Kinsta Vs WP Engine 2024 – 9 Crucial Differences

Having doubts about Kinsta vs WP Engine?  

From customer support to pricing. The two most popular web hostings have crucial differences.
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Kinsta vs WP Engine at a glance

While Kinsta’s managed hosting services share some features with WP Engine, there is a significant difference in the overall platform: scalability, security, WordPress support specialists, dedicated engineering, infrastructure optionality, and more! 

Kinsta

Kinsta was founded in 2013 to build the best hosting platform in the world. They began with managed WordPress hosting and have since expanded to include Application Hosting and Database Hosting. They are constantly evolving to provide industry-leading tools and services for modern developers.

Let’s look at some of the key distinctions between Kinsta and WP Engine:

• WP Engine only supports 11 Google Cloud Server locations, whereas Kinsta supports 35 throughout Google’s global network. WP Engine, unlike Kinsta, charges extra for hosting your site in specific locations.
• For all plans in supported locations, Kinsta employs C2 compute-optimized VMs (GCP’s fastest servers). In our experiments, I discovered that C2 VMs are up to 200% quicker than GCP’s lower-tier machines. While WP Engine’s pricey “advanced” plans provide C2 VMs, lower-tier plans are limited to less powerful servers.
• Kinsta customers receive a complimentary Cloudflare integration on all subscriptions, including an enterprise-level firewall and DDoS protection. WP Engine plans do not include firewall protection unless you purchase them.
• For debugging WordPress performance issues, all Kinsta subscriptions provide free access to our bespoke application performance monitoring tool (Kinsta APM). WP Engine does not have a free APM tool built-in; however, they provide a Website Monitoring Tool with a changeable price of $5.
• Kinsta always supports the most recent PHP version and allows you to run alternative ones in the live and staging environments. In the MyKinsta dashboard, switching between PHP versions is as simple as a few clicks. WP Engine also has a PHP version changer, although they did not support the most recent version of PHP at the time of filming.

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WP Engine

WP Engine stands out from the crowd due to its fast page loading and superior performance. It’s ideal for high-traffic sites and growing businesses because it won’t crash if you have many visitors, even on the cheapest packages.

Kinsta Pricing

Make sure to let overly complex and underperforming hosts derail your projects. Explore Kinsta’s plans and resource-based pricing to find the best fit for running your applications, databases, or WordPress sites.

Kinsta Pricing and Plans

Kinsta caters to a wide range of sites, with monthly fees ranging from $35 to $1,650. Kinsta is an extremely costly service. If you’re used to regular shared hosting, which costs around $1-10 per month, we’re talking about a 3-30% price increase.

Even though Kinsta is a well-known managed WordPress server, they are not suitable for some WordPress sites. Kinsta is not for anyone trying to cut corners on hosting quality to save money.

A shared hosting package typically costs $10 per month and is preferable for an entry-level blog. Kinsta’s cost begins at $30 per month, which is not inexpensive. However, this rate is fine for any WordPress or WooCommerce site constructed to function well and requires 100% uptime.

Domains are not available through Kinsta, neither for free nor for purchase. This establishes Kinsta as a provider that does not seek to profit by reselling extras to you. You pay for the service, which is excellent, but the domain is entirely up to you. There are no hidden upsells or fees, and all programs include a 30-day money-back guarantee. 

All plans include a variety of features, including the following:

• Excellent customer service team. 
• WordPress-specific web design
• Premium migrations 
• Money-back guarantee for 30 days

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Pros

Let me show you how Kinsta competes directly against the competition. Check out these pros I came to know as your helpful guide.

• Trusted brand 
• Easy to use
• Reliable web hosting 
• Solid speed
• Kinsta runs virtually 100% of the time
• Server features and locations
• Fastest virtual machines and network routing
• Use of GCP’s Premium Tier network 
• High-performance virtual machines powered by the Google Cloud Platform
• All sites on Kinsta are protected by free Cloudflare integration
• Monitoring sites every two minutes for uptime, 720 times a day.
• DDoS attack detection and mitigation in real-time

Cons

Even though Kinsta is an ideal choice for web users, it still has its downsides for you to know about. Check out the following:

• WordPress only 
• Not cheap 
• Some WordPress plugins banned

Despite the cons, Kinsta is dependable, fast, and appropriate for business WordPress sites. This includes online stores as well. Developers will appreciate all of the technical options, and business owners will appreciate the ease of use and security features.

WP Engine Pricing

WP Engine Hosting Plans

WP Engine provides 3 WordPress hosting solutions. 

• Managed WordPress 

Managed WordPress hosting is ideal for both novice and seasoned WordPress users. WP Engine provides everything you need to start and develop your business, as its managed hosting plans are the most comprehensive. They have over 175,000 customers in over 150 countries and 1.5 million active websites on the platform. 

If you’re serious about improving the performance and security of your WordPress website, I highly recommend using WP Engine’s managed hosting solution. Run your site with the confidence that it is secure and protected by free SSL. Never overlook a WordPress core or plugin update. Investing in a managed WordPress server allows you to reinvest in the growth of your business.

$27 per month; click here to view available discounts

• eCommerce Solutions for Woo 

WP Engine’s eCommerce plans enhance WooCommerce by transforming it into a finely tuned growth engine with up to 40% faster load times and up to 18% higher eCommerce revenues! Begin by creating your online store, adding products, and changing your payment settings whenever you like. Your WooCommerce hosting plan will stay simple after installation, allowing you to develop a one-of-a-kind digital experience.

$68 per month; click here to view available discounts

• Advanced Solutions 

Advanced security, high availability, and dedicated services are available in enterprise systems. 

$600 per month; click here to view available discounts

Each hosting plan has five levels: Startup, Professional, Growth, Scale, and Custom. 

Startup: $22.50/mo.

The Startup package is the most basic option and costs $22.50 per month when paid annually ($30 if paid monthly). This bundle includes the following items:

• 25,000 monthly visits
• Monthly bandwidth of 50GB
• 10 GB of storage
• One site included

More information

Professional: $49/mo.

The Professional package is a good compromise between entry-level and high-octane performance. When paying annually, you get the following for $49 per month:

• 75,000 monthly visits
• Monthly bandwidth of 125 GB
• 15 GB of storage

Stay on the most basic hosting plan if you’re unhappy with your current host, yet your site is already receiving too much traffic. In addition, you get a fairly good deal compared to the plans above and below. While its resource restrictions may not blow you away, WP Engine’s Professional plan offers the best bang for your cash.

If you pay annually, you can save $120 every year; otherwise, the monthly bill will cost you $59.

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Growth: $86.25/mo.

The growth plan is designed for fast-growing businesses and costs $86.25 per month. Here’s what you will get:

• 100,000 monthly visits
• Monthly bandwidth of 200GB
• Storage capacity of 25GB

This plan is an excellent starting point for a developing business, and it may be some time before you need to upgrade. This subscription also includes 24/7 phone help as well as round-the-clock chat support. This addition will be useful if you have a difficult problem that needs to be resolved swiftly.

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Scale: $217.50

WP Engine promotes its scale plan as the most cost-effective choice. This one will set you back $217.50 each month. Here’s what you will get:

• 400,000 monthly visits
• 500GB of monthly bandwidth
• Storage capacity of 50GB

This is a good alternative for a rapidly growing blog or business. In addition to the support center, you have access to live chat and phone support 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With annual pre-paid billing, you may save $580 or get two months free. 

More information

Dedicated Hosting: Custom pricing

The Custom plan may be appealing if you have a mission-critical website or a large corporation. This plan has the following benefits:

• Monthly visits in the millions
• 400GB or more of monthly bandwidth
• 100GB to 1TB storage

You must speak with a sales representative to obtain a personalized price based on your needs. This plan also includes proprietary support if something goes wrong.

Each tier includes over 30 premium themes, free automated migrations, and daily backups. They all provide sophisticated security, free SSL and SSH, and one-click staging for making updates to your site. These plans aren’t cheap, but they come with a slew of features and enough capacity for your site to expand. This service is worth considering if you want to develop one or more major commercial or e-commerce websites.

Pros

• World-class Hosting Infrastructure
• Automatic WordPress & platform updates
• Multiple caching layers
• 24x7x365 expert customer support team ready to assist you 
• Numerous add-ons available for all plans

Cons 

• Premium Consulting / Integration Services
• Only hosts WordPress
• Not cost-effective
• No email hosting included

Winner: Pricing would not be an issue if you want to purchase the best. However, whatever hosting provider you choose must, realistically, fit within your budget. Although Kinsta is more known, WP Engine offers a more affordable range of starter-plan options with a similar feature set.

Remember this: the faster your site loads, the higher your conversion rate.

People despise waiting, so do your best to choose a web host that provides quick page loading time. The more effort you invest in maintaining your website fast and conveniently, the more revenue you generate.

The question is… 

Can Kinsta and WP Engine give you the speed you’re looking for? 

Kinsta 

Kinsta is powered entirely by the Google Cloud Platform and Google’s Premium Tier network, allowing you to maximize your infrastructure’s speed, performance, and security. All Kinsta sites are also protected by our enterprise-level premium Cloudflare integration, which includes a secure firewall, HTTP/3 support, DDoS protection, and a slew of other features. 

Hosting with Kinsta means you expect faster page load times and back-end (WordPress dashboard) speed. Because its hosting infrastructure is built on extremely powerful servers, your sites will not be deprived of CPU and RAM resources.

WP Engine 

WP Engine uses third-party data to determine who has the fastest platform and discovered that it has the highest percentage of top WordPress hosts’ sites that load in less than 200ms. Its proprietary EverCache caching technology is built with WordPress-specific rules to move hundreds of millions of hits daily, allowing your site to run faster and more efficiently. To provide a fast experience to global audiences, they also provide a free CDN and global data centers.

Winner: Based on several findings, WP Engine takes the win in this category. However, it’s still worthwhile to consider both options and compare their features to see which one best meets your needs. 

Kinsta 

Kinsta guarantees 99.9% uptime. It provides an uptime guarantee backed by its Service Level Agreement (“SLA”). Each site runs in its own Linux container, with the database operating as a service. 

In addition, Kinsta monitors the uptime of all sites on its platform, and your site is checked every 2 minutes. If its monitoring detects that a site isn’t loading, Kinsta engineers act rapidly to restore service.

WP Engine 

WP Engine guarantees 99.95% uptime, while Kinsta guarantees 99.9%. 

Winner: As you can see, both hosts have solid uptime. When it comes to uptime, you can’t go wrong with either.

Kinsta Support 

Kinsta does not have level 1 or level 2 support representatives, unlike many other hosting companies. Its entire support staff consists of highly skilled WordPress developers and Linux engineers. 

In Q3 2019, Kinsta’s average ticket response time was 1 minute and 19 seconds. When you need assistance, you’ll always be able to quickly reach a knowledgeable support engineer.

If you want more options, here you go:

24/7 live support

Get assistance when you need it, whether 2 a.m. or 2 p.m. Real-time communication with a support engineer.

Help Center

Get useful guidelines and advice to make the most of your Kinsta subscription.

Knowledge base

Explore technical overviews, Kinsta and MyKinsta instructions, and troubleshooting resources.

Kinsta Blog 

You may get actionable tips and beneficial tools with in-depth WordPress tutorials and articles at Kinsta Blog.

Free updates

New features are constantly released in response to user demands. Discover the most recent Kinsta changes here. 

Free Migration

Kinsta provides free migrations from all web servers.

WP Engine

When you have a problem, resolving it promptly and accurately might mean the difference between a successful and unsuccessful project. When considering a WordPress digital experience provider, consider support hours, support limits, and response and resolution time. WP Engine offers high-quality support and more resources, such as seasoned WordPress experts and a database of consultants and companies who work directly with WP Engine to provide development or maintenance services. 

Winner: Regarding support quality, both hosts are among the best available, so you will not be dissatisfied with either. WP Engine and Kinsta have very responsive and helpful support staff, unlike many cheap and even not-so-cheap WordPress hosts. 

One issue is, Kinsta offers a chat/ticket hybrid help system called Intercom but no 24-hour phone assistance.

If you have a major issue during Kinsta’s off-hours, you won’t be able to reach anyone. WP Engine, on the other hand, offers 24/7 chat support for all plan levels, 24/7 phone help for Growth plans and higher, and the option to add ticket support to dedicated plans.

WP Engine has also received multiple Stevie Awards for Customer Service over the years. They are the only WordPress provider to receive the Global Customer Service Department of the Year Stevie Award. 

WP Engine Contact

Installing Kinsta or WP Engine is super easy! Follow my steps, and you’ll have everything set up in less than 5 minutes. Pinky promise! 

I split it up into 2 phases. 

Phase 1 is for Kinsta, and Phase 2 is for WP Engine.

Phase 1 – How to Install Kinsta 

Step 1: Go to Kinsta’s website.

Step 2: Choose a plan for your needs.

You will be charged in USD. When your credit or debit card charge is debited from your account, it is converted into your currency. If you want, you can try the 30-day money-back guarantee.

Kinsta is confident in its solutions and wants you to be completely satisfied with your hosting, which is why they provide a 30-day money-back guarantee and free WP Engine migrations. If you’re ready to ditch WP Engine in favor of its managed WordPress hosting platform, test Kinsta risk-free for 30 days!

Whether you want to relocate one site or 100, Kinsta offers simple migrations managed by its experienced WordPress professionals. You will not have to cope with complicated technologies or risk losing important data.

If you want to migrate your site to managed WordPress hosting, they provide unlimited free migrations from WP Engine! To top it all off, unlike WP Engine, where a WordPress plugin handles free migrations, Kinsta’s migrations are handled by a professional migrations engineer.

More information

Step 3: Create your Kinsta account and finish the purchase. 

Kinsta takes Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, American Express, and Discover credit/debit cards. 

In a post-payment system, you only pay for the server resources used by your app/database. Kinsta will bill you once a month at the end of your billing cycle. All services are charged on a per-second basis. This means that you only pay for what you use each day; for example, if you create a service and then deactivate it after a day, you only pay for the time used that day.

Phase 2 – How to Install WP Engine 

Step 1: Go to WP Engine’s website. 

Step 2: Go to Plans and Pricing.

Step 3: Select a hosting solution. 

You can choose among Managed WordPress, eCommerce Solutions for Woo, and Advanced Solutions. Each hosting plan has five levels: Startup, Professional, Growth, Scale, and Custom.

Step 4: Continue to payment to finalize your purchase. 

Join the 1.5 million websites that rely on WP Engine!

That’s it! While both hosts are extremely user-friendly and significantly simplify launching a new WordPress website, WP Engine is more user-friendly and hands-on than SiteGround. WP Engine included features like caching and SSL by default.

Kinsta vs WP Engine? I’m going to keep this short. Both of them are great for SEO.

Web hosting helps your website be accessible to all users and visitors. With that, you need something excellent to get that sweet traffic.  The good thing is that I’ve seen several websites with millions of visitors per month with the help of Kinsta and WP Engine!

Trust me; you’ll get various hosting features you’ll love whatever you choose. Kinsta and WP Engine are well-known and dependable hosting companies that have earned stellar reputations. Also, both are suitable for beginners and professionals and have inexpensive/competitive pricing options. In any case, you’re in wonderful shape to start your web hosting career.

WP Engine has the most stunning templates for you to choose from. Click this link if you’re interested. Create incredible WordPress digital experiences with StudioPress’s simple-to-use premium themes. 

When you join any WP Engine plan, you get free access to 30+ premium StudioPress themes, allowing you to create gorgeous, mobile-responsive web pages and sites quickly. In comparison, Kinsta plans do not offer any themes.

StudioPress themes are all:

• Gutenberg-Optimized

Create reusable design and content modules so that font, color, layout, and styling are consistent every time you create a page or post.

• Integrated with HubSpot

Using the HubSpot plugin, HubSpot will produce assets such as live chat, pop-ups, and a contact form using the theme’s default layout.

• Prepared for eCommerce

Themes are pre-styled for WooCommerce, making it simple to set up your online store using your preferred eCommerce system.

• Mobile Responsive

With mobile responsive themes, your website will be flawlessly optimized for every browser, device, and screen size.

• Simple Customization

With the Theme Customizer, you can modify your site’s colors, fonts, and content and view the changes in real time.

• Search Engine Friendly

Themes developed with lightweight code for quick performance and optimized by an SEO professional ensure that the SEO fundamentals are covered.

WP Engine Example 1 – Infinity Pro 

Infinity Pro was designed for digital businesses looking to elevate their brand. It’s a sophisticated, responsive way to launch your online presence.

WP Engine Example 2 – Essence Pro

Essence Pro is a lovely, clutter-free theme for health, wellness, and lifestyle websites. Designed for simplicity on the outside and inside, allowing you and your readers to focus on the essentials.

WP Engine was a forerunner in the managed WordPress hosting sector. However, the market for managed hosting solutions has evolved significantly, introducing a wide range of new use cases and requirements.

Kinsta, on the other hand, has been in business for eight years and is known for high-performance websites, world-class support, and the robust MyKinsta interface, which makes website management a snap. Kinsta’s hosting services are used by over 25,000 clients worldwide, including some of the world’s largest corporations.

I understand regular WordPress and website users are looking for an alternative hosting solution to WP Engine that combines top performance, security, and higher-quality support. I firmly feel that Kinsta provides all of these (and more).

Kinsta and WP Engine are reliable, high-performance options for hosting your WordPress site. The choice comes down to your specific requirements and the features you require. 

If you’re looking for a WordPress hosting alternative to WP Engine, Kinsta has you covered. Kinsta is a one-of-a-kind, powerful, managed WordPress hosting solution powered entirely by the Google Cloud Platform and optimized for speed and performance. It’s unlike anything else you’ll come across.