Welcome to my WPX Internet hosting assessment.
WPX is a WordPress managed internet hosting supplier that claims to supply superior efficiency in comparison with different suppliers.
However is it the quickest? And does it make sense to your websites?
On this assessment, I’m sharing my private experiences as a WPX buyer since 2014. Approach again when it was known as Visitors Planet Internet hosting.
So, no – this isn’t your typical internet hosting assessment!
I’ll break down the important thing options, professionals & cons, pricing, alternate options, and all the pieces else it is advisable to know.
Let’s get began:
WPX Internet hosting options
Let’s kick off this WPX Internet hosting assessment by taking a look at their key options.
Listed below are a number of of the extra apparent options you’d count on:
- 1-click WordPress installs.
- SSD storage.
- Free SSL certificates (by way of Let’s Encrypt).
- Limitless web site migrations to WPX.
- Staging space creation.
- A number of completely different server places (USA, UK, Australia).
- DDoS safety.
Now, let’s check out a few of the different WPX Internet hosting options that I particularly like and/or require a bit extra rationalization:
Free CDN (XDN by WPX)
WPX Internet hosting features a free CDN. When you haven’t heard of the time period earlier than, it stands for Content material Supply Community.
Right here’s how they work:
Often, the additional a customer is away from the bodily location of your web site’s server, the longer it takes to your web site to load.
A CDN supplier, as soon as activated in your web site, will serve your web site’s property from a location nearer to the customer. This implies you cut back latency and enhance web page load occasions.
Presently WPX’s CDN is offered from 30+ international places and might be enabled with a number of clicks from the dashboard.
You’ll have to be utilizing WPX’s nameservers or replace your DNS utilizing the CDN’s IP addresses inside your account.
Responsive buyer assist + free web site fixes in case your web site goes offline
One of many basic points I’ve confronted with a number of internet hosting firms, significantly price range hosts, is their dealing with of assist – they don’t appear too involved in fixing websites after they’re damaged.
With WPX Internet hosting, they’ll repair your web site totally free if it goes offline. However typically, they’re all the time fairly eager to get points resolved.
Most of my points have been resolved by reside chat inside a brief period of time. Points hardly ever get handed to electronic mail ticket assist. However even then, points are solved fairly quick.
And I like that they don’t are inclined to reply assist queries with hyperlinks to very large data base articles & count on you to repair issues your self. They’ll really assist.
Malware restoration
An excellent malware restoration service might price wherever within the area of $200+ per yr should you had been to purchase it individually.
WPX Internet hosting consists of it of their providing. Happily I haven’t had to make use of this service and I hope you don’t want to make use of it both.
However ought to the necessity come up – they’ll get well your web site from malware.
Automated backups + guide backups
WPX Internet hosting will routinely backup your web site every day and save these recordsdata for 28 days.
You too can select to backup your websites manually. That is good apply to do earlier than any replace to make sure you don’t lose any modifications if something goes fallacious.
Automated backups are a regular providing for many managed WordPress internet hosting firms lately.
However there’s an essential motive I’m mentioning this characteristic in additional element – finest apply.
Whereas it’s good that internet hosts provide automated backups as a part of their providing, and I extremely suggest that you just benefit from this characteristic at any time when potential, you need to by no means depend on them.
Finest apply is to have a third-party resolution for backups. Redundancy issues. I exploit BlogVault for this as a result of it runs backups incrementally to keep away from slowing my websites down. However there are many WordPress backup plugins you may use.
I haven’t had any points with WPX Internet hosting’s backups for any of my websites. However I’ve labored with firms which have had points with different internet hosting firms.
So – play it secure.
Free pace optimization
Very hardly ever will you discover WordPress internet hosting that may optimize your web site and pace it up totally free.
I nonetheless haven’t taken benefit of this provide. It’s solely a reasonably current addition to their providing.
If you wish to take WPX Internet hosting up on this deal, open up a assist ticket and ask them to optimize your web site. They’ll run some checks to search out out what’s slowing down your web site, make some tweaks, and supply some extra suggestions for you.
Different firms cost wherever from $100-200 and up for this service.
Utilization primarily based pricing
There’s a pricing development within the WordPress managed internet hosting area the place they value by way of month-to-month distinctive guests. However what they think about to be a “distinctive customer” resets every day.
Personally, I’m not a fan of this pricing technique as a result of it will possibly result in costly internet hosting payments as a result of overage fees. Bigger companies can take up these prices no downside however I’d desire to not waste cash on internet hosting companies once I don’t need to.
WPX Internet hosting doesn’t try this. Their pricing plans are primarily based on useful resource utilization as a substitute.
Do you have to run into points, you may use Cloudflare to offset useful resource utilization. However I’ve by no means come near hitting the bandwidth limits on my WPX Internet hosting account.
How briskly is WPX Internet hosting?
I’m certain you’ve learn numerous internet hosting critiques that publish web page load time checks.
As an alternative of testing a improvement web site that will get zero visitors and hardly any plugins put in, I’m going to do issues in a different way for this WPX Internet hosting assessment.
I’m going to point out you the web page pace knowledge for a web site that may extra pretty resemble that of the common consumer.
Listed below are a number of essential notes concerning the WordPress web site that I’m testing:
- It’s a reside web site that will get visitors.
- I’ve been slacking on optimizing the positioning – it might be improved considerably.
- I’m testing a weblog publish relatively than the house web page.
- The location is operating Kadence theme.
- WP Rocket is put in with principally default settings. Not WPX Internet hosting’s advisable settings.
- The location has a number of useful resource intensive plugins that I ought to in all probability swap out.
- You’ll see each desktop and cell pagespeeds – not simply the one that appears finest.
My level is that almost all WordPress web sites should not completely optimized. They’ve flaws. Most web site homeowners aren’t going to be getting 100 pagespeed scores.
And that’s precisely why I’m displaying you take a look at outcomes from one among my extra ‘flawed’ websites.
I’ll additionally transcend static “one-shot” PageSpeed checks and present you a concurrent consumer load take a look at. This take a look at will present how response occasions change as concurrent customers improve on the web site.
So, let’s have a look:
Desktop web page pace checks
Cellular web page pace checks
Total, not dangerous for a flawed web site. Cellular web page pace is weaker than I’d like however I’ll get spherical to fixing that.
Apart from, weak Core Net Vitals don’t appear to be holding the positioning again in any respect. It’s rating properly towards some important opponents within the music area.
And websites like Forbes and Enterprise Insider battle to get previous a cell web page pace of fifty
Observe: When you’re trying to pace up your personal web site, keep in mind that WPX Internet hosting provides free web site efficiency optimization. I haven’t used it but however they know their servers finest.
Additionally, NitroPack is a superb “quick-fix” for WordPress efficiency points. When Colin wrote his assessment for Running a blog Wizard, his checks confirmed some fairly spectacular web page pace enhancements primarily based on their decrease ‘computerized’ optimization settings.
Concurrent consumer load take a look at
I used Loader.io to measure the response occasions of WPX Internet hosting’s server as concurrent customers improve.
Finances internet hosting firms have a tendency to not do too properly on these concurrent load checks. WPX Internet hosting isn’t a price range internet host so it ought to carry out properly.
The take a look at ran for 1 minute and scaled to 40 concurrent customers.
I purposefully went for quite a few customers that may be excess of most WordPress websites would get – significantly smaller ones. This was to make it possible for WPX Internet hosting might deal with transient visitors spikes with out response occasions getting uncontrolled.
The common response time for my WordPress web site was 131ms and peaked at round 250ms which is fairly good.
And with additional optimizations to the positioning, these outcomes could be even higher.
WPX Internet hosting professionals and cons
What’s good about WPX? And what’s not so good? Let’s have a look:
Execs:
- Nice for newcomers – The dashboard may be very simple to navigate. If you wish to remove any technical hurdles, this makes WPX Internet hosting a strong possibility.
- Nice efficiency – I wouldn’t go so far as to say that WPX is the quickest WordPress managed host on the market, they aren’t. That stated, they do provide glorious efficiency.
- Close to good uptime – Taking a look at my uptime monitoring, my websites on WPX Internet hosting have had only a few points with downtime. And just one important little bit of downtime prior to now 8+ years.
- Responsive buyer assist – Some hosts don’t appear too fussed about fixing issues. WPX Internet hosting is completely different. You may converse to somebody on reside chat inside minutes often. And generally, they’ll be capable of repair the problem. If they’ll’t, you’ll get transferred to electronic mail assist which is slower however nonetheless fairly quick often.
- Free CDN – WPX Internet hosting have their very own CDN known as WPX XDN and it operates from over 30 places over the globe. You may activate it inside a number of clicks inside your dashboard.
- Automated backups and staging web site creation – That is fairly typical of most internet hosts but it surely’s essential regardless.
- Free malware restoration – In case your web site will get hacked or loaded with malware, WPX Internet hosting will repair up your web site for you. No must pay further to an organization like Sucuri.
- Electronic mail internet hosting included – In contrast to a number of WordPress managed hosts, WPX Internet hosting provides electronic mail internet hosting. Whereas it’s fundamental and I might suggest an exterior supplier for added redundancy, it’s nonetheless helpful to have and saves paying out extra cash.
- Pricing is predicated on bandwidth – I’m not a fan of the customer primarily based pricing different WordPress hosts do as a result of it will get costly quick. That’s not a problem with WPX Internet hosting as a result of their pricing is utilization primarily based. Even on my larger visitors websites, I didn’t max out on my bandwidth utilization.
Cons:
- Shared internet hosting with restricted sources – WPX Internet hosting’s web page load speeds are superb, but it surely’s nonetheless simply shared internet hosting. You do get devoted sources and this implies servers aren’t oversold like with some shared hosting suppliers. Increased plans provide extra sources.
- Restricted numbers of PHP employees – PHP employees are what permit your web site to conduct dynamic duties. The extra you’ve got, the extra dynamic duties your web site can deal with. Sadly, you don’t get many with WPX, no matter your plan, which suggests it’s not possibility for operating an ecommerce retailer.
- Restricted scalability – WPX Internet hosting isn’t match for top visitors websites. When you require extra sources than their highest plan, you’d want to maneuver to a distinct internet host. For many bloggers and content material creators, this doubtless gained’t be a problem but it surely’s value being conscious of this.
WPX Internet hosting pricing and plans
WPX Internet hosting provides three pricing plans. Every out there month-to-month or yearly with a reduction.
Right here’s a rundown on what’s included in every one:
Enterprise ($24.99/month)
- As much as 5 web sites
- 15 GB storage
- 200GB bandwidth
Skilled ($49.99/month)
- As much as 15 web sites
- 30 GB storage
- 400 GB bandwidth
Elite ($99.99/month)
- As much as 35 web sites
- 60 GB storage
- Limitless bandwidth (topic to an inexpensive use coverage at WPX Internet hosting’s discretion).
All plans additionally embrace free malware removals, free pace optimization, free every day backups, staging websites, limitless web site migrations, limitless SSL certificates (free by way of Let’s Encrypt), free web site fixes (in case your web site goes offline), a 99.95% uptime assure and a 30-day money-back assure.
It’s additionally value noting that larger plans have elevated server sources. However, WPX Internet hosting doesn’t publicly promote them on their pricing web page. Help will let you know what they’re should you ask them.
For instance, Skilled plans get 2 CPU cores and Elite plans get 3 CPU cores.
Alternate options to WPX Internet hosting
If the wants of your web site don’t align with WPX Internet hosting and also you’d desire to contemplate a different internet hosts, take a look at these alternate options:
- Cloudways | (Our assessment) – That is the online host I exploit for my excessive visitors websites. Simply select which cloud service and what number of sources, and also you’re good to go. You may improve server sources simply. Because of the dashboard being extra difficult, I’d suggest this host to those that have current expertise with hosting.
- Kinsta | (Our assessment) – Kinsta is a well-liked managed WordPress host that powers websites like Flippa and Drift. I exploit them to host some of the WordPress websites in my enterprise. It’s dear as a result of they cost primarily based on visits (not utilization) but it surely’s extraordinarily good. Glorious efficiency and assist.
- Nexcess – Nexcess provides tailor-made hosting plans to go well with common WordPress websites, and WooCommerce websites. What’s significantly good about Nexcess is the excessive availability of PHP employees. In actual fact, you’ll discover it marketed on their WooCommerce plans.
Ultimate ideas
Let’s wrap up this WPX Internet hosting assessment with some ultimate ideas.
WPX Internet hosting provides inexpensive managed WordPress internet hosting. Their providing is good for newcomers that need strong web site efficiency, with out extra prices or issues. Or anybody that wishes to improve from price range hosting whereas protecting prices beneath management.
The included CDN, malware restoration, and beginner-friendly dashboard are all nice options. Malware restoration is a characteristic missing from price range internet hosting firms – it’s one of many explanation why it’s value paying a bit further to WPX Internet hosting over hosts like Bluehost.
WPX positively isn’t the quickest WordPress internet hosting firm on the market however they do provide superb web site pace. And uptime for my websites has been glorious.
What’s significantly good about WPX Internet hosting is their pricing. Numerous WordPress managed hosts will value primarily based on distinctive month-to-month visits. And within the small print, they state that they relaxation what they understand to be distinctive visits each 24 hours.
This may result in some enormous internet hosting payments.
However WPX Internet hosting doesn’t do that. They value their plans totally on bandwidth utilization which I consider to be a extra truthful approach of doing issues.
That stated, they’re not the very best match for everybody. For instance, I don’t suggest WPX Internet hosting for ecommerce websites. The variety of out there PHP employees is simply not sufficient for WooCommerce. And it’s not a really perfect match for top visitors websites both – there’s no choice to scale past their Elite plan.
Because of this I moved Running a blog Wizard to Cloudways – I wanted the flexibility to simply scale server sources to match the positioning’s visitors progress. And I didn’t need to pay an excessive amount of cash for it both.
Nevertheless, I nonetheless host quite a few my smaller websites with WPX Internet hosting. As a result of the extra performance that’s included (CDN + Firewall + Malware removals) helps to maintain the working prices of those websites low. And their buyer assist, in my expertise, has been glorious.
So, I really feel secure understanding that I don’t have to concentrate to those small websites operating on WPX Internet hosting – they’re getting the job finished. And can repair them if something goes fallacious.
However will WPX Internet hosting be match to your WordPress web site? That will depend on your wants. Inexperienced persons and homeowners of small websites can’t actually go fallacious. And there’s all the time that 30-day a reimbursement assure if it seems that WPX isn’t the online host for you.
I hope you discovered my WPX Internet hosting assessment useful.
Disclosure: This publish comprises affiliate hyperlinks. This implies we might make a small fee should you make a purchase order.