Top 10 PHP Hosting Providers

PHP is a general-purpose programming language typically used to build web servers and interactive websites. This scripting language was officially launched in 1995 and is still alive. Yes, a recent survey of W3Techs claims 77.5% of websites use PHP for server-side scripting. 

It signifies PHP is still prevalent in 2023 because of its fascinating features. However, it is hard to choose a hosting solution for PHP projects. That is why this guide will present one of the top PHP hosting providers with their pricing models and significant features.

Top 10 PHP Hosting Providers

Several PHP hosting providers are available in the market, but we are sharing the leading ones below:

1. Back4app Container Platform

The use of container technology is amplified among the programming community. Primarily, developers can smoothly create, deploy and run their PHP applications in a containerized environment and the Back4app Container Platform could be an absolute choice. This containerized hosting platform enables the dev teams to build and host PHP applications with few commands only.

The open-source container hosting service of Back4app lets the developers connect to the GitHub repository and deploy it within a few minutes only. In addition, with Back4app CaaS, you can quickly deploy the required database and arrange improved continuous integration and delivery (CI/CD) proceedings.

All in all, with a community of 220,000 developers in 200 countries of the world, Back4app CaaS could be an ideal PHP hosting provider. Two4Tea, 1001Dubai, and VantageBP are featured customers of Back4App.

Please check the tutorial Deploy and host a CakePHP app or Deploy and host a Laravel app for more information on how to host an application with ease.

Core Features

Free to start – If you are a novice PHP developer or a learner, you can depend on Back4app to smoothly host your application without paying anything. Compared to conventional PHP hosting providers, this CaaS solution comes with a free-tier and open-source environment.

Scalable – Back4app is a highly scalable platform where you can vertically and horizontally increase your required hosting instances. These resources could be CPU, data storage, RAM, memory, etc. 

No Downtime Deployments – Whether you make a new commit or modify the configurations, Back4app containers ensure these deployments without downtime. It signifies coders can make changes while the application is in functional mode.

Customer & Community Support – If you are new to Back4app then its excellent customer and community support wouldn’t disappoint you. You can get this support through Slack, YouTube, community, and chat with experts. 

Pricing

The pricing structure of the Back4app Container Platform is very predictable. Here are its core programs:

Free: This plan includes a shared CPU, community, and custom docker support and could be the best fit for learners. This plan allows you to access 0.25 CPU, 100 GB transfer, and 256 MB RAM storage space for free. 

Shared: To release MVPs, the use of a Shared program could be ideal. The cost of this plan is $5 per container per month and you can get 0.5 CPU with 100 GB transfer and 512 MB RAM. Global CDN, custom docker containers, and daily backs are additional features.

Dedicated Servers: This is an ideal pricing model that suits large-scale PHP applications. Under this plan, Back4app asks for $50 per month per container. 250 GB transfer, 1 CPU, 2 GB RAM, and premium support are significant highlights of this Dedicated plan. 

Keep reading to know more about the best PHP web hosting providers.

2. BlueHost

BlueHost is a reliable PHP hosting provider that has the ability to support higher versions of this programming language. Yes, its servers back 7.4 to 8.0 PHP versions. Correspondingly, the control panel of BlueHost grants dedicated features like PHP configuration, Generate php.ini, and MultiPHP Manager in this regard.

With a money-back guarantee, SMEs and startups also find BlueHost an affordable option to host PHP projects. Although BlueHost supports around 2 million websites, but Smule and San Francisco State University are renowned clients of BlueHost.

Core Features

MultiPHP Manager – The interface of MultiPHP Manager enables the dev teams to deal with PHP configuration and administer various versions. This feature is listed under the ‘advanced’ category and ‘software’ section on the cPanel of BlueHost. 

PHP.ini – The seamless creation of the php.ini file is another advantage of using this hosting. You can access this file through MultiPHP INI Editor, which authorizes you to command variables & manage PHP settings. 

Customer Support – The 24/7 customer support with email, live chat, and phone call options also makes BlueHost a unique hosting choice. For sure, their team tries its best to resolve all of your PHP queries. 

SSD & Root Access – Instead of SATA drives, BlueHost trusts SSD hard drives to provide agile performance to PHP websites and applications. Withal, this feature usually comes with VPS plans. Similarly, developers can conduct limitless FTP account downloads and changes with root access. 

Pricing

BlueHost always offers excellent discounts to its users. The Basic plan under Shared hosting begins at $2.95/month. With this primary Shared hosting solution, you can get free CDN and 10 GB SSD storage. 

On the other hand, if your PHP project needs more resources, then you can also consider the Dedicated and VPS hosting plans of BlueHost. Their charges begin from $89.98/month and $29.99/month, respectively. However, the Standard VPS hosting plan sounds more suitable for PHP projects because it comes with 2 cores, 2 GB RAM, 1 TB bandwidth, and 30 GB SSD storage. 

3. A2 Hosting

A2 Hosting is another one of the best PHP hosting providers on our list that started its journey in 2001. This hosting platform backs all versions of PHP from 4.4 to 8.1. So, you can get 20x fast hosting for your PHP application and approach various packages. 

Moreover, 97% customer satisfaction also makes A2 Hosting a worth-using hosting solution for businesses and dev teams in 224 countries across the globe. 

Core Features

Great Speed & Uptime – A2 Hosting claims it runs websites and apps 20x faster than rivals. Therefore, customers find great support in improving search engine rankings and gaining high conversion rates. By the same token, its servers ensure 99.9% uptime, which is essential to retain users.

A2 Optimized – The use of the A2 Optimized plugin is beneficial for gathering static files and enhancing the download and loading speed of pages. This plugin also has the ability to speed up the caching of disk-centric pages by up to 10%. 

Secure – With freemium Secure Shell access and SSL certificate, users also find A2 Hosting very secure to host their PHP web applications. 

Deployment Support – After choosing the required PHP version, you will find a smooth interface of cPanel to deploy your PHP website on this platform swiftly. The powerful backing of databases, including MariaDB and MySQL, is also an appealing feature of A2 Hosting.

Pricing

A2 Hosting confers the following 4 types of hosting categories for PHP projects:

Shared Web Hosting: It is suitable for small or learner-level projects with a starting cost of $2.99/month. This plan lets the developers run 1 PHP website with 100 GB SSD storage. 

Managed WordPress: The monthly cost of this category begins from $11.99, and you get 50 GB NVMe SSD storage, free migration, and onsite backups here. 

Managed VPS Hosting: This is considered the most compatible hosting solution for PHP projects, and its starting cost is $39.99/month. The LIFT 4 plan permits the dev teams to get 4 GB RAM, 2 Cores, 2 TB transfer, and 150 GB SSD storage. 

Managed Dedicated Hosting: This hosting category could be used for large-scale projects. It comes with a 4.6GHz Turbo CPU, 16 TB transfer, and many other features with an initial cost of $155.99/month. 

4. CloudWays

CloudWays is a Malta-based PHP hosting provider that commenced its journey in 2012. This hosting company joined the race with a small team, but it currently hosts 570k websites. Similarly, more than 80k agencies are customers of CloudWays. 

This hosting provider allows businesses and development teams to deploy their projects through different CSP data centers. Yes, you can choose DigitalOcean, Linode, Google Cloud, AWS, and Vultr in this regard.

Core Features

CMS & Framework Support – It is convenient to deploy framework and CMS according to the demand of your PHP project within a few clicks. Hereof, CloudWays authorizes the developers to choose from frameworks like Laravel, Yii, Lumen, CodeIgniter, Symfony, and Laminas. Similarly, several CMS like Joomla, October, Grav, Sulu, Drupal, OpenCart, and Craft CMS are also available. 

Highly Secure – Advanced safety features like dedicated firewalls, auto-healing servers, 2-factor authentication, and SSL certification make this hosting highly secure. IP whitelisting and automated backups are also included here. 

Fully Optimized – CloudWays depend on SSD storage, modern caches, and fast web servers to confer fully optimized hosting solutions. The use of FastCGI Process Manager (FPM) and databases is essential to speed up the app’s performance in this regard. 

Freedom to Use – CloudWays offers great freedom to developers for hosting their PHP projects. Likewise, you can choose a single option among numerous available IaaS platforms and CSPs. By the same token, you can customize the storage and further functionalities within a few clicks.

Pricing

CloudWays offers a 3-day free trial, but it grants users multiple managed PHP hosting plans. Under the standard pricing model, you find these 5 options in this regard:

DigitalOcean: The beginner-level plan begins with an $11/month pricing cap under this package. You can get 1 GB RAM, 1 Core, 1 TB bandwidth, and 25 GB storage with this hosting program. 

Vultr: With a monthly price tag of $16, this plan allows 1 GB RAM, 1 Core, 1 TB transfer, and 32 GB storage through managed hosting of Vultr.

AWS: With an initial monthly cost of $38.56, this hosting provides 2 vCPU, 2 GB RAM, and 20 GB storage to users. 

Linode: If you choose Linode for hosting, you will have to pay $14/month to access 25 GB storage, 1 TB transfer, and 1 Core. 

Google Cloud: The users who want to choose GCP will need to pay $37.45 monthly for 20 GB storage, 1.75 GB RAM, and 1 vCPU. 

5. AWS

If you are looking for a simple cloud hosting provider to deploy your PHP projects, consider using AWS Web Hosting. It has more than 99 availability zones in 31 regions of the world. Indeed, the robust backing of these data centers helps to run PHP websites swiftly.

In this regard, you can go with Amazon S3 to deal with static PHP sites, and the use of Amazon EC2 is ideal for large-scale dynamic PHP applications. 

Core Features

Scalable – It is not only smooth to add or remove resources for your PHP hosting, but its pay-as-you-go pricing policy also facilitates users with many benefits. Yes, users only have to pay for desired tools and resources while using AWS web hosting.

Easy to Use – AWS is an easy-to-use CSP. Mainly if you are new to PHP development or hosting, you can benefit from 600+ free courses to learn about Amazon Web Services. Moreover, the support of an active community also aids novices in deploying apps easily here.

Amplify Console – With CDN, continuous deployment, and Amazon CloudFront, the use of Amplify Console hosting is very effective. You will find this AWS product as a robust hosting provider.

Amazon Lightsail – Similarly, if you want to host your PHP website on virtual servers and with the support of SSD storage, then you can choose Amazon Lightsail hosting.

Pricing

AWS free tier offers 750 monthly compute hours and 5 GB storage under Amazon EC2 and S3 services, respectively. Moreover, 15 GB data transfer and 5 GB storage are also available under the AWS Amplify Hosting solution for free. 

6. Google Cloud Platform

GCP is another reputed hosting solution on our list. This platform has the ability to provide reliable cloud hosting services for different sizes of PHP projects. It is very flexible with numerous Firebase and GCP products and analytics tools compared to dedicated and shared hosting programs.

Core Features

Cloud Run – Developers can only deploy applications scripted in any language and framework within a few clicks. You can also rapidly extend or reduce required resources in a serverless environment with GCP.

Compute Engine – This hosting provider gives complete control over virtual servers, memory, GPU, and SSD storage. Therefore, developers can swiftly build their own infrastructure to deploy an app. 

Community Support – Getting colossal community support for your projects is easy because GCP is a tested and trusted platform. Twitter, PayPal, and United Parcel Service use Google Cloud for different tech stacks. 

Pricing

GCP hosting is a free to start solution where 20+ products are entirely free. However, you can contact the sales team to request a quote for your PHP project. 

7. SiteGround

SiteGround is a Bulgaria headquartered hosting provider that was designed in 2004. Developers and businesses can appoint a managed PHP hosting service of SiteGround to deploy and run web applications with great speed. Indeed, SiteGround claims to run websites 500% quicker than conventional hosting vendors.

Luckily, 2800k websites already use this platform so you will find a lively community. Zhoustify, Coder Coder, and RankFi are major companies using SiteGround hosting.

Core Features

Fast – SiteGround is fast and flexible. It depends on SSD-backed GCP infrastructure, Cloudflare CDN, and dynamic & static caching to make your PHP website lightning-fast.

Secure – SiteGround servers are examined every 0.5 seconds to ensure uptime. Similarly, SSL certification, daily backup, and AI anti-bot toolset also improve the security of websites.

Support for PHP Versions – This hosting provider grants exceptional support for multiple PHP versions. You can also use one-click staging and phpMyAdmin to deploy your applications quickly. 

Pricing

The starting cost of its Startup plan under the Web Hosting category is $3.99/month, and here you find 10 GB space for 10k visitors monthly. However, if you need more resources, you should pick Cloud Hosting. Hereof, the Jump Start package costs you $100 monthly with 4 Cores, 8 GB memory, 5 TB transfer, and 40 GB SSD storage. 

8. Linode

Acquired by Akamai, Linode is another considerable PHP hosting provider. Significantly, the predictable pricing structure, SSD storage, and remarkable customer support influence businesses to choose managed hosting of Linode. 

Features

Cloud Computing – As we know, Linode is an Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider that is packed with engaging cloud computing features. Its straightforward properties, like flexible scaling, smooth documentation, and easy API integration, make it an appealing choice for dev teams. 

Customer Service – Linode is also popular among the programming community because of its award-winning customer support. The customer care team is very dedicated in this regard. Yes, the well-trained staff always tries to resolve your tickets through chat, phone calls, or emails as soon as possible. 

Cost Efficient – Whether we talk about shared CPU, dedicated CPU, or Kubernetes Engine, you will find Linode cost-efficient compared to other IaaS hosting solutions. Likewise, it only charges $5 for 1 CPU, 1 GB memory, 25 GB storage, and 1 TB transfer. However, Azure and CGP cost $103.13 and $96.07 for similar services, respectively. 

Block Storage – NVMe Block Storage of Linode is highly scalable. You can smoothly extend instances with this storage feature. 

Pricing

The monthly fee of the Shared CPU plan commences from $5, but the Dedicated CPU plan begins with a $36 monthly price. This plan allows you to access 4 TB transfer, 2 CPUs, 80 GB storage, and 4 GB RAM. 

9. DigitalOcean

DigitalOcean is another IaaS vendor that is based in New York. This CSP offers excellent VPS and web hosting services at economical rates to users. Therefore, startups, SMEs, dev teams, and even large enterprises can elect this hosting platform for their PHP projects without any hesitation. 

Docker, Slack, WeWork, and GitLab are prominent customers using DigitalOcean for different tech stacks.

Core Features

Droplets – DigitalOcean facilitates the dev teams with Linux-based VMs to host their applications in the cloud, and is called Droplets. With the help of this functionality, coders can quickly build new servers. 

Uptime – The cloud hosting solution of DigitalOcean is also famous because of its 99.99% uptime SLA. It signifies your PHP project will always be available online with this hosting service.

Container Hosting – Correspondingly, if you choose managed Kubernetes products from DigitalOcean, you would have the ability to host your PHP application in a containerized environment. With the help of this feature, you can perform more consistent operations with great efficiency. 

Open-Source – The open-source nature of this PHP host is also beneficial for startups and novice developers. There are 3k tutorials available on the internet to learn different services of DigitalOcean. 

Pricing

DigitalOcean asks $6/month and $42/month under its Shared and Dedicated CPU plans. Withal, new customers can also achieve a $200 credit gift for 2 months. 

10. Skystra

Skystra is another credible cloud hosting provider that is based in California. With its user-friendly interface, it has the ability to support all types of PHP applications. In this regard, it also backs various technologies, including Laravel, OpenCart, Joomla, WordPress, and Drupal.

Core Features

Fast – Skystra undoubtedly improves the loading time of your PHP applications and makes them 47% faster. In addition, it claims that webpages typically open in 1.5 seconds with Skystra cloud hosting solutions.

Highly Secure – If you are building a data-sensitive PHP application and want a protected hosting environment, you can elect Skystra. It keeps your data safe with frequently examined security patches and firewalls.

Customer Service – The customer support of Skystra is not only friendly and fast, but it also follows a problem-solving approach. Yes, the customer care team tries its best to find a solution to your problem.

Free Migrations – The businesses that switch from another host to Skystra should be happy to know that migrations are super easy here. You just need to consult the team about migration, and it will assist you in completing this process within a few hours.

Pricing

Skystra confers 10 GB SSD storage and free migration under the Start plan of Website Hosting. Although a free trial is available but this plan will cost $4.95 monthly. 

Conclusion

In short, almost all PHP hosting providers offer engaging features with comfortable pricing structures, but everything depends on your requirements. Hopefully, this thorough guide about the top PHP hosting solutions will help you in finding the right option for your venture.

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