WordPress managed hosting vs unmanaged: who does the work, and what each costs

Printed prices, verified

Choosing between managed and unmanaged in four questions

1. Who applies the updates at 2am?. On managed hosting the host patches WordPress core, often plugins, and the server underneath; on unmanaged hosting the site owner does, or nobody does. If the honest answer is nobody, managed is the cheaper option whatever the price list says, because the first compromised site costs more than years of the difference.
2. How much traffic, and how spiky?. Managed hosts price by visits and include a CDN and caching tuned for WordPress; a small unmanaged VPS is cheaper at low steady traffic and worse at spikes unless you configure caching yourself. Read each host's page for the visits or resources the entry plan includes; the index quotes the price, the page states the allowance.
3. Do you need root, or a specific stack?. Managed WordPress hosts restrict what you can install and run; custom server software, unusual PHP extensions or a second application beside WordPress need a VPS or a dedicated server, which the VPS and dedicated stack pages price host by host.
4. What is the price after the intro term?. Managed hosts mostly print monthly or annual prices with no long prepaid term; shared and VPS hosts often print a 36- or 48-month intro price that renews at three or four times the figure. The table shows both beside each price, so compare year two with year two.

What managed includes, host by host

The word covers a range. At the top it means a platform built only for WordPress: staging, automatic core updates, a tuned cache, a global CDN, malware scanning and support staff who read your error log. In the middle it means a shared plan with WordPress preinstalled and automatic updates. At the bottom it means a one-click installer and nothing else. Each host's own product page, linked from its profile, says which; the price alone does not.

The verified table ranks hosts on their printed entry price. The managed WordPress specialists sit at the top of that ranking on price and at the top of the market on what is included; the shared hosts with a WordPress plan sit at the bottom on both. The middle is where the sum has to be done.

When unmanaged is the right answer

A developer who already maintains servers, a site that needs software a managed host will not run, or a portfolio of small sites where a single VPS carries all of them at one price. In each case the machine is cheaper than the service and the work is already being done. The VPS stack page prices the machines; add your own time to the figure before comparing.

For everyone else the question is the first one: who applies the updates. The rest of the comparison follows from the answer.

Common questions

Is managed WordPress hosting worth the price?

If nobody on your side will apply updates, take backups and tune caching, yes: the price buys that work. If someone will, an unmanaged VPS from the table is cheaper at the same resources.

What is the difference between managed and unmanaged hosting?

Who does the maintenance. Managed hosting includes updates, backups, security and WordPress-aware support; unmanaged hosting provides the server and leaves the rest to you.

Can I move from managed to unmanaged later?

Yes; WordPress moves with its database and files. Most hosts in the index offer free migration in one direction, onto them, so check the host's page for the direction that helps you.

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