Choosing the right hosting is important for every business. However, as a WordPress agency owner or freelancer, your clients may rely on you for hosting. If you opt for the wrong provider, it could jeopardize your income.
Thankfully, there are hosting providers that tailor their offerings specifically to agencies. By choosing one of these solutions, you’ll have access to all the features and resources you need when managing multiple client sites.
In this postA post is a type of content in WordPress, a popular open-source content management system used for creating an... More, we’ll look at why WordPress agency hosting needs are unique – and uniquely important. We’ll then share five providers that have something special to offer web professionals. Let’s jump in!
Understanding the Importance of Web Hosting for Agencies
When choosing a hosting provider, it’s important to consider key factors such as performance, reliability, and security. However, as a successful agency owner or freelancer, you’ll likely be managing multiple client sites. Most of those customers will expect you to take care of hosting for them or at least help them set it up.
This naturally means that your hosting needs will be different compared to those who only need to host a single site. In addition, the quality of the hosting you can offer to your clients is completely dependent on your choice of provider.
The good news is that many hosting companies have plans tailored specifically to agencies. Some even have dedicated agency partner programs. These solutions often include features that make managing multiple client sites easier such as white-labeling and direct client billing.
The perfect hosting provider will vary depending on your agency’s needs and your client base. For example, an agency that sells to local businesses will likely have completely different needs compared to one that targets international e-commerce sites. To ensure you find the provider that’s right for you, it’s important to bear your unique requirements in mind as you consider your options.
The Best Web Hosting for Agencies (5 Top Options)
Now that we’ve explained why web hosting is particularly important for WordPress agencies, let’s look at some of the best companies that offer this service. When compiling this list, we considered not only the features that are useful for agencies, but factors that you should consider when purchasing any web hosting plan, including performance and security.
1. SiteGround
SiteGround has a reputation for providing quality WordPress hosting. In fact, it’s one of the few web hosting companies that’s officially recommended by WordPress.org.
For agencies, SiteGround provides an automated site setup wizard that enables you to create client sites in minutes. You can also manage all your websites from a single dashboardIn WordPress, the Dashboard is a central hub for managing a website's content and settings. It is the first sc... More, and transfer site ownership to clients with just a few clicks. You’ll retain access to their control panels, which is useful if you want to provide ongoing support and maintenance.
SiteGround also supports white-labeling, so you can provide a more seamless and professional customer experience. When your client logs into their site, they won’t see the SiteGround logo or name anywhere. This can create the impression that you’re delivering the entirety of the client experience, which is a powerful way to prove your worth and justify your rates.
Features:
- Free SSL certificates
- Built-in File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client
- Git integration
- MySQL manager
- Content Delivery Network (CDN)
- IP blocker
- Auto-updates
- WordPress caching
- Dynamic caching, CSS and HTML minification, and lazy image loading provided by SiteGround’s SG Optimizer pluginA plugin is a software component that adds specific features and functionality to your WordPress website. Esse... More
Pricing: Agency plans run from $9.99 to $100.99 per month.
2. WP Engine
As a WordPress-exclusive hosting service, WP Engine uses industry-leading architecture including Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform. With these foundations in place, you’ll be in a strong position to deliver high-quality experiences to your clients.
Although WP Engine doesn’t offer features such as white-labeling or direct client billing, it is very developer-friendly. Every plan provides access to development and staging environments. They also come with the Genesis Framework and over 30 free StudioPress themesA WordPress theme is a set of files that determine the design and layout of a website. It controls everything ... More. This can help you launch client websites with minimal hassle.
If you invest in WP Engine’s Agency Partner program, then you’ll get access to some additional perks such as a feature in WP Engine’s partner directory, lead referrals, joint marketing, and quarterly reviews.
Features:
- Real-time security threat detection
- Let’s Encrypt SSL certificates
- EverCache proprietary caching technology
- A built-in global CDN
- Technical onboarding
- Launch readiness assessments
Pricing: Managed hosting plans range from $25 to $241.67 per month. Custom dedicated hosting is available upon request.
3. Kinsta
Kinsta is another WordPress-only host. With this provider, everything is fully managed for you, including daily backups. This gives you more time to focus on what really matters – keeping your clients happy.
As part of its Agency Partner Program, Kinsta offers unlimited free migrations, white-labeling functionality, and 30-day backup retention for every client site you host. In addition, every website that you migrate to Kinsta will receive a free malware cleaning.
For agencies that consist of multiple designers and developers, it’s also worth noting that Kinsta’s Agency Partner Program supports unlimited team members.
Features:
- White-labeled Clear Cache Plugin
- Hack Fix Guarantee
- The DevKinsta local development tool
- Server-level caching
- Auto-scaling infrastructure built entirely on Google Cloud Platform
- Free SSL certificates, SFTP, SSH, and HTTP/2
- Support for GeoIP blocking
Pricing: Agency partner plans range from $300 per month for 20 sites to $600 per month for 60 sites.
4. A2 Hosting
If you do provide hosting to your clients, then the quality of your services will be completely dictated by your hosting provider. If your host’s servers go down, then it’ll take all your customers’ websites down with it, which is bad for your bottom line.
A2 Hosting promises to make downtime a thing of the past by offering all of its hosting resellers a 99.9 percent Uptime Commitment. You can also manage all of your client sites from your choice of WebHost Manager (WHM) or Plesk control panel. This includes setting up your clients’ cPanel accounts, creating your own hosting packages, and managing all of your customers’ SSL certificates.
In addition, A2 Hosting’s reseller packages all support white-labeling. This means you can customize your clients’ control panels, your nameservers, and even your billing software with your own branding. This can help you deliver a more consistent customer experience, and build a stronger identity for your agency.
Features:
- Choose between Windows and Linux hosting
- CDN included as standard
- A one-click WordPress installer
- Free automatic backups included in many plans
- 24/7 customer support
Pricing: Managed dedicated hosting is available from $179.99 per month. Reseller hosting starts at $24.99 per month with a one-year commitment.
5. Bluehost
Bluehost offers a variety of hosting plans, ranging from budget-friendly shared hosting to powerful dedicated servers. Regardless of whether you’re a startup or an established agency, you should have no problems finding a plan that meets your needs. If you’re a smaller company or startup, then it’s worth noting that Bluehost provides free domain name registration if you pay for your plan up-front for one year.
If you want to offer hosting as part of your services, then you might be interested in Bluehost’s reseller options via ResellerClub. This solution provides over 800 products that you can configure and resell directly to your clients.
Features:
- 24/7 support
- Backup data protection
- Free SSL certificates
- Automated security updates
- Malware detection
- Track your visitor analytics directly from your Bluehost dashboard
- Access to hundreds of free and premium themes via the Bluehost marketplace
Pricing: Dedicated hosting is available from $79.99 per month. Reseller plans start at $19.49 per month with a one-year commitment.
Conclusion
These days, pretty much every business can benefit from an online presence. Therefore, the website maintenance and management industry is booming. However, as a successful agency, your hosting needs are unique and often far more challenging than those of an individual.
If you’re not sure where to start looking for an agency-friendly hosting provider, then check out any of the five choices we recommended in this post:
- SiteGround. This independently-owned hosting company enables you to create client websites in minutes and boasts white-labeling functionality.
- WP Engine. A hosting provider that leverages the power of Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform, and has a dedicated Agency Partner program.
- Kinsta. Opt for this provider’s Agency Partner Program and you’ll get access to unlimited migrations, white-labeling functionality, and 30-day backup retention for all your client sites.
- A2 Hosting. Promises to keep your client sites online with a 99.9 percent Uptime Commitment, and offers reseller hosting.
- Bluehost. This is one of the few hosting providers officially recommended by WordPress.org, and it offers affordable reseller hosting.
Are there any excellent, agency-friendly hosting providers we’ve missed? Let us know in the commentsComments are a feature of WordPress that allow users to engage in discussions about the content of a website. ... More section below!
