There are lots of low-cost hosts readily available that supply a good service. WPEngine Email
What if you’re looking for more of a performance-oriented, concierge service? Because case, you’ll wish to have a look at our WP Engine evaluation for WordPress.
WP Engine is a WordPress-specific webhosting, providing handled strategies that are totally optimized for the platform. Naturally, when compared to lots of other WordPress hosts, WP Engine’s strategies aren’t exactly inexpensive. You’ll want to understand whether this hosting service is worth the cost prior to making a purchase.
To help you out, we’re going to carry out a thorough WP Engine review for WordPress. We’ll discuss its essential features, support alternatives, performance abilities, and everything else you’ll need to understand. Let’s get started!
WP Engine Video Review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bnf3do933oY
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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 need 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 won multiple awards for Best Place to Work in Austin and regularly contributes to the WordPress core and neighborhood.
WP Engine Features
The core factors to pick WP Engine over more affordable WordPress hosting are increased reliability, performance, support, and management, but these are tough to measure. Some features stick out when you browse the user interface, however, that can give you some insight into the service used.
WP Engine Page Performance is a cool tool designed to help you accelerate your WordPress site by using significant metrics on performance.
Running a test returns you a page-performance report that information how rapidly your page rendered, how long it took to pack in its entirety, and the overall size of the page. It even consists of historic data on your site’s efficiency over the past 6 months and recommendations on how you can reduce 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 awkward mistakes on your website by making changes to a copy of your site prior to it goes live. This is called Staging, and it permits your developers to make comprehensive changes to your website without affecting your consumers.
WP Engine has a thorough list of plugins that are prohibited (Image credit: WP Engine) In a fairly uncommon relocation, WP Engine restricts the WordPress plugins you can set up. Those generally limited are plugins that have actually been kept in mind to trigger performance issues and security holes. For crucial features such as caching, backups, and seo tools, WP Engine has made alternatives 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 available: Startup, Growth, Scale, and Custom.
All strategies include unrestricted information transfer. The strategies vary based upon:
- number of WordPress installs
- traffic volume (# of visits per month)
- disk storage amount
- Customized plan includes dedicated dev. environments, customer success, and priority support
WP Engine includes some distinct features for WordPress users that many hosts don’t use, or charge extra for. These unique functions include:.
- Git version control
- Staging: immediately develop a copy of your site for screening
- Easy transferable installs from complimentary to paid accounts
- Innovative innovations including newest PHP variation.
In our WP Engine evaluation, we discovered that WP Engine provides 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 interface is professional and well laid out, however the effective functions might suggest a steep learning curve for inexperienced users. If you have an understanding of terms like Git, CNAME, and reroute rules, you’ll be right in the house here, however otherwise you’ll require to invest a long time on the assistance website.
In our screening, the default WordPress web page packed in just over 2 seconds. This is among the fastest responses we’ve checked, with rival Liquid Web only a little behind.
Assistance
A managed WordPress service should use additional value through its assistance, and WP Engine provides. The assistance site includes videos and articles of a quality you ‘d anticipate from a paid training course, with aid on much deeper WordPress performance that numerous WordPress hosts do not enter into.
There’s 24/7 live chat support and a ticket system, too. In our testing, the action was quick and the representative knowledgeable. For all strategies except for single-site plans, there’s telephone assistance, too.
Pros
Extraordinary Load Speed: If website filling speed is a leading priority, WP Engine does well in this regard. The host’s combination of customized NGINX extension, built-in Content Delivery Network (CDN), and SSD innovation make sure that your websites load rapidly. NGINX extension prioritizes human requests over robot demands and provides load balancing, providing your visitors a better experience. For its part, CDN provides website content to your visitors based upon their area to increase your site’s speed and reduce latency. You get this capability totally free with all WP Engine plans.
High Performance: It’s tough to beat WP Engine’s performance, which is why people continue to pay a premium rate for this service. WP Engine guarantees 99.95% server uptime, approximately four and a half hours of downtime a year. You can even more increase your uptime to 99.99% with enhanced SLA, which translates to a little under an hour of downtime per year. WP Engine will compensate you with hosting credit if your uptime falls listed below the assurance.
Advanced Security: WP Engine keeps track of all the traffic going to your site and instantly identifies and obstructs possible attacks. In addition, the hosting service instantly updates and spots the WordPress core to remove prospective vulnerabilities. In a worst-case situation, WP Engine immediately backups your site every day and has a one-click restoration feature to get you support and running quickly. Finally, this hosting service protects 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 connect with client care via chat. The assistance team has an excellent knowledge base and can help you solve issues rapidly. You get 24/7 phone assistance for all plans other than 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 website’s live variation and make changes or evaluate new plugins and themes. Anything you perform in the staging area does not impact your live website. This function permits designers to work on sites without interfering with the live website’s performance or user experience.
Transferable Installs: Also targeting developers, this function enables you to develop a site from your WP Engine account. You do not need to await the client to add you to their WordPress website. When completed, you can move the site to the client or host the site on WP Engine. This functionality saves time if you routinely construct websites 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 works with WordPress. From a service perspective, it makes sense to concentrate on a single market and offer remarkable services in that area. However, 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 e-mail account and register your domain through your site host, you’ll require 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 shown in its rates structure. You will be penalized for surpassing your plan’s visitor limits. This may not be a problem if you have predictable traffic, and you can constantly update your strategy as your site grows. Considerable spikes in traffic throughout product launches or seasonal business can cost you considerable overage charges.
There is no other method to put it: WP Engine is costly. Is it worth the expense? The answer lies in determining what you are spending for.
You can get shared hosting that can deal with the exact same quantity of traffic as WP Engine for a portion of the cost. You can even get dedicated hosting for the same rate as WP Engine. What you are actually paying for here is security, performance, speed, and, most notably, assurance. The ultimate 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 strategy, you are usually paying for efficiency & not having to think excessive about maintenance, security & speed. If you look at WP Engine’s pricing based upon 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 typically logging in frequently), you’ll likely be paying for “management” that is unnecessary.
Lots of shared hosting servers can deal with the very same traffic numbers as WP Engine- and cost a fraction of the cost. My individual site a shared hosting strategy from HostGator with standard caching) managed more than 15,000+ sees in a 24 hour period when a post of mine And if you are running a reputable VPS, you can certainly handle a lot more for much less. The site you are on handles more than 110,000+ sees 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 pay 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 quite a surprise for “small” site owners how rapidly they can get into the $290 monthly tier. I have a client who began with the Startup strategy, however quickly ended up with a custom-made plan.
And as discussed previously that doesn’t even consist of a number of the functions you do not get with WP Engine’s plans. You can’t run any email from your servers. You have low limits on regional media storage. Anything above the limits needs additional expenses & technical execution of Amazon cloud services.
And most significantly 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 cost. You can’t use them to spread out the expense of your plan- particularly if you are striking your visitor cap rather than your install cap.
If you are aiming to pay for hosting- ie, a server that will hold & provide your site files- WP Engine is a pricey alternative, particularly compared to other non-managed hosting options.
Start-up
The Startup plan is one of the most standard plan and will set you back $25 each month. With this plan, you get:.
25,000 sees monthly.
50GB bandwidth monthly.
10GB storage.
One site included.
WP Engine targets small sites and blogs with this plan, but we believe it might be overkill for many people in this category. You can get a far much better handle shared hosting at Bluehost However, if you don’t want to take any chances with uptime or need a warranty that your website can manage 25,000 visitors monthly, WP Engine is a sure thing. We ‘d recommend this choice to small businesses, affiliate websites, and blog sites making good money and want guarantees that nothing will change.
You can conserve $60 each year or more months free if you pay yearly.
Growth
The development strategy targets growing companies and will cost you $95 monthly. Here you get:.
100,000 check outs monthly.
200GB bandwidth monthly.
25GB storage.
10 websites consisted of a while.
This strategy is an excellent entry point for a growing business, and it might be a while before you require to update. With this strategy, you also get 24/7 phone assistance in addition to round-the-clock chat assistance. This addition will be available in useful if you have an intricate issue that you require to deal with rapidly.
You can save a cool $230 or more months complimentary with yearly billing.
Scale
WP Engine advertises its scale strategy as the very best worth choice. This one expenses $241 per month. Here you get:.
400,000 visits each month.
500GB bandwidth per month.
50GB storage.
30 sites included.
We suggest this alternative for a fast-growing blog or company. You get access to 24/7 live chat and 24/7 phone assistance in addition to the support center.
You can conserve $580 or more months free with yearly pre-paid billing.
Custom
If you have a mission-critical site or large business, the Custom strategy may be appealing. With this strategy, you get:.
Millions of gos to per month.
400GB+ bandwidth each month.
100GB-1TB storage.
30 sites included.
You will have to speak with a sales representative to get your customized quote depending on your requirements. This plan likewise offers proprietary assistance must 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 data centers in London, Tokyo, and Midwest USA.
As a result, you can get better site speeds by picking 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 lot of variables that go into website speed, but the guideline is that the more complicated your site is, the more complicated the options to speed ended up being.
Out of the box- WordPress is relatively lean and fast. If you are running a mostly text site with a couple of basic plugins and a few small images, you’ll be fine with an affordable shared hosting strategy from somebody like InMotion HostGator Bluehost But few site owners keep their WordPress install lean. There’s typically additional plugins, custom-made theme files, lots of images, widgets, advertisements, types and more.
All these functions integrated with good levels of traffic can begin to slow down your WordPress setup.
A sluggish site doesn’t suggest that you need a larger, much better server. It does indicate that you need to get smarter about speed. In some cases it’s as easy as getting a more effective server, but sometimes it’s more about caching certain resources in a particular order and enhancing your files. To put it simply- it gets complex.
Envision you are trying to haul a trailer with a pickup truck. Picture your trailer keeps getting much heavier. It’s pointless to keep complaining that your truck is not big enough when you may simply require to eliminate the emergency brake, set up a turbocharger, refresh the transmission fluid and combine your load.
The point is that WordPress requires help to stay fast as you grow. There are plenty of options … but either you or a designer need to execute them.
That’s where managed WordPress hosting is available in. WP Engine takes care of (almost) all speed issues. They have personalized servers with very aggressive caching and much more advanced “stack” than a typical web host. They likewise have trained assistance who will go into your WordPress set up and identify the specific chokepoint to get your site moving.
They don’t even allow caching plugins on their installs because they have actually such a customized caching setup.
The intriguing thing is that even unoptimized WordPress sets up still succeed on their platform due to the fact that their platform does the extra work.
Here’s the speed test for one of my customers on WP Engine (who has a puffed up style, extra scripts, too many 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 loading the page.
It’s nice to have that kind of speed right out of the box- and have it stay that way no matter how huge 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 considering that you are free to concentrate on speed factors that you can quickly control like image compression, use of scripts, and so on
. The last observation on speed- WP Engine not only offers an incorporated CDN, but they likewise provide global information centers in case your audience is mainly in Asia and/or Europe.
If you are trying to get top speeds without messing with layered caching plugins- the WP Engine does exactly that. And given that they work on Google Cloud, you don’t have to stress over uptime either.
CDN Included
All plans include an international CDN (material delivery network).
The CDN will assist your website load fast for consumers 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 websites, according to Sucuri, a web security company. Regularly the “open doors” are plugins that weren’t upgraded.
Protecting websites is among the strengths of WP Engine’s handled WordPress hosting service.
The company takes several measures to secure WordPress sites:.
WP Engine runs day-to-day malware/virus scans in collaboration with Sucuri.
They monitor an updated firewall program to obstruct the latest threats.
All sites are backed up daily.
You get a one-click restore function that can assist 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 support for any concerns relating to security.
They supply webinars on security.
They release security standards and checklists for designers and engineers.
If your site gets hacked, WPE will clean it for free.
Online Resources
WP Engine supplies webinars, guides, post, updates, tutorials, and a knowledgebase. With these you can learn how to:.
Launch your first site.
Troubleshoot typical problems.
Make improvements to your website.
Handle your hosting account with greater efficiency.
Both newbies and experienced WordPress site owners will discover the support documentation vital.
WP Engine’s 60-Day Guarantee
WP Engine’s 60-day money-back warranty on all subscription fees is unique in the hosting industry.
It allows you to try the service in a risk-free way.
Keep in mind: this option is not readily 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 goals, budget, resources & habits.
If you remain in what I consider WP Engine’s core markets- they use a great service with a solid item. As a managed WordPress host, their rates is competitive. They provide more features than “WordPress hosting” plans from other hosting brand names. Their feature-set is unrivaled for smart DIYers, WordPress site designers and/or high-traffic websites that do not want to worry about hosting concerns.
If handled hosting is a fit for you- then go have a look at WP Engine’s strategies here View Current Plans They do a 60-day money-back assurance. So do a test install and see what you consider their backend. Make sure to talk w/ support & sales.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.