In a way, websites are like pets –  every one of them deserves a good home in which they are well cared for. In this case, the home is your hosting provider, and in this blog post, we want to answer the question: Is managed WordPress hosting the right place of living for your site?

Especially at the beginning of your career as a website owner, you might have many questions about hosting. You need to learn what it is and probably wonder which type of hosting is the right choice for you. You might also be considering whether WordPress.com is a good option for your needs.

In order to make sure your site gets the habitat it deserves, in this article, we will deal with all of the above in detail. You will learn what managed WordPress hosting is, how it differs from others types of hosting as well as self-hosted WordPress, and reasons to consider WordPress.com as your hosting provider. In the end, we want you to feel comfortable that you are placing your website in the best environment possible, so it receives the right attention and care.

What is Managed WordPress Hosting?

Running a website involves a lot of nuts and bolts. A web presence consists of many moving parts that need to keep working together in order to make sure it runs smoothly. Examples include backups and security, speed optimization, as well as software updates for both WordPress and its components.

In short, it can be a handful.

Managed WordPress hosting takes over most of these day-to-day tasks so you don’t have to deal with them. With the nitty-gritty stuff out of the way, you can fully focus on creating content, marketing your website, and serving your visitors.

Benefits of Managed WordPress Hosting

There are many upsides to working with a hosting provider that specializes in a single platform. The first of them is speed and performance.

While you can host WordPress on almost any server setup, with managed hosting, you get an environment that is optimized for running the platform. That means faster loading times, which is a huge factor in user experience and SEO. In addition, managed WordPress hosting normally scales better than other types of hosting. Good news for when your site keeps growing!

Additionally, because managed hosting providers focus only on working with one system, you also get a lot better support. In traditional hosts, support staff need to be jacks of all trades because they are serving a wide range of customers with very different needs.

In contrast to that, with managed hosting, you only need to offer customer support for one particular system. As a consequence, the support is much more knowledgeable in the software that’s powering your website. That also means they are more likely to be able to help you troubleshoot your problems.

Finally, managed WordPress hosting often comes with additional benefits like custom hosting dashboards, the ability to easily set up staging sites, or free SSL certificates.

In short, instead of the bare minimum requirements for running your website, you benefit from bespoke service with the single goal of helping your WordPress-based site succeed. It’s like having a system administrator by your side at all times who takes care of the things in the background so you can concentrate on more important tasks. That’s exactly what WordPress.com aims to do with our managed WordPress hosting service.

What Other Types of Website Hosting Can You Choose From?

Before deciding if managed WordPress hosting is the right choice for you, you would probably like to know what other options exist. The other main types of hosting are shared and dedicated as well as VPS and Cloud. Here’s what they are about.

Shared Hosting

This type of hosting gets its name from its setup. In shared hosting, your site resides on a server with many other websites (sometimes hundreds of them), all using the same resources in terms of RAM, processing power, etc.

The benefit of this is that shared hosting is cheap. Being able to use servers for many clients at once saves money, so shared providers don’t have to charge their customers so much.

However, at the same time, the shared setup is also its greatest weakness. Because server resources are divided between so many different parties, there is sometimes not enough available. If one site has a huge traffic influx and is occupying most of the server’s power, the rest have to make do with what’s left over. 

The consequence is often slow loading times, site outages, and overall bad performance. That’s not a great way to serve your visitors and business.

In addition, security can be an issue on shared servers. If one website gets hacked and the intruder gains access to the server, they can endanger everyone else on it as well. That’s why in shared hosting, you also often speak of the “bad neighbor effect”.

Finally, shared hosting needs to work for many different setups and customer needs. Therefore, neither the server setup nor the support is optimized for any one type of website.

Dedicated Hosting

On the other end of the spectrum, you have dedicated hosting. Here, your site has an entire server, including all of its processing prowess, all for itself. You don’t need to split anything with anyone, which means no performance bottlenecks.

In addition, owning a server gives you a lot of control over its setup. You can often choose both the hardware and software makeup and thus optimize it completely for your own website’s performance.

Of course, there are also downsides. First of all, running your own dedicated server comes with an appropriate price tag. Secondly, you need to have the requisite expertise to run it. With the server fully under your control, it’s important that you know what to do with it.

Sure, there are also managed dedicated servers where the hosting provider takes care of administration and maintenance. However, as you can imagine, that only adds to the price.

Virtual Private Server (VPS) Hosting

VPS hosting is somewhere in the middle between shared and dedicated hosting. You also share a server with other websites, however, usually much fewer of them and each of them are running on a virtual machine.

The latter means that each site has its own resources assigned to it that it can not exceed. As you can imagine, this negates a lot of the bad neighbor problems that you can see in shared hosting and offers more stability.

With VPS, you also have more control over what is on your server. You have more freedom to determine which software to install, what programming languages to run, etc. Plus, it offers a certain level of elasticity in available resources if you suddenly need more performance. However, it’s still limited to what the overall physical server is capable of.

The downsides of this type of hosting are pretty much the same as for a dedicated server. Management and maintenance is still your job, and you need the technical ability to do it. Unless you want to pay for the managed version, of course.

Cloud Hosting

This type is basically the big brother of VPS hosting. Here, too, you place your website on a virtual machine. However, this one has access to a whole host of (distributed) servers instead of a single machine. The servers don’t even have to be in the same location, giving you more insurance against failure and downtime.

Plus, the main benefit of cloud hosting is that you can instantly scale up and down the resources you use depending on your needs. This is a good way to accommodate high-traffic times but also keep costs under control when you only pay for things you are actually using.

At the same time, with a cloud setup, your customization options are limited and depend on what your provider offers. In addition, because this type of hosting works very interdependently, it can be vulnerable to downtime if there are connection problems. Plus, cloud hosting also calls for its own skill set and, if you don’t use your resources right, can lead to higher costs than necessary.

WordPress.com vs. Self-Hosted WordPress: What’s the Difference?

Besides different hosting options, one term you might repeatedly have come across during your research is “self-hosted WordPress” – especially in contrast to a site hosted on WordPress.com. You might have also heard that WordPress.com comes with a limited feature set in contrast to self-hosting your website. Let’s clear both of these things up.

Do-It-Yourself vs Get-It-Done-for-You

The first thing you need to understand is that both a self-hosted WordPress site and one residing on WordPress.com are based on the same software. WordPress itself is an Open Source content management system (CMS) built by a huge community of volunteers to help anyone create their own website and is freely available at WordPress.org.

The main difference between self-hosted WordPress and WordPress.com is the type of hosting. “Self-hosted” refers to when someone downloads the software from WordPress.org and installs it on the server of a hosting provider of their choice.

That means creating a database and credentials, uploading the WordPress files to the server via FTP, and running through the WordPress installation process (though many providers now also offer automatic one-click installations).

Then, once set up, with self-hosted WordPress you are fully responsible for every aspect of keeping your site running that we already mentioned. You need to take care of security, speed, backups, database management, spam protection, and everything else. All besides what you need to do to grow your site and business.

When you sign up to WordPress.com, you also end up with a site built with WordPress. However, in contrast to self-hosted options, you have nothing to do with the technical aspects of setting it up. Everything hosting-related is taken care of for you, including the aforementioned maintenance tasks, without you ever having to lift a finger. Your only focus is on making your site all it can be.

Which One is Better?

The important thing to keep in mind here is that one is not necessarily better or worse. These are simply two different setups for different needs. Some people love to DIY their entire website, while others are happy to rely on professional help.

If you compare creating a website to building a house, in self-hosted WordPress you simply acquire the lot. Building the actual dwelling, taking care of the plumbing, electricity, shingling the roof, etc., is all up to you.

In contrast to that, in managed WordPress hosting like on WordPress.com, your house is already built, and you have also hired a maintenance company that makes sure everything stays in tip-top shape. All you need to do is fill it with furniture and decorate it to your liking.

Which one you prefer is up to you. Of course, there are more details to discuss, and you can learn more about it in our comparison of WordPress.com vs. WordPress.org.

What Makes WordPress.com a Great Managed Hosting Option?

After clearing up what managed WordPress hosting is, let’s talk about why you should consider WordPress.com as your provider.

Speed-Optimized Hosting Environment

As mentioned, site speed is a huge success factor in running a website. Users have little patience and will leave a website that doesn’t load quickly. For that reason, search engines take site speed into account when ranking. That’s why, at WordPress.com, we provide an optimized setup to make sure your site loads as quickly as possible:

• Multiple caching layers.
• Built-in content delivery network (CDN) so users receive your site files from a server close to them.
• Website themes optimized for performance.
• For plugin-enabled plans: speed-optimization plugins like Page Optimize and Jetpack CDN.
• Lots of support articles with best practices to follow in order to keep your site loading quickly. You can start here.

All the above factors have contributed to WordPress.com earning the title of fastest host of 2022. We can do the same for you.

State-of-the-Art Security

Security is another big issue for website owners. Few things are as awful as the sinking feeling when you realize your site has been hacked, infected with malware, defaced, or even taken offline.

Here’s what we do to keep your site safe:

• Encrypt all website traffic via SSL by default.
• Maintain firewalls that keep out harmful traffic and mitigate DDoS attacks.
• Offer automatic data backups and recovery.
• Monitor web traffic and detect unauthorized attempts to access WordPress.com accounts.

At the same time, you need to be aware that a lot of website security is user-dependent. Things like selecting a strong password and limiting access to your WordPress site go a long way in keeping it safe. Learn more about it here.

Managed WordPress Updates

Making sure the software powering your website is up-to-date is another important security measure. WordPress updates come with important bug and security fixes, which is why, on WordPress.com, they will automatically be applied to your site. No action is required on your end.

That way, you are always benefiting from the latest improvements and security. Keep in mind, though, that if you are on a Business or eCommerce plan (or any plugin-enabled account), making sure that your plugins stay updated is your job (though, you can also enable auto updates).

You can find more information on this in our help section.

Jetpack Included by Default

Jetpack is a WordPress plugin that contains modules for a lot of different functionality. From backups and spam protection over optimizing site performance to lazy loading for images, additional blocks, and contact forms – it comes with a lot of ways to improve your site.

That’s why every site on WordPress.com gets access to the following functionality:

• Site activity tracking so you know who does what on your website.
• Improved site performance through the Site Accelerator, lazy image loading, and ad-free video hosting on WordPress.com.
• Spam filter for your comment section via Akismet, the anti-spam plugin used by millions of websites.
• Brute force login protection and downtime monitoring.
• Automatic content sharing to social media profiles.

On paid plans, you additionally benefit from:

• Automatic backups and restores via VaultPress.
• Jetpack SEO tools that allow you to add meta descriptions to your pages, configure your content title structure, and create previews for social media shares.

Automatic Content Revisions

Revisions are like savegames for your posts and pages. They provide snapshots of earlier versions of your content that you can go back to if you need to.

WordPress.com automatically saves your content while you are creating it so nothing gets lost. Even if your Internet connection disappears midway through, we can save the editor content in your browser so you can get it back when you have to reload.

In addition, WordPress.com will create online revisions whenever you manually save or update your page or post and also preserve the last 25 of them. On Business or eCommerce plans, we even preserve the last 100. With these in place, you can compare your current content to past editions and restore them in full or part. More about that here.

A Free Domain on Annual Plans

If hosting is like the plot of land where you can build your house, a domain is like its address. It allows people who want to visit you to find your location.

WordPress.com not only helps you find and buy a domain, with any paid annual plan, we even throw it in for free for the first year. What’s more, you can manage it from the domain dashboard and get privacy protection, an SSL certificate, and advanced DNS features included.

Plenty of Storage

A Free account on WordPress.com comes with 1G B of space for your website and media files. On a Personal plan, you get 6 GB, 13 GB on Premium, and 50 GB on both Business and eCommerce plans.

In addition, on the Free plan, you can only upload image files, while on higher plans, audio and zip files are also possible. Finally, Premium, Business, and eCommerce customers additionally have the ability to upload videos.

Ability to Use Themes and Plugins

Themes and plugins are central parts of the WordPress experience. They allow you to change the entire design of your site with the click of a button as well as enhance its functionality and add whatever features you need. 

On Free and Personal plans, you have access to dozens of free WordPress.com themes. Starting from Premium, you can also use Premium designs. As a Business or eCommerce client, you additionally have the option to upload your own third-party themes and are able to install plugins on your WordPress.com site.

It’s important to note, though, that not all plugins available in the WordPress directory are usable on WordPress.com. That’s because, first of all, some of them are unnecessary.

For example, as mentioned, on WordPress.com, we have our own systems for caching in place. For that reason, installing another caching plugin would a) not make your site any faster and b) potentially cause issues.

Aside from that, other plugins are banned because they are known to lead to errors within the WordPress.com environment, which we naturally want to avoid.

Developer Tools at Your Fingertips

Instead of using the WP Admin interface, more technical users often prefer to administer their sites via command line tools.

If you know your way around them, it can make working with your site much faster, e.g. because you are able to execute several tasks at once, such as installing multiple plugins at the same time. This can make both the development process as well as everyday maintenance and management much more efficient and streamlined.

In order to accommodate that, WordPress.com supports both connecting to your site via SSH as well as WP-CLI access. It’s easy to set up your credentials and then manage content, users, themes, plugins, site settings, and more via shell commands.

Access to the WordAds Network

Users on Premium, Business, and eCommerce plans have access to our WordAds network. It allows you to place advertisements on your website and earn revenue from clicks and impressions. They are served from external ad networks like Google, Facebook, AOL, and others.

You can easily activate this from the Tools menu in WP Admin, as well as configure ad placement and visibility.

Earnings appear in the dashboard and are automatically wired to your PayPal account.

How to Get Started With WordPress.com

If you think WordPress.com is the right hosting provider for you, getting started is very easy. The first step is to check out our plans.

We have different offers for different needs and budgets. You can even start off with a free plan to get your feet wet and upgrade as you go along.

If you are completely new to the WordPress environment, we have a lot of step-by-step educational content to help you get your bearings. We have webinars, online courses, articles, support guides, and even a support forum to explain everything you need to know about building a successful website and to answer all your questions. You can also swing by our YouTube channel for even more tips.

Finally, if you already own a WordPress site, moving it to WordPress.com is very easy. We have a largely automated process to help you do so. All you need to do is install and activate Jetpack on both your old and new websites and configure a few settings. The rest happens by itself.

Are You Ready for Managed WordPress Hosting?

Every WordPress site deserves a good home. And while the WordPress platform is very modest in its needs, what your hosting offers besides mere server space can make a big difference in your user experience.

Out of the available options, managed WordPress hosting offers the most hands-off experience. With a hosting provider like WordPress.com, a lot of the day-to-day tasks of running a website fall by the wayside. This frees up time and energy for more high-impact tasks that can drive your business forward.

By now, you should have a good understanding of what managed WordPress hosting is and how it differs from other hosting types and self-hosted WordPress. We have also made a case for why WordPress.com would be a stellar option to choose for your managed WordPress needs. If you decide to give us a try, we’d be happy to welcome you on board!