Overall Satisfaction with WP Engine
WP Engine was the blog host for a busy corporate blog. We migrated there from shared hosting. There was not a lot of PHP expertise in the organization, or experience with self-managed web hosting, so WP-Engine was an appealing alternative at the price point and level of service. After several outages and configuration problems with shared hosting and the collective "Welp" from the development staff, I decided an upgrade was necessary.
- Great reliability
- Great Communication
- A point of view and demonstrated expertise with the unique challenges of WordPress.
- Dedicated to Wordpress, servers optimally tuned to take advantage of WordPress use cases.
- They changed our pricing and charged the card without informing me in advance. They made good on that, but that was kind of a "Huh?" moment for me (and the accounting department).
- Their attitude about plugin management, including the global restriction of some plugins to optimize for the WPEngine experience across all clients, is quite different from most blog hosts and takes some getting used to. Reducing the flexibility of WordPress is crippling one of WordPress's key business advantages.
- Overage charges! Overage charges combined with restricting plugins in part due to bandwidth concerns. That's two levels of reduced service to me, for the good of the community-at-large (or is it for the good of WP Engine?). Overall, these three points coordinate into a story about WP Engine that suggests they don't really have the Customer Experience on the same priority as micromanaging the return per customer.
- Development (staging) server to avoid breaking the blog with changes to the widgetry. - Mild Positive
- Uptime and Communication - Big Positive
- Integrated Customer Service Area with WordPress Admin - Mild Positive
Using WP Engine
3 - Social Media Manger
Web Developer
Me
Web Developer
Me
1 - PHP is nice but not necessary.
WordPress experience is highly recommended for all WordPress-dependent sites.
WordPress experience is highly recommended for all WordPress-dependent sites.
- Hosting the blog is all they do.
- WordPress sites are quite flexible. Often this will be the most flexible publishing platform available. You can host landing pages, widgets and other promotions easier there than on most CMS's or e-commerce apps.
WP Engine Support
Pros | Cons |
---|---|
Quick Resolution Good followup Knowledgeable team Problems get solved Kept well informed Immediate help available Support cares about my success Quick Initial Response | Need to explain problems multiple times |
Yes - Most times yes. When it ran afoul of a vague policy about certified plugins in Wordpress, I did not resolve that to my satisfaction.
After they changed the billing terms without prior notification, they comepnsated with a huge credit. I question the approach for sure, but not the response. ;)