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Expert Web Hosting Analysis
27 hosts reviewed since 2016 · How I test → · Affiliate disclosure

Find the Best WordPress Hosting, Tested, Compared, Verified

Most hosting reviews are written by people who've never paid for a plan. I buy every account with my own money, run real load tests, cross-reference server CPUs against PassMark benchmarks, and read the Terms of Service for hidden limits they don't advertise. No review units. No press access. Just data, and a commitment to exposing renewal traps before they cost you

See why most hosts fail ↓
Mangesh Supe — web hosting expert
Mangesh
Web Hosting Researcher

I've paid for, tested, and been burned by dozens of hosts over 10+ years. I independently test hosting services using real-world websites, performance testing, and hands-on evaluation. I earn commissions when you use my links, but I call out bad hosts I could profit from (Bluehost, GoDaddy) because data beats commissions every time.

Before You Buy Anything

What Web Hosting Actually Means For Your Site

Most people pick a host based on whoever has a coupon code on the first Google result. That is exactly how the industry wants it. Here is what actually matters. Most recommendations are wrong.

CPU = Your Site's Engine

TTFB (Time to First Byte) is the single biggest factor in how fast your site feels. TTFB is determined almost entirely by your hosting CPU. A host running a 2012 Opteron (HostGator) will always be slower than one running a 2024 AMD EPYC, regardless of any other "optimization."

Intro Price ≠ Real Price

Every major host leads with a heavy discount for year 1. The renewal price (what you pay every year after) is hidden in smaller text or mouseover tooltips. Bluehost's intro price is $3.99/mo. Their renewal is $9.99/mo. That +150% jump is the business model. Always check renewal pricing first.

"Unlimited" Hosting Is a Lie

Every host that says "unlimited" has limits buried in their Terms of Service. SiteGround throttles CPU seconds. GoDaddy caps disk I/O at 1 MB/s. Bluehost disables backups above 50,000 files. These limits exist to force you to upgrade. I've read every TOS. They're where the truth lives.

Private Equity Kills Quality

When a PE firm buys a hosting company, the pattern is identical every time: cut support staff, increase prices, reduce hardware refresh budget, let technical debt grow. Newfold Digital owns Bluehost, HostGator, and 10+ brands. World Host Group owns hosting.com, FastComet and Rocket.net. Different logos, same cost-cutting playbook.

Most Review Sites Are Paid

Bluehost's affiliate commission reaches $130/sale. GoDaddy pays top tier. The review sites ranking them #1 earn more from recommending worse products. I disclose all my affiliates. I also tell you not to buy from Bluehost, a host I could profit from recommending. Data matters more than commissions here.

Shared vs VPS: Know the Difference

Shared hosting = your site sits on a server with hundreds of other sites, sharing CPU and RAM. VPS = your own dedicated slice of a server. At $24.95/mo, ScalaHosting's Entry Cloud VPS gives you 2 dedicated AMD EPYC cores and 4GB dedicated RAM. That is not comparable to any shared plan at any price.

READ THIS BEFORE YOU BUY A SHARED PLAN

Shared Hosting Speed Is Borrowed. A VPS Is Yours.

Nothing about a shared plan is fixed, and that includes the speed you were sold.

On shared hosting your site lives on one server with hundreds of other sites, and every one of them draws from the same pool of CPU, RAM and disk. The host puts a cap on each account, but a cap only stops you from taking more than your share. It does nothing about the account next door using all of theirs at the moment your visitors arrive. So a site that loads well on a quiet Tuesday morning can crawl on a busy Friday night, and nothing you change inside WordPress fixes that.

Some shared hosts still post impressive numbers, and very often the reason is a cache. A cached page is a saved copy handed out before WordPress even starts, so the time to first byte looks tiny. Rocket.net's edge cache answered me in 32ms. That is a real reading, and it is also not your server. Logged-in users, the cart, the checkout, search and your own dashboard all skip the cache and land on the hardware underneath.

That is why I test with every cache switched off and then put 100 concurrent users on the site. Load is the one test a cache cannot fake. Under it, response time on the plans with reserved resources rose by 54% at most. On the shared plans it rose by 88% to 388%.

Idle against 100 concurrent users Reserved Resources Hold. Shared Ones Buckle. Entry plans, WordPress with every cache off, the same 100-user test on each.
Idle100 concurrent users
  1. KinstaManaged cloud+44% under load 64ms92ms
  2. ScalaHosting Entry CloudVPS, dedicated cores+53% under load 38ms58ms
  3. Cloudways on Vultr HFCloud VPS+54% under load 48ms74ms
  4. Hostinger PremiumShared+88% under load 276ms520ms
  5. ChemiCloud StarterShared+186% under load 84ms240ms
  6. SiteGround StartUpShared+188% under load 312ms900ms
  7. hosting.com StartupShared+272% under load 172ms640ms
  8. Bluehost BasicShared+388% under load 287ms1400ms

Same measurements as the load test table further down. Idle is a single request to the origin; the 100-user figure is the measured step from the load test on file.

The Trap Is the Renewal, Not the Intro Price

Shared plans are sold on the intro rate. When the promotional term ends, the renewal can land at a price that already pays for a real VPS. SiteGround StartUp renews at $17.99/mo. Hostinger's own KVM 1 VPS renews at $13.99/mo, and ScalaHosting's Entry Cloud VPS, with 2 dedicated cores and 4GB of RAM, starts at $24.95/mo, billed for 36 months up front. By the time that renewal invoice arrives your site is live, your email is running and moving feels risky, so most people just pay it. That hesitation is exactly what the intro price is built on.

A VPS has a renewal step too: Entry Cloud goes to $39.95/mo. The difference is what the money buys. The cores and RAM on a VPS invoice are reserved for your site, so a busy neighbour cannot take them, and you get the performance you pay for on the day you need it most. If you have real traffic, or a dynamic site with logins, a cart or a course behind it, that is the plan that is worth the money.

Shared plan
  • Resources: one pool, split with every other account on the server
  • Speed: depends on your neighbours, and changes hour to hour
  • Fast test results: often a cache, which dynamic pages skip
  • Renewal: can reach the price of an entry VPS
  • Right for: a new blog or a brochure site with light traffic
VPS
  • Resources: CPU cores and RAM reserved for your site alone
  • Speed: holds under load, because nobody else can use your share
  • Fast test results: come from the hardware, so logged-in and checkout traffic gets them too
  • Renewal: still goes up after the intro, but for resources you actually get
  • Right for: real traffic, WooCommerce, memberships, courses, anything dynamic
See our #1 VPS pick → Shared vs VPS, compared in full

What I tested, and on what

Every plan on this page was bought at retail with my own money, on the cheapest term the vendor sells, with no vendor-supplied account and no press access. Each one runs the same install: WordPress 6.5, the default theme, no caching plugin, and the CDN switched off, so what you are reading is origin server speed and nothing else.

Two tools produce every number here. TTFB is WebPageTest from Dulles, Virginia, three runs averaged. Load is a cloud load tester holding 100 concurrent users for 60 seconds. Where a figure comes from a different plan or a different concurrency, the row says so rather than leaving you to assume. Prices are read from each vendor's own pricing page, not from an affiliate feed, and the term is stated wherever the intro rate needs more than 12 months.

The Hardware Is the Whole Story

Every host below sells the same WordPress. What differs is the silicon underneath it, and how many other sites are queued behind you for a slice of it. That single variable explains the 38ms at the top of the speed table below and the 369ms at the bottom, and it is the one thing a caching plugin cannot fix. The three tables that follow are the same argument measured three ways: response time, renewal cost, and the processor itself.

Every number below is from a real test. CPU rankings from PassMark. TTFB from WebPageTest. Renewal prices from each host's pricing page. Sources linked in the tables.

WordPress Server Speed (TTFB): 12 Plans Across 11 Hosts

WordPress TTFB Visual Comparison, No CDN, No Cache · June 2026
ProviderTTFBSpeed BarRating
ScalaHosting VPS38ms
🏆 #1 Fastest
Cloudways (Vultr HF)48ms
Excellent
Kinsta (Google C3D)64ms
Excellent
ScalaHosting Shared64ms
Excellent
ChemiCloud84ms
Excellent
WP Engine242ms
Average
Hostinger (shared)276ms
Average
Bluehost287ms
Below Avg
SiteGround312ms
Below Avg
HostGator332ms
Slow
Namecheap EasyWP344ms
Slow
GoDaddy369ms
⚠ Slowest
Methodology: idle origin response with no CDN and no page cache, WordPress 6.5 default theme, measured from New York in June 2026, entry plan on every host. These are idle readings; the same hosts under 100 concurrent users are in the load table further down, and the two must not be read as one measurement.
Idle speed, fastest first TTFB at a Glance: Who's Fast, Who's Not Origin server, no CDN, no page cache. A shorter bar is a faster server.
  1. ScalaHosting VPS 38ms
  2. Cloudways (Vultr HF) 48ms
  3. Kinsta (Google C3D) 64ms
  4. ScalaHosting Shared 64ms
  5. ChemiCloud 84ms
  6. WP Engine 242ms
  7. Hostinger (shared) 276ms
  8. Bluehost 287ms
  9. SiteGround 312ms
  10. HostGator 332ms
  11. Namecheap EasyWP 344ms
  12. GoDaddy 369ms

Same readings as the table above: under 100ms in green, 100 to 250ms in amber, slower than that in red. These are idle numbers. What each host does with 100 visitors at once is in the load test further down.

The Renewal Trap: What You Actually Pay in Year 2

The Renewal Trap: entry shared plans, what you actually pay in Year 2 · 2026
HostIntro PriceRenewal PriceIncreaseStorageWhat the step means
ScalaHosting Mini$2.95/mo (36-mo prepay)$11.95/mo+305%10GB NVMeSteep, and the intro needs a 36-month prepay
ChemiCloud Pro$3.95/mo (12-mo)$17.95/mo+354%20GB NVMeSteepest step on the table
Hostinger$3.99/mo$10.99/mo+175%100GB SSD⚠️ Watch renewal
hosting.com$2.99/mo$13.99/mo+368%100GB SSD⚠️ Watch renewal
Bluehost$3.99/mo (36-mo prepay)$9.99/mo+150%10GB SSDMildest step here, the case against Bluehost is its TTFB and its backup cap
SiteGround StartUp$3.99/mo (12-mo prepaid)$17.99/mo+351%10GB (strict)Steep, and the intro needs 12 months prepaid
GoDaddy$5.99/mo (36-mo)$11.99/mo+100%100GB (1MB/s IO)Smallest step, off the highest intro on the table
Methodology: every intro and renewal rate read directly from the host's own pricing page, verified 2 September 2026. Intro rates apply to the initial term only, and that term is not the same length at every host, so the term is stated wherever the vendor requires more than 12 months. A low increase is not on its own a recommendation, see the last column.
Year one against year two Intro vs Renewal: What Shared Hosting Really Costs Monthly rate on each plan's own term, biggest jump first.
Intro priceRenewal price
  1. hosting.com Starter+368% $2.99/mo$13.99/mo
  2. ChemiCloud Pro+354% $3.95/mo$17.95/mo
  3. SiteGround StartUp+351% $3.99/mo$17.99/mo
  4. ScalaHosting Mini+305% $2.95/mo$11.95/mo
  5. Hostinger Premium+175% $3.99/mo$10.99/mo
  6. Bluehost Starter+150% $3.99/mo$9.99/mo
  7. GoDaddy Economy+100% $5.99/mo$11.99/mo

Every figure is read from the host's own pricing page, the same data as the renewal table above. Several of these intro rates need a 36-month prepay; the table states the term for each one.

The CPU Running Your WordPress: PassMark Multithread Rankings

Hosting Server CPU Rankings, PassMark Multithread Score, sorted fastest first · verified 8 September 2026
ProviderCPU ModelPassMark RankScore (MT)YearModel Verified ViaBar
ScalaHostingAMD EPYC 9474F#42 / 5,999102,2552023SSH lscpu
ChemiCloudAMD EPYC 9354#110 / 5,99973,2402023Owner correction 2026-09-07
KinstaAMD EPYC 7502#248 / 5,99951,8712019Kinsta dashboard + trust center
HostingerAMD EPYC 7352#375 / 5,99939,9062019lscpu in panel
SiteGroundIntel Xeon Gold 6248R#432 / 5,99936,0672020Shell access + lscpu
WP EngineIntel Xeon Gold 6242R#444 / 5,99935,0762020Trust page / admin notice
HostGatorIntel Xeon E5-2690 v4#1,069 / 5,99919,1552016Client portal CPU info
FastCometIntel Xeon E5-2680 v4#1,201 / 5,99917,1582016Provider spec page
BluehostIntel Xeon E5-2680 v3#1,343 / 5,99914,7832014Server inventory page
GoDaddyIntel Xeon Silver 4114#1,468 / 5,99913,1672017Public hardware spec
Rocket.netIntel Xeon E5-2667 v2#1,543 / 5,99912,1502013Support ticket + PassMark
Cloudways (Vultr HF)Intel Xeon, 3GHz+Vultr does not publish the Xeon SKU for High Frequency, so there is no single chip to rankVultr pricing page, read 2026-09-08
Processor power, strongest first CPU Power: PassMark Multithread Score by Host A longer bar is a faster processor. Each score is read from that CPU's own PassMark page.
  1. ScalaHostingAMD EPYC 9474F, PassMark #42 102,255
  2. ChemiCloudAMD EPYC 9354, PassMark #110 73,240
  3. KinstaAMD EPYC 7502, PassMark #248 51,871
  4. HostingerAMD EPYC 7352, PassMark #375 39,906
  5. SiteGroundIntel Xeon Gold 6248R, PassMark #432 36,067
  6. WP EngineIntel Xeon Gold 6242R, PassMark #444 35,076
  7. HostGatorIntel Xeon E5-2690 v4, PassMark #1,069 19,155
  8. FastCometIntel Xeon E5-2680 v4, PassMark #1,201 17,158
  9. BluehostIntel Xeon E5-2680 v3, PassMark #1,343 14,783
  10. GoDaddyIntel Xeon Silver 4114, PassMark #1,468 13,167
  11. Rocket.netIntel Xeon E5-2667 v2, PassMark #1,543 12,150

Same processors as the table above. Green is at least half the top score, amber is 30 to 50 percent of it, red is below that.

WordPress Speed and Load Test Comparison: All 14 Hosts

TTFB at idle and under 100-user load test. Load degradation % shows how much the server slows down under real traffic. Independence flag marks PE-acquired brands.

WordPress speed and behaviour under load, entry plan on every host · June 2026
ProviderTTFB (Idle)TTFB @ 100 UsersLoad DegradationCPU RankOwnership
ScalaHosting VPS38ms58ms+53%#42 (AMD EPYC 9474F)Independent ✓
Cloudways (Vultr HF)48ms74ms+54%Intel Xeon, 3GHz+, SKU not publishedDigitalOcean
Kinsta64ms92ms+44%#248 (AMD EPYC 7502)Independent
ChemiCloud84ms240ms+186%#110 (AMD EPYC 9354)Independent ✓
hosting.com172ms640ms+272%Not disclosedWorld Host Group ⚠️
DreamHost230ms620ms+170%Not disclosedIndependent
WP Engine242ms487ms+101%#444 (Intel Xeon Gold 6242R)Silver Lake (PE) ⚠️
Hostinger276ms520ms+88%#375 (AMD EPYC 7352)Independent
Bluehost287ms1400ms+388%#1,343 (Intel Xeon E5-2680 v3)Newfold Digital ⚠️
SiteGround312ms900ms+188%#432 (Intel Xeon Gold 6248R)Independent
HostGator332ms980ms+195%#1,069 (Intel Xeon E5-2690 v4)Newfold Digital ⚠️
GoDaddy (Deluxe)344ms950ms+176%#1,468 (Intel Xeon Silver 4114)Public (NYSE: GDDY)
Namecheap EasyWP344ms1300ms+278%Not disclosedIndependent
Rocket.netMeasured at the CDN edge, not at the origin: 32ms cached. No origin reading and no 100-user step exist for this host, so it is not ranked against the rows above.#1,543 (Intel Xeon E5-2667 v2)World Host Group ⚠️
Methodology: WordPress 6.5, no CDN, no caching plugins, default theme, entry plan on every host. Idle is a single request against the origin; the 100-user figure is the measured step from the load test on file. Read the two absolute numbers before the percentage: a host that goes from 23ms to 33ms has moved 10ms and shows +43%, while one that goes from 332ms to 980ms has moved 648ms and shows +195%. The percentage punishes a low starting point, so it ranks resilience, not speed.
🏆 #1 IN OUR RANKING

The Data Points to One Host

After years of benchmarking plans across major hosting providers, ScalaHosting leads on CPU performance, TTFB, renewal transparency, and dedicated resources.

Premium Hardware Specs
CPU
AMD EPYC 9474F (#42)
TTFB
38ms VPS
Storage
NVMe PCIe 5.0
RAM
DDR5 4800MHz
Renewal
$39.95/mo
Panel
SPanel (Free)
Security
SShield (Free)
📊 BENCHMARK LEADER
ScalaHosting
Managed VPS, Entry Cloud (2 cores / 4GB / 50GB NVMe)
↗
TTFB38ms, origin, no CDN (Excellent)
⚙
CPUAMD EPYC 9474F, #42 of 5,999 (Elite)
⏱
UPTIME99.99% over 54 days (Excellent)
🛡
SECURITYSShield, included (Good)
Entry Cloud $24.95/mo $39.95 renewal
View ScalaHosting Plans

Why Not Others?

  • Bluehost 2014 processor, Newfold-owned (PE)
  • SiteGround CPU-second throttle, steepest renewal here
  • Hostinger Oversold shared nodes
  • Kinsta Priced per visit, with a hard cap

Every number behind these four is in the comparison table ↓

Coupon Code

THATMYHOST Max discount
BETTER ALTERNATIVE, IF YOU NEVER WANT A RENEWAL JUMP
Cloudways
DigitalOcean 1GB Standard

This is the one thing ScalaHosting does not do. Cloudways bills a flat monthly rate with no promotional period and no renewal increase, so the price in month 40 is the price in month one. Entry Cloud above goes from $24.95 to $39.95. Most shared plans in the renewal table above more than triple. Cloudways stays at $11.00. You give up the dedicated EPYC cores and the 38ms to get that, which is a real trade, not a free win.

$11.00/moflat, +0% at renewal
Measured
48ms origin TTFB, no CDN
Recorded on Cloudways Vultr High Frequency, which is a different and more expensive plan than the $11.00 DigitalOcean tier priced here. Do not read the two as one number.
Free 3-day trial, no card required · Code CLOUDS2022 for $30 credit
Start the free trial →
Methodology: prices read from cloudways.com/en/pricing.php on 2 September 2026. TTFB via WebPageTest, Dulles VA, 3-run average, CDN disabled.
Shared hosting renewals are a trap almost everywhere, and ScalaHosting is not the exception I used to claim it was. Mini's $2.95 needs a 36-month prepay and then renews at $11.95, which is $1.96 above what Bluehost charges on renewal. The reason to buy ScalaHosting is the VPS hardware above, not a gentler shared renewal.
ScalaHosting Mini
$11.95/mo renewal (+305%)
Year 2 price
vs
Bluehost Starter
$9.99/mo renewal (+150%)
Year 2 price
vs
SiteGround StartUp
$17.99/mo renewal (+351%)
Year 2 price
Same test, same 100 visitors Response Time Under Load: ScalaHosting vs Hostinger WordPress with no CDN and no caching plugin, 100 concurrent users via a cloud load tester.
Idle100 concurrent users
  1. ScalaHosting Entry Cloud VPS+53% 38ms58ms
  2. Hostinger Premium, shared+88% 276ms520ms

Same numbers as the load test table further up this page. The dedicated cores are the whole difference: nobody else on the server can take them when traffic arrives.

I've tested hosting across many providers, and my recommendation is ScalaHosting's VPS. The data behind it: AMD EPYC 9474F processors ranked #42 of the 5,999 CPUs PassMark has benchmarked, a multithread score of 102,255, which is 6.9x the 2014 Xeon E5-2680 v3 behind Bluehost's shared plans and 7.8x the 2017 Xeon Silver 4114 behind GoDaddy's. Both of those are in the CPU table above, verified the way that table says. NVMe PCIe 5.0 SSD at 2,457 MB/s read speed. DDR5 RAM. SPanel control panel included free (saves $180/yr vs cPanel). TTFB: 38ms on VPS. Under 100 concurrent users its response time rose by 53%, against 88% on Hostinger's shared plan. The plan I run is Entry Cloud Managed VPS, 2 cores and 4GB, at $24.95/mo and $39.95/mo on renewal. One caveat I owe you: their entry shared plan, Mini, is not the bargain this page used to call it. The $2.95 rate needs a 36-month prepay and then renews at $11.95, which is $1.96 above Bluehost's own renewal. Buy ScalaHosting for the VPS hardware, not for the shared tier.

Why ScalaHosting Is the Clear Winner

  • ✓ AMD EPYC 9474F CPUs, #42 of 5,999 on PassMark (102,255 multithread, 6.9x Bluehost's 2014 Xeon)
  • ✓ Entry Cloud VPS: $24.95/mo, $39.95 on renewal, 2 dedicated cores and 4GB, priced and benchmarked as the same plan
  • ✓ SPanel is free, saves $15/mo vs cPanel; 8x less RAM overhead than cPanel
  • ✓ SShield Security blocks 99.998% of attacks, included free (competitors charge $3-5/mo)
  • ✓ DDR5 RAM + NVMe PCIe 5.0, the fastest storage class of any plan on this page, 2,457 MB/s read
  • ✓ Low-density nodes, no overselling, dedicated resources, no noisy neighbours
  • ✓ 38ms TTFB on VPS, +53% under 100 concurrent users, one of the three steadiest plans under load in my tests
  • ✓ OpenLiteSpeed + Redis pre-configured in 1 click
  • ✓ Free expert migration, their team does it, not a plugin
  • ✓ 13 global data centers including Mumbai, Dallas, New York, Frankfurt, Sydney
  • ✓ Independently owned, no private equity, no cost-cutting acquisitions

Honest Weaknesses

  • ✕ Shared Mini plan is 1 website only, upgrade to Start plan for multiple sites
  • ✕ VPS plans require slightly more technical comfort than cPanel shared hosting
  • ✕ Support quality varies by agent, L1 can occasionally miss nuanced server issues
  • ✕ Documentation is blog-style, not DigitalOcean-level structured
Test conditions: WordPress 6.5, no CDN, no caching plugins. Load test via a cloud load tester.
💰 CHEAPEST WAY TO START ON CLOUD HOSTING

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5
Cloud Providers
DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS, GCE, Linode
Cloudways
Cloudways
Managed Cloud Hosting
  • 3 day free trial, no credit card, test everything before you pay
  • 48ms TTFB on Vultr High Frequency, second fastest tested
  • Free unlimited WordPress migrations, their team handles it, zero downtime
  • 5 cloud providers: DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS, Google Cloud, Linode
  • Object Cache Pro (Redis) included free, $95/yr value elsewhere
  • Pay as you go, no contracts, scale up or down any time
  • Varnish + Redis + CDN, full performance stack pre-configured
Start Free Trial Read Full Cloudways Review →
Quick Stats
48ms TTFB (Vultr HF)
99.99% Uptime (54 days)
From $11/mo DigitalOcean
3 Days Free No Card Needed
Free Site Migration
5 Providers Cloud Options
Promo Code, $30 credit on your first paid month: CLOUDS2022
⭐ #3, BEST SHARED HOSTING FOR BEGINNERS

Best Shared Hosting for Beginners: ChemiCloud

LiteSpeed Enterprise on every plan. AMD EPYC #110 on PassMark. 78ms TTFB on Pro. Free domain for life. $3.95/mo intro, $17.95/mo on renewal.

ChemiCloud is the best shared hosting pick for sites that aren't ready for VPS yet. LiteSpeed Enterprise on every plan (not just premium tiers like hosting.com). AMD EPYC 9354 CPUs (#110 on PassMark). 78ms TTFB on Pro, against 312ms on SiteGround StartUp, for about the same renewal price ($17.95/mo against $17.99/mo). Free domain for life (not just year 1). 45-day money-back guarantee. Support answers live chat in under 2 minutes. The ideal starting point before you graduate to ScalaHosting VPS.
Get ChemiCloud, Best Shared Pick
78ms
TTFB
AMD EPYC 9354 (#110)
CPU
LiteSpeed Enterprise
Web Server
Free for Life
Domain
<2 min chat
Support
45 Days
Money Back
Find Your Match

Which Host Is Right for You?

One question. Three answers.

Start

Starting a Blog or Business Site

You need cheap, reliable hosting with honest renewals and support you can actually reach. You don't want surprises in year 2.

Our Pick: ScalaHosting Mini, $2.95/mo/mo

NVMe SSD, free SShield security, free migration, SPanel instead of a cPanel licence. Read the term before you buy: $2.95/mo requires a 36-month prepay and renews at $11.95/mo, so the jump lands in year 4.

Code: THATMYHOST
Get ScalaHosting Mini →
Grow

Growing WordPress Site (1,000+ visitors/mo)

Shared hosting is feeling slow. Admin is sluggish. You need dedicated resources without paying $100/mo for managed WordPress.

Our Pick: ScalaHosting Entry Cloud VPS, $24.95/mo

2 dedicated CPU cores (AMD EPYC 9474F, #42 on PassMark), 4GB RAM, 50GB NVMe. 38ms TTFB. For comparison, a 4GB Vultr High Frequency server on Cloudways is $60.00/mo.

Code: THATMYHOST
Get ScalaHosting VPS →
Test

You Want to Test Before Committing

Traffic spikes, cloud elasticity, or just want to prove the performance difference before spending a dollar.

Our Pick: Cloudways Free Trial, no card, $30 credit

48ms TTFB on Vultr High Frequency, Varnish + Redis, 5 cloud providers. Try free for 3 days. Code CLOUDS2022 = $30 credit on first paid month.

Code: CLOUDS2022
Start Free Trial, Code CLOUDS2022 →
Based on Real Data

The Hosts to Avoid and Exactly Why

Every claim below links to a primary source like their own TOS, their own pricing page, or their own server specs. Verify it yourself.

⛔ AVOID
Bluehost
Bluehost
287ms TTFB, and $3.99/mo intro → $9.99/mo renewal. Owned by Newfold Digital (PE).
  • 287ms TTFB against ScalaHosting's 38ms, and a global average of 641ms across ten locations
  • Backups disabled at 50,000 files or 30GB buried in TOS, owned by Newfold Digital (PE), quality decline confirmed
  • Support has been outsourced, notoriously slow and unhelpful, 2,400+ 1-star Trustpilot reviews
  • WordPress.org recommendation is a paid partnership
Famous name. Private equity owned. Slow servers. Terrible renewals. Hard pass.
⛔ AVOID
GoDaddy
GoDaddy
Charges for SSL. Their Ultimate plan: 2 cores, 2GB RAM, 1MB/s I/O. Enough said.
  • Expensive renewals for extremely basic infrastructure. 2 cores max on top tier
  • 1 MB/s disk I/O cap buried in TOS
  • 344ms idle, 950ms under 100 concurrent users on the Deluxe plan
  • Aggressive upselling on SSL certificates and basic features
The most aggressive upseller in hosting. The worst hardware-to-price ratio tested.
⛔ AVOID
HostGator
HostGator
Intel Xeon E5-2690 v4 (released 2016, #1,069 of 5,999 on PassMark). Not a typo.
  • Intel Xeon E5-2690 v4, released 2016, #1,069 of 5,999 on PassMark
  • Owned by Newfold Digital (same PE as Bluehost)
  • 332ms idle, 980ms under 100 concurrent users on the Hatchling plan
  • Outdated cPanel infrastructure dragging performance down
2012 hardware. PE-owned. Every other option on this page is better.
⚠️ CAUTION
SiteGround
SiteGround
$3.99/mo intro → $17.99/mo renewal. Bills 15 days early. Charges $30/migration.
  • $3.99/mo to $17.99/mo renewal, a +351% step
  • Throttling based on CPU seconds for accounts
  • Aggressively charges $30 for site migrations after the first one
  • Premium prices for shared resources, not VPS
Technical quality is good. Pricing is the industry's worst deal at renewal.
⚠️ CAUTION
hosting.com
hosting.com
172ms idle, 640ms under 100 concurrent users on its Startup shared plan.
  • +272% response time under load, from 172ms at idle to 640ms with 100 users on the site
  • Owned by World Host Group, the private-equity group that also owns Rocket.net and FastComet
  • $2.99/mo intro, $13.99/mo renewal on the Starter plan, a +368% step
Fine to try for a year. Not where I would put a site that is growing.
⚠️ CAUTION
FastComet
FastComet
Joined World Host Group in 2025, the same parent as hosting.com and Rocket.net
  • World Host Group (PE), acquired 2025
  • Same parent as hosting.com and Rocket.net
  • Expect staff cuts and price hikes over the next 12 months
Was recommended. Now PE-owned. Choose ChemiCloud or ScalaHosting instead.

Private Equity Ownership: Who Owns What

PE acquisition follows a predictable pattern: acquire → cut staff → raise prices → degrade support. Know which brands share a PE parent before you commit.

Private Equity Ownership Map, Who Owns What in 2026
PE GroupBrands OwnedRisk LevelOur Advice
Newfold DigitalBluehost, HostGator, iPage, Network Solutions, Web.com, and 10+ othersHigh⛔ Avoid all Newfold brands
World Host Group
PE layer: Oakley Capital		hosting.com, owned since January 2025; Rocket.net, joined August 2025; FastComet, 2025; plus Stablepoint, Webcentral, HostingRaja and roughly 30 other brands. Sources and datesHigh⚠️ Monitor, quality decline likely
Independent ✓ScalaHosting, ChemiCloud, SiteGround, DreamHost, Namecheap, KinstaLow✅ Safer long-term choice
Silver LakeWP Engine, plus Flywheel and the Advanced Custom Fields business it acquired with it. Source: Silver Lake’s own acquisition announcement; the URL is not yet recorded in this repo, so it is named rather than linked.High⚠️ Monitor, a portfolio company, not an independent
Methodology: every ownership claim here traces to the acquirer's own announcement or filing, not to press coverage. The World Host Group chain is sourced from hosting.com's own mergers and acquisitions page; the full timeline is in the Rocket.net review. PE acquisition pattern: acquire, cut staff, raise prices, degrade support. It ran that way at Bluehost, HostGator and the EIG brands.
Who Is Behind This Site

I Ran an ISP Before I Reviewed Hosting. I Test What Sales Pages Hide.

Mangesh Supe, founder of ThatMy.com
Mangesh Supe
Network engineer and hosting researcher

Before I reviewed a single host, I ran my own ISP. I deployed fibre, racked servers inside data centres, ran Linux servers and shaped bandwidth for paying customers. When a connection was slow, finding the reason was my job, because nobody accepts "it depends" from a company they pay every month.

That is how I look at hosting. A pricing page shows you disk space and a discount. It does not show you the CPU under your site, how many accounts share it, what happens when 100 visitors arrive at once, or what the plan costs in year two. I measure those myself, on plans I pay for, with every cache switched off, and I read the Terms of Service, where the real limits are written.

Most people lose money on hosting in one of two ways. They buy the cheapest shared plan and outgrow it the week their traffic arrives, or they pay for a big managed plan sized for ten times the traffic they have. I want to stop both: shared hosting when a small site genuinely fits it, a VPS when traffic, logins or a store make shared a gamble, and a renewal price you know about before you pay the first invoice.

I earn a commission on some links, including on hosts I tell you to avoid, like Bluehost and GoDaddy. I still tell you to avoid them, because a plan that costs you more in year two costs me your trust. I have been reviewing hosts since 2016.

Real Plans, Real Payments

I pay for every plan I test. No press accounts. No controlled demo environments.

PassMark CPU Rankings

Every host's CPU is cross-referenced against the PassMark database, 5,999 processors as of 8 September 2026, and every model on this page links to the exact PassMark entry its score came from.

TOS Deep Dives

I read the Terms of Service, Acceptable Use policies, and billing fine print. That is where the real limits live.

Load Testing Under Pressure

TTFB measured at idle and under 100 concurrent users via a cloud load tester. Degradation % reveals the real story.

The Right Plan for the Site You Have

I tell you when shared hosting is enough and when it is not, so you do not overpay for resources you will never use, or save on a plan you will outgrow in a month.

Affiliate disclosure: I earn commissions when you use my links. I also earn commissions on Bluehost and GoDaddy, and I'm telling you not to buy them. All test data including TTFB, load test degradation, PHP workers, and CPU rankings comes from plans I paid for myself.
HOSTING NEWS · CHECKED 2026-09-13

What Changed in Hosting, and What It Does to Your Bill

Hosting brands get bought, merged and renamed more often than their pricing pages admit. These are the changes I think matter if you are choosing a host right now, each with the source it comes from and the current price of the plans it touches.

REBRAND

iPage is being folded into Network Solutions

Newfold Digital, which owns Bluehost and HostGator, is moving iPage accounts under its Network Solutions brand. ipage.com now sends visitors to a customer login page rather than a sales page. Newfold says existing iPage customers keep their current pricing and billing schedule through the move.

What it means for youIf you are on iPage, nothing is forced on you today, but the brand you signed up with is going away. If you are shopping, iPage is no longer really on the menu, and its sister brands renew like this:

Price today
  • Bluehost Starter $3.99/mo$9.99/mo+150%
  • HostGator Hatchling $3.75/mo$10.99/mo+193%
Source: Network Solutions, iPage becomes Network Solutions ↗My iPage review →
REPORTED, NOT CONFIRMED

Namecheap reported sold to CVC Capital Partners at a $1.5 billion valuation

The Wall Street Journal reported that private equity firm CVC Capital Partners agreed to buy a majority stake in Namecheap, valuing the registrar and hosting company at $1.5 billion including debt, with the founder keeping a large stake. As of 13 September 2026 neither company has published its own announcement, and CVC's news page lists no Namecheap deal.

What it means for youThat is why Namecheap still sits in the Independent row of the ownership table on this page: that table only moves on the buyer's own announcement or filing. If the deal closes, it moves. Namecheap's entry shared plan today:

Price today
  • Namecheap Stellar $1.91/mo$4.66/mo+144%
Source: Domain Name Wire, citing the Wall Street Journal ↗
SAME OWNER

hosting.com, Rocket.net and FastComet now answer to one owner

World Host Group, backed by Oakley Capital, has owned hosting.com since January 2025. Rocket.net joined hosting.com in August 2025, and FastComet was acquired the same year. Three brands you might compare against each other are now one company.

What it means for youComparing these three is no longer comparing competitors. The entry plans, as priced today:

Price today
  • hosting.com Starter $2.99/mo$13.99/mo+368%
  • FastComet Starter $1.99/mo$9.95/mo+400%
  • Rocket.net Starter $25.00/mo$25.00/moflat rate
Source: hosting.com, mergers and acquisitions ↗The full acquisition timeline →
GROWTH

Hostinger grew 51% in 2025 to €275.4 million, and stayed independent

Hostinger reported €275.4 million in 2025 revenue, its fourth straight year above 50% growth, with its customer base up 35% to 4.6 million across more than 150 countries. On 18 March 2026 it paid out €11.8 million to employees through its stock option program. It has not been bought, and it has not bought anyone.

What it means for youGrowth that fast is funded by the renewal, not the intro price. Hostinger's Premium plan on a 12-month term:

Price today
  • Hostinger Premium $3.99/mo$10.99/mo+175%
Source: Hostinger, 2025 financial results ↗Hostinger renewal pricing explained →

Each item cites the company's own announcement where one exists, and says so plainly where only a press report does. Prices are intro then renewal on the plan's default term, read from each host's own pricing page and re-checked before every build. No affiliate links in this section.

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