Hosting is one of the most crucial aspects of any internet-based business. Giving your website solid foundations — such as the ability to withstand traffic surges and sidestep downtime — is just one of the many reasons it’s important to choose the right service.
In addition to the technical prowess of a host’s servers, considerations such as additional services and the level of customer support they offer are just as important. It’s safe to say that a good host will take a huge hosting burden off your shoulders, whereas a bad host — or even a relatively poor choice in hosting plan — can throw a pretty large wrench in the works of your site.
Managed Hosting is a hosting plan is made up of a number of different components, with the most basic being the server hardware itself. The server usually has an operating system installed and various kinds of software used for running websites.
In addition, hosting companies may also offer various services such as automated backups, malware scanning and removal, status monitoring, security sweeps, and more.
Unmanaged hosting is a hosting plan with no (or very few) additional services. With unmanaged hosting you may, for example, simply get a server with only an operating system installed. This means you’ll then need to install any necessary software on your own. (By ‘software’ I don’t only mean WordPress, Drupal or similar, but even base system software such as Apache or PHP.)