WP Engine vs Interserver: guide for 2024

WP Engine vs Interserver: Final verdict

Looking over WP Engine vs. InterServer, it’s clear why both hosts are so popular. They have both hosted millions of
websites that run on WordPress for decades, building up a loyal customer base.

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  WP Engine (Overall grade: 8.6)
  
  
  is renowned for its specialized WordPress hosting, delivering high performance and reliability with features such as EverCache® technology and a global CDN. It excels in uptime, boasting 99.99% availability and proactive security measures blocking millions of threats daily. Its managed plans, developer tools, and priority support cater well to businesses and agencies managing high-traffic websites. However, WP Engine’s offerings come at a premium price and lack options like shared, cloud, or dedicated hosting, making it more suitable for those specifically focused on WordPress sites.
  
• 
  InterServer (Overall grade: 8.1)
  
  
  provides a broader range of hosting types, including shared, VPS, and dedicated hosting, at competitive prices, and is particularly appealing for users seeking versatile and budget-friendly solutions. Its unlimited storage, free SSL certificates, and familiarity with control panels like cPanel and DirectAdmin make it user-friendly for a wide audience. Nonetheless, InterServer’s performance can occasionally be inconsistent, with users experiencing slower server speeds and minor downtime issues. Despite these drawbacks, InterServer’s comprehensive support options and scalability make it a solid choice for diverse hosting needs beyond just WordPress.
  

Hosting types offered

Both platforms provide a variety of hosting types, each designed to meet the different needs of users.

Although both offer a variety of hosting plans tailored to different needs, in
certain cases, one platform may prove to be more suitable.

Detailed comparison

SECTION 1:
Winner WP Engine: Known for its exceptional uptime and availability.

SECTION 2:
WP Engine excels in ensuring websites are always accessible and performing optimally. With 24/7 uptime monitoring, users receive immediate alerts in case of any issues. The platform boasts an exceptional 100% uptime over a two-month period and guarantees 99.99% uptime with a strong SLA. Its strategic global data centers help reduce latency, offering visitors from different regions faster access.

SECTION 3:
InterServer provides reliable hosting with a guarantee of 99.9% uptime and has long-term performance of 99.99% uptime. Despite this, its average server response time of 662ms falls short compared to WP Engine’s performance. InterServer’s reliance on a sole geographic region for data centers limits its global performance, but partnerships with Cloudflare and proprietary caching mechanisms strive to mitigate this. While InterServer is a solid choice, WP Engine’s more efficient uptime and broader global presence make it the winner.

🏆 Winner WP Engine: Reliable, high-speed hosting optimized for WordPress.

Comparing general performance, WP Engine and InterServer both excel in their own right. WP Engine impresses with fast page load times thanks to its EverCache® technology and global CDN. It operates data centers across various regions, enhancing its speed and reliability. Conversely, InterServer ensures rapid performance with SSD caching servers and an ultra-fast web server. Its free Cloudflare CDN and route-optimized network contribute to efficient data transmission. Both hosting services offer around-the-clock support, but WP Engine’s support is especially noted for WordPress-specific expertise.

Website speed

WP Engine stands out with its Core Web Vitals optimization and the latest PHP version for quick page loads, especially valuable for Google rankings and user experience. Its EverCache® technology is designed to cope with heavy traffic, minimizing server load and maintaining excellent speed consistently. InterServer, while also quick, focuses on SSD caching servers and a 10GB Cisco network. These features ensure speedy website performance but may slightly lag behind WP Engine when handling high traffic volumes.

Scalability

WP Engine offers scalable architecture with isolated resources to manage any traffic spike, without the necessity for plan upgrades. They don’t specifically mention the details of their dedicated servers or associated costs. InterServer, on the other hand, provides easy scalability to VPS or dedicated servers with no downtime during migration. They also allow for flexible deployments, yet again without detailed cost implications mentioned. Both offer effective solutions for growing businesses, albeit through different methods.

🏆 Winner
WP Engine: Provides robust security features and continuous monitoring to safeguard your WordPress website year-round.

Both WP Engine and InterServer, have notable differences in their approaches to technical and operational
security, as well as in their compliance with regulations.

Technical security measures:

WP Engine and InterServer each offer a suite of technical security measures, though WP Engine stands out with its enterprise-grade technology and global edge security. WP Engine automates threat detection to block 72 million attacks daily, offers DDoS mitigation, managed WAF, and SSL. InterServer, while providing robust security with its InterShield solution, focuses on spam and virus protection, and machine learning firewalls. Additionally, WP Engine offers automated core WordPress updates, daily backups, and proactive security alerts, while InterServer emphasizes end-to-end email encryption and spam filtering. WP Engine’s continuous monitoring and proactive measures give it an edge in technical security.

Operational security measures:

WP Engine’s operational security includes always-on monitoring, which blocks over 26 billion attacks annually, and proactive threat detection. They also provide 24/7 global support with a 97% satisfaction rate, ensuring quick responses to security incidents. InterServer offers physical data center security with 24/7 surveillance and guards, as well as redundancy measures for power, cooling, and network systems. InterServer’s operational offerings, including self-healing hardware and guaranteed email delivery, enhance performance but are not as comprehensive in security as WP Engine’s real-time management and global support.

Compliance and certifications:

WP Engine meets rigorous compliance standards, being SOC-2 compliant and ISO 27001-2013 certified. It also includes PCI vulnerability scanning for its sites. InterServer emphasizes GDPR adherence through privacy and security measures but does not specify details on PCI or HIPAA compliance, focusing more on general security practices and data protection.

🏆 Winner WP Engine: A complete solution with managed services and high-performance features for WordPress users.

WP Engine and InterServer offer robust hosting solutions catered to different types of online needs. WP Engine offers managed services tailored specifically for WordPress sites, providing end-to-end management, proactive WordPress security, and advanced developer tools. This is ideal for users seeking high-performance and dedicated WordPress optimization. On the other hand, InterServer provides essential hosting features like unlimited storage space, weekly backups, and ultra-fast SSD caching servers. They also include cloud apps and a free Cloudflare CDN, making it a versatile choice for users who need comprehensive and high-speed hosting without being confined to just WordPress.

WP Engine shines with its managed plans, including options optimized for eCommerce through WooCommerce. This can be particularly appealing if you’re looking to build an online store with robust support and performance guarantees such as a 99.99% uptime SLA. The availability of advanced features like GIT & SFTP access and local WordPress development tools make it a compelling choice for developers. InterServer, while not focusing specifically on WordPress, offers unlimited FTP accounts and a variety of cloud apps to cater to a broader range of hosting needs. They provide essential tools and optimizations without restrictive add-on costs, making it a budget-friendly option with extensive functionality.

Both providers support a range of users from beginners to experts with user-friendly website builders and WordPress staging areas. However, in terms of developer tools, both WP Engine and InterServer offer robust options including SSH access, support for multiple programming languages, and Git for version control, thus appealing to developers looking for advanced capabilities.

Email services:

WP Engine does not offer email hosting services as part of their plans, focusing primarily on high-performance WordPress hosting capabilities. On the other hand, InterServer does not include comprehensive email hosting services either, but they allow for basic transactional email capabilities. If you require extensive email hosting options, you might want to consider third-party services like Google Workspace or Outlook, which can be integrated with both providers.

🏆 Winner
WP Engine: Offers premium managed WordPress hosting with comprehensive features including automated updates, security patching, and premium themes.

Evaluating the pricing of plans among various hosting providers can be complex due to their differing pricing and renewal strategies. Additionally, certain plans require annual commitments, which adds to the difficulty of making comparisons. The prices listed are based on monthly commitments; plans requiring annual commitments are indicated. Additionally, although some providers offer identical plans for WordPress and shared hosting, we have created separate tables for each to enhance clarity.

WP Engine and InterServer present distinct pricing models and features. WP Engine’s plans, starting from $20/month, include specialized managed WordPress hosting with premium themes, automated updates, and advanced security features. Meanwhile, InterServer offers highly competitive pricing with their Standard Web Hosting plan at just $2.50/month, providing unlimited storage, transfer, and websites, along with free SSL certificates. Both services include various support levels, with WP Engine offering phone support starting from the Professional plan, while InterServer provides round-the-clock support across their plans. Each provider has unique offerings, such as WP Engine’s Genesis blocks and priority support, making it suitable for different user needs.

Enterprise plans

For enterprises, WP Engine offers a Custom Plan starting at $600/month with fully managed WordPress hosting, dedicated technical account management, premium onboarding, and additional security features. InterServer’s plans are more scalable and flexible in terms of resource allocation, starting at competitive prices like their Reseller Plans, which can scale up to $69.95/month offering substantial disk space and bandwidth. WP Engine is better suited for enterprises requiring comprehensive managed WordPress hosting, whereas InterServer provides extreme flexibility and scalability ideal for resellers and those needing tailored cloud solutions.

🏆 Winner
InterServer: Offers a straightforward setup with powerful tools and comprehensive support.

WP Engine provides an advanced control panel tailored for WordPress users, integrating various user-friendly features for both technical and non-technical audiences. The control panel includes developer tools such as Git Push and SSH Gateway setup, making it an excellent choice for developers looking to manage their WordPress sites efficiently. For non-technical users, the platform settings, security protocols, and performance optimization options are well-documented and easy to manage.

InterServer, on the other hand, relies on familiar control panels like cPanel and DirectAdmin. These interfaces are widely recognized for their simplicity and user-friendliness, catering to users with varying levels of technical expertise. cPanel’s one-click script installations for over 461 scripts substantially enhance ease of use, simplifying the complexity of managing web applications and CMSs like WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal.

WP Engine features an Automated Migration plugin that expedites the migration process for WordPress sites. This plugin can be configured quickly, making site transfers a breeze. In scenarios where the automated solution is incompatible, WP Engine provides a detailed Manual Migration Checklist. Both migration options are free, supported by 24/7 chat assistance. InterServer also offers a free migration service for standard shared hosting users. This service requires customers to have a complete cPanel backup ready for download, ensuring a smooth transition without any server-side complications.

WP Engine’s Support Center is robust, offering extensive how-to guides, video tutorials, and 24/7 technical support via phone and chat. The platform’s resources cover a wide range of topics, ensuring users can find detailed assistance on nearly any subject related to WordPress and hosting. Conversely, InterServer provides a solid knowledge base with helpful articles and 24/7 support through multiple channels. Both platforms excel in offering detailed, accessible help resources.

🏆 Winner: WP Engine: Offers a comprehensive and detailed approach to user management and roles.

WP Engine provides a rich array of user roles and permissions designed to give granular control over access and capabilities. It supports distinct roles like Owner, Full User (with and without billing), and Partial User (with and without billing), each having specific permissions tailored to various management needs. This flexibility enables WP Engine to handle complex user hierarchies, making it easy to delegate different levels of access based on precise requirements. InterServer, on the other hand, relies heavily on traditional control panels such as cPanel, Plesk, and DirectAdmin for managing user roles, which can be effective but lacks the built-in granularity of WP Engine’s defined roles.

WP Engine’s user management tools are intuitively designed within its User Portal, making tasks like adding, editing, and removing users straightforward. The interface offers distinct sections for managing Account Users, Environment Users, and Technical Contacts, providing a seamless experience. InterServer’s reliance on third-party control panels means users can manage accounts and permissions effectively through cPanel, Plesk, and DirectAdmin, but this may sometimes lead to inconsistent user experiences depending on the chosen control panel.

WP Engine excels in implementing access control measures, ensuring users have the right permissions for their roles, without unnecessary complexities. This ensures users can only access and modify environments they are permitted to. Additionally, WP Engine’s ability to log and filter account activities further fortifies its access control policies. InterServer provides essential access control measures through its control panels, but it may face challenges in scaling efficiently for a rapidly growing user base due to less integrated user management and monitoring tools.

WP Engine user roles table:

🏆 Winner
InterServer: Offers a slightly more comprehensive range of customer support options compared to WP Engine.

Both WP Engine and InterServer offer 24/7 support, but there are some notable differences. WP Engine’s support includes phone and chat channels, and is tailored for WordPress users with access to WP specialists. Additionally, premium support plans are available for those needing more advanced assistance. The user portal also enhances self-service options, making it easy to manage accounts and access troubleshooting guides.

InterServer, on the other hand, offers more diversified support channels, including phone, live chat, and a ticket system. InterServer also provides email support and has a dedicated support team for managed services. The company supports proactive and daily backups, ensuring data security, and offers user-friendly control panels coupled with Softaculous for one-click installations. The broad range of support channels makes it a slightly more versatile choice for different needs.

WP Engine vs Interserver: User feedback

WP Engine exudes excellence in managed WordPress hosting, boasting top-notch technical support that’s often highlighted as a standout feature. Users appreciate the user-friendly dashboard, seamless migration tools, daily backups, and solid security measures, all of which contribute to high performance and reliability. However, the service does come at a higher price point, which some users find steep, especially for entry-level plans or smaller projects. Despite occasional concerns about costs and some technical nuances, WP Engine’s premium service quality justifies the expense for many, making it a highly recommended solution for businesses and developers alike.

User feedback on the hosting provider paints a mixed picture. Many users commend the provider for its affordable, straightforward pricing and extensive features like unlimited storage and bandwidth, free SSL certificates, and a user-friendly control panel. The customer support, while generally prompt and effective, has garnered both praise and criticism, especially due to the lack of a dedicated phone support line and sometimes long live chat wait times. However, performance issues such as inconsistent server speed, downtime, and occasional loss of data have been frequent points of frustration for users.

WP Engine vs Interserver: FAQ