In the fast-paced digital landscape, selecting the right hosting service can have a profound impact on your online success. Liquid Web has established itself as a top-tier hosting solution, known for its unparalleled performance and exceptional customer support. In this extensive Liquidweb Review, we explore the features and benefits that make Liquid Web a standout choice for professionals and businesses. From its robust infrastructure and advanced security measures to its user-friendly management tools and 24/7 expert support, Liquid Web consistently delivers reliable and high-performance hosting solutions tailored to meet the diverse needs of its users. Whether you’re a small business owner, a developer, or a large enterprise, discover why Liquid Web is trusted by many to power their online presence.
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What Exactly is Liquid Web?
Liquid Web stands as a leading provider of dedicated, VPS, cloud, and managed WordPress hosting solutions. Established over two decades ago, Liquid Web has developed a reputation for delivering high-performance hosting services that cater specifically to web professionals, small to medium-sized businesses, and large enterprises. The company’s commitment to excellence is evident in its top-tier customer support, which ensures that clients’ websites operate smoothly and efficiently around the clock.
With a robust infrastructure and a wide array of hosting options, Liquid Web is designed to meet the diverse needs of its users. Their dedicated servers offer unparalleled performance and security, while their VPS solutions provide flexibility and scalability for growing businesses. Cloud hosting services are ideal for those seeking a balance between power and cost-effectiveness, and managed WordPress hosting ensures a hassle-free experience with automatic updates and expert support.
Features of Liquid Web:
Liquid Web’s hosting solutions are equipped with a range of features tailored to meet the requirements of high-demand websites.
Here are some of the standout features:
- Comprehensive Management: Liquid Web takes care of hardware management, software updates, and security patches, providing a fully managed service.
- Premium Performance: Utilizing state-of-the-art data centres, Liquid Web ensures top-tier speed and reliability.
- Enhanced Security: Robust security measures, such as firewalls, SSL certificates, and DDoS protection, are in place to protect your data.
Benefits of Using Liquid Web
Opting for Liquid Web as your hosting provider presents several benefits:
- Dependability: Liquid Web offers an industry-leading 99.999% uptime guarantee, ensuring your website is consistently accessible.
- Professional Support: Renowned for its “Heroic Support,” Liquid Web provides round-the-clock customer service with impressive response times.
- Scalability: Whether you’re a startup or a large enterprise, Liquid Web’s scalable solutions can expand alongside your business.
What makes Liquid Web hosting plans costly?
When you’re looking at hosting and see how much Liquid Web costs, you might be surprised. But there are reasons for the higher prices.
1. Beyond Shared Hosting
Initially, many low prices you see on other hosting platforms are for shared hosting, where you share server resources and costs with other users.
Liquid Web made a strategic decision to discontinue shared hosting to concentrate on higher-tier hosting plans, where they can focus on innovation and provide more advanced services.
2. Performance and Support
This approach enables them to concentrate on delivering value in two key areas:
- Enhanced hosting performance and user experience.
- Improved customer support.
- Whether these aspects are significant enough to warrant the cost will vary depending on the type of websites you are creating.
This entire Liquid Web review examines how these factors can benefit or may not be suitable for your needs.
Pros and Cons
Let’s start with a quick look at the pros and cons of Liquid Web hosting.
Pros:
- Speedy and expert support team
- All plans are top-notch in quality
- Wide variety of managed hosting options
Cons:
- High cost compared to other providers
- Shared hosting is not offered
- Knowledgebase can be challenging to navigate
Types of Hosting Provided by Liquid Web
All hosting plans offered by Liquid Web are fully managed. This means their team handles server updates, security, and performance optimization. The concept is that they manage all the backend support, allowing you to focus on building your websites.
Liquid Web provides a variety of hosting options, each emphasizing quality but tailored for different user needs. Let’s quickly identify the right one for you.
General Liquid Web Features
Shared hosting is a common choice among hosting providers, offering an affordable solution for smaller websites with modest bandwidth and storage requirements. However, in 2016, Liquid Web made the strategic decision to discontinue shared hosting. Instead, they have shifted their focus to offering customizable plans, allowing customers to tailor their hosting packages to meet their specific needs.
This shift towards customization means that the features of Liquid Web’s hosting plans can vary significantly. Customers have the flexibility to select the resources and features that are most important to them, whether it’s increased storage, higher bandwidth limits, or specific software and tools.
Despite this variability, some standout features of Liquid Web hosting remain consistent across their plans. These include robust security measures, reliable performance, and exceptional customer support. Liquid Web’s commitment to providing high-quality hosting services is reflected in these features, making them a popular choice among businesses and individuals with more demanding hosting requirements.
Managed WordPress- Liquidweb Review
Starting at $21 per month, Liquid Web’s Managed WordPress hosting is a premium service that handles all technical aspects, including security and daily backups. This service is ideal for larger sites without a dedicated tech department. Your site is hosted on servers optimized for WordPress performance.
Liquid Web claims that some WordPress sites’ homepages load 5 to 10 times faster than on other managed WordPress hosts. This plan supports multiple WordPress sites, even on the lowest pricing tier, and includes a clean control panel to manage all sites at once, making it ideal for developers working on several WordPress websites.
Managed WordPress hosting is a higher-end service that takes care of all the technical aspects, such as security and backups, making it a solid choice for larger sites without a dedicated tech department. Your site is hosted on servers specifically optimized for WordPress performance.
According to Liquid Web, some WordPress sites’ homepages load 5 to 10 times faster than other managed WordPress hosts, making their service top-of-the-line. This plan supports multiple WordPress sites, even on the lowest pricing tier, and includes a clean control panel for managing all sites at once, which is beneficial for developing multiple WordPress websites for yourself or your clients.
Here are some standout features of these plans:
- SSL certificates are provided free of charge for all your sites.
- Free migrations from other hosts to Liquid Web are included.
- Load balancing is capable of supporting up to millions of pageviews per hour.
- Automatic backups are part of the package.
Managed WooCommerce- Liquidweb Review
Liquid Web also provides managed WooCommerce hosting starting at $39 per month. This managed hosting is specifically designed for e-commerce stores built with WooCommerce. In this type of plan, Liquid Web takes care of all the technical aspects, such as security, speed updates, and backups.
Their managed WooCommerce plans promise faster load times, with up to a 95% reduction in query loads, and fast, expert support.
These plans include:
- Free Migration
- Optimized servers for 2-10X faster speeds
- Abandoned cart email service
- Page builder plugins
- Thousands of themes
- Mobile-optimized and responsive sites
- Image support
- Free SSL Certificate.
Also Read: 5 Best AI Tools For Contract Management
Cloud Sites- Liquidweb Review
WordPress is just one of many content management systems (CMS) available. If you’re interested in gaining experience with Joomla, Drupal, or other CMS platforms, Liquid Web’s “Cloud Sites” offering allows you to create and manage multiple sites.
A cloud site is hosted on a cluster of servers simultaneously, providing greater security and faster load times compared to traditional hosting, which relies on a single server in one location.
Setting up a new website with a CMS is quick and easy, requiring just two clicks. The Cloud Sites plan starts at $150 per month and includes 50GB of SSD storage and 1TB of bandwidth, which is typically more than sufficient for most sites and applications.
Because it’s a cloud-based platform, it can easily scale to accommodate higher traffic or resource usage as needed in the future.
What Is SSD and Why Does It Matter?
SSD stands for Solid State Drive, a storage device that utilizes flash storage for faster and more reliable performance. In contrast, HDD (Hard Disk Drive) relies on magnetic tape and mechanical parts, making it more vulnerable to damage.
1. Cloud VPS- 7 Best AI Tools for Online Learning
If your website isn’t ready for a dedicated server, a cloud VPS provides a more affordable option, with plans starting at just $59 per month. Essentially, you’re allocated a portion of a server, making it ideal for hosting smaller or growing sites.
This option is still fully managed and includes either cPanel or Plesk, allowing you to choose your preferred control panel.
2. Cloud Dedicated/Dedicated Server
For multiple high-resource-demanding sites, a dedicated server is necessary, starting at $189 per month. This type of hosting offers top-tier performance, making it one of the highest-performance hosting options available without opting for a costly custom solution.
3. Reseller Plan
Liquid Web provides reseller hosting packages, but you can’t simply purchase a package. You need to apply and be accepted into Liquid Web’s reseller program.
The program features a graduated discount plan, allowing you to save a higher percentage as you sell more plans.
Is the Customer Support Worth the Price?
For many, the superior performance and management offered by Liquid Web make it an attractive choice. However, if you’re still unsure, their exceptional customer support might be the deciding factor.
Liquid Web’s support has been a standout feature since I first used it a decade ago while learning web development. They provide a 100% uptime guarantee, which is particularly valuable if any downtime could result in significant financial loss for your website.
Considering the quality of support and reliability, it should help you make a clear decision.
Heroic Support
What’s often more relevant is Liquid Web’s “Heroic Support.”
Liquid Web provides 24/7/365 support via phone, chat, and email. What has always impressed me is the quality of their customer support. Whenever I had an issue, even if it was my own mistake, I always received detailed, personalized responses. In contrast, support from most other hosts often involves talking to someone juggling multiple support tasks for several white-labeled hosting sites simultaneously.
Liquid Web’s new support technicians receive over 300 hours of training in their first year. They have extensive knowledge of hosting and Liquid Web systems.
Liquid Web offers a solid knowledge base, though it could benefit from better categorization. You can perform a quick search to find information, but contacting support often results in a faster solution.
Liquid Web Performance Overview
During a month-long test, Liquid Web maintained a perfect 100% uptime. Additionally, their average response time was an impressive 241 milliseconds.
User Reviews- Liquidweb Review
What do current and former customers of Liquid Web have to say? On average, they rate Liquid Web 4.5 out of 5 stars.
Customers praise Liquid Web for its excellent uptime and outstanding support, although a few reported occasional site downtime. Overall, the reviews are highly positive.
Also Read: 7 Best AI Tools for Online Learning
Who Benefits Most from Liquid Web?
Based on the hosting plans we reviewed, it’s evident that there are two scenarios where Liquid Web offers the most value.
1. Developers- Liquidweb Review
The first scenario is when you’re developing multiple sites for any reason. With the managed WordPress and cloud site plans, the cost per site is quite reasonable. If your sites are relatively large, you can opt for a fully dedicated server.
This is an excellent option for freelance developers who host client sites. If you’re simply learning to build sites, the performance might be overkill, but the support could justify the price.
Also Read: Cloudways Review: Managed WordPress Hosting Services
2. High-Traffic Sites- Liquidweb Review
The other key scenario is for businesses with a single website that receives significant high-value traffic. In such cases, where slow website performance or brief downtime could result in substantial financial loss, the performance and support provided by Liquid Web are highly beneficial.
Conclusion on Liquidweb Review
Would you choose Liquid Web as your hosting service? As we’ve seen, Liquid Web excels in almost every aspect. If you prioritize reliability, exceptional support, and a user-friendly interface, Liquid Web is an excellent choice.
However, there is a drawback: Liquid Web’s servers are located only in the USA and Central Europe. If you reside in these regions, you can easily try out Liquid Web to see if it meets your needs and expectations.
Expanding further, Liquid Web’s commitment to reliability and customer support makes it a top choice for those seeking a hosting provider they can trust. The user interface is designed to be intuitive and user-friendly, making it easy to manage your website. While the limited server locations may be a drawback for some, those in the USA and Central Europe can benefit from the high-quality services Liquid Web offers.
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