Do I Need Managed WordPress Hosting?

Don’t know which hosting plan is right for you? We’ll present four reasons why managed WordPress hosting could be the best choice for your website and introduce you to DreamHost’s plans.

Choosing a hosting plan isn't always easy. Even if you know all about the different types and understand their unique pros and cons, you may not be sure how to use that information to make an informed choice. Should you opt for a basic plan or something more advanced — such as managed hosting?

You’ll be glad to know that finding the answer to this question doesn’t need to be hard. In fact, there are a number of easy ways to tell whether a managed WordPress hosting plan is right for you.

In this article, we'll touch on what managed WordPress hosting is, then present four reasons you might want to try it for yourself. Finally, we’ll introduce our own managed WordPress plan. Let’s begin!

An Introduction to Managed WordPress Hosting

If you’ve never built a website before, you may not know what type of plan to choose. You could start simple and go with shared hosting, or opt for Virtual Private Server (VPS) hosting or a dedicated server if you need more resources. However, that’s not the only decision you need to make. You'll also want to consider whether you want managed hosting plan.

Managed hosting is a service where your hosting provider takes care of your server and all related tasks for you. This typically means they’ll handle performance tweaks, monitor the server for security threats, perform backups and updates, and more. You’ll get the benefits of a hosting server managed by experts, without needing to know anything about web hosting. Plus, if you opt for a WordPress-specific managed plan, your site will be safe in the hands of people who know the platform inside and out.

Managed WordPress hosting is an excellent option, but is it the right one for you? This depends largely on whether any of the following reasons apply.

4 Reasons You Might Need Managed WordPress Hosting

There are a lot of reasons to choose a managed hosting plan, but these are four of the most common. If you’re new to the concept of managed hosting, consider each section below carefully. If one or more holds true for you, you may want to dig deeper into this type of plan.

1. You Want to Ensure Excellent Performance and Uptime on Your Site

Performance is crucial in determining how successful your website is. Users who have a good experience on your site are more likely to come back, and they’ll enjoy their visit more if your site runs smoothly. Slow pages drive people away, and you don’t want that to happen. An intermittently live site is even worse — after all, who wants to return to a broken website?

Part of ensuring your site loads quickly (and experiences little to no downtime) is choosing a hosting plan with plenty of resources, so it can handle any level of traffic. If you opt for a non-managed plan, you’ll need to optimize your server on your own and keep an eye on its performance. If you have the technical know-how required, then you’re all set.

With a managed hosting plan, your provider will take on the responsibility of ensuring your site doesn’t go down and always offers visitors a smooth experience. Even if you could take care of this element on your own, it can be simpler (and more cost-effective) to have someone else take the reins.

2. You Don’t Have Much Experience With Web Hosting

As we alluded to above, web hosting can be a complicated business. This is doubly true if you’re planning to run a large or complex site and attract lots of daily visitors. If you’ve never run a web server before, a regular non-managed plan may leave you responsible for tasks you don’t know how to handle.

If you want to get the most out of a non-managed hosting plan, you’ll want to understand how a server works and how to customize it to your specific needs. You’ll have to know how to update it, and how to scale up its resources to handle larger amounts of traffic. There’s also routine server maintenance that has to be performed to keep everything running smoothly.

This is a lot for the average website owner to handle. So if you don’t have the experience required, opting for a managed hosting plan can be a smart alternative.

3. You Want to Start Your Site Out on Secure Footing

It’s crucial that your site is as secure as possible. You don’t want hackers getting in and messing around with your content or stealing private information about your users. Any quality hosting plan will help a lot, making sure your site’s data stays safe as it travels back and forth across the internet. Plus, there are a lot of effective tweaks you can perform on your own.

However, managed hosting usually offers additional security benefits. Your provider will be up-to-date on the latest threats and can monitor your site for suspicious activity and take immediate action if required. Your site will be updated consistently, which is important for minimizing security holes, and you’ll always have a recent backup if something does go wrong. You may even get access to special security features.

While most of these are tasks you can perform yourself, your provider has the expertise required to make sure they’re done right every time. So if security is important to you, managed hosting can be your best bet for starting off on the right foot.

4. You’re Looking for Reliable Support

Especially if you’re new to running a website, you may not know much about web hosting. Chances are you’ll have plenty of questions, and you may run into issues you don’t know how to handle (either while setting up your site or afterward). In these scenarios, you’ll want to talk to someone who can help you out.

Any quality hosting plan should come with solid support options. However, if you’re looking for the best support you can find, managed hosting is a smart choice. These plans typically offer 24/7 support. You’ll be able to communicate your needs to your provider when setting up the server in the first place and easily get assistance when you want something changed or tweaked.

Building and running a website can be complicated — so you’ll want to know that help is available whenever you need it. Managed hosting will provide you with that needed peace of mind.

Why DreamPress Is a Smart Choice for Your WordPress Site

If you do decide that managed WordPress hosting is right for you, the next thing you’ll need to do is actually pick a provider and plan. We may be biased, but we think our own DreamPress plans is an excellent choice for users of all types.

DreamPress is managed hosting specifically designed for WordPress users. It’s a scalable, customizable service that will set up and take care of hosting for your website. If you don’t have the time or experience required to customize your server and maintain it over time, we’ll take care of everything for you. We’ll ensure quality performance, monitor your site for any issues, and perform maintenance, updates, and backups.

DreamPress Plus and Advanced plans even come with Jetpack Professional, which among other things provides plenty of top-notch security features. You’ll have access to reliable support any time you need it, through multiple channels. Plus, you’ll feel secure knowing that your site is being handled by WordPress experts. All of this comes at a surprisingly affordable price with plans starting at just $16.95 per month.

If you’d like to know more about DreamPress and how managed hosting can benefit you, feel free to contact us anytime! We’d be happy to answer all of your questions.

Conclusion

There is no one type of web hosting that’s perfect for every website. However, managed hosting is an excellent option for a wide range of applications. If your plan is also WordPress-specific, such as DreamPress, you’ll be setting your site up for success from the very start.