Managed WordPress hosting has two distinct advantages compared to traditional web hosting.
First, these hosting packages are optimized for WordPress. Your site is going to be on a server that only houses other WordPress sites. Your host can configure the server to be more secure and higher-performing than it could be on a general server.
For smaller sites with lower traffic volumes, it won’t make a huge difference. But performance is crucial for medium-sized businesses and high-traffic websites.
The “managed” aspect of managed WordPress hosting offers another key advantage. Site owners won’t have to worry about handling things like backups, security, and other backend hosting requirements. Managed providers take care of everything for you.
Managed WordPress hosting providers also offer superior support. They typically have dedicated WordPress experts that don’t deal with other CMS platforms like Magento or Drupal.
So for any WordPress-related issue or inquiry—they’ve seen it, and they can solve it.
There are dozens of different managed WordPress hosting solutions on the market today. With that said, here are the eight I can recommend with confidence.
The Top 8 Best Managed WordPress Hosting
- WP Engine — Most Popular Managed WordPress Hosting Service
- DreamHost — Best Managed WordPress Hosting For High-Traffic Websites
- Bluehost — Best Marketing Tools For Managed WordPress Hosting
- A2 Hosting — Best Managed WordPress Hosting For Speed
- SiteGround — Best Low-Cost Managed WordPress Hosting Plans
- Nexcess — Best Managed WordPress Features for Ecommerce Sites
- Flywheel — Best Managed WordPress Hosting For Agencies
- Kinsta — Best Managed WordPress Hosting For Scalability
The following reviews contain recommended use cases, advantages, pricing information, and potential drawbacks for each hosting provider on my list. Use this guide to find the best managed WordPress hosting solution for you.
#1 – WP Engine — Most Popular Managed WordPress Hosting Service
- 24/7 customer service
- Automatic WordPress updates
- Daily site backups
- Two months free
WP Engine has become the gold standard for managed WordPress hosting. As the name implies, this provider specializes in web hosting for WordPress sites. All of their plans are managed as well.
More than 1.2 million websites trust it in 150+ countries. Big names like Yelp, Pandora, and Petco all use WP Engine to power their websites.
WP Engine has a plan for everyone. Whether you’ve got 10,000 monthly visits or 10 million visits per month, WP Engine can accommodate your needs.
I can speak from personal experience when I say the quality of WP Engine’s web hosting is second to none. It’s a great option for mid-sized websites experiencing significant traffic volumes.
WP Engine’s popularity is no coincidence. People love it for the extensive features and advantages, including:
- 24/7/365 award-winning customer service
- Automatic WordPress updates
- Managed upgrades
- Daily site backups
- Continuous monitoring and robust security
- 35+ StudioPress themes
- Global CDN
- Automated SSL certificates
They block over 109 million attacks per day with their security solutions built for WordPress websites. WP Engine is just on another level compared to basic shared hosting plans when it comes to quality and performance.
Whether you’re just getting started with a new website or you need a custom enterprise solution, WP Engine will be a top option to consider.
Get two months for free when you sign up for an annual contract.
#2 – DreamHost — Best Managed WordPress Hosting For High-Traffic Websites
- Includes VPS packages
- Great for large sites
- Starts at $16.95/month
- Free SSL
DreamHost has several different hosting solutions that are optimized for WordPress. This includes multiple managed plans, including managed VPS packages.
For larger websites seeking high performance, DreamHost will be a top choice to consider.
Unlike other solutions on the market that start at 10,000 or 25,000 monthly visits with an entry-level plan, DreamHost can handle higher traffic volumes. Let’s take a closer look at those plans and prices:
- DreamPress: $16.95 per month (built for 100,000 monthly visits)
- DreamPress Plus: $24.95 per month (built for 300,000 monthly visits)
- DreamPress Pro: $71.95 per month (built for 1+ million monthly visits)
DreamHost provides hosting solutions that are secure, fast, reliable, and optimized for WordPress.
Some of the top features, benefits, and noteworthy highlights of DreamHost include:
- Free WordPress migrations
- 24/7 WordPress support
- Built-in caching
- Daily and on-demand backups
- Free SSL certificate
- 1-click staging
- WordPress site builder with 200+ design themes
- Free domain
DreamHost also offers custom managed WordPress solutions for anyone with higher traffic volumes or for people managing multiple sites.
All DreamHost managed WordPress plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee.
#3 – Bluehost — Best Marketing Tools For Managed WordPress Hosting
- Free SSL
- Automatic backups
- Feature-packed marketing tools
- Starts at $19.95/month
Bluehost is an industry leader in the world of web hosting. In fact, more than two million websites across the globe are powered by Bluehost.
The managed WordPress plans from this provider are relatively new. But Bluehost’s reliability and reputation in this space still earn them a top spot on my list.
One unique standout of Bluehost is the suite of marketing tools that comes with every managed WordPress plan. SEO recommendations, traffic analytics, business reviews, and automatic social sharing can all be managed from a single dashboard. This is an excellent way to improve your content and expand your reach without relying on third-party platforms.
Other managed WordPress benefits from Bluehost include:
- Global CDN with 200+ edge servers
- Free SSL
- Multi-layered caching
- Auto-scaling to support traffic surges
- Automatic backups
- Multi-tiered security, spam protection, and malware protection
- Free site migrations
- Automatic WordPress updates
Bluehost has three different managed WordPress plans to choose from:
- Build: Starting at $19.95 per month
- Grow: Starting at $29.95 per month
- Scale: Starting at $49.95 per month
The entry-level package can accommodate up to 50,000 visitors per month, and the scale plan supports up to 500,000 monthly visits.
You’ll also benefit from 24/7 managed WordPress support and guidance from the experts at Bluehost. A 30-day money-back guarantee backs all plans.
#4 – A2 Hosting — Best Managed WordPress Hosting For Speed
- Lighning fast speeds
- ”Starts
- Free SSL
- Automated backups
A2 Hosting is another reputable and reliable web hosting provider. They are known for offering some of the fastest hosting solutions on the market today.
The managed WordPress plans from A2 Hosting definitely fall into this category as well.
All sites on A2’s managed plans are hosted on turbo servers, which are up to 20x faster than the competition. Managed packages for a single site start at $12.99 per month. A2 Hosting also has plans for three sites and an unlimited number of sites. These start at $22.99 and $43.99 per month, respectively.
In addition to the blazing-fast speeds, here are other reasons to consider using A2 Hosting as a managed WordPress solution:
- Free SSL
- Automated WordPress backups
- Free account migration
- Free HackScan protection and DDoS protection
- Guru support available 24/7/365
- 1-click site staging
A2 Hosting is also known for providing exceptional customer service. This includes an industry-leading anytime money-back guarantee.
If speed is your top priority, look no further than A2 Hosting.
#5 – SiteGround — Best Low-Cost Managed WordPress Hosting Plans
- Plans start at $3.99/month
- Free migrations
- Daily backups
- Free SSL & CDN
Generally speaking, managed WordPress hosting is a bit more expensive than traditional shared web hosting. That’s because these plans typically come with extra features and added layers of service.
But with plans starting at just $3.99 per month, SiteGround is proof that you don’t need to break the bank for managed WordPress hosting.
The entry-level StartUp plan can support up to 10,000 monthly visits. SiteGround has two other managed WordPress packages—GrowBig and GoGeek. These start at $6.69 and $10.69 when you pay for a full year upfront and can accommodate up to 25,000 and 100,000 monthly visits, respectively.
If you compare these rates to other providers and plans with similar traffic volumes, SiteGround is one of the cheapest options on the market today.
But low-cost doesn’t translate to a lack of features. SiteGround still offers plenty of features and advantages, including:
- Free migrations
- Automatic security updates
- Automatic WordPress updates
- Free CDN
- Free SSL
- Daily backups
- Developer toolkit and staging tool
SiteGround is an excellent option for new websites that want to jump right into a managed WordPress plan. The low price point is appealing, but it’s worth noting that these SiteGround packages don’t support monthly traffic volumes above 100k. So, larger websites may want to look elsewhere.
A 30-day money-back guarantee backs all SiteGround plans.
#6 – Nexcess — Best Managed WordPress Features for Ecommerce Sites
- Robust ecommerce security
- Built-in CDN and image compression
- Generous bandwidth allotment
- Free site migrations
Nexcess gets the particular needs of WordPress-based web stores at a fundamental level.
You need speed and security for your web store to be successful. Whether you’re running Magento, WooCommerce, or another platform, the experts at Nexcess have built plans with the resources and features you need to maximize it.
Fast page loading times are crucial—shoppers don’t want to sit through something as short as a two- or three-second wait time to see a product or checkout. Any dips and speed can lead directly to the loss of sales.
Fortunately, all Nexcess managed WordPress hosting plans come with a handful of crucial tools to keep your store’s pages speedy:
- Core built on PHP8
- Integrated, Nexcess-built content delivery network with 22 locations
- Built-in image compression
- Lazy image loading
- Multi-layered caching
- Nexcess-owned data centers
All of these serve to cut down on loading times both on the server and site ends.
Security is just as important to your site and similarly to Nexcess’ offerings. Managed hosting implies a higher grade of support and Nexcess delivers that. With constant site monitoring and WordPress pros available to contact via support, you’ll never be in the dark about security concerns and how to fix or avoid them.
Plus, Nexcess plans are proactive, with automated WordPress core and plugin updates included on every managed hosting plan.
You also get a free SSL in case you’re building a site from scratch, plus daily backups and iThemes Security Pro included as well.
And, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Nexcess also includes free site migrations to their plans, Visual Comparison and WP Merge for anyone building web stores for clients, the Qubely Pro package for boosting WordPress’ Gutenberg editor, and much more.
You have seven managed WordPress plans to choose from. Nexcess offers its entry level Spark plan for $190 per year (though you can actually save a bit with their current promotional pricing for monthly billing), which is good for one website, 15 GB of storage, and a hefty 1 TB of bandwidth.
Plans scale up in number of sites needed, storage, and bandwidth, maxing out at 250 sites, 800 GB of storage, and 10 TB of bandwidth at the Enterprise tier.
But, don’t worry, scaling is easy with Nexcess. Feel free to start as small as your current (or soon-to-be-built) site will allow, knowing you can autoscale for short periods of high traffic or easily move up a tier in their hosting plans.
Put your ecommerce store on solid ground by getting the security and speed benefits you’ll receive from Nexcess.
#7 – Flywheel — Best Managed WordPress Hosting For Agencies
- Great for agencies and designers
- Starts at $15/month
- Free SSL
- 24/7 customer support
Flywheel isn’t the most popular web hosting solution on the market today, but this provider specializes in managed WordPress hosting.
The plans are made to support creative agencies and web designers who build and manage their clients’ sites.
Let’s take a closer look at Flywheel’s plans and pricing:
- Tiny: $15 per month (1 WordPress site and 5,000 monthly visits)
- Starter: $30 per month (1 WordPress site and 25,000 monthly visits)
- Freelance: $115 per month (up to 10 WordPress sites and 100,000 monthly visits)
- Agency: $290 per month (up to 30 WordPress sites and 400,000 monthly visits)
Flywheel also offers custom-built managed WordPress hosting plans for agencies that need support for 100+ sites. These packages are perfect for scaling your agency or web design service.
In addition to the cost-effective plans, Flywheel provides tons of other features and benefits:
- Free SSL certificates
- Built-in developer tools and staging environments for every site
- Free CDN and custom caching
- Nightly backups
- Collaboration tools
- SFTP access
- Hacker-free security
- 24/7 support
Flywheel has other useful tools designed specifically for agencies, like the ability to transfer bills directly to your clients. They even have a new beta product—the Flywheel Growth Suite. It has everything you need for client management, subscriptions, and revenue tracking.
More than 35,000 agencies and creative brands rely on Flywheel for managed web hosting. Sign up today and try Flywheel for free with a 14-day trial.
#8 – Kinsta — Best Managed WordPress Hosting For Scalability
- Great for growth
- Free migrations
- Free SSL
- Starts at $30/month
Kinsta is one of the only hosting solutions on the market that strictly offers managed WordPress hosting. Self-managed plans or hosting with another CMS isn’t even an option.
Another unique standout of Kinsta is its ability to accommodate websites of all sizes, which is perfect for scalability purposes.
I really like Kinsta because it’s designed with beginners in mind. It’s a user-friendly hosting solution but still extremely powerful. As sites scale and needs become more advanced, Kinsta is packed with advanced features and developer tools. So you’ll never reach a point where you outgrow this hosting solution.
Let’s take a closer look at some of the features and benefits of Kinsta for managed WordPress hosting:
- Free migrations
- Daily backups
- Intuitive dashboard
- Free SSL
- Free CDN
- Speed-optimized hosting architecture
- DDoS protection, uptime monitoring, and hardware firewalls
- Automatic scaling
Kinsta offers friendly expert WordPress support as well.
Compared to other WordPress hosting solutions on the market, Kinsta has the most extensive plan options available. There are ten different standard managed WordPress plans to choose from. That doesn’t even include the custom option for sites with advanced needs.
The entry-level package starts at $30 per month for a single WordPress site and supports roughly 25,000 monthly visits. Kinsta has enterprise-grade hosting solutions for up to 150 WordPress installations and 3 million monthly visits. If you need more, just contact the Kinsta sales team for a customized solution.
All plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee. Sign up for an annual contract and get two months for free.
How to Find the Best Managed WordPress Hosting For You
Generally speaking, there is no “best for everyone” managed WordPress hosting solution. The best option for you might not be the best option for me. With that in mind, certain factors must be considered as you’re evaluating different plans and providers.
Use the following criteria to help narrow down your options as you’re shopping around for managed WordPress hosting.
Traffic Volume
How many visits does your website get per month? How many site visits are you expecting moving forward?
Traffic volume plays a significant role in determining what plan is right for you. Some providers offer cheap managed WordPress hosting, but the entry-level plans only accommodate 5,000 or 10,000 monthly visits. This is fine for smaller websites, but medium to large sites will definitely need more.
Look down the road as well. Some providers don’t have the capacity to accommodate over 100,000 monthly visits. So, if you’re currently getting 70k or 80k visits, you could outgrow that provider within the next year or so.
There is plenty of managed WordPress hosting solutions on the market that can support anywhere from 1-3+ million monthly visitors.
Support
Managed WordPress plans typically come with better support than a traditional shared hosting solution. However, the level of support offered from provider to provider is not the same.
Some hosting providers go above and beyond to offer excellent support. This includes benefits like 24/7/365 availability, free site migrations, developer tools, and more.
What happens if your site goes down or has problems? Make sure your hosting provider offers the support to handle any issues ASAP to minimize downtime.
WordPress Installations
How many websites do you have?
Businesses with multiple sites or agencies managing sites for their clients should look for plans that support several WordPress installations. Keep scalability in mind here as well. Right now, you might have an agency that manages 10 client sites, but how many additional sites are you expecting to manage in the next year?
Make sure you choose a provider that can grow with you as your needs change.
Backups and Security
If you’re seeking a managed WordPress solution, you shouldn’t have to worry about backing up your site or securing it on your own.
Look for a provider with features like automatic daily backups, free SSL certificates, DDoS protection, firewalls, and other advanced security benefits.
You will sleep easier at night knowing that your site is protected. As the most popular CMS on the market, WordPress sites are vulnerable to attacks. So, don’t look past the security features offered by your hosting provider.
Summary
What’s the best managed WordPress hosting solution? These are the seven providers I can confidently recommend.
WP Engine is the most popular managed WordPress host on the market today. So, most people should start their search here. Bluehost is another popular option that has built-in tools for marketing and SEO.
Ecommerce sites running on WordPress should look no further than Nexcess. They offer a wide array of security and speed features to make sure your web store is always meeting shoppers’ expectations.
For those of you looking for a cheap managed WordPress hosting plan, check out SiteGround. If page loading speed is your top priority, try A2 Hosting.
Flywheel is my top pick for agencies. DreamHost is ideal for larger sites with high traffic volumes, and they even offer managed VPS plans for WordPress. Kinsta has a solution for everyone, which is perfect for sites that are rapidly growing.
Regardless of your needs, you can use the recommendations listed above to find the best managed WordPress hosting solution for you.
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