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Is Managed WordPress Hosting worth it?
Managed WordPress hosting is worth it if you don’t want to handle many of the tasks of managing a WordPress website yourself, like:
- Installing and updating plugins.
- Making sure your WordPress core is always up-to-date.
- Choosing only the most optimized and fastest loading themes.
- All security issues, choosing the right security software, etc.
- Making sure your WordPress site is hosted on servers that only host WordPress sites (if Shared or VPS Hosting plans are chosen).
- Solving plugin conflicts.
- Optimizing your website for speed and reliability.
- Managing your server and all the backend as well as the frontend of your website.
- Handling any issues that may take your website offline.
Because Managed WordPress hosting requires more resources and attention from your Web Host, Managed WordPress Hosting is usually more expensive than traditional Self Hosted Shared Hosting plans.
If you’re a complete newbie and you have no idea on what it takes to actually manage and run a WordPress website properly yourself, then Managed WordPress Hosting may definitely be worth it for the learning experience alone, in addition to all the other benefits.
You may liken Managed WordPress Hosting to flying First Class or Business Class versus Coach.
Managed WordPress Hosting vs. Closed Hosting Platforms like WIX and Squarespace.
If you like the control and freedom aspect of WordPress, but you like the idea of your Web Hosting Provider actually running all the backend technical stuff for you, similar to what a more closed platform does for example Wix or Squarespace, then Managed WordPress Hosting is for you and maybe worth well it.
At least in the short term.
The beauty of WordPress Managed Hosting is that unlike closed platforms like Wix and Squarespace, you can always migrate your WordPress website to another Web Host or even to another more affordable plan on your current Web Host.
However, you will be able to learn so much about how to run a WordPress website optimally. So that once you do, you will be able to copy what your Managed WordPress Hosting Provider actually does for your website to get the most performance out of it.
For example, how they back up your WordPress website on a daily basis, what type of server they use and how many gigabytes and server space they allow your WordPress website to have in order to make it run efficiently and fast.
You can also observe what type of caching they implement or any special plugins etc.
Also with a Managed WordPress Website you will have a much higher level of support from your Web Hosting Provider than you would from say, a cheaper hosting plan, like a Shared WordPress Hosting plan.
However, if you are already familiar with WordPress and most of the technical aspects of running a WordPress website like implementing proper security measures, how to optimize your WordPress website for speed, plugins, setting up daily backups and knowing when to upgrade your server resources, then you may be better off with either a cheaper hosting plan like Shared or a more expensive on like a VPS or a Cloud Hosting package.
In this post I’m going to go through the aspects of Managed WordPress Hosting so you can decide for yourself if it’s worth it for you.
What exactly does Managed WordPress Hosting include?
Managed WordPress Hosting is when your Hosting Provider basically does all the heavy lifting of running a WordPress website from the server or technical side.
This means that your Host is responsible for all your WordPress updates, speed and server issues including things like caching, securing your WordPress website, making sure your website has the best plugins, etc.
By securing your WordPress website, I mean they are responsible for Firewalls, DDoS attacks, brute force attacks, excessive login attempts etc.
Your Web Host, as part of most WordPress Managed Hosting, is also responsible for backups of your WordPress website as well. By backups, I mean daily backups.
They’re also responsible for your website’s uptime, making sure any outages are none to minimal.
They are also responsible for your website’s scalability. As your website grows in traffic and demands more resources, your Web Host as part of their Managed WordPress Hosting plan should be able to scale and provide your WordPress website with the server resources, gigabytes, storage capacity etc. that your WordPress website needs to perform at its most optimal.
This is all done behind the scenes, so that you don’t have to worry about when it’s time to scale or make adjustments to your WordPress website as it grows.
Your visitors should never feel any differences in performance and speed as your Web Host is responsible for scaling your WordPress website to accommodate the additional traffic and growth demands, all without you having to tell them to do it or do it yourself.
Do you need Managed WordPress Hosting?
In all honesty, Managed WordPress Hosting is good to have, but you don’t really need it.
Especially, if you are on a tight budget, Managed WordPress Hosting can be seen more as a luxury than as a necessity. That doesn’t mean that Managed WordPress Hosting isn’t useful though, because it is.
If you’re not very technical by nature for example, but like to have the freedom and independence of owning a WordPress website, then Managed WordPress Hosting is definitely something you should seriously consider.
In fact, starting off on a Managed WordPress Hosting plan might be one easy way to learn how to run and get the best performance possible out of a WordPress website.
By having a Managed WordPress hosted website you should be able to see first hand how to run a WordPress website as a professional would.
You can see what changes and choices your Web Host makes in order to ensure that your WordPress website runs at its best.
Then when you feel that you can take the reins from there, you can switch to a more affordable Hosting plan like Shared or even a VPS plan and then mimic what your Managed WordPress Hosting plan had done, only now doing it yourself and saving money in the process.
You can see first hand for example, which plugins they used and which they did not use, etc.
What is the difference between WordPress and Managed WordPress?
WordPress is a content management system or CMS. This is a platform or software which allows you to set up a website on the internet.
It provides basically the scaffolding and structure of your website.
For example, it allows you to set up categories to organize your website into, customize and design the appearance, like how big the header and footer are, how your columns are organized even your fonts and color schemes. Depending on the WordPress theme and Developer, you can do so much more themes nowadays to design them any way you like without any coding.
But basically WordPress is a software you can download to any Web Hosting Provider and set up a website.
Whereas, Managed WordPress Hosting is when a Web Host offers a specialized hosting plan specifically for WordPress websites.
In a Managed WordPress Hosting plan your Hosting Provider is responsible for all the technical aspects of running your WordPress website, as I’ve mentioned above including: security, daily backups, website speed and performance as well as your website’s uptime, most usually include premium support as well.
Which is better, Shared Hosting or WordPress Hosting?
Comparing Shared Hosting to WordPress Hosting would be like comparing Coach to Business Class when flying.
Both can get you where you want to go, but in Business Class everything is taking care of for you.
However, like Business Class WordPress Hosting does come at a price. Since WordPress Managed Hosting does offer a level of service and performance that will save you a lot of time and possible aggravations of running a WordPress website, while giving you the most optimal WordPress website performance, many think that Managed WordPress Hosting is worth the extra cost.
However, especially in the beginning, Shared Hosting in most cases is perfectly fine and much more affordable.
However, that’s not to say that Managed WordPress Hosting isn’t worth it, it is.
Especially, if you’re a first time WordPress user and you want to see how the professionals run a WordPress website and optimize it.
A lot of lessons could be had in observing how your Hosting Provider runs your Managed WordPress website.
You can eventually use these observations on your own down the road when you feel you’re ready to take over the more technical aspects of running your WordPress website.
This is something that should not be easily dismissed or underestimated.
Is Managed WordPress Hosting worth it? Conclusions.
As you can see, there are quite a few advantages that make Managed WordPress Hosting worth it, especially for the first time WordPress users.
Although Managed WordPress Hosting is definitely more expensive than, say, WordPress Shared Hosting, the features of a Managed WordPress Hosting plan can make it worth it. Why?
First, you will be rest assured that details like security, daily backups, your WordPress website’s speed as well as its uptime are all taken care of.
If your Hosting Provider has a good reputation, you can also be rest assured that they will scale and upgrade your WordPress Hosting’s resources for your website as your website grows.
These aspects basically offer you more of a hands off approach in the technical aspects of managing and running a WordPress website, since it is all done by your Web Hosting provider instead of you.
You also have access to their Managed WordPress Hosting premium support should you need it.
However, I think what is most overlooked when trying to decide on whether or not Managed WordPress Hosting is worth it for you is the learning aspect.
By seeing how your Hosting Provider runs your WordPress website you can observe for example, the tools they use or the plugins that they add or subtract in order to optimize your site’s performance.
By observing how your WordPress Hosting Provider manages a typical WordPress website for optimal performance, you can one day take the reins and manage your WordPress website yourself and be able to implement the best ways of running a WordPress website for yourself.
So if you are about to dismiss getting a Managed WordPress Hosting plan because of the expense, I would think twice.
You may want to get a Managed WordPress Hosting plan at least for the short term in order to learn how it’s done by professionals first, before doing it on your own.
Of course, you will need to check the Managed WordPress Hosting’s terms of service to see how long the minimal commitment is, so you don’t incur any extra cancellation fees or penalties if you decide to cancel it before the contract is up.
But a Managed WordPress Hosting plan can definitely be worth it and in more ways than just having someone else run the technical aspects of your WordPress website.
It can also be a very valuable learning experience as well.
