Siteground Alternatives: Low, Mid and High Budget WordPress Hosting | WP Maven
What are the best SiteGround alternatives? There are many reasons why you are looking for web hosting alternatives to SiteGround. The costly SiteGround renewal pricing, limited hosting resources and maybe, unparalleled hosting performance as compared to other web hosting services.
We understood the frustrations because every month, we have clients reaching out to us with SiteGround hosting — either performing website migration or finding alternatives to SiteGround hosting.
In the next few moments, we are going to run through (with you) our list of SiteGround alternatives that you can't go wrong with. No matter how big or small your budget is, or how much performance you require, we have them covered in this post.
One of the biggest misconceptions is SiteGround is not good or SiteGround is not worth the money. The truth is, SiteGround is a pretty decent shared WordPress hosting service.
Here's how SiteGround pricing structure looks like:
~SiteGround WordPress hosting pricing
As you can see, the entry level to SiteGround is really low and we recommend SiteGround to anyone who has a small blog/website that doesn't require much resources.
The entry level for SiteGround WordPress hosting is $6.99 per month for a single website with under 10,000 visits a month. The pricing structure is rather decent especially when it uses Google Cloud Platform (GCP) as their backbone and comes with inbuilt cache plugin. You can check out more about the SiteGround features right here.
SiteGround often 'goes bad' when it comes to renewal or when you are running a heavy traffic WordPress site. The renewal fee for SiteGround is often twice or more than the first year's price — this is a huge problem especially for bloggers and small website owners. An increase of 10 to 20% is rather decent but a 100% (or more) increase is definitely a huge problem.
If you are feeling what we are feeling, let's dive in to learn more on SiteGround alternatives.
The best Siteground alternatives for 2020
Throughout the years, we had tested a wide range of web hosting companies and we had found our favorite SiteGround alternatives based on your budget. So, here goes!
Low BudgetMid BudgetHigh Budget
For us, low budget web hosting services are often under the $15 per month price tag. Our favorite low budget SiteGround alternatives are:
Among the shared hosting plans above, FlyWheel hosting is the priciest of all simply because it is a managed WordPress hosting. For only $13 per month, that's a lot of firepower and hosting features you can get with FlyWheel!
If you are looking anywhere between $15 to $50 per month, welcome to the mid budget SiteGround alternatives. Most of the time, your website is generating at least 50,000 traffic in a month and is making a decent amount of money from your website.
Our favorite mid-budget web hosting solutions are:
It is important to note that both RunCloud and Cloudways are pretty much hosting control panels integrated with VPS.
Enterprise-grade and high volume websites require high budget web hosting. If you are generating over 100,000 traffic a month, there's absolutely no harm (as a matter of fact, it is compulsory) to invest into better web hosting solutions.
Higher budget web hosting solutions often offer more performance, security, support and scalability. Here's the list of the best high budget WordPress hosting solutions:
On average, a high budget WordPress hosting solution starts around $100 per month. And if you are generating over 100,000 traffic a month, you are definitely earning more than $100 a month from the website!
Summary of the best Siteground alternatives
Until date, there is not a single hosting solution that is a one-size-fits-all. The best Siteground alternative is always the one that fits your needs. To easier define your needs, it is best to define the number of web traffic your website is generating, the amount of space you need from a web hosting solution.
Also, do not forget that another critical option is the hosting support you will get. Typically, a managed WordPress hosting solution will provide more support, performance, scalability and security as compared to shared hosting plans.
WordPress vs Clickfunnels: Which Is The Fastest, Leanest And Powerful Landing Page Builder?
Landing pages.WordPress and Clickfunnels are two of the best landing page builders in the online marketing space. On one corner, there's WordPress which is a content management system (CMS) that powers over 30% of the world's website. On the opposite corner, there's Clickfunnels which has helped entrepreneurs around with revenue-generating landing pages (making millions of dollars each month).
If you are confused and looking for the best WordPress vs Clickfunnels comparison, you don't have to look any further. What you will find in the next few minutes is a detailed comparison between both WordPress and Clickfunnels — and how you can build a landing page quickly, converting and doesn't burn a hole in your wallet.
If you are running an online store or doing online marketing, one of the most crucial part is having a landing page. Instead of sending paid visitors to your homepage, you send them to a dedicated sales page to try convert cold visitors into buying ones.
WordPress and Clickfunnels allow you to easily create highly converting landing pages without coding skills. In most cases, you can easily create not one but several step landing pages in just under 10 minutes.
What is WordPress?
~What is WordPress?
WordPress CMS is one of the most popular content management system (CMS) in the world — powering over 30% of all the websites in the world. This CMS is flexible and is very beginner friendly.
WordPress comes in two forms:
Hosted WordPress solution
Self-hosted WordPress solution
Hosted WordPress solution often relates to WordPress.com. This is a free WordPress blogging site that allows you to create free WordPress blogs in minutes, without spending a dollar. In return, you are required to follow any advertising guidelines and specific terms and conditions set out by the platform. For some, this is an important restriction.
Self-hosted WordPress solution relates to having a WordPress site of your own. You are required to get a domain name, hosting solution and install WordPress CMS before you can start your own blog. While this may sound daunting, most web hosting solutions offer 1-click WordPress installation and hassle-free hosting plans.
Introducing, Bluehost.
The world's more popular WordPress hosting plan that doesn't burn a hole in your wallet (plus free website migration too).
There are two ways to create landing pages using WordPress — the easy and the hard(er) way.
The easiest way to create a landing page using WordPress
The easiest and quickest way to create a landing page with WordPress is by using a landing page builder. Landing page builders are often addons or plugins that help you to build landing pages quickly and without coding skills.
Most WordPress landing page builders come with:
Visual builder (drag and drop builder)
Ready-made templates
1-click installation
If you are looking to save time and money, using WordPress landing page builders is often a wise choice.
Some of the best WordPress landing page builders in the market today are:
When it comes to landing page builder, Clickfunnels is a household name for online marketers. Use by top online marketers and influencers in the world, Clickfunnels had proven to be an effective online marketing solution for business owners (especially eCommerce).
Clickfunnels is very different compared to WordPress. Here are some features that make Clickfunnels unique:
No coding skills required
Integrated with email marketing solution
A lightweight CRM
Huge community that are helpful
A long track record for being a key success to eCommerce stores and online entrepreneurs
When comparing Clickfunnels vs WordPress, it is important to note that Clickfunnels costs more. However, in return, you are using a much more of a 'managed' landing page solution.
Instead of having to worry about the entire website (if you use WordPress), you are given the entire marketing tools (landing page builder, affiliate hub and email marketing solution) all under one roof.
How to create a landing page using Clickfunnels?
~Clickfunnels visual landing page builder
Creating a landing page using Clickfunnels is really easy. For starters, Clickfunnels has been in the market for years and regardless it is integration or usability, you can launch your first landing page in just under 30 minutes instead of hours or days.
Clickfunnels also integrates perfectly well with Zapier which allows you to take automation to whole new levels too.
All in one marketing solution for busy marketers
Clickfunnels is one of the most complete marketing solutions for online marketers. It comes with a wide range of marketing tools that allow you to build an email list, convert cold visitors into hot prospects and even increase the revenue generation.
How to quickly create a landing page using Clickfunnels?
~How to create landing pages using Clickfunnels?
Clickfunnels is really easy to use. They do felt 'vanilla' in terms of UI and UX but they have one of the most functioning landing page builder tool in the market.
Review: WordPress vs Clickfunnels
Between WordPress and Clickfunnels, we find that both of these landing page builders are able to create landing pages quickly and effectively.
However, it is important to note that no two builder tools are similar.
WordPress offers a significantly more powerful as it offers everything you need to manage your website and landing pages. Building landing pages using WordPress is easy thanks to the wide range of WordPress drag and drop builders. Plus, WordPress offers customization levels that are often unmatched not only for Clickfunnels, but other marketing tools in the world too. Start a WordPress website within minutes without robbing a bank with Bluehost.
On the other hand, Clickfunnels offers simplicity to marketers who want to build and launch landing pages quickly without the hassle of setting up a website and integrating with third-party email service providers. If you are looking for a landing page builder that is easy to use, you can't go wrong with Clickfunnels. You can try Clickfunnels for 14-days free right here, right now!
Is Thrive Themes Worth It? Read Our Brutal Discussion
With Gutenberg getting momentum in the WordPress visual builder space, website developers and website owners start asking questions if getting tools such as Thrive Themes worth the money. Don't worry because, in this article, we are getting you covered with brutal discussions (reviews) on Thrive Themes.
You seen us talking about Thrive Themes and probably hundreds of other blogs too. The biggest questions are — "What is Thrive Themes" and "Why Thrive Themes is such an important WordPress software?"
For starters, Thrive Themes is not a WordPress tool but a collection of tools to help you create the WordPress website that you had always wanted. From website design to lead generation tools, Thrive Themes offers an all-in-one solution for online marketers.
Editorial Team @ WP Maven
We remember the time Thrive Themes was launched into the marketplace. Back then, there weren't many great options and those in the market were either too bloated or poorly coded.
Thrive Themes had evolved — it comes packing with Shapeshift, an intuitive drag and drop (lightweight) WordPress theme builder, eight WordPress marketing plugins and one membership option (if you are serious in saving money).
The eight WordPress plugins are:
Thrive Architect
Thrive Quiz Builder
Thrive Leads
Thrive Ovation
Thrive Ultimatum
Thrive Apprentice
Thrive Comments
Thrive Optimize
How much does Thrive Themes cost?
Thrive Themes comes in two different pricing structure — yearly membership or a one-time payment for single purchase.
The yearly membership known as Thrive Membership costs $19 per month (unlimited usage up to 25 sites) while single Thrive plugin costs anywhere from $49 to $97 for a single site usage.
Ultimately, here's the biggest question. There are several scenarios that we can use, including getting the membership and getting a standalone Thrive plugin.
Let's run through each scenario and decide if Thrive Themes is really worth the money (or not).
Scenario 1: Using Thrive Membership
Thrive Membership is a yearly membership program that is not only affordable ($19 per month) but it is highly effective especially for online marketers and website owners. Subscribing to Thrive Membership allows you to:
Use all Thrive Themes and plugins available on yours (or your client's site)
Unlimited usage, support and upgrades up to 25 websites
Save more money as Thrive Membership offers a full suite of WordPress marketing tools that you can use
Zero worries on compatibility — if plugin A works with plugin B type-of-scenario
Conversion-focused WordPress themes and plugins at your disposal
One highly affordable pricing minus the headaches
Summary TL;DR: Thrive Membership is an affordable WordPress marketing tool for website owners. Thrive Themes makes it easy for you to manage your website marketing channels under one roof — be it lead generation, email list building or doing split testing, Thrive Themes and plugins ensure that you don't have to spend money on expensive third-party tools to get the job done.
Scenario 2: Standalone Thrive plugins
This scenario is excellent for WordPress website owners who want to maintain their current website setting and use selected Thrive plugins to solve one or more specific problems that they face.
Here's a simple example.
A website owner who uses Astra WP could use Thrive Leads (standalone plugin) to create lead generation forms, pop-ups and full-screen mats to build an email list.
What are the advantages using standalone Thrive plugins?
No changes to current theme and website layout
The ability to fix a specific problem or challenge without coding skills
Standalone Thrive plugins are one-time purchase for lifetime usage
Direct support is only available during active subscription
Access to the public support forum or Facebook Groups (with and without an active subscription)
Easy on the wallet (due to one-time payment)
Summary TL;DR: Thrive standalone WordPress plugins are great. Plugins such as Thrive Leads and Thrive Optimize are two great plugins that you can't go wrong with — ones that you certainly need to have (and if you are not looking for long term, monthly commitment).
Is Thrive Themes worth getting?
Thrive Themes and plugins are well-coded, highly respectable and proven marketing tools in the WordPress space.
Thrive Membership is an excellent choice (one that you can't go wrong with) for an affordable all-in-one WordPress marketing suite.
On the other hand, the standalone Thrive plugins are great choices for those who are focused on budget. With a one time purchase for lifetime usage, Thrive standalone plugins are definitely options that you can't go wrong with!
Want to know more about Thrive Membership or all the Thrive plugins? Click the button below now!
WP Reset Review: WP Development & Debugging Tool for Non-Techies
One of the most underrated WordPress plugins that we had ever used is WP Reset. This plugin served as a development and debugging tool that is geared towards non-developers (developers-friendly).
WP Reset first got its break when it was the showcase product on AppSumo, a marketplace for SaaS tools and software. During the launched, it caught the eyes of many WordPress developers and WordPress website owners. Even our developers here at WP Maven were happy to use it — and implementing it on our clients' websites were super easy.
In this article, we are going to give you a detailed overview of WP Reset and how you can use WP Reset (regardless you are a WordPress developer or an average Joe in WordPress) like a professional.
For those who prefer to watch the video, here's a quick video introduction on WP Reset and why it is such a cool plugin!
In short, WP Reset is all about enriching your WordPress experience and more importantly, keeping your WordPress accessible even at the worst possible scenario.
What are the features offered by WP Reset?
Your Own Time Machine
You clicked “update plugin” because why not? And everything went to hell? Go back to the past when everything was working with 1 click.
More Cleaning Tools
We all hate when a theme demo installs so much demo data that it takes an hour to clean. With WP Reset, remove anything with one click.
Automatic Snapshots
Let WP Reset be your safety net. It creates automatic snapshots before all significant changes on your site so you can always have a safe point to restore the site to.
1-Click Install Favorite Plugins
Create a collection of your favorite plugins & themes and install them after resetting the site, or when creating a site one from scratch.
Nuclear Reset Everything
Need to be sure everything is gone? All options, all files, all custom database entries, and tables? Then hit the nuclear reset button.
WP Reset Cloud Storage
Offload & safely store Collections & Snapshots to the cloud controlled by the WP Reset team or use one of the popular services like Dropbox, Google Drive, or pCloud.
Your Personal WP Superhero
White screen. Nothing works! You messed up so badly that you can’t even get into the WP admin? No worries! Just open the recovery tool.
Whitelabel Options
Don’t want WebFactory’s logos displayed within the plugin? Do you want to hide the license info as well? Just enable the Whitelabel Option.
Centralized Management
Control all your licenses, sites, collections & snapshots from a single location. All your client sites in one place, easily accessible and controllable.
Who should use WP Reset?
From website agencies to website owners, WP Reset is an easy to use backup and restoration plugin that helps you manage your WordPress sites like a professional.
More importantly, you can do all that without any coding skills or server management skills.
How much does WP Reset costs?
Finally, we reached an important part of the WP Reset review. How much does WP Reset costs (and is WP Reset worth it?)?
WP Reset Pricing Structures
Here's WP Reset yearly deals and get up to 50% discount during their launch duration.
WP Reset is a very decent, reliable WordPress recovery tool that keeps your WordPress site safe. Now, you can easily update, install or perform changes to your WordPress site without the fear of crashing it!
RunCloud Review: Is this the best hosting control panel for WordPress?
When we published our Gridpane vs RunCloud review, we thought that it was only right to have a specific review on RunCloud to give more perspective to our readers. So, this article is all about RunCloud.io, one of the most popular PHP hosting control panel in the world.
For starters, RunCloud.io is a Malaysian-made company that hit stardom. It is founded by a few highly talented locals who have a passion for server management.
RunCloud.io is a lightweight control panel for server management and offers zero downtime deployment. RunCloud is a faster, secure and modern web server panel that is focused on your web application. Either you are using Laravel, Code Igniter, Cake, WordPress, CMS or custom baked PHP application, you can easily integrate the applciation with RunCloud.
The foundations of RunCloud are:
Affordability
Ease of use
Easily optimized (and optimized right out-of-the-box)
What are the advantages of using RunCloud.io?
Honestly, we can think of dozens of advantages that RunCloud offers. Here's a list of the advantages that matter the most to web developers and website owners.
Easy server management
Automate server configuration and security updates in just a few clicks (with or without server management skills).
Backup the way you like
Reliable storage to bring you peace of mind.
Atomic deployment
Powerful use of git deployment for ZERO downtime guaranteed.
Team and collaborations
Grant custom privileges for trusted users to manage your servers.
Instantaneous deployment
Renowned for One-Click Installers, while still letting you be in full control. RunCloud runs your cloud servers in optimal configurations.
Autonomous setup
Let us do the heavy lifting & configure the perfect secure server for you! In record time!
Virtual PHP machines
Alternate and run simultaneous PHP versions at your ease & convenience.
Split-second notifications
Monitor your servers from anywhere, anytime.
Secured management panel
Leave the security acronyms to us! We will configure & renew them seamlessly.
Performance-driven dashboard
Our optimized dashboard allows for quick tweaks from a single interface. Pioneering user experience at its forefront.
RunCloud vs Gridpane: Is RunCloud faster than Gridpane?
One of the most common questions we have seen and asked is "Is RunCloud faster?" RunCloud is a PHP based hosting control panel and on the other hand, Gridpane is more of a specialized WordPress hosting control panel.
We tested both RunCloud and Gridpane several times for complete load test and it seems that our test websites loads well under a second mark. However, Gridpane is slightly faster around 20-30% on average.
RunCloud support review
RunCloud customer support is fast and effective. Their knowledge base information may not be the most updated one but their customer support is very helpful.
They are always available to provide assistance (even with the dumbest questions etc.). It felt good communicating with them and we can't help but giving them a thumb up for a job well done, each time we had to reach out to them!
RunCloud review: Is RunCloud.io worth it?
RunCloud.io is very competitive especially with the pricing structure. Here's the RunCloud pricing structure.
~Latest RunCloud Pricing
As you can see, RunCloud is highly affordable with plans starting at $6.67 per month for the lowest tier. Plus, it is still way more affordable from most of the competitors (including Gridpane) with their highest tier at $37.50 per month.
Summary: RunCloud.io review
If you are looking for a reliable hosting control panel, you can't go wrong with RunCloud. RunCloud offers one of the best pricing structures for server management and the product itself is stable (reliable).
There is absolutely no denial that RunCloud is excellent for both affordability and performance.
Try RunCloud for free
Do you know that RunCloud offers 5 days free trial? Click the button below to get started!
Gridpane vs RunCloud: Which is the best hosting control panel?
Gridpane vs RunCloud. Which is the best WordPress control panel? If this is what you are looking for, we have some good news for you. Over the past 3 weeks, we had been testing both Gridpane and RunCloud extensively to answer all the dying questions about both of these awesome hosting control panels.
In the next few moments, we are going to dive deep into both Gridpane and RunCloud, and we certainly hope you will be able to find some true answers here!
One of the biggest misconception about hosting control panels is hosting control panels offer hosting services. A hosting control panel is a tool that allows you to manage all aspects of a hosting service. It allows you to do most of the complex system management in hosting as well as simple ones such as creating email accounts, adding domains and checking the bandwidth usage.
cPanel and Plesk are two great examples for general hosting control panels and while these are great tools, you might find them rather limitating especially when you would require more control.
Introducing, Gridpane vs RunCloud Review
~Gridpane vs RunCloud comparison review
When it comes to custom WordPress hosting control panel, both Gridpane and RunCloud are household names for website owners, WordPress agencies and freelancers alike.
RunCloud is a PHP Cloud Server Management Panel that integrates perfectly well with various frameworks including WordPress, Laravel, Joomla and Yii Framework.
~What is RunCloud?
Apart from that, it is also important to note that RunCloud is a Malaysian based company that had made to the limelight.
Gridpane is a WordPress control panel and when they launched, they were the first of its kind. The advanced hosting control panel makes deploying, optimizing and hardening any WordPress site a breeze.
~What is Gridpane?
If you are looking for a dedicated hosting control panel for WordPress CMS, Gridpane is a solid choice that you can't go wrong with.
On the surface, Gridpane is not really made for website owners. It is a hosting control panel that you can use to manage hundreds if not thousands of WordPress sites under one roof and instead of paying through your nose through 3rd party WordPress hosting solutions.
What are the advantages using Gridpane?
Fully tuned NGINX with FastCGI
Premium plugins and themes
Latest versions for PHP, MySQL and Redis
Staging and SSL capabilities
Advanced security and server hardening features
Unlimited server management
Built-in Slack notifications
Secure SSH keyed access by default
Robust Linux, NGINX, MySQL, PHP (LEMP) stack
Remote third-party backups
Dedicated live chat support and well-equipped knowledge base
Let's take a look at Gridpane's backend system.
What are the disadvantages using Gridpane?
Let's be honest here. There is no such thing as a perfect product and Gridpane has its weakness too. Based on our team's experience, the biggest disadvantage of using Gridpane is the customer support.
Now, make no mistake. We are decently happy with their customer support level but there are things they could certainly do better.
For example, some customer support teams are very fast in pointing you to the articles in the knowledge base. Sure, these articles could be well-written but at times, having human touches such as helping out instantly goes a long way in making one's day and even building a strong satisfaction level. This is a known challenges that Gridpane faces and you can also see more users are more keen to post for help on their Facebook Group (for community support) instead of going through the support live chat.
Aside from that, Gridpane pricing is also rather steep, especially for their range. This is because while the entry level (Pro plan) is nicely capped at $30 per month, the developer plan is $100 per month which is a huge jump for many. You would most likely benefit much from the developer plan because it is comes with additional features including server security which is crucial.
RunCloud review
We were rather hardcore Gridpane fans until we use RunCloud ourselves. To be honest, we know that there are many features of RunCloud but RunCloud can be rather complicated for beginners. For starters, RunCloud is great when you can write command codes. If you can't, the support team is there to assist (minus the communication time in between).
On the surface, RunCloud is very geared towards usability (the backend dashboard is beautifully crafted and the UI/UX is very pleasing). Under the hood, RunCloud offers one of the largest and most complex hosting control panel known to mankind.
What are the advantages using RunCloud?
Ability to manage web servers under one roof
Using confusing command lines is not required
Multiple stacks setup including LEMP and LAMP
Easily white label and customize for clients
Very supportive customer support team
Time saving applications and integrations
Notification via Slack, Telegram or email
Powerful server hardening features
Easy to use backend system
Complex and complete settings for nearly every hosting needs
Affordable pricing structures
Let's take a look at RunCloud backend system.
What are the disadvantages using RunCloud?
We are not going to lie to you. We feel in love (again) right after using RunCloud. But this RunCloud review is all about honesty and real comparison, so here goes.
For starters, RunCloud can be fairly complicated especially for beginners. Their dashboard is well-arranged with beautiful UI/UX. However, there are many options and can be rather challenging especially for first-time users.
Apart from the complex settings, it is important to understand that RunCloud is not a completely dedicated hosting control panel for WordPress. In other words, the development for RunCloud may not be entirely focused on WordPress.
Gridpane vs RunCloud: Comparing two awesome tools
There is no denial that both Gridpane and RunCloud are great hosting control panel tools. If you need some powerful comparisons, we hope you find this information useful.
Gridpane
RunCloud
Hosting control panel dedicated for WordPress
Hosting control panel not dedicated for WordPress
Bundles feature helps to speed up WordPress installation
WordPress Canvas helps to speed up WordPress installation
Limited number of team members for developer plans and above (10 slots per Developer plan), and additional charges apply
Unlimited number of team members at no extra cost
Single VPS provider API per account
Multiple VPS provider APIs per account
Developer plan starts at $100 per month with white labeling starts from $1,000 per month.
Highest tier starts at $37.5 per month and custom tier is available (by contacting support)
Priority support via live chat and non essential support via email
Support via emails only
Gridpane offers 14 days free trial
RunCloud offers 5 days free trial
No yearly plan discounts for Gridpane
RunCloud offers annual discounts
Gridpane vs RunCloud: Which is a faster WordPress hosting control panel?
Last but not least, speed is something that we are fairly sensitive about.
So, is Gridpane faster than RunCloud?
The answer is "They are both on par." Take a look at the speed tests we did to compare both Gridpane and RunCloud.
~Speedtest using Gridpane
~Speedtest using RunCloud
On the left, it is Gridpane's score while the right is RunCloud's. Gridpane scored 473 ms and RunCloud scored 615 ms, both with full Redis cache turned on.
If you want to count on math, Gridpane loads around 30% faster (142 ms). We decided not to conclude that Gridpane is faster than RunCloud based on numbers since both of them are loading well below the 1 second mark.
Summary: Which is the best hosting control panel for WordPress?
Both Gridpane and RunCloud are excellent choices and you can't go wrong with either one of them. If we have to choose, we decided that RunCloud is the best option for us simply because they have better customer support, easier pricing structures and offers tons of different application frameworks that we could use at the same time.
The Best Hosting Control Panel ...
RunCloud.io
There is no doubt that Gridpane is easier to use (beginner friendly) but RunCloud offers power, performance, customer support and excellent pricing that beats Gridpane anytime of the day.
Divi vs Astra: The ULTIMATE Comparison Minus The Fluff
Bluehost Review 2020: A Web Hosting Comparison Like No Other
Bluehost is the most popular web hosting service and just like any other web hosting companies, it has a fair share of positive and negative reviews. As a matter of fact, you probably come across more less-appealing Bluehost review blog posts on the first page of Google! At WP Maven, we use do have clients who use Bluehost as their hosting provider and we do have more than a dozen encounters with Bluehost on a very personal end.
We want to make this Bluehost review different from most of the ones that you can find on the Internet—through in-depth review, features, the good and the bad of what Bluehost offers.
Without further delay, let's dive deep into our own hosting review, Bluehost.
Bluehost is a web hosting company owned by Endurance International Group (also known as EIG). It is one of the 20 largest web hosts, collectively hosting well over 2 million domains. The company operates its servers in-house in a 50,000 square feet facility in Provo, Utah. According to Wikipedia, Bluehost employs over 750 people in its Utah facility.
Bluehost is a popular website hosting provider that offers both affordable web hosting service (for small websites) and enterprise-level hosting frameworks for large/heavy traffic websites.
Part 2: What type of web hosting does Bluehost offer?
Bluehost offers a wide range of hosting services including:
Apart from that, Bluehost also offers related services such as:
Email hosting
Domain name registration
Live WordPress support
Custom website design and digital marketing services
Part 3: What features that Bluehost web hosting offers?
As this Bluehost review is mainly on the review on Bluehost hosting solution, we will be putting more emphasis on web hosting, as compared to other services.
When it comes to Bluehost hosting features, the features vary based on the hosting plan that you are currently subscribed to. For example, eCommerce hosting features may vary as compared to WordPress hosting.
Nonetheless, here's the breakdown for each Bluehost web hosting services.
How's the experience with this blue hosting service?
With Bluehost, you never have to worry about your website being slow even when there is a lot of traffic. Their 24/7 expert support is always there to help when you need it by phone, email, or live chat. They are rated #1 in web hosting for small businesses.
Shared hosting is a common Bluehost hosting solution. It is easy to use, useable for all major CMS, easy to setup, email hosting services and support that you need.
There are 4 common plans when it comes to Bluehost shared hosting. Let's take a look below.
(a) Shared Hosting Basic
1 website
50 GB SSD Storage
Unmetered Bandwidth
Free SSL Certificate
Standard Performance
1 Included Domain
5 Parked Domains
25 Subdomains
Summary: If you are just starting a blog, the Bluehost Basic web hosting plan is an excellent choice to start with. This shared hosting solution starts at $3.95 per month and is the lowest entry-level shared hosting plan.
(b) Shared Hosting Plus
Unlimited Websites
Unlimited SSD Storage
Unmetered Bandwidth
Complimentary SSL Certificate
Standard Performance
Unlimited Domains
Unlimited Parked Domains
Unlimited Subdomains
Spam Experts
1 Microsoft 365 Mailbox - Free 30 Days
Summary: The Plus plan is best when you are hosting more than one website (Bluehost Plus shared hosting plan offers unlimited website hosting). With pricing starts at $5.95 per month, it comes with Spam Experts (for email delivery), free domain name and Microsoft 365 Mailbox (trial) too.
(c) Shared Hosting Choice Plus
Unlimited Websites
Unlimited SSD Storage
Unmetered Bandwidth
Complimentary SSL Certificate
Standard Performance
Unlimited Domains
Unlimited Parked Domains
Unlimited Subdomains
Spam Experts
Domain Privacy + Protection
Site Backup - CodeGuard Basic
1 Microsoft 365 Mailbox - Free 30 Days
Summary: Bluehost Choice Plus is the next available tier when it comes to affordable shared hosting services. Apart from all the features in the Plus plan, this shared hosting plan comes with domain privacy and automatic site backup. For only $1 extra from the Plus plan ($6.95 per month), both of these additional features are extremely important when it comes to website security and server daily backups.
(d) Shared Hosting Pro
Unlimited Websites
Unlimited SSD Storage
Unmetered Bandwidth
Complimentary SSL Certificate
High Performance
Unlimited Domains
Unlimited Parked Domains
Unlimited Subdomains
2 Spam Experts
Domain Privacy + Protection
Site Backup - CodeGuard Basic
Dedicated IP
1 Microsoft 365 Mailbox - Free 30 Days
Summary: Last but not least, Bluehost Pro plan is best for website owners who are seriously in having powerful web hosting servers (for faster loading speed, more cron jobs, etc.). Websites hosted on the Pro plan will enjoy 300,000 file count and are deployed with fewer users per server than the standard shared servers, allowing for greater compute resource availability per user. Another plus point of the Pro plan is the dedicated IP and therefore, you can rest assured that you are not getting bad hosting neighbours who might abuse the IP usage (indirectly affecting your domain score).
(ii) Bluehost WordPress Hosting Plans
~Bluehost WordPress Hosting Plan
Bluehost shared WordPress hosting helps you to set up your WordPress site fast, easy and securing the website in minutes, not hours (and without any technical help).
The hosting plans below are dedicated to the WordPress CMS only and unlike the normal shared hosting plans, Bluehost shared hosting plans for WordPress comes with:
Automatic WordPress Installation. Upon creation of your WordPress Hosting plan, Bluehost automatically installs the latest and most secure version of WordPress.
Automatic WordPress Updates. We keep your WordPress Hosting plan secure even after account creation by keeping your account up to date every day.
Secure Configuration of Login Credentials. Upon the creation of your WordPress Hosting account, your login credentials are changed from the standard WordPress admin/password to something of your choice.
Get Verified on Google My Business. List your local business online to quickly connect with customers in your area. Allow them to see your location and your hours of operation on Google Maps.
Hundreds of Free And Premium WordPress Themes. Free and premium themes are available from the moment you create your account. Find the WordPress theme that best represents you and your unique talents. Installation is fast and easy, and switching themes can be completed in seconds.
Dedicated for WordPress. Designed with you in mind, Bluehost provides everything you need to create and manage a WordPress website. Enjoy powerful website management tools, automatic WordPress installation, and 24/7 expert support all at a price that fits any budget.
Bluehost shared WordPress hosting solutions are available in three different plans.
(a) WordPress Hosting Basic
1 Website
Free SSL Certificate
50 GB SSD Storage
Free Domain for 1 Year
5 Parked Domains
25 Subdomains
$200 Marketing Credit
Summary: If you are looking for an entry-level web host that offers dedicated WordPress support, the Basic plan is the best for you. 50 GB SSD storage is very generous, especially for a single website. The free SSL certificate and unmetered bandwidth make hosting WordPress on Bluehost a worry-free thing for you.
(b) WordPress Hosting Plus
Unlimited Websites
Complimentary SSL Certificate
Unmetered SSD Storage
Free Domain for 1 Year
Unlimited Parked Domains
Unlimited Subdomains
$200 Marketing Credit
1 Microsoft 365 Mailbox - Free 30 Days
Summary: The Plus plan is good if you’re looking for unlimited websites, customer support, SSL certificate, email accounts and WordPress hosting all under one roof. Plus, having $200 marketing credits and 30 days of Microsoft 365 mailbox are also great features/perks.
(c) WordPress Hosting Choice Plus
Unlimited Websites
Complimentary SSL Certificate
Unmetered SSD Storage
Free Domain for 1 Year
Unlimited Parked Domains
Unlimited Subdomains
$200 Marketing Credit
CodeGuard Basic Backup
1 Microsoft 365 Mailbox - Free 30 Days
Summary: If you are looking for unlimited everything, Bluehost Choice Plus plan offers great features and services, including massive storage space, powerful server and daily backups.
(iii) Bluehost Managed WordPress Hosting
~Bluehost Managed WordPress Plans
WP Pro by Bluehost allows you to quickly build and grow the perfect WordPress website with some serious firepower (features) including:
All-in-on marketing centre and dashboard
SEO, email marketing and social media tools included
Optimized performance for blazing site speeds
Unlimited everything (websites, domains, subdomains, web storage and traffic limits)
Staging environment
~Introduction to WP Pro by Bluehost
WP Pro is different from typical Bluehost shared hosting because this is a dedicated WordPress hosting solution. Everything you need to create an engaging WordPress website is available in this plan—making them an easy to use solution for busy website owners.
WP Pro comes in three distinctive plans which are:
Build
Grow
Scale
(a) WP Pro Build
All the basics you need for starting a professional WordPress website
Summary: We recently helped a client to migrate over to the WP Pro Build plan and to be honest, we were very amazed at how intuitive the dashboard was and the website loading speed. If you are looking for a managed WordPress hosting plan with great features, this is the plan for you. WP Pro Build plan starts at $19.95 per month.
(b) WP Pro Grow
Everything you need to build an audience for your WordPress website
Jetpack Premium included
Business Review Tools
Bluehost SEO Tools
Jetpack Ads Integration
10GB Video Compression
Marketing Center
100+ Free WordPress Themes
Daily Scheduled Backups
Malware Detection and Removal
Domain Privacy + Protection
1 Microsoft 365 Mailbox - Free 30 Days
Blue Sky Ticket Support
Summary: Bluehost WP Pro Grow plan is where the true power for managed WordPress hosting. The availability of enterprise-grade website tools help you build better WordPress sites without spending additional money for plugins and without any coding skills. Plus, you will have access to Blue Sky ticket support at no additional cost. In other words, get all the assistance you need with design, functionality or general questions from real WordPress experts 24/7. WP Pro Grow plan starts at $29.95 per month.
Advanced features for running an eCommerce WordPress website
Jetpack Premium included
Business Review Tools
Bluehost SEO Tools
Jetpack Ads Integration
10GB Video Compression
Blue Sky Ticket Support
Marketing Center
100+ Free WordPress Themes
Daily Scheduled Backups
Malware Detection and Removal
Domain Privacy + Protection
1 Microsoft 365 Mailbox - Free 30 Days
Summary: Bluehost WP Pro Scale plan is an excellent choice for hosting your eCommerce stores and heavy traffic WordPress sites. With PayPal integration and Elastic Search, we find that Bluehost offers powerful, easy to use and highly affordable to the wallet. Most shared hosting plans do not offer additional higher tier support but with WP Pro Scale plan, you get everything under one roof. WP Pro Scale plan starts at $49.95 per month.
(iv) Bluehost WooCommerce Hosting
~Bluehost WooCommerce Hosting Plans
Just like many other hosting companies, Bluehost offers dedicated hosting environment for WooCommerce stores including secure payment gateways, fully customizable online stores and easy to use (hassle-free) set up processes.
Other perks and advantages of using Bluehost WooCommerce hosting are:
Summary: If you are looking for an easy to use WooCommerce hosting, you can't go wrong with Bluehost. This plan is excellent for beginners and with the pricing of $6.95 per month, you are definitely not going to break the bank anytime soon!
(b) WooCommerce Hosting Plus
Unlimited Online Stores
Unmetered SSD Storage
Storefront Theme Installed
Free SSL
Free Setup Call
CodeGuard Backup Basic
1 Microsoft 365 Mailbox - Free 30 Days
Domain Privacy + Protection
Summary: This shared hosting plan comes with automatic backups which are important for your website (instead of manual backup). This plan starts at $8.95 per month, which is really affordable.
(c) WooCommerce Hosting Pro
Unlimited Online Stores
Unmetered SSD Storage
Storefront Theme Installed
Free Setup Call
CodeGuard Backup Basic
Free SSL
Domain Privacy + Protection
Bluehost SEO Tools Start
1 Microsoft 365 Mailbox - Free 30 Days
Summary: This hosting plan is the most high powered option if you are looking to build and manage an online store (or several online stores) like a professional. With unlimited everything and premium SEO tools, you are well on your way to creating online stores that both Google and website visitors would love!
(v) Bluehost VPS Hosting
~Bluehost VPS Hosting Plans
Next in this Bluehost review is their VPS hosting. Bluehost virtual private servers are built using SSD storage which increases the power, flexibility and control for your websites.
Here are some interesting features of Bluehost VPS hosting:
Free domain name for the 1st year
30 day money back guarantee, no matter what reason
24/7 stellar support
Advanced multi-server management solutions
Access control for better security
Domain Privacy + Protection
File management
Additional resources in just a few clicks
Availability of SiteLock (defend your websites against attacks and malware by detecting and fixing vulnerabilities and threats before they cause problems)
Bluehost VPS hosting comes in three plans as below.
(a) VPS Hosting Standard
2 Cores
30 GB SSD Storage
2 GB RAM
1 TB Bandwidth
1 IP Address
Summary: For only $19.99 per month, you can have a fully managed VPS server that offers you significantly powerful hosting services as compared to typically shared hosting plans. This is indeed an awesome entry-level VPS solution at a very cheap rate.
(b) VPS Hosting Enhanced
2 Cores
60 GB SSD Storage
4 GB RAM
2 TB Bandwidth
2 IP Addresses
Summary: This VPS plan starts at $29.99 per month and this is by far a very powerful hosting plan that gives you power, performance and all the flexibility you need to create a business online.
(c) VPS Hosting Ultimate
4 Cores
120 GB SSD Storage
8 GB RAM
3 TB Bandwidth
2 IP Addresses
Summary: If you are searching for a powerful VPS hosting service, Bluehost Ultimate plan is the best for both money (cost) and performance. The 4 cores and 8 GB RAM give you ample of server performance that would power your busy website even when you are trending on the front page of Reddit.
(vi) Bluehost Dedicated Hosting
~Bluehost Dedicated Hosting Plans
High-performance hosting, enterprise-level hosting or custom hosting framework. Welcome to the true power of Bluehost dedicated hosting solutions. Regardless you are looking for performance, security, absolutely control or all of them, Bluehost dedicated hosting solutions can create custom approaches for you to have the hosting service of your choice.
Apart from having servers that are tuned for optimum performance and dedicated solutions powered by an industry-leading, robust platform, here are some features that you will get only with Bluehost dedicated hosting plans:
Free domain name for 1st year
Free SSL certificate
30 day money back guarantee
Unmanaged dedicated server hosting
Improved cPanel
Multi-server management
Domain Privacy + Protection
SiteLock
Spam Protection
Dedicated customer service support on standby 24/7
Introduction
What are dedicated hosting benefits?
Control, privacy, and guaranteed resources are the primary benefits of both VPS hosting and Dedicated hosting. However dedicated servers are not shared with any other users, so the performance of a Dedicated server customer's website is stable and predictable. Customers with high traffic websites are often the best fit for Dedicated hosting.
Comparison
What is the difference between VPS vs Dedicated hosting?
Users of VPS hosting have allocated resources just like Dedicated hosting users, however, the number of available resources on VPS servers may still not be what a website needs. For example, VPS servers often start at 2GB of RAM, whereas Dedicated servers often start with at least 4GB of RAM available. In short, Dedicated hosting allows for the same full customization and control of a VPS server, but with even more horsepower.
Bluehost dedicated hosting plans come in three different plans to suit your needs.
(a) Dedicated Hosting Standard
4 cores @ 2.3 GHz
500GB (Mirrored) Storage
4 GB RAM
5 TB Bandwidth
3 IP Addresses
Summary: With pricing starts at $79.99 per month, Bluehost offers a rather standard pricing structure with superior performance.
(b) Dedicated Hosting Enhanced
4 cores @ 2.5 GHz
1TB (Mirrored) Storage
8 GB RAM
10 TB Bandwidth
4 IP Addresses
Summary: This dedicated hosting plan offers a lot of firepower with 4 cores and 8 GB RAM. At only $99.99 per month, this is one of the most popular dedicated hosting plans on Bluehost.
(c) Dedicated Hosting Premium
4 cores @ 3.3 GHz
1TB (Mirrored) Storage
16 GB RAM
15 TB Bandwidth
5 IP Addresses
Summary: Finally, the mother of all dedicated hosting solutions is the Premium plan. At $119.99 per month, this dedicated hosting offers a very powerful dedicated hosting environment for the heaviest-traffic websites.
Part 4: Is Bluehost a good web host?
Now, with that being said, let's dive deep into the review with understanding if Bluehost is a good web host. The term "good" varies a lot depending on the individual. For us, a good web host means that they are a reliable web hosting company, comes with good customer support with live chat and other web hosting perks such as unlimited email accounts, free SSL certificate, free domain name and 30 day money back guarantee.
Does Bluehost offers any of the above?
The answer is "Yes!"
Each hosting package that you sign up with Bluehost comes with all of the above and higher plans also comes with domain privacy and unmetered bandwidth.
Bluehost scores highly in the ease of use category and excellent web hosting service with multiple web hosting plans to fit your needs—from shares hosting to hosting WordPress websites.
Part 5: Is Bluehost good for beginners?
How about beginners? Is Bluehost an excellent catch for beginners?
The answer is "Yes".
Most of the entry-level packages such as the basic shared hosting package come with all the tools beginners would need to start a website quickly.
The key points that make Bluehost stand out from the crowd are the live chat service and customer support, unmetered bandwidth and unlimited email address. These are very important features that a web host can offer in terms of support and service for beginners.
Apart from the above, Bluehost is a hosting provider that offers cheap web hosting service with domain privacy addons if you get on higher hosting plan. The basic plan that Bluehost offers is sufficient for small blogs and websites.
Last not least, you can easily use Bluehost without having to worry if Bluehost is not right for you (down the road). This is because all Bluehost shared hosting plans come with money back guarantee—which is really, really good in the case where you find Bluehost hosting is not something you are looking at.
Part 6: How much does it cost to host a website on Bluehost?
In this Bluehost review, we had come into a conclusion that Bluehost comes with different plans to fit different type of website requirements and budget. The lowest plan is the basic shared hosting plan starts at $3.95 per month for both basic shared hosting (all CMS) including WordPress.
If you are looking for fully managed WordPress hosting or much higher specs such as VPS or dedicated hosting, plan starts at $19.99 per month onwards.
Part 7: Why is Bluehost so cheap?
Bluehost is a hosting provider that provides many hosting features for both WordPress site and non-WordPress CMS. They are able to sell hosting at low prices because they oversell their web hosting space.
What is overselling a web hosting server?
Overselling is when a hosting company sells more disk space and bandwidth on a server than actually exists. For example, a server hard drive is 80GB and has 1200GB of bandwidth. The hosting company has a look around and decides to offer plans with 2GB of disk space and 40GB bandwidth.
Is overselling a bad thing in web hosting?
Well, this is a tough question. For starters, we know a handful of web hosting providers that oversell web hosting but they manage the entire business strategy very well. This means that they keep track of the server performance to ensure that all websites hosted on the server are getting enough resources.
But yes, there are also web hosting providers who care more on profit than customer service or support. This is a bad thing and could lead to your website loading slower or taking a longer time to process a specific task.
Based on our personal experience with Bluehost, Bluehost does a decent job in overselling their web servers (hey, the hosting industry is a tough industry) and at times, they do drop the ball.
If you are hosted on Bluehost and noticed a significant drop in processing power or your website takes a longer time to respond to actions (such as loading speed), feel free to reach out to the support to seek for clarification. If you are able to share your experience with some statistics/facts, their support team would offer you to migrate to the next available server.
Part 8: Is Bluehost the best for WordPress?
~Which Bluehost hosting plan is best for me?
Now, what if you are using WordPress and looking for the best WordPress hosting company? Bluehost, in our personal opinion, is a great hosting company for WordPress CMS.
Money back guarantee, live customer service/support, daily backups and unlimited email address are just some perks that are too good to ignore. Plus, hosting at Bluehost also means that you get ample of storage space, a domain name for free for the first year and complimentary SSL certificate — which are good to save some money!
If you are looking to host your WordPress site on Bluehost, I recommend you to go with WP Pro. Bluehost WP Pro is a fully-managed WP hosting service that offer handles all the challenging parts about hosting a WordPress site. With a customized and optimized WordPress server, your WP site will load faster and more efficiently.
Most WP web hosts charge more than what Bluehost does and make no mistake—more expensive doesn't mean that it is better!
When it comes to WP hosting, Bluehost makes it easy for you to start your own website with many state-of-the-art security features, dedicated control panel, unlimited bandwidth and technical support to build and grow your WP site.
Recap on Bluehost Review 2020
Before we wrap up this Bluehost review 2020, it is important to note that we are an active customer on Bluehost. This is one of those hosting companies that offer very affordable shared hosting, dedicated and VPS hosting plans that you can start with very minimal technical knowledge.
We totally understand that the price of web hosting is very important especially for beginners and small website owners. Bluehost pricing for hosting packages is by far the most affordable ones in the market for both new accounts and renewal rates/renewal price.
While Bluehost has its own pros and cons, we can't help but to constantly recommend Bluehost to those who are serious in getting great support and solid web hosting with a lower price point.
Why you don't you get started with Bluehost today and decide for yourself?
The world's most popular web hosting service at affordable prices
Try Bluehost today and get unparalleled support from true WordPress experts at a fraction of the cost.
WP Engine Review for WordPress: Is WP Engine Worth The Money?
When it comes to managed WordPress hosting, WP Engine is one of the most prominent hosting services in the industry. Founded by Jason Cohen back in 2010, WP Engine is the benchmark when it comes professional and enterprise WordPress hosting solution.
In this article, we'll be going through some of the top facts and answer questions that you have in mind, such as:
Before we start the review, it is important for us to go down to the facts of what WP Engine is all about. Since the launch back in 2010, WP Engine had been the top choice when it comes to hosting wp sites. Yes, this is not your average web hosting service but a fully managed WordPress hosting solution.
~WP Engine hosting solution for WordPress
A fully-managed WP hosting offers you a wide range of tools to help you grow your site while ensuring that you will not need to worry about the server optimization, firewall and all the geeky things that you probably wouldn't want to spend 3 months (or more) trying to figure those out.
WP Engine hosting plans come in several sizes and forms to ensure that you will find a suitable WordPress hosting service based on any given budget.
~WP Engine Pricing and Plans 2020
At this point of writing this review, WP Engine pricing plan comes in 7 different plans.
Startup. Startup is the cheapest and entry-level hosting service by WP Engine. With pricing that starts at per month, this plan offers 25,000 visits per month, 10GB local storage, 50GB bandwidth per month and WordPress hosting for 1 site. While 25,000 visits per month could be rather small for some, most WP blogs don't hit the 25k mark at least for the first 12 months of starting a blog.
Growth. Growth is the next pricing tier that is the first to be geared towards hosting a business or enterprise website(s). With pricing that starts at $95.83 per month, this plan offers 100,000 visits per month, 20GB local storage, 200GB bandwidth per month and WordPress hosting services for up to 10 sites. This option is the most popular ones for bloggers and business website owners.
Scale. When your WordPress site is generating traffic and revenue, Scale is a great hosting plan to grow with. With pricing that starts at $241.67 per month, this plan offers 400,000 visits per month, 50GB local storage, 500GB bandwidth per month and WordPress hosting service for up to 20 sites. The Scale plan is best for a thriving website(s) that requires a high-performance server and dedicated line of support.
Premium. Premium is where the true power of WP Engine managed WordPress hosting comes into play—especially in the enterprise level. The plan starts at $368 per month and comes with dedicated VM for high-value, highly-cacheable sites. Apart from that, the plan also offers 700,000 visits per month, 100GB local storage, 1TB bandwidth per month and the ability to host up to 30 sites.
There are three other plans, Premium 1, Premium 1.5 and custom plan for larger websites and websites that require specific infrastructure or extremely delicate hosting environment.
WP Engine Hosting Features
What does WP Engine do and why is it one of the best managed web hosting on the planet? Let's dive into the WP Engine features.
WP Engine is considered more than just a web hosting company. They consider themselves as the godfather of WordPress digital experience platform
Here are some stats about WP Engine:
5% of the online world visits at least one experience on WP Engine each day.
2 million+ attacks blocked every day for WP Engine customers.
120,000+ customers in 140 countries trust WP Engine with their digital experiences
500,000 digital experiences are powered by WP Engine
WP Engine is created around four pillars—agility, performance, intelligence, and integrations—so you can enjoy simple site setups, easy workflows, stressless launches, and effortless maintenance.
~Powerful features for website owners
Creative Agility. WP Engine empowers developers with the Genesis theme framework, dev/stage/prod environments on every site, Git and SFTP connections, automated backups, and WordPress core updates.
Enterprise Performance. WPEngine advanced security solution powered by Cloudflare, distributed global CDN, Evercache®, and high-availability, multi-datacenter clustered environments deliver speed, scalability, and durability.
Actionable Intelligence. WP Engine offers application performance monitoring from New Relic, Google Analytics integration within WordPress Admin, and a page speed performance tool, so you can further optimize your sites.
Ecosystem Integration. WP Engine is the leader in providing exclusive, integrated WordPress solutions with world-class tech partners, including Google, Amazon, Cloudflare, New Relic, and BigCommerce.
Genesis Framework and StudioPress Child Themes. Every WP Engine plan comes integrated with the popular Genesis Framework and all StudioPress child themes. Therefore, regardless you are building a website for yourself, creating a website for your client or managing your multi-team WordPress development agency, WP Engine is the best investment for both money and time.
From small business to global enterprise, WP Engine is the catalyst for bringing your imagination, skills, and business to life — serving the right content to the right audience and at the right time, beautifully without any coding skills.
WP Engine Feature #1: Creative Agility
Creative Agility by WP Engine are features that allow you to innovate and get to market a website faster. Here, you are given multiple tools to not only build a beautiful WordPress website in minutes but to easily scale it.
StudioPress Themes. Build amazing, mobile-responsive WordPress digital experiences with 36 easy-to-use, premium themes powered by our Genesis Framework, featuring built-in SEO and security, and all included in your WP Engine plan.
Local. A free, easy way to spin up local WordPress sites, test your latest site updates, and speed up your development workflow.
Auto Migration. Your move to WPEngine is as simple as a couple of clicks using WP Engine auto migration plugin.
Serviced Onboarding. For premium solutions, a dedicated technical and account management team ensure a smooth start and continued success on WP Engine.
Deploy Sites. Easily move data between your cloud development environments on WP Engine.
Git and SFTP Connections. Let your development team keep using their favorite development tools to increase productivity and collaboration.
One-Click Staging. Use our tools to simplify and shorten development cycles through rapid testing of changes so you’re never surprised.
Dev, Stage, Prod Environments. Every WP Engine site comes with three environments to help you quickly set up an efficient development workflow.
Launch Readiness Assessments. Gain a personalized pre-launch review with WP Engine’s team of experts on performance and best practices through a series of code compatibility tests and site staging.
Dedicated Dev Environments. Isolated environments for development and testing purposes.
Automated Backups. WP Engine performs daily automatic backups on your digital experience to give you peace of mind in case you run into any site issues.
WordPress Core Updates. WPEngine handles all major updates automatically to ensure sites stay up-to-date, and test the minor updates before recommending them.
Free CDN and SSL Certificates. WPEngine makes it easy to scale your site up with CDN and keep your transactions safe with SSL—just add them with a single click.
Multi-Site Conversion. WP Engine lets you set up and turn off multisite with just a few clicks in the User Portal.
User Permissions. Highly secured interface makes it easy for you to ensure all users have the proper roles and access, making it easy for you to add or delete users and change permissions.
SSH Gateway. Save time by efficiently managing any number of WordPress sites through the command line.
Ownership Transfer. Provides an easy way for agencies or freelancers to transition site ownership and billing to clients post-launch.
Activity Log. Gain visibility on your account, including updates and published content, and use the activity log to help provide governance.
24/7/365 Support. If you need help, the support team is always available to answer any questions—anytime, day or night.
GeoTarget. Provides location-specific content for your audiences increasing engagement and transactions.
WordPress Plugins. WP Engine helps you by powering a wide variety of personalized experiences through plugins and custom functionality.
WordPress Powered CMS. Publish quality content at scale with WordPress, a world-class CMS that increases creative agility through collaboration and ease of use.
WP Engine Feature #2: Enterprise Performance
In today's technology world, you may be hit with a million views overnight (thanks to being on the first page of Reddit) or simply encounter numerous hacking and other website security breaches. With WP Engine secured servers, you know that you are more than just in good hands.
Amazon Web Services. As an AWS Advanced Technology Partner, WP Engine offers a range of solutions that meet the needs of customers seeking high-performance optimized for WordPress.
Global Data Centers. Select a wide range of servers across the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and in the Asia-Pacific region.
Data Center Redundancy. Keep your data safe and sound with Amazon Web Services (so you sleep better at night)
Uptime Protection. Stay up and running with clustered configurations in dedicated environments, fully-managed content delivery network, and proactive, multi-layered security measures.
PHP 7.4 and HTTP/2 Enabled. Get better SEO, visitor retention, and conversions with the latest updates, which can serve up to 3x more requests per second even with the lowest WP Engine plan.
Proprietary EverCache®. Reduce strain on your site’s resources with our caching solution, which is capable of moving hundreds of millions of hits per day through a solid WP Engine ecosystem.
Fully Managed Global CDN. Load content faster with our global content delivery network (CDN), which routes local requests to the nearest server.
Increased Speed. WP Engine customers enjoy an average of 38% faster load times by switching to WP Engine hosting solution.
Scalable Architecture. Manage traffic spikes–from 10,000 to 100 million users—seamlessly.
Dedicated Security Engineering Team. Leave the code reviews and security audits of all internal environments and processes to our in-house team.
Managed Core Updates & Patches. Rest easy knowing that minor updates will be pushed through automatically, while WPEngine automatically vets major updates thoroughly before recommending them.
Multi-Factor Authentication. Complex passwords enforced on WordPress sites and the WP Engine User Portal by default. You can even add a layer of security to the user portal with multi-factor authentication (MFA) technology.
Traffic Encryption with SSL. Use free SSL certificates on every page thanks to Let’s Encrypt.
Threat Detection & Blocking. WPEngine dynamically detects and blocks malicious behaviour with a state-of-the-art proprietary system, making sure your site doesn’t suffer embarrassing hacks.
Disaster Recovery. In the unlikely event your site is compromised, you can bounce back quickly with WP Engine expert support and recovery help.
WP Engine Feature #3: Actionable Intelligence
Having a beautiful WordPress website is not enough, especially when you are looking for lead generation and growth in revenue. With WP Engine managed WordPress hosting, you get all the features to optimize your website with actionable insights on-site traffic and performance.
Application Performance. Open up visibility at the code-level for your IT operations and development teams so you can troubleshoot application issues, no matter how complex your hosting environment.
Page Performance. Improve your website speed with the first-speed performance tool integrated into the user dashboard. See the impact of new plugins and site features as quickly as you implement them.
WP Engine Feature #4: Ecosystem Integration
Integration is important for thriving websites. With WPEngine hosting, you can easily integrate your website to a wide range of applications.
Integration DNA. Take advantage of WP Engine’s status as a master integrator, combining and optimizing 40+ technologies into the platform while building its own proprietary solutions, plugins, and tools.
Thousands of WordPress Plugins. Build versatile, robust digital experiences using curated solutions from over 55,000 WordPress plugins—from eCommerce, to design, to security, and beyond.
Technology Partnerships. Discover new capabilities thanks to the partnerships with best-in-class innovators like Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud Platform, and more—all optimized for WordPress.
WordPress Experts. Leverage an entire company of WordPress experts at WP Engine, including 14 subject matter experts and a support team whose members are trained for eight weeks.
Core Contributors. Enjoy constant improvement to the open-source WordPress project, thanks in part to code contributed by WP Engine team members.
Enterprise Onboarding & Account Management. Get the solutions you need with premier, hands-on service when you sign up for WP Engine web hosting solution.
International, 24/7/365 Support. Find the help you need with a team of award-winning WordPress experts in the U.S. and Ireland, available via chat any time of day or night.
Award-Winning Help. Rest assured you’re in the best hands with WP Engine four-time-Stevie Award-winning support team that has earned a world-class Net Promoter Score (NPS) of 86.
Knowledge and Advice. Learn more and go deeper with content provided by the WordPress experts at award-winning publications Torque Magazine and Velocitize.
WP Engine Review On Shared — Entry Level Hosting
It is important to note that not all plans are using dedicated environment. For example, WP Engine Startup plan is the most entry-level plan that comes with all the required basics to start a small website or blog. This tier is best for beginners (bloggers or website owners) who are looking to host their WordPress site cheaply but with all the managed WordPress hosting perks such as live chat support, free SSL certificate and optimized WordPress servers.
This WP Engine plan comes with 25,000 visits per month which is rather sufficient for small to medium-sized sites.
We also spun up a test website hosted on the Startup plan to test the WP Engine loading speed using Pingdom Tools. Here's the result.
~WP Engine performs significantly faster than most average shared hosting plans
The website takes less than half a second to load and we got to say that we are thrilled.
WP Engine Review on Data Centers
Choosing the right data centers closest to your website audience is important especially when it comes to website performance. This server location can reduce round-trip time latency for domestic visitors because the website data is physically closer, the site can load more quickly. This performance increase for visitors also helps improve SEO by creating a better user experience. The faster the site loads, the better your website SEO and the greater the opportunity to drive conversion.
Below are all Google data center locations that a WP Engine website can be hosted in. All shared hosting plans are created by default on Google Cloud servers, and the data center location will be chosen at signup. Many data center locations are available for Shared hosting plans, however, some of the locations listed below may only be available for Premium dedicated hosting plans.
~Google Cloud Servers Data Centers Locations
WP Engine also offers integration with Amazon Web Services and the AWS clustered servers are available only to Premium dedicated hosting plans.
~Amazon Web Servers (AWS) Data Centers Locations
How to choose the best data center for your WordPress website?
Glad you ask!
Before choosing a data center it may be a good idea to test out the various locations to determine general latency for your target users. The easiest way to test for latency is to utilize 3rd party tools designed specifically for these providers.
Keep in mind that these tools will test latency for ALL available data centers from these providers. Make sure that you are focusing only on the locations listed above.
Existing WPEngine customers can opt for data center change by reaching out to the support team via Live Chat or email.
WP Engine Review On Customer Service
"The success of any managed WordPress hosting lies heavily in the customer service team."
Editorial Team @ WP Maven
Customer service and support are what distinguish WP Engine with the other web hosting solutions in the WordPress industry. Here's what we can say about the customer service level at WP Engine.
"Web hosting can be challenging at times. There are things that can go wrong all the time, and as a web host, WP Engine does a great job by hiring the best customer service team on the planet. You can throw them the craziest support question and they will be happy to answer all of them."
At this point of writing this review, there are about 14 WP Engine support team who work around the clock to serve WP Engine customers.
More importantly, these are not just not tier 1 or tier 2 support team, they are all WordPress hosting experts who have deep knowledge to help you 'fix' your hosting challenges. Heck, they even throw in some 'best-effort-basis' works from time to time!
Here's how the live chat support works in the WP Engine dashboard.
~WP Engine Live Chat Support
Personally, they never fail us in providing timely support and we got to say that we love their live chat support service.
Do you know that the support team response time is often under 30 seconds?
WP Engine Review On Pricing
When it comes to hosting review, pricing plays a huge role in our decision. WordPress development is often a very tight game where one (or two) wrong move can impact your profitability. WP Engine hosting starts at $25 per month for entry level and an average hosting fee for several websites is around $95 monthly. It is very affordable comparing to the perks that you are getting.
Sure, WP Engine is still more expensive than typical shared services that often start at $3 each month. So, why is WP Engine so expensive?
Here's a list of what you are getting:
Inbuilt cache system
Global CDN service
24/7/365 live chat support
Free SSL certificate
Automatic patching and security firewall
Availability of shared hosting and dedicated hosting
Additional layers of security to avoid force login
Automatic daily backups
Premium WordPress themes powered by Genesis Framework and StudioPress
Ability to work on a website development project locally using WP Engine Local
60-day money back guarantee no matter what reason
Make no mistake. WP Engine is one of the best web hosting companies in the world that offers very powerful and mouth-watering features fitted for both beginners and advanced users. Plus, they are very easy on your pocket too.
At any point you find WP Engine is not right for you, you can opt for a full 60 day money back guarantee with no question asked. Therefore, there is absolutely no risk if you are thinking of hosting one or more site with WP Engine.
Take a look at WP Engine here.
Worry-Free Hosting Solution
WP Engine is an excellent web hosting solution that is dedicated to WordPress CMS. Excellent uptime, optimized servers and inbuilt cache systems are just a few perks you will automatically enjoy at WP Engine!
So, you are pretty confident right now with WP Engine and you want to take a spin with it. But there's a little problem.
Migrating a WordPress site can be a tough work to do especially when you have limited or no knowledge at all.
Don't worry, migrating WordPress site to this web host is really simple with WP Engine migrator.
~WP Engine Automated Migration Plugin
All you need to do is to download and install WP Engine Automated Migration plugin for a hassle-free migration. Depending on the size of your site, it would take anywhere from 30 minutes to several hours to complete the migration process.
If you are stuck in the middle of the migration, we recommend you to reach out to WP Engine live chat team to get some quick support. There are always experts on standby to assist you with your WordPress migration process.
Overall WP Engine Review
Choosing the right web host for your WordPress site is not an easy task. For example, there are web hosting companies that offer low prices for the first year and increases 3x for renewal. And there are companies that offer subpar shared hosting plans that give you a less ideal hosting server. Don't forget, there are also those who charge you for SSL certificate while you can get it for free with Let's Encrypt!
When it comes to WP Engine, you can rest assured that your money is well spend—from powerful and optimized servers for WordPress to excellent customer service standards, you are getting more advantages compared to any other shared hosting plans. If you are concern about website security like we do here at WP Maven, WP Engine comes with automatic daily backups to ensure that your website data is always safe.
Apart from that, what truly intrigues us about WP Engine is the money back guarantee which we find it very useful especially when you are new and unsure if this web hosting service is the right choice for you.
Probably the best WP host in 2020!
If you are still looking for a reliable WordPress hosting, you can't go wrong with WP Engine. Try it out for yourself and judge!
Link Whisper Review: Automatic Internal Link Building Plugin for WordPress
~Link Whisper review
Building internal links in WordPress is crucial but time-consuming. Discover how Link Whisper plugin builds internal links 50% faster and 100% more efficient on automation—without spending a ton load of money.
Link Whisper Review 2020: Internal link building automation plugin for WordPress
Have you ever try to build internal links for a WordPress site with over 600 blog posts? As a WordPress agency, we do—one that we are terribly afraid of. The time and effort needed to build internal links, along with SEO optimization are crazily challenging. Until date, there isn't a quick solution until we discovered Link Whisper.
In this Link Whisper review, we will dive deep into link building using Link Whisper plugin and how it could benefit you in the long run (SEO game).
Plus, we will also share our personal opinion if Link Whisper is right for you. After all, there's no one size fits all in WordPress!
Link Whisper is a WordPress plugin that helps you build internal links on automation.
Link Whisper is a WordPress SEO plugin that helps you build internal link building faster and more efficient. Prior to the discover of this plugin, link building was tough.
We had helped clients to manage internal link building structure for over 600 blog posts—and that is not a fun thing to do.
We even thought of ways to automate the entire link building process!
~What is Link Whisper?
Link Whisper allows you to do exactly that—from building internal links on automation (yes, A-U-T-O-M-A-T-I-O-N) to checking broken links, you get a pretty much full-fledged SEO plugin just like SEOPress that we talked really a lot on WP Maven.
Link Whisper Review
What does Link Whisper do?
Link Whisper helps you to make smart internal link building decisions to help your WordPress site rank better on Google and other search engines.
Link Whisper Review: How to use Link Whisper to build internal links in WordPress?
In the next few minutes, we will show you exactly how we build internal links using Link Whisper plugin. To be honest, it is really easy and we actually got hooked up with it every day (more on this later).
This sample includes blog posts found in WP Maven (yes, that's our site—THIS site). We decided that the best way to provide an excellent review is by showing some real-life examples.
Let's get started with the Link Whisper review 2020!
Link Whisper is a powerful WordPress SEO plugin. We recommend you to follow strict SEo guidelines to avoid over optimization, which can be bad for SEO.
Step 1: Install Link Whisper plugin to WordPress
The first step is pretty straightforward. You would need an active license for Link Whisper before you are able to use it. You can get a limited-time $25 Link Whisper discount code here.
After install Link Whisper, we recommend you to head over wp-admin dashboard » Link Whisper » Report.
Take a look at the screenshot. That's exactly what you will find when you click on the dashboard.
It shows you an overall snipper on your website internal and outbound link structure.
~Link Whisper live dashboard
On the side, we are pretty happy with the Orphaned Posts, Broken Links and 404 errors because these are very important ones for us to take a look at—especially when it comes to WordPress SEO.
Step 3: Link Whisper Links Report tab
Now, it is all about fixing blog posts that have no internal links linking to it. Internal links help to boost and share link authority (a.k.a. link juice). Therefore, you want to make sure every post and page has internal linking to them.
Here, you will be able to add internal links directly to the blog post without having to edit the post.
Start by clicking on the Add button. This will open up a new tab in your browser.
Here's how it looks like.
~Find blog posts that has no inbound links
~Inbound link suggestions
Link Whisper will automatically provide suggestions for both related posts and hyperlink text for internal linking.
All you need to do is to run through the suggestions, tick on the chosen ones and click on Add Links.
Within seconds, all the links will be added to your blog posts.
Auto-linking with Link Whisper
Apart from the automatic internal link building feature, you can also perform auto-linking in your WordPress site.
Auto-linking has several features, including adding relevant links to a blog post or page when triggered by a keyword.
If you are wondering, this is the same feature that is found within Pretty Links Pro.
Link Whisper auto-linking feature also comes with two important options.
~Automatic link placements based on keywords
Add link if post already has this link. Enabling this option will lead to the blog post having similar interlinking but with different hypertext.
Only link once per post. This option allows you to only add one link per post.
For this Link Whisper review, we recommend you to disable the first option and only enable the second option for safer SEO practises.
URL changer with Link Whisper
~URL changer is a redirection tool
Last but not least, URL changer is similar to redirection in SEOPress. This option allows you to create a redirection from an old URL to a new URL. The only downside with this is the inability to control 301, 302 or 307 redirection.
How much does Link Whisper costs?
For a limited time, Link Whisper is on sale. Purchasing Link Whisper plugin this week will get you a nice $25 discount.
~Link Whisper pricing and discount code
Summary: Is Link Whisper worth the money?
At first, we were skeptical of what Link Whisper could do for us but after trying out ourselves, we are very happy with it. As a matter of fact, we use Link Whisper to help our WordPress clients in internal link building structure.
For only $52 for a WordPress site, this is definitely worth the money and we can't recommend Link Whisper enough!
Link Whisper Promo Code [Limited Time]
For a limited time only, you can get Link Whisper plugin for only $52 with a $25 discount. Plus, all plans come with 30 days money-back guarantee (so no risk on your side)
