The BEST Wordpress Hosting EUROPE in 2024

You know it yourself, when a website is slow to load you quickly lose patience and click away. Your own WordPress site is no different, right?

We've tried 100s over different hosting providers over the years. In this post I’ll share the fastest Wordpress hosts we've found for our European customers and why we use them.

Since we started in 2008, we have worked with over 2000 businesses and used a huge number of different hosting companies over the years. These are the few we use ourselves, trust and recommend to clients on a daily basis.

Recommendations Summary:

Here's a one line summary of the hosts we recommend in Europe (or based in Europe) and why:

  1. SiteGround - The Best General Purpose Web Host with multiple options in both mainland Europe and the UK
  2. CloudWays - The Fastest WordPress host in Europe with a large number of locations. Cloudways would be classed as "dedicated server hosting".
  3. Rocket.net - Lightning Fast WordPress hosting with edge caching built in, good if targeting an international audience
  4. Kinsta - one of the best managed WordPress hosts in Europe
  5. WPEngine - another excellent Managed Wordpress host but not recommended for Woocommerce due to unusual caching setup
  6. WPX - best for bloggers, content sites & affiliate marketers, has a reputation for being fast for these type of sites
  7. Hostinger - focussed on cheap hosting, good if price is your key concern and don't care about performance

Most people choose a hosting provider based on price but when you care about performance, SEO, Facebook and Google Ads, that’s a bad idea. If you’re on this page I’m guessing you’re not looking for the cheapest you’re looking for the best right?

A VERY common mistake European business owners make is choosing hosting based out of the US or internationally when their target audience is mainland Europe or their local country. If website speed is important to you (which it should be!) you ideally want a hosting provider located in the same country (or very close by) as your visitors or target market.

Recommendation Criteria:

These are the hosts we'd recommend if we were sitting down in person with you or on a call. In our SEO agency we've optimized thousands of sites and have a deep understanding of hosting speed, reliability and what's good and bad.

If you're interested in optimizing your site further, try our FREE site speed test tool SiteSpeedBot.com. In about 90 seconds it'll give you detailed site speed & SEO recommendations most other tools won't!

The criteria that we recommend considering when choosing a host are:

  • Server location - ideally you should be hosted in Europe if you're targeting European/UK visitors, a common mistake many people make is hosting in the US which automatically makes your site 1-2 seconds slower due to distance.
  • Performance and reliability - you know already speed is really important for SEO and conversions, better performance=better SEO
  • Price - although not our primary consideration, price does matter, more importantly is price vs performance and features. Most people underpay for hosting and complain about it's performance when they could pay a few bucks more and have a fantastic experience. Many hosts also charge in USD which is going to cost you more.
  • Technical features - caching features like Redis and memcached are important, as are backups and raw CPU power especially if you have a Woocommerce site
  • Typical hosting features - storage, bandwidth, basic hosting capabilities
  • Whether we'd use them ourselves - if we wouldn't use ourselves why would we recommend them!

The Best Wordpress hosting in Europe in Detail: 🇪🇺

We've broken down the specifications and details on each host we recommend along with details on their WordPress hosting plans below.

If you scroll down further on this page we've explained the key features to look at when evaluating which host is right for you - take some time to dig into that list as often simple things like server location are completely neglected when it comes to choosing a fast host.

1. Siteground

Siteground logo
Siteground wordpress hosting

Click play on the audio below for a detailed SiteGround Review

Fantastic all rounder host that supports more than just WordPress

  • Coupon Code: No coupon code but big discounts on yearly plans
  • Priced from: 3.95 €/mo (special price); 9.95 €/mo (regular price)
  • Disk Space Starts at: 10GB
  • Backup System: Daily backup
  • Traffic Quota Starts at: Unmetered Traffic
  • Admin Console: Custom
  • Data Center: 7 data centers with 4 of those in Europe

Pros:

  • One of the FASTEST cPanel hosts on the web
  • 4 Europe locations to choose from - London UK, Madrid Spain, Frankfurt Germany, Emshaven Netherlands
  • Supports more than just Wordpress
  • Great value particularly at the low end

Cons:

  • Great for low to mid traffic sites
  • It's a shared host so you don't necessarily have a lot of CPU juice so make sure you choose your plan appropriately

More details at www.siteground.com


 

2. Cloudways

Cloudways logo
Cloudways wordpress hosting

Cloudways is a bit different to most other providers in the market. In a nutshell you get dedicated server hosting without the complexity associated with running your own VPS or dedicated server. Essentially dedicated server hosting without most of the headaches of managing your own server.

They offer over 60 different locations with 5 different providers - Linode, Vultr, Digitalocean, Amazon and Google. (most providers only use one provider, eg Wpengine & Kinsta both use Google as their core provider).

Because it's highly configurable, scalable AND you get dedicated server resources, Cloudways is the fastest WP hosting provider on the web right now.

Click play on the audio below to hear a more detailed review on CloudWays

  • Coupon Code: FASTHOSTING - gets you $25 credit (roughly 3 months free on the base plan!)
  • Priced from: $10 USD per month
  • Disk Space Starts at: 25 GB
  • Backup System: From 1 hour to every 7 days + manual backup
  • Traffic Quota Starts at: 1 TB (1000 GB)
  • Admin Console: Custom
  • Data Centers: 60+ Locations! Including US, UK, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Netherlands, Germany, France & many more!

Why they might be the best Wordpress hosting choice for you:

Pros:

  • High performance, dedicated server power without the complexity
  • MASSIVE number of locations across several different core providers
  • High configurable
  • FANTASTIC price
  • Supports more than just Wordpress
  • VERY flexible in configuration capability

Cons:

  • Slight learning curve if you're used to cPanel (they use their own panel)
  • Fast growing company so support quality can vary at times
  • Signup process on the website can be a bit clunky

More details at www.cloudways.com


 

3. Rocket.net

Rocket.net logo
Rocket.net wordpress hosting

Lightning Fast WordPress hosting with edge caching built in, good if targeting an international audience

  • Priced from:$30/mo (if paid monthly); $20.83/mo (if paid yearly)
  • Disk Space Starts at: 10GB
  • Backup System: Manual Backups and Nightly automated backups
  • Traffic Quota Starts at: 250,000 Visits

More details at www.rocket.net


 

4. Kinsta

Kinsta logo
Kinsta wordpress hosting

Highly Scalable, Managed WP Host, Great For Mid Size Sites

  • Priced from: $35/mo
  • Disk Space Starts at: 5GB
  • Backup System: Automatic daily backups and Manual backup points
  • Traffic Quota Starts at: 20000 visits per month
  • Admin Console: Custom
  • Data Centers: US, UK, Australia, Belgium, Tiawan, Brazil, Singapore, Tokyo, India, Canada, Netherlands, Finland, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Osaka

Pros:

  • Large number of locations including locations other providers don't cover
  • Fully managed WP host
  • Good for higher traffic sites

Cons:

  • Higher priced
  • Not super flexible

More details at www.kinsta.com


 

5. WP Engine Hosting

wpengine logo
wpengine wordpress hosting

Best & World's Leading Fully Managed WP Host ,Fantastic For Complex Sites & Woocommerce Although A Little More Expensive

  • Coupon Code: WPE20OFF(20% OFF Month 1)
  • Priced from: $35/mo
  • Disk Space Starts at: 10GB
  • Backup System: Manual Backups and Nightly automated backups
  • Traffic Quota Starts at: 50GB
  • Admin Console: Custom
  • Data Centers: US, UK, Australia, Canada, Germany, Ireland, Belgium, Taiwan, Tokyo

Pros:

  • Fully managed Wordpress hosting
  • Simple to use backend
  • Large number of locations
  • Good for higher traffic sites

Cons:

  • Higher priced
  • Not super flexible

More details at www.wpengine.com


 

6. WPX Hosting

WPX hosting
WPX wordpress hosting

Best Value Managed WP Host, Good For Small to Mid Size Sites

  • Coupon Code: WPSPEEDFIX(50% OFF Month 1)
  • Priced from:$24.99/mo (if paid monthly); $20.83/mo (if paid yearly)
  • Disk Space Starts at: 10GB
  • Backup System: Manual Backups and Nightly automated backups
  • Traffic Quota Starts at: 100GB
  • Admin Console: WHMCS
  • Data Centers: USA + UK Hosting locations

Pros:

  • Dirt cheap for managed Wordpress hosting
  • One of the fastest managed WP hosts
  • High quality support
  • Good for upto mid range sites

Cons:

  • No Asia or Australia coverage

More details at www.wpxhosting.com


 

7. Hostinger

Hostinger logo
Hostinger wordpress hosting

focused on cheap hosting, good if price is your key concern and don't care about performance

  • Priced from: $1.99/mo ($3.99/mo when you renew)
  • Disk Space Starts at: 30GB SSD Storage
  • Backup System:Weekly backups
  • Traffic Quota Starts at: 10000 visits per month

More details at www.hostinger.com


 

How Do I Choose A WordPress Hosting Provider?

Unfortunately most people choose a hosting provider based on price which is not really the best way to do it.

Ultimately with hosting you get what you pay for. Cost is obviously one of the considerations to look at when choosing a provider but that's really only one element of many. Below I’ve summarized the key features or things we look for when choosing a hosting provider.

Click play below to hear an audio walk-through and more in depth explanation of what you consider when choosing a provider. Alternatively click here for an MP3 audio or scroll down for a Youtube powered embed.

Is Server Location That Important?

Server location is key and poor location choice is a common problem we see. It's really important that you host in the geographic location that is closest to the majority of your visitors.

That means if you're an EU company serving mostly Europe customers you need to host at a location in Europe. If you're a US company, then host in the US and so forth.

Generally the site will run 0.5-1 second SLOWER when the visitor traffic has to cross an ocean so this is really important!

Not all providers offer hosting in all locations so before committing to a provider make sure the servers are located in the right location for your business.

**NOTE if you're serving an international audience then it's really important you use a content delivery network (CDN). A CDN is a distributed network of servers around the world that host your content that will reduce the impact geographic location has on speed. Most top tier hosts have CDN services built in.

Speed, Reliability and Uptime - What does this mean?

Obviously if you're on this page you know that site speed is really important but most people overlook uptime and reliability which are arguably even more important, after all, if your site is down is effectively has zero speed!

Your hosting needs to be well matched to the number of visitors you’re expecting and the order volume you’re catering for. If your store revenue is in the millions then you’ll need a much larger server to suit.

Don't expect to run a high traffic site or a database heavy site on cheap hosting or a low end plan. Make sure the plan is matches to the traffic level you're expect.

Sidenote: we SiteSpeedBot.com to test website speed. In a perfect world your site should be loading in under 1 second (where the load begins to feel instant). We also use uptimerobot.com to monitor site uptime.

Support

What is your support expectation?

At some point you’re going to need support. Do you expect to be able to call your provider when the site is down? Do you expect them to be able to help with general technical problems that aren't strictly related to hosting? Being clear with what your expectation is up front is really important.

You're not going to get a high level of support paying a few bucks a month - it's just not commercially feasible. Make sure you factor in the level of support you want when choosing a plan.

If you’re a larger store doing millions in revenue you’ll ideally need your own dedicated Wordpress dev resources on top of what the hosting provider offers.

Patching & Security

Your website CMS is no different to your smartphone or laptop. It needs regular patches and updates to ensure bugs are taken care of and security holes are patched.

Some hosting providers offer patching as part of their service, others expect you to take care of it. Bottom line, patching needs to be done by someone!

What Are The Features I Should Pay Attention To?

Most hosting plans will offer roughly the same specs and features but often there are some subtle differences.

Features that are worth considering are:

Free SSL Certificates - all good hosts offer free SSL certificates and SSL/HTTPS is standard across the web now. Any host you’re looking at should support free SSL certs.

HTTP2 protocol support - this is an important speed consideration. A host that doesn’t support HTTP2 is not running updated servers and should be avoided.

PHP support - PHP 8.x is the current version of PHP, the programming language WordPress runs on. Ideally your host should support PHP v8.0+. The PHP version your hosting instances are running can have a dramatic impact on site speed. Newer versions run faster.

Number of Wordpress instances or domains supported - how many sites do you want to run on the plan? Some providers give you one instance, some a handful and some unlimited.

Storage and Disk Space - how much disk space are you going to need? Most sites aren’t actually that big, 10-20gb is usually plenty for even larger sites.

Traffic Quota - how much traffic or quota do you need for your site? Some hosts charge on raw gigabytes or terabytes transferred, some on actual visitors and some unlimited bandwidth.

Backups - this is probably one of the most important features so we’ve expanded further in the point below.

CPanel - Cpanel is a hosting management console. Some hosts use/provide Cpanel and some use different management interfaces. This really shouldn’t be much of a consideration because all admin panels allow you to do roughly the same thing but for some people this is important.

MySQL server version support - SQL is the database server Wordpress uses. v5.7 can be significantly faster than v5.5 and v5.6 for *some* types of sites so if you’re interested in absolute maximum performance this is important.

Free Domain Name Renewals - generally we don't recommend using your web host as your domain registry but if you want to be as cheap as possible and keep your budget tight a free domain name or free renewals may be a consideration for you.

Free Site Migration - some hosts will migrate you for free, some will give you the tools to migrate but you'll have to do it.

Free CDN - we don't recommend including this as a consideration and instead purchase Cloudflare APO ($5/month) or Cloudflare Pro ($20/month) directly from Cloudflare as that will give you much more control, better performance and security. See this post on Cloudflare rules for WordPress for ways to use Cloudflare to secure your site.

Phone support - do you expect to be able to call your web host? Most hosts will offer livechat support but today most do not offer phone support.

Backups

What is your backup strategy? There’s so much digital capital tied up in your website that it’s critical that you at least have some backup system in place taking daily backups.

On bigger sites ideally you’ll need to look at realtime or near realtime backup solutions where the site is backed up upon every change or on an hourly basis.

With backups there's a saying, 2 is 1 and 1 is none. What's the is implying is that it's not wise to rely solely on one backup system.

With ALL our SEO agency clients we run two backup systems - usually the hosting the site is on has a backup and then we generally use Blogvault on top of the hosting backup.

Blogvault is by far our favourite backup solution as it has a realtime option where changes are backed up on the site as they happen (perfect for Woocommerce) AND they specifically tell you which files and database tables are not being backed up.

We've used pretty much every major backup plugin on the markup - Backup Buddy, Vaultpress, Updraft, BackWPUp and a bunch of others - Blogvault is really the only one we trust.

It's not good enough to solely rely on the hosting provider's backup as problems and data loss DO happen. Even a moderately successful website will have 100s if not 1000s of hours invested in it along with SEO rankings and optimizations - most businesses today simply cannot afford data loss so at less than 10 bucks a month for the base plan there's really no excuse.

Avoid Known Slow Hosting Providers

Like I said at the top, you get what you pay for when it comes to hosting. You simply cannot expect a quality hosting service when you’re paying a few bucks a month.

These hosts are known to be slow hosts and should be avoided if speed is your top priority:

Bluehost, Godaddy, Hostgator, any hosting company owned by EIG, Dreamhost, A2 Hosting, Site5, iPage, 1&1 Hosting.

These guys all run a business model that is based on price being the key feature. In order to give you that $3/month hosting plan they run their servers to the absolute limit, don't keep infrastructure up to date and provide poor quality support. Avoid them if speed is important. If price is an important concern, Siteground and Cloudways are both fast and dirt cheap.

Web Hosting CompanyCoupon CodePrice Per MonthWhy Recommended?Website Link
siteground logoBig discounts on yearly plansFrom $14.95/monthGreat all rounder host with 4 Europe locations to choose fromVisit Site
Cloudways logoFASTHOSTING ($25 OFF Month 1)From $10/monthFastest performance vs price,HUGE number of locations including Ireland, UK, Germany, France & NetherlandsVisit Site
rocket.net logoFrom $1/month for the first monthLightning Fast WordPress hosting with edge caching built in, good if targeting an international audienceVisit Site
kinsta logoFrom $30/monthHighly Scalable, Managed WP Host, Great For Mid Size Sites, Several European OptionsVisit Site
From $35/monthWorld's Leading Fully Managed WP Host, Fantastic For Complex Sites & Woocommerce Although A Little More Expensive. Several Europe LocationsVisit Site
WPX logoWPSPEEDFIX(50% OFF Month 1)From $24.99/monthBest Value Managed WP Host, Good For Small to Mid Size Sites, UK data centreVisit Site
hostinger logoFrom $1.99/monthfocused on cheap hosting, good if price is your key concern and don't care about performanceVisit Site