Best Managed WordPress Hosting: A Comparison

You have your plan mapped out. You know exactly what you need to do to transmute your idea into reality. You have decided to use the ever gracious WordPress CMS, which is commendable a move. All you need now is the perfect WordPress host, so you can hit the ground running.

Perhaps that isn’t the case. Maybe you would like to move your site to a new web host because your current host sucks big time. The resources your current host offers are insufficient for your growing needs. You’re tired of regular downtimes, and shitty speeds that we can only compare to snails crawling up a hill on a hot day.

Well, if you’re looking for a great host, this post introduces you to the best of managed WordPress hosting, so you can find the perfect fit in terms of features, price and support among other things.

We hope this comparison will point you in the right direction, so you can save effort, time and money. This, of course, frees you up and offers you the peace of mind to concentrate on the stuff that really matters; creating content, generating traffic, and – this is everybody’s favorite – cashing checks.

That said, let’s get down to business and please don’t hesitate sharing your thoughts in the comment section at the end. We always look forward to hearing from you. Good? Great. Let’s dance.

What’s Managed WordPress Hosting?

If you’re an absolute beginner, you probably are wondering what this hosting business is all about. Well, to take your business online, you need two things; a website (obviously) and a web host.

A web host lets you rent server space where you store your website. You just need to point your domain name (e.g. looks-awesome.com) to the server, and your work is done.

Most traditional web hosts such as Bluehost, GoDaddy and Hostgator offer you easy quick-install options on top of domain registration. This way, you don’t need to go elsewhere to host your site. Just click a couple of buttons and you’re live in the time it takes to down a big mug of hot latte.

It’s easy stuff mate, even for a four year-old. The only problem is, with most traditional hosts, the service ends at this point. You will have to manage your own server and take care of all back-end tasks related to running a WordPress site. But you don’t have to; an expert well-versed in all things WordPress can take care of this while you snooze.

Traditional web hosts offer a stiff bargain mi amigo. If for instance you’re hacked, it’s all your fault; it’s precisely a problem of your own making, which just means you are on your own. All alone in the wild. We can agree that nobody -and I stress – nobody wants to be alone.

The back-end tasks are tedious, and can be challenging to the untrained hand, not to mention time consuming. I have had my go at web servers, and it’s a volatile environment my friend. You need to tread carefully because a slight slip of the finger can wreak havoc and hammer an ache right into the epicenter of your brain. I have been hacked too, so yeah I have been around we have a story for another day 😛

There’s another way. A better way. No headaches, no technicalities. No nothing. Just run your business, and feel good.

Ladies and gentlemen, coming to the stage is none other than managed WordPress hosting to – as they say – save the day. But wait, what exactly is this thing we are calling managed WordPress hosting?

There are three keys things you need to understand about managed WordPress hosts:

• For starters, they handle all back-end tasks related to running your WordPress site so you don’t have to. You can dedicate all your efforts to the business aspect of running your site, not technicalities that will have you pulling out your hair.
• Secondly, managed WordPress hosts only handle WordPress sites. In other words, you can only host WordPress-based websites on their platforms.This seems like a con, but really, it is a blessing in disguise.
  • Seeing managed WordPress hosts work with WordPress sites exclusively, it means instant access to large teams of reps who are quite knowledgeable and experienced in WordPress. As such, they bring a lot of value to the table in terms of support and the solutions they offer.
  • Most managed WordPress hosts will help you to migrate your site for free. Others will help you to recover your site should the hackers strike. Again,  gratis. Most managed WordPress hosts offer a lot of extras and goodies since they only handle WordPress.
• Thirdly, managed WordPress hosts are typically more costly than traditional web hosts. Somebody has to buy the coffee, you know. For this very reason, they are unsuitable for the person just testing the waters. Managed WordPress hosts are ideal for professionals and businesses that need the extra resources that the said hosts offer. Of course, this depends entirely on your budget.

So class, what is managed WordPress hosting again? Moving on…

Best Managed WordPress Hosting Companies

Right this instance, let’s compare a couple of well-known names in the managed WordPress hosting sphere.

Aside: As a reminder, if you are on a tight budget or don’t have resource-intensive hosting needs, you’re better off with a traditional host such as Bluehost, Godaddy and Hostgator, although that last one has had a string of bad luck in the recent past. Highs and lows, my friend. Highs and lows.

After all, you can start small and later upgrade. I started at Fatcow and moved on to Bluehost, then I was hacked twice. Moving to a managed WordPress host is a great option. And if you’re curious, Looks-Awesome is proudly powered by DreamHost.

Back to business, we will compare WPEngine, Pagely, Synthesis, Kinsta, Flywheel and SiteGround in terms of price, features and support. We will then pick the best just to make your work easier. Ready? Good, let’s dive in.

WPEngine

With awesome clients such as WPExplorer, Tech City UK, and The Confetti Bar, WPEngine is a renowned managed WordPress host with cost effective plans, a horde of features and, oh so sweet amazing support.

You will often find testimonials such as:

I knew from the start that the #1 single most important decision would be the hosting provider. There’s loads of options out there and my business partner and I tested several of the key players in the market. Ultimately, we went with WPEngine…while not the cheapest option out there, they offer the most impressive list of features. Add to that the quick response we get from WPEngine’s support team and you’ve got a solid win. – Mason James, WPMU.org

Ahem.

Let’s kick off with the goodies. WPEngine doesn’t disappoint one bit in the features department. Highly scalable architecture built on EverCache ensures your site runs fast without performance hiccups. They famously call this architecture “stacks”. They offer every customer unlimited data transfer and plenty of storage, just because they’re awesome like that.

You can easily transfer your WordPress installs or/and test prototypes in the staging environment with a few clicks. On top of that, WPEngine platform is multisite-ready, meaning you can whip up a network and never worry about running low on server resources. Additionally, you get SSL, LargeFS, and CDN among other features.

This managed WordPress host offers you up to five plans namely Personal ($29/mo), Professional ($99/mo), Business ($249/mo), Premium and Enterprise. Please contact WPEngine for details on the last two, since they are both custom plans tuned to your specific needs. If you’re curious, WPEngine powers all kinds of businesses from one-man operations all the way to multinational corporations.

The support team is sharp, eager to lend a helping hand and fun to talk to. On top of that, they have a rich knowledge base and a regularly updated blog popularly known as Torque.

Kinsta

If the managed WordPress hosting industry was a country, Kinsta would belong to the elite. And this I say based purely on their pricing, and the features on offer. With the cheapest plan starting at $100 pops a month, we can all agree that Kinsta just isn’t for the average blogger.

All the same, we cannot dispute the fact that this company means serious business as far as powerful hosting goes. They offer features that are out of this world when compared to most hosts, which can justify the higher price tag. Which features are we talking about here?

Well, for starters, Kinsta offers you unlimited pageviews/visits a month unlike many other managed WordPress hosts. A majority of hosts out there (including the few in this post) have a monthly visits limit. When you exceed this limit, you must upgrade to a higher package.

If that wasn’t enough, they now run their capable service on the Google Cloud Platform guaranteeing you 99.9% uptime, top speeds and stellar performance. Thanks to the same platform, your site can scale up/down automatically on demand. Other features include HTTP/2 support, multisite support, SSH, Git support, WP-CLI and premium DNS management among others.

Their cheapest plan (yes, the $100-a-month package) lets you install one WordPress site. It offers you 5GB SSD storage, 50GB bandwidth, 1 free migration and 1440 daily uptime checks. The most expensive plan ($1550/month) lets you install 100 WordPress sites on 200GB SSD storage and 1500GB bandwidth. You score 5 free migrations as well as 1440 daily uptime checks per site.

Kinsta managed WordPress hosting is built super secure, fast and reliable. The service is supported by world-class WordPress developers among other well-trained support reps.

Kudos and thanks to @KinstaHosting for amazing service this week, making the move to you have been a real asset to our #WordPress sites. – Tom Adams.

The Kinsta cookie is great no doubt, but it will leave quite the dent in your finances, especially if you don’t need all that hosting power.

SiteGround

While Kinsta is the reserve of those with deep pockets, SiteGround is, on the other hand, a low-budget host of choice for many a business. That’s right, just like a million and one other entrepreneurs, you can start your online journey at SiteGround with as little as $3.95!

This, of course, is the discounted price meant to woo new customers; the cheapest plan normally goes for $9.95 per month. I know this sounds like the price you’d expect with shared hosting, but nope, these guys serve you a special flavor of managed WordPress hosting.

For instance, you get most of the features that managed WordPress hosts scrapped off the table. We are talking about free domains, free WP installation, email accounts and much more.

You have three generous plans at your disposal. The StartUp plan costing $9.95/month lets you install a single site with less than 10k monthly visits. Arrrk. The deal was just getting sweeter, but 10k monthly visits seems severely limited if you plan to go big just like ViralNova. Moving on, the plan comes with 10GB web space, cPanel (wait, did we mention this?), SSH, WP Auto-Updater, free CloudFlare CDN and free daily backups among others.

Then you have the $14.95 a month GrowBig plan that is suitable for 25k visits monthly. You can install multiple sites thanks to 20GB of web space. On top of the features that come with the StartUp plan, this second plan ships with WordPress Super Cacher, 30 backup copies, priority tech support and 1 year free SSL certificate among others.

The third plan is the GoGeek plan which packs 80GB of space, features in the GrowBig plan as well as 1-click WordPress staging, less accounts on server, free PCI complaince, and pre-installed Git among others. While you can install multiple sites, this plan is suitable for about 100k monthly visits.

SiteGround offers amazing support via phone, live chat and a ticket system – all of which are attended in real time. They have a wide range of tutorials, webinar series, and an extensive knowledge base. A setup wizard guides you through the first steps of hosting account setup.

Flywheel

If you’re a designer or work in the creative industry (read agencies), you definitely have a couple of tools that make your work a lot easier. Said tools help you to achieve more in lesser time, which is what productivity is all about. But is your current web host dragging you down with shoddy service?

Better still, are you looking for a managed WordPress host that will compliment your professional toolkit and boost your productivity twofold?

Well, look no further; Flywheel was made just for you. This managed WordPress hosting company focuses heavily on designers and creative agencies, offering you all the tools you need to streamline your workflow.

The host offers some nifty features such as one-click staging environments, free demo sites, seamless billing transfers, server-level caching, top-notch WordPress security, easy collaborations and an easy-to-use dashboard that makes the experience all the more pleasurable.

On top of that, Flywheel has highly-qualified staff who are more than willing to help you should you run into any problems.

They offer flexible hosting packages. The Pay-Per-Site package has three plans namely Tiny, Personal and Professional. All three let you install a single WordPress site.

The Tiny plan costs $15 bucks a month and is ideal for 5,000 monthly visits. The plan gets you 5GB web space and 250GB bandwidth. If you need SSL and CDN, you’ll have to cough up $20 more per month.

The Personal plan comes in at $30 a month. It’s suitable for 25k monthly visits. You get 10GB disk and 500GB bandwidth. CDN, SSL and Multisite functionality will cost you an extra $30 bucks every month.

Thr $75/month Professional plan is ideal for 100,000 monthly visits. It ships with 20GB disk, 1TB bandwidth, SSL, CDN and Multisite support.

The Bulk Package includes the Freelance plan at $100/month, the Agency plan at $250 a month as well as custom plans. The Freelance plan offers you 10 WordPress installs, 150k monthly visits and 2TB bandwidth. If need be, you will pay an extra $30 bucks per site per month for SSL, CDN and multisite.

The Agency plan is ideal for 30 WordPress installs and 600k monthly visits. You get 120GB disk, 8TB bandwidth, SSL support (+$8/site), CDN (+$8/site) and multisite (+$8/site). If you need 30+ installs or have millions of monthly visits, you should go with the custom plans.

Synthesis

Welcome to Synthesis my friend, a premier managed WordPress hosting service brought to you by the special guys at CopyBlogger Media. You must have heard of these guys by now. No? Anyhow, guess what? Synthesis isn’t your typical every other day managed WordPress host. Nope not even close. They offer a differentiated, three-pronged service.

The service puts together, military-grade WordPress hosting, content marketing and SEO tools giving you the power you need to dominate your niche.

The team at Synthesis lives and breathes WordPress. This was the missing element from my prior hosts. Synthesis exists to help WordPress sites thrive. – Chris Brogan.

But hyperbole and customer raves aside, how does Synthesis stack up in terms of the features they offer?

Hosting plans start at $47 and go up all the way to $300 per month excluding custom plans that are way pricier. The plans get you nearly the same features apart from storage, and bandwidth. You can expect features such as CloudFlare CDN, dedicated VPS, iWatch support, secured configurations because you should take WP security seriously, self-healing process so you can continue with your work uninterrupted, site optimization, on-page optimization, keyword research, free malware removal, site migration at a fee, brute force prevention, support for the Genesis framework, daily backups, SSL and much more.

The Standard $47/month plan gets you 1GB RAM, 20GB storage, 10GB backup storage, 2TB bandwidth and 10,000 daily pageviews. The Enterprise $300/month plan offers you 8GB RAM, 160GB storage, 80GB backup storage, 6TB monthly bandwidth and 300,000 daily pageviews. Two other plans are squeezed in between these two.

Unfortunately, and this is really sad, Synthesis does not support multisite WordPress installs. Additionally, you’ll need to confer with the support guys if you need to install BuddyPress. What a bummer? All the same, the support desk is manned by real people 24/7/365.

Our Pick: Best Managed WordPress Hosting

It’s hard enough to choose the best managed WordPress hosting as it is, but then we figured it would be unfair to leave the task in its entirety to you, so here we go:

Overall, WPEngine lifts the trophy as the absolute best managed WordPress host. Reason being they have a great price-to-value ratio. They have some of the best features in the market, are dependable, and the support team is…well…just awesome. A few people might argue their prices are a bit on the higher side, but that pales in comparison when you explore the goodies on offer.

If you’re on a tight budget though, you should consider checking out SiteGround. They have great prices and features, but they are unsuitable for those with heavy hosting needs. Still, feel free to check out traditional hosts such as Bluehost, GoDaddy and DreamHost.

If you have resource-intensive hosting needs, and a big budget to boot, Kinsta will make a perfect bed fellow. The service is in a class of its own. The price too.

Flywheel and Synthesis are perfect if you’re looking for something a little more than just hosting. For instance, the collaboration and billing tools that come with Flywheel, and/or the content marketing and SEO tools that define the Synthesis service.

Final Words

Choosing the right hosting is quintessential to the very success of your website, hence business. A great managed WordPress hosting company will save you the trouble of handling technicalities, so you can invest your time and effort in growing your business. That, and the peace of mind they offer is always a welcome gift.

Remember you don’t need to break the bank to afford a great managed WordPress host. Do your due diligence, which just means “do some comparison shopping”, and you should be alright. Until then, WPEngine does it for us with their all-rounded hosting service.

Disagree with our choice? Which is your favorite managed WordPress host? Have questions or suggestions? Please share with us in the comments. We always look forward to your contributions 🙂 Cheers!