There are a lot of low-cost hosts offered that provide a decent service. WPEngine Setup
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 plans that are fully enhanced for the platform. Naturally, when compared to lots of other WordPress hosts, WP Engine’s strategies aren’t precisely inexpensive. You’ll desire to know whether this hosting service is worth the cost prior to making a purchase.
To assist you out, we’re going to carry out an extensive WP Engine review for WordPress. We’ll discuss its key features, support choices, efficiency capabilities, and whatever else you’ll require to understand. Let’s get going!
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 one of the leading managed WordPress hosting business in the market. Serial business owner Jason Cohen started WP Engine when he saw a requirement for specialized WordPress hosting due to the increasing appeal 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 won numerous awards for Best Place to Work in Austin and regularly adds to the WordPress core and community.
WP Engine Features
The core reasons to pick WP Engine over more affordable WordPress hosting are increased dependability, efficiency, support, and management, however these are hard to quantify. Some functions stand apart when you search the user interface, however, that can give you some insight into the service provided.
WP Engine Page Performance is a neat tool created to help you accelerate your WordPress website by using significant metrics on performance.
Running a test returns you a page-performance report that details how quickly your page rendered, the length of time it required to fill in its entirety, and the overall size of the page. It even includes historical information on your site’s performance over the past six months and recommendations on how you can decrease 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 awkward errors on your website by making changes to a copy of your website before it goes live. This is called Staging, and it permits your designers to make substantial changes to your website without affecting your consumers.
WP Engine has a detailed list of plugins that are disallowed (Image credit: WP Engine) In a reasonably unusual move, 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 features such as caching, backups, and seo tools, WP Engine has made options readily available that do not put a high load on the server.
WP Engine Hosting Plans
WP Engine only uses managed WordPress hosting. There are five different strategies readily available: Startup, Growth, Scale, and Custom.
All strategies include endless data transfer. The strategies differ based on:
- number of WordPress installs
- traffic volume (# of visits per month)
- disk storage amount
- Customized plan consists of dedicated dev. environments, consumer success, and priority support
WP Engine includes some distinct functions for WordPress users that many hosts don’t provide, or charge additional for. These special functions consist of:.
- Git version control
- Staging: instantly produce a copy of your website for testing
- Easy transferable installs from free to paid accounts
- Leading edge innovations consisting of most current PHP version.
In our WP Engine evaluation, we discovered that WP Engine offers the most sophisticated and extensive managed WordPress hosting features.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.
User interface and in use
WP Engine’s user interface is professional and well set out, however the effective functions might imply a high 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 need to invest some time on the support site.
In our screening, the default WordPress web page filled in just over two seconds. This is among the fastest actions we’ve checked, with rival Liquid Web only a little behind.
Assistance
A handled WordPress service need to offer additional value through its support, and WP Engine provides. The assistance site consists of videos and posts of a quality you ‘d expect from a paid training course, with help on much deeper WordPress performance that lots of 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 knowledgeable. For all strategies except for single-site plans, there’s telephone assistance, too.
Pros
Extraordinary Load Speed: If site packing speed is a leading priority, WP Engine succeeds in this regard. The host’s mix of custom-made NGINX extension, integrated Content Delivery Network (CDN), and SSD innovation make sure that your web pages load quickly. NGINX extension prioritizes human requests over robotic demands and provides load balancing, offering your visitors a much better experience. For its part, CDN provides website content to your visitors based on their location to increase your website’s speed and lower latency. You get this capability for free with all WP Engine strategies.
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 ensures 99.95% server uptime, approximately 4 and a half hours of downtime a year. You can further increase your uptime to 99.99% with improved SLA, which translates 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 keeps an eye on all the traffic going to your site and instantly spots and blocks potential attacks. Furthermore, the hosting service instantly updates and spots the WordPress core to get rid of prospective vulnerabilities. In a worst-case circumstance, WP Engine automatically backups your site every day and has a one-click remediation feature to get you support and running rapidly. This hosting service secures your site against JavaScript/SQL-injection attacks, brute force attempts, and DDoS attacks.
Extraordinary Customer Support: The hosting service has a transparent and trackable ticketing system to contact consumer care through chat. The support team has an excellent knowledge base and can assist you resolve issues rapidly. You get 24/7 phone support for all plans except the Growth Plan, in addition to 24/7 live chat support on all strategies.
Useful Staging Environment: The staging area enables you to clone your website’s live variation and make changes or check new plugins and styles. Anything you do in the staging area doesn’t impact your live website. This feature allows developers to deal with sites without disrupting the live site’s functionality or user experience.
Transferable Installs: Also targeting developers, this feature permits you to develop a site from your WP Engine account. You do not need to await the customer to add you to their WordPress site. As soon as completed, you can transfer the site 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 utilizing any other content management system aside from WordPress, then you are out of luck. WP Engine just deals with WordPress. From a company point of view, it makes sense to concentrate on a single market and offer extraordinary services in that location. 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 e-mail account and register your domain through your website host, you’ll require 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 reflected in its rates structure. You will be penalized for exceeding your strategy’s visitor limits. This might not be a problem if you have foreseeable traffic, and you can always upgrade your strategy as your site grows. Significant spikes in traffic during product launches or seasonal service can cost you significant excess charges.
There is no other method to put it: WP Engine is costly. Is it worth the cost? The answer lies in determining what you are paying for.
You can get shared hosting that can manage the very same amount of traffic as WP Engine for a fraction of the rate. You can even get dedicated hosting for the same price as WP Engine. What you are actually paying for here is security, efficiency, speed, and, most notably, comfort. The ultimate question 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 think too much about upkeep, security & speed. If you look at WP Engine’s rates based on the functions you’re getting- you actually don’t get a great deal.
And if you are the type who will consider your website’s health anyway (ie, keeping WordPress updated and usually visiting regularly), you’ll likely be paying for “management” that is superfluous.
Numerous shared hosting servers can manage the exact same traffic numbers as WP Engine- and cost a portion of the rate. My personal website a shared hosting strategy from HostGator with basic caching) managed more than 15,000+ visits in a 24 hour duration when a post of mine And if you are running a reputable VPS, you can definitely handle a lot more for much less. The website you are on deals with more than 110,000+ visits per month with plenty 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 strategy.
They are relatively transparent about how they count gos to, however it can still be rather a surprise for “little” website owners how quickly they can enter into the $290 each month tier. I have a client who began with the Startup strategy, but quickly ended up with a custom plan.
And as discussed earlier that does not even include many of the features you do not get with WP Engine’s strategies. You can’t run any e-mail 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 notably for me- you are restricted on your installs. If you have a few side projects or low-traffic test sites, you have to factor those into the rate. You can’t use them to spread out the cost of your plan- especially 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 & serve up your site files- WP Engine is a pricey option, specifically compared to other non-managed hosting options.
Startup
The Startup package is the most basic plan and will set you back $25 per month. With this bundle, you get:.
25,000 check outs monthly.
50GB bandwidth each month.
10GB storage.
One site included.
WP Engine targets little websites and blog sites with this plan, however we believe it might 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 do not want to take any chances with uptime or require an assurance that your website can manage 25,000 visitors monthly, WP Engine is a certainty. We ‘d suggest this alternative to small companies, affiliate sites, and blog sites making good cash and desire guarantees that nothing will alter.
You can conserve $60 per year or more months free if you pay annually.
Growth
The development plan targets growing companies and will cost you $95 each month. Here you get:.
100,000 check outs monthly.
200GB bandwidth each month.
25GB storage.
10 sites consisted of a while.
This strategy is a terrific entry point for a growing company, and it might be a while before you require to upgrade. With this plan, you likewise get 24/7 phone support in addition to day-and-night chat assistance. This addition will can be found in convenient if you have a complicated issue that you require to deal with quickly.
You can save a cool $230 or two months free with yearly billing.
Scale
WP Engine promotes its scale plan as the very best value option. This one expenses $241 monthly. 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 or organization. You get access to 24/7 live chat and 24/7 phone support in addition to the support center.
You can save $580 or two months totally free with annual pre-paid billing.
Custom
If you have a mission-critical website or large business, the Custom strategy might be appealing. With this strategy, you get:.
Millions of sees monthly.
400GB+ bandwidth per month.
100GB-1TB storage.
30 sites consisted of.
You will need to speak with a sales associate to get your customized quote depending on your requirements. This strategy also provides proprietary assistance ought to something fail.
Migrate WordPress websites in just a few clicks.
Solid Uptime
WP Engine achieves over 99% uptime thanks to its first-rate network facilities.
The company also has 3 data centers in London, Tokyo, and Midwest USA.
As a result, you can improve site speeds by choosing to host your site on servers that are closest to your target market.
WP Engine obstructs malicious attacks on your site.
Speed & Performance
There are a lot of variables that go into website speed, however the rule of thumb is that the more complex your site is, the more complex the services to speed ended up being.
Out of the box- WordPress is relatively lean and quick. If you are running a mainly text website with a couple of basic plugins and a few little images, you’ll be great with an economical shared hosting strategy from somebody like InMotion HostGator Bluehost But couple of site owners keep their WordPress set up lean. There’s typically additional plugins, custom style files, lots of images, widgets, advertisements, kinds and more.
All these features combined with good levels of traffic can start to decrease your WordPress setup.
A sluggish website does not mean that you need a bigger, better server. It does mean that you need to get smarter about speed. Sometimes it’s as easy as getting a more powerful server, however often it’s more about caching certain resources in a particular order and optimizing your files. Simply put- 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 grumbling that your truck is not big enough when you might just require to eliminate the emergency brake, install a turbocharger, revitalize the transmission fluid and combine your load.
The point is that WordPress needs help to remain fast as you grow. There are lots of solutions … however either you or a designer should implement them.
That’s where handled WordPress hosting is available in. WP Engine takes care of (nearly) all speed issues. They have tailored servers with exceptionally aggressive caching and even more advanced “stack” than a normal web host. They also have actually trained support who will enter into your WordPress install and identify the precise chokepoint to get your website moving.
They don’t even allow caching plugins on their installs due to the fact that they have such a customized 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 puffed up 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 information to start filling the page.
It’s nice to have that type of speed right out of the box- and have it stay that way no matter how big or complex the site 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 might get with other services given that you are free to focus on speed aspects that you can easily manage like image compression, use of scripts, etc
. The last observation on speed- WP Engine not only supplies an integrated CDN, however they likewise offer global 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 exactly that. And considering that they work on Google Cloud, you do not have to fret about uptime either.
CDN Included
All strategies include an international CDN (material shipment network).
The CDN will assist your site load fast for customers worldwide 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 firm. Regularly the “open doors” are plugins that weren’t upgraded.
Protecting websites is among the strong suits of WP Engine’s handled WordPress hosting service.
The company takes numerous measures to secure WordPress websites:.
WP Engine runs daily malware/virus scans in partnership with Sucuri.
They keep an eye on an upgraded firewall to obstruct the most recent threats.
All sites are backed up daily.
You get a one-click bring back function that can assist 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 assistance for any questions regarding security.
They offer webinars on security.
They publish security standards and lists for designers and engineers.
If your site gets hacked, WPE will clean it totally free.
Online Resources
WP Engine provides webinars, guides, post, updates, tutorials, and a knowledgebase. With these you can find out how to:.
Launch your very first website.
Troubleshoot typical issues.
Make improvements to your website.
Handle your hosting account with higher effectiveness.
Both novices and experienced WordPress site owners will find the support documents vital.
WP Engine’s 60-Day Guarantee
WP Engine’s 60-day money-back warranty on all membership charges is distinct in the hosting market.
It allows you to try out the service in a risk-free way.
Keep in mind: this alternative is not available on custom-made 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 on your objectives, budget plan, resources & habits.
If you remain in what I consider WP Engine’s core markets- they use a great service with a strong product. As a managed WordPress host, their prices is competitive. They use more features than “WordPress hosting” plans from other hosting brands. Their feature-set is unmatched for smart DIYers, WordPress site designers and/or high-traffic websites that do not want to worry about hosting problems.
If managed 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 assurance. So do a test set up 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.