“The world’s fastest and most secure WordPress eCommerce platform”
That quote comes directly from the WP Engine website.
WP Engine offer premium eCommece hosting, but should you invest? I think so.
WP Engine offer premium quality WooCommerce hosting. It’s not designed to be the cheapest option. It’s designed to be fast, secure and to offer all the options you need to build, then scale your eCommerce website.
Here are some reasons I think WP Engine eCommerce hosting stands out amongst its competitors.
Easy setup wizard and website import tool
WP Engine’s WooCommerce hosting comes with a quick setup wizard for new eCommerce stores.
Or you can use the automated migration tool if you want to import your existing WooCommerce store from your current host.
Better product search functionality!
Your customer’s top priority is finding the right product. That’s why WP Engine includes Elasticsearch, a powerful search tool for WooCommerce stores that includes autocomplete & “did you mean?”. This gives your customers more chance of finding and hopefully buying your products.
Safety and security
Running an eCommerce website places your business, finances, and reputation at stake. WP Engine knows this, and they make safety and security their top priority for their WooCommerce hosting. They provide a list of plugins they’ve tested and recommend, as well as extra security features and multifactor login.
Smart plugin manager
Premium and Enterprise plans now come with one Smart Plugin Manager license at no extra cost. Smart Plugin Manager is also available as an add-on for Start Up, Growth, and Scale plan types.
IF you’ve run any kind of WordPress website before you’ll know the joy and heartache that plugins can bring. Plugins can add extra functionality to your website, but they can also compromise your website’s security. That’s where WP Engine’s smart plugin manager comes to the rescue.
Smart Plugin Manager automatically checks your plugins for updates each night and ensures those updates won’t break your site. Smart Plugin Manager does this using machine learning and visual testing. This is a real bonus for your WooCommerce hosting plan.
Staging area for testing
WP Engine provides a staging area where you can test changes before making them to your live site. No matter how long you’ve been using WordPress there’s always a chance something weird will happen as you make updates and changes to your site, especially with WooCommerce hosting. A staging area lets you copy your live site, make changes to that copy of your site, test everything works OK, then update your live site.
This gives you peace of mind and can save you from disaster.
Website backups
You’ll put months or even years of work into building and perfecting your website, so you need a backup plan in case the worst happens. WP Engine perform daily backups of your site, but you can also make your own full or partial website backups and restore them if needed. WP Engine offer many backup and restore options, you can find out more here.
More control and ownership of your own eCommerce website
Using WooCommerce gives you more control of your website than proprietary systems like Shopify. Shopify is a good product, but it’s a bit like Facebook, you become a user of their system. With WooCommerce hosting the website is yours, you can move it to another server if you wish, you can make any customizations you’re capable of. Even if you don’t need more control right now, it’s nice to know you have the option should you need it in the future.
My verdict
With an eCommerce website it’s well worth paying extra to make sure you have good, secure hosting with all the features you need. You’re dealing with other people’s money, don’t take that lightly. The choice is yours, but in my opinion, this is good quality hosting designed specifically for WooCommerce websites. It costs a bit more, but I think it’s worth it.