Businesses and individuals alike are moving into the digital space simply because that’s where the audience can be found nowadays. With this in mind, most people decided to use WordPress to solidify their online presence, especially as a content management system.
As a result, most web hosting services focus on catering to WordPress. WP Engine, for instance, offers high-quality managed hosting services optimized for its users. But among the best web hosts, why should you go for WP Engine? Today, we will find out in this WP Engine review.
Getting To Know WP Engine
Since 2010, WP Engine has been a solid option for a secure, fast-loading, and optimized WordPress site. If you are the type of person who prefers a hands-off approach to websites, WP Engine is an excellent choice for you.
What does WP Engine do? When it comes to hosting needs, WP Engine covers all of the bases. Most people enjoy using WP Engine, mainly because it offers multiple backups, free SSL certificates, customer support, quick and easy migration, and plenty of performance tracking options.
Once you sign up and pay for WP Engine, you’ll start leasing your hosting from Google so you can stop worrying about the site going down. Next, you may also improve the speed of your site through WordPress-configured cloud services.
Moreover, you get the essentials your website needs to work together — a content distribution network, SSL to secure your site, and a way to connect your domain to the host.
WP Engine: Pros And Cons
WP Engine hosting is a popular option with many satisfied users, mainly because of its high-quality services and excellent uptime. However, it is not perfect, and it has a few downsides.
Here are the pros and cons of choosing WP Engine as your site’s host.
Pros
WP Engine has satisfied most of its customers, especially as it lives up to its promise of security, speed, and customer service. Here are some of the biggest advantages you can enjoy with WP Engine:
- Fast Loading Times: WP Engine combines the built-in Content Delivery Network, SSD technology, and a custom NGINX extension to ensure that pages load quickly and give your website visitors a better experience.
- High Performance: WP Engine delivers a performance that’s hard to beat. With a 99.95% server uptime, customers are willing to spend the premium price to ensure your site is available 24/7 except for roughly four hours of downtime a year.
- Enhanced Security: Included in WP Engine plans is traffic monitoring to your site. This service includes detecting and blocking all potential attacks. Plus, you can also avoid possible vulnerabilities through automatic daily backups.
- Excellent Customer Support: WP Engine offers excellent customer support, with 24/7 phone and live chat support in their plans. You will also benefit from a transparent and trackable ticketing system and a knowledge resource to solve problems.
- Effective Staging Environment: WP Engine gives access to a staging area so you can duplicate a live version for testing new themes, layouts, and designs. This way, your developers won’t have to interfere with user functionality and experience during site improvement.
- Transferable Installs: WP Engine allows you to build a website from your account. Developers no longer need to worry about getting added to the WordPress account, allowing you to save valuable time.
Cons
Just like other services, WP Engine cannot satisfy all types of customers. Here are some complaints and improvement points for this service:
- Limited To WordPress Only: If you’re used to other types of content management systems, WP Engine won’t be able to serve you. It is solely dedicated to helping WordPress websites, which locks out other people who could benefit from its features.
- No Domains Or Email Hosting: WP Engine is also limited to web hosting. So if you want domain registration or email hosting, WP Engine may not be for you. Instead, you’d have to use third-party services.
- Unfavorable Pricing: WP Engine operates on a very tight pricing plan. This means that if you extend the limits of your current plan, you will be penalized, and you’d be required to pay more.
WP Engine: Plans And Pricing
At first glance, it’s very obvious that WP Engine requires a higher investment. You can choose depending on your budget, as well as the specific features you need. Here are the available WP Engine plans and the features they come with:
- Startup Package: WP Engine’s most basic offering is the Startup Package which costs $25 per month paid annually. It is the ideal option for small websites and blogs, only being able to accommodate one website with 25,000 monthly visits, 10GB storage, and 50GB bandwidth.
- Professional Package: If your business is a little larger, the Professional Package will be a better option. Costing $45 monthly with an annual plan, you will be able to enjoy its services for three websites, 75,000 visits, 15GB storage, and 125GB bandwidth per month.
- Growth Plan: For fast-growing businesses, the Growth Plan for $95 per month would be the best pick. Here, you get 10 sites, 25GB storage, 200GB bandwidth monthly. Plus, you get 24/7 customer support for issues you want to solve right away.
- Scale Plan: WP Engine’s advertised best value option, the Scale Plan, costs $241 per month with coverage for 30 websites. With this plan, you get 400,000 visits, 500GB bandwidth, and 50GB storage. For a quickly growing business, this is the recommended option.
- Custom Plan: Lastly, if you have specific needs for a large business or a mission-critical website, the Custom Plan is the best choice. This plan allows you millions of visits, 1TB storage, 400GB bandwidth per month for up to 30 sites.
WP Engine: Ease Of Use
Once you sign in, one thing you’ll notice is that WP Engine is more developer-focused. This means that beginner users might have to adjust to a learning curve before they feel comfortable handling WP Engine. However, if you are a developer with prior experience, you’d feel that it is quite easy.
If you are a newbie, there is a plethora of information available on the internet if you want to learn more. You can go through checklists and knowledge bases to help you get started or fix issues you encounter along the way.
WP Engine: Security Features
WP Engine prides itself on the essential security features they offer.
First, for those that sell products online, the Security Socket Layer (SSL) certificate adds a layer of security to protect the data as they travel from customers to the site’s servers. Additionally, WP Engine performs malware scans every day to block the latest threats.
Aside from that, WP Engine offers real-time threat detection, free hacking remediation, and enterprise-grade firewalls by WordPress-trained security experts.
WP Engine: Product Offerings
WP Engine offers four categories for their product offerings:
- Creative Agility (Site Building & Management): In the digital age, customers expect brands to move fast. With WP Engine, you can expect tools that will help you build, manage, personalize, and publish quickly.
- Ecosystem Integration (Open Source Flexibility): With WP Engine, you can leverage WordPress’ open framework to open more opportunities for your business. You can integrate the CMS with other technologies and world-class software for a more innovative digital experience.
- Enterprise Performance (Site Speed, Scale & Security): WP Engine also offers to deliver secure digital experiences. Users will be able to enjoy cloud-based solutions to give the website a boost in scalability, whether you’re a starting website or a quickly growing eCommerce store, while ensuring everything is done with speed and security.
- Actionable Intelligence (Site Analytics): Make better marketing and development decisions for your websites through the Performance Intelligence suite in WP Engine. You can know your audience better and improve what you offer through Page Speed Insights, Site Speed Testing, and Application Monitoring features.
Other Hosting Alternatives For WordPress
WP Engine is a reliable choice if you have enough budget. There’s no denying, however, that it’s not the best choice if you can’t afford something expensive.
If you like WP Engine but are looking for something in your price range, here are some alternatives you may consider:
- Bluehost: Since its launch in 2003, Bluehost has been considered one of the most established and well-known web hosting brands. It’s one of the most popular web hosting services on the internet, especially for new websites.
- SiteGround: SiteGround is an openly recommended solution for WordPress.org. It is abundant for its WordPress-specific features, competitive pricing, and numerous support options. In particular, the SuperCaching feature optimizes loading times for speed.
- DreamHost: DreamHost offers general-purpose hosting plans. They cater to WordPress websites and leading WordPress alternatives. With DreamHost, you can get an automatically updated website, a free subscription to JetPack premium, and extra security for the site.
Frequently Asked Questions
To help your decision if WP Engine is best for you, here are some of the most popular questions about it:
Is WP Engine a plugin?
WP Engine is not a plugin. It is a premium dedicated hosting platform that offers plans for your website needs, including web hosting services.
What does WP Engine run on?
WP Engine utilizes the Google Cloud Platform for most of its plans, combined with a Content Delivery Network.
Is WP Engine fast?
WP Engine is considered one of the fastest platforms for WordPress. The site claims its services are 40% faster than its competition.
The Final Verdict
WP Engine provides valuable WordPress hosting options, stellar customer service, flexible plans, a cloud-based platform, and reliable uptime. It is an excellent web hosting service you should include on your radar, as long as you are okay with using a third-party option for domain registration and email hosting.
Finding the right web hosting service can be difficult, especially if you don’t have the time and experience. If you want to make the best decision, make sure you seek help from the experts. If you wish to learn how to optimize your WordPress site, check out this article from Page Kits.
