When you're starting out with a new, small website, it's relatively easy to find the best web hosting package that you'll need - but as you're online presence grows the website's demands will increase, and not just in terms of traffic but also in terms of resources required.
Soon you'll find yourself needing to move beyond the default configurations of a shared hosting account and need to upgrade to a VPS hosting account or even a dedicated server, in order to accommodate not just visitor volume but also additional software requirements to power your busy website.
When that happens, you'll also need to concern yourself with additional server software as well as other services such as backups, and this is on top of routine patches and updates that will also demand your attention. You are now no longer simply running a website but also a full server environment and it can be a huge time sink and distraction from your normal business activities. It's even more of a problem if you don't know how to use server software - not everybody can command line a Linux server distro, let alone code for Apache.
The best managed web hosting services of 2025 in full:
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Best overall
ScalaHosting has established itself as a top choice for managed web hosting by offering a strong mix of innovation, performance, and affordability. Their managed VPS solutions deliver 99.99% uptime and enterprise-level features at budget-friendly prices.
A key advantage of using ScalaHosting is their proprietary SPanel control panel. This user-friendly alternative to cPanel allows easy management of tasks like setting PHP versions and handling SSL certificates, all through a simple interface. Their security features are also impressive, with SShield protection blocking 99.998% of threats, along with malware scanning, DDoS protection, and automated backups.
What sets ScalaHosting apart is their focus on ease of use. They prioritize making high-quality VPS hosting accessible to businesses of all sizes. Their entry-level plans start with 2GB RAM, 50GB NVMe SSD storage, and unmetered bandwidth, delivering plenty of resources for growing websites. Their support team is available 24/7, with response times under 30 seconds for live chat and 15 minutes for tickets.
In terms of performance, ScalaHosting uses SSD storage and LiteSpeed web servers for fast speeds, with average server response times of 608ms in the US. Flexible scaling options let businesses adjust resources as needed, and features like free SSL certificates, daily backups, and a CDN show their commitment to offering complete hosting solutions.
While their pricing is higher than basic shared hosting, ScalaHosting's managed VPS plans provide excellent value through dedicated resources, advanced management tools, and reliable support.
Read our ScalaHosting review.
Best for configuration
LiquidWeb stands out as one of the most flexible managed hosting providers, offering unmatched customization alongside reliable enterprise-level support and infrastructure. It starts with your choice of control panel—cPanel, Plesk, or InterWorx—so you can work with the interface you know best.
This flexibility extends to server architecture. Whether you need VPS, dedicated, cloud, or hybrid servers, LiquidWeb lets you customize each option extensively. You can select specific CPU cores, RAM configurations, storage options, and operating systems. For developers who require more control, full root access is available without losing the benefits of managed hosting, combining freedom with expert support.
LiquidWeb also excels in technology stack customization. Users can configure advanced server tools like Redis, Memcached, and custom PHP optimizations. The platform supports multiple programming languages such as JavaScript, Java, PHP, Ruby, Python, and Perl, and integrates seamlessly with popular CMS platforms. It’s also capable of handling complex setups like clustered environments and unique architectural designs.
Their management layer ensures that security and performance remain top-notch, offering proactive monitoring, automatic updates, and advanced security features. Yet, users have the option to override these automated systems when needed. The platform is highly scalable, allowing real-time resource adjustments and custom load balancing.
Even with all this customization, LiquidWeb delivers on its promise of fully managed hosting. Their 24/7 expert support team is always available to help with complex configurations and troubleshooting, ensuring that customized setups are stable, secure, and optimized.
Read our Liquid Web review.
Best for WordPress
Most web hosts provide a basic level of WordPress setup support – a one-click installer, maybe advice on migrating your current site – but after that, you're typically left to fend for yourself.
WP Engine offers a far more comprehensive managed WordPress service that can help you with setup, updates, security, performance optimization, troubleshooting and a whole lot more.
Much of this is invisible to the end user, as a good managed service should be. There is no need to worry about WordPress updates, for instance – WP Engine handles these for you. Not blindly, simply when they're released, like many other hosts: the company tests them carefully first, to make sure they don't cause problems.
WP Engine's abilities become more apparent when you check out its customer support. The website knowledgebase is so crammed with detailed articles and in-depth webinars that it feels like a professional training course, and an expert support team is available via live chat, 24/7, to help you quickly solve any problems.
The powerful WP Engine platform adds many useful extras. A Staging area allows you to work on a copy of your site, which is perfect for testing new themes, plugins or anything else, without affecting the production site. Another major strength comes in the form of integrated performance tests allowing you to benchmark your website, offering up useful speedup tips.
As you might guess, these features and this level of power isn't cheap. Even the most basic WP Engine plan costs $27 a month ($22.5 a month for the annual plan), more than three times the price of the budget competition. But if you're looking for an optimized environment with quality tools and excellent support, this could be a price worth paying.
Read our WP Engine review.
Best affordable
Namecheap is among some of the cheapest web hosting providers on the market, offering affordable managed WordPress web hosting services. Its EasyWP plan comes with one WordPress website, easy backups and restores, all from an easy to use dashboard. We were able to keep an eye on our WordPress website with ease.
Namecheap promises 99.9% uptime (and even 100% on some dedicated plans) which high-traffic sites will appreciate more than anything. Its managed hosting also comes with SFTP and database access.
A smart choice for WordPress newbies, Namecheap's EasyWP plan add more resources and are specially optimized to deliver better WordPress speeds. Namecheapeven claims that they're at least three times faster than regular WordPress on its shared hosting account.
EasyWP Starter has 10GB storage, a free CDN (Content Delivery Network) to boost performance, and supports a single site with up to 50K visitors a month. It looks cheap at $2.08 a month on the annual plan, $2.91 on renewal, but there's no SSL, which adds at least $0.50 a month with Namecheap's most basic certificate.
The other EasyWP plans include SSL for the lifetime of the plan (not just the first year), and add more storage and resources. The top-of-the-range EasyWP Supersonic plan can manage a mammoth 500K visitors a month, but it's still good value at $4.57 a month on the annual plan, $9.07 on renewal. There's also the option for a free trial which us useful for those still shopping around for the best managed web hosting for individual needs.
Read our Namecheap review.
Best customization
While all managed hosting providers take on basic website maintenance tasks – monitoring, installing patches – InMotion Hosting can go further, working with high-powered web technologies to set up a custom solution which matches your needs.
This starts in a simple way, with InMotion Hosting's 'Launch Assist'. Included free with VPS, Reseller and Dedicated hosting plans, this gives you two to four hours to have the Managed Hosting Team do whatever you need: migrate websites, install and optimize software, configure security, automate key tasks and just about anything else you might want to do.
Day-to-day management tasks cover all the basics, including regular monitoring of your website and automatic updating of your software. InMotion still delivers more than you might expect, though, for example with a KernelCare feature which allows more updates without rebooting, avoiding costly downtime.
What's even more interesting is InMotion Hosting's ability to customize your site. How well this goes will depend on what you need, but the InMotion website talks about setting up the ConfigServer firewall and OSSec's intrusion monitor, working with NGINX, tuning your Varnish caching, speeding up PHP and more.
The price for all this depends on your hosting plan, but it might be less than you were expecting. If you choose the entry-level managed plan, you'll pay $31.99 per month (on a 3-year contract).
Read our InMotion Hosting review.
Best for ecommerce
SiteGround is a top choice for managed hosting, especially for ecommerce businesses, thanks to its powerful infrastructure and tailored optimizations. Built on Google Cloud, it offers excellent performance with an average response time of 457ms and 99.99% guaranteed uptime, keeping online stores fast and reliable.
SiteGround’s best feature for ecommerce is its specialized WooCommerce hosting. This includes WordPress, WooCommerce, and the Storefront theme pre-installed. Their SuperCacher technology, powered by NGINX, provides dynamic caching designed for ecommerce sites, improving load times and enhancing the customer experience.
Security is a priority with features like constant monitoring, a custom Web Application Firewall (WAF), and daily automated backups. Integration with Cloudflare CDN ensures fast global page loads, while an AI-powered anti-bot system helps block malicious traffic.
The platform is scalable, supporting growth without technical barriers. Cloud hosting options include auto-scaling during traffic spikes, so your store stays operational during high-demand periods. A staging environment allows you to test updates safely before applying them to your live site.
SiteGround offers 24/7 customer support with teams trained to handle ecommerce-specific issues. Their knowledge base includes detailed guides for WooCommerce optimization and troubleshooting. While PCI compliance isn't included by default, SiteGround provides the security tools needed to help meet compliance when paired with compatible payment gateways.
Read our SiteGround review.
Managed web hosting FAQs
What is managed web hosting?
Managed web hosting packages, in general, try to simplify your life by taking on many of the day to day operational tasks that come with running and maintaining a website. Automatic system monitoring enables providers to detect and fix many common problems before you've even realized anything has happened.
The support team may install and update all software for you, sometimes testing updates first to check for problems. The best hosts go even further, offering expert advice to help you fix, optimize and maintain your site.
This kind of premium support usually comes at a premium price, but if speed and reliability are top of your priority list, managed hosting could be worth the extra cost. For a more detailed look at our top five managed web hosting services, browse our list to find out what they can do.
How does managed hosting work?
Managed hosting is a service where the provider takes care of all the technical aspects of running a server. This includes setting up hardware and software, managing configurations, performing updates, applying security patches, 24/7 monitoring, backups, and troubleshooting.
While the customer still has control through an online interface, the hosting provider handles server maintenance, security, and performance optimization. Think of it like staying in a hotel - you get the space (server), and the staff (provider) manage the upkeep and support.
Is managed web hosting worth it?
For businesses that value reliability and want to focus on growth instead of technical maintenance, managed web hosting is worth it. It offers proactive monitoring, advanced security, and 24/7 expert support, which justifies the cost.
While it is more expensive than shared or unmanaged hosting, it saves internal IT costs, improves performance, enhances security, and reduces time spent on server management. Managed hosting is especially useful for businesses without in-house technical expertise or those who want to prioritize other areas of their operations.
Is managed web hosting the same as shared hosting?
No, managed hosting and shared hosting are different. Shared hosting means multiple websites share the same server to lower costs. Managed hosting refers to the level of service and support provided by the host. Managed hosting can be applied to shared, VPS, or dedicated servers, while shared hosting is strictly about how server resources are divided. In short, shared hosting is about resource allocation, while managed hosting focuses on technical support and maintenance.
What is the difference between managed and dedicated web hosting?
The difference lies in the type of service versus the type of infrastructure. Dedicated hosting gives you an entire physical server for your use, requiring technical expertise to manage. Managed hosting, on the other hand, means the provider handles all technical maintenance and support, and it can be applied to any hosting type - including dedicated servers. Imagine dedicated hosting as owning a house (the server), while managed hosting is like hiring a property manager - they can work together, but they serve different roles.
How we test and choose the best managed web hosting services
Identical to the way in which we test web hosting services, our experts sign up to each web host, test each managed web hosting package and compare the experience against each other. We look at the features on offer, how easy it is to use, add-ons such as one-click installation etc., as well as customer support, security and overall performance.
Each of these points should be the basis of your decision making process when choosing which managed web hosting service is right for you. Of course, the ultimate decision boils down to individual needs, but because managed web hosting providers ultimately do the work for you, you'll need to pick the service that will give you the most support at affordable rates.
Uptime is key, therefore we suggest you shop around for a managed web hosting provider that offers above average uptime for your site. That's what we did when creating our list of the best managed web hosting services.
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