WP Engine Is The Best WordPress Host
Generic hosting is cute and everything. But let's leave that to the other online websites. If you are planning on starting a WordPress Ecom store, It would be wise to choose a hosting platform that centers its service on WordPress sites only.
Despite it looking simple and light in nature, WordPress is more than you think. A little peek at the CMS architecture shows that WordPress is far from being simple and light.
WordPress consumes a lot of resources when it utilizes its full capacity. To unlock the full potential of your site, a hosting platform that specializes in WordPress sites would be a big boost.
For a WordPress entertainment, eCommerce or for a blog site of small/medium size, the two most suitable solutions in terms of hosting are dedicated WordPress servers, on the one hand, and shared servers on the other hand.
Hosting offers designed specifically for WordPress sites have several undeniable advantages: generally higher performance, specific functionalities for WordPress very practical, automatic updates, quality support service, etc. The main drawback is the price.
Dedicated WordPress hosting costs more than conventional hosting. There are several dedicated WordPress hosting solutions. The global benchmark is WP Engine.
WP Engine, launched in 2010, is a high-end WordPress host. Lots of positive points for this reference solution:
- Very high uptime. In other words, it is extremely rare that the server is unavailable due to maintenance for example (or failure).
- A very efficient CDN (cache system). CDN is a technique that reduces the loading time of pages on your site.
- Powerful servers that can accommodate significant traffic on your site without bugs (type HTTP error 503) and without slowdowns AND adapt to large variations in traffic.
- Daily backups of your site.
- Optimal security of your data.
- Reactive support 24/7
One advantage of using WP Engine is that the company recently acquired the Genesis framework, which gives you access to 40 premium themes. And since June 25, 2019, they have also acquired FlyWheel, another major WordPress host for managed services.
Another interesting inclusion is the free transfer of your WordPress site. Convenient if you are going from an old host to a new one.
WordPress Installation
The WP Engine registration and purchase process are fairly straightforward. For the installation of WordPress, they take care of it for you. You will, therefore, receive by email all your access codes to the content management console and other access relevant to the management of your server space.
Technical Support and Customer Service
To contact WP Engine, you have the choice between online chat, helpdesk, or by phone if you have an advanced plan. Overall, users are highly satisfied with the technical support with an evaluation of 4.5 / 5.
Overall Page Load Time
WP Engine demonstrates very solid performance for the speed of loading of its websites consistently regardless of the location. This point, therefore, differentiates it from its competitors.
Online Reputation
The customer satisfaction rate is 4.7 / 5 regarding the optimization and speed of loading their WordPress site. 92% of WP Engine users renew their hosting package after the expiration of their subscription. For reliability, the user rating is 4.5 / 5
WP Engine is not without flaws. We note in particular some quirks in SEO (very easily repairable), some unauthorized plugins (often for security reasons), some bugs regarding the cache when using front-end cookies (with WooCommerce for example).
Starting at $29/ month for the Personal Plan, WP Engine is the perfect hosting platform for starting an online project, especially if you are not tech-savvy.
