A simplified guide explaining the differences between General shared hosting and Managed WordPress Hosting. It also highlight and explains the benefits of Managed WordPress hosting over shared hosting

2. TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION
WHAT IS SHARED AND MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING?
THE DISADVANTAGES OF SHARED HOSTING.
THE ADVANTAGES OF MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING.
DISADVANTAGES OF MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING.
CONCLUSION.

4. SHARED VS MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING
1.INTRODUCTION
• HOSTING IS AN INDISPENSABLE PART OF ANY WEBSITE. CHOOSING A PLAN THAT’S
IDEALLY SUITED TO YOUR NEEDS IS CRUCIAL TO SERVING A FAST, SECURE WEBSITE
TO YOUR VISITORS. AS SUCH, THE HOSTING PLAN YOU CHOOSE CAN OFTEN
DIRECTLY INFLUENCE YOUR WEBSITE’S EARNINGS!
• THE AIM OF THIS PRESENTATION IS TO COMPARE SHARED (SHARED HOSTING IN THIS
SENSE MEANS HOSTING A WEBSITE ON ANY GENERAL SHARED WEB SERVER) AND
MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING. PERHAPS YOU’VE COME ACROSS THESE TERMS
BEFORE, BUT AREN’T YET CLEAR ON A FEW THINGS, LIKE: WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS
OF MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING? IS IT WORTH THE ADDED COST? IS IT WORTH
SWITCHING FROM SHARED TO MANAGED? IF SO, READ ON!

5. WEB HOSTING

6. 2. WHAT IS SHARED AND MANAGED
WORDPRESS HOSTING?
• BEFORE WE GO FURTHER, LET’S HAVE A CLEAR VIEW AT THE TWO SERVICES, I.E.
SHARED HOSTING AND MANAGED HOSTING.
• SHARED (SHARED HOSTING IN THIS SENSE MEANS HOSTING A WEBSITE ON ANY
GENERAL SHARED WEB SERVER) HOSTING IS THE CHEAPEST MEANS OF HOSTING
A WEBSITE. IT CATERS TO THE MOST COMMON NEEDS OF A HUGE VARIETY OF
WEBSITES FOR A VERY LOW PRICE — WHETHER THEY’RE POWERED BY
WORDPRESS OR NOT.
• MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING, ON THE OTHER HAND, CATERS TO A VERY
SPECIFIC MARKET (MORE ON THIS BELOW) BY OFFERING BOTH HIGHLY-TUNED,
WORDPRESS-OPTIMIZED SERVERS AND A NUMBER OF ADVANCED SERVICES.
• THIS MEANS — IN ESSENCE — THAT MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING IS A
TECHNICALLY SUPERIOR FORM OF HOSTING IN ALMOST EVERY WAY.

7. 3. THE DISADVANTAGES OF SHARED HOSTING
• THERE ARE A NUMBER OF ISSUES WITH SHARED HOSTING, MOST OF WHICH STEM
FROM ITS BUSINESS MODEL. ALTHOUGH THE ACCOUNTS ARE CHEAP, THEY’RE CHEAP
BECAUSE HUNDREDS (SOMETIMES THOUSANDS) OF USERS ARE PUT ON THE SAME
SERVER. THIS LEADS TO THE SO-CALLED “BAD NEIGHBOR EFFECT”.
• THE SERVER, WHICH HOUSES HUNDREDS OF ACCOUNTS, HAS A FIXED AMOUNT OF
MEMORY. IF ONE WEBSITE EXPLOITS MORE THAN ITS FAIR SHARE OF THE AVAILABLE
MEMORY, ALL THE OTHER SITES HOUSED ON THE SAME SERVER WILL EXPERIENCE
ISSUES BECAUSE OF THIS ONE “BAD NEIGHBOR”. THIS ESSENTIALLY MEANS THAT ONE
TROUBLED WEBSITE HAS THE POTENTIAL TO CAUSE THOUSANDS OF UNRELATED
SITES TO LOAD SLOWLY, OR EVEN — IN THE WORST CASE SCENARIO — NOT AT ALL.
• ON TOP OF THAT, MEMORY ISN’T THE ONLY RESOURCE THAT GETS DIVIDED UP ON A
SHARED SERVER. BANDWIDTH, PROCESSING POWER, STORAGE… EVERYTHING HAS
TO BE SHARED BETWEEN THESE ACCOUNTS.
• IN ACTUAL FACT: WEBSITES ON SHARED HOSTING ARE NOT DEPENDABLE. WHAT’S
MORE, DUE TO BOTH RESOURCE RESTRICTIONS (REMEMBER: RESOURCES MUST BE
SHARED) AND THE FACT THAT SHARED-HOSTING ENVIRONMENTS MUST, GENERALLY
SPEAKING, BE ABLE TO RUN A LARGE VARIETY OF APPLICATIONS (I.E. NOT ONLY
WORDPRESS), THEY’RE VERY OFTEN MUCH SLOWER THAN THEIR MANAGED

9. 4. THE ADVANTAGES OF MANAGED
WORDPRESS HOSTING
• BY CHOOSING A MANAGED WORDPRESS HOST OVER A SHARED HOST, YOU’LL
NOT ONLY BE ABLE TO EFFECTIVELY SIDESTEP THE “BAD NEIGHBOR” PROBLEM
ALTOGETHER (MORE ON THIS BELOW), BUT ALSO REAP A NUMBER OF VERY
SIGNIFICANT ADDED BENEFITS, SUCH AS:

10. BLAZING FAST SPEEDS
• EVERYTHING ABOUT MANAGED HOSTING SERVERS IS
OPTIMIZED TO RUN WORDPRESS. IN CONTRAST,
SHARED HOSTS NEED TO BE ABLE TO RUN ANY KIND
OF PLATFORM/APPLICATION, SO THEY HAVE TO
FORFEIT ALL THE WORDPRESS-SPECIFIC TWEAKING
AND FINE-TUNING THAT MANAGED WORDPRESS
HOSTS ARE ABLE TO DO.
• ON MANAGED HOSTING, EVERYTHING FROM THE
HARDWARE TO THE SOFTWARE IS BUILT FOR
WORDPRESS WEBSITES. THEY’LL HAVE SERVER-LEVEL
CACHING IN PLACE AND WILL LIKELY BE RUNNING THE
MOST OPTIMAL VERSION OF PHP, MYSQL AND APACHE
— ALL OF WHICH WILL BE INDIVIDUALLY CONFIGURED
TO GIVE THE BEST PERFORMANCE POSSIBLE.
• IN SHORT, RUNNING A WEBSITE ON MANAGED
WORDPRESS HOSTING CAN OFTEN REDUCE A SITE’S
PAGE-LOAD SPEED BY SOMEWHERE IN THE REGION OF
1-2 SECONDS OR MORE! THERE’S NO DOUBT THAT
YOUR WEBSITE’S SPEED IS GOING TO BE CRITICAL TO
ITS SUCCESS. IN SHORT: THE FASTER IT IS, THE
BETTER. THIS IS IMPORTANT NOT ONLY FOR BETTER
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE, BUT ALSO BECAUSE GOOGLE
TAKES A WEBPAGE’S SPEED INTO ACCOUNT
(AMONGST A WHOLE HEAP OF OTHER FACTORS)
WHEN DETERMINING WHERE TO RANK IT IN SEARCH

11. ENHANCED SECURITY
• BASIC SECURITY SWEEPS ARE LIKELY
PERFORMED BY SHARED HOSTS TO ENSURE
THAT THEIR HUNDREDS OF USERS ON EACH
SERVER AREN’T HIT BY ALL SORTS OF THREATS.
MANAGED WP HOSTING HOWEVER, TAKES
SECURITY TO A WHOLE OTHER LEVEL.
• INCREASED SECURITY PROTOCOLS, DAILY
MALWARE SCANS AND THE ABILITY TO WARD
OFF ALL KINDS OF CYBER THREATS (SUCH AS
DDOS ATTACKS) ARE FEATURES YOU’LL FIND
PRETTY MUCH AS-STANDARD ON MOST
MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING PLANS.
• AT THE END OF THE DAY, HOWEVER — NO
MATTER HOW SECURE YOUR SERVERS ARE —
WEBSITES (ESPECIALLY POPULAR ONES) STILL
OCCASIONALLY END UP BEING ATTACKED. IF
YOUR SITE IS UNFORTUNATE ENOUGH TO GET
HACKED ON MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING,
YOU’LL ALMOST CERTAINLY BE BETTER OFF
SINCE YOUR HOSTS WILL LIKELY HAVE BOTH
MORE WORDPRESS-SPECIFIC KNOW-HOW AND
BE WILLING TO APPLY IT TO GET YOU OUT OF A
FIX THAN A GENERAL SHARED HOST (A LITTLE
BIT MORE ABOUT THIS FURTHER DOWN) WILL.

12. AUTOMATED BACKUPS
• I SIMPLY CAN’T EMPHASIZE ENOUGH HOW
IMPORTANT IT IS TO MAKE REGULAR
BACKUPS OF YOUR SITE! LUCKILY, MOST (IF
NOT ALL) MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING
PLANS INCLUDE NOT ONLY AUTOMATED
DAILY BACKUPS, BUT ALSO FEATURES THAT
LET YOU QUICKLY AND EASILY RESTORE TO
YOUR BACKUPS SHOULD YOU EVER NEED
TO.
• MANY SHARED HOSTING SERVICES DO
OFFER AUTOMATIC BACKUPS VIA CPANEL.
HOWEVER, THESE ARE ALMOST ALWAYS
STORED ON THE SAME SERVER; MEANING
THEY’RE JUST AS SUSCEPTIBLE TO DAMAGE
AS THE ORIGINAL DATA. IN ADDITION,
RESTORING TO ONE OF THESE BACKUPS IS
USUALLY NO TRIVIAL TASK.
• IN CONTRAST, MANAGED WORDPRESS
HOSTING USUALLY OFFERS ONE-CLICK
RESTORES THAT WILL BRING YOUR WHOLE

13. AUTOMATIC UPDATES
• WITH MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING, YOUR WEB SERVER WILL BE MANAGED BY
PROFESSIONALS WHOSE GOAL IS TO ENSURE THINGS ARE PERFORMING AT PEAK
EFFICIENCY. AUTOMATIC UPDATES COVER NOT ONLY EVERYTHING FROM THE
OPERATING SYSTEM ON THE SERVER TO PHP AND MYSQL ETC., BUT ALSO
WORDPRESS ITSELF!
• THIS MEANS THAT YOU WILL ALWAYS BE RUNNING THE LATEST, MOST STABLE AND
MOST SECURE VERSIONS OF JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING.
• SHARED HOSTING SOMETIMES OFFERS SOMETHING SIMILAR, BUT WITH A SLIGHT
TWIST. SHARED HOSTING OPERATORS WILL ALSO TAKE CARE OF MAINTAINING YOUR
SERVER ESSENTIALS, HOWEVER, THIS WILL BE DONE FAR LESS PROACTIVELY AND
PRIMARILY INCLUDE ONLY THE OPERATING SYSTEM, CONTROL PANEL, PHP, MYSQL
AND APACHE — AT BEST. IT WILL NOT, GENERALLY, INCLUDE WORDPRESS — WHICH
YOU WILL NEED TO MAINTAIN YOURSELF.
• IN SHORT: A SHARED HOST’S GOAL IS NOT TO KEEP YOU HAPPY. INSTEAD, IT’S TO
KEEP THE MAXIMUM NUMBER OF PEOPLE ON A SERVER HAPPY. YOUR SERVER WILL
ALWAYS BE OPTIMIZED TO RUN EVERY POSSIBLE COMBINATION OF APPLICATIONS,

14. BETTER SUPPORT
• SUPPORT PERSONNEL AT YOUR SHARED
HOST MAY BE EXTREMELY FRIENDLY, BUT
THEY’RE UNLIKELY TO BE WORDPRESS
EXPERTS.
• HAVE YOU EVER HAD ISSUES WHERE THE
STANDARD RESPONSE WAS: ‘MAKE SURE
WORDPRESS IS UPDATED AND MAKE SURE
YOU AREN’T USING BAD PLUGINS’? OR THAT
OLD CLASSIC: ‘TRY DEACTIVATING YOUR
PLUGINS ONE BY ONE TO SEE IF ONE OF
THOSE IS THE PROBLEM’?
• MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTS KNOW
EXACTLY WHAT VERSION OF WORDPRESS
YOU’RE RUNNING (SINCE THEY THEMSELVES
ARE THE ONES MAINTAINING IT) AND WHAT
PLUGINS YOU HAVE INSTALLED. THEY WILL
USUALLY BE ABLE TO HOME IN ON YOUR
PROBLEM MUCH MORE QUICKLY AND WILL,
GENERALLY SPEAKING, BE ABLE TO SOLVE

15. BETTER UPTIME & SCALABILITY
• DUE TO THE HIGHLY-TUNED NATURE OF THE SETUP, YOUR WEBSITE WILL BE ABLE TO
HANDLE A MUCH HIGHER NUMBER OF VIEWERS WITH A MANAGED WORDPRESS HOST
THAN IT WOULD BE ABLE TO WHEN RUNNING ON SHARED HOSTING — ALTHOUGH
KEEP IN MIND THAT MANY LEADING HOSTS WILL HAVE PREDEFINED LIMITS ON THE
NUMBER OF MONTHLY VISITORS YOUR SITE WILL BE ABLE TO ACCOMMODATE
BEFORE BEING SUBJECT TO ADDITIONAL CHARGES.
• IT’S WORTH MENTIONING THOUGH, THAT IN ACTUAL FACT, SOME MANAGED
WORDPRESS HOSTS DO, IN FACT, RUN THEIR SERVICES ON SHARED SERVERS — I.E.
SOME WILL ACTUALLY SHARE A PORTION OF THE SERVER’S RESOURCES WITH OTHER
USERS. HOWEVER, IF RESOURCES ARE SHARED, THEY WILL BE BOTH MUCH, MUCH
BETTER ALLOCATED BETWEEN FEWER USERS — MEANING THAT THE “BAD NEIGHBOR
EFFECT” IS USUALLY ALL BUT COMPLETELY NEGATED. IN SHORT, EVEN IF YOU
PURCHASE ONLY AN ENTRY LEVEL MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING ACCOUNT, YOU
WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY STILL RECEIVE A VASTLY SUPERIOR LEVEL OF UPTIME.
• FURTHERMORE, IF YOUR SITE DOES START TO OUTGROW THE PARTICULAR
MANAGED WORDPRESS PLAN YOU’VE CHOSEN, TECHNICIANS WILL USUALLY SOON
LET YOU KNOW THAT YOU’LL NEED TO CONSIDER UPGRADING TO A HIGHER-LEVEL
OF SERVICE.
• THE REAL BENEFIT HERE IS THAT SINCE YOUR WEBSITE IS ON A STANDARD
PLATFORM, THERE WILL BE NO MIGRATION HASSLE — UNLIKE WHEN HAVING TO

17. 5. DISADVANTAGES OF
MANAGED WORDPRESS
HOSTING
BASED ON ALL OF THE ABOVE, I’M SURE THE PROSPECT OF A
MANAGED WP ENVIRONMENT IS BEGINNING TO SOUND
PRETTY GREAT — AS INDEED IT SHOULD! HOWEVER, BEFORE
YOU DECIDE, THERE ARE SOME DOWNSIDES OF WHICH YOU
SHOULD BE AWARE.

18. A HIGHER PRICE TAG
• THERE’S NO GETTING AWAY FROM IT: MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING HAS A HIGHER PRICE TAG
THAN SHARED HOSTING. IF YOU’RE RUNNING A SERIOUS ONLINE BUSINESS/ENDEAVOR, THEN OF
COURSE THE ADDITIONAL COST WILL ALMOST CERTAINLY BE MORE THAN JUSTIFIED. IF, HOWEVER,
YOU’RE SIMPLY RUNNING A PERSONAL OR NON-PROFITABLE BLOG, THEN IT MAY BE WORTH
SACRIFICING ALL THE ABOVE-MENTIONED POTENTIAL BENEFITS AND STICKING WITH SHARED
HOSTING IN ORDER TO KEEP COSTS TO A MINIMUM INSTEAD.
• ENTRY-LEVEL MANAGED WP HOSTING PLANS TEND TO START AT AN ABSOLUTE MINIMUM OF
AROUND $30 A MONTH. THIS WILL USUALLY GET YOU A MANAGED WORDPRESS SERVER ON A
SHARED ENVIRONMENT. THE “BAD NEIGHBOR” EFFECT STILL TECHNICALLY EXISTS ON SUCH PLANS.
HOWEVER IT’S ALMOST COMPLETELY CANCELED OUT BY THE OPTIMIZATIONS PUT IN PLACE (AS
MENTIONED ABOVE).
• THE MORE EXPENSIVE MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING PLANS WILL GENERALLY ALLOW FOR
SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER LEVELS OF TRAFFIC, EVEN HIGHER LEVELS OF PERFORMANCE, AND ENTIRELY
ELIMINATE THE “BAD NEIGHBOR” PROBLEM BY RUNNING ON VIRTUAL PRIVATE SERVERS THAT SHARE
EVEN LESS RESOURCES. HOWEVER, THESE TEND TO START AT ABOUT $160-$250 A MONTH.
• IF YOU’RE UPGRADING FROM A GENERAL SHARED HOSTING PLAN, YOUR WEBSITE WILL LIKELY BE ALL
SET FOR QUITE SOME TIME WITH AN ENTRY LEVEL MANAGED WORDPRESS PLAN OF COURSE —
DON’T GO SPENDING MORE THAN YOU NEED TO BY PRE-EMPTING THE FUTURE BEFORE IT HAPPENS!
AS YOUR WEBSITE GROWS YOU CAN KEEP IN TOUCH WITH TECHNICIANS ABOUT UPGRADES — WHICH
CAN THEN BE APPLIED TO YOUR ACCOUNT AS AND WHEN THEY’RE NECESSARY.
• ON THE SURFACE, THE PRICE COMPARISON DOESN’T LOOK ALL THAT FAIR. YES, $30 A MONTH IS
MORE THAN THE $4-$5 A MONTH A SHARED HOSTING PLAN WILL COST YOU, BUT IT CONTAINS SO
MANY ADDITIONAL SERVICES — NOT TO MENTION MUCH, MUCH BETTER PERFORMANCE — THAT, IN

19. LIMITATIONS ON PLUGINS
• MANY MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING COMPANIES WILL OFTEN PUT CERTAIN
RESTRICTIONS ON USABLE THEMES AND PLUGINS. THEY MAY DISABLE SOME
PLUGINS BECAUSE THE TASK THEY PERFORM IS HANDLED ON THE SERVER LEVEL
(LIKE CACHING), OR THEY MAY DISABLE THEM FOR SECURITY REASONS, FOR
EXAMPLE.
• WHILST THIS LIMITS YOUR OPTIONS, IT’S OFTEN DONE FOR YOUR OWN BENEFIT
(AS HARD AS THAT MAY BE TO SWALLOW). ONE OF THE PLUGINS USUALLY NOT
ALLOWED ON MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING PLATFORMS, FOR EXAMPLE, IS
THE EVER-POPULAR WP TOTAL CACHE, WITH THE REASON BEING THAT
MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING SERVICES USUALLY HANDLE CACHING ON A
SERVER-LEVEL — WHICH IS ACTUALLY A FAR SUPERIOR WAY TO GO ABOUT
DOING IT!

20. INFLEXIBLE INFRASTRUCTURE
• THIS ONE ALMOST GOES WITHOUT SAYING: YOU CAN ONLY USE WORDPRESS ON
MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTS. YOU WON’T BE ABLE TO RUN OTHER SYSTEMS
SUCH AS JOOMLA, DRUPAL OR MAGENTO ON THE SAME SERVER.
• THIS IS, OF COURSE, AN ABSOLUTE DEAL-BREAKER IF YOU NEED TO RUN
SOMETHING OTHER THAN JUST WORDPRESS!

21. 6. CONCLUSION
• YOU HOPEFULLY NOW HAVE A GOOD
OVERALL UNDERSTANDING OF THE
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SHARED AND
MANAGED WORDPRESS HOSTING. IN
SHORT: IF YOU’RE RUNNING A
WORDPRESS-POWERED WEBSITE AND
HAVE $30 A MONTH TO SPARE, YOU
SHOULD ALMOST CERTAINLY MAKE THE
SWITCH TO A MANAGED WORDPRESS
HOST.
• BUT WAIT, THERE IS MORE! LET ME
INTRODUCE TO YOU A TOP-NOTCH
MANAGED WODPRESS HOSTING WITH
NO RESTRICTION ON ANY THEMES OR
PLUGINS ON YOUR SITE.
• I MEAN YOU CAN USE ANY THEME OR
PLUGIN OF YOUR CHOICE AND STILL
HAVE ALL THE BENEFITS OF MANAGED
WODPRESS HOSTING