There are plenty of low-cost hosts offered that provide a decent service. WPEngine Roles
However, what if you’re searching for more of a performance-oriented, concierge service? In that case, you’ll want to have a look at our WP Engine evaluation for WordPress.
WP Engine is a WordPress-specific web host, using managed plans that are fully enhanced for the platform. Obviously, when compared to many other WordPress hosts, WP Engine’s plans aren’t precisely inexpensive. Therefore, you’ll wish to know whether this hosting service is worth the expense prior to purchasing.
To help you out, we’re going to carry out a thorough WP Engine evaluation for WordPress. We’ll discuss its crucial functions, support alternatives, performance capabilities, and everything else you’ll need to know. Let’s begin!
WP Engine Video Review
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oklmdvSL7s
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About WP Engine
Founded in 2010, WP Engine is now among the leading managed WordPress hosting business in the market. Serial entrepreneur Jason Cohen started WP Engine when he saw a requirement 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 adds to the WordPress core and community.
WP Engine Features
The core reasons to choose WP Engine over more affordable WordPress hosting are increased reliability, performance, support, and management, however these are tough to measure. Some features stand apart when you browse the interface, nevertheless, that can offer you some insight into the service used.
WP Engine Page Performance is a cool tool created to help you accelerate your WordPress website by offering meaningful metrics on performance.
Running a test returns you a page-performance report that information how quickly your page rendered, for how long it took to pack in its totality, and the total size of the page. It even consists of historical data on your website’s efficiency over the past six months and suggestions on how you can reduce page load.
You can develop your WordPress website in a Staging or Development environment prior to making the changes live (Image credit: WP Engine) Avoid embarrassing mistakes on your site by making changes to a copy of your site prior to it goes live. This is called Staging, and it enables your designers to make comprehensive changes to your website without affecting your clients.
WP Engine has an extensive list of plugins that are prohibited (Image credit: WP Engine) In a relatively uncommon move, WP Engine restricts the WordPress plugins you can set up. Those generally limited are plugins that have been noted to trigger performance problems and security holes. For important features such as caching, backups, and search engine optimization tools, WP Engine has actually made options readily available that do not put a high load on the server.
WP Engine Hosting Plans
WP Engine only provides handled WordPress hosting. There are 5 different strategies available: Startup, Growth, Scale, and Custom.
All strategies include limitless information transfer. The plans differ based on:
- number of WordPress installs
- traffic volume (# of visits per month)
- disk storage amount
- Custom-made strategy consists of dedicated dev. environments, consumer success, and priority assistance
WP Engine consists of some unique features for WordPress users that many hosts do not offer, or charge additional for. These unique features consist of:.
- Git version control
- Staging: quickly create a copy of your site for testing
- Easy transferable installs from complimentary to paid accounts
- Leading edge technologies consisting of newest PHP version.
In our WP Engine review, we found that WP Engine offers the most innovative and thorough 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 laid out, but the effective features might imply 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 require to invest some time on the assistance site.
In our screening, the default WordPress web page filled in just over 2 seconds. This is among the fastest reactions we’ve checked, with competitor Liquid Web just a little behind.
Support
A handled WordPress service need to provide additional value through its support, and WP Engine delivers. The support website consists of videos and articles of a quality you ‘d anticipate from a paid training course, with help on deeper WordPress functionality that numerous WordPress hosts don’t enter into.
There’s 24/7 live chat assistance and a ticket system, too. In our testing, the action was quick and the representative well-informed. For all plans except for single-site plans, there’s telephone assistance, too.
Pros
Remarkable Load Speed: If website packing speed is a leading concern, WP Engine does well in this regard. The host’s mix of customized NGINX extension, integrated Content Delivery Network (CDN), and SSD technology ensure that your websites load rapidly. NGINX extension prioritizes human requests over robot demands and uses load balancing, providing your visitors a better experience. For its part, CDN delivers website content to your visitors based upon their area to enhance your site’s speed and decrease latency. You get this ability free of charge with all WP Engine plans.
High Performance: It’s tough to beat WP Engine’s efficiency, which is why individuals continue to pay a premium rate for this service. WP Engine guarantees 99.95% server uptime, roughly 4 and a half hours of downtime a year. You can further increase your uptime to 99.99% with improved 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 monitors all the traffic going to your site and instantly spots and blocks prospective attacks. In addition, the hosting service immediately updates and patches the WordPress core to get rid of possible vulnerabilities. In a worst-case situation, WP Engine automatically backups your site every day and has a one-click restoration function to get you support and running quickly. Finally, this hosting service safeguards your site versus JavaScript/SQL-injection attacks, strength attempts, and DDoS attacks.
Sensational Customer Support: The hosting service has a transparent and trackable ticketing system to contact customer care through chat. The support team has an excellent knowledge base and can help you resolve problems quickly. You get 24/7 phone support for all strategies 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 site’s live version and make changes or evaluate brand-new plugins and styles. Anything you carry out in the staging area doesn’t affect your live website. This function allows designers to work on sites without interfering with the live website’s functionality or user experience.
Transferable Installs: Also targeting designers, 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 site. When finished, you can transfer the site 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 utilizing any other content management system aside from WordPress, then you run out luck. WP Engine just deals with WordPress. From a service perspective, it makes sense to focus on a single market and deal exceptional services in that location. This design locks out lots of 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 require to look somewhere else. You’ll have to utilize third-party services for domain registration or e-mail accounts.
Inflexible Pricing: WP Engine runs a tight ship, and this is shown in its rates structure. You will be penalized for surpassing your strategy’s visitor limits. This may not be an issue if you have predictable traffic, and you can always update your strategy as your site grows. However, substantial spikes in traffic throughout product launches or seasonal company can cost you considerable overage charges.
There is no other method to put it: WP Engine is pricey. Is it worth the expense? The response lies in finding out what you are spending for.
You can get shared hosting that can manage the same amount of traffic as WP Engine for a fraction of the rate. You can even get committed hosting for the exact same cost as WP Engine. What you are truly paying for here is security, efficiency, speed, and, most importantly, assurance. The ultimate question 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 strategy, you are usually paying for efficiency & not having to think too much about maintenance, security & speed. If you look at WP Engine’s rates based on the functions you’re getting- you actually don’t get a whole lot.
And if you are the type who will consider your site’s health anyhow (ie, keeping WordPress upgraded and normally logging in frequently), you’ll likely be spending for “management” that is unnecessary.
Numerous shared hosting servers can deal with the same traffic numbers as WP Engine- and cost a fraction of the cost. My individual website a shared hosting plan from HostGator with basic caching) handled more than 15,000+ visits in a 24 hour period when a post of mine And if you are running a reputable VPS, you can certainly manage a lot more for much less. In fact, the website you are on deals with more than 110,000+ sees each month with lots of space left to spare for side-projects, gigabytes of media, email, 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 fairly transparent about how they count gos to, however it can still be quite a surprise for “small” website owners how quickly they can enter the $290 each month tier. I have a client who started with the Startup strategy, but rapidly wound up with a custom-made plan.
And as pointed out earlier that doesn’t even include many 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 extra costs & technical implementation of Amazon cloud services.
And most notably 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 utilize them to spread out the cost of your strategy- particularly if you are hitting your visitor cap instead of your set up cap.
If you are looking to pay for hosting- ie, a server that will hold & serve up your site files- WP Engine is an expensive alternative, specifically compared to other non-managed hosting choices.
Startup
The Startup package is one of the most basic plan and will set you back $25 monthly. With this bundle, you get:.
25,000 check outs monthly.
50GB bandwidth each month.
10GB storage.
One website included.
WP Engine targets small websites and blog sites with this strategy, however we think it might be overkill for the majority of people in this classification. You can get a far much better handle shared hosting at Bluehost However, if you do not wish to take any possibilities with uptime or require a warranty that your website can handle 25,000 visitors monthly, WP Engine is a sure bet. We ‘d suggest this choice to small businesses, affiliate websites, and blog sites making great money and desire assurances that absolutely nothing will alter.
You can save $60 per year or 2 months totally free if you pay every year.
Growth
The growth strategy targets growing companies and will cost you $95 per month. Here you get:.
100,000 check outs each month.
200GB bandwidth each month.
25GB storage.
Ten websites included a while.
This plan is a terrific entry point for a growing service, and it might be a while before you require to upgrade. With this plan, you likewise get 24/7 phone assistance in addition to round-the-clock chat assistance. This addition will be available in helpful if you have a complicated issue that you require to fix rapidly.
You can conserve a cool $230 or two months totally free with yearly billing.
Scale
WP Engine advertises its scale plan as the very best worth choice. This one expenses $241 monthly. Here you get:.
400,000 check outs per month.
500GB bandwidth monthly.
50GB storage.
30 websites included.
We advise this option for a fast-growing blog or organization. You get access to 24/7 live chat and 24/7 phone assistance in addition to the support.
You can save $580 or more months free with annual pre-paid billing.
Custom-made
If you have a mission-critical website or big service, the Custom strategy may be appealing. With this plan, you get:.
Millions of check outs per month.
400GB+ bandwidth per month.
100GB-1TB storage.
30 websites consisted of.
You will have to speak with a sales associate to get your personalized quote depending upon your requirements. This plan also offers exclusive assistance needs to something fail.
Migrate WordPress websites in just a few clicks.
Solid Uptime
WP Engine achieves over 99% uptime thanks to its world-class network facilities.
The business likewise has 3 data centers in London, Tokyo, and Midwest USA.
As a result, you can get better website speeds by choosing to host your site on servers that are closest to your target audience.
WP Engine blocks 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 complex the solutions to speed ended up being.
Out of the box- WordPress is relatively lean and quick. If you are running a primarily text site with a few standard plugins and a few small images, you’ll be fine with a cost effective shared hosting plan from someone like InMotion HostGator Bluehost But couple of site owners keep their WordPress install lean. There’s usually additional plugins, customized theme files, lots of images, widgets, advertisements, kinds and more.
All these features combined with decent levels of traffic can begin to decrease your WordPress setup.
A sluggish site doesn’t indicate that you need a bigger, better server. It does suggest that you require to get smarter about speed. In some cases it’s as easy as getting a more powerful server, however often it’s more about caching specific resources in a specific order and enhancing your files. Simply put- it gets complex.
Imagine you are attempting to carry 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 might just require to remove the emergency brake, install a turbocharger, revitalize the transmission fluid and combine your load.
The point is that WordPress needs help to remain quickly as you grow. There are plenty of services … but either you or a developer should execute them.
That’s where managed WordPress hosting can be found in. WP Engine looks after (almost) all speed issues. They have customized servers with exceptionally aggressive caching and much more sophisticated “stack” than a common webhosting. They likewise have actually trained support who will go into your WordPress install and identify the precise chokepoint to get your website moving.
They do not even enable caching plugins on their installs because they have actually such a personalized caching setup.
The interesting 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 one of my clients on WP Engine (who has a bloated style, additional scripts, too many 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 information to begin loading the page.
It’s great to have that kind of speed right out of the box- and have it stay that way no matter how big or intricate 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 given that you are totally free to concentrate on speed aspects that you can quickly manage like image compression, usage of scripts, etc
. The last observation on speed- WP Engine not just offers an integrated CDN, but they likewise supply international data 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 because they operate on Google Cloud, you don’t need to worry about uptime either.
CDN Included
All strategies consist of a global CDN (content delivery network).
The CDN will help your site load fast for customers 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 websites are WordPress sites, according to Sucuri, a web security company. Frequently the “open doors” are plugins that weren’t updated.
Securing websites is one of the strong suits of WP Engine’s managed WordPress hosting service.
The company takes several steps 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 obstruct the latest hazards.
All sites are backed up daily.
You get a one-click restore function that can help you recover 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 questions concerning security.
They provide webinars on security.
They publish security guidelines and checklists for designers and engineers.
If your site gets hacked, WPE will clean it for free.
Online Resources
WP Engine provides webinars, guides, article, updates, tutorials, and a knowledgebase. With these you can find out how to:.
Release your very first website.
Troubleshoot common problems.
Make improvements to your site.
Manage your hosting account with greater performance.
Both beginners and experienced WordPress site owners will discover the assistance documents important.
WP Engine’s 60-Day Guarantee
WP Engine’s 60-day money-back warranty on all membership charges is unique in the hosting industry.
It allows you to check out the service in a safe way.
Note: this choice is not available on custom-made 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 on your objectives, budget, resources & routines.
If you remain in what I consider WP Engine’s core markets- they offer a great service with a solid product. 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 unrivaled for smart DIYers, WordPress site designers and/or high-traffic websites that do not want to fret about hosting issues.
If managed hosting is a suitable for you- then go have 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/ support & sales.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.