9 Best Managed Web Hosting Providers in 2023

Are you looking to take your website’s hosting experience to the next level without the hassle of managing the performance and security yourself? If so, managed web hosting may be the perfect solution for you. I found it extremely helpful.

You can enjoy all the perks that come with having hosting and web security experts maintaining your website around the clock, and without it breaking your bank account.

In this blog post, we’ll introduce you to the nine best-managed web hosting providers in 2023.

Each of these providers comes with its own set of strengths and unique points of difference, giving you plenty of opportunity to find the best solution for your needs.

So let’s dig in.

What Is Managed Hosting?

Managed hosting is a type of web hosting service that allows you to lease space on a server to host your website files like traditional hosting.

However, with this type of hosting, you also benefit from a professional team maintaining the security and performance of the servers you’re using.

Unlike other types of hosting, which typically do not include any kind of management or maintenance as part of the hosting package, this kind of hosting allows you to benefit from an all-inclusive approach.

The biggest benefit offered is that you can relax knowing you have website and security experts maintaining your sites and server infrastructure around the clock.

Comparing The Best Managed Hosting Providers In 2023

If you’re itching to know who offers the best managed web hosting services, this is for you. We analyzed dozens of managed WordPress hosting providers while putting this article together and here are the top nine options on the market right now.

Types Of Managed Hosting

There are different types of managed web host options available in today’s market including:

Pricing and service inclusions can vary quite significantly as a result of what each type of hosting package would typically include.

Fully-Managed Hosting

Fully-managed allows you to run your business with a completely hands-off approach when it comes to web hosting. The hosting company handles everything on your behalf so you can focus on the areas of your business that matter.

Fully managed is the most advanced hosting package available and not all providers offer it.

It’s ideal for companies that have websites experiencing heavy web traffic demands or high-intensity workloads.

For instance, if you run a website that gets millions of visitors a month you will need to ensure your servers and hosting resources are working as expected so your visitors don’t experience prolonged downtime.

It’s also well suited to businesses that are in industries with strict technical and compliance laws (such as the legal, financial, medical, and government sectors).

Semi-Managed Hosting

Semi-managed web hosting allows both you and your hosting provider to share the management of your hosting performance and security.

If you are an IT professional or experienced developer and would like to be actively involved in the server operations of your website, this is a better option than a fully-managed package.

Semi-managed web hosting is also well suited to businesses that have internal IT staff who can handle some aspects of server management internally.

However, the nature of semi-managed web hosting means that different providers offer different types of packages, each including different features. So, you’ll need to do some thorough research to find the best package for you.

Since these types of hosting packages require some technical know-how and are not completely hands-off, we haven’t included any in this post.

You do, however, need to be aware of them when shopping for this kind of web hosting so you don’t accidentally opt for a semi-managed service, leaving your website vulnerable to security threats and attacks.

Managed WordPress Hosting

If you run a WordPress site, managed WordPress hosting plans are designed to fit the needs of your website like a glove.

Many managed WordPress hosting solutions include plugin updates, security scans and more.

The biggest advantage of choosing one of the best managed WordPress hosting service available today is that your hosting company will cover all your performance and security bases since they are familiar with (and use tools to enhance the performance of) your WordPress tech stack.

Later in this article we’ll share with you the best managed WordPress hosting services we’ve found. So stay tuned for that.

Managed Cloud Hosting

Managed cloud hosting takes the complexity out of running your website or application on a cloud infrastructure.

Cloud hosting can be more confusing to set up and maintain than cPanel or shared hosting.

So managed cloud hosting services are a great option for anyone who wants the best out of their hosting performance without the headache of setting up and maintaining a cloud server infrastructure.

Differences Between Managed Vs Shared Hosting

Shared hosting is a solution where your website files are stored on a server that is shared with other website owners.

Since the server’s resources are shared among a number of different people, shared hosting plans are usually the cheapest hosting solutions available.

Managed web hosting, on the other hand, goes beyond simply leasing access to a server. It includes services that maintain your website so it’s a completely hands-off process for you.

Typically, managed solutions also provide more powerful technologies than you would be able to access with an out-of-the-box shared hosting plan.

You would have to spend a great deal of time tinkering away and stitching together the best technology to match what these hosting services provide. Some people love having complete control over their website’s performance and don’t mind spending the time.

If that’s you, then you might be better off looking for a hosting solution that gives you that control. Check out our post on the fastest hosting companies for an idea of who’s leading with ultimate performance in today’s web host market.

For those of you reading this who feel like you would rather focus on other areas of growing your business, a managed web hosting package is definitely the way to go. So let’s look at the nine best solutions available today.

Best Managed WordPress Hosting Services

WordPress powers over 40% of all websites online today. It’s evolved from its humble roots as a blogging platform to being one of the leading content management systems for any type of website.

How to read the diagram:

33% of the websites use none of the content management systems that we monitor.
WordPress is used by 43.0% of all the websites, that is a content management system market share of 64.2%.

From e-commerce to small business websites and enterprise solutions to boot, there isn’t a single type of website that WordPress cannot power. With it’s rise in popularity, we also have a wide range of hosting solutions available for WordPress sites.

Below we share our top picks for managed WordPress hosting solutions.

Managed WordPress Hosting Comparison Table

SiteGround: Best All-Rounder For Managed WordPress Hosting

Siteground is among the most popular hosting companies and has made waves thanks to it’s steadfast dedication to the speed and performance of its server infrastructure.

Hands down, SiteGround beats most of its competition when comparing the speed and uptime performance of its servers for both cloud and shared hosting.

Not only that, but SiteGround also hosts over 2 million websites and is known for providing outstanding support and technical assistance.

As far as performance, all our tests have consistently indicated top-notch performance for all WordPress sites on SiteGround.

It’s no surprise why WordPress.org recommends SiteGround as one of the best web hosting companies on today’s market.

SiteGround is a great all-rounder offering affordable managed web hosting for all kinds of WordPress sites without compromising quality.

Kinsta: Best Fully-Managed WordPress Hosting

Like SiteGround, Kinsta also provides some of the best-managed WordPress hosting services on today’s market. Kinsta’s pricing is higher than most hosting solutions out there.

But, for the additional price, you will enjoy the benefits of Google’s C2 server infrastructure on any plan you choose, even the smallest ones.

Google’s C2 servers offer the power and performance of Google’s cloud infrastructure to anyone who hosts their website using this technology.

Kinsta offers a reasonably priced managed option so you can benefit from state-of-the-art technology without the stress of setting it up yourself.

Additionally, Kinsta’s services are built to help you scale no matter the size of your website. Using tools like NGinx and Maria DB allows WordPress sites hosted on Kinsta to load quickly and to be automatically scaled.

Uptime is checked over 700 times a day and for as little as $35/month that’s a pretty sweet deal.

It’s always been our philosophy that you’re better off paying a little more for a hosting company that cares about the things that matter. Kinsta definitely fits the bill by cutting no corners when it comes to delivering you the best fully-managed WP hosting plans.

WPX: Best Managed Hosting For Speed

WPX is our preferred hosting company for solopreneurs, bloggers, affiliate marketers, and small businesses who want kick-ass performance.

Over the years, we’ve tested out dozens of companies for hosting a number of our websites.

When support leaves you hanging, performance is terrible, and you’re still paying through the nose for who knows what – you know you’ve got to find a different hosting company.

WPX is that company for us. It’s like a breath of fresh air!

But we don’t let our awesome experience cloud our judgment. We ran them through the same rigorous tests as every other company. Here’s how they stack up as a suitable choice for managed web hosting for WordPress sites.

Pressable: Most Scalable Managed WP Hosting

Pressable offers a scalable solution to managed web hosting compared with other shared hosting providers.

Instead of locking you into a rigid plan, you can choose the perfect amount of resources for your WordPress website or portfolio, as it is right now.

The beauty of Pressable’s plans comes down to how easy they are to scale as your website needs to grow.

Pressable also offers customized plans to suit a range of different audiences including:

Pressable is sure to offer a scalable or custom solution no matter your needs.

Best Fully-Managed Hosting

If you need a more flexible fully-managed solution than the three mentioned above, stick with us.

No matter if you’re after managed VPS or dedicated hosting, or if you are on a non-WordPress platform, here are our top picks for other fully-managed providers.

Fully-Managed Hosting Comparison Table

Nexcess: Most Versatile Managed Hosting

Nexcess offers versatile managed hosting solutions for WordPress, Woocommerce, Magento, Drupal and more. With custom built-in tools to enhance performance, Nexcess means serious business.

From a built-in CDN and 99.99% uptime to advanced caching technology, Nexcess pulls no punches when it comes to performance.

Perhaps Nexcess’ best feature is its versatility. It is a well-rounded solution with managed web hosting plans suited to small businesses and enterprises alike.

No matter the CMS platform a website is hosted on, Nexcess is likely to have a managed hosting solution that’s just right for you.

Hostwinds: Best Managed VPS Hosting

Hostwinds is a lesser-known company in the hosting arena but definitely worth your time knowing about.

Being a relatively new player in the hosting arena allows the company to be agile and provide more advanced products (like state-of-the-art VPS hosting on Linux and Windows operating systems) in an industry full of low-quality, cheap services.

Being small gives Hostwinds a chance to develop a reputation for delivering excellent customer service.

In short, Hostwinds had the opportunity to start fresh and overcome many of the problems bigger competitors were creating in the web hosting industry, and they took it.

Instead of offering bottom-of-the-barrel, cheap services on subpar servers, Hostwinds took a product-led approach offering value first.

The biggest difference? Even Hostwind’s lowest price shared plans include managed support for free. They won’t leave you hanging when you need support!

Hostwinds is now known for its stellar VPS hosting solutions. As far as managed VPS hosting goes, Hostwinds offers two varieties:

Not only can you choose your operating system but you can also customize your VPS resources including available:

Over the years we’ve tested dozens of hosting companies and it’s rare that a hosting company pleasantly surprises us with it’s performance.

In the case of Hostwinds, it is one of these rare exceptions. You can read our full HostWinds review for all the details on speed, uptime and other performance factors.

Pantheon: Best Managed Enterprise Hosting

Pantheon stands apart from other web hosting companies due to it’s mission to empower marketing and development teams with streamlined workflows and better performing websites.

With it’s cutting edge CMS-as-a-service (or serverless CMS) offer, Pantheon has revolutionized the way development teams integrate their hosting solutions.

Everything Pantheon does seeks to improve DevOps with automated workflows and streamlined communications across enterprise teams.

As such, Pantheon is not very well suited for beginners, small teams or solopreneurs. Instead of a traditional cPanel dashboard, Pantheon has it’s own custom control panel which has a moderately steep learning curve for people with limited technical skills.

It also lacks other features such as a website builder and domain name registration which some users may like integrated with their hosting plans.

In any case, Pantheon’s enterprise- hosting solutions are worth checking out for large websites, multi-site portfolio management, and organizations with development teams that want to focus on product development instead of server maintenance.

Best Managed Cloud Hosting Services

The final category of managed providers worth checking out is managed cloud hosting. Unlike shared, VPS, dedicated or managed WordPress hosting, this type of hosting leverages multiple servers connected via a network.

Your website files are stored across multiple servers for security and performance.

However, setting up and managing a cloud server infrastructure can be quite daunting and time-consuming.

That’s where managed cloud hosting services are worth their weight in gold.

Managed Cloud Hosting Comparison Table

Cloudways: Best Managed Cloud Hosting

Depending on who you ask, Cloudways is either the best or the worst option out there. The strong difference of opinions comes down to each person’s  hosting requirements.

Cloudways is exceptional at the things it does well. But the reverse is also true.

For instance, you can easily tap into powerful servers from any of the top cloud computing companies.

However, the level of support offered has been known to be terrible. It’s also worth noting that you have limited support included in out-of-the-box packages. CloudWays is the only hosting company we’ve found that charges extra for additional support.

Nevertheless, CloudWays has earned a pretty good reputation among people with intermediate to advanced technical skills. So it may be a great hosting solution for your websites too.

You can leverage these server infrastructures without needing any very advanced technical skills:

The range of features available on Cloudways hosting will depend on the servers you choose. Let’s look at the features of Digital Ocean’s servers, as this is the most affordable option that many affiliate marketers find satisfies their needs.

All plans also come with Free SSL, CDN add-ons, automated backups, and other essential security features.

Liquid Web: Best Managed Dedicated Web Hosting

Liquid Web is an excellent choice for those who need high-quality managed WordPress hosting provider and are willing to spend a bit more.

The company offers a variety of managed hosting solutions, including email, WordPress, WooCommerce, VPS, dedicated, and cloud products.

Liquid Web’s plans are often far more powerful than rivals, and the company provides a comprehensive SLA (service-level agreement) that guarantees a quick response time to any issues that may arise.

However, Liquid Web shines through its managed dedicated server plans. Liquid Web has its own data centers and is equipped with fully-managed hardware and network infrastructure that many other hosting companies simply cannot compete with.

The biggest advantage this offers Liquid Web is that they are in complete control of the quality of services and products they offer and can often resolve issues sooner.

So when it comes to the best managed hosting for dedicated servers, Liquid Web leads the way.

When you compare Liquid Web’s features to other providers, it comes out ahead time and time again. Liquid Web is known for maintaining its quality instead of crippling its product range to sell at a lower price.

Final Verdict: Best Managed Web Hosting In 2023

So there you have it! That’s our list of the top managed WordPress hosting providers for 2022, no matter what platform you’re building your website on or what features you need.

If you have a WordPress website, the best-managed WordPress hosting plans to suit just about any website come from SiteGround. Fast, affordable, and great support to boot!

However, if you’re looking for something more scalable or for managed hosting that is suitable for other platforms too, Nexcess is a decent option.

Article by

Matt Diggity

Matt is the founder of Diggity Marketing, LeadSpring, The Search Initiative, The Affiliate Lab, and the Chiang Mai SEO Conference. He actually does SEO too.

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