Last verified 35 days ago·28 sources·Updated automatically
Flywheel and Liquid Web compared across Company facts, Pricing, Performance & infrastructure, WordPress management, Support & security and Platform & integrations — every fact sourced and re-verified from each vendor's public material.
Flywheel
Managed WordPress hosting built for designers and creative agencies; now part of WP Engine.
7 days7-day backup retention on the entry Spark – Launch plan (30 days on Thrive/Elevate)
Free Site Migration
Free site migrations included
Free self-serve migration on the entry plan (assisted migration on higher tiers)
SSH & WP-CLI Access
SSH gateway with WP-CLI on all Cloud Platform sites
SSH (Secure Shell) access with WP-CLI on managed WordPress plans
WordPress Multisite Support
Multisite requires Freelance, Agency, or Custom plan; not on the entry Starter plan
WordPress Multisite supported (subdomain or subdirectory networks)
Support & security
Uptime SLA (%)
99.9%99.9% uptime
100%100% uptime SLA (network and power), with service credits
24/7 Support
24/7/365 chat support on all plans
24/7/365 support on all plans
Malware Removal / Hack Fix
Free malware cleanup / hack fix if your site is infected on-platform
Malware remediation is a paid one-time service ($200/incident), not an included guarantee
WAF / DDoS Protection
Fastly-based WAF and DDoS protection at the edge, included on all plans
Web application firewall + DDoS protection (Cloudflare Enterprise) included on every plan
Platform & integrations
Control Panel
customCustom Flywheel dashboard (replaces cPanel)
customCustom Sites & Stores portal (sites-portal.liquidweb.com), not cPanel/Plesk
White-Label / Agency Features
Billing transfer to clients, collaborators, and multi-site management for agencies
Reseller / white-label hosting and client management for partners
Email Hosting Included
No email hosting; Flywheel recommends a dedicated provider like Google Workspace
Email hosting not included; mailboxes require a paid add-on or third-party provider
The verdict
Flywheel
Best for a risk-free trial and included hack cleanup
Flywheel backs the Starter plan with a 60-day money-back guarantee, where Liquid Web's entry plan is non-refundable. It also includes free malware removal and hack fixes, which Liquid Web charges $200 per incident for. Entry backups are kept 30 days versus 7. The trade-offs: $25/mo versus $6, no entry-plan Multisite, and no built-in object cache.
Best for low entry price, Multisite, and a 100% uptime SLA
Liquid Web starts at $6/mo versus $25, with a 100% uptime SLA against Flywheel's 99.9%. The entry plan adds Multisite, a built-in Redis object cache, PHP 8.3, 15 GB storage, and runs on its own Tier-4 datacenters across 9 regions. The catches: no money-back guarantee, malware cleanup costs $200 per incident, and entry backups are kept only 7 days.
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