Which should you use? Without knowing your situation I can’t exactly answer that question for you, but I can help you decide for yourself which brand has the right products for your needs. If you want a detailed breakdown of each brand, I suggest you read through this guide, Which of Liquid Web’s Brands is Right for You?
In this article, I’m going to give you a simple break down of the two brands and explanation of their product offerings so you can make an educated decision quickly.
Wait! They’re The Same Company? WHAT!?
There has been a lot of confusion around these two brands, so let me try and clear that up really quickly.
Liquid Web acquired Nexcess in 2019, so yes, now they are one company, operating as different brands because they offer two different types of products (more on these different products below).
I recommend watching this video for more on why this union is a good thing if you’re considering either of these brands:
Now that that is cleared up (kinda), let’s move on…
Product Comparison
User Comparison
Now that we have a good understanding of the different products each brand is offering, we need to compare the ideal users for each brand. Keep in mind there might be some overlap.
What every user can expect from either brand:
- Quality: top-of-the-line products and solutions.
- Reliable and powerful infrastructure built on the latest and greatest technology.
- Knowledgeable and friendly support (if you’ve ever called GoDaddy support…it’s NOT like that!).
- Fair and competitive pricing.
- Managed services, which means there is some level of done-for-you services or features.
I’m not going to spend time breaking each of these items down, but I do want to say, if you’re going to compare Nexcess or Liquid Web to your current provider and products, make sure you’re comparing apples to apples. For example, don’t assume that “Competitive Pricing” means they’re trying to compete with GoDaddy’s $5/mo share hosting plan that is completely useless.
If you answer Yes, to any/most of the items below, Nexcess is your brand solution!
- No technical skills or understanding of how to manage hosting accounts and servers.
- You don’t want to employ a server admin to manage a server/website for you.
- You just need a single WordPress website for your business, and once it’s setup, you just kinda want to leave it be.
- You’re looking to launch a new eCommerce store quickly and hassle free so that you can start generating revenue fast.
- You have a growing eCommerce store that needs a dependable foundation with access to support without having to pay a team of developers
- Your website/online store traffic is seasonal and you need the ability to support traffic spikes without worry.
- You’re willing to pay a reasonable price for a quality solution, but you’re not interested in making a mortgage payment for your virtual real estate.
If you find yourself checking the boxes on this list, Liquid Web is your hosting solution!
- You like the freedom of a blank canvas to do what you want, the way you want, and have the skills to fix any technical server challenges.
- You offer website hosting services to your clients and prefer to control how the server is configured and shared among your users.
- You work for a company that is interested in hosting their own email, or some other software application like Quickbooks.
- You’re building a mobile app and need a server that is capable of storing a tone of data, but is fast enough to make remote calls without creating a poor user experience.
- You need to host websites or applications that require HIPAA compliance.
- If you’re a gammer and need a server for, well, whatever gamers need servers for ;-).
- You have a massive business website that requires an unreal amount of resources and you have an entire team dedicated to maintaining that website.
These lists do not cover all possible situations…
…and like I mentioned there could be some crossover.
For Example:
You could host a massive business website on the Nexcess platform. Their WooCommerce Enterprise hosting can handle up to 10,000 orders per hour. If you really think about that, a WooCommerce store that is processing 10,000 orders per hour is a ton of traffic and a lot of revenue. Maybe not Amazon level commerce, but you’ve got to start somewhere.
What happens if I start with Nexcess and outgrow their platform?
That’s a great questions, and the best solution would be to work with their support to get your site migrated to one of the Liquid Web servers.
Sure that might require that you hire a server admin, but if you’re making that move you can probably afford it.
Because there is no other hosting company that offers the level of WordPress Managed hosting products that Nexcess does (WP Engine is working on it).
And since you won’t find another provider that offers anything remotely close, why not stay with the same great company with the same great support (remember we discussed this above, same company different brands).
The Wrap Up
If you’re still confused or unsure about the differences in the Liquid Web and Nexcess brands, I would encourage you to do some additional reading.
If you’re not sure which hosting solution you should purchase, you can contact their support and tell them what type of business you have or are starting and let them help you find the right solution.
A simple synopsis might be to think of it like this:
- Liquid Web = Advanced
- Nexcess = Beginner to Intermediate
So that could be slightly over simplifying it, but hopefully you’ve got a better understanding of things and are prepared to make a more educated purchase.
If you are ready to purchase, I’d ask that you use our link (this one right here!!), we will get a commission for the referral which helps support our efforts to provide product reviews and tutorials. It won’t cost you anything to use our link!
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