Choosing a PHP hosting provider needs careful consideration, as it can directly impact how well your PHP site or app will perform.

After all, it provides a technical environment for PHP scripts to work optimally.

Even though you can create a PHP server yourself, you must know about the benefits of specialized PHP hosting providers, which include the following.

  • Full compatibility with PHP scripts
  • Ability to easily scale when needed
  • Get support for the latest PHP version
  • Server-specific performance and security optimizations
  • Access to a vibrant community and support for easy resolutions

This helps overcome compatibility, scalability, security, and uptime issues.

In this post, I’ll discuss the best PHP hosting providers that fit the requirements of businesses, web developers, and hobbyists as I help them choose between shared, VPS, dedicated, and cloud hosting options.

I’ve researched and chosen the best PHP hosting providers by comparing the available options with criteria like ease of use, multiple PHP specifications support, customizability, affordability, uptime, updates, and PHP-based application support (such as WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, etc.)

Note: I also considered PHP-focused features such as cache plugins, support for PHP frameworks such as Laravel, Symfony, etc., and content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress and Drupal.

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Comparison Table of Best PHP Hosting Providers

The table below compares the best PHP hosting providers based on their starting price, supported PHP versions, backup frequency, and server locations.

ProductStarting Price (Monthly)Supported PHP VersionsBackup FrequencyServer Locations
DigitalOcean$4PHP 7.x (default) and 8.xDaily (30% of the droplet cost) and weekly (20% of the droplet cost)9 regions across globe, including New York, Toronto, Bangalore 
A2 Hosting$1.75PHP 4.4 to PHP 8.3, easily change via cPanelCustomizable, can be set to daily, weekly, or at certain intervalsMichigan (USA), Arizona (USA), Singapore (Asia), and Amsterdam (Europe)
Kinsta$18All PHP versions supportedCustomizable, can be set to daily, weekly, or at certain intervals25 data centers worldwide including London, Tokyo, Hong Kong, etc.
Cloudways$6.60All PHP version supported, including latest PHP 8.xCustomizable, can be set as per needDepends on the choice of cloud provider. 
Runcloud$9Run any PHP versionChoice any interval between 12 hours to 7 days, up to 1-month backup retentionDepends on the choice of cloud provider
Platform.shContact salesRun any PHP versionVaried backup for each plan. For example, basic backup plan comes with 2 manual and automated daily backupsChoose servers from GCP, AWS, or Azure.
Siteground$2.99 (yearly plan)PHP 7.4 to 8.3xx per siteSupports daily backup and keeps 30 copies of your site11 data centers including Dallas, Los Angeles, Singapore, etc.
Hostinger$1.95PHP 5.2 to latest 8.xOffers daily (stored for 7 days) and weekly backup (stored for 7 weeks)10 data center locations, including servers in the USA, India, France, etc.
FastComet$1.79PHP 5.6 to PHP 8.3Offers 30 daily offsite backups with incremental or full restores12+ data centers, including London, Frankfurt, Chennai, Dallas, etc.
IONOS$4Extended support for PHP v4.0 to 7.4 (paid) and free support for newer PHP v8.xDaily website backup and recovery (up to 6 days)8 data centers, including Berlin, Las Vegas, Logrono, etc.
Bluehost$1.99PHP v8.1 or above for shared hosting, no PHP version limitation for cloud/VPS hostingPaid backup service with option to choose daily, weekly, or monthly backups5 servers across the globe, including Utah, London, Shanghai, and Mumbai.
Forge$12No PHP version limitationSet backup based on your requirementDepends on your choice of cloud provider

1. DigitalOcean

Best for Developers

Geekflare rating score 4.8 out of 5
4.8
|

DigitalOcean is an excellent PHP hosting option for developers working on custom PHP projects, as it is production-ready. It offers complete control over server resources and settings.

I recommend DigitalOcean as it offers customizability via droplets (virtual machines). These offer scalability and 99.99% SLA, ensuring top-notch uptime for mission-critical apps.

Additionally, droplets provide support for SSH keys, firewalls, and SSL/TLS.

As for PHP version support, you get PHP 7.x (default) and 8.x. This also means you can easily install PHP-based applications, such as WordPress and Joomla.

DigitalOcean has data centers across 9 regions, including servers in Frankfurt, Bangalore, Toronto, New York City, and San Francisco.

DigitalOcean Features

  • Supports MySQL, PostgreSQL, and Apache.
  • Offers security features such as firewall, SSH, and SSL/TLS.
  • Fully managed scalable PaaS solution that helps quickly launch PHP apps
  • 99.99% uptime SLA for droplets and volumes block storage
  • Excellent knowledge base

DigitalOcean Pros

  • Advantage

    Extensive OS and resource customization options

  • Advantage

    Offers robust PaaS infrastructure for easy scalability

  • Advantage

    Pay-as-you-go pricing model

DigitalOcean Cons

  • Advantage

    Only offers managed services via third-party hosting such as Cloudways

  • Advantage

    Steep learning curve due to custom control panel

  • Advantage

    Not beginner friendly

DigitalOcean Pricing

DigitalOcean general-purpose droplet pricing starts at $4/month, which includes 1 vCPU, 512 MiB memory, 500 GB transfer, and 1 GB SSD space. Backups cost 30% of the droplet cost (20% if you choose weekly backups).

Try DigitalOcean

2. A2 Hosting

Best for Budget-Friendly

Geekflare rating score 4.2 out of 5
4.2
|

A2 Hosting is a budget-friendly PHP hosting provider that supports a wide range of PHP versions, including PHP 4.4 to PHP 8.3—making it ideal for projects that need access to different PHP versions.

Additionally, A2 Hosting easily handles PHP projects with support for tools like MariaDB, phpMyAdmin, and MySQL. Its server fleet includes Michigan and Arizona in the USA, Singapore in Asia, and Amsterdam in Europe.

A2 Hosting Features

  • 99.99% uptime guarantee
  • Reliable servers with unlimited bandwidth
  • Provides free account migration.
  • 24/7/365 customer service via email, live chat, and phone.
  • Easy-to-use cPanel control panel.

A2 Hosting Pros

  • Advantage

    Free SSL, SSH access, and free account migration

  • Advantage

    Supports PHP from v4.4 to 8.3

  • Advantage

    Supports WordPress and Drupal

A2 Hosting Cons

  • Advantage

    Doesn’t support custom PHP applications

  • Advantage

    Small server fleet limiting location selection options

A2 Hosting Pricing

A2 Hosting offers shared, managed WordPress, managed VPS hosting, and managed dedicated hosting server plans. All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee.

SubscriptionPricing (Monthly)Offerings
Shared Web Hosting Plans$1.751 website, 100 GB SSD storage, free migration
Managed WordPress Plans$9.951 WordPress site, 50 GB NVMe SSD, free SSL certificate, free migration, onsite backups, easy staging/cloning
Managed VPS Hosting Plans$26.954 GB RAM, 150 GB SSD storage, 2 TB Transfer, 2 cores, free SSL, free cPanel, free migration
Try A2 Hosting

3. Kinsta

Best for High-traffic Sites

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|

Kinsta is a premium managed PHP hosting provider capable of handling high-traffic sites.
I found Kinsta to offer PHP 8.1, 8.2, and 8.3 support in its managed WordPress hosting plans.

You can use any PHP version you want via its web application hosting for custom development.

Moreover, Kinsta is developer-friendly and supports Git, DevOps, staging areas, and more. It also supports custom dockerfiles and is DevOps-automated (Kinsta handles environment setup and deployments).

Under the hood, Kinsta uses Google Cloud infrastructure, comprising 37 Wordpress data centers and 25 hosting applications. These data centers include Hong Kong, Tokyo, Delhi, London, Frankfurt, and Zurich. These Kinsta servers are SOC2 compliant as well.

Kinsta Features

  • DevOps automation handles machines’ initial setup, firewall setups, and more.
  • Supports Git-based workflow with automatic deployments.
  • Offers stateful applications with persistent storage.
  • Easily troubleshoot issues using runtime logs.
  • 99.99% SLA
  • Enterprise-grade Cloudflare DDoS protection

Kinsta Pros

  • Advantage

    Comes with unlimited domain and SSL certificate

  • Advantage

    $20 free trial

  • Advantage

    Powered by Google Cloud Infrastructure

Kinsta Cons

  • Advantage

    Not easy to operate for new users

  • Advantage

    Costly compared to peers

Kinsta Pricing

Kinsta offers PHP memory pricing with standard monthly plans that start at $18/site per month.

Try Kinsta

4. Cloudways

Best for Multi-Cloud

Geekflare rating score 4.8 out of 5
4.8
|

Cloudways is a great pick for managed PHP hosting as it offers cloud providers a choice between DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS, and Google Cloud, but at an additional cost.
As it offers managed hosting, you don’t have to worry about updates, initial server setup, or maintenance.

It handles them and provides features such as auto-healing (automatically restarting compromised apps), automated backups, and regular security patches.

However, I found its workflow development features more appealing. It comes with:

  • Git integration
  • 1-click cloning
  • SSH/SFTP access
  • Staging URLs
  • Team collaboration

For scalability, you can use block storage to increase storage capabilities or vertically scale server resources (RAM and CPU) per your needs. They offer support for PHP version 5.6 to the latest PHP version 8.2. It offers a high-performance optimized stack of Apache, NGINX, MySQL/MariaDB, and PHP-FPM.

Cloudways server choice depends on the cloud provider’s choice. It can include servers from New York, London, San Francisco, Bangalore, and Tel Aviv.

Cloudways Features

  • Supports major PHP CMSs, such as WordPress and Drupal
  • Supports frameworks like Laravel and Symfony.
  • Top-notch security with a dedicated firewall and SSL certificate
  • Resourceful knowledge base
  • 24/7 expert live chat support and ticketing system.
  • Excellent performance with Cloudflare Enterprise and built-in breeze plugin
  • Comes with an optimized stack and SSD hosting.

Cloudways Pros

  • Advantage

    Unlimited PHP workers and applications

  • Advantage

    Easy one-click PHP app installations

  • Advantage

    Supports all PHP versions, including the latest PHP 8.x

Cloudway Cons

  • Advantage

    Only a 3-day trial period

  • Advantage

    No unmetered bandwidth plans

Cloudways Pricing

As Cloudways offers multi-cloud hosting options, the pricing differs depending on your choice of cloud provider. They have categorized pricing into two categories including: 

  • Standard: For general-purpose workloads and applications.
  • Premium: For demanding workload powered by scalable and AI Intel Xeon chips.
SubscriptionPricing (Monthly)Offerings 
DigitalOcean$6.60 (Standard), $8.40 (Premium)1 – 192GB RAM, 1 – 32 core processor, 25GB – 3840GB storage, 1 TB – 12 TB bandwidth
Vultr$8.40 (standard), $9.60 (High-Frequency)1 – 64GB RAM, 1 – 16 core processor, 25GB – 1280GB storage, 1TB – 10TB bandwidth
Linode$8.40 (Standard)1 – 192GB RAM, 1 – 24 core processor, 25GB – 3840GB storage, 1TB – 20TB bandwidth
AWS$23.14 (Standard)2 – 384GB RAM, 2 – 96 core processor, 20GB storage, 2GB bandwidth
Google Cloud$22.47 (Standard)1.75 – 240GB RAM, 1 – 96 core processor, 20GB storage, 2GB bandwidth

They offer a 3-day free trial with no credit card.

Try Cloudways

5. Runcloud

Best for Streamlining Server Management

Geekflare rating score 4.2 out of 5
4.2
|

Runcloud provides an easy-to-use and powerful control panel for managing your next PHP project.

It streamlines server management via a graphical interface. Like Cloudways, Runcloud is a multi-cloud solution provider where you can choose Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) providers such as AWS, Google Cloud, Hetzner, Upload, Linode, and DigitalOcean.

In my research, I found one-click installers useful. It helps set up servers instantly and automatically. Once done, you can take over and create virtual PHP machines as needed. Furthermore, Runcloud provides a monitoring system that will notify you if something needs urgent attention.

Runcloud’s data center offerings depend on your cloud choice. For example, you can choose from Toronto, Mexico City, Bangalore, or Singapore.

Runcloud Features

  • Offers atomic deployment using Git with zero downtime.
  • Eases server management with automated server configuration.
  • Supports major PHP frameworks and tools, like Laravel, Yii Framework, Code Igniter, etc.
  • Supports multiple PHP versions.
  • Offers a staging area

Runcloud Pros

  • Advantage

    Provides an easy-to-use interface

  • Advantage

    Provides initial setup and configuration

  • Advantage

    Unlimited PHP web application

Runcloud Cons

  • Advantage

    The basic plan lacks a firewall and custom NGINX configuration

  • Advantage

    Backup storage add-ons can be costly

Runcloud Pricing

Runcloud comes with 3 plans: Basic, Pro, and Business.

SubscriptionPricing (Monthly)Offerings 
Essentials
$91 server, unlimited web app, one-click SSL, 2GB backup storage, Git deployment, 1 WordPress staging, Runcloud Hub plugin
Professional
$19Everything in Basic, plus unlimited servers, 10GB backup storage, 10 WordPress staging, custom NGINX and configuration, clone web application, 6G and 7G firewall
Business$49Everything in Pro, plus atomic deployment, 30GB backup storage, unlimited WordPress staging, Cloudflare DNS, and much more.

All plans come with a 14-day money-back guarantee (no questions asked).

Try Runcloud

6. Platform.sh

Best for Enterprise-level Projects

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|

Platform.sh is a PHP hosting solution for enterprise-level projects. It offers a complete Platform as a Service (PaaS) delivery solution that helps you handle complexity with standardization.

I like the platform because it lets build DevOps standardization on top of a unified development workflow.

PHP developers can kickstart their development with templates that handle automatic infrastructure provisions.

The platform also supports Git-based workflow to help push changes faster. Additionally, teams get a DDEV local development environment and access to CLI and API.

Platform.sh also offers enterprise-grade WordPress with support for Git-powered workflow, integrated Composer support, and best-in-class PHP tooling.

It has a global presence with servers from AWS, GCP, and Azure. You can host your PHP sites in the US-West, Canada, Sweden, the UK, Ireland, and Australia.

Platform.sh Features

  • Offers DDoS protection and multi-factor authentication
  • Ability to monitor and optimize resource usage via Observability
  • Auto-scaling architecture
  • Offers multiple availability zones with 99.99% SLA
  • Supports 15+ services including MariaDB and PostgreSQL

Platform.sh Pros

  • Advantage

    Generous 30-day free trial with no credit card requirement

  • Advantage

    Offers 70+ software templates for faster deployment

  • Advantage

    24/7 enterprise support across 14 time zones

Platform.sh Cons

  • Advantage

    Slow response time by customer support during peak hours

  • Advantage

    Steep learning curve for beginners

  • Advantage

    Slightly higher price point compared to other hosting providers

Platform.sh Pricing

Platform.sh offers three plans: Professional, Enterprise, and Elite. The Professional plan offers a 30-day trial with no credit card requirement.

SubscriptionPricing (Monthly)Offerings 
ProfessionalCustomOffers managed services, supports CI/CD pipelines, supports data cloning on every branch, 70+ software templates, basic backup plan, etc. 
EnterpriseCustomEverything in Professional, plus 99.9% to 99.99% uptime guarantee, dedicated account manager, 1-hour urgent support SLA, automated code updates, managed scaling, etc.
EliteCustomEverything in Enterprise, plus 45-minute urgent support SLA, custom app template catalog, PCI/SOC2 compliance, premium backup plans, etc.
Try Platform.sh

7. SiteGround

Best for Balanced Performance and Support

Geekflare rating score 4.2 out of 5
4.2
|

SiteGround provides a perfect mix of performance and support for busy organizations. I found that SiteGround offers 30% faster load times.

Its ultra-fast PHP setup has low memory usage and the ability to easily handle larger volumes of queries. Additionally, they offer other performance-focused features, including the use of Google Cloud infrastructure, website caching, free 1-click CDN, and high-performing MySQL.

On the support side, they offer 24/7/365 customer service through live chat, ticketing, and phone.

SiteGround offers PHP support for versions 7.4 to 8.3xx per site.

So, if you are hosting multiple PHP projects, you can choose the PHP version accordingly. They also have excellent scalability options with both shared and cloud hosting plans.

The hosting solution has 11 global data centers including Dallas, London, Los Angeles, Paris, Sydney, and Singapore.

SiteGround Features

  • Offers 1-click CDN with an optimized stack
  • Uses Google Cloud infrastructure
  • Comes with 1-click software installs
  • Offers free collaborator access and easy domain management
  • Provides email migration tool
  • Free SSL, WAF, and Smart AI anti-bot system

SiteGround Pros

  • Advantage

    Beginner-friendly with easy website management

  • Advantage

    Value for money plans with unmetered traffic (fair-use policy)

  • Advantage

    Free SSL and Email

SiteGround Cons

  • Advantage

    High renewal prices

  • Advantage

    No free migration is provided

  • Advantage

    Database size is limited to 1 GB

SiteGround Pricing

SiteGround offers 3 web hosting shared plans. These include StartUp, GrowBig, and GoGeek. If you need dedicated resources, then check out their cloud hosting plans.

For PHP projects, we suggest getting GrowBig and GoGeek, as both come with 30% faster PHP performance.

SubscriptionPricing (Monthly)Offerings 
Startup$2.991 website, 10GB web space, 10,000 visits monthly, unmetered traffic
GrowBig$4.99Unlimited websites, 20GB web space, 100K visits monthly, unmetered traffic, plus exclusive features such as on-demand backup copies, 30% faster PHP, and staging. 
GoGeek$7.99Unlimited websites, 40GB web space, 400K visits monthly, unmetered traffic, plus exclusive features such as 30% faster PHP, on-demand backup copies, staging + Git, white label clients, free private DNS, the highest tier of resources, and priority support.

All plans include a 30-day money-back guarantee, a free domain, a free SSL, free email, unlimited databases, and a free CDN.

Try SiteGround

8. Hostinger

Best for Basic Projects and Testing

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|

Hostinger is perfect for hosting and testing PHP developers’ projects. I suggest Hostinger because it is a cheap yet effective hosting service that supports different versions of PHP (PHP 7.3 and above). It also supports older PHP versions (via .htaccess file editing).

Hostinger supports popular PHP frameworks such as Laravel and MySQL database support.

As for data centers, Hostinger offers 10 data center locations, including France, India, the USA, Brazil, and the Netherlands.

Hostinger Features

  • Offers free SSL, privacy protection, and malware scanners.
  • Fast NVMe storage and in-house CDN.
  • Provides LiteSpeed web server and ObjectCache.
  • Handles traffic surges efficiently with a free 24-hour plan boost.
  • It offers an automatic migration tool.
  • Provides Hostinger website builder for faster development.

Hostinger Pros

  • Advantage

    24/7 customer support through live chat or email

  • Advantage

    Cheap plans with generous storage

  • Advantage

    Offers custom hPanel (similar to cPanel)

Hostinger Cons

  • Advantage

    Lacks plans to support larger PHP sites

  • Advantage

    Write speeds are heavily throttled affecting performancen in some cases

Hostinger Pricing

Hostinger offers 3 hosting packages: Premium, Business, and Cloud Startup.

SubscriptionPricing (Monthly)Offerings 
Premium$1.95100 websites, 25000 visits monthly, 100 GB SSD storage, 400K files and directories
Business$2.95100 websites, 100K visits monthly, 200GB NVMe storage, 600K files and directories
Cloud Startup$7.59300 websites, 200K visits monthly, 200GB NVMe storage, 2000K files and directories

They offer a 30-day money-back guarantee on all plans.

Try Hostinger

9. FastComet

Best for Advanced Features at Higher Tiers

Geekflare rating score 4.8 out of 5
4.8
|

FastComet is an advanced PHP hosting provider. It offers access to malware scanners, restore managers, node.js support, performance boost, WordPress LSCWP Cache, and LiteSpeed Enterprise. However, most of the features are locked behind higher-tier plans.

I found FastComent’s performance top-notch as it utilizes a LiteSpeed Enterprise web server. It performs faster than Apache (84x faster) and NGINX (12x faster). Additionally, the server uses a fast AMD EYPC processor in addition to NVMe SSDs, offering 7x faster queries and file access.

FastComet offers 12+ high-performance data centers worldwide, including servers in Europe (London, Frankfurt, etc.), Australia, Asia (Chennai, Singapore, Sydney, etc.), and America (Dallas, Chicago, Miami, etc.) 

FastComet supports PHP 5.6 to PHP 8.3 versions.

FastComet Features

  • 100% network uptime, powered by 12K Mbps public network.
  • Comes with WAF, IP Reputation Guard, Account Isolation, and Imunify360.
  • 99.99% uptime commitment with downtime compensation
  • Provides free migrations, free SSL certificate, and free Cloudflare CDN
  • Up to 30 daily offsite backups with unlimited full or incremental restores.

FastComet Pros

  • Advantage

    Responsive customer support via live chat

  • Advantage

    Access to 3000+ tutorials

  • Advantage

    Drag-and-drop website builder

FastComet Cons

  • Advantage

    Confusing initial pricing period

  • Advantage

    Addon costs can impact monthly budgets

FastComet Pricing

FastComet offers 4 plans: Starter, Essential, Plus and Extra.

SubscriptionPricing (Monthly)Offerings
Starter$1.791 website, 10GB NVMe storage, 5 email accounts, 5 databases, 1 free website transfer, no advanced features
Essential$2.391 website, 20GB NVMe storage, 25 email accounts, 25 databases, 1 free website transfer, offer advanced features such as Malware Scanner, Restore Manager, Node.js Support 
Plus$3.59Unlimited websites, 30GB NVMe storage, unlimited databases, unlimited email accounts, similar advanced feature as Essential, plus 2x performance boost

You get a 45-day money-back guarantee with each plan.

Try FastComet

10. IONOS

Best for Scalability

Geekflare rating score 4.2 out of 5
4.2
|

IONOS web hosting plans are ideal for fast-growing PHP projects. The platform offers instant resource scalability, such as memory, RAM or parallel processing, handling increased traffic with ease. I found them to offer cheap pricing to improve performance ($2/month per level).

Users can choose from multiple IONOS data center locations, including Berlin, Paris, Frankfurt, London, Las Vegas, Lenexa, Newark, and Logrono. All servers (ISO 270001 certified) are optimized for lightning-fast loading time using HTTP/2 network protocol, multiplexing, and header compression, resulting in a 1.23-second average page load speed.

IONOS also offers paid PHP extended support. Through this, old PHP versions get security checks and updates to ensure that existing apps and scripts are stable. Currently, they offer extended support for PHP v4.0 to 7.4. They also support newer PHP 8.x versions (free).

IONOS Features

  • Offers free wildcard certificate to ensure traffic exchange is safe.
  • Provides daily website backup and recovery on all plans (for up to 6 days).
  • Minimal downtime with geo-redundant infrastructure, ensuring 99.99% uptime.
  • Supports all PHP-powered CMS and web apps, including Wordpress, Drupal, phpMyAdmin, etc.
  • Offers free email, free domain and free SSL on all plans.

IONOS Pros

  • Advantage

    Free 24/7 customer support via phone, email, and chat

  • Advantage

    Offers PHP Extended Support for old PHP version

  • Advantage

    Personal consultant for each customer

IONOS Cons

  • Advantage

    Not ideal for highly customized and high-traffic websites

  • Advantage

    Doesn’t offer free website migration

  • Advantage

    Each plan gets 1 free email only

IONOS Pricing

IONOS offers 4 plans: Essential, Starter, Plus, and Ultimate. All plans include a free domain, free SSL, professional email, unmetered bandwidth, daily backup, and recovery. You also get a no-question-asked 30-day money-back guarantee with each plan.

SubscriptionPricing (Monthly)Offerings 
Essential$4 1 website, 1GB redundant storage, 10 databases, 
Starter$6 10 websites, 100 GB redundant storage, 50 databases
Plus$1 Unlimited websites, unlimited redundant storage, unlimited databases, enhanced CPU and MEM resources
Ultimate$10 Maximum CPU and MEM resources optimized for eCommerce and high-traffic sites, includes everything in Plus plan.
Try IONOS

11. Bluehost

Best for Beginner-Friendly Shared Hosting

Geekflare rating score 4.2 out of 5
4.2
|

Bluehost is a beginner-friendly shared hosting platform with features such as an easy-to-use interface, AI site creation tools, a free migration tool, managed PHP updates, and WordPress staging.

I like its affordability, which enables beginners to explore the potential of their PHP projects.

For shared hosting, Bluehost supports only the latest PHP version, 8.1 and above, for maximum website security. However, if you aim to use their cloud/VPS hosting, the PHP version is not limited.

Bluehost provides plenty of server options, including 2 servers in Utah (USA) and 1 each in London (UK), Shanghai (China), and Mumbai (India).

Bluehost Features

  • Optimizes website delivery with free Cloudflare CDN and Agro routing.
  • It comes with AI tools that let you kick-start site development.
  • Offers updated PHP and MySQL for improved TTFB scores.
  • 24/7 customer support via chat and phone.
  • Provides robust security with free SSL, WAF, and backups.

Bluehost Pros

  • Advantage

    Officially recommended by WordPress.org

  • Advantage

    Relatively inexpensive plans with free domain

  • Advantage

    100% network uptime for cloud plans

Bluehost Cons

  • Advantage

    Customer support is slow and less knowledgeable

  • Advantage

    Lots of upselling

  • Advantage

    Limited concurrent visitors

Bluehost Pricing

Bluehost offers 4 shared web hosting packages. These include Basic, Choice Plus, Online Store, and Pro.

SubscriptionPricing (Monthly)Offerings 
Basic$1.99Ideal for simple websites or blogs, 10 websites, 10 GB SSD, 100 concurrent visitors, 40K visits/month
Choice Plus$2.65Ideal for multiple sites, 50 websites, 50 GB SSD, 500 concurrent visitors, 200K visits/month
Online Store$6.25Ideal for ecommerce sites, 50 websites, 50 GB SSD, 500 concurrent visitors, 200K visits/month
Pro$9.99Ideal for high-traffic sites, 100 websites, 100 GB SSD, 1000 concurrent visitors, 400K visits/month
Try Bluehost

12. Forge

Best for Laravel Applications

Geekflare rating score 4.5 out of 5
4.5
|

Forge provides Laravel-focused PHP hosting with a multi-cloud setup option. The hosting service is built by Laravel framework creators, hence ensuring top-notch performance, optimization, and support for Laravel projects.

I recommend Forge because it utilizes cutting-edge technologies, including PHP, Nginx, Postgres, MySQL, Redis, etc.,

Additionally, you’re free to host on your own cloud choice, including Akamai, Amazon, Vultr, Hetzner, and others. This means you get plenty of server choices depending on your cloud choice. They also offer a per-site PHP version (with no limitation on the PHP code version).

Furthermore, Forge supports Laravel-based features, including Octane, which speeds up site delivery to Sentry and helps monitor and debug Laravel applications.

Forge Features

  • Supports Git for an easy push-to-deploy option.
  • Offers free SSL certificates, SSH key authentication,
  • Provides database backups, user isolation, and a proper server monitoring tool.
  • Excellent server capacity, including load balancers, cache servers, and worker servers.
  • Comes with powerful API to automate Forge features.
  • Sharable server’s management dashboard with co-workers (only available on the Business plan).

Forge Pros

  • Advantage

    Excellent collaboration tools

  • Advantage

    Offers Laravel-optimized tools

  • Advantage

    Supports automation workflows

Forge Cons

  • Advantage

    No instant live chat support

  • Advantage

    Steep learning curve

  • Advantage

    Server provider costs not included

Forge Pricing

Forge offers 3 pricing plans: Hobby, Growth, and Business. They offer a 5-day free trial on each plan.

SubscriptionPricing (Monthly)Offerings 
Hobby$121 server, unlimited sites, unlimited deployments, push to deploy, basic support
Growth$19Unlimited servers, unlimited sites, unlimited deployments, push to deploy, basic support
Business$39Everything in Growth, plus priority support, collaboration with teammates, database backups, and server metric monitoring
Try Forge

7 Benefits of Using Specialized PHP Hosting Provider

Compatibility, performance, cost-effectiveness, and security are some of the many benefits of using a specialized PHP hosting provider, as discussed below.

  1. Compatibility: A specialized PHP hosting server ensures that all PHP scripts (different versions) work, along with other integrations needed to run the PHP app/website.
  2. Top-notch Performance: Offers hosting environments aimed at high performance and speed. This makes web apps perform without lag or delay, ensuring fast loading speeds.
  3. Cost-effective: Offers a cost-effective solution compared to self-hosted solutions.
  4. Streamlined Updates: Get security and functionality patches faster and more efficiently. It also helps you get the latest PHP version support.
  5. Security: Specialized PHP hosting providers are also secure as they offer enterprise-grade firewalls, 2FA, SSL support, and malware detection tools, among other security features.
  6. Excellent Support: Get support from experts who can resolve issues faster. It helps provide 100% uptime with little to no troubleshooting.
  7. Helpful Community: Join a vibrant community powered by the hosting provider. The community helps resolve minor issues quickly.

How to Choose a PHP Hosting Provider

Below, I’ve highlighted the 6 main criteria to consider when choosing a PHP hosting provider.

  1. Type of Hosting: Narrow down which type of hosting you need. The types of hosting are listed below.
    • Shared → for small blogs or informational sites.
    • VPS → for custom PHP apps and websites.
    • Cloud → for startups with dynamic requirements.
    • Dedicated → for high-performance PHP apps.
  2. PHP Version Compatibility, Database Support, and Server Configurations: Ensure the hosting provider offers the PHP version required to run your application. Additionally, check that it supports databases such as MySQL and your preferred server configuration (Apache or NGINX).
  3. Security: The PHP Hosting provider must offer adequate security measures to protect your web app or website. It should provide a robust firewall, SSL certificate support, 2FA support, malware detection tools, and automated security audits. It must also include protection against common PHP threats such as cross-site scripting (XSS), SQL injection, and DDoS attacks.
  4. Performance and Speed: Consider the hosting platform’s performance features, including its infrastructure (SSD usage, network speed, load-balancing options) and access to performance features such as a content delivery network (CDN).
  5. Customer Support: The PHP hosting provider must have reliable customer support, either through live chat, email, phone, or a ticketing system. 
  6. Budget: The hosting provider must have plans that suit your requirements and budget. This should include scalability and other associated costs with hosting your PHP app/website.

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