WP Engine Review (Updated Jan 2015)

I'm having this love-hate relationship with WP Engine since 2012. It all started when I interviewed the company co-founder in 2011 (read http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/interviews/interview-with-wp-engine-co-founder-jason-cohen/). I was truly impressed by the vision of this company.

And these guys are more than just good in PR. They delivered!

The good – What I like about WP Engine (back in 2012)

I switched to WP Engine in early 2012. The migration process was 100% taken care by the helpful support team, site load time improved >100% instantly (see attached image), and I do not have to worry about site downtime or being hacked.

The bad – $29/mo and no email hosting

– $29/mo for hosting a single blog less than 25,000 visits is not cheap. 
– No email hosting. 

The ugly – something's not right!

But like many other great companies, I believe WP Engine had hard times handling their exponential growth in business. Customer experience dropped drastically, slow site load time, and a few of us caught WP Engine practicing some naughty SEO tricks on customers' sites. 

Fixing the damage

In regards of the negative feedbacks, Jason Cohen, co-founder of WP Engine, wrote the following in May 21, 2014:

To anyone that has had a support issue in the past, or is having one now, I would like to say I’m sorry for your experience. But as you can see, we’ve been busy. We will continue to improve, and are seeing our current efforts working on many fronts. We do this because we love every customer here at WP Engine and your success is incredibly important to us.

The last thing we can be right now is complacent. We are guided by staying humble, staying honest, and working hard. If things are pointing in the right direction, that’s great. The moment we stop being hungry, stop reading those UNSAT’s, stop striving to become better, that will be the beginning of the end.

Is WP Engine a go?

So should you host your WP sites at WP Engine? Well I cannot be 100% sure about this. 

The choice is yours. 

Personally I would love to give great company like them a second chance. After all what these guys did initially were revolutionary and superb. Good thing is that WP Engine does not lock in their customers (you can pay month-by-month) and offers a 60-day risk free trial period (simple cancel your subscription and get a full refund). 

Resources – Learn more 

Positive reviews on WP Engine – from +MMO Melting Pot +WP Mayor 

http://www.mmomeltingpot.com/2012/03/wpengine-review-after-1-month-and-250k-visitors-is-this-the-best-wordpress-hosting-money-can-buy/

http://www.wpmayor.com/wp-engine-review/

Critics on WP Engine – from +Matthew Woodward +Harsh Agrawal

http://www.matthewwoodward.co.uk/reviews/webhost-trusted-wp-engine-hijacked-business-avoid-them/ 

http://www.shoutmeloud.com/wpengine-cons-picing.html 

Official response to negative feedbacks from +Jason Cohen 

http://wpengine.com/2014/05/21/growth-hard/

How to deal with web host that does not host your email – 

http://www.webhostingsecretrevealed.net/blog/featured-articles/email-hosting-guide/