Liquid Web is a managed VPS, dedicated, and cloud hosting provider now operating under CloudOne Digital (One Equity Partners), founded by Matt Hill in Lansing, Michigan. The company runs two distinct product lines with meaningfully different email behavior: VPS and dedicated plans with cPanel, and Managed WordPress (the former Nexcess product line, now sold as Pro WordPress and Elite WordPress).
On VPS and dedicated plans with cPanel, email hosting is bundled without restriction: unlimited mailboxes, open SMTP ports (25, 465, and 587), no published per-hour sending cap. Managed WordPress includes no mailboxes. The platform’s documentation, still published under the Nexcess name, says email hosting is not included by default and that wp_mail() should go through an external SMTP service rather than the server’s default mail function. Premium Business Email is the add-on for hosted mailboxes.
Managed WordPress starts with Pro WordPress at $19/month billed monthly, or $17.10/month billed annually, for one site and 50,000 monthly visitors. Managed VPS is listed from $72/month for 4 GB of RAM.
Email on Liquid Web
How wp_mail works by default
Liquid Web’s two product lines behave differently, and the right answer depends on which one is in use.
On VPS and dedicated plans with cPanel: WordPress sends wp_mail() through PHP’s mail() function, which goes through the server’s local MTA (Exim or Postfix, depending on configuration). Port 25 is open. With correct DNS in place (an SPF record listing authorised sending servers, a DKIM key, and proper PTR/reverse-DNS configuration), this setup delivers reliably. The key difference from shared hosting: a VPS or dedicated server has its own IP address, so reputation is not shared with thousands of other sites. Operators who configure DNS correctly from day one typically see password resets and A transactional email is the automated message a WordPress site sends in response to a single user action – a password reset, an order confirmation, a form receipt – addressed to the user who triggered it. Read full reference → deliver without a plugin.
On Managed WordPress (formerly Nexcess): Out of the box, WordPress hands its mail to PHP’s mail function on the platform’s servers. Liquid Web publishes no relay specification, sending limit, or DKIM behaviour for that path, and the 
Nexcess Managed WordPress email documentation tells operators to send password resets, new-user notices, and form submissions through an external SMTP service instead. Treat an SMTP plugin pointed at a third-party relay as part of the setup, not an upgrade.
Outbound SMTP port status
On VPS/dedicated: Ports 25, 465, and 587 are all open. No external-SMTP restriction applies. Operators can connect any SMTP plugin to any relay provider using any standard port.
On Managed WordPress: External SMTP plugins are supported. Ports 587 and 465 are available for relay connections. Liquid Web does not document outbound port 25 for Managed WordPress; use 587 or 465 for the relay.
| Port | VPS/Dedicated | Managed WordPress |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | Open | Not documented |
| 465 | Open | Open for SMTP plugin |
| 587 | Open | Open for SMTP plugin |
Sending limits
On VPS/dedicated: No strict hourly or daily sending limit is documented. Sending is abuse-monitored: the platform will intervene if a server is used as a spam source, but there is no published per-hour cap of the kind applied to shared hosting accounts (100/hour, 300/hour, etc.). Operators running high-volume transactional email from a VPS manage their own throughput.
On Managed WordPress: No sending limit is documented for the default PHP mail() path. With an SMTP plugin and a third-party relay in place, the relay’s own limits apply.
Mailboxes, forwarding, DNS
On VPS/dedicated with cPanel: Full cPanel email hosting: unlimited mailboxes, IMAP, POP3, SMTP access, webmail (Roundcube or Horde), email forwarders, catch-all addresses, mailing lists. Liquid Web’s managed VPS plans include cPanel license as part of the managed service. DNS is fully managed through the Liquid Web DNS panel; SPF, DKIM, and DMARC records are all configurable.
On Managed WordPress: No mailboxes are included. Nexcess’s documentation says the platform “does not include email hosting by default” and that addresses like [email protected] need a separate email hosting service, bought as an add-on or from a third party. Premium Business Email is Liquid Web’s add-on; Google Workspace and Microsoft 365 are the usual outside choices. DNS for the domain is edited in the Client Portal.
Premium Business Email is an add-on available across both product lines. It provides dedicated hosted mailboxes with spam filtering, webmail, and mobile sync via ActiveSync, managed separately from the hosting plan.
Authentication (SPF, DKIM, DMARC)
On VPS/dedicated: cPanel’s Email Deliverability tool generates and installs SPF and DKIM records. DMARC is added manually via the DNS zone editor. The full authentication suite (SPF, DKIM signing, DMARC reporting) is available without a third-party service. VPS operators who configure DNS correctly from day one avoid the deliverability issues that affect shared hosting with pooled IP addresses.
On Managed WordPress: Authentication follows whichever relay the SMTP plugin points at. Add that provider’s SPF include and DKIM records in the Client Portal’s DNS editor. DMARC is configured via the DNS panel; a monitoring policy (v=DMARC1; p=none; rua=mailto:reports@<domain>) is the standard starting point.
The Premium Business Email add-on has its own SPF and DKIM configuration; Liquid Web’s documentation covers this at the DNS setup reference above.
When the SPF record has to combine the Premium Business Email include with a third-party relay’s include, the SPF merger folds the two together and counts the DNS lookups against RFC 7208’s ten-lookup ceiling. Once SPF, DKIM, and DMARC are published, the DNS auth checker reads how each record resolves from the receiver’s perspective, so a stale nameserver or a missed include shows up before real traffic does.
What Liquid Web does not provide
A uniform email experience across product lines. VPS/dedicated and Managed WordPress have different email capabilities. An operator comparing the two primarily on email will find material differences in mailbox control, MTA access, and sending architecture. The plan name alone does not determine the email feature set.
Bundled transactional email analytics. Neither the VPS/dedicated local MTA nor the Managed WordPress default mail path provides per-message delivery events, bounce dashboards, or engagement tracking. Delivery visibility requires either a third-party relay with an API plugin or the Premium Business Email add-on (which handles hosted mailboxes, not necessarily transactional WordPress email).
Uniform DMARC enforcement support. Full DMARC enforcement (p=quarantine or p=reject) requires both the outbound relay and any hosted email to align on SPF and DKIM. The VPS/dedicated path supports this natively; on Managed WordPress, alignment depends on the third-party relay the SMTP plugin uses.
When a third-party relay is needed
VPS/dedicated operators with correctly configured DNS, a clean IP, and low to moderate volume typically do not need a third-party relay. The local MTA on Liquid Web’s managed VPS performs well for the typical WordPress transactional email load. Add Postmark, SMTP2GO, or Mailgun when delivery analytics, bounce handling, or dedicated IP reputation management become requirements: generally at higher volume or for WooCommerce stores where missed order emails have revenue impact.
Managed WordPress operators need a relay from day one. The platform’s own documentation recommends an external SMTP service, so install WP Mail SMTP or FluentSMTP and point it at a transactional provider before the site goes live.
Going the other way, sites following the WordPress without the plugin minimum-stack pattern can run on the VPS local MTA without an SMTP plugin, provided SPF, DKIM, and reverse DNS are set up. Managed WordPress is not a fit for that pattern.
Verdict
Liquid Web is the managed hosting option where the email story splits depending on which product line is in use. VPS and dedicated operators get the most complete self-managed email capability available in managed hosting: open SMTP ports, no sending caps, full cPanel tools, and DNS-level control. Managed WordPress operators get neither mailboxes nor a documented relay: budget for an SMTP plugin, a transactional provider, and a mailbox service from the start.
For the WordPress email setup that supplements Liquid Web’s default path, see how to configure WordPress email.
Corrections
- 2026-10-21: an earlier version said Managed WordPress (formerly Nexcess) bundles “basic email” accounts and routes
wp_mail()through a platform relay, citing a “2025 plan revamp”. The “basic email” claim came from a 2020 Liquid Web announcement, and no vendor source described a platform relay. The platform’s current documentation says mailboxes are not included and recommends an external SMTP service for transactional mail.