7 Best WP Engine Alternatives in (Other Than Flywheel)

Do you have a WordPress site hosted on WP Engine and plan to make a switch from it? Well, we have some suggested WP Engine alternatives you can consider.

WP Engine is a well-known name in the WordPress universe. It owns Advanced Custom Fields and several other plugins that have a massive user base. The WP Engine hosting service is also trusted by many WordPress users. According to a stat on BuiltWith, there are over 600,000 live websites hosted on WP Engine.

Despite its popularity in the WordPress community, there are probably some details about WP Engine that don’t suit you leading to wanting to make a switch from it.

WP Engine itself actually owns another managed WordPress hosting: Flywheel. But in case you really don’t want to do business with WP Engine, here are the best alternatives we recommend.

What to Look for When Picking a WP Engine Alternative

Being one of the most popular WordPress hosting services, WP Engine comes with some useful features. Including built-in CDN, which is the key feature in terms of site performance. Some WP Engine features eliminate the mandatory of installing plugin types such as backup plugin and caching plugin.

Here are some features you need to notice when picking a WP Engine alternative:

• CDN
• Caching
• Scheduled backups
• Staging environment
• PHP manager

Best WP Engine Alternatives

On the list:

Brand	Key Highlights
Kinsta	Intuitive control panel, large CDN, flexible term contracts
Rocket.net	Built-in file manager, premium CDN
Cloudways	Dedicated cloud server, unlimited websites
Pressable	Great PHP configuration
Nexcess	Intuitive control panel
Pressidium	Clean control panel, great PHP configuration
DreamPress	Optimized for one website

— 1. Kinsta

If you have an indie spirit, Kinsta is a perfect option for you. Kinsta is a bootstrapped hosting company. Meaning that it is not backed up by external funding since the beginning (Kinsta was Started in 2013).

Kinsta offers a managed WordPress hosting service powered by Google Cloud Platform in which the data centers are located around the globe. There are about 35 different data centers you can choose from when adding a new website on Kinsta. The hosting service of Kinsta is bundled with Cloudflare for CDN and cache. Cloudflare, as you might have known, is a well-known CDN service that has hundreds of data centers around the globe. You can control the CND and cache — as well as other features — via a streamlined control panel built in-house by Kinsta.

The default configuration of Kinsta is more than enough to run most WordPress themes and plugins. It comes with 256MB PHP memory limit and 128MB maximum file upload. Kinsta is one of the best WordPress hosting for agencies. It offers dedicated hosting plans for web agencies that use WordPress.

Here are some key details about Kinsta hosting:

• Web server: Nginx
• Database: MariaDB
• PHP memory limit: 256MB
• Maximum file upload: 128MB
• PHP version: 8.0, 8.1, 8.2

Kinsta Pros:

• Excellent performance (view testing results)
• Isolated resources
• Intuitive custom control panel
• Easy backup
• Second-to-none documentation
• No fixed term contracts
• Great for agencies

Kinsta Cons:

• No file manager feature
• No email hosting
• No domain registration service

We have a dedicated WP Engine vs Kinsta post you can read to learn the comparison between the two.

— 2. Rocket.net

Rocket.net is another great alternative to WP Engine. Especially if you are looking for a WordPress hosting service that offers built-in integration with Cloudflare for CDN. Rocket.net uses the enterprise version of Cloudflare to deliver a better CDN service for users. The integration also offers enterprise level WAF (website firewall) to add extra security layer to your website.

Unlike WP Engine and the first two alternatives above, Rocket.net comes with a built-in file manager to allow you to access your WordPress files from the control panel.

Here are some key details about the Rocket.net hosting service:

• Web server: Apache
• Database: MySQL
• PHP memory limit: 1 GB
• Maximum file upload: 100 MB
• PHP version: 5.6, 7.0, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.0, 8.1

Rocket.net Pros:

• Excellent performance (view testing results)
• Isolated resources
• Easy backup
• Excellent technical support
• $1 price for the first month
• Excellent security features
• Built-in file manager

Rocket.net Cons:

• No email hosting
• No domain registration service
• Lack of documentation

— 3. Cloudways

Cloudways is also one of the best WP Engine alternatives to run your WordPress websites. Be it your own websites or your clients’ sites. Cloudways, as the name suggest, offers cloud-based hosting service. When creating an account on Cloudways, you will be prompted to choose a cloud service you want to use for your hosting. Here are the options you can choose from:

• DigitalOcean
• AWS
• Google Cloud

Although Cloudways is not designed specifically for WordPress (you can use Cloudways to run Laravel and Magento), it offers managed hosting service for WordPress. Cloudways itself is now owned by DigitalOcean. The acquisition was made in 2022. Here are some key details about Cloudways hosting for WordPress:

• Web server: Apache
• Database: MySQL
• PHP version: 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2
• PHP memory limit: 256 MB
• Maximum file upload: 100 MB

Cloudways Pros:

• Isolated resources
• Unlimited websites
• No plugin restrictions
• Dedicated cloud servers
• No visitor cap
• Directory listing for agencies
• Offers trial without credit card

Cloudways Cons:

• No file manager feature
• No domain registration service
• No email hosting
• Registration process is a bit complex

You can use the following promotion code to get 10% discount for three months on Cloudways (first three invoices). Code: WPBDEAL

— 4. Pressable

If your business need CRM to communicate with customers, Pressable might is a good alternative for you. The Pressable hosting is bundled with Jetpack CRM and other services offered by Jetpack. Pressable itself is one of the products from Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, WooCommerce, and Jetpack. It has one thing in common as Pressidium whereby it uses its own hosting infrastructure instead of using a third-party platform.

Pressable has four main data centers located in the US and Europe (Netherlands). One of the interesting things about Pressable is that it is brave enough to give you a 100% uptime guarantee. Pressable also offers features like CDN and caching. The custom-built control panel allows you to control the features.

Here are some key details about Pressable:

• Web server: Nginx
• Database: MariaDB
• PHP memory limit: 512MB
• Maximum file upload: 2GB
• PHP version: 8.0, 8.1, 8.2

Pressable Pros:

• Excellent performance
• Built exclusively for WordPress
• Great PHP configuration
• Easy to collaborate with team

Pressable Cons:

• No domain registration service
• No native email hosting (requires external service)
• No file manager

— 5. Nexcess

If you are looking for a more affordable hosting than WP Engine, Nexcess is worth trying. The service offers a wide range of plans which you can use according to your needs. The lowest plan, called Spark, costs only $21 per month, cheaper than the lowest plan of WP Engine which costs $30 per month. You will get higher specs with the price. The Nexcess’ Spark plan offers 10 PHP workers, more disk space (15 GB), and more monthly bandwidth (2 TB). It also comes with a built-in CDN powered by Cloudflare.

Here are some key details about Nexcess:

• Web server: Apache
• Database: MariaDB
• PHP memory limit: 2 GB
• Maximum file upload: 1536 MB
• PHP version: 5.6, 7.0, 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 7.4, 8.0, 8.1, 8.2

Nexcess Pros:

• Excellent performance
• Built-in email hosting
• More affordable
• Great PHP configuration
• Multiple support options

Nexcess Cons:

• Lack of documentation
• No file manager

— 6. Pressidium

If you don’t like Google, Pressidium is another WP Engine alternative we recommend. Pressidium doesn’t use Google Platform or other third-party cloud platforms such as Azzure and AWS. Instead, it builds the hosting Infrastructure from the ground up. However, for the supporting features such as CDN and cache, Pressidium still relies on a third-party service. The CDN feature of Pressidium is powered by StackPath.

Pressidium also offers a custom-built control panel to control the hosting features. With a 256MB default PHP memory limit, Pressidium can run most WordPress plugins and themes seamlessly.

Here are some key details about Pressidium:

• Web server: Apache
• Database: MariaDB
• PHP memory limit: 256MB
• Maximum file upload: 100MB
• PHP version: 7.4.x and 8.0

Pressidium Pros:

• Fully managed WordPress hosting
• Designed exclusively for WordPress
• Easy backup
• Easy to collaborate with team
• Offers free trial

Pressidium Cons:

• No file manager feature
• No domain registration service
• No email hosting

— 7. DreamPress

DreamHost is another web hosting company that has a great reputation. It offers a number of hosting service types. One of which is DreamPress.

DreamPress is a managed WordPress hosting service from DreamHost that can also be a great alternative to WP Engine. DreamPress offers better default configurations that WP Engine, including a higher default PHP memory limit and maximum file size. In DreamPress, you can upload up to 1GB file. DreamPress is probably the best option in the list if you are looking for a managed WordPress hosting for a single website.

All DreamPress plans only allow you to install a single WordPress website. You will have isolated resources when hosting your website on DreamPress.

• Web server: Apache
• Database: MySQL
• PHP memory limit: 256MB
• Maximum file upload: 1GB
• PHP version: 8.0, 8.1, 8.2

DreamPress Pros:

• More affordable pricing
• Streamlined custom-built control panel
• Built-in email hosting

DreamPress Cons:

• Discounted price only applies on initial registration
• Lack of documentation
• Limited to one website

Which WP Engine Alternative You Should Use?

WP Engine is a big hosting company that specialize its service for WordPress. It one of the best options if you want to build a WordPress-based website. Be for your own business or for your client’s. Despite its big name and reputation, there are probably some details about WP Engine that don’t suite you.

We have curated some alternatives above in case you want to make a switch from WP Engine.

Before picking a certain hosting service, make sure to take look at the detailed technical specs, not just what’s displayed on the features list. Some details you need to notice are:

• PHP memory limit
• PHP versions (some WP plugins don’t support old PHP versions)
• Maximum file size

If you are looking for a WP Engine alternative that is powered by Cloudflare CDN, either Kinsta or Rocket.net is a great to go to. If you are looking for one in which the hosting resources are completely isolated, Cloudways is the perfect option as it is technically a VPS.