Looking for a clear breakdown of what managed hosting actually manages for you

Managed hosting typically means the provider handles all server-level administration, including OS security patches, control panel updates, and core service management like MySQL, PHP, and Nginx, while you retain full control over your application code and its configuration. The fundamental division is infrastructure versus application: they manage the stable, standardized environment while you manage the dynamic, custom code within it. For a managed VPS, they would handle `apt-get update && apt-get upgrade` for system packages and ensure services like MySQL stay running, but modifying your `nginx.conf` for application-specific routing falls to you. They proactively monitor server health metrics like CPU and RAM, but won't debug your custom code errors. Always verify the specific scope with your provider, as some may offer managed databases as an add-on while including core language runtime updates by default.