If you’re looking for a new managed hosting provider, this WP Engine overview may convince you to add this name to your shortlist.
WP Engine is one of the most reliable and trusted hosting providers on the market, but if you’re unfamiliar with a managed service, knowing what to expect can be a headache.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the key features of WP Engine so you’ll know what to expect from each plan.
How your site will benefit, and whether or not this provider is worth the investment. Ready? Let’s dive in.
Table of Contents
What Is WP Engine?
This WordPress-specific web host offers users a selection of managed plans that are all optimized to be used for the platform.
WP Engine provides managed hosting that can support personal blogs, small business websites, and even large companies.
With WP Engine, you’ll get access to speedy, robust servers that aim to make your website completely secure.
If your site has outgrown its previous hosting plan, upgrading to managed WordPress hosting with WP Engine is a great option, no matter your needs.
What exactly is managed hosting, though? Well, in simple terms, it makes your life a LOT easier.
With managed hosting, you won’t have to worry about keeping an eye on your loading times, optimizing your website, and ensuring it’s secure because your managed host will do this for you.
This is precisely what WP Engine does, It also comes packed full of other useful features, which we’ll explore more below.
WP Engine Features
If you’re looking for a managed host that will do all the heavy lifting for you, you may find exactly what you need in WP Engine.
Let’s look at some of the best features WP Engine has to offer its users.
WordPress Specific Features
As a WordPress-managed host, it’s no surprise that WP Engine offers its users many WordPress-specific features. These features include:
- An SSL certificate for your site is entirely free. With a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate, you can authenticate your website’s identity and secure an encrypted connection between the web server and browser.
- Performance tracking and diagnostic options, including Application Performance Monitoring (APM). This allows you to identify any bottlenecks in your website’s performance. You can see all the data collected on your site and receive recommendations on improving it.
- Support with creating staging sites. Staging sites are essentially clones of your live website that will allow you to test and change any new features you want to add.
- Migrations from your old host.
Support Features
Like any worthwhile managed host, WP Engine will also provide its users with plenty of support options.
These are easy to access, too, and can be found in your user portal once you’ve signed up. WP Engines support features include:
- Live chat
- Phone support
- Email support
If you can’t access the support you need from these options, you’ll also be given access to the WP Engine resource center.
This will give you access to plenty of documents and tutorials to teach you how to use some of the WP Engines’ key features and answer any burning questions about your analytics, web performance, and more.
Performance Features
Managed hosts like WP Engine are convenient, but some users still have reservations.
How your website performs with your managed host can determine its success, and whether or not you remain a customer of the company.
Thankfully, WP Engine provides you with an abundance of performance-enhancing features for your website.
So, not only are they taking all the heavy lifting out of the process, but they’re guaranteeing you a website that’s functional and easy to navigate for your users.
Some of WP Engines’ performance features include:
- A free CDN (Content Delivery Network) service. This is included in all plans, and it will disperse your content to various servers around the world. If you’re unsure what this means, a CDN will speed up the delivery of your website’s content, so your users won’t be faced with slow loading times and a poor user experience.
- A Page Performance Solution. This feature is designed to help you improve the speed of your web pages and increase conversion rates by running performance tests on your website and offering you actionable guidance to improve it.
- The GeoTarget add-on. This add-on allows you to show specific content to users based on their geolocation. This is a great way to ensure your content delivery is more personalized, which can lead to a more significant ROI and higher conversion rates. If you use it right, this is an excellent feature to have on your website.
If that wasn’t enough, WP Engine also has plenty of server locations.
There are around 19 server locations, which include centers in Europe, Australia, Asia, and North America.
This aims to provide users with the best real-world performance possible.
Hosting Plans And Types
Have we piqued your interest yet? If so, it’s time to get down to the real questions – what hosting plans does WP Engine provide, and how much can you expect to pay for them?
Before diving in, each hosting option listed below is available at five levels:
- Startup
- Professional
- Growth
- Scale
- Custom
WP Engine exclusively offers managed WordPress hosting, and you can choose from the following plans:
Managed Hosting
This option is best suited to blogs and small businesses.
You’ll get features that include threat blocking and security, customizable themes, maximizing your SEO, performance, and speed, and staging and backup in just one click.
Managed Hosting Plus
This plan includes third-party plugins and automated plugin updates.
You can also access site monitoring, which provides your website status and displays your errors, and SOC 2 level security, plus a managed WAF.
Secure Hosting
The secure hosting option provides users with extra layers of security, such as DDoS protection and a website firewall.
eCommerce Hosting
With eCommerce hosting, you’ll get access to eCommerce templates, WooCommerce hosting, and more.
You can secure a better product search to improve sales, optimize store pages, and more.
WP Engine Pricing
Now we’ve given you a brief overview of what to expect from your WP Engine plan, let’s talk pricing.
Each WP Engine plan comes with a general price, but this may increase if you want to include additional add-ons to your package.
- Startup ($20 p/m): This is WP Engines’ entry-level plan. Your WP engine support will cover you for around 25,000 visits a month, and you’ll get one website with 10GB of storage and 50GB of bandwidth. With this package, you’ll also get your SSL certificate, access to the CDN, and more.
- Professional ($39.33 p/m): With this plan, you can establish up to three sites and have around 75,000 visitors a month. Your storage will also be upgraded from 10GB to 15GB.
- Growth ($76.67 p/m): This plan is a level up from the professional plan. With growth, you’ll benefit from increased traffic support so you can welcome as many as 100,000 visitors, and you’ll get support for a staggering ten sites. Under this plan, you’ll also get access to the WP Engine support features, which include 24/7 phone support, and you can even import your own SSL certificates.
- Scale ($193.33): The scale plan is almost identical to the growth plan, with a few separate features. With the scale option, you’ll get access to more resources and support, but the key features are practically the same.
- Premium and Enterprise: This is the last plan that WP Engine offers, and it’s completely customizable so that prices can vary. These plans are often packed with specific features suitable to your business. If you’re running a large business, this is often the best plan.
Can WP Engine Migrate My Site?
In a nutshell – sort of. If you’re looking to migrate your site, be aware that WP Engine doesn’t have an option for their support team to handle your migration.
However, they provide their users with an easy migration plan that they can access via the automation migration plugin, which was released in 2019.
With the Automated Migration Plugin, you can make a copy of your site, which allows you to verify everything is correct before you change your DNS.
The biggest benefit of this method is that you’ll experience absolutely no downtime when you move your website over to WP Engine.
This plugin is simple to use, and it won’t require any assistance from a developer.
You’ll also be given real-time updates about your migration, and most smaller sites can be migrated in just an hour.
WP Engine – Pros And Cons
Now you know the ins and outs of WP Engines’ features, it’s time to examine the pros and cons.
Pros
- Extra Security: WP Engine works hard to keep your site protected from external threats and offers some features that other managed hosts don’t. Depending on your plan, you won’t have to source any additional security features because they’re all offered with the engine.
- Speedy Loading Times: With WP Engine, all servers are optimized to work with WordPress and WP Engine’s Evercache technology, which is quick and reliable. Your pages almost always load quickly; plus, you can tap into the global CDN, which can improve your performance.
- Good Reviews: WP Engine is one of the most popular managed hosts on the market, and it has thousands of satisfied users. Most of WP Engine’s feedback discusses its reliability and excellent customer service.
- Expert Support: With WP Engine, you’ll have access to plenty of expert support from knowledgeable staff, who are all trained on the ins and outs of WordPress. You can access support from various mediums, so no matter the time difference, there’s always someone to help. Don’t forget all the resources and tutorials available with WP Engine, too.
- Reliability: Finally, WP Engine is a reliable host. Its front-end layer system is specifically built to handle spikes in your web traffic, so you won’t have to deal with your site slowing down. Judging by the reviews, experiencing slow loading speeds with WP Engine is a rarity, so you’re almost always guaranteed an excellent user experience.
Cons
Unfortunately, though, WP Engine doesn’t come without its pitfalls. Let’s take a look at the downfalls that come with using this managed host.
- No Domain Registrations: If you are looking for an all in one solution to your business, one of the biggest downfalls of WP Engine is that it only provides hosting services and not domain registrations. This is a feature that some other managed hosts can offer for a lower price point. Without domain registrations, you’ll have to register your domains with a separate company, which can be a bit of a headache.
- High Price Tags: Although WP Engine is an excellent service, it does come with a hefty price tag. WP Engine can be more expensive than other managed hosts. However, the range of features on offer can be so extensive that it’s worth it.
- Some Plugins Not Available: Unfortunately, some plugins are unavailable with WP Engine. This means you won’t be able to install some WordPress plugins on your site if they conflict with WP Engines features or risk running up a higher server load.
WP Engine Overview – The Bottom Line
Whether you’re running a personal blog, a small business, or a large enterprise, good website performance is vital.
If you’re running a WordPress site, WP Engine offers robust and reliable managed hosting. Although it comes with a high price point, we’d argue that the features available are worth it.
From extra site security to migration support and detailed analytics, WP Engine takes the hassle out of external hosting and does all the heavy lifting for you.
If you want an easier way to manage your site, WP Engine is a great way to do it; plus, you’ll never have to sacrifice your site performance.
WP Engine is designed to give your users the best site experience possible, so expect fast loading times, minimal downtime, an extensive knowledge base, and support every step of the way!