Fast hosting for WordPress. What a great concept.
Slow site = lose visitors = lose business = lose profit!
This site is being hosted on Synthesis my top pick for managed WordPress Hosting. Excellent group of people and lightening fast loading, can handle lots of traffic – even when it’s unexpected.
WordPress has specific needs and can’t run well on just any server and if your business is growing you really should consider moving to a server that is all about WordPress.
Managed WordPress Hosting
As with all things there are different degrees of service offered by managed WordPress hosting providers. Basically all this means is they (the hosting company) manages your WordPress installation, backups, and fixes error’s, security, and faux pas for you.
This is great if you don’t know anything about WordPress or don’t want to be bothered with it.
Not a big deal if you are accustomed to having WordPress sites. But, where managed WordPress Hosting gets interesting is when your business starts to grow.
Hosting specifically designed for WordPress definitely has the leg up on shared hosting. But you pay for it too.
The most important things you get for your money are speed loading, reliability and uptime, über-nice and helpful technical support, and the ability to serve lots of traffic without being throttled.
I would strongly recommend you switch to the fast WordPress hosting you will get if you are either growing and your traffic dictates it would be best. Or, if you are just starting out and know you will be paying to send traffic to your site.
Speed is very important too for ranking your site in the search engines.
Top Choice for Managed WordPress Hosting
Synthesis
I know the Synthesis people from being a long time purchaser of Genesis Framework and their Child Theme’s. Genesis is great for getting in there and creating beautiful WordPress websites. Because I like to customize their themes I always want to try something new or just as often, I muck things up.
Through their help forum I learned that the people who work at StudioPress (which includes all things Genesis, Premis, CopyBlogger, Rainmaker, and Scribe) are at the top of their game. Helpful, friendly, and forever patient.
They also use Synthesis themselves to run CopyBlogger which gets close to 3 million visitors each month.
There was no hesitation for me to move to Synthesis when my site was getting too big for basic shared hosting. I have no hesitation to personally recommend them to you.
They have all the important stuff covered.
* Top Security
* Daily Backups
* W3 Total Cache or Nginx Helper
* Simple Migration
Synthesis Managed WordPress Hosting Pricing
At first glance they might seem more expensive than others. On closer inspection you will see how much you are getting for your dollar.
If you are serious about your business and working to grow your online presence – this is your best dollar spent.
They give you much, much more than what I have listed here, these are the primary three things I look at:
Daily traffic, bandwidth, and storage.
You may also need to consider the number of WordPress installs with each package.
Starter $27.00/mo
Daily Traffic: 2500
Bandwidth: 50GB/mo
Storage: 3GB
Number of Websites: 1
Professional $97.00/mo
Daily Traffic: 20,000
Bandwidth: 650GB/mo
Storage: 40GB
Number of Websites: 2+
Advanced $147.00/mo
Daily Traffic: 85,000
Bandwidth: 1.5TB/mo
Storage: 80GB
Number of Websites: 5+
Enterprise $300.00/mo
Daily Traffic: 300,000
Bandwidth: 3.0TB/mo
Storage: 160GB
Number of Websites: 5+
You really need to go see for yourself.
They are solely focused on WordPress and as a result do not offer email service. This is no issue though, just purchase your domain at GoDaddy and you can use their email service.
Second Choice for Managed WordPress Hosting
WPEngine
HIGHLY recommended by some of the top marketers in the business. I haven’t used them yet but intend to in the near future for a couple of other projects I have coming up.
Why would I use them when I am so happy with Synthesis?
Because I have several projects/sites on the go and like to experiment. Trying new things, services, and software is my hobby. Some people play music, others do scrapbooking, puzzles, or make videos. I like to workout and play with computer stuff.
In turn I’ll let you know how it goes 🙂
People say it is fast and stable. Both really important when your website is your livelihood.
The feedback on their support people is very positive. Knowledgeable, quick, and friendly.
Fast, secure, and includes their own caching.
WPEngine Managed WordPress Hosting Pricing
When comparing WPEngine with Synthesis – notice that WPEngine offers plans on MONTHLY traffic and Synthesis is DAILY Traffic. As well there is no mention of bandwidth but do say there is unlimited data transfer.
Personal $29.00/mo
Monthly Traffic: 25,000
Bandwidth: ?
Storage: 10GB
Number of Websites: 1
Professional $97.00/mo
Monthly Traffic: 100,000
Bandwidth: ?
Storage: 20GB
Number of Websites: 10
Business $249.00/mo
Monthly Traffic: 400,000
Bandwidth: ?
Storage: 30GB
Number of Websites: 25
Premium $xxx
Monthly Traffic: xxx
Bandwidth: ?
Storage: Designed for Purpose
Number of Websites: 25+
I know people who use and highly recommend WPEngine. I can also add that I am familiar with their hosting as a user because I belong to a couple forums and sites that use WPEngine. As a user I am happy with what I have experienced for speed, and up-time.
Third Choice for Managed WordPress Hosting
Media Temple
There is some close mingling with the Managed WordPress Hosting world and Media Temple is in the middle of some of it.
Synthesis uses their servers and GoDaddy just bought them. They also offer their own hosting packages including a nice little managed WordPress hosting package.
It includes email, exclusive themes, and only one package to choose from.
Premium $29.00/mo
Monthly Traffic: Millions
Bandwidth: Unlimited
Storage: 20GB
Number of Websites: 3
Media Temple has a full range of professional hosting options too. Here is the full review of Media Temple (MT) hosting.
Managed WordPress Hosting Honourable Mention
GoDaddy
New in the Managed WordPress Hosting game this year (2014) and is getting an honourable mention on this list.
I have been with GoDaddy since 2007. They have disappointed me and then made me happy again. Right now I’m back to not happy with them. The reason why I stay is because they have EVERYTHING and because I like the service rep people. Except this one guy who is really quite rude.
On a couple of occasions when the people I have spoke with were less-than helpful I just hung up and called back to speak with someone else.
Other issues over the years have been un-GAWD-ly telephone wait times (over 20 minutes a few times), but now they have the “we will call you back” feature. I had also moved all my important WordPress sites to other companies because of the s l o w response times.
But I did stay with them for both hosting and domains. I have now stopped the renewal on my hosting because the server is outdated and they won’t be updating it. I have a few peripheral WordPress sites on their grid server as well as a couple of HTML sites. The HTML sites are ok and the WordPress is still slow even though they promised that the grid move would make a difference.
I have written full review of GoDaddy’s services on this page.
GoDaddy’s New Managed WordPress Hosting
The price is incredibly cheap and with one-click migration tool and a 45 day money back guarantee I am betting GoDaddy is gearing up to give their competition a run for their money.
They are using their own in-house security and caching so no additional plugins required. With this however they are restricting the plugin’s you are allowed to use on your site and provide a list of the no no’s.
GoDaddy’s Managed WordPress Hosting Pricing
Having spent 10’s of millions on new servers they are upping the ante and are boasting of increased speed and guaranteed uptime. Bear in mind too that they acquired the very servers that Synthesis and Media Temple use for their Managed WordPress Hosting.
PLUS GoDaddy now has CPanel too.
Starter $6.29/mo $1.00/mo
Monthly Traffic: 25,000
Bandwidth: ?
Storage: 100GB
Number of Websites: 1
Business $17.99/mo
Monthly Traffic: 250,000
Bandwidth: ?
Storage: 500GB
Number of Websites: 5
Pro $62.99/mo
Monthly Traffic: Millions!
Bandwidth: Unlimited
Storage: Unlimited
Number of Websites: 25
It’s hard to argue with the price when they are boasting speed and the ability to accommodate lots of traffic too.
How to Decide?
If you are stuck in the middle of needs and not sure what to do. Maybe pricing will be the deciding factor. One thing to also keep in mind is – if you are moving your current site, Godaddy has the one-click move (free) and MediaTemple charges $150, Synthesis $99.
You can always move them yourself for free.
If you need help deciding leave a comment and I’ll help step you through it.
