ManageWP vs. WP Engine

If you are a WordPress development shop, or host a number of WordPress websites, this is for you. Even if you only have one website but are looking for an easy way to make updates, schedule backups and keep track of the maintenance of your site, this would be a great tool. The cost is reasonable and it saves time, while adding peace of mind with "Safe" updates.

Incentivized

I am an enterprise user of WordPress and host over 7000 sites with WPEngine. Areas that I think they are well suited for include customers that need enterprise-level support and uptime and have more complex needs than a simple blog. They also manage scale well with a variety of isolated install options that you can scale up or down depending on your contract needs. They also provide premier support for enterprises and have highly knowledgable Technical Account Managers that provide a significant value add. If I were to look at where it isn't as appropriate for usage I would focus on the low-end needs and say while they do support small sites, there are options out there for cheaper hosting that lack the support a WPEngine gives you.

Incentivized

• Managed Wordpress Updates - ManageWP allows you to update all out-of-date themes, plugins and core files on all your websites with the click of a button.
• Automated Backups - ManageWP allows users to setup an automated schedule of backups (including free monthly backups).
• Maintenance & Development Mode - ManageWP allows users to place a specific site into Maintenance or Development Mode, allowing them to block users from accessing the site with a click of a button.

Incentivized

• I love the database backups and how quickly & easy it is to restore from an old backup point. This gives me & my clients confidence that any change can be rolled back.
• The built in caching & CDN mean that I have to spend less time worrying about the speed of the server & site. The caching has some side-effects that take getting used to (on-page dynamic PHP code sometimes needs to be moved to API endpoints), but this is true for most caching systems.
• They have really good support for multiple environments. It's very easy to have separate production & staging environments. It's also very simple to deploy from staging to production, making product launches and large scale website copy changes much easier to coordinate.

Incentivized

• The reports could be prettier, more templates in order to avoid having to customize for each client so heavily.
• It would be nice to see if recommended plugin updates are actually production and not beta versions.

Incentivized

• I'd like to see WP Engine offer their own monitoring solution. When I say monitoring, I mean specific use cases that may end up being something you could script. This would keep customers from having to pay for additional services like Pingdom, New Relic, etc.
• I would like to see some proactive analysis done by WP Engine on their customer sites - at least on their home pages, and offer up suggestions. This kind of goes along with the other example.
• Finally, it would be nice to see a "lighter" offering, perhaps a plan that costs $49 for those who want to host only a few sites, or even 1 site.

Incentivized

I was in a situation where I had to bolt Wordpress on to an existing infrastructure that could not support it. If I ever end up in that situation again, please kill me. Other than that reasonably common use case, I don't think it offers a lot of value over robust shared hosting, virtual private server (VPS) or dedicated servers.

It's very straightforward for basic use, but less you dig in more for advanced use. Seems like it would be approachable to the average person.

Incentivized

It took very little time to learn their dashboard for managing WordPress sites. Their built-in tools are really well done, and the addition of security and CDN tools is great.

Incentivized

Support is generally great. Enterprise support is fantastic, with little to no wait times. I find that chat support can almost always take care of the problem without escalating to a ticket for a higher level of troubleshooting. The chat support for many other hosting providers can only handle basic issues. This is a big bonus for us to get quick and helpful answers.

Incentivized

Prior to ManageWP, we utilized InfiniteWP, a free (with paid extensions), self-hosted alternative. We found the interface to be unwieldy, and the paid extension pricing to be a bit confusing. The headache of maintaining the software and server infrastructure to run the platform, overshadowed the cost savings for us.

Incentivized

While we still use GoDaddy for some services, WP Engine definitely has been a major upgrade for our WordPress hosting. In addition to faster load speeds, WP Engine has been more adept at allowing us to manage a high number of websites without straining the system. We have never used Network Solutions for our own hosting needs, but when we do interact with them on behalf of our clients, their systems always seem to be clunky and hard to use, and they often overcharge customers by selling them products they do not need.

Incentivized

• High positive ROI as it has saved us doing manual updates on multiple website
• It has helped us scale our careplan offerings to service more clients
• Helps with automation and admin time

Incentivized

• WP Engine reduces our time investment and upkeep costs which increases our margins.
• WP Engine simplifies site management with a built-in development server, which saves us headaches.
• WP Engine itself is positioned as a premium service, which allows us to use their branding as a tool to close sales.

Incentivized