What is Managed WordPress Hosting? 5 Key Facts & Best Hosts (2024)

What Is Managed Wordpress Hosting

What is managed WordPress hosting, you may ask — and is it worth the cost? The popular content management system undoubtedly makes web design more accessible to non-developers, but site admins and business owners don’t always want to get bogged down in the constant stream of backups, updates, security scans, and performance optimizations.

At the most basic level, managed WordPress hosting gives you a hassle-free experience. Your provider will take care of all the technical aspects of security, speed, updates, backups, uptime, and scalability so you can focus on getting the best content and making the most profit.

Read on to see how you can take advantage of the world’s most popular content management system in a fraction of the time.

1. Best Managed WordPress Hosting (Overall Comparison)

Hosts regularly offer managed services with VPS and dedicated plans, but managed WordPress packages dip into the shared hosting world to provide better services and experiences to the millions of site owners running the top-flight CMS. In addition to specially tuned hardware and software designed to run WordPress as quickly and securely as possible, service is tailored to the specific needs of the platform.

As with managed plans anywhere, pay attention to the fine print — “managed” means something different to seemingly every host. Semi-managed plans will typically only cover automated services, such as updates and backups, while fully managed services mean more personal attention to optimizing your site’s speed and scalability.

There should be no surprise that many of our favorite WordPress hosts rank near the top of our rankings for managed WordPress hosting. Already known for great support and reliability, these companies offer unlimited storage, bandwidth, and a number of WordPress sites on each account.

1. SiteGround.com

SiteGround review

Monthly Starting Price $2.99

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  • Managed services for all WordPress plans
  • In-house-built technologies for speed and support
  • WordPress kept up to date with automatic backups
  • Easily test and deploy changes via staging area
  • 3 levels of caching for optimal performance
  • Get started on SiteGround now.
Our Expert's Review ★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

Alexandra Anderson

Alexandra Anderson

Alexandra Anderson, Contributing Expert

Alexandra is a web marketer, Agile Product Owner, and die-hard wordsmith who's contributed to HostingAdvice, InMotion Hosting, HostGator, and other prominent hosting and technology blogs, as well as Forbes. She has a master's degree in information technology from Virginia Tech and more than 10 years of experience building websites, advising on web and mobile app design, and crafting content that engages and converts. Her primary subject matter expertise spans WordPress, UX design, Agile project management, and, of course, web hosting.

(HostingAdvice.com): The SiteGround team touts fully managed services across all hosting plans, including WordPress. The company caters its managed WordPress plans to customers in search of speed, performance, scalability, and support. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 10 GB SSD - 40 GB SSD FREE (1 Year) 6 minutes

2. Hostinger.com

Hostinger review

Monthly Starting Price $2.69

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  • Officially endorsed by WordPress.org
  • Managed WordPress hosting & free site migration
  • 1-click WP install, PHP 7+, HTTP/2, and LiteSpeed
  • All-in-one security protections from BitNinja
  • No price markup for WordPress services
  • Daily backups, FREE SSL certificates, and AI Tools
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
Our Expert's Review ★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim, Contributing Expert

Laura has spent more than 12 years crafting engaging and award-winning articles that share the passion behind organizations' products, people, and innovations. As a long-time HostingAdvice contributing expert, she combines a reputation for producing quality content with rich technical expertise to show experienced developers how to capitalize on emerging technologies and find better ways to work with established platforms. A professional journalist, Laura has contributed to The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Sun Sentinel, and the world's top hosting providers.

(HostingAdvice.com): As much as we love WordPress, one of our biggest pet peeves is when hosting providers exploit the popularity of the world's most-used content management system by offering so-called WordPress hosting that, in reality, is exactly the same as the host's shared server plans. Fortunately, Hostinger's ultra-fast infrastructure and easy access to SSL certificates and backups sets up the company to outperform the vast majority of the violators of our admittedly made-up rule. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 25 GB SSD - 200 GB NVMe FREE (1 year) 4 minutes

3. Bluehost.com

Bluehost review

Monthly Starting Price $1.99

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  • 1-click WordPress installs via enhanced cPanel
  • VPS with NGINX architecture for extreme speed
  • Advanced CDN and WAF protection
  • Custom cPanel simplifies WP site management
  • Instant provisioning and regular backups
  • Get started on Bluehost now.
Our Expert's Review ★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

Ryan Frankel

Ryan Frankel

Ryan Frankel, CTO and Contributing Expert

Ryan began developing websites in the late '90s and has personally tested just about every web host and cloud platform worth trying on the market today. With a masters degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Florida, he leverages his extensive knowledge of hardware, software, and their engineering relationship to inform HostingAdvice readers of the technical implications of their hosting choices. Ryan's subject matter expertise includes, but is not limited to, WordPress, cloud infrastructure management, product UI/UX design, and popular web development languages such as JavaScript and PHP.

(HostingAdvice.com): From a custom WordPress control console to core software updates, Bluehost is a go-to for managed WordPress hosting services. The company’s plans are ideal for the first-time site owner, but Bluehost’s in-house hardware and performance-boosting technologies are fit for the seasoned website professional, too…. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 10 GB SSD - 100 GB SSD FREE (1 year) 7 minutes

See all top managed WordPress hosts »

2. Best for Cheap Managed WordPress Hosting

For those who prioritize price above all else, never fear. You can find some incredible deals when it comes to managed WordPress hosting.

Because WordPress is so popular and used to power more than a third of all websites, hosting providers are all trained at how to troubleshoot common problems and ease the onboarding process via one-click installations.

These hosts offer the most bang for your buck and enable you to run WordPress effectively and securely — with around-the-clock managed support standing at the ready.

4. Hostinger.com

Hostinger Review

Monthly Starting Price $2.69

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  • Unlimited everything, from storage to databases
  • FREE site builder & WP performance upgrades
  • FREE daily or weekly backups
  • Custom control panel and auto-installation scripts
  • SSH access & unlimited FREE SSL certificates
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
Our Expert's Review ★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim, Contributing Expert

Laura has spent more than 12 years crafting engaging and award-winning articles that share the passion behind organizations' products, people, and innovations. As a long-time HostingAdvice contributing expert, she combines a reputation for producing quality content with rich technical expertise to show experienced developers how to capitalize on emerging technologies and find better ways to work with established platforms. A professional journalist, Laura has contributed to The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Sun Sentinel, and the world's top hosting providers.

(HostingAdvice.com): As the shared hosting market has become more saturated, things like unlimited storage, bandwidth, and email accounts have become the norm. Hostinger, however, goes above and beyond the norm by also giving users an unrestricted  number of websites, databases, FTP users, subdomains, and parked domains for most plans. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 25 GB SSD - 100 GB NVMe FREE (1 year) 3 minutes

5. ScalaHosting.com

ScalaHosting Review

Monthly Starting Price $2.51

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  • 1-click install for WordPress, Drupal and 400 others
  • Unlimited email accounts, databases & bandwidth
  • 24/7 tech support for beginners and pros alike
  • 12-month or 36-month plan at $2.51 /month
  • Anytime unconditional money-back guarantee
  • Get started on ScalaHosting now.
Our Expert's Review ★★★★★ 4.7/5.0

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim, Contributing Expert

Laura has spent more than 12 years crafting engaging and award-winning articles that share the passion behind organizations' products, people, and innovations. As a long-time HostingAdvice contributing expert, she combines a reputation for producing quality content with rich technical expertise to show experienced developers how to capitalize on emerging technologies and find better ways to work with established platforms. A professional journalist, Laura has contributed to The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Sun Sentinel, and the world's top hosting providers.

(HostingAdvice.com): In a budget web hosting market that's fiercely competitive,  ScalaHosting stands out by delivering a premium hosting experience that surpasses most. This premium experience includes all-SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, databases, and email accounts — to go along with a topnotch support team. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 10 GB SSD - 50 GB SSD FREE (1 year) 6 minutes

6. DreamHost.com

DreamHost Review

Monthly Starting Price $2.59

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  • Automated malware scans
  • Unlimited domain hosting
  • Unlimited email accounts with POP/IMAP/SMTP
  • FREE eCommerce store tools and PCI compliance
  • Streamlined proprietary control panel
  • Get started on DreamHost now.
Our Expert's Review ★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim, Contributing Expert

Laura has spent more than 12 years crafting engaging and award-winning articles that share the passion behind organizations' products, people, and innovations. As a long-time HostingAdvice contributing expert, she combines a reputation for producing quality content with rich technical expertise to show experienced developers how to capitalize on emerging technologies and find better ways to work with established platforms. A professional journalist, Laura has contributed to The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Sun Sentinel, and the world's top hosting providers.

(HostingAdvice.com): While DreamHost's price might be a little steep compared to other high-value hosting providers, the company gives customers ample time and reasons to get hooked and stick around. The company, which started in the founders' dorm room in 1997, offers an industry-leading 97-day money-back guarantee. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
97 days Unlimited FREE (1 year) 4 minutes

See all top affordable WordPress hosts »

3. Fastest Managed WordPress Hosting

When it comes to speedy WordPress hosting, one of the first features you’ll want to look for is solid-state drives. The modern storage devices regularly make page loads up to 20 times faster, with additional performance boosts possible via content delivery networks, cloud infrastructure, and the ability to choose your server location.

But the best managed WordPress go beyond that. Get even better performance with hosts that offer built-in caching, and a content delivery network, among other features.

For instance, many of these hosts below prioritize speed — particularly for WordPress users.

7. Hostinger.com

Hostinger review

Monthly Starting Price $2.69

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  • Enhanced performance with LiteSpeed Cache
  • WordPress accelerator and CloudFlare CDN
  • Unlimited websites, bandwidth, and databases
  • Optimize your site with a custom control panel
  • FREE weekly backups and GitHub integration
  • Get started on Hostinger now.
Our Expert's Review ★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim, Contributing Expert

Laura has spent more than 12 years crafting engaging and award-winning articles that share the passion behind organizations' products, people, and innovations. As a long-time HostingAdvice contributing expert, she combines a reputation for producing quality content with rich technical expertise to show experienced developers how to capitalize on emerging technologies and find better ways to work with established platforms. A professional journalist, Laura has contributed to The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Sun Sentinel, and the world's top hosting providers.

(HostingAdvice.com): As one of the fresher faces in the game, Hostinger represents an exciting upstart built entirely on SSD hosting solutions. No longer is premium performance reserved for those willing to pay top dollar. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 25 GB SSD - 100 GB NVMe FREE (1 year) 3 minutes

8. InMotionHosting.com

InMotion review

Monthly Starting Price $2.24

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  • Shared business hosting with FREE SSD storage
  • FREE website migration with zero downtime
  • Develop in PHP, Ruby, Perl, Python, and MySQL
  • FREE drag-and-drop builder or WordPress
  • FREE data backups and FREE SSL cert
  • Get started on InMotion Hosting now.
Our Expert's Review ★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

PJ Fancher

PJ Fancher

PJ Fancher, Contributing Expert

PJ is a professional web developer with more than 20 years of experience. His background began with writing small web applications using Perl, PHP, and MySQL in 1998. He has well-rounded experience with all aspects of web development, from server and database configuration to scripting, styling, design, and SEO.

(HostingAdvice.com): InMotion Hosting trailblazed the SSD space, including free SSD storage in all server plans for maximum performance. Existing websites experience no downtime as InMotion Hosting transfers your site to its new home on InMotion’s network, and you can choose a West Coast or East Coast datacenter location. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
90 days 100 GB SSD - Unlimited SSD FREE (1 year) 5 minutes

9. GreenGeeks.com

GreenGeeks review

Monthly Starting Price $2.95

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  • Eco-friendly hosting with unlimited SSD storage
  • RAID-10 storage arrays with LiteSpeed and MariaDB
  • Proactive server monitoring and real-time virus scans
  • FREE site migration and domain registration
  • 300% energy match via renewable energy credits
  • Get started on GreenGeeks now.
Our Expert's Review ★★★★★ 4.9/5.0

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim

Laura Bernheim, Contributing Expert

Laura has spent more than 12 years crafting engaging and award-winning articles that share the passion behind organizations' products, people, and innovations. As a long-time HostingAdvice contributing expert, she combines a reputation for producing quality content with rich technical expertise to show experienced developers how to capitalize on emerging technologies and find better ways to work with established platforms. A professional journalist, Laura has contributed to The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Sun Sentinel, and the world's top hosting providers.

(HostingAdvice.com): Beyond saving the environment, the experts at GreenGeeks pride themselves on using cutting-edge technologies to optimize website performance. From SSDs and LiteSpeed to the CloudFlare CDN and HTTP/2 support, GreenGeeks is a great choice for speed-minded site owners. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 50 GB SSD - Unlimited SSD FREE (1 year) 4 minutes

See all top WordPress hosts with SSDs »

4. Best for Fully Managed WordPress Hosting

A premium WordPress host, Liquid Web is given high praise by our team for their speed, advanced technical support, and reliability.

The company’s ultra-performant VPS and cloud infrastructure, multiple layers of caching, and ironclad security measures are among industry leaders — Liquid Web even promises 100% uptime.

In addition to offering best-in-class support and WordPress expertise, Liqud Web also offers managed WooCommerce hosting for online stores. The company is truly a one-stop shop for all things WordPress!

10. LiquidWeb.com

Liquid Web review

Monthly Starting Price $4.16

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  • Hassle-free managed hosting and Heroic Support®
  • 1-click staging and backup restores
  • Automatic backups and updates to WP and plugins
  • Hardened security and lightning-fast SSD speed
  • 100% uptime and 50% off first 2 months
  • Get started on Liquid Web now.
Our Expert's Review ★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

Alexandra Anderson

Alexandra Anderson

Alexandra Anderson, Contributing Expert

Alexandra is a web marketer, Agile Product Owner, and die-hard wordsmith who's contributed to HostingAdvice, InMotion Hosting, HostGator, and other prominent hosting and technology blogs, as well as Forbes. She has a master's degree in information technology from Virginia Tech and more than 10 years of experience building websites, advising on web and mobile app design, and crafting content that engages and converts. Her primary subject matter expertise spans WordPress, UX design, Agile project management, and, of course, web hosting.

(HostingAdvice.com): Liquid Web alleviates typical headaches of WordPress hosting with the company’s supreme managed hosting services. Starting with free migrations conducted by experts, Liquid Web keeps your WP site running at peak performance with automatic backups, SSD storage, and premium caching. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 15 GB - 800 GB New or Transfer 5 minutes

5. Best for Managed WordPress Hosting Reseller Services

When it comes to reselling managed services, you’re the one in charge of customer support. Finding a high-quality reseller program, however, can ease some of the burden.

HostGator provides all sorts of powerful tools and flexibility to manage your business while still offering free and easy scalability.

Along with weekly, automatic backups and around-the-clock server monitoring, HostGator’s award-winning support through phone, chat, and email will let you focus on your managed WordPress services.

HostGator.com

HostGator review

Monthly Starting Price $34.99

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  • Start a company with cPanel reseller hosting
  • Unlimited domains, emails, and MySQL databases
  • 99.9% uptime guarantee and 400+ tutorials
  • All web hosting reseller plans include WHMCS
  • FREE ResellerClub account for domains
  • Get started on HostGator now.
Our Expert's Review ★★★★★ 4.5/5.0

Ryan Frankel

Ryan Frankel

Ryan Frankel, CTO and Contributing Expert

Ryan began developing websites in the late '90s and has personally tested just about every web host and cloud platform worth trying on the market today. With a masters degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of Florida, he leverages his extensive knowledge of hardware, software, and their engineering relationship to inform HostingAdvice readers of the technical implications of their hosting choices. Ryan's subject matter expertise includes, but is not limited to, WordPress, cloud infrastructure management, product UI/UX design, and popular web development languages such as JavaScript and PHP.

(HostingAdvice.com): HostGator offers some of the industry’s best reseller hosting plans, with WHMCS included for your management purposes, as well as cPanel for your customers. You specify your reseller hosting customers’ packages, disk space, and bandwidth. Go to full review »

Money Back Guarantee Disk Space Domain Name Setup Time
30 days 100 GB SSD - 450 GB SSD New or Transfer 4 minutes

Let Your Host Handle the Hardware and Let the Blogging Begin!

I’ve learned to put my developer ego aside and appreciate the benefit of managed services.

WordPress can be a challenging content management system to run well, so it’s worth giving the mundane and ultra-technical tasks to trusted experts while I create the content and products that drive business.

For other WordPress hosting options, be sure to check out our favorite WordPress hosts. Even if they don’t offer managed WordPress plans, many hosts include shared services and support teams that are optimized for the global WordPress community. For a complete list of the top recommended managed services for WordPress, click here.

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