There are a lot of low-cost hosts offered that offer a good service. WPEngine Uptime Guarantee
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 web host, providing handled plans that are fully enhanced for the platform. Of course, 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 before making a purchase.
To help you out, we’re going to carry out an extensive WP Engine review for WordPress. We’ll discuss its key functions, support options, performance capabilities, and everything else you’ll require to know. Let’s get going!
WP Engine Video Review
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About WP Engine
Founded in 2010, WP Engine is now one of the leading handled WordPress hosting companies in the market. Serial entrepreneur Jason Cohen started 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 workplaces 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 neighborhood.
WP Engine Features
The core reasons to select WP Engine over cheaper WordPress hosting are increased reliability, efficiency, support, and management, but these are hard to measure. Some features stick out when you search the user interface, however, that can provide you some insight into the service offered.
WP Engine Page Performance is a neat tool developed to assist you accelerate your WordPress site by providing significant metrics on performance.
Running a test returns you a page-performance report that information how quickly your page rendered, the length of time it took to load in its totality, and the overall size of the page. It even consists of historical information on your site’s performance over the past 6 months and recommendations on how you can decrease page load.
You can establish your WordPress website in a Staging or Development environment before 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 allows your designers to make comprehensive changes to your website without impacting your consumers.
WP Engine has a detailed list of plugins that are disallowed (Image credit: WP Engine) In a fairly uncommon move, WP Engine limits the WordPress plugins you can install. Those usually limited are plugins that have actually been kept in mind to cause performance problems and security holes. For important functions such as caching, backups, and seo tools, WP Engine has made options available that do not put a high load on the server.
WP Engine Hosting Plans
WP Engine only provides managed WordPress hosting. There are 5 various strategies available: Startup, Growth, Scale, and Custom.
All plans include unlimited information transfer. The strategies differ based upon:
- number of WordPress installs
- traffic volume (# of visits per month)
- disk storage amount
- Custom strategy consists of dedicated dev. environments, client success, and priority support
WP Engine includes some unique functions for WordPress users that many hosts do not use, or charge additional for. These unique features include:.
- Git version control
- Staging: immediately develop a copy of your site for screening
- Easy transferable installs from complimentary to paid accounts
- Leading edge technologies including most current PHP variation.
In our WP Engine evaluation, we discovered that WP Engine offers the most innovative and comprehensive managed WordPress hosting functions.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.
User interface and in use
WP Engine’s interface is professional and well laid out, however the powerful features might mean a steep knowing curve for inexperienced users. If you have an understanding of terms like Git, CNAME, and reroute guidelines, you’ll be right at home here, however otherwise you’ll need to spend a long time on the assistance site.
In our testing, the default WordPress home page filled in simply over two seconds. This is one of the fastest responses we’ve checked, with competitor Liquid Web only slightly behind.
Assistance
A managed WordPress service should use extra value through its support, and WP Engine provides. The support website includes videos and short articles of a quality you ‘d get out of a paid training course, with assistance on much deeper WordPress functionality that lots of WordPress hosts don’t go into.
There’s 24/7 live chat assistance and a ticket system, too. In our testing, the reaction fasted and the representative experienced. For all plans except for single-site plans, there’s telephone assistance, too.
Pros
Extraordinary Load Speed: If site filling 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 technology guarantee that your websites load rapidly. NGINX extension prioritizes human demands over robot requests and uses load balancing, providing your visitors a better experience. For its part, CDN provides site content to your visitors based on their location to improve your website’s speed and decrease latency. You get this capability for free with all WP Engine strategies.
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 guarantees 99.95% server uptime, roughly four and a half hours of downtime a year. You can even more increase your uptime to 99.99% with enhanced 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 below the assurance.
Advanced Security: WP Engine keeps an eye on all the traffic going to your website and immediately detects and obstructs possible attacks. Additionally, the hosting service automatically updates and spots the WordPress core to remove potential vulnerabilities. In a worst-case circumstance, WP Engine automatically backups your website every day and has a one-click remediation feature to get you back up and running quickly. Lastly, this hosting service secures your site against JavaScript/SQL-injection attacks, strength attempts, and DDoS attacks.
Incredible 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 assist you fix problems quickly. You get 24/7 phone assistance for all strategies 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 variation and make changes or evaluate new plugins and themes. Anything you perform in the staging area doesn’t affect your live website. This function allows developers to work on sites without disrupting the live website’s performance or user experience.
Transferable Installs: Also targeting developers, this feature allows you to construct a website from your WP Engine account. You do not need to await the client to add you to their WordPress website. When completed, you can transfer the website to the client or host the site on WP Engine. This performance saves time if you routinely 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 an organization viewpoint, it makes good sense to focus on a single market and offer exceptional services because area. However, this design locks out lots of people who might 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 site 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 a problem if you have foreseeable traffic, and you can always upgrade your plan as your website grows. Considerable spikes in traffic throughout item launches or seasonal organization can cost you significant overage charges.
There is no other method to put it: WP Engine is expensive. Is it worth the expense? The answer lies in finding out what you are spending for.
You can get shared hosting that can handle the exact same quantity of traffic as WP Engine for a portion of the rate. You can even get committed hosting for the exact same rate as WP Engine. What you are actually spending for here is security, performance, speed, and, most significantly, assurance. 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 normally spending for performance & not needing to believe too much about upkeep, security & speed. If you take a look at WP Engine’s prices based on the functions you’re getting- you really don’t get a lot.
And if you are the type who will consider your site’s health anyhow (ie, keeping WordPress upgraded and normally visiting often), you’ll likely be paying for “management” that is superfluous.
Lots of shared hosting servers can manage the exact same traffic numbers as WP Engine- and cost a portion of the price. My individual website 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 trusted VPS, you can definitely handle a lot more for much less. In fact, the site you are on handles more than 110,000+ sees each month with a lot 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 relatively transparent about how they count check outs, however it can still be quite a surprise for “small” website owners how rapidly they can enter into the $290 per month tier. I have a client who started with the Startup strategy, however quickly ended up with a custom-made strategy.
And as discussed previously that does not even consist of a number 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 extra expenses & technical implementation of Amazon cloud services.
And most significantly for me- you are limited on your installs. If you have a couple of side projects or low-traffic test websites, you have to factor those into the price. You can’t utilize them to expand the expense of your plan- specifically if you are hitting your visitor cap instead of your install cap.
If you are looking to pay for hosting- ie, a server that will hold & dish out your website files- WP Engine is a costly option, particularly compared to other non-managed hosting choices.
Startup
The Startup package is the most basic strategy and will set you back $25 per month. With this package, you get:.
25,000 sees each month.
50GB bandwidth monthly.
10GB storage.
One site included.
WP Engine targets small sites and blog sites with this strategy, however we believe it may be overkill for many people in this classification. You can get a far better handle shared hosting at Bluehost However, if you don’t want to take any possibilities with uptime or require an assurance that your website can manage 25,000 visitors each month, WP Engine is a sure bet. We ‘d advise this alternative to small companies, affiliate sites, and blog sites making great money and want guarantees that absolutely nothing will change.
You can save $60 each year or two months complimentary if you pay every year.
Growth
The development plan targets growing businesses and will cost you $95 per month. Here you get:.
100,000 visits each month.
200GB bandwidth monthly.
25GB storage.
Ten sites included a while.
This strategy is an excellent entry point for a growing organization, and it might be a while prior to you need to upgrade. With this strategy, you likewise get 24/7 phone support in addition to round-the-clock chat assistance. This addition will can be found in useful if you have a complicated concern that you need to resolve rapidly.
You can conserve a cool $230 or two months totally free with annual billing.
Scale
WP Engine advertises its scale strategy as the best value alternative. This one expenses $241 each month. Here you get:.
400,000 visits each month.
500GB bandwidth monthly.
50GB storage.
30 websites included.
We advise this choice for a fast-growing blog or company. You get access to 24/7 live chat and 24/7 phone support in addition to the assistance center.
You can save $580 or two months complimentary with annual pre-paid billing.
Customized
Lastly, if you have a mission-critical website or big business, the Custom plan might be appealing. With this strategy, you get:.
Countless check outs monthly.
400GB+ bandwidth per month.
100GB-1TB storage.
30 websites consisted of.
You will need to speak to a sales representative to get your personalized quote depending upon your requirements. This strategy likewise provides proprietary support needs to something go wrong.
Migrate WordPress websites in just a few clicks.
Strong Uptime
WP Engine attains over 99% uptime thanks to its first-rate network infrastructure.
The company also has three data centers in London, Tokyo, and Midwest USA.
As a result, you can get better site speeds by picking to host your website on servers that are closest to your target audience.
WP Engine blocks malicious attacks on your site.
Speed & Performance
There are a lot of variables that enter into website speed, however the general rule is that the more intricate your website is, the more complicated the services to speed ended up being.
Out of the box- WordPress is fairly lean and quick. If you are running a mainly text website with a couple of basic plugins and a couple of small images, you’ll be fine with a cost effective shared hosting strategy from someone like InMotion HostGator Bluehost But couple of website owners keep their WordPress install lean. There’s typically extra plugins, customized style files, lots of images, widgets, ads, types and more.
All these features combined with good levels of traffic can start to slow down your WordPress installation.
However a sluggish site does not suggest that you require a bigger, better server. It does indicate that you need to get smarter about speed. Sometimes it’s as basic as getting a more powerful server, but sometimes it’s more about caching specific resources in a specific order and enhancing your files. In other words- it gets complex.
Picture you are attempting to carry a trailer with a pickup truck. Picture your trailer keeps getting heavier. It’s meaningless to keep grumbling that your truck is not big enough when you may just require to remove the emergency brake, set up a turbocharger, revitalize the transmission fluid and consolidate your load.
The point is that WordPress requires help to stay quick as you grow. There are lots of solutions … however either you or a designer must execute them.
That’s where handled WordPress hosting comes in. WP Engine takes care of (almost) all speed issues. They have personalized servers with exceptionally aggressive caching and much more sophisticated “stack” than a typical webhosting. They also have trained support who will go into your WordPress install and recognize the exact chokepoint to get your site moving.
They don’t even allow caching plugins on their installs due to the fact that they have such a tailored caching setup.
The fascinating thing is that even unoptimized WordPress installs still succeed on their platform due to the fact that their platform does the additional work.
Here’s the speed test for one of my clients on WP Engine (who has a bloated theme, extra scripts, too many uncompressed images, among other things)- Note the Time To First Byte and the Start Render numbers. That measures 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 huge or complex the website 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 may get with other services since you are free to focus on speed factors that you can quickly manage like image compression, use of scripts, etc
. The last observation on speed- WP Engine not just provides an integrated CDN, however they also offer 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 operate on Google Cloud, you do not need to fret about uptime either.
CDN Included
All plans consist of a worldwide CDN (content delivery network).
The CDN will assist your website load quick for consumers worldwide 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 company. Frequently the “open doors” are plugins that weren’t upgraded.
Protecting sites is among the fortes of WP Engine’s handled WordPress hosting service.
The business takes numerous procedures to protect WordPress sites:.
WP Engine runs daily malware/virus scans in collaboration with Sucuri.
They keep an eye on an updated firewall program to block the latest risks.
All websites 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 site provides 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 relating to security.
They supply webinars on security.
They release security guidelines and checklists for designers and engineers.
If your site gets hacked, WPE will clean it free of charge.
Online Resources
WP Engine supplies webinars, guides, post, updates, tutorials, and a knowledgebase. With these you can learn how to:.
Introduce your first website.
Troubleshoot common problems.
Make improvements to your website.
Manage your hosting account with higher effectiveness.
Both beginners and knowledgeable WordPress website owners will find the support documentation invaluable.
WP Engine’s 60-Day Guarantee
WP Engine’s 60-day money-back guarantee on all subscription costs is special in the hosting market.
It enables you to experiment with the service in a risk-free way.
Note: this choice is not offered on custom hosting plans.
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 goals, budget, resources & routines.
If you remain in what I think of as WP Engine’s core markets- they provide a great service with a solid item. As a managed WordPress host, their pricing is competitive. They offer more functions than “WordPress hosting” plans from other hosting brands. Their feature-set is unequaled for smart DIYers, WordPress website designers and/or high-traffic sites that do not want to worry about hosting issues.
If handled 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 warranty. Do a test install and see what you think of their backend. Make certain to chat w/ assistance & sales.
Get 3 months free when you sign up for WP Engine.