Best hosting for developers
What developers actually want from hosting is unremarkable: shell access, version control, a staging environment, and the ability to choose a PHP version without raising a ticket. Fewer hosts offer all four than you would expect.
How this shortlist is built
- SSH access on the plan, not just the top tier
- Git deployment or at least Git availability
- Staging with a real push-to-production path
- Control over runtime versions
Providers qualify by meeting the criteria, then sort by Hostoholic Score. Commission is not an input — see the methodology.
Some links here are affiliate links — if you buy through one we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. It never changes a Hostoholic Score.
Developer-friendly shared hosting with tuned "Turbo" tiers
Managed cloud hosting layered over DigitalOcean, Vultr, AWS and GCP
Managed WordPress aimed at agencies and larger sites
UK host built around resellers and multi-site management
Premium managed WordPress on Google Cloud
Side by side
At a glance
| Provider | Score | UK | Staging | SSH | Panel | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A2 Hosting | 81 | Unknown | Yes | Yes | Yes | cPanel |
| Cloudways | 74 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Cloudways Platform (custom) |
| WP Engine | 73 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | User Portal (custom) |
| 20i | 69 | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | StackCP (custom) |
| Kinsta | 64 | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | MyKinsta (custom) |
Before you choose
Worth knowing
cPanel is worth more than it looks
A proprietary panel is often nicer day to day, but cPanel makes leaving straightforward. That portability has a value that only shows up on the day you migrate.
Still weighing it up?
Five questions and you get a shortlist matched to your situation.