What is the difference between Linux Hosting and WordPress Hosting?

Web Hosting
Jordan Graves
Published: 29 August 2024Last updated: 13 September 2024
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There are numerous different choices of Hosting Package Types, however, when creating a WordPress website specifically, which is better for performance and features: Linux Hosting or WordPress Hosting?

Linux 

The Linux platform supports a wide variety of different setups. Linux packages support numerous different programming languages, including Perl, Ruby & Python. In addition to the expansive language support, Linux packages support numerous different CMS setups, including, but not limited to: WordPress, Joomla and Drupal. 

One-Click Installs are also exclusive to our Linux platform, where a selection of 70 different software packages is available to install. Since 20i began, over half a million one-click installs have been used. The most popular, is of course: WordPress.  

More information about this can be found in one of our other blog posts (https://www.20i.com/blog/our-most-popular-free-website-apps/). This is useful for multiple site setups, which we’ll get onto shortly. 

Our Linux platform also has few restrictions, which is why we support a lot of the things previously listed. However, the lack of restrictions also allows customers to host multiple sites on a singular package, unlike its WordPress counterpart. Meaning you cn

WordPress 

The WordPress platform is an optimised version of the Linux platform, tailored just to WordPress sites. The key standouts are the additional features that are packed into the package type.  

These features are located under the WordPress Tools sub-section. These features utilise WP-CLI to interact with the website without being logged into the WordPress dashboard. This means modifications can be made to the site via StackCP. 

Our customers also rave about the optimisation of the WordPress platform. Most commonly, the speed and the streamlined integration of additional features. This is partly thanks to our Stack Cache being integrated, by default, into the package type.  

Due to the fierce optimisations and feature set available, some restrictions come part of the package: 

  • The WordPress installation must reside within /public_html and public_html must be located within the root of the hosting package. 
  • The WordPress install (including all plugins and themes) must be compatible with at least PHP 7.3. 
  • One database per hosting package. 
  • Any subdomains or additional domains must be pointing to the same WordPress install and hence configured as a WordPress Network (Multisite). 

To conclude, if you have a singular WordPress website, that is up to date and doesn’t require multiple databases then we strongly recommend our WordPress platform. However, if the WordPress website is on the older side, without recent updates and/or has some sub-sites, we recommend the Linux platform.