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Kinsta is the best managed host for WordPress based on our testing. See our other top picks for the best managed WordPress Hosts.
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For new WordPress sites
Starts at $2.95 per month
- Guided onboarding
- Recommended by WordPress
- 24/7 support
Best security and scalability
Starts at $3.75 per month
- All types of hosting
- Enhanced security tools
- Affordable as you grow
The easiest option
Starts at $2.75 per month
- Great for absolute beginners
- Drag-and-drop website builder
- 150+ free templates
Best Managed WordPress Hosting: Our Shortlist
Sometimes, it’s nice to let someone else do the tedious, back-end work of running a website. That’s where managed plans come in. This does tend to cost a bit more than your run-of-the-mill WordPress host, but it comes with perks like automatic updates, daily backups, and enhanced security features.
Whether starting a site from scratch or migrating an existing site to a new hosting company, you may want to look into a managed WordPress plan. We tested leading web hosting companies based on cost, speed, reliability, and features to help you choose a managed WordPress hosting provider that will meet your needs.
Our Top Picks
Best Managed WordPress Host
Best Uptime Guarantee For a Managed WordPress Host
Best Security For a Managed WordPress Host
Best Load Speeds of Managed WordPress Hosts
Best Managed WordPress Host For Nightly Backups
Best Yearly Rate For a Managed WordPress Host
Digital.com dives deep into every topic it covers to offer trusted and reliable recommendations for the best business tools. See how we review managed WordPress hosts.
The Top Managed WordPress Hosting Services of 2023
Features
- 25,000 visits
- 10GB of storage
- 14 days backup retention
#1 Top Pick for 2023
Kinsta is our top pick for its fantastic support, extremely fast response times, and robust infrastructure.
Price
$35 per month
Free SSL
Yes
24-7 Support
Yes
Free Domain
No
Read More
Reasons to choose Kinsta
- Extremely fast response and load times
- Fantastic support
- High premium on security
- Robust infrastructure
Reasons to avoid
- No domain hosting
- Not the cheapest
Kinsta is one of the world’s most trustworthy hosting providers, powered exclusively by the Google Cloud Platform. It provides superb WordPress, database, and app hosting options, all with frighteningly fast speeds and supported by first-rate customer service.
While many will balk at the monthly rate and move on, Kinsta stakes its reputation on its excellent customer service department which promises a reply in less than two minutes. And what kind of reviewer would I be if I didn’t put that to the test? Kinsta delivered — I was connected with a human through live chat in under a minute each time I had a question.
Support channels are available 24/7 and include phone and online meetings for sales queries, an email, and a rapid live chat feature for ongoing support. One significant advantage of Kinsta’s customer support is its availability, even if you’re just shopping around.
Furthermore, after I registered an account and sought assistance, I noticed the same agent was assigned to my case when I requested support in the same technical area multiple times. This was tremendously helpful since it saved me from continually repeating the basic details of my case.
On paper, Kinsta doesn’t offer more bells and whistles than any other host. But in practice, it was miles ahead of any other WordPress host when actually helping me get my website up and running.
- Who is Kinsta best for?
I believe small businesses could benefit from the features and reliability Kinsta offers its clients. Kinsta is also a good choice for website owners and businesses that value speed and security, as well as developers, database administrators, and digital entrepreneurs. - Recent upgrades to Kinsta
Kinsta’s team is constantly updating and improving services. It has recently added a new data center in Tel Aviv, Israel, bringing Kinsta’s total data centers to 35 globally. A new site preview tool has also been rolled out. - Kinsta managed WordPress hosting pricing
As one of the pricier options on this list, Kinsta has to do a lot to justify its starting price of $35 per month. While this may seem too steep for features available through other similar services at a much lower cost, a lot of what you’re paying for with Kinsta is the customer support experience.
The Bottom Line
Almost all Kinsta customers agree that Kinsta’s user support is second to none. However, some users feel that the high price tag was unjustified after experiencing website downtime and other technical issues.
Features
- 30GB SSD storage
- WP website builder
- On-demand backups and 1-click restore
Price
$16.95 per month
Free SSL
Yes
24-7 Support
Yes
Free Domain
Yes
Read More
Reasons to choose DreamHost
- Excellent privacy
- 97-day money-back guarantee
- 100% uptime guarantee
- Eco-hosting
Reasons to avoid
- Extra costs for certain features
- You may pay for some levels of support
DreamHost supports over 1.5 million sites and 750,000 WordPress installations — its longevity, experience, and reliability make it a great choice if you’re a novice in web hosting. No matter the size of your business, you can easily create and manage all kinds of websites on WordPress.
DreamHost offers customers managed WordPress hosting packages which offer fast, secure, and high-performance solutions to help you configure and optimize your WordPress site. It’s been in business for a long time and has a great track record for reliability.
It also stands out with its 100% uptime guarantee. If that sounds too good to be true, you’re not wrong to be leery — in testing, I found that DreamHost’s servers averaged an uptime of 99.8% last year. It’s not unusual for a provider’s uptime guarantee to be a little inflated. However, DreamHost actively backs up its commitment by offering customers compensation for downtime — one day’s worth of fees for every hour of downtime.
DreamHost also has a great money-back guarantee — shared hosting customers have 97 days to figure out if this is the service for them.
- Who is DreamHost best for?
I think that DreamHost is an ideal choice for everyone from small businesses to large e-commerce websites. The hosting plans could fit the needs of personal website builders. It’s particularly good if you are just starting with shared hosting, as you’ll have a full 97-day money-back guarantee. - Recent upgrades to DreamHost
DreamHost continuously works on updates and upgrades on all the services it offers. Many changes were made to the websites section of DreamHost, including a new tech stack, the ability to change domains, WordPress Migrations feature, and Domain Name System (DNS) Propagation Check to check DNS status. DreamHost also revamped its user interface (UI) and redesigned the control panel. - DreamHost managed WordPress hosting pricing
DreamHost’s lowest-priced managed WordPress plan is called “DreamPress.” It offers a managed WordPress hosting experience for $19.95 per month.
The Bottom Line
Customers find DreamHost to be a reliable and affordable WordPress hosting provider. They particularly like that it has a wide range of plans and features and that customer support is actually responsive. However, some customers report that their billing support agents can be frustrating to work with, and their webmail service could use some improvement.
Features
- 15GB (gigabyte) storage
- Two TB (terabyte) bandwidth
- Free SSL, email, backups, & CDN
Price
$19 per month
Free SSL
Yes
24-7 Support
Yes
Free Domain
No
Read More
Reasons to choose Nexcess
- Lots of plan options for hosting
- Liquid Web family of brands
- Free white-glove migration services
- Built-in CDN
Reasons to avoid
- Higher prices versus competitors
- Domain isn’t included
Managed WordPress hosting is one of Nexcess’s flagship offerings. Each of its plans comes with value-added features (such as extra security and included automatic backup) that help Nexcess stand out from its competitors. These features help ensure a fast, secure, and reliable site no matter which you choose or how you configure it.
Nexcess is part of a group of brands known as Liquid Web, known for excellent support and dedicated hosting, as well as StellarWP which makes premium WordPress plug-ins. It specializes in managed hosting services. Rather than purchasing or renting access to a server (like you would for a “standard” virtual private server (VPS) or dedicated hosting), Nexcess handles this.
One of the few downsides of Nexcess is you can’t count on an introductory rate. When we did the review of its hosting service, the lowest-priced plan was the standard monthly rate of $19. Just a few weeks later, while making this list, I found that Necess was now offering a $7.60 per month introductory rate for the first three months. Even without this discount though, Nexcess is one of the cheaper options on this list, making it an excellent value.
There are many plans available through Nexcess, so scaling should be as easy as moving up the next tier if your website takes off. At the time of writing, there were eight managed WordPress plans available, more than any other service on this list by a wide margin.
- Who is Nexcess best for?
Thanks to its wide array of plan options, Nexcess is a great choice for small businesses that hope to scale up incrementally or those wanting to run a website or storefront without the hassle of managing servers. - Recent upgrades to Nexcess
The team at Nexcess is constantly working to make its platform more stable, useful, and intuitive. Its most recent addition is called Enterprise on Cloud, which allows users to deploy faster, increase checkout speeds, and extend fault tolerance. - Nexcess managed WordPress hosting pricing
There are too many plans to list them all, but the introductory “Spark” plan gives users 15GB of storage, 2TB of bandwidth, and one website for $19 a month. At the far end of this scale is the “Enterprise” plan, which includes 800GB of storage, 10TB of bandwidth, and can handle up to 250 websites.
The Bottom Line
Customers give Nexcess high marks for easy website migration and a customer service experience. However, other customers seem to have had trouble with the support team and report their issues not being solved consistently.
Features
- 1 website
- 10GB storage
- 50GB bandwidth
Price
$24 per month
Free SSL
Yes
24-7 Support
Yes
Free Domain
Yes
Read More
Reasons to choose WP Engine
- 60-day money-back guarantee
- Excellent loading speeds
- Effective staging environment
- Consistent and reliable performance
Reasons to avoid
- No email hosting
- Premium pricing
WP Engine offers exceptional uptime, security updates, cloud platform flexibility, one-click restore points, automatic caching, daily backups, and other premium features. But speed is where it really sets itself apart, with an average load time of only 1950ms.
One of the most important aspects of a hosting company is how fast its servers respond to site requests since this directly impacts how quickly your site loads for visitors. Dozens of factors influence the speed at which servers respond so finding a host that has consistently fast response times is important.
We found that WP Engine has a site loading time constantly under 2000ms, which is excellent. This is made possible not just by its quality servers and backend configuration, but also because it offers a CDN to all its customers for added speed and reliability.
WP Engine also offers site staging. This allows you to create a duplicate version of your website which you can make changes to — tweaking the layout, trying new themes and plug-ins, and identifying any potential errors before your site goes live.
Add to all of this daily backups, premium tools, and free migration and you have a hosting option that gives you a lot of bang for your buck.
- Who is WP Engine best for?
After extensive testing and a review of everything WP Engine has to offer, I found it capable of offering fast load speeds for individuals, small businesses, bloggers, and others who need may need to speed up the load times of their sites. - Recent upgrades to WP Engine
WP Engine has recently introduced an optimized e-commerce hosting plan with features like Gutenberg blocks and ElasticPress. It has also upgraded the user experience (UX) for ease of use and made improvements to its smart plug-in manager. - WP Engine managed WordPress hosting pricing
WP Engine is far from the cheapest option on the block, but it’s still a great value for a managed WordPress service at $24 per month. The plans only get higher from there, with an upper tier that caters to enterprise-level businesses starting at $600 per month.
The Bottom Line
WP Engine works well for small businesses with WordPress websites, offering fast loading speeds and a secure environment. But this is not the best choice for larger sites or people seeking consistently good customer support, and the company is pricey.
Features
- Free malware cleanup
- Automatic nightly backups
- 14-day demo site
Price
$15 per month
Free SSL
Yes
24-7 Support
Yes
Free Domain
Yes
Read More
Reasons to choose Flywheel
- Daily backups
- Secure Shell (SSH) access with universal Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)
- CDN included
Reasons to avoid
- Limited WordPress migration
- Less server for your dollar vs. the competition
- Limited phone-based support
Flywheel is a hosting service with solid performance, great features, and easy integration of WordPress. Its more traditional hosting plans leave a bit to be desired, yet the managed WordPress plan is a steal at only $15 a month.
Each of Flywheel’s hosting plans provides a bevy of valuable add-ons, including global availability from five data centers, custom WordPress caching technology, and automatic plug-in security alerts. Yet what stands out the most is its nightly backups. Most hosting services will do regular backups, but daily ones are usually reserved for higher subscription tiers. But Flywheel offers this service at no extra cost at all hosting tiers.
Site response time is also a highlight with Flywheel. When testing my site, I got some of the fastest time-to-first-byte (TTFB) times I’ve seen among hosting providers. This is probably due to a combination of the Fastly CDN sitting in front of your site and Flywheel’s own FlyCache, a custom WordPress caching engine that integrates with the CDN to, in Flywheel’s own words, “make WordPress sites fly.” I suspect that’s why I was getting such fast TTFB times.
Flywheel has many more value-added features that all deserve a small mention, but there are too many to list here. It’s a service well worth looking into.
- Who is Flywheel best for?
After some extensive testing, I think that Flywheel is best for a small to midsize business (SMB) or an individual that needs a WordPress site; plans range from one to 30 sites total and include increasing bandwidth, storage, and a maximum number of sites. - Recent upgrades to Flywhel
Flywheel has recently begun working closer with WP Engine to collaborate on adding WordPress themes. The company has also continued to streamline site migrations and improved its cloud processing power to keep sites loading as quickly as possible. - Flywheel managed WordPress hosting pricing
Flywheel offers a few different hosting plans, but the managed WordPress plans start at $15 a month for a one-site plan and up to $290 per month for the “Agency” plan which gives you up to 30 sites and 10 times the storage.
The Bottom Line
Flywheel is known as a fast, reliable WordPress hosting provider with great customer support. It is easy to get started, too. But there are changes to the pricing, which some find confusing.
Features
- 10GB SSD storage
- 50k visitors per month
- Free CDN and SSL
Price
$34.88 per month
Free SSL
Yes
24-7 Support
Yes
Free Domain
Yes
Read More
Reasons to choose Namecheap
- No hidden costs
- Popular, established company
- Diverse hosting options
Reasons to avoid
- Delayed customer support responses
- Data centers only in the U.S.
Namecheap is an affordable option for web hosting, balancing price and functionality. If you need a good hosting company for your WordPress project at an excellent price, Namecheap is a great option.
While Namecheap offers a lot of low priced hosting packages, managed WordPress hosting starts at just $34.88 per year. Most hosting providers advertise their rates as monthly, but this is usually a marketing tactic — often, you’ll have to pay upfront for a year’s worth of service regardless of the advertised “monthly” rate. So you may see $34.88 and immediately assume that’s the monthly rate. But that’s the cost for an entire year’s worth of service. If Namecheap advertised the same way that most do, this would be an unbeatable $2.91 per month.
I won’t claim that Namecheap is the best service around — customer support can be a little spotty, uptimes can be more inconsistent than most, and data centers are limited to the U.S., U.K., and the Netherlands. But you may be willing to put up with these cons to save hundreds of dollars per year. I also appreciated Namecheap’s extremely clear pricing. It doesn’t try to upsell you or hit you with hidden charges, a common tactic in the hosting industry.
If you’re just looking to get your WordPress site up for as little as possible, you’re not going to find a better deal than Namecheap.
- Who is Namecheap best for?
Those who need WordPress hosting at the best available rate — small businesses, individuals, and artists will likely find that Namecheap gives them precisely what they need. - Recent upgrades to Namecheap
Namecheap has made recent improvements to its cPanel to make changing and customizing your website as easy as possible. - Namecheap managed WordPress hosting pricing
Namecheap’s managed WordPress plans start at $34.88 per year, the lowest rate for a managed WordPress plan we could find. Managed plans scale up from this point, adding both bandwidth and storage space for your growing website.
The Bottom Line
Namecheap is a good hosting provider for low-budget businesses that don’t want high prices. It’s simple to use and has reliable and helpful support. While the speeds are fast, the loading time could improve.
Compare Managed WordPress Hosting
Managed WordPress Host
Best Features
Pricing
Best Managed WordPress Host
- 25,000 visits
- 10GB of storage
- 14 days backup retention
$35 per month
Best Uptime Guarantee
- 30GB SSD storage
- WP website builder
- On-demand backups and 1-click restore
$16.95 per month
Best Security For Managed WordPress Hosting
- 15GB (gigabyte) storage
- Two TB (terabyte) bandwidth
- Free SSL, email, backups, and CDN
$19 per month
Best Load Speeds For Managed WordPress Hosts
- 1 website
- 10GB storage
- 50GB bandwidth
$24 per month
Best Managed WordPress Host For Nighly Backups
- Free malware cleanup
- Automatic nightly backups
- 14-day demo site
$15 per month
Best Yearly Rates for Managed WordPress
- 10 GB SSD storage
- 50k visitors per month
- Free CDN
$34.88 per month
What You Need to Know
Is managed WordPress hosting worth it?
Your mileage may vary, but for most websites, managed WordPress hosting is worth it. With managed WordPress hosting, you’ll get automatic updates and optimization so your site runs smoothly on WordPress. It cuts out a lot of the busywork that can come with running a website on your own.
What’s the difference between managed and shared WordPress hosting?
Shared WordPress hosting splits a server between multiple websites and thus is generally more affordable. Think of it as an apartment building — multiple families sharing a single location. Managed WordPress hosting providers handle the updates and site optimization for you but are also hosted on a dedicated server. In the prior analogy, this is a house — a single-family building with a single address.
Who can benefit from managed WordPress hosting?
If your WordPress site sees less than a few thousand visitors per month and isn’t generating any income, then shared hosting is probably completely adequate for your needs.
However, highly-traffic websites that generate sizable revenue will benefit from managed WordPress hosting as it offers an upgraded network, easy maintenance and security features, and premium support.
Do I need my domain and WordPress hosting from the same provider?
No, you can use one of the WordPress hosting providers on this list and get your domain from any domain name registrar. However, getting both services from the same provider is better if you have yet to buy your domain name.
Do these WordPress hosting companies offer website backups?
Yes, all WordPress hosting providers maintain backups of your website, though backup schedules can vary. I would suggest installing a WordPress backup plug-in and keeping your local backup files for better security.
How We Review Managed WordPress Hosting
I rated web hosts on specific plans and prices, what features are offered, the performance of a hosting company, what type of security is included, and whether the hosting provider is engaging in ongoing improvements.
I signed up for a plan with each provider to test:
I uploaded a basic static site to my web space, including HTML and CSS files and images, and configured Uptime.com to check my site’s availability and server response time at five-minute intervals. This test gave me a general indication of the speed and uptime you will likely experience when you decide on the best web hosting provider for you.
Learn more about our review methodology.