There are lots of cheap hosts offered that provide a decent service. WPEngine Okta
What if you’re looking for more of a performance-oriented, concierge service? Because case, you’ll wish to take a look at our WP Engine evaluation for WordPress.
WP Engine is a WordPress-specific webhosting, offering handled plans that are completely optimized for the platform. Obviously, when compared to many other WordPress hosts, WP Engine’s strategies aren’t precisely inexpensive. Therefore, you’ll want to know whether this hosting service deserves the cost before making a purchase.
To help you out, we’re going to conduct a comprehensive WP Engine review for WordPress. We’ll discuss its key functions, assistance alternatives, efficiency capabilities, and everything else you’ll require to understand. Let’s get going!
WP Engine Video Review
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About WP Engine
Founded in 2010, WP Engine is now among the leading handled WordPress hosting companies in the market. Serial business owner Jason Cohen began WP Engine when he saw a need for specialized WordPress hosting due to the increasing popularity of WordPress.
WP Engine is Headquartered in Austin, Texas with offices in San Antonio (Texas), London (England), Limerick (Ireland), Brisbane (Australia), and Kraków (Poland).
The company has actually won numerous awards for Best Place to Work in Austin and regularly adds to the WordPress core and neighborhood.
WP Engine Features
The core factors to pick WP Engine over more affordable WordPress hosting are increased dependability, performance, assistance, and management, however these are difficult to measure. Some features stick out when you browse the user interface, however, that can give you some insight into the service offered.
WP Engine Page Performance is a cool tool created to help you speed up your WordPress website by providing meaningful metrics on efficiency.
Running a test returns you a page-performance report that details how quickly your page rendered, the length of time it required to fill in its whole, and the total size of the page. It even consists of historical data on your website’s efficiency over the past 6 months and recommendations on how you can decrease page load.
You can establish your WordPress site in a Staging or Development environment prior to making the modifications live (Image credit: WP Engine) Avoid humiliating mistakes on your site by making changes to a copy of your site prior to it goes live. This is called Staging, and it allows your designers to make comprehensive modifications to your site without impacting your consumers.
WP Engine has a detailed list of plugins that are disallowed (Image credit: WP Engine) In a relatively unusual move, WP Engine restricts the WordPress plugins you can set up. Those typically limited are plugins that have been noted to trigger efficiency issues and security holes. For essential functions such as caching, backups, and search engine optimization tools, WP Engine has actually made alternatives readily available that don’t put a high load on the server.
WP Engine Hosting Plans
WP Engine just offers handled WordPress hosting. There are 5 different strategies offered: Startup, Growth, Scale, and Custom.
All plans consist of endless data transfer. The strategies vary based on:
- number of WordPress installs
- traffic volume (# of visits per month)
- disk storage amount
- Custom-made strategy includes dedicated dev. environments, customer success, and priority support
WP Engine consists of some unique features for WordPress users that the majority of hosts do not use, or charge extra for. These unique functions include:.
- Git version control
- Staging: instantly create a copy of your site for screening
- Easy transferable installs from free to paid accounts
- Innovative innovations including most current PHP version.
In our WP Engine evaluation, we discovered that WP Engine uses the most innovative and extensive handled WordPress hosting features.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.
Interface and in use
WP Engine’s user interface is expert and well laid out, however the powerful functions may indicate a steep knowing curve for inexperienced users. If you have an understanding of terms like Git, CNAME, and redirect guidelines, you’ll be right at home here, however otherwise you’ll need to spend a long time on the support site.
In our testing, the default WordPress home page loaded in simply over two seconds. This is one of the fastest responses we’ve checked, with competitor Liquid Web just somewhat behind.
Support
A handled WordPress service should use additional value through its support, and WP Engine provides. The support website includes videos and short articles of a quality you ‘d get out of a paid training course, with assistance on much deeper WordPress functionality that numerous WordPress hosts do not enter into.
There’s 24/7 live chat support and a ticket system, too. In our screening, the action fasted and the agent well-informed. For all strategies except for single-site strategies, there’s telephone assistance, too.
Pros
Remarkable Load Speed: If site filling speed is a top concern, WP Engine succeeds in this regard. The host’s combination of custom NGINX extension, built-in Content Delivery Network (CDN), and SSD technology ensure that your websites load rapidly. NGINX extension focuses on human demands over robotic requests and uses load balancing, giving your visitors a much better experience. For its part, CDN provides website material to your visitors based upon their location to increase your website’s speed and decrease latency. You get this capability for free with all WP Engine plans.
High Performance: It’s hard to beat WP Engine’s efficiency, which is why individuals continue to pay a premium price for this service. WP Engine guarantees 99.95% server uptime, roughly four and a half hours of downtime a year. You can further increase your uptime to 99.99% with enhanced SLA, which equates to a little under an hour of downtime per year. WP Engine will compensate you with hosting credit if your uptime falls below the warranty.
Advanced Security: WP Engine keeps track of all the traffic going to your site and immediately spots and obstructs possible attacks. In addition, the hosting service automatically updates and patches the WordPress core to eliminate prospective vulnerabilities. In a worst-case scenario, WP Engine immediately backups your website every day and has a one-click repair function to get you back up and running rapidly. This hosting service secures your website against JavaScript/SQL-injection attacks, brute force efforts, and DDoS attacks.
Incredible Customer Support: The hosting service has a transparent and trackable ticketing system to contact consumer care through chat. The support team has an exceptional knowledge base and can assist you solve issues rapidly. You get 24/7 phone assistance for all strategies except the Growth Plan, in addition to 24/7 live chat assistance on all plans.
Useful Staging Environment: The staging area permits you to clone your site’s live variation and make changes or test brand-new plugins and styles. Anything you perform in the staging area does not impact your live website. This function enables designers to work on sites without interfering with the live site’s performance or user experience.
Transferable Installs: Also targeting developers, this function allows you to construct a website from your WP Engine account. You don’t have to wait for the customer to add you to their WordPress site. As soon as finished, you can transfer the website to the customer or host the site on WP Engine. This functionality saves time if you frequently develop sites for clients.
Cons
WordPress-Only Hosting: If you are utilizing any other content management system aside from WordPress, then you are out of luck. WP Engine only deals with WordPress. From an organization viewpoint, it makes sense to focus on a single market and offer remarkable services because location. Nevertheless, this design locks out many individuals who could otherwise benefit from WP Engine’s services.
No Domains or Email Hosting: If you prefer to host your email account and register your domain through your website host, you’ll require to look somewhere else. You’ll need to use third-party services for domain registration or e-mail accounts.
Inflexible Pricing: WP Engine runs a tight ship, and this is reflected in its prices structure. You will be penalized for surpassing your plan’s visitor limits. This might not be a problem if you have foreseeable traffic, and you can always update your plan as your website grows. However, substantial spikes in traffic throughout item launches or seasonal company can cost you substantial overage charges.
There is no other method to put it: WP Engine is pricey. Is it worth the cost? The response depends on determining what you are spending for.
You can get shared hosting that can manage the exact same quantity of traffic as WP Engine for a portion of the cost. You can even get committed hosting for the very same cost as WP Engine. What you are really paying for here is security, performance, speed, and, most notably, assurance. The ultimate question is just how much these things deserve to you.
Plans and Pricing
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.
With a WP Engine plan, you are typically spending for efficiency & not having to think too much about upkeep, security & speed. If you look at WP Engine’s rates based upon the features you’re getting- you really do not get a lot.
And if you are the type who will think about your site’s health anyway (ie, keeping WordPress updated and generally visiting often), you’ll likely be spending for “management” that is unneeded.
Many shared hosting servers can deal with the same traffic numbers as WP Engine- and cost a fraction of the price. My individual website a shared hosting strategy from HostGator with basic caching) handled more than 15,000+ gos to in a 24 hour duration when a post of mine And if you are running a dependable VPS, you can definitely deal with a lot more for much less. The website you are on handles more than 110,000+ check outs per month with plenty of space left to spare for side-projects, gigabytes of media, e-mail, RSS apps, etc with an InMotion VPS. I spend for the VPS plus a CDN for less than WP Engine’s starter plan.
They are relatively transparent about how they count sees, however it can still be rather a surprise for “little” website owners how quickly they can get into the $290 each month tier. I have a client who started with the Startup plan, however rapidly ended up with a customized strategy.
And as pointed out previously that does not even consist of much of the functions you do not get with WP Engine’s strategies. You can’t run any email from your servers. You have low limitations on regional media storage. Anything above the limits needs additional costs & technical application of Amazon cloud services.
And most importantly for me- you are limited on your installs. If you have a few side projects or low-traffic test sites, you need to factor those into the cost. You can’t utilize them to expand the expense of your strategy- specifically if you are hitting your visitor cap instead of your set up cap.
If you are wanting to pay for hosting- ie, a server that will hold & provide your site files- WP Engine is a pricey choice, particularly compared to other non-managed hosting choices.
Start-up
The Startup bundle is one of the most basic strategy and will set you back $25 each month. With this package, you get:.
25,000 visits each month.
50GB bandwidth each month.
10GB storage.
One site included.
WP Engine targets small websites and blogs with this strategy, however we think it might be overkill for the majority of people in this category. You can get a far better handle shared hosting at Bluehost However, if you do not want to take any possibilities with uptime or require an assurance that your website can manage 25,000 visitors per month, WP Engine is a sure thing. We ‘d advise this option to small companies, affiliate websites, and blogs making good money and desire guarantees that absolutely nothing will change.
You can conserve $60 per year or 2 months complimentary if you pay annually.
Growth
The growth plan targets growing businesses and will cost you $95 monthly. Here you get:.
100,000 visits each month.
200GB bandwidth each month.
25GB storage.
Ten sites included a while.
This plan is a great entry point for a growing organization, and it might be a while prior to you require to upgrade. With this plan, you also get 24/7 phone support in addition to round-the-clock chat support. This addition will come in convenient if you have an intricate concern that you need to solve rapidly.
You can save a cool $230 or 2 months complimentary with annual billing.
Scale
WP Engine markets its scale strategy as the best worth alternative. This one expenses $241 per month. Here you get:.
400,000 visits each month.
500GB bandwidth per month.
50GB storage.
30 websites included.
We recommend this choice for a fast-growing blog or company. You get access to 24/7 live chat and 24/7 phone support in addition to the assistance.
You can conserve $580 or more months totally free with annual pre-paid billing.
Custom
Lastly, if you have a mission-critical website or large service, the Custom plan might be appealing. With this plan, you get:.
Countless check outs per month.
400GB+ bandwidth monthly.
100GB-1TB storage.
30 sites consisted of.
You will have to talk to a sales associate to get your individualized quote depending on your requirements. This plan likewise provides exclusive assistance ought to something go wrong.
Migrate WordPress websites in just a few clicks.
Solid Uptime
WP Engine achieves over 99% uptime thanks to its world-class network facilities.
The company also has 3 information centers in London, Tokyo, and Midwest USA.
As a result, you can improve website speeds by picking to host your site on servers that are closest to your target market.
WP Engine blocks destructive attacks on your site.
Speed & Performance
There are a lot of variables that enter into website speed, however the general rule is that the more complicated your website is, the more complex the solutions to speed ended up being.
Out of the box- WordPress is relatively lean and quick. If you are running a primarily text website with a couple of standard plugins and a couple of small images, you’ll be great with an economical shared hosting strategy from someone like InMotion HostGator Bluehost But few website owners keep their WordPress set up lean. There’s normally additional plugins, customized style files, great deals of images, widgets, advertisements, forms and more.
All these functions combined with good levels of traffic can start to decrease your WordPress setup.
But a sluggish site does not imply that you need a bigger, better server. It does imply that you require to get smarter about speed. In some cases it’s as basic as getting a more powerful server, however in some cases it’s more about caching certain resources in a certain order and enhancing your files. In other words- it gets complex.
Envision you are attempting to carry a trailer with a pickup. Envision your trailer keeps getting heavier. It’s pointless to keep grumbling that your truck is not big enough when you may just need to get rid of the emergency brake, set up a turbocharger, refresh the transmission fluid and consolidate your load.
The point is that WordPress needs help to remain quick as you grow. There are lots of services … but either you or a developer need to execute them.
That’s where handled WordPress hosting can be found in. WP Engine takes care of (almost) all speed issues. They have personalized servers with exceptionally aggressive caching and even more advanced “stack” than a typical webhosting. They also have trained support who will go into your WordPress install and identify the exact chokepoint to get your website moving.
They don’t even permit caching plugins on their installs due to the fact that they have actually such a customized caching setup.
The intriguing thing is that even unoptimized WordPress installs still succeed on their platform due to the fact that their platform does the additional work.
Here’s the speed test for among my customers on WP Engine (who has a puffed up style, additional scripts, a lot of uncompressed images, to name a few things)- Note the Time To First Byte and the Start Render numbers. That measures how rapidly the server returned enough data to begin packing the page.
It’s good to have that kind of speed right out of package- and have it stay that way no matter how big or complex the site gets.
* Note that the other point here is that if you are consumed about speed, you can get back at better numbers with WP Engine than you might get with other services given that you are complimentary to focus on speed aspects that you can easily manage like image compression, usage of scripts, and so on
. The last observation on speed- WP Engine not only provides an incorporated CDN, however they also provide international information centers in case your audience is mostly in Asia and/or Europe.
If you are trying to get top speeds without messing with layered caching plugins- the WP Engine does precisely that. And given that they operate on Google Cloud, you don’t have to stress over uptime either.
CDN Included
All plans include a worldwide CDN (content delivery network).
The CDN will help your website load quickly for customers around the globe by serving it to them from the network node that’s geographically closest to them.
Security and Backups
An approximated 78% of hacked sites are WordPress websites, according to Sucuri, a web security firm. Frequently the “open doors” are plugins that weren’t upgraded.
Securing websites is among the fortes of WP Engine’s handled WordPress hosting service.
The business takes several procedures to safeguard WordPress sites:.
WP Engine runs day-to-day malware/virus scans in collaboration with Sucuri.
They keep track of an upgraded firewall program to obstruct the current dangers.
All sites are backed up daily.
You get a one-click bring back function that can assist you recuperate your site in case of an attack.
The WP Engine site provides a guide on “Tips to Protect Your WordPress Site From Being Hacked.”.
You’ll have access to 24/7/365 technical support for any questions relating to security.
They offer webinars on security.
They publish security guidelines and lists for designers and engineers.
If your website gets hacked, WPE will clean it for free.
Online Resources
WP Engine provides webinars, guides, blog posts, updates, tutorials, and a knowledgebase. With these you can find out how to:.
Launch your first website.
Troubleshoot typical issues.
Make improvements to your website.
Handle your hosting account with higher performance.
Both newbies and knowledgeable WordPress site owners will discover the assistance paperwork invaluable.
WP Engine’s 60-Day Guarantee
WP Engine’s 60-day money-back guarantee on all subscription costs is special in the hosting market.
It allows you to check out the service in a risk-free way.
Note: this option is not available on custom hosting plans.
Is WP Engine Worth It?
Like any service, it’s not about what is finest overall, however what is finest for you based on your objectives, spending plan, resources & habits.
If you are in what I consider WP Engine’s core markets- they offer a terrific service with a solid item. As a handled WordPress host, their rates is competitive. They use more functions than “WordPress hosting” plans from other hosting brand names. Their feature-set is unrivaled for savvy DIYers, WordPress website designers and/or high-traffic sites that do not want to fret about hosting problems.
If managed hosting is a suitable for you- then go check out WP Engine’s strategies here View Current Plans They do a 60-day money-back guarantee. Do a test install and see what you think of their backend. Make sure to chat w/ assistance & sales.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.