Justhost vs Nexcess: guide for 2024

Final verdict

Looking over JustHost vs. Nexcess, it’s clear why both hosts are so popular. They have both hosted millions of
websites that run on WordPress for decades, building up a loyal customer base.

• 
  Nexcess (Overall grade: 8.2)
  
  
  is a standout choice for businesses that prioritize performance and advanced features. It offers exceptional support for eCommerce and high-traffic websites with features like free autoscaling, multiple PHP workers, and daily backups. Its strengths lie in robust security measures, PCI compliance, and a solid customer support system available around the clock. Despite a few concerns regarding backup systems and migration processes, Nexcess’s overall offering makes it well-suited for demanding users needing advanced reliability and support.
  
• 
  JustHost (Overall grade: 7.4)
  
  
  appeals primarily to beginners and users seeking affordable yet comprehensive hosting solutions. It comes with a year of free domain registration, an easy-to-use website builder, and unmetered disk space, ensuring flexibility for various needs. JustHost maintains a reliable uptime of 99.95% and offers essential features like SSL certificates and unlimited email hosting. However, it falls short on certain advanced performance and security features that Nexcess provides, making it less suitable for users with intensive hosting demands.
  

Hosting types offered

Both platforms provide a variety of hosting types, each designed to meet the different needs of users.

Although both offer a variety of hosting plans tailored to different needs, in
certain cases, one platform may prove to be more suitable.

Detailed comparison

🏆 Winner Nexcess: A strong contender with reliable uptime and fast load times.

JustHost offers an uptime of 99.95%, which is reliable and meets industry standards. Their single data center in Utah and 24/7 support options provide good coverage, although customer reviews on their support are mixed. Performance metrics, however, show slower response times, and only premium plan users benefit from automatic backups.

Nexcess, with an uptime of 99.88%, had about 10 hours of downtime over the past year but provides exceptional transparency with system status updates. With 10 global data centers and a proprietary CDN, Nexcess ensures swift load times and reliable performance. Their daily backups and PCI compliance further enhance their service, and 24/7/365 support from cloud experts solidifies their position as a reliable hosting provider.

🏆 Winner Nexcess: Superior performance and extensive features for demanding users.

When comparing general performance, Nexcess offers superior speed with its lightning-fast WordPress hosting, enhanced by automatic caching through Nginx and Redis. With a CDN powered by Cloudflare, Nexcess further boosts page load times globally. Just Host, on the other hand, runs websites on high-performance quad processor servers and offers enhanced caching, but only for dedicated hosting. Nexcess has multiple data centers worldwide, ensuring broader reach, whereas Just Host’s information on data center locations is unspecified. Both hostings offer built-in plugins to improve website performance.

Website Speed

When it comes to website speed, Nexcess holds an edge due to its free autoscaling feature and multiple PHP workers per site, which handle traffic surges effortlessly. The built-in caching mechanisms and WordPress-specific performance optimizations mean sites on Nexcess load exceptionally fast. Just Host provides high performance on its Pro Plan, but the Basic, Plus, and Choice Plus Plans offer only standard performance, making them less appealing for high-traffic sites.

Scalability

Nexcess excels in scalability with its free autoscaling feature that automatically deploys extra PHP resources during traffic surges, requiring no manual upgrades. For more demanding uses, Nexcess offers plans scaling up to 800GB storage and 10TB bandwidth. Just Host requires upgrading to higher plans or VPS/Dedicated hosting for better performance. With Nexcess, the cost to scale remains integrated within their pricing system, dependent on the initial tier chosen. Pricing details for Just Host’s scalability are not readily available.

🏆 Winner
Nexcess: Robust security and compliance features for secure hosting.

Both Just Host and Nexcess, have notable differences in their approaches to technical and operational
security, as well as in their compliance with regulations.

Technical security measures:

Just Host and Nexcess both provide extensive technical security features. Just Host leverages SiteLock for daily vulnerability scanning, automatic malware removal, and a web application firewall, ensuring thorough protection against code vulnerabilities and web attacks. Nexcess offers a wide range of SSL certificates, from standard to extended validation, and enterprise-level web application security solutions including DDoS protection and daily malware scans. Additionally, Nexcess supports PHP 7 and 8+ environments, offering more advanced PHP version compatibility compared to Just Host’s PHP 5 and 7 support.

Operational security measures:

Nexcess emphasizes proactive security with enterprise server monitoring, automatic OS updates, and daily backups stored for 30 days. Nexcess also offers advanced security hardening and F5 threat detection, making it more comprehensive in operational security measures.

Compliance and certifications:

In terms of compliance, Nexcess stands out with PCI DSS Level 1, SSAE-18, and full GDPR compliance. It provides a PCI compliant data center and helps merchants meet these standards. Just Host provides GDPR compliance features such as domain masking and Whois privacy but does not specify PCI compliance. Nexcess, with its additional PCI and SSAE-18 certifications, meets broader regulatory requirements, ensuring a higher level of trust and security.

🏆 Winner Just Host: A versatile hosting provider with a strong feature set suitable for diverse needs.

When choosing between Just Host and Nexcess, several features deserve your attention. Just Host offers a free website builder with drag-and-drop functionality, making it simple for users to create their sites from scratch. It comes with a year of free domain registration and extensive free advertising credits. Additionally, Just Host’s support for multiple scripting languages and various one-click installations provides broad flexibility for different user requirements. However, Just Host’s advantage lies in its unmetered disk space, ensuring you never run out of storage, and a dependable 30-day money-back guarantee.

On the other hand, Nexcess focuses heavily on managed specialized hosting solutions like WordPress, WooCommerce, and Magento. Their free autoscaling feature ensures optimal performance during traffic surges, particularly useful for eCommerce sites. Nexcess also offers a free staging environment, which is crucial for testing changes before deploying them live. With daily backups and PCI compliance, it provides a more secure and reliable service for businesses that deal with substantial transactions. Calculating in aspects like free migrations and premium support, Nexcess is well-geared for users who need specific managed services but might slightly fall behind in versatility compared to Just Host.

Both providers support a range of users from beginners to experts with user-friendly website builders and WordPress staging areas. However, in terms of developer tools, both Just Host and Nexcess offer robust options including SSH access, support for multiple programming languages, and Git for version control, thus appealing to developers looking for advanced capabilities.

Email services:

Just Host offers unlimited email hosting with support for both POP3 and IMAP protocols, allowing users to set up robust email campaigns and manage their email needs effortlessly. Nexcess, while also providing unlimited email, goes a step further by integrating email services into their managed plans with detailed monitoring tools. They do not mention any transactional email capabilities but ensure that daily backups include emails, adding another layer of security. Both providers give substantial options, but Nexcess’s integration into managed hosting plans may appeal more to businesses needing automated and streamlined solutions.

🏆 Winner Just Host: A broad range of affordable web hosting plans with essential features for varying needs.

Evaluating the pricing of plans among various hosting providers can be complex due to their differing pricing and renewal strategies. Additionally, certain plans require annual commitments, which adds to the difficulty of making comparisons. The prices listed are based on monthly commitments; plans requiring annual commitments are indicated. Additionally, although some providers offer identical plans for WordPress and shared hosting, we have created separate tables for each to enhance clarity.

When comparing Just Host and Nexcess, Just Host stands out with more affordable shared hosting plans, making it a more appealing option for budget-conscious users. Just Host offers a variety of plans, starting from $14.99 per month, featuring unlimited website options and unmetered bandwidth in its higher-tiered plans. Nexcess, on the other hand, provides more specialized and higher-priced cloud hosting and managed WordPress plans, starting from $21 per month. Nexcess’s plans include advanced features like daily backups, autoscaling, and enhanced support, but these come at a significantly higher price point.

Enterprise plans

For enterprises, Just Host offers a Pro Plan with high performance, unlimited websites, unmetered storage, and a dedicated IP at $35.99 per month. Nexcess provides extensive enterprise options with the Enterprise Plan under their Managed WordPress Hosting, featuring up to 250 websites, 800GB storage, and 10TB bandwidth at $492.75 per month for the first three months. Just Host is suitable for enterprises seeking cost-effective solutions with robust features, while Nexcess appeals to larger enterprises with specialized needs for advanced support and extensive site management.

🏆 Winner Nexcess: A user-friendly hosting platform with effective migration tools and comprehensive support.

Just Host uses the cPanel control panel, a widely recognized and user-friendly interface designed to simplify website management for both beginners and experienced users. The integration with Just Host’s features via cPanel facilitates seamless website setup, including email accounts, domain management, and database administration. With 1-click script installs through SimpleScripts, users can quickly deploy popular applications like WordPress and Joomla, aiding in an efficient and straightforward setup process.

Nexcess, on the other hand, does not specify using cPanel but offers a platform conducive to quick setups, particularly for WooCommerce and WordPress sites. The pre-installed WooCommerce, drag-and-drop builder, and free, secure staging sites make it an appealing option for those who prioritize ease of customization without delving into coding. Additionally, the Visual Compare Tool assists users in visualizing changes before making them live, which is particularly beneficial for those looking to manage site aesthetics efficiently.

Both Just Host and Nexcess provide migration tools, but Nexcess stands out with its free managed migration service. This means experienced professionals handle the migration process, making it easier for users to switch hosts without technical headaches. In contrast, Just Host’s migration tools are not specified to be managed or free, potentially requiring more effort from the user.

Both hosting providers offer comprehensive help centers and support. Just Host provides a broad knowledge base, tutorials, phone, chat, and email support, ensuring users can find help in various formats. Nexcess excels with its 24/7/365 expert support, covering phone, chat, and email, along with a thorough knowledge base, webinars, and white papers for deeper learning and troubleshooting.

The platforms provide extensive knowledge bases filled with guides, how-to articles, and instructional content. Just Host offers a wide range of resources alongside 24/7 chat and phone support. Nexcess also boasts a detailed help center with an intuitive search function and around-the-clock support via live chat, phone, and ticketing, ensuring comprehensive user support.

🏆 Winner Nexcess: An excellent hosting provider with an outstanding user management system.

When comparing the user management capabilities of JustHost and Nexcess, it becomes clear that each provider adopts unique approaches tailored to different needs. JustHost primarily utilizes the cPanel control panel, which is user-friendly and supports multi-account management and root access for VPS hosting. Nexcess, on the other hand, provides a flexible role-based access system with predefined roles like Superuser, Billing, and Technical. Additionally, Nexcess allows the creation of custom teams with configurable permissions. This flexibility in defining and managing roles makes Nexcess more adaptable to diverse organizational requirements.

JustHost relies on the widely-used cPanel interface, offering a straightforward and user-friendly experience which is ideal for beginners. The enhanced cPanel for VPS users includes additional features compared to standard competitors. Nexcess offers a modern Client Portal that integrates customized permissions for team members, resulting in a streamlined user experience. The Client Portal provides clear navigation to manage technical and billing aspects separately, making it more robust for specific technical and management activities.

In terms of access control and handling multiple users, JustHost supports unlimited email accounts and domains, which can be beneficial for users who need to manage a high volume of email transactions and website resources. It also provides FTP and SSH access to facilitate file and server management. Nexcess demonstrates efficiency in managing growing user numbers through its customizable role system and the advantage of adding multiple users without hard limits on permissions. This makes Nexcess well-suited for teams requiring granular control over access levels.

JustHost User Roles Table:

Nexcess User Roles Table:

🏆 Winner Nexcess: Nexcess offers superior customer support services with free managed migrations, proactive monitoring, and specialized PHP-based application support, making it a great option for businesses requiring comprehensive web hosting support.

JustHost and Nexcess both offer 24/7 customer support through multiple channels, including phone, live chat, and email. However, Nexcess stands out with additional services like free managed migrations, proactive monitoring, and daily backups with 30-day retention. These features provide significant added value, especially for larger businesses or eCommerce sites that need reliable performance and data security.

While JustHost offers a user-friendly experience and dependable uptime, it lacks some of the advanced support options available with Nexcess, such as specialized PHP-based application support and an in-house customer service team. These differences highlight Nexcess’s stronger positioning in customer support, making it the better choice for businesses with complex hosting needs.

User feedback

JustHost is praised for its simplicity and ease of use, making it a great option for beginners wanting to learn more about hosting and cPanel. Users appreciate its intuitive interface and reliable performance with minimal outages. The introductory pricing is highly attractive, offering significant savings for long-term commitments. However, some users feel that the regular pricing after the initial period can be steep, though still competitive.

User feedback on Nexcess hosting is highly polarized. Positive reviews frequently commend the platform’s knowledgeable and responsive customer support, emphasizing swift issue resolution and a user-friendly interface. However, negative reviews highlight significant issues with the backup system, slow migration processes, and unreliable server performance, causing operational disruptions and reputational damage. Many users note the decline in service quality following the company’s acquisition, culminating in mixed recommendations.

FAQ