This comparison of Cloudways vs Nexcess matches up two outstanding web hosts that are both great choices for WordPress and WooCommerce hosting. Cloudways offers Managed Cloud Hosting, while Nexcess (part of Liquid Web) continues to be a premier Managed Hosting Provider for WordPress and WooCommerce websites.
Let’s see what each host has to offer, how they perform, and ultimately which host is the better fit for your situation.
Cloudways is now part of Digital Ocean, while Nexcess is part of Liquid Web. But both of these web hosts operate on their own for the most part. Cloudways specializes in Managed Cloud Hosting, offering 5 different cloud providers—including Digital Ocean. Nexcess features both Managed WordPress and Managed WooCommerce Hosting.
Advantages of Choosing Cloudways over Nexcess:
Advantages of Choosing Nexcess over Cloudways:
The hosting plans of both Cloudways and Nexcess are loaded with impressive features. Where Cloudways shines is with the added server controls that cloud hosting provides. However, when it comes to managed WordPress hosting features, Nexcess comes out on top and is the winner in the category. With Nexcess, you get servers optimized for WordPress and WooCommerce, automatic image compression, iThemes Security Pro, and their 100% uptime SLA.
In our testing and my personal experience using both Cloudways and Nexcess, they are two of the fastest performing hosts for WordPress websites. Cloudways features optimized web and database servers on three different cloud platforms. Nexcess providers optimized servers along with premium image compression and their integrated CDN.
Here, it is very close. However, based on our test results and my personal experience, Nexcess is the winner here. See some of our sample speed test results below:
Cloudways and Nexcess both include website staging with their hosting plans. Both staging platforms are easy to use and perform very well. While creating a staging environment and pushing changes to production are equally effective with both Cloudways and Nexcess, we found the process to be a bit more streamlined with Nexcess. So, they are the winner here.
Cloudways and Nexcess both allow you to create on-demand data backups in addition to the automatic backups that are generated daily. In this category, Cloudways does get an edge because they offer more flexibility when it comes to data backup and restore. With Cloudways, you can actually adjust the frequency of your automated backups, so they can run more frequently. And, you can also set the length of your data retention for restoring.
Based on the above customization options, Cloudways has the advantage here.
Cloudways and Nexcess both offer 24/7 expert support, both support teams provide responsive, courteous, and helpful assistance when needed. Here again, this is another area where both hosts succeed and we have to call it a tie.
Started Business: 2012
BBB Rating: N/A
Data Center Location: US, CAN, EUR, ASIA, AUS, South America
Price: $12 mo. – $274.33 mo.
Unlimited Bandwidth: No
Unlimited Storage: No
Unlimited Email: No
Host Multiple Domains: Yes
Hosting Interface: Cloudways Dashboard
Server Uptime: 99%
Full Refund Period: Pay as You Go
Dedicated Hosting Available: (Dedicated Environment)
Advantages of Choosing Cloudways:
Started Business: 1999
BBB Rating: A+
Data Centers: Lansing, Michigan; Phoenix, AZ; Amsterdam, EUR
Price: $14 mo. – $109 mo.
Unlimited Bandwidth: No
Unlimited Storage: No
Unlimited Email: Yes
Host Multiple Domains: Yes (Except Spark Plan)
Hosting Interface: Custom
Server Uptime: 100%
Full Refund Period: 30 Days
Dedicated Hosting Available: Yes (Liquid Web)
Advantages of Choosing Nexcess:
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Both Cloudways and Nexcess provide excellent hosting for WordPress websites. For most WordPress hosting, we would recommend Nexcess. The premium WordPress hosting features included together with their expert support put them ahead here. Also, when it comes to WooCommerce, Nexcess is our recommendation. The additional online store features together with iThemes Security and other WooCommerce optimizations make them the better choice for online stores.
The one area where Cloudways would be the better fit is if you require more control over your server.
Overall, while it’s a close call here, in this comparison Nexcess is the winner. See our Nexcess Review Ratings below:
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