I am very frugal when it comes to money. Some of my friends even jokingly call me “cheap.” So I’m always on the hunt for a bargain and I love saving money. That being said, there are some things that I just won’t cheap out on. In some cases, quality is just too important. Sometimes when you find what you think is a great deal, isn’t so straightforward. I have found this to be very true when it comes to WordPress hosting. Going with the cheapest WordPress hosting option may seem like a good idea to save your business some money, but ultimately, it ends up costing you more money.
Five Reasons Why Cheapest WordPress Hosting Isn’t The Best Idea
When you do a Google search for cheap WordPress hosting, you’ll find there are dozens of options available. These low-cost options may seem attractive, especially when you are being mindful of the cost of your business’ overhead. However, most of these cheap options really are a situation where you get what you pay for in the long run. Here are the five hidden costs of cheap WordPress hosting:
1. Your Website Performance Will Be Poor
Website performance like speed, uptime, and security, requires equipment like modern servers, intelligent software, and a dedicated team of IT specialists. These things do not come cheap. In order to offer these services for cheap, they will have to make up those costs somewhere else. Typically, that somewhere else is in the performance of your site. Studies have shown that poor website performance has a huge impact on brand credibility, customer engagement, and customer retention. Which means for you, what you save in upfront costs, you’ll lose in sales opportunities.
2. You Will Have Limited Features
Again, you will get what you pay for when going with the cheapest WordPress hosting. Another area that cheap hosts will make cuts is with features. These features cuts can be everything from design limitations to a lack of analytic tools too limited storage capacity. These are all features you need to successfully run your business. So you’ll either have to compromise on your business growth or you’ll have to pay extra for features you would get standard at another host.
3. There Are Always Hidden Costs
Most of the cheapest WordPress hosting companies end up costing more than they initially advertise. Beyond just charging more for standard features, there may be hidden annual fees, renewal fees, and other associated costs. These fees quickly add up and lead you to pay much more than you would have if you would have just chosen WordPress hosting who is a little more expensive upfront.
4. You Will Have No Support
Another area you will see cuts with the cheapest WordPress hosting sites is in service. Most of the hosts that offer $1-2 a month hosting, have no live customer support or even charge you for customer support. So if you have a question or if something goes wrong with your website, you are on your own.
5. They Are Betting On Your Failure
The primary way that the cheapest WordPress hosting sites makes money is by jamming multiple sites onto one server. This is because they are betting that you and all the other sites they host will never have enough traffic to need real space. When you do end up with more traffic, then your website ends up with slow loads and a lot of downtime. Anyone who treats my business like it’s just going to fail before I’ve even launched is no one I want to rely on when I am a success.
As you can see, the cost/benefit of choosing the cheapest WordPress hosting option is not favorable.
Feature-Rich WordPress Hosting Can Still Be Affordable
Now just because you don’t want to choose the cheapest WordPress hosting, doesn’t mean you still can’t get an affordable option. You don’t have to pay hundreds of dollars every month for great feature-rich web hosting when you are first starting out. When choosing a host, I have found you really need to consider the balance between cost and features. I think rather than starting with cost, you should start your hunt by determining what features you will need, how much traffic you predict, and how much customer support you will need. These factors vary from individual to individual depending on everything from your particular industry to your technological knowledge. Then from there, you can begin assessing cost.
The Ideal Balance Between Cost And Features
I’ve been in this business for years and I have used several of the cheapest WordPress hosting platforms. I’ve kicked myself many times because I missed some serious opportunities because I chose the cheapest option instead of the option that best worked for me. I’ve always been on some of the really expensive hosting platforms and realized I don’t need as many of the features as they offer. As much as I’d like to be as big as say Amazon or eBay one day, I’m not quite there yet. Now though, I’ve found the best option is somewhere in the middle with WPEngine.
WPEngine Offers The Best Of Both Worlds
With plans starting as low as $29 a month but offering the highest quality hosting features on the market, WPEngine is the best of both worlds. It has everything you could possibly need without having you pay for features you’ll never use. It offers automated migration to help you get your site up quickly and tens of thousands of plugins to optimize your sales opportunities. It also offers a free SSL security certification, regular backups, and some of the fastest speeds on the internet. WPEngine is also scalable so when it does come time to upgrade, you’ll be covered. Their pricing and services are fully transparent, so you’ll never miss out on a feature you need or get hit with an unexpected hidden fee.
So rather than choosing the cheapest WordPress hosting option, choose the best with WPEngine. Not only will you have all the hosting features you need, their price is still incredibly affordable.
