Know the difference between Self-Hosting and Managed WordPress Hosting

WordPress is the most popular publishing platform for building all types of websites. This content management platform offers users great flexibility and can be customized to meet the needs of small as well as large scale companies. Hosting a website on WordPress is quite simple but only if users are aware of the options available and their benefits. Several types of hosting options are available with shared hosting being the most popular in India.

WordPress Hosting

Users can build a website by using WordPress.org, a self-hosted variant wherein the users can download and install the open-source software but will need to get a domain name and pay a regular fee to a hosting company for the web hosting of thier WordPress site. The benefits of this self-hosting option or your WordPress site are:

• The website and all its data are owned by you and you have the freedom to add free or paid or customized WordPress plugins to it. You have the freedom to customize your website design and add any WordPress theme.

• You can make money from your site by running ads and without sharing revenues with anyone.

• You can use tools like Google analytics for custom analytics and tracking.

The second option is to use WordPress.com that offers users the option to host their websites and blogs without ever having to pay for it. This option is suitable for hobby bloggers with limited space requirements. Users with higher space requirements need to pay for the usage of the software. In this case, all updates and backups are taken care of by WordPress.com. A major drawback of this option is the lack of freedom to use any themes or plugins in the free usage options.

Shared WordPress Hosting vs Managed WordPress Hosting

You have two options to host your WordPress website- shared hosting or managed hosting. 

Shared WordPress Hosting– The most commonly used hosting option by new businesses is shared WordPress hosting. The main feature that works in favor of this shared hosting in India is its affordability.  However, the resources available under these hosting plans are limited and shared by several other websites hosted on the same server. This can often affect the performance of your website and even put it at risk of cyber-attacks and other security threats. Since the resource and security requirements of a new website are generally low, Shared WordPress hosting works well for them. Users have the option and the flexibility to edit your website as per your requirements besides the responsibility for updating and scanning the site.

Managed WordPress Hosting– This is a concierge service wherein everything is customized to meet the WordPress requirements. Managed WordPress hosting is generally considered by growing businesses that are witnessing an uptick in their visitor traffic and so require more resources and better functioning. This type of hosting service is finetuned to work with WordPress so it ensures that the websites load faster and are more secure. In this case, the hosting company takes full responsibility for the management of the client’s website allowing them to focus on other aspects of running and growing their business. Such hosting providers take full responsibility of managing the client’s WordPress site, taking backups, monitoring the performance of your websites, regular scanning, and removal of malware.

Several hosting companies in India offer managed WordPress hosting plans that use shared infrastructure or VPS infrastructure or even dedicated infrastructure.