I'm planning to host two WordPress websites on a VPS. So far, I've always installed LAMP and WordPress directly on the server, but I keep seeing Docker recommended for this kind of setup. What practical advantages would Docker provide over a native installation for a small WordPress deployment? I'm especially interested in maintenance, updates, isolation, backups, and overall complexity.
3 Answers
It depends somewhat on the VPS. On a small instance, installing the web server, PHP, database, and WordPress directly is usually the simplest and lightest option. On a larger machine, Docker or Podman can separate the web application from the database and make it easier to reproduce the environment or move it later. Containers are also a useful way to learn modern deployment practices, but they do not automatically make WordPress easier to operate.
Email delivery can be an overlooked complication with a containerized WordPress setup. Even basic outgoing mail may require extra configuration for networking, SMTP, credentials, and reliable delivery. Using an external SMTP provider can reduce that pain, but it is another dependency to manage. Whatever installation method you choose, keep regular database and uploaded-file backups and test restoring them.
For only one or two sites, a native LAMP or LEMP setup is often easier to manage. With Ansible for configuration and Terraform for provisioning, you can still make the server repeatable without adding container orchestration overhead. WordPress updates, themes, and plugins can also be awkward in containers because they change frequently. You have to decide whether those files live in persistent volumes or are rebuilt into the image, and keeping everything reproducible with Composer can take more effort than the setup saves. Docker makes more sense when you already have a solid deployment pipeline or need stronger service isolation.
That makes sense. I’m mainly trying to avoid unnecessary complexity, so a well-automated native setup may be the better fit for two sites.