If you are looking for a web host you may have read plenty of these review-type posts and see the same companies recommended over and over again.
The reason for this is simple.
Those companies offer great commissions when a website recommends their services.
When I recommend a host as the best it is because I actually use that host for my own websites and have had an excellent experience with them.
WPX Hosting is the best website host I have ever used.
As you can see from the below image, this blog is hosted with WPX Hosting (along with several other sites):
WPX offer managed WordPress hosting as their only service. They are well known for having both exceptional customer service and excellent speed which are two of the most vital factors when looking for a web host.
Having a fast, responsive, and reliable website is critical for your online success. How your site performs will affect everything from its search engine rankings through to conversion rates and customer retention.
The easiest way to improve your website’s performance is by moving a premium web host like WPX Hosting. Launched in 2013, this company has a simple mission — to provide clients with high-performance hosting which delvers fast page load speeds.
They achieve this goal by using high-spec SSD servers, server optimization, and their own high-speed custom Content Delivery Network, called WPX Cloud.
But does WPX Hosting really live up to the hype? In this review, I’ll share my experiences with WPX managed WordPress hosting, which I have used as my primary web host since 2018:
In this WPX Hosting review I’ll look at all aspects of their hosting service including their page load speeds, customer service, key features, and much more.
Why Website Performance Matters
WPX Hosting offers a high-performance service with a focus on speed and reliability. However, this does come at a cost, with slightly higher prices compared to budget web hosting companies like GoDaddy or HostGator. So, why should you spend more on a high-performance solution? There are several reasons:
1. Improved Performance In Search Engines
Search engines like Google and Bing use webpage loading speed as one of their primary ranking factors. This means the faster your website loads for your visitors, the higher it will rank within Google or Bing’s search results.
2. More Conversions
Internet marketers have discovered that page load speed has a dramatic impact on conversion rates. According to CloudFlare, a test performed by healthcare software company mPulse mobile found that:
- Pages loading in 2.4 seconds had a 1.9% conversion rate
- Pages loading in 3.3 seconds had a 1.5% conversion rate
- Pages loading in 4.2 seconds had a 1% conversion rate
- Pages loading in more than 5.7 seconds had a < 0.6% conversion rate
3. Improved customer retention
Customers really hate a slow or non-responsive web page. A recent survey by Kissmetrics found that 25% of customers will immediately leave a web page if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load.
WPX Hosting Review
The simplest way to improve website speed is to use a high-performance web host like WPX. They utilise powerful servers and a content delivery networks to deliver speeds not obtainable using a traditional web host.
In this review, I’lll share all of the key features of WPX hosting to help you understand how stacks up against other high-performance web hosts. However, before I do so, here is a quick speed comparison to help you understand how fast your website might be when using WPX Hosting.
Google Core Web Vitals Test
Google has made it very clear that they will be making Core Web Vitals part of their ranking algorithms by May 2021 so it is more vital than ever to make sure your pages perform well. Here is the test result for this article, which is on a site hosted on WPX Hosting:
WPX Hosting Speed Test
Speed testing is the best place to start when evaluating a high-performance host. After all, if it doesn’t deliver on speed, what is the point of paying a premium for the service.
To test the performance of WPX Hosting I installed the latest version of WordPress with the popular Astra theme. For this initial test, the blog was loaded with several plugins, over 500 blog posts, and hundreds of taxonomy items (tags, pingbacks, categories).
I also modified the theme design to use several megabytes of images. The typical type of website which a small business or community organisation might require. I used the W3TC caching plugin and the WPX Cloud Content Delivery Network (CDN), which is available for free for all WPX customers.
The results were impressive, even when compared to other premium web hosts:
- WPB Hosting
CDN: WPX Cloud
Page load time: 1.43 seconds.
Time to first byte: 240 ms - Kinsta
CDN: KeyCDN
Page load time: 2.12 seconds.
Time to first byte: 490 ms - Liquid Web
CDN: CloudFlare
Page load time: 2.32 seconds.
Time to first byte: 540 ms - WP Engine
CDN: StackPath
Page load time: 2.55 seconds.
Time to first byte: 550 ms - Hostgator Managed WP
CDN: CloudFlare
Page load time: 2.58 seconds.
Time to first byte: 363 ms - Siteground
CDN: CloudFlare
Page load time: 2.86 seconds.
Time to first byte: 471 ms
These results are far superior to budget, shared web hosting packages offered by Hostgator, GoDaddy, Dreamhost and so on. These budget providers will typically deliver page load times anywhere between 3.6 and 7 seconds.
Next, I loaded the website with 25+ plugins, including:
- Akismet Anti-spam
- Autoptimize
- a3 lazy load
- Better Click to Tweet
- Google Analytics for WordPress by MonsterInsights
- GS Pins for Pinterest
- iTheme Security
- Jetpack by WordPress.com
- Max Mega Menu
- Mailchimp for WordPress
- Meks Smart Author Widget
- Page scroll to id
- PI Button
- Q2W3 Fixed Widget
- Responsive Menu
- Sassy Social Share
- Schema & Structured Data Foe WP
- Sticky Menu
- Table of Contents Plus
- W3 Total Cache
- Widget Options
- wpDiscuz
- Yoast SEO
This large number of plugins greatly increases the size and complexity of the rendered pages. Even after enabling this large collection of plugins, the results were impressive.
- WPX Hosting
CDN: WPX Cloud
Page load time: 2.26 seconds. - WP Engine
CDN: StackPath
Page load time: 2.87 seconds. - Kinsta
CDN: KeyCDN
Page load time: 2.95 seconds. - Siteground
CDN: CloudFlare
Page load time: 2.98 seconds. - Liquid Web
CDN: CloudFlare
Page load time: 3.24 seconds. - Hostgator Managed WP
CDN: CloudFlare
Page load time: 4.12 seconds.
As you can see, WPX Hosting performs very well when compared to other premium web hosts. If you are coming from a shared hosting provider like GoDaddy or Bluehost, you will see a much more dramatic improvement in speed.
WPX Hosting Features
After seeing the impressive speed data, you might be wondering how WPX Hosting stacks up in terms of their other features. Here’s a short rundown of what they have to offer:
Free WordPress Migration Service
One of the reasons why people tend to stick with a bad host is that it is a hassle to migrate websites across servers. Although there are plugins to help with the process, there are often configuration issues and unexpected server compatibility problems.
WPX Hosting eliminates this problem by offering a free website migration service. Simply provide the admin team with the details of your current host and they will move your files over to the new server.
My personal experience with the WPX Hosting migration service has been great. After providing WPX with the domain name and login details for two of my sites I was given a migration estimate of 24 hours.
I received an email less than 8 hours later, saying that the migration had been completed. The migrated sites looked fantastic and had all of their original functionality. I was very impressed by the entire process and glad that I didn’t have to perform another manual migration.
Daily WordPress Website Backups
All hosting providers will offer website backups as a part of their service. However, many providers will offer it as a premium service or will encourage customers to pay more to use an integrated third party backup provider.
WPX hosting offers 100% free daily backups for all websites, with your backed-up files being stored on a seperate server for 28 days. If something goes wrong with your website, the WPX Hosting team will re-install it from your backup — completely free of charge.
Users can also add a backup plugin to their WordPress installation for additional protection. BackWPup and BackupBuddy are both great options.
Simple To Use Admin Section
One of the annoying aspects of using a hosting provider like GoDaddy or HostGator is that their administration sections are convoluted and confusing to use. Finding specific settings can take some time and it is usually a hassle to change your hosting plan.
WPX Hosting has a created a custom administration section that is focused on usability. There are no unnecessary graphics or multi-level navigation menus. It uses a large font and very obvious link descriptions. Every time I have used it, it has been simple to achieve my objective, be it to add a new database, modify my personal details, or change hosting plans.
24/7 Support
Having on-demand access to technical support is essential. After using WPX Hosting for just over 6 months, I can comfortably say they have one of the friendliest and most helpful support teams I have ever encountered.
They have helped me with several issues including:
- Initial website migration
- DNS problems
- Configuration changes
- Updates to server software
- An unexpected billing issue
On every occasion, they responded very quickly and were clearly knowledgeable on the topic in question. Resolutions were fast and they seemed eager to help, with followup emails to ensure I was satisfied with the support I received.
WPX Hosting offers three primary types of support:
1. 24/7/365 live chat help service
Their live chat service is running 24 hours a day.
It says on the chat “You are less than 30 seconds away from receiving expert help” and this is really true, in fact, I don’t think I have ever waited that long!
This is the form of support I have used most frequently and is a great way to resolve simple issues. Any problem that can’t be taken care of immediately is escalated and placed into the help desk system.
2. Help desk ticketing system
I have used the help desk system twice in the past 6 months. The first time was when I initially migrated my websites to WPX hosting. The WPX team used tickets to update me on the progress of the move. It was simple to use and the responses to my questions came very quickly.
The second time I used the help desk was after I had noticed a billing mistake. I had somehow created a second recurring PayPal payment which I had not noticed for several months. As soon as I noticed the problem, I contacted WPX with a short email essentially saying “PayPal has mistakenly been crediting you guys twice for my hosting”.
They responded within an hour and immediately refunded the extra payments. If the same issue had occurred through a major hosting company, the response may have been very different.
3. Online knowledge base and configuration files
The knowledge base is packed with useful information on topics including migrating websites, configuring WordPress plugins, improving website security, setting up DNS records, managing PHP modules and much more.
It also has sample configuration files for caching plugins, which makes it easier to optimise the performance of your WordPress website.
It’s important to note that WPX Hosting does not offer phone support. However, I have found that the live chat service and ticketing system to be so responsive that phone support has never been required.
High Speed Content Delivery Network
One of the reasons for the incredibly fast load speeds provided by WPX Hosting is their custom Content Delivery Network (CDN). A CDN stores your website’s files on dozens of servers in different locations in an effort to improve page load speeds.
If a person in Europe decides to visit your website, they would be served files from a nearby European sever, instead of an American or Oceanic server. The speed improvements that can be achieved with a CDN are quite dramatic and significantly improve the user experience.
The WPX cloud service, called WPX Cloud, is unique because it is custom-built for WordPress websites. The team at WPX also continuously tweaks the performance of their cloud network so it seamlessly works with WordPress caching plugins and the WordPress core files.
WPX Cloud is 100% free for all customers. This is a welcome change from other hosting providers, which often charge more for access to their cloud service.
Staging Area
A staging area is a server location where you can test changes to your website before making them live. WPX Hosting has a unique feature which automatically merges changes made in the staging area with your live website.
This feature will automatically keep any new content on the live site, like new posts or pages that were created after you began making changes. I have found that it makes updating my website much easier.
Free SSL Certificates
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) is a cryptographic protocol designed to secure communications within a computer network. SSL can be used for authentication, encryption and decryption of data sent between your website, other servers, and website visitors.
Having SSL installed is now considered essential for protecting data. In fact, if you don’t have SSL, it can reduce your rankings in search engines like Google, as they no longer want to direct their customers to unsecured websites.
Installing SSL used is a technical process which many people find difficult. It can also be expensive, with webmasters having to pay third party providers for SSL certificates, which demonstrate that encryption is enabled.
Fortunately, this all changed when Google and Automattic launched a new technology called Let’s Encrypt. Let’s Encrypt is automated software which can create free SSL certificates. It has made it much easier for webmasters to secure their sites.
WPX Hosting has integrated Let’s Encrypt into its web servers, so all websites are automatically given SSL encryption. It’s a fantastic feature which helps clients save time and money.
Free Malware Scanning
Malware remains a serious problem for webmasters. Viruses, Trojan horses, ransomware, spyware, adware, and other forms of malware can quickly steal data or user information from a website, causing incredible damage. Having a security conscious web host is an important part of protecting your website against these threats.
While some web hosts take a hands-off approach when it comes to the security of their client’s web sites, WPX Hosting is very proactive. Some of the many steps they take include:
- Free daily malware scans across all websites
- Free malware and malicious file removal
- Regularly updated Web Application Firewall (WAF)
- Individual site audits
- Daily server security updates
Free Direct Denial Of Service (DDoS) Protection
DDoS attacks are increasingly common on the web. A malicious third party will send huge amounts of traffic to a website in an effort to exceed its capacity and cause it to malfunction. I have experienced DDoS attacks on multiple occasions in the past and they can be very difficult to deal with.
Fortunately, WPX Hosting provides protection for its clients against this type of attack. All customers receive free Enterprise-level DDoS protection using Imperva FlexProtect. This is a cloud based service which greatly limited the effectiveness of DDoS attacks.
Other Useful Features
Some other handy features offered by WPX Hosting Include:
- No list of disallowed plugins
- Full FTP/SFTP access
- Browser file manager
- Free domain privacy
- Support for 3rd party CDNs
- WordPress Multisite support
- phpMyAdmin database access
- SSD storage
WPX Hosting Pricing Plans
WPX Hosting makes it simple to choose the right hosting plan because they all come with the features listed above.
The only difference between plans on WPX Hosting is the number of websites you can run and the amount of storage/bandwidth that the plan comes with. The three plans are:
Business
- 5 Websites
- 10 GB Storage
- 100 GB Bandwidth
- $20.83 per month when paid annually or $24.99 per month.
Professional
- 15 Websites
- 20 GB Storage
- 200 GB Bandwidth
- $41.58 per month when paid annually or $49.99 per month.
Elite
- 35 Websites
- 40 GB Storage
- Unlimited Bandwidth
- $83.25 per month when paid annually or $99.99 per month.
Other WPX Hosting Reviews
To confirm that my positive experience with WPX Hosting wasn’t just luck, I turned to Trustpilot to see what other customers were saying. I discovered that WPX Hosting has a 4.8/5 rating, which is higher than other hosting companies.
https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/wpxhosting.com
Currently, 96% of reviewers had rated the business ‘Excellent’.
To give you a point of comparison, WP Engine currently has a 4.4 rating, HostGator has a 3.2 rating, and GoDaddy has a 4.1 rating. Siteground is the closest to WPX Hosting, with a rating of 4.7,
Wrapping Up
As you can see from this WPX Hosting review, my experience with them has been extremely positive. I have used over a dozen WordPress hosts over the past decade, but rarely I have come across a business so focussed on providing a quality service.
To learn more, visit their website: https://wpx.net/
