Advantages of Managed WordPress Hosting

• Blazing Fast – Managed WordPress hosting servers are configured specially for WordPress. They are blazing fast even when your website gets a lot of traffic.
• Security – You are practically hacker-proof when you go with a managed WordPress hosting provider. They have a very tight security layer that actively scans for malware and block all hacking attempts.
• Expert Support – Unlike other web hosts, the staff is highly knowledgeable in WordPress. They advise you against using plugins that impact performance, solve problems faster, and much more. It is like having an army of WordPress experts on your side for assistance.
• Daily Backups – They create daily backups and offer restore points if you ever want to revert.
• Automatic Updates – You don’t have to worry about updates because they are done automatically.
• No downtime – No matter how much traffic your site gets, your website will probably never go down.
• Dev Tools – Although it varies by host, you usually dev tools such as staging area, version control, etc.

You are probably thinking that the advantages sounds pretty attractive, are there any downside?

Disadvantages of Managed WordPress Hosting

• Price – Managed WordPress hosting is significantly more expensive when compared to shared hosting. Base plan usually starts around $29/mo. where as shared hosting plan starts at $3.95/mo. But if you factor in the cost of running a large website and the salary of system admin, then this will sound like a pretty good option.
• Limits – Because the server architecture is specialized for WordPress, often you are limited to run only WordPress based sites. But that’s what you were looking to do anyways. You also cannot run all WordPress plugins. Managed WordPress hosting providers block plugins that slows down your site. So this is not entirely a disadvantage, but it can be an issue for larger companies.
• Less Control – Since someone else is managing all the technical aspects, you don’t have nearly as much say as to what gets changed. But isn’t that the point? You don’t want the hassle of managing things yourself.

Now that you have read the pros and cons of managed WordPress hosting, you’re probably wondering if it’s the right solution for you.

When do I need a managed WordPress Hosting ?

If you are a beginner who is starting a blog, then you DO NOT need managed WordPress hosting. You should start with regular WordPress hosting which is a lot more affordable. We recommend Bluehost which is also one of the official WordPress hosting providers.

Now if you are a small business or have a high-traffic website, then it makes sense for you to get managed WordPress hosting. The decision really boils down to your needs.

If you lack the technical skills, then average web hosting can become a hassle as your site grows. With an average hosting (shared, VPS, or dedicated), you are responsible for security, updates, speed, uptime, etc.

As a business owner, you have two options. You could either hire a system admin to manage your website, or you can use a managed WordPress hosting provider.

If you want something that is hassle-free, blazing fast, and offer mind-blowing support, then you have your answer. Basically, if your website is your business, and you can’t afford it to go down, then pay the extra bucks for the exceptional service that you will get with managed WordPress hosting.

In the end, you have to decide whether you can justify the cost for the value. If low cost is your biggest priority, then go with a non-managed WordPress hosting provider.

Now that you have read all about managed WordPress hosting, it is time for you to make a decision. We run several sites that get millions of pageviews per month. We have tested and worked with all top web hosting companies in the industry. After having helped 100,000+ users and years of experience, our founder Syed Balkhi have personally hand-picked some of the most well-reputed managed WordPress hosting providers for you. Each of these managed WordPress hosting companies provide excellent service and support. We give each of them a perfect 5 out of 5 star rating. Check out the list of best managed WordPress hosting providers.

Key WordPress Hosting Features

Managed means easy

We do all this:

• Automatic account setup
• Automatic WordPress core updates
• Nightly backups w/ 1-click restore
• DDoS protection & site monitoring
• Optimized WordPress servers
• We have award-winning, 24/7 support ready to solve your toughest hosting issues, plus hundreds of WordPress videos and interactive walkthroughs.
• Your site gets the personal bodyguard treatment, 24/7. Our security team monitors, thwarts, and deflects so you can rest easy.
• Keep hackers away

It gives you access to thousands of free themes and plugins that help simplify the design process and allow you to add powerful features with just a few clicks. Plus, with PowerHoster Managed WordPress, you get:

• Automatic setup, backups and WordPress software updates
• Industry-leading performance on our premium hosting platform
• Award-winning support from hosting experts, 24/7/365

So you can simply do this:

• • Build your awe-inspiring website
  • Host your website on the platform built expressly to optimize WordPress, with high-performance coolness like load-balanced servers and SSD drives.
  • When your site attracts visitors by the ton, you shouldn’t have to stress over your plan’s visitor limits. Get visitor overage protection, ignore your limits, and pay a minimal fee for every additional 10K visitors over plan.

What Is Managed Hosting?

Most packages on offer today would be considered managed to some extent. Why? Because running a website is actually a lot more complicated than you’d think. Many people can create and run a WordPress-powered website without too much trouble, but how many people have network management skills, or can create Nginx files and/or apply operating system upgrades to their own servers via SSH?

All websites are stored on computers, all of which have memory, a processor, a hard drive, ports that handle internet traffic and so on — and they all need to be taken care of on an operating system level. If there’s a bug in the operating system, it has to be addressed. If malware has made its way into the machine, it needs to be cleared — and that’s just scratching the surface of all the day-to-day things that need to be done to keep your site ticking over.

This is a level of management that almost all hosts offer nowadays. In fact, it’s in their best interest to do so. Most users have absolutely no need to control their low-level hosting environment — and, if given the opportunity to do so, would mostly likely make a mess of things pretty quickly. This would lead to their website going down and blame most likely placed on the host, who would then likely be tasked with getting things up and running again.

In other words, by managing your server for you, hosts kill two birds with one stone: Saving you from yourself, and saving themselves from hordes of support tickets.

Let’s call this type of management server level management — and, unless you specifically search for bare metal servers, you’ll most likely see all such features included in your chosen hosting package.

There is, however, another branch of managed hosting services that allows you to perform many common higher-level tasks on your server, for example website backups. Let’s call this second branch of services application level management.

Application level management services are the type offered in managed WordPress hosting plans. Features will likely include: Server-level caching (and many other performance-specific services); automated daily site backups; core WordPress updates; website migrations and malware scanning; the ability to quickly and easily create staging sites; on-demand WordPress-specific one-click backups, and more (we’ll go through many of these in a moment).