The verdict in three sentences
A managed hosting contract for a business site costs, in 2026, between 200 and 1,500 EUR/month depending on SLA, criticality and scope (monitoring, backups, security, DRP). The difference with plain shared hosting lies in the availability commitment (up to 99.9 %), 24/7 monitoring and guaranteed post-incident restoration. For an online store, the real calculation is the cost of downtime: a few hours can exceed a year of managed hosting.
What a managed contract includes
Managed hosting goes beyond hosting: it is active operation of the infrastructure. Items stack up according to the service level.
| Service | Content | 2026 order of magnitude |
|---|---|---|
| Monitoring | Uptime, alerts | Included base |
| Backups | Daily, tested, retention | 30-150 EUR/month |
| Security updates | OS, CMS, dependency patches | Included / 100-300 EUR/month |
| 24/7 on-call | After-hours intervention | +200-600 EUR/month |
| DRP | Recovery plan, failover | +150-500 EUR/month |
| Monthly report | Metrics, incidents, advice | Included |
A full contract with on-call and DRP for a critical site sits around 900 to 1,500 EUR/month.
Shared vs managed: the cost of downtime
Unmanaged shared hosting leaves the company alone against incidents. Managed hosting turns risk into a predictable cost.
| Criterion | Shared, unmanaged | Managed contract |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 5-25 EUR/month | 200-1,500 EUR/month |
| Guaranteed availability | None | 99.9 % (SLA) |
| Monitoring | No | 24/7 |
| Incident intervention | On you | Guaranteed under SLA |
| DRP / restoration | No | Yes |
| 1 h downtime cost (store) | 500-5,000 EUR lost | Avoided / minimized |
A 99.9 % availability allows about 8.7 h of downtime per year; below that, each hour on a store means hundreds to thousands of euros in lost sales.
Mini case study
Marc, IT director in Lille, runs 4 sites including an e-commerce with 1.2M EUR of online revenue. Without managed hosting, a 6-hour outage on a Saturday costs him about 8,000 EUR in sales. He signs a managed contract at 1,100 EUR/month (13,200 EUR/year) with 24/7 on-call, DRP and a 99.9 % SLA. Over the year, managed hosting avoids 2 major incidents estimated at 16,000 EUR in cumulative losses, plus operational peace of mind. The contract pays for itself with the first avoided incident.
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FAQ
What is the difference between hosting and managed hosting?
Hosting provides the server; managed hosting actively operates it: monitoring, backups, updates, intervention. It is a service, not just a resource.
What does a 99.9 % SLA guarantee?
A maximum downtime of about 8.7 h/year. Beyond that, contractual penalties usually apply, with credits on the invoice.
Is a DRP really useful for an SME?
Yes for any critical site: the Disaster Recovery Plan guarantees a fast failover during a major outage. Plan 150 to 500 EUR/month for this insurance.
How do I quantify the cost of downtime?
Divide your annual online revenue by the number of open hours, then multiply by the outage duration. On an active store, this quickly reaches 500 to 5,000 EUR per hour.
Can I start small and grow the contract?
Yes: start with monitoring + backups (200-400 EUR/month), then add on-call and DRP as criticality rises.
Let's scope your project. Specify the number of sites, your online revenue and the target availability; we will propose a managed contract with a fitting SLA, from 200 EUR/month. Detailed quote within 48 h. WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.
Mohamed Bah
Fondateur, Kolonell
Passionate about digital and entrepreneurship in Africa, Mohamed has been helping Sénégalese businesses with their digital transformation since 2020. Founder of Kolonell, he believes every SME deserves a professional and accessible online présence.
