WP Engine also offers a number of premium security features. The WordPress core is automatically updated to the latest version for you. WP Engine thoroughly tests any major core updates before upgrading their customers. They have a proprietary intrusion detection and prevention system to block any DDoS attacks, brute force attacks, JavaScript/SQL-injection attacks and more.
If you're looking to sell products via your website, you'll want a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate. It safeguards the data sent from a customer's computer to your site's servers. Fortunately, WP Engine includes one, free of charge, with your hosting subscription. Considering that some web hosts make you buy an SSL certificate, I tip my hat to WP Engine for tossing one in for free.
While at first glance, WP Engine seems exhorbitantly expensive, it turns out the host's plans are extremely competitively priced for the amazing hosting provided. These plans are built for developers and agencies, not the first-time site owner looking to publish a family blog. For most sites, the Startup plan is more than enough, and all subscribers benefit from WP Engine's in-house technology. The main difference between plans is the number of visitors you can have coming to your site (ranging from 25K to millions per month), the amount of WordPress installs (ranging from 1 to 25+), and the amount of local storage (10GB and up). The WP Engine team's WordPress expertise really puts the company at the top of the food chain if you want to run a top-tier WordPress site.
If you are in what I think of as WP Engine’s core markets – they offer a great service with a solid product. Their pricing is competitive in the Managed WordPress Hosting space – and they offer more features than “WordPress hosting” plans from other hosting brands. Their feature-set is unmatched for savvy DIYers, WordPress website developers and/or high-traffic sites that don’t want to worry about hosting issues.
They make things seem easier than they are at times, to sell people on their service. e.g. the idea of instant transfer to them as if DNS delay does not exist. They have some poor recommendations at times. e.g. CName instead of A-Records. This sort of thing benefits them but is not best practice as you cant assign an apex domain to a CName. I found this sort of thing would happen often… they really sell people on the idea that their way is easier and better than everyone else, but going so far as ignoring best practices. This is noticable in their caching as well, which is how they get such great numbers in regards to speed, however it is not best practice to cache so aggressively.
Emily Gall – WPEngine has been a dream to work with. As a small agency, I’m really looking for the best service at the best value when it comes to hosting for my clients. WPEngine delivers everything I need including AMAZING support, a learnable interface, insights and most importantly reliable, lightning fast hosting services. I would absolutely recommend them to anyone looking for a high-powered hosting service.
That said – the tough thing about customer support is that so much of the judgment is anecdotal. Everyone has a story, but you never know if the story is because they talked to the one rockstar-vs-rookie having an awesome-vs-terrible day. Like I mention in every hosting review, the important part is to see if a company treats support as an investment or a cost.
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