ScalaHosting vs Liquid Web
ScalaHosting and Liquid Web compared on measured uptime, response time, pricing and features from our own tests. ScalaHosting scores higher overall.
By Jennifer T. · Updated
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Verdict
8.1 out of 10
ScalaHostingWins overall
Dallas and Sofia host with its own SPanel, an anytime prorated refund and a credit table that reaches 100 percent
7.7 out of 10
Lansing's managed host since 1997: WordPress plans from $9 with Cloudflare edge CDN and a 100% network SLA, no refunds
ScalaHosting wins 4 of the six sub-scores and comes out ahead overall (8.1 vs 7.7).
How do the scores compare?
ScalaHosting leads on 4 sub-scores, Liquid Web on 1. Higher is better.
| ScalaHosting | Liquid Web | |
|---|---|---|
| Performance | 8.0 (better) | 7.5 |
| Uptime | 8.5 (better) | 8.0 |
| Support | 8.5 (better) | 8.0 |
| Features | 8.0 | 8.5 (better) |
| Value | 7.5 (better) | 7.0 |
| Ease of use | 7.5 | 7.5 |
Which one is faster and more reliable?
| ScalaHosting | Liquid Web | |
|---|---|---|
| Overall score | 8.1 (better) | 7.7 |
| Uptime (published)Kripesh Adwani 365 d vs HostingStep 365 d; methods differ | 99.99% | 99.99% |
| Response time (published)WPBeginner vs HostingStep; methods differ | 526 ms | 496 ms (better) |
Which one costs less?
On renewal, Liquid Web is cheaper ($9.00/mo vs $11.95/mo). Intro prices need the listed term.
| ScalaHosting | Liquid Web | |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | Mini | Essentials WordPress |
| Intro price | $2.95/mo (better) | $9.00/mo |
| Renewal price | $11.95/mo | $9.00/mo (better) |
| Required term | 36 months | 1 months (better) |
| Websites | 1 | 1 |
| Storage | 10 GB | 15 GB |
| Money back | 30 days, then prorated at any time (better) | 0 days |
What does each include?
| ScalaHosting | Liquid Web | |
|---|---|---|
| Free domain | Start, Advanced and Entry Cloud; not on Mini | No |
| Free SSL | Yes | Free SSL certificates on the WordPress plans |
| Automated backups | Daily, 7 restore points kept for the last 7 days | Not stated |
| Free migration | Website and email migration | A self-serve migration tool and migration by a person on every WordPress plan |
| Control panel | SPanel (free, with SShield security and spam protection) or cPanel | Not stated |
| CDN | CDN integration | Not stated |
| WP-CLI and SSH | Yes | Not stated |
| Malware protection | Real-time, on every plan | Not stated |
| Staging | Not listed on the plan cards | Staging sites with visual comparison on Pro and Elite; not on Essentials |
| Uptime guarantee | 99.9%; credits from 10% at 99.8% up to 100% below 99%, claimed through billing | 100% network uptime in the SLA with credits up to the monthly charge, claimed within days of an outage; the managed VPS page states 99.9% server uptime |
| Money-back guarantee | Full refund within 30 days; prorated refund of unused time at any time after that; new clients only; web, reseller and VPS hosting | Not stated |
| Choice of data center | Dallas, New York, Seattle or Sofia on ScalaHosting's own infrastructure; partner cloud and AWS regions for cloud plans | Not stated |
| Phone support | Yes | 24/7 by phone, chat and ticket |
| Windows hosting | No | On VPS and dedicated servers |
| Backups | Not stated | Daily backups kept 7, 14 or 30 days by tier; Acronis backup storage on managed VPS |
| Free CDN | Not stated | Edge CDN powered by Cloudflare on every WordPress plan; CDN overage is usage-billed |
| Caching | Not stated | Object Cache Pro on every WordPress plan |
| Security | Not stated | DDoS protection, WAF, Kadence Security Pro and daily malware scans on every plan; Patchstack virtual patching on Elite |
| Resource limits | Not stated | WordPress plans are sized by visitors (50,000 a month on the entry tiers), shared storage and bandwidth; managed VPS plans state vCPU, RAM, SSD and bandwidth |
| Data center choice | Not stated | Lansing, Phoenix, Ashburn and Amsterdam, selected on the purchase screen where a plan offers it |
| Managed VPS | Not stated | Fully managed from $72 a month for 2 vCPU, 4 GB RAM, 80 GB SSD and 3 TB; cPanel, InterWorx or Plesk; Windows available |
Company facts
| ScalaHosting | Liquid Web | |
|---|---|---|
| Control panel | SPanel (ScalaHosting's own) or cPanel | Liquid Web's own platform for WordPress plans; cPanel, InterWorx or Plesk on VPS |
| Data centers | 5 (better) | 4 |
| Support channels | chat, ticket, phone, knowledge-base | chat, phone, ticket, knowledge-base |
| Founded | 2007 | 1997 |