Nexcess WooCommerce Hosting – Do You Need It? [2023]

Sure, an e-commerce website can run on shared hosting or WordPress hosting. But you’re looking for something more.

You want a high-performance website that will help you make conversions, not drive your visitors to the competition. You want your site to meet customer demands now and in the future. You’re ready to move forward to the next phase of your online store.

WooCommerce hosting can be the next step, and Nexcess offers just that. But is it the best fit for your online store? And is it really worth the extra expense?

You know your products and what your store needs, and we can help you determine whether WooCommerce Hosting can fit your needs. We’ve also examined the top WooCommerce hosting providers, and we’ll tell you how they stack up compared to Nexcess.

Click here to read more about WooCommerce hosting.

What is Nexcess WooCommerce Hosting?

WooCommerce is a great e-commerce plugin that comes with many great tools, but it’s not a complete solution. That’s where WooCommerce hosting comes in.

Nexcess’ managed WooCommerce hosting is a dedicated e-commerce platform that will bring out the best in your WooCommerce website. Let’s take a closer look at some of the benefits.

Superior Performance, Headache-Free

Nexcess’ managed WooCommerce hosting has been designed and optimized specifically for e-commerce. This means you’ll have the resources and performance necessary to handle any surges in traffic, which will come in handy during peak shopping seasons or when you’re running promotional campaigns.

Just managing a WordPress site can be time-consuming and difficult. With managed WooCommerce Hosting, you don’t have to worry about conducting tedious backend maintenance. The Nexcess team will take care of WordPress and plugin updates for you, while monitoring your server 24/7 to make sure your site stays online.

Lots of Freedom AND Lots of Freebies

Nexcess’ WooCommerce hosting is open. This gives you the freedom to change and add whatever you want to your website, with no limitations.

Customizing your site will be easy, as the platform includes Beaver Builder, a flexible drag-and-drop website builder designed specifically for WordPress, and Astra Pro, one of the fastest WooCommerce themes available.

Normally, you’d have to pay for Astra Pro and Beaver Builder separately, but you get both free in the Creator and higher plans. Astra Pro is even included with the cheapest Nexcess plan, though you won’t have access to Beaver Builder.

Nexcess also offers StoreBuilder, a simpler e-commerce site builder that allows you to build and develop your store without the need for any code. It isn’t as flexible as Beaver Builder, but it’s a more straightforward alternative.

Your website will be fully mobile-responsive. This means you’ll never have to worry about losing potential customers because your site won’t load properly on their mobile device.

The Creator plan and up also includes a comprehensive set of plugins from IconicWP, allowing you to make sales-increasing customizations. Want to add a wishlist feature or expanded product detail functionality? You can do all of this and more, for no additional licensing fees.

Advanced Marketing Tools to Take Your Store to the Next Level

Nexcess also offers a sales performance monitor with all plans. This offers personalized revenue projections and automatic alerts if your revenue is trending down. It identifies areas that may need work, and uses your previous revenue history to set achievable goals. You’ll have all the information you need to maintain consistent growth.

The Growth and Enterprise plans also get you access to Glew, a group of actionable reports that will help you improve sales. You can learn more about your customers through Glew, including which customers are big spenders and who pays full price as opposed to using discount coupons.

Glew also gives you a variety of reports concerning website activity, including conversion rates, refunds, number of visits, average order value, and more.

Is Nexcess WooCommerce Hosting Right for Your Store?

What type of store can you build with WooCommerce hosting? The sky’s the limit. Nexcess’ plans will allow you to build anything from a basic store with a limited number of products to a robust marketplace with thousands of products.

There are six plans available, all of which are scalable, allowing you to expand as your business grows. Plans are discounted for new customers, allowing you to save a ton of money in the first few months of hosting. You’ll also be able to take advantage of a 30-day money-back guarantee to get a full refund if you’re not satisfied.

Do you already host your e-store on a different platform? No problem, as Nexcess offers free migrations.

If you’re just starting out, you’ll be happy to know that Nexcess has your back with 24/7 customer support. The company offers live chat, phone, and email support, and quick responses are guaranteed.

Check out our in-depth review to learn more about Nexcess hosting.

Can’t I Just Use Managed WordPress Hosting for My Online Store?

Nexcess also offers regular managed WordPress hosting. On the surface, it would seem that you can use it to do all the same things as with Managed WooCommerce hosting. But once you dig beneath the surface, reality kicks in.

If you’re planning on running an e-commerce site, managed WordPress hosting comes with a couple of big caveats.

You’ll have to install WooCommerce on your own, and that can be a real pain.

You’ll also have to find and install your own tools, not to mention pay for them. Managed WordPress hosting does not come with any of the premium toolsets you’ll find with Woocommerce Hosting.

Managed WordPress hosting is not optimized to handle heavy workloads.

Managed WooCommerce hosting is designed to handle the extra workload of e-commerce websites. For instance, Nexcess has a proprietary table structure that can reduce query loads on your website by up to 95%. This results in a faster website, meaning fewer bounced customers.

However, keep in mind that with managed WooCommerce hosting, you can only host one site. If you want to host multiple online stores, you will need to either stick with WordPress Hosting or purchase multiple WooCommerce plans.

How Does Nexcess Compare to the Competition?

Nexcess is not the only host out there offering WooCommerce hosting. Several top hosting providers offer managed WooCommerce or WordPress hosting, but do they provide the same features and value as Nexcess?

I took a closer look at three top hosting providers to find answers.

SiteGround – Lower Prices, but a Lack of Premium E-Commerce Tools

SiteGround offers affordable managed WooCommerce plans – it’s generally less expensive than Nexcess. It also renews at a lower price. However, there are a few things to note about SiteGround’s plans:

• SiteGround’s resources are limited – the basic plan only offers 10GB SSD storage and support for 10,000 monthly visits. That said, the GrowBig plan and higher offer unlimited websites, while Nexcess doesn’t.
• SiteGround’s plans don’t include any premium e-commerce tools, such as abandoned cart software. This means that to get the most out of your e-commerce store, you’ll have to pay extra for premium tools.
• You’ll have to sign up for SiteGround’s top-tier plan to get all the necessary features. The StartUp plan is really no more than basic WordPress hosting, since you won’t get essential features like manual backups and a staging environment. With Nexcess, you get these features and more.

I’d only recommend SiteGround if you’re looking to host multiple websites. For instance, if you’ve got an e-store but also want to host multiple landing pages or websites on a tight budget, these plans might work for you.

To learn more about SiteGround, read our in-depth review.

WP Engine – Expensive and Very Limiting

WP Engine specializes in all things WordPress, just like Nexcess. It also offers managed WooCommerce hosting, but the first thing you’ll notice is the price – WP Engine is significantly pricier than Nexcess. There are a few other things to watch out for:

• You don’t have the freedom to install whatever plugins you want. WP Engine has a list of disallowed plugins, including caching plugins, some backup plugins, and more. If your favorite plugin is on this list, you’ll have to find a replacement.
• Despite being more expensive, WP Engine offers lower resource limits. Its cheapest plan only offers 10GB SSD storage and 50GB bandwidth, while Nexcess offers you three times the storage and sixty times the monthly bandwidth for a fraction of the cost.

WP Engine competes well with Nexcess on some of its WooCommerce management features. Like Nexcess, it uses an AI-driven plugin manager to update your plugins safely – all new plugin updates are tested for issues before being applied to your site. It also thoroughly optimizes your online store via its proprietary EverCache caching solution.

But it falls flat elsewhere. Your site isn’t monitored by WP Engine unless you pay an extra monthly fee – a feature that’s free with Nexcess and other premium managed WordPress platforms. It also lacks the sheer amount of premium plugins Nexcess offers. There are no IconicWP e-commerce design enhancements, no iThemes Security Pro security options, and so on.

I’d only recommend WP Engine to serious WordPress developers, as that’s the real advantage it has over Nexcess. It integrates with Local, a WordPress development tool that can be installed in minutes. You can design your store locally and push any changes to your live WP Engine site with a single click.

You may find this solution to be much easier to work with than MAMP or XAMPP, which is what Nexcess supports for local WordPress development. WP Engine also offers premium customizable WooCommerce themes and optimized Gutenberg blocks to help speed up your workflow.

Want to read more about WP Engine? Don’t miss our expert review.

HostGator – Only Good for Those on a Tight Budget 

HostGator’s cheap long-term pricing might be worth considering. Like Nexcess, new customers get a significant discount. And while HostGator doesn’t slash its prices quite as low as Nexcess’, you can take advantage of the discount for a maximum of three years, rather than just a couple of months. This results in significant savings if you sign up long-term.

While HostGator offers a decent set of features that are good for basic WordPress sites, it isn’t ideal for e-commerce. HostGator doesn’t offer tools specifically for WooCommerce, or any other WordPress-based e-commerce platform.

You will need to install WooCommerce and all its associated features. This also entails covering the costs of all additional premium plugins and features, such as sales performance monitoring and e-commerce design tools.

That said, HostGator offers an impressive amount of resources for the price. Storage is completely unmetered – meaning you’ll have plenty of room to grow as long as you adhere to its Acceptable Use Policy. The cheapest plan can support up to 100,000 monthly visits, and includes a year of free domain name registration.

That said, keep in mind that you’ll have to manage all the upkeep on the server, so factor the value of your time before choosing this platform.

If you’re considering HostGator, check out our in-depth review.

Supercharge Your Online Store With Nexcess WooCommerce Hosting

If you’re ready to take the next step with your e-commerce store, Nexcess’ WooCommerce hosting is a great choice. The WordPress-optimized platform offers you a treasure trove of premium plugins and features that you won’t find with comparable providers.

Even if you’re a total beginner, Nexcess’ user-friendly StoreBuilder and premium-level Beaver Builder can make it easier to design an attractive and responsive online store. And the Sales Performance Monitor, Glew actionable reports, and built-in SEO tools can help you develop and optimize your content.

While it’s true that you’ll have to pay a premium for Nexcess hosting, you’ll get exceptional value for money. The plans are also scalable – Nexcess will easily keep up with the demands of your growing store.

Budget WordPress services are good starting points for an e-commerce business, but over time, your needs evolve.

FAQ

Does Nexcess offer a free trial for its managed WooCommerce plans?

Nexcess does not offer a free trial, but all WooCommerce plans come with a 30-day money-back guarantee. This lets you try its feature-filled WooCommerce platform risk-free – if you aren’t satisfied, you can request a full refund within the guarantee period.

Is Nexcess easy to use?

Nexcess is beginner-friendly. You can use its simple but flexible StoreBuilder to design and manage your store without ever touching any code. Nexcess also takes care of tasks such as plugin and software updates, backups, and performance monitoring for you – all you need to do is focus on your business.

Can I run WooCommerce on shared hosting?

Yes – in fact, Nexcess and some other premium WordPress solutions run on some form of shared hosting, although Nexcess scales its server resources to accommodate traffic surges. As long as the servers are properly optimized, managed, and aren’t overburdened, you’ll be able to deliver a fast and responsive shopping experience to your customers while keeping costs low.

What is the best host for WooCommerce?

Nexcess is among our highest-rated hosting providers for WooCommerce. It made our list of the top ten hosting services for 2023, some others of which also offer quality WooCommerce hosting. If you’d like to explore other options, I’d recommend starting there.