Reasons to Choose Best Managed WordPress Hosting
Managed WordPress Hosting is a web hosting product that combines the two most popular trends of recent years: cloud hosting, and WordPress hosting.
It can be difficult and overwhelming to shop for WordPress hosting. But it’s even more daunting when you add the daunting world of cloud hosting.
Managed WordPress hosting combines the speed and scalability of cloud hosting with the hands off, don’t-make me think benefits of managed WordPress Hosting.
Managed WordPress hosting is more expensive than web hosting and is not for everyone.
It can be a good idea to make the switch if your website is growing rapidly and you need to scale up or provide resources on demand.
There are many providers in the managed WordPress hosting market. Here is my selection of the top-managed WordPress hosting providers for different user types. This list was compiled based on my experiences as both a customer and consultant to customers, and my conversations and discussions with industry experts. *
Please note that I am not a web developer, DevOps or IT operations person. I am a technical SEO who helps small- to medium-sized businesses, freelancers, and DIYers make better tech decisions to improve their marketing. This guide can be used by DIYers, freelancers, and business owners. However, it is not intended to replace your COO, CIO, or web developers.
The Best Managed WordPress Hosting Providers
This is a diverse list and no one provider is “the best”. Instead, each provider has strengths and weaknesses that are matched to different users based upon their goals and budget.
- The Best Managed WordPress Hosting Providers
- 1. Kinsta
- 2. Cloudways
- 3. WP Engine
- 4. Liquid Web
- 5. SiteGround
- 6. Namecheap
- 7. Flywheel
- 8. Pantheon
- 9. Pagely
- 10. Press Release
- 11. WPMUDev
- Next steps
- Similar Posts
The order of popularity is shown for the list of WordPress providers.
1. Kinsta
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My rating: 8.0/10
Kinsta Review
It is relatively new to managed WordPress hosting, but they are quickly becoming the most popular.
Kinsta was established in 2013 as a global, remote-only hosting company. Kinsta offers a variety of pricing plans and customers to suit all budgets, from agencies to enterprise websites and freelancers.
It is powered by the Google Cloud Platform. It features a custom dashboard and a range of managed WordPress services. They are transparent about the fact that your website is hosted on Google’s servers.
These are great options if you know you need a WordPress website managed (and have the money for it) but don’t want or need to shop around for a custom solution.
Kinsta Pricing
Kinsta offers a solid entry price at $30 per month for a website. There is also a WordPress hosting plan that can host 150 websites for $1,500 per monthly.
Explore Kinsta’s Pricing & Plans
Benefits
Kinsta offers three major benefits.
- They are hosted on Google’s Cloud Platform which is regarded as a premium cloud service, especially in comparison to Digital Ocean, Linode and Amazon.
- Kinsta also offers affordable pricing for developers and freelancers.
- The dashboard is simple and easy to use. They also provide excellent support. They communicate clearly that customer support is their primary value.
Complaints
Kinsta’s biggest problems are those of managed WordPress hosting providers.
First, multiple websites can quickly increase in price. This is especially true if you are an independent operator with smaller websites. You would prefer to consolidate all of your websites at one host in order to reap the benefits of economies-of-scale, but Kinsta pricing makes this impossible.
They use Google’s cloud platform and are therefore more expensive than their competitors. However, they don’t offer many DevOps services that are tailored to enterprises like their rivals.
2. Cloudways
10% off for 3 months
My rating: 8.5/10
Cloudways Review
It is one way to manage WordPress hosting.
Cloudways was established in 2009, with its headquarters in Malta.
They were created to address the issue of cloud hosting. This means that cloud hosting from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft is not supported by most website owners. It is also unpredictable in price and difficult to understand.
Cloudways allows you to use cloud hosting the same way as traditional cPanel hosting, but with a smoother price.
Cloudway doesn’t offer managed WordPress hosting services, they are CMS-agnostic. Cloudway does offer a WordPress hosting service that is pre-installed for your cloud product.
It is managed WordPress hosting, even though it isn’t a managed WordPress product. This is a strange distinction but it is worth noting, especially considering their flexibility and price.
Cloudways Pricing
Cloudways pricing is dependent on the cloud provider and resources required.
They offer the lowest pricing compared to other companies, especially if they choose Digital Ocean or Linode over Google / Amazon. It’s difficult to compare their pricing because they don’t offer the same value-added services as WordPress hosts.
Cloudways Plans & Pricing
Benefits
Cloudways offers three major benefits. Cloudways offers a broad range of cloud providers. You are not tied to any one provider. They allow you to be flexible in your pricing so that even small websites can be covered. It also offers WordPress-friendly hosting support. They also provide excellent support for WordPress hosting.
Complaints
Cloud ways do not offer managed WordPress services. This is the main problem with them. There are many benefits to having dedicated WordPress configurations and dedicated WordPress support, especially for highly customized versions of WordPress. They make cloud hosting easier than getting it from a cloud provider. However, there is still a lot to understand and many confusing parts that you won’t find with traditional web hosting.
3. WP Engine
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My rating: 7.5/10
WP Engine Review
It was the first managed WordPress hosting company. WP Engine has been used for several of my websites for many years. I still have clients who use the service to this day.
Jason Cohen founded WP Engine in Austin in 2010. WP Engine was founded in Austin by Jason Cohen in 2010. They have always been focused on WordPress.
They have moved much of their infrastructure from their shared hosting to the cloud as they have grown and expanded internationally. With their own platform, they use cloud providers such as Amazon and Google.
WP Engine Pricing
WP Engine’s $30 per month entry-level pricing has remained the same. It is popular for its unique managed WordPress hosting features, such as staging environment and WordPress update management. They also offer custom enterprise plans that can scale up.
Their pricing is unique in that they use storage and bandwidth in a way that is not common to other providers. They may claim that this is not common. My clients have had difficulty estimating how much bandwidth WP Engine will require. It’s not easy to compare WP Engine with other providers.
Explore WP Engine’s plans & pricing
Benefits
WP Engine offers three major benefits:
- They have been a trusted brand for many years in this space. They are well-known for their innovation and constant updating of their product offerings.
- These products have many appealing features. They also come with numerous case studies and real-world experience that backs up their benefits and features.
- They offer reliable telephone support.
A developer can be reached by phone to resolve your problem.
Complaints
WP Engine has a few primary weaknesses and complaints.
They don’t have an open cloud platform. They use Amazon and Google, but it is not clear how your server setup is. This can be frustrating, especially if you are trying to fix the problem yourself.
They are also known for having bugs and problems that can take time to resolve, despite their innovative platform. They are larger than their competitors and this can lead to some problems. I have not had the smoothest experience I expected.
4. Liquid Web
50% Off 3 Months
My rating: 9.0/10
Liquid Web Review
Liquid Web is a well-known and trusted hosting company. They recently acquired Nexcess, which makes them a leader in managed WordPress hosting.
Liquid Web was established in 1997 in Lansing (MI), USA. To serve their clients, they have created a lot of their infrastructure.
Liquid Web Pricing
Liquid Web offers many products. However, their managed WordPress hosting pricing starts from $9.50 per monthly and can go up to $499.50 each month. Because of the way they structure their plans, it can be difficult to compare apples with oranges. There are other cloud products available that can run managed WordPress, but they are priced and configured for agencies selling hosting.
Explore Liquid Web’s Pricing & Plans
Benefits
Liquid Web offers a few benefits. They offer outstanding support. The company’s entire team has great internal values and a clear mission to help customers. They also own and operate large portions of their cloud infrastructure. This gives them a lot more flexibility, products, and services to offer customers.
Complaints
Liquid Web does have some downsides. Their pricing is quite high for the features you get. Although you get excellent support and configuration, their pricing can be a little steep for bandwidth. They don’t use the major cloud hosting providers so it is difficult to compare their value-added service to their competitors (again looking at storage & bandwidth).
5. SiteGround
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My rating: 8.5/10
SiteGround Review
SiteGround is a well-known WordPress hosting provider. I have used their shared hosting services on a few sites. You can read my review of their shared hosting services here.
SiteGround was established in Bulgaria in 2004 and has experienced rapid growth in the hosting market. Their cloud hosting product was launched in 2010, so it has been around since then. It recently moved their cloud hosting product over to the Google Cloud Platform, and reworked all the value-added features.
SiteGround Pricing
SiteGround offers cloud pricing starting at $100/mo, and going up to $400/mo. It doesn’t regulate its plans on the basis of a large number of websites, unlike many WordPress hosts. SiteGround provides resource caps instead.
SiteGround’s plans & pricing
Benefits
SiteGround is a cloud-managed host that offers a number of unique advantages. SiteGround has a strong reputation in the WordPress community and many useful WordPress tools.
A second benefit is their resource-based pricing. This allows agencies and DIYers to be flexible with the pricing.
Complaints
SiteGround makes a few tradeoffs. SiteGround’s resource-based pricing can be helpful for some customers but it can also cause confusion and not be beneficial for others. It can be difficult to determine the budget and resource usage of cloud hosting if you don’t have a good understanding (in comparison to paying per WordPress site or visitor volumes). SiteGround’s customer service for DIYers has received mixed reviews. I’ve noticed a pattern where they are super-available and helpful for designers, agencies & developers (who have some experience pre-troubleshooting). They can also help DIYers and business owners with more complex problems. This could be a problem for cloud hosting.
6. Namecheap
Get a.COM for $0.98
My rating: 9.0/10
Namecheap Review
Namecheap has steadily grown its brand from domains to all kinds of web services over the past decade, including shared hosting, SSL certificates sales and WordPress hosting.
EasyWP is a managed WordPress hosting service that they launched in 2017. EasyWP is designed to be easily used by everyone, at all levels, with specific features and very low pricing.
Namecheap Pricing
Namecheap’s pricing is superior to any other competitor on this page. Some plans start as low as $3.88 per monthly and can go up to $11.88 each month.
It’s not a typo. It’s so cheap.
Yes, it is managed WordPress on a cloud infrastructure. It is now hosted on Namecheap’s cloud infrastructure, rather than Google’s and Amazon’s. This allows for significant cost savings. However, performance-wise it is difficult to tell the difference.
Namecheap’s plans & pricing
Benefits
Namecheap’s main benefit is its pricing. Namecheap uses its cloud infrastructure and is committed to cutting costs.
They also focus on usability in a way that is unmatched by any other company. Namecheap calls their product EasyWP and it is easy to use.
Complaints
Name cheap has its problems and tradeoffs, as you can see. They run on their own cloud, not Google’s or Amazons. This makes it difficult to evaluate independent performance, especially for a growing enterprise or website.
Their support for essential services is second-rate, but it’s not as extensive as the support you’d get at Cloudways, Kinsta, or WP Engine.
7. Flywheel
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My rating: 9.0/10
Flywheel Review
Flywheel is a managed WordPress hosting provider that emphasizes usability and ease-of-use. They were established in Omaha, Nebraska in 2012. WP Engine purchased them in 2019. They are still an independent company. They use the Google Cloud Platform to provide their services.
Flywheel pricing
Flywheel’s pricing starts at $13 per monthly and increases to $242 per months. Custom pricing is also available. Flywheel was founded with the intention of focusing on developers and agencies with affordable pricing. This is especially important for those with low traffic websites.
Benefits
Flywheel offers two major benefits. Flywheel is easy to use with an intuitive dashboard and easily accessible features. You can also see that they target non-developers looking for a quick, cloud-based website.
They also offer excellent starter plans that you won’t find anywhere else.
Complaints
Flywheel’s main problem is WP Engine controlling them. Flywheel claims that operations are the same as ever…except that their About page redirects directly to WP Engine. It is not clear how long the service will be available as an independent entity, with pricing that competes very strongly against WP Engine’s pricing.
Flywheel’s plans & pricing
8. Pantheon
No current promotion
Pantheon, a WebOps firm, was founded in San Francisco, CA in 2010. They almost exclusively focus on enterprise websites. They used to have their own architecture for years but recently switched to the Google Cloud Platform.
Pantheon Pricing
Pantheon’s pricing model is primarily geared toward enterprise customers. Starter hosting starts at $41 per Month on the Silver account tier. Most pricing is custom-based based on your resource requirements.
Benefits
Pantheon’s main advantage is their industry reputation for getting the job done. They are innovative and have been for years, especially when it comes to enterprise websites with complex interactive hosting requirements (e.g. WordPress, WooCommerce or BuddyPress). ).
Complaints
Pantheon’s main problem is their focus on enterprise websites. This leaves many developers and designers out. Even so, their website copy and sales language require a lot of knowledge and skill.
Discover Pantheon’s Plans & Prices
9. Pagely
No current promotion
Pagely, a cloud-managed workplace web hosting company, is specifically dedicated to large brands and enterprise websites.
Paisley, not WP Engine, was the first managed WordPress hosting company to be founded in 2006. They have been expensive and not mass-market since the beginning, which is why WP Engine saw 2010 as an opportunity.
Pagely’s focus is on customer service and extreme performance. A questionnaire is available to help you evaluate enterprise-level hosting providers.
Pagely Pricing
Pagely’s pricing starts from $499 per month, and can go up to custom orders. A more limited developer plan is also available at $199 per monthly.
Expore Pagely’s Plans & Prices
Benefits
Pagely offers two major benefits. Pagely has been doing the same thing for clients for over 15 years. It is reliable and well-executed. They are transparent and open, in a way that hosts are not. It encourage customers to look under the hood and find out what they’re paying for.
Complaints
Pagely is exclusive and expensive. To be able to use Pagely, you need to be very wealthy and have solid margins. Their transparency is great, but it also means you need to have IT or developer resources to work with Pagely.
10. Press Release
Enjoy a 30% Discount on 1-Year Plans
Automattic owns Pressable, a hosting company, as well as WordPress.com and JetPack and other premium WordPress support services.
Pressable was established in 2010, and Automattic acquired it a few years later. They say WordPress people manage them. Pressable hosts self-hosted WordPress websites using the WordPress.com cloud infrastructure.
Learn the differences between WordPress.com & WordPress.org
It allows you to enjoy all the WordPress.com benefits but with the freedom and control you have when hosting your own website.
Pressable Pricing
It offers a variety of products. However, their managed WordPress hosting services start from $17.50 per site and go up until $700 for 150 sites.
Expore Pressable’s Pricing & Plans
Benefits
There are two main advantages to Pressable. Their pricing and dashboard are easy to use and understand. They are similar to Namecheap or site ground in that they offer the same level of familiarity as traditional web hosting but with WordPress.com’s cloud infrastructure.
Second, Automattic’s cloud infrastructure gives them more flexibility in support and pricing. Their pricing is attractive when you consider the available resources.
Complaints
Pressable makes a few tradeoffs. First, they don’t use the same cloud infrastructure as Namecheap so it is harder to see the value ads than services that use the three big cloud hosting companies. Their service offerings are a bit confusing and blend in with their WordPress.com and WordPressVIP services.
11. WPMUDev
Current Promotion: 7-Days Free Trial
WPMU Dev is a long-standing premium plugin developer in the WordPress industry. They are respected and many of their plugins are used on my website. It was established in 2005 and the managed WordPress hosting product was launched in 2019.
WPMUDev’s managed WordPress hosting product was built on top the Digital Ocean cloud. WPMU Dev shows that the pricing is almost as affordable for them. They provide WordPress support and a specialist WordPress configuration. This perk also includes a WordPress plugin suite, and support from WPMU Dev.
WPMU Dev Pricing
WPMU Dev offers managed WordPress hosting starting at $10/mo per website, and going up to $100/mo for multiple websites. This is a great price, because it is almost at cost.
Explore WPMU’s Plans & Prices
Benefits
WPMUDev offers a few key benefits. Their pricing per site is very competitive and their support setup is top-notch. They offer high value for their price. Their service is also very accessible for freelancers, small agencies and websites that may not have the resources to pay for WP Engine or Kinsta.
Complaints
WPMU Dev has its downsides. First, you are limited in terms of resources and services, especially when compared to traditional web hosting. It’s a brand new service that was built on top Digital Ocean. They are constantly expanding the benefits and features, but it still feels like a beta service.
The second is that the service is wrapped in a WPMU Dev Membership. Although you can purchase hosting separately, you will get more benefits if your membership is active. It might not be worth the investment if you aren’t really interested in WPMU Dev tools (which, side note: are highly recommended). An agency that uses WPMU Dev to create websites and wishes to sell or white label cloud hosting for their clients is the ideal customer.
Next steps
It can be overwhelming and confusing to choose a web host service. This is before you add managed WordPress hosting plans or cloud hosting services. Cloud hosting has many benefits. One of these companies will likely be a good fit for you project, based on your goals, budget, and needs.
