Managed vs Unmanaged Cloud Hosting: Which to Choose

The managed-versus-unmanaged choice is really a question of who owns the operational burden. One path saves money and demands your time; the other spends money and buys your time back.

Unmanaged hosting hands you root access and every responsibility that comes with it. Managed hosting offloads patching, monitoring, and often security to the provider, at a real but predictable premium.

• Managed plans usually add 30 to 80 percent to the base cost
• Unmanaged gives full control and full responsibility
• Managed includes patching, monitoring, and support
• Small teams often underprice their own operational time