DIY hosting vs managed hosting: who looks after your website?

If you host your website yourself on a budget plan, the hosting company keeps the server running, but updating, backing up, securing and fixing the website itself is up to you. With managed hosting from the developer who built it, one person handles all of that and knows the site well enough to fix problems fast. Hosting it yourself suits simple sites and technical owners; managed hosting suits businesses that depend on their website.

What does hosting your website yourself actually mean?

Every website lives on a server: a computer that’s always online and sends your pages to visitors. For most small businesses, hosting it yourself means buying a plan from a hosting company, often a low-cost shared hosting plan, where your site sits on the same server as many others. You get a control panel, a login and a support line.

What you don’t get is someone looking after your website. The host’s job ends at the server. Everything inside your site, from the software and plugins to the content, forms and email settings, is yours to manage.

What does managed hosting from your developer include?

With managed hosting, your site runs on servers your developer sets up and runs, and the care is part of the service. For the sites I host, that means:

• Fast, tuned servers with caching (ready-made copies of your pages, so they load quickly).
• HTTPS, the padlock in the browser, plus firewalls and security updates.
• Regular backups.
• Monitoring, so problems get spotted and dealt with quickly.
• Software, plugin and theme updates, checked before and after.
• A client portal where you pay invoices, open support tickets and send edit requests.

When something needs fixing, you call, text or open a ticket, and you reach the person who built the site.

Who does what in each setup?

Who updates your website, and why does it matter?

A website isn’t finished when it launches. The software behind it gets regular updates that fix bugs and close security holes. On a WordPress site, the core, the theme and every plugin each update on their own schedule. Skip updates and the site slowly becomes easier to break into. Run them without checking and an update can break a form or a page layout, sometimes without anyone noticing for weeks.

Many budget hosts offer automatic updates. That helps, but nobody looks at the site afterwards. When your developer manages it, updates are checked, and if something conflicts, the person who built the site knows where to look.

Who backs it up, and can they actually restore it?

A backup is a copy of your site’s files and database (where your content is stored) that you can go back to if something goes wrong. Plenty of hosts make backups, but read the fine print: they may keep only a few days of copies, charge to restore one, or store them on the same server as your site.

The real test isn’t whether a backup exists. It’s whether someone can restore it quickly and confirm everything works afterwards. For the sites I host, that job is mine.

Who keeps it secure?

Website security comes in layers: an SSL certificate, which encrypts the connection between your visitors and your site; a firewall that blocks known attacks; up-to-date software; strong passwords; and spam filtering on your forms. Budget hosts usually cover the SSL certificate, often at no extra charge. The rest falls to whoever runs the site.

If a site does get hacked, cleanup is often a paid extra from the host, or a job for a developer who has never seen your site before.

Who fixes it when something breaks?

This is where the difference shows most. On budget hosting, a broken contact form can bounce between three parties: the host says the server is fine, the plugin maker blames a conflict, and the developer who built the site has moved on to other clients. Meanwhile, messages from customers go nowhere.

When the same person built and hosts the site, there’s nobody to pass it to. I know the code, the server and the history of each site I look after, so most fixes are quick.

Is there a downside to having your developer host your site?

It’s a fair question. You’re relying on one person, so you want to know you’re not trapped. Before you agree, make sure:

• The domain is registered in your name, so you control your web address whoever hosts the site.
• You own the site: the design, the content and the code built for you.
• You can leave and take the site with you if you ever want to.

Ask any developer these questions, including me. Clear answers up front make for a much better working relationship. If someone gets vague about any of them, take that as your answer.

When does hosting it yourself make sense?

Hosting it yourself is a reasonable choice if you’re comfortable in a control panel, don’t mind keeping things updated, and your site is simple. It also suits personal projects, where a day offline wouldn’t cost you anything. Plenty of people run good sites this way.

If your website brings in calls, bookings or sales, the question changes. What does an afternoon offline cost you, or a week with a contact form that quietly stopped working?

Can you move an existing website to managed hosting?

Usually, yes, even if I didn’t build it. I review the site first and tell you honestly if anything needs fixing before the move. Then I set everything up on the new server, move the email settings and domain, test it, and switch over once it’s working, so visitors shouldn’t notice a thing.

If you’d like your site looked after by the person who built it, see how hosting and care works, or get in touch and I’ll take a free look at your current setup. Starting from scratch? I also design and build custom websites, and I host what I build.