Siteground vs WPEngine Review: Which is Best for WordPress in 2019?

Choosing a WordPress hosting provider can be such a long and arduous process. You know that you’re going to stick with this provider for – at a minimum – the next year, so you know you need to get it right. You may strike a few providers off your list quickly, but once you have your shortlist it becomes difficult to select the perfect service. 

That shortlist often comprises of two options: Siteground and WPEngine. Just to be upfront, we’ve used Siteground  for years and have never had any issues, the customer service has always been outstanding, and they’ve gone the extra mile for us numerous times. That said, both web hosts are great options, and in this article we’ll go through their strengths and weaknesses so you can choose the best fit for you. 

Siteground’s Strengths

As just mentioned, we love Siteground and have been using it for years. Siteground is perhaps less well known than some other web hosting options but beloved by its users. 

• Pricing: Siteground offers a range of affordable WordPress management options for personal blogs and small to medium-sized businesses. They offer three levels, “StartUp”, “GrowBig”, and “GoGeek”. They offer a special price for new customers (as do most web hosts) and pricing excludes VAT, so you may need to factor that into the cost. StartUp is £2.95 a month for up to 10,000 monthly visitors, and GoGeek is £8.95 for up to 100,000. 
  
  

• Storage: Siteground offers 10GB – 30GB of space depending on your plan. 
  
  

• Bandwidth: Unlimited for all levels. 
  
  

• Speed: they use SSD and great software solutions to offer their customers above-average speeds. This is vital for SEO as Google values loading speeds now more than ever before. 
  
  

• Backup: all plans have automated daily backup, and their more premium plans have more advanced backup features.  
  
  

• FTP: all plans offer unlimited FTP accounts. 
  
  

• Email accounts: all plans include email allocation, and while it varies from plan to plan, most people won’t ever find them restricting. 
  
  

• SSL Certificates: All plans include a free SSL certificate, which is a major plus as they are costly and essential. 
  
  

• Customer Support: the customer support we have experienced has been outstanding and we really feel like they’ve gone the extra mile for us on numerous occasions. Other customers have had the same experience and there are helpful tutorials and guides so you don’t always have to speak to someone when you need help. 
  
  

• Uptime: they offer some of the best uptime in the industry, and they’ll give you a partial refund if it’s under 99.9% – which never seems to happen. This is so important – if a visitor finds your site is down, they may find a competitor or never return. 
  
  

• Server Locations: they have server locations in Europe, America, and Asia, and you can choose the best location for you. 
  
  

• Site Migration: Siteground offers one free migration for new customers. 
  
  

• Sites Supported: 1 site for their basic level, unlimited for all others. 

WPEngine’s Strengths

WPEngine is a premium WordPress hosting service ideal for established online businesses, webmasters, and large corporations, and offers all the benefits you would expect when handling larger demands. 

• Pricing: As you may expect, WPEngine’s pricing reflects the premium service. They have three main plans, “STARTUP”, “GROWTH”, and “SCALE”. They also offer custom plans. STARTUP starts at $35 a month for up to 25,000 visitors and SCALE is $290 a month for up to 400,000 visitors a month. 
  
  

• Storage: The storage offered is 10GB – 30GB depending on your plan. 
  
  

• Bandwidth: Bandwidth ranges from 50GB – 400GB depending on your plan.  
  
  

• Speed: Load times are under a second even when there are a lot of visitors using the site.  
  
  

• Backup: automatic daily backup plus free support and damage repair if you are hacked. 
  
  

• FTP: WPEngine only works with SFTP accounts, which is no bad thing.  
  
  

• Email accounts: no email accounts are currently provided.  
  
  

• SSL Certificates: All plans include automated SSL certificates. 
  
  

• Customer Support: WPEngine’s support is well-loved by its users and is likely one of the reasons for their premium pricing.  
  
  

• Uptime: WPEngine matches Siteground’s impressive uptimes, also achieving over 99.9% uptime. 
  
  

• Server Locations: WPEngine has 19 server locations all across the world, making it one of the most wide-spread WordPress hosting services available.  
  
  

• Site Migration: WPEngine offers free migration for new customers. 

Siteground’s Weaknesses

Siteground’s control panel and usability is about the same as other web hosting services like it. While it’s not difficult to navigate, it isn’t as user-friendly as WPEngine’s custom user interface. Some beginners may find it difficult to navigate if they haven’t used WordPress before. 

WPEngine’s Weaknesses

The first is, obviously, the price. For many people and small businesses, the pricing is simply too high to make sense for their budgets. While they offer a premium user experience and customer care, the plan specifics don’t always compare to the same level offered by Siteground. 

So, Which Should You Choose?

If you’re just starting out or are looking for a versatile web hosting service that will allow you to work with a wide range of services beyond simple WordPress hosting, Siteground is the choice for you – and it was for us. Siteground will serve most individuals and SMBs well for many years before you outgrow your hosting plan, and that’s not a bad problem to come up against if you do. If pricing and versatility are what is most important to you, visit Siteground by clicking here.  

However, if you’re looking for a premium experience and a higher level of support for your growing corporation and have established professional email accounts in place that you don’t want to manage elsewhere, WPEngine is likely the hosting service for you. To find out more about what they have to offer, click here.