Hostwinds vs Liquid Web (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, Liquid Web grades higher than Hostwinds: 2.0 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 12, 2026 · graded Oct 17, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
Liquid Web grades higher on platforms. They get the same grade on value for money, the free plan, features and ease of use.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Hostwinds
Shared, business, VPS and cloud hosting with managed support
Liquid Web
Managed WordPress, VPS and dedicated server hosting for businesses
Which one is for you
Pick Hostwinds if
- Fits if you want shared hosting now and room to move to a VPS later
- Makes sense if you want cPanel and a dedicated IP
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you want a trial, as none is listed
- Tight if you have several sites, since Basic is 1 domain and Advanced is 4
- Pricey if you want monthly billing, because shared plans are shown only annually
- Watch out: the page meta says from $3.29 a month, which the page itself does not show
Pick Liquid Web if
- Fits if you expect to move from WordPress hosting to your own server
- Works for a fully managed VPS with cPanel or Plesk, at $72 a month for 4 GB
Look elsewhere if
- Pricey if your site gets busy, as one Pro site at 400,000 visits is $71.10 a month
- Skip it if you want the $17 VPS looked after, as fully managed is $72 a month
- Tight if you dislike surprise bills, since autoscaling and CDN overage are billed by use
- Watch out: Performance Shield, dedicated servers, Magento and agency plans are priced apart from these plans
- Not for you if you want to try first, as there's no free plan or trial on record
How we grade them
| 1.8GPAHostwindsWeak | 2.0GPALiquid WebFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CShared Basic is $6.99 a month billed yearly, above the $5.28 cheaper-quarter line for web hosts. | CPro WordPress is $17.10 a month billed yearly for one site, with no intro price to expire, so two years cost $410.40. That sits between the cheaper and dearer quarters of hosts. More traffic costs more: 400,000 visits is $71.10 a month. |
| Free plan and trial | FNo free plan or trial is listed on the pages read. | FNothing free: no free plan and no trial on record, so you pay from the start. |
| Features | BShared, business, VPS, cloud servers and dedicated, with free migration, nightly backups, monitoring and a cloud API. | BManaged WordPress with Object Cache Pro, a Cloudflare-powered CDN, a firewall, daily malware scans, Patchstack and staging with visual comparison, plus VPS plans with root access. Nothing in the core hosting job is missing. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. cPanel and server setup are yours, and VPS plans are unmanaged at the entry level. | CNo app store rating to go on. Managed WordPress is looked after for you, but the cheapest VPS is self-managed, so there you'd run the server yourself. |
| Platforms and integrations | CWeb only, with cPanel, Softaculous and WordPress installs. | BA web dashboard with no app on record. VPS plans come with an API and cPanel, Plesk or InterWorx, and Cloudflare and Kadence are named too. |
| Best for | cPanel shared hosting with VPS and cloud next to it | WordPress sites that may grow into a server |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: Hostwinds and Liquid Web. How we grade
Price against what you get
Hostwinds starts at $4.99 a month and scores 2.3 out of 4 on features, ease of use and platforms. Liquid Web starts at $17 a month and scores 2.7.
Liquid Web scores higher, and starts $12.01 a month higher: the question is whether the extra is worth that to you. Of the other web hosts on the chart, 1 scores higher than Hostwinds for less, and none scores higher than Liquid Web for less.
Features, ease of use and platforms, averaged
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
- The best score at each price
- Has a free plan
- No free plan
Where they differ
- Hostwinds also covers no-code.
- Liquid Web also covers malware protection and managed WordPress.
At a glance
| Hostwinds | Liquid Web | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| Starts at | $4.99 per month (unmanaged Linux VPS); shared from $6.99 per month, annual | $17 per month (self-managed VPS); managed WordPress $17.10 a month, billed annually |
| Free plan | None | None |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Hostwinds | Liquid Web, LLC |
| Price read from | hostwinds.com | liquidweb.com |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Oct 17, 2026 |
Worth knowing
Hostwinds
- The shared-hosting page shows the annual plan price; the page's own meta description still says plans start from $3.29 a month, which is not shown on the page.
- Shared and business plans are listed only with annual billing on the pages read.
- Shared plans are capped by number of domains: 1 on Basic, 4 on Advanced.
- Cloud servers are billed per hour, starting at $0.006931 an hour for 1 CPU and 1 GB RAM.
Liquid Web
- Dedicated servers, Magento hosting and white-label plans for agencies are sold separately from the plans listed here.
- WordPress prices rise with traffic: one Pro site with up to 400,000 visits is $71.10 a month, billed annually.
- The $17 VPS is self-managed; the same server fully managed costs $72 a month.
- Autoscaling and CDN overage are billed by use, and Performance Shield is an optional add-on; the plan page does not give their prices.
Key features
Hostwinds
- Shared and business hosting on cPanel
- Plans come with cPanel, the Softaculous app installer, unlimited subdomains, FTP accounts, databases and email accounts, and free SSL certificates.
- Free migration
- The support team moves an existing site to Hostwinds and sends a preview link so it can be checked before the switch.
- Weebly site builder
- Shared plans include Weebly's drag-and-drop builder for people who do not want to install WordPress or code a site.
- VPS and cloud servers
- Linux and Windows VPS come managed or unmanaged. Cloud servers are billed by the hour and can be paired with load balancers, block storage and object storage.
- Cloud portal and API
- The cloud portal manages IP addresses, load balancers and object storage containers, and Hostwinds describes an API for cloud servers.
- Nightly backups and monitoring
- Shared hosting pages describe nightly backups and 24/7 website monitoring that opens a support ticket if the site has a problem.
Liquid Web
- Managed WordPress platform
- WordPress core and plugin updates are handled for you, with Object Cache Pro, a Cloudflare-powered edge CDN, a web application firewall and DDoS protection.
- Staging with visual comparison
- Pro and Elite WordPress plans include staging sites and visual comparison, which previews how plugin updates change pages before they go live.
- Security layers
- WordPress plans include daily malware scans, Kadence Security Pro and Patchstack virtual patching for known plugin flaws.
- VPS with root access
- VPS plans give root access on a 10 Gbps network, with cPanel, Plesk or InterWorx control panels, Windows servers and an API.
- Self or fully managed
- The same VPS can be self-managed or fully managed, where Liquid Web also handles system updates, firewall setup, PHP support and restores.
- Migrations
- A self-serve tool moves WordPress sites over, and Elite plans add migration by a specialist. Managed VPS moves include email and control panel accounts.
Plans
Hostwinds
Unmanaged Linux VPS (entry)$4.99
per month for 1 CPU, 1 GB RAM, billed monthly
30 GB storage and 1 TB bandwidth; you run the server yourself. Larger sizes go up to $38.99 a month for 4 CPUs, 8 GB RAM and 150 GB storage, and beyond.
Shared Basic$6.99
per month for 1 domain, billed annually ($83.88 a year)
Unlimited bandwidth and disk space, free SSL, cPanel, Softaculous installer, a dedicated IP and the Weebly site builder.
Shared Advanced$8.99
per month for 4 domains, billed annually ($107.88 a year)
The Basic features with room for 4 domains.
Shared Ultimate$10.99
per month for unlimited domains, billed annually
The Basic features with no limit on the number of domains.
Business Basic$11.99
per month for 1 domain, billed annually ($143.88 a year)
Hosted on servers with fewer sites per server than shared hosting. Advanced is $13.99 for 4 domains and Ultimate is $16.99 for unlimited domains.
Managed Linux VPS (entry)$10.99
per month for 1 CPU
The page shows $7.14 a month beside it as the current price; Hostwinds staff manage the server. Larger sizes run to $79.99 a month and beyond.
Liquid Web
Self-Managed VPS, 4 GB$17
per month for 2 vCPU and 4 GB RAM, billed monthly
80 GB SSD, 3 TB bandwidth, root access and a dedicated IP. You look after the operating system, security and software yourself.
Pro WordPress$17.10
per month for 1 site, billed annually ($19 billed monthly)
Up to 50,000 visits, 15 GB storage, 14 days of daily backups, staging and visual comparison. $35.10 at 150,000 visits.
Elite WordPress$26.10
per month for 1 site, billed annually ($29 billed monthly)
Up to 50,000 visits and 15 GB, with 30 days of backups and migration done by a person. $53.10 at 150,000 visits.
Managed VPS, 4 GB$72
per month for 2 vCPU and 4 GB RAM, billed monthly
The same server fully managed: 24/7 support, updates, firewall setup and Acronis backups, with cPanel, Plesk or InterWorx and Windows available.
Pro WordPress, 10 sites$89.10
per month for 10 sites, billed annually ($99 billed monthly)
Ten sites with up to 50,000 visits each. Plans for 25 sites start at $179.10 a month, billed annually.
Ways to pay less
Hostwinds
No public discounts listed.
Liquid Web
- Annual discount
10% off WordPress plans billed yearly
Annual billing saves 10% on managed WordPress plans: Pro for one site is $17.10 a month instead of $19 billed monthly.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, Hostwinds or Liquid Web?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Hostwinds is cheaper to start with: $4.99 a month, against $17 a month for Liquid Web. Hostwinds starts at $4.99 per month (unmanaged Linux VPS); shared from $6.99 per month, annual, and Liquid Web starts at $17 per month (self-managed VPS); managed WordPress $17.10 a month, billed annually.
Which has a free plan, Hostwinds or Liquid Web?
As of Nov 12, 2026, neither Hostwinds nor Liquid Web has a free plan.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.