We often get asked our recommendations for web hosts that support Paid Memberships Pro. More often than that we see issues that crop up with running Paid Memberships Pro on certain hosts and setups.

We may expand this article in the future to make more specific recommendations, but in the meantime, here are the rules to follow.

Banner for Membership Hosting Recommendations for Paid Memberships Pro

General Rules for Hosting a WordPress Site Running PMPro

  1. With few exceptions, avoid “shared hosting”.
  2. Expect to pay $25-$99 per month at the low end.
  3. Avoid “Windows” hosting/servers. Choose “Linux” options. (We don’t test on Windows servers as much.)
  4. Make sure you have a plan which provides a dedicated IP and SSL certificate.
  5. If you are on a shared host now, you may be able to upgrade to a VPS level plan easily/cheaply.
  6. If your host aggressively caches, make sure you can turn it off or ignore certain URLs on your site.
  7. Make sure your get adequate performance on your site even with caching turned off.

Why do I need to upgrade my hosting?

Running a membership site requires more processing power and memory than running a traditional website. PMPro has to check if the current user has access to each page before it loads. This takes some time. Making calls to the gateway APIs takes some time. Checking if a discount code is valid takes some time. Generating a sales report takes some time.

Additionally, many of the lower level shared hosting plans (and even the better shared hosting plans) rely on aggressive caching to get you the performance you need at the price you are paying. For various reasons, such as the compatibility issues here, you can’t cache a membership site like you can a normal site.

We’re working with hosting providers and really smart people to get PMPro to perform well, selectively cache, and run at scale as economically as possible. As far as I know, we’re doing more than any other membership plugin out there; I hope to have some big improvements in this department in the future.

But in the meantime, and really even if we can “solve” some of the caching problems, you will need a slightly beefier hosting plan to run Paid Memberships Pro.

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We recommend Pressable Managed WordPress Hosting. Of all the packages we have analyzed, this is the absolute best managed hosting option for membership sites running Paid Memberships Pro.

Pressable Managed WordPress Hosting

The “Starter” plan (currently $45/mo) is the best option for a growing membership site. The “Personal” or “Entry” plan will work for smaller sites. If you are unsure of which plan to use, it is very easy to upgrade your account at any point. Plans are backed by a 30 Day Money Back Guarantee.

These Pressable Managed WordPress plans address every hosting recommendation we have for sites running Paid Memberships Pro… automatically. We wrote up a full review of the Pressable Managed WordPress hosting plans here »

Other Hosting Considerations

Below is a list of hosting companies we have worked with through our customers. Each host has specific recommendations and guides to set up a successful membership site.

Hosting CompanyRecommended Plan to ChooseSpecial Setup Docs
PressableThe Starter plan is the best option for a growing membership site.No special setup steps needed
NexcessThe Maker plan is the best option for a growing membership site. The “Spark” plan (currently $19/mo) will work for smaller sites.No special setup steps needed
SiteGroundThe GoGeek plan offers strong performance with caching disabled.SiteGround + PMPro Set Up Guide
BluehostThe Plus or Choice Plus plans are our recommended options for Bluehost. Bluehost + PMPro Set Up Guide
WP EngineAny WP Engine plan will properly run Paid Memberships Pro.WP Engine + PMPro Set Up Guide
WordPress.comBusiness or Commerce plan.Special Set Up Guide
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