If you’re more than just a passing blogger, chances are you’re looking for something more than your standard WordPress. In the beginning, it was simple at first, but now, things like page speed and backups are making you crazy. Enter managed WordPress hosting. We’ve got our favorites, so let’s upgrade and answer a few questions you may have.
Choosing The Best Managed WordPress Hosting
There are a few things to consider if you’re going to choose managed WordPress hosting. Let’s go over what you need to think about as you make this decision.
You Need Superior Support
Managed WordPress hosting offers more support than standard hosting because these enterprise solutions specialize in WordPress specifically. The teams are made of WordPress developers who can answer even the smallest questions you have and can leap to the rescue for unplanned downtime or poorly executed plug-ins.
Better Integration
Shared hosting has a barebones approach that provides only generic solutions to appease a wide variety of sites. Managed WordPress hosting uses a targeted strategy designed to integrate with WordPress sites directly with no hangups. It’s optimized and can get even more performance for your site.
Better Infrastructure
A managed WordPress host has bigger better infrastructure than typical standard hosting. They’re usually designed for Global reach, and should help you increase the amount of traffic, speed, and capability you’ll get as your audience increases.
Placing your networks closer to your audience decreases website latency. It makes sure your page times are as fast as possible so that you don’t end up losing your target audience because of basic website issues.
Consistent Backups
Do you stay awake at night wondering what would happen if your system crashed? So many users experience downtime at some point in their website’s life, and for many, that data won’t come back. Relying on your memory is faulty and could cost you big if you don’t have a recent backup of your site’s information.
Once your site goes down, if there’s something really wrong, a managed hosting company can use your recent backup (that they ensured happened) to rebuild your site and cut your downtime. You wouldn’t have to worry about how new the information is because the web host took that initiative themselves.
The Best Managed WordPress Hosting
Our list contains companies dedicated to your security, your reach, and your site. They offer consistent backups and can be reached quickly if you need to handle anything during a problem. Let’s take a look at our five favorites to find your best WordPress managed hosting.
WPXhosting
WPXhosting provides ultra-fast operations on servers that they actually own, not rent. There’s low latency for a wide range of geographic locations and excellent security options built-in. It’s for larger websites that experience a lot of traffic and need better speed, security, and support. Basically, it offers everything.
It’s a little more expensive, but the site is dedicated to offering even small sites the fastest loading. It takes care of backups, and security patches and features live chat support with experts 24/7. There’s free unlimited SSL, data migration from a dedicated team to help you move an existing site, and SSD storage.
It’s best for those who have a large, dedicated site and need help moving it, keeping it all secure, and maintaining the loading speed for an international audience.
- Pros: ultrafast hosting, free unlimited SSL, fast live chat support, free data migration
- Cons: more expensive, not a lot of tier choices
DreamPress
DreamPress is DreamHost’s managed WordPress site. DreamHost is ultra fast, ultra-low latency hosting designed for ultimate performance for audiences that aren’t going to wait for standard website loading speeds. The site typically responds in less than half a second regardless of where you are in the world.
The plans include custom control panels so you can set things up to be more comfortable and more precise for your specific site. There’s free SSL, a security feature that helps protect information flowing between your server and a browser, and SSD storage for all your backups.
DreamPress is also designed to scale. You’re able to start out with one tier and move up as your budget and needs change. This option makes it suitable for those who want high performance, but don’t necessarily want all the bells and whistles just yet.
- Pros: scalable, ultra-fast despite geography, SSD storage, customized control panels
- Cons: staging isn’t available in basic versions
WPEngine
WPEngine is hugely popular and offers a lot of capability for managed hosting. They have in-house performance optimizations and one-click staging along with ultra-fast loading that doesn’t require a separate plug-in.
It features low latency across the board with most major areas served in under a second. It’s particularly fast in the United States but should offer you excellent performance for an international audience.
It’s designed to handle a lot of traffic and remain steady. If you’ve already scaled and you’re moving the whole shebang to this site, WPEngine can easily handle the migration and keep your audience steady. It’s best for sites that have already established a bigger audience, mainly international, and needs an enterprise type solution.
- Pros: low latency across the board, enterprise solution, managed updates, one-click staging
- Cons: more expensive (but definitely worth the extra expense).
SiteGround
SiteGround is top rated. They offer in-house security options and performance optimization so that your site is safe for your audience and you, and you don’t experience those slow load times that can kill a new website.
SiteGround hosted sites experience very low latency, and the company has continent specific servers that help with load times wherever you are in the world. It’s important to analyze where the majority of your traffic is located so that SiteGround can host you on the appropriate servers.
They offer free site migration and support is available 24/7. They have free SSL, which is a security feature designed to establish encrypted links between a browser and a server, and they’re officially recommended by WordPress as a quality host.
- Pros: low latency, in-house security options, free site migration
- Cons: no free domain
Flywheel
Flywheel is an excellent option if you’re upgrading your site, but you aren’t a developer. It’s designed to make things like security and updates easier without having a lot of technical know-how. They’re new, but quickly gaining the trust and support of a lot of people.
It has automatic caching and free SSL to ensure your security. It doesn’t issue overage charges if you exceed your bandwidth, a great feature if you happen to go viral. It has 24/7 live chat support and contains data centers across the globe for better load times regardless of geography.
They’re highly affordable and scalable, so you can start with something matching your budget and work up. Some of the features can get expensive, such as extra security, but overall, they’re a good option for non-developers who want a site that works well.
- Pros: nondeveloper friendly, scalable, 24/7 live chat support, no overage charges
- Cons: expensive add-ons, no phone support
The Winner: WPXhosting
WPXhosting offers a lot of capabilities of a higher tier host without having to start super expensive. It features plenty of capabilities and ultra-fast load times across the globe while offering a dedicated support team that knows WordPress inside and out. It’s an excellent option for those who want a well-done website and never want to worry about losing their site to downtime again.