Building and running a good website takes more than choosing a host.

Across our business, content and affiliate websites, we use a mix of hosting providers, WordPress tools, design platforms, performance software and analytics services.

This page brings together the tools and services we actually use or have used ourselves.

We do not include something simply because it has an affiliate program or a strong marketing page. Where we have first-hand experience, we say so. Where a tool is included for comparison or research, we make that clear too.

Our aim is simple: help website owners spend less time sorting through endless software choices and more time using tools that are practical, reliable and suitable for the job.

How We Choose the Resources We Recommend

We look at tools through practical questions:

• Do we actually use it?
• Does it solve a real problem?
• Is it reliable enough for a business or content website?
• Is the support useful when something goes wrong?
• Is the ongoing price reasonable for the value it provides?
• Can it grow with the website?
• Would we continue using it ourselves?

Affiliate disclosure: Some links on this page may be affiliate links. If you purchase through one of them, we may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. This does not affect what we include or how we describe a product.

Hosting Providers We Use

VentraIP

Best suited to: Australian businesses and website owners who value local infrastructure and Australian support.

For a broader comparison of Australian hosting options, see our Best Web Hosting Australia guide.

We use VentraIP across website projects and particularly like it for Australian-focused sites where local hosting and support matter.

Hosting.com

Best suited to: WordPress websites that benefit from migration help, backups, support and more managed features.

We use Hosting.com ourselves and see it as a useful step up from very basic shared hosting when the website is important enough that support and convenience matter.

Read our Hosting.com Review 2026 for a deeper look at the current service.

If your website is growing beyond ordinary shared hosting, our What Is VPS Hosting? guide explains when more server resources and control may actually be useful.

Hostinger

Best suited to: Smaller websites, new projects and website owners wanting lower entry costs.

We use Hostinger where affordability and straightforward WordPress setup are priorities.

You can also compare Hostinger with other providers in our Hosting Reviews for 2026 hub.

If price is the main concern, our Free vs Paid Website Hosting guide explains where free hosting can work, where the limitations appear and when paying for hosting makes more sense.

GreenGeeks

Best suited to: Smaller WordPress, content and business websites that suit conventional shared hosting.

We use GreenGeeks on some website projects where a simpler shared-hosting environment is enough.

See our wider hosting comparison if you want to compare GreenGeeks with other shared-hosting options.

If you are still working out what type of hosting your website actually needs, start with our How to Choose Web Hosting in 2026 guide before comparing individual providers.

Website Platforms and Builders

WordPress — our main content-management platform for business, content and affiliate sites.

If you are building from scratch, see our step-by-step guide to building a WordPress website with Astra.

Elementor — used where visual WordPress page building makes sense.

For website owners working on a tighter budget, our guide to building and maintaining a website on a tight budget may also help.

Wix — useful for some smaller business and rapid-build projects where ease of editing matters more than a complex WordPress setup.

Crocoblock — used on selected WordPress projects where more advanced dynamic content, custom fields or listing functionality is needed.

Design and Content Tools

Canva
Used for graphics, social assets, article images and quick visual content.

SEO, Search and Analytics

Google Search Console
Used to monitor indexing, search visibility, crawling and individual URL status.

We also use Search Console when checking indexing and improving pages across our hosting content.

Google Analytics
Used where traffic and user behaviour data are useful.

All in One SEO
Used on WordPress sites to manage titles, meta descriptions, social previews and related SEO settings.

Performance, Backup & Security Tools

These are some of the tools we use to help keep WordPress sites faster, safer and easier to recover when something goes wrong.

NitroPack

What we use it for: performance optimisation, caching and delivery improvements.

We use NitroPack on some sites to help improve loading performance and reduce the amount of optimisation work that would otherwise need to be handled manually.

WPvivid

What we use it for: backups, migrations and site recovery.

WPvivid is useful when we need a straightforward way to create backups or move WordPress sites between environments.

UpdraftPlus

What we use it for: scheduled WordPress backups.

We use UpdraftPlus as another practical backup option, particularly where regular automated backups are important.

Wordfence

What we use it for: WordPress security and monitoring.

Wordfence is useful for firewall protection, malware scanning and visibility into suspicious activity on WordPress sites.

Image Optimisation

What we use it for: reducing image file size and converting images to modern formats such as WebP.

Keeping images optimised is one of the simplest ways to improve page loading without changing the design of the site.

Email and Marketing Tools

MailerLite

What we use it for: email marketing, subscriber lists and automated communication.

We use MailerLite on some projects where we need a straightforward way to build email lists, send campaigns and set up simple automations.

For us, its appeal is that it is relatively easy to manage without adding unnecessary complexity to smaller business or content projects.

If you are still deciding which host to use, start with our Hosting Reviews for 2026 or our Best Web Hosting for Small Business in 2026 guide.

A Note About Our Recommendations

We do not expect one tool to be right for every website.

A small brochure site, an affiliate content site, an ecommerce store and a business-critical WordPress website can all need different hosting, backup, performance and management tools.

Where possible, we recommend choosing the simplest tool that reliably solves the problem rather than paying for features you are unlikely to use.

Last updated: September 2026

Written by Martin Cohn

Martin builds and manages websites through Blue Ginger Studio, drawing on practical experience across a growing portfolio of business, content and affiliate websites.