Running an agency is a challenging task. You're responsible for managing a team of designers and developers, overseeing multiple projects, and maintaining strong relationships with clients.
Regardless of the type of agency you run, reliable web hosting is essential for powering your clients' online presence. You need a web hosting solution that is affordable, high-performing, and easy to manage for your clients' WordPress sites.
In this post, we'll explore the best WordPress hosting for agencies of all sizes and specialties to help you choose the right provider for your business.
What Makes the Best WordPress Hosting for Agencies?
With so many types of agencies, finding the universally best WordPress hosting can be tricky. Despite their different needs, all agencies need reliable web hosting to make sure their online presence is strong and effective.
Despite these differences in services, some key web hosting features make for the best WordPress hosting for any agency:
One-Click WordPress Installation
The ability to set up new WordPress sites with just one click is a huge time-saver. You can instantly create new client sites without dealing with complex configurations. This feature lets you jump straight to the fun part - building and customizing your clients' sites.
The good thing is that most managed WordPress hosts offer this convenient capability.
Optimized Servers
The best WordPress hosting providers have their servers optimized specifically for WordPress. These servers are fine-tuned to make WordPress sites fast and efficient. They have all the right software and settings to keep WordPress running smoothly.
This means faster load times for your clients' sites, better overall performance, and fewer headaches for you.
Client Management Dashboard
A good client management dashboard can also streamline your processes and save you time. You can handle updates, check on-site status, and manage billing. Instead of logging in and out of different accounts or juggling multiple tabs, you've got everything in one place.
Some hosts offer flexible hosting plans with dedicated resources for each client. Instead of a bulk plan where you get X amount of resources to split between all your sites, you can allocate specific resources to each client. This prevents overages from affecting all accounts if one site uses excessive bandwidth or storage.
4 Best WordPress Hosting Options for Agencies
Now, on to our best picks! This list is based on extensive research and testing of more than 40 top web hosting services. We considered various features to make our picks and gave more weight to the factors that matter most to agencies. You can learn more about our process and what goes into our research here.
1. Cloudways – Best Overall
When it comes to flexible and customizable hosting, Cloudways is in a league of its own. This platform is a dream come true for agencies that want complete control over their hosting setup.
What makes Cloudways stand out is how perfectly it fits the agency model. You can use the client management dashboard to manage billing, servers, and applications for each client individually, a level of control that is hard to find elsewhere. Cloudways also allows you to provide customized client-level access, and add your customized branding to what your clients see.
Whether your clients need WordPress, Magento, Drupal, or PHP hosting, Cloudways has you covered. You can also choose from top cloud infrastructure providers like DigitalOcean, AWS, GCE, Linode, and Vultr.
Besides countless add-on options like email hosting and CDN, Cloudways offers an Agency Partner Program. It's free to join, and the program gives you premium support, a personal account manager, and special online training sessions designed for agency partners.
Unlimited websites
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Easy project management
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Flexible pricing
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Let's Encrypt free SSL certificates included
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Pros
Learning curve
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Short 3-day free trial
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Cons
2. Kinsta – Best for Premium Services
If you prefer an all-in-one package with top-notch technology, Kinsta might be a better match. The downside is that it comes with a higher price tag. On the positive side, Kinsta offers to host your agency's own site for free. You'll still pay for your clients' sites, but having your promotional site hosted for free is a nice perk.
One thing to note is that with Kinsta, you can't create different servers or plans for each client. It's more of a one-size-fits-all approach. However, it does provide a strong client dashboard with centralized, multi-site management and multi-user and client-level access. You’ll also find handy site management features like staging environments and site cloning.
Kinsta boasts some of the best technology in the hosting world. Thanks to Google's new C3D and C2 machines, all your clients will enjoy lightning-fast loading speeds. With 35+ data centers and over 260 CDN points of presence, you can ensure great performance for clients no matter where they're located.
Security is another area where Kinsta shines. Every site runs in its own isolated container with dedicated resources. This setup is perfect if you have clients in industries where security is crucial, like healthcare or finance. Kinsta protects every site with enterprise-level Cloudflare DDoS protection and a web application firewall.
Finally, helpful developer tools like one-click cloning, Git version control, and Kinsta's API enable smooth site development workflows.
Unlimited team members
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Staging environments
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Good customer service
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Developers tools
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Pros
Expensive
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Limited customization for subscriptions
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Cons
3. Hostinger – Best Budget Option
If you're running a smaller agency or just starting out, Hostinger could be your best bet. It's perfect for agencies that don't have the resources for more expensive options but still need reliable hosting.
While not as robust as Kinsta, Hostinger uses LiteSpeed web servers and an LSCWP caching plugin to accelerate sites. An integrated CDN also optimizes content delivery across regions, raising website speed by up to 40%. You'll never be left wondering, "Why is my WordPress site so slow?”
You can make changes safely with Hostinger's one-click staging tool, while automatic backups provide additional security against data loss.
Hostinger has a dedicated client management interface, which is excellent. But there's a catch - you purchase a plan that distributes resources among clients. You can't adjust resources for individual clients. This setup works best for agencies serving businesses with very small sites.
One final standout feature of Hostinger is its AI tools. These can help you publish content faster, which can be a lifesaver for smaller teams trying to do more with less.
30-day money-back guarantee
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Very affordable
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Cloud hosting
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AI tools
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Pros
Less robust functionality
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Limited resources for individual clients
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Cons
4. Nestify – Best AWS Alternative
For agencies that love the power of Amazon Web Services (AWS), Nestify is worth a look. AWS is a favorite among agencies for its scalability and reliability. It leverages these benefits while making things a bit easier to manage. We also recommend their cloud hosting, particularly if you're comparing cloud hosting vs cloud computing for your agency's requirements.
As an AWS technology partner, Nestify can secure better rates on AWS infrastructure for your agency. They also handle PageSpeed Optimization for your clients' sites at no extra cost.
Nestify provides a dedicated agency dashboard, which makes managing multiple clients easier. Some of the standout features include 24/7 expert support and proactive monitoring and issue resolution However, you can't purchase individual resources for each client.
One feature that agencies will love is Nestify's offer of unlimited migrations. It can be a huge help if you're moving many client sites to a new host. Nestify also throws in some free add-ons that can add value for your clients. These include a Web Application Firewall, automatic updates, and unlimited image optimization.
Fast-loading websites and over 99% uptime
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Free SSL certificates and automatic backups
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Intuitive dashboard
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Priority support for agencies
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Unlimited migrations
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Pros
No individual resources for clients
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Limited data centers and server locations
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Expensive
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Cons
Choosing the Right Agency Web Hosting
As you can see, each hosting option has its strengths. They're all designed to meet different needs, so choosing the one that fits your agency best is paramount. So, how do you make that choice? Start by defining your agency's needs and goals.
Web hosting for smaller businesses should provide affordability and simplicity. In those cases, quality budget providers like Hostinger are suitable.
If you're working with big clients with high-performance needs, Kinsta might be more your speed. Yes, it's pricier, but it offers cutting-edge features, top-notch security, and excellent performance. It could be worth the investment for clients who need the best of the best.
For many agencies, Cloudways hits a sweet spot. It's our pick for best overall because it offers an outstanding balance of features, flexibility, and price. If your agency serves a mix of client types and sizes, Cloudways gives you the tools to meet all their needs.
Those already on AWS may want to evaluate Nestify for simplified WordPress hosting management.
Remember, there's no one-size-fits-all solution. The best choice for your agency depends on your specific situation, clients, and goals.
Compare Your Options
Deciding on a hosting provider is not an easy choice, but it's an important one. Your client's website is the face of their business online, and it needs a solid foundation.
One way to make the decision more manageable is to compare your options side by side. List out the features, pricing, and support options for each host you're considering to see how they stack up against each other.
At Softailed, we make this easier. Our Comparison Tool for web hosting lets you see how different hosts measure up. You can compare features, read reviews, and get a clear picture of what each option offers.
If you're not sure what type of hosting your need, check out Different Types of Web Hosting Explained.
Software engineer with a weakness for collecting too much data. I live for web hosting and cloud computing. If I’m not online, I like to go fishing and create weird things with my 3D printer.