While WP Engine is renowned worldwide for its WordPress hosting solutions, it may not meet specific requirements certain users or businesses might have. Discover more in our article on the 10 Best WP Engine Alternatives.
Most providers are more scattered than WP Engine, which focuses on WordPress-optimized hosting solutions. Since I use WordPress quite a lot for my own projects, I wanted to give their services a try.
Honestly, their services elevate WordPress hosting potential – I was genuinely impressed with the features. Backed up by proprietary caching applications, including Global CDN to ensure swift load speeds and optimized search engine rankings, WP Engine servers offer an enriched WordPress development environment.
Customer service seems reliable, and considering the positive online user reviews, I’d happily recommend WP Engine to users looking for dedicated WordPress hosting.
Still not sure? Check out my test results to help decide whether WP Engine is right for you.
We use a standardized HostAdvice ratings methodology, to ensure all hosting providers get a fair shot throughout testing and reviewing; and so it’s easy for you (the user) to compare.
| Parameter | Score | Reasoning |
| Prices | 7.0 | Decent initial prices but can incur sharp increase in charges with high growth. |
| Features | 8.0 | Great WordPress-focused feature set that optimizes usability and performance. |
| Ease of Use | 10.0 | Relatively beginner-friendly interface meaning improved accessibility. |
| Performance | 10.0 | Above-average uptime guarantee, with additional optimizations to help loads and responses. |
| Support | 10.0 | Responsive and knowledgeable, but basic plans can only access chat support. |
| Overall | 9.0 | WP Engine provides a rich set of features, optimized for WordPress sites. The plans aren’t always cheap, but solid support and performance mean it can be a good investment. |
WP Engine only provides WordPress hosting plans, starting with the Basic plan (supporting up to 25,000 visitors per month).
The plans scale from here, allowing for great scalability – though prices also rise quite steeply. There’s no WP Engine money back guarantee, either, but you do pay for only what you use.
| WordPress Optimization | Tools and services that have WordPress at the core, for seamless performance and integration. |
| Over 40,000 WP Plugins | Expanding your site’s functionality with just a few clicks, no coding required. |
| Over 40 WP Templates | Professionally designed themes to help you launch faster and look great from day one. |
| Transferrable Sites | For easier migration between accounts or clients without the hassle. |
| GeoTarget | Serve location-specific content to boost relevance and engagement. |
| Launch Readiness Assessment | Ensuring your site is primed for success and with a full pre-launch performance and security check. |
| Automated Backups | Keeping your content safe with scheduled backups that run behind the scenes. |
I wanted to try WP Engine’s tools and functions for myself, so I ran through some of the features and user journey.
Signing up for WP Engine services is simple. Head to the Plans section of your preferred hosting type, and select the one that best suits your needs.
If you’re opting for the Essential plan, use the slider to optimize functionality and click Buy Now.
Check everything is correct, and enter your personal details. Once you’ve entered payment info on the next page, you’re redirected to the Dashboard. It all took literally less than a minute.
Some of the more tedious and complex aspects of server management (updates, patches, backups, and security) are automated with WP Engine plans. I found this to be convenient, and it allows users to focus more on the actual content and business.
The dashboard and control panel are where WP Engine users can view and edit their domains and products in a dedicated WordPress staging environment.
I found it to be straightforward and easy to use.
Many WP Engine plans are for shared servers which traditionally provide higher load times. However, the company’s WordPress focus helps to optimize performance and reduce the effects on the servers.
But let’s take a look at some real-time GTMetrix test results, and compare to PageSpeed Insights to see how WP Engine servers actually perform under real (and lab) conditions.
GTMetrix gave the site a D (49%) for performance despite a strong structure score of 85%. The biggest issues were a Time to Interactive of 8.6s, Total Blocking Time of 1.8s, and a First Contentful Paint of 2.0s, all of which are much slower than recommended.
Speed Index and Largest Contentful Paint also exceeded optimal benchmarks. On the plus side, Cumulative Layout Shift scored a perfect 0, indicating visual stability.
Overall, the site structure is solid, but performance is being dragged down by long load times and JavaScript blocking.
Results:
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The WP Engine PageSpeed Insights reported a performance score of 56, mainly affected by a Total Blocking Time of 1,470ms.
However, there were several positives: First Contentful Paint was fast at 0.4s, Largest Contentful Paint was acceptable at 2.1s, and Cumulative Layout Shift remained very low at 0.002.
These results suggest a site that loads its visuals quickly but struggles with interactivity due to heavy or unoptimized scripts.
Results:
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Providing live chat, phone lines, and email support, the customer service team are available 24/7.
I was overall quite impressed with WP Engine’s customer support lines during testing – though there’s room for improvement.
Basic plans only have access to the live chat support option, but during my testing I found the team to be responsive and knowledgeable, so I think it’s a decent solution!
First you’re asked to choose a query type, and I wanted to learn more about WP Engine, so where better?
You’ll speak to a chatbot first, and go through a series of questions to find out more about how they can help you.
This included things like company size, and who I was enquiring on behalf of.
I was then sent a ton of resources linking to the WP Engine knowledge base where I could learn more.
I asked to be connected to a specialist, and was speaking to her in less than a minute.
She answered each question quickly, though I noticed it said 60 day money back guarantee on the website – so that’s a little confusing.
Overall though, I found the WP Engine chat support to be responsive and helpful.
I also tested the WP Engine phone line support, and was pleasantly surprised with the responses to my queries.
Overall, I think the support team is knowledgeable, professional, and efficient – I was pretty happy with the experience.
This serves as WP Engine’s Knowledge Base, and provides advice for setting up websites, optimizing server speed, common troubleshoots and guides, and even more advanced customization techniques.
This is accessible to all users (so you don’t need to sign up or pay to take a look), and I think it’s an awesome self-help resource for all users – from beginner to expert.
After thorough testing, I was genuinely impressed by the performance, ease of use, and WordPress-specific features WP Engine offers. From seamless setup and automated backups to high-speed load times and a knowledgeable support team, WP Engine consistently delivers on its promise of premium WordPress hosting.
While the lack of Windows servers and some limitations on cheaper plans may deter a few users, its developer-friendly tools, scalable architecture, and uptime reliability make it a standout choice.
If your site runs on WordPress and you’re ready to invest in quality hosting, WP Engine is absolutely worth considering.
While WP Engine is renowned worldwide for its WordPress hosting solutions, it may not meet specific requirements certain users or businesses might have. Discover more in our article on the 10 Best WP Engine Alternatives.
