Managed web hosting is difficult to define exactly because there are so many variations in services offered. Basically, it means that a web server is being taken care of by an external company and may include installation, hardware, upgrades, monitoring, support and more. Managed hosting is becoming increasingly popular with all sizes of businesses as a stable internet site becomes more important. It takes a lot of time to keep a server running smoothly and most businesses do not have the manpower or resources to handle it themselves.

For a fixed fee, these companies can choose an external company in order to take care of some or all of the aspects of administration. Many managed web hosting providers offer a dedicated server which means that the website has its own server. There is a much smaller chance of security problems, crashes and site speed is faster on a dedicated server. By combining this with constant monitoring, managed hosting usually guarantees an uptime of 99% or more.

Even though managed web hosting costs more than self hosting, it usually pays off for most businesses, especially those which rely on their website. The costs of setting up hosting oneself and hiring a team for monitoring and maintenance is much more than what it would cost to use managed hosting services. Now that managed web hosting has so many different service options at affordable prices, is becoming even more popular.