Siteground vs Nexcess: guide for 2024

Final verdict

Comparing SiteGround to Nexcess reveals distinct strengths and weaknesses within each hosting service, making them suitable for varied user needs.

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  SiteGround (Overall grade: 8.8)
  
  
  impresses with its high uptime, fast response times, and robust security features. It stands out for its user-friendly interface, versatile website builder, and extensive free services, including daily backups, SSL certificates, and email hosting. These features make SiteGround an excellent choice for businesses and individuals looking for reliable, fast, and secure web hosting. However, some users may find its renewal pricing to be on the higher side.
  
• 
  Nexcess (Overall grade: 8.2)
  
  
  shines in specialized hosting for ecommerce and agencies with its advanced support, comprehensive security measures, and compliance certifications like PCI DSS Level 1. The platform’s free autoscaling during traffic surges, robust customer support, and transactional email capabilities are significant benefits for ecommerce businesses. However, its performance metrics, the backup system, and perceived decline in service quality post-acquisition could be concerns for some users. Despite this, Nexcess remains a solid choice for those requiring specialized ecommerce and agency solutions.
  

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 SiteGround

Winner SiteGround: Outperforms in both uptime and speed, ensuring reliable and fast web hosting.

SiteGround boasts an impressive uptime guarantee of 99.9%, with only 7 minutes of downtime over almost 2 months, reflecting an actual uptime of 99.99%. Additionally, SiteGround provides excellent compensation for any downtime experienced. Its average response time of 0.207 seconds and speedy site loading underscore its commitment to performance. The addition of server locations across eight countries further solidifies its reliability.

Nexcess, with an uptime of 99.88% and 10 hours of downtime over the past year, offers transparency in system status and strong customer support. However, its performance grade of 70/100 and an average load time of 1.56 seconds point to limitations. Despite robust features such as a proprietary CDN and 24/7/365 support, Nexcess lags behind SiteGround in overall score and performance metrics.

🏆 Winner SiteGround: Comprehensive solutions for speed, security, and customer support.

When comparing the general performance of SiteGround and Nexcess, both providers offer robust setups to ensure high-speed hosting. SiteGround leverages premium Google Cloud infrastructure with SSD persistent storage and Google Cloud CDN, while Nexcess utilizes Nginx and Redis for integrated caching and relies on Cloudflare CDN. SiteGround’s advanced caching methods, like NGINX Direct Delivery and SuperCacher, enhance speed and reliability. Nexcess, on the other hand, provides free autoscaling and varying levels of PHP workers to manage traffic surges. Both hosts offer data centers globally, with SiteGround boasting over 170 CDN edge locations as part of Google Cloud, whereas Nexcess has fewer specifics available.

Website Speed

SiteGround stands out with its custom implementation of PHP and MySQL, significantly reducing the time to first byte and improving load times by about 30%. With static and dynamic caching enabled, their sites run up to 5 times faster. In contrast, Nexcess focuses on lightning-fast WordPress sites backed by automatic, integrated caching from Nginx and Redis. Both hosts deliver excellent performance, but SiteGround’s preinstalled Speed Optimizer and access to the latest technologies like Brotli and HTTP/2 give it a slight edge.

Scalability

In terms of scalability, Nexcess offers free autoscaling for every site, automatically deploying extra PHP resources during traffic surges, which adds a layer of reliability without requiring manual plan upgrades. SiteGround, however, does not specify automatic scaling but provides dedicated cloud plans starting at $100/month, allowing for resource adjustments based on needs. For SiteGround’s advanced users, upgrading plans remains a straightforward option, thanks to their clear and structured pricing model.

🏆 Winner
Nexcess offers a more comprehensive and secure hosting experience with its extensive features, compliance, and security measures: For customers seeking extensive technical security features and those requiring PCI compliance Nexcess offers a more comprehensive and secure hosting experience with its extensive features, compliance, and security measures may be the more suitable option.

Both Nexcess offers a more comprehensive and secure hosting experience with its extensive features, compliance, and security measures and SiteGround, have notable differences in their approaches to technical and operational
security, as well as in their compliance with regulations.

Technical security measures:

SiteGround boasts advanced security measures with a custom Web Application Firewall (WAF), AI Anti-Bot system, and automatic updates for WordPress and WooCommerce. The hosting service also ensures data protection through daily and distributed backups. Nexcess also excels with advanced web application security solutions powered by Cloudflare, including DDoS protection and transaction security. Additionally, Nexcess offers proactive security through enterprise server monitoring and daily malware scans. While both hosting services offer robust security mechanisms, Nexcess provides more extensive security hardening and threat detection capabilities.

Operational security measures:

SiteGround ensures 24/7 system administration and multi-layered security within Google Cloud’s data centers, along with free SSL certificates and on-demand backup restores. Nexcess stands out with its wide range of SSL certificates, including Extended Validation (EV) and Wildcard SSL, as well as enterprise-ready features like Object Cache Pro and Cloud Accelerator. Nexcess also emphasizes proactive security with automated OS updates and advanced monitoring. While SiteGround offers consistent operational security measures, Nexcess’s extensive SSL options and advanced performance features make it a more attractive choice.

Compliance and certifications:

SiteGround does not offer PCI compliance, but it maintains multi-layered security for data centers managed by Google Cloud. Nexcess, on the other hand, is PCI DSS Level 1 compliant across all hosting solutions, ensuring a high level of security for merchants. Additionally, Nexcess is fully GDPR compliant and undergoes SSAE-18 compliance assessments. These certifications highlight Nexcess’s commitment to meeting stringent regulatory requirements.

🏆 Winner
SiteGround:
A robust hosting provider offering advanced features, exceptional performance, and comprehensive support.

SiteGround and Nexcess shine in their respective offerings, but notable differences cater to varied user needs. SiteGround offers a versatile website builder for users, making it a user-friendly option for those wanting to create dynamic and visually appealing sites without much hassle. This tool, along with features like unlimited databases, free CDNs, and a range of managed WordPress services, underscores SiteGround’s commitment to an all-encompassing hosting experience. Additionally, SiteGround’s extensive list of free services, such as daily backups, email hosting, and SSL certificates, make it a cost-effective choice for businesses seeking robust security and reliability. On the other hand, Nexcess delivers a robust package tailored for different hosting segments like WordPress, WooCommerce, and Magento, with strong performance monitoring tools, automated testing, and robust cloud hosting options. Nexcess’s unique selling points include its WooCommerce-specific optimizations like free object caching, cart abandonment tools, and conversion optimization, which are crucial for e-commerce businesses. Both providers offer great backup solutions and SSL certificates, but Nexcess stands out with features like global CDNs powered by Cloudflare and PCI compliance, making it an excellent choice for enterprises needing specialized e-commerce capabilities.

While both hosts offer 24/7 customer support, SiteGround emphasizes a more hands-on approach with priority support, adding collaborators, and tools like SuperCacher for enhanced performance. SiteGround’s use of 100% renewable energy and its inclusion of advanced security features like WAF and AI anti-bot systems reflect a commitment to sustainability and proactive protection. Nexcess counters with developer-friendly environments and specialized monitoring for agencies and large enterprises, ensuring high-impact performance and security compliance. Its global data centers and server-level Redis are designed for those requiring scalable, high-performance hosting environments. Nexcess also offers transactional email capabilities coupled with multi-site support and frequent core WordPress updates, strengthening its proposition for large-scale deployments and agency usage. Though SiteGround has a higher rating, Nexcess offers targeted benefits that could sway specific user requirements.

Hosting Features Comparison

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 SiteGround 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:

Email services at SiteGround offers email hosting services, enabling businesses to set up custom email addresses associated with their domains effortlessly. This service includes comprehensive email features without additional charges. In contrast, Nexcess offers unlimited email hosting as part of its packages, supporting robust transactional email capabilities critical for e-commerce operations. Both providers include free email migrations, but SiteGround’s advanced priority support could offer an edge for clients requiring hands-on assistance in setting up and managing email services. Neither provider resells third-party email services, making them both suitable for users who need dependable, out-of-the-box email solutions.

🏆 Winner
SiteGround: Offers comprehensive and affordable plans across multiple hosting types suitable for various 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 SiteGround and Nexcess, SiteGround provides more cost-effective and feature-rich plans. SiteGround’s StartUp Plan is priced at $3.99/mo., offering robust features, while Nexcess’ comparable Spark plan is $21/mo. SiteGround also provides a highly competitive offering in its Cloud Hosting Plans, starting at $100/mo., compared to Nexcess, which starts at $52 but with limited storage and bandwidth. Overall, SiteGround’s plans include essential features like daily backups, enhanced security, and free CDN, offering better value for the price.

Enterprise plans

For enterprise solutions, SiteGround’s GoGeek Plan for $44.99 provides more comprehensive features like highest tier resources, white-label clients, and free private DNS. Nexcess’ Enterprise Plan at $10,950/annual offers higher storage and bandwidth, but at significantly steeper costs. SiteGround’s robust feature set offers better value for more extensive business requirements compared to Nexcess.

🏆 Winner Nexcess: Among the tested hosting platforms, Nexcess stood out for its user-friendly features and superior support.

SiteGround offers a custom admin panel that is designed to be intuitive for users of all skill levels. It integrates key features and functionalities into a single, user-friendly dashboard, making it accessible for both technical and non-technical users. This panel helps streamline various hosting tasks such as account management, website setup, and performance monitoring. The clean layout and straightforward navigation make it easy for users to oversee their sites with minimal hassle.

Nexcess also provides a custom admin panel that emphasizes user accessibility. It is equipped with a range of features aimed at simplifying hosting management. This panel is especially appreciated for its application-specific controls. It offers a smooth experience for setting up and managing websites, making it suitable for users regardless of their technical background. Overall, both platforms offer admin panels that are accessible and user-friendly, though Nexcess’ customization for PHP applications gives it an edge for certain users.

Both SiteGround and Nexcess offer significant migration tools but differ slightly in their implementation. SiteGround provides a free WordPress Migrator plugin that is straightforward and user-friendly, enabling users to transfer their WordPress sites easily. For those who prefer professional assistance, SiteGround offers expert migrations for a fee starting at $30 per site. Nexcess, on the other hand, provides unlimited managed migrations handled by professionals at no additional cost. This service is particularly beneficial for those looking to transfer multiple sites without incurring additional expenses.

The platforms provide extensive knowledge bases filled with guides, how-to articles, and instructional content. SiteGround 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: A competent hosting provider with flexible and efficient user management features.

SiteGround and Nexcess both offer effective user management tools but cater to different needs. SiteGround stands out for its ability to add team members as collaborators, providing them with individual account access and customization of user roles with specific tool permissions. Additionally, SiteGround’s white-label access for clients adds a professional touch by hiding the SiteGround brand. On the other hand, Nexcess adopts a more structured approach with predefined roles such as Superuser, Billing, and Technical, along with the ability to create custom teams. This feature allows for considerable flexibility, enabling roles and permissions tailored to the expertise of team members.

For user interface and tools, SiteGround uses Site Tools that are accessible through individual logins for collaborators and white-label clients, ensuring a seamless experience. The process of managing and creating roles is straightforward via the Client Area. Nexcess employs the Nexcess Client Portal, which is accessible via two distinct URLs. It provides an intuitive experience for managing roles and teams, making it easy to invite new members and customize permissions.

Access control and scalability are crucial for handling an expanding user base. SiteGround allows for specific role assignments and access permissions through detailed custom roles, ensuring users have the right tools without over-complication. The platform supports seamless scalability by allowing extensive user collaborations on multiple sites. Nexcess excels in scalable management with no hard limit on user additions and robust custom-created account permissions. This makes it especially suited for growing teams that require flexible, granular control over access rights.

SiteGround user roles table:

Nexcess user roles table:

🏆 Winner
SiteGround: Offers excellent customer service with various support channels and a commitment to client success.

SiteGround and Nexcess both provide comprehensive customer support, but there are clear differences. SiteGround offers 24/7 support through live chat, phone support, helpdesk tickets with quick response times, and automated solutions. Their customer care team is known for being proficient, friendly, and quick. They even provide professional expert migrations and AI assistance based on ChatGPT. Their priority support, available with higher-tier plans, and a 98% satisfaction rate highlight their focus on customer empowerment.

Nexcess, while also offering 24/7/365 support, includes phone, chat, and email options. Their support services cover troubleshooting, infrastructure, application support, security issues, and plugin conflicts. However, web development, design, plugin configuration, and SEO support are not available. Nexcess features proactive monitoring, free managed migrations, and daily backups. They cater specifically to PHP-based applications. Though thorough, their support does not extend to the more personalized services seen with SiteGround.

User feedback

SiteGround garners consistently high praise for its exceptional customer support and user-friendly tools, frequently being described as reliable and straightforward to use. Users commend the fast and knowledgeable technical assistance, which is available through various channels like chat and phone, often highlighting the effectiveness and patience of support representatives. Despite these positive aspects, some users find renewal pricing relatively expensive and note that navigating to the support section can be cumbersome. Issues with specific features, such as webmail interface and certain plugins, are also mentioned, but overall, SiteGround is recommended for its strong support and ease of use, especially for beginners and small businesses.

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