WordPress Web Hosting: AI Market Discovery Index
Tracking how AI platforms recommend wordpress web hosting. This public AI Market Discovery Index is updated monthly since July 2026.
On this page
- 01Benchmark Summary
- 02Current Benchmark at a Glance
- 03Research Scope and Qualification
- 04Current Brand Standings
- 05How to Read the Standings
- 06Recommendation Coverage Movement
- 07Largest Increase: Cloudways
- 08Largest Decline: DreamHost
- 09Category Leader: SiteGround
- 10Recommendation Placement Snapshot
- 11Buyer-Intent Distribution
- 12Historical Measurement Record
Benchmark Summary
SiteGround led the category in August 2026 with a valid recommendation coverage of 80.5%, up from 77.0% in July 2026. Hostinger followed at 77.3% in August 2026, up from 75.7% in July 2026, a gap of 3.2 percentage points between the two leaders.
The largest coverage increase belonged to Cloudways, which rose to 53.8% in August 2026 from 42.4% in July 2026. WP Engine posted a nearly identical gain, moving to 53.0% in August 2026 from 41.8% in July 2026. DreamHost was the largest decliner, falling to 41.0% in August 2026 from 43.5% in July 2026, a move within normal month-to-month variation. No tracked brand showed a significant decline this month.
The benchmark began with 600 prompt-surface observations in July 2026 and 800 in August 2026, producing 469 and 626 qualified observations respectively after qualification.
AI recommendation trend
valid recommendation coverage, Jul 2026 to Aug 2026
- SiteGround+3.5%Jul 202677.0%Aug 202680.5%
- Hostinger+1.6%Jul 202675.7%Aug 202677.3%
- Bluehost+0.1%Jul 202660.3%Aug 202660.4%
- Cloudways+11.4% · beyond normal variationJul 202642.4%Aug 202653.8%
- WP Engine+11.2% · beyond normal variationJul 202641.8%Aug 202653.0%
- Kinsta+7.3% · beyond normal variationJul 202638.6%Aug 202645.9%
- DreamHost-2.5%Jul 202643.5%Aug 202641.0%
- Liquid Web+2.7%Jul 202613.9%Aug 202616.6%
- Flywheel+0.8%Jul 20267.5%Aug 20268.3%
- GoDaddy+2.0%Jul 20262.8%Aug 20264.8%
Current Benchmark at a Glance
Measure | Jul 2026 | Aug 2026 | Movement |
|---|---|---|---|
Qualified benchmark observations | 469 | 626 | Up 157 |
Tracked brands | 10 | 10 | No change |
Qualified surface breadth | 6 | 6 | No change |
Recommendation-shaped answer share | 46.3% | 51.1% | Up 4.8 points |
Valid recommendation shortlist share | 78.9% | 83.7% | Up 4.8 points |
Leader by valid recommendation coverage | SiteGround (77.0%) | SiteGround (80.5%) | Up 3.5 points |
Qualified surface breadth counts the canonical AI surface families with at least one qualified observation: ChatGPT, Copilot, Gemini, Perplexity, AI Overviews, and AI Mode. All six families were present in both months.
For the strategic interpretation of this benchmark, read CiteWorks Studio's analysis of How AI Search Is Recommending WordPress Web Hosting
Research Scope and Qualification
The public benchmark is narrower than the raw collection universe by design. Brand-level percentages use the qualified observations as the public denominator, not the raw collection.
Research stage | Jul 2026 | Aug 2026 | What it represents |
|---|---|---|---|
Source prompt-surface observations | 600 | 800 | Total collected prompts across surfaces |
Unique questions | 297 | 523 | Distinct questions after de-duplication |
Brand / competitor mentions | 600 | 800 | Prompts mentioning at least one tracked brand |
Relevant observations | 587 | 778 | On-topic observations after relevance review |
Irrelevant observations | 13 | 22 | Off-topic observations excluded from the set |
Qualified benchmark observations | 469 | 626 | Public denominator after all qualification |
For methodology details, see AI Market Discovery Methodology.
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Current Brand Standings
Brand | Presence rate | Valid recommendation coverage | Top-three rate | Rank-one rate | Net sentiment |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SiteGround | 92.5% | 80.5% | 55.6% | 13.6% | 0.9 |
Hostinger | 89.8% | 77.3% | 61.7% | 47.9% | 0.9 |
Bluehost | 78.1% | 60.4% | 35.3% | 7.0% | 0.8 |
Cloudways | 56.5% | 53.8% | 15.7% | 1.6% | 1.0 |
WP Engine | 62.8% | 53.0% | 19.2% | 5.0% | 0.9 |
Kinsta | 53.3% | 45.9% | 17.2% | 3.5% | 0.9 |
DreamHost | 48.9% | 41.0% | 10.7% | 0.2% | 0.9 |
Liquid Web | 20.1% | 16.6% | 1.4% | 0.3% | 0.8 |
Flywheel | 10.4% | 8.3% | 2.1% | 0.3% | 0.8 |
GoDaddy | 17.2% | 4.8% | 1.0% | 0.2% | 0.2 |
How to Read the Standings
Presence rate is the share of qualified observations in which a brand is mentioned at all.
Valid recommendation coverage is the share of qualified observations in which a brand appears in a recommendation-shaped answer, including shortlists and ranked lists.
Top-three rate is the share of qualified observations in which a brand appears in the first three recommended positions.
Rank-one rate is the share of qualified observations in which a brand is the single first recommendation.
Net sentiment is the share of positive mentions minus the share of negative mentions across all observations in which the brand appears.
For formulas and denominator rules, see AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions.
Recommendation Coverage Movement
Brand | Jul 2026 | Aug 2026 | Movement since baseline |
|---|---|---|---|
Bluehost | 60.3% | 60.4% | Up 0.1 points |
Cloudways | 42.4% | 53.8% | Up 11.4 points |
DreamHost | 43.5% | 41.0% | Down 2.5 points |
Flywheel | 7.5% | 8.3% | Up 0.8 points |
GoDaddy | 2.8% | 4.8% | Up 2.0 points |
Hostinger | 75.7% | 77.3% | Up 1.6 points |
Kinsta | 38.6% | 45.9% | Up 7.3 points |
Liquid Web | 13.9% | 16.6% | Up 2.7 points |
SiteGround | 77.0% | 80.5% | Up 3.5 points |
WP Engine | 41.8% | 53.0% | Up 11.2 points |
Largest Increase: Cloudways
Cloudways posted the largest coverage gain of the month, rising 11.4 points from 42.4% in July 2026 to 53.8% in August 2026, a move beyond normal monthly variation. Presence also rose, reaching 56.5% in August 2026 from 47.5% in July 2026, a 9.0-point increase. The top-three rate and rank-one rate moved only modestly, at 15.7% and 1.6% respectively in August 2026, indicating the coverage gain came primarily through broader mid-list recommendations rather than top placement.
Largest Decline: DreamHost
DreamHost was the only brand whose coverage fell from July 2026 to August 2026, dropping 2.5 points from 43.5% to 41.0%. This move was within normal month-to-month variation and does not yet indicate a trend. Presence dipped slightly to 48.9% in August 2026 from 50.7% in July 2026, while the top-three rate actually edged up to 10.7% from 9.8%.
Category Leader: SiteGround
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SiteGround held the category lead with 80.5% valid recommendation coverage in August 2026, up from 77.0% in July 2026, a stable lead position. SiteGround's top-three rate rose 6.6 points to 55.6% in August 2026 from 49.0% in July 2026, while its rank-one rate stayed nearly flat at 13.6% after a 0.6-point gain. Presence remained essentially constant at 92.5% in August 2026.
Two additional brands were significant risers on valid recommendation coverage this month. WP Engine rose 11.2 points to 53.0% in August 2026 from 41.8% in July 2026, with presence up 6.1 points and top-three rate up 7.9 points over the same period. Kinsta rose 7.3 points to 45.9% in August 2026 from 38.6% in July 2026, alongside a presence increase of 4.5 points.
Recommendation Placement Snapshot
Coverage alone does not show how prominently a brand is recommended. The leading cluster by top-three rate looks different from the coverage leaderboard.
Brand | Aug 2026 top-three rate | Aug 2026 rank-one rate | Jul 2026 top-three rate | Jul 2026 rank-one rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Hostinger | 61.7% | 47.9% | 56.5% | 43.7% |
SiteGround | 55.6% | 13.6% | 49.0% | 13.0% |
Bluehost | 35.3% | 7.0% | 29.2% | 8.1% |
Hostinger led on top-three and rank-one placement despite trailing SiteGround on overall coverage, a reminder that similar coverage levels can hide very different first-position rates. SiteGround appeared in a top-three slot in 348 of 626 qualified observations in August 2026, while Hostinger captured the single top slot in 300 of 626.
Buyer-Intent Distribution
All 626 qualified observations in August 2026 and all 469 in July 2026 fell into the brand recommendation class, meaning the benchmark measures AI responses that recommend specific hosting providers.
Buyer-intent class | Jul 2026 | Aug 2026 |
|---|---|---|
Brand Recommendation | 469 | 626 |
Pricing & Value | 0 | 0 |
Multi-Brand Comparison | 0 | 0 |
Total qualified observations | 469 | 626 |
The current public series measures the brand recommendation class of discovery and does not yet contain qualified observations in the pricing and value or multi-brand comparison classes.
Historical Measurement Record
This is an evergreen benchmark URL. New measurements are added to the same report.
Measurement | Qualified observations | Coverage leader | Leader coverage | Largest coverage movement |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Jul 2026 | 469 | SiteGround | 77.0% | Baseline period tracked in this series |
Aug 2026 | 626 | SiteGround | 80.5% | Cloudways up 11.4 points |
Evidence and Source Layer
The benchmark is built from prompt-level observations that retain the query, AI/search surface, answer, brand outcome, recommendation placement, sentiment, and where exposed, citations or attributable evidence sources. Source presence is evidence about the information environment. It is not automatically proof that the source caused the recommendation.
Scope Boundaries
This public benchmark does not measure market share, attributable sales, every possible AI response, organic-search ranking, social mention volume, private or sponsored channels, or causality from a metric movement alone. It records what AI and search surfaces say when prompted about WordPress web hosting providers.
About This Benchmark
The LLM Authority Index AI Market Discovery Index tracks how AI and search surfaces present, recommend, and rank brands across product categories. Each monthly measurement follows the same research protocol so that movements can be compared across time. Canonical research links:
- AI Market Discovery Methodology
- AI Market Discovery Metric Definitions
- AI Market Discovery Research Standards
- Modeled AI Authority Value
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The public industry benchmark shows category-level standings. A company-level Authority Index can go deeper.
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