Bluehost Vs WP Engine 2023 – 9 Crucial Differences

Bluehost vs WP Engine at a glance

Bluehost

Bluehost is the most outstanding all-around web hosting provider. While the competition is intense right now, it continues to perform great in almost every way, providing speed, protection, flexibility, and, most importantly, exceptional reliability.

In addition to various web hosting services, Bluehost also provides marketing programs, content development, and more!  Overall, this web host caters to everyone, from new bloggers to huge e-commerce companies and long-time WordPress users. The good consistently exceeds the negative, so it’s a web hosting service worth investigating—particularly for WordPress users.

I believe that most consumers would love Bluehost’s vast product offerings, including WordPress hosting, shared hosting, dedicated hosting, and multi-tiered price plans.

WP Engine

WP Engine stands out from the crowd due to its fast page loading and superior performance. It’s ideal for high-traffic sites and growing businesses because it won’t crash if you have many visitors, even on the cheapest packages.

Let’s talk about pricing. This might be the variable that could help you choose between Bluehost and WP Engine.

Bluehost Pricing 

Bluehost has trustworthy hosting packages designed for your goals, whether you’re just starting or require extensive functionality. Check out these plans before getting one for yourself or your desired business.

• BASIC ─ $2.95 per month 

• PLUS ─ $5.45 per month

• CHOICE PLUS ─ $5.45 per month 

• PRO ─ $13.95 per month 

The first thing you’ll notice about Bluehost’s costs is that they provide massive discounts for the first year. 

However, remember that renewal fees are substantially greater, which may deter you. I’ve listed both costs below so you can compare them and decide.

• BASIC – $2.95/month to  $9.99/month 

• PLUS –  $5.45/month to $13.99/month  

• CHOICE PLUS – $5.45/month to $18.99/month 

• PRO – $13.95/month to $28.99/month 

If you only want to have one website and 50 GB of storage is already sufficient for your project, the Basic plan is ideal. It also limits the amount of email storage and accounts you may have and the number of databases you can establish.

More information

What distinguishes Bluehost from the competition? 

Making a pros and drawbacks list is one of the simplest and most effective ways to compare Bluehost vs WP Engine, so here we go.

Check out these pros I came to know as your helpful guide.

Pros

• Blogger-friendly
• The first term is cheap 
• Simple to use, even for beginners
• Exceptional server uptime (99,98%)
• Incredibly fast server speed
• WordPress compatible
• Great customer service
• Generous storage
• Unmetered bandwidth 

Cons

Even though Bluehost is an ideal choice for web users, it still has its downsides for you to know about. Check out the following:

•  Increased price for renewals
• Constant upsells 
• Upgrades and add ons modes are pricey
• Limitations of the entry-level plan
• Speed could be better 
• Entry-level plan limitations 

WP Engine Pricing 

WP Engine Hosting Plans

WP Engine provides 3 WordPress hosting solutions. 

• Managed WordPress 

Managed WordPress hosting is ideal for both novice and seasoned WordPress users. WP Engine provides everything you need to start and develop your business, as its managed hosting plans are the most comprehensive. They have over 175,000 customers in over 150 countries and 1.5 million active websites on the platform. 

If you’re serious about improving the performance and security of your WordPress website, I highly recommend using WP Engine’s managed hosting solution. Run your site with the confidence that it is secure and protected by free SSL. Never overlook a WordPress core or plugin update. Investing in a managed WordPress server allows you to reinvest in the growth of your business.

$27 per month; click here to view available discounts

• eCommerce Solutions for Woo 

WP Engine’s eCommerce plans enhance WooCommerce by transforming it into a finely tuned growth engine with up to 40% faster load times and up to 18% higher eCommerce revenues! Begin by creating your online store, adding products, and changing your payment settings whenever you like. Your WooCommerce hosting plan will stay simple after installation, allowing you to develop a one-of-a-kind digital experience.

$68 per month; click here to view available discounts

• Advanced Solutions 

Advanced security, high availability, and dedicated services are available in enterprise systems. 

$600 per month; click here to view available discounts

Each hosting plan has five levels: Startup, Professional, Growth, Scale, and Custom. 

Startup: $22.50/mo.

The Startup package is the most basic option and costs $22.50 per month when paid annually ($30 if paid monthly). This bundle includes the following items:

• 25,000 monthly visits
• Monthly bandwidth of 50GB
• 10 GB of storage
• One site included

More information

Professional: $49/mo.

The Professional package is a good compromise between entry-level and high-octane performance. When paying annually, you get the following for $49 per month:

• 75,000 monthly visits
• Monthly bandwidth of 125 GB
• 15 GB of storage

Stay on the most basic hosting plan if you’re unhappy with your current host, yet your site is already receiving too much traffic. In addition, you get a fairly good deal compared to the plans above and below. While its resource restrictions may not blow you away, WP Engine’s Professional plan offers the best bang for your cash.

If you pay annually, you can save $120 every year; otherwise, the monthly bill will cost you $59.

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Growth: $86.25/mo.

The growth plan is designed for fast-growing businesses and costs $86.25 per month. Here’s what you will get:

• 100,000 monthly visits
• Monthly bandwidth of 200GB
• Storage capacity of 25GB

This plan is an excellent starting point for a developing business, and it may be some time before you need to upgrade. This subscription also includes 24/7 phone help as well as round-the-clock chat support. This addition will be useful if you have a difficult problem that needs to be resolved swiftly.

More information

Scale: $217.50

WP Engine promotes its scale plan as the most cost-effective choice. This one will set you back $217.50 each month. Here’s what you will get:

• 400,000 monthly visits
• 500GB of monthly bandwidth
• Storage capacity of 50GB

This is a good alternative for a rapidly growing blog or business. In addition to the support center, you have access to live chat and phone support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With annual pre-paid billing, you may save $580 or get two months free. 

More information

Dedicated Hosting: Custom pricing

The Custom plan may be appealing if you have a mission-critical website or a large corporation. This plan has the following benefits:

• Monthly visits in the millions
• 400GB or more of monthly bandwidth
• 100GB to 1TB storage

You must speak with a sales representative to obtain a personalized price based on your needs. This plan also includes proprietary support if something goes wrong.

Each tier includes over 30 premium themes, free automated migrations, and daily backups. They all provide sophisticated security, free SSL and SSH, and one-click staging for making updates to your site. These plans aren’t cheap, but they come with a slew of features and enough capacity for your site to expand. This service is worth considering if you want to develop one or more major commercial or e-commerce websites.

Pros

• World-class Hosting Infrastructure
• Automatic WordPress & platform updates
• Multiple caching layers
• 24x7x365 expert customer support team ready to assist you 
• Numerous add-ons available for all plans

Cons 

• Premium Consulting / Integration Services
• Only hosts WordPress
• Not cost-effective
• No email hosting included

Winner: I’d choose Bluehost to save more. WP Engine is not economical. Their Startup plan costs $23 per month (for a 12-month subscription), includes a single installation, and handles approximately 25,000 visits per month. If you’re starting with a single domain, Bluehost has a shared hosting plan for a couple of monthly dollars.

Remember this: the faster your site loads, the higher your conversion rate.

People despise waiting, so do your best to choose a web host that provides quick page loading time. The more effort you invest in maintaining your website fast and conveniently, the more revenue you generate.

The question is… 

Can Bluehost and WP Engine give you the speed you’re looking for? 

Bluehost

Bluehost is among the quickest A-rated hosting providers, with a speed of 731ms. In my judgment, you can be guaranteed that Bluehost will be able to process regardless of where your core audience is located.  

WP Engine 

WP Engine uses third-party data to determine who has the fastest platform and discovered that it has the highest percentage of top WordPress hosts’ sites that load in less than 200ms. Its proprietary EverCache caching technology is built with WordPress-specific rules to move hundreds of millions of hits daily, allowing your site to run faster and more efficiently. To provide a fast experience to global audiences, they also provide a free CDN and global data centers.

How does WP Engine improve the speed of your website? 

• Excellent Hosting Infrastructure

WP Engine can provide a 99.99% SLA because its architecture is highly available, redundant, scalable, and secure. 

• WordPress and platform updates are carried out automatically

WordPress core updates are automatically pushed, and major updates are thoroughly reviewed.

• Uses the most recent PHP version

Using the most recent and fastest PHP version, you can serve up to three times more requests per second.

• Quickly delivers content to your visitors.

WP Engine has free CDN (Cloudflare) with full management!  For those unaware, CloudFlare is a content delivery network (CDN). A CDN is a distributed network of servers that offers various benefits to a website: caching website content: By caching website information, Cloudflare improves page load speeds, reduces bandwidth usage, and reduces CPU utilization on the server.

Cloudflare’s design provides a comprehensive collection of L3-L7 network services accessible from a single dashboard. It is intended to perform every service across our global network on every server in every data center, so there is no need for any software or hardware.

• Several caching layers

There is no need to install or update caching plugins. By default, WP Engine servers use extensive caching. This factor contributes to WP Engine being the fastest WordPress website host. When using page caching, the typical flow for the first-page request is as follows: 

When you use a cached version, many of these steps are saved:

Each caching layer has its own default expiration time.

• Always safeguarded

Expert customer service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Winner: Because high-performing sites rank higher in Google searches, a great page experience is critical for your business. WP Engine‘s platform is optimized for Core Web Vitals, and it is the only managed WordPress host that addresses all CWV metrics, including loading, interactivity, and visual stability.

Uptime is an excellent indicator of how well a web hosting service keeps its systems up and functioning. Do Bluehost and WP Engine have a high uptime percentage? Let’s find out. 

Bluehost

Bluehost guarantees 99.98% uptime! Because no web host can promise 100% uptime, 99.98% is a convincing win, equating to approximately one hour and 45 minutes of downtime yearly.

WP Engine 

WP Engine guarantees 99.95% server uptime, equating to about four and a half hours of downtime annually. 

Winner: Bluehost wins this category with a 99.98% uptime! Bluehost is a dependable hosting provider due to its excellent customer service, strong uptime, and low-cost starter plans. It is an excellent choice if you want old-fashioned dependability. 

It is simple to obtain hosting. And while things seldom go wrong, if they do, you don’t want the burden of feeling like you’re handling it alone, especially if you’re unfamiliar with everything. 

Let’s see if Bluehost and WP Engine have the support you need when things get rough. 

Bluehost Support 

One advantage of partnering with a large provider such as Bluehost is that they provide complete support, such as 24/7 chat and phone assistance!

They’re easily reachable via live chat, and I didn’t even wait more than five minutes to speak with someone. In addition, the agents always answer with beneficial information, frequently including links that are beyond helpful. What a relief!

WP Engine

If you need assistance deciding on a plan, requesting a quote, or have questions about our products, WP Engine’s sales team is here to help. WP Engine employees are better equipped to handle WordPress-specific issues. This is not surprising given that WP Engine’s entire business is built around WordPress, whereas Bluehost offers various hosting plans. 

Winner: Bluehost and WP Engine have knowledge bases that anyone can use to get immediate assistance with their website. WP Engine, on the other hand, is far more comprehensive, with hundreds of support documents for WordPress users. 

WP Engine is deeply committed to your success. They have a team of experts with credentials to back it up. Overall, they are committed to assisting you in realizing any digital possibility, from design to launch and beyond.

Installing Bluehost or WP Engine is super easy! Follow my steps, and you’ll have everything set up in less than 5 minutes. Pinky promise!

I split it up into 2 phases. 

Phase 1 is for Bluehost, and Phase 2 is for WP Engine.

Phase 1 – How to Install Bluehost

Step 1: Open the website of Bluehost and click “get started.” 

Step 2: Select your hosting plan.

You can select your plan depending on how many websites you host. If you only need to build 1 website, you can choose the cheapest one.

Step 3: Find an available domain name.

Here comes the fun part. Play around with the domain name checker and find an available one. Click ‘next’ if you found one.

 Step 4: Enter your details and confirm the payment.

Now you’ve registered with Bluehost; it’s time to install WordPress. Luckily for you, this is the easiest part. Bluehost offers a one-click install for WordPress.

Here’s what you need to do:

In the control panel on your left side, click My Sites.

From here, you can launch your WordPress website by clicking on “Create site” by WordPress.

That’s it. It’s dead easy.

Phase 2 – How to Install WP Engine 

Step 1: Go to WP Engine’s website.

Step 2: Go to Plans and Pricing.

Step 3: Select a hosting solution. 

You can choose among Managed WordPress, eCommerce Solutions for Woo, and Advanced Solutions. Each hosting plan has five levels: Startup, Professional, Growth, Scale, and Custom.

Step 4: Continue to payment to finalize your purchase. 

Join the 1.5 million websites that rely on WP Engine!

That’s it! While both hosts are extremely user-friendly and significantly simplify launching a new WordPress website, WP Engine is more user-friendly and hands-on than SiteGround. WP Engine included features like caching and SSL by default.

Bluehost vs WP Engine? I’m going to keep this short. Both of them are great for SEO.

Web hosting helps your website be accessible to all users and visitors. With that, you need something excellent to get that sweet traffic.  The good thing is that I’ve seen several websites with millions of visitors per month with the help of Bluehost and WP Engine!

Trust me; you’ll get various hosting features you’ll love whatever you choose. Bluehost and WP Engine are well-known and dependable hosting companies that have earned stellar reputations. Also, both are suitable for beginners and professionals and have inexpensive/competitive pricing options. In any case, you’re in wonderful shape to start your web hosting career.

• Here is a collection of my favorite Bluehost website examples

For WP Engine, you can check this link whenever you’re free. Here are some examples: 

WP Engine Template 1 – Navigation Pro

Navigation Pro cuts through the haze with bright colors, bold images, and versatile layouts to steer your site to success. Start quickly with starter packs for Travel, Cuisine, Fitness, and Law, or build pages that capture attention and convert visitors into customers using the included custom block sections.

WP Engine Template 2 – Breakthrough Pro Theme 

Revolution Pro has a clean design ideal for displaying photography and text. The use of white space allows the content to breathe, and the Playfair Display highlights headlines and blockquotes. There are five homepage examples: Agency, Lifestyle, Personal Branding, Photographer, and Small Business, each showcasing a different application of the theme.

It isn’t easy to compare WP Engine and Bluehost.

Bluehost’s WordPress shared hosting plans provide exactly what you pay for – a low-cost hosting service. It does provide some nice extras, such as access to staging functionality, but it falls short of most managed hosting plans.

WP Engine provides lightning-fast performance and a plethora of advanced functionality at a higher cost. Paying for one of their managed hosting plans is a wise investment if you can afford it and need the features provided.

If I were you, choose WP Engine if you want to take your website seriously. Then, choose Bluehost if you want to have it simple and you don’t mind if it’s not super fast. That’s it!