Managed WordPress Acceptable Use Policy

This policy forms part of our Terms of Service and applies to our Solo, Studio and Agency managed WordPress plans. It sits alongside the general prohibitions in clause 1 and 2 of our Web Hosting Acceptable Use Policy, which also apply here, and adds the rules specific to a managed WordPress environment.

1. What “managed” covers, and what it does not

1.1 We manage the platform: the server, the WordPress core version, PHP, the web server, our caching layer, and the underlying infrastructure. We keep these patched and secure as a matter of course.

1.2 You manage the site: your theme, your plugins, and your content. We do not take responsibility for third party plugin or theme code, including vulnerabilities in it, unless a specific issue originates from our own platform.

1.3 Where a plugin or theme has a publicly disclosed critical vulnerability, we may disable it and notify you, to protect the server and other customers, even before your own site is compromised.

1.4 Automatic security updates are applied to the WordPress core and to plugins where you have opted in to automatic updates in your dashboard. If an automatic update breaks your site, we will roll it back to the most recent working backup, but we are not responsible for incompatibilities introduced by third party plugin or theme updates outside our control.

2. Plan limits

Site counts, visitor allowances, disk space, CDN traffic, staging environments and backup frequency for each plan are published on our managed WordPress hosting page. In addition, each site on Solo, Studio and Agency plans is subject to the following technical limits:

Where a plan lists monthly visitors as a headline figure, sustained traffic significantly and repeatedly above that figure may require an upgrade, and we will always talk to you before taking any action.

3. Caching and performance

3.1 We run our own server-level caching layer to keep WordPress fast. You must not install a competing full-page caching plugin (for example, one that also manages object cache or page cache at the application layer) without checking with us first, as the two can conflict and cause unpredictable behaviour.

3.2 Standard performance plugins for images, database optimisation and minification are fine.

4. Staging environments

4.1 Where your plan includes staging, it is for testing changes before you push them live. It is not a second production site, and is not included in your live site’s monthly visitor allowance in the same way, but is still subject to the resource limits in clause 2.

4.2 We may reset or remove a staging environment left inactive for an extended period, and will notify you first where reasonably possible.

5. Backups

5.1 Backups run automatically at the frequency published for your plan, and you can restore your site yourself from your dashboard.

5.2 As with all our hosting, backups are provided on a best efforts basis, per clause 11 of our Terms of Service. A large database or media library may occasionally cause a backup to be skipped or take longer than usual; we monitor for this and will tell you if it becomes a persistent issue on your account.

6. Prohibited uses

In addition to the prohibitions in our Web Hosting Acceptable Use Policy, you must not:

• use a managed WordPress plan to host a site built on a different CMS or framework as its primary purpose
• run a WordPress multisite network without checking compatibility with us first
• disable our required security plugins or logging without agreement
• use staging environments as a permanent production workaround to exceed your plan’s site count

7. How we enforce this

We follow the same proportionate approach set out in section 7 of our Web Hosting Acceptable Use Policy: contact and a chance to fix minor issues, immediate suspension for active compromises or serious breaches, and immediate termination only for unlawful content or active attacks.

If you think we have got it wrong, email hello@hostingme.co.uk and we will review it.