Are you looking for the best managed WordPress hosting between Kintsta vs WP Engine? We’ve tested both Kinsta and WP Engine hosts and created this detailed comparison of Kinsta and WP Engine Hosting.
Kinsta Vs WP Engine Quick Comparison
- Customer base: Kinsta (120,000+) vs. WP Engine (1 million+).
- Hosting Platform: Kinsta uses Google Cloud across all plans, while WP Engine uses AWS for lower-tier plans.
- Bandwidth: Kinsta offers unlimited bandwidth; WP Engine has a cap
- Data Centers: Kinsta has 37 vs. WP Engine has 20.
- APM Tool: Free on Kinsta for all plans while WP Engine provides on higher-tier plans.
- Pricing Tiers: Kinsta has 21 tiers (from $35/month); WP Engine has 10 (from $20/month)
- Backups: Kinsta retains backups for 14–30 days; WP Engine stores them for 60 days
- Money Back Guarantee: Kinsta (30-day) Vs. WP Engine (60-day)
Advantages of Choosing Kinsta Over WP Engine
- Kinsta uses Google Cloud Platform for all plans.
- Kinsta has more data center locations (37) than WP Engine (20).
- Mykinsta Dashboard is more user-friendly and available in 10 languages.
- Free Cloudflare integration.
- More pricing plans (21 tiers).
- In-built Edge Caching with more than 260 data centers around the world.
- Free Uptime monitoring.
- Free & paid website migration services.
- Free IP Geo-location with all Kinsta pricing plans.
- No bandwidth cap.
Advantages of Choosing WP Engine Over Kinsta
- WP Engine plans are more reliable starting from $20/month.
- WP Engine offers call support for higher plans.
- Free Studiopress themes with all WP Engine Pricing plans.
- WP Engine offers 60 days of backups.
- WP Engine has three hosting environments; staging, production, and development. It’s better for developers.
- WP Engine has a 60-day money-back guarantee.
Kinsta vs WPengine — Common features
Kinsta and WP Engine are premium managed WordPress hosting providers and offer all the basic managed WordPress hosting features.
- Free SSL certificates.
- Server-level optimizations and caching.
- Managed WordPress hosting features like automatic backups and updates, staging sites, etc.
- Security rules and firewalls.
- WordPress Multisite supports only on higher pricing tiers.
- No email hosting
Kinsta vs WP Engine: Features
| Features | Kinsta | WP Engine |
| User-friendly Dashboard | Yes | Yes |
| free SSL | Yes | Yes |
| bandwidth cap | No | Yes |
| Developers friendly | Yes | Yes |
| multisite support | Yes | Yes |
| WordPress Autoinstaller | Yes | Yes |
| Automatic WordPress Updates | Yes | Yes |
| Server-Level Caching | Yes | Yes |
| PHP 8.2 | Yes | Yes |
| Uptime Monitoring | Yes | No |
| Data Centers | 35 | 20 |
| Free Expert Migrations | Yes | No |
| Money-Back Guarantee | 30 days | 60 days |
| Staging | Yes | Yes |
| Email Hosting | No | No |
| Automatic Daily Backups | Yes | Yes |
| On-Demand Backups | Yes | Yes |
| Built-in CDN | Yes | Yes |
| Free Migrations | Yes | Yes |
| Free DDoS Protection | Yes | Paid Add-on |
| Multilingual Dashboard | Yes | No |
Let’s talk about the most important factors in finding the best hosting option between WP Engine and Kinsta.
Kinsta vs WP Engine — Performance
We performed various tests from analyzing core web vitals to server load-bearing efficiency to Uptime tracking.
We found that Kinsta has a slight edge in performance over WP Engine. Kinsta uses Google Cloud Platform and other infrastructure for all plans and leads to consistent and optimized performance, scalability, and surge handling. WP Engine uses Amazon AWS servers for lower-tier pricing plans.
When we tested the premium pricing plans of both hosts, WP Engine performed better in load tests due to AWS’s dedicated resources for premium users. WP Engine had an average peak load time of 0.643s vs. 0.767s for Kinsta.
The uptime and sudden traffic surge management capabilities are impressive for both web hosting companies. We didn’t find any issues during traffic surges.
Kinsta vs WP Engine — Cost
Kinsta’s base plan starts from $35/month while WP Engine’s base plan starts from $15/month. Kinsta and WP Engine both offer 25,000 visits/month and one website in their base plans. But WP Engine has a bandwidth cap of 50 GB and kinsta has no bandwidth cap.
Kinsta has 21+ pricing tiers ($35/month to $675/month) and a custom hosting plan. Check this screenshot for more details;
WP Engine has 11+ pricing tiers ($15/month to $600/month) and a custom plan for custom and enterprise requirements. Check this Screenshot;
WP Engine has a more reliable base plan than Kinsta suitable for smaller websites. But When it comes to WordPress Multisite Hosting then Kinsta is more reliable than WP Engine.
Kinsta’s multisite hosting starts from $70/month while WPEngine’s starts from $115/month.
You can get an exclusive discount by using our WP Engine Coupon Code to save money on WPEngine Hosting.
Kinsta doesn’t offer any Kinsta Coupon Codes to get a discount.
Kinsta vs WP Engine — Support
Kinsta and WP Engine both offer premium quality support. You get the first response in a few seconds from both web hosting companies. I have used both web hosting companies for my websites.
I found that kinsta is slightly better than WP Engine customer support. Kinsta’s support team tries its best to solve your issues as soon as possible. That’s where I found the WP Engine support team lacking.
Kinsta offers chat and ticket support. WP Engine offers Call support for higher plans and Chat and ticket support for all plans.
Kinsta vs WP Engine — Customer Satisfaction
Here is the kinsta rating on top product rating sites:
- G2.com — 552 reviews with an average rating of 4.8/5.
- TrustPilot.com — 570 reviews with an average rating of 4.2/5.
- Capterra.com — 27 reviews with an average rating of 4.8/5.
Here is the WP Engine’s rating on top product rating sites:
- G2.com — 282 reviews with an average rating of 4.6/5.
- TrustPilot.com — 1082 reviews with an average rating of 4.8/5.
- Capterra.com — 10 reviews with an average rating of 4.9/5.
Kinsta vs WP Engine — Real Customer Testimonials
Here are the screenshots of reviews from real Kinsta customers;
Here are the screenshots of reviews from real WP Engine customers;
Kinsta customer seems more satisfied than WP Engine’s.
Which One Is Best For You; Kinsta Vs WPEngine?
Kinsta and WP Engine both are reputable WordPress-managed hosting companies and offer premium quality to their customers. That’s why it is not possible to say a clear winner from the Kinsta Vs WP Engine comparison.
None of them is a bad hosting. But it can be good or bad for you according to your needs. for example, if you want to host a smaller website then WP Engine’s base plan is the best option for you as it costs only $15/month as compared to Kinsta ($35/month).
But If you’re looking for multisite hosting then you should go with kinsta rather than WP Engine as kinsta costs only $70/month while WP Engine costs $115/month for multisite hosting.
So, you need to understand your hosting requirements to find the best hosting for you.
When Is Kinsta the Best Option?
Kinsta is the best hosting solution if you want;
- quality is more than budget.
- Hosting a WordPress Multisite.
- free local WordPress development including WP multisites.
- Technically flexible hosting solution.
- hassle-free server-scaling
- want to host an enterprise or large website.
- hosting for a website getting sudden traffic surges.
When is WP Engine the best Option?
WP Engine is the best Hosting solution if you want;
- host a smaller or new website.
- require an auto-scaling feature.
- want phone call support.
- host multiple but smaller sites.
- any wordpress plugin usage (no restrictions).
I do suggest going with Kinsta if you have a large website and want to avoid the risks of any server scaling and security issues.
Final Words
When it comes to Kinsta vs WP Engine comparison, it is a tough fight between both WordPress hosting providers. I do suggest understanding your website and hosting requirements before comparing both hosting providers based on your requirements.
For top-notch quality and hassle-free experience, go with Kinsta. But to save some money and host multiple smaller sites, WPEngine can be a good option.