Forbes Advisor creates a rubric to rate and score each company in the list. We rated more than 25 hosting providers to impartially determine which ones are the best. The rubric considers four main areas of information when scoring the data, looking at 24 key criteria that were weighted to favor features that small business owners find valuable in a provider.
Pricing
We wanted to know several things when it came to pricing, such as if the hosting plan offers a free service, if the plans it offers are priced competitively and offer a good value for the features provided and if there is a money-back guarantee. We also looked at how much a WordPress host charged users for renewal after the initial contract ends and the number of sites that are covered by each plan. This accounted for 10% of our weighted scoring.
Features
This category includes a range of features that matter most to businesses when choosing a web hosting provider, such as the storage and bandwidth limits, one-click Word-Press installation, free site transfer, free domain name, free SSL certificates and uptime guarantees.
In addition to the key features, we also considered whether or not the providers offer extras that save businesses time and money, such as free business email, website builders, free domain privacy, enhanced security features, and automatic backups. We weighted features at 50% of our total score.
Third-party reviews
To gain a broader understanding of how others find the web hosting provider, we looked at third-party review sites to find out what actual users of the web hosts felt about the service they received. Turning to Trustpilot, we looked at the number of positive reviews each WordPress web host received and how many of them were quality reviews that were 3.5 or higher out of 5. These accounted for 10% of the total score.
Expert analysis
Continuing with customer reviews, our experts looked at users’ opinions on several key metrics to determine the final ratings of each WordPress web hosting service. These criteria included ease of use, value for the money, stand-out features and popularity. This analysis made up 30% of the total score.
Learn how we evaluate web hosting services.
Staff Reviewer Kelly Main contributed to this article.
