There are plenty of inexpensive hosts available that provide a good service. WPEngine Google Analytics
What if you’re looking for more of a performance-oriented, concierge service? Because case, you’ll want to check out our WP Engine evaluation for WordPress.
WP Engine is a WordPress-specific web host, offering handled strategies that are totally enhanced for the platform. Naturally, when compared to numerous other WordPress hosts, WP Engine’s strategies aren’t exactly cheap. For that reason, you’ll want to know whether this hosting service deserves the expense prior to making a purchase.
To assist you out, we’re going to perform an extensive WP Engine review for WordPress. We’ll discuss its essential features, assistance options, efficiency capabilities, and everything else you’ll need to understand. Let’s begin!
WP Engine Video Review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mcpf7ULveLk
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About WP Engine
Founded in 2010, WP Engine is now one of the leading handled WordPress hosting business in the market. Serial business owner 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 offices 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 adds to the WordPress core and community.
WP Engine Features
The core reasons to choose WP Engine over more affordable WordPress hosting are increased dependability, performance, assistance, and management, but these are hard to quantify. Some features stand apart when you search the interface, however, that can give you some insight into the service provided.
WP Engine Page Performance is a cool tool developed to help you speed up your WordPress site 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 pack in its entirety, and the total size of the page. It even includes historical information on your site’s performance over the past six months and suggestions on how you can lower page load.
You can develop your WordPress site in a Staging or Development environment prior to making the changes live (Image credit: WP Engine) Avoid humiliating errors on your site by making changes to a copy of your website before it goes live. This is called Staging, and it permits your designers to make extensive modifications to your site without impacting your customers.
WP Engine has a detailed list of plugins that are prohibited (Image credit: WP Engine) In a reasonably uncommon move, WP Engine limits the WordPress plugins you can set up. Those normally limited are plugins that have been kept in mind to trigger efficiency concerns and security holes. For essential features such as caching, backups, and seo tools, WP Engine has actually made alternatives offered that do not put a high load on the server.
WP Engine Hosting Plans
WP Engine only offers handled WordPress hosting. There are five various strategies offered: Startup, Growth, Scale, and Custom.
All plans consist of endless data transfer. The strategies vary based on:
- number of WordPress sets up
- traffic volume (# of visits per month)
- disk storage amount
- Custom strategy includes dedicated dev. environments, client success, and priority assistance
WP Engine includes some special features for WordPress users that a lot of hosts don’t provide, or charge additional for. These unique features include:.
- Git version control
- Staging: immediately produce a copy of your website for testing
- Easy transferable installs from complimentary to paid accounts
- Cutting edge innovations consisting of latest PHP variation.
In our WP Engine evaluation, we found that WP Engine uses the most innovative and comprehensive managed WordPress hosting features.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.
Interface and in use
WP Engine’s interface is expert and well set out, however the powerful functions may imply a steep learning curve for inexperienced users. If you have an understanding of terms like Git, CNAME, and reroute guidelines, you’ll be right in the house here, however otherwise you’ll need to spend some time on the support website.
In our testing, the default WordPress web page packed in simply over two seconds. This is one of the fastest responses we’ve tested, with rival Liquid Web just a little behind.
Assistance
A handled WordPress service should offer extra worth through its assistance, and WP Engine provides. The support website consists of videos and articles of a quality you ‘d get out of a paid training course, with aid on deeper WordPress performance that many WordPress hosts don’t go into.
There’s 24/7 live chat assistance and a ticket system, too. In our testing, the action fasted and the representative experienced. For all plans except for single-site strategies, there’s telephone support, too.
Pros
Exceptional Load Speed: If site packing speed is a top concern, WP Engine succeeds in this regard. The host’s mix 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 demands and provides load balancing, offering your visitors a better experience. For its part, CDN provides site content to your visitors based on their place to increase your website’s speed and lower latency. You get this capability for free with all WP Engine plans.
High Performance: It’s tough to beat WP Engine’s efficiency, which is why people continue to pay a premium rate for this service. WP Engine guarantees 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 enhanced SLA, which translates to a little under an hour of downtime each year. WP Engine will compensate you with hosting credit if your uptime falls below the warranty.
Advanced Security: WP Engine monitors all the traffic going to your website and instantly finds and blocks prospective attacks. Furthermore, the hosting service immediately 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 remediation function to get you back up and running quickly. Finally, this hosting service secures your site versus JavaScript/SQL-injection attacks, brute force efforts, and DDoS attacks.
Extraordinary Customer Support: The hosting service has a transparent and trackable ticketing system to get in touch with customer care by means of chat. The support team has an excellent knowledge base and can assist you fix problems quickly. You get 24/7 phone support for all plans 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 check brand-new plugins and themes. Anything you carry out in the staging area does not affect your live site. This feature permits developers to work on websites without disrupting the live website’s performance or user experience.
Transferable Installs: Also targeting developers, this feature permits you to build a website from your WP Engine account. You don’t have to await the customer to add you to their WordPress site. When completed, you can transfer the website to the customer or host the site on WP Engine. This functionality saves time if you regularly construct sites 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 just works with WordPress. From an organization perspective, it makes good sense to focus on a single market and deal exceptional services because location. Nevertheless, this design locks out many people who could otherwise benefit 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 require to look somewhere else. 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 exceeding your strategy’s visitor limits. This may not be an issue if you have predictable traffic, and you can constantly update your strategy as your website grows. Nevertheless, substantial spikes in traffic during product launches or seasonal company can cost you substantial overage charges.
There is no other way to put it: WP Engine is expensive. Is it worth the cost? The answer depends on determining what you are paying for.
You can get shared hosting that can manage the same quantity of traffic as WP Engine for a fraction of the rate. You can even get devoted hosting for the very same price as WP Engine. What you are really paying for here is security, performance, speed, and, most notably, comfort. The ultimate concern is 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 typically spending for performance & not needing to believe excessive about upkeep, security & speed. If you look at WP Engine’s rates 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 anyway (ie, keeping WordPress updated and usually logging in frequently), you’ll likely be paying for “management” that is unnecessary.
Lots of shared hosting servers can manage the same traffic numbers as WP Engine- and cost a fraction of the rate. My individual site a shared hosting plan from HostGator with fundamental caching) dealt with more than 15,000+ visits in a 24 hour period when a post of mine And if you are running a reliable VPS, you can certainly deal with a lot more for much less. In fact, the site you are on handles more than 110,000+ visits monthly with plenty of space delegated 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 sees, however it can still be quite a surprise for “small” site owners how rapidly they can enter the $290 each month tier. I have a client who began with the Startup plan, but rapidly wound up with a custom strategy.
And as mentioned previously that doesn’t even include much 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 limits on regional media storage. Anything above the limits needs additional expenses & technical implementation 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 sites, you need to factor those into the cost. You can’t use them to expand the expense of your plan- particularly if you are hitting your visitor cap rather than your install cap.
If you are aiming to spend for hosting- ie, a server that will hold & dish out your website files- WP Engine is a costly alternative, especially compared to other non-managed hosting alternatives.
Startup
The Startup plan is the most basic strategy and will set you back $25 per month. With this plan, you get:.
25,000 gos to each month.
50GB bandwidth per month.
10GB storage.
One site consisted of.
WP Engine targets small websites and blog sites with this plan, however we think it may be overkill for many 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 possibilities with uptime or need a guarantee that your site can handle 25,000 visitors per month, WP Engine is a sure thing. We ‘d suggest this option to small businesses, affiliate websites, and blog sites making good money and desire guarantees that nothing will alter.
You can conserve $60 annually or 2 months totally free if you pay each year.
Growth
The growth strategy targets growing organizations and will cost you $95 monthly. Here you get:.
100,000 visits monthly.
200GB bandwidth per month.
25GB storage.
Ten websites included a while.
This strategy is a terrific entry point for a growing service, and it might be a while before you require to upgrade. With this strategy, you likewise get 24/7 phone assistance in addition to round-the-clock chat assistance. This addition will can be found in convenient if you have a complex issue that you need to resolve quickly.
You can save a cool $230 or 2 months complimentary with yearly billing.
Scale
WP Engine advertises its scale plan as the very best value option. This one expenses $241 per month. Here you get:.
400,000 check outs per month.
500GB bandwidth each month.
50GB storage.
30 websites included.
We recommend this alternative for a fast-growing blog or business. You get access to 24/7 live chat and 24/7 phone assistance in addition to the assistance center.
You can save $580 or 2 months free with annual pre-paid billing.
Customized
Lastly, if you have a mission-critical site or big service, the Custom plan might be appealing. With this plan, you get:.
Countless visits monthly.
400GB+ bandwidth each month.
100GB-1TB storage.
30 sites consisted of.
You will need to speak to a sales representative to get your individualized quote depending on your requirements. This strategy also offers exclusive assistance needs to something go wrong.
Migrate WordPress websites in just a few clicks.
Solid Uptime
WP Engine achieves over 99% uptime thanks to its world-class network infrastructure.
The company also has 3 information centers in London, Tokyo, and Midwest USA.
As a result, you can get better website speeds by selecting to host your site on servers that are closest to your target market.
WP Engine blocks destructive attacks on your site.
Speed & Performance
There are a lot of variables that enter into site speed, however the rule of thumb is that the more complex your site is, the more complex the services to speed become.
Out of the box- WordPress is relatively lean and fast. If you are running a primarily text site with a couple of fundamental plugins and a few small images, you’ll be fine with an affordable shared hosting strategy from somebody like InMotion HostGator Bluehost But couple of site owners keep their WordPress install lean. There’s generally extra plugins, custom theme files, lots of images, widgets, ads, types and more.
All these features integrated with decent levels of traffic can start to slow down your WordPress setup.
A slow website does not indicate that you require a bigger, much better server. It does suggest that you need to get smarter about speed. Sometimes it’s as easy as getting a more effective server, but often it’s more about caching specific resources in a specific order and optimizing your files. To put it simply- it gets complex.
Envision you are trying to transport a trailer with a pickup truck. Picture your trailer keeps getting heavier. It’s pointless to keep grumbling that your truck is not big enough when you may simply need to remove the emergency brake, set up a turbocharger, revitalize the transmission fluid and consolidate your load.
The point is that WordPress requires aid to stay fast as you grow. There are lots of services … however either you or a developer must implement them.
That’s where managed WordPress hosting is available in. WP Engine looks after (almost) all speed concerns. They have actually customized servers with extremely aggressive caching and even more advanced “stack” than a common webhosting. They also have actually trained assistance who will enter into your WordPress install and identify the specific chokepoint to get your site moving.
They do not even enable caching plugins on their installs because they have actually such a customized caching setup.
The intriguing thing is that even unoptimized WordPress installs still succeed on their platform since their platform does the additional work.
Here’s the speed test for among my clients on WP Engine (who has a bloated style, extra scripts, a lot of uncompressed images, among other 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 sort of speed right out of the box- and have it stay 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 back at much better numbers with WP Engine than you may get with other services considering that you are totally free to concentrate on speed aspects that you can easily control like image compression, use of scripts, and so on
. The last observation on speed- WP Engine not just offers an integrated CDN, but they likewise offer global data centers in case your audience is primarily 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 given that they run on Google Cloud, you do not have to fret about uptime either.
CDN Included
All strategies consist of a worldwide CDN (material delivery network).
The CDN will help your site load quickly for consumers around the globe by serving it to them from the network node that’s geographically closest to them.
Security and Backups
An approximated 78% of hacked sites are WordPress websites, according to Sucuri, a web security company. Frequently the “open doors” are plugins that weren’t updated.
Securing sites is one of the strong suits of WP Engine’s handled WordPress hosting service.
The company takes a number of measures to secure WordPress websites:.
WP Engine runs day-to-day malware/virus scans in collaboration with Sucuri.
They keep an eye on an updated firewall to block the most recent dangers.
All websites are supported daily.
You get a one-click restore function that can assist you recuperate your website 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 questions concerning security.
They offer webinars on security.
They release security guidelines and lists for developers and engineers.
If your website gets hacked, WPE will clean it free of charge.
Online Resources
WP Engine provides webinars, guides, article, updates, tutorials, and a knowledgebase. With these you can discover how to:.
Release your very first website.
Troubleshoot typical issues.
Make improvements to your website.
Handle your hosting account with higher performance.
Both beginners and experienced WordPress site owners will find the assistance documents invaluable.
WP Engine’s 60-Day Guarantee
WP Engine’s 60-day money-back assurance on all subscription costs is unique in the hosting market.
It allows you to check out the service in a safe method.
Keep in mind: this alternative is not available on customized 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 & practices.
If you are in what I think of as WP Engine’s core markets- they use a fantastic service with a solid item. As a handled WordPress host, their rates is competitive. They provide more features than “WordPress hosting” strategies from other hosting brands. Their feature-set is unmatched for smart DIYers, WordPress website designers and/or high-traffic sites that don’t wish to worry about hosting problems.
If handled hosting is a suitable for you- then go take a look at WP Engine’s plans here View Current Plans They do a 60-day money-back assurance. Do a test set up and see what you think of their backend. Be sure to talk w/ assistance & sales.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.