There are a lot of low-cost hosts available that provide a decent service. WPEngine Disallowed Plugins
What if you’re looking for more of a performance-oriented, concierge service? In that case, you’ll want to have a look at our WP Engine review for WordPress.
WP Engine is a WordPress-specific web host, offering managed plans that are totally optimized for the platform. Naturally, when compared to numerous other WordPress hosts, WP Engine’s plans aren’t precisely cheap. Therefore, you’ll want to know whether this hosting service is worth the cost prior to buying.
To assist you out, we’re going to carry out a comprehensive WP Engine review for WordPress. We’ll discuss its essential features, support alternatives, efficiency capabilities, and whatever else you’ll require to know. 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 one of 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 company has actually won numerous awards for Best Place to Work in Austin and consistently contributes to the WordPress core and community.
WP Engine Features
The core factors to choose WP Engine over more affordable WordPress hosting are increased dependability, efficiency, assistance, and management, but these are difficult to measure. Some functions stand apart when you browse the interface, however, that can give you some insight into the service provided.
WP Engine Page Performance is a neat tool created to help you speed up your WordPress website by offering meaningful metrics on performance.
Running a test returns you a page-performance report that information how rapidly your page rendered, for how long it required to load in its entirety, and the overall size of the page. It even consists of historic information on your site’s efficiency over the past six months and suggestions on how you can decrease page load.
You can develop your WordPress website in a Staging or Development environment before making the modifications live (Image credit: WP Engine) Avoid awkward errors on your site by making changes to a copy of your website prior to it goes live. This is called Staging, and it enables your developers to make comprehensive changes 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 move, WP Engine limits the WordPress plugins you can install. Those normally limited are plugins that have actually been noted to trigger efficiency problems and security holes. For essential features 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 provides managed WordPress hosting. There are 5 different strategies available: Startup, Growth, Scale, and Custom.
All strategies consist of limitless data transfer. The strategies differ based upon:
- number of WordPress sets up
- traffic volume (# of visits per month)
- disk storage amount
- Custom-made plan consists of dedicated dev. environments, client success, and priority support
WP Engine consists of some special features for WordPress users that the majority of hosts do not use, or charge extra for. These special functions include:.
- Git version control
- Staging: immediately produce a copy of your site for screening
- Easy transferable installs from totally free to paid accounts
- Cutting edge technologies including latest PHP variation.
In our WP Engine review, we discovered that WP Engine provides the most advanced and comprehensive 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 set out, however the effective features may indicate a steep learning curve for inexperienced users. If you have an understanding of terms like Git, CNAME, and redirect rules, you’ll be right in the house here, however otherwise you’ll need to invest a long time on the assistance website.
In our screening, the default WordPress web page filled in just over 2 seconds. This is one of the fastest actions we’ve tested, with competitor Liquid Web only a little behind.
Support
A handled WordPress service must use extra worth through its support, and WP Engine provides. The assistance website includes videos and posts of a quality you ‘d expect from a paid training course, with aid on much deeper WordPress performance that lots of WordPress hosts do not go into.
There’s 24/7 live chat support and a ticket system, too. In our screening, the action fasted and the agent experienced. For all plans except for single-site plans, there’s telephone assistance, too.
Pros
Exceptional Load Speed: If website packing speed is a leading concern, WP Engine succeeds in this regard. The host’s combination of custom-made NGINX extension, built-in Content Delivery Network (CDN), and SSD innovation make sure that your websites load quickly. NGINX extension prioritizes human requests over robot requests and provides load balancing, providing your visitors a better experience. For its part, CDN delivers site material to your visitors based upon their area to boost your website’s speed and lower latency. You get this capability totally free with all WP Engine strategies.
High Performance: It’s difficult to beat WP Engine’s efficiency, which is why individuals continue to pay a premium price for this service. WP Engine ensures 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 boosted SLA, which equates to a little under an hour of downtime each year. WP Engine will compensate you with hosting credit if your uptime falls listed below the guarantee.
Advanced Security: WP Engine keeps track of all the traffic going to your website and immediately discovers and blocks possible attacks. Furthermore, the hosting service instantly updates and patches the WordPress core to remove possible vulnerabilities. In a worst-case circumstance, WP Engine instantly backups your site every day and has a one-click repair function to get you support and running rapidly. This hosting service secures your website against JavaScript/SQL-injection attacks, brute force attempts, and DDoS attacks.
Sensational Customer Support: The hosting service has a transparent and trackable ticketing system to get in touch with customer care via chat. The support group has an excellent knowledge base and can help you fix 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 strategies.
Useful Staging Environment: The staging area allows 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 affect your live website. This feature allows designers to work on websites without disrupting the live site’s performance or user experience.
Transferable Installs: Also targeting developers, this feature allows you to develop a website from your WP Engine account. You do not need to wait on the client to add you to their WordPress site. As soon as finished, you can move the website to the customer or host the site on WP Engine. This performance conserves time if you regularly build websites for clients.
Cons
WordPress-Only Hosting: If you are using any other content management system aside from WordPress, then you are out of luck. WP Engine only works with WordPress. From an organization perspective, it makes good sense to concentrate on a single market and deal exceptional services in that location. This model locks out many individuals who could 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 website host, you’ll need to look elsewhere. You’ll have to utilize third-party services for domain registration or email accounts.
Inflexible Pricing: WP Engine runs a tight ship, and this is reflected in its rates structure. You will be punished for exceeding your plan’s visitor limits. This might not be a problem if you have foreseeable traffic, and you can always update your strategy as your website grows. Considerable spikes in traffic throughout product launches or seasonal business can cost you considerable overage charges.
There is no other way to put it: WP Engine is costly. Is it worth the expense? The answer lies in determining what you are paying for.
You can get shared hosting that can manage the exact same amount of traffic as WP Engine for a portion of the price. You can even get dedicated hosting for the very same rate as WP Engine. What you are really spending for here is security, performance, speed, and, most notably, peace of mind. The ultimate 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 plan, you are usually paying for performance & not needing to think excessive about maintenance, security & speed. If you look at WP Engine’s rates based on the features you’re getting- you truly don’t get a great deal.
And if you are the type who will think of your site’s health anyhow (ie, keeping WordPress upgraded and generally logging in often), you’ll likely be spending for “management” that is superfluous.
Many shared hosting servers can handle the very same traffic numbers as WP Engine- and cost a fraction of the rate. My individual website a shared hosting strategy from HostGator with standard caching) handled more than 15,000+ gos to in a 24 hour period when a post of mine And if you are running a trustworthy VPS, you can certainly deal with a lot more for much less. In fact, the site you are on handles more than 110,000+ gos to monthly with a lot of space 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 strategy.
They are fairly transparent about how they count sees, but it can still be rather a surprise for “small” website owners how rapidly they can get into the $290 each month tier. I have a client who began with the Startup plan, but rapidly wound up with a custom-made plan.
And as discussed earlier that does not even consist of a number of the functions you do not get with WP Engine’s plans. You can’t run any e-mail from your servers. You have low limits on regional media storage. Anything above the limits requires additional expenses & technical execution of Amazon cloud services.
And most importantly for me- you are limited on your installs. If you have a couple of side projects or low-traffic test websites, you have to factor those into the cost. You can’t utilize them to expand the cost of your plan- particularly if you are hitting your visitor cap rather than your set up cap.
If you are aiming to pay for hosting- ie, a server that will hold & provide your site files- WP Engine is a pricey choice, specifically compared to other non-managed hosting choices.
Startup
The Startup bundle is one of the most standard strategy and will set you back $25 monthly. With this plan, you get:.
25,000 check outs per month.
50GB bandwidth per month.
10GB storage.
One website consisted of.
WP Engine targets small sites and blog sites with this plan, but we think it might be overkill for many people in this classification. You can get a far better deal with shared hosting at Bluehost However, if you do not wish to take any possibilities with uptime or require an assurance that your site can handle 25,000 visitors per month, WP Engine is a sure thing. We ‘d suggest this option to small companies, affiliate sites, and blogs making great money and want guarantees that nothing will change.
You can save $60 per year or two months free if you pay each year.
Growth
The growth strategy targets growing services and will cost you $95 per month. Here you get:.
100,000 visits monthly.
200GB bandwidth per month.
25GB storage.
10 websites included a while.
This plan is a terrific entry point for a growing business, and it might be a while before you require to update. With this plan, you likewise get 24/7 phone assistance in addition to day-and-night chat assistance. This addition will can be found in handy if you have a complex issue that you require to deal with quickly.
You can save a cool $230 or two months complimentary with annual billing.
Scale
WP Engine advertises its scale strategy as the very best value alternative. This one expenses $241 monthly. Here you get:.
400,000 gos to per month.
500GB bandwidth per month.
50GB storage.
30 websites consisted of.
We advise this choice 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 totally free with annual pre-paid billing.
Custom-made
If you have a mission-critical site or large service, the Custom plan may be appealing. With this plan, you get:.
Countless check outs monthly.
400GB+ bandwidth per month.
100GB-1TB storage.
30 sites consisted of.
You will need to talk to a sales rep to get your customized quote depending upon your requirements. This plan also provides exclusive support should something fail.
Migrate WordPress websites in just a few clicks.
Solid Uptime
WP Engine accomplishes over 99% uptime thanks to its first-rate network facilities.
The company likewise has three information centers in London, Tokyo, and Midwest USA.
As a result, you can improve site speeds by selecting to host your site 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, however the guideline is that the more complicated your website is, the more complicated the solutions to speed ended up being.
Out of package- WordPress is relatively lean and quick. If you are running a mostly text site 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 site owners keep their WordPress install lean. There’s normally extra plugins, custom-made theme files, lots of images, widgets, ads, types and more.
All these features combined with good levels of traffic can start to decrease your WordPress installation.
But a sluggish site does not suggest that you need a bigger, better server. It does imply that you require to get smarter about speed. Often it’s as easy as getting a more powerful server, however sometimes it’s more about caching particular resources in a particular order and optimizing your files. In other words- it gets complex.
Picture you are trying to carry a trailer with a pickup. Picture your trailer keeps getting much heavier. It’s meaningless to keep complaining that your truck is not big enough when you may just require to get rid of the emergency brake, install a turbocharger, revitalize the transmission fluid and consolidate your load.
The point is that WordPress requires help to remain fast as you grow. There are a lot of options … however either you or a designer should implement them.
That’s where handled WordPress hosting is available in. WP Engine looks after (nearly) all speed concerns. They have personalized servers with very aggressive caching and even more innovative “stack” than a typical webhosting. They likewise have trained assistance who will go into your WordPress install and identify the precise chokepoint to get your site moving.
They don’t even permit caching plugins on their installs because they have actually such a tailored caching setup.
The fascinating thing is that even unoptimized WordPress sets up still do well on their platform due to the fact that their platform does the extra work.
Here’s the speed test for among my clients on WP Engine (who has a bloated theme, extra scripts, a lot of uncompressed images, to name a few things)- Note the Time To First Byte and the Start Render numbers. That determines how quickly the server returned enough data to begin loading the page.
It’s nice to have that sort of speed right out of the box- and have it remain that way no matter how big or intricate the website gets.
* Note that the other point here is that if you are consumed about speed, you can get even better numbers with WP Engine than you might get with other services since you are free to concentrate 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 just provides an incorporated CDN, but they likewise offer global information centers in case your audience is mostly in Asia and/or Europe.
If you are attempting to get top speeds without messing with layered caching plugins- the WP Engine does exactly that. And considering that they work on Google Cloud, you do not have to worry about uptime either.
CDN Included
All plans consist of a worldwide CDN (content delivery network).
The CDN will help 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 approximated 78% of hacked websites are WordPress sites, according to Sucuri, a web security firm. Regularly the “open doors” are plugins that weren’t upgraded.
Securing sites is among the fortes of WP Engine’s managed WordPress hosting service.
The company takes numerous procedures to secure WordPress sites:.
WP Engine runs day-to-day malware/virus scans in partnership with Sucuri.
They monitor an upgraded firewall to obstruct the current dangers.
All sites are backed up daily.
You get a one-click bring back function that can help you recuperate your site in case of an attack.
The WP Engine site offers 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 concerning 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 totally free.
Online Resources
WP Engine offers webinars, guides, post, updates, tutorials, and a knowledgebase. With these you can learn how to:.
Launch your very first website.
Troubleshoot common issues.
Make improvements to your website.
Handle your hosting account with greater effectiveness.
Both beginners and skilled WordPress website owners will find the support documentation vital.
WP Engine’s 60-Day Guarantee
WP Engine’s 60-day money-back guarantee on all subscription fees is distinct in the hosting market.
It allows you to try the service in a risk-free way.
Keep in mind: this option is not readily available on custom-made hosting plans.
Is WP Engine Worth It?
Like any service, it’s not about what is finest overall, but what is finest for you based on your objectives, budget, resources & habits.
If you are in what I think of as WP Engine’s core markets- they offer a fantastic service with a solid product. As a managed WordPress host, their prices is competitive. They provide more features than “WordPress hosting” plans from other hosting brands. Their feature-set is unrivaled for savvy DIYers, WordPress site designers and/or high-traffic sites that do not want to worry about hosting concerns.
If handled 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 set up and see what you believe of their backend. Make sure to chat w/ assistance & sales.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.