Five types of hosting at a glance
Hosting types differ in whether you share resources with others, how much control you have over the environment and who looks after the server. Price matters, but it follows from these three properties.
| Type | Resources | Who runs the server | Suitable for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shared web hosting | Shared with other customers | Provider | Company websites, small WordPress sites |
| Managed WordPress hosting | Shared or separate, tuned for WordPress | Provider, including WordPress | Business WordPress sites, small shops |
| Managed VPS | Guaranteed | Provider or partner | Shops, applications, several sites without an in-house admin |
| Unmanaged VPS | Guaranteed | You | Teams with Linux skills and time for maintenance |
| Dedicated server or cloud | Whole server or flexible resources | You, provider or partner, as agreed | High traffic, multiple servers, strict requirements |
For a quick recommendation for your own site, use the tool above. The sections below explain what it is based on.
Shared hosting: when it is enough
On shared hosting, hundreds of sites belonging to different customers run on one server. The provider looks after the operating system, web server, PHP and database, while you manage domains, mailboxes and files through a control panel such as cPanel or Plesk.
Shared hosting is perfectly fine for a company website, a small blog or a site with a few thousand visits a month. Its limits show when:
- the site slows down at peak times because the provider caps processes or memory per plan,
- you need a PHP extension, service or software version the provider does not support,
- another site on the same server causes problems that affect you too, for example the reputation of the IP address used for sending mail.
When choosing, check the PHP memory limit, the storage type (SSD or NVMe), backup frequency and how restores work, and which PHP versions are available. WordPress currently recommends PHP 8.3 or later, while PHP 8.2 receives security support only until the end of 2026.
Managed WordPress hosting
Managed WordPress hosting sits between shared hosting and your own server. The environment is configured only for WordPress: server-level caching, object caching (Redis or Memcached), automatic core updates, a staging site to test changes and daily backups with one-click restore.
It suits business WordPress sites that generate enquiries or sales, and smaller WooCommerce shops. WooCommerce recommends a WordPress memory limit of at least 256 MB, and the WordPress Hosting Handbook lists 512 MB or more for shops, page builders and multilingual sites. Before signing, check whether the provider also updates plugins, how many sites the plan allows and whether it caps visits.
VPS: managed or unmanaged
A VPS (virtual private server) is a separate virtual server with guaranteed vCPU, RAM and disk and its own operating system. You have root access, so you can install anything: your own application, Docker, background jobs, special PHP extensions or several sites on different technologies.
The key question is not the size of the VPS but who runs it:
- An unmanaged VPS is the cheapest. The provider supplies the server and network; everything else, from security patches and the firewall to backups and monitoring, is your job. It makes sense if you have an administrator with Linux skills and time.
- A managed VPS means the provider or a partner looks after the system. Agree exactly what is included: PHP and database updates, monitoring, response times and out-of-hours incident handling.
An unmanaged server that in practice nobody looks after is one of the bigger security risks in smaller companies. The savings disappear quickly after the first breach or data loss.
VPS vs dedicated server and cloud
When the load outgrows a single VPS, when you host many sites or when isolation requirements rule out a shared platform, it is time for a dedicated server, several servers with a separate database or a virtual data centre. At this size you are making architecture decisions: database separation, load balancing, a content delivery network (CDN), replication and a disaster recovery plan.
Whether it is cheaper to buy a server, rent one or use a virtual data centre can be worked out with the server TCO calculator. How much availability you actually need, and what an SLA promise really means, is covered in the SLA and uptime guide.
How to size vCPU, RAM and disk
A reliable estimate is based on measurements from your current environment. Where there are none, three figures help: monthly visits, concurrent users at peak and the type of site.
- vCPU determines how many uncacheable requests the server can handle at once. A shop or application needs more than a company website, because carts, checkouts and logged-in users cannot be served from cache.
- RAM is used by PHP processes, the database and the cache. For a small WordPress site with the database on the same VPS, 2 to 4 GB is a common starting point; shops and applications need more.
- Disk should be SSD or NVMe, with headroom for growth, logs and local backups. A full disk is one of the most common causes of a sudden outage.
Time to first byte (TTFB) is a useful measure of server responsiveness. Google's web.dev gives 0.8 seconds or less as a rough target. If your site exceeds it even without load, a bigger server usually helps less than caching and code optimisation.
Data location, e-mail and security
A server close to your visitors shortens response times, and location also matters for data protection. Transferring personal data outside the EU is allowed only under specific GDPR conditions, so for European companies a provider with a data centre in the EU is usually the simplest choice. Sign a data processing agreement with the provider and check where backups are stored.
Do not host e-mail on the same server as the website. That way a breach or overload of the site does not stop your mail, and business e-mail generally works better in a dedicated service such as Microsoft 365 or Google Workspace.
Whatever the hosting type, you need off-site backups and a tested restore. How to set recovery targets is explained in the backup, RPO and RTO guide.
Checklist before choosing a provider
- Do you know your monthly visits and concurrent users at peak?
- Do you need root access or software that shared hosting does not allow?
- Who will handle updates, security and backups, and who is reachable during an outage?
- Which PHP and database versions does the provider support, and how fast does it adopt new ones?
- How often are backups taken, where are they stored and how fast is a restore?
- Where is the data centre, and will the provider sign a data processing agreement?
- Can you scale resources without migrating, and how hard is it to move to another provider?
Humanfrog provides hosting and a virtual data centre on its own cloud platform in TIER III data centres in Slovenia, as well as managed IT services in which we look after servers, updates and backups. If you would like to check the tool's recommendation against your own metrics, talk to us.
