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WordPress Guide → Hosting → What Is Managed Hosting?
What is managed WordPress hosting?
Whether you’re a blogger, small business owner, or aspiring entrepreneur, chances are you’ve heard of WordPress. It’s a great tool for building your online presence, but it requires web hosting – which can be tricky if you’re not familiar.
Enter managed WordPress hosting – the perfect solution for website owners who want to focus on their content and business, rather than the technical intricacies of web hosting. But what exactly is managed WordPress hosting, and how can it benefit your website? Let’s dive in.
What is managed WordPress hosting?
Managed WordPress hosting is a specialized set of hosting services layered on top of technical WordPress hosting. It combines the server hosting you need for your web site, with extra support and services from WordPress experts.
Managed hosting, in general, is a comprehensive package of services—including automatic updates, security monitoring, performance optimization, and dedicated support—that can be added to any type of web hosting arrangement. Managed WordPress hosting specifically puts all this additional support in the hands of WordPress experts.
The goal is to let website and business owners offload the technical requirements of web hosting, so you can focus on creating content and growing the business.
Managed vs unmanaged hosting
WordPress hosting doesn’t need to be “managed” by a hosting provider. Some WordPress site owners handle the hosting IT themselves, in an arrangement called unmanaged or self-managed hosting. Self-managed hosting provides users with server space and basic tools, leaving most of the technical management and maintenance tasks to the website owner.
Self-managed hosting offers some specific benefits:
- Full control: Users may have access to server settings and configurations.
- Flexibility: The ability to customize the hosting environment to specific needs.
- Cost-effectiveness: Generally cheaper than managed options.
Unmanaged WordPress hosting means you are taking care of most of the hosting setup and management on your own. Many hosting providers still have support available, but in an unmanaged hosting arrangement, the provider isn’t actively monitoring and managing the server environment for you.
Benefits of managed WordPress hosting
Managed WordPress hosting offers several compelling advantages that make it an attractive option for many website owners.
Scalability
Scalability in web hosting is a measure of how easy it is to adapt a hosting environment or software app to changes in demand or usage. As websites evolve, hosting needs often change, and scalability ensures they can meet these demands seamlessly.
Managed WordPress hosting excels in scalability by providing:
- Automatic resource allocation: Many managed hosts can detect traffic spikes and allocate additional resources as needed.
- Easy upgrades: Seamless, one-click transitions to higher-tier plans as your site grows.
- Optimized infrastructure: Hosting environments specifically set up and tuned for WordPress performance.
Scalability lets website owners start small and pay only for the resources they need. Then, it lets them grow their online presence without having to worry about outgrowing their hosting solution or their visitors hitting performance issues as traffic increases.
Security
Security in hosting encompasses protecting against various threats, including malware, hacking attempts, DDoS attacks, and data breaches. WordPress sites are popular targets because the platform is so popular and many users don’t take adequate security measures.
Managed hosting enhances security through:
- Proactive monitoring
- WordPress-specific security measures, like plugin monitoring
- Automatic backups
- Dedicated expert support
- Compliance tracking for sites that need to be PCI- or HIPAA-compliant
The cost of a cyberattack can shut down a business, so tight security is always worth the investment.
Staging
A WordPress staging environment is a replica of a live website used for testing changes before implementing them on the actual site (the “production” site).
Staging environments are a valuable capability for development and maintenance, letting owners experiment with new features, designs, or updates without risking the live site’s stability or performance. They’re especially helpful for WordPress sites, because they allow for debugging, testing new plugins, and ensuring that a WordPress core update doesn’t mess up your site.
Managed WordPress hosting typically includes easy-to-use staging environments that offer:
- One-click staging site creation
- Easy synchronization between staging and live environments
- Collaboration tools for team members to work on staged changes
Staging capabilities enable website owners to maintain a stable, high-quality site while continually improving and updating their online presence.
Support
Quality support is a cornerstone of managed WordPress hosting. While self-managed hosting leaves users to fend mostly for themselves, managed hosting support provides expert WordPress assistance 24/7/365 needed.
Managed WordPress hosting support typically includes:
- 24/7 access to WordPress experts
- Multiple support channels (chat, phone, email, ticketing systems)
- Proactive monitoring and issue resolution
- Guidance on optimizing WordPress performance and security
A few hosting providers also offer assistance with WordPress-specific issues, not just server problems. Liquid Web is one of the top managed WordPress hosting providers, because our team includes WordPress support experts who can help with both.
Challenges of managed WordPress hosting
While managed WordPress hosting offers numerous benefits, it may not be the best solution for every WordPress site. Further, not all managed WordPress hosting is equally helpful.
Potentially weak hosting tech
All hosting providers are not equal. Different WordPress hosts use different hardware and configure their servers with varying degrees of resource allocation, security, etc.
Efforts to reduce costs, can sometimes result in:
- Slower website speeds
- Security vulnerabilities
- Limited customization options
Many premium providers, however (including Liquid Web) offer managed WordPress hosting on secure, optimized resources, ensuring optimal performance, privacy, and more, for each client.
Cost
Managed WordPress hosting typically comes at a higher price point than self-managed options, because of all the additional services, expertise, and infrastructure provided. You’re essentially investing in the hosting technology and an experienced team.
While the investment is almost always worthwhile, it may not fit all budgets, especially for small personal blogs or hobby sites.
How to choose the best managed WordPress for your business
Selecting the right managed WordPress hosting provider is crucial for your website’s success. Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you make the best choice.
1. Assess your website’s needs
Before diving into provider comparisons, take stock of your website’s requirements. Consider factors such as:
- Expected traffic volume
- Content type (text-heavy, image-heavy, and/or video content)
- Ecommerce needs
- Security requirements (especially for handling sensitive data)
- Growth projections
- Budget constraints
Clarifying these needs first will help narrow down the options and guide you toward a hosting solution that aligns with your specific requirements.
2. Evaluate which type of managed hosting is best for you
Managed WordPress hosting comes in different flavors, each suited to different needs and budgets.
Managed VPS hosting
Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting provides dedicated resources within a shared physical server. It’s an excellent middle ground between shared and dedicated hosting, offering:
- Better performance and stability than shared hosting
- More entry-level price point than dedicated servers
- Scalability to accommodate growing websites
WordPress VPS hosting is ideal for small to medium-sized WordPress sites with moderate traffic.
Managed dedicated hosting
Dedicated hosting provides an entire physical server exclusively for your organization. It offers:
- Maximum performance and resource allocation
- Highest level of security and isolation
- Complete control over server configuration
Dedicated WordPress hosting is best for large WordPress sites with high traffic volumes, ecommerce stores, or websites with specific compliance requirements.
3. Evaluate web hosting providers
With numerous managed WordPress hosting providers available, it’s crucial to evaluate them carefully. Consider the following factors:
- WordPress expertise: Look for hosts with specialized WordPress plans and optimization features. WordPress is built on PHP, for example, so it’s crucial to use a host that knows it optimizes their servers for it.
- Managed hosting expertise: Similarly, a provider offering various managed hosting solutions demonstrates broad expertise in support and management.
- Trustpilot ratings and user reviews: These provide insights into real user experiences and satisfaction levels.
- Uptime guarantees: Look for providers offering 99.99% or higher uptime guarantees.
- Security and compliance certificates: Ensure the host offers SSL certificates and complies with relevant standards (PCI, HIPAA) if needed.
- Multi-channel support: 24/7/365 support is not uncommon among hosting providers anymore, but verifying that support is available via various channels—like chat, phone, and email—is crucial for quick issue resolution.
- Expert WordPress support: The support team should have in-depth WordPress knowledge.
- Speed optimization: Features like CDNs and caching improve site performance.
- Money-back guarantees: This allows you to test the service risk-free. It also indicates a high degree of success and confidence from the hosting provider.
- Regular security scans and backups: Automated security measures protect your site and data.
- Free migrations: A managed WordPress hosting plan should include free site migrations to ease the transition.
- Autoscaling: Managed hosting should automatically adjust resources based on traffic, to ensure consistent performance.
- Developer-friendly features: Look for features like staging environments, Git integration, and WP-CLI support if you plan on customizing your site.
Managed WordPress hosting FAQs
Getting started with WordPress hosting
Improving your WordPress site is vital for enhancing user experience, boosting SEO rankings, and achieving your online objectives. Begin by assessing your current site to identify areas needing optimization, such as slow loading times, outdated themes, and unresponsive designs. Tools like Google PageSpeed Insights can help highlight these issues.
Ready to take the training wheels off your WordPress site? Upgrade to professional hosting and see how better speeds, security, and reliability provide a foundation for a website and a brand that people find engaging and trustworthy. Liquid Web’s WordPress hosting options configure business-class servers and support plans specifically for WordPress websites.
Click through below to explore all of our WordPress hosting options, or chat with a WordPress expert right now to get answers and advice.
Additional resources
What is managed WordPress hosting? →
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