Crown Street, Wollongong, 2500
Why We Choose Managed Websites Over WordPress: Fewer Security Risks, Less Maintenance and No Plugin Headaches
Melody Jaimon • November 11, 2026
Your website should help grow your business, not become another thing to worry about.
We're often asked why Love My Online Marketing doesn't build our standard websites on WordPress. It's the world's most popular website platform, it's flexible and it's free to download. So why don't we use it?
The answer is simple. We believe business owners should spend their time running their business, not updating plugins, fixing broken pages or worrying about hackers.
And with WordPress security problems climbing sharply, that decision matters more than ever.
What Is WordPress?
WordPress is free software for building and running websites. On its own it's fairly basic, so most WordPress websites are put together from several separate pieces:
- WordPress itself
- A theme (the design)
- Plugins (add-ons for things like contact forms, bookings and SEO)
- Hosting (where the website lives)
- Extra tools for security, backups and speed
Each piece is often made by a different developer, with its own updates and its own potential weak spots. When one piece goes out of date or clashes with another, someone has to find the problem and fix it.
Think of it like a house built by ten different tradies who never talk to each other. It can look fantastic, but every one of them needs to keep coming back for maintenance, and if one does dodgy work, the whole house is at risk.
WordPress Security in 2026: The Numbers
This isn't a hypothetical risk.
According to Patchstack's State of WordPress Security in 2026 report, 11,334 new security weaknesses were found across WordPress websites' software during 2025. That's 42% more than the year before.
And here's the telling part: 91% of them were in plugins. WordPress itself had only a handful.
These figures count weaknesses found, not websites hacked. But each one is a door that needs closing, and on a WordPress website, closing it is up to the website owner or whoever they pay to look after it.
Why Plugins Are the Weak Spot
Plugins are WordPress's biggest selling point. Need a booking system? There's a plugin. Contact form? Plugin. SEO? Plugin.
Some plugins are updated regularly by experienced teams. Others are abandoned, out of date or clash with newer versions of WordPress.
When a weakness is found in a plugin, your website stays exposed until a fix is released and someone installs it. The more plugins a website has, the more doors there are to keep locked.
We've Been Through It Ourselves
This isn't something we've just read about. We've lived through a hacked WordPress website, from the early-morning alert to the clean-up that followed, and a plugin weakness was the cause.
We shared the full story in our earlier article, why my WordPress site was hacked and what I did about it.
That experience played a big part in our decision to move to platforms where security is managed centrally.
What Happens When a Website Is Hacked?
Depending on the attack, a hacked website might:
- Go offline or show broken pages
- Send your visitors to dodgy websites
- Display spam or harmful content
- Expose customer information
- Show a security warning in Google search results
- Lose you enquiries and sales
- Cost you money in emergency repairs
- Damage your reputation
And cleaning up isn't enough on its own. The original weakness has to be found and fixed, or it can happen all over again.
The Hidden Costs of a "Free" Website
WordPress is free to download, but a WordPress website isn't free to run. Ongoing costs can include:
- Hosting: WordPress needs somewhere to live, and better security and speed cost more.
- Premium themes and plugins: many come with yearly subscription fees.
- Updates and maintenance: someone needs to keep everything updated and fix anything that breaks along the way.
- Security and backups: often extra services on top of hosting.
- Emergency repairs: if the website is hacked or breaks after an update, the bill can arrive without warning.
The real cost of a website isn't what you pay to build it. It's what you pay to keep it safe and working.
What Is a Managed Website Platform?
A managed platform is an all-in-one website system. The hosting, software, security and updates all come from one provider, and that provider looks after the technical side for you.
Wix, Shopify and Webflow are well-known examples.
Going back to our house: instead of ten tradies, it's one builder who owns the whole job and does the maintenance as part of the deal.
That doesn't mean your website never needs attention. It means you're no longer responsible for keeping the engine running.
No website is completely hack-proof. Weak passwords, risky add-ons and unsafe custom code can cause problems on any platform. But for most small and medium businesses, removing all that plugin maintenance is a smarter, safer starting point.
Why Doesn't Love My Online Marketing Build on WordPress?
It's not because WordPress can't produce good websites. It absolutely can.
It's about what happens after your website goes live. We don't want our clients worrying about:
- Endless plugin updates
- Plugins clashing, going out of date or being abandoned
- Paying for separate maintenance, or emergency repairs that could have been avoided
We want our clients focused on their customers and growing their business, not on what's happening behind the scenes of their website.
Do We Only Work With One Platform?
Not at all!
We have a preferred managed platform for new websites, but we also support businesses using:
- Wix
- Shopify
- Webflow
- Brilliant Directories
- Other managed platforms
Different businesses need different things. An online store might be best on Shopify, while a directory or membership website might need something like Brilliant Directories.
Our goal isn't to push everyone onto the same platform. It's to help you choose website technology that suits your business now and into the future.
We explored this shift in our earlier article on businesses embracing advanced technologies beyond WordPress.
WordPress vs Managed Platforms at a Glance
| Self-hosted WordPress | Managed platform | |
|---|---|---|
| Software updates | Up to you (or someone you pay) | Handled for you |
| Plugins | Usually needed for extra features | Fewer needed, many features built in |
| Hosting | Arranged separately | Included |
| Security | Spread across many providers | Managed centrally |
| Things breaking after updates | Can happen when plugins clash | Less common |
| Ongoing technical maintenance | Your responsibility | Mostly handled by the provider |
| Flexibility | Almost unlimited | Depends on the platform |
Managed WordPress hosting, where a company looks after WordPress updates and security for you, is also available. This comparison is between traditional self-hosted WordPress and all-in-one managed platforms.
Does a Managed Website Still Need Maintenance?
Yes, but a very different kind. You'll still want to:
- Update content and images
- Improve your SEO
- Refresh the design
- Add new pages or features
- Keep logins and account access secure
The difference is that your time and money go into making your website better, not stopping it from breaking.
There's a big difference between maintaining a website to make it better and maintaining a website just to keep it running.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Bottom Line: Your Website Shouldn't Be Another Worry
WordPress is a capable platform when it's professionally looked after, but it isn't the right fit for every business.
We've chosen managed platforms because we want our clients to have fewer technical headaches, more predictable costs and more time to grow their business.
Because you didn't start a business to spend your weekends fixing website plugins! 🧡
Looking for a Website Without the Technical Headaches?
Whether you're planning a new website or already using Wix, Shopify, Webflow or Brilliant Directories, we can help you find the right solution for your business. Explore our website design and digital marketing services.
Love My Online Marketing has 10+ Years of working alongside businesses and helping them grow. Discuss your options for online success from website Design and Development through to Google Marketing.
Do you want more traffic and business leads?
Love My Online Marketing is determined to make a business grow. Our only question is, will it be yours?
