Netlify Platform vs. WP Engine

Netlify is a static website host, so it obviously wouldn't work for hosting dynamic websites built in PHP, such as WordPress or Drupal. It works very well with static sites with a git codebase on something like GitHub. It has automatic deployments, which include preview websites. It works very well with this workflow. There are solutions for allowing content authoring on static websites on Netlify, but I would probably reach for something like WordPress or Drupal for that.

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

• I can connect Github/Gitlab repos or drag and drop code folders directly to host them onto the platform, and can customize build and publish details. It handles all granular details itself, so I don't have to worry about configuring everything like I would have to do on an IaaS like AWS
• Netlify Platform has inbuilt scalability support - meaning automatic upgrading of servers to handle traffic, without us needing to do anything at all, again, unlike IaaS, where we'd have to manually configure scaling
• It has a built in CDN, meaning static applications can be served blazing fast over the web without worrying about traffic or latency

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

• it is not aimed at it but first party laravel support would be nice.
• their free tier was so handy, i wish they start some similar efforts
• incorporate more WebOps mindset

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.

We interact with the CLI via our CI/CD pipeline. It was very straightforward to get set up, and their documentation is thorough. There are a ton of examples online of various setups. We needed to deploy a React SPA, so we required redirects, which was straightforward with Netlify.

Incentivized

From the onboarding and in the days afterward, it was very easy to get into the platform and begin creating important websites and configuring user options. The interface is easy to navigate, and the platform pages load quickly. Since the platform is built for Word plus press, it has features including backup, staging, maintenance mode, and direct WP-Admin login to make configuration and site management faster. We have never had any issues on the billing side of the account.

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

Netlify Platform is the first choice that we are using in this organization continuously and it's been a very promising platform to use. It also maintains the things very well. it also giving a very good updates. It is very easy to use and very easy to learn. overall it is good.

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

• it's free to get started and to work on small frontend projects for testing and qa
• very nice DNS Management
• quick and easy to use, reduces dev efforts

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