WP Alpha vs Presshost
An honest comparison for WordPress site owners weighing up Presshost. Where Presshost is the better choice, this page says so.
Side by side
| Compared | WP Alpha | Presshost |
|---|---|---|
| Server locations | Sydney, Melbourne, London, Chicago | Yes, Sydney: servers at NextDC facilities in Perth and Sydney (archived copy; live site unreachable on 10 Oct 2026). |
| Entry price | A$29, £15.95 or US$24.95 a month | From A$15/mo configurable cPanel plan (10GB SSD, 25GB traffic); billing term, renewal and GST status not stated (archived copy). |
| Free migration | Yes, done for you | Not stated. Site says account management is included and support will do tasks on request; no migration offer found. |
| Updates tested on a staging copy first | Yes | Not stated. Basic managed WordPress hosting is included but no staging or update-testing process is described. |
| Backups | Every two hours offsite, plus your own hourly backups to your own storage | Daily backups stated; retention and restore fees not stated (archived copy). |
| Malware scanning and cleanup | Daily scans, cleanup included | Not stated: no malware scanning or cleanup wording on the archived pages. |
| Firewall | Business grade WAF on every plan | Not stated: no firewall or WAF wording on the archived pages. |
| Traffic limits | None. No metering, no overage fees | Base plan 25GB monthly traffic, more bandwidth can be added to the plan; overage fees not stated. |
| Support | 24/7 live chat and tickets | Phone 1300 399 099 plus an after-hours emergency number; email form; support hours, live chat and 24/7 not stated. |
| Contract | None. 30-day money-back guarantee | Monthly or annual billing; refund within 7 days (monthly) or 14 days (annual) of a new account; no refunds on renewals. |
Presshost column read from Presshost’s own pages on 2026-10-10, prices in AUD (GST status not stated). Sources: www.presshost.com.au, web.archive.org, web.archive.org, web.archive.org, web.archive.org, web.archive.org.
Where Presshost is the better choice
- Perth businesses wanting a local Perth host with a 1300 number and an after-hours emergency line.
- Small sites on a configurable cPanel plan from A$15/mo, adding email, domains or bandwidth only as needed.
- VPS with root access from A$44/mo (Xen, SSD, dedicated IP) and cPanel reseller hosting at A$39.95/mo.
- Domain registration bundles: .com.au and .net.au at A$21, .com at A$25.
Switching from Presshost
We migrate your site for free. We move it, you approve it, then DNS changes, and 99 of 100 migrations happen with no downtime window. Your old host stays live until you say so.
Not stated in help docs. The archived pages mention cPanel with Softaculous and a Billing Portal login, but no backup, restore or EPP code articles were found. Checked: homepage, refund policy, acceptable use policy, domain registration, reseller and VPS pages via Wayback Machine snapshots dated 22 Nov to 24 Dec 2025. The live site www.presshost.com.au (103.65.233.131) refused connections on ports 80 and 443 from Thailand, Sydney (syd5) and US (us2) IPs on 10 Oct 2026, so nothing here is confirmed against a current page.
Which hosting fits your business?
The simple rule: if you pay for your traffic, in ad spend or in SEO, choose Fully Managed. If customers find you on their own, Basic is all you need.
The one to pick if customers find you on their own
Basic Managed Hosting
A reliable site with minimum hassle.
For businesses that win their work through reputation, referrals and repeat customers. Your site needs to be there, look right and load fast whenever someone looks you up. It is important, but it is not the engine of the business, its traffic needs are small, and it does not need a team working on it.
This is you if
- Your site is a brochure, a portfolio, a local service site or a small store
- Customers find you through referrals, word of mouth or your Google listing
- You are not paying for clicks or running an SEO campaign
- A few hours of downtime would be annoying, not expensive
- You want updates, backups and security handled, and never to think about hosting
On a bad day: the site is slow for an afternoon. We fix it, and nobody is out of pocket.
From A$29 a month
See Basic Managed plansThe one to pick if you advertise
Fully Managed Hosting
For businesses that market online, every day.
For businesses proactively marketing online: running Google Ads or other paid traffic, doing SEO aggressively, including for AI search, and relying on the site day by day, sometimes hour by hour, to generate leads, customers and sales. Downtime and issues have a serious impact on the bottom line.
This is you if
- You run Google Ads, Meta ads or other paid traffic to the site
- You invest in SEO, in Google and increasingly in AI answers, and being found is tied to revenue
- The site brings in enquiries, bookings, calls or orders every day
- An hour of downtime, a broken form or a slow checkout costs real money
- You chose the hosting, and you do not want to be the one who gets the 7am call
On a bad day: the site is slow for an afternoon while your ads keep running. You pay for every click and lose the enquiries. Our job is to make sure that day does not happen, and to catch it fast if it does.
You do not need this if customers find you without ads or an SEO push. Basic will serve you well, and if you ask us, we will tell you so.
From US$99 a month
See Fully Managed plansThe one to pick if you need to prove what works
Fully Managed, with the Conversion Tracking Pack
For businesses that need proof of what the site produces.
Everything in Fully Managed, plus PixelYourSite and CallRail set up and kept working, so every form, sale and phone call is credited to the ad, keyword or page that produced it. Your monthly report shows leads, sales and calls next to speed and uptime.
This is you if
- You want to know which ads and keywords bring in customers, not just clicks
- Phone calls are a large share of your enquiries
- You report marketing results to a boss, a board or a client
- Your ad platforms are bidding without seeing all your conversions
On a bad day: a plugin update quietly stops your forms reporting to Google Ads, and the bidding drifts for weeks before anyone notices. We test the tracking on a schedule, so it is days, not weeks.
Any Fully Managed plan, plus US$99 a month and a US$295 setup
See what is in the packWhat customers say
These guys always deliver. Have been using Brendan and the team for 5+ years now, from site attacks to internal web dev issues, these guys are always super quick and get it right. Thanks for saving our ass time and time again aha
6 stars! I was so excited to work with these guys as they had been recommended . Brendan always looks after everything I need
These people are amazing! Ash and Brendon have saved my site from a complete disaster. Hire them and pay attention to their suggestions. You will be rewarded far more than their fees!
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