A few factors you should consider when you’re choosing a hosting solution for your website are security, uptime rates and reliability, bandwidth and data transfer, and storage and RAM.
Another key thing to consider is the management of your site. If you want to assign the management of your website to a third party, you might want to consider managed hosting.
Managed hosting providers will manage backups, software, and other important tasks.
What Is A Hosting Plan?
Web hosting companies specialize in serving and storing sites. They offer different kinds of hosting plans to their customers.
Web hosting makes the files that constitute a site (images, code, etc.) available for viewing online. Web hosting is essentially buying or renting a space for a website on the Internet.
What Is Unmanaged Hosting?
Unmanaged hosting is a hosting plan with very few or no additional services. For instance, with unmanaged hosting, you might simply get a server with an installed operating system.
The hosting company doesn’t execute any management tasks or services on your server.
What Is Managed Hosting?

With managed servers, your web host sets up the server and installs the required software. The provider also carries out regular maintenance work, like keeping the server up and running and ensuring that the latest security patches are applied.
Make sure you read more about managed hosting on our blog!
Key Differences Between Managed and Unmanaged Hosting

Managed and unmanaged hosting plans both have their own perks. It is important to compare them and sum up their key differences in order for you to determine which one better suits your needs.
1. Server Management
With unmanaged hosting, all of the server management is left for you. You’ll have to coordinate and schedule backups and update plugins when needed.
2. Installations of Popular Software
If you’re running a WordPress site, you should consider using managed hosting. This way, you won’t have to deal with generic support with limited knowledge of WordPress.
3. cPanel
Managed hosting, unlike unmanaged hosting, provides you with a pre-built control panel where you can set up specific things like viewing performance statistics, accessing logs, DNS records, and so on.
4. Security
Managed websites are more secure since the managed hosting provider regularly takes care of security patches, vulnerability scans, and any potential threats.
5. Hardware Maintenance
With unmanaged hosting, you set up the tools on your own, install the control panel and OS and maintain the tools as well as the network. If there are server loads on dedicated plans, we can analyze for scripts.
6. Support
With managed hosting, you will have 24/7 support. The quality of customer support you’ll receive with a managed hosting doesn’t compare to the one you’ll get from an unmanaged host.
7. Level of Control
Like we mentioned, with unmanaged hosting, the maintenance of the website is on you. While this provides you with more control over your website, it also gives you more responsibility.
8. Price
Managed hosting is more expensive since it comes with a lot more resources. With unmanaged hosting, the host is doing less work, so it makes sense that it’s cheaper.
Managed Vs. Unmanaged: How to Choose

Hopefully, the differences between unmanaged and managed to host are clear by now. To determine which type of hosting plan is for you, you have to assess the needs of your site. To decide between managed and unmanaged hosting, consider the following things:

Establish Your Skills
If you have some extra money and you’ve never built a website in your life, managed hosting would be a great choice.

Determine Your Budget
Managed hosting is a great investment (especially as your company expands) if you have a bigger budget that you can use.

Decide What You’re Comfortable With
A heavy role in your decision-making is going to be what you feel comfortable with doing on your own and being responsible for.
Summary
Understanding the differences between managed and unmanaged hosting will provide you with the needed knowledge for you to pick the best solution for your website. Both of the hosting plans have their own perks and setbacks, so it’s important to expand your knowledge on this subject.
Managed hosting may be more expensive than unmanaged hosting, but it’s a great investment since it adds value through automated backups, better support, and stronger security.
If your budget is tight, opt-out for unmanaged hosting. However, be prepared that this type of hosting will require some technical knowledge in order to set up and maintain your website.
Frequently Asked Questions
How to decide which type of hosting plan suits your site best?
To decide which type of hosting plan will suit your site best, you will need to determine how much support you’re going to need with setting up and maintaining your website.
Do I need managed hosting?
If you’re just starting a blog and you’re a beginner, you don’t need managed hosting. You can start out with unmanaged hosting, which is way more affordable, and then work your way up to managed hosting as you expand.
Why is unmanaged hosting cheaper?
Since with unmanaged hosting, there is no routine support – i.e., no management of your website, it is cheaper than managed hosting.
Who is unmanaged hosting best suited for?
In general, unmanaged hosting is for companies who have the experience and knowledge that is required to set up and run a server or who have enough IT staff to take care of it.

Bruno Mirchevski is a web hosting services expert. He has spent years researching the niche, exploring the most diverse aspects of Shared, VPS, WordPress, Cloud Hosting, Dedicated Servers, Resellers, etc. With his extensive knowledge and experience, he can grant you meaningful insights on our blog, whether you are a beginner or a hosting pro.
View all posts by Bruno Mirchevski