WPEngine vs SiteGround Which One is The Best

Last updated on February 8th, 2019 at 01:42 pm

Which hosting account should I use as a new blogger? Today, we’ll take a look at WPEngine vs Siteground and compare the two popular blogging platforms to see which one is the best. I am personally using SiteGround for this blog, but have used WPEngine for some clients sites.

Choosing a Web Hosting Company

As a new blogger, it’s challenging finding the right web hosting company. Most new bloggers who want to start a blog, usually head over to a Facebook group and ask “which hosting company should I start with?”

You’ll get a ton of different responses with people throwing their affiliate links at you hoping you sign up under their name. Why?

Well, because they get paid a nice commission from these affiliate programs. In fact, I am currently hosted with SiteGround for this blog and have a step-by-step tutorial that will show you how to install WordPress on SiteGround. (yes there’s an affiliate link because I use them and recommend them)

Whatever You Do

Don’t sign up for Bluehost. Many new bloggers make the mistake of trying to find the cheapest hosting company and end up getting started with Bluehost.

It never surprises me when I see someone on Facebook asking who they should migrate their new site to because they are unhappy with Bluehost.

If you’re considering getting started with them, I suggest that you take the time to read some Bluehost pros and cons before making the decision to go with them.

Don’t Pay An Arm and A Leg

When you’re brand new the last thing you want to do is pay a fortune for WordPress hosting. Trust me, I know we’ve all been there where we don’t feel like we should pay expenses to run a blog.

When you’re trying to build a business, there is a price tag you’re going to have to pay and unfortunately, hosting is one of them. The great thing is that you don’t have to pay a whole lot.

So let’s take a look at two popular hosting accounts that you can’t go wrong with either.

WPEngine vs SiteGround Which One is The Best

I’ve personally used both and have had no complaints with either one. But let’s look at everything you need to know to help you make your own decision between SiteGround and WP Engine.

SiteGround Review

This is the one that most new bloggers start with and is the one that is recommended by a lot of bloggers on Facebook. You can’t go wrong with them and I am currently hosting this blog on the GrowBig plan.

Be sure to check out the SiteGround plan comparison and all the features before making your decision.

Their Pricing Structure

You have 3 options when it comes to managed WordPress hosting.

SiteGround StartUp vs Grow Big

SiteGround’s Biggest Limitation

One of the biggest issues that I ran into with SiteGround about 7 months of using them is dealing with the issue of CPU usage. I still don’t really know what that means, except if you get an email from them you’ll know what I’m talking about.

One day I woke to an email that said I had exceeded my monthly allotment of CPU usage in a 24 hour period. I didn’t know what that meant and before I knew it my site came down.

What They Don’t Tell You

If you go over your daily or monthly allotment, your site will come down. If this has never happened to you, then you’re lucky. But don’t be surprised if it does happen. Just know that it’s not as bad as it seems and you can get your blog back online if you contact their support.

When this happened to me, I was able to contact their support and get my site back online within 5 minutes. However, just know that you will need to make sure that it doesn’t happen again.

I think if it continues to happen they will suspend your blog until you upgrade to a bigger plan. I’ve been fortunate to not have to deal with these issues anymore after I installed the Black Hole for Bad Bots Plugin.

WP Engine Personal Plan Pricing Options

WP Engine offers 3 main hosting plans and you can contact them if you need a custom high-performance option.

Here’s what you get for each individual plan. Make sure you do your due diligence before you pay to make sure you get the plan that is right for you.

As you can see, the StartUp is the entry-level plan, which is comparable to the SiteGround GoGeek plan. As I mentioned, I am on the GrowBig plan.

Right out of the gate, you’ll be paying quite a bit more with WPEngine than you will with SiteGround. You’re probably thinking, is it worth paying that extra money to host on WP Engine?

What Happens If You Go Over Your Limit?

If you exceed your limit on WP Engine, you’ll be expected to pay overage charges instead of having your website come down. I’ve personally never had to deal with overage charges, but I am sure that they can add up quickly.

Main Web Hosting Features

Now that we’ve looked at the pricing options of each hosting service, it’s time to look at what the plans include. Then I’ll share which plan I think is perfect for new WordPress users.

Customer Support

I’ve dealt with both customer support services and can say that I’ve never had an issue with either company. Both got back with me quickly and helped me resolve the issue promptly.

I’m the type of person who likes using live chat to get my answer quickly. Thankfully, both services provide excellent support and will help you out with your blog if you don’t know what you’re doing.

With WP Engine, you can only access customer service through their 24/7 live chat feature. Only the Top Tier Enterprise can use the submit ticket feature.

SiteGround anyone with any plan can contact support via live chat, support ticket system, and 24/7 helpdesk via phone. The GoGeek and GrowBig plan are given priority over the StartUp customers.

Daily Backups

Both hosting companies provide daily backups of your WordPress sites. While I’ve personally never had to access a SiteGround backup, to ask them a couple of questions about their backups.

They told me that their backups are created on a daily basis and will keep 30 days worth of them.

I’ve never had an issue restoring a site using the nightly backup feature on WP Engine. All you have to do is choose which backup you want to restore and click on restore.

You’ll get an email once the restore has been completed. It’s the easiest restore you’ll ever do. I am currently using BlogVault for my backups on this site.

User Experience

If this is your first WordPress website, you’ll probably find both of hosting services come with a little bit of a learning curve. I’ve been working with WordPress for over 8 years and was confused by the WP Engine dashboard.

Unlike most hosting companies, you don’t deal with cPanel. It takes a little bit of time to get used to their system, but once you do, it’s so easy to do anything you need to do.

WordPress Installs

Both hosting companies make it so easy to do WordPress installs, you shouldn’t have any issues getting a new site installed quickly. A SiteGround installation, you can use the one-click Softaculous feature.

WP Engine is a little more involved, but once you add your new domain and create a new install, the WordPress installation will be automatically set up for you.

I have to admit the first time I did a brand new install, it was confusing. But if I can figure it out, I have no doubt that you’ll be able to do it too. Once you do install one, you’ll realize just how easy it is to do.

Staging Website

A staging site allows you to set up WordPress sites and test different plugins and themes before going live on your blog. This ensures that you don’t have to deal with any bugs that can cause you problems.

Both WP Engine and the GoGeeks plan on SiteGround allow you to have a staging site. Unfortunately, the GrowBig account does not offer this feature. I personally use Desktop Server for my staging site on my local computer.

WordPress Website Migration

If you already have a WordPress blog and are looking to move to either hosting company, it won’t be a problem. SiteGround offers a free migration for all new clients with no expected downtime and a quick turnaround time of a few hours.

WP Engine has a free migration plugin that makes the whole process extremely easy. Once you install the plugin it will facilitate the whole process for you and migrate your site from another host to their servers.

The first time I did it, I thought that I would run into a ton of issues. But the process was so smooth, I even created a tutorial to help you out.

Related: How to Migrate A WordPress Blog to WP Engine

Data Centers

Both WP Engine and SiteGround give you options to choose from where you want your data served from. Make sure that you choose one that is closest to where you live.

WP Engine has data centers in the United States, Tokyo, Taiwan, Ireland, United Kingdom and Canada. The options will vary depending on which plan you choose. With the personal plan, you’ll be covered in the United States, Belgium, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

When creating a SiteGround account, you can choose from SiteGround data centers in the United States, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Singapore, and Italy.

WP Engine vs SiteGround Loading Times

Personally, I’ve never run a loading time test for either of these hosting services. Both claim to have extremely fast loading times and SiteGround even has their own cache plugin to help you increase your site speed.

I’ve never experienced any issues with load time on either service. Of course, it helps if you make sure that your images are properly optimized and enabled GZip Compression for your sites.

I’m happy with my SiteGround WordPress speed, but then I’ve also taken some necessary steps to make sure that my blog is optimized as much as possible.

There’s probably a lot more that I could do to speed it up even more, but for now, I am focusing on just growing this blog.

SiteGround vs WP Engine Uptime

Both claim to have 99,9% uptime score and I can tell you the only time I’ve had issues with my site being offline is when I was experience CPU overage issues.

But now that I’ve taken care of that, I haven’t had to deal with those types of problems anymore.

None of my clients have ever complained about their WPEngine uptime and they are all happy with the service.

Disallowed Plugins

I’ve never run into any issues with a plugin not being allowed on SiteGround. However, with WP Engine, they have a list of disallowed plugins that you can not use. I only found out about the disallowed plugins when a client of mine was trying to use the W3 Cache Plugin.

WordPress Only

SiteGround hosts different types of apps besides WordPress such as:

• Joomla
• Drupal
• PrestaShop
• WooCommerce

WP Engine is made specifically for hosting WordPress sites and doesn’t cater to anyone else.

Which Plan is Right For You?

Both WordPress hosting services are awesome and I don’t think you could go wrong with either of them. If you are a brand new blogger who is starting on a budget, you’ll probably be a lot better off starting on the GrowBig or GoGeek plan on SiteGround.

SiteGround is perfect for the new blogger who has no traffic and is just getting started. You can grow your blog on SiteGround and then decide what you want to do once your blog has traffic and is making money.

Plus, I’ve heard that SiteGround is kind of pricey for anyone who is getting 100,000 or more visitors. When you reach that type of traffic with your blog, you’ll probably want to consider a different hosting account. (at least that’s what I am probably going to do when I reach those numbers with this blog.)

Is WP Engine Right For You?

I’ve had nothing but good experiences in dealing with WP Engine. Other than the fact that they are a little expensive for a brand new blogger. The cool thing is that you don’t have to worry about anything.

If you re the type of blogger who just wants to worry about content and nothing else. This might be the right hosting service for you?

Final Take Away

Choosing the right hosting plan can be confusing. There are so many reliable companies online, it can be so confusing. My hope is that by taking the time to show you the side by side comparisons of SiteGround vs WP Engine has helped you understand the pros and cons of both services.

Personally, I don’t think that you’re going to find a company that doesn’t have some type of flaw. The most you can hope for is that you get one that you like and has great customer support with little to no downtime.

Once your blog starts to grow you’ll probably be off looking for a new company with better deals. That’s just my two cents.

Hand Picked Articles for You

• How to Install WordPress on SiteGround
• How to Migrate A Site to WP Engine
• I Bought A Domain Now What? 3 Things You Need to Know

Have you used any of these services? If so then let me know your experiences, I’d love to hear about them.