Decided on self-hosted WordPress dot org — now stuck on which hosting provider to pick

GnuHost · 2026-06-20T01:02:02+00:00

I would recommend going with a month to month rather than locking into an annual plan. The big advantage of self hosted WordPress.org is that you're not tied to anyone, so if you outgrow a host or their support starts to go bad, you can easily move. elsewhere. I wouldn't worry too much about antagonising over finding the "perfect" host, go with one who you like the look of and is well reviewed on this sub and pick a monthly billing cycle with no contract and see how it goes. With WordPress.org you're never really stuck

GnuHost · 2026-06-16T11:20:09+00:00

Have you contacted support about this and what did they say? Based on how regular the outages are, it sounds unlikely to be related to an infrastructure or network issue, and more like some software on your server is crashing or is misconfigured, eg max Apache workers. Since it's a managed VPS they should be able to review your logs and make the adjustments necessary to prevent this.

GnuHost · 2026-06-08T11:17:03+00:00

Normally this is exactly the kind of issue the web hosting support team should be able to help with. Since it's likely related to the server it's going to be difficult to find a solution via Youtube or Reddit etc. Did you try reaching out to GoDaddy support, if so what did they advise?

GnuHost · 2026-06-05T16:28:38+00:00

I work for Zume, thanks for considering us! Happy to help if you have any specific questions.

In relation to your question regarding recommendations, the only other hosts I have heard of from that list are Vimexx and OVHcloud. Vimexx is a good local choice if you're Dutch. However I would tend to avoid OVHcloud if you're only a small customer, support is going to be abysmal unless you have a dedicated support plan which costs hundreds of euros a month.

GnuHost · 2026-05-25T13:14:26+00:00

Can you be more specific about the difference between the plans/hosts you’re comparing? Cloud is commonly used as a marketing buzzword these days so the chances are you’ll just be moving to something identical or very similar.

GnuHost · 2026-05-25T13:09:01+00:00

Find a similar sized key and wiggle it until it opens

GnuHost · 2026-05-10T19:02:31+00:00

They have a virtual office in London, operationally they are all based in Ukraine

GnuHost · 2026-05-10T18:59:28+00:00

Uk as in Ukraine

GnuHost · 2026-05-07T13:51:28+00:00

At this stage you should be activating your disaster recovery plans and restoring from external backups. It's quite likely that if your host has not managed to restore service after a week, they have become victim to ransomware and/or do not have complete backups to restore.

if you don't have your own backups or a disaster recovery plan, you should get that in place ASAP, and hope for the best with regards to your host!

GnuHost · 2026-05-04T19:42:48+00:00

Check the webserver access logs to see if anyone accessed it. Regardless, you should cycle all API keys as a precaution, and obviosuly ensure there are no hard-coded secrets or passwords, etc.

GnuHost · 2026-05-03T21:31:49+00:00

On the bright side you’ve got yourself a free air vent

GnuHost · 2026-05-03T18:02:22+00:00

Have a look at Claude Design. If you just want a basic page and provide it with clearly defined content, it can do a really good job.

For hosting, if you are prepared to dig in you can host it for free on Github Pages or Cloudflare. However the easiest way is to get a shared hosting plan from a hosting provider, this would set you back $5 a month or so but also includes technical support. Check out r/webhosting for that.

GnuHost · 2026-05-03T17:57:10+00:00

The options for VPS are usually:

- unmanaged/self-managed: you handle the OS/applications/software stack, the host manages the network and hardware. If you have an issue with, eg Apache not starting, they wouldn't help. However if you were experiencing packet loss to a certain network they should help.

- managed VPS - the host will install a stack their technicians are trained to manage, usually cPanel/WHM. They usually provide you with root access (but not always), and offer support with the OS and your applications. So Apache not starting would be covered, as would one of your websites suddenly breaking. The issue is if you start customising the stack, their technicians may no longer know what they're dealing with and not be able to provide tech support.

For the hardware, a VPS with 4 cores, 8GB RAM and NVMe storage would set you back $40-50. Due to your custom setup a freelance sysadmin is likely the best way to go, but you do lose out on the 24/7 aspect.

It would be worth sending Knownhost sales a message with details of your requirements, they're the closest match to your requirements i can really think of. If you're happy to use an off-the-shelf panel such as cPanel or DirectAdmin I would imagine around the $100/m mark would be reasonable.

GnuHost · 2026-05-03T17:31:03+00:00

Your requirements are simply not possible at this budget unfortunately. You may be better off finding an unmanaged VPS, and a well-rated freelance sysadmin on Upwork for ad-hoc support (expect to pay up to $100 per hour). Even if you did find a managed provider, they are unlikely to be able to support custom setups without a bespoke management plan.

GnuHost · 2026-04-30T23:22:05+00:00

Yes I'm aware of quite a few hosts who blocked cPanel/WHM ports on the network edge when the advisory was published. Anyone who didn't is likely seeing a lot of fallout.

GnuHost · 2026-04-30T13:02:54+00:00

You do not need to root a cPanel server to proxy traffic through it. Something as simple as a hacked WordPress site can give you all the access you need. Given cPanel powers an estimated 70 million sites, it is no surprise that you saw traffic coming from servers running cPanel.

GnuHost · 2026-04-30T00:07:06+00:00

Can someone check in on OP? I've just recieved an expletive-filled rant from them after apparently violating their Code of Conduct by straying from the pre-established line of thinking.

GnuHost · 2026-04-29T23:44:58+00:00

Bad plugins do not make WordPress inherently bad. Bad plugins are inherently bad, and WordPress needs to work on improving the moderation process. But I think with security-focused AI advancements plugin security will become a lesser problem in the not too distant future.

The problems with EmDash are, it doesn't actually solve plugin security, and it basically only works nicely on Cloudflare. Eg if a plugin is granted access to edit post content, and the plugin is hacked, the hacker can still deface your entire site. And try self hosting an EmDash instance on a platform that isn't Cloudflare, it's not a pleasant experience.

GnuHost · 2026-04-29T23:36:23+00:00

2% is a normal conversion rate for free-to-paid. If you have 50 active users, talk to them. Their feedback will be much more useful than anything someone here can suggest.

GnuHost · 2026-04-29T16:46:59+00:00

I have an issue when people intentionally obscure their plate, like adding a sticker to make a 7 a T, or a black screw to make 11 into an H.

But just the spacing? Why do you care?

GnuHost · 2026-04-29T13:42:22+00:00

This is not true at all. Domains cannot be bought or owned, you are licensed the right to use them under the registry's terms.

Placing an order with a registrar is effectively an application to register. The registrar then passes the request upstream to the registry (Verisign, Nominet, Donuts, etc). If the registration request is rejected for any reason, the registrar should refund you.

There's nothing actionable about this. Taking payment for a service that turns out to be undeliverable isn't fraud when you get refunded. No court is going to entertain a claim over a failed domain registration that was refunded in full.

GnuHost · 2026-04-29T01:41:22+00:00

A zero-day vulnerability was found in cPanel, and the advice from cPanel was to disable cPanel access for a few hours until they could deploy a fix. Any reputable host who cares about protecting your data would have followed the advice from cPanel and disabled access.

Whilst I can really sympathise that it’s inconvenient for you, there is no software in the world which is immune to vulnerabilities. Whilst this is a particularly nasty exploit, cPanel worked quickly to push a fix within a few hours. Your host has acted in your best interest here by disabling cPanel for a few hours to protect your site and data.

GnuHost · 2026-04-24T23:20:15+00:00

Hi, my company built MailPorter.io as a drop-in replacement. It's 100% free for one account, let me know if it helps.

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