WP Engine Vs. Bluehost: Which Host Is Right For Your WordPress site?

Comparing WP Engine vs. Bluehost will give you a better idea of which hosting provider to select for your WP (WordPress) website. WP Engine is considered to be among the top managed WP hosts in the domain. On the other hand, Bluehost has managed to earn a name in the industry by providing affordable plans. Both providers are found to take different approaches when WP hosting is concerned. 

It could be that you are planning to choose between regular and shared hosting plans. If so, it becomes important to understand each provider’s offer to derive the benefits. Higher cost does not necessarily mean that you will get superior quality services. Hence, it is crucial to know the price points.

If you are seeking starter plans, then go through certain details of the provider. It should include ease of use, features offered, customer support, performance and price charged on their plans, and additional services. But many find WP Engine’s services to be a bit better when compared to Bluehost, although their starting prices are a bit higher. 

Bluehost is the favorite choice if you are eager to derive a cost-effective web hosting solution. But if you are ready to pay the price and seek top-notch performance, then WP Engine is the perfect choice to make. 

WP Engine vs Bluehost – Ease of Use

When hosting panels are concerned, Bluehost is known to provide user-friendly options. Moreover, its panel is quite easy to navigate. Therefore, you will be able to access your WP sites effortlessly simply with the click of a button. Moreover, Bluehost installs WordPress automatically, thus helping to ease your efforts.

However, they do not assist with site migration. It means, if you desire to move your site to the shared plan of Bluehost, then you are to do it on your own. Otherwise, you are to bear additional expenses on Site Transfer service amounting to $149.99.

Even WP Engine is not known to provide its clients with human migration services. However, it provides you with a dedicated plug-in to automate the majority of the processes on your behalf. Unfortunately, with several managed WP hosts ready to manage your migrations, the one offered by WP Engine can be a bit negative. 

Moreover, the dashboard of WP Engine is not that streamlined when compared to Bluehost. But you do get easy and quick access to advanced functionality. It is also easy to navigate. 

In short, WP Engine does provide plenty of options to choose from to micromanage your site with its hosting panel. Although a good thing, it means you can derive a better learning curve. This hosting provider also enjoys an edge over Bluehost on the functionality aspect. This is a wonderful feature after registering for the plan, especially if you have some knowledge of managing sites. 

WP Engine vs Bluehost – Know the features

Bluehost provides its customers with various services, including dedicated, shared hosting plans, and VPS (virtual private servers). They also provide managed and regular WP hosting plans. WP Engine is known to specialize in offering managed WP hosting services.

WP Engine:

• Staging as well as production environments
• Startup plan helps support up to one website
• 24/7 Live chat support (Growth Plan including advanced ones offer phone option)
• Nightly automated backups
• Automatic SSL certificates are offered for free to help secure your website and to derive green padlock. 
• Integrated CDN (Content Delivery Network)
• All plans come with multiple add-ons (including Multisite support and auto plug-in updates)
• Genesis Framework offered without any additional charge along with 35+ Genesis child themes. 

Bluehost (Regular WP hosting plans)

• Free domain offered for one year from the date of registration.
• Its Basic plan along with ‘Unlimited’ ones in higher tiers is designed to support one site. 
• Auto WP updates and installation
• SSD storage of 50 GB (higher tiers offered with unlimited bandwidth and storage)
• 24/7 Live chat support
• Free SSL Certificate
• Easy access offered in all plans to staging functionality

The shared hosting services offered by Bluehost do not provide much by default like that of WP Engine. This is especially when the price difference is taken into consideration. However, Bluehost claims to provide staging functionality, something other budget WP hosts fail to offer. Their deal also includes free domain registration, thus helping Bluehost to have the edge over WP Engine. 

WP Engine vs Bluehost – Customer Support

Both providers boast of providing a wide knowledge base to those who seek it to get instant help. Thus, you can deal with issues arising with your site. But the WP engine’s knowledge base is found to have more depth. Moreover, it tends to help WP users by providing support documents in hundreds. 

Overall support rating enjoyed by WP Engine is 4.69 out of 5, while Bluehost is behind at 3.42 for 5.

Hence, WP Engine support staff is found to be much better equipped to manage WP-related issues. This is because this provider has its entire business developed around WordPress. In contrast, Bluehost provides different hosting plan types to choose from. 

WP Engine vs bluehost – Performance

Generally, it is the performance and features that the biggest gaps are noticed among shared and managed WP hosts. Providing integrated CDN features, WP Engine claims to offer fast loading times and considers it to be their main USP. This provider does take a good lead over its competitor when performance is concerned. Bluehost falls behind in the race even after the price factor is taken into consideration. 

As a thumb rule, you will not like to have your site take 2+ seconds to load irrespective of its complexity. Also, the web host time should be perfect. Both providers managed to score 100% in this area. 

Performance is undoubtedly critical for the success of any website. However, as both hosts enjoy deriving perfect scores when uptime is concerned, loading time matters. Here, WP Engine is found to take the lead over Bluehost. 

WP Engine vs Bluehost – Value worth the money

Although managed hosting is considered the most preferred choice among site owners, it is quite expensive. 

WP Engine cannot be termed to be a budget-friendly hosting choice. The base plan it offers to its clients is charged at $20 monthly. Moreover, it supports only one site. But on annual payments, you can derive a two-month discount, thus saving some precious money. Prices tend to scale rather quickly with WP Engine. 

Bluehost, as expected, provides significant value worth your investment. You can enjoy hosting unlimited sites simply by paying an amount of $5.45 a month. Thus, it can be safely said that Bluehost belongs to those seeking host options within their budget. 

But it is here that things might get a bit complicated. If you have availed of hosting services before, then the prices exhibited might not be the ones you tend to pay. Registering for a 3-year contract with Bluehost will enable you to avail yourself of just the sticker price. Their Basic plan requires you to shelve an upfront amount of $106.20.

Besides this, Bluehost does not provide any monthly billing. Therefore, 12 months is rather the shortest period allowed to register. This means their Basic plan is charged at $59.40 annually. Although it might sound that you are paying a lot, it is almost equivalent to 2months of the Startup tier offered by WP Engine. 

WP Engine vs Bluehost – Pros & Cons

WP Engine:

They provide custom inbuilt caching with a highly optimized environment on their managed WP plan. They also offer regular backups, updates combined with powerful hosting solutions.

Pros:

• Security: Several advanced security features are offered to block effectively brute force attacks, DDoS attacks, SQL/JavaScript-injection attacks, etc. If you are using their platform and your website gets hacked, then they provide a free cleanup service. 
• Reliability: Proprietary technology of WP Engine can manage easily traffic spikes without slowing your site or experiencing downtime.
• Advanced features: Agencies, businesses and developers alike can benefit from advanced features offered. It includes transferable installs, GIT version control, 1-click staging sites, etc. 
• Daily Backup: All plans offered by this provider come with daily backup.
• Free Themes: StudioPress offers all accounts with thirty premium WP themes. It is indeed a great option for all WP users. 
• Speed: Their EverCache promises to provide server-level caching just about for everything. It includes CDN for faster load times. 

Cons:

• Expensive: When compared to shared hosting platforms, WP Engine is found to be a bit more expensive. If you can afford their services, then you can derive value worth the investment.
• Blocked Plugins: The WP plugins list that they possess is not accessible to be downloaded onto your website. Such plugins either conflict or are found to be incompatible with current WP Engine features. 

Bluehost:

They offer low-priced shared hosting plans, which are a major selling point. Small businesses and beginners with a limited budget can find their plans quite affordable. 

Pros:

• Ease of use: Their hosting control panel is considered to be among the most beginner-friendly in the domain. Installing WordPress is super easy requiring just a click of the button. Even website management is equally easy. 
• Lower costs: Their entry-level plan is available at a low price. Hence, it is the right choice for bloggers, small businesses, personal sites and other website types. 
• Free SSL + CDN: They provide free CDN enabling your site to enjoy greater speed and fast loading time. Free SSL Certificate is offered with all plans to enhance site security. 
• Free Domain: You get a domain name, absolutely free, thereby saving precious money.
• Site Speed: Bluehost does perform exceptionally well. WP caching plugins can be installed quickly to enhance speed further. 
• Dev Tools + Staging Sites: Their plans include auto WP updates, staging site setup, SFTP access and provision to change existing PHP versions with ease.

Cons:

• Upselling add-ons: During signup, you are likely to experience plenty of upselling that can be a bit frustrating. You can simply skip the advanced products as you will not require them during the initial days. 

High rates to renew domain: Once your free domain period is expired, you must renew it the following year. But the renewal prices are a bit higher than what is offered by other providers. However, for most businesses, it does not affect immediately but can be something that you should be wary about.

WP Engine vs Bluehost – Which provider to choose?

It is mostly the price that determines whether to take shared or managed WP hosting plans. Managed hosting is undoubtedly much better. First, however, you need to find out if you require the additional firepower and features that WP Engine offers.

It could be that you have just launched a small project or a new personal site and do not expect many visitors. In such a case, paying for a web hosting plan that is charged $20 monthly is not worth it. As a result, you will not benefit from such expensive plans and will not require so many features during the initial years of its launch. 

But, if you plan to monetize your site and can afford the money, you should choose a better hosting provider from the start. 

WP Engine vs Bluehost – Conclusion

It is indeed quite difficult to compare Wpengine vs. Bluehost. However, focusing on the shared hosting plans of both providers, you tend to get value worth your money. Bluehost provides some interesting features like staging functionality access. However, it fails to match other managed hosting plans. 

On the other hand, WP Engine promises to offer blazing-fast performance along with advanced functionality. However, you need to pay a premium to avail such interesting features. Their managed hosting plans can be termed to be a wise investment if you require advanced features and have the money to spend. 

Hence, the platform to choose for your WP site is entirely based on your site requirements and budget in hand.