As you may or may not know, TeraGeek is a WordPress website. hosted by LRob for a few years now. LRob is the web host that the founder of TeraGeek has become (yes, I'm talking about myself in the third person, so what?!). And so... We may well have a few tips for you on how to choose your web host, and how to get your name out there LRob by the way, probably the most promising web host of 2025 (according to our total bias)!
Here are the criteria that are really important, according to the sysadmin who literally started with TeraGeek more than 10 years ago.
Geographical location
Does the geographical location of the hosting provider really matter? Yes, to a certain extent.
If your audience is French and your host is in Canada, you're probably going to multiply the ping by 10 and have poor load times and interconnection. On the other hand, if the server is in Germany, for example, then the interconnection with France is so good that the difference is negligible. What will make the difference is the optimisation of your site and server performance (more on that later).
For the rest, if you want to target the whole world, you'll need a CDN (Content Delivery Network) like CloudFlare - the best known - to overcome latency and interconnection.
Contrary to popular belief, the geolocation of the hosting IP does not really have an impact. Google does not carry out 'WHOIS' on IPs, or GeoIP to see where they come from... Google simply measures site response times.
In short, as long as your server is in the same country or a neighbouring country as your main audience, there's nothing to worry about.
And if your server is a long way from your target, you should always set up a CDN.
Storage space
Do you prefer ultra-fast or ultra-large storage space? For a website, I'd go for speed without hesitation. NVMe SSDs will be mandatory by 2025.
Speed is very important for a website, not only for user comfort, but also for conversion and SEO. Because it will have a direct impact on loading times, and therefore on user comfort and everything that goes with it.
So don't be fooled by 'unlimited' disk space offers. Especially as these usually have hidden limits, such as the maximum size of a single file, or the total number of files.
Just make sure that the space on offer is sufficient for you and that you can upgrade easily and at a price that suits you.
Make sure that the host offers hosting on local NVMe and not on a cluster of disks, which could increase access latency and reduce your load times.
Emails
At TeraGeek, as at LRob, we always recommend that you choose a free, standard mailing solution.
We therefore recommend avoiding suites such as Office 360 or Google Workspace, in favour of standard POP/IMAP suites.
Because a mailbox is not a diary. A mailbox is not a Cloud. That's what the GAFAMs want you to think.
If you need these features, turn to Nextcloud !
Most web hosts offer email hosting. These are generally standard. This is the case, for example, with LRob packages, which can be migrated to and from the provider of your choice very easily.
In terms of mailing, limits are not a problem, they are a quality, because there is a lot of abuse among customers and accidental mailings. You need to make sure that your host is involved in the fight against spam, with sending limits and regular monitoring of customers and blacklists (protip, as is the case with LRob).
And freedom is the most important thing.
At LRob, emails are included and unlimited with all WordPress hosting packages.
PHP limits
PHP is what runs most sites, along with MySQL. It's the programming language and the executor. And when you run a programme, a lot of things can go wrong: An infinite loop? A programme that never stops and fills the memory to the brim? To avoid this, PHP has limits.
The most significant are :
- PHP memory_limit: Maximum RAM allowed when executing a script
- PHP max_execution_time: The maximum execution time for a script
- PHP max_input_time: The maximum acceptable time for receiving client data.
- Process FPM: This is the number of PHP programs that can run simultaneously, impacting your maximum acceptable traffic, depending on the loading speed of your site (which in turn depends on your site and the performance of the web host) - This value is almost never indicated by web hosts.
These limits are absolutely essential to protect the servers. And the higher these limits are, the more expensive they are for the hosting provider.
The problem? They're often hidden, so you don't know about them until you buy.
The solution? Choose a web host like LRob that clearly displays these values. That way you know what you're paying for.
MySQL/MariaDB databases
The database contains the articles on your site (like this one), your users, encrypted passwords, your settings, etc. It is called up each time a page is loaded. So for an acceptable speed, it had better be fast!
One way of gaining access speed is to have this database locally on the server. Some web hosts will deport MySQL to another machine to make it more cost-effective. But this adds a bit of latency to each request, which can slow down the site.
Another aspect is that the MySQL server must also be stored on NVMe SSDs. This is the case for LRob, for the others... We don't know.
Then there's the MySQL version. There are already two schools: classic MySQL, and MariaDB, which is the community version. And both have to be as up-to-date as possible for maximum performance. LRob has chosen MariaDB, whose minor versions are updated daily (if an update is available) and the major version is re-evaluated once a year. At the time of writing, LRob is using MariaDB 11.4.
Finally, a point that has never been mentioned: the host settings for MySQL. MySQL allows a large cache. LRob servers have a minimum of 128GB of RAM, which means that there is a lot of RAM on the servers, which is configured and managed on a case-by-case basis to ensure the fastest possible access.
Our advice: Choose a host that can display its version of MySQL/MariaDB (we prefer MariaDB). And make sure that the storage is on NVMe SSDs and local to the machine.
Choice of hardware
The hardware will have a direct impact on server performance and therefore on the loading time of your site.
Problem? Unless you take a dedicated server, I don't know of any host that clearly indicates its hardware. And in particular the CPU used.
Except for one... I'll let you guess which one? LRob!
At LRob, the infrastructure server is on an experimental VPS from Pulseheberg, powered by a Ryzen 9 9900X. This is quite simply the fastest single-threaded server ever seen.
For client hosting, LRob also relies on Ryzen 9s, which are previous generations (Ryzen 9 3900 and 5950X at the time of writing), but which still outperform most competing processors.
Why do you ask? Because web hosts often use low-frequency CPUs of 24, 32 or more cores. But users don't care about being able to load 3000 pages at the same time, they want pages that load quickly. And that's what a Ryzen offers, thanks to a huge IPC (Instructions Per Clock) coupled with a high frequency. As a result, single-threaded power is 2 or even 4x better, while multi-threaded power is more than sufficient to absorb even high traffic peaks.
I'm tempted to tell you to choose a web host that opts for transparency... But given the obsolete or poorly optimised hardware used by most of them, I'm tempted to tell you that, to my knowledge, LRob is the only one that displays this transparency.
Robot control & security
Blocking harmful bots that try to hack the servers eliminates up to 95% of traffic. But for the host, it also means risking blocking its own customers, causing additional support requests... So many don't do it.
The result: slow servers, saturated by bots, and pirated sites.
Here again, with LRob, you can be sure of the greatest involvement in the fight against robots, with even a reporting on attackers blocked on AbuseIPDB.
A number of security features are in place, including anti-bruteforce, an application firewall and specific rules for WordPress, with the key being complete IP blocking of attacking IPs.
In this way, the servers save their resources for real visitors and are ready to handle real traffic peaks, while keeping your sites as secure as possible.
Performance
In the end, the above points will result in effective performance. But as we have seen, this is never measured...
Except at LRob, which tried to make a objective measure. And... Spoiler alert: LRob is doing extremely well, with the best loading times and, on the biggest offers, the best traffic peaks! Small but mighty!
See for yourself: https://www.lrob.fr/blog/internet/wordpress/performances-des-hebergeurs-web-2025-10-offres-mutualisees-test/
Hosting panel
Is the hosting management panel quick and easy to use? Or do the pages take 5s to load, with blurred and scattered options?
At LRob, the hosting panel is Plesk, which you can think of as the premium version of cPanel. To tell you the truth, before I got to know Plesk, I was against the principle of panels. After Plesk, I wondered how I'd ever managed without one!
Site insulation
Are the sites technically isolated from each other? Beware of certain offers that allow you to host several domains where this is not the case! Because the risk is dramatic: a single hacked site can compromise all your sites at once! All it takes is one flaw...
At LRob, each domain is compartmentalised within its own system user.
User support
A website is something you keep for years. You're bound to have problems and questions.
So it's not a question of choosing a host with no problems - that doesn't exist.
The key is to choose a web host that will be able to help you when you need it.
I'm not going to mention any names here, but we know that some web host support providers are absolutely disastrous...
LRob, for its part, tries to provide the support you're looking for: Available, friendly, helpful... And above all, an expert in WordPress, but not only, with a general knowledge if not a specialist in all aspects of hosting, such as DNS, email, performance analysis, and so on. A telephone, an on-call telephone, an email, a ticket system: Support is easy to reach, with no maze to get human assistance.
What's more, LRob monitors the correct response from each hosted website, so you can intervene more proactively if any problems arise that could impact your visitors.
Backups
We often think about this when it's too late. Does your host make back-ups? If so, for how long? And can you easily make your own back-ups?
At LRob, backups are daily, outsourced and kept for 1 year! 1 year, try beating that!
What's more, with Plesk, you can easily schedule an outsourced backup to the FTP of your choice, for one domain, or for all your domains at once (on reseller / Web Agency packages).
Migration management
Migrating web and mail to another hosting provider can be complex for the less technophile. That's why some hosting providers offer it. This is the case with LRob, which regularly offers free migration.
Don't stop choosing out of habit
By habit and tradition, many people do or have done the worst atrocities.
Don't fall into this trap. Be open to change. Exercise your critical spirit. See if the grass is greener elsewhere!
Conclusion
Everyone knows a good web host. But have they taken the time to really compare?
TeraGeek has always been run by the founder of LRob, who has done an excellent job so far, in all fairness.
We therefore invite you to try LRob to benefit from the perfect host according to our vision.
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