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Cloudways9.0/10
Managed cloud on top of DigitalOcean, AWS and Google
- Fully managed servers
- 24/7 live chat
- Choice of 5 clouds
Category
Best Managed Cloud
Cloud servers with the server admin done for you.
Managed hosting means the provider runs the server for you: security patches, monitoring, backups, performance tuning and often application-level help. It sits on top of VPS, cloud or dedicated servers and costs more than doing it yourself, but saves time and lowers risk.
It suits businesses without an in-house sysadmin, agencies looking after client sites, and online shops where downtime costs money. Ask exactly what "managed" covers — some providers manage only the operating system, while others also handle your application stack.
How to choose
- Ask what is managed: operating system only, or also the web server, PHP, databases and your application.
- Check monitoring and response times, including who fixes issues at night.
- Confirm backups are automatic and restorable by you. Ask how often they run, how long they are kept, and whether restoring costs extra.
- Look for staging and one-click scaling.
- Read the uptime promise and what it pays out. A 99.9% guarantee allows about 43 minutes of downtime a month; look for service credits when it is missed.
- Test support before you buy. Send a pre-sales question and see how fast and how clearly they answer.
- Compare the renewal price, not just the first term. Introductory prices often apply only to the first billing period; check what you will pay from year two.
Frequently asked questions
What does managed hosting include?
Usually server setup, security updates, monitoring, backups and expert support; the exact scope differs by provider.
Is managed hosting worth the extra cost?
It is when your time or the cost of downtime is worth more than the price difference.
Managed vs unmanaged VPS?
With unmanaged you run the server yourself. With managed, the provider handles maintenance and security for you.