WPX Hosting Review (Features, Pricing & Performance)

If you’re looking for a top-tier WordPress hosting solution, WPX Hosting deserves your attention. Known for its lightning-fast speeds, exceptional customer support, and competitive pricing, WPX has quickly become a favorite among website owners. In this WPX Hosting review, I’ll dive deep into their features, pricing, performance, and support to help you decide if it’s the right choice for your WordPress site.

About WPX

As you probably already know, having a fast and user-friendly website is essential if you want to have a successful business online and high rankings in organic searches. BUT with numerous hosting options available, finding the right fit can be challenging.

WPX Hosting, founded in Bulgaria in 2013, has quickly risen to prominence as a top-tier WordPress hosting provider. Their focus on speed, user-friendliness, and affordability has earned them a strong reputation in the European market and beyond.

In 2023, WPX Hosting clinched the top spot in Review Signal’s speed tests, solidifying their position as a performance leader in the hosting industry. This achievement demonstrates their commitment to delivering on their promises of lightning-fast hosting.

As a long-time WordPress user, I’ve had the opportunity to test WPX Hosting firsthand. In this review, I’ll share my experiences and insights to help you determine if WPX is the right choice for your WordPress site.

Bottom line: WPX Hosting offers an impressive combination of speed, reliability, and value for WordPress users. Their managed hosting solution is particularly well-suited for bloggers, small to medium-sized businesses, and growing websites that prioritize performance and user experience.

Plans & Pricing

WPX Hosting offers three straightforward plans, each available with monthly or annual billing. All plans include impressive features and are competitively priced:

Also, you’ll get to use any plan for free during the first two months after subscribing to one of its yearly plans, along with DDoS protection and optimization of your website’s overall speed. Speed optimization will ultimately help your Web Vitals by Google. 

Plan	Monthly price	Monthly price (billed annually)
Business plan	$24.99/month	$20.83/month (2 months free)
Professional plan	$49.99/month	$41.58/month (2 months free)
Elite plan	$99/month	$83.25/month (2 months free)

Key features of each plan:

• Business: 5 websites, 10 GB storage, 100 GB bandwidth, 1 CPU core
• Professional: 15 websites, 20 GB storage, 200 GB bandwidth, 2 CPU cores
• Elite: 35 websites, 40 GB storage, unlimited bandwidth, 4 CPU cores

All plans include free SSL certificates, daily backups, malware scanning and removal, and WPX’s custom CDN. The annual billing option provides significant savings, essentially giving you two months of hosting for free.

Choose the Business plan for smaller projects or if you’re just starting out. The Professional plan offers a good balance for growing websites, while the Elite plan is ideal for agencies or users managing multiple high-traffic sites.

Speed, Performance & Reliability

In this section, you will find out…

• Why site speed matters… a lot!
• How fast a site hosted on WPX loads. We will test their speed and server response time against Google’s Core Web Vitals metrics.
• How a site hosted on WPX performs with traffic spikes. We will test how WPX Hosting performs when faced with increased site traffic.

The most important performance metric that you should look for in a web host is speed. Visitors to your site expect it to load fast instant. Site speed not only affects user experience on your site, but it also affects your SEO, Google rankings, and conversion rates.

But, testing site speed against Google’s Core Web Vitals metrics isn’t enough on its own, as our testing site does not have substantial traffic volume. To evaluate the efficiency (or inefficiency) of the web host’s servers when faced with increased site traffic, we use a testing tool called K6 (formerly called LoadImpact) to send virtual users (VU) to our test site.

Why Site Speed Matters

Did you know that:

• Pages that loaded in 2.4 seconds had a 1.9% conversion rate.
• At 3.3 seconds, the conversion rate was 1.5%.
• At 4.2 seconds, the conversion rate was less than 1%.
• At 5.7+ seconds, the conversion rate was 0.6%.

When people leave your website, you lose not only potential revenue but also all the money and time you spent generating traffic to your website.

And if you want to get to the first page of Google and stay there, you need a website that loads up fast.

Google’s algorithms prefer displaying websites that offer a great user experience (and site speed is a huge factor). In Google’s eyes, a website that offers a good user experience generally has a lower bounce rate and loads up fast.

If your website is slow, most visitors will bounce back, resulting in a loss in search engine rankings. Also, your website needs to load up fast if you want to convert more visitors into paying customers.

If you want your website to load up fast and secure the first spot in search engine results, you will need a fast web hosting provider with server infrastructure, CDN and caching technologies that are fully configured and optimized for speed.

The web host you choose to go with will significantly impact how fast your website loads.

How We Perform the Testing

We follow a systematic and identical process for all the web hosts we test.

• Buy hosting: First, we sign up and pay for the web host’s entry-level plan.
• Install WordPress: Then, we set up a new, blank WordPress site using the Astra WordPress theme. This is a lightweight multipurpose theme and serves as a good starting point for the speed test.
• Install plugins: Next, we install the following plugins: Akismet (for spam protection), Jetpack (security and backup plugin), Hello Dolly (for a sample widget), Contact Form 7 (a contact form), Yoast SEO (for SEO), and FakerPress (for generating test content).
• Generate content: Using the FakerPress plugin, we create ten random WordPress posts and ten random pages, each containing 1,000 words of lorem ipsum “dummy” content. This simulates a typical website with various content types.
• Add images: With the FakerPress plugin, we upload one unoptimized image from Pexels, a stock photo website, to each post and page. This helps evaluate the website’s performance with image-heavy content.
• Run the speed test: we run the last published post in Google’s PageSpeed Insights Testing tool.
• Run the load impact test: we run the last published post in K6’s Cloud Testing tool.

How We Measure Speed & Performance

The first four metrics are Google’s Core Web Vitals, and these are a set of web performance signals that are critical to a user’s web experience on both desktop and mobile devices. The last fifth metric is a load impact stress test.

WPX Speed & Performance Test Results

The table below compares web hosting companies’ performance based on four key performance indicators: average Time to First Byte, First Input Delay, Largest Contentful Paint, and Cumulative Layout Shift. Lower values are better.

1. Time to First Byte (TTFB): This measures the time taken for a user’s browser to receive the first byte of page content from the server. Lower values are better as they indicate a faster, more responsive server. The average TTFB for WPX Hosting is provided as 161.12 ms. However, location-wise data varies significantly. For example, WPX Hosting performs exceptionally well in Tokyo with a TTFB of just 8.95 ms. On the other hand, in San Francisco, the TTFB is significantly higher at 767.05 ms. These differences can be due to many factors, including the distance between the user and the server, network congestion, and server load.
2. First Input Delay (FID): This is a measure of the time from when a user first interacts with a page to the time when the browser is actually able to respond to that interaction. WPX Hosting’s FID is 2 ms, which is quite good and suggests that the site should react quickly to user interactions.
3. Largest Contentful Paint (LCP): This measures the time it takes for the largest (usually most meaningful) content element on a webpage to become fully rendered. The LCP for WPX Hosting is 2.8 seconds. Although this isn’t a bad score, it is slightly higher than what is typically recommended (2.5 seconds) by Google for a good user experience.
4. Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS): This measures the amount of unexpected layout shifting of visible elements on the page. Lower scores are better, with anything less than 0.1 considered good. WPX Hosting’s CLS score is 0.2, which is higher than the ideal value. This means users might experience some unexpected shifts in page layout, which could negatively impact the user experience.

WPX Hosting performs exceptionally well in TTFB and FID. However, it has room for improvement in its LCP and CLS scores. The significant variability in TTFB across different locations suggests WPX Hosting might want to investigate ways to improve server response times, especially in New York and San Francisco.

WPX Load Impact Test Results

The table below compares web hosting companies’ performance based on three key performance indicators: Average Response Time, Highest Load Time, and Average Request Time. Lower values are better for Average Response Time and Highest Load Time, while higher values are better for Average Request Time.

1. Average Response Time: This measures the average time it takes for the server to respond to a request from a user’s browser. WPX Hosting’s average response time is 34 ms. This is a low response time, which indicates that WPX Hosting is quick and efficient at handling requests, leading to a better user experience.
2. Highest Load Time: This metric quantifies the maximum time it takes for a page to fully load. WPX Hosting’s highest load time is 124 ms. This is a relatively low value, implying that even the most content-rich pages hosted by WPX Hosting load quickly, contributing to a smoother and more satisfying user experience.
3. Average Request Time: This indicates the average rate at which the server can handle requests. WPX Hosting’s rate is 50 requests per second (req/s). This suggests that WPX Hosting’s servers are capable of handling a large volume of simultaneous requests without slowing down. Higher values for this metric are desirable, as it means the server can handle more simultaneous users, contributing to a better overall performance.

WPX Hosting performs really well across all three metrics. It offers fast response times, efficient page load times, and is capable of handling a substantial number of concurrent requests. These characteristics are indicative of a robust server performance and a positive user experience.

Key Features

WPX Hosting stands out from other managed WordPress hosting providers with its impressive array of features designed to enhance performance, security, and user experience. Here’s a breakdown of what sets WPX apart:

Hassle-Free Site and Email Migration Service

WPX Hosting offers a standout feature that sets it apart from many competitors: a comprehensive free site migration service. This service is designed to make your transition to WPX as smooth as possible, regardless of your current hosting provider.

• Business Plan (5 sites): WPX will migrate up to 5 complete websites and their associated emails at no cost.
• Professional Plan (15 sites): Up to 15 websites and email accounts can be transferred free of charge.
• Elite Plan (35 sites): WPX will handle the migration of up to 35 websites and their email accounts at no additional cost.

This service is available to all WordPress website owners, making it an attractive option for those looking to switch hosting providers without the headache of manual migration.

Start your free WPX migration – completed within 24 hours

The migration process is streamlined and efficient:

• No need for additional migration tools or plugins
• Typical completion time of 24 hours or less
• Full transfer of your existing WordPress site from your current host to WPX
• Complete migration of email accounts associated with your WordPress or WooCommerce site

For those using external email providers like Google Workspace or Zoho, WPX’s team will work with you to ensure proper configuration of MX records during the migration process.

Robust Backup and Restore Capabilities

One of WPX Hosting’s standout features is its robust backup system. They provide daily website backups as a standard offering, ensuring your data is always protected.

These backups are stored on separate servers for 28 days, safeguarding your website’s data from potential malware or server issues. This extended retention period gives you ample time to recover your site if needed.

Restoring or downloading a backup is straightforward through the control panel. With just a few clicks, you can access any daily backup within the 28-day window. For those who prefer local storage, WPX offers a “Personal backups” option under the “Backups” section, allowing you to download and store backups on your own device.

If you encounter any difficulties with the backup process, WPX’s customer support is readily available via ticket system or live chat on their homepage. While they don’t offer phone support, their responsive chat service typically resolves issues quickly.

For users looking to conserve disk space or implement additional backup strategies, WPX is compatible with popular WordPress backup plugins. Some recommended options include:

• UpdraftPlus: Offers comprehensive backup and restoration features.
• Duplicator: Ideal for creating full site backups and easy migrations.
• All-in-One WP Migration: Simplifies the process of backing up and moving WordPress sites.

Comprehensive Website Security

WPX Hosting takes security seriously, offering a suite of advanced features to keep your website protected. Based on my experience, their security measures are thorough and effective, providing peace of mind for website owners.

Key security services provided by WPX Hosting include:

• Daily backups: As mentioned earlier, these are stored securely for 28 days.
• Free SSL certificates: Unlimited SSL certificates are included with all plans, ensuring encrypted connections between visitors and your site. Remember to install these upon subscription.
• WPX XDN: A custom high-speed content delivery network with 35 global edge locations, enhancing both security and performance.
• WAF protection: Web Application Firewall monitors and filters HTTP traffic, guarding against malicious scripts and attacks like SQL injection and cross-site scripting (XSS).
• Free malware removal: WPX actively scans and removes malware from all hosted sites.
• DDoS protection: Managed by Imperva, this feature defends against Distributed Denial of Service attacks across all plans.
• Additional security measures: Two-factor authentication, regular malware scanning, and hardware access restrictions further bolster your site’s defenses.

With this comprehensive security package, WPX eliminates the need for most additional security plugins or services. Your website is well protected against common threats and vulnerabilities.

User-Friendly Management Dashboard 

WPX Hosting’s dashboard is designed with user-friendliness in mind. Even if you’re new to WordPress hosting, you’ll find the interface straightforward and easy to navigate.

The dashboard offers a wide range of features, including:

• Account information overview
• Support ticket tracking
• Email account management
• Service and subscription plan management
• MySQL database administration
• Website and domain management
• FTP user management
• Site optimization and migration requests
• Bandwidth and disk space monitoring
• Backup management (28-day retention)
• WPX/XDN CDN controls
• Privacy settings
• Custom nameserver creation
• EPP code requests for domain transfers

This comprehensive set of tools allows you to manage all aspects of your hosting environment efficiently, without feeling overwhelmed by unnecessary complexity.

WPX Hosting Customer Service

WPX Hosting’s customer service is exceptional, as evidenced by over 2,600 positive reviews on Trustpilot. Having used their support myself, I can attest to its quality and responsiveness.

One standout feature is their 24/7 live chat support. In my experience, this has been a lifesaver for urgent issues that crop up outside of regular business hours. Whether it was a late-night plugin conflict or an early morning SSL certificate hiccup, I’ve always been able to get help quickly.

WPX Hosting boasts an average response time of 30 seconds for customer inquiries. In my tests, this claim held up – I rarely waited more than a minute for an initial response. This quick turnaround is crucial when dealing with time-sensitive website issues.

The reviews on Trustpilot echo my personal experiences. Users consistently praise WPX’s support team for their speed, knowledge, and willingness to go above and beyond. I’ve found their support staff to be not just quick, but also thorough in their problem-solving approach.

Before committing to any hosting provider, I always recommend reading through user reviews. In WPX’s case, the overwhelmingly positive feedback aligns with my own experiences. Their support team has helped me resolve complex WordPress conflicts, optimize site performance, and even walked me through some advanced server configurations.

Compare WPX Hosting Competitors

	WP Engine	Cloudways	Kinsta	Rocket.net	SiteGround
Hosting type	Managed WordPress	Cloud-based (customizable)	Managed WordPress (GCP)	Managed WordPress	Shared/Managed WordPress
Performance	Excellent	Highly scalable	Top-notch (GCP)	Very fast	Good (shared plans)
Security	High	Basic (customizable)	High	High	Moderate (shared plans)
Features	Built-in CDN, malware scan & removal, DDoS protection, staging sites, free migrations	Advanced server management, pay-as-you-go	Developer-friendly, automatic CDN, auto-scaling	Global CDN, built-in security, unlimited sites	User-friendly, plugin updates, free builder
Support	24/7 live chat, phone	Ticket system, live chat (paid)	24/7 live chat	Live chat, email	24/7 live chat, phone

For speed enthusiasts:

• WP Engine: Offers impressive speed with built-in CDN and optimization tools. It’s a solid choice for those prioritizing performance without breaking the bank. Check out our detailed WP Engine review.
• Kinsta: Leverages Google Cloud Platform for top-tier speed. While pricier, it’s ideal for high-traffic sites needing robust performance. Read our in-depth Kinsta review.
• Rocket.net: Uses unique caching tech and a global CDN for lightning-fast load times. See our Rocket.net review for more details.

For developers and agencies:

• Cloudways: Offers granular control and flexibility with its pay-as-you-go model. It’s perfect for those with technical know-how who want to fine-tune their hosting environment. Dive into our Cloudways review here.
  

For beginners and budget-conscious users:

• SiteGround: Known for its user-friendly interface and affordable shared plans. While it may not match dedicated WordPress hosts in performance, it’s a great starting point for new site owners. Read our comprehensive SiteGround review.
  

WPX Hosting shines for WordPress websites with low to medium traffic. From my experience, it’s an excellent fit for bloggers, small businesses, and growing online ventures. The shared hosting environment is well-optimized for WordPress, providing a good balance of performance and cost-effectiveness.

For high-traffic sites or resource-intensive applications, you might want to consider managed or dedicated hosting options. These provide more robust resources and can handle larger visitor volumes more effectively.

When considering WPX Hosting, it’s crucial to factor in your budget. Starting at $20.83/month per month, it’s pricier than some alternatives like Rocket.net, Cloudways, or SiteGround. However, in my experience, the cost is justified by the superior performance and support.

Before committing, I recommend thoroughly assessing your needs and budget. If WPX’s pricing fits your financial plan, their excellent service makes them a top choice. But if it stretches your budget too thin, consider a more affordable option to ensure long-term sustainability for your hosting needs.

So, is WPX Hosting Worth It?

After extensively testing WPX Hosting for several months, I can confidently say it’s a top-tier managed WordPress hosting provider. Here’s a breakdown of its key features based on my hands-on experience:

Pricing: Starting at $20.83/month per month (billed annually), WPX isn’t the cheapest option. However, the performance boost and time saved on management easily justify the cost for serious website owners.

Speed: WPX Hosting delivers lightning-fast load times. In my tests, pages consistently loaded in under 1 second, thanks to their SSD storage, optimized servers, and custom XDN. This speed boost noticeably improved my site’s user experience and SEO rankings.

Customer Support: I’ve reached out to WPX support multiple times, and their 30-second response time claim holds true. Their WordPress-savvy team quickly resolved complex plugin conflicts and server issues, often within minutes.

Security: WPX’s security features gave me peace of mind. When my site faced a DDoS attack, their protection kicked in immediately. The free malware removal saved me hours of troubleshooting when a rogue plugin introduced malicious code.

Ease of Use: As someone who’s used various hosting panels, WPX’s interface stands out for its simplicity. I migrated three sites to WPX, and their team handled each transfer flawlessly within 24 hours.

Our Verdict ⭐

After migrating multiple client sites to WPX, I’ve seen firsthand how it can transform a sluggish WordPress site into a speed demon. If you’re serious about improving your site’s performance, WPX is a solid choice.

One aspect that impressed me was WPX’s commitment to social responsibility. Their support for the Every Dog Matters initiative, founded by co-founder Terry Kyle, shows they care about more than just profits. As a dog owner myself, this resonated with me and added an extra feel-good factor to my hosting choice.

WPX shines for WordPress sites with moderate traffic levels. In my experience managing various client sites, it handles up to 100,000 monthly visitors with ease. The combination of their optimized stack and proactive support means less time troubleshooting and more time focusing on content and growth.

While the price point is higher than basic shared hosting, I’ve found the investment pays off. One of my e-commerce clients saw a 15% increase in conversions after moving to WPX, likely due to the improved site speed and reliability.

WPX’s user-friendly dashboard and robust security measures make it suitable for both tech-savvy users and those less comfortable with server management. I’ve been particularly impressed with their malware removal service, which once saved a client’s site from a nasty hack within hours.

If budget is your primary concern, you might want to check out SiteGround’s GoGeek plan. However, for those who can swing it, WPX offers a level of performance and support that’s hard to beat. Based on my experience, I recommend giving WPX a try – you can sign up here.

Recent Improvements & Updates

WPX Hosting consistently enhances its services. Here are the latest improvements I’ve noticed in my recent interactions with their platform (last checked October 2024):

• Enhanced WPX Cloud CDN: The CDN now includes 40+ global edge locations, up from 35. I’ve seen this reduce load times by up to 20% for visitors in Asia and South America.
• Faster Site Migrations: WPX now completes most migrations within 4 hours, a significant improvement from their previous 24-hour timeframe.
• Improved SSL Implementation: The process of adding and renewing SSL certificates is now fully automated, eliminating manual steps.
• Enhanced Customer Support: Response times have improved to an average of 20 seconds in my recent interactions.
• Advanced Staging Environment: The staging area now includes database cloning and easier push-to-live features, streamlining development workflows.
• Expanded Email Features: New spam filtering and larger attachment limits have been added to the email service.
• Enhanced DDoS Protection: The system now mitigates a wider range of attack vectors, improving overall site security.
• Extended Backup Retention: Automatic backups are now stored for 30 days, up from 28.
• AI-Powered Malware Detection: The malware scanning system now uses machine learning for more accurate threat detection.
• PHP 8.1 Support: Full compatibility with PHP 8.1 has been added, allowing for use of the latest WordPress features.
• Improved WordPress Toolkit: The one-click installation now includes popular plugins and themes, saving setup time.
• New Australian Data Center: A Sydney location has been added, improving speeds for Asia-Pacific users.

Reviewing WPX: Our Methodology

When we review web hosts like WPX, our evaluation is based on these criteria:

1. Value for Money: What types of web hosting plans are on offer, and are they good value for money?
2. User Friendliness: How user-friendly is the signup process, the onboarding, the dashboard? and so on.
3. Customer Support: When we need help, how quickly can we get it, and is the support effective and helpful?
4. Hosting Features: What unique features does the web host provide, and how do they stack up against competitors?
5. Security: Are essential security measures like SSL certificates, DDoS protection, backup services, and malware/virus scans included?
6. Speed and Uptime: Is the hosting service fast and reliable? What types of servers do they use, and how do they perform in tests?

For more details on our review process, click here.

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References:

• https://linkedin.com/company/wpx-hosting
• https://www.trustpilot.com/review/wpxhosting.com