There are lots of inexpensive hosts offered that offer a good service. WPEngine Pricing
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 web host, offering handled plans that are completely optimized for the platform. Obviously, when compared to lots of other WordPress hosts, WP Engine’s strategies aren’t exactly inexpensive. You’ll desire to know whether this hosting service is worth the expense prior to making a purchase.
To help you out, we’re going to perform a comprehensive WP Engine evaluation for WordPress. We’ll discuss its crucial functions, support alternatives, performance abilities, and everything else you’ll need to know. Let’s get going!
WP Engine Video Review
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About WP Engine
Founded in 2010, WP Engine is now among the leading handled WordPress hosting business in the market. Serial business owner Jason Cohen began WP Engine when he saw a requirement for specialized WordPress hosting due to the increasing 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 several awards for Best Place to Work in Austin and regularly adds to the WordPress core and community.
WP Engine Features
The core reasons to select WP Engine over less expensive WordPress hosting are increased reliability, performance, support, and management, but these are hard to measure. Some functions stand out when you search the interface, however, that can give you some insight into the service provided.
WP Engine Page Performance is a neat tool developed to help you speed up your WordPress site by providing 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 total size of the page. It even consists of historical information on your website’s performance over the past 6 months and recommendations on how you can lower page load.
You can establish your WordPress website in a Staging or Development environment prior to making the modifications 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 allows your developers to make substantial changes to your website without affecting your customers.
WP Engine has a thorough list of plugins that are prohibited (Image credit: WP Engine) In a reasonably unusual move, WP Engine restricts the WordPress plugins you can set up. Those typically restricted are plugins that have actually been noted to trigger performance problems and security holes. For important 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 managed WordPress hosting. There are five various strategies available: Startup, Growth, Scale, and Custom.
All strategies consist of unrestricted information transfer. The plans differ based on:
- 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 assistance
WP Engine consists of some unique functions for WordPress users that many hosts don’t use, or charge additional for. These unique features include:.
- Git version control
- Staging: instantly develop a copy of your site for testing
- Easy transferable installs from totally free to paid accounts
- Cutting edge technologies consisting of latest PHP version.
In our WP Engine evaluation, we found that WP Engine offers the most innovative and extensive managed WordPress hosting functions.
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, but the powerful functions may imply a steep knowing 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 require to invest some time on the assistance site.
In our screening, the default WordPress web page loaded in just over two seconds. This is one of the fastest responses we’ve tested, with rival Liquid Web just a little behind.
Support
A handled WordPress service must provide extra value through its assistance, and WP Engine delivers. The support website includes videos and short articles of a quality you ‘d anticipate from a paid training course, with help on deeper WordPress performance that numerous WordPress hosts do not enter into.
There’s 24/7 live chat assistance and a ticket system, too. In our testing, the action was quick and the agent well-informed. For all plans except for single-site strategies, there’s telephone support, too.
Pros
Remarkable Load Speed: If website loading speed is a top priority, WP Engine does well in this regard. The host’s mix of custom NGINX extension, integrated Content Delivery Network (CDN), and SSD innovation ensure that your websites load quickly. NGINX extension focuses on human demands over robotic demands and uses load balancing, providing your visitors a much better experience. For its part, CDN provides website content to your visitors based upon their location to boost your website’s speed and lower latency. You get this capability for free with all WP Engine strategies.
High Performance: It’s hard to beat WP Engine’s efficiency, which is why people continue to pay a premium rate for this service. WP Engine ensures 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 improved SLA, which equates to a little under an hour of downtime annually. WP Engine will compensate you with hosting credit if your uptime falls below the assurance.
Advanced Security: WP Engine monitors all the traffic going to your site and automatically identifies and obstructs possible attacks. Furthermore, the hosting service automatically updates and patches the WordPress core to eliminate possible vulnerabilities. In a worst-case situation, WP Engine automatically backups your site every day and has a one-click repair feature to get you back up and running rapidly. This hosting service safeguards your website versus JavaScript/SQL-injection attacks, brute force efforts, and DDoS attacks.
Phenomenal Customer Support: The hosting service has a transparent and trackable ticketing system to connect with consumer care through chat. The support group has an exceptional knowledge base and can help you fix problems rapidly. 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 site’s live version and make changes or test 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 sites without hindering the live website’s functionality or user experience.
Transferable Installs: Also targeting developers, this feature enables you to construct a website from your WP Engine account. You do not have to wait on the customer to include you to their WordPress website. As soon as finished, you can move the site to the client or host the website on WP Engine. This performance saves time if you frequently build sites for customers.
Cons
WordPress-Only Hosting: If you are utilizing any other content management system aside from WordPress, then you are out of luck. WP Engine just deals with WordPress. From a company perspective, it makes sense to focus on a single market and deal remarkable services in that area. This design locks out lots of people 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 in other places. You’ll need 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 punished for exceeding your strategy’s visitor limitations. This may not be an issue if you have predictable traffic, and you can constantly update your plan as your site grows. Nevertheless, significant spikes in traffic throughout product launches or seasonal service can cost you considerable overage charges.
There is no other method to put it: WP Engine is pricey. Is it worth the expense? The answer lies in finding out what you are paying for.
You can get shared hosting that can manage the very same quantity of traffic as WP Engine for a portion of the cost. You can even get committed hosting for the exact same cost as WP Engine. What you are really paying for here is security, efficiency, speed, and, most importantly, 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 too much about maintenance, security & speed. If you take a look at WP Engine’s prices based on the features you’re getting- you actually do not get a whole lot.
And if you are the type who will think about your site’s health anyhow (ie, keeping WordPress updated and normally logging in frequently), you’ll likely be spending for “management” that is unnecessary.
Lots of shared hosting servers can deal with the exact same traffic numbers as WP Engine- and cost a fraction of the rate. My personal site a shared hosting strategy from HostGator with fundamental caching) dealt with more than 15,000+ gos to in a 24 hour duration when a post of mine And if you are running a dependable VPS, you can certainly deal with a lot more for much less. The site you are on manages more than 110,000+ sees per month with plenty of room 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 strategy.
They are fairly transparent about how they count visits, however it can still be quite a surprise for “small” website owners how rapidly they can enter into the $290 each month tier. I have a customer who began with the Startup strategy, however quickly wound up with a customized strategy.
And as mentioned earlier that doesn’t even include a lot 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 local media storage. Anything above the limits requires additional expenses & technical execution of Amazon cloud services.
And most significantly for me- you are limited on your installs. If you have a few 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- specifically 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 & serve up your site files- WP Engine is a costly option, particularly compared to other non-managed hosting options.
Startup
The Startup plan is the most standard strategy and will set you back $25 per month. With this plan, you get:.
25,000 gos to per month.
50GB bandwidth monthly.
10GB storage.
One website consisted of.
WP Engine targets little sites and blog sites with this strategy, however we believe it may be overkill for many people in this category. You can get a far 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 sure thing. We ‘d suggest this choice to small businesses, affiliate sites, and blogs making great cash and want assurances that nothing will change.
You can conserve $60 per year or two months complimentary if you pay annually.
Growth
The growth strategy targets growing companies and will cost you $95 monthly. Here you get:.
100,000 gos to each month.
200GB bandwidth monthly.
25GB storage.
10 websites included a while.
This plan is a terrific entry point for a growing organization, and it might be a while before you need to update. With this strategy, you likewise get 24/7 phone assistance in addition to day-and-night chat support. This addition will come in handy if you have a complicated concern that you require to solve rapidly.
You can conserve a cool $230 or two months free with yearly billing.
Scale
WP Engine markets its scale plan as the best worth option. This one costs $241 per month. Here you get:.
400,000 check outs each month.
500GB bandwidth each month.
50GB storage.
30 websites consisted of.
We recommend this option for a fast-growing blog site or company. You get access to 24/7 live chat and 24/7 phone assistance in addition to the assistance center.
You can conserve $580 or 2 months complimentary with yearly pre-paid billing.
Custom-made
If you have a mission-critical site or large service, the Custom strategy might be appealing. With this plan, you get:.
Millions of visits each month.
400GB+ bandwidth each month.
100GB-1TB storage.
30 sites included.
You will need to speak with a sales associate to get your customized quote depending upon your requirements. This strategy likewise provides proprietary assistance needs to something go wrong.
Migrate WordPress websites in just a few clicks.
Solid Uptime
WP Engine attains over 99% uptime thanks to its world-class network facilities.
The company also has 3 information centers in London, Tokyo, and Midwest USA.
As a result, you can get better website speeds by picking 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 enter into site speed, however the general rule is that the more intricate your website is, the more intricate the options to speed become.
Out of the box- WordPress is fairly lean and fast. If you are running a mostly text site with a couple of standard plugins and a few little images, you’ll be great with a cost effective shared hosting strategy from somebody like InMotion HostGator Bluehost But couple of site owners keep their WordPress install lean. There’s usually additional plugins, custom theme files, lots of images, widgets, ads, types and more.
All these functions combined with decent levels of traffic can start to slow down your WordPress installation.
A sluggish website does not indicate that you require a larger, better server. It does indicate that you need to get smarter about speed. Often it’s as simple as getting a more powerful server, however often it’s more about caching certain resources in a certain order and enhancing your files. Simply put- it gets complex.
Picture you are trying to transport a trailer with a pickup truck. Imagine your trailer keeps getting heavier. It’s meaningless to keep grumbling that your truck is not big enough when you may simply require to remove 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 lots of solutions … however either you or a developer need to implement them.
That’s where managed WordPress hosting is available in. WP Engine takes care of (almost) all speed issues. They have tailored servers with incredibly aggressive caching and much more innovative “stack” than a common webhosting. They likewise have trained support who will enter into your WordPress set up and determine the exact chokepoint to get your website moving.
They do not even allow caching plugins on their installs due to the fact that they have actually such a customized caching setup.
The fascinating thing is that even unoptimized WordPress installs still do well on their platform due to the fact that their platform does the extra work.
Here’s the speed test for one of my clients on WP Engine (who has a puffed up theme, extra 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 begin loading the page.
It’s great to have that sort of speed right out of package- and have it remain that way no matter how big or complex the website gets.
* Note that the other point here is that if you are obsessed about speed, you can get even better numbers with WP Engine than you may get with other services considering that you are complimentary to focus on speed elements that you can easily control 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 provide international information centers in case your audience is primarily in Asia and/or Europe.
If you are trying to get top speeds without tinkering layered caching plugins- the WP Engine does precisely that. And because they run on Google Cloud, you don’t need to stress over uptime either.
CDN Included
All plans consist of a global CDN (material shipment network).
The CDN will assist your website load quickly 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 firm. Frequently the “open doors” are plugins that weren’t upgraded.
Protecting websites is one of the strengths of WP Engine’s handled WordPress hosting service.
The company takes several procedures to safeguard WordPress sites:.
WP Engine runs day-to-day malware/virus scans in collaboration with Sucuri.
They monitor an updated firewall software to obstruct the most recent risks.
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 website 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 provide webinars on security.
They publish security guidelines and checklists for developers and engineers.
If your site gets hacked, WPE will clean it totally free.
Online Resources
WP Engine provides webinars, guides, blog posts, updates, tutorials, and a knowledgebase. With these you can find out how to:.
Release your very first website.
Troubleshoot typical problems.
Make improvements to your website.
Manage your hosting account with higher efficiency.
Both beginners and skilled WordPress website owners will discover the support documentation important.
WP Engine’s 60-Day Guarantee
WP Engine’s 60-day money-back assurance on all subscription charges is special in the hosting market.
It allows you to experiment with the service in a risk-free method.
Keep in mind: this alternative is not offered on customized hosting strategies.
Is WP Engine Worth It?
Like any service, it’s not about what is finest overall, but what is best for you based upon your objectives, budget, resources & habits.
If you remain in what I think of as WP Engine’s core markets- they provide a terrific service with a strong product. As a managed WordPress host, their rates is competitive. They offer more features than “WordPress hosting” strategies from other hosting brand names. Their feature-set is unequaled for savvy DIYers, WordPress website designers and/or high-traffic sites that do not wish to worry about hosting issues.
If managed hosting is a fit for you- then go take a look at WP Engine’s strategies here View Current Plans They do a 60-day money-back assurance. So do a test set up and see what you think of their backend. Be sure to chat w/ assistance & sales.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.