There are lots of cheap hosts readily available that supply a good service. WPEngine Caching
Nevertheless, what if you’re searching for more of a performance-oriented, concierge service? Because case, you’ll wish to check out our WP Engine evaluation for WordPress.
WP Engine is a WordPress-specific web host, providing managed plans that are completely enhanced for the platform. Of course, when compared to many other WordPress hosts, WP Engine’s plans aren’t precisely cheap. For that reason, you’ll would like to know whether this hosting service is worth the cost before purchasing.
To help you out, we’re going to perform a thorough WP Engine evaluation for WordPress. We’ll discuss its key functions, assistance choices, performance capabilities, and everything else you’ll require to understand. Let’s get started!
WP Engine Video Review
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About WP Engine
Founded in 2010, WP Engine is now among the leading managed WordPress hosting companies in the market. Serial entrepreneur Jason Cohen started WP Engine when he saw a requirement for specialized WordPress hosting due to the increasing appeal of WordPress.
WP Engine is Headquartered in Austin, Texas with workplaces in San Antonio (Texas), London (England), Limerick (Ireland), Brisbane (Australia), and Kraków (Poland).
The company has actually won several awards for Best Place to Work in Austin and consistently contributes to the WordPress core and neighborhood.
WP Engine Features
The core factors to pick WP Engine over cheaper WordPress hosting are increased dependability, efficiency, assistance, and management, but these are hard to quantify. Some functions stand out when you browse the user interface, however, that can offer you some insight into the service provided.
WP Engine Page Performance is a neat tool developed to help you speed up your WordPress site by providing meaningful metrics on performance.
Running a test returns you a page-performance report that details how quickly your page rendered, how long it took to pack in its totality, and the overall size of the page. It even consists of historical data on your site’s performance over the past six months and suggestions on how you can minimize page load.
You can develop your WordPress site in a Staging or Development environment before making the changes live (Image credit: WP Engine) Avoid humiliating mistakes on your website by making changes to a copy of your site before it goes live. This is called Staging, and it allows your designers to make substantial changes to your site without affecting your customers.
WP Engine has an extensive list of plugins that are disallowed (Image credit: WP Engine) In a reasonably uncommon move, WP Engine limits the WordPress plugins you can install. Those usually limited are plugins that have actually been noted to trigger performance problems and security holes. For crucial functions such as caching, backups, and search engine optimization tools, WP Engine has actually made alternatives offered that do not put a high load on the server.
WP Engine Hosting Plans
WP Engine just offers handled WordPress hosting. There are 5 various strategies available: Startup, Growth, Scale, and Custom.
All plans consist of endless information transfer. The plans differ based upon:
- number of WordPress installs
- traffic volume (# of visits per month)
- disk storage amount
- Custom plan consists of dedicated dev. environments, client success, and priority support
WP Engine includes some distinct functions for WordPress users that most hosts don’t provide, or charge additional for. These unique functions include:.
- Git version control
- Staging: instantly create a copy of your website for screening
- Easy transferable installs from complimentary to paid accounts
- Innovative innovations consisting of newest PHP version.
In our WP Engine review, we discovered that WP Engine offers the most sophisticated 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 professional and well set out, but the effective features might suggest a steep learning curve for unskilled users. If you have an understanding of terms like Git, CNAME, and reroute rules, you’ll be right at home here, however otherwise you’ll need to spend a long time on the assistance website.
In our screening, the default WordPress web page filled in simply over 2 seconds. This is one of the fastest responses we’ve checked, with competitor Liquid Web just somewhat behind.
Support
A handled WordPress service ought to provide additional value through its assistance, and WP Engine delivers. The support website includes videos and short articles of a quality you ‘d get out of a paid training course, with aid on much deeper WordPress performance that lots of WordPress hosts don’t go into.
There’s 24/7 live chat assistance and a ticket system, too. In our testing, the reaction fasted and the agent well-informed. For all plans except for single-site strategies, there’s telephone support, too.
Pros
Exceptional Load Speed: If site filling speed is a leading priority, WP Engine does well in this regard. The host’s combination of custom NGINX extension, integrated Content Delivery Network (CDN), and SSD innovation guarantee that your websites load quickly. NGINX extension focuses on human demands over robotic requests and offers load balancing, giving your visitors a much better experience. For its part, CDN provides website material to your visitors based on their area to improve your site’s speed and reduce latency. You get this ability totally free with all WP Engine plans.
High Performance: It’s hard to beat WP Engine’s performance, which is why individuals continue to pay a premium rate for this service. WP Engine guarantees 99.95% server uptime, roughly 4 and a half hours of downtime a year. You can further increase your uptime to 99.99% with enhanced SLA, which translates to a little under an hour of downtime annually. WP Engine will compensate you with hosting credit if your uptime falls below the guarantee.
Advanced Security: WP Engine keeps an eye on all the traffic going to your website and automatically detects and blocks prospective attacks. Additionally, the hosting service instantly updates and spots the WordPress core to get rid of possible vulnerabilities. In a worst-case circumstance, WP Engine immediately backups your site every day and has a one-click repair function to get you support and running quickly. This hosting service safeguards your website versus JavaScript/SQL-injection attacks, brute force attempts, and DDoS attacks.
Extraordinary Customer Support: The hosting service has a transparent and trackable ticketing system to get in touch with consumer care by means of chat. The support team has an excellent knowledge base and can help you fix problems rapidly. You get 24/7 phone support for all strategies other than the Growth Plan, in addition to 24/7 live chat assistance on all plans.
Useful Staging Environment: The staging area enables you to clone your site’s live version and make changes or check new plugins and themes. Anything you perform in the staging area does not affect your live website. This feature allows developers to work on sites without disrupting the live website’s performance or user experience.
Transferable Installs: Also targeting designers, this feature enables you to build a site from your WP Engine account. You don’t have to await the customer to add you to their WordPress website. When completed, you can transfer the site to the customer or host the website on WP Engine. This performance conserves time if you frequently develop websites for clients.
Cons
WordPress-Only Hosting: If you are using any other content management system aside from WordPress, then you run out luck. WP Engine only deals with WordPress. From a company perspective, it makes good sense to focus on a single market and deal remarkable services in that area. However, this design locks out many people who might otherwise benefit from WP Engine’s services.
No Domains or Email Hosting: If you prefer to host your e-mail account and register your domain through your site host, you’ll need to look in other places. You’ll need to utilize 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 exceeding your plan’s visitor limitations. This might not be an issue if you have foreseeable traffic, and you can always update your plan as your website grows. Substantial spikes in traffic during product launches or seasonal service can cost you considerable overage charges.
There is no other way to put it: WP Engine is pricey. Is it worth the expense? The response depends on finding out what you are paying for.
You can get shared hosting that can manage the same amount of traffic as WP Engine for a portion of the rate. You can even get dedicated hosting for the very same price as WP Engine. What you are truly spending for here is security, efficiency, speed, and, most significantly, assurance. The supreme concern is just how much these things are worth to you.
Plans and Pricing
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.
With a WP Engine plan, you are usually spending for efficiency & not needing to think excessive about maintenance, security & speed. If you look at WP Engine’s pricing based on the functions you’re getting- you truly don’t get a whole lot.
And if you are the type who will think of your website’s health anyhow (ie, keeping WordPress updated and usually visiting often), you’ll likely be spending for “management” that is unnecessary.
Many shared hosting servers can handle the exact same traffic numbers as WP Engine- and cost a fraction of the price. My individual site a shared hosting plan from HostGator with fundamental caching) managed more than 15,000+ sees in a 24 hour period when a post of mine And if you are running a reliable VPS, you can definitely deal with a lot more for much less. In fact, the site you are on manages more than 110,000+ check outs per month with plenty of space delegated 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 strategy.
They are relatively transparent about how they count visits, but it can still be quite a surprise for “little” website owners how rapidly they can enter the $290 per month tier. I have a customer who began with the Startup plan, but quickly wound up with a customized strategy.
And as pointed out previously that doesn’t even include many of the functions you don’t get with WP Engine’s strategies. You can’t run any e-mail from your servers. You have low limitations on regional media storage. Anything above the limits requires extra costs & technical implementation of Amazon cloud services.
And most notably for me- you are limited on your installs. If you have a couple of side projects or low-traffic test websites, you need to factor those into the price. You can’t utilize them to spread out the cost of your strategy- particularly if you are hitting your visitor cap instead of your set up cap.
If you are looking to pay for hosting- ie, a server that will hold & serve up your website files- WP Engine is a costly option, specifically compared to other non-managed hosting choices.
Startup
The Startup bundle is one of the most basic strategy and will set you back $25 monthly. With this bundle, you get:.
25,000 visits monthly.
50GB bandwidth per month.
10GB storage.
One website included.
WP Engine targets small websites and blogs with this plan, but we think it might be overkill for many people in this category. You can get a far better handle shared hosting at Bluehost However, if you don’t want to take any opportunities with uptime or require a guarantee that your website can manage 25,000 visitors each month, WP Engine is a certainty. We ‘d recommend this option to small companies, affiliate websites, and blog sites making good money and desire guarantees that absolutely nothing will alter.
You can conserve $60 annually or two months free if you pay every year.
Growth
The growth strategy targets growing companies and will cost you $95 monthly. Here you get:.
100,000 sees per month.
200GB bandwidth each month.
25GB storage.
Ten websites included a while.
This plan is a fantastic entry point for a growing business, and it might be a while before you require to upgrade. With this strategy, you likewise get 24/7 phone support in addition to day-and-night chat support. This addition will can be found in useful if you have an intricate concern that you need to deal with rapidly.
You can conserve a cool $230 or more months complimentary with yearly billing.
Scale
WP Engine markets its scale strategy as the very best value option. This one expenses $241 each month. Here you get:.
400,000 check outs monthly.
500GB bandwidth each month.
50GB storage.
30 sites included.
We recommend this option for a fast-growing blog site or service. You get access to 24/7 live chat and 24/7 phone support in addition to the assistance.
You can save $580 or two months complimentary with annual pre-paid billing.
Customized
If you have a mission-critical website or large organization, the Custom plan may be appealing. With this strategy, you get:.
Countless gos to per month.
400GB+ bandwidth each month.
100GB-1TB storage.
30 websites included.
You will need to talk to a sales representative to get your customized quote depending upon your requirements. This strategy also offers exclusive support should something go wrong.
Migrate WordPress websites in just a few clicks.
Solid Uptime
WP Engine accomplishes over 99% uptime thanks to its first-rate network facilities.
The business likewise has 3 information centers in London, Tokyo, and Midwest USA.
As a result, you can improve website speeds by picking to host your website on servers that are closest to your target market.
WP Engine obstructs destructive attacks on your website.
Speed & Performance
There are a great deal of variables that enter into website speed, but the guideline is that the more complex your website is, the more complex the services to speed become.
Out of package- WordPress is relatively lean and fast. 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 inexpensive shared hosting strategy from somebody like InMotion HostGator Bluehost But few site owners keep their WordPress set up lean. There’s normally extra plugins, custom-made style files, lots of images, widgets, advertisements, types and more.
All these features combined with decent levels of traffic can begin to slow down your WordPress installation.
But a sluggish website doesn’t indicate that you require a larger, better server. It does mean that you need to get smarter about speed. Often it’s as basic as getting a more effective server, however sometimes it’s more about caching certain resources in a particular order and optimizing your files. Simply put- it gets complex.
Picture you are attempting to carry a trailer with a pickup. Imagine your trailer keeps getting much heavier. It’s meaningless to keep complaining that your truck is not big enough when you might simply need to get rid of the emergency brake, install a turbocharger, revitalize the transmission fluid and consolidate your load.
The point is that WordPress needs help to remain quick as you grow. There are lots of solutions … however either you or a designer must implement them.
That’s where managed WordPress hosting comes in. WP Engine looks after (almost) all speed concerns. They have tailored servers with extremely aggressive caching and even more innovative “stack” than a common webhosting. They also have trained assistance who will enter into your WordPress set up and recognize 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 tailored caching setup.
The interesting thing is that even unoptimized WordPress sets up still do well on their platform because their platform does the extra work.
Here’s the speed test for among my customers on WP Engine (who has a bloated theme, extra scripts, too many uncompressed images, among other things)- Note the Time To First Byte and the Start Render numbers. That measures how rapidly the server returned enough information to start loading the page.
It’s great to have that type of speed right out of the box- and have it remain that way no matter how huge or complicated the website gets.
* Note that the other point here is that if you are consumed about speed, you can get even much better numbers with WP Engine than you might get with other services because you are complimentary to concentrate on speed aspects that you can quickly manage like image compression, use of scripts, etc
. The last observation on speed- WP Engine not just provides an incorporated CDN, however they likewise supply worldwide data centers in case your audience is primarily in Asia and/or Europe.
If you are trying to get top speeds without tinkering layered caching plugins- the WP Engine does exactly that. And considering that they work on Google Cloud, you don’t need to fret about uptime either.
CDN Included
All plans consist of a global CDN (material delivery network).
The CDN will assist your site load quickly for customers around the world by serving it to them from the network node that’s geographically closest to them.
Security and Backups
An estimated 78% of hacked sites are WordPress websites, according to Sucuri, a web security company. Regularly the “open doors” are plugins that weren’t upgraded.
Securing sites is one of the strengths of WP Engine’s managed WordPress hosting service.
The company takes a number of steps to secure WordPress sites:.
WP Engine runs everyday malware/virus scans in collaboration with Sucuri.
They keep an eye on an upgraded firewall to block the latest risks.
All websites are backed up daily.
You get a one-click bring back function that can assist you recuperate your website in case of an attack.
The WP Engine site supplies a guide on “Tips to Protect Your WordPress Site From Being Hacked.”.
You’ll have access to 24/7/365 technical assistance for any questions relating to security.
They supply webinars on security.
They publish security standards and checklists for designers and engineers.
If your website gets hacked, WPE will clean it for free.
Online Resources
WP Engine provides webinars, guides, post, updates, tutorials, and a knowledgebase. With these you can find out how to:.
Launch your very first website.
Troubleshoot common problems.
Make improvements to your website.
Manage your hosting account with greater effectiveness.
Both novices and knowledgeable WordPress site owners will find the assistance documentation indispensable.
WP Engine’s 60-Day Guarantee
WP Engine’s 60-day money-back warranty on all membership fees is distinct in the hosting industry.
It allows you to experiment with the service in a safe method.
Note: this option is not offered on custom hosting strategies.
Is WP Engine Worth It?
Like any service, it’s not about what is finest overall, however what is finest for you based upon your goals, budget, resources & habits.
If you remain in what I consider WP Engine’s core markets- they use a great service with a strong product. As a handled WordPress host, their rates is competitive. They use more features than “WordPress hosting” strategies from other hosting brand names. Their feature-set is unmatched for savvy DIYers, WordPress website designers and/or high-traffic sites that do not want to fret about hosting concerns.
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 assurance. So do a test set up and see what you consider their backend. Be sure to talk w/ assistance & sales.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.