WPEngine vs. SiteGround Hosting Which is better [2019]

WP engine Vs siteground

When it comes to the selection of the ‘hosting services’ there are a lot many options that you can go with. While creating your website, you must’ve searched for many hosting services and yes I’m pretty much sure that you were bombarded with a lot of options. Well, ‘Flexibility is a requirement for survival’ hold true here. Based upon the usage, WPEngine and SiteGround are found to be amongst the best hosting providers.

All those that are predominantly using their website on a WordPress engine can go with either the WPEngine or the SiteGround hosting plans, but SiteGround gives and edge to those who want to work on Joomla and Drupal. If we talk about the benefits, we must lay down some comparisons in front of you so that you’ll be able to choose wisely. You can also read this review of WPEngine to know more details. We’ll be covering all the points like performance, optimisation, added features, customer service, and feedback, here is our comparison, let’s get going;

Background check: WPEngine vs. SiteGround

Ever since the launch of WPEngine in 2010 they’ve been great players in premium managed WordPress hosting space and gained popularity and reputation. On the other hand, SiteGroud has been offering general purpose hosting packages with enhanced security features and a fantastic customer support since its launch in the year 2004, and they’ve added WordPress support later.

Let’s break this comparison bit by bit and dive into it;

The Speed Test

Speed wasn’t a deciding criterion until now, people used to overlook the speed factor, but now even Google has incorporated this factor which directly or indirectly can affect the page rank of your website.

The WPEngine servers are based in USA, Britain, and Japan, and that’s choice is also given to the customer, and they can select which server they want to keep their data on. This ensures fewer errors and a stable connection to and fro.

On the other hand, SiteGround gives an almost similar experience when it comes to page loading. The sole reason for this is because of their Supercacher that uses several computations that help in caching the images and the theme elements that are used every time you run the website.

During the tests we found SiteGround to be a little bit slower as compared to WPEngine which can be explained by a large number of customers that SiteGround serves (around 250,000) as compared to WPEngine (approximately 20,000)

Verdict: WPEngine did a bit better.

Response time

The time taken for the web hosting company to deliver all the elements of a web page and the display them correctly on your browser is called as the Response time. There are a lot of factors that play a significant role in regulating the Response time, the quality of the servers being the most important amongst all. Let’s talk about it;

WPEngine

  • Maintains Enterprise-quality servers along with system administrators managing their servers.
  • A perfect amalgamation of technology and support.
  • Average response time for ten optimised websites- 200ms

SiteGround

  • To maximise the space and power the load on the servers are kept a little bit below standard.
  • Helps to accommodate for temporary bandwidth spikes.
  • Average response time while testing ten optimised websites- 190ms

Verdict: WPEngine falls behind. 

Uptime Report

Uptime refers to the amount of the time the web hosting company can keep their servers on fire. In simpler words, Uptime means that for how much time their servers are hosting and handling your websites correctly. The more the uptime is the least is the downtime.

All in all, the sole purpose of a website is to generate revenue, and if the hosting provider can’t manage a maximum uptime for you, any amount of downtime will incur a loss to your revenue model.

WPEngine

  • No Overselling policy enables them to maintain their servers working without fail for a more extended period.
  • Also, ensures that each one of their clients is given with enough server space so that the website won’t face any downtime.
  • Though because of some unforeseen circumstances and crashes a 100% value is unachievable, but they’ve managed to attain the 99.9% uptime mark.

SiteGround

  • They guarantee you with 99.9% uptime for almost all of their plans including the ones that are inexpensive.
  • Real-time detection technology is enabled for all the users which allows them to rectify any downtime issues then and there.
  • Uses their customised software programs that correct the faults in the uptime.
  • As a 100% mark is unreal, they’ve also managed to reach up to the 99.9% uptime mark.

Verdict:  Both did well. It’s a draw.

Customer Support

Well, it is so far the most important thing that you might need to consider while going with any of the hosting providers. The fault rectification and with what ease the customer desk can help you make a lot of difference.

WPEngine

  • As they have been focussing only on the WordPress platform, they deliver an excellent experience in the customer support department.
  • This enables them to act like experts and can, therefore, sort and troubleshoot all the issues that you are facing swiftly.
  • You can reach them using their online knowledge base, e-mail support or even via a toll-free number.

SiteGround

  • They also maintain a quality support staff that can handle all sorts of issues.
  • Because of the wide variety of platforms that SiteGround supports, so while working on Joomla, Drupal, and other products too including WordPress if you face any issues, you can get in touch with them via, e-mail support, toll-free number or even chat system.

Verdict: This is entirely subjective, but as per our experience both tried their best to rectify any issues that we had without wasting any time. So, it’s a draw.

Final Verdict

As per our experiences we’ve enlisted all the crucial points that must be taken into consideration while purchasing a hosting server for your website. In actual sense, nothing is perfect, and the same holds true here too. You should go with WPEngine if you are planning on working on the WordPress platform solely or if you want to explore other platforms too along with WordPress, make sure to opt for SiteGround.

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