Managed Hosting vs. Unmanaged

Managed hosting vs. unmanaged — what is best for your business? There are benefits and drawbacks to each, but, believe it or not, we lean toward managed.

Working at scale means that you have to meet new challenges and goals as your enterprise changes and grows. It is vital to your ongoing success, and for laying the right groundwork for the future. We believe that the managed approach is the right way to go for the kind of scale that enterprises are accustomed to.

Check out these details to learn more about why managed hosting is a worthy investment.

Unmanaged Hosting — Pros and Cons

Let’s look at the unmanaged side of the managed hosting vs. unmanaged debate first. After all, we can understand why it might be appealing, cost-wise.

With unmanaged hosting, your company gets a dedicated server, and that is about it. Your hosting provider sets up the operating system and you are on your own from there. Whatever you want or need done, it is up to you.

There are use cases for unmanaged hosting where it may make more sense than managed hosting. If you need to use a specific operating system that a managed hosting provider does not offer, for example, you are stuck with unmanaged until they do. Another situation in which unmanaged is the right approach is when you want full control over the server or you want command-level access.

To make unmanaged hosting work for you, you need the tech expertise to run your own hosting without issue. This is a pro for tech experts who have the time and capabilities to manage the server in-house. For them, this choice provides a lot of freedom.

For less experienced companies, however, or those who would lose out on valuable opportunities by spending resources (financial and otherwise) on managing hosting, this option can turn into disaster.

But of course, It’s important to look past the financial benefits of a managed hosting plan, no matter how important it may fundamentally be. Let’s consider the other benefits, too.

Managed Hosting — Why It May Be the Best Choice

Sign up with a managed hosting provider and you can breathe a deep sigh of relief. Your hosting plan comes with not only a server but also all of the programs and services you need to keep your site running smoothly.

Your managed hosting provider will set you up with software and tools that you require. One potential drawback to managed hosting, therefore, is that you need to put in the research time to ensure that your desired host offers compatibility with your required features. When you have a host that fits your needs, however, life becomes easy.

While unmanaged hosting may offer complete freedom, with the right host you can get the same level of control over your hosting without having to do the work.

It is also worth noting that with managed hosting you are still able to have administrative control over what you wish to access.

Managed hosting is particularly ideal in two main use cases. First, if you do not have the tech skills to handle hosting on your own, managed hosting is an excellent choice. By leaving the hosting planning, maintenance and daily operations to your provider, you can sit back and relax. Any bumps in the road are your provider’s to deal with.

It’s also great to have managed hosting when you want to focus your resources elsewhere. Yes, you will pay more for managed hosting, but you will have more time in exchange. Your enterprise can keep focusing on growth and new ideas and projects, without being dragged down by the everyday demands of managing your infrastructure.

With a managed hosting plan, you can also rely on your provider for assistance and support. In the case of a provider like Cloudhelix, you can also rely on your provider for expertise in all areas of your tech. If your business has a big project or even a big problem, it is useful to have a team of tech experts who know your server situation inside and out. Consider it the on-call to your enterprise’s A-team!

Additional managed features like automated backups, performance monitoring, software updates and server security are often available through your managed hosting provider, giving you a very strong system for your site.

Finding the right managed hosting provider comes down to matching your needs with their offerings – This checklist should help.

Managed Hosting vs. Unmanaged — In Conclusion

Hosting is the backbone of your enterprise. You need a strong foundation for your web presence, to close deals, improve your product, explore new ideas and get your name out there. Every time someone visits your site, you are building your business. Because of that, it makes sense to ensure that your infrastructure is able to hold up to any amount of traffic, downtime or other tech issues.

We all know that technology doesn’t always do what we want it to do. That’s why we think managed hosting is your best bet for keeping your site running without issues.

We understand that technology can be a headache, especially once you start weighing your budget against what you need for tech. It’s often a struggle between the short-term investment price, and the long-term payoff. We firmly believe that managed hosting is worth every penny. This is especially true in the case of those major projects and issues, where having tech experts on board can make the difference between soaring success and utter failure.

Managed hosting takes the burden off of your enterprise and its staff, and passes it to people who do this work day in and day out. If you are interested in managed hosting, we are interested in hearing from you! Contact our team of qualified experts today. We are happy to answer any questions and provide any additional information you may need to make the best decision for your enterprise.