Top 6 Managed WordPress Hosting

Running a wordpress website is not easy one. You have to take care of all the content, marketing, site design, social media, etc. But before you do that you have to make sure your WordPress site is running smoothly and your current hosting provider isn’t giving you any headaches or issues.

Current hosting industry provides very cheap and affordable services to host your wordpress. And it would cost you less than 100 to 250 bucks to get an account with companies such as ZnetLive, Bigrock, Hostgator etc. Those are great solutions, if you’re just getting started. But for a medium sized or business blog, going for a quality hosting would be an better alternative. By quality hosting, I mean Managed hosting which is specifically created for WordPress users. This new breed of Managed WordPress Hosting is becoming an increasingly popular option among WordPress bloggers. Really the scenario get started with wordpress.com, but now more than 30 players are in the market.

What is Managed WordPress Hosting?

Managed hosting is specially designed and optimized for WordPress websites. In other words, it takes care of all the technical aspects of WordPress for you, allowing you to focus on creating and sharing great content. You don’t have to worry about site updates, site speed, up time or any of that stuff for that matter.

Many hosting companies use their own CDN and server level caching, so you don’t have to rely on cache plugins. Some of them are not allowing to use cache plugins. This type of hosting is perfect for those who don’t have any technical skills or time to manage the server.

The Pros of Managed hosting for WordPress

Security – The main aim of an premium managed hosting is to provide the bullet proof security. They have a very tight layer of security on their servers, so you don’t have to worry about hacking, Dos attacks, malwares or other security issues.

Expert Support – It wouldn’t be fair to say that shared hosting providers have poor support, in fact most companies have excellent staff who are well trained and possess a good knowledge of WordPress. But they can’t assist you with things like performance, site functionality, WordPress errors, etc.

Speed – Speed plays a significant role in rankings of your site and there a lot of things you can do improve it – implement the caching plugin, use a content delivery network etc.

Daily Backups – They take a daily backup of your site including content, data, themes & plugins, and can be downloaded from the dashboard. This can save you some money.

Automatic Updates – They will automatically update your WordPress core files to the latest version, as soon as an update is released. You don’t have to pay someone for updating the WordPress core files, they will do it for you.

No Downtime – No matter how much traffic your site gets, it will never go down. That means, if you hit the homepage of Hacker News or Reddit, you site will still be up and running without any issues.

The Cons of Managed hosting for WordPress

Expensive – There is a huge difference in the price of Managed and shared hosting. An average shared hosting will cost you a mere Rs.250 while an managed hosting will cost you Rs.2000.

Limitations – Basically, any plugin that consume resources isn’t allowed. They also do not allow any cache plugins including W3 Total Cache and Total Cache. And few more.

cPanel – If you are moving from an shared hosting to Managed hosting, then you might find it difficult as they have a very different kind of user portal.

WPEngine

WPEngine hosting is one of the best options available out there. The price is a little bit higher, compared to other hosting providers but that’s because they emphasize more on providing great support, fast loading and more secure servers. They have a team of WordPress Experts who will keep your site fast and secure. They are one of the most popular hosting companies and brands like HTC, foursquare and SoundCloud use them.

MediaTemple

Media Template is a popular cloud WordPress hosting service with features such as – Simple CloudFlare controls, a better backup plan, Faster loading websites, Readdit ready bandwidth and much more. The mt is better than just shared hosting and charges $20 per month for upto 100GB storage and 1TB bandwidth. Their hardware, software, and architecture was carefully designed for speed and reliability.

KahunaHost

All their hosting package comes with the free domain name, varnish caching, auto WordPress Installation, Cloud hosting environment and cPanel control.

The pricing is very reasonable and starts at Rs.1200/month.

WPWebHost

WPWebHost was one of the first companies to enter the WordPress hosting market. They are not as expensive as some of the hosting companies listed here, they charge Rs.300/month for upto 30,000 visits. They also offer a free CDN support and lifetime domain name.

Pagely

Pagely

Pagely is a well known Managed WordPress hosting with the emphasis on security. They focus on providing high class security and fast loading websites. They have a number of great features such as automatic WordPress core updates, plugins updates, daily backups and PressArmor custom WordPress security configuration that will keep the bad guys out and your site safe. Plus you’re free to use any plugin or app, you want.

WordPress.com VIP

WordPress.com VIP isn’t your normal hosting provider, their pricing starts at $3,750 per month and is fine tuned for high trafficked websites such as Times, GigaOM, MSNBC, TechCrunch, etc. The hosting is perfect fit for those who are looking for an enterprise level of solution.