Why I Built This Site
In 2021, a review I'd written got shared on r/personalfinance. The traffic spike was about 8,000 visits in 4 hours. My shared host couldn't handle it. The site went down for 6 hours during peak traffic.
By the time it came back up, the Reddit post had moved on. I'd lost the traffic, the backlinks, and Google's crawl of the page at its highest-authority moment. That downtime cost me an estimated $4,000–$6,000 in lost affiliate commissions — from a $6/month hosting decision.
That's why this site exists. I don't want other bloggers and affiliate marketers to learn this lesson the expensive way. Hosting matters more than most people realise — especially once you have real traffic to protect.
My Timeline
Started as a front-end developer
Freelance web development in Sacramento. Mostly WordPress sites for local businesses. Built probably 200+ sites over 8 years.
Launched first niche review site
A technology accessories review site. Made my first affiliate commission ($37) in month 3. Was hooked.
The hosting disaster
The Reddit traffic spike, the 6-hour downtime, the 3-month recovery. See above. The motivation for this site.
Migrated to WP Engine, launched two more sites
Tested WP Engine, Kinsta, Cloudways and SiteGround across new and existing sites. Settled on WP Engine as my primary host.
Launched HostingForAffiliates
Decided to document everything I'd learned about hosting for affiliate sites. Wrote the first version of the WP Engine review based on 2+ years of real usage data.
Fully updated for 2026
Re-tested all tools. Updated all performance data. Expanded to cover the full Elementor + Astra + WP Engine stack.
My Review Methodology
Every tool I recommend has run on at least one of my live affiliate sites. I don't write reviews based on marketing materials or specs — I write them based on real experience with real consequences.
For speed data, I use GTmetrix and Google PageSpeed Insights, testing from US East Coast, UK London, and AU Sydney server locations. For uptime, I use external monitoring tools checking every 5 minutes and pull 12-month rolling averages.
I earn affiliate commissions from some of the tools I review. I disclose this on every page. My rankings are not influenced by commission rates.
Get in Touch
Questions about hosting decisions, migration help, or want to share your own experience? Use the contact form. I read every message, though I can't always reply to all of them.