Run your own WordPress on a Pulsar67 VPS. Enterprise SAS SSD-backed MySQL, the PHP version of your choice, Nginx tuned the way you like, and full root for caching, CLI, and cron. No plugin blocklists, no inbox spam.
Big managed-WordPress hosts charge $25-50/mo for what's underneath a $5 VPS. You pay for a dashboard, plugin blocklists, and "expert support" that reboots PHP when you have an issue.
If you can apt install nginx, you can self-host. You get faster TTFB, no plugin restrictions, and the freedom to run anything else (Postgres, Redis, a side project) on the same box.
WordPress is database-bound. SAS SSD drops your query latency by 5-10x vs SATA SSDs.
No managed-host plugin blocklist. Your site, your stack.
Redis object cache, Nginx FastCGI cache, OPcache, anything. Tune it as far as you want.
Bulk plugin updates, scripted migrations, deploy via SSH. The full developer toolbox.
certbot handles renewal)Provisioned for stable TTFB even when neighboring workloads are busy.
Daily backups on Pro and Enterprise; manual snapshots on any plan.
Your blog stays online when a Hacker News post brings unwanted attention.
No "starter is 10k visits, growth is 50k visits" treadmill. Same price all year.
Hosted in Florida with flat monthly pricing and no long-term contract.
Migrate from managed hosting in an afternoon. Faster site, lower bill, and pricing that stays visible before checkout.
Concrete setup details for the first deploy, the firewall, and the first thing to check when something acts strange.
Expose 80 and 443. Keep MySQL/MariaDB local-only and use SSH for admin access.
Starter is enough for a tuned small site. Pro is better for WooCommerce, busy admin traffic, Redis, and heavier plugin stacks.
Use Nginx or Apache with PHP-FPM, OPcache, Redis object cache, and WP-CLI for repeatable maintenance.
If TTFB spikes, check slow queries, PHP workers, object cache hit rate, cron behavior, and plugin update timing.