Best WP Engine alternatives and why you should switch the host

WP Engine – a well-known WordPress-only hosting provider – recently faced public backlash from WordPress co-creator Matt Mullenweg. Mullenweg accused WP Engine of trademark infringement and demanded millions in compensation.

Since WP Engine failed to comply, Mullenweg publicly denounced the company and declared its ban from WordPress, effective September 25th, 2024. After the ban, WP Engine customers must find alternative ways to update or install plugins and themes through the WordPress dashboard.

In light of this rift, I worked with the Cybernews research team to identify the 5 best alternatives to WP Engine, focusing on WordPress platform support, usability, stability, and performance. Read on to explore the best hosting options to switch to amid the WP Engine vs WordPress dispute.

Best WP Engine alternatives: ranked

1. Bluehost – best WP Engine alternative overall in 2025
2. Hostinger – WP Engine alternative with great performance
3. SiteGround – premium WP Engine alternative
4. DreamHost – resource-rich hosting provider
5. Cloudways – best managed VPS WP Engine alternative

What happened to WP Engine and WordPress?

The WordPress vs WP Hosting debate revolves around trademark usage and contributions to the open-source community. In essence, Mullenweg raised concerns about WP Engine using the WordPress (WP) name without supporting or compensating WordPress and sought reparations. As WP Engine did not meet these demands, WordPress subsequently banned WP Engine, directly impacting thousands of users.

In light of the ban and WP Engine servers' disconnection from WordPress, users are at risk of encountering several challenges:

• Inability to install plugins
• Difficulty updating themes
• Challenges integrating WordPress core updates
• Website maintenance issues
• Unstable performance
• Reduced security
• Limited access to WordPress features and resources
• Troubleshooting support constraints

Following the ban, WP Engine advises its users to contact its support team for assistance. However, given the potential complications, it is wise to explore alternative hosting options offering superior reliability and robust performance.

Best alternatives to WP Engine – detailed list

To find the best alternatives to WP Engine, I reviewed 58 providers and compared them in terms of their performance, scalability, features, pricing, and more. Most importantly, I checked their compatibility with WordPress.

1. Bluehost – the best WP Engine alternative

Features	Free SSL, domain, website builder, CDN, cPanel
Uptime	99.9%
Speed	335ms
Best for	Beginner-friendly WordPress hosting

Visit Bluehost

Bluehost is one of the best hosting providers for WordPress and a personal favorite of mine. What I like the most about Bluehost is its versatility and suitability for beginners and businesses due to its ease of use and resource-rich plans. Whether you’re a first-time user looking for a personal site or an experienced business owner, Bluehost has something to offer for all.

Let’s dive in and explore what makes Bluehost so tempting when it comes to WordPress:

• While you can host a website using a CMS of your choice, it primarily focuses on WordPress ⁠– this is evident from the fact that it is one of the few providers WordPress itself recommends (alongside Bluehost, Hostinger, and DreamHost). Moreover, all plans include a free website builder called WonderSuite that is part of WP integration. WonderSuite has an AI-powered design, a user-friendly interface, and integrated SEO tools, so it took me mere minutes to get a site up and running.
• The provider really values simplicity. Creating a website with Bluehost takes no more than 5 minutes. The host offers a pre-installed WordPress. Plus, the native user interface includes a checklist of things to do when creating a site. This way, your experience is smooth and fast.
• Although the native Bluehost’s panel is very simple and intuitive, you can also enjoy cPanel integration, if you’re more comfortable with that.
• Bluehost is rather generous with server resources. It offers far more disk space (10GB with WP Engine and 50GB with Bluehost) than WP Engine at a fraction of the price. It also provides unmetered bandwidth. Additionally, all Bluehost’s plans come with a free domain name, unlike WP Engine.

Overall, Bluehost is a pretty resource-rich and easy-to-use provider. Whether you're a beginner or an experienced user, you will be pleased to find good plans for a reasonable price.

Bluehost pricing

Bluehost’s pricing makes it one of the cheapest web hosts on the market. Bluehost offers 4 shared hosting plans – all of which are WordPress compatible – with prices starting from $1.99/month. Bluehost also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee for hosting services. However, you cannot request a refund for non-hosting services like domain registration, setup, and other service fees.

Bluehost performance

Looking at the performance as a whole, Bluehost definitely showed great reliability and speed.

To be honest, one thing that I find a little iffy about Bluehost is the fact that it lacks an uptime guarantee. Any guarantee. However, while this is not ideal, the host does not give a reason to doubt its reliability.

In almost 30 days of testing, Bluehost kept a near-perfect 99.63% uptime.

When it comes to response time, the case is pretty similar. Despite a few jumps at the beginning of the testing, the host remained fast, with an average response time coming up to 335ms. Just half of the market's average time.

One thing to mention is that Bluehost hosts its sites in the US alone. This means that the website will perform best and load fastest to the US-located audiences.

All things considered, Bluehost’s performance is very good. I wish it gave an uptime guarantee, but as long as the number is almost ideal, you don’t need to worry about anything.

All in all, Bluehost is a great WP Engine alternative. It performs well and costs a fraction of WP Engine’s plans – something most users are looking for.

Visit our Bluehost review to learn more about its features.

2. Hostinger – WP Engine alternative for users on a budget

Features	Free SSL, CDN, LiteSpeed Web Server, hPanel
Uptime	99.9%
Speed	175ms
Best for	Budget option for a fast website

Visit Hostinger

If low cost is your primary focus when searching for WP Engine alternatives, Hostinger is a great option. It’s one of the cheapest providers on this list, with plans starting at $2.54/month. And for the price, it provides impressive performance, resources, great customer support, and a user-friendly control panel.

So, what factors did actually land Hostinger among the best WP Engine alternatives?

• Hostinger is among the cheapest hosting providers out there. Both the shared hosting and WordPress plans start at an introductory price of $2.32/month.
• Hostinger has its own custom control panel, hPanel. It’s quite similar to the commonly-used cPanel ⁠– just as easy and intuitive to use. From your hosting account to sites, emails, and security, you can manage everything from here.
• All of Hostinger’s plans give extraordinary mileage. Sure, Hostinger’s base plan may lack some security tools, like daily backups, compared to WP Engine. However, the storage and bandwidth are double the WP Engine’s entry plan, making it a much better option.
• Hostinger excels in performance. The provider keeps its software and hardware up to date. You will be guaranteed the latest PHP version alongside technologies like LiteSpeed Web Server and pre-configured caching.

In short, Hostinger is a wonderful choice for anyone looking for quality services at a low price. You can rest assured that the provider will put performance and ease of use at the forefront of it all.

Hostinger pricing

Hostinger is reasonably priced and offers 3 WordPress hosting packages: Premium, Business, and Cloud Startup. The cheapest plan starts at an introductory price of $2.32/month. Hostinger also has a 30-day money-back guarantee for those seeking to try it risk-free before committing. Like Bluehost, Hostinger does not refund non-hosting services, such as domain name transfers, VPS licenses, and more.

Hostinger performance

When it comes to performance, Hostinger does not disappoint – the host proved to be very reliable and quite fast.

While the official uptime guarantee only promises 99.9%, Hostinger’s actual uptime came up to a perfect 100%.

Examining the response time, it averaged 175ms, which is one of the fastest response times on the market. As long as this measure is under 600ms, you have nothing to worry about.

Moreover, Hostinger is one of a few providers that gives you quite a bit of freedom when it comes to server locations. You can choose 1 out of 9 data center locations (Lithuania, the Netherlands, the UK, France, Germany, USA, Brazil, India, and Singapore) with a shared plan.

In a nutshell, Hostinger’s performance is very trustworthy and speedy.

Taking everything into account, Hostinger is a value-packed hosting provider. Not only is it cheap, but it also delivers great performance. A solid contender to consider when seeking a good WP Engine alternative.

Visit our Hostinger review article for more information.

3. SiteGround – beginner-friendly host for WordPress stores

Features	Free SSL, daily backups, native CDN, native management panel
Uptime	99.9%
Speed	217ms
Best for	Premium solution for small-to-medium business websites

Visit SiteGround

If you’re looking for a WordPress-oriented provider specifically, SiteGround is a very solid candidate. Although more costly, it is worth your attention and time. The provider considers ease of use, speed, and security as essential rather than a perk, meaning you can expect a fast and smooth experience.

But what SiteGround’s aspects really make it a good WP Engine alternative?

• You can use any CMS (Content Management System) with SiteGround, but it does focus the most on WordPress. The main USPs of SiteGround are WordPress features like its preinstalled and customizable caching solution, WP site migration plugin, and staging.
• No matter if you’re an experienced user or a newbie, you will find SiteGrounds native management panel very easy to use. Not only is it well organized and modern-looking, but it’s also slightly customizable. You can make it easy to access your most often visited settings.
• SiteGround is highly performance-focused. The host is always updating its hardware and software so your site could perform smoothly. Additionally, SiteGround has developed its own Ultrafast PHP setup, which decreases server response time and enhances the overall performance.
• The provider prioritizes security. All its plans include a free SSL, automated backups, an AI anti-bot system, a web application firewall, and a real-time monitoring system.

All in all, even though SiteGround is considered premium in terms of shared hosting, its prices are significantly lower than WP Engine’s. Yet, the tools included are just as good. The only negative point about SiteGround is its fairly limited server resources. But the same can be said about WP Engine, too.

SiteGround pricing

SiteGround offers 3 web hosting plans: StartUp, GrowBig, and GoGeek. StartUp, the cheapest option, costs $2.99/month. However, during my research, I noticed that the price increases significantly upon renewal. SiteGround also offers a standard 30-day money-back guarantee for all shared hosting plans. Since all plans come with a managed WordPress, it is a solid alternative to WP Engine.

SiteGround performance

Simply put, SiteGround’s performance is great. The provider is reliable, fast, and powerful – everything you’d want your host to be.

To test SiteGround’s performance, I’ve monitored it for almost 2 months. Throughout that time, SiteGround was down for only 7 minutes. These metrics resulted in a near-perfect 99.99% uptime.

The response time is just as great, with the average response time coming up to only 217ms. Just barely a third of the shared hosting market’s time.

Moreover, you can rest assured that these results are achievable not only in the US. SiteGround allows you to choose one of the 7 available data center locations in either the US, Europe, Asia, or Australia. This way, you can opt for the server that’s closest to your audience.

Overall, SiteGround’s performance is one of the best out there in the shared hosting market. The host is reliable and fast, and that is exactly what you want your site to be.

Considering everything, SiteGround is a more premium option for a fast and business-oriented website. While its prices are slightly higher than others on this list, SiteGround is significantly cheaper than WP Engine, making it a great WP Engine alternative.

Visit our SiteGround review to learn more about its features.

4. DreamHost – best performance-focused WordPress hosting

Features	Free domain, SSL, website builder, native management panel
Uptime	100%
Speed	177ms
Best for	Fast, secure, and reliable hosting for any website

Visit DreamHost

DreamHost is a pretty well-known and highly reliable hosting provider. It’s a great choice for WordPress-based business-oriented sites. Aside from that, it works seamlessly with other CMSs as well.

Let’s look into what DreamHost has to offer:

• Just like Bluehost, DreamHost is officially recommended by WordPress.org for WordPress hosting. And it’s clear why. DreamHost is highly WordPress-oriented with tools like a 1-click WordPress installation and WordPress-based web builder. However, you are also free to choose any CMS you like.
• It offers a 100% uptime guarantee. If there’s any downtime, the host undertakes the responsibility to compensate you with free hosting time.
• DreamHost comes with a native user management panel, and it’s very intuitive. Experienced or not, you will find DreamHost’s interface easy to use.
• The provider also includes very reasonable security tools, such as domain privacy, a web application firewall, and automated backups. These will help you stay protected against the most common threats.
• Lastly, DreamHost offers very good prices long and short term. The shared starter plan retails for $4.95/month, $2.95/month with an annual payment, and $2.59/month with a 3-year subscription.

In short, DreamHost is a reliable, secure, and resource-rich provider that won’t break your bank.

DreamHost pricing

In terms of DreamHost pricing, the provider has 2 low-cost shared hosting plans, with the pricing starting at $2.59/month. However, if you’re looking for a WordPress-oriented hosting package, DreamPress’ cheapest WordPress plan DreamPress comes at a cost of $12.99/month. Although pricier, it is still cheaper than WP Engine’s $20.00/month.

As for DreamHost’s refund policy, it has a 97-day money-back guarantee, allowing users to receive a full refund if requested within the given time. However, there’s a catch – you can only refund payments made with credit cards. If you use any other payment method, you will not be able to get a refund.

DreamHost performance

DreamHost is not only resource-rich but also delivers only the best in terms of performance.

DreamHost guarantees 100% of uptime, and delivers on that promise. As observed during my testing, it had a perfect uptime score.

That being said, sometimes the server has scheduled maintenance, and sometimes the unexpected can happen as well. Even if you do experience some downtime, DreamHost will compensate you with free hosting time.

Now looking at the response time, it averaged 177ms. Taking into consideration that this is not even half of the market average of 600ms, DreamHost’s time is very good.

Lastly, I should mention that DreamHost has its data centers in the US alone. This simply suggests that US audiences will have the speediest experience with your site.

Overall, DreamHost performed very well in terms of performance. Its 100% uptime guarantee is rare to come by for shared hosting, and the response speed really left an impression.

At the end of the day, considering the close to perfect performance and value for money offering, DreamHost truly deserves to be among the best WP Engine competitors.

Visit our DreamHost review to learn more about its features.

5. Cloudways – versatile VPS host

Features	Free SSL, CDN, VPS management panel
Uptime	99.99%
Speed	229ms
Best for	Powerful VPS hosting for bigger projects

Visit Cloudways

Cloudways is the only VPS provider on this list of WP Engine alternatives. It resells top VPS hosting provider services but adds its own layer of simplicity by setting up and managing your server for you. This simplifies the process of VPS hosting, making it perfect for any project of a larger scale.

Regardless if you’re a beginner or not, Cloudways makes VPS hosting easy for everyone. Here’s what you can expect from the provider:

• As mentioned before, Cloudways makes VPS hosting simple. If you’re not tech-savvy, managing VPS through a command line might be a little too much to some. What Cloudways does is provide you with a simple and intuitive control panel with all the management taken care of for you.
• Since this is VPS rather than shared hosting, the performance is top-notch. Especially when Cloudways offers only the most trusted server providers. Moreover, such a variety of options also means a variety of server locations. This way, you can get as close to your audience as possible with minimal latency.
• Cloudways also includes a one-click installation for the most common apps like WordPress. Alternatively, you can choose any CMS you wish.
• If you’re looking for scalability, Cloudways makes it extremely easy. As the services are billed monthly, you can scale up and down any time you see fit and pay for what you’ve used at the end of the month.

Simply put, if you’re after powerful hosting for projects of a larger scale, Cloudways has a lot to offer. Easy to use, fast, and scalable.

Cloudways pricing

When it comes to Cloudways pricing, it is easy to get lost in the abundance of plans, considering it has 5 service providers: DigitalOcean, Linode, Vultr, AWS, and Google Cloud. As expected, since Cloudways is an exclusively VPS hosting provider, the prices are higher. For example, its lowest rates are with DigitalOcean ($8.25/month). Cloudways also offers a 3-month money-back guarantee on unused prepaid account funds. However, the refund will not be issued if the amount is already deducted for services.

Cloudways performance

Performance-wise, Cloudways, just like any other provider on this list, did very well. The host was very trustworthy and speedy.

Throughout 6 months of testing, Cloudways had only 2 outages. Unfortunately, these were pretty significant ones, as the downtime came up to 41 minutes. Regardless, the overall uptime resulted in a very good 99.98%.

Meanwhile, the average response time stands at only 229ms. Knowing that this result is on a bare server with no optimization, Cloudways rightfully scores its place among the fastest shared hosting providers.

Lastly, depending on which server provider you opt for, you can choose from 8 up to 20 different server locations all over the world.

Overall, despite being pricier, Cloudways’ performance justifies its hefty price tag.

On the whole, Cloudways is excellent. If you didn’t have any problem with the pricing in the first place. However, having tested the other options, it’s not the best value for money out there.

Visit our Cloudways review article for more information.

What’s wrong with WP Engine?

WP Engine offers good performance, excellent security, top-of-the-line support, fantastic features, and an overall hassle-free WordPress experience. However, besides the WP Engine vs WordPress dispute, there are other cons to consider when looking for an alternative solution. WP Engine’s premium pricing, limited resources, and numerous upsell attempts make it imperfect.

Premium-level pricing

WP Engine’s base plan costs $20.00/month if you purchase the annual plan. If you look at it objectively from the hosting-essentials standpoint, Bluehost and Hostinger offer better pricing.

Apart from supreme performance, here are a few features that may justify the price:

• EverCache is WP Engine’s proprietary caching solution. This is meant to increase the site’s loading speed. However, a lot of other providers offer custom caching for a much lower price point.
• WP Engine prioritizes security. The provider has many tools integrated into all its plans – SSL, daily backups, server monitoring, and reinforced account security. However, many other providers offer similar – if not the same – security packages for cheaper.
• One thing that you can always expect from WP Engine is high-quality customer support. No matter the problem, agents are very professional and quick to help.
• To guarantee the best possible performance, WP Engine uses AWS and Google Cloud infrastructure.
  

All in all, WP Engine is a premium provider. While tools included are handy, the pricing could seem unreasonable for many.

Limited resources

When it comes to WP Engine’s plans, they are pretty inclusive. You will definitely get a lot of tools like caching, GIT and SFTP connections, CDN, and many security features.

However, while that’s all good, the actual resources like storage and bandwidth could be more generous.

Here’s a comparison of WP Engine’s and Bluehost's cheapest plans:

• The cheapest WP Engines plan ($20.00/month) comes with 10GB SSD storage and 50GB bandwidth, but doesn’t include a free domain.
• Bluehost's cheapest plan ($1.99/month) includes 10GB SSD storage, unlimited bandwidth, and a free domain for a year.

Sure, if your site is on the lighter end (no large images, fonts, or videos), WP Engine will be more than sufficient. But if you’re considering having a lot of images on your website, 10GB might be too little.

Upselling attempts

Considering the premium prices of each plan, you might think that the checkout page will be clean. However, WP Engine’s checkout page is filled with upsells and attempts to oversell me.

• The first upsell it has for you is Smart Plugin Manager, which basically checks your plugins for updates. Want it? Pay $100/year or more depending on the number of environments.
• Second, you get a $300/year option to enhance security with advanced DDoS protection, WAF, SSL, and CDN. Great security features, but the price is just too much.
• After that, there’s an Additional sites option. If you want to host more sites than mentioned in the plan description, you must pay $200/year for each site. That’s almost the same price as the plan itself.
• The last upsell is a Genesis Pro license for $300/year. This is a block-based page-building tool.

Everything considered, WP Engine is not perfect. Its pricing scheme is the primary problem. Meaning, if you are looking for a value-for-money hosting provider, or are on a tighter budget, it’s inevitable you will search for a cheaper WP Engine alternative.

Conclusion

Amid the WP Engine vs WordPress dispute, looking for a more stable and reliable hosting provider is crucial. Thankfully, there are plenty of superior WP Engine alternatives out there. Upon my research, I found that many are cheaper yet just as good. Most importantly, each provider on the list is well-optimized for WordPress hosting.

If you are looking for a solid provider for WordPress hosting, your best bet is Bluehost. Suited for beginners and advanced users alike, Bluehost is resource-rich, easy to use and set up, intuitive, cheap, and, most importantly, has not fallen out with WordPress.

Best WP Engine alternatives FAQs