WordPress Hosting · Comparison
Liquid Web vs. WordPress.com
Liquid Web and WordPress.com 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.
Liquid Web
Managed WordPress and ecommerce hosting (formerly Nexcess), on Liquid Web's own datacenters with Cloudflare Enterprise and a 100% uptime SLA.
WordPress.com
Automattic's hosted WordPress service, from a free tier up to managed, plugin-enabled business plans.
Company facts
Headquarters
Lansing, MI Lansing, Michigan (Liquid Web HQ; Nexcess consolidated under the Liquid Web brand)
San Francisco, CA Automattic (WordPress.com's parent); a fully distributed company.
Employees
750 Approx. company headcount (LinkedIn 500–1,000 range, midpoint)
1.5k Automattic (parent company) headcount, ~1,450 across 80+ countries.
Pricing
Starting Monthly Price (USD)
$6 Spark – Launch plan, the entry managed WordPress tier (1 site, 15 GB), billed monthly
$9 Personal plan, the cheapest paid tier; bandwidth is unmetered on all plans.
Entry Plan WordPress Sites
1 sites 1 WordPress site on the entry Spark – Launch plan
1 sites Personal plan hosts a single WordPress site.
Entry Plan Storage (GB)
15 GB 15 GB storage on the entry Spark – Launch plan
6 GB Personal plan includes 6 GB of storage.
Free Trial Length (Days)
0 days No free trial offered on managed WordPress plans
0 days No free trial; WordPress.com offers a money-back guarantee instead.
Money-Back Guarantee (Days)
0 days No money-back guarantee; the current Terms of Service state fees are non-refundable
14 days 14-day refund window on annual plans (7 days on monthly).
Performance & infrastructure
Underlying Cloud
own datacenters Runs on Liquid Web-owned, staffed Tier-4 datacenters
own datacenters Automattic-operated infrastructure, 28+ data centers across 6 continents.
Datacenter Locations
9 9 Liquid Web datacenter locations across the US, UK, EU, and Australia
4 4 site-placement regions: US West, US Central, US East, EU West.
Free CDN
Cloudflare Enterprise CDN included on every managed WordPress plan
Global edge cache / CDN included on all plans at no extra cost.
Web Server
Apache Apache application server (with a Cloudflare Enterprise / NGINX edge-cache layer in front)
NGINX NGINX-based stack.
Built-in Object Cache
Redis object caching (Object Cache Pro) enabled by default on all new sites
Persistent object cache (Memcached) enabled by default on all plans.
Latest PHP Version
8.3 PHP 8.3 selectable via the Client Portal (newer releases may also be available)
8.4 PHP 8.4 selectable (8.2, 8.3, 8.4 supported).
Free SSL Certificate
Free SSL certificate included on all plans
Free SSL certificate auto-provisioned on all plans.
WordPress management
Automatic WordPress Updates
Host-managed automatic WordPress core (and security) updates
WordPress core and security updates are managed by the platform automatically.
Staging Environments
Free staging site included on every plan
Staging sites require the Business plan; not available on the entry (Personal) plan.
Automatic Daily Backups
Automatic daily backups on every plan
Automated real-time backups/restore (VaultPress) require the Business plan; not on the entry (Personal) plan.
Backup Retention (Days)
7 days 7-day backup retention on the entry Spark – Launch plan (30 days on Thrive/Elevate)
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Free Site Migration
Free self-serve migration on the entry plan (assisted migration on higher tiers)
Free 'Do it for me' expert migration plus free content import; full plugin/theme site migration needs the Business plan.
SSH & WP-CLI Access
SSH (Secure Shell) access with WP-CLI on managed WordPress plans
SSH and WP-CLI require the Business plan; not on the entry (Personal) plan.
WordPress Multisite Support
WordPress Multisite supported (subdomain or subdirectory networks)
WordPress Multisite networks are not supported; each site needs its own plan.
Support & security
Uptime SLA (%)
100% 100% uptime SLA (network and power), with service credits
99.999% 99.999% uptime SLA.
24/7 Support
24/7/365 support on all plans
24/7 priority support requires the Business plan; Personal gets email + weekday/extended live chat, not full 24/7.
Malware Removal / Hack Fix
Malware remediation is a paid one-time service ($200/incident), not an included guarantee
Daily malware scanning with automatic fixes, built into every site.
WAF / DDoS Protection
Web application firewall + DDoS protection (Cloudflare Enterprise) included on every plan
Web Application Firewall and DDoS protection built into every site at no extra cost.
Platform & integrations
Control Panel
custom Custom Sites & Stores portal (sites-portal.liquidweb.com), not cPanel/Plesk
custom Custom WordPress.com dashboard (Calypso); no cPanel.
White-Label / Agency Features
Reseller / white-label hosting and client management for partners
Automattic for Agencies: unified multi-site dashboard, consolidated billing, client referrals, bulk discounts.
Email Hosting Included
Email hosting not included; mailboxes require a paid add-on or third-party provider
No mailbox hosting on the entry plan; Professional Email / Google Workspace is a paid add-on (free for 1 year only on Business/Commerce).
The verdict
Liquid Web Best for developer access on the entry plan
At $6/mo with 15 GB, the entry plan ships staging, daily backups, SSH/WP-CLI, and Multisite that WordPress.com gates behind its Business tier. It adds 24/7 support and a 100% uptime SLA. The trade-off: no money-back guarantee, and malware removal is a paid $200/incident service.
Full profile WordPress.com Best for hands-off security and a risk-free trial
The $9/mo Personal plan includes daily malware scanning with automatic fixes (a paid $200/incident extra at Liquid Web) and a 14-day money-back guarantee where Liquid Web offers none. It also runs newer PHP 8.4. But staging, daily backups, SSH/WP-CLI, and 24/7 support all require the Business tier.
Full profileSources · 27 verified references
liquidweb.com automattic.com linkedin.com wordpress.com developer.wordpress.com
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