# WP Engine > Managed WordPress hosting sized by sites and monthly visits WP Engine is a managed WordPress host. The Essential plan is sold by the number of sites and estimated monthly visits, and includes daily backups, one-click staging, a Cloudflare CDN, automatic WordPress and PHP updates and SSH. Business adds isolated servers and an uptime SLA, and add-ons cover AI plugin updates, page-speed tuning and a managed firewall. - **Category:** Web Hosting - **Made by:** WPEngine, Inc. (since 2010) - **Website:** https://wpengine.com - **Runs on:** Web - **Facts last checked:** Oct 17, 2026 ## Pricing WP Engine is a paid product, starting at $35 per month for 1 site, billed monthly; $336 for a first year billed yearly. - **Pricing model:** Paid - **Free plan:** None. - **Free trial:** None listed. | Plan | Price | What you get | | --- | --- | --- | | Essential, 1 site | $35 per month for 1 site and 25,000 visits, billed monthly | 10 GB storage and 75 GB bandwidth. Billed yearly, the first year is $336 ($28 a month), a promotional price for new customers. | | Essential, 3 sites | $65 per month for 3 sites and 75,000 visits, billed monthly | 15 GB storage and 150 GB bandwidth. Billed yearly, the first year is $624. | | Essential, 10 sites | $130 per month for 10 sites and 100,000 visits, billed monthly | 20 GB storage and 240 GB bandwidth. Billed yearly, the first year is $1,248. | | Essential, 30 sites | $330 per month for 30 sites and 400,000 visits, billed monthly | 50 GB storage and 550 GB bandwidth. Billed yearly, the first year is $3,168. | | Business | $400 per month and up, billed annually | Isolated resources for 400,000 to 800,000 visits, phone support, managed migrations and a 99.99% uptime SLA. Sold through sales. | Read from https://wpengine.com/plans/ on Oct 17, 2026. Prices change, so confirm with WP Engine before buying. ## Ways to pay less - **First year of Essential billed yearly at 20% off** (Other savings): New customers paying yearly for Essential get the first year for $336 with one site, against $35 a month billed monthly. The offer does not apply to renewals. Source: https://wpengine.com/plans/ ## Key features - **Managed WordPress updates:** WordPress and PHP are updated for you, with security patching and plugin risk scans by WP Engine's security team. - **Backups and one-click staging:** Automatic and on-demand backups are kept for at least 30 days, and staging and development copies of a site can be pushed live in one click. - **EverCache and Cloudflare CDN:** WordPress-tuned server caching and a global CDN run by Cloudflare are included on every plan, with SSL that renews by itself and SSH access. - **WP Engine API:** A hosting API, switched on from the user portal with per-user credentials, scripts account tasks such as listing accounts, adding users and creating backups. - **Transferable sites and themes:** Agencies can build a site and hand it to a client's account, and every plan includes 10 premium themes and Genesis Blocks. - **AI plugin updates:** An add-on on Essential and included on Business, it updates plugins and themes, checks the result with visual regression tests and rolls back if anything breaks. ## Good for - Businesses that want WordPress kept updated and backed up for them - Agencies building client sites and transferring them on launch - Developers who want staging, SSH and an API on managed hosting ## Worth knowing - Yearly billing is a first-year promotion for new Essential customers ($336 for one site); the page says renewal pricing is subject to change and does not state it. - Essential runs on shared servers; isolated resources and the 99.99% uptime SLA start with Business at $400 a month, sold through sales. - AI plugin updates, uptime monitoring, NitroPack page-speed tuning and the managed firewall are paid add-ons on Essential. - Plans are sized by estimated monthly visits, storage and bandwidth, and overage charges may apply. ## ToolGPA grades **GPA: 1.6 out of 4**, graded Oct 17, 2026. WP Engine is the big name in managed WordPress: updates, backups kept 30 days, one-click staging, Cloudflare and an API, with tools for agencies to build a site and hand it to the client. It's also the dearest of the managed hosts here, and on Essential the managed firewall and AI plugin updates cost extra. - **Value for money: D.** Graded against the other managed WordPress hosts. Essential's first year is $336 billed yearly and the renewal isn't stated. At the $35 monthly rate the second year is $420, so about $756 over two years, $31.50 a month, the dearest of that group. - **Free plan and trial: F.** No free plan and no trial on record. The yearly price is a first-year promotion for new customers, not a way to try it. - **Features: C.** Managed WordPress and PHP updates, backups kept at least 30 days, staging, EverCache, a Cloudflare CDN and SSH. The gaps the listing names: on Essential the managed firewall and AI plugin updates are paid add-ons, and sites share servers. - **Ease of use: C.** No app store rating to go on. Updates and backups are handled for you, but plans sized by visits and a list of add-ons take some working out. - **Platforms and integrations: B.** A web portal with no app on record, plus a hosting API with per-user credentials, and Cloudflare, NitroPack, Advanced Custom Fields and Amazon SES on the integration list. These are ToolGPA's own grades. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from WP Engine's own pages on 17 October 2026. Not based on using the product, and shorter than our full reviews. ## Where it stands among web hosts - WP Engine's GPA of 1.6 is higher than 0 of the 21 other web hosts we grade, and level with 3. - It stands best on platforms and integrations (B, above 12 of 21) and worst on free plan and trial (F, above 0). - Its paid plans start at $35 a month, against a middle price of $10.99 for the category: 16 of the 16 others that charge start lower. - On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 2.3 out of 4. 5 tools score higher and cost less. The category's chart of price against score: https://toolgpa.com/charts/web-hosting ## Keep it, or make your own? **Keep it.** To replace WP Engine you would be making servers kept running, patched and backed up for you. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one. That makes this kind of software worth paying for, not this one in particular: 18 of the 21 other web hosts grade higher. It costs $420 a year. - You could not: Servers kept running, patched and backed up for you. - You could not: It plugs into other products, WordPress, WooCommerce and Cloudflare among them, and has an API. - You could not: AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself. A judgement by ToolGPA from this listing, by rules that are the same for every tool. Nothing was built to test it. ## Works with WordPress, WooCommerce, Cloudflare, NitroPack, Advanced Custom Fields, Amazon SES **Tags:** Public API, AI features, Managed WordPress ## Alternatives - [Kinsta](https://toolgpa.com/tools/kinsta): Managed WordPress hosting priced by sites, visits or bandwidth. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/kinsta-vs-wp-engine) - [Flywheel](https://toolgpa.com/tools/flywheel): Managed WordPress hosting for designers, freelancers and agencies. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/flywheel-vs-wp-engine) - [Cloudways](https://toolgpa.com/tools/cloudways): Managed cloud hosting on DigitalOcean, Vultr, Linode, AWS or Google. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/cloudways-vs-wp-engine) - [SiteGround](https://toolgpa.com/tools/siteground): Shared and WordPress hosting on Google Cloud with its own Site Tools. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/siteground-vs-wp-engine) - [Pressable](https://toolgpa.com/tools/pressable): Managed WordPress hosting from Automattic, built on its WP Cloud. [Compare](https://toolgpa.com/compare/pressable-vs-wp-engine) ## Sources The prices, plans, platforms and features above were read from these pages on Oct 17, 2026: - https://wpengine.com/plans/ - https://wpengine.com/support/enabling-wp-engine-api/ - https://wpengine.com/about-us/ Page: https://toolgpa.com/tools/wp-engine Listed by ToolGPA (toolgpa.com).