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WP Engine is a managed hosting provider specializing in WordPress, with plans starting at $25/mo. It costs more than your average WordPress host, but offers great value through its management features and expert support.
You can expect to pay up to $242/mo for its premium hosting services, with features like end-to-end security, automated backups, and free access to Cloudflare CDN. You also get staging environments and expert support around the clock, making it a great option for established websites that need reliability.
While we wouldn’t recommend WP Engine to the average Bluehost or Hostinger user, there’s a certain type of website owner who will benefit greatly from this service. Read our complete WP Engine pricing guide for a detailed breakdown of its plans, features, and overall value.
What do you get with WP Engine?
Which plan is right for your business?
Top alternatives
FAQs
Bottom line: Is WP Engine worth it?
How much does WP Engine cost?
WP Engine sits comfortably in the premium category of hosting providers, with plans ranging from $25/mo-$400/mo when billed annually. You can expect to pay up to $400/mo (or even more for enterprise usage) if you want dedicated server resources and white-glove onboarding services.
While this is much higher than standard web hosting costs — Bluehost’s shared hosting plans start at just $3.99/mo, for example — WP Engine offers a lot more with automated maintenance, expert technical support, enhanced security protocols, and WordPress-specific performance optimizations.
WP Engine price
| Startup | Professional | Growth | Scale | |
| Monthly cost | $25/mo | $50/mo | $96/mo | $242/mo |
| Sites included | 1 | 3 | 10 | 30 |
| Visits | 25,000 | 75,000 | 100,000 | 400,000 |
| Local storage | 10 GB | 15 GB | 20 GB | 50 GB |
| Bandwidth | 75 GB | 150 GB | 240 GB | 550 GB |
| Learn more | View plan | View plan | View plan | View plan |
With the standard hosting plans (Startup, Professional, Growth, and Scale), the difference in what you get with each tier primarily boils down to resources like storage and bandwidth, the number of visitors you can accommodate each month, and how many sites you can host with a single plan.
But the differences widen with the Core and Enterprise managed WP hosting plans. These plans go beyond typical shared hosting infrastructure to offer dedicated resources, 24/7 senior expert assistance, and a 99.99% uptime guarantee backed by a Service Level Agreement (SLA). You also get advanced security, performance, and onboarding features, some of which are enabled by AI.
What do you get with WP Engine?
As you can tell from the pricing, WP Engine goes above and beyond what a standard hosting provider offers. While most shared hosting services offer features like one-click WordPress installation through Softaculous, you are largely left to handle day-to-day website maintenance and security by yourself.
But with WP Engine, you get end-to-end management and white-glove services, like:
- Content delivery network (CDN) integration with edge caching: WP Engine claims to offer a 90% speed boost compared to other WordPress hosts, thanks to its advanced server and browser caching solution. Your site is also integrated with Cloudflare CDN, which means better performance, since visitors can access your site from servers closest to them.
- Automated database and content management system (CMS) updates: WP Engine handles all your core WordPress, PHP, and MySQL updates automatically, with zero intervention needed.
- Staging environments: All plans give you access to specialized staging environments, where you can test new WordPress features and updates live before pushing them onto your main website.
- WordPress security and backup: WP Engine lets you set up daily automated backups so your site can get up and running quickly in case of downtime. You also get specialized security features like a web application firewall (WAF), malware scanning, distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection, and Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificates.
- 24/7 expert help: Unlike regular hosting providers, WP Engine’s support staff is trained in advanced WordPress troubleshooting and maintenance. They are available through live chat and phone 24/7 so you never run into technical issues you can’t solve.
Which plan is right for your business?
You’ll want to select a WP Engine plan that covers your site’s resource requirements and matches your team’s technical know-how, without going overboard. WP Engine isn’t designed for budget users or personal sites, but there’s a healthy range of options for business users.
- Single site owners with growing traffic: With the Startup plan at $25/mo, you get 25,000 monthly visits and 75 GB bandwidth. This is enough for most growing WordPress sites, especially when you are just upgrading from shared hosting.
- Multi-platform businesses and consultants: While being able to host three sites on a single plan doesn’t work for most agencies, consultants who are just starting out or multi-platform businesses that operate more than one site can easily subscribe to the Professional plan at $50/mo.
- Small digital agency owners: The Growth plan lets you host up to 10 websites on a single plan. It costs $96/mo, designed with smaller agencies and active professionals in mind. You also get more bandwidth and storage, which can be useful for high-traffic sites, even if you only need to host one website.
- Medium to large agencies and media businesses: Starting at $242/mo, WP Engine’s Scale plan is perfect for agencies and organizations that need to host up to 30 websites simultaneously on a single plan. Your plan supports a total of 400,000 monthly visits with 50 GB of local storage.
Top alternatives
WP Engine is a great pick for premium managed hosting, but you might want to consider some more budget-friendly options for simpler needs. Providers like Bluehost, Hostinger, and IONOS all come with standard WordPress management tools, just not the automated maintenance and white-glove support.
Bluehost: Bluehost is a popular shared hosting service officially recommended by WordPress.org. You get good security, daily backups, and a free domain, with plans starting at just $3.99/mo. WordPress installation is handled in just one click through Bluehost’s dashboard.
Learn more in our Bluehost pricing guide.
Hostinger: Hostinger is the most popular shared hosting provider for budget-conscious users, with optimized hosting plans, reliable uptime, and a WordPress-friendly AI website builder built in. Plans start at just $2.99/mo for your first year.
Learn more in our Hostinger pricing guide.
IONOS: IONOS lacks the smooth interface design of Bluehost and Hostinger, but it’s a veteran web host with a $1.00/mo hosting plan that gets you unmetered bandwidth, a decent amount of storage, a free domain, and tools to build your online store and website with AI. That said, renewal prices increase sharply — $10/mo after the first year.
Learn more in our IONOS pricing guide.
FAQs
How can I pay for WP Engine?
WP Engine accepts all major credit and debit cards, including Visa, Mastercard, Discover, American Express, JCB, etc. You can pay in different currencies depending on your location, including USD, GBP, EUR, and AUD.
Is WP Engine free?
There’s no free plan or trial available for WP Engine, but you do get a 60-day money-back guarantee after starting your paid plan. You can also request a free demo of its hosting service before you get started.
Is it worth paying for WP Engine?
WP Engine is worth the additional expense for the WordPress-specific security measures, optimizations, and maintenance updates. The support team is also specifically trained to help with WordPress troubleshooting, which can be a big help for businesses without an IT desk on standby for issues.
Is WP Engine better than shared hosting?
Thanks to optimized servers and maintenance handling, WP Engine typically offers much better WordPress performance than standard shared hosting. You can also pay more for access to its Core plans, which get you dedicated server resources for high-traffic websites and stores.
Bottom line: Is WP Engine worth it?
It largely comes down to your priorities. If your WordPress site requires consistent speeds and uptime, or if you frequently need troubleshooting for complex platform-related issues, WP Engine is worth the extra price for the peace of mind and service quality.
As of 2020, WP Engine played host to over 1.4% of WordPress sites globally, more than WordPress’ parent company Automattic.[1] Considering that it has zero data centers of its own, WP Engine is popular solely for the quality of its managed service on top of existing outsourced servers from Google.
But for professionals and small business owners who are just getting started, or enterprises with their own dedicated IT team or WordPress experts, WP Engine may not offer much more than standard web hosts to justify the extra costs.