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If you are looking for a web host that offers managed WordPress hosting (which, by the way, great choice – managed WordPress is a great choice, especially if you don’t have lots of experience running a WordPress website), then you may have heard of WP Engine & SiteGround. These are two well known managed WordPress hosting, but you may have trouble figuring out which host to go with, which is why I think you should check out this side by side comparison. I’ll list a number of features that are important factors you’re going to want to weigh when deciding your web host.
| SiteGround
StartUp |
WP Engine
Startup |
SiteGround
GrowBig |
WP Engine
Growth |
SiteGround
GoGeek |
WP Engine
Scale |
|
| Price* | $3.95/mo. | $35/mo. | $5.95/mo. | $115/mo. | $11.95/mo. | $290/mo. |
| # of Websites | 1 website | 1 website | Multiple websites | 5 websites | Multiple websites | 15 websites |
| Visits/mo. | 10,000 | 25,000 | 25,000 | 100,000 | 100,000 | 400,000 |
| Storage | 10GB | 10GB | 20GB | 20GB | 30GB | 30GB |
| Bandwidth | Unlimited | 50GB/mo. | Unlimited | 200GB/mo. | Unlimited | 400 GB/mo. |
| Staging | None | Yes | None | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 24/7 chat | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 24/7 phone | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Daily Backups | Yes – saved up to 30 days | Yes – save up to 40 days | Yes – save up to 30 days | Yes – saved up to 40 days | Yes – save up to 30 days | Yes – saved up to 40 days |
| CPU Usage Limit** | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
| Money Back Refund | 30 Days | 60 Days | 30 Days | 60 Days | 30 Days | 60 Days |
| Free CDN | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free SSL | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| PHP 7.2 ready | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Free e-mail | Yes | No | Yes | No | Yes | No |
*Please note that you have to pay one year minimum in advance for SiteGround so even though it’s technically $3.95, $5.95 or $11.95 a month, you can’t just budget that amount each month; you will have to pay upfront. But the good thing about paying for a year in advance is that it limits your monthly business expenses. With WP Engine, on the other hand, you can pay month-to-month, so choosing the Startup option can save you a little bit of money in the beginning, which can be really nice when you’re starting a new venture.
**CPU usage is basically the amount of time it takes for central processing unit (a.k.a. CPU) to process instructions of a computer program or operating system. If your website is complex, then you can go over the allotted CPU usage. For example, I used to run a website on SiteGround that had a database of over 1,000 resumes for companies to use. I was constantly getting messages from SiteGround that my website had high CPU usage and it would temporarily go down. SiteGround does contact you if your CPU usage is high but if you are away from your phone or computer all day and you hit your daily CPU usage limit, then your website will go down for the day, which is kind of scary. This is why if your website is complex you’re going to be better off opting for WP Engine, which doesn’t do that. But if your website is just say blog entries, then this will most likely not be a problem for you.
So in my opinion, both web hosts offer a lot of great things (such as 24/7 support & daily backups) and if you are just starting out, you don’t anticipate growing super quickly and you’re not doing anything complex, then SiteGround might be the better choice just by sheer cost. But if you are expecting a large audience or your website is complex, then WP Engine is the better choice.
Also, one last thing: if you do go with SiteGround, you might want to start on the GoGeek plan for the staging environment alone. If you are planning on making changes to your website, then having a staging environment is great because then you can play around with your website without crashing it. But if you don’t plan on making large changes to your website and money is a large consideration for you, then start out on the StartUp plan and you can always upgrade later to the GoGeek plan.
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