There are a lot of inexpensive hosts available that provide a decent service. WPEngine Cname
Nevertheless, what if you’re trying to find more of a performance-oriented, concierge service? In that case, you’ll want to have a look at our WP Engine evaluation for WordPress.
WP Engine is a WordPress-specific web host, using handled plans that are fully optimized for the platform. Of course, when compared to numerous other WordPress hosts, WP Engine’s strategies aren’t precisely inexpensive. For that reason, you’ll want to know whether this hosting service deserves the expense prior to buying.
To help you out, we’re going to perform an extensive WP Engine review for WordPress. We’ll discuss its essential features, support choices, performance capabilities, and whatever else you’ll require to know. Let’s begin!
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 began WP Engine when he saw a need for specialized WordPress hosting due to the rising popularity 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 business has won multiple awards for Best Place to Work in Austin and regularly contributes to the WordPress core and community.
WP Engine Features
The core reasons to select WP Engine over less expensive WordPress hosting are increased reliability, efficiency, assistance, and management, however these are hard to measure. Some functions stand out when you browse the interface, however, that can give you some insight into the service used.
WP Engine Page Performance is a cool tool developed to assist you accelerate your WordPress site by using meaningful metrics on efficiency.
Running a test returns you a page-performance report that information how rapidly your page rendered, how long it required to pack in its entirety, and the total size of the page. It even consists of historical data on your site’s efficiency over the past six months and recommendations on how you can lower page load.
You can establish your WordPress site in a Staging or Development environment prior to making the changes live (Image credit: WP Engine) Avoid awkward mistakes on your site by making changes to a copy of your website prior to it goes live. This is called Staging, and it allows your developers to make substantial modifications to your site without impacting your consumers.
WP Engine has a comprehensive list of plugins that are disallowed (Image credit: WP Engine) In a fairly unusual relocation, WP Engine limits the WordPress plugins you can install. Those usually limited are plugins that have been noted to cause efficiency problems and security holes. For essential features such as caching, backups, and search engine optimization tools, WP Engine has made alternatives readily available that do not put a high load on the server.
WP Engine Hosting Plans
WP Engine only uses handled WordPress hosting. There are five different strategies readily available: Startup, Growth, Scale, and Custom.
All strategies consist of endless data transfer. The plans differ based upon:
- number of WordPress installs
- traffic volume (# of visits per month)
- disk storage amount
- Custom-made plan includes dedicated dev. environments, client success, and priority support
WP Engine includes some unique features for WordPress users that a lot of hosts do not provide, or charge additional for. These unique functions include:.
- Git version control
- Staging: quickly develop a copy of your website for screening
- Easy transferable installs from free to paid accounts
- Innovative technologies consisting of newest PHP variation.
In our WP Engine evaluation, we discovered that WP Engine uses the most advanced and extensive managed 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 features may suggest a high learning curve for inexperienced users. If you have an understanding of terms like Git, CNAME, and reroute guidelines, you’ll be right at home here, but otherwise you’ll need to spend a long time on the support site.
In our screening, the default WordPress web page loaded in just over two seconds. This is among the fastest reactions we’ve checked, with competitor Liquid Web just slightly behind.
Assistance
A managed WordPress service need to provide extra value through its assistance, and WP Engine delivers. The support site includes videos and short articles of a quality you ‘d anticipate from a paid training course, with assistance on deeper WordPress functionality that many WordPress hosts do not go into.
There’s 24/7 live chat assistance and a ticket system, too. In our testing, the response was quick and the representative educated. For all strategies except for single-site plans, there’s telephone support, too.
Pros
Exceptional Load Speed: If site loading speed is a leading priority, WP Engine does well in this regard. The host’s mix of custom NGINX extension, integrated Content Delivery Network (CDN), and SSD technology make sure that your web pages load rapidly. NGINX extension focuses on human requests over robot requests and provides load balancing, providing your visitors a better experience. For its part, CDN provides website content to your visitors based upon their location to increase your site’s speed and lower latency. You get this ability free of charge with all WP Engine strategies.
High Performance: It’s tough to beat WP Engine’s efficiency, which is why people continue to pay a premium cost for this service. WP Engine ensures 99.95% server uptime, approximately 4 and a half hours of downtime a year. You can even more increase your uptime to 99.99% with improved SLA, which equates to a little under an hour of downtime annually. WP Engine will compensate you with hosting credit if your uptime falls listed below the assurance.
Advanced Security: WP Engine monitors all the traffic going to your site and immediately finds and obstructs prospective attacks. In addition, the hosting service automatically updates and spots the WordPress core to remove potential vulnerabilities. In a worst-case circumstance, WP Engine immediately backups your website every day and has a one-click remediation feature to get you support and running quickly. Lastly, this hosting service protects your website versus JavaScript/SQL-injection attacks, strength attempts, and DDoS attacks.
Incredible Customer Support: The hosting service has a transparent and trackable ticketing system to get in touch with client care through chat. The support team has an excellent knowledge base and can help you fix issues rapidly. You get 24/7 phone support for all strategies except the Growth Plan, in addition to 24/7 live chat support on all plans.
Useful Staging Environment: The staging area permits you to clone your website’s live variation and make changes or evaluate new plugins and styles. Anything you do in the staging area does not impact your live site. This feature enables developers to work on websites without interfering with the live site’s functionality or user experience.
Transferable Installs: Also targeting designers, this function allows you to construct a website from your WP Engine account. You do not need to await the client to include you to their WordPress site. As soon as finished, you can transfer the site to the client or host the site on WP Engine. This performance conserves time if you frequently develop websites 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 works with WordPress. From a business perspective, it makes sense to concentrate on a single market and offer exceptional services in that location. Nevertheless, this design locks out many people who might otherwise take advantage of 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 in other places. You’ll need to utilize third-party services for domain registration or email accounts.
Inflexible Pricing: WP Engine runs a tight ship, and this is shown in its prices structure. You will be punished for surpassing your strategy’s visitor limits. This might not be an issue if you have foreseeable traffic, and you can constantly upgrade your plan as your site grows. Substantial spikes in traffic during product launches or seasonal company can cost you substantial excess charges.
There is no other way to put it: WP Engine is expensive. Is it worth the cost? The response lies in figuring out what you are spending for.
You can get shared hosting that can handle the very same amount of traffic as WP Engine for a portion of the rate. You can even get committed hosting for the very same cost as WP Engine. What you are really spending for here is security, efficiency, speed, and, most notably, assurance. The supreme concern 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 strategy, you are normally spending for performance & not having to think excessive about upkeep, security & speed. If you take a look at WP Engine’s rates based upon the features you’re getting- you really do not get a whole lot.
And if you are the type who will think about your website’s health anyway (ie, keeping WordPress upgraded and generally logging in regularly), you’ll likely be spending for “management” that is unnecessary.
Many shared hosting servers can manage the exact same traffic numbers as WP Engine- and cost a portion of the price. My individual site a shared hosting plan from HostGator with basic caching) handled more than 15,000+ check outs 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 site you are on handles more than 110,000+ visits per month with plenty of room left to spare for side-projects, gigabytes of media, e-mail, RSS apps, etc with an InMotion VPS. I pay for the VPS plus a CDN for less than WP Engine’s starter strategy.
They are relatively transparent about how they count check outs, however it can still be rather a surprise for “small” site owners how quickly they can enter into the $290 per month tier. I have a customer who started with the Startup strategy, however rapidly wound up with a custom plan.
And as discussed previously that does not even include a lot of the functions you do not get with WP Engine’s strategies. You can’t run any e-mail from your servers. You have low limits on local media storage. Anything above the limits requires additional costs & technical execution of Amazon cloud services.
And most importantly for me- you are restricted on your installs. If you have a couple of side projects or low-traffic test sites, you need to factor those into the rate. You can’t utilize them to spread out the expense of your plan- specifically if you are striking your visitor cap instead of your install cap.
If you are seeking to spend for hosting- ie, a server that will hold & dish out your site files- WP Engine is a pricey option, particularly compared to other non-managed hosting choices.
Start-up
The Startup package is the most basic plan and will set you back $25 per month. With this plan, you get:.
25,000 visits per month.
50GB bandwidth each month.
10GB storage.
One site included.
WP Engine targets little websites and blogs with this strategy, however we believe it may be overkill for the majority of people in this category. You can get a far much better deal with shared hosting at Bluehost However, if you don’t want to take any chances with uptime or require an assurance that your site can handle 25,000 visitors monthly, WP Engine is a sure bet. We ‘d recommend this option to small companies, affiliate websites, and blogs making good cash and want guarantees that absolutely nothing will alter.
You can conserve $60 per year or two months complimentary if you pay annually.
Growth
The growth plan targets growing companies and will cost you $95 per month. Here you get:.
100,000 visits each month.
200GB bandwidth per month.
25GB storage.
10 websites consisted of a while.
This plan is an excellent entry point for a growing company, and it might be a while before you need to upgrade. With this strategy, you likewise get 24/7 phone support in addition to day-and-night chat assistance. This addition will be available in convenient if you have a complicated concern that you need to deal with rapidly.
You can save a cool $230 or two months complimentary with yearly billing.
Scale
WP Engine advertises its scale strategy as the best value choice. This one costs $241 each month. Here you get:.
400,000 visits per month.
500GB bandwidth monthly.
50GB storage.
30 sites included.
We advise this option 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 center.
You can save $580 or 2 months free with yearly pre-paid billing.
Custom
Finally, if you have a mission-critical website or big business, the Custom strategy might be appealing. With this plan, you get:.
Millions of sees monthly.
400GB+ bandwidth each month.
100GB-1TB storage.
30 sites included.
You will need to talk to a sales associate to get your tailored quote depending on your requirements. This plan likewise offers exclusive assistance ought to something go wrong.
Migrate WordPress websites in just a few clicks.
Strong Uptime
WP Engine accomplishes over 99% uptime thanks to its world-class network facilities.
The company likewise has 3 information centers in London, Tokyo, and Midwest USA.
As a result, you can get better site speeds by selecting to host your website on servers that are closest to your target audience.
WP Engine obstructs destructive attacks on your site.
Speed & Performance
There are a great deal of variables that go into site speed, but the general rule is that the more complicated your site is, the more intricate the solutions to speed become.
Out of the box- WordPress is fairly lean and fast. If you are running a primarily text site with a few fundamental plugins and a couple of little images, you’ll be fine with an inexpensive shared hosting strategy from somebody like InMotion HostGator Bluehost But couple of site owners keep their WordPress install lean. There’s normally extra plugins, custom-made theme files, great deals of images, widgets, ads, types and more.
All these functions combined with good levels of traffic can begin to slow down your WordPress installation.
However a sluggish site doesn’t imply that you need a bigger, much better server. It does mean that you require to get smarter about speed. In some cases it’s as simple as getting a more effective server, but sometimes it’s more about caching specific resources in a certain order and optimizing your files. Simply put- it gets complex.
Picture you are attempting to carry a trailer with a pickup. Envision your trailer keeps getting much heavier. It’s pointless to keep complaining that your truck is not big enough when you might just need to remove the emergency brake, install a turbocharger, refresh the transmission fluid and consolidate your load.
The point is that WordPress requires assistance to stay quickly as you grow. There are a lot of solutions … however either you or a designer need to implement them.
That’s where managed WordPress hosting comes in. WP Engine looks after (almost) all speed issues. They have actually tailored servers with incredibly aggressive caching and a lot more advanced “stack” than a common web host. They likewise have trained assistance who will go into your WordPress install and recognize the precise chokepoint to get your website moving.
They do not even allow caching plugins on their installs since they have actually such a tailored caching setup.
The intriguing thing is that even unoptimized WordPress installs still succeed on their platform because their platform does the additional work.
Here’s the speed test for one of my customers on WP Engine (who has a puffed up theme, extra scripts, too many uncompressed images, among other things)- Note the Time To First Byte and the Start Render numbers. That measures how quickly the server returned enough information to begin packing the page.
It’s nice to have that sort of speed right out of package- and have it remain that way no matter how big or complex the website gets.
* Note that the other point here is that if you are obsessed about speed, you can get back at better numbers with WP Engine than you might get with other services because you are totally free to concentrate on speed factors that you can easily manage like image compression, use of scripts, etc
. The last observation on speed- WP Engine not only offers an incorporated CDN, however they likewise offer international information centers in case your audience is primarily in Asia and/or Europe.
If you are attempting to get top speeds without tinkering layered caching plugins- the WP Engine does precisely that. And because they run on Google Cloud, you do not need to stress over uptime either.
CDN Included
All plans consist of a worldwide CDN (material delivery network).
The CDN will help your site load quick for customers worldwide by serving it to them from the network node that’s geographically closest to them.
Security and Backups
An approximated 78% of hacked websites are WordPress sites, according to Sucuri, a web security firm. Frequently the “open doors” are plugins that weren’t upgraded.
Protecting sites is one of the strong suits of WP Engine’s handled WordPress hosting service.
The company takes numerous measures to secure WordPress websites:.
WP Engine runs daily malware/virus scans in partnership with Sucuri.
They keep an eye on an upgraded firewall program to obstruct the latest hazards.
All websites are backed up daily.
You get a one-click restore function that can assist you recuperate your website in case of an attack.
The WP Engine website provides a guide on “Tips to Protect Your WordPress Site From Being Hacked.”.
You’ll have access to 24/7/365 technical assistance for any concerns relating to security.
They offer webinars on security.
They publish security standards and checklists for designers and engineers.
If your website gets hacked, WPE will clean it totally free.
Online Resources
WP Engine offers webinars, guides, article, updates, tutorials, and a knowledgebase. With these you can discover how to:.
Introduce your first site.
Troubleshoot common problems.
Make improvements to your website.
Manage your hosting account with greater performance.
Both beginners and experienced WordPress website owners will discover the assistance paperwork invaluable.
WP Engine’s 60-Day Guarantee
WP Engine’s 60-day money-back warranty on all membership charges is distinct in the hosting industry.
It allows you to check out the service in a risk-free way.
Keep in mind: this option is not readily available on custom-made hosting strategies.
Is WP Engine Worth It?
Like any service, it’s not about what is best overall, but what is finest for you based upon your goals, budget plan, resources & practices.
If you are in what I think of as WP Engine’s core markets- they provide a great service with a solid product. As a managed WordPress host, their pricing is competitive. They offer more functions than “WordPress hosting” plans from other hosting brands. Their feature-set is unmatched for smart DIYers, WordPress site developers and/or high-traffic sites that don’t want to worry about hosting issues.
If handled hosting is a fit for you- then go check out WP Engine’s plans here View Current Plans They do a 60-day money-back warranty. So do a test set up and see what you consider their backend. Make certain to talk w/ support & sales.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.