Finding great managed WordPress hosting can be a daunting task. You’re comparing this host with that host, scanning for features one might have that the other doesn’t. It’s exhausting! Fortunately for you, you’ve found Liquid Web Hosting.
The goal of this Liquid Web review is to cover the pros and cons of liquid web, features, what type of hosting options and pricing they offer, and then ultimately whether or not they’re a good fit for your web goals. If they aren’t, we’ve got some alternatives lined up for you to compare them against. Let’s get into it!
What Is Liquid Web Hosting?
Liquid Web Hosting is one of the original hosting companies. They were founded in 1997 through an acquisition deal with Rackspace.
They purchased a business called Cloud Sites from Rackspace in 1997 and then used the technology and hardware to start Liquid web servers. It was then that they started offering web hosting to business owners and individuals alike.
Today the company focuses on offering highly customized hosting services, including managed web hosting and more advanced VPS hosting, while offering impressive customer service and support.
Liquid Web focuses on helping business experts, companies, and entrepreneurs specifically, but also provides services that individuals outside of the business world can benefit from as well.
Jim Geiger founded the company in 1997 and now has more than 30,000 clients in most countries around the world. They’ve even made the Inc. 5,000 Fastest Growing Companies list for nearly a decade straight.
Would Recommend If
- You know the specific type of hosting you want already
- You have highly specific hosting needs
- You demand leading customer support
- You value hosting security
- You want a provider that offer’s reliable uptime
Wouldn’t Recommend If
- You want the most basic cloud hosting
- You don’t care about tech support
- Cost is the most important consideration for you
- Site speed is your main concern
Is Liquid Web Any Good?
Whenever I evaluate a web host such as Liquid Web, the first question is always is the service any good? The real answer to this question depends on what you’re looking for from dedicated or shared hosting.
Different web hosting customers have different needs, and although Liquid Web is a versatile provider, the company doesn’t meet all the needs of every shared hosting customer out there.
Below is an overview of why Liquid Web stands out, and a quick breakdown of who will benefit most from this web hosting provider.
Fully Managed Services
Bloggers or small shop owners looking to get started online as easily as possible while still having control over their services can do so simply using the managed WordPress or managed Woocommerce services from Liquid Web hosting.
There are many different tiers of Managed WordPress hosting plans designed for a single site up to hundreds of sites for owners and administrators that want to manage websites with the least amount of effort. The Woocommerce plans make starting and running up to 30 different storefronts fast and easy to do as well.
These managed hosting plans are simple to use and also include SSL protection, data backup and most important features that you would want from a managed service, but they aren’t the most affordable option available.
Dedicated or Cloud Hosting Plans
Liquid Web is ideal for businesses and major site owners that need to process a large amount of traffic. If that’s the case then the cloud hosting plans or virtual private servers would be your best bet.
Liquid Web plans give you access to up to four different dedicated servers and make it possible for you to run data centers, manage huge amounts of traffic and process e-commerce orders securely.
Liquid Web isn’t good for customers looking for budget plans at any of its levels. Even the managed WordPress hosting or Woocommerce policies are more costly at Liquid Web than at many other providers that you’ll find online today.
The benefit of working with this provider is getting access to a simple control panel and getting a reliable web host that packs in the most important features into your subscription.
With Liquid Web you’ll get automatic data backups, the managed policies come with SSL protection and firewall protection automatically and much more.
Pros and Cons
If you’re looking for managed WordPress hosting, LiquidWeb makes a strong case to earn your business. The pros far outweigh the cons. Here’s what you can expect to get:
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| 30-Day Money Back Guarantee | Expensive By Comparison |
| 24/7 Heroic Support (Email, Chat, Tel) | No Free Domain Name |
| Good Speed | Overwhelming Amount of Options |
| Unlimited Email Accounts | Price Increases At Month 6 |
| Globalsign® SSL Included | No Asia Based Data Centers |
| Complimentary Website Migration | Recent Data Breach (July 2021) |
| SSD Servers | Email Not Included With Lowest Plan |
| Worry Free Traffic Overage | Confusing Pricing Structure |
| Scalable Cloud Plans | |
| Website Staging Area | |
| 100% Uptime Guarantee | |
| BeaverBuilder Lite Included | |
| iThemes Security Pro & iThemes Sync |
Features
Whether you want managed WordPress hosting, shared hosting, or something more specific, Liquid Web has plenty of features to offer. Here’s what you can expect..
InterWorx Control Panel
By far the most popular control panel to manage your website is cPanel. However, after the 2019 partnership of LiquidWeb and Nexcess, LiquidWeb turned to Nexcess to handle all of their managed WordPress hosting accounts.
This means that instead of using cPanel, you get the SiteWorx control panel by InterWorx. Compared to other hosting providers still using cPanel, you’ll find it super easy to navigate the easy-to-use control panel.
Whether you want to access FTP files, domain names, email options, setting up your SSL, or more specialized services, the navigation is very straight forward.
Specialized Hosting
Whether you want to use a WordPress website, start a Magento site or open a Woocommerce store, there are specialized managed host services that will make it easy to set up a test site in less time.
Some other managed WordPress hosts are more affordable than Liquid Web, but most don’t offer the heroic support and top-level features that this provider offers its customers.
Automatic Data Backups
One of the worst things that can happen to your website is losing valuable data. One thing that makes this provider a true web hosting elite is that all of the plans come with automatic data backup services.
You’ll get data storage services that you can use to protect your site against file corruption, hackers and other potential issues. Rest-easy knowing that your VPS hosting, or whatever web hosting plan you choose is safely backed up.
Site Speed Optimization
Fast website load speeds are essential for running a business today, and should be a major consideration when looking at any web hosting provider.
I was very impressed by how they take additional measures to enhance the speed of their servers.
Users of Liquid Web will enjoy SSD (solid state drive) hard drives, along with a content delivery network to help improve site speeds.
If you’re on one of the managed WordPress plans, you’ll get access to Memcached pages and Mod-PageSpeed enhanced pages as well. Web hosts that implement these features offer noticeably improved load times and page performance overall.
Free Site Transfers
As I’ve mentioned in previous reviews of web hosting services, website migrations should come standard across all hosting companies. Unfortunately, some web hosts still haven’t gotten the memo. Fortunately, these guys gets it.
Customers will get free site migrations at no additional cost. That means no additional service fees to move your existing website over. Just a team of helpful data center managers making sure everything runs smoothly.
Uptime Guarantee
Whether you’re running important data centers, or you’re looking for something as simple as managed WordPress hosting plans, you can rest easy with Liquid Web’s uptime guarantee. Here’s how their uptime guarantee stacks up against the rest:
Like other web hosts in the industry, Liquid Web has a series of emergency generators and backup UPS (uninterruptible power supplies) systems to keep the power running to servers in the event of a power outage.
The company also utilizes four different Tier 1 bandwidth connections to move data back and forth between all of its servers and the rest of the internet, which makes it less-likely for data outages to impact its customers in any way.
Performance
Site speed is an important measure of any hosting plan, and I wanted to be sure their service was up to the task of offering usable websites that won’t send visitors running for the hills.
In order to verify that Liquid Web offers decent hosting services, we put the company’s test site through a battery of tests designed to give us an accurate picture of the hosts performance for our Liquid Web review.
Here’s how the test results with a ghost website that uses Liquid web as their web host. (Spoiler alert: the results weren’t that great).
GTMetrix
Overall, GTMetrix gave the most favorable score to the web host giving it a B+ for its performance rating, and putting its wait times at 1.4 seconds for the content to show up and 567 ms until the site is interactive and usable. That’s not too bad at all, but these results don’t detail the full picture.
Web Dev (Lighthouse Score)
These results were the worst overall, and part of that is likely due to where the test servers are located, but web.dev measured the load time for the first contentful paint at 2.1 seconds and said the platform took a whopping 5.8 seconds until it was fully interactive.
These results aren’t good at all, and should be something that users think about when evaluating this site for shared hosting or any of the other plans.
Pingdom
Pingdom is where the final speed test was performed and this test was verified using a web server within the United States. The test results gave the service a C rating for performance, but it managed a respectable load time of 1.46 seconds, which isn’t too bad.
While the speed test results for this hosting company aren’t amazing, it’s important to realize that the webpage tested has graphics of around 1.8 MB in size, and that much faster results could be obtained by compressing the images and optimizing the site theme more.
Whether you’re looking for a company providing managed VPS hosting, or a less powerful hosting option, it’s possible to get respectable speeds with Liquid Web, but they certainly don’t offer the fastest load speeds on the market today.
Security: Is Liquid Web Safe?
Liquid Web offers a variety of security features. The following come standard across all hosting plans but they also offer “A La Carte” security options that must be purchased separately.
Integrated Firewall Protection
Every modern website should be protected by a firewall. A firewall is a protective layer that monitors traffic between a hosting account and everyone that connects to it.
With a capable firewall, a hosting account is protected from most malicious activities and is made more reliable as a result. Whether you get managed WordPress hosting or one of the more comprehensive hosting plans, Liquid Web offers firewall protection to all of its customers.
DDoS Attack Prevention
DDoS attacks or distributed denial-of-service attacks make websites slow and can damage businesses that aren’t protected from these malicious actions.
Fortunately, they offer security measures against these attacks to help safeguard its customers against these damaging attacks. If you’re concerned with DDoS attacks or have suffered from them in the past you can rest assured that you’re protected from this issue.
SSL Support
SSL or a secure sockets layer is a protective channel between your web host provider and the client that’s using the site. SSL encryption is important when running e-commerce solutions, or any site that’s going to handle delicate information from visitors.
Liquid Web offers included SSL protection for some of its managed plans, but many of its dedicated plans require the addition of SSL encryption coverage as an add-on service rather than something that’s included.
Either way, they make it easy to protect your service with SSL encryption. Free SSL is a powerful perk and it’s included with many of the plans that fall into the managed cloud hosting designation.
Included Automatic Backups
One of the most security measures for a modern website is to backup the site’s data on a regular basis. All of the different services offered include automatic data backup with Acronis.
Whether you’re selecting the dedicated hosting, managed WordPress, or one of the other hosting plans, your data is protected by automatic backups that ensure you can always restore your website if something goes wrong.
Plugin Updates
Customers that go with a managed premium managed WordPress hosting plan from Liquid Web will enjoy regular plugin updates to keep the software safe and secure over time. Old WordPress plugins can leave a customer’s website vulnerable, which is why it’s so important to keep plugins as updated as possible.
ServerSecure Advanced Security
Knowledgeable website owners want to be able to customize their security coverage, while new customers want reliable protection without having to adjust settings.
Liquid Web’s ServerSecure Advanced security features make it easy to customize your site’s protection so that it’s safe, secure, and reliable no matter how you run your website.
Liquid Web Support
Liquid Web sets itself apart in the hosting service industry by hiring and training some of the best support staff available today. They dub themselves as Helpful Humans or Heroic Support.
With expected wait times of just 59 seconds when calling for help, and an expected 100% uptime for different hosting plans, it’s easy to see why the company received the Top Net Promoter Score (NPS) in 2015.
The NPS of a company shows off the level of customer support you can expect from the organization, and Liquid Hosting beat massive companies like Apple and JetBlue in order to take the top spot in 2015.
Fast and Powerful Chat Support
Louise, from the chat support answered all my questions completely within a minute of asking. Support was thorough with its questioning and asked useful follow-up questions to help me find the answer I was looking for.
Best of all, it wasn’t a sales pitch, which is what I usually expect with live chat agents.
If you want managed VPS hosting, or even shared web hosting, but you need to work with a company with proven customer support, this is a solid company to go with.
Many of the positive Liquid Web hosting reviews I’ve read focus on customer support specifically, which really goes to show where they excel.
Two Customer Support Numbers
Get help from the Liquid Web support team through one of the two different provided phone numbers. The support team is fast and responsive through either of the two numbers, and they are simple to work with.
Support is available in multiple languages and it’s fairly easy to get help for most standard problems you may encounter should you go with this company.
An Extensive Knowledgebase
Customers using Liquid Web as their main hosting service provider will enjoy access to hundreds of questions and answers in the comprehensive Knowledgebase offered on the hosting site.
There are answers to hundreds of questions ranging from common fixes to technical support. The Knowledgebase even includes a powerful search bar for tracking down information faster and more effectively.
So if there’s something you don’t know, chances are the question has previously been asked, and the answers are there.
Ease of Use
When you order hosting Liquid Web services you’ll find the platform quick and easy to access. As you can see from the screenshot below they utilize the robust SiteWorx interface, a clear upgrade from the widely popular cPanel.
The image below is what you’ll see after purchasing the managed WordPress hosting plan. As mentioned earlier, this is through Nexcess, now owned by LiquidWeb.
Everything is neatly divided into Plans, SSL, Support, Billing and DNS. Making each of these features is readily accessible and simple to use. Access your latest billing, change cards, turn your SSL on or off, upgrade it, etc.
Files
The Files section is useful for transferring files on and off from your hosted devices and for performing regular backups. It has FTP services built-in, as well as more traditional file access controls.
Databases
The Databases tools make it easy to manage phpMyAdmin and MySQL databases. Remote MySQL access is provided for all the hosting plans, and it’s easy to access the databases you get with this web hosting provider using this section of the panel.
Domains
Manage your domain names, name server settings, addon domains, subdomains, and the DNS for your hosting services as well as all redirects. These tools make it possible to adjust all the most important domain settings to help you get the optimal results for your website, cloud hosting, or dedicated servers.
Many of the Liquid Web plans offer included emails and these are simple to manage through the Email section of the panel. Manage filters, autoresponders, email routing, track email lists, watch for delivery data and much more.
Plans and Pricing
One of the biggest strengths that Liquid Web offers is the variety of hosting options. From shared web hosting, VPS hosting, WooCommerce hosting, to HIPAA compliant hosting; there’s a plan for everyone.
With a long list of different services to choose from it’s important to spend time getting to know each of the options and to determine which service from this web host is right for your needs.
Whether you want dedicated servers, cloud hosting, or one of the managed web hosting services, you’ll want to talk with customer support to find out exactly what will meet your needs best.
Check out the plans below to learn about the different services, costs associated with them, and get an idea of what service works best for your needs and your budget.
Managed WordPress Hosting
Get support for between 1 WordPress site and 250 sites through the many different fully managed WordPress hosting plans available through Liquid Web.
These managed services come at different costs, starting at $9.50 per month for one site, up to $499.50 for 250 sites per month.
With any of the managed WordPress hosting plans in this company’s offerings there are powerful features for every type of site owner, though we wish it provided WordPress themes as well.
Managed VPS
Enjoy cost-effective root-access hosting with different levels of power from this web host provider. These plans aren’t as customizable as dedicated server hosting, but they are significantly more cost-effective.
Begin at just $15 per month for 2GB of RAM and 2 vCPU cores, and go to 16 GB of RAM and 8 vCPU cores for $125 per month.
Private VPS
Get access to a dedicated server that you can utilize to run VPS servers for the low starting cost of just $149 per month for 8 vCPU cores and 16 GB of RAM up to $699 per month for 12 vCPU cores and 64 GB of RAM.
Managed Dedicated Server Plans
$169 per month to $411 per month
Get between 4 cores, 2 x 240 GB SSD drives, and 5TB of bandwidth and 32 cores along with 4 x 480 GB of SSD storage and 15 TB of bandwidth with the dedicated server plans.
Cloud Servers
A fast-launching, simple, and fully scalable web service. Available for as low as $265 per month up to $740 per month.
All offer cPanel support but get between one and four web nodes depending on the plan.
Windows Servers
Dedicated software for Windows Servers is available from this service provider as well, making it easy to run a wide range of web applications and more for your business or project.
VMware Private Cloud
Get access to private cloud hosting with full VMware support for between $510 and $1,599 per month.
Cloud Dedicated Servers
Get access to the customization of a dedicated server with the reliability and scalability of a cloud server with these plans. They start at $149 per month for 4 cores and 16GB of RAM and go to $699 per month in price for 6 cores and 64 GB of RAM. More costly custom services are available for an undisclosed price for access to up to 16 cores and 128 GB of RAM.
Managed Woocommerce Hosting
Woocommerce is a powerful e-commerce platform that’s powered by WordPress and designed to run online stores. Liquid Web managed hosting plans include Woocommerce specific hosting for between $9.50 for a single store, up to $499.50 per month for 30 stores of web hosting.
Liquid Web Servers Cloud Sites
Quickly launch websites designed in Drupal, WordPress, or Joomla as an agency or another creative company without wasting time or worrying about server management tasks. This costs $150 per month and will support many websites and offers 50 GB of SSD storage and unlimited sites and visitors.
Alternatives
Liquid Web Hosting is an impressive platform with heroic support and a live chat service that rivals any customer support experience that we’ve had previously, but there are other top-tier alternatives worth considering as well.
If the different Liquid Web reviews don’t have you sold on this provider, and you aren’t already set on one of the company’s hosting packages, take a moment to look at these other web hosts as well.
Kinsta
Kinsta is a powerful WordPress-specific hosting service that’s well-known for its inclusive services and high-quality options. This is a more costly WordPress host but users get 14 days of data retention and an excellent support staff, though wait times are longer than they are with Liquid Host, the industry leader for customer support. Kinsta is one of the leading shared hosting providers available today, and a useful resource.
WP Engine
WP Engine is one of the leading managed WordPress hosts on the market today, offering access to some of the fastest performing WordPress sites available today. The site offers simple control panels, reasonable prices and an optimal WordPress experience. It’s slightly more affordable than Kinsta and gives its users a handful of premium WordPress themes for joining as well making your WordPress website even better.
A2 Hosting
A2 Hosting is a budget hosting provider that offers shared hosting, VPS options, reseller accounts and dedicated servers at lower prices than much of what Liquid Web offers.
A2 Hosting offers a similar set of specialized managed hosting options as well as dependable uptime for its servers, but it can’t match the customer support of Liquid Web either.
Customer Tweets
Twitter is a useful resource for obtaining user reviews from customers from all around the world. Here’s a look at what Liquid Web customers have to say about the WordPress hosting plans and more.
Liquid Web won’t appeal to bargain hunters, and its baseline prices can be much higher than some of the competition. However, what you are paying for is the highest quality support and high end hardware, so you’re getting what you pay for.
— LitExtension (@litextension) August 5, 2021
There’s a reason why top companies like Motorola, Red Bull, ESPN, Audi, and FedEx use Liquid Web.
— Shishir shaki (@Shishirshaki) March 11, 2021
@LiquidWeb You guys are truly professionals. I can’t refer you enough. Awesome support and people. Thank you for all you do!
— KC Marketing Agency, LLC (@KCMarketingAge1) September 11, 2021
Just wanna shout out to @LiquidWeb for a quick VPS set up. Happily way forward to migrate over to LW. #blogging #bestVPS #webhosting
— Internet Pearl (@internet_pearl) September 3, 2021
On the phone with my Liquid Web (hosting) dedicated account manager today .. “oh.. you’ve been with us for 14 years!”
— Matt Levenhagen (@mattlevenhagen) May 18, 2021
Yes, I’ve been around for a while. And THAT was only when I started moving off my Site5 hosting servers. 😉
I have a GoDaddy account, but the next time I want to set up an important website, I’ll probably use a company in my hometown called Liquid Web. Their support is really good, but they’re a bit more money 💰
— Rich Hamilton (@tekazabu) January 4, 2021
@LiquidWeb blows @GoDaddy out of the water. GoDaddy tickets take up to 72 hours and they know so little. I can’t recommend @LiquidWeb enough. They are amazing.
— Kevin Champlin (@KevinChamplin) September 11, 2021
@LiquidWeb special shoutout to support techs Daniel R. and Robert Lane.
— Carry (@boatgirl3) September 9, 2021
awesome support! 👊
FAQs
Does cPanel Use Liquid Web?
Yes, Liquid Web makes exclusive use of cPanel for its different web hosting service options. If you’re thinking of using Hosting Liquid web products you will have access to cPanel for all of the most popular options.
What makes Liquid Web Hosting different from other hosting providers?
Liquid Web Hosting is known for its high-performance hosting services and premium support. The company has a team of technical experts available 24/7 to assist customers with any issues they may have. Additionally, Liquid Web Hosting offers a 60-minute response guarantee for all support tickets, making it a popular choice among businesses and professional bloggers.
Is Liquid Web Hosting a good choice for a WordPress website?
Yes, Liquid Web Hosting is a great choice for a WordPress website. The company offers a managed WordPress hosting service that is optimized for performance and security. The service also includes automatic backups, software updates, and 24/7 support from technical experts.
What is included in Liquid Web Hosting’s customer support?
Liquid Web Hosting’s customer support includes 24/7 technical assistance from a team of experts. The company also offers a 60-minute response guarantee for all support tickets, ensuring that customers receive prompt and effective assistance with any issues they may have. Additionally, Liquid Web Hosting provides a comprehensive knowledge base and user guides to help customers resolve common problems on their own.
Final Thoughts
Liquid Web is one of the most powerful web hosts available today that also offers excellent customer service. There’s an impressive variety of services available and a complete security suite is part of the Liquid Web offer for most of the hosting packages as well.
Whether customers are considering one of the shared hosting packages, or they’re looking for a dedicated server, anyone that wants top-tier support and a simple-to-use provider can benefit from Liquid Web.
Get the Best Customer Support
Liquid Web may not provide the most affordable fully managed WordPress hosting or dedicated servers, but the provider offers one of the most responsive live chat teams, and phone answering services in the market today.
If you ever have a question, you’ll be glad that you went with this provider over the cheaper options.
Choose from a Huge Variety of Packages
With a huge range of services, you can get what you need for your business whether you just want a WordPress website or you are planning on developing a full e-commerce solution for your full-scale business.
Liquid Web has services for small and large businesses, and the company offers heroic support to all of its customers so you can feel good about your hosting provider’s reliability no matter what option you select.
