There seem to be a lot of hosting services popping up, dedicated specifically to websites built on WordPress.
Until recently, you basically had two choices:
Blogging services: Go to wordpress.com and make a blog. They take care of everything; you just have to come up with the content. The only problem would be that you are limited to a certain set of themes and plugins.
Self hosting: Buy some server space and install WordPress. You can install any plugin or theme, but you also have to take care of updates, security and scaling.
Managed hosting for WordPress fills the gap between the two. You still get to install any plugin or theme, but you leave the sysadmin headaches to them.
So here are some of these hosting providers that I’ve heard of:
- page.ly – They seem to be the first ones that offered specialized WordPress hosting.
- PressLabs – A newly announced service, operated by the guys behind blogu.lu, a Romanian blogging network.
- wpengine.com – Also a relatively new service.
- ZippyKid
- Synthesis
And of course, let’s not forget the mac daddy of all WordPress hosting, vip.wordpress.com.
I take this as a sign of the WP ecosystem maturing, as users are willing to spend a little more to have their sites set up and maintained properly.