Managed WordPress hosting · Comparison
Best WordPress Hosting in 2026
No host wins all five criteria here. Cloudways has the lowest price with no renewal step, 11 USD a month for a 1 GB server billed hourly; SiteGround has phone support and no visit cap; WP Engine keeps backups longest. Kinsta, which pays us a commission, costs 35 USD a month or 350 USD a year at list price. Figures from the hosts’ own pages, 22 and 23 September 2026.
The Cloudways button is a plain link; we have no partnership with Cloudways. The Kinsta button is an affiliate link: Kinsta pays us a commission if you sign up through it, and you pay Kinsta’s list price either way.
Written and checked by Sascha Martins, Promo Code Network, Switzerland
How the best WordPress hosting candidates were compared
Kinsta, WP Engine, Cloudways, SiteGround, Bluehost and Hostinger were checked on five criteria, using only their own pricing pages: renewal against introductory price; included backups, staging, CDN and migrations; traffic model and overage; support channel; refund window. Nothing was measured. SiteGround prices by storefront (see the FAQ). The hardware and caching each host publishes are compared on fastest WordPress hosting, not repeated here.
Renewal price versus introductory price
| Host and entry plan | Introductory price | Prepaid term | After the first term |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kinsta Single 35k | 35 USD a month, or 350 USD a year (30 a month) | None; annual billing is 12 months for the price of 10 | Same list price; the terms allow fee increases with reasonable prior notice |
| WP Engine Essential | 35 USD monthly, or 28 USD a month billed annually (336 USD for the first year) | 12 months on annual billing | Not published: first-year pricing for new customers only, excludes renewals; the terms renew at then-current rates |
| Cloudways Flexible | From 11 USD a month for a 1 GB / 1 vCPU / 25 GB / 1 TB DigitalOcean server (0.0164 USD an hour); 2 GB costs 24 USD | None; billed hourly in arrears | Same rate, no renewal step |
| SiteGround StartUp | 2.99 EUR before VAT (euro site) or 2.99 USD (US-dollar site) a month | 12 months | 15.99 EUR or 17.99 USD a month |
| Bluehost Starter | 3.99 USD a month | 36 months | 9.99 USD a month |
| Hostinger Premium | 2.99 USD a month (143.52 USD for 48 months; regular price 575.52) | 48 months | 10.99 USD a month |
All six pricing pages, read 22 September 2026; all except Bluehost re-read 23 September 2026. 11 USD is Cloudways’ standard rate beside a promotional banner.
Backups, staging, CDN and migrations: what each plan includes
| Host | Backups | Staging | CDN | Migration |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kinsta | Kept 14 days; 6-hourly 20 USD, hourly 100 USD per site a month | Free, one click | Included, 260+ PoPs, edge caching | Unlimited, free, by Kinsta’s team |
| WP Engine | Automatic and on demand, kept 30 to 60 days | One-click staging and dev environments | Cloudflare-powered global CDN included | Free automated migration plugin on Essential; managed migration on Core |
| Cloudways | Automated and on demand; offsite storage 0.033 USD per GB per server | Free staging and cloning | Cloudflare Enterprise as a paid add-on; no price on the pricing page | Free managed migration listed |
| SiteGround | Daily, geo-distributed, free; on-demand from GrowBig | GrowBig and GoGeek only, not StartUp | Free CDN included | Free: Migrator plugin or manual transfer ordered in the client area |
| Bluehost | Weekly on the Starter card; the page’s FAQ says daily off-site | One-click staging on all standard plans | Free CDN | Free tool; FAQ adds expert migration of up to five sites in the first 30 days |
| Hostinger | Weekly on Premium, daily on Unlimited | One-click staging listed; plan not stated | Listed on Premium, “included” on Unlimited | Free, unlimited, via hPanel |
WP Engine’s backup retention wins this table; Kinsta’s 14 days is the shortest, and more frequent backups cost extra.
Traffic model, overage, support channel and refund window
| Host | Traffic model, entry plan | Overage | Support channel | Refund window |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kinsta | 35,000 visits, 10 GB storage, 125 GB CDN bandwidth | Site stays online; notice at 80% and 100%; billed per additional 1,000 visits | Chat, 24/7, 8 languages | 30 days, first-time customers; overages and one-time fees excluded |
| WP Engine | 25,000 visits (“estimates only”), 10 GB, 75 GB bandwidth; extra site 20 USD a month | “Overages may apply”; terms invoice them monthly in arrears | 24/7 technical support; chat after login | None stated on its plans page; terms call fees non-refundable except as expressly stated |
| Cloudways | Unlimited visits and applications; 1 TB transfer on the 11 USD server, 2 TB on the 24 USD server | Extra bandwidth 0.02 USD per GB on DigitalOcean | Live chat and tickets 24/7; Advanced Support add-on 100 USD a month (25 USD in a limited-time offer) | None stated; 3-day free trial without a card |
| SiteGround | 1 website, unlimited traffic, 10 GB | None published | Live chat, tickets and phone, 24/7 | 30 days |
| Bluehost | 10 websites, 10 GB NVMe, “ideal for 40K visits/mo” | None published | Chat 24/7; phone from Business (6.99 USD, renews 13.99) | 30 days; hosting only, card payments, not monthly terms |
| Hostinger | 3 websites, 20 GB SSD; unmetered bandwidth under a fair-use policy | None published | Live chat, 24/7 | 30 days from the transaction; hosting except VPS |
Verdict: which host wins which criterion
Renewal price: Cloudways, the only host below Kinsta with no renewal step (11 USD for 1 GB, 24 for 2 GB, against 35); you rent a server, and the Cloudflare Enterprise CDN is a paid add-on. Bluehost has the lowest renewal rate, 9.99 USD a month, but only after a 36-month prepaid term at 3.99. Inclusions: a draw between Kinsta and WP Engine; WP Engine keeps backups longer, Kinsta migrates unlimited sites with its own team. Traffic: SiteGround and Cloudways publish no visit cap. Support: SiteGround, with chat, tickets and phone on every plan; Kinsta and WP Engine are chat only. Refunds: 30 days at four hosts; WP Engine’s plans page states none; Cloudways has none, but nothing is prepaid.
Best WordPress hosting in 2026: common questions
Which host has the lowest price after renewal?
Does Kinsta have an introductory price that goes up later?
Which hosts include staging on the entry plan?
What happens when a site exceeds its visit limit?
Why is SiteGround quoted in euros and dollars?
Sources
- Kinsta: WordPress hosting plans, prices, inclusions, add-ons and overage FAQ, read 21 to 23 September 2026; money-back guarantee and terms of service, read 23 September 2026.
- WP Engine: Plans and Pricing and Terms of Service. Read 22 and 23 September 2026.
- Cloudways: Pricing and Plans. Read 22 and 23 September 2026.
- SiteGround: Hosting for WordPress on its euro site and its US-dollar site, prices and renewals before VAT. Read 23 September 2026.
- Bluehost: WordPress Hosting. Read 22 September 2026.
- Hostinger: Managed Hosting for WordPress (Premium and Unlimited cards, read 23 September 2026) and Refund policy. Read 22 September 2026.