Website performance is essential for any online business. Slow websites can lead to a poor user experience and can affect your search engine rankings. In today's world, where attention spans are short and competition is high, having a fast and reliable website is more important than ever.
This is where Managed WordPress hosting comes into play. Managed WordPress hosting is specifically designed to enhance the performance of WordPress websites. It is a service where your hosting provider takes care of all the technical aspects of your website, including server optimization, security, updates, and backups.
In this article, we will explore why Managed WordPress hosting is the key to site performance and compare some of the most popular Managed WordPress hosting providers in the market.
What is Managed WordPress Hosting?
Managed WordPress hosting is a hosting service that is specifically optimised for WordPress websites. It is a premium service that provides faster loading times, enhanced security, automatic updates, and technical support. Managed WordPress hosting providers take care of all the technical aspects of your website, so you can focus on growing your business.
Benefits of Managed WordPress Hosting
Security
Security is a top priority for any website. Managed WordPress hosting providers offer enhanced security features, such as firewalls, malware scanning, and DDoS protection, to keep your website secure from online threats.
Speed
Website speed is crucial for user experience and search engine rankings. Managed WordPress hosting providers use server optimization techniques and content delivery networks (CDNs) to deliver faster loading times for your website.
Automatic Updates
WordPress releases regular updates to improve performance and security. Managed WordPress hosting providers automatically update your website to the latest version of WordPress, themes, and plugins, so you don't have to worry about manually updating your website.
Technical Support
Managed WordPress hosting providers offer technical support to help you resolve any issues with your website. They have a team of WordPress experts who can assist you with any technical queries or concerns.
Comparison with Traditional Web Hosting
Traditional web hosting is a generic hosting service that is suitable for any type of website. It is a cost-effective option, but it lacks the specialised features of Managed WordPress hosting. Traditional web hosting requires manual configuration and maintenance, which can be time-consuming and can require technical aptitude. With the majority of traditional web hosting your website 'shares' resources with other sites on the same server, this can become problematic if other sites have issues or are dealing with heavy traffic.
Managed WordPress hosting is a premium service that is designed specifically for WordPress websites. It offers faster loading times, enhanced security, automatic updates, and technical support, which are not available with traditional web hosting. They have the ability to scale in minutes to deal with peak seasonal events and in some instances auto-heal to deliver the best experience for the end user.
"Choosing the best Managed WordPress hosting provider can be a daunting task, given the variety of options available in the market"
Why Managed WordPress Hosting is the Key to Site Performance
Managed WordPress hosting is the key to site performance because it provides faster loading times, improved uptime, and enhanced security.
Faster Load Times
Website speed is a critical factor in user experience and search engine rankings. A slow website can lead to higher bounce rates and lower conversions. Managed WordPress hosting providers use server optimization techniques, such as caching and CDN, to deliver faster loading times for your website.
Caching is a technique that stores a copy of your website's content in the server's memory, so it can be quickly delivered to the user's browser. CDN is a network of servers located in different geographic locations that serve your website's content from the server closest to the user's location.
Improved Uptime
Uptime is the percentage of time that your website is online and accessible to users. Managed WordPress hosting providers offer high uptime guarantees, which means your website will be online and accessible to users for most of the time.
Managed WordPress hosting providers use advanced server technologies and have a team of experts to monitor the server's performance and resolve any issues quickly.
Enhanced Security
Security is a top priority for any website. Managed WordPress hosting providers offer enhanced security features, such as firewalls, malware scanning, and DDoS protection, to keep your website secure from online threats.
Technical Support
Managed WordPress hosting providers offer real-time technical support to help you resolve any issues with your website. They have a team of WordPress experts who can assist you with any technical queries or concerns. This means you don't have to be a technical expert to manage your website, as the hosting provider will take care of all the technical aspects of your website.
Cost-Effective
Managed WordPress hosting is a premium service, but it can be cost-effective in the long run. It saves you valuable time and resources that you would otherwise spend on maintaining and optimising your website. It also reduces the risk of website downtime, which can lead to lost revenue and damaged reputation.
How to Choose the Best Managed WordPress Hosting Provider
Choosing the best Managed WordPress hosting provider can be a daunting task, given the variety of options available in the market. Here are some factors to consider when choosing a Managed WordPress hosting provider:
Pricing
Pricing is an important factor to consider when choosing a Managed WordPress hosting provider. It is important to choose a provider that offers a pricing plan that fits your budget and meets your requirements.
Performance
Performance is a crucial factor in user experience and search engine rankings. It is important to choose a provider that offers faster loading times, improved uptime, and enhanced security.
Support
Support is an essential factor in managing your website. It is important to choose a provider that offers technical support to help you resolve any issues with your website.
Features
Features are an important factor to consider when choosing a Managed WordPress hosting provider. It is important to choose a provider that offers features that meet your requirements, such as automatic updates, staging environments, and daily backups.
Comparison of Popular Managed WordPress Hosting Providers
Here is a comparison of some of the most popular Managed WordPress hosting providers in the market, with each offering their own take on what features their customers prefer:
WP Engine
WP Engine is a Managed WordPress hosting provider that offers a range of features, such as automatic updates, daily backups, and 24/7 support. They offer a range of pricing plans, starting from £24 per month. Geared toward bigger WordPress sites you can tailor your plan according to your requirements. Their basic plan is for a single site only and their cost ramps up significantly between their plans. WP Engine is a WordPress only host with access to 20 data centres, utilising Google Cloud and AWS which WP Engine choose for you. Unfortunately WP Engine does not provide a free trial to see if their platform is for you.
Cloudways
Cloudways is a Managed WordPress hosting provider that offers a range of features, such as automatic updates, auto-healing, Cloudflare CDN integration, staging environments, and 24/7 support. They offer a range of pricing plans, starting from £11 per month. Cloudways offer amazing pricing for the best hardware on offer. Their platform is built to be easily migratable between plans and have a much gentler approach to upgrading in terms of pricing compared to some of the other hosts in this list.
They have a much better system in that they offer a free trial on their system and once happy with the trial, you can add as many websites (determined by applications) as you like, however, you will need to upgrade to have the best experience in the case of any traffic surges. In our experience they will work with you to get your site upgraded quickly, and without much fuss. However, it's a great way to set up sites for proof of concept or if they are brochureware sites that don't require much server resources.
Additionally, with Cloudways they have access to over 65 data centres allowing you to create multiple PHP apps such as, Drupal, Magento, Laravel, WordPress and Joomla and they allow you to choose your preferred hosting provider.
Flywheel
Flywheel offers a range of features, such as automatic updates, staging environments, and 24/7 support. They offer a range of pricing plans, starting from £10 per month. Flywheel is a subsidiary of WP Engine and offers similar functionality. The first two plans on their roster only offer support for a single website and you would have to start paying £16 per month in order to have more websites added to your platform or jump to the £77 per month plan. Flywheel is a WordPress only and hosts it's services on Google Cloud
Kinsta
Kinsta is another great Managed WordPress hosting provider that offers a range of features, such as automatic updates, staging environments, and 24/7 support. They offer a range of pricing plans, starting from £16 per month. Their hosting plans are optimised for speed, security, and scalability. Kinsta have quite a varied pricing structure and an equivalent to the others in terms of like for like platform you would have to start paying £30 per month. It feels quite disorientating looking at their pricing structure which would suggest they most likely cater to the experienced user or towards medium to large businesses. Also on Kinsta plans their resources have a lower threshold to their other competitors with lower storage and site visits and only a single site on their starter plan.
SiteGround
SiteGround excels at being a shared hosting provider that now also offers managed hosting as part of its repertoire. It, too, offers a range of features, such as automatic updates including plugins, daily backups, and 24/7 support. They offer a range of pricing plans, starting from £14 per month for a single website. SiteGround managed WordPress hosting is run on Google Cloud, which is convenient if you're not too bothered about your technology stack but in our opinion this limits a users options. This is also fermented further by SiteGround only offering 6 data centres and no free trial to start with.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that Managed WordPress hosting is the key to site performance. It provides faster loading times, improved uptime, enhanced security, and greater technical support in times of need. When choosing a Managed WordPress hosting provider, it is important to consider factors such as pricing, performance, support, and features.
WP Engine, Kinsta, SiteGround, Flywheel, and Cloudways are some of the most popular Managed WordPress hosting providers in the market. Each provider offers a range of features and pricing plans to meet your requirements. You can compare these providers based on their features, pricing, performance, and support to find the one that best suits your needs.
Remember that choosing the right Managed WordPress hosting provider is crucial to the success of your website. It can save you time and resources, improve user experience, and increase search engine rankings. So, take your time and choose wisely, especially when determining the scalability of your WordPress site.
In summary, Managed WordPress hosting is a type of hosting that is designed to help you focus on growing your business, all while the provider takes care of the technical aspects of your website helping you achieve your goals.
