Nexcess Review: Do the Premium Features Justify the Cost in 2024?
Nexcess offers unique premium shared hosting plans that are perfect for SMBs and e-commerce sites. Their servers are optimized for WordPress, WooCommerce, Adobe Commerce (Magento), and more. Nexcess simplifies website creation and management, making it easy and affordable. However, you should expect to pay more than standard shared hosting rates for Nexcess’ scalable performance and premium features.
Pricing
Web Hosting ₹1743 – ₹40904
WordPress Hosting ₹1743 – ₹40842
Cloud Hosting ₹4317 – ₹74213
Reseller Hosting ₹11373 – ₹41672
Server locations
USA ✓
Great Britain ✓
Amsterdam ✓
Sydney ✓
Ranked 7 from 3858
Web Hosting
Performance: |4.9|
Speed: Nexcess offers excellent performance, especially for websites with high traffic or complex setups. Their infrastructure includes advanced caching mechanisms, CDN integration, and PHP optimization, which contribute to fast loading times.
Scalability: Nexcess provides scalable hosting solutions, allowing sites to handle traffic spikes effectively without compromising speed.
Technology: They use modern technologies like NGINX, PHP 8+, and MariaDB to ensure high performance.
Uptime: |4.9|
Reliability: Nexcess boasts a 99.99% uptime guarantee, which is industry-standard for premium hosting services. They have a strong reputation for maintaining this uptime through redundant data centers and a focus on infrastructure stability.
Monitoring: They offer 24/7 monitoring and automated healing features that can prevent downtime or quickly address issues.
Customer Service: |4.8|
Support: Nexcess provides 24/7 customer support through phone, chat, and tickets. Their support team is known to be responsive and knowledgeable, particularly about the platforms they specialize in (WordPress, WooCommerce, Magento).
Expertise: Their support staff is well-versed in the technical aspects of the platforms they host, which can be a significant advantage for troubleshooting or optimizing your site.
Resources: Nexcess also offers a wealth of online resources, including a knowledge base, webinars, and tutorials.
Pricing: |4.7|
Pricing Tiers: Nexcess is on the higher end of the pricing spectrum compared to other hosting providers, but this is justified by the premium features and performance they offer. They have various plans tailored to different needs, such as Managed WordPress, WooCommerce, and Magento hosting.
⭐ Rating: | 4.8 ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ |
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💵 Price: | From $17.50/month | 📑 Uptime guarantee: | 100% |
⚙️ Hosting types: | Managed WordPress hosting | 🌎 Server locations: | The US, the UK, and Australia |
👨💻 24/7 live support: | Yes | 🔥 Coupons: | Nexcess WordPress coupon 55% OFF |
Nexcess excels in shared cloud hosting that offers more power than typical shared hosting setups. They provide various managed hosting tiers with plenty of resources, tools, and support.
All Nexcess plans are robust enough to handle most standard informational business sites or e-commerce storefronts while remaining affordable. Thanks to its unique shared scalable cloud infrastructure, Nexcess is one of the most cost-effective premium hosting providers. Usually, scalable resources are only available with more expensive VPS and dedicated server plans.
This setup allows Nexcess to automatically enhance site performance and speed during traffic spikes. Additionally, it provides easy-to-use, exclusive plugins and tools for straightforward site performance monitoring and optimization.
Features: |4.8|
Specialized Features Lead to Enhanced Performance and Simplified Site Optimization for Beginners
pecialized Features Enhance Performance and Simplify Site Optimization for Beginners With its cloud infrastructure and unique tools, Nexcess’ shared hosting plans truly distinguish themselves from the competition. Firstly, every plan includes features that ensure your site’s maintenance, security, and optimization are well-managed.
Additionally, optimizing your website is straightforward, even for beginners, thanks to the user-friendly tools provided. You can clone your site in a staging area to test changes before making them live, and you can even build an online shop without any coding knowledge.
The Performance Monitor plugin, included with all Nexcess WordPress hosting plans, tracks your site’s performance before and after installing or updating plugins. This provides valuable insights into potential performance issues and suggests improvements or fixes.
While the plugin is automatically set up, you might need to toggle it on and off in the WordPress dashboard to activate it.
Nexcess hosting plans include 24 hours of free instant autoscaling per month, allowing your site to handle traffic surges without slowing down. This is achieved by increasing the number of “PHP workers” (background processes) to match the demand during traffic spikes.
Additionally, Nexcess plans come with the NGINX Accelerator, which enhances site speed and security by pre-fetching and caching content for quicker loading on repeat visits.
Furthermore, Nexcess does not charge overage fees if your site exceeds its resource limits. Instead, the sales team will recommend upgrading to a higher plan if your site consistently uses more resources than allocated.
Updating your site and its plugins without proper testing can be risky, potentially causing crashes or corruption. The Nexcess Visual Comparison Tool mitigates this risk.
Nexcess pre-tests update changes for WordPress or WooCommerce sites in a secure staging environment. It alerts you to potential issues before applying any updates. While there’s always a chance of problems, this tool adds an extra layer of security to ensure smoother site updates.
Using a single plan, manage and design multiple sites.
With generous website quotas on higher-tier plans, Nexcess is ideal for website designers, managers, and companies with multiple brands or platforms. You can manage multiple sites on higher-tier Nexcess plans (or upgrade to do so) without needing an additional account.
However, Nexcess offers more generous quotas for WordPress websites compared to its WooCommerce-specific and Magento hosting plans. For instance, the top-end Enterprise WooCommerce hosting plan supports up to 30 online stores, while the Enterprise WordPress hosting plan allows for hosting up to 250 sites.
Free domain name? | ✘ |
Free SSL? | ✔ (Let’s Encrypt) |
Money-back guarantee | 30 Days |
Uptime guarantee? | 100% |
Managed hosting features? | ✔ |
Data centers | The Netherlands, the UK, Australia, and the US (West & East Coast) |
Choose Nexcess hosting for its optimized performance, 99.99% uptime, and expert 24/7 support, especially for WordPress, WooCommerce, and Magento sites. It offers robust security, scalability, and a user-friendly dashboard. While priced higher, it delivers excellent value with premium features and tailored hosting environments for demanding websites.
Wide Range of Managed Hosting Plans: Nexcess offers a variety of plans tailored for WordPress, WooCommerce, and Magento, catering to different needs and budgets.
Optimized Performance: With features like advanced caching, a built-in CDN, and PHP optimization, Nexcess ensures fast and reliable site performance.
100% Uptime Guarantee: Nexcess provides a strong uptime guarantee, ensuring your site remains accessible and operational at all times.
Expert 24/7 Support: Their support team is available around the clock, with specialized knowledge of the platforms they host, providing quick and effective assistance.
User-Friendly Staging: All plans come with one-click staging environments, making it easy to test changes before deploying them to your live site.
Security Features: Nexcess includes advanced security measures like daily backups, SSL certificates, and proactive monitoring.
Premium Pricing: Nexcess hosting plans are priced higher than many competitors, which may be a consideration for budget-conscious users.
Limited Storage: The storage space provided in some plans may be smaller than what is ideal for larger or media-heavy websites.
No DDoS Protection: DDoS protection is not included in any of Nexcess’s plans, which might require additional investment in third-party security services for comprehensive protection.
The entire Nexcess setup process, including selecting a domain name and hosting plan, processing payment, and uploading my WordPress test site, took about 30 minutes. It was fairly easy and required minimal technical knowledge, though there were a few minor hiccups (which I’ll discuss later). Navigating the Nexcess portal was straightforward, and I easily found the tools needed to optimize my site.
Your Nexcess account is created when you purchase one of its WordPress, WooCommerce-specific, Magento, or StoreBuilder plans by clicking the “Buy [Plan Name]” button under the relevant hosting plan.
The purchasing process is straightforward, involving a single page where you’ll answer setup questions. However, if you want to register a domain name with Nexcess, do this in advance, as this option isn’t available during the hosting plan purchase. You can register a domain by scrolling to the bottom of the Nexcess website and selecting “Domain Registration” from the listed Add-On options. While this might seem confusing, rest assured you’ll be offered a hosting plan after selecting a domain name.
Conveniently, Nexcess accepts PayPal and credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, Amex, and Discover). The only “upsells” during this process are domain privacy (if you’re buying a domain name from Nexcess) and whether you prefer monthly or annual billing for your hosting plan.
As a managed host, Nexcess takes care of all your site backups automatically. There’s no need to configure any backup settings. Once you purchase a hosting plan and create a storefront or site, backups are set up automatically. You can view your backups in the Nexcess dashboard by navigating to Plans > select your plan > Sites > select your site > Backups.
Backups are retained for 30 days, and you can also perform manual backups if necessary. However, unlike automatic backups, manual backups are stored locally and count towards your plan’s storage limit. If you’ve used more than 50% of your allocated disk space, you won’t be able to perform manual backups. To do so, you’ll need to upgrade your plan.
Through rigorous testing, Nexcess has proven itself as one of our top-ranked hosts. It scored above average in numerous tests, likely due to the NGINX Accelerator tool.
Additionally, all plans include Nexcess’ proprietary content delivery network (CDN), which can be enabled to improve performance, especially if your customer base is global. Although our tests were conducted without it, setting it up is highly recommended.
Nexcess not only promises 100% uptime but delivers on that promise – our Nexcess-hosted site experienced no downtime during the entire testing period.
Regarding loading speed, typical times ranged from 1-1.5 seconds during peak times and 0.5-1 second during quieter times.
GTmetrix scores websites on a scale, with an “A” being the highest score – a grade our Nexcess test site typically achieved. Apart from caching, GTmetrix recommended using a CDN to further improve the score.
As observed, the loading times were consistent during both peak and non-peak periods. Our test site’s loading time remained stable and often stayed under 1 second throughout the week.
Ten data centers are run by Nexcess globally; these include sites in Australia, the US (6), the UK (2), and the Netherlands.
The servers closest to the Eastern Seaboard—where our website was hosted—saw the fastest loading times in our Sucuri Load Time Tester tests (Lansing, MI). Surprisingly, even without the CDN activated, our test site hosted by Nexcess loaded swiftly in farther-off locales.
Nexcess provides 24/7, year-round customer support through several channels:
Live chat
Phone (toll-free for Australia, the UK, and the US)
Ticket (via Nexcess control panel only)
When I contacted Nexcess support via live chat, I was immediately connected to an agent. I asked about issues with my Nexcess domain name and my WordPress site not loading correctly. The agent quickly suggested resetting my WordPress site password. After sending me a new password, my site was correctly connected and loading on the right domain name.
However, I recommend resetting your WordPress site password if you encounter this issue. The agent could see my entire password and relayed it to me via live chat. Although I was concerned about security, the agent did ask for permission before resetting the password. Nexcess’ ticket support was also pleasant, as it was easy to submit and track tickets. I received an automated response within two minutes confirming receipt and review of my ticket.
Having tested other hosts’ ticketing systems, I was impressed by Nexcess’ ticket support. The team responded within 15 minutes and answered all my questions in detail. If you have any queries, it’s worth checking the Nexcess Knowledge Base. It contains numerous FAQs and in-depth articles (including written and video tutorials) that might help you solve problems on your own.
However, if you’re pressed for time or confused, feel free to ask the support team to handle the issue. You’re paying for fully managed hosting, which includes 24/7 technical support.
If you’re familiar with shared hosting, Nexcess’ prices might seem a bit higher than average. However, there are several factors to take into account.. Firstly, Nexcess includes enhanced performance features and premium plugins that typical shared hosting doesn’t offer. Secondly, the pricing for more basic packages is quoted in full, not discounted.
Nexcess packages are valuable if you seek premium hosting for one or more high-traffic websites, particularly e-commerce sites.The real decision comes down to your preferred platform and specifications, typically WordPress (with or without WooCommerce). You can also opt for Magento (Adobe Commerce) if that suits your needs. All these plans have Agency versions, allowing developers to resell hosting to their clients.
There is also the StoreBuilder plan, which includes premium Nexcess hosting and provides easy-to-use drag-and-drop tools to build a WordPress/WooCommerce-based website.
For those wanting total control over their server, Nexcess offers flexible cloud hosting plans not limited to one specific website or e-commerce store builder, catering to advanced users.
Additionally, you can inquire about Nexcess’ custom enterprise solutions, which can be scaled to accommodate heavy-traffic sites or online storefronts if needed.
The signup process is similar to what you’d find with other web hosts or most online services. You simply provide your personal information and payment details, and you’re all set.
During signup, you can choose from five data center locations around the world. It’s important to note that Nexcess operates its own data centers, not relying on Google Cloud or any other third-party provider.
After completing the initial signup and logging into your account, you’ll be informed that your plan will take a few more minutes to set up. In the meantime, you are encouraged to explore the knowledge base.
The good news is that you don’t have to manually install WordPress and WooCommerce; Nexcess will handle that for you. However, you’ll need to wait about ten minutes for the entire hosting setup to complete.
Once everything is done, you’ll receive the login information for your new, pre-installed WordPress site, with WooCommerce already set up.
Let’s explore your site’s main dashboard in the Nexcess panel.
By selecting the “Site Dashboard” button, you may get to it.
This site administration area is quite comprehensive, offering access to virtually any hosting administration operation you might need. However, there’s minimal guidance for navigating these settings. This admin panel is ideal for advanced users but may be overwhelming for beginners or business owners who want to manage their sites without professional help.
For example, after setup, I encountered issues with my site being inaccessible due to what appeared to be a DNS error. After contacting support, it turned out that all that was needed was an additional five minutes for Nexcess to finalize its automatic server setup procedure.
While such issues may not be stressful for experienced users, they can be challenging for those with less technical knowledge.
Nexcess sets up a new instance of WordPress for you, complete with WooCommerce preinstalled and a few other extras.
Upon your first login to the WordPress admin panel, you’ll see the classic welcome message along with some additional information:
At this point, you can follow the hints provided in the dashboard or proceed with your own store launch procedure.
It’s worth noting that not all of Nexcess’ bundled plugins are installed initially. Given the numerous extras, Nexcess lets you choose which plugins you want to install. You can do this by navigating to Nexcess → Install Plugins..
The Nexcess control panel is an extension of the provider’s Client Portal, offering more advanced features for managing your website. You can access it by clicking on “Plans” in the left side menu on the Home screen.
The control panel is very intuitive and user-friendly. It provides access to a pre-installed content management system (CMS) of your choice, along with all the tools needed to manage it.
Here’s an overview of what the control panel looks like:
It might appear a bit packed, but it’s easy to navigate. All the essential hosting tools are well-organized and categorized in the left-side menu.
Here are some key functions of the control panel:
Performance Metrics: Found under “Performance,” this section allows you to track your storage and bandwidth usage, clear your cache, and manage your CDN.
Domain: “Domain Options” lets you configure domain settings, including creating pointer domains and modifying the master domain.
SSL: Manage SSL-related tasks here, such as checking the SSL status and configuring its installation on different domains.
Email Management: Access “Email” to create and manage email accounts and aliases.
Staging and Development Environments: Located under “Environment,” this area provides a sandbox for developing, testing, and experimenting with themes, plugins, and layouts without affecting your live site. Once ready, you can push the staging site live with a single click.
Backups: Here, you can manually create backups, as well as manage, restore, and download both automatic and on-demand backups for your live, development, and staging sites.
Nexcess takes security very seriously, providing both essential and advanced security features.
Here’s what you can expect:
SSL Certificates: Nexcess includes a free SSL certificate with all plans, which encrypts data between your server and users, ensuring secure data transmission. You can activate it with a single click on the control panel. There are also paid options available for EV and Wildcard SSL certificates.
Backups: Automated daily backups are included with all plans and are stored on off-site servers for up to 30 days. You also have the option to manually create backups for your live or staging sites whenever needed.
iThemes Security Pro Plugin: This security suite is included with all plans and offers features such as two-factor authentication, passwordless login, reCAPTCHA, and geolocation.
Malware Monitoring: Nexcess claims to perform regular malware scans and continuous site monitoring as a standard practice. However, this is an internal process that you can’t directly see or control, so you’ll have to rely on the provider’s assurance.
Other Security Features: Basic security measures, such as automatic updates for WordPress core and plugins, are also included as part of the fully-managed services.
Plan Name | Storage | Bandwidth | Free SSL | Number of Sites | Price | Free Months | Link |
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Spark | 15 GB | 2 TB | + | 1 | ₹1743 | 2 | More details |
Spark + | 25 GB | 2.5 TB | + | 3 | ₹3570 | 2 | More details |
Marker | 40 GB | 3 TB | + | 5 | ₹3972 | 2 | More details |
Designer | 60 GB | 4 TB | + | 10 | ₹4483 | 2 | More details |
Builder | 100 GB | 5 TB | + | 25 | ₹6126 | 2 | More details |
Producer | 300 GB | 5 TB | + | 50 | ₹12253 | 2 | More details |
Executive | 500 GB | 10 TB | + | 100 | ₹22488 | 2 | More details |
Enterprise | 800 GB | 10 TB | + | 250 | ₹40904 | 2 | More details |
Plan Name | Storage | Bandwidth | Number of Sites | Backup | Price | Free Months | Link |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Spark | 15 GB | 2 TB | 1 | + | ₹1743 | 2 | More details |
Spark + | 25 GB | 2.5 TB | 3 | + | ₹3570 | 2 | More details |
Marker | 40 GB | 3 TB | 5 | + | ₹3902 | 2 | More details |
Designer | 60 GB | 4 TB | 10 | + | ₹4483 | 2 | More details |
Builder | 100 GB | 5 TB | 25 | + | ₹6060 | 2 | More details |
Producer | 300 GB | 5 TB | 50 | + | ₹12203 | 2 | More details |
Executive | 500 GB | 10 TB | 100 | + | ₹22413 | 2 | More details |
Enterprise | 800 GB | 10 TB | 250 | + | ₹40842 | 2 | More details |
Plan Name | Storage | Bandwidth | CPU | RAMs | Price | Link |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
XS | 50 GB | 1 TB | ₹4317 | More details | ||
S | 75 GB | 2 TB | ₹8633 | More details | ||
M | 125 GB | 3 TB | ₹15274 | More details | ||
L | 400 GB | 5 TB | 20 | 20GB | ₹26149 | More details |
XL | 600 GB | 8 TB | 26 | 26 GB | ₹47981 | More details |
XXL | 800 GB | 10 TB | 32 | 32GB | ₹74213 | More details |
Nexcess is a web hosting provider offering a range of managed hosting services, including shared, WooCommerce, Magento (Adobe Commerce), and cloud hosting solutions. It is known for its premium features and high-performance capabilities
Nexcess plans include automated daily backups, SSL certificates, the iThemes Security Pro plugin, cloud-based autoscaling, and a variety of pre-installed plugins. They also offer a user-friendly control panel and advanced performance metrics.
Nexcess provides comprehensive security features, including free SSL certificates, automated daily backups stored off-site, the iThemes Security Pro plugin for enhanced protection, and malware monitoring. Included are automatic updates for both WordPress core and plugins.
Yes, Nexcess is well-suited for e-commerce sites, particularly with its WooCommerce and Magento (Adobe Commerce) hosting plans. These plans are designed to handle high traffic and offer features tailored for online stores.
Nexcess offers an easy setup process, including automated installation of WordPress and WooCommerce. The control panel is user-friendly, though it may be more suited to advanced users. Basic site management is straightforward, with options for more advanced configurations available.
Nexcess offers 24/7 support through live chat, phone (toll-free in Australia, the UK, and the US), and ticketing (via the Nexcess control panel). The support team is generally responsive and helpful, though some users may have concerns about security practices related to password management.
Nexcess is known for its strong performance, often scoring well in performance tests. It includes features like the NGINX Accelerator and a proprietary content delivery network (CDN) to enhance site speed and reliability.
Content
Nexcess plans are priced based on their premium features and cloud-based infrastructure. While basic features are included, additional costs may apply for upgrades such as EV and Wildcard SSL certificates or additional storage beyond the plan’s allocation
Yes, Nexcess allows you to manage multiple sites with higher-tier plans. For example, the top-tier Enterprise WordPress plan supports up to 250 sites, whereas the Enterprise WooCommerce plan supports up to 30 online stores.
If you encounter issues, you can contact Nexcess support via live chat, phone, or ticketing. Additionally, the Nexcess Knowledge Base provides FAQs and tutorials that may help resolve common problems.