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Best WordPress Hosting for Agencies: 6 Options Compared + How to Pick

If you run a WordPress agency, your hosting needs will be a lot different than those of users managing a single website. For one, a lot of clients are likely to rely on you for hosting, which means choosing the right provider becomes a much more critical decision. This is where the following comparison of the best WordPress hosting for agencies comes into place.

We’ve talked a lot about the best WordPress hosting providers in the past. However, many of those hosts also offer plans tailored specifically towards agencies. They include plenty of options to make your life easier, such as white labeling and direct client billing.

Best WordPress Hosting for Agencies

In this article, we’re going to dig deep into the world of WordPress hosting for agencies. Be warned – most of these providers don’t come for cheap, but since hosting is a cornerstone of your business, the price tag shouldn’t scare you off.

Best WordPress hosting for agencies compared

You’re probably already familiar with many web hosts here, as they’re fairly popular options. However, you might not be aware they all also offer agency-specific plans. Let’s find out how they can make your life easier:

1. Flywheel (getflywheel.com)

WordPress hosting for agencies: Flywheel

Flywheel is arguably built from the ground up for WordPress agencies. All of its plans include features that make collaboration more straightforward, such as direct-to-client billing. It also offers one of the easiest-to-use hosting panels we’ve had the pleasure to work with, and it supports multiple collaborators, making it perfect for agencies.

All of Flywheel’s plans offer managed WordPress functionality. However, arguably our favorite feature is ‘blueprints’. This lets you save copies of WordPress setups to re-use for future projects. When you spin up a new client website, you can start with a blueprint instead of from scratch.

Finally, Flywheel also offers a local WordPress development tool for free. With Local by Flywheel, you can work on client sites offline, then push them directly to your account instead of using a staging setup (although you do also have this option.)

⚙️ Key features for agencies:

  • Direct-to-client billing
  • Support for multiple collaborators
  • The blueprints feature for new client websites
  • Access to a local WordPress development tool
  • Managed WordPress hosting features

💵 Pricing:

Flywheel has a lot going for it, although these agency-friendly features don’t come cheap. Here’s a breakdown of their agency-relevant plans:

  • Freelance ($115 per month / $96 per month if you pay up front for a year):
    Up to ten websites, 100,000 monthly visits, 20 GB of storage, and 200 GB of bandwidth.
  • Agency ($290 per month / $242 per month if you pay up front for a year):
    Up to 30 websites, 400,000 monthly visits, 50 GB of storage, and 500 GB of bandwidth.

Although those prices look expensive when you compare them with more run-of-the-mill WordPress options, $115 a month in exchange for hosting up to ten client websites is a pretty good deal. Plus, if you pay annually, they knock off a full two months off the price. Overall, Flywheel is about as user-friendly as agency hosting gets.

👉 Go to Flywheel

2. Cloudways (cloudways.com)

WordPress hosting for agencies: Cloudways

Cloudways offer scalable and flexible hosting solutions for agencies. The company’s plans are cloud-based, and you can choose from five top server providers: DigitalOcean, AWS, Google Cloud, Vultr, and Linode.

Setting up your site with Cloudways is easy. Once you create an account, you can select your preferred server provider, web application (e.g., WordPress), and server size. Plus, you’ll be able to host unlimited websites on your dedicated cloud server.

With Cloudways, you can scale your clients’ websites as needed. For example, you might increase disk space and other server resources to accommodate a larger site.

⚙️ Key features for agencies:

  • User-friendly staging for WordPress sites
  • One-click server and website cloning
  • Automatic updates and backups for all your sites
  • Access to development tools such as WP-CLI, PHP version control, and Git integration

💵 Pricing:

Cloudways has a pay-as-you-go model. This means you’ll only pay for the resources that you use. You can select a hosting plan, then scale up and down as needed.

Note that prices also depend on the cloud server that you choose. For example, if you select Google Cloud, plans start at $37.45 per month. Meanwhile, for DigitalOcean and Linode hosting, pricing starts at just $11.00 per month.

If you use our referral code, you’ll get a 25% discount on the first three months of Cloudways hosting. Simply use the discount code CODEINWP at checkout!

👉 Go to Cloudways

3. WP Engine (wpengine.com)

WordPress hosting for agencies: WP Engine

WP Engine is a well-known name in managed WordPress hosting. They often boast about top-of-the-line performance, and all of their plans pack in a broad range of features.

Although WP Engine doesn’t offer features such as white labeling or direct client billing, they are a very developer-friendly option. Every plan gives you access to development, staging, and production environments. They also bundle in the Genesis Framework and over 35 free StudioPress themes you can use to launch client websites quickly.

⚙️ Key features for agencies:

  • Managed WordPress hosting features
  • Access to the Genesis Framework and dozens of StudioPress themes
  • Support for development, staging, and production environments

💵 Pricing:

WP Engine actually offers cheaper plans than Flywheel when it comes to agency hosting. Here’s what it has to offer:

  • Growth ($115 per month / $77 per month if you pay up front for a year):
    Up to 10 websites, 100,000 monthly visits, 20 GB of storage, and 200 GB of bandwidth.
  • Scale ($290 per month / $194 per month if you pay up front for a year):
    Up to 30 websites, 400,00 monthly visits, 50 GB of storage, and 500 GB of bandwidth.

Just like Flywheel, you get two months off if you decide to pay annually. If you care more about developer-friendly functionality and don’t need as much help with client management, WP Engine is an excellent option.

👉 Go to WP Engine

4. Pagely (pagely.com)

pagely

Pagely is a bit unique when it comes to managed WordPress hosting. They’re one of the most ‘exclusive’ providers in that they don’t market themselves towards regular users. Their plans start at $199, and it’s clear that their target users are businesses with high demands.

Unlike other web hosts, Pagely gives you the full technical breakdown for all plans, instead of focusing on other features. They also offer agencies the option of strategic partnerships, although this works on a case-by-case basis.

⚙️ Key features for agencies:

  • Managed WordPress hosting features
  • Full server management and scalability consulting

💵 Pricing:

As we mentioned before, Pagely isn’t cheap. They also offer an incredibly broad range of plans, depending on exactly how much horsepower you need. Plans start at $199 per month (for five websites) and go all the way up to $2,500+ (for anything over 60 sites).

To give you an idea, Pagely is a step up above WP Engine in terms of performance-oriented WordPress hosting. They offer more features and better performance, but it’s all provided at a higher price point. For an agency, this extra money can be worth it, but it’s overkill for regular users.

👉 Go to Pagely

5. SiteGround (www.siteground.com)

SiteGround

As you may have realized, WordPress hosting for agencies can be expensive. This makes sense considering the unique application. However, SiteGround bucks the trend as a budget option for agencies.

With SiteGround, you get access to agency-specific functionality, such as easy-transfer of ownership for websites, being able to add team members as collaborators, and more. For websites you transfer to clients, you can still retain access to their panel. This means they handle billing, while you manage their website. Also, SiteGround supports white-labeling, which is a neat touch.

⚙️ Key features for agencies:

  • Managed WordPress hosting features
  • Transfer site ownership (but stay on as a collaborator)
  • Support for multiple collaborators
  • White-label websites
  • Email hosting included

💵 Pricing:

As we mentioned, SiteGround falls firmly under the category of budget WordPress hosting for agencies. Here are what each of its plans will set you back:

  • GrowBig ($4.99 per month): This tier enables you to add collaborators, supports unlimited websites up to 100,000 visits per month, and provides you with 20 GB of space.
  • GoGeek ($7.99 per month): Supports collaborators and white labeling, unlimited websites, up to 400,00 visits per month, and provides 40 GB of space.
  • Cloud ($100 per month): Offers all of the features of the previous two plans, along with fully-customizable resources.

SiteGround might not support as much traffic as our previous picks, but it’s a wonderful alternative if you’re trying to launch an agency and are priced out of the other options.

👉 Go to SiteGround

6. Liquid Web (www.liquidweb.com)

Liquid Web

Out of all the web hosts we’ve featured so far, Liquid Web offers perhaps the broadest range of plans for all types of users. They’ve provide shared hosting, Virtual Private Servers (VPS), cloud plans, dedicated servers, and more.

They also offer a line of managed WordPress plans with a broad range of tiers. Despite not offering any agency-specific perks, the selection of plans here is fantastic, which makes it a contender.

⚙️ Key features for agencies:

  • Managed WordPress hosting features
  • Bundled in iThemes Security Pro and Sync plugins
  • Email hosting included

💵 Pricing:

Liquid Web offers six different tiers of managed WordPress hosting plans. To keep things simple, we’re going to focus on the two most agencies will find interesting:

  • Builder ($137.75 per month* / $124.17 per month if you pay up front for a year):
    Up to 25 websites, 100 GB of storage, and 5 TB of bandwidth.
  • Producer ($276.58 per month* / $249.17 per month if you pay up front for a year): Up to 50 websites, 300 GB of storage, and 5 TB of bandwidth.

If you go beyond those plans, Liquid Web also offers options to support up to 100 and 250 websites. However, at this point you’re no longer an agency – you’re basically a hosting company yourself.

*Liquid Web has a unique billing structure for their month-to-month hosting plans, where they charge you a lesser amount up front for the first three months, and then for the remaining nine months they charge you a higher amount. The price reflected on this page is the true monthly price if you add up the first three months with the remaining nine months and divide them by 12.

👉 Go to Liquid Web

What are the hosting features an agency needs?

There are some features we can all agree every web host should offer, such as daily backups, staging functionality, and more. However, agencies require a whole different set of additional functionality, such as:

Direct client billing
In some cases, your web host will enable you to manage client websites and pass on invoices directly to them. This way, you don’t have to pay for hosting costs out of your own pocket (although that’s also an option).
White labeling
If you’re going to manage hosting for your clients, you might as well customize their whole experience too. With white labeling, you can add branding elements to your hosting control panel, so it becomes a fully integrated component of your business.
Limit client access
For less tech-savvy clients, it can be a smart move to limit their level of access to hosting settings. However, many customers will want full access, which makes these conversations difficult.
Support for unlimited websites
Ideally, your provider will enable you to host unlimited websites. In practice, the number of client projects you can host often depends on the plan you sign up for.
Excellent bandwidth
Since you’re going to host a large number of websites, you need a provider that offers exceptional bandwidth and performance across the board.
Managed WordPress functionality
Unless you want to spend a whole lot of time making sure your client websites are running smoothly, you’ll want to opt for managed WordPress hosting. While you’ll still need to deal with some issues yourself, this type of plan lets you focus on big-picture client-related stuff rather than troubleshooting.
Email accounts included
This is a nice bonus thing to have with your hosting setup. Most clients will expect to also be able to host their email inboxes alongside their website.

All of these features have one goal in common, which is to help you run your business more efficiently. The less you have to worry about hosting, the more time you can spend bringing in new business to your agency, and taking care of your best clients.

What’s the best WordPress hosting option for agencies?

We’ve gone over a lot of data in this comparison, so let’s take a moment to lay it all out side-by-side:

Best WordPress hosting for agencies
Host Agency plans from Features for agencies # of websites Visitors Storage Bandwidth Managed WordPress Email included
Flywheel $115 / month 10 100,000 20 GB 200 GB
Cloudways $11.00 / month Unlimited Unlimited  –  –
WP Engine $115 / month 10 Unlimited 20 GB 200 GB
Pagely $199 / month 5
SiteGround $4.99 / month Unlimited 25,000 20 GB
Liquid Web $137.75 / month 25 100 GB 5 TB

Although other web hosts offer more advanced functionality for developers and better performance, Flywheel is by far the best option for agencies. They’re built from the ground up with freelancers and agencies in mind, and it shows from the moment you sign up for a plan.

Alternatively, the budget pick is SiteGround. It’s the cheapest solution on the list, and it will also take care of your clients’ email hosting needs.

What do you think is the most important feature of WordPress hosting for agencies? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!

Don’t forget to join our crash course on speeding up your WordPress site. Learn more below:

 

Layout, presentation and editing by Karol K.

* This post contains affiliate links, which means that if you click on one of the product links and then purchase the product, we’ll receive a commission. No worries though, you’ll still pay the standard amount, so there’s no additional cost on your part.

John Hughes

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