WordPress is the world’s most popular content management system. Naturally, the demand for hosting services dedicated to WordPress sites is enormous. One of the most popular and highly rated hosting companies for WordPress is WP Engine. In this article, we’ll tell you all you need to know about WP Engine, including key differences to avoid, pros, and cons. So, sit back, relax, and get ready to learn.
Differences Between WP Engine And Other Hosting Services
One of the first things you’ll want to know about WP Engine is how it handles differences in language and locale settings between different hosts. With most other hosting companies, you’ll have to manually adjust all your site’s settings to make them compatible with the web server. This is a tedious task that many people find difficult to manage. Not so with WP Engine. If you’re using the Multi-Language Plug-in for WordPress, the plug-in will handle all the settings for you, ensuring your posts, pages, and menus are displayed in your chosen language.
Another significant difference between WP Engine and other web hosts is how the company manages WordPress updates. Most other hosting companies will only offer you a bare bone, outdated version of WordPress that they install themselves manually. WP Engine gives you the most recent version of WordPress, without any clutter.
Key Differences:
Here we’re going to highlight some differences between WP Engine and other web hosts. As you’ll see, not all web hosts are created equal, and WP Engine undoubtedly stands out from the crowd.
Price
WP Engine is the best web host when it comes to price. The company’s plans start at just $2.95 per month. That’s all. You won’t find a cheaper, more affordable web host. In fact, you can even get a free domain name with some of WP Engine’s plans.
Features
Let’s take a quick glance at some features that set WP Engine apart from the rest.
1. Free SSL
Free SSL is a must for any reputable website. It will protect your site from malware and data theft. You can get a free SSL from Let’s Encrypt, which is a certificate authority that allows you to encrypt your site’s https connections for free. One of the best parts of having Free SSL is that it automatically upgrades your connection to a secured connection.
In most situations, your site will be inaccessible to users without a secure connection. So not only do you get a free SSL certificate, but you also get to enjoy the benefits of a secured connection automatically.
2. Multi-site Capabilities
Most web hosts only offer you basic, single-site capabilities. WP Engine is different, as it provides you with multi-site capabilities out of the box. This means you can create websites with WordPress, and you can run them off a single server. It also offers you a free dedicated IP that you can use to create as many sites as you want.
Because dedicated IPs are so difficult to get, this is a huge advantage. You’ll need to get in touch with their support team to find out what plan you need. Once you do, you’ll be able to launch your sites with relative ease.
3. Free Backups
Let’s talk about something important: Backups. Without strong and reliable backups, you have zero chance of keeping your site live if it is ever compromised. Luckily for you, WP Engine provides you with free backups through their Web-based Control Panel. This means you don’t have to run any servers or purchase any expensive storage to keep your content safe. They also offer you multiple backups for free. This way, if your site gets hacked or destroyed somehow, you can restore it quickly and easily without losing any content.
4. Free Domain Registration
Do you have a domain name that you already use for other websites? If so, you can use it for your WordPress site too. WP Engine makes this process incredibly easy and affordable. You’ll need to get in touch with their support team to find out what plan you need. Once you do, you’ll be able to purchase a.com,.ca, or.net domain through them. And if you’re still wondering, the price is just $2.95 per month.
5. Free CDN
CDNs, or Content Delivery Networks, are incredibly useful when it comes to speeding up your website. If you’ve never heard of them, they essentially act as middlemen between your site and its visitors. When a web browser requests a file, the CDN will send it immediately from a server near your visitors. This is why many large websites use CDNs, as they can provide much faster download speeds for their content than any individual server could.
What’s more is that CDNs are free. You don’t have to purchase expensive storage or shell out for servers. As a result, you can use CDNs to cache and store your website’s data, as well as supply it to your visitors when they request it. This is particularly useful for websites with a lot of content, such as blogs and news websites.
6. Free WHOIS Privacy
Whois Privacy is an additional feature that sets WP Engine apart from the rest. This feature allows you to hide your contact details, including your real name, company details, and so on, from people who may find and contact you via the search engine results for your website. This is especially useful for bloggers who may get contacted by companies seeking to sponsor their content or offering them affiliate commissions for promoting a product or service.
7. Free Customizable Web Pages
Another significant difference between WP Engine and the rest is the amount of flexibility you get when it comes to the appearance of your web pages. Normally, when you install WordPress, it will come with one of the pre-built templates. However, WP Engine gives you complete control over the appearance of your site’s web pages. This means you can make them look the way you want using some simple CSS tricks. Moreover, it provides you with the code to do this yourself. Finally, if you’re not familiar, CSS stands for Cascading Style Sheets. This is a style of coding that allows you to change the look and style of a web page easily without needing to write code yourself.
As you can see, WP Engine offers an incredible amount of flexibility when it comes to the features their hosting plans offer. Not all web hosts are created equal, and WP Engine undoubtedly stands out from the crowd.
The Pros And Cons Of WP Engine
So, let’s summarize everything we’ve discussed so far. This is going to be a pretty lengthy article, so stay with us.
On the positive side, WP Engine is, in fact, a very affordable web host. The price is just $2.95 per month for the basic plan, and you won’t find cheaper or more affordable web hosts. Moreover, they offer great customer service and an incredible feature set. The fact that they’re so affordable combined with their great service makes them a popular choice among WordPress users. This is fortunate, because they’re in high demand.
On the downside, WP Engine is a web host that you’ll need to manage yourself. If you’re not tech-savvy, this can be a challenge. Moreover, their customer support is only available via email. So if you ever have any questions or trouble, it can be difficult to get them answered quickly. Even then, their responses can sometimes be difficult to understand. This is, again, an area where they really need to improve. Finally, WP Engine doesn’t offer any control panels or APIs, so you’ll need to develop some tools or use third-party applications to administer your sites easily.
Overall Review
To conclude, let’s review what we’ve learned in this WP Engine review. As you’ll see, there are a lot of significant differences between this web host and the rest. They offer an incredible amount of flexibility and power at an unbelievably low price. If you’re looking for an affordable, no-nonsense web host with great support, you should definitely consider them. Just keep in mind that since they’re so affordable, they lack some key features that more expensive competitors have, such as free backups and SSL certificates. Nevertheless, they’re still a great option for just about anyone.
