If you're comparing WP Engine and Bluehost, well that's pretty apples to oranges.
WP Engine is an all-out WordPress optimized machine.
Bluehost is cheap…and well-known.
Quick answer? If you're a real business that needs speed and reliability, go with WP Engine (10% off with link). If you're trying to go as cheap as possible, and can't afford any extras, go with Bluehost (huge discount with link).
Want the long answer? Let's dive into pricing, plans, features and more!
WP Engine vs Bluehost Pricing
WP Engine:
All of the plans offered by WP engine come with a 60-day risk-free trial so that you can try them out and see what each one has to offer before you actually commit to using the plan. Their most basic plan is the personal level that costs $29 per month. They then have a professional plan for you to choose from that allows for more features geared towards a professional website while still maintaining a low cost of $99 per month. Lastly, the business plan is a great choice for anybody that wants the best of the best to ensure you get a ton of great features to handle all of the traffic you get your site at $249 per month. WP Engine also has two different plans higher than the Business plan but these are definitely geared more towards high-end businesses.
Bluehost:
Bluehost is one of the better web hosts that you are going to find when it comes to this area because they have a ton of price points for you to choose from. There are a lot of specials and introductory rates offered by the company but since those are only temporary prices, all of the prices discussed below are the full, regular rate that you would be charged once the promotion has expired. To start, their basic plan is just $7.99 per month and has enough features to make it a great option for an individuals or small business owners.
Next up is the Plus plan which comes to $10.99 per month and includes the same features you find in the basic plan with the addition of unlimited access to everything as well as Spam protection. Thirdly, there is a Prime package offered by Bluehost that combines everything you have seen mentioned so far plus it has included domain privacy and an automatic backup in case anything happens to your website.
Last but not least, there is a Go PRO plan offered that comes in at $23.99 per month. With this one, you’re going to find that you get everything that was talked about in the previous plans but you also get a dedicated IP, high-performance server and an SSL certificate, which means this is the best choice for anybody who might experience high traffic on their site.
Winner:
In terms of price and value, Bluehost is the winner.
Customer Support
WP Engine:
Similar to just about every web host you look at, the customer service offered by WP Engine is great and will ensure that you get a lot of support whenever you need it. There are plenty of links on the website to provide you with any support you might need and the award-winning support from WP Engine is there to help you 24 hours a day, 7 hours a week, 365 days a year.
Bluehost:
When it comes to most of the web hosting platforms, you’ll find that the customer service you get is similar across the board. For Bluehost, they come with a massive help center that ensures you have everything you could possibly need at your disposal. From guides to video tutorials to so much more, it will be easy for you to look and teach yourself the things you don’t know. Furthermore, there are trained in-house experts available 24.7 so that you can always talk to them about whatever problem you might face.
Winner: Tie
Speed
WP Engine:
One of the big places where WP Engine prides themselves is in delivering a fast experience to every single website they host. They work incredibly fast to load your pages thanks to the top-of-the-line dedicated hardware that is spread across multiple servers. Additionally, they have their own specific system to help load pages in fractions of seconds.
Bluehost:
The speed of any web host is an important and critical factor to keep in mind and you will find that Bluehost loves to talk about their speed and claims they are the fastest web host services on the market. Unless you happen to pay for the premium service that specifically is dedicated to high-speed service, the speeds are somewhat comparable across all of the plans. They use their platform to provide unlimited bandwidth on fast servers so that you really do end up with some of the best speeds you can find.
Winner: WP Engine
Value
WP Engine:
One of the most annoying problems that you are going to find when it comes to WP Engine is the fact that their programs are a little bit more expensive than some of the competitors. However, in a lot of cases, you get a lot more features that can help make it worth the price. Just because they are more expensive doesn’t mean it won’t be worth your money in the long run.
Bluehost:
Just about everything with Bluehost is going to be a good value. From the speed to the features to the uptime, there’s a ton of things to love. There are also a ton of different options for you to choose from when it comes to plans so it makes for a good choice if you are new to this or if you have a high traffic website. The plans offered by Bluehost don’t only come with a lot of great features, but they are also reasonably priced so you have no problem seeing the value you get with your purchase.
Winner:
Because of the variety of options with Bluehost and the ability to pick the best plan for you, Bluehost is the winner in this category.
Features
WP Engine:
Some of the features you are going to find when it comes to WP Engine is a lot of new and advanced technology. They have the best in class architecture and the highly successful systems help to keep your site secure and running fast. Every single day, they deliver 800 hours of support to their customers so you never have to worry about struggling to reach somebody for help. Lastly, they have a full team of engineers that work to stay on top of all the latest and greatest technology.
Bluehost:
While some of the other features and specifications were already talked about, this is where you’ll find that Bluehost has a ton of great features that all work together to provide you with the best experience you can find overall. When it comes to Bluehost, some of the key things that you will love to have include 24/7 support across all of their plans, one-click installs, support for nearly one million siste, resource management, a proven track record of success, fast serves and access to a secure SSH shell to keep your site safe at all times.
Winner: Tie
Downtime/Uptime
WP Engine:
When calculated on a monthly basis, you are going to find that WP engine boasts an uptime of around 99.95%, which is exactly where you want to be when it comes to uptime. Of course, it could be better but this is truly an excellent uptime and you’ll love having that much more uptime compared to other web hosts.
Bluehost:
When it comes to the uptime, you want to try and find something that stays at or above 99.95% and over a 12-month period, Bluehost boasts an uptime of around 99.93%, which is still pretty good when you consider everything there is to consider. It is still below the limit you want to be at when it comes to the uptime so keep that in mind because there are some hosts on the market that have uptimes of around 99.98% which would be considerably better than what Bluehost offers.
Winner: WP Engine
Final Verdict
If you look closely at all of the different features and specifications provided by these two web hosts, you’ll find that each one has some strong benefits and each one has some negatives as well. When it comes down to picking out which one is best for you, there really is no clear and obvious answer because each person has different needs and wants when it comes to a web host. The following are my recommendations when it comes to some of the individuals that might need a web hosting service.
Developer: WP Engine
Marketer: WP Engine
Small Business Owner: Bluehost
Ecommerce Company: WP Engine
Can Bluehost top AWS? Find out and explore hosting options with our AWS Hosting vs. Bluehost post.
Last Updated on June 12, 2019 by Joe