Both managed and dedicated servers offer a user the ability to run a server without sharing it with anyone else. The term ‘managed’ is where things may get confusing. What one provider defines as managed hosting, another may define as unmanaged. There is no industry standard and this means the services you get depend on the provider.

Included in Managed Hosting

Managed hosting involves features such as system updates. They also include monitoring of applications and detecting any attempts of intrusion. They monitor the server performance, conduct backups and administer databases.

There can be a host of features offered in managed hosting which differ from provider to provider. One thing for certain is that managed hosting is always dedicated hosting. Yet dedicated hosting offers its own definition of managed which again depends on the provider.

Dedicated hosting

Dedicated hosting can be broken down into types. The first is basic hosting which offers low RAM plus a hard disk and an operating system.

High End dedicated hosting on the other hand offers dedicated bandwidth, a dedicated database, dedicated server mirroring and a Quad Core configuration. Nowhere is the word ‘managed’ used. Management services are over and above what a dedicated server offers and are usually add-on benefits.

However both dedicated and managed web hosting offers you your own server. Managed hosting often means those benefits can be added to a dedicated server.

To answer the question, dedicated server hosting is rented and includes the physical server while managed hosting refers to the administration. They therefore do not have the same meaning.