WordPress runs a huge share of the web, and almost every host will happily tell you their hosting is "great for WordPress". So when you see a separate Managed WordPress plan next to standard web hosting, it's fair to ask: what's actually different, and is it worth paying for?
In this post, we'll walk through what each option gives you, where the real differences are, and how to decide which one fits your site.
Standard web hosting gives you a space on a server and a control panel to run it. At DragonWebHost, that's DirectAdmin, running on LiteSpeed web servers with NVMe storage and LSCache.
It's flexible. You can host several websites on one plan, run WordPress alongside other apps, manage email accounts and databases, and set things up exactly how you like. WordPress installs in about a minute using Softaculous.
The trade-off is that you're in charge of WordPress itself. Keeping WordPress, your theme and your plugins up to date, testing changes, and restoring things if an update goes wrong are all your job. For people comfortable doing that, it's the most cost-effective way to run a site.
Managed WordPress is hosting built around one job: running WordPress sites. Instead of handing you a general-purpose server and leaving the rest to you, it takes care of the routine maintenance that most site owners either forget about or put off.
On DragonWebHost's Managed WordPress plans, that means:
Everything is managed from a dashboard built for WordPress, so you're not digging through server settings to find what you need.
| Web Hosting | Managed WordPress | |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress setup | One-click install via Softaculous | Pre-installed |
| WordPress updates | You manage them | ✓ Automatic |
| Daily backups | ✓ JetBackup | ✓ With restore |
| Staging environment | ✗ No | ✓ Business & Agency |
| Runs non-WordPress apps | ✓ 400+ apps | ✗ WordPress only |
| Free SSL | ✓ Yes | ✓ Yes |
| Starting price | £9.99/year (up to 5 websites) | £2.95/month (1 site) |
As you can see, standard web hosting is the cheaper option, and it's not close. What you're paying for with Managed WordPress isn't faster servers or more storage, it's time and peace of mind.
Most WordPress problems don't come from hackers or server outages. They come from an update. A plugin changes something, your theme doesn't like it, and suddenly your contact form stops working or your homepage layout falls apart.
On standard hosting, the usual way to find out is when a visitor tells you. A staging environment changes that. You copy your live site to a private staging version, run the updates or make your changes there, check everything still works, then push it live.
There's no wrong answer, just a different balance of cost and effort. As a rough guide:
Yes. Every DragonWebHost web hosting plan includes Softaculous, which installs WordPress in about a minute. The difference is that you look after updates, testing and restores yourself.
It can happen, usually when a plugin and a theme don't agree after an update. That's why Managed WordPress includes daily backups with restore, and a staging environment on Business and Agency plans, so changes can be tested before they reach your live site.
Yes. If you outgrow one or the other, open a ticket and we'll move your site across for you as part of our free migration service.
Managed WordPress is built specifically for WordPress. If you want to run other apps, such as Joomla or a custom PHP site, standard web hosting is the better fit.
Standard web hosting gives you the most for your money if you're happy doing the maintenance yourself. Managed WordPress costs a little more, but takes the updates, backups and testing off your plate, which for a business site is often worth far more than the difference in price.
Not sure which suits you? Open a ticket, tell us about your site, and we'll point you in the right direction.
Managed WordPress from £2.95/month, with WordPress pre-installed, automatic updates and daily backups. Or start with standard web hosting from £9.99/year.