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How to Choose the Right Hosting Plan – WordPress on App Service

abhishekreddy's avatar
abhishekreddy
Icon for Microsoft rankMicrosoft
May 14, 2025

Let’s walk through how to pick the right plan for your needs.

Choosing the right hosting plan for your WordPress site on Azure App Service can feel overwhelming—but it doesn’t have to be. Whether you're just exploring WordPress or launching a high-traffic production site, we’ve created four tailored hosting plans to help you get started quickly and confidently.

Let’s walk through how to pick the right plan for your needs.

Which Hosting Plan Should You Choose?

We’ve simplified the decision-making process with a clear recommendation based on your use case:

Use CaseRecommended Plan
Hobby or exploratory siteFree or Basic
Small production websiteStandard
High-load production websitePremium

 

💡 Important: Only the Premium plan supports High Availability (HA). This is the only setting that cannot be changed after deployment. If HA is a requirement, start with Premium.

Everything else—scaling, storage, CDN, networking, identity, and email—can be added or modified after deployment.

Hosting Plan Pricing Breakdown

You don’t pay for the hosting plan itself. Instead, you pay for the underlying Azure resources like App Service, MySQL, CDN, Blob Storage, and more. Here’s a breakdown of what each plan includes and the estimated monthly cost (based on US East region):

PlanAzure App ServiceAzure DB for MySQLTotal Est. Cost/Month
FreeF1 Free Tier (60 CPU mins/day, 1 GB RAM)B1ms Free Trial (1 vCore, 2 GB RAM, 32 GB)Free (for eligible subscriptions)
BasicB1 (1 vCore, 1.75 GB RAM) – $12.41B1s (1 vCore, 1 GB RAM) – $6.21$18.62
StandardP1V2 (1 vCore, 3.5 GB RAM) – $73.73B2s (2 vCores, 4 GB RAM) – $49.64$123.37
PremiumP1V3 (2 vCores, 8 GB RAM) – $113.15D2ds_v4 (2 vCores, 16 GB RAM) – $124.83$237.98

📝 Note: Prices vary by region and subscription type. Reserved instances can offer up to 60% savings. Always check the Azure Pricing Calculator for the most accurate estimates. Learn more: How to estimate pricing for WordPress on App Service | Microsoft Community Hub 

What Can You Customize After Deployment?

Almost everything! Here’s what you can scale or configure post-deployment:

  • Compute & Database: Scale up/down App Service and MySQL
  • Networking: Configure VNET integration
  • Storage: Add Azure Blob Storage
  • Performance: Add Azure CDN or Front Door
  • Security & Identity: Enable Entra ID managed identity
  • Email: Integrate Azure Communication Services Email

📚 Explore the official documentation for step-by-step guides. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/app-service/overview-wordpress 

Final Thoughts

Choosing the right plan depends on your goals:

  • Just exploring? Start with Free or Basic.
  • Running a small business site? Go with Standard.
  • Need high availability and performance? Choose Premium from the start.

Still unsure? Start small—you can always scale up later (except for High Availability).

 

Support and Feedback

We’re here to help! If you need any assistance, feel free to open a support request through the Microsoft Azure portal. New support request - Microsoft Azure

For more details about our offering, check out the announcement on the General Availability of WordPress on Azure App Service in the Microsoft Tech Community. Announcing the General Availability of WordPress on Azure App Service - Microsoft Tech Community.

We value your feedback and ideas on how we can improve WordPress on Azure App Service. Share your thoughts and suggestions on our Community page Post idea · Community (azure.com) or report any issues on our GitHub repository Issues · Azure/wordpress-linux-appservice (github.com).

Alternatively, you can start a conversation with us by emailing wordpressonazure@microsoft.com.

 

 

Updated May 14, 2025
Version 2.0

2 Comments

  • SamRueby's avatar
    SamRueby
    Copper Contributor

    I would push back a little on labeling 'Premium' for "High-load production website". We have found in practice, only small, low-traffic sites work okay on Standard. I agree with "Small production website". But anything more than a few plugins or an intense page-builder theme like Elementor, users will find they need make the jump to Premium.