What is the difference between WordPress hosting and regular hosting?
Technically, WordPress runs on any decent hosting. WordPress hosting is the same server space tuned for WordPress: preinstalled, with matched caching and often automatic updates. Managed WordPress hosting goes further and takes over all maintenance.
The term WordPress hosting covers two very different products. At budget providers it usually means: regular shared hosting with WordPress preinstalled and a few optimizations. Handy for starters, but not fundamentally different; you barely pay extra for it. Bluehost and GoDaddy market heavily on this version.
Managed WordPress hosting, as offered by Kinsta and WP Engine, is another category. The whole environment exists solely for WordPress: server-level caching tuned for it, automatic updates that get tested first, daily backups, a staging environment to try changes safely, and support staffed by people who do nothing but WordPress. You pay accordingly: roughly $20 to $30 a month and up.
The choice is practical: building your first site, take regular hosting with a one-click WordPress install at a solid provider. Once the site earns money, managed hosting buys you time and certainty.