Hosting Wordpress

MJRevell

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Hi guys,

I'm looking for a decent cheap (ideally free if it's not dodgy) host for a wordpress site.

Have you come across any particularly good ones?
 

MJRevell

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I'm not dead set on self hosting - my worry is that the .com version might have adverts. Is this the case?

I also need to use my own domain name, which I have heard costs money on there?
 

robjvargas

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I'm not dead set on self hosting - my worry is that the .com version might have adverts. Is this the case?

I also need to use my own domain name, which I have heard costs money on there?

Using your own domain is going to cost no matter which way you go. I haven't found a hosting service that does that for free.

The .com free service has advertising, yes. If you pay for the hosting, then the ads go away, and it includes the domain name.

I think Google's Blogger allows you to attach a domain without charge, but you still pay for registering the domain.
 

KokkieH

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The .com free service has advertising, yes. If you pay for the hosting, then the ads go away, and it includes the domain name.

A custom domain and the ad-free upgrade on WP.com are separate upgrades. That said, this past week there has been a new development that new accounts are no longer allowed to purchase single upgrades, but only have the option of either a $99 or $299 a year upgrade bundle (both of which include a domain and ads-free, but a bunch of other stuff as well you may or may not want or need). You won't find anything official in the support docs yet, but they've already implemented the change and confirmed it in the forums, so if you want to use your own domain with WP.com it's going to cost you $99 a year minimum; more if you already bought a domain elsewhere as you'll have to keep paying your current registrar for the domain AND WordPress for the upgrade.

If you prefer the self-hosted WordPress.org option I'd go for a host with a good reputation rather than a cheap one. There's a list of supported hosting providers on the WordPress.org website. Keep in mind that with a self-hosted site you're responsible for your own backups and maintenance and don't have tech support apart from the WP.org forums. Depending on your hosting it could actually also work out more expensive than WP.com.
 

Laer Carroll

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It's easy to go from a WP.com to a WP.org site. You may want to start with WP.com and go to self-hosting only if that will give you needed capabilities WP.com does not have.

As for ads, I've several WP.com sites and regularly view others. In five years I've NEVER seen an ad. That can change, of course, but if it does you can deal with it then.
 

scan2001

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I'm using wordpress.com and I agree with with Laer that I never had an Ad yet.
 

filwi

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I'm using https://www.icdsoft.com/ which costs me 60 dollars a year including domain and they've got a one click Wordpress install option. Then you've got total control over everything on your site.
 

alexaherself

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Things to know about self-hosting WordPress blogs ...

(i) Using the cPanel (or equivalent) one-click installation is the least secure way to install WordPress: the overwhelming majoirty of WordPress blogs which end up being either randomly or maliciously hacked have been installed that way;

(ii) It's extremely unwise to register your domain through the host: the two functions should be kept separate - that keeps you in control if/when things go wrong. Most of the "dramatic accidents" about which one reads could have been avoided by their victims having done this at the outset;

(iii) Although paid hosting, overall, is of better quality and reliability than free hosting, and certainly tends to come with better customer service, there are also some perfectly decent free hosts at which self-hosted WordPress blogs (installed either securely or through a one-click installation) can be used. Examples are byethost.com, 000webhost.com and freehostia.com. Don't assume that such places are "all dreadful": sometimes the business model of the host is to impress people so much with the free service that they'll stay for eventual paid upgrades, if/when they need them. Don't assume that all free hosts put their own advertising on your sites/pages: that isn't true;

(iv) Thousands of people have safely run "promotional blogs" at wordpress.com for many years, without problems. Thousands of others have run into "terms of service problems" there, too. Read the terms of service carefully. Be aware that if you host there, they - not you - own the site (even though you own your own content) and there's no right of appeal if you lose it. Always keep a recent back-up of your blog.
 

RichHelms

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Wordpress.com does not run ads. The free level has limits on space and you use the name yoursitename.workpress.com

Want a custom URLs you pay a fee. Want more space you pay a fee. There are conduct rules. Any free site will have rules or it will be full of spam ads
 

Bloo

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I use one site to purchase my domain name (emergencyroomproductions.net) and Wordpress.com's free option. You have to be a (IIRC) $12 or $13 redirect fee (yearly) so that when you type in the domain name it directs you to the Wordpress site. I think I pay $12 or so a year for the domain name too. i found that to be the most cost effective.

If you're just wanting a blog and not a lot of bells and whistles (i.e. multiple pages) but you want a domain name, Tumblr has a free redirect option as well, so you can type in the domain name and it will take you to your Tumblr page. I keep thinking about doing a blog that will look into Arts in Education, the benefits, investigations into schools when they suppress the arts, etc. If I do, I'll do that as a Tumblr site with a domain name redirect.
 

KokkieH

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Wordpress.com does not run ads. The free level has limits on space and you use the name yoursitename.workpress.com

Want a custom URLs you pay a fee. Want more space you pay a fee. There are conduct rules. Any free site will have rules or it will be full of spam ads

WordPress.com does run ads, but if you're a logged in user you seldom see them and you never see them on your own blog. Other people might see them on your blog, though. To get rid of them completely (on your own blog) you need to buy an upgrade.

You have a 3Gb limit on media storage, but you have unlimited bandwidth and posts and pages don't count towards your storage space - no limit on those. And if you only upload images that 3Gb can last for years provided you optimise your images for the web before uploading.

The most severe rule on WP.com is around adding your own advertising (which also covers image links to affiliate programs; text affiliate links are fine). Not allowed under any circumstances. Generally that, severe copyright violations and spammy content (which also falls under their advertising policy) will get you suspended, but not much else.

I use one site to purchase my domain name (emergencyroomproductions.net) and Wordpress.com's free option. You have to be a (IIRC) $12 or $13 redirect fee (yearly) so that when you type in the domain name it directs you to the Wordpress site. I think I pay $12 or so a year for the domain name too. i found that to be the most cost effective.

You're talking of the domain mapping upgrade. You can buy a domain directly through WP.com, or you can buy a domain elsewhere and then buy mapping to point it at your free site.

(If you buy your domain via WP.com you're also allowed to use it with a different host or transfer it to a different registrar. The domain is registered with ICANN in your name, as with any other registrar, so you own the domain completely and can use it with any host you choose. But if you use the domain with a WP.com blog then WordPress still owns the underlying WordPress.com domain, as @alexaherself pointed out, and can shut that down if you break the rules, meaning your custom domain will be pointing at nothing.)
 

AJMarks

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I actually use WP for my story site. I've held the domain name for years, so it was adding WP to the site (its actually now easier to update and maintain than before when working with HTML). I've also got a political blog that is hosted by WP. They reserve the right to post ads on your site, unlike my story site which any ads there I placed.
 

EMaree

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Things to know about self-hosting WordPress blogs ...

(i) Using the cPanel (or equivalent) one-click installation is the least secure way to install WordPress: the overwhelming majoirty of WordPress blogs which end up being either randomly or maliciously hacked have been installed that way;

Good advice for CPanel, but I'll note that some hosts (Dreamhost definitely) auto-upgrade their one-click installs of Wordpress, which helps with security, and both Wordpress and the host have other built-in security measures.

(ii) It's extremely unwise to register your domain through the host: the two functions should be kept separate - that keeps you in control if/when things go wrong. Most of the "dramatic accidents" about which one reads could have been avoided by their victims having done this at the outset;

SUPER IMPORTANT
 

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WP works perfectly, never had had ads or anything! No complaints here
 

BrianJamesFreeman

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WordPress.com does run ads, but if you're a logged in user you seldom see them and you never see them on your own blog. Other people might see them on your blog, though. To get rid of them completely (on your own blog) you need to buy an upgrade.

Yep, exactly. It's not an expensive upgrade from what I recall. I used WordPress.com for my blog for many years, but jumped to self-hosted after they accidentally suspended my account last year. I was able to get that fixed easily enough and then I happily blogged about what I did for other people's reference:

http://www.brianjamesfreeman.com/20...r-wordpress-com-account-or-blog-is-suspended/

But the experience made me nervous enough that I decided it was time to roll the blog into my actual website. LOVE the WordPress software, though, both on their site and self hosted. It's easy to use and you can really get in their and customize things when you're self-hosting... IF you want to do that!

Brian
 

juniper

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Good advice for CPanel, but I'll note that some hosts (Dreamhost definitely) auto-upgrade their one-click installs of Wordpress, which helps with security, and both Wordpress and the host have other built-in security measures.

I just looked at dreamhost. Plan prices are US $8.95/month, 15/mth, 19.95/mth, or 169/mth, depending on what u want.

Dunno what I want! Is shared hosting (cheapest) ok? The 19.95 one is advertised as "WordPress Hosting" - what makes that so?

https://www.dreamhost.com/hosting/
 
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KokkieH

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I had a quick look and the way I understand it, with Shared Hosting you get a domain and hosting, but you'll need to install and maintain the WordPress software yourself (I see they do offer a 1-click install and tech support). You could of course also install other web-builder software or code your own website from scratch if that's what you prefer.

With the WordPress hosting they'll install and update the software for you, and also make backups of your site, something you'd normally have to do yourself. The WordPress hosting seems like the better option if you don't have the technical know-how to fix your site at coding level if something breaks and you definitely want a WordPress-based site.

Note I have no direct experience with Dreamhost - I'm only basing this on what I see at the link you provided.
 

EMaree

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Shared hosting is fine, all that means if you're sharing a big server with a lot of other sites. It doesn't tend to impact things much -- your own view of things is completely separate from all the other sites, and it's the most cost-effective way to get a site running. I've been running websites on Dreamhost shared hosting for... a long time.... and it's VERY rare to have issues.

If you're running a huge website, you'd need a beefier set-up, but it's fine for writer sites. :)

EDIT: Forgot the second question. Wordpress Hosting is designed to be nice and simple for Wordpress users. It looks good (I like the automatic backups) but it was after my time so I've never used it. I just used shared hosting and set up my own Wordpress installs.... it's really quick (you drop some files in using webFTP or Filezilla, go to [yoursite.com] and the set-up wizard will talk you through the rest).

The Wordpress package is on their virtual private servers which are a bit faster and more efficient than the shared hosting, but if money's a factor I would just go for shared hosting. I'll defer to others knowledge here, though.
 
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robjvargas

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I just looked at dreamhost. Plan prices are US $8.95/month, 15/mth, 19.95/mth, or 169/mth, depending on what u want.

Dunno what I want! Is shared hosting (cheapest) ok? The 19.95 one is advertised as "WordPress Hosting" - what makes that so?

I haven't used Dreamhost, but with Fatcow and another host that had both Wordpress and Joomla, it referred to tech support specific to those platforms. If you want some handholding, it's worth the price. Dreamhost gets good reviews for support.


As shared services go, Dreamhost ranks in the top ten.

All I can advise is to know EXACTLY what you're paying for. Some hosts drastically raise prices after whatever term your first contract is for. I don't like that, but it seems to be durn near industry-standard practice.

Wordpress hosting, Dreamhost says, is:

  • Automatic WordPress Install
  • Automatic Daily Backups
  • Use Any Theme or Plugin
  • Automatic WordPress Updates
  • Hosted on Virtual Private Servers

Except for the theme item, those are all different than the other plans. Even though Dreamhost offers the 1-Click option, on the other plans, you're responsible for install, backups, and updates. I think the last item is nice, but for a brand new site, you probably won't feel any difference. It's also not clear how far the install support goes. Default options? Optimized? Secure logins? Probably worth asking.
 

EMaree

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As shared services go, Dreamhost ranks in the top ten.

All I can advise is to know EXACTLY what you're paying for. Some hosts drastically raise prices after whatever term your first contract is for. I don't like that, but it seems to be durn near industry-standard practice.

For what it's worth, Dreamhost have never raised unexpectedly the hosting costs for me -- it's been a nice, steady fee year after year.

If you know someone already on Dreamhost you can get an affiliate discount code off them to really bulldoze down the cost of your first year to as low as $23/year, though -- that's how I started out. The second year renewal stings a bit after that!
 
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Bryan Methods

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I realize it's been quite a while since the question was originally asked, but I've been setting up hosting these last few days, and have had a good experience with Bluehost.