When it comes to bringing your website online, you need a reliable dedicated web hosting service. But as you explore the hosting marketplace, you will notice that every hosting provider offers both managed and unmanaged hosting options. While an unmanaged dedicated hosting service offers more control over your server, a managed service offers a higher level of support and easy experience. Each of these options come with their own benefits and drawbacks that should be carefully evaluated while selecting one for your business.

In this blog, we will discuss the pros and cons of each of these hosting options to help you make the right choice.

Benefits of an Unmanaged Dedicated Server

Unmanaged dedicated servers provide users with few forms of support and maintenance. So, if you are using an unmanaged hosting service, you don’t need to pay extra to keep these services active. This can be beneficial for individuals and businesses that are looking to grow their business within a limited budget.

Unmanaged servers are a great option for users with a sound technical knowledge of managing a dedicated server, right from setting up the server, deploying applications to monitoring the system. These allow them the freedom to customize the server however they want to provided they comply with the terms and conditions laid down by the hosting provider. Unmanaged servers aren’t confined by the pre-set standards provided by the managed server options.

Drawbacks of an Unmanaged Dedicated Server

Unmanaged servers place too much of work in the hands of the system administrator and hence face the risk of prolonged downtime. These are usually devoid of built-in backup and disaster recovery protocols. This means even a minor issue can bring down your website leading to an interruption in your business.

In addition, unmanaged servers may not include basic structural interface options such as a control panel or a dashboard. So, you have to install these functions on your own which can be time-consuming if you have never managed such tasks before.

Furthermore, unmanaged servers come with little support from the in-house team of your hosting provider. Many technology-savvy users may believe they do not need this kind of support. But this level of support can be immensely useful when a server needs to be restarted or when you are required to scale up your website to accommodate a surge in traffic.

Benefits of a Managed Dedicated Server

Managed servers have become popular these days on account of the level of support they offer when compared to an unmanaged server. In a managed hosting solution, a team of professionals with sound technical knowledge is there to support your service and resolve even the minutest glitch within a short span of time.

Managed servers allow users to run their business without worrying about the management and monitoring of applications and data. In a managed solution, the hosting service provider helps you through third-party applications that handle the technical aspects of your website. They help keep your OS, hardware and software up-to-date and secured. Many hosts also offer migration services to help migrate workloads on the cloud.

Managed hosting providers are also capable of configuring a server to accommodate the requirements of the client. They offer tailored solutions to each client whenever needed.

Managed services also take care of the security aspect of your website. They try to apply solutions from the standpoint of security. Installing firewall and scanning the website to detect the malware and security risks are some of the major issues taken care of by managed hosting providers. These prevent unauthorized users from accessing the website and prevent it from vulnerabilities.

They also maintain regular backups of the website to avert any loss of mission-critical data.

Drawbacks of a Managed Dedicated Server

While managed servers do provide users with a lot of support, they have some obvious drawbacks. One such drawback is that you do not enjoy as much freedom when it comes to customizing your website to fulfill your specific needs. Most of the managed solutions offer a suite of features and you remain stuck with these unless you switch to an unmanaged solution.

Then managed solutions are always the more expensive option when compared to unmanaged ones. So, these can be cost-prohibitive for certain businesses or individuals.

The Final Word

Both managed and unmanaged dedicated hosting solutions come with their own set of benefits and drawbacks. Most of these are related to support, functionality and cost. As a business owner, you need to assess your current situation and skill level and then decide on any of these options.

Seeking a managed dedicated server for your organization? Connect with our technical professionals today to understand which of our plans suits your business needs.