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8 Best Managed WordPress Hosting Plans: 2025 (on a Budget)

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8 Best Managed WordPress Hosting Plans: 2025 (on a Budget)

In this guide, we’ll also discuss how to decide on the right kind of hosting for your blog—for instance, choosing between shared hosting and managed WordPress hosting.

That being said, the latter is our main topic of discussion today, so let’s get to discussing managed WordPress hosting. Managed hosting won’t be best for most budgets if you’re starting a blog today. Still, it becomes necessary for performance & reliability once your site gets a meaningful amount of traffic daily.

8 Best Managed WordPress Hosting Plans in 2025

  1. ScalaHosting: $2.95/mo
  2. Nexcess: $19.00/mo
  3. Kinsta: $35.00/mo
  4. uPress: $15.00/mo
  5. Flywheel: $15.00/mo
  6. WP Engine: $10.00/mo
  7. Siteground: $2.99/mo
  8. Pagely: $375.00/mo

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links below are affiliate links, and I’ll earn a commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend products and services I’ve used and stand behind. When you use one of my affiliate links, the company compensates me, which helps me run this blog and keep all of my in-depth content free of charge for readers (like you).

What is Managed WordPress Hosting?

As the name suggests, managed WordPress hosting is a WordPress-specific hosting plan where your provider manages all of the technical aspects of operating your site (and server). Examples of the features that come with managed hosting plans include daily backups, tested updates to plugins & themes and regular security monitoring. Managed WordPress hosting plans are great for sites with a solid blog business plan that already generate a decent amount of traffic and make some money to justify the cost. An established blog should have professional-grade security and ultra fast page load speeds.

And if you’re wondering why WordPress, it’s one of the most popular content management systems on the planet—powering close to 40% of the Internet. That, and other recent blogging statistics show that WordPress is only growing as the top CMS of choice for blogs and business websites around the world.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Managed WordPress Hosting

Managed WordPress hosting tends to be more expensive than shared hosting alternatives. But, there are some meaningful advantages of upgrading to managed hosting once the time is right for your blog.

Advantages of Managed WordPress Hosting

For small businesses and blogs with an existing revenue stream, getting a managed WordPress hosting plan is a smart move as it offers several advantages. Here are a few:

  • Fast and reliable. Because managed WordPress hosting is tailored to WordPress websites, their tech stack is built around optimizing your specific type of website. This results in a fast and reliable site for you—and a pleasant experience for your visitors.
  • Expert support. As WordPress specialists, managed hosting providers understand WordPress very well from a technical perspective. This means they can quickly diagnose any challenge (like plugin conflict issues or server-level problems) and solve it efficiently.
  • Offers easy site staging. Particularly for websites that are a source of real revenue, it’s important to have a staging environment to try out big changes before pushing them to your live site. This is one of the benefits you get with most managed WordPress hosting plans.
  • Enhanced security. Again, as WordPress experts, managed hosting providers understand the loopholes hackers take advantage of to gain access into WordPress websites. As such, they can anticipate this and create enhanced security solutions for your site.
  • Peace of mind. The peace of mind that comes from knowing that you’ve got a team of experts working behind the scenes to ensure your website is running well, is priceless. Not only does this lift a weight off your shoulders, but it also frees up your time and energy to focus on activities that’ll help you grow your blog for the years to come.
  • No downtime. One of the biggest disadvantages of shared hosting plans, is that they (often) set traffic limits. Once you cross those limits, your website can go down temporarily. This is never the case with managed WordPress hosting—and if you do go over your traffic allotment for the billing cycle, there’s simply an overage fee that’s assessed while your site remains fully online and operational.

As you can see, managed hosting is certainly worth the extra expense—once your blog is ready for it.

Disadvantages of Managed WordPress Hosting

Nothing in life is perfect, and that includes even the best managed WordPress hosting plans. However, it does come close to perfection as far as WordPress hosting is concerned. Let’s take a look at the drawbacks.

  • Pricier than shared hosting. This is probably the biggest disadvantage of managed WordPress hosting—you’ll have to pay a little more in order to get this higher performance service. For new bloggers or small businesses running on a tight budget for blogging costs, the expense of managed hosting plans can be prohibitive.
  • Limitations on plugins you can use. Plugin usage is usually somewhat restricted on managed WordPress hosting plans, particularly when it comes to resource-hungry plugins that eat up a lot of memory or storage. This can be a setback if a particular plugin you need for your website isn’t allowed, though just about all managed hosting providers are willing to make accommodations or help you find an alternative that achieves the same end result.

Ultimately, with the power and flexibility you get from managed WordPress hosting, you probably won’t need as many WordPress plugins running behind the scenes on your blog anyway. Plus, the investment you make should be earned back as your blog will be better-optimized to load pages faster and keep visitors coming back for the great experience your site delivers.

When Do You Need Managed WordPress Hosting for Your Blog? (Who’s it for?)

If you’re a somewhat established blogger with plans to remain in business for the foreseeable future—and need exceptional security & high performance, yet have little time to personally handle the technical bits and optimizations for your site—then managed hosting is perfect for you.

You’ll pay a bit of a premium for all of the additional features that come with managed hosting plans (compared to their shared hosting counterparts), but you’re getting a more robust service that’s designed for blogs and websites that are at least beginning to generate revenue and can afford to upgrade their hosting experience.


Ready to Start Your Blog Today?

Ryan-Robinson-Blogger-Typing-on-MacBook-Blogger-Stock-PhotoRyan-Robinson-Blogger-Typing-on-MacBook-Blogger-Stock-Photo

Check out my ultimate guide How to Start a Blog (on the Side) that’s been featured on Forbes, Inc and Entrepreneur.


Now, without further delay, let’s dive into my reviews and comparisons of the best-managed WordPress hosting plans in 2025.

ScalaHosting Web Hosting for WordPress (Homepage)ScalaHosting Web Hosting for WordPress (Homepage)

Established in 2007, ScalaHosting isn’t quite as old as some of the other companies on this list. However, it was born just in time to witness WordPress’s surge in popularity from the late 2000s and early 2010s, so its experience with the world’s most widely used content management system should be plentiful.

The company has a rich portfolio of services aimed at projects of all shapes and sizes. This becomes evident when you check out their WordPress hosting options. At the affordable end of the scale, you have three plans based on a shared infrastructure. They are unlikely to provide the stability and performance an established WordPress site requires, but they give you enough features and resources to get the ball rolling.

Once your project gets up to speed, you’ll move to a cloud VPS solution – ScalaHosting’s specialist area. The company’s virtual private servers are built on state-of-the-art cloud infrastructure, providing guaranteed resources and a completely isolated environment for better performance and security.

Virtualization technology makes these solutions pretty much infinitely scalable. Even if you outgrow the capacity of a single virtual server, ScalaHosting can build you a custom VPS cluster that handles millions of hits every day.

Scala’s WordPress hosting solutions are fully managed and tweaked to give WP-powered projects the best possible hosting environment. The servers come preconfigured out of the box, and you can use them without spending hours learning new commands or editing critical configuration files.

SPanel, ScalaHosting’s unique server management platform, is central to this. It has an intuitive graphical user interface designed to help with everything from creating email accounts to configuring the server’s core setup.

You can create a separate SPanel account for each of your websites, and thanks to a recent update, you can now set it up with WordPress already installed.

SPanel also has a dedicated WordPress Manager. With it, you can set up new WP installations, delete or clone existing ones, create staging environments, beef up your site’s security, and more.

Features of ScalaHosting’s Managed WordPress Hosting Plans

Because ScalaHosting’s range of WordPress hosting services is so diverse, the set of features you get depends largely on the plan you go for. However, you’re bound to find quite a few perks that will make your life easier. Let’s have a quick overview:

  • A free domain name registration for the first year on most plans and billing cycles
  • A choice of data centers in all corners of the world
  • A web hosting control panel for easier website management
  • A one-click installer that automatically sets up WordPress in seconds
  • Easy Cloudflare integration
  • WP-CLI and GIT
  • Free daily offsite backups
  • Staging and cloning capabilities
  • Auto-update function for the WordPress core and all themes and plugins

Pricing Plans for ScalaHosting’s Managed WordPress Hosting

Starting at just $2.95 per month on a three-year billing cycle, ScalaHosting’s shared WP hosting plans are among the cheapest ways of getting your project going. However, you must bear in mind that although they are designed with WordPress users in mind, the shared environment won’t be able to support your website once the traffic levels start to pick up.

ScalaHosting Managed WordPress Hosting Pricing and Plans Screen ShotScalaHosting Managed WordPress Hosting Pricing and Plans Screen Shot

In the long run, you’ll need a VPS solution. Scala’s cheapest virtual server starts at just under $15 per month, and when you outgrow it, you can tweak its configuration to get the right performance at the right price.

The cloud infrastructure allows you to individually upgrade the processing power, memory, and storage to create a completely custom solution. Auto-scaling isn’t available, but neither are the nasty surprises when the hosting bill comes up, and it turns out you’ve used more resources than you thought.

Pros of ScalaHosting’s Managed WordPress Hosting

ScalaHosting has built a reputation for providing high-quality, reliable services with lots of features and excellent support. Here are some of the main advantages of picking it over other hosting providers:

  • Free professional migration of all your websites from your previous host
  • Around-the-clock support through live chat and tickets with industry-leading response times
  • A unique anytime money-back guarantee policy allowing refunds for prepaid but unused services
  • Fully customizable and easily scalable VPS packages
  • SPanel with unlimited accounts added to the VPS plans at no extra cost

Cons of ScalaHosting’s Managed WordPress Hosting

As always, it’s not completely plain sailing. There are a couple of niggles in what is otherwise a pretty solid hosting option. Here they are:

  • Shared plans come with quite a few limitations and are not really suitable for anything more than a simple website with not a lot of traffic
  • Renewal rates are higher than the initial discounted prices

Verdict: A High-Quality Provider With Solutions For Websites of All Shapes and Sizes

There’s something for everyone in ScalaHosting’s portfolio. Their shared plans aren’t really a good long-term solution, but they do offer a solid platform to start your project on. As soon as you gain momentum, ScalaHosting lets you choose from a range of reliable managed VPS solutions that can facilitate your site’s growth and support its development. Because their virtual servers are managed by their technicians, you won’t need to complete a sysadmin course to take full advantage of them.

2. Nexcess: $19.00/mo (Managed WordPress Hosting by Liquid Web)

Best Managed WordPress Hosting Plans - NexcessBest Managed WordPress Hosting Plans - Nexcess

When it comes to managed WordPress hosting plans, one of the first service providers you should consider is Nexcess (by Liquid Web). Having been around since 1997, this veteran hosting provider has become one of the go-to solutions for many established blogs and brands. Unlike most managed WordPress hosting providers, Liquid Web wholly owns the data centers where they host their Nexcess client websites.

Nexcess (and their parent company, Liquid Web) has been a leader in advancing many of the performance standards in the hosting industry. Their Nexcess cloud technology, which has long been known for powering large eCommerce sites, is now integral to powering their managed WordPress hosting plans—so blogs and content-focused sites can also get fantastic load speeds without relying solely on caching (plus, you don’t have to worry about high traffic spikes slowing anything down). It’s a bit technical, but their plans come with 10 PHP workers per website, whereas other hosting companies typically only offer 2.

But as they say, age is just a number—the real question is, what does this veteran hosting service have to offer?

Features in Nexcess Managed WordPress Hosting Plans

One reason Nexcess has carved out a name for itself in the hosting industry is how feature-rich their plans are. Some of the features you can expect include:

  • High-speed performance and auto-scaling
  • 2 TB bandwidth
  • Automatic image compression
  • Multiple site management tools
  • Development tools, including Git, WP-CLI, and SSH
  • Free email
  • Free SSL certificate
  • 30-day money-back guarantee on all WordPress plans (no credit card required)
  • Stellar 24/7 technical support by phone, chat and email

Thanks to its advanced technology stack, Nexcess offers exceptional and flexible managed WordPress hosting plans for the industry at a low price point. Unlike with many web hosting services, you won’t get in trouble for exceeding your resource usage on the days your website enjoys a spike in traffic.

Pricing Plans for Nexcess Managed WordPress Hosting

How much should you expect to spend for these feature-rich managed WordPress hosting plans?

Nexcess options start at $14.00/month with my discount code (regular pricing is $19.00/month)—which you’ll activate by using my discount link here, making them one of the most affordable managed hosting options on the market. Here’s a snapshot of how much you should budget for, depending on the plan that best suits your needs:

Nexcess (Liquid Web) Managed Hosting Pricing Table - ScreenshotNexcess (Liquid Web) Managed Hosting Pricing Table - Screenshot

There are a few higher-tier options beyond these first three, but if your hosting needs don’t fit into any of these plans, you can always create a custom plan.

Pros of Nexcess Managed Hosting

Earning the top spot as one of the best-managed WordPress hosting providers is no easy feat. Here are some of the pros that help Nexcess rank so high amongst the best:

  • Fast servers. Thanks to technology like PHP7, SSL, and Nginx, all Nexcess plans are optimized for ultra-fast load speeds.
  • No Plugin Limits. Most managed hosting plans have restrictions on the plugins you can install. Not Nexcess. You’re free to use any WordPress plugins you want on your site.
  • Guaranteed Uptime. How does 100% uptime sound? That’s precisely what Nexcess guarantees. And if you experience any downtime, you get 10x the amount of time (in credits) that you were down.

Cons of Nexcess Managed Hosting

Thankfully, the drawbacks here aren’t major or as numerous as you can uncover with other providers.

  • Limited data center location options (2 in the US and one in Europe), not a big deal
  • Access to some premium WordPress themes is limited (though they tend only to be more obscure/outdated themes)
  • Pricier than some of the competition but with the best overall combination of features, support, and value

Verdict: Best Overall Managed Hosting Provider 👍

No matter your blog niche (or the number of websites you’re running), if you’re looking for a managed WordPress hosting plan that’ll help power your business to its fullest digital extent, Nexcess has the best overall offering for you to run with as your blog begins to grow in readership.

Kinsta is a cloud platform with high-quality hosting solutions for all web projects that keep you on your radar as you shop for managed hosting plans. With Kinsta, you can run all your projects smoothly in one place; besides Managed WordPress Hosting, they offer Application Hosting and Database Hosting.

Kinsta Managed WordPress Hosting (Homepage Screenshot)Kinsta Managed WordPress Hosting (Homepage Screenshot)

While Kinsta once was a “small” company in the web hosting industry, it’s made an incredible name for itself by offering very premium cloud hosting services and overdelivering on creating fantastic customer experiences. That’s why the company has attracted many popular brands who don’t want the hassle of managing anything technical with their website added to their already busy schedules.

Regardless of the project, thanks to their Google Cloud-based infrastructure, Kinsta guarantees blazing-fast speed, a highly secure network with free Cloudflare enterprise features included, and 24/7 expert support.

Features in Kinsta’s Managed WordPress Hosting Plans

So, what features make Kinsta a great managed WordPress hosting option? Let’s quickly look at some of the features you can expect to get from Kinsta’s WordPress plans:

  • Built with Next-Gen Infrastructure
  • Secure and fast servers
  • Free CDN (limited to 100 GB) with 275+ locations worldwide included in every plan.
  • Free Wildcard SSL
  • Edge Caching is included for free
  • 35+ data centers
  • User-friendly dashboard (MyKinsta)
  • Powered by the Premium Tier of Google Cloud Platform and includes the latest technologies like NGINX, PHP 8+, LXD containers, MariaDB, HTTP/3, and more
  • Premium DNS from Amazon Route 53 for no extra cost
  • Automatic scaling
  • Supports Let’s Encrypt, SSH, WP-CPI, Git, and other developer tools
  • Daily automatic backups with regular updates
  • Free migrations
  • 24/7 expert support (I can attest to Kinsta’s support reps rule!). It is also available in five languages!
  • Enterprise-level Cloudflare integration

Pricing Plans for Kinsta’s Managed WordPress Hosting

I’ll be honest: Kinsta isn’t the cheapest option on our list. However, it offers some of the best value in this space. How much should you expect to part with for a managed WordPress hosting plan from Kinsta?

Kinsta's Web Hosting and WordPress Hosting Pricing (Screenshot)Kinsta's Web Hosting and WordPress Hosting Pricing (Screenshot)

One major feature I like is that Kinsta has one of the most flexible pricing plans on the market. Offering WordPress hosting for enterprise solutions from $35.00/month (1 website and up to 25,000 monthly visits) to $675/month (60+ websites and up to one million monthly visits). All plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee, and you can work with their support team to customize the individual features of your plan at any time.

Pros of Kinsta’s Managed Hosting

Over the years, Kinsta has proven to be a reliable solution for side projects and businesses of all sizes. They’re constantly updating their services to provide an excellent experience for all their users. They’ve rolled out powerful features like Google Cloud’s C2 compute-optimized virtual machines, Cloudflare integration and edge-caching, a built-in Application Performance Monitoring tool, and extending their services to hosting web applications and databases.

From my perspective, Kinsta’s platform offers several advantages that make it an almost irresistible option in the WordPress hosting space:

  • Powered by Google Cloud Platform
  • Cloudflare integration
  • Uptime checks every 2 minutes
  • Free website migrations and hack-fix guarantee
  • Staging and cloning environment
  • Weekly automatic MySQL database optimizations
  • Ultra-fast SSD storage
  • Self-healing PHP

Kinsta is constantly improving their platform and services, and they’ve recently launched the Kinsta API that allows you to access and interact with your Kinsta-hosted web projects without the need to log into the platform. It’s a valuable tool for developers and site owners who want to automate their tasks and schedule actions such as WordPress site creation or clearing cache. 

Cons of Kinsta’s Managed Hosting

Looking at the feature set, Kinsta can be a very appealing hosting solution for businesses of all sizes. However, it does have some cons. Here are two of the most significant:

  • Pricier than other options here on this list (but you do get a great value)
  • Bottom-tier plans have low monthly visit thresholds, which in practice pushes you up higher in pricing tiers (for better scaling, Kinsta introduced single-site plans, which are suitable for single WP installations with increased resource needs)

Verdict: My Favorite, but Slightly Higher Pricing 👍👍

With super-fast load times, excellent security, and many other notable features, Kinsta stands out amongst the many managed WordPress hosting providers. The brand is constantly pushing for improvements and new features, and they are well known for their top performance and expert support made of developers and actual engineers. Kinsta also recently rebranded itself as a cloud platform and launched application and database hosting to offer clients even more flexibility and scalability. 

You can try Kinsta risk-free. They offer a 30-day money-back guarantee on all WordPress plans, plus free credits for getting started on Application and Database Hosting.

uPress is focused on simplifying WordPress hosting (and management) for individual website owners and agencies alike, especially for non-techies.

uPress Managed WordPress Hosting (Homepage Screenshot)uPress Managed WordPress Hosting (Homepage Screenshot)

With an exceptionally well-designed and user-friendly control panel, accessible support that speaks plain English (or geek, if you prefer), security and speed optimized for WordPress sites, and a relatively low price tag, uPress is a hosting contender worth considering.

Features in uPress Managed WordPress Hosting Plans

Here’s a preview of the features you can expect in a uPress-managed hosting environment:

  • The lightning-fast website loading time thanks to the SuperCache technology
  • Proactive security protection designed for WordPress sites
  • Automatic daily backups (plus easy one-click backups)
  • Intuitive, customizable control panel and dashboard
  • No monthly visitor limitations
  • IPv6 support
  • Free SSL
  • Super easy-to-use development area and test environment, CDNs, support for WordPress MultiSite and NoSQL mode (with more advanced plans)

Pricing Plans for uPress Managed WordPress Hosting

uPress’s plans offer a lot for a low price. Their starter Personal plan provides a low barrier to entry at $15/mo while still providing a decent amount of storage:

uPress Managed Hosting Pricing Plans (Screenshot)uPress Managed Hosting Pricing Plans (Screenshot)

uPress also offers VPS plans for those technically inclined who want complete control of their server environment:

uPress Professional Hosting VPS Price Plans (Screenshot)uPress Professional Hosting VPS Price Plans (Screenshot)

Verdict: A Fantastic Entry Level (Fairly Priced) Provider 👍

With speedy load times, great customer support, and other imposing features for the comparably low price point of $15.00/mo, uPress is one of the best places you can start your managed WordPress hosting journey on a reasonable budget—and still have the backing of a solid company that’ll grow with your blog over the months and years to come.

Another great company that offers excellent managed hosting is Flywheel.

Flywheel Homepage Screenshot (Hosting Options)Flywheel Homepage Screenshot (Hosting Options)

Consider Flywheel as David taking on Goliath. They’re also relatively new to the managed WordPress hosting industry (though, to be fair, they were purchased by WP Engine not too long ago). Now armed with the financial backing of one of the largest WordPress hosting providers on the market, Flywheel packs a punch strong enough to attract the attention of all.

Features in Flywheel’s Managed WordPress Hosting Plans

When it comes to managed hosting, the deal sealer is a feature set that helps you run your website with as little effort as possible. And that’s exactly what you get with Flywheel.

  • Self-healing technology for improved uptime, speed, and reliability
  • Free CDN for every plan
  • Built-in caching and automatic backups
  • Free SSL for all plans
  • Security explicitly built for WordPress
  • Free migrations
  • Collaboration tools
  • 24/7 live chat customer support

Pricing Plans for Flywheel’s Managed WordPress Hosting

Flywheel is beginner-friendly when it comes to ease of use—and their managed WordPress hosting plans are pretty wallet-friendly, too. Here’s a snapshot of their pricing:

Flywhel Managed WordPress Hosting Pricing Plans (Screenshot)Flywhel Managed WordPress Hosting Pricing Plans (Screenshot)

With plans starting at $15.00/mo as a monthly option or $13/month on annual billing (for 5,000 monthly visits, 5 GB disk space, and 20 GB bandwidth)—Flywheel was built with small businesses in mind. Fortunately, scaling as your business grows is as easy as upgrading to their higher-tiered plans.

Pros of Flywheel’s Managed Hosting

What advantages does Flywheel bring to the table? Some pros that have given Flywheel an edge over other big players in the managed hosting space include:

  • Powered by Google Cloud Platform
  • Easy to use, thanks to the ultra beginner-friendly interface
  • Data centers around the world
  • No overage charges
  • Relatively inexpensive pricing

Cons of Flywheel’s Managed Hosting

As a newer kid on the block, Flywheel has a few hurdles to overcome in their managed WordPress hosting plans. Here are a couple:

  • Additional server features come at a higher cost
  • No phone technical support (limited to email tickets and chat)

Verdict: One of the Best Budget-Friendly Managed Hosting Plans 👍

Flywheel offers great managed WordPress hosting plans for designers, small businesses, and freelancers. Built for non-technical people, it’s a great solution for those who don’t want to spend precious time fiddling with the technical side of their websites. Plus, their platform is built for those looking at budget-friendly hosting—without skimping on features.

If ever there’s a name synonymous with managed WordPress hosting for years, it’s WP Engine.

WP Engine Homepage ScreenshotWP Engine Homepage Screenshot

A veteran of managed hosting, WP Engine is mainly known for ultra-fast hosting and reliable solutions. Whether you want to host a personal blog or a complex site for your business, WP Engine’s managed WordPress hosting plans will have you covered—though you may pay a little more for similar features you’d get from their competitors above.

As a quick highlight, the in-house caching technology WP Engine has developed, amongst other features, ensures that your readers will have the best possible experience on your website. Let’s take a look at WP Engine’s features:

Features in Flywheel’s Managed WordPress Hosting Plans

Features-wise, WP Engine offers some of the best solutions around. Here’s what you can expect if you choose them:

  • Robust structure and highly redundant systems
  • Free SSL certificate and CDN ready
  • Free automated migration
  • Daily backups, firewall, and threat detection
  • Award-winning customer support
  • Multi-site ready plans

Pricing Plans for WP Engine’s Managed WordPress Hosting

While certainly not the cheapest managed hosting provider on this list, you do get a lot of features out of each plan with WP Engine:

WP Engine Pricing for Managed WordPress Hosting PlansWP Engine Pricing for Managed WordPress Hosting Plans

Pros of WP Engine’s Managed Hosting

Having been in the industry much longer than most competitors, what advantages should you expect from this veteran-managed WordPress hosting provider?

  • Ultra-fast hosting
  • CDN included for all plans
  • Site staging
  • Great scalability (especially if your website traffic is growing fast)
  • Excellent 24/7 chat support for all plans (24/7 phone support for the “Professional” plan and above)
  • 19 server locations around the world
  • Free access to the Genesis Framework and +35 StudioPress WordPress themes
  • Free SSL certificates

Cons of WP Engine’s Managed Hosting

WP Engine may be good, but it’s certainly not perfect. Here are a few drawbacks of their managed hosting plans:

  • Pricing can be prohibitive for bloggers on a budget
  • High overage costs that add up quickly if your blog gets surges in traffic
  • Add-ons can be pricy if you want to customize your plan

Verdict: Great Service, but Over-Priced Compared to Alternatives

Let’s face it: WP Engine’s managed hosting plans aren’t cheap for the similar features you can get at a lower price point when choosing comparable providers like Nexcess or Flywheel. However, the upside with this provider is that you get exceptional support for your money. From solid performance to reliable tech support, WP Engine has been in the managed hosting industry for over a decade and knows what they’re doing.

Another well-known veteran in the managed hosting space is Siteground. While not technically a dedicated WordPress hosting solution, Siteground is one of only three web hosting solutions recommended by WordPress, earning them a rightful spot on this list.

Siteground Landing Page Screenshot (Managed Plans)Siteground Landing Page Screenshot (Managed Plans)

Siteground is popular with WordPress users because it provides a stable hosting environment. As a result, uptime is usually close to 100%, and loading speeds tend to remain well above the industry average. Siteground offers everything you can want in a budget-friendly managed hosting service.

Features in SiteGround’s Managed WordPress Hosting Plans

In the hosting business since 2004, Siteground has created some of the most popular hosting features on the market. Here’s what to expect:

  • Full server management
  • Top-notch hardware
  • Free domain name (blog name) and 5 free managed IPs
  • Free Let’s Encrypt SSL and CDN included
  • Git integration
  • Free PCI compliance (for e-commerce stores)
  • Fast SSD drives
  • 24/7 VIP support via email, live chat, and phone

Pricing Plans for SiteGround’s Managed WordPress Hosting

Looking at SiteGround’s feature-rich plans, you’d be inclined to think it’ll cost an arm and a leg to get set up. However, SiteGround offers one of the cheapest managed WordPress hosting plans on the market—though, to be fair, the features and support levels don’t stack up to competitors for their lowest-tier plans. Check out their pricing structure:

Siteground Hosting Pricing and Plans (Screenshot)Siteground Hosting Pricing and Plans (Screenshot)

For as little as $2.99/month (when you pay 12 months in advance; after that, the price is $17.99/month), you can get managed WordPress hosting from Siteground. Compared to all of our other options here, that’s the cheapest sticker price you’re going to see.

Pros of Siteground’s Managed Hosting

Siteground has built a solid reputation by being an affordable solution that also packs a lot of pros into their plans:

  • Host unlimited websites on a single account (for the Grow Big and Go Geek plans)
  • Unmetered traffic
  • WordPress SuperCacher for improved site performance.
  • Data centers in 6 countries on four continents
  • 24/7 support via email and phone
  • Free backup and restore features

Cons of Siteground’s Managed Hosting

While SiteGround’s budget-friendly plans may be tempting, you must consider some limitations before signing on the dotted line. A couple of the most significant drawbacks are:

  • Site staging isn’t available on the StartUp (cheapest) plan
  • Limited storage availability on all of their plans

Verdict: Cheapest Managed Hosting, but Feature Limited

Whether you’re setting up a simple blog or business website, SiteGround’s managed WordPress hosting plans make for an affordable way to get you online without the technical headaches.

If you’ve got deep pockets to get ultra-fast premium managed WordPress hosting for your brand, Pagely should be at the top of your list. Hailing as the first dedicated, managed WordPress hosting company founded in 2006, you can expect a finely tuned offering from Pagely. However, their web hosting solutions were very clearly built for technically inclined people.

Pagely Homepage Screenshot (Managed Hosting for Big Brands)Pagely Homepage Screenshot (Managed Hosting for Big Brands)

Pagely has invested in a tool stack that ensures all their servers are optimized for speed, security, and exceptional performance. A simple look at the platform’s features will show just how advanced their managed hosting plans are.

Features in Pagely’s Managed WordPress Hosting Plans

As I said, Pagely is not a cheap option (more on pricing in a moment), but their features match the premium pricing for large brands that seek a high degree of customization:

  • Modern hosting stack that includes NGINX, PHP, Redis
  • Built-in redundancy
  • Extremely advanced security (like real-time malware monitoring)
  • Automatic daily backups
  • Expert technical support that gets hands-on
  • Developer tools built specifically for their platform

Pricing Plans for Pagely’s Managed WordPress Hosting

So, how much will a managed WordPress hosting plan cost in the future? First, Pagely offers four types of plans, starting at $375/mo and up to $2,500.mo. Here’s a look at how much you should prepare to invest if you choose Pagely as your managed WordPress hosting partner.

Pricing Screenshot Developer Hosting from PagelyPricing Screenshot Developer Hosting from Pagely

With plans starting at $375/month and going all the way to $2,500 or more, Pagely is a managed WordPress hosting solution for businesses already making bank and looking to provide a stellar experience to their visitors.

Pros of Pagely’s Managed Hosting

Does Pagely offer any advantages that warrant investing in their managed WordPress hosting plans? Oh yes, they certainly do. Here are some:

  • Powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS)
  • VPS (enhanced privacy and security)
  • No limitations on plugin usage
  • Great scalability into the millions of daily visitors
  • Excellent support and monitoring

Cons of Pagely’s Managed Hosting

One of the only drawbacks you’ll get with Pagely (apart from their steep pricing) is phone support—or lack of it on some plans.

  • Phone support is only available on their most premium plans (however, you can get 24-hour support via ticketing and live chat)

Verdict: One of the Best on a Truly Unlimited Budget

Pagely is one of the best-managed WordPress hosting solutions for businesses that need industry-leading security and performance. That’s if you can justify the pricing. If you run a massive website with their advanced technology and robust infrastructure, you’re sure to get more value out of their plans than you would just about anywhere else.


Managed WordPress Hosting: When Do You Really Need it for Your Blog?

Considering that managed WordPress hosting plans are more expensive than their shared hosting counterparts—are these plans really worth the investment?

WordPress Blogger Typing (Photo)WordPress Blogger Typing (Photo)

The question remains: When do you really need managed WordPress hosting for your blog? To answer that, you need to consider a few big elements of your blog’s current state.

  • Traffic and Growth. If you anticipate growing your website quickly and driving a lot of traffic in a short space of time, then you definitely need managed WordPress hosting. This will free up your time to do what matters to your business (like writing great blog posts) without worrying about scaling your website’s technical side and monitoring its performance.
  • Technical Know-How and Time. Let’s face it: managing a website, particularly a growing one, is no simple feat. It needs a bit of technical knowledge. It also requires time to keep everything updated and running at optimum levels. If you don’t have the technical knowledge or the time to maintain a website, then managed WordPress hosting is your best option. For a small monthly investment, you get peace of mind knowing experts are taking care of your website. You also have more time to tend to more pressing issues.
  • Customization and Flexibility. One of the most significant disadvantages of shared hosting is that you have no wiggle room to customize your hosting. This is where managed WordPress hosting comes into play, as most plans will give you the flexibility you need to meet more specific hosting needs. With greater control, you’ll better dictate what you can do with your website.
  • Security and Support. Security is of the utmost importance if you’re starting a blog as a side project or building a revenue-generating website. Advanced security is one of the core features of managed WordPress hosting. Apart from security, hands-on support is another advantage of managed WordPress hosting. When something stops working on your website, you can be sure it’ll get sorted out expediently.

So, do you really need managed WordPress hosting?

If you’re an established blogger who needs exceptional security and high performance yet has little time to handle your site’s technical aspects and optimizations personally, then managed hosting is for you.


Which Managed WordPress Hosting Plan is Best for You?

By now, you’ve probably noticed that not all managed WordPress hosting plans are created equal. Each hosting provider has their own strengths and weaknesses.

This makes it a bit tricky (or simpler, depending on how you look at it) to choose the right plan for your needs. To help you compare and decide, here’s a quick summary of each hosting provider and who they’re most geared towards helping with their offerings:

  • Nexcess by Liquid Web. Best overall managed WordPress hosting solution. Their plans strike the best balance between price and feature set. To top it off, Nexcess offers exceptional performance that can’t be beaten.
  • Kinsta. If you’re comfortable leaving your website in the hands of true WordPress gurus, then Kinsta is great. Not only will you get stellar hosting, but their technical support is manned by WordPress experts, which means quick resolutions to any challenges you face—though their plans cost a little more than others on this list.
  • uPress. For those who want to tap into the power of managed hosting on a tight budget, uPress is the best option for getting started today. Plus, with their technical support team, you’ll partner with a brand that can grow alongside your blog in the coming years.
  • Flywheel was built for non-technical website owners. With an easy-to-use dashboard and a super-dedicated team working behind the scenes, you won’t have to do anything technical if you go with them.
  • WP Engine. Robust security and great performance are the hallmarks of this web hosting provider. However, it comes at a price premium compared to their competition.
  • Siteground. If you’re on a true shoestring budget, but really want managed hosting, then this is your best bet. While their performance is good, you’ll still have to make concessions in other areas (like bandwidth and support, which can both be a bit slow).
  • Pagely. If your team is technically savvy and can afford the hefty costs, Pagely is one of the best options for a large-scale online business. Advanced developer tools make it easy for you to customize your hosting and the technical features of your website to your heart’s desire.

So which of these managed WordPress hosting plans should you go with? Well, it depends on your needs. I’d place my recommendation on Nexcess where you truly can’t go wrong.

However, one thing is certain—whichever provider one you go with on this list, you won’t regret it.

If you’d rather not make a long-term commitment, check out my picks for the top monthly billed hosting plans on the market today.

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