Managed hosting services have become increasingly popular among businesses of all sizes in recent years. As more companies move their operations online and become dependent on having a reliable online presence, the demand for managed hosting providers has grown exponentially.
But how much are companies actually spending on these services? In this article, we’ll break down the typical costs of managed hosting and look at what factors influence how much a business might pay.
What is Managed Hosting?
Before diving into costs, let’s quickly define what managed hosting is. Managed hosting refers to a service where a hosting provider manages a company’s servers and IT infrastructure. The hosting provider handles software updates, security, backups, and monitoring tasks. This relieves the business from having to hire dedicated IT staff to manage their web hosting operations.
Some key benefits of managed hosting include:
- Access to enterprise-level hosting infrastructure
- Reduced IT-related capital and labor costs
- Enhanced performance and security
- Support services to keep sites up and running
Typical Managed Hosting Pricing Models
Managed hosting providers typically price their services based on one of three models:
Per-Hosting Pricing
With per-host pricing, businesses pay a flat monthly fee per hosted server or website. Prices usually range from $100 to $300 per month for each host. This model works well for businesses running multiple websites or apps across different servers.
Tiered/Scalable Pricing
With tiered pricing, the monthly fee scales up or down based on resource usage like storage space, bandwidth, and number of accounts. Tiers usually start at $100-$200 per month and go up from there. This pricing model is great for growing sites that need to easily scale hosting requirements up or down each month.
Fully Managed Packages
Some providers offer all-inclusive managed packages that bundle hosting with services like email, security, backups, SSL certificates, and more. These packages are priced based on the number of included services and can range from $250 per month up to $1000+ for enterprise-level hosting.
Factors That Influence Managed Hosting Costs
The exact amount a business spends on managed hosting depends on several factors, including:
Number of Servers
More servers equal higher hosting fees. Most managed hosting plans allow you to easily add or remove servers as needed to align with demand.
Server Specifications
Faster CPU cores, more RAM and storage will raise costs but also improve site performance. Managed providers offer varying server configurations.
Data Usage
Bandwidth for site traffic and data transfers is added to monthly fees. Usage caps impact costs.
Support Needs
More hands-on and tailored support increases fees but can be vital for complex or high-traffic sites.
Services Included
Additional services like backups, security layers, SSL, and more add to the overall monthly cost.
Contract Length
Longer contract terms (12+ months) typically offer cheaper monthly rates compared to short, flexible terms.
Average Managed Hosting Costs by Business Size
To get an idea of real-world costs, here is a breakdown of average monthly managed hosting spends based on business size:
- Small Business: $100 – $300 per month
- Mid-Size Company: $300 – $1,000 per month
- Enterprise Business: $1,000 – $5,000+ per month
As you can see, costs scale up significantly for larger businesses with more complex hosting needs. However, managed hosting offers economies of scale where growing sites can get robust enterprise-level infrastructure for a fraction of the cost of purchasing dedicated servers or in-house IT staff.
Getting the Best Value
Here are some tips for getting the most value on managed hosting services for your business:
- Audit site traffic, growth trends, and peak usage times to right-size your hosting plan. Oversized plans waste money.
- Leverage tiered/scalable pricing models to align with shifting usage needs each month.
- Take advantage of longer contract terms for cheaper rates if possible.
- Focus on value over price alone. More robust infrastructure and support is worth higher costs for mission-critical sites.
- Use free trial periods to test performance before committing.
Conclusion
The cost of managed hosting services can vary quite a bit based on the needs of each business. Typical small sites may spend less than $300 per month while enterprise platforms invest over $1000+ in robust managed solutions.
By understanding pricing models, optimizing plans based on actual usage, and prioritizing performance and reliability over the lowest cost, businesses can maximize value from managed hosting providers.
