There are a lot of inexpensive hosts readily available that supply a decent service. WPEngine Hosting Review
Nevertheless, 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, offering handled plans that are fully enhanced for the platform. Of course, when compared to numerous other WordPress hosts, WP Engine’s strategies aren’t exactly low-cost. 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 carry out an extensive WP Engine evaluation for WordPress. We’ll discuss its essential features, support choices, performance abilities, and whatever else you’ll require to understand. Let’s get started!
WP Engine Video Review
Sign up for a WP Engine plan and receive the Genesis Framework and 35+ StudioPress Themes free!
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 started 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 business has actually won several awards for Best Place to Work in Austin and consistently contributes to the WordPress core and community.
WP Engine Features
The core reasons to select WP Engine over more affordable WordPress hosting are increased reliability, efficiency, assistance, and management, but these are difficult to quantify. Some features stand apart when you search the interface, however, that can offer you some insight into the service provided.
WP Engine Page Performance is a cool tool developed to help you accelerate your WordPress website by offering meaningful metrics on efficiency.
Running a test returns you a page-performance report that details how rapidly your page rendered, how long it required to pack in its totality, and the total size of the page. It even consists of historic information on your site’s performance over the past six months and suggestions on how you can minimize page load.
You can establish your WordPress site in a Staging or Development environment before making the modifications live (Image credit: WP Engine) Avoid awkward mistakes on your site by making changes to a copy of your site prior to it goes live. This is called Staging, and it allows your developers to make substantial changes to your site without impacting your customers.
WP Engine has an extensive list of plugins that are disallowed (Image credit: WP Engine) In a fairly unusual relocation, WP Engine restricts the WordPress plugins you can install. Those normally restricted are plugins that have actually been kept in mind to trigger performance issues and security holes. For essential functions such as caching, backups, and seo 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 only offers managed WordPress hosting. There are 5 different strategies offered: Startup, Growth, Scale, and Custom.
All plans consist of unlimited information transfer. The plans differ based on:
- number of WordPress installs
- traffic volume (# of visits per month)
- disk storage amount
- Custom-made plan consists of dedicated dev. environments, client success, and priority assistance
WP Engine includes some unique features for WordPress users that the majority of hosts do not use, or charge extra for. These unique functions consist of:.
- Git version control
- Staging: immediately produce a copy of your website for screening
- Easy transferable installs from free to paid accounts
- Leading edge innovations including most current PHP variation.
In our WP Engine evaluation, we found that WP Engine offers the most advanced and detailed handled WordPress hosting functions.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.
Interface and in use
WP Engine’s user interface is professional and well set out, however the effective features might imply a steep knowing curve for inexperienced users. If you have an understanding of terms like Git, CNAME, and reroute rules, you’ll be right in your home here, however otherwise you’ll require to invest some time on the support website.
In our testing, the default WordPress home page loaded in just over two seconds. This is among the fastest reactions we’ve tested, with competitor Liquid Web only somewhat behind.
Support
A managed WordPress service need to offer extra value through its assistance, and WP Engine provides. The assistance website includes videos and articles of a quality you ‘d get out of a paid training course, with assistance on much deeper WordPress functionality that many WordPress hosts don’t go into.
There’s 24/7 live chat assistance and a ticket system, too. In our screening, the response fasted and the agent experienced. For all strategies except for single-site plans, there’s telephone support, too.
Pros
Remarkable Load Speed: If site loading speed is a leading concern, WP Engine succeeds in this regard. The host’s mix of customized NGINX extension, integrated Content Delivery Network (CDN), and SSD innovation guarantee that your web pages load rapidly. NGINX extension focuses on human requests over robotic demands and provides load balancing, providing your visitors a better experience. For its part, CDN delivers website material to your visitors based upon their location to boost your website’s speed and decrease latency. You get this capability for free with all WP Engine plans.
High Performance: It’s difficult to beat WP Engine’s performance, which is why people continue to pay a premium price 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 boosted 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 automatically detects and obstructs prospective attacks. In addition, the hosting service immediately updates and spots the WordPress core to remove possible vulnerabilities. In a worst-case scenario, WP Engine automatically backups your site every day and has a one-click restoration feature to get you back up and running rapidly. Finally, this hosting service protects your website against JavaScript/SQL-injection attacks, strength attempts, and DDoS attacks.
Sensational Customer Support: The hosting service has a transparent and trackable ticketing system to contact consumer care by means of chat. The support group has an exceptional knowledge base and can assist you resolve problems quickly. You get 24/7 phone support for all plans except the Growth Plan, in addition to 24/7 live chat assistance on all plans.
Useful Staging Environment: The staging area enables you to clone your website’s live version and make changes or evaluate new plugins and styles. Anything you do in the staging area doesn’t impact your live website. This feature allows designers to work on websites without hindering the live site’s performance or user experience.
Transferable Installs: Also targeting developers, this function enables you to develop a site from your WP Engine account. You don’t have to wait for the customer to include you to their WordPress site. As soon as completed, you can transfer the website to the customer or host the site on WP Engine. This functionality saves time if you routinely develop sites for clients.
Cons
WordPress-Only Hosting: If you are using any other content management system aside from WordPress, then you run out luck. WP Engine only works with WordPress. From an organization point of view, it makes sense to concentrate on a single market and offer extraordinary services because location. Nevertheless, this model locks out lots of people who could otherwise benefit from WP Engine’s services.
No Domains or Email Hosting: If you choose to host your email account and register your domain through your site 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 pricing structure. You will be punished for surpassing your strategy’s visitor limits. This may not be a problem if you have foreseeable traffic, and you can always upgrade your plan as your site grows. Significant spikes in traffic throughout item launches or seasonal company can cost you significant excess charges.
There is no other method to put it: WP Engine is pricey. Is it worth the cost? The response depends on 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 rate. You can even get dedicated hosting for the exact same price as WP Engine. What you are really spending for here is security, efficiency, speed, and, most importantly, 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 plan, you are typically paying for efficiency & not needing to think excessive about maintenance, security & speed. If you look at WP Engine’s rates based upon the features you’re getting- you really don’t get a whole lot.
And if you are the type who will consider your site’s health anyway (ie, keeping WordPress upgraded and usually visiting often), you’ll likely be spending for “management” that is unneeded.
Numerous shared hosting servers can deal with the very same traffic numbers as WP Engine- and cost a fraction of the cost. My individual website a shared hosting strategy from HostGator with fundamental caching) managed more than 15,000+ visits in a 24 hour period when a post of mine And if you are running a trusted VPS, you can certainly manage a lot more for much less. The site you are on handles more than 110,000+ visits 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 spend for the VPS plus a CDN for less than WP Engine’s starter plan.
They are fairly transparent about how they count check outs, however it can still be rather a surprise for “small” website owners how quickly they can enter into the $290 monthly tier. I have a client who started with the Startup plan, however quickly wound up with a custom strategy.
And as discussed earlier that doesn’t even consist of a number of the features you do not get with WP Engine’s strategies. You can’t run any email from your servers. You have low limitations on local media storage. Anything above the limits requires additional expenses & technical implementation 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 websites, you need to factor those into the price. You can’t utilize them to expand the expense of your plan- especially if you are hitting your visitor cap instead of your install cap.
If you are seeking to pay for hosting- ie, a server that will hold & serve up your website files- WP Engine is an expensive alternative, especially compared to other non-managed hosting alternatives.
Start-up
The Startup package is the most fundamental strategy and will set you back $25 each month. With this package, you get:.
25,000 visits per month.
50GB bandwidth per month.
10GB storage.
One site included.
WP Engine targets small sites and blogs with this plan, however we think 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 wish to take any opportunities with uptime or require a warranty that your website can manage 25,000 visitors each month, WP Engine is a certainty. We ‘d suggest this choice to small companies, affiliate sites, and blog sites making good money and desire guarantees that nothing will alter.
You can conserve $60 per year or more months totally free if you pay each year.
Growth
The development strategy targets growing companies and will cost you $95 per month. Here you get:.
100,000 check outs monthly.
200GB bandwidth each month.
25GB storage.
Ten sites included a while.
This strategy is a terrific entry point for a growing business, and it might be a while prior to you need to update. With this plan, you likewise get 24/7 phone support in addition to day-and-night chat support. This addition will can be found in convenient if you have an intricate issue that you need to resolve rapidly.
You can save a cool $230 or two months free with yearly billing.
Scale
WP Engine advertises its scale plan as the best value choice. This one expenses $241 each month. Here you get:.
400,000 check outs per month.
500GB bandwidth per month.
50GB storage.
30 websites included.
We advise this alternative 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 support center.
You can conserve $580 or 2 months complimentary with yearly pre-paid billing.
Custom
If you have a mission-critical website or large business, the Custom plan might be appealing. With this plan, you get:.
Countless visits per month.
400GB+ bandwidth monthly.
100GB-1TB storage.
30 sites consisted of.
You will need to speak with a sales associate to get your customized quote depending upon your requirements. This plan also uses exclusive support needs to something go wrong.
Migrate WordPress websites in just a few clicks.
Strong Uptime
WP Engine achieves over 99% uptime thanks to its world-class network infrastructure.
The business likewise has three data centers in London, Tokyo, and Midwest USA.
As a result, you can improve website speeds by selecting to host your website on servers that are closest to your target market.
WP Engine obstructs harmful attacks on your site.
Speed & Performance
There are a great deal of variables that enter into site speed, but the rule of thumb is that the more complex your site is, the more intricate the solutions to speed become.
Out of the box- WordPress is fairly lean and quick. If you are running a primarily text website with a couple of basic plugins and a couple of small images, you’ll be fine with a budget friendly shared hosting plan from somebody like InMotion HostGator Bluehost But few website owners keep their WordPress set up lean. There’s usually extra plugins, custom-made theme files, great deals of images, widgets, ads, forms and more.
All these functions combined with decent levels of traffic can begin to decrease your WordPress setup.
However a slow website does not indicate that you need a bigger, better server. It does imply that you need to get smarter about speed. In some cases it’s as basic as getting a more powerful server, but in some cases 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 haul a trailer with a pickup. Imagine your trailer keeps getting much heavier. It’s pointless to keep complaining that your truck is not big enough when you may simply need to eliminate the emergency brake, install a turbocharger, refresh the transmission fluid and consolidate your load.
The point is that WordPress requires assistance to stay fast as you grow. There are lots of services … however either you or a designer should implement them.
That’s where managed WordPress hosting can be found in. WP Engine takes care of (nearly) all speed issues. They have personalized servers with very aggressive caching and even more sophisticated “stack” than a common webhosting. They also have trained assistance who will enter into your WordPress set up and recognize the specific chokepoint to get your website moving.
They don’t even enable caching plugins on their installs due to the fact that they have such a customized caching setup.
The intriguing thing is that even unoptimized WordPress sets up still do well on their platform because their platform does the additional work.
Here’s the speed test for among my customers on WP Engine (who has a puffed up style, 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 rapidly the server returned enough information 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 huge or intricate the website gets.
* Note that the other point here is that if you are obsessed about speed, you can get even much better numbers with WP Engine than you might get with other services since you are free to concentrate on speed elements that you can easily manage like image compression, usage of scripts, and so on
. The last observation on speed- WP Engine not only offers an incorporated CDN, however they also supply worldwide data centers in case your audience is mostly in Asia and/or Europe.
If you are trying to get top speeds without messing with layered caching plugins- the WP Engine does precisely that. And given that they operate on Google Cloud, you don’t have to stress over uptime either.
CDN Included
All strategies consist of a worldwide CDN (content shipment network).
The CDN will assist your site load fast 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 sites, according to Sucuri, a web security firm. Often the “open doors” are plugins that weren’t upgraded.
Protecting websites is one of the strong suits of WP Engine’s handled WordPress hosting service.
The company takes several procedures to protect WordPress sites:.
WP Engine runs day-to-day malware/virus scans in partnership with Sucuri.
They keep an eye on an upgraded firewall to obstruct the current risks.
All sites are supported daily.
You get a one-click restore function that can help you recover your website in case of an attack.
The WP Engine website supplies 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 relating to security.
They supply webinars on security.
They release security guidelines and checklists for developers 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 very first website.
Troubleshoot typical issues.
Make improvements to your website.
Manage your hosting account with greater performance.
Both novices and skilled WordPress site owners will find the support documents indispensable.
WP Engine’s 60-Day Guarantee
WP Engine’s 60-day money-back warranty on all membership costs is special in the hosting industry.
It enables you to try out the service in a safe method.
Keep in mind: this choice is not offered on custom hosting plans.
Is WP Engine Worth It?
Like any service, it’s not about what is best overall, however what is best for you based upon your goals, spending plan, resources & routines.
If you remain in what I think of as WP Engine’s core markets- they use a great service with a strong item. As a handled WordPress host, their pricing is competitive. They provide more functions than “WordPress hosting” strategies from other hosting brands. Their feature-set is unmatched for smart DIYers, WordPress site developers and/or high-traffic sites that do not wish to fret about hosting concerns.
If handled hosting is a suitable for you- then go take a look at WP Engine’s strategies here View Current Plans They do a 60-day money-back guarantee. So do a test install and see what you consider their backend. Make sure to talk w/ assistance & sales.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.