If you are in the market for the best managed WordPress hosting in 2018. Look no further as this article will get you all covered.
WordPress is the fastest growing CMS platform. Over 30% of all the active websites are currently using WordPress.
It is no surprise that many beginner bloggers and website owners would want to use WordPress.
Aside from being highly customizable and secure. It is also 100% free as it is open source.
A lot of top tier hosting now also offers managed WordPress hosting in 2018.
Advantages of Managed WordPress hosting.
Being in a managed WordPress hosting will let you focus on the content and marketing side of you website.
Because they will be the one that will take care of your core file updates, security, backups and boosting your site speed.
This is the main reason why websites hosted in managed WordPress hosting are super fast, secured and has almost zero downtime.
Disadvantages of Managed WordPress hosting.
They are expensive. The cheapest price in this list is $10 per month but the other prices are just off the roof. Atleast for a small blogger like me.
There are also plugins that you cannot install. Any type of plugin that they consider to be resource heavy are not allowed to be installed in their system.
Lastly, of course, you can only host WordPress. If you ever got an urge to try out other platform. You cannot host it here.
Here are the best managed WordPress hosting in 2018.
1. WP Engine
WP Engine is one of the first companies that started the managed WordPress hosting infrastructure.
This is why, currently, they are the most popular in this list.
Right now they are hosting over 80 thousand customers from over 140 countries around the world.
Their system is about speed, reliability, performance and security. Any review about their speed you could find online are mainly positive.
WP Engine had a lot of complaints about their lack of support before. So it does not come as a surprise when they finally announced that they upgraded to a support team with over 150 people on it.
WP Engine managed WordPress hosting plans:
| Startup | Growth | Scale | Custom | |
| $35/mo | $115/mo | $290/mo | Quote | |
| Sites | 1 | 5 | 15 | 25+ |
| Visits | 25K | 100K | 400K | Millions |
| Storage | 10GB | 20GB | 30GB | 100GB-1TB |
| Bandwidth | 50GB | 200GB | 400GB | 400GB-5,000GB |
All plans come with free SSL and global CDN service.
2. SiteGround
Considered as a Pseudo-Managed WordPress Hosting.
The reason why SiteGround is considered a pseudo-managed WordPress hosting is because it only offers some of the benefits of managed WordPress hosting.
In this case, SiteGround offers caching with their SuperCacher, CDN access and daily backups. This means that they offer the same performance as the fully managed WordPress hosting.
However what they gave up is security. This is completely on you. If you got hacked, you will be the one to clean it as well.
Since SiteGround is not a fully managed WordPress hosting. They are not as expensive as them.
SiteGround managed WordPress hosting plans:
| Startup | Growbig | GoGeek | |
| $3.95/mo* | $5.95/mo* | $11.95/mo* | |
| $11.95/mo | $19.95/mo | $34.95/mo | |
| Visits | 10K | 25K | 100K |
| Storage | 10GB | 20GB | 30GB |
| Bandwidth | Unli | Unli | Unli |
Prices with * means promo price.
3. Bluehost
Bluehost is one of the biggest managed WordPress hosting brands. In fact they are an officially recommended WordPress hosting provider.
It did not come as a surprise when they created their higher tier optimized WordPress hosting.
What makes Bluehost’s optimized WordPress hosting standout is the fact that it is on VPS servers. Being on a VPS means that you will be the only one using the resources assigned to you such as RAM or CPU.
Bluehost currently host over 1 million WordPress websites and has a good number WordPress experts as their support.
Bluehost managed WordPress hosting plans:
| Standard | Enhanced | Premium | Ultimate | |
| $19.99* | $29.99* | $39.99* | $49.99* | |
| $39.99 | $59.99 | $89.99 | $129.99 | |
| Visits | 100M | 300M | 600M | Unlimited |
| Storage SSD | 30GB | 60GB | 120GB | 240GB |
| Backup | 30GB | 60GB | 120GB | 240GB |
| RAM | 2GB | 4GB | 8GB | 8GB |
The prices with * means promo price. All plans include a free domain and SSL.
4. Kinsta
Kinsta used to be solely for top tier customers because of their steep pricing. Even at their most entry level plan.
Luckily though, earlier this year, they finally offered lower price options. Which even entry level companies can afford.
The main selling point of Kinsta is that they are powered by the Google Cloud Platform.
What it basically means is you can strategically place your server close to your target audience. The closer your server is to your audience, the faster your website will load on their browser.
Currently Google Cloud Platform has 17 data centers for you to choose from.
As for customer supports, apparently they are one of the fastest to respond in the market. Sometimes within just minutes.
Kinsta managed WordPress hosting plans for small companies:
| Starter | Pro | |
| Price | $30/mo | $60/mo |
| WP Installs | 1 | 2 |
| Visits | 20K | 40K |
| Disk Space | 3GB SSD | 6GB SSD |
Kinsta managed WordPress hosting plans for business:
| Business 1 | Business 2 | Business 3 | Business 4 | |
| Price | $100/mo | $200/mo | $300/mo | $400/mo |
| WP Installs | 3 | 10 | 20 | 40 |
| Visits | 100K | 250K | 400K | 600K |
| Disk Space | 10GB SSD | 20GB SSD | 30GB SSD | 40GB SSD |
Kinsta managed WordPress hosting plan for enterprise:
| Enterprise 1 | Enterprise 2 | |
| Price | $600/mo | $900/mo |
| WP Installs | 60 | 80 |
| Visits | 1M | 1.5M |
| Disk Space | 80GB SSD | 120GB SSD |
All plans includes free SSL and CDN. They are partnered with KeyCDN which is a top performing CDN service provider.
5. Pagely
This list will not be complete without the inclusion of the first ever managed WordPress hosting platform — Pagely.
Pagely also utilizes a premium cloud service similar to Kinsta. What makes Pagely better though is they chose the world leader in cloud computing service — AWS.
The Pagely managed WordPress hosting is currently being powered by AWS. This, again, means that you can choose which data center of AWS you want to host your website on.
The general idea is for you to place your website on a data center close to your target audience.
In addition to that you will also have access to their premium DNS, CDN, image optimization tools, security, caching and more.
Some of the notable clients of Pagely are Time Inc., VISA, Disney, Garmin, eBay, Univision, Columbia University, PetSmart and so on.
Pagely managed WordPress hosting plans:
| VBurst 2 | VPS 1 | VPS 2 | |
| $299/mo | $499/mo | $999/m | |
| Sites | 15 | 35 | 60 |
| Visits | Unli | Unli | Unli |
| Storage SSD | 30GB | 50GB | 50GB |
| Bandwidth | 50GB | 200GB | 300GB |
| PressCDN | 350GB | 1TB | 2TB |
Pagely managed WordPress hosting high availability plans:
| VPS 1 HA | VPS 2 HA | |
| $1249/mo | $2249/mo | |
| Sites | 30 | 60 |
| Visits | Unli | Unli |
| Storage SSD | 50GB | 50GB |
| Bandwidth | 500GB | 750GB |
| PressCDN | 3TB | 5TB |
All plans comes with 1 day setup time and SSL Let’s Encrypt.
6. Flywheel
Flywheel is one of the new ones to enter the managed WordPress hosting. But boy did they make a name for themselves!
They attained this by introducing new features that even the veteran managed WordPress hosting are now copying.
Basically what makes Flywheel standout from the rest is that they introduced the easy to use freelancer and reseller tools.
For the freelancer, it is free for them to create a staging site and develop them. After the site is complete the freelancer can easily transfer the billing and the site to the client.
They also have this feature called Blueprint.
Basically if you are a freelancer who keeps developing your site from a certain theme and set of plugins. You can save it as a Blueprint. So every time you start a new site you can keep re-using that Blueprint.
As for the reseller, you can apply to become an agency partner.
And since they are managed WordPress hosting, this means that the sites are always secured. So you can focus on other concerns that your customer will have.
If you do not know the answer to one of your customers concern. You can ask their support to help you.
Lastly, if you get accepted as an agency partner. They will host your site for free.
Flywheel managed WordPress hosting plans for single site:
| Tiny | Personal | Professional | |
| $15/mo | $30/mo | $75/mo | |
| Visits | 5K | 25K | 100K |
| Storage | 5GB | 10GB | 20GB |
| Bandwidth | 250GB | 500GB | 1TB |
Flywheel managed WordPress hosting plans for multiple sites:
| Freelance | Agency | Custom | |
| $100/mo | $250/mo | Quote | |
| Visits | 150K | 600K | Millions |
| Storage | 40GB | 120GB | Custom |
| Bandwidth | 4TB | 8TB | Custom |
They can also support Enterprise websites. You will just need to contact them directly for a quote.
7. Pantheon
Pantheon considers themselves as a direct competitor to WP Engine. Thus providing you an eye-to-eye comparison table between them on their website.
They used to be a Drupal focused hosting but finally reached out to also offer managed WordPress hosting a while back.
Pantheon is also another managed WordPress hosting that is powered by Google Cloud Platform.
Online reviews about their speed, performance and reliability has always been positive.
Some of their top tier clients are Patagonia, Stitch Fix, Weill Cornell Medicine, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, SendGrid, DataStax, Digiday and more.
What makes Pantheon attractive though is how developer friendly they are.
They provide professional developers with advanced tools, multiple development environments, command line tools and webhooks.
The developer can then deploy and test their new codes on a staging area before making it live.
Pantheon managed WordPress hosting basic plans:
| Basic | |
| Price | $50/mo |
| Visits | 25K |
| Storage SSD | 20GB |
| Domains | 5 |
Pantheon managed WordPress hosting performance plans:
| Small | Medium | Large | Extra Large | |
| Price | $175/mo | $300/mo | $600/mo | $1000/mo |
| Visits | 25K | 50K | 150K | 300K |
| Storage SSD | 30GB | 50GB | 100GB | 200GB |
| Domains | 10 | 15 | 35 | 70 |
You can also request for and Elite plan. You will need to contact them directly to ask for a quote.
8. DreamHost
DreamHost is a veteran managed WordPress hosting that has been around for over a decade.
They offer a managed WordPress hosting which they call DreamPress.
DreamHost is also an officially recommended managed WordPress hosting so you cannot go wrong with them.
They offer everything you would want from a premium managed WordPress hosting provider. From fast SSDs, web application firewall, server level caching, multiple way to access your server etc.
Online reviews of DreamHost are also mainly positive and I think this is just due to their over a decade old experience as a large scale hosting.
DreamHost managed WordPress hosting plans:
| DreamPress | DreamPress Plus | DreamPress Pro | |
| $19.95/mo | $29.95/mo | $79.95/mo | |
| Domains | 1 | 1 | 1 + Staging |
| Visits | 10K | 30K | 100K |
| Storage SSD | 30GB | 60GB | 120GB |
All plans comes with free SSL, Jetpack Professional and priority support.
9. Liquid Web
Liquid Web is another premium managed WordPress hosting focused on large companies.
I say this because at the time of writing their most entry level plan is at $99 per month. Which is a pretty steep price compared to the entry plan of others in this list.
The thing is, Kinsta used to be like this. So maybe in the future they would offer a more affordable plan as well.
What makes Liquid Web standout from the rest in this list is their no page view limit. So you can have unlimited page views.
They also don’t charge overage fees.
Online reviews about Liquid Web is also mainly positive. There are also customers from other managed WordPress hosting from this list voicing out that Liquid Web is just better overall.
Liquid Web managed WordPress hosting plans:
| Professional | Business | Agency | |
| $99/mo | $149/mo | $289/mo | |
| Sites | 10 | 25 | 50 |
| Storage SSD | 50GB | 100GB | 200GB |
| Bandwidth | 5TB | 5TB | 5TB |
All plans comes with free SSL and iThemes Sync.
10. Cloudways
Cloudways, as its name implies, is a cloud-based managed WordPress hosting.
What makes Cloudways special is that they are partnered with the top performing cloud computing services out there.
This list includes DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS and Google Cloud Platform.
This is why they currently have 62 data centers in 15 countries. Which means you can strategically place your website in any of those data centers.
When you signup to Cloudways, you will be able to choose which cloud computing service you want to use. Any of which is blazing fast.
Just remember to take into account the location of the data centers. There is a ‘View Data Centers’ link under their respective logo.
The online reviews about Cloudways’s performance, reliability and speed are all positive. It does not come as a surprise though knowing their infrastructure.
Cloudways managed WordPress hosting plans:
DigitalOcean Plans
| Plan 1 | Plan 2 | Plan 3 | Plan 4 | |
| $10/mo | $22/mo | $42/mo | $80/mo | |
| RAM | 1GB | 2GB | 4GB | 8GB |
| CPU | 1 Core | 1 Core | 2 Core | 4 Core |
| Storage | 25GB | 50GB | 80GB | 160GB |
| Bandwidth | 1TB | 2TB | 4TB | 5TB |
Linode Plans
| Plan 1 | Plan 2 | Plan 3 | Plan 4 | |
| $12/mo | $24/mo | $50/mo | $90/mo | |
| RAM | 1GB | 2GB | 4GB | 8GB |
| CPU | 1 Core | 1 Core | 2 Core | 4 Core |
| Storage | 20GB | 30GB | 48GB | 96GB |
| Bandwidth | 1TB | 2TB | 3TB | 4TB |
Vultr Plans
| Plan 1 | Plan 2 | Plan 3 | Plan 4 | |
| $11/mo | $23/mo | $44/mo | $84/mo | |
| RAM | 1GB | 2GB | 4GB | 8GB |
| CPU | 1 Core | 1 Core | 2 Core | 4 Core |
| Storage | 25GB | 40GB | 60GB | 100GB |
| Bandwidth | 1TB | 2TB | 3TB | 4TB |
AWS Plans
| Plan 1 | Plan 2 | Plan 3 | Plan 4 | |
| $85.17/mo | $34.91/mo | $174.66/mo | $272.73/mo | |
| RAM | 3.75GB | 1.75GB | 8GB | 16GB |
| vCPU | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Storage | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB | 4GB |
| Bandwidth | 2GB | 2GB | 2GB | 2GB |
Google Cloud Plans
| Plan 1 | Plan 2 | Plan 3 | Plan 4 | |
| $73.62/mo | $33.30/mo | $138.64/mo | $226.05/mo | |
| RAM | 3.75GB | 1.70GB | 7.5GB | 15GB |
| vCPU | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Storage | 20GB | 20GB | 20GB | 20GB |
| Bandwidth | 2GB | 2GB | 2GB | 2GB |
All plans include free SSL, free migration, unlimited app installation and 24/7 support.
Special Mention
I know that I am a small blogger and chances of a very high profile visitor coming to my blog is very low.
But just in case, if you are a very high profile person. And you are looking for a really high profile managed WordPress hosting. Then you might want to look up WordPress.com VIP.
They don’t provide a public pricing so you will need to contact them directly to ask for a quote.
The prices you see here are nothing compared to their premium pricing. Currently, their minimum pricing are said to be around $5,000 per month.
Conclusion
This is my third day working on this article now. I needed to remove 3 candidates after finding too many negative reviews about them.
Honestly, at this moment, I am not done yet because I need to go back in the top 2 to convert their pricing into table.
All the managed WordPress hosting above are handpicked and I highly recommend any of them.
Just choose the one within your budget as boy are they all pricey.
If you need to put your website server close to your target audience. Choose between Kinsta, Pagely and Cloudways as they offer you to choose which data center to put your server on.
The best thing about managed WordPress hosting for me is the security they offer. There are so many elite hackers out there now and WordPress is one of their favorite platform to attack.
Caching, image compression and CDN, there are plugins and tools you can use for those. But security, it is a whole different ball game. There is always a vulnerability to be discovered.