WP Engine Pricing – Which Plan is Right For You in 2023?

Since its inception in 2010, WP Engine has gained huge popularity as one of the best web hosting services. The platform is known for its astounding innovation, high-quality service and cheap pricing plans.

This post is a comprehensive guide for the pricing plans of WP Engine. Besides discussing the plans, we will shed some light on the features that come with different plans. Here you will also learn about the best alternatives to WP Engine and find answers to some frequently asked questions about the platform.

WP Engine Pricing Plans Comparison

WP Engine offers four types of hosting services: Managed Hosting, Managed Hosting Plus, Secure Hosting, and Ecommerce Hosting. Each of these categories has four predetermined plans and a custom plan. Here is a breakdown of the categories and their plans:

Managed Hosting

There are four predetermined plans and a custom plan for Managed Hosting. Here they are:

• Managed Hosting Startup: This plan costs $25 per month when paid annually. If you pay monthly, it costs $30 per month. This plan may be a good option for basic level personal websites. 
• Managed Hosting Professional: If paid annually, the Managed Hosting Professional plan costs $49.17 per month. The price is $59 if you pay monthly.
• Managed Hosting Growth: The third plan, Managed Hosting Growth, $95.83 per month when paid annually. And if you pay monthly, the plan costs $115 per month.
• Managed Hosting Scale: This one is the most expensive of the four managed hosting plans. It costs $241.67 when paid annually, and $290 when paid monthly.
• Custom Plan: The custom plan is for large-scale organizations that need custom features.

Managed Hosting Plus

This category also has four plans. Let’s take a look at them.

• Managed Hosting Plus Startup: This is the most basic plan and it costs $28.33 per month when paid annually. And if you pay monthly, you will have to pay $34 per month.
• Managed Hosting Plus Professional: The second plan costs $52.50 per month when you pay annually. If paid monthly, it costs $63 per month.
• Managed Hosting Plus Growth: If paid monthly, this plan costs $104.17 per month. The price gets significantly higher– $125 if you pay monthly. It can be a pretty good option for small business websites. 
• Managed Hosting Plus Scale: The fourth plan costs $258.33 per month when paid annually. The price is $310 if you pay monthly.
• Custom Plan: Intended for large-scale businesses, the custom plan comes with enhancements such as application performance monitoring, Premium Plus service, and dedicated developer environment.

Secure Hosting

WP Engine offers four predetermined plans and a custom plan for secure hosting. Here they are:

• Secure Hosting Startup: $44.17 per month if paid annually. $53 per month if paid monthly.
• Secure Hosting Professional: $75 per month if paid annually. $90 per month if paid monthly.
• Secure Hosting Growth: $125 per month if paid annually. If paid monthly, it costs $150 per month.
• Secure Hosting Scale: $291.67 per month if paid annually. $350 per month if paid monthly.
• Custom Plan: The price of this plan depends on your particular requirements.

Ecommerce Hosting

WP Engine has four predetermined plans and a custom plan for Ecommerce Hosting, just like other categories. Here are the plans:

• Ecommerce Hosting Startup: It costs $30 per month if paid annually. If you pay monthly, the price is $36 per month.
• Ecommerce Hosting Professional: $62.50 per month if paid annually. $75 per month if paid monthly.
• Ecommerce Hosting Growth: $116.67 per month if paid annually. $140 per month if paid monthly.
• Ecommerce Hosting Scale: $291.67 if paid annually, and $350 per month if paid monthly.
• Custom Plan: This plan comes with advanced enhancements, and the price depends on your requirements.

Overview of WP Engine Features

Managed Hosting

Managed hosting has four predetermined plans and a custom plan. Before we discuss the features of each plan, let’s take a look at the features that are common to all the Managed Hosting plans:

• 10 premium themes
• 24/7 support
• Daily backups
• Free automated migrations
• One-click staging site
• Free SSL and SSH
• Threat detection & blocking
• Faster site speed with website caching
• Handoff to clients with transferable sites
• Site content in the cloud
• Page performance monitoring
• Activity log and user permissions
• SSH access with MySQL, WP-CLI, and bash
• Local developer tools
• Multi-factor password authentication
• GIT & SFTP connections
• Chat support
• Up-to-date PHP

Most of these common features are very useful. An SSL certificate provides an added layer to your site, and WP Engine offers this certificate for free. 

The plans basically differ in terms of visits per month, number of sites, local storage, and bandwidth per month. 

The first plan, Managed Hosting Startup, has the following unique features:

• 1 website
• 25,000 visits per month
• 10 GB local storage
• 50 GB bandwidth per month.

The unique features of the Managed Hosting Professional plan are as follow:

• 3 websites
• 75,000 visits per month
• 15 GB local storage
• 125 GB bandwidth per month

Here are the unique features of the third plan, Managed Hosting Growth:

• 10 websites
• 100,000 visits per month
• 20 GB local storage
• 200 GB bandwidth per month

If you have defined your target market and your business is growing, the Managed Hosting Growth plan is probably the right choice for you. 

The fourth plan, Managed Hosting Scale, is characterized by the following unique features:

• 30 websites
• 400,000 visits per month
• 50 GB local storage
• 500 GB bandwidth per month.

There is a custom plan that comes with pretty impressive features such as 99.99% uptime, advanced security, premium support, Premium Plus service, and dedicated developer environment.

Managed Hosting Plus

There are four predetermined plans and a custom plan for Managed Hosting Plus.

First, let’s take a look at the features that are available with all the five plans:

• Automated plugin updates
• Auto-rollbacks if issues detected
• AI-tested plugin updates, including 3^rd party plugins
• 24/7 support
• Ability to choose plugins that need to be auto-updated
• Free automated migrations
• 10 premium themes
• Free SSL and SSH
• Daily backups
• One-click staging site
• Threat detection & blocking
• Faster site speed with website caching
• Handoff to clients with transferable sites
• Site content in the cloud
• Page performance monitoring
• Activity log and user permissions
• SSH access with MySQL, WP-CLI, and bash
• Local developer tools
• Multi-factor password authentication
• GIT & SFTP connections
• Chat support
• Up-to-date PHP

WP Engine provides you with a staging site, which is basically a clone of your live website. It allows you to make important changes in a secure environment. The One-click staging site feature is a hallmark of this platform. 

The first plan, Managed Hosting Plus Startup, has the following unique features:

• 1 website
• 25,000 visits per month
• 10 GB local storage
• 50 GB bandwidth per month

Here are the unique features that come with the second plan, Managed Hosting Plus Professional:

• 3 websites
• 75,000 visits per month
• 15 GB local storage
• 125 GB bandwidth per month

The third plan, Managed Hosting Plus Growth, comes with these unique features:

• 10 websites
• 100,000 visits per month
• 20 GB local storage
• 200 GB bandwidth per month

And there are the unique features of the fourth plan, Managed Hosting Plus Scale:

• 30 websites
• 400,000 visits per month
• 50 GB local storage
• 500 GB bandwidth per month

The Custom plan is characterized by some advanced features such as advanced security, premium support, 99.99% uptime, and application performance monitoring.

Secure Hosting

Secure Hosting also has four predetermined plans and a custom plan. Here are the features that are common to all these plans:

• Security firewall for your traffic
• Protection from malicious traffic spikes
• AI-tested plugin updates, including 3^rd party plugins
• Automated plugin updates
• Ability to choose plugins that need to be automatically updated
• Auto-rollbacks if issues detected
• 24/7 support
• Free automated migrations
• 10 premium themes
• Daily backups
• One-click staging site
• Free SSL and SSH
• Threat detection & blocking
• Faster site speed with website caching
• Handoff to clients with transferable sites
• Site content in the cloud
• Page performance monitoring
• Activity log and user permissions
• SSH access with MySQL, WP-CLI, and bash
• Local developer tools
• Multi-factor password authentication
• GIT & SFTP connections
• Chat support
• Up-to-date PHP

This hosting provider is very serious about your site’s security. No matter what plan you are on, you can use a 2-factor authentication, which provides an added layer of security. 

Here are the unique features that are available with the first plan, Secure Hosting Startup 

• 1 website
• 25,000 visits per month
• 10 GB local storage
• 50 GB bandwidth per month

The second plan, Secure Hosting Professional, comes with the following unique features:

• 3 websites
• 75,000 visits per month
• 15 GB local storage
• 125 GB bandwidth per month

The Secure Hosting Growth plan is characterized by the following unique features:

• 10 websites
• 100,000 visits per month
• 20 GB local storage
• 200 GB bandwidth per month

Here are the unique features available with the fourth plan, Secure Hosting Scale:

• 30 websites
• 400,000 visits per month
• 50 GB local storage
• 500 GB bandwidth per month 

The features of the Custom plan include advanced security, 99.99% uptime SLA, premium support, and application performance monitoring.

Ecommerce Hosting

By offering Ecommerce hosting with cutting edge features, WP Engine has set standards for many of its competitors. The platform offers four predetermined plans and a custom plan for eCommerce hosting, just like the platform’s other hosting categories.

Here is a list of features that are common to all the plans:

• One-click store creation
• WooCommerce template
• Optimized store theme
• 24/7 support
• Automated plugin updates
• Free automated migrations
• 10 premium themes
• Free SSL and SSH
• Daily backups
• One-click staging site
• Threat detection & blocking
• Faster site speed with website caching
• Handoffs to clients with transferable sites
• Site content in the cloud
• Page performance monitoring
• Activity log and user permissions
• SSH access with WP-CLI, MySQL, and bash
• Multi-factor password authentication
• GIT & SFTP connections
• Call support
• Up-to-date PHP

With WP Engine, you do not need a browser caching plugin. The platform handles it on the server side. Website Caching helps the browser bring up files quickly, and returning users get a faster experience. 

The first plan, Ecommerce Hosting Startup, comes with the following unique features 

• 1 Website
• 25,000 visits per month
• 10 GB local storage
• 50 bandwidth per month

Here are the unique features of the second plan, Ecommerce Hosting Professional:

• 3 websites
• 75,000 visits per month
• 15 GB local storage
• 125 GB bandwidth per month

The third plan, Ecommerce Hosting Growth, comes with the following unique features 

• 10 websites
• 100,000 visits per month
• 20 GB local storage
• 200 GB bandwidth per month

And here are the unique features of Ecommerce Hosting Scale, which is the fourth plan:

• 30 websites
• 400,000 visits per month
• 50 GB local storage
• 500 GB bandwidth per month

The Ecommerce Hosting Plan is suitable for business owners who are running their operations with a focus on real prosperity. 

The Custom plan is a highly performant, scalable and hyper-secure solution with 99.99% uptime SLA, 24/7 premium support, and advanced security.

Pros of Using WP Engine

There are a host of reasons why WP Engine is hugely popular. Here are some pros of using WP Engine:

1. Blazing Speed

If your site loads slowly, your conversion rates will suffer terribly, according to a study from Google. The loading speed of your site depends on a host of factors.

WP Engine has a reputation for its blazing speed, and the company is constantly making improvements in this regard.

The platform has customized servers with advanced caching. WP Engine’s customers are mainly in Europe and Asia, and the platforms.

2. Customer Support

Since its inception, WP Engine has taken customer support seriously. The company has always treated customer support as an investment and not a cost. In some cases, WP Engine responds in just a couple of minutes.

With that said, WP Engine has a vast knowledge base. If you do a little bit of research, you may be able to resolve the issue you are facing. But if you get in touch with the people at the help desk, they will most probably reply promptly.

3. Security

Close to 40% of the entire internet is not powered by WordPress. That is why malware distributors and hackers now consider WordPress sites an easy target. It does not mean that WordPress is inherently insecure. The platform regularly tests vulnerabilities and releases updates.

WP Engine offers one of the best WordPress web hosting services. With that said, when it comes to maintaining the security of your site, the responsibility is largely on you. WP Engine takes the best practices to ensure the security of your site. To keep things secure, the platform runs automated backups. The company collaborates with security firms to boost your security.

4. Market Focus

WP Engine is suitable for mainly 3 types of customers.

WordPress developers are the first customer type. WP Engine allows developers and designers to build the site in the platform’s staging environment and then launch the site without having to deal with hosting maintenance.

Designers and developers like WP Engine because the platform handles hosting, speed and security. Developers do not have to worry about ongoing maintenance.

Website owners who want to avoid technical growth headaches are the second customer type. If you want to move to a better host because you have outgrown your current shared hosting, WP Engine can make the process smooth.

Startup website owners are the third customer type. If you have the budget and are looking for a platform you can grow with, WP Engine is the ideal hosting service provider for you.

WP Engine has extensive knowledge about these three types of customers, and this knowledge is the strength of the platform.

5. EverCache Technology

EverCache—a highly scalable WordPress architecture, is one of the most notable innovations of WP Engine. This technology handles traffic spikes and boosts speed. Anytime a change is made, your site is updated automatically.

In order to use the EverCache technology, you have to enable Memcached, page caching, and object caching in the user portal. They all come built-in, and you can easily purge them from the WordPress admin area.

6. Innovative Hosting Features

WP Engine has a reputation for innovation when it comes to creating new hosting features. WP Engine creates tools to keep pace with web development best practices.

With its one-click staging site feature, the platform makes things easy for non-developers. There is a free SSL certificate for every domain. The platform has never stopped rolling out cutting-edge hosting features.

7. Guarantees

By providing guarantees, WP Engine instills trust in the customers who have not yet signed up. For those with enhanced SLA, WP Engine offers 99.99% uptime. For others, the platform offers 99.95% server uptime. The company also offers a 60-day money-back guarantee on all plans except the custom plans.

Cons of Using WP Engine

1. No Email Hosting or Domain Registration

WP Engine does not allow you to host your email services. When the host server goes down, you will have to host your emails on a third party platform.

WP Engine does not offer any domain name registration either; the company offers only hosting services. That means, you will have to use a third party company to acquire a domain name. And it can be inconvenient.

2. Disallowed Plugins

WP Engine claims that its platform is already capable of keeping your site secure, and therefore provides a list of plugins that are disallowed on the platform. The company does not allow you to use these plugins because they might cause issues with the platform’s internal services.

Here are some disallowed plugins:

• Backup plugins such as BackupWordPress and WP DB Backup
• Caching WordPress Plugins like W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache, WordFence, and WP File Cache.
• Broken Link Checker
• Related Posts plugins such as Similar Posts and YARPP.
• EWWW Image Optimizer

If you like to have more control over things like backup, security, site speed and image optimization, WP Engine might disappoint you.

3. No cPanel

For managing your websites and accounts, you may prefer a traditional cPanel. WP Engine does not have a cPanel.

However, instead of a traditional cPanel, the platform has a proprietary User Portal. This user portal is pretty easy to use. If you are okay with something new, you are going to like this user portal.

The user portal displays useful data such as bandwidth, storage, and the number of users.

4. Complicated Website

The website of WP Engine is noticeably difficult to navigate. The site offers a lot of information, but the layout could be simpler. However, for some, it is a minor issue.

Some useful features are not very easy to find, because they are hidden within support articles. However, once you have signed up, everything is simple, well-laid out, and easy to understand.

Best Alternatives to WP Engine

1. Bluehost

Best WP Engine Alternative for Small Business Websites and Blogs

Bluehost is one of the most well-known hosting service providers, and a strong competitor of WP Engine.  For WordPress hosting, Bluehost is officially recommended by WordPress.org.

Bluehost pricing is pretty straightforward. The platform offers six categories of hosting, and the plans start at just $2.95 per month. 

For beginners, Bluehost is definitely a better choice than WP Engine, partly because the former offers various types of WordPress hosting plans. The beginning price is cheaper than that of WP Engine.

If you are a beginner-level user just getting started with your first website, you may find Bluehost more convenient than WP Engine.

2. SiteGround

Best WP Engine Alternative for Growing Websites

With more than two million domain names, SiteGround is one of the most popular hosting service providers on the market. The platform is also one of the most well-known dedicated web hosting services. 

SiteGround has a clean and intuitive interface, because the platform no longer has a cPanel. It has its own dashboard.

For the top and middle tier plans, SiteGround is a bit cheaper, and offers more sites.

In terms of bandwidth, SiteGround is more generous than WP Engine, because the former does not meter the traffic to sites.

WP Engine does not provide email. On the other hand, SiteGround allows you to create as many email accounts as you want. Also, in terms of uptime, SiteGround has an edge over WP Engine.

3. Kinsta

Best WP Engine Alternative for Business WordPress Sites

Kinsta is another popular hosting service provider known for its performance, speed and security. Kinsta is exclusively powered by Google’s Premium Tier network and Google Cloud Platform.

For the past five consecutive years, Kinsta has been the fastest WordPress host. While WP Engine supports only 11 GCP locations, Kinsta supports 27 data centers.

In supported locations, Kinsta offers C2 compute-optimized VMs, which are up to 200% faster than the lower-tier machines of GCP.

To optimize database performance, Kinsta performs automatic MySQL optimization every week. WP Engine does not perform it.

Kinsta offers 24/7 support via live chat. At the help desk there are Linux engineers and WordPress experts who reply to queries pretty quickly.

WP Engine Pricing FAQ