Categories: Blog

WPEngine Recommended Web Host

WPengine

I recommend WPEngine® for hosting WordPress websites, because it is fast, secure, efficient and affordable.

Fast Page Load Times

Before migrating to WPEngine, my website’s load times averaged 1 second with peaks over 3 seconds. Since migrating to WPEngine in mid-December 2014, my page load times average 0.2 seconds, with occasional bumps up to 0.7 seconds. Now, that is fast!

HTTP/2 Support

WPEngine added support in July 2016 for HTTP/2, which is faster than the original Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP). HTTP/2 requires a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate. Non-SSL sites will continue to use HTTP instead of HTTP/2.

Optional PHP 7 Support

WPEngine began supporting the PHP 7 server scripting language in June 2016. Website owners may select PHP 5.6 or PHP 7 when they create a new installation. WPEngine offers a PHP 7 Compatibility Checker for existing WordPress website owners who want to upgrade to PHP 7.

Secure Web Hosting

Secure your WordPress website using WPEngine’s built-in firewall and malware scanning. There is nothing to install, setup or manage. Get strong SSL certificates supporting TLS 1.2 protocol. QUALSYS’ SSL Server Test rates my security an ‘A’.

Efficient Use of Time

WPEngine saves me one hour per month per website, time previously required for maintenance. As a result, I am free to focus on boosting ROI.

Eliminate spurious interactions between complex performance and security plugins.

WP Plugin Type	Before WPEngine	After WPEngine
Performance	W3 Total Cache
CDN	WordPress.com Photon	WordPress.com Photon
Security – Hardening	iThemes
Security – Firewall	Wordfence
Permanent 301 Redirects	Redirection OR Quick Page/Post Redirect Plugin

Setup HTTPS (secure) communications in 4 steps:
1. Migrate your website to WP Engine.
2. Purchase a single-domain SSL certificate for $49 per year, or select a free Let’s Encrypt SSL certificate.
3. Redirect all HTTP requests to HTTPS using WPEngine’s SSL management tool, without regular expressions.
4. Cleanup WordPress theme settings and HTTP hyperlinks.
Save Backup Points On-Demand – WPEngine supports on-demand backups and restores with one click. This is in addition to daily, scheduled backups.

Affordable WordPress Web Hosting

WP Engine is an affordable web hosting service. The entry level plan for a single website is $29 per month. Manage up to 10 websites, and the price increases to $99 per month.

Areas Where WP Engine Can Improve

Support destination URLs without a trailing slash (/). WPEngine’s Varnish HTTP acceleration rules remove any gclid or utm_ query parameters before WordPress can add the missing slash. Removing the query parameters obfuscates the actual campaign source, medium, etc. WPEngine downplays this behavior by classifying the inclusion of a trailing slash a best practice, when it actually is a requirement for normal operation.
Support WordPress theme customizations such as rotating ads. Curating performance and security plugins gives WPEngine a competitive advantage. Expanding support for common theme customizations extends that advantage.

Conclusion

I use and recommend the WP Engine Web hosting service because it is fast, secure, efficient and affordable. My Web pages consistently load in less than 1 second. Security is built-in. The value of the time saved more than offsets the cost of hosting 1 to 10 websites. WPEngine is not the only managed WordPress hosting service, but it is the one I recommend. Visit WPEngine and learn more about its Web hosting service.