Agency hosting: how to host many client sites

November 2026 • Guide

Agency hosting means running the websites of many clients so that each client is kept apart, can be backed up and restored on its own, and can be handed over when the contract ends. The cost per client site matters, but it is not the only question. A cheap agency hosting setup that mixes clients together can cost more the first time one site is hacked or slows down the others.

This page compares the three setups that agencies and freelancers use most: one shared reseller account, one VPS per client, and one managed server with a separate account per client. For each we look at isolation, logins, backups, hand-over and cost. If you are a freelancer with five clients, the same logic applies at smaller scale, and freelancer hosting follows the same five requirements.

What agency hosting has to do

Agency hosting is different from hosting your own site, because you carry the risk of many clients. Five requirements come up again and again. Check each setup against them.

• Isolation: a problem in one client site, such as malware, a runaway script or a bad plugin, must not reach the others.
• One login per client: each client sees only their own files, databases and domains, and you can revoke access without touching other clients.
• Backup and restore per client: you can recover one client without rolling back all the others.
• Hand-over: when a client leaves, or when you sell a site, you can pass it on cleanly.
• Cost per client site: the monthly cost divided by the number of sites, including your own working time.

Agency hosting option 1: one shared reseller account

In this setup you rent a reseller plan from a hosting company. The company runs the server. You create one account per client. A hosting glossary describes the idea as buying resources at a wholesale rate and dividing them into packages for your own clients, and it names isolated accounts per client as part of the reseller's work.

Plans are limited by number of accounts. For example, a UK provider lists three reseller plans of 10 cPanel accounts each (the cheapest has an introductory price of 6.99 GBP and the one we use below 13.99 GBP), with a per-account limit on CPU, memory and entry processes, and with backups every day, every six hours or every four hours depending on the plan. Prices in that table are for a one-year term and rise at renewal. A billing system (WHMCS) is an add-on on that provider's plans.

• Isolation: separate accounts, with limits per account that the provider sets. You do not control the server or its other tenants.
• Logins: one cPanel login per client account is standard.
• Backups: provider-managed. Frequency and restore options depend on the plan.
• Hand-over: cPanel can package one account into a cpmove archive with the pkgacct script, but that script is run by the root user, so ask the provider whether they will do it for you.
• Weak point: account counts are fixed. Twenty sites on 10-account plans means two plans.

Agency hosting option 2: one VPS per client

Here every client gets a virtual server of their own. This is the strongest separation of the three options, by our reasoning: a compromised site on one server cannot reach another client's server unless the servers are connected. The price is work and cost. You install, secure and patch twenty operating systems, or you pay a management layer to do it.

Entry-level prices are low. Hetzner lists a 2 vCPU, 4 GB, 80 GB plan (CPX22) at 19.99 euro per month without VAT, and a 4 vCPU, 8 GB, 160 GB plan (CPX32) at 35.99 euro. When we read the page, the order buttons showed those products as currently unavailable, so check availability. DigitalOcean lists a 2 GiB, 1 vCPU, 50 GiB droplet at 12 US dollars per month, and offers backups at 20 percent of the droplet price for weekly backups or 30 percent for daily backups.

• Isolation: separate servers, so the separation is at the server boundary.
• Logins: you create them. Without a control panel you manage SSH keys or SFTP users yourself. With a panel, every server needs a licence. cPanel's published list price for a single account on a cloud server is 29.99 US dollars per month, as of its price list valid from 16 December 2025; cPanel has announced higher prices from 16 December 2026 (see our cPanel pricing page).
• Backups: per client by design, but you must set them up and test restores on each server.
• Hand-over: the simplest in principle, because the client's whole server can be given over, if your provider supports transferring a server to another customer.
• Weak point: cost and operations grow in a straight line with the number of clients.

Agency hosting option 3: one managed server with an account per client

In the third setup one server holds all clients, each in an account with its own login, and a provider manages the server. Two forms exist. A managed WordPress platform runs only WordPress sites. A managed server with a general control panel runs any web application. PFHW is of the second kind.

Managed WordPress platforms

Kinsta lists a plan with 20 WordPress installs at 340 US dollars per month, or 284 US dollars per month when billed yearly (3,400 in total), without tax, as shown on its plans page in November 2026. The plan includes 500,000 monthly visits and 50 GB of storage. Kinsta's plans page also lists a cheaper 20-install plan at 299 US dollars per month, or 250 US dollars per month billed yearly, with 1.5 million visits and 60 GB; we use the figures above because they come with the documentation we read, and you should compare the current plans page. Kinsta's documentation says an extra site costs 30 US dollars per month, and that visits and bandwidth are shared across all sites in a plan. It also states that in WordPress multisite mode, the main site and all subsites use the same resources. These platforms fit agency hosting when every client site is WordPress.

A managed server with a control panel

PFHW is the control panel of our Managed Web Server. Each plan is a dedicated virtual server, managed by our engineers, with no limit on sites or accounts in the panel. The vCPU and RAM are dedicated to your server, not shared with other customers. Plans run from 29 euro per month (2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 50 GB) to 99 euro per month (16 vCPU, 32 GB, 250 GB), without VAT, billed monthly with no contract.

• Isolation: separation between customers is the server boundary, since the server is dedicated to you. Between your own clients, each client can have a separate account. We do not describe on this page how resources are limited per account, and we do not claim per-account CPU or memory limits. If you need hard limits per client, ask us during the demo, or use a VPS per client.
• Logins: the panel has accounts and users, customers, two-factor and passkey login, and a log in as customer function. You can set a branded login domain for clients.
• Backups: nightly incremental backups on a separate storage array, one-click restore, scheduled backups, retention rules, optional GPG AES-256 encryption (off by default), SFTP or local destinations and restore dry runs. We describe restore at backup level here. Confirm account-level restore during the demo if you need it.
• Hand-over: PFHW offers SFTP and Git for moving sites in, and phpMyAdmin and Adminer for databases; ask us in the demo how you would export one client's site. There is no account export tool like the cPanel pkgacct script in the facts we publish.
• Weak point: one server is a shared fate for your clients. High availability restarts the server on a healthy host within seconds if a physical host fails, but a problem inside the server still reaches every account on it.

Comparison of the three setups

Worked example: 20 client sites

This is an example with stated assumptions. We assume 20 small sites, one account per site, no tax, and we ignore domain names, email and your own time. Prices come from the vendor pages named under Sources and were read on 7 November 2026.

Read the table with care. The currencies differ, so do not compare rows across currencies without converting. The rows are also not equal in what they include. The reseller plans have per-account limits and are shared hosting. The VPS rows give you a bare server, with the work of operating it. Kinsta is WordPress only. The PFHW rows are a dedicated managed server, and whether 20 of your sites fit on a given plan depends on their size and traffic. We give no benchmark for this. A server with 50 GB of storage, for example, leaves an average of 2.5 GB per site before backups are counted.

If you run the same 20 accounts on your own cloud server with cPanel, you add the licence. cPanel's list price for the Pro tier, up to 30 accounts, is 53.99 US dollars per month, on top of the server.

How to choose

• Choose a VPS per client when a client demands hard separation, for example for compliance, or when you want to hand the whole server to the client later.
• Choose a shared reseller account for many small, low-traffic sites where price matters most and you accept the provider's limits.
• Choose a managed WordPress platform when all sites are WordPress and you want WordPress-specific tooling.
• Choose one managed server when you run a mix of PHP, Node.js, Python and WordPress sites, want one panel and one bill, and prefer that someone else patches the server.

A mix is common. Many agencies combine these options. A few demanding clients get their own server, and the rest share one managed server. For a freelancer, freelancer hosting on one server with a separate account per client is usually the simplest start, as long as you take backups seriously and keep a copy outside the server.

Where PFHW fits, and where it does not

PFHW fits agency hosting when you want multiple client websites on one server with a panel that has no limit on sites or accounts, nightly backups, a firewall, a WAF with OWASP rules and malware scanning, and engineers who handle operating system patches. It supports per-domain PHP versions, Node.js, Python, Git deployment with rollback and WordPress tools. Data stays in the EU, in Vilnius, Lithuania.

It does not fit every agency. There is no AutoSSL, so you upload certificates or buy them from us. There is no per-account dedicated IP, no mailing lists, no hotlink protection and no webmail inside PFHW. Email is a separate paid add-on on its own Mailcow server. There is no account transfer tool like the cPanel Transfer Tool. The portal is in English only. If a client needs a hard resource limit or a dedicated IP, a separate server is the better choice.

Frequently asked questions

Is it safe to host multiple client websites on one server?

The risk is lower if each client has a separate account, the server is patched, backups are tested and a firewall and malware scanning are active. No setup removes the risk. The remaining risk is shared fate: a server-wide problem reaches every account. For clients that need hard separation, use a separate server.

How many client sites fit on one server?

It depends on the size, traffic and software of each site. We do not publish a site count per plan. The PFHW panel itself has no limit on the number of sites or accounts, so the limit is the server resources you choose.

What is the cheapest way to host 20 client sites?

In the example above, the UK reseller plan we priced is the lowest per site, and it comes with limits per account and a one-year term at an introductory price. A cheaper setup is not always a better fit: check isolation, backups and who does the operating work.

How do I hand a site over to a client?

Copy the files by SFTP or Git, export the database, and give the client the new DNS or login details. On a VPS you can transfer the whole server. On cPanel the root user can create a cpmove package for one account.

Do I need a separate backup for each client in agency hosting?

You need to be able to restore each client on its own, whether you are an agency or run freelancer hosting for a few clients. Check whether your setup restores one account or only the whole server, and keep at least one backup copy outside the server.

Related resources

• Reseller hosting without a cPanel licence
• How much server do websites need
• Website backup strategy
• Managed, shared and unmanaged hosting compared

Sources

• WordPress hosting plans and prices, Kinsta
• WordPress hosting plans, Kinsta documentation
• cPanel reseller hosting plans, Unlimited Web Hosting (UK)
• Cloud servers, regular performance, Hetzner
• Droplet pricing, DigitalOcean
• License tiers, cPanel support
• Reseller hosting glossary entry, DreamHost
• The pkgacct Script, cPanel documentation
• Managed Web Server, CloudAcropolis

See the Managed Web Server plans