WPEngine Pricing Review | Is It Worth Your Money?
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Before you sign up to WPEngine, there are some key things you should know. Mainly, how much are its price plans? Are they good value? And which one is best for you? Let’s take a look.
WPEngine is a hosting provider for WordPress sites – over 90,000 WordPress sites, to be more specific!
WPEngine offers hosting to sites of all sizes, but we recommend it for large businesses most of all because of its hefty features and high prices. If you’re not using WordPress then you won’t get much out of this review, since WPEngine only hosts WordPress websites. For those of you not using WordPress, there are plenty of other options – read our review of the Best Hosting Providers for starters!
In fact, WPEngine doesn’t just provide hosting for your site – it goes the extra mile and manages it all for you, including automatic backups, automatic updates, and hack protection.
So, what do you pay for this service? WPEngine keeps it simple, with four price plans and no hidden fees.
![wpengine price plans wpengine price plans](png/wpengine-price-plans.png)
As you can see, WPEngine’s price plans aren’t the cheapest on the market. This article will dive into the details of each plan, so you can see exactly what you get for your money.
Further Information
- Not using WordPress? WPEngine isn’t the hosting provider for you. But we can still help you find your perfect match:
- Compare the best hosting providers on the market in our Web Hosting Services Comparison Chart
- In our research, HostGator came out on top – find out why in our HostGator Review
- InMotion can’t be beaten for shared or VPS hosting – read our InMotion Hosting Review to learn more
1 How Much Are WPEngine’s Plans?
WPEngine has four price plans, ranging from $35 per month to a custom pricing plan. Unlike the prices offered by most hosting providers, WPEngine doesn’t run promotional offers – its prices may look expensive, but at the very least, what you see is what you get.
You can compare these plans and their key features in the table below.
Startup | Growth | Scale | Custom | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Monthly Price | $35 | $115 | $290 | Custom quote |
Annual Price | $350 | $1,150 | $2,900 | Custom quote |
Storage | 10GB | 20GB | 30GB | Up to 1TB |
Bandwidth /month | 50GB | 200GB | 400GB | 400GB+ |
Website Visits /month | 25,000 | 100,000 | 400,000 | Millions |
Number of Sites | 1 | 5 | 15 | 25 |
An important thing to know is that WPEngine has a 60-day money back guarantee on its Startup, Growth, and Scale plans, meaning you can sign up totally risk-free. If you’re not happy, you can get your money back as long as it’s within that 60 day period.
You’ll notice we’ve included both the monthly and annual prices – although the annual prices do look a little eye-watering, it’s worth knowing that you effectively get two months free by signing up to the yearly plan.
Further Information
- Do you want to know more about WPEngine before signing up? Read our WPEngine Review for an in-depth look!
- If you’re searching for something more budget-friendly, take a look at our in-depth review of the Best Cheap Hosting Providers to compare over 50 plans!
2 Startup Plan
$35 per month, or $350 per year
The Startup plan is the cheapest of WPEngine’s price plans, and is designed to support a small website or blog. It comes with basic features, including 10GB storage and a single website, but also has some fancy tools thrown in for free.
This plan can’t support a large website, so we recommend it for small businesses, or those just starting out. WPEngine recommends this plan for blogs, but in reality, it’s not an ideal choice – $35 per month is pretty steep, especially if you’re not making money from your site.
You can get an idea of how pricey WPEngine actually is compared to other providers in our review of the Best Small Business Hosts.
Features
Aside from the basic storage and bandwidth features, the Startup plan also comes with a range of technical and advanced features to help your small site succeed. Here’s a sneak peek at the features you get when you sign up to the Startup plan:
- One website included
- 10GB storage
- 50GB bandwidth per month
- Automated SSL certificates
- 35+ StudioPress themes
- Transferable sites
- Genesis framework
- Development, staging, and production environments
- PHP 7.3 ready
- LargeFS
- Global CDN
- Page performance
Some of these features will have beginners scratching their heads, and we can’t blame them – if you just want the basics, you’ll get better bang for your buck elsewhere. However, if you have some technical know-how, then these tools will give you greater control over running your site.
Help and Support
All plans give you access to the WPEngine Support Center – in fact, you don’t even need to sign up to browse though its articles, videos, and instructions. With the Startup plan, you also get access to WPEngine’s 24/7 live chat support, which is a handy help feature to have.
When we tested out the live chat support, we got pretty speedy responses – Carly read and responded to our query almost instantly.
![wpengine live chat example wpengine live chat example](png/wpengine-live-chat-example.png)
Further Information
- Are you starting a WordPress blog? If you’re unsure about WPEngine, check out our in-depth review of the Best WordPress Hostsfor more options.
- We recommend the Startup plan for small businesses – see our review of the Best Small Business Hosting Providers for top alternatives.
3 Growth Plan
$115 per month, or $1,150 per year
The Growth plan is more generous than the Startup plan, with larger allowances on features such as bandwidth and storage space. It has the resources to fuel your site’s growth, without swamping you in features you don’t yet need.
As you can guess from the name, this plan is suitable for business sites experiencing growth. It offers double the storage and over double the bandwidth of the Startup plan, making it a better starting point for most existing websites.
Features
For an extra $80 per month, the Growth plan lifts the limits from the Startup plan, giving your site more room to breathe – and, well, grow! Upgrading to the Growth plan unlocks the following features, on top of those found in the Startup Plan:
- Five websites included
- 20GB storage
- 200GB bandwidth per month
- Imported SSL certificates
These features give you the tools to run a more professional website, and set your sights on more ambitious goals for your business. The Growth plan supports up to 100,000 visits per month! Your site can handle this increased traffic because of the hike in bandwidth, which is essential for a growing website.
Help and Support
While you still have access to the live chat and Support Center, with the Growth plan, you also get 24/7 phone support. This is especially useful if you have more complex or unique issues that you need to resolve or discuss with a support agent.
4 Scale Plan
$290 per month, or $2,900 per year
The Scale plan is advertised as WPEngine’s best value price plan, with even more capacity for growth and improvement than the Growth plan.
This plan is best for large and fast-growing sites – you don’t get any extra fancy features included, so you’re upgrading mostly for the extra storage, bandwidth, and site allowances.
Features
The Scale plan does what it says on the tin – it lifts your limits, and gives you the resources to boost your site as you scale up. On this plan, your site can handle up to 400,000 visits per month – if you’re that popular, we applaud you!
Here’s what you get with the Scale plan, alongside the same features as the Growth plan:
- 15 sites included
- 30GB storage
- 400GB bandwidth per month
You don’t unlock any more “technical” features on the Scale plan – things like imported SSL certificates and StudioPress themes stay the same – but you do get an increase in your resources, with double the bandwidth of the Growth plan. This means you have the power and room to really scale up your operation, and push your site to the next level!
Help and Support
You get the same level of help and support on the Scale plan as you do on the Growth plan, meaning you have access to the Support Center, live chat, and 24/7 phone support.
5 Custom Plan
Custom quote
The Custom plan is the most advanced of WPEngine’s price plans, and has the features to support very large businesses. This plan doesn’t have set pricing – instead, you contact a sales specialist to receive a custom quote.
This plan is built for large businesses and mission-critical sites. So if you’re earning big bucks or totally rely on your website for the survival of your business, then the Custom plan is for you.
Features
You can say hello to an impressive range of features when you sign up to the Custom plan. As well as getting all the tools from the lower tier plans, you also gain access to some even fancier features to give your site the premium treatment:
- 25 sites included
- 100GB to 1TB storage
- 400GB+ bandwidth
- WordPress multisite
- GeoTarget
- Content performance
- SSH gateway
Not only do these features mean you get a higher quality service for your website, but it also means visitors on your site also get a better level of interaction. For example, GeoTarget allows you to identify where someone is visiting from, and show them content that’s relevant to their location.
This means you can offer a more personalized and relevant service through your website, which is especially valuable for large businesses.
Help and Support
When you’re sailing a bigger ship, you need more hands on deck, and definitely more lifeboats in case anything goes wrong. That’s why the Custom plan has multiple help and support options available to its clients.
You have access to WPEngine’s usual support resources, but you also get consultative onboarding and a launch readiness assessment, to make sure everything is shipshape and ready to go before you hit publish.
If you want extra security, you can pay for add-ons such as customer success management and 27/7 ticket support, which aren’t available to buy on any other plans.
![WPEngine](png/wpengine4628.png)
6 Additional WPEngine Costs
All of WPEngine’s plans come with a range of features included for free, which are built-in to your plan automatically. However, for each plan, there are also a selection of add-ons which are available for you to purchase for an additional cost.
These add-ons are entirely optional, so it’s up to you if you want to pay a bit extra for them. We’ve taken a look through them and at how much they cost, so you know exactly what you’re signing up for.
Additional Sites
There are limits on the number of sites included in your plan – the Startup plan automatically allows one site, for example – but what if you need more? Do you have to upgrade to the next plan up?
The answer is, no! You can add additional sites to your plan, meaning you’re not stuck with your plan’s limit until you’re ready to upgrade. These extra sites cost $20 per month each – you can add up to 24 on the Startup plan, while the number you’re allowed to add goes up on more advanced plans.
![wpengine add ons pricing wpengine pricing add ons](png/wpengine-add-ons-pricing.png)
Content Performance
Adding ‘Content Performance’ to your plan gives you WordPress-specific Google Analytics data to analyze straight from your admin dashboard. This can give you valuable insight into your site’s performance, and make improvements to your content based on those results.
Don’t worry – you don’t need to be a Google Analytics expert to benefit from this!
Adding content performance to your plan costs $25 per month on top of your regular subscription.
![wpengine pricing content performance wpengine content performance](png/wpengine-pricing-content-performance.png)
GeoTarget
This is included for free on the Custom plan, but if you want GeoTarget for your own site, then you’re in luck – you can easily buy it for your site. With GeoTarget, you can detect where a visitor is located, and deliver tailored content to them.
![wpengine pricing geotarget wpengine geotarget](png/wpengine-pricing-geotarget.png)
Whether it’s displaying their local currency, or relevant adverts for their area, GeoTarget lets you create more personalized content for your users.
The good news is, it’s not too pricey, either – GeoTarget will set you back just $15 per month, making it the cheapest add-on you can choose.
Global Edge Security
Global Edge security includes a host of security features, including Cloudflare CDN, a web application firewall (WAF), and Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) protection.
![wpengine pricing global edge security wpengine global edge security](png/wpengine-pricing-global-edge-security.png)
Basically, adding this feature enhances your site’s security with these technical tools, and saves you a few headaches along the way!
Protection doesn’t come cheap at $30 per month, but depending on the size of your business, you’ll likely save more than you could lose if your site went down from a nasty attack.
WordPress Multisite
WordPress Multisite is a handy add-on that lets you run multiple WordPress sites from a single installation. This lets you create a network of sites that all share the same themes and plugins.
This can make your life easier if you’re managing lots of websites – it’s efficient, and can be a lot easier than installing WordPress again and again and managing all your sites in separate places.
It’s not for everyone, but if you decide that WordPress Multisite would suit your needs, then you’ll need a spare $20 per month to enable it through WPEngine.
WPEngine Pricing: Summary
We’ve explored, examined, and drilled down into WPEngine’s pricing plans, comparing them side-by-side and then revealing the details of each one separately. We even covered any additional costs you might want to budget for – or avoid – when signing up for WPEngine.
The results are in: WPEngine’s price plans are pretty darn expensive, and overall don’t offer amazing value for money. The provider is best-suited for large businesses, but for most websites, you can find much better value elsewhere.
If WPEngine is the right provider for you, then you’ve got four price plans to choose from – these range from $35 to $290 per month, with a Custom plan for more tailored pricing.
However, if WPEngine looks to be beyond your budget, or simply not worth the investment, then you do have other options. We can recommend Bluehost as the best WordPress hosting provider, with prices starting from $2.95 per month for its shared WordPress hosting.
A2 Hosting also offers a quality service for WordPress users, with prices starting from $3.93 per month for its shared WordPress hosting plans.
At the end of the day, if you just want the basics and are on a budget, WPEngine won’t give you the value for money you’re looking for. But if you do want to try it out, it has a pretty generous 60-day money back guarantee, and no hidden fees – you could do worse!
![WPEngine](png/wpengine4628.png)
Further Information
- Want to know more about WPEngine’s hosting? Read our WPEngine Review
- Bluehost is the best WordPress hosting provider – find out why in our Bluehost Review
- Read our Bluehost Pricing Review to see how its prices compare to WPEngine’s plans.
- Check out our A2 Hosting Review, another top performing provider
- Are you looking for some WordPress hosting alternatives? Read our review of the Best Managed WordPress Hosting
WPEngine Pricing: FAQs
Can I switch from monthly to annual billing, or vice versa?
Yes! You can change your plan from monthly to annual billing in your User Portal, or if you want to change from annual to monthly, then you’ll just need to email billing@wpengine.com so they can activate it for you.
Can I upgrade later?
Yes! Some users will need to email the billing team for an upgrade, while some others can upgrade simply by logging into your User Portal. Once there, just click “modify your plan” to choose which plan you want to switch to. You can even select extra add-ons for your site in this area if you want to further add to your plan.
Can I downgrade or remove add-ons?
Yes! It could take a little longer than adding them, though. You need to email billing@wpengine.com to downgrade, while to remove add-ons, you’ll need to manually remove them, then reach out to a support agent in the live chat.
What happens if my site gets more visitors than my plan allows?
Don’t worry, WPEngine won’t cut your site off – if you get a sudden spike in traffic, you’ll just get charged an overage cost of $2 per 1,000 extra monthly visitors. This system is designed to let your site handle the increased traffic, without draining your bank account.
Which WPEngine plan is best?
There’s no definite answer on which plan is best – it’s just about which plan is best for you. WPEngine labels its Scale plan as being the best value plan, but for most small to medium business sites, we’d recommend starting out on the Growth plan. It all depends on your budget and your specific needs!
Does WPEngine have any promotional prices?
No, WPEngine doesn’t offer a discounted price for new users. This is unusual, as most hosting providers will charge a very low price for your first term, which then renews at the regular rate. WPEngine doesn’t do this, meaning that while it’s more expensive, you don’t get any surprises when renewal time comes around.
Does WPEngine have any cheaper hosting plans?
No – while other hosting providers offer a range of different hosting types at a range of prices, WPEngine only provides managed WordPress hosting. This means it only has these four price plans, rather than offering multiple plans such as shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting.
Website Builder Expert aims to provide you with honest data. That’s why we conduct our own research and obtain direct, personal insight.
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