Back in 2013, my business was growing which meant it was time for me to find a new hosting provider. At the time, I was using Nexcess, but I quickly noticed all the problems that came with their customer service. As a result of this, I did extensive research and found WP Engine. While they were more expensive than Nexcess and had a few downsides, I’ve never looked back since switching.
WP Engine vs. Nexcess. The battle of the big boys in the game of WordPress Hosting. Let me start by saying that both WP Engine and Nexcess are great companies that I happen to know a lot about (as you’ll see below). Since I’ve started using WP Engine, I’ve been asked several times why I chose WP Engine over Nexcess and how it’s improved my business (both as a freelance writer and as an affiliate marketer).
So in this blog post, I’m going to dive into my reasons why WP Engine is better than Nexcess and how it impacted my business.
Why I Started With Nexcess
If you’re new to WordPress hosting, it’s hard to know where to start. There are dozens of companies offering the same services. So how do you choose the right one?
That’s a question I’ve been asking myself for years. It’s why I started with Nexcess, and why I recently made the switch to WP Engine.
Why I Started With Nexcess
I started with Nexcess because I was impressed with their customer service. The support team answered all of my questions quickly and thoroughly, even when they were able to point me in another direction as a solution.
They were also very helpful when it came time to migrate my website from its previous host (Bluehost). I was walked through every step of the process, including how to set up SSL certificates and email accounts. They even helped me set up Google Analytics tracking codes on my pages!
Nexcess has always been transparent about pricing and billing practices; they’ve never hidden any fees or charges in fine print or confusing language like some other companies do. Their plans are simple and straightforward, which makes them easy for anyone at any skill level to understand — especially when compared against complicated options offered by some other hosts such as Site.
My Problems With Nexcess
I’ve been using WP Engine for over two years now, and it’s changed my business in ways I never expected.
I started out as a client of Nexcess. They were my web host and I loved their customer service. But as my business grew, so did the problems with my site.
My Problems With Nexcess
1. They didn’t have a staging environment, which meant that every time there was an update to WordPress or a plugin — and there are often many — it took me hours to test and make sure everything was working correctly before pushing to live. And if I needed to go back to an older version of something, well…good luck!
Nexcess does not have a staging environment as compare to WP engine.
Nexcess does not provide any staging environment for their users. Hence, you will need to use other services like Envoyer or Gitlab CI/CD in order to test out your code before deploying it on live server.
WordPress Engine offers a free staging environment named “Staging” which you can use as per your needs and requirements.
2. Their support team wasn’t familiar with WP Engine or any other managed WordPress host like Flywheel or Pagely (which are great alternatives).
That’s why when I ran into problems with one of my themes — which took me days to fix — they were completely useless in helping me figure it out.
They didn’t even know what “themes” were! This really frustrated me because I knew they could do better if they had more experience with managed hosting companies like WP Engine and Flywheel.*
3. Nexcess doesn’t have the same global reach
When you’re choosing a host, the first thing you need to consider is whether the company is going to be able to provide you with fast, reliable service. You don’t want to choose a host that lags behind its competitors in terms of speed and stability.
Nexcess doesn’t have the same global reach as WP engine. It’s not as popular with WordPress users and doesn’t have as many locations in which it hosts servers (though it does have three data centers in North America).
This can make it harder for you to find support when you need it and may lead to slower response times if you have trouble with your site.
WP Engine has a better reputation among WordPress users than Nexcess does, so if you’re looking for someone who knows what they’re doing and won’t let your site down, stick with WP engine.
Why i prefer WP engine
WP engine hosting can help your business more than Nexcess.
I’ve used both WP Engine and Nexcess as my hosting providers and I’ve been very happy with both. The biggest difference between the two is that WP Engine has a much more robust feature set and better customer service.
I run a small ecommerce business selling custom t-shirts, hoodies, tank tops, and other apparel. We’re not huge by any means but we do sell enough that it’s important for us to be able to scale quickly if needed. The problem with running an ecommerce site is that it can take a lot of time to get everything set up correctly so sales can start flowing in.
This means you need your website to be fast, secure, and easy to use so customers can find what they’re looking for quickly and easily.
When I first started out with my online store back in 2016, I used Cloudflare to cache my images and generate HTTPS URLs for each page on my site so Google would be able to index them properly.
Then I moved it over to WPEngine because they offered unlimited bandwidth which meant that no matter how many new orders came in per day or week or month or year (if ever), I would never
WP Engine serves global clientele
I use the WP Engine platform to host my sites, and I love it.
I’ve been a customer for several years, and I’ve seen some major improvements in the last 12 months. Here’s why I’m sticking with them and how they’ve improved my business:
They’re a global company. They started as a small company in Austin, but now they’re one of the biggest web hosting providers in the world.
They have great support. Their support team is available 24/7 via live chat or phone, and they respond quickly to any issues you might have — even when it’s not their fault!
They have great uptime (99.97 percent). That means your site won’t go offline nearly as often as other hosts do — which is crucial for keeping visitors coming back to your site time after time.
WP Engine is used by the best brands in the world
I’ve been hosting my blog on WP Engine for about two years now, and it’s changed my business.
WP Engine is a managed WordPress hosting service that makes it easy to create and manage websites on the WordPress content management system (CMS).
It has a lot of features that make it stand out from other similar services, such as built-in CDN (Content Delivery Network), one-click staging sites and SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) certificates.
The company was founded in 2010 by Brian Gardner, who currently serves as CEO. He started the company with a few friends after leaving his job at HostGator, where he learned a lot about how to run a web hosting company.
It wasn’t until 2014 that WP Engine got its first big client: Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com — which is why today you’ll see so many high-profile brands using WP Engine for their websites: Buzzfeed, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and even The New York Times use WP Engine as their web host.
WP Engine is a WordPress digital experience platform
WP Engine is a WordPress digital experience platform. It’s fast, secure, and reliable.
I started with WP Engine back in 2010. I was looking for a way to host my first WordPress site and came across WP Engine. At that time, it was called Pressable. The company has changed names twice since then (to Kinsta and now to WP Engine), but I’ve been using them ever since.
Why? Because they offer an incredible service that has changed my business in so many ways. Here’s why:
Fast page load times
When people visit your site, they don’t have time to wait around for it to load. You want them to stick around and engage with your content — which is why speed matters so much!
WP Engine gets my sites up and running quickly so I can focus on other parts of my business. In fact, their speed test tool shows me how fast my site loads across different locations and devices. This helps me make sure my visitors are getting exactly what they need from my website at all times.
WP Engine has a robust Agency Partner Program
I first heard about WP Engine when I was looking for a new hosting platform for my business. I’d been with Hostgator for a long time, but the amount of downtime, slow speed and incompetence was getting to be too much.
I subscribed to their Agency Partner Program and immediately began seeing results.
The biggest difference between WP Engine and my previous host was speed. My websites are faster than they’ve ever been and they’re constantly up and running, even during the busiest hours of the day.
WP Engine also has a robust Agency Partner Program that gives me access to a lot of great features. These include:
1) Their WordPress knowledgebase is incredible! It’s filled with tutorials, guides and support articles that are easy to follow even for beginners like me!
2) They have an amazing support team who can answer any question in less than 24 hours (and often within just minutes).
The WP Engine Difference
I’ve been using WP Engine for a few years now, and I really love it. It’s changed my business in some significant ways.
WP Engine is a managed WordPress hosting provider. It’s not cheap, but it offers a lot of benefits that are worth the cost.
I’ll break down some of the most important ones here:
Security — Security is one of the biggest benefits of WP Engine, and it’s something that you can’t get from other hosts because it’s baked into their platform from the ground up. With WordPress, security is one of the biggest headaches for web developers and site owners alike. WP Engine has built-in security features like automatic malware scanning and firewall protection to keep your site safe from hackers.
Performance — Performance is another huge benefit of WP Engine because it offers caching and a CDN (Content Delivery Network) as part of its standard packages. The CDN means your website will load faster everywhere in the world (except China), which makes a big difference on mobile devices where internet speeds are often slow or erratic.
Caching means your pages load faster even if they’re not on a CDN because they don’t have to be generated every time someone requests them — they’re stored locally on servers with lots of RAM and then served.
WP Engine’s Solution
I started my business in 2015 with no idea what I was doing and I tried a lot of different platforms. I spent money on a few different hosting companies and wasted time learning how to set up WordPress correctly, install themes and plugins, and optimize the performance of my website.
Some hosts were cheaper than others but it didn’t matter because they all ran slow and made me frustrated.
I knew I needed something better, so I started researching web hosts that could help me grow my business faster reading reviews, checked out their features, and talked to other people in the industry about their experiences with these companies.
I found WP Engine through another blogger who recommended them because of their 24/7 customer support and speed. So I decided to give them a try after reading reviews on Trustpilot and Trustwave where they scored A+ ratings from customers who said they had great service when they needed help with their websites or setting up SSL certificates on their domains.
Takeaway
The Problem With WordPress Hosting Companies
I’m a big fan of WP Engine and have been for a long time. As a web developer, I’ve been building and managing websites for over 20 years. And in that time, I’ve seen plenty of hosting companies come and go — some of which I’ve even worked for.
The problem with WordPress hosting companies is that they’re all very similar in their offerings. They all offer managed WordPress hosting that gets you started with basic WordPress setup (like installing plugins) and then leave the rest up to you. They also offer advanced features like CDN services, security tools, etc., but these are normally only available if you pay extra or upgrade your plan.
The biggest difference between WP Engine vs other hosts is the fact that they don’t charge any money upfront. This means if you sign up with them today and decide tomorrow that you don’t like it — or they go out of business — then you won’t lose any money!
I am happier and more productive as a blogger because of WP Engine’s WordPress hosting.
I host my website with WP Engine and it has made a big difference for me. I’ve been blogging for about five years, and I started out with Bluehost. It was fine, but after a few years, I started to see problems.
The main issue was that the site was slow to load. This was especially annoying when I had a new post or added a new image. The site would take forever to load on mobile devices and sometimes wouldn’t load at all.
The other problem was that I couldn’t do much with my site because there were so many limitations on what you could do with your account (like deleting files).
When the WP Engine developers approached me about writing a review of their product, I jumped at the chance because they offered me a free trial period — something that isn’t always available when you’re trying to decide whether or not to use hosting services like this one.
Conclusion
So when it came time to evaluate which solution was better for my site, it was no contest. I had my reasons for going with WP Engine over Nexcess, but most of all I’m grateful for the tool WP Engine has given me to organize and run my business through. Through these findings (and general feedback), other designers may find what they’re looking for and make an informed decision that’s best for their business.
