Fundamental difference
Managed WordPress hosting usually offers more advanced features, as well and WordPress dedicated and specific support. These are the things that usually you will not find in shared WordPress hosting. Hence, pricing for managed hosting are usually more expensive, but it is worth the value for the money you are paying.
Deeper look into the key differences on managed WordPress hosting vs shared hosting
Pricing
Managed WordPress hosting is generally more expensive compared to shared hosting, in which it offers more advanced support as well as support that are more geared towards WordPress expertise.
Features
Managed WordPress hosting usually brings more WordPress-specific features to the table, such as automatic WordPress core, themes and plugins update. It will usually provide easy to use development, stage and production environments management which allow developers or owners to quickly toggle between environments for testing and deployments. While shared WordPress hosting stems from normal shared hosting that caters to generic hosting needs.
Performance
Managed WordPress hosting is tuned for WordPress websites to run and load faster. It will usually come with CDN and WordPress-specific caching out of the box (such as object caching). While shared hosting does not take into such application specific performance tuning.
Security
Managed WordPress hosting offers enhanced security in relation to WordPress ecosystem, while shared hosting can have limitations in providing WordPress specific security needs.
Scalability
Managed WordPress hosting is built to handle more traffic, and often scaling is well handled for medium to large enterprises, while normal shared WordPress hosting is for smaller websites or personal blogs that have lower traffic for the start.
Support
Managed WordPress hosting comes with specialized support on wordpress application. Whereas, shared hosting provides basic hosting support and standard hosting control panel for self-service management of your website.
Quick feature comparison for Managed WordPress Hosting
Feature
Managed WordPress Hosting
WordPress Hosting (Normal Shared Hosting)
Installation
Automatic installation
Manual installation may be needed
Pricing
More expensive
More affordable
Backup
Automatic Backups
Manual setup may be needed
Updates
Automatic updates for WordPress core, themes, and plugins
Manual updates setup may be needed
Security
Enhanced WordPress security
Basic web hosting security
Performance
Built-in speed and performance enhancements
Limited speed optimization options
Support
WordPress expertise support
General hosting support
Ease of Use
WordPress specific UX and UI geared towards uesr-friendliness
More technical and requires DIY tech skills
This table should give you a clearer overview of the key differences
Conclusion
The difference between the two types of hosting mainly comes down to the level of service and support you receive.
The hosting type of choice depends on your website’s needs and where you may see it going in the future. If you have trouble figuring out, you may look for WordPress experts or solution providers to help you out in your tough decisions on whether managed WordPress hosting fits your needs.
If you need more knowledge or related topics about WordPress, search and read up more on our website.