What is managed website hosting — and what it costs in year two

Managed website hosting is the arrangement where the host runs the machine instead of you: it sets up the server, applies security patches, takes the backups, keeps the software updated and watches the performance. Four definitions on this query's first page agree on the wording — G2 ("rentable server infrastructure that is fully administered and maintained by the provider"), Wix ("the provider sets up, secures, updates, backs up and monitors the machines that run your pages"), Acquia's glossary ("a hosting provider assumes responsibility for the day-to-day technical management") and TechRadar ("the level of service and support provided by the host").

The question underneath the definition is the one the "People also ask" box asks: how much does managed hosting cost? And the honest answer starts with the market rather than with us.

What the host actually takes on

The last row is the one that separates the products. A managed host takes over the machine. An agency takes over the machine and the decisions, and that is where the monthly fee comes from — and where the risk sits.

What it costs, and where the trap is

The price list is not the interesting part; the second year is. Across the 51 builders and hosts this site audits, the published renewal step runs from 1.51× to 33× — and the largest jump is on the plan with the smallest sticker. A managed plan that renews at several times its entry rate is not a discount you have not finished unpacking; it is a different price for the same work. Why do website builders increase renewal prices by 2x to 4x after year one? has the audited step behind every multiple, and How much should a website cost? has the ledger.

The second trap is the free tier, which is usually free of the part that matters. Some free tiers put their sites on a subdomain and withhold the custom domain; some cap storage, bandwidth or generations; and one in this corpus de-indexes the site outright with mandatory noindex tags, so the tier is free of the one thing a business buys a website for. What a free website builder actually gives you has eleven of them, what each grants, and what each withholds.

Where this platform sits

This is not a managed host for a site that already exists. It runs the sites built on it, and a WordPress install you want somebody else to babysit needs a managed host or an agency. What it shares with managed hosting is the shape — someone else runs the machine, and the updates are not yours to remember.

What it does differently is the part after the second year:

• App Hosting is $15/month billed annually, and the renewal is 1.0×. The

rate you see is the rate you renew at.

• The one-page static tier is free forever, with a domain registered

through Zeso at cost ($14.99/year for a .com). Nothing about it renews, because there is nothing to renew.

• A site that stays maintained without an agency retainer is a separate

question from hosting, and it is the one website maintenance without the retainer answers.

• The document is yours. The site is an open JSON SiteSpec and a set of

static files, so taking it with you is a copy rather than a negotiation. What happens to my website if I cancel my builder subscription? is the honest version of that question.

What to ask before you sign

1. What renews, and at what rate? Not what it sells at.
2. What happens to my content if I leave? A file, or a service.
3. Who decides when the software changes? A host makes that decision; an

agency argues for it.

1. Is the address mine? A subdomain can be replaced. A custom domain

that a free tier withholds cannot.

Sources

• The audited builder and host pages on this site, each with the published

rates, the renewal step and the date they were read.

• [What a free website builder actually gives

you](/docs/website-builder-free-trial) — the free end of the same ledger.