WP Engine is a WordPress-specific web host, offering managed plans that are fully optimized for the platform. Of course, when compared to many other WordPress hosts, the plans for WP Engine are not that affordable. Therefore, you will want to know whether this hosting service is worth the cost before making a purchase. So let’s focus on the pros and cons?

Pros of WP Engine

1. Speed & Performance

The WP engine takes care of all speed-related concerns. They have optimized servers with extremely aggressive caching and even more advanced “stack” than a typical web host. They also have trained support that will go into your WordPress install and identify the exact chokepoint to move your site. The WP engine is very fast and is commonly used for high traffic websites. It does not allow your website to slow down and it maintains user experience which remains to be a critical aspect for a lot of businesses..

2. Security

WordPress now commands over a third of the entire Internet. This means this is the main target for hackers.

But there is nothing inherently insecure about WordPress. WordPress has a very large community that is open-source with the release of updates and testing vulnerabilities.

Updating the plugin and backing up the website in WordPress and securing the website through various methods.

The WP engine basically takes all those best practices and does them for you. If something happens to your site the system runs automatic backups to keep data all off-site and ready to roll back as and when required. Since you technically have an “install” on their server (rather than an account) – they deal with a number of security issues globally on the server level.

In addition to running its team, WP Engine also works closely with top security firms on code reviews. They also guarantee that if you are hacked – they take care of it for free.

3. Pricing on Value

The WP engine is not cheap. Their startup plan is $ 30 / month and includes a single install and only handles up to ~ 25,000 visits per month.

Growth ($ 115 per month): This plan increases your traffic support to 100,000 and offers you ten sites. You can import your own SSL certificate.

Payscale ($ 290 per month): This level is substantially similar to the previous one. It only provides even more resources, your site numbers up to 30, and supports up to 400,000 per month.

Premium and Enterprise: These are custom plans, so pricing will vary. They provide a lot of additional resources and move your hosting from a shared setup to a dedicated server.

These plans are not cheap, but they provide lots of facilities and plenty of room to develop your site. If you want to build one or more serious business or e-commerce sites, this service is worth a look.

For some site owners – if you break the WP engine by the total value and factor in your (or your developer’s) time, their pricing is amazing.
If you put a hot-fix on your PHP code (ie, you don’t use a staging area) and let your site down … then the WP engine may have a full monthly fee.

Loss of visitors results in loss of income due to speed issues or downtime costs.

Additionally, premium security may cost ~ $ 16 / mo – minimum. Not to mention any personal or developer time fixing issues.

4. Hosting Features

The WP engine offers new, cutting-edge hosting features, not just on current features. Every version of WordPress 4 includes new developer features that the WP engine is able to integrate.

Even general web development best practices have changed fundamentally since we started observing the industry *. The WP engine has created tools to match the industry standards and offer more than what others can.

Cons of WP Engine

Like any service, the WP engine is not best suited for everyone. There are many complaints of WP engines around the Internet. There are some anecdotes. There is some hyperbole (ie, customers repeat sites complaining about SEO dev sites). Many are valid because they simply do not fit everyone.

1. Initial & Ongoing Complexity

While they promise to achieve speed, security, and scale, the WP Engine does things differently. This difference can be quite complicated – especially if you have just enough experience with hosting environments to be dangerous.

Their backend setup gets better. It is cleaner, but it is still custom. This is nothing like a traditional cPanel hosting backend. Unlike many hosting companies, they also do not provide DNS nameservers.

Even if all the features are there, the unique backend can take some developers from wrong redirect loops to duplicate content issues to public sites to leave the dev site or not utilize the features you pay for.

If it was not for the amazing support – we think that they’ve already lost more initial customers.

2. Limited Versatility

It is also related to the unique setup of the con WP engine. To run their architecture as much as possible, all installs on their platform need to be somewhat similar.

The WP engine goes a little further to define what you can do in addition to your WordPress install to discourage seasonal traffic spikes and local storage usage.

They ban some plugins and admin behavior for good reasons, but those restrictions limit versatility and use if your site can handle it.

3. Hosting Versatility

For example, yet another related post plugin is a generic plugin. It is resource-intensive, yes, but on smaller sites, it works well. This is not allowed on the WP engine. It is not necessarily good or bad. But this makes the WP Engine less versatile and open to use than running a shared or VPS server.

The way their pricing is structured also allows for less versatility. It is positive that they will handle all the traffic you send, but it is also expensive to pay based on multiple visits.

If you are running a lean cached site on a VPS server, you can handle a lot more traffic than the WP engine would allow on a personal or business. This point goes further if your site requires multiple plugins for full functionality.

The same goes for storage. With WP Engine, you are paying for performance – not for storage. So if you’re looking to use a server for media storage … that use case is out.

Additionally, you can’t actually do automated email marketing campaigns from WP Engine. This was something that called our client on to make a painful migration to another email provider mid-campaign.

WP Engine Hosting Email Versatility

And of course – there is no way to use WP Engine to get email or any non-WordPress software project.

Pricing on Features & Usage
With WP Engine, you are usually paying for performance and do not have to think too much about maintenance, safety and speed. If you look at the pricing of the WP engine based on the features you’re getting – you don’t really get the whole lot.

4. WP engine pricing

And if you’re the type who would think about the health of your site anyway (ie, keeping WordPress updated and generally logging in often), then you’re probably paying for the “management” that is fantastic.

Many shared hosting servers can handle the same traffic number as the WP Engine – and cost a fraction of the price. My personal site (running on a shared hosting plan from HostGator with basic caching) handled over 15,000 visits over a 24-hour period when one of my posts went viral.

If you are running a reliable VPS, you can definitely handle too much for too little. In fact, the site on which you handle more than 110,000+ visits per month leaves a lot of room for side-projects, media, gigabytes of media, email, RSS apps, etc., with InMotion VPS. I pay for a VPS plus CDN less than the WP Engine Starter Plan.

If you want to pay for hosting – that is, a server that will maintain and service your website files – the WP engine is an expensive option, especially compared to other non-managed hosting options.

Conclusion
WP engine plans are not cheap. However, you will get quality managed to host service for your investment. This provider offers a number of important WordPress-specific features, solid performance, and reliable support. If the WP engine fits your budget, you can use it.