Are you wondering whether you should use shared hosting or managed WordPress hosting for your website? This is a question that keeps coming to us every now and then. So we decided to come up with this article to solve the shared vs managed WordPress hosting debate and also explain both of them in plain English.

Shared vs Managed WordPress Hosting

The 2 most important things that you need when you start a website are a domain name and a web hosting account.

While the domain name is the address of your website, a web host is a place where your website files are located.

So when someone types your site URL in the address bar of their web browser, your website files are fetched from the web hosting account. And then, people can see your live website in their browser.

Now, there are different types of hosting services available in the market including shared, managed WordPress hosting, and even dedicated hosting service. But which one is suitable for your needs?

Also, what’s the difference between shared and managed WordPress hosting? Let’s try to understand each of them in simple words.

What Is Shared Hosting?

Shared hosting is a web hosting solution where your site shares the resources of a single web server with a number of websites. And the main advantage of using such a service is they’re available at an affordable rate.

Since multiple websites use a shared server, such companies can offer hosting services at a cheaper rate as compared to managed hosting. So you can expect shared hosting plans to be as low as $2.75 per month.

Anyone who’s planning to start a website should consider using shared hosting to keep their expenses down. Also, low traffic websites, personal sites, bloggers, and small businesses should use this type of hosting service.

But before we discuss the pros and cons of shared hosting, let’s talk about managed WordPress hosting.

What Is Managed WordPress Hosting?

Managed WordPress hosting is a type of hosting service that provides the most powerful technologies for your WordPress site to make sure your website is both secure and fast.

Such companies take care of the hosting related issues like backups, security checks, updating WordPress, and much more. They also provide premium customer service and solve your problems as quickly as possible.

Basically, a managed host wants you to concentrate on your business while they take care of the technical aspects for you.

However, you should note that these services are expensive when compared to shared hosts. In most cases, a managed WordPress hosting plan starts at around $16.95 per month.

Hence, we recommend managed hosting only to high traffic websites or someone who’s not confident with the technical aspects involved.

Pros and Cons of Shared Hosting

Now that we know what shared hosting is, let’s take a look at the pros and cons of shared hosting service.

Pros of Shared Hosting:

• Cost: One of the biggest advantages of using a shared hosting service is it’s cheaper and can be purchased at a price as low as $2.75 per month.
• cPanel: Most companies offer cPanel which makes it easy to manage your website, domains, emails, and more.
• Email Accounts: You’ll get professional email service for free. That means you can set up a business email like yourname@yourbusiness.com without spending an extra penny.

Cons of Shared Hosting:

• Slow response time: Your website may load slowly due to slow server response time when compared to a managed WordPress host.
• Downtime: You may face frequent downtimes with some shared hosting companies.
• Not suitable for high-traffic sites: Shared hosts are mostly suitable for startups, small businesses, personal sites, or anyone that doesn’t receive tons of traffic.

Pros and Cons of Managed WordPress Hosting

Now let’s check out the advantages and disadvantages of using managed WordPress hosting.

Pros of Managed WordPress hosting:

• Daily Backups: Your website files are always safe as managed hosts backup your site and database daily. They also allow you to restore your site if you want to.
• Fast and Secure: A managed WordPress host offers the latest technologies to make sure your site is fast. They also take care of the security of your WordPress site so that it’s safe from hackers and malware.
• Core Updates: They take care of the core WordPress updates and thus, helps you to secure your site. Some companies even go the extra mile by updating your themes and plugins automatically.
• Support: Managed WordPress hosts offer premium support to their customers. Their staff is knowledgeable about WordPress and you can easily reach them in case of any problem.

Cons of Managed WordPress hosting:

• Expensive: One of the biggest disadvantages of using a managed WordPress hosting service is it’s very expensive when compared to a shared host.
• Limitations on Certain Plugins: These services focus on making your WordPress site optimized for speed. In other words, they don’t allow you to use specific plugins that may slow down your site.
• Only WordPress Sites Allowed: While shared hosting allows you to host any website you want including simple HTML pages, managed hosting companies only allow you to host WordPress sites on their servers.