Xfinity vs. Cox: Which Internet Provider Is Best for You?

Compare Xfinity and Cox head to head

Xfinity provides more value, offering more speed per dollar. Xfinity also received better customer feedback in our annual customer satisfaction survey. Regardless, both of these cable internet service providers (ISPs) deliver great, high-speed internet services.

Pros and cons: Xfinity vs. Cox

Jump to: Plans and pricing | Extra fees | Customer ratings | Bundles | Internet types | Data caps | Contracts | Installation | Availability

Jump to:

• Plans and pricing
• Extra fees
• Customer ratings
• Bundles
• Internet types
• Data caps
• Contracts
• Installation
• Availability

Plans and pricing: Xfinity vs. Cox

Xfinity plans and pricing

In general, you get more with Xfinity than you do with Cox—more speed per dollar and more choices. Xfinity’s pricing and plan names vary depending on your region, but they’re cheaper across the board compared to Cox plans of similar speeds. Take Xfinity’s Fast plan, for example, which provides 500Mbps for $45—a great speed for most users. For $5 less, you only get 100Mbps at Cox. That’s a quarter of the speed for almost the same price.

Xfinity also offers you more speed tiers, making it easy to find something that fits your needs and budget. For most customers, Xfinity’s Fast plan is hard to beat. For larger households or those with heavy internet needs, the Gigabit plan doubles the speed to 1,000Mbps for just $10 more per month. These mid-speed tiers are perfect for most customers and where Xfinity really shines.

Cox plans and pricing

Cox internet plans offer straightforward pricing (regardless of region) and a month-to-month option for an extra $10 a month. Unfortunately, any way you slice it, Cox rates are more expensive than Xfinity and often for less speed in return.

Most subscribers will want the 250 Mbps speed provided by the Go Faster plan at $70.00. However, it’s hard not to notice that Xfinity’s similarly priced SuperFast plan gives over three times the speed.

If you need more bandwidth than 250 Mbps, your only mid-tier option with Cox is the Go Even Faster, which delivers a solid 500 Mbps. That’s enough speed for the vast majority of customers, it’s just a bit pricey.

Extra fees: Xfinity vs. Cox

These provider’s hefty $100 installation fee is a tough pill to swallow when just starting out a new internet plan. It’s something to consider—unless you think you can get away with a self-install (offered free from both providers). Aside from the installation, extra fees from these ISPs are comparable.

Customer ratings: Xfinity vs. Cox

Xfinity received better customer ratings than Cox in our annual customer satisfaction survey. Customers rated Xfinity particularly high for speed satisfaction, where Xfinity performed better than any other national ISP, and 93% of surveyed Xfinity customers said their internet speeds meet their needs.

Cox also received good ratings, consistently placing in the top half of every category. Cox’s customer service ratings stand out as the best received for a cable ISP. And, like Xfinity, Cox’s ratings were favorable across the board; 89% of surveyed Cox customers said their speeds meet their needs, suggesting Cox is certainly capable of getting the job done.

Best TV and internet bundles

Xfinity’s value shines here again as its bundles offer more speed and channels at lower prices. The Gigabit Extra Internet + Popular TV plan delivers a screaming internet speed of 1,200 Mbps with a terrific 185+ channel lineup (including five premium channels) for $157.65. That’s a lot of bang for your buck.

Cox bundles are significantly more expensive for the internet speed and channel count you get. On the bright side, Cox allows subscribers to choose one premium channel for the first 12 months of a Contour TV Preferred subscription.

Internet types: Xfinity vs. Cox

Both Xfinity and Cox are primarily cable ISPs, meaning they utilize coaxial cable (the same kind of cable used for cable TV) to bring internet service to your home. Cable internet is a fantastic service that can achieve some pretty incredible speeds, but it’s not perfect. The single biggest drawback of cable internet is the upload speed, which is usually only a small fraction of the download speed. This isn’t a huge concern as most customers are download heavy users and get by just fine with limited upload bandwidth.

Xfinity does offer a fiber plan in select areas; however, it’s incredibly expensive and an impractical option for most customers. Cox also offers some fiber plans, but availability is extremely limited.

Data caps: Xfinity vs. Cox

Cox gives a slightly higher data cap, and sometimes that little bit extra can make a difference. Otherwise, both providers’ data cap policies are similar, offering a one-time courtesy warning the first time you go over your data cap. After that, both Xfinity and Cox charge $10 for every 50Gb you go over, up to a max of $100.

If you think you’ll need unlimited data, Xfinity is cheaper. You can add unlimited data to Xfinity internet plans for an extra $30/ month. Cox will add 500 Gb for an additional $29.99/ month, or you can get unlimited data for an additional $49.99/ month.

For most customers, 1.2TB of data is a lot and completely sufficient. Unless you really need unlimited data, there’s not a whole lot of differences between these two providers here.

Contracts: Xfinity vs. Cox

Xfinity and Cox both offer 12-month contracts and a month-to-month option, but with Cox it will cost an additional $10 per month. Cox also has a $10 early termination fee for each remaining month on the contract. Cox usually has significant price hikes after the first 12 months. Xfinity doesn’t require a term contract for its internet plans, which is an added bonus.

Both ISP’s also feature a prepaid internet plan with no time commitment. Both the Xfinity and Cox prepaid internet plans advertise up to 50Mbps download speeds and are similarly priced at $45 per month for Xfinity and $50 per month for Cox. However, we don’t see much appeal in either of the prepaid plans. Even with the month-to-month extra fee tacked on, the traditional plans provide equal or greater value. If you’re in the market specifically for a flexible internet plan, see our article on the best no-contract internet plans.

Installation: Xfinity vs. Cox

Both providers charge $100 for a professional installation. But, if you’re just getting internet, you may be able to get away with self-installation, which is free from both Xfinity and Cox.

Availability: Xfinity vs. Cox

Xfinity and Cox have huge coverage areas. There’s a good chance you have access to at least one of them. Unfortunately, Xfinity’s fiber service is much rarer than its cable internet, and it’s so pricey in many areas that it doesn’t make sense for most customers.

Final call: Xfinity vs. Cox

Overall, the win goes to Xfinity.

Xfinity gives you more internet speed per dollar and more value in general. You get a great selection of plans and no term contracts, making it easy to find something that works for you. The bundles are better too, with more channels and faster speeds. You simply get more, usually for less, with Xfinity. On top of all that, Xfinity received better customer feedback than Cox in our annual customer satisfaction survey

That isn’t to say Cox isn’t a good ISP—it provides fast and reliable cable internet. And even though it didn’t rate as highly as Xfinity, the majority of surveyed Cox customers were either “very satisfied” or “completely satisfied” with their internet service. Additionally, Cox’s pricing is consistent nationwide, keeping things simple and straightforward.

View Xfinity Plans

View Cox Plans

Methodology

Our HighSpeedInternet.com editorial team bases our analyses on customer input from our annual customer satisfaction survey, results from our speed test tool, and proprietary internet provider data on speeds and pricing. To strengthen our research, we look closely at provider contracts to get hard-to-find information on price hikes, data caps, and extra fees, and we keep tabs on the latest news reports and online reviews. When applicable, we also rely on our personal experiences testing these services.