what's the difference between traditional vs Managed wordpress hosting?

One of the biggest choices you’ll have to make when deciding on WordPress hosting is whether or not you want managed hosting package, or go for the more traditional, shared/VPS/cloud option. Both options have their merits and pitfalls, so it will be entirely dependent onyour needs.

Traditional Hosting

Traditional hosts (or shared hosts) are set up to give you a section of a server. They partition off your area, and you can do what you want to with it, but like a subdivision in the real world, you have no choice of who your neighbors are, so if they’re doing shady things, your property value goes down (and becomes potentially damaged).

The trade-offs for that come in having bunches of control of your own area, often with hosting as many WP sites as you want for the same monthly cost, which is typically much lower than managed hosting. Because you handle the daily tasks and upkeep yourself.
The most well-known of these shared hosts are GoDaddy, BlueHost, HostGator, and Siteground.

Managed WordPress Hosting

Managed hosting, on the other hand, offers you a single place where your WordPress install lives. It is reserved for you and yours alone. Your neighbors are off living in their own gated communities, and you’re off living in yours. You get security, updates, support, and fantastically optimized speeds (often far faster and more reliable than shared hosts) all handled for you.

But you pay for it. Again like in the real world, living in a walled-off mansion by yourself comes with a cost. You don’t get to control things yourself, as updates are handled automatically, the number of WP installs can be limited–so can the particular plugins you’re allowed to use–and the price-tag is much, much higher on average than shared hosting (especially when looking at price vs number of installs).

While many hosting companies are moving into managed hosting these days, the old standbys are WPEngine, Flywheel, Kinsta, and Cloudways.