In short
Good WordPress agency hosting keeps client sites isolated, puts them in one dashboard, gives staff and clients the right access, and makes it easy to stage, clone and hand over sites. Cloudways can transfer a server to a client, Krystal offers an Onyx Agency plan and white-label reseller hosting, and WP Engine offers transferable sites and an All Accounts View.
See Cloudways' managed hosting plans
Cloudways lists its cloud providers, server sizes and locations, including London, on its own site.
What agencies need from WordPress hosting
An agency's hosting has to work for three groups at once: the developers who build and maintain sites, the account managers who look after clients, and the clients themselves. Good managed WordPress hosting for agencies keeps all three productive as the portfolio grows.
Use this checklist when you compare hosts for agency work:
| What to check | Why it matters for agencies |
|---|---|
| Isolation between sites | One client's traffic spike or problem should not affect the rest |
| One dashboard | Your team should not hunt through separate accounts to find a site |
| Team and client access | Developers, contractors and clients need different permissions |
| Staging and cloning | Changes need testing, and new sites often start from a template |
| Developer tools | SSH, WP-CLI and Git should fit the way your team already works |
| Backups | Clients often notice problems late, so longer retention is useful |
| Migrations | Taking on a client usually means moving their site first |
| Branding | Some agencies want clients to see the agency, not the host |
| Billing and handover | Decide who pays the host, and how a client can take a site with them |
Freelancers and web designers need most of the same things on a smaller scale. A host that lets you start with a handful of client sites and grow without moving everything later is worth more than one that suits only a large portfolio.
See WP Engine's managed WordPress plans
WP Engine lists its plans and data centre options on its own UK site.
Agency options at each host
Each host organises agency hosting differently, so compare the model as well as the features:
| Cloudways | Krystal | WP Engine | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How agency hosting is sold | Pay per server, not per site; host as many client sites as the server can handle | An Onyx Agency plan "For agencies hosting sites for clients", plus cPanel reseller plans | Managed hosting plans with multi-site capacity, plus agency tools |
| Client hand-over | Move a server to a client's own account, including billing | Add the client as a user on their own site | Transferable sites, built on your plan and transferred to another account |
| Branding | See Cloudways' site | White-label cPanel reseller hosting with private name servers | White-labelled reporting |
| Agency programme | Cloudways Partner Program | See Krystal's site | Agency Partner Program |
| Where to read more | Cloudways for agencies (opens in a new tab) | Krystal for agencies (opens in a new tab) | WP Engine for agencies (opens in a new tab) |
Agency programmes are run by each host and set their own terms; read them on the host's site. Cloudways, for example, lists priority support, a partner manager and co-marketing in its Partner Program, and WP Engine pairs its Agency Partner Program with tools such as the All Accounts View, Site Monitoring and Smart Plugin Manager. Plan sizes and prices are on each provider's own site; our guide to WordPress hosting plans explains how to read the limits.
WordPress reseller hosting: billing clients yourself
Many agencies search for WordPress reseller hosting because they want to include hosting in a monthly care package, invoice the client themselves and keep the client relationship. The hosts here support that in different ways:
- Cloudways says agencies can "resell hosting to clients", and because you pay per server rather than per site, you decide how to package and charge for client sites. It also names a Client Billing & Reporting product on its site
- Krystal sells cPanel reseller plans with WHM, so you create, suspend and limit client accounts yourself. It says WHM works with the WHMCS billing system, and that everything on the servers is white-label
- WP Engine lets you host client sites on your own plan and create transferable sites for clients who will own their hosting
Whichever route you take, set out in your contracts who owns the hosting account, the domain and the data, and how a client can take their site with them. That makes the later conversation about moving or handing over a site much simpler.
Not sure which host to choose?
See the three hosts side by side on the features each one lists.
White-label options and an unbranded WordPress admin
Branding shows up in two places: the WordPress admin your client logs into, and any hosting dashboard they see.
- Krystal says its reseller plans are white-label on the servers, with private name servers and cPanel that you can brand with your own colours, images and copy
- WP Engine offers white-labelled reporting for agencies, so you can share site reports under your own name
Decide early how clients will reach you for help, who sends them invoices, and whether they ever log in to the host's dashboard. Those choices shape how you set up users and billing more than any branding setting.
Transferring sites to clients
Sometimes a client wants to own their hosting: they may want their own invoices, or the project is build-only. Cloudways and WP Engine each have a tool for this:
- Cloudways says you can move a server from your account to your client's account, giving them "full control (including billing)". The server keeps the same IP address
- WP Engine lets you create a site as transferable, build and stage it on your account, and transfer it to a separate account when it is ready
A clean handover usually includes:
- Agree in your contract who owns the hosting, the domain and the DNS once the project ends.
- Ask the client to open their own account with the host and choose a plan that fits the site.
- Transfer the site or server using the host's own tool.
- If you keep a maintenance contract, ask the client to add you as a user on their account.
- Hand over a short record of the domain, DNS, email and third-party services the site relies on.
Can freelancers use agency hosting? Yes: most of these tools work on smaller plans too, so you can start with a few client sites and move up later.
Team access: users, roles and SSO
Agencies need fine-grained access: developers who work on every site, contractors who should see only one, and clients who want to check their own site. This is how each host describes it:
- Cloudways: team members with custom roles and full or limited access to servers and applications, individual SFTP credentials per team member, two-factor authentication and IP whitelisting for SSH and SFTP
- Krystal: extra Onyx users per site, for example "An agency giving a client full access to their sites through Onyx"; these users get administrator access to the sites you assign
- WP Engine: User Portal roles for Owners, Full users and Partial users, with Partial users limited to the environments you choose
At every host, hosting-dashboard users are separate from WordPress users, so a client can have full control of their own WordPress admin without seeing your hosting account. WP Engine offers SAML single sign-on to its User Portal, so you can manage staff access through your existing identity provider, and Cloudways lists SSO in its Site Manager add-on.
Workflow: staging, cloning, Git, SSH and WP-CLI
The tools a host provides decide how quickly your team can ship client work:
| Cloudways | Krystal | WP Engine | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Staging | Staging on every plan, with staging URLs | Up to two staging sites per live site | Production, staging and development environments per site |
| Cloning | Clone a site or a whole server in one click | Clone a live site (clones count towards the site limit) | Copy environments between sites |
| Command line and Git | SSH, SFTP and pre-installed Git | SSH and SFTP per site | SSH Gateway with WP-CLI, GitPush and Git-based CI/CD |
| API | Cloudways Platform API | See Krystal's site | WP Engine API |
| Backups | Frequency you set, from hourly to weekly | 30 days of restore points | Kept at least 30 days |
For agencies, cloning and a scriptable API matter most once the portfolio grows: building each new site from a template, pushing tested releases and clearing caches after a deployment can all be automated. Our guide to WordPress hosting with staging explains these tools and a safe change workflow, and WordPress Multisite hosting covers networks of related sites.
Next step: compare agency plans on the hosts' own sites
Before you compare plans, write down the shape of your portfolio:
- Number of client sites today and in a year, and how many are busy
- Who pays the host: you, as part of a care plan, or each client directly
- Who needs access: staff, contractors and clients, and at what level
- Workflow: staging, Git and API needs for your developers
- Moves: how many sites you need to migrate, and when
Then read each host's agency pages: Cloudways (opens in a new tab), Krystal (opens in a new tab) and its reseller hosting (opens in a new tab), and WP Engine (opens in a new tab). Plans, limits and prices are on the provider's own site. Planning a portfolio move? See moving a WordPress site to a new host, and for very large portfolios, enterprise WordPress hosting.
Frequently asked questions
Which WordPress hosts offer reseller hosting?
Of the three hosts in this guide, Krystal sells cPanel reseller plans with WHM and white-label servers, and Cloudways says agencies can resell hosting on its per-server plans. WP Engine lets agencies host client sites on their own plan and create transferable sites for clients who will own their hosting.
What do agency plans usually include?
Agency plans usually combine room for many client sites with team access controls, staging and cloning, longer backup retention and tools for handing sites to clients. Some hosts add white-label options or an agency programme. Cloudways, for example, lists a partner manager and priority support in its Partner Program, and Krystal offers white-label cPanel reseller hosting.
Can I transfer a site to my client's own hosting account?
At some hosts, yes. Cloudways can move a server to a client's account, including billing, and WP Engine offers transferable sites that you build on your account and transfer when they are ready. The client usually opens their own account with the host first.
Can freelancers use agency hosting?
Yes. Most of the tools agencies use, such as staging, cloning, team access and site transfer, are available on smaller plans too. Freelancers and web designers can start with a few client sites and move to a larger plan as their client list grows.
Can clients have their own logins?
Yes, at all three hosts. Cloudways lets you give team members limited access, Krystal lets you add users to specific sites, and WP Engine has Partial users limited to chosen environments. Hosting logins are separate from WordPress logins.
How long are backups kept on agency plans?
It depends on the host and plan. Krystal describes 30 days of daily restore points, and WP Engine says it keeps backups for at least 30 days. Cloudways lets you set the backup frequency from hourly to weekly.
See Cloudways' managed hosting plans
Cloudways lists its cloud providers, server sizes and locations, including London, on its own site.