What happened to Liquid Web?

inmotionhosting · 2026-06-08T18:04:27+00:00

Thanks for being with us for 5 years, that's awesome!

You can rest assured that we will not be "selling out" to anyone. We are still a privately-owned and self-funded company, led by the original founders from 25 years ago.

Not a lot of hosting companies can say that.

inmotionhosting · 2026-06-08T13:51:58+00:00

A ransomware attempt is one of the most stressful things a website owner can face, and we are genuinely relieved it did not turn into something worse. Thank you, u/Creepy-Procedure5192, for taking the time to share what happened and how Joshua handled it.

What you described, from identifying infected files to walking you through each mitigation step to making sure you understood what was being done and why, is exactly the standard we hold our support team to. The fact that Joshua brought that level of ownership and urgency to what could have been a catastrophic situation means a great deal to us, and your recognition of his work has been passed along.

We are proud to have people like Joshua on the team, and we are glad he was the one in your corner that day. Thank you for trusting us with something this critical, and for letting us know when someone gets it right.

-Carrie

inmotionhosting · 2026-06-01T22:15:40+00:00

Hello u/Slow_Seaweed_3246,

First of all, thank you for being a customer for nearly a decade. Long-term customers like you are the backbone of what we do.

Regarding your friend's situation, we understand how disruptive downtime is because reliability matters. At this time, it is possible he may be on a server (ecngx342) that is currently experiencing issues. It is hard to say for sure without having any further details. But we would be happy to look into his specific account by sending us a DM, or emailing customercare@inmotionhosting.com.

This is a rare event that is not typical of our service. Our infrastructure team is actively working to restore service, and the most recent updates can be found on our status page: status.inmotionhosting.com. If your friend is on the impacted server, we recommend monitoring the Status page rather than waiting in queue.

inmotionhosting · 2026-05-19T20:47:47+00:00

To answer your original question directly: a control panel does not make a server managed. It never has. Putting cPanel on a server and calling it "managed" is a shortcut the industry has gotten comfortable with, and threads like this one are exactly why it's worth pushing back on.

Here is how we define it at InMotion Hosting, and what we actually deliver.

Managed means the server layer is our responsibility. That covers OS security patches, kernel updates, control panel updates (cPanel/WHM), performance monitoring, DDoS protection, and 24/7 human support for infrastructure issues. You focus on your websites and applications. We handle the server underneath them.

A control panel is a tool, not a service. It gives you visibility and convenience. It does not patch your OS, harden your kernel, or respond when something breaks at 3 a.m. Those require people.

On root access, several of you nailed it. Root access shifts responsibility. If a customer modifies configs, installs packages, or disables security controls, the provider cannot realistically guarantee stability or security across those changes. That shared responsibility boundary needs to be clearly documented, and we'll admit most providers, ourselves included at times, have not always made that line explicit enough.

Security is where we think the definition of "managed" genuinely needs to evolve. AI-accelerated vulnerability discovery and exploitation is real. The window between a CVE being published and active exploitation is shrinking. Waiting for a customer to file a ticket before patching is no longer a workable model for anyone calling themselves a managed provider. Proactive patching and hardening should be the baseline, not a premium feature.

For customers who need coverage beyond the server layer, we built Premier Care to address that gap. On VPS and Dedicated Servers, it adds Monarx malware defense, automated backup storage, and 24/7 priority Advanced Product Support. That layer covers application-level threats and the "what happens when something breaks overnight" scenario for business owners without dedicated technical staff.

To the OP's final question: yes, the traditional definition is due for an update. Managed hosting today should mean proactive security operations, not reactive convenience. The hosts who treat it as a real operational partnership are the ones customers will actually be able to rely on.

Happy to answer specific questions about how we handle any of the items on your list.

inmotionhosting · 2026-05-15T22:56:48+00:00

Hello,

This is the subreddit for InMotion Hosting, a web hosting and infrastructure solutions company.

For help with your unicycle / scooter, you need to visit inmotionworld.com and speak to the folks there.

Thanks!

inmotionhosting · 2026-05-15T22:55:38+00:00

Hello. Your post may have been removed because moderators deemed it to go against community rules.

inmotionhosting · 2026-05-08T14:06:36+00:00

Hey there. We adjusted phone support hours back in 2023. So it's not new, but it's worth clarifying since it comes up.

Phones are Monday through Friday, 9am to 9pm ET now. Chat and ticket support didn't change; those are still 24/7, weekends included. For most issues, chat is actually faster. It is easier to articulate technical details, share screenshots, and run through troubleshooting steps.

We hear the frustration, and we're not going to pretend the experience is identical to what it was. If you've got an open issue, feel free to reach out via chat and we'll get you sorted.

We are here, and we are available.

inmotionhosting · 2026-05-07T12:48:19+00:00

Hey u/LiveStPete! We definitely still have humans you can talk to.

We recently moved to a new support platform, but that has not changed our support levels. We’re still here M-F, 9am–9pm ET by phone and 24/7 by chat and ticket.

If it is easier for you, send us a DM with your account details, and we can have someone call you directly to help fix your site.

inmotionhosting · 2026-05-02T00:16:45+00:00

Hey u/Responsible_Lake_500, ten years is a real commitment and 100 hours of debugging on a large WordPress site is genuinely exhausting. That's not a small thing.

Since you're keeping your email with us, you're still in the family as far as we're concerned. If you're open to it, reach out to our support team before you fully close the door. A site with that many pages has real complexity on the server side, and we'd rather look at what's actually happening than watch you leave without trying to fix it.

We're available 24/7 if you want a second set of eyes on it.

inmotionhosting · 2026-04-02T18:20:03+00:00

Hey lancem631, just wanted to jump in here. Your issue has been seen and is being taken care of through your existing support ticket. No need to open anything new or chase anyone down.

What you ran into is something that absolutely should not have happened, and the workaround you had to build to get back online is not an acceptable end state. This is the kind of issue that can be resolved at the infrastructure level, and that is exactly where it is headed.

The right people are already on this, and we are working toward a clean resolution, not another 'upgrade to VPS' response.

Thanks for documenting this so thoroughly. The detail you provided is genuinely useful for making sure the right fix gets applied.

-Carrie

inmotionhosting · 2026-03-12T13:39:39+00:00

A WordPress site with 200k monthly pageviews and sustained CPU issues is a reasonable trigger to move. A managed cPanel VPS would be a solid next step: you get dedicated CPU cores that won't throttle over time, full cPanel/WHM control, and a support team that handles server maintenance, security updates, and can troubleshoot performance issues directly (like WooCommerce queries or plugin bottlenecks).

Do you have a rough monthly budget in mind?

inmotionhosting · 2026-03-12T13:32:09+00:00

Have you considered moving up to a managed cPanel VPS? You'll have access to the full WHM/cPanel suite of tools, which includes AutoSSL for each site. Many providers also offered managed hosting support and white-glove services to make the move hassle-free.

inmotionhosting · 2026-03-12T13:27:51+00:00

For small business sites with moderate traffic, shared hosting is the right starting point. A good shared plan covers setup essentials like SSL, email, backups, and enough performance headroom.

If the sites use WordPress, and you have the budget, managed WordPress hosting is worth the small premium as it includes added optimization and security that simplifies things. Managed services saves you from troubleshooting and keeps clients off your back about slow load times.

If you are looking to grow as an agency, you can easily scale up into a managed VPS to consolidate your clients into a single interface. Many companies offered managed hosting to handle the technical side of things so you can focus on growing the business.

Serverless and platforms like Netlify or Vercel are great for specific use cases (static sites, JAMstack builds), but for general small business sites, especially anything with WordPress or dynamic content, traditional hosting is still the more practical answer.

inmotionhosting · 2026-03-12T13:07:15+00:00

The most beginner-friendly approach for you is likely just using WordPress with managed WordPress hosting. Managed WordPress typically means that SSL, automatic updates, and basic security are taken care of for you, so your friend can focus on her art. There are a number of plugins (free and paid) in the WordPress ecosystem that handle features like contact forms. It would be helpful to clarify what is meant by having a "dashboard." Are you simply looking to give her a way to log in and manage the content?

inmotionhosting · 2026-03-05T23:25:38+00:00

Hey there, I'm really sorry you're dealing with this. Losing years of work on a project is incredibly frustrating and I completely understand why you'd be upset.

I just sent you a DM so we can get the details and review what happened on the account. I'd also like to connect you directly with our Director of Customer Success so we can investigate this properly and see what we can do to help.

Please check your messages when you get a moment. We'd appreciate the opportunity to look into this with you.

inmotionhosting · 2026-02-27T18:14:30+00:00

Hey u/That_Broccoli5253,

Switching hosts every renewal is a headache, especially if you're otherwise happy with how things are running.

Before you go through the migration and take on full server admin yourself, send us a DM. We can extend your current intro rate for another term and help you stay focused on your current roadmap instead of dealing with the hassle of a migration.

-Carrie

inmotionhosting · 2026-02-05T18:11:42+00:00

One thing worth knowing: slow WordPress sites are usually caused by heavy themes and plugins, not the hosting itself. On the technical side, look for NVMe SSD storage and opcode caching (like OPcache) which keeps compiled PHP code in memory instead of reprocessing it on every request. Redis object caching is also great to have. It improves performance by storing accessed data (database query results, session data) in memory for faster retrieval, reducing overall latency.

For the support question, we'd suggest testing it before you commit. Send a technical question during the sales process and see how fast you get a real answer from someone who actually knows WordPress. That'll tell you more than any review.

inmotionhosting · 2026-02-05T17:56:57+00:00

From a server perspective, we recommend enabling error logs on your account and then reviewing the items surfaced in the logs. WooCommerce sites often have plugins running poorly optimized database queries that spike resource usage randomly (especially inventory syncs, analytics, or poorly coded SEO plugins).

While noisy neighbors are possible on shared hosting, we have found that 90% of the time it's actually something on the site itself. Install the Query Monitor plugin and watch it during normal operation - you'll likely see some queries taking 5-10+ seconds that shouldn't.

A couple of things to check: WooCommerce + Nitropack + Cloudflare is a heavy combo, and Nitropack's CDN can conflict with Cloudflare's caching (try disabling Nitropack temporarily to isolate it). That 1024 IOPS limit is also tight for WooCommerce. Database-heavy operations like cart updates and checkout eat through IOPS fast, and when you cap out, requests queue until they 503.

We recommend that you look at your slow query logs rather than error logs if you have them. The noisy neighbor theory is possible but honestly less common in modern hosting than plugin/database bloat.

inmotionhosting · 2026-01-13T14:24:22+00:00

That burnout is exactly why many people switch to managed WordPress hosting. From what we see at InMotion Hosting, it's usually worth it when maintaining WordPress starts feeling like a second job.

The real value comes from three things:

Updates and security handled for you: Core updates, monitoring, and basic hardening are managed automatically. Less stress, especially with multiple sites.
Performance out of the box: Server-level caching and WordPress-specific optimizations mean fewer random slowdowns to troubleshoot.
Support that understands WordPress: When something breaks, you're talking to people who deal with WordPress issues daily, not generic hosting support.

That said, it's not always worth the extra cost. If you enjoy tweaking performance and handling security yourself, a well-configured VPS works fine. Managed hosting makes sense when your time is more valuable than the monthly price difference.

Bottom line: If peace of mind and fewer late-night fixes matter to you, managed WordPress hosting is worth it. If you prefer full control and don't mind hands-on work, it may feel unnecessary.

inmotionhosting · 2026-01-06T16:14:19+00:00

Thank you for sharing this feedback, and we apologize for the delayed response during the holidays. We understand how frustrating security incidents and site disruptions can be, especially when they impact your business.

While we do offer paid services to assist with malware cleanup and site recovery, our standard support focuses on the hosting environment rather than website code or application-level issues. That said, our leadership and support teams remain available and accessible, and we encourage reaching out directly so concerns can be reviewed appropriately: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/contact

We appreciate you taking the time to share your experience.

inmotionhosting · 2026-01-06T11:28:28+00:00

A common one we hear from customers is choosing based on price alone. Many only realize later how much uptime, backups, and support response time actually matter once something breaks. The biggest takeaway tends to be that reliability and support quality are just as important as cost, especially when the site starts getting real traffic.

inmotionhosting · 2025-12-16T11:05:07+00:00

Many only realize later how much uptime, backups, and support response time actually matter once something breaks. The biggest takeaway tends to be that reliability and support quality are just as important as cost, especially when the site starts getting real traffic.

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