WordPress Managed Hosting, what makes it so different?

At The DMA, we tend to hosting and manage most of the WordPress projects that we develop. Having control of the hosting environment allows to deploy our client’s website in a super fast environment that is secure and robust.

In this article we’re going to dig into Managed WordPress hosting a little more, explaining it and comparing it to a shared hosting environment. Let’s go!

What is Shared Hosting?

Shared hosting is an environment where multiple websites (some times many thousands of sites) share the same server resources, such as disk space and bandwidth. This means that your website will be hosted alongside other websites on the same server. This can impact performance if there is high traffic or resource usage by other websites. One site that is getting a lot of traffic can cause the rest of the sites in the environment to be starved of resources, and perform poorly.

And Managed Hosting?

Managed WordPress hosting, on the other hand, is a specialised type of hosting that is designed specifically for WordPress websites. This type of hosting typically includes features such as automatic WordPress updates, advanced security measures, and dedicated resources for optimal performance. The DMA’s managed hosting environment also offers powerful features like quick data restores, a CDN network, plugin updates and monthly performance testing.

Now that we’ve established the difference between shared hosting and managed WordPress hosting, let’s take a closer look at the specific areas where these two types of hosting differ.

Security

When it comes to security, managed WordPress hosting providers typically offer advanced security measures such as malware scanning, automatic updates, and firewalls to protect WordPress websites from hacking attempts and other security threats. Shared hosting providers may also offer some basic security measures, but may not provide the same level of specialized security for WordPress sites.

Performance

In terms of performance, managed WordPress hosting is optimised specifically for WordPress, which can result in faster load times, better handling of high traffic, and improved overall performance.

A key part of our platform that improves performance is caching.

Caching is the process of storing frequently accessed data or web pages in a temporary storage location, so that they can be accessed quickly and easily without having to be loaded from scratch every time. This can significantly improve website performance and reduce server load.

Our platform uses Varnish. It’s a high-performance HTTP accelerator that sits in front of WordPress web servers and caches frequently accessed pages and data. By caching content in memory, Varnish can serve requests quickly and efficiently, without having to go back to the web server every time a page is requested.

For WordPress sites, Varnish can be especially useful. WordPress sites often have dynamic content that changes frequently, which can make caching more difficult. However, Varnish can be configured to cache dynamic content intelligently, using a combination of time-based and content-based caching.

By sitting in front of a WordPress site, Varnish can reduce the load on the web server and improve website performance. This can result in faster page load times, improved user experience, and better search engine rankings.

Typically Shared Hosting environment never provide this level of WordPress optimisation.

What about the Human Element?

Have you ever had to call your telephone company with a problem? You probably dreaded it. You’ll be on the call for ages talking to someone that really can’t solve the problem. The team behind The DMA’s managed hosting setup might be small but the above situation will never happen to you! Send an email ticket or a phone call asking for help and you’ll connect with someone (often it’s me!)