Should You Host with WP Engine? Review of Features, Pricing & Performance

WP Engine provides managed WordPress hosting for sites around the world offering amazing support, and enterprise-class hosting that is optimized for WordPress. But is it the best choice for your website? That’s what this 2024 WP Engine review aims to find out.

As an online business owner looking to scale and succeed, you have to find ways to save time, bump up site security, and ensure your WordPress users have the best experience possible while navigating your site. That’s why so many WordPress website owners love WP Engine.

And especially WP Engine’s renowned speed technologies. Because WP Engine has become the first managed WordPress host to adopt Google Cloud Platform’s newest infrastructure, the Compute-Optimized Virtual Machines (VM) (C2).

WP Engine offers performance that they claim is 40% faster. This is on top of software optimizations which have resulted in a 15% platform-wide performance improvement.

WP Engine’s speed technology is the key feature customers love the most about them.

In this WP Engine review, I’ll take a very close look at the pros and cons and perform my own speed test to help you decide before you sign up with them for your WordPress site.

Managed WordPress hosting is a premium service designed to not only host your site’s data and deliver it to site visitors quickly, but help site owners manage the tedious tasks that come with running a website that’s growing.

Though every managed WordPress host has a different suite of features, the main focus should be the speed of the site, performance, customer service, and security.

So, let’s see how they measure up in this WP Engine review (2024 updated).

Performance, Speed & Reliability

In this section, you will find out…

• Why site speed matters… a lot!
• How fast a site hosted on WP Engine loads. We will test their speed and server response time against Google’s Core Web Vitals metrics.
• How a site hosted on WP Engine performs with traffic spikes. We will test how it performs when faced with increased site traffic.

The most important performance metric that you should look for in a web host is speed. Visitors to your site expect it to load fast instant. Site speed not only affects user experience on your site, but it also affects your SEO, Google rankings, and conversion rates.

But, testing site speed against Google’s Core Web Vitals metrics isn’t enough on its own, as our testing site does not have substantial traffic volume. To evaluate the efficiency (or inefficiency) of the web host’s servers when faced with increased site traffic, we use a testing tool called K6 (formerly called LoadImpact) to send virtual users (VU) to our test site.

Why Site Speed Matters

Did you know that:

• Pages that loaded in 2.4 seconds had a 1.9% conversion rate.
• At 3.3 seconds, the conversion rate was 1.5%.
• At 4.2 seconds, the conversion rate was less than 1%.
• At 5.7+ seconds, the conversion rate was 0.6%.

When people leave your website, you lose not only potential revenue but also all the money and time you spent generating traffic to your website.

And if you want to get to the first page of Google and stay there, you need a website that loads up fast.

Google’s algorithms prefer displaying websites that offer a great user experience (and site speed is a huge factor). In Google’s eyes, a website that offers a good user experience generally has a lower bounce rate and loads up fast.

If your website is slow, most visitors will bounce back, resulting in a loss in search engine rankings. Also, your website needs to load up fast if you want to convert more visitors into paying customers.

If you want your website to load up fast and secure the first spot in search engine results, you will need a fast web hosting provider with server infrastructure, CDN and caching technologies that are fully configured and optimized for speed.

The web host you choose to go with will significantly impact how fast your website loads.

How We Perform the Testing

We follow a systematic and identical process for all the web hosts we test.

• Buy hosting: First, we sign up and pay for the web host’s entry-level plan.
• Install WordPress: Then, we set up a new, blank WordPress site using the Astra WordPress theme. This is a lightweight multipurpose theme and serves as a good starting point for the speed test.
• Install plugins: Next, we install the following plugins: Akismet (for spam protection), Jetpack (security and backup plugin), Hello Dolly (for a sample widget), Contact Form 7 (a contact form), Yoast SEO (for SEO), and FakerPress (for generating test content).
• Generate content: Using the FakerPress plugin, we create ten random WordPress posts and ten random pages, each containing 1,000 words of lorem ipsum “dummy” content. This simulates a typical website with various content types.
• Add images: With the FakerPress plugin, we upload one unoptimized image from Pexels, a stock photo website, to each post and page. This helps evaluate the website’s performance with image-heavy content.
• Run the speed test: we run the last published post in Google’s PageSpeed Insights Testing tool.
• Run the load impact test: we run the last published post in K6’s Cloud Testing tool.

How We Measure Speed & Performance

The first four metrics are Google’s Core Web Vitals, and these are a set of web performance signals that are critical to a user’s web experience on both desktop and mobile devices. The last fifth metric is a load impact stress test.

⚡WP Engine Speed & Performance Test Results

The table below compares web hosting companies’ performance based on four key performance indicators: average Time to First Byte, First Input Delay, Largest Contentful Paint, and Cumulative Layout Shift. Lower values are better.

• WP Engine’s average TTFB across all tested locations (Frankfurt, Amsterdam, London, New York, Dallas, San Francisco, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, and Bangalore) is 765.20 ms. Notably, TTFB varies significantly across different locations, with the lowest observed in Frankfurt (49.67 ms) and New York (45.21 ms), and the highest in London (1.82 s), Tokyo (1.81 s), and Singapore (1.7 s).
• WP Engine’s First Input Delay (FID) is 6 ms, which is quite low and, therefore good as it suggests users can begin interacting with the page quickly.
• The Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) for WP Engine is 2.3 s. This value suggests that it takes relatively longer for the main content on the page to become visible.
• The Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS) score for WP Engine is 0.04, which is low, meaning that the page is relatively stable as it loads.

⚡WP Engine Load Impact Test Results

The table below compares web hosting companies’ performance based on three key performance indicators: Average Response Time, Highest Load Time, and Average Request Time. Lower values are better for Average Response Time and Highest Load Time, while higher values are better for Average Request Time.

• WP Engine’s Average Response Time is 33 ms. This indicates that the server responds quite fast to user requests under normal conditions.
• WP Engine’s Highest Load Time is 1119 ms (or around 1.12 seconds). This means that during periods of high load, it takes approximately 1.12 seconds for the server to respond to a request. While this is higher than the average response time, it is a typical increase during high load situations.
• WP Engine’s Average Request Time is 50 requests per second (req/s). This suggests that the server can handle a substantial number of requests each second, indicating good performance, especially during periods of high traffic.

Overall, the data suggest that WP Engine provides reliable web hosting services with solid performance across key metrics. It handles user interactions quickly, delivers content in a reasonable timeframe, maintains page stability, and responds rapidly and robustly to high load situations. Therefore, based on the provided data, it can be concluded that WP Engine offers good speed, performance, and load impact.

I have also created a test site hosted on WPEngine.com to monitor uptime and server response time. You can view historical uptime data and server response time on this uptime monitor page.

Standout Features

Founded in 2010 in Austin, Texas, WP Engine web hosting services set out to provide specialized WordPress hosting as the WordPress content management system continued to prove itself as the most popular blogging platform available.

1.5M+ active websites on WP Engine’s platform

185k+ customers in 150 countries

5B+ platform requests are processed daily

Built on world-class network infrastructure, integrated with best-in-breed technology partners like Google, AWS, and New Relic, it is a privately owned company with 18 data centers spanning the globe.

WP Engine is a hosting provider that believes in the power of open-source. they have built their WordPress Digital Experience Platform (DXP) that is powered by over 30 open source technologies.

But are they the best-managed WordPress hosting solution today? Let’s take a look and see.

1. Blazing Speed

Sites that load slowly aren’t likely to rise to do well. A study from Google found that a one-second delay in a mobile load of page times can impact conversion rates by up to 20%.

Many factors play into why your website, no matter what size it is, will load fast and perform well at all times. Luckily, WP Engine is on top of it all.

The importance of “speed” cannot be understated, and here’s what they have to say about it:

CDN Services

They have partnered with Cloudflare (they used StackPath and MaxCDN in the past) to give all of their customers’ access to content network delivery services. Using a CDN can drastically reduce latency and improve site speed since servers spanning the globe all work together to deliver site content to users based on their geographic location. CDN is free with all the WP Engine plans.

WP Engine’s EverCache Technology

They have built one of the most scalable WordPress architectures ever – called EverCache – to deliver speed and to handle traffic spikes on all websites they host without any downtime.

To make this happen, customers use a mix of CDN services, aggressive caching performed by EverCache, and responsive updating whenever something new goes up on your website. In other words, your site delivers content fast to people around the world, caches all static content, and even updates your site anytime you make a change.

Page caching, network caching, local caches, Memcached, and object caching (has to be enabled in the user portal) come all built-in and can easily be purged from inside your WordPress admin area.

WP Engine aggressively caches everything from pages to feeds to 301 redirects on sub-domains; this makes your site load time lightning-fast.

WP Engine’s Page Performance Tool

In the User Portal, all customers have access to the Page Performance Tool. To use it, all you have to do is enter your site’s URL and see how well it’s performing.

Here’s a breakdown of the kind of data this tool provides:

• Recommendations for improving site speed and performance

• Number of seconds it took for the browser to display the first object on the screen

• The average time it takes for all visible parts of your website to display on the screen

• Number of resources requested by the webpage being analyzed (including resources such as images, fonts, HTML, and scripts)

• Total file size of all elements transferred from your page to the user’s browser

I think that the recommendations alone are really neat. They save you the time of having to use external tools such as Google PageSpeed Insights and offer many additional resources to help explain the recommendations for those that don’t understand.

Lastly, WP Engine comes PHP 8+ ready and even gives everyone, whether they use their hosting or not, access to their exclusive WP Engine Speed Tool (though you do have to provide an email address to get results, which may not sit well with some).

2. Advanced Security Features

WP Engine knows how important site security is, especially for websites that are scaling. That’s why they offer their customers a number of premium security features designed to protect your site’s data.

• Threat Detection and Blocking. Their platform inspects all site traffic, looking for suspicious patterns and automatically blocking malicious attacks.

• Web Applications. Web application attacks that occur in both the WordPress and nginx layers are identified and patched immediately before they negatively affect your website.

• WordPress Core. WP Engine’s team of experts has the entire WordPress community in mind, whether they use their managed hosting or not. If a WordPress core patch is developed, it’s pitched to the WordPress community for consideration.

• WordPress Plugins. Plugin installations and updates are not handled by WP Engine, so you maintain control over the design and functionality of your website. That said, WP Engine plugin developers keep an eye out for plugin vulnerabilities so their customers don’t fall prey to malicious activity.

• Automated Patching and Updates. They automatically patch the WordPress core, so you don’t have to worry about vulnerabilities.

• Automatic Backups. Just in case something does happen to your website, WP Engine has a backup of your site that’s easy to restore. In fact, they perform daily backups and have a one-click restore option.

In addition to all of this, WP engine DDOS protection offers prevention against DDoS attacks, brute force attempts, and JavaScript/SQL injection attacks. Plus, they are known for working with external security firms to perform routine code reviews and security audits to make sure everything is up to speed.

And the best part? If your WordPress site is hacked, they’ll fix it for free.

3. Exceptional Customer Support Staff

WP Engine is known for having stellar customer support. In fact, they have over 200 service experts on hand 24/7/365 to provide customers with one-on-one customer support.

There are three global support locations so someone is available at all times. And to top it off, the support staff doesn’t just help you with your hosting issues. They are also WordPress experts that can help you diagnose issues and recommend site optimizations.

You can access someone in support through the following channels:

• Round-the-clock live chat support for any sales questions you might have

• 24/7 phone support for sales questions

• User Portal support for any technical hosting or WordPress issues

• A dedicated Billing Support section for addressing your account concerns

• A general knowledge base with articles concerning a variety of topics

The support team boasts a less than 3-minute live chat response time and a strong Net Promoter Score of 82, proving that customer happiness is their main focus.

And to test them out, I got in touch with the support team at an early 4:45 am and sure enough, within approximately 30 seconds, someone was there to answer my questions.

The team member I chatted with was friendly and knowledgeable, and happy to answer any questions I had.

Speaking of customers…

4. Guarantees

Nearly all managed WordPress hosts offer customers guarantees of some sort. After all, guarantees are a great way to instill trust in those that haven’t come to know and love a company yet.

They offer the following guarantees:

• 99.95% server uptime guarantee and 99.99% uptime for those with enhanced SLA (excluding Excused Downtime, such as scheduled or emergency maintenance, beta services, and even Force Majeure events)

• While this isn’t perfect, they have a great article explaining uptime, the reality behind the mysterious 100% uptime guarantees, and what questions you should really be asking a potential web host

• It is important that your website is “up” and available to your visitors. I monitor uptime for WP Engine to see how often they experience outages. You can see this data on this uptime monitor page.

• 60-Day Money-Back Guarantee on all WP Engine plans except custom ones

You can also make the argument that WP Engine guarantees site security since they will fix your hacked site for free, which for a major attack can cost a business thousands of dollars to diagnose and clean up.

5. Staging Environments

One of the most favored features offered to all customers, regardless of their web hosting plan, is website staging.

A staging site is really just a cloned version of your actual website that you can safely test development, design, and content changes on.

This feature offers plenty of benefits such as:

• Easy one-click staging area set up in the WordPress dashboard (or the User gateway)

• An independent clone of your website to test themes, plugins, and custom code on without fear of breaking something and experiencing downtime

• The ability to spot an error in design or functionality before your site goes live

• Local or online setup for your convenience

• Easy transfer of site between the staging area and live environments

Whether your team works together to create WordPress sites for clients, or you just want to test some things out on your own website, creating, developing, and managing a staging environment with WP Engine’s staging environment is super simple.

6. Smart Plugin Manager Tool

Did you know that out-of-date WordPress plugins are the #1 way WordPress sites get hacked? 56% of all discovered security vulnerabilities on WordPress sites are because plugins are not updated.

WP Engine’s Smart Plugin Manager auto-updates your plugins and WordPress themes with rollbacks in case of faulty updates.

This is one of WPEngine’s most popular add-on, and for a good reason. The Smart Plugin Manager automatically handles all WordPress plugin updates so you don’t have to worry about them ever again. This add-on is available to all WP Engine customers.

7. Free access to Genesis WordPress Framework and over 35+ premium themes

This is one monster deal if you ask me.

WP Engine have acquired StudioPress and all customers get access to the Genesis and 35 premium StudioPress WordPress themes, WP Engine includes this in their Startup, Growth, Scale, Premium, and Enterprise plan subscriptions.

StudioPress themes, powered by the Genesis Framework, make it easy for WP Engine customers to quickly create beautiful, professional WordPress sites. All themes are search-engine-optimized, fast loading with locked-down security features (I know because this site is built on the Genesis theme framework).

Here’s what they have to say about the acquisition of StudioPress:

List of Cons

WP Engine does have its drawbacks, as even the best things in life do.

Let’s take a look to see if they are things that will cause you to want to go with another WordPress-managed hosting company.

1. No Domain Registrations or Email Hosting

They only offer hosting services to their customers, which means there are no domain name registrations available.

This is not only inconvenient (because you’ll have to acquire a domain name using a third-party company), there’s no incentive to use their web hosting plans to get a free domain name registration.

Adding to that, you cannot host your email services with WP Engine. Though some people prefer to host their emails on third-party platforms just in case the host servers go down, others will not like this.

You’ll need to get separate email hosting, for example, Google Workspace (previously GSuite) from $5 per month per email, or Rackspace from $2 per month per email address.

2. Disallowed Plugins

As we mentioned earlier, WP Engine is convinced its infrastructure has everything you need to keep your site secure and running fast. As a result, they have compiled a list of Disallowed Plugins that are known to cause an issue with their internal services.

You can see a full list of the disallowed plugins here. In the meantime, here are some of the most well-known disallowed plugins:

• Caching WordPress plugins such as WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP File Cache, and WordFence. FYI WP Rocket is allowed / works.

• Backups plugins like WP DB Backup and BackupWordPress

• Related Posts plugins like YARPP and Similar Posts

• Broken Link Checker

• EWWW Image Optimizer (unless you use the Cloud version)

The problem with this is that many people like to have control in the WordPress dashboard over things like site security, backups, image optimization, and even the speed of the site using a caching plugin.

And, while WP Engine claims they handle all of this for you, some people may not be ready to relinquish all control and give up using their favorite plugins hoping that WP Engine has them covered at all times.

3. No cPanel

Again, while maybe not a complete deal-breaker, many people looking for a web host are used to and prefer the traditional cPanel for managing their accounts and websites.

WP Engine, however, has a proprietary User Portal that seems intuitive to use.

But for those that don’t want to deal with something new, the User gateway might turn them away from using them.

Adding to that, the User Portal does display the number of visitors, bandwidth, and storage you’ve used, which seems like a good thing right?

Well, it is until you realize that all the hosting plans available have visitors, bandwidth, and storage caps, which not all web hosting companies (managed or otherwise) do.

4. Complicated website (the frontend)

Although this may seem minor to some, I found the website a bit difficult to navigate. While there is plenty of information explaining everything, I wish there was a simpler layout.

In fact, some of their best features were hidden deep within support articles, making them tough to find. Not to mention, I had to read a lot more content than I would have liked to find out simple answers to things I wanted to know about WP Engine managed to host.

However, I have to say when you sign up and get access to the “backend” everything is very well laid out, simple, and easy to understand.

WordPress Hosting Plans & Pricing

WP Engine has 4 Managed WordPress hosting plans to choose from unless you need a custom plan, which you’ll have to reach out to the team to create.

Each WP Engine pricing plan comes with a set of specific features that you can see in full here. However, we’re going to take a look at each plan and the major features they each have so you can see the differences:

WP Engine Startup Plan (Starting at $20/month when paid yearly)

The Startup plan is perfect for those that have smaller WordPress websites but still need the benefits managed web hosting provides.

Here are the key features WP Engine includes in this plan:

• 1 WordPress website
• Up to 25K visits per month
• 10GB of local storage
• 50GB of bandwidth per month
• Free site migrations
• Global CDN
• Automated SSL certificates
• Page Performance Tool
• 24/7 live chat support
• Read my review of WP Engine’s StartUp plan here.

WP Engine Professional Plan (Starting at $39/month)

The Professional Plan is an excellent hosting solution for small to medium-sized businesses and blogs that require the highest level of performance, security, and support.

Here are the key features of this plan:

• 3 WordPress websites
• Up to 75,000 visits per month
• 15GB of local storage
• 125GB of bandwidth per month
• 24/7 live chat support

WP Engine Growth Plan (Starting at $77/month)

The Growth plan is designed for those with WordPress websites that continue to see more traffic or at least intend to in the near future.

Here are the key features of this plan:

• 10 WordPress websites
• Up to 100,000 visits per month
• 20GB of local storage
• 200GB of bandwidth per month

It also has everything else the Startup plan has, plus imported SSL certificates, and 24/7 phone support.

WP Engine Scale Plan (Starting at $193/month)

The Scale plan is for large WordPress websites that need managed hosting to help them stay organized and successful.

Here are the key features of this plan:

• 30 WordPress websites
• Up to 400,000 visits per month
• 50GB of local storage
• 500GB of bandwidth per month

It also has everything else the Growth plan has.

In addition, they recently acquired StudioPress, all customers have full access to the premium Genesis / StudioPress Framework and over 35+ premium themes, which is a steal of a deal if you ask me.

Compare WP Engine Competitors

Let’s compare four top WP Engine competitors: Cloudways, Kinsta, Rocket.net, and SiteGround, to find the perfect fit for your needs.

	Cloudways	Kinsta	Rocket.net	SiteGround
Hosting type	Cloud-based (customizable)	Managed WordPress (GCP)	Managed WordPress	Shared/Managed WordPress
Performance	Highly scalable	Excellent	Very fast	Good
Security	Basic	High	High	Moderate
Features	Advanced server management, pay-as-you-go	Developer-friendly, automatic CDN, auto-scaling	Global CDN, built-in security	User-friendly, plugin updates, free builder
Pricing	Flexible, based on server resources	Higher, starts at $30/month	Competitive, starts at $11/month	Affordable, starts at $6.99/month
Support	Ticket system, live chat (paid)	24/7 live chat	Live chat, email	24/7 live chat, phone

Cloudways:

• Pay-as-you-go cloud hosting (choose from DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr)
• Customizable server resources
• Advanced server management tools
• Managed WooCommerce hosting
• Free website migration
• Read our Cloudways review

Kinsta:

• Built exclusively for WordPress on Google Cloud Platform (GCP)
• High-performance infrastructure
• Automatic server scaling
• Free CDN with Cloudflare
• Developer-friendly features (Git integration, WP-CLI)
• Read our Kinsta review

Rocket.net:

• Proprietary caching technology for fast loading times
• Global CDN with 200+ PoPs
• Built-in security features (malware scanner, web application firewall)
• Unlimited websites on most plans
• Free website migrations
• Read our Rocket.net review

SiteGround:

• Affordable shared hosting plans with WordPress optimization
• Easy-to-use interface and control panel
• Automatic plugin updates
• Free website builder
• Good customer support
• Read our SiteGround review

Choosing the best WP Engine competitor depends on your specific needs and budget:

• Cloudways: Best for developers and agencies who need advanced server control and flexibility. Can be more expensive than other options.
• Kinsta: Best for high-traffic websites and performance-critical sites. Premium pricing reflects features and exclusivity.
• Rocket.net: Best for speed and security with a global CDN and built-in protection. Good value for money but fewer features than Cloudways or Kinsta.
• SiteGround: Best for beginners and budget-conscious users. Easy to use but performance and security might not be as good as dedicated WordPress hosts.

Common Questions Answered

Our Verdict ⭐

Do we recommend WP Engine? WP Engine is by far one of the best-managed WordPress hosting solutions on the market today. They take the security, speed, and performance of your website seriously, and don’t fail to come through when it comes to customer service.

Here’s what WPEngine have to say about the three S’s of web hosting:

That said, WP Engine plans are priced a bit on the high side especially compared to shared hosting, which is not helpful for those on limited budgets. However, for those that plan to scale their business in the near future, or are already generating a lot of revenue, the high price is worth the services they provide and the peace of mind that their site is safe and always running.

If you’re looking for a very premium managed WordPress web hosting company, I suggest you give WP Engine a try.

With features such as the built-in EverCache solution, the Page Performance Tool, automatic daily backups, security monitoring, and CDN services, you’ll never have to worry about your ability to scale and provide site visitors the best experience possible.

Recent Improvements & Updates

WP Engine constantly improves its hosting services with faster speeds, better security and infrastructure, and customer support. Here are just some of the recent improvements (last checked October 2024):

• Best-in-class infrastructure for WordPress, WooCommerce, and Headless WordPress hosting:
  • 1-Click Staging: Easily test changes on a copy of your site.
  • EverCache®: Proprietary cache for high-speed performance, even under heavy traffic.
  • Global CDN: Over 200 global points of presence for optimal site performance.
  • Automated Updates: Hassle-free updates for WordPress and PHP.
  • DDoS Protection and Managed WAF: Advanced security against emerging threats.
  • Annual Audits and Certification: SOC 2 and ISO 27001 certified for top-tier security.
  • Expert WordPress Support: 24/7 access to WordPress experts with high customer satisfaction.
  • Local WordPress Development: A popular tool for local site building, testing, and deployment.
  • Free Automated Migration Plugin: Easy 4-step site migration to WP Engine.
• Optimized E-commerce Hosting: Introduced an e-commerce hosting plan that enhances loading speeds by up to 40% and boosts sales significantly.
• Headless WordPress – Atlas: Launched Atlas, a platform for large-scale digital projects, offering improved site visitor engagement and revenue growth. (If speed and security are important to you, then check out my latest project: AstroWP – a headless WordPress starter kit)
• Developer Relations Team: Hired Brian Gardner to lead this new team, aiming to innovate the WordPress theme ecosystem.
• Free Premium Features: Made Local Pro’s advanced features and Genesis Framework available for free.
• Smart Plugin Manager Upgrades: Enhanced this feature for automated theme updates and improved UI.
• User Experience Enhancements: Improved the user portal with new quick actions, caching features, and simplified site addition processes, leading to a 30% decrease in related support tickets.

Reviewing WP Engine: Our Methodology

When we review web hosts like WP Engine, our evaluation is based on these criteria:

1. Value for Money: What types of web hosting plans are on offer, and are they good value for money?
2. User Friendliness: How user-friendly is the signup process, the onboarding, the dashboard? and so on.
3. Customer Support: When we need help, how quickly can we get it, and is the support effective and helpful?
4. Hosting Features: What unique features does the web host provide, and how do they stack up against competitors?
5. Security: Are essential security measures like SSL certificates, DDoS protection, backup services, and malware/virus scans included?
6. Speed and Uptime: Is the hosting service fast and reliable? What types of servers do they use, and how do they perform in tests?

For more details on our review process, click here.

Submit Review

References

• https://wpengine.com/support/
• https://www.cloudflare.com/case-studies/wp-engine/
• https://www.trustpilot.com/review/wpengine.com