Presently I am being forced to work with WpEngine. A client has set up with them. Why? I just don’t know. Someone missed the memo about comparing hosting before choosing. So many issues with their offering I almost don’t know where to start, so I’ll just blurt out problems a random.
You can’t set up in a folder other than root.
Looking to use a folder such as /blog for your WordPress site? Well… you can… but then WPengine won’t let you use their caching, or Varnish. That’s kind of the whole point of using WpEngine.
Their argument? Folders might be used by non-WordPress sites and these services are not designed to work with them. What… a multi-million dollar company can’t detect if WordPress is running from a folder? Please.
No file manager.
Want to zip your files and download them? Sorry, no can do. Unlike Cpanel there is no file manager so if you want to download your files, you need to download them via FTP or pull them to your git one by one/ SLOOOOOW.
Clunky admin for setting up redirections.
Want to set up a wildcard redirection between domains? Sure, it’s possible, but their admin has no user-friendly interface. Cpanel allows the user to set up a redirection with URL matching at the click of a button. WpEngine requires the user to know the correct RegEx to do it.
No Htaccess
There is no benefit to users in removing htaccess control from users. This decision made only in the interests of WpEngine. Less work for them supporting it.
It’s not powerful.
Plans are low level, shared hosting. I can get as much power from a $5 a month shared hosting package, without all the problems and with a much better interface.
You can’t backup using Popular Backup Plugins.
Because they are banned, but even if they weren’t, you’d be blocked by the 60 second max execution time. (See below)
The 60 second Max Execution Time.
Just ruins everything. Wanting to disable all plugins? You can’t. 60-second max execution rule. Want to export your largish database? You can’t 60 second max execution time. Want to delete lots of posts? Import more than 100? You can’t. 60 second max execution time.
Their security is overrated
Plugins are not updated automatically, and since insecure plugins are the main problem with WordPress, followed by holes in your theme code. I’m unclear how WpEngine offers much at all that couldn’t be sorted with a couple of free firewall/login attempt limiting plugins.
The “You went over the 60 second execution time kill everything rule”
If a process goes over the 60 second execution time, it’s not just killed ALL processes on your site are killed. This is a massive, horrible problem. Let me show an example.
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- On a site I manage, I need to import 30,000 records once a week.
- It’s been set to run for 45 seconds, then stop, otherwise, the process is killed.
- Killing an import, dead, mid-process is horrible. Orphaned values in database tables, half-completed records etc. So I programmed to ensure this never happens.
- Then…. I needed to disable 8 plugins. Just 8. BOOOM! This took WordPress longer than 60 seconds so the WpEngine hand of death stops all processes including the import. Damages the records that were mid-import, and I need to do a SQL cleanup.
Looking for managed WordPress Hosting? Go to Kinsta. Save yourself the pain of working with a company more interested in ensuring profits, than providing an actual usable environment for anyone other than a microblogger. If you use WordPress for something bigger than an occasional blog… WpEngine is just not up to the task.
Kinsta.
- Is faster
- Is cheaper.
- Has 300 second Max Execution times by default you can self raise to 600, and higher by agreement with Kinsta.
