To select a host that truly meets the needs of your WordPress website, it’s important to understand what sets the best providers apart from the rest. A number of companies offer managed WordPress hosting plans, but not all of them deliver on their promises. 

How can you distinguish a quality provider from the rest? 

Let’s take a look at the key factors to consider when choosing the right managed WordPress hosting provider for your business.

What is Managed WordPress Hosting?

Managed WordPress hosting is a specialized hosting service designed specifically for WordPress websites. Hosts design these plans with features to help your site run smoothly and efficiently. 

A managed plan takes all server maintenance and hosting-related security tasks off your plate so you can focus on other priorities. For those new to the hosting world or who prefer to spend time on content rather than technical setup, it’s an excellent choice.

Key benefits of opting for a managed WordPress hosting plan include:

• Enhanced Performance: Managed plans typically include server optimizations, caching technology, content delivery networks (CDNs), and premium plugins to boost your site’s speed.
• Enhanced Security: Your hosting provider will take extra steps to secure your site by implementing firewalls, scanning for malware, and running regular security updates.
• Better Support: With managed WordPress hosting, you get 24/7 customer support from WordPress experts who understand the platform and can troubleshoot any issues that arise.
• Scalability: As your site grows, managed WordPress hosting makes it seamless to scale up your plan with automatic or one-click upgrades, so you don’t have to worry about outgrowing your host.
• Reduced Maintenance: With your provider handling updates and support, you can focus on growing your site and business without the stress of constant server management.

As you research managed WordPress hosting, you’ll also come across other hosting types designed for general use. In the next section, we’ll compare these traditional hosting models to managed WordPress hosting to help you understand the key differences.

Other Types of Hosting

To better understand the differences between hosting options for WordPress website owners, let’s take a high-level view of the options covered in this article. Keep in mind that certain features may change depending on your provider and the plan you choose. 

Self-hosting

Self-hosting means that you manage every aspect of your website’s infrastructure, from the server hardware to the software it runs on. This gives you the highest level of control, as you’re not relying on a hosting company to keep your site online. However, it also means you’re responsible for everything — from maintaining your server to handling security.

While there are no monthly hosting fees with self-hosting, the initial cost can be high. You’ll need to invest in the hardware and infrastructure to get your site up and running and account for the electricity costs to keep the server online (and the hardware cool). Additionally, you must update and maintain the server on a regular basis so that it can handle the latest WordPress software and security protocols, which can add to the cost.

Self-hosting lets you make any hardware or software changes without approval of another party, so it’s an excellent choice for those with advanced technical skills who want full control over their setup.

If you’re comfortable managing all hosting aspects — like troubleshooting, applying updates, and handling security — self-hosting could be the right option.

Best for: Developers or technical experts who want full server control.

Cloud Hosting

Cloud hosting differs from traditional hosting because it isn’t tied to a specific set of physical servers. Instead, it runs your website on a virtualized environment powered by a network of interconnected servers. This allows your site to tap into a pool of resources, making it more scalable and flexible to handle traffic from all around the world.

Cloud hosting plans usually come with a set amount of storage and bandwidth, but the beauty of cloud hosting is that it can scale automatically as your needs change. The specific features and add-ons available will vary depending on the host and the type of cloud infrastructure you select.

Here are some cloud hosting options:

• Public Cloud: In this setup, the hosting provider handles server maintenance and management, so you don’t need to worry about upkeep.
• Private Cloud: This option allows you or your team to manage the cloud infrastructure, either on your own premises or through a third-party provider.
• Hybrid Cloud: A mix of both public and private clouds, this method offers the benefits of managed services from a public cloud with the control of a private cloud for certain parts of your infrastructure.
• Managed Cloud: With a managed cloud service, you pay a third-party provider to handle everything from server maintenance to troubleshooting, freeing you to focus on your business.

Cloud hosting is an excellent choice for businesses that expect high traffic volumes or need the flexibility to scale quickly. Depending on your plan, it can either be fully managed or require some technical input from your team.

Best for: Ecommerce stores, mission-critical websites, agencies, and businesses that need to handle traffic spikes or rapid growth.

Dedicated Hosting

Dedicated servers, as the name suggests, use the full power of a physical server to host just one account. These plans are highly-customizable, giving you complete control over your server’s resources, storage, and hosting tools.

There are two main types of dedicated hosting plans:

• Managed Dedicated Servers: With this plan, your hosting provider gives you access to server management tools (like WHM and cPanel) to handle your account as needed. The provider takes care of server maintenance while you focus on your website.
• Bare Metal Dedicated Server: Also known as unmanaged servers, bare metal gives you direct access to the physical hardware of your server. You’ll need to set everything up yourself and manage all aspects of the server from scratch.

The main benefit of dedicated hosting is a boost in performance and reliability. Since your website is the only one hosted on the server, you won’t have to worry about other accounts affecting your speed or security. You also have the flexibility to install custom software and applications that affect the entire server — something you can’t do with shared or VPS hosting.

Managed dedicated hosting plans often come with extra perks like scheduled backups, security tools, malware scanning, and dedicated customer support to keep things running smoothly.

That said, dedicated hosting isn’t without its downsides. It tends to be more expensive than other hosting options because you’re paying for the entire server, plus any add-ons. Introductory rates can seem affordable, but renewals and upgrades quickly add up. Additionally, since you’re using physical hardware, if the server experiences downtime, your website will be unavailable.

Despite these costs and potential risks, the power, flexibility, and customization of a dedicated server make it a top choice for many advanced developers and large companies that need full control over their hosting environment.

Best for: High-traffic, enterprise-level businesses with an IT team or agency support.

VPS Hosting

Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting uses virtualization technology to divide a single web server into multiple independent containers. This means you get dedicated resources for your account, unlike with shared hosting, but at a more affordable price than a fully dedicated server.

VPS hosting can be either managed or unmanaged, depending on your needs:

• Managed VPS: Your hosting provider takes care of the server’s maintenance, uptime, and overall health. You’ll also have access to customer support, add-ons, control panel tools, and the ability to customize your server.
• Unmanaged VPS: With unmanaged VPS, you or your team are responsible for setting up and maintaining everything, from software installations to server management. Your hosting provider will ensure the server itself is running smoothly, but you’ll handle all the software and general upkeep.

Unlike dedicated servers, VPS hosting restricts certain software installations and kernel-level changes. Because VPS accounts share the same physical server, any changes to the server’s hardware will affect all accounts. So, if you need full control over your server’s environment, this could be a limitation.

VPS hosting is a great option for users looking to upgrade from shared hosting or established businesses stepping into the online world. It offers a more manageable experience compared to the complexity of dedicated or cloud hosting, making it ideal for those with less technical expertise.

While VPS hosting doesn’t have the same level of scalability as cloud hosting, it remains a scalable option. Many VPS providers offer one-click upgrades, allowing you to scale your resources as needed. It gives you better performance, more control, and access to a less crowded server — all while keeping your resources separate from others.

Best for: Businesses or individuals with moderate technical skills who want room to grow

Hosting Factors to Consider

Not every plan will suit your website or fit your budget. When choosing the best WordPress hosting for your project, consider both your immediate needs and where you hope to be in the near future. Then, you can explore the specific features, add-ons, and management options that make the most sense.

Your Overall Budget

The best WordPress hosting plan is the one that fits both your website’s requirements and your budget. The final cost of your hosting package will depend on several factors, such as the type of hosting (like cloud or VPS), the server specs, bandwidth, and add-ons.

To help you narrow down your options and find the right price range, consider these questions:

• How many visitors do you expect each month?
• What features do you need, and do they cost extra? (e.g., email, backup management, monitoring tools)
• How big is your current project, and how much storage will it require?
• How flexible are the hosting terms? Are you locked into a long-term contract?

While it’s tempting to go for the high-end hosting options, they’re expensive and may not be necessary for every site. Before making your final choice, check for any hidden charges or extra costs for the features you want.

The Features You Need

Hosting can be highly customizable, and while that’s great, it can also feel overwhelming with all the different features and add-ons available.

For example, your host might offer SSL certificates as part of your subscription, charge extra for them, or not offer them at all.

Whether you opt for a plan that includes everything or prefer to select and pay for add-ons as you go, here are some essential features to look for:

• Free migrations
• Up-to-date software
• The ability to host more than one site
• A user-friendly dashboard
• Security tools and services
• A high uptime/reliability guarantee
• Performance optimization tools
• Scalability options
• Backup solutions
• Staging environments for testing changes
• Strong theme/plugin support
• 24/7 customer support from WordPress experts

Most hosting providers will list the features included with each plan, so if you can’t find what you’re looking for, don’t hesitate to reach out and ask about specific needs or add-ons.

Security Features and Tools

In the first quarter of 2024 alone, DDoS attacks increased by 46% compared to the same period in 2023. With cybercrime on the rise worldwide, securing your website is more important than ever.

Your website’s security is crucial to the health of your business. If bad actors hack or infect your website with malware, your site may be unavailable until there’s a resolution. Even a small security breach can cost you valuable time and customers.

When choosing a web host, look for one that prioritizes security. Start by checking if they offer a strong firewall and anti-malware software to protect your site.

Other helpful security features might include automated backups, ensuring your data is always up-to-date and recoverable if something goes wrong. Some hosts also offer premium security plugins, like Jetpack, which provide additional protections.

Finally, be sure your host is running the latest versions of WordPress and PHP and provides auto-updates for plugins and core files. This helps guard your site against security vulnerabilities and keeps everything running smoothly.

Staging Environments

Staging environments help you plan and test website updates without putting your live site at risk.

These are clones of your website where you can make changes and experiment freely. Once you’re happy with the updates, you can smoothly merge them to your live site.

Performance Tools

Website speed is crucial — there’s no getting around it. To guarantee your site performs at its best, check that your host includes caching technologies as part of their plans, like performance plugins or content delivery networks (CDNs).

Caching speeds up your site by storing parts of your content on your visitor’s browser or through the CDN. This helps the site load faster for returning visitors. For first time visitors, a CDN serves site files from the server that’s geographically closest to the user. This can make a significant difference to visitors who may otherwise be located thousands of miles from your primary server. 

To keep your site consistently fast, see if the host offers performance monitoring tools and options to scale your plan, like auto-scaling. This way, if your traffic increases, your site’s speed won’t suffer.

Customer Support

No matter what hosting plan or type you choose, make sure your host offers reliable, 24/7 customer support.

If something goes wrong with your website — whether it’s a cyberattack, broken plugin, failed update, or database error — it can take time to fix. That’s why it’s crucial to select a host that you can reach at any hour to help you get things back on track.

Additionally, make sure the host has a team of real WordPress experts. Some traditional hosts offer WordPress plans but support a variety of other technologies and can’t truly offer the specialized attention your site deserves.

Before making your final decision, do some research. Look at testimonials and online reviews to get a sense of how well the company treats customers and how quickly they resolve issues.

Scalability

As your business grows, your hosting plan needs to support higher traffic volumes. This could become a problem if your web host doesn’t offer scalable plans.

A scalable hosting solution assures that your site performs well, even during traffic spikes. This is especially helpful for viral content, product launches, or holiday sales events, where large surges in traffic are common.

Without scalability, you risk bandwidth throttling, higher fees, or even the possibility of your site crashing under the pressure.

Reliability

Uptime refers to how often your website is available and accessible. The higher the uptime percentage, the more reliable your host is at keeping your site online.

If your site experiences unplanned downtime, it can hurt your business by preventing visitors from accessing your content. This makes network reliability a crucial factor in the success of your website.

The ideal hosting partner should aim for 100% uptime — or as close to it as possible — and use redundancy measures to help maintain it. For instance, implementing failover backups to automatically redirect traffic to another data center if one goes down.

Not all hosts offer this feature, so if they don’t clearly state uptime details on their website, be sure to reach out and ask about their reliability measures.

Data Center Quality

Data centers are where your website and account information live. These facilities house fleets of physical servers, whether for traditional hosting or virtualized cloud networks, working around the clock to deliver content to users globally.

The location and setup of these data centers are critical to keeping your site online and running smoothly.

The closer the data center is to your audience, the faster content delivery is, which is why many hosting providers use CDNs and caching technologies to boost website speed.

Web hosts with multiple data centers offer an advantage by giving you the option to choose a location close to your target audience. They might also have failover systems in place to keep your site safe. On the other hand, if a web host only has one data center, your site could face interruptions.

Before committing to a host, look into their data center details. Check if they provide information on physical security measures to protect against power outages or natural disasters. Also, find out whether they own the servers themselves or partner with third-party providers.

As hardware becomes outdated, see what the upgrade process looks like for older servers, and how they assure there’s minimal or no downtime for clients during those updates.

Find the Perfect Host for Your Needs

Your company is unique, so you may have more specific needs based on your background or industry. Let’s review some of the key factors to focus on based on your business model.

Small Business Owners

Most small business owners don’t have the benefit of a dedicated IT team or extensive technical knowledge. If this describes you, managed WordPress hosting is a great choice.

The right hosting provider will handle the technical side of things and keep everything running smoothly so you can focus on growing your business.

Here are the key features to look for in a managed WordPress host that suits small businesses:

• Ease of Use: Your host should offer a user-friendly control panel, giving you quick access to all the tools you need to manage your website. The dashboard should be clear and not overwhelm you with too many technical details.
• Affordability: Make sure your host is transparent about their pricing, offering affordable plans for small businesses. Don’t forget to check for hidden fees, renewal rates, and any add-on prices.
• Reliable Support: Get a host with a strong support team. Look for a host that offers an extensive knowledge base, helpful tutorials, and a customer service team made up of WordPress specialists.
• Built-in Performance/Security Tools: Look for built-in tools that help monitor the health of your website — without the need to handle technical details on your own. They may include premium plugins and extensions at no extra charge.  

Ultimately, the right host will support your business as it grows, providing the help and reliability you need to succeed.

Ecommerce stores

As an online store owner, you know the smoother your visitors’ experience is, the better your business will perform. To keep up with customer expectations, handle product launches, and maintain consistent sales, you need a WordPress host that offers a reliable infrastructure to support and grow your store.

Here are the key factors to consider when choosing a managed WordPress provider for your ecommerce site:

• Performance Optimization: Look for a provider that optimizes servers specifically for ecommerce platforms and offers advanced caching options. This contributes to fast load times, seamless customer journeys, and quick checkouts.
• Scalability: During peak sales periods, you’ll need a host that can handle traffic spikes without slowing down. Choose a provider that offers automatic scaling so your store can easily handle increased visitor traffic without compromising performance.
• Integration Support: Your ecommerce store depends on seamless integration with WordPress plugins and payment gateways. Make sure your hosting provider supports these integrations and has a knowledgeable team that can assist with any issues that arise.

At Pressable, plans work seamlessly with WooCommerce stores of all sizes. Run by dedicated WordPress experts, you can trust your store will be up to date with the latest WordPress and WooCommerce releases to protect you and your customers.

Plus, with Pressable’s team of WooCommerce experts, you’ll always receive top-notch support so everything runs smoothly.

Power users and developers

Whether you’re a freelancer or part of a development team, managed WordPress hosting can help lighten your workload without compromising your control over projects.

You need a hosting partner that prioritizes performance while giving you the right tools to plan, stage, and deploy your work quickly and efficiently.

While you likely know what you’re looking for, here are the key factors to consider when choosing a host for your work:

• Developer-Friendly Features: Make sure your host provides the tools you need to streamline your workflow, like staging environments, SSH access, and Git integrations. These features will help you develop, test, and deploy projects with ease.
• Advanced Features: Look for a host that offers more advanced features, such as caching plugins, CDN integrations, and load balancing options. You’ll also want customizable security and performance settings to fine-tune your setup.
• Flexibility and Control: Choose a provider that gives you the flexibility and control you need to tailor your hosting environment. Review their team collaboration tools and user access management to ensure smooth cooperation with your team or clients.
• Reliable Support: Even the most experienced developers need help from time to time. Make sure your host has an extensive knowledge base and a solid support team ready to assist when needed.

Always check the provider’s support process and ensure they offer a strong uptime SLA to keep your clients’ sites running smoothly.

Agencies

Running an agency means your clients trust you to pick the best hosting provider for their websites. It also involves juggling multiple accounts and making sure everything runs smoothly — something that can get tricky, even for larger teams.

Managed WordPress hosting can benefit agencies by taking care of server management and simplifying your workflows. With the help of a good hosting partner, you’ll have more time to focus on your clients.

If you’re unsure about how to choose the best WordPress hosting for your agency, here are a few key things to keep in mind:

• Multi-site management: Look for a host that offers tools to manage multiple client websites easily. Features like staging environments, white-labeling, and bulk actions (like scheduling plugin updates) can make your job much easier.
• Scalability and flexibility: Pick a hosting provider that can grow with you. As your client base expands, you’ll need a host that can quickly scale resources to meet their increasing demands.
• Strong support: Your clients depend on you, so you need a hosting partner that provides excellent customer support. Look for providers that offer dedicated account managers, 24/7 support, and solid documentation to help you resolve any issues quickly.
• Simple user management: Make sure your provider offers easy-to-use tools for managing users and permissions. This will help you set up custom access levels for your team, clients, and any collaborators.

Making the switch to managed WordPress hosting

Not sure where to begin? Use this checklist to help you make an informed decision and find a WordPress host that fits your website’s unique needs.

• Hosting Type: Determine which type of hosting is best suited for your website’s needs.
• Server Location and Data Center Quality: Look for a host that offers SSL certificates, firewalls, and regular backups. Ensure the host has a good uptime guarantee and provides reliable services.
• Scalability and Performance Optimization: Check if the host can scale up to meet future traffic demands. Look for a host that offers performance optimization features, such as web server monitoring tools, caching, a content delivery network, and SSD storage.
• Security Features and Reliability: Check if the host offers 24/7 customer support and how quickly they respond to support tickets. Look for a host that provides service level agreements (SLAs) to guarantee uptime and response times.
• Pricing and Billing Structure: Compare pricing plans and billing structures to find a host that fits your budget and needs. Look for a host that offers a money-back guarantee or trial period.
• Reviews and Customer Feedback: Read reviews and feedback from current and previous customers to gauge their satisfaction and experience with the host.

Speak with a Hosting Expert to Make a Confident Choice

Choosing the right managed WordPress hosting for your business can feel a bit overwhelming at first, but once you find the right fit, you’ll be glad you took the time to research and make an informed decision. By focusing on your immediate needs and understanding the different types of hosting available, you’ll be well on your way to selecting the best option for your site.

Pressable can make all the difference in your WordPress journey. With a wide range of plans, powerful tools, and exceptional support, your website will be in great hands.

Schedule a consultation today and see how Pressable can help your business thrive!