Host your website

A managed plan such as WordPress.com handles updates, backups and server setup for you. Shared hosting like Aruba's gives you more control and space for other software, but you keep WordPress up to date yourself. Aruba also sells WordPress hosting from €11.90 if you want both. Pick managed when nobody on your team wants to touch a server.

Yes, if the site is static or built with a modern front-end tool. Cloudflare and Netlify both host such sites on generous free plans with SSL and a global network. WordPress.com has a free plan too, with a WordPress.com address until you pay for a custom domain. A free plan stops making sense once you need business email, plugins or more traffic.

Hosting in the EU keeps your site's data under EU law, which many clients ask about. Hetzner runs its own data centres in Germany and Finland, and Aruba runs its own in Italy, in Arezzo, near Bergamo and in Rome. Cloudflare and Netlify serve sites from a global network, with data passing through other countries. Check where your contact forms and analytics store data too, since they often hold more personal data than the hosting.

Hetzner's cloud servers start at €5.49 a month, among the lowest prices around. You install and maintain the server yourself, including security updates and backups. That suits a developer, or a business with one on call. If nobody wants that job, a managed host costs a little more and saves the late-night fixes.

Keeping them together is simpler, and Aruba sells domain plus email packages from €0.99 for Italian businesses. Keeping them apart makes it easier to change host later without touching your email. Cloudflare can manage your domain's DNS for free whichever host you choose. Before any move, note your current renewal prices, since first-year deals often double on renewal.