta allows you to easily manage all your backups through a simple, single platform.

    Kinsta Daily Backup

    Kinsta redirect rule (as easy as 1, 2 and 3)

    Need to do a redirection from www to non-www, or vice versa? You can easily do so using Kinsta redirect rule option!

    kinsta redirect rule

    This is the sample of how I redirect from www to non-www using Kinsta

    Kinsta plugin updater

    This is where Kinsta shine as no other managed WordPress hosting offers this feature. 

    kinsta plugin updater

    You can easily update and manage all your website plugins on Kinsta website management dashboard. This is extremely useful if you are managing multiple websites at the same time.

    Kinsta staging environment

    Last but not least, Kinsta staging environment puts Kinsta on par with major managed WordPress hosting providers such as WP Engine.

    You can easily create and clone websites on Kinsta with just a few clicks — You don’t have to worry that you break the side or simply for testing purposes.

    kinsta staging environment

    Kinsta Managed WordPress Hosting Pricing

    How much does Kinsta managed WordPress hosting costs? The smallest plan starts at $30 per month that comes with all the features such as Kinsta DNS and Kinsta CDN.

    You can see the full pricing table here.

    kinsta pricing

    Kinsta Managed WordPress Hosting Review: Is Kinsta worth it?

    Being a competitive and demanding website owners, I got to admit that Kinsta certainly ‘wows’ me in certain ways. As a matter of fact, I’m surprised with the server performance by Kinsta as well as the support level of the crew.

    If you are looking for a managed WordPress hosting that is affordable and powerful, take a look at Kinsta and see what it can do for you today!

  • Web Hosting Today: How Much Should I Pay for Web Hosting?

    Web Hosting Today: How Much Should I Pay for Web Hosting?

    If I’m new to the blogging industry, my first thought would be how much should I pay for web hosting before going through other questions such as how much can I make from blogging and how to find relevant keywords to rank on Google.

    In this article, I’ll share with you some simple guidelines in terms of web hosting pricing, so that you won’t get cheated or disappointed.

    How Much Should I Pay for Web Hosting?

    The different types of web hosting (and pricing)

    Web hosting comes in many forms and here are the most common ones that you will come across.

    • Shared hosting
    • Semi-dedicated hosting
    • Managed hosting
    • Virtual Private Server (VPS)
    • Dedicated hosting
    • Cloud hosting

    Let’s go deep into each of them, and how much you should be paying for them monthly.

    Shared Hosting

    Shared hosting or shared web hosting is the most common and cheapest hosting package you can find in the market.

    Shared hosting is best for beginners who are just starting out in the blogging industry and doesn’t require much server performance.

    Question: How much should I pay for shared hosting?

    On average, you will be paying anywhere between $2 to $15 per month. Major web hosting companies such as BlueHost offers shared hosting as low as $2.99 per month.

    As shared hosting is the lowest tier in the hosting world, you can easily start a blog on a shared web hosting without burning a hole in your wallet.

    Question: How to choose the best shared hosting service?

    Do not be tempted with the super low price for shared web hosting services. Low prices often results in overselling the server (cramping 10x more customers into a server than what the server can take) which leads to massive performance issues such as server uptime.

    Only bad web hosting companies will oversell the servers to maximize the profit. Paying a few dollars extra every month for shared web hosting could easily give you peaceful sleep at night and close to zero downtime. And if you are looking for a good web hosting service, I recommend using my own shared hosting service here, Host With Me with 60 days money back guarantee (no questions asked).

    Semi-dedicated hosting

    Only a handful of web hosting companies like this one offer semi-dedicated package. Semi-dedicated hosting is very popular especially for website owners who are not entirely newbie/beginner and would prefer a stronger server to manage the traffic.

    Semi-dedicated web hosting is best for website owners who doesn’t want a sardine-packed server which will affects the website performance (loading speed).

    Question: How much should I pay for semi-dedicated web hosting?

    Semi-dedicated web hosting will costs you around $15 to $25 per month. You are still using a shared web hosting environment but you will be in an environment where there is lesser accounts which helps a lot in terms of website security and server performance.

    Question: How to choose the best semi-dedicated web hosting?

    For me, it is all about the reviews and performance. If you are looking for a good semi-dedicated web hosting, HostWithLove (starts at only $14.93 per month) is the best in the market in terms of performance, pricing and stellar support.

    Do you really need a semi-dedicated web hosting?

    Probably not. If you are using a good shared web hosting, it is much cheaper (affordable) and much similar to other performance metrics such as uptime and support.

    Not sure where to start? Try this web hosting service for only $6.99 per month and with 60-days money back guarantee!

    Managed Hosting

    Managed hosting is popular, and I mean P-O-P-U-L-A-R especially for enterprise and medium/big websites.

    Managed hosting is often the best option for you if you are geeky, dead serious about website performance and security matters.

    Examples of managed hosting are managed WordPress hosting and managed Magento hosting.

    Managed hosting (for example managed WordPress hosting) comes with WordPress optimized environment (shared) and virtual private servers (VPS or dedicated servers).

    Question: How much should I pay for managed hosting services?

    Managed hosting services are often priced at a higher range and you should be expecting to pay around $15 to $30 per month for a small to medium website.

    Question: How to choose the best managed hosting service?

    WPEngine is often regarded as one of the best managed hosting service for both small and enterprise websites. WPEngine pricing is often priced higher than most of the managed WordPress hosting in the market but they guarantee excellent performance, great support and security features. WPEngine pricing starts at $30 per month and comes with inbuilt cache plugin and integration with MaxCDN (click here to see how you can get 2 months free web hosting with WPEngine).

    FlyWheel is another great option when it comes to managed hosting services. FlyWheel pricing is much affordable at only $15 per month and they provide pretty much similar features as WPEngine except for the Content Delivery Network (CDN) services which is an addon feature. You can register a free account with FlyWheel using this link.

    Editor’s Note

    Looking for a managed hosting that works on Google Cloud Platform? Try Kinsta highly optimized servers for super fast website loading speed and performance.

    Kinsta managed wordpress hosting on Google cloud platform

    Virtual Private Servers (VPS)

    VPS is a great web hosting solution for both small and big websites. VPS allows you to have 100% control over the server and you will enjoy 100% of the server performance.

    While VPS is a powerful web hosting solution, it is also one of the most expensive solutions as you have the server all to yourself.

    Question: How much should I pay for a Virtual Private Server (VPS)?

    VPS costs as low as $5 per month for unmanaged VPS and above $10 for managed VPS.

    What is the differences between unmanaged and managed VPS?

    Unmanaged VPS means that you need to do all the coding works. As VPS doesn’t come with cPanel or WHM by default, you would need to install everything through coding. Unmanaged VPS is often considered messy because you need to have the expertise to maintain and manage your VPS. Unmanaged VPS starts around $5 per month on Digital Ocean.

    Managed VPS is a web hosting option where everything is managed by a third party (in this case, it is the web hosting company). You don’t have to install anything, including maintenance and security features. Cloudways is a best option for affordability and performance for managed VPS. Cloudways pricing starts at $10 per month.

    “While VPS is a powerful web hosting solution, it is also one of the most expensive solutions as you have the server all to yourself. Meaning, that you must do a proper research on VPS hosting providers before buying anything.”

    Question: What is the best Virtual Private Server (VPS)?

    There are a few answers to this question and here goes.

    • Digital Ocean if you know coding and server maintenance
    • Cloudways if you are looking for affordable managed VPS service
    • SiteGround offers decent pricing and performance managed VPS service
    • FlyWheel offers value-for-money managed VPS services for WordPress
    • WPEngine if you are looking VPS solution for enterprise

    Dedicated Hosting

    If you are looking for massive server performance and high traffic website, dedicated hosting is right for you.

    Dedicated hosting works like a Virtual Private Server (VPS) and the only differences are the performance and pricing structure.

    With a higher price tag, dedicated hosting offers the best server uptime and performance beyond most of the competitors.

    Question: How much should I pay for dedicated hosting?

    On average, you should be expecting to pay at least $100 a month for a dedicated web hosting service.

    The good side about dedicated web hosting is that everything is unmetered. From bandwidth or visits, you don’t have to worry about being overcharged.

    Question: What is the best dedicated hosting service?

    Most dedicated hosting in the market today are pretty much on par. If I have to choose, it would be the following:

    • BlueHost offers the cheapest dedicated web hosting with serves around the world
    • SiteGround offers decent dedicated web hosting with live chat support and databases around the world
    • FlyWheel offers cheaper dedicated hosting solution for high traffic WordPress websites
    • WPEngine if you are running on WordPress and cares a lot about server performance

    Cloud Hosting

    Cloud hosting is something new and rather than being hosted on one single instances of a physical server, hosting is delivered on a virtual partition which draws its resource, such as disk space, from an extensive network of underlying physical servers.

    Cloud hosting is a great option especially when dedicated hosting pricing is too expensive for you.

    Question: How much should I pay for cloud hosting?

    The cheapest cloud hosting service is BlueHost at $9.99 $6.95 per month. There are also higher range cloud hosting which is around the $100 per month mark.

    Question: Which is the best cloud hosting service?

    The answer is simple. If you are looking for super cheap cloud hosting service, BlueHost is definitely a great option. At $6.95 per month, there is no denial that it is going to be really easy on your wallet.

    If you are looking for more server firepower, Kinsta is a great option as it runs on Google Cloud Platform. You can try Kinsta for free here (limited time only).

    Alternatively, SiteGround also offers affordable cloud hosting which starts at $80 per month.

    Summary: How much should I pay for web hosting?

    The answer to this depends heavily on your needs. For example, shared web hosting is a great choice for bloggers and beginners who don’t want to spend a whole lot of money. VPS and managed hosting on the other hand are better fit for bigger websites and enterprises who run their business online.

    Not sure where to start? Start with shared web hosting and scale from there on!