WPX Hosting Review – aThemes

Contemplating WPX Hosting to your WordPress web site? In our arms-on WPX Hosting assessment, I’ll run some efficiency assessments, take you thru WPX Hosting’s choices, and assist you resolve whether or not it’s best for you.

Usually, I believe that WPX Hosting affords wonderful worth for many WordPress customers, particularly if you wish to host a number of web sites with out sacrificing efficiency or flexibility. To know why that’s, carry on studying the complete WPX Hosting assessment.

Right here’s what I’ll cowl:

1. A fundamental overview of WPX Hosting’s options.
2. Palms-on efficiency check information from our personal check web site.
3. Particulars on WPX Hosting pricing and the way it compares to different hosts.
4. A arms-on take a look at the WPX Hosting dashboard and the way person-pleasant it’s.
5. My remaining ideas on whether or not or not WPX Hosting is an efficient buy.

WPX Hosting Review: The Characteristic Checklist

Earlier than attending to the arms-on part of our assessment, let’s kick issues off with a fundamental rundown of what you get with WPX Hosting. You may find out about all of those options within the advertising and marketing copy, so I received’t go too in-depth. However for those who’re nonetheless not tremendous aware of what WPX Hosting affords, this ought to be a superb start line earlier than entering into the extra nitty-gritty stuff.

WPX Hosting is a managed WordPress host, which suggests a couple of issues:

1. You may solely use it for WordPress websites.
2. The WPX Hosting surroundings is optimized for WordPress (as a result of that’s all they host).
3. You get extra concierge options to make your life simpler — that is the “managed” a part of the equation.

WordPress Efficiency-Optimized Atmosphere

For our consideration right here, there are two components of the internet hosting surroundings:

1. Efficiency
2. Safety

For efficiency, WPX Hosting bundles in a customized content material supply community (CDN) in addition to the newest variations of essential applied sciences corresponding to PHP 7.X and HTTPS/2. You’ll additionally be capable to select from information facilities in three places:

1. Chicago (USA/North America)
2. London (UK/Europe)
3. Sydney (Australia/Pacific)

With the constructed-in CDN, you’ll additionally get endpoints in different places. For instance, the CDN has an endpoint in Brazil to your South American guests.

One factor WPX Hosting doesn’t add, although, is server-stage caching. It is a bit uncommon for managed WordPress hosts, as each different managed host that I’m aware of has a constructed-in server-stage caching resolution.

This isn’t an enormous deal as a result of you possibly can repair this with a caching plugin (WPX Hosting recommends W3 Whole Cache and installs/pre-configures it by default). Nonetheless, caching on the server stage with a reverse proxy corresponding to Nginx or Varnish is normally a tad bit higher as a result of it permits you to fully skip loading the WordPress software.

On the subject of safety, WPX Hosting affords:

• Customized net software firewall (WAF) to proactively block threats.
• Every day malware scans.
• Free straightforward-to-set up SSL certificates.
• Free DDoS safety through Incapsula/Imperva (a service that’s much like Cloudflare).

And for final safety peace of thoughts, WPX Hosting affords free, limitless malware removing if malware does handle to seek out its approach by way of the WAF. Mainly, in case your web site will get contaminated, WPX Hosting will clear it up for free of charge to you.

Handy Managed WordPress Options

Along with among the handy options from the earlier part, corresponding to malware removing, WPX Hosting has additionally inbuilt another instruments/options to make it simpler to handle your WordPress web site.

First off, you get day by day automated backups with 28 days of storage, which is greater than quite a lot of WordPress hosts. Many managed WordPress hosts solely retailer backups for 14 days. You too can run handbook backups if wanted.

WPX Hosting offers you a one-click on staging device, too, which helps you to safely check modifications in a sandbox slightly than your manufacturing web site. You may simply push and pull your web site between your staging and dwell servers as wanted.

Lastly, WPX Hosting contains electronic mail internet hosting as a part of your subscription. It would seem to be a small factor, however that is really fairly distinctive, as most managed WordPress hosts don’t bundle in electronic mail internet hosting (although most shared hosts do provide electronic mail internet hosting). Personally, I nonetheless choose utilizing a devoted electronic mail internet hosting service anyway, however I do know that lots of people like having the ability to get their internet hosting and electronic mail internet hosting from one spot.

Total, it’s a reasonably stable function record — I’ll present you a few of these options in additional element afterward, however let’s first begin with some efficiency assessments.

WPX Hosting Efficiency

I’m going to begin off the arms-on part of our WPX Hosting assessment with a take a look at efficiency. As a result of, in spite of everything, if WPX Hosting can’t load your web site rapidly, not one of the different stuff issues.

To arrange a practical testing surroundings, I created an actual web site utilizing the light-weight Airi theme and one in every of its Elementor demo websites (right here’s the precise demo web site that I’m testing). Elementor is the preferred WordPress web page builder plugin, so this testing surroundings ought to be fairly correct to what an actual person would possibly construct.

In quite a lot of internet hosting critiques, you’ll see individuals juice the efficiency assessments through the use of an unrealistically light-weight check web site — that’s not what I did. It would give the impression of barely slower web page load speeds, but it surely ought to be extra correct to the varieties of speeds you’ll really expertise for those who host your web site at WPX Hosting.

I didn’t make any efficiency modifications to the demo web site past what WPX Hosting does by default, which is to put in and configure the W3 Whole Cache plugin. I didn’t change a single setting in W3 Whole Cache — I left it precisely because it was pre-put in, which WPX Hosting says is the optimum configuration.

To check its efficiency, I’ll run two varieties of testing:

• Single efficiency assessments through WebPageTest – this reveals how lengthy the check web site takes to load for a single customer.
• Load testing through BlazeMeter – this simulates a number of guests searching on the similar time to see how WPX Hosting performs beneath scale (a extra real looking kind of check you probably have a excessive-site visitors web site).

WebPageTest

On this first check, I used WebPageTest to run 9 separate one-off assessments. Then, I took the median worth of these 9 separate assessments to eradicate single-check variability.

For reference, each the check web site’s server and the WebPageTest server are positioned in Chicago, Illinois.

WebPageTest offers quite a lot of information right here, however the important thing takeaway is that the median web page load time is round 1.5 seconds (1.463 s to be precise).

For a full web site, that’s a wonderful load time that may give your guests an amazing person expertise. So, for this primary check, WPX Hosting undoubtedly will get nice marks.

Now, let’s add some warmth.

BlazeMeter

As I discussed above, BlazeMeter works otherwise than WebPageTest. Quite than a single check of the web site’s full load occasions, BlazeMeter sends a number of concurrent guests to see how rapidly the server can reply because the variety of guests improve.

It doesn’t measure the complete web page load occasions — it simply assessments the server response time.

In an ideal state of affairs, you need to see the server response occasions keep flat even because the variety of guests will increase. In human-pleasant phrases, because of this your web site will load simply as rapidly for the 50^th customer because it does for the primary one.

To run these load assessments, I arrange two eventualities:

• 20 guests over 5 minutes. The guests ramp up in three steps over the 5 minutes — it begins with 7 energetic guests, then bumps to 14 energetic guests at 1.66 minutes, then bumps to all 20 energetic guests at 3.33 minutes.
• 50 guests over 5 minutes. The guests ramp up in ten steps over the 5 minutes — it begins with 5 energetic guests, then 10, then 15, then so on.

Within the first check, you possibly can see a slight improve in response time across the third step (all 20 guests). The response occasions (orange line) have been flat at round ~415 ms earlier than leaping as much as ~590 ms across the 20 customer mark.

In human-pleasant phrases, this primary check means that in case your web site has 20 individuals searching on the similar time, the 20^th customer might need a barely slower searching expertise. Nonetheless, the distinction is simply about 0.17 seconds, so it’s not an enormous deal:

The second check is much more tough, so I used to be anticipating to see a much bigger distinction. Nonetheless, WPX Hosting really carried out a lot better within the second check, which is nice.

Right here, the server response occasions stayed rock regular, round ~400 ms, till the 40 energetic customer mark after they jumped as much as round ~500 ms:

Total, I might say that WPX Hosting’s efficiency beneath load was good, however not the very best that I’ve seen. Hosts corresponding to Kinsta and WP Engine have carried out a bit higher once I’ve run this check. Nonetheless, for its value, I might nonetheless give WPX Hosting good marks right here as a result of these different hosts are additionally costlier.

Talking of pricing, let’s cowl that subsequent to present you some reference.

WPX Hosting Pricing, Plus a Comparability With Different Hosts

For what you get, I’d say that WPX Hosting is priced very competitively.

It’s not as low-cost as shared internet hosting, but it surely’s additionally probably not competing with shared internet hosting however different managed WordPress hosts corresponding to Kinsta, WP Engine, Flywheel, and others.

Towards these hosts, WPX Hosting is fairly reasonably priced, particularly if you must host a number of web sites. WPX Hosting additionally affords limitless free migrations (executed by consultants, not a plugin), which is one other good profit.

The entire plans embody the entire options that you just noticed above — the one variations are within the variety of websites that you may host and the assets that you just get:

There are two huge variations that you just’ll see whenever you examine WPX Hosting’s costs to most different managed WordPress hosts:

1. WPX Hosting’s least expensive tier lets you host 5 web sites, whereas most managed WordPress hosts begin you off with a single web site.
2. WPX Hosting doesn’t put any arbitrary customer limits on you — you’re solely restricted by your bandwidth. Most managed WordPress hosts use a “go to” restrict slightly than a bandwidth restrict.

Personally, I believe that limiting by bandwidth is a a lot fairer strategy than an arbitrary restrict, so I believe it is a huge good thing about WPX Hosting over different managed WordPress hosts. The one “draw back” is that it’s somewhat bit more durable to know what number of guests a plan can help.

WPX Hosting vs Kinsta, WP Engine, and Flywheel

To present you an concept of how WPX Hosting’s pricing compares to different standard managed WordPress hosts, right here’s a fast comparability desk of the month-to-month value of every host’s entry-stage plan:

As you possibly can see, WPX Hosting will not be solely cheaper in most conditions, but it surely additionally offers you extra assets. The one exception is Flywheel’s entry-stage plan, however that may solely work for a really low-site visitors web site.

WPX Handles Staging Websites Oddly, Although

As I discussed earlier, WPX Hosting contains staging on all of its plans. Nonetheless, whenever you create a staging web site, it can rely towards your complete web site restrict. That is completely different from how most different managed WordPress hosts do it, the place your staging websites don’t rely towards your complete web site restrict.

For instance, for those who’re on the entry-stage plan, you possibly can create 5 web sites. Let’s say you have already got 4 dwell web sites. When you have been to create a staging web site for a type of websites, it will take up your final slot so that you’d present as having 5 web sites now.

Some extra examples:

• Three dwell websites + two staging websites = 5 websites for billing functions (the max on the most cost effective plan).
• Two dwell websites + two staging websites = 4 websites for billing functions.
• …you get the thought.

Mainly, if you wish to use staging websites, take note of this distinction whenever you’re selecting a plan as a result of it would have an effect on your determination. Nonetheless, even with this quirk, you’ll nonetheless come out forward towards most different managed WordPress hosts.

WPX Hosting Consumer Expertise

To complete issues out, let’s check out the person expertise of managing your web site(s) at WPX Hosting.

First off, like most different managed WordPress hosts, WPX Hosting makes use of a customized internet hosting dashboard that can assist you handle your websites — there’s no cPanel right here.

It’s not probably the most person-pleasant dashboard that I’ve used — I might put the expertise behind what Kinsta and Flywheel provide. Nonetheless, it’s completely practical and affords the whole lot that most individuals will want.

Whenever you first register to the dashboard, you’ll see a abstract of all of your completely different providers. That is useful for those who’re, say, paying for 2 completely different plans. To entry the instruments, you must click on the Handle service button:

There, you’ll see a listing of choices on the left:

Managing Web sites & Staging

When you go to the Handle Web sites space, you’ll be capable to:

• Create new web sites with a easy WordPress autoinstaller.
• Create staging environments by cloning your current websites.
• Set up SSL certificates.
• View logs.
• Configure a couple of different web site-particular settings, corresponding to redirecting www.yoursite.com to yoursite.com (or vice versa).

For instance, if you wish to set up an SSL certificates, all you do is hover over the SSL possibility and choose Set up FREE Certificates:

Making a staging web site is equally straightforward. Whenever you create a staging web site, you possibly can select the positioning that you just need to duplicate. Then, WPX Hosting will do all of the work so that you can create your web site.

You’ll see it marked as Staging and likewise get an choice to Merge to Reside:

For the merge, WPX Hosting does some customized merging the place it can preserve any new feedback or content material in your dwell web site. That’s, it isn’t fully overwriting your dwell web site — it’s merging the modifications that you just made on staging along with your dwell web site.

Observe how the staging web site takes up one web site slot, as I discussed within the pricing part. I used to be utilizing 2/5 websites earlier than creating the staging web site and three/5 after.

Different Dashboard Administration Instruments

Past the Handle Web sites tab, you additionally get another helpful instruments within the sidebar:

• Databases – create new databases and/or edit current databases utilizing phpMyAdmin.
• E-mail Bins – create and handle customized electronic mail addresses (e.g. [email protected]).
• FTP Customers – create and handle FTP accounts for server entry.
• Edit DNS – edit DNS information for those who’re utilizing WPX Hosting’s nameservers. There are additionally presets for establishing MX information for G Suite, Zoho Mail, and Workplace 365, which is sweet.
• File Supervisor – you additionally get an in-browser file supervisor device.

For instance, right here’s what the file supervisor device seems like:

Backups

Backups get their very own part in our WPX Hosting assessment as a result of they’re so essential.

As I discussed within the options part, WPX Hosting routinely backs up your web site on daily basis and shops these backups for 28 days.

Along with these automated backups, it’s also possible to manually create a private backup when wanted. Private backups are solely saved for 24 hours, however you possibly can obtain them to your native laptop to save lots of them for longer.

And that wraps up most of what you’ll do within the WPX Hosting dashboard!

Remaining Ideas on WPX Hosting

Total, WPX Hosting is a good possibility for those who’re searching for reasonably priced managed WordPress internet hosting that also affords wonderful efficiency. It’s additionally particularly good worth for those who’re internet hosting multiple web site as a result of even the entry-stage plan permits you to host as much as 5 web sites (whereas most different managed WordPress hosts solely allow you to host a single web site).

Whereas not an enormous deal, the one weak spot with WPX Hosting is its dashboard. Whereas practical, I don’t discover it to be as person-pleasant as different managed WordPress hosts, and it doesn’t provide fairly as many instruments as different premium managed WordPress hosts.

Nonetheless, I nonetheless suppose the dashboard is completely practical for many WordPress customers and the commerce-off is price it since you nonetheless get:

• Nice efficiency, as evidenced by our arms-on efficiency assessments.
• Wonderful help, together with different help options corresponding to limitless free malware removals.
• Nice worth as a result of WPX Hosting’s entry-stage plan is cheaper than most different managed WordPress hosts (particularly if you must host a number of web sites).

Total, I might say that for those who’re a WordPress person who desires to host between 2-5 web sites (or extra!), WPX Hosting is a superb possibility for you.

Alternatively, for those who solely need to host a single web site, I’d suggest contemplating one thing like Kinsta. For a single web site, the costs aren’t that a lot completely different, and Kinsta was a high performer in our quickest WordPress internet hosting check. You may be taught extra about it in our full Kinsta internet hosting assessment.

Do you continue to have any questions on WPX Hosting? Ideas on WPX Hosting? Tell us within the feedback!