There are plenty of inexpensive hosts readily available that provide a decent service. WPEngine Dedicated Server
What if you’re looking for more of a performance-oriented, concierge service? In that case, you’ll wish to have a look at our WP Engine review for WordPress.
WP Engine is a WordPress-specific webhosting, providing handled plans that are totally enhanced for the platform. Obviously, when compared to numerous other WordPress hosts, WP Engine’s plans aren’t exactly low-cost. You’ll desire to understand whether this hosting service is worth the cost prior to making a purchase.
To assist you out, we’re going to perform a thorough WP Engine evaluation for WordPress. We’ll discuss its key functions, support alternatives, performance capabilities, and whatever else you’ll require to understand. Let’s begin!
WP Engine Video Review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Re66PSKd7_E
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About WP Engine
Founded in 2010, WP Engine is now among the leading managed WordPress hosting business in the market. Serial business owner Jason Cohen started WP Engine when he saw a requirement for specialized WordPress hosting due to the rising 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 regularly adds to the WordPress core and neighborhood.
WP Engine Features
The core factors to choose WP Engine over more affordable WordPress hosting are increased reliability, performance, assistance, and management, however these are hard to quantify. Some features stand out when you search the interface, nevertheless, that can give you some insight into the service offered.
WP Engine Page Performance is a cool tool designed to help you speed up your WordPress website by providing meaningful metrics on efficiency.
Running a test returns you a page-performance report that information how quickly your page rendered, how long it took to load in its whole, and the total size of the page. It even includes historical information on your site’s efficiency over the past 6 months and suggestions on how you can reduce page load.
You can develop your WordPress site in a Staging or Development environment prior to making the modifications live (Image credit: WP Engine) Avoid embarrassing errors on your website 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 website without affecting your customers.
WP Engine has a thorough list of plugins that are disallowed (Image credit: WP Engine) In a relatively unusual relocation, WP Engine restricts the WordPress plugins you can set up. Those generally limited are plugins that have been kept in mind to trigger performance concerns and security holes. For essential functions such as caching, backups, and search engine optimization tools, WP Engine has actually made options available that do not put a high load on the server.
WP Engine Hosting Plans
WP Engine just offers handled WordPress hosting. There are five various plans available: Startup, Growth, Scale, and Custom.
All strategies include unrestricted information transfer. The plans vary based upon:
- number of WordPress sets up
- traffic volume (# of visits per month)
- disk storage amount
- Custom-made plan consists of dedicated dev. environments, customer success, and priority support
WP Engine includes some distinct features for WordPress users that a lot of hosts do not offer, or charge extra for. These special features consist of:.
- Git version control
- Staging: immediately create a copy of your site for testing
- Easy transferable installs from complimentary to paid accounts
- Leading edge technologies including latest PHP version.
In our WP Engine review, we discovered that WP Engine uses the most advanced and extensive handled WordPress hosting features.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.
Interface and in use
WP Engine’s interface is professional and well set out, but the powerful features may indicate a steep learning curve for unskilled users. If you have an understanding of terms like Git, CNAME, and redirect guidelines, you’ll be right at home here, but otherwise you’ll need to invest a long time on the support site.
In our testing, the default WordPress web page loaded in just over 2 seconds. This is one of the fastest actions we’ve checked, with rival Liquid Web just a little behind.
Support
A managed WordPress service must use extra value through its support, and WP Engine delivers. The assistance website consists of videos and short articles of a quality you ‘d expect from a paid training course, with assistance on much 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 knowledgeable. For all plans except for single-site strategies, there’s telephone assistance, too.
Pros
Extraordinary Load Speed: If website loading speed is a top concern, WP Engine does well in this regard. The host’s mix of custom-made NGINX extension, integrated Content Delivery Network (CDN), and SSD innovation ensure that your web pages load quickly. NGINX extension focuses on human requests over robot requests and offers load balancing, offering your visitors a better experience. For its part, CDN provides website content to your visitors based on their location to improve your website’s speed and lower latency. You get this ability free of charge with all WP Engine plans.
High Performance: It’s tough to beat WP Engine’s efficiency, which is why individuals continue to pay a premium cost for this service. WP Engine guarantees 99.95% server uptime, roughly four and a half hours of downtime a year. You can even more increase your uptime to 99.99% with enhanced 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 instantly identifies and obstructs prospective attacks. Furthermore, the hosting service automatically updates and patches the WordPress core to eliminate possible vulnerabilities. In a worst-case circumstance, WP Engine automatically backups your website every day and has a one-click repair function to get you support and running quickly. Lastly, this hosting service secures your website against JavaScript/SQL-injection attacks, strength attempts, and DDoS attacks.
Remarkable Customer Support: The hosting service has a transparent and trackable ticketing system to connect with client care via chat. The support group has an exceptional knowledge base and can help you resolve problems quickly. You get 24/7 phone support for all strategies other than the Growth Plan, in addition to 24/7 live chat assistance on all strategies.
Useful Staging Environment: The staging area enables you to clone your site’s live version and make changes or test new plugins and themes. Anything you carry out in the staging area doesn’t impact your live site. This function permits designers to deal with websites without interfering with the live site’s functionality or user experience.
Transferable Installs: Also targeting developers, this function allows you to build a website from your WP Engine account. You don’t have to await the client to add you to their WordPress site. Once finished, you can move the website to the client or host the site on WP Engine. This functionality conserves time if you frequently develop sites for customers.
Cons
WordPress-Only Hosting: If you are using any other content management system aside from WordPress, then you are out of luck. WP Engine just deals with WordPress. From a business point of view, it makes sense to concentrate on a single market and offer extraordinary services because area. Nevertheless, this model locks out lots of people who might otherwise gain 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 need to look somewhere else. You’ll have 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 rates structure. You will be penalized for exceeding your plan’s visitor limitations. This might not be a problem if you have predictable traffic, and you can constantly upgrade your strategy as your site grows. However, substantial spikes in traffic throughout product launches or seasonal service can cost you considerable overage charges.
There is no other way to put it: WP Engine is expensive. Is it worth the cost? The response depends on figuring out what you are spending for.
You can get shared hosting that can handle the same quantity of traffic as WP Engine for a fraction of the price. You can even get dedicated hosting for the same cost as WP Engine. What you are truly paying for here is security, efficiency, speed, and, most significantly, peace of mind. The supreme question 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 having to believe excessive about maintenance, security & speed. If you take a look at WP Engine’s pricing based on the features you’re getting- you truly do not get a lot.
And if you are the type who will think about your site’s health anyhow (ie, keeping WordPress upgraded and typically visiting regularly), you’ll likely be spending for “management” that is superfluous.
Many shared hosting servers can deal with the exact same traffic numbers as WP Engine- and cost a portion of the price. My personal site a shared hosting plan from HostGator with fundamental caching) dealt with more than 15,000+ visits in a 24 hour duration when a post of mine And if you are running a reliable VPS, you can definitely handle a lot more for much less. The website you are on handles more than 110,000+ check outs per month with plenty of room left to spare for side-projects, gigabytes of media, email, 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 fairly transparent about how they count gos to, however it can still be rather a surprise for “small” website owners how quickly they can get into the $290 per month tier. I have a customer who began with the Startup strategy, but rapidly wound up with a customized plan.
And as pointed out previously that doesn’t even consist of a number of the features you don’t get with WP Engine’s plans. You can’t run any e-mail from your servers. You have low limitations on local media storage. Anything above the limits requires extra costs & technical application of Amazon cloud services.
And most notably for me- you are restricted on your installs. If you have a few side projects or low-traffic test sites, you have to factor those into the cost. You can’t use them to spread out the cost of your plan- particularly if you are striking your visitor cap instead of your install cap.
If you are wanting to pay for hosting- ie, a server that will hold & serve up your site files- WP Engine is an expensive alternative, particularly compared to other non-managed hosting options.
Startup
The Startup package is one of the most fundamental plan and will set you back $25 per month. With this package, you get:.
25,000 gos to per month.
50GB bandwidth each month.
10GB storage.
One site consisted of.
WP Engine targets small websites and blogs with this strategy, however we believe it might be overkill for the majority of people in this category. You can get a far much better handle shared hosting at Bluehost However, if you do not wish to take any chances with uptime or require a guarantee that your site can deal with 25,000 visitors monthly, WP Engine is a sure thing. We ‘d suggest this choice to small companies, affiliate sites, and blog sites making great money and desire assurances that nothing will alter.
You can conserve $60 per year or more months complimentary if you pay annually.
Growth
The growth strategy targets growing businesses and will cost you $95 monthly. Here you get:.
100,000 check outs per month.
200GB bandwidth each month.
25GB storage.
Ten websites consisted of a while.
This plan is a fantastic entry point for a growing business, and it might be a while prior to you require to update. With this plan, you also get 24/7 phone support in addition to day-and-night chat support. This addition will come in convenient if you have a complex issue that you require to resolve rapidly.
You can save a cool $230 or 2 months totally free with annual billing.
Scale
WP Engine markets its scale plan as the very best value choice. This one costs $241 each month. Here you get:.
400,000 visits each month.
500GB bandwidth per month.
50GB storage.
30 sites included.
We advise this option for a fast-growing blog site or organization. You get access to 24/7 live chat and 24/7 phone assistance in addition to the assistance center.
You can save $580 or two months totally free with annual pre-paid billing.
Customized
Finally, if you have a mission-critical site or big organization, the Custom strategy may be appealing. With this strategy, you get:.
Millions of check outs per month.
400GB+ bandwidth per month.
100GB-1TB storage.
30 sites included.
You will need to speak to a sales associate to get your customized quote depending on your requirements. This strategy also offers proprietary assistance should something fail.
Migrate WordPress websites in just a few clicks.
Solid Uptime
WP Engine attains over 99% uptime thanks to its first-rate network infrastructure.
The company likewise has three data centers in London, Tokyo, and Midwest USA.
As a result, you can improve website speeds by choosing to host your website on servers that are closest to your target audience.
WP Engine obstructs harmful attacks on your site.
Speed & Performance
There are a lot of variables that go into website speed, however the rule of thumb is that the more complex your site is, the more complex the solutions to speed become.
Out of package- WordPress is relatively lean and fast. If you are running a mainly text website with a couple of basic plugins and a few small images, you’ll be great with a cost effective shared hosting plan from somebody like InMotion HostGator Bluehost But couple of website owners keep their WordPress install lean. There’s typically extra plugins, custom style files, lots of images, widgets, advertisements, types and more.
All these features integrated with good levels of traffic can begin to slow down your WordPress setup.
A sluggish site does not imply that you need a larger, better server. It does mean that you require to get smarter about speed. In some cases it’s as easy as getting a more powerful server, however sometimes it’s more about caching specific resources in a specific order and enhancing your files. In other words- it gets complex.
Imagine you are trying to carry a trailer with a pickup truck. Imagine your trailer keeps getting heavier. It’s pointless to keep complaining that your truck is not big enough when you might simply require to eliminate the emergency brake, install a turbocharger, refresh the transmission fluid and consolidate your load.
The point is that WordPress requires assistance to remain quick as you grow. There are a lot of solutions … but either you or a designer need to implement them.
That’s where handled WordPress hosting is available in. WP Engine looks after (almost) all speed concerns. They have actually tailored servers with extremely aggressive caching and a lot more sophisticated “stack” than a common webhosting. They also have actually trained support who will go into your WordPress set up and determine the precise chokepoint to get your site moving.
They do not even enable caching plugins on their installs due to the fact that they have actually such a tailored caching setup.
The fascinating thing is that even unoptimized WordPress sets up still succeed on their platform because their platform does the extra work.
Here’s the speed test for one of my customers on WP Engine (who has a bloated theme, additional scripts, too many uncompressed images, among other things)- Note the Time To First Byte and the Start Render numbers. That determines how quickly the server returned enough information to start loading the page.
It’s good to have that kind of speed right out of package- and have it remain that way no matter how big or complicated the site 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 considering that you are complimentary to focus on speed factors that you can quickly manage like image compression, use of scripts, and so on
. The last observation on speed- WP Engine not only provides an incorporated CDN, but they likewise supply global information centers in case your audience is mainly in Asia and/or Europe.
If you are attempting to get top speeds without messing with layered caching plugins- the WP Engine does precisely that. And since they work on Google Cloud, you do not need to worry about uptime either.
CDN Included
All plans consist of an international CDN (content delivery network).
The CDN will assist your site load fast for clients all over 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 sites, according to Sucuri, a web security company. Regularly the “open doors” are plugins that weren’t updated.
Protecting sites is among the strong suits of WP Engine’s managed WordPress hosting service.
The business takes numerous measures to protect WordPress websites:.
WP Engine runs day-to-day malware/virus scans in collaboration with Sucuri.
They keep an eye on an upgraded firewall to block the current dangers.
All websites are supported daily.
You get a one-click bring back function that can help you recover 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 support for any concerns relating to security.
They provide webinars on security.
They release security standards and checklists for developers and engineers.
If your website gets hacked, WPE will clean it for free.
Online Resources
WP Engine provides webinars, guides, article, updates, tutorials, and a knowledgebase. With these you can find out how to:.
Launch your first site.
Troubleshoot typical problems.
Make improvements to your site.
Manage your hosting account with greater effectiveness.
Both newbies and skilled WordPress website owners will discover the support documents invaluable.
WP Engine’s 60-Day Guarantee
WP Engine’s 60-day money-back guarantee on all subscription costs is special in the hosting industry.
It enables you to try out the service in a risk-free method.
Note: this option is not available on customized hosting strategies.
Is WP Engine Worth It?
Like any service, it’s not about what is best overall, however what is finest for you based upon your objectives, budget, resources & routines.
If you remain in what I think of as WP Engine’s core markets- they provide an excellent service with a strong item. As a managed WordPress host, their prices is competitive. They provide more functions than “WordPress hosting” plans from other hosting brands. Their feature-set is unmatched for savvy DIYers, WordPress site developers and/or high-traffic sites that don’t want to fret about hosting problems.
If handled hosting is a fit for you- then go take a look at WP Engine’s plans here View Current Plans They do a 60-day money-back warranty. Do a test install and see what you think of their backend. Make sure to chat w/ support & sales.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.