Difference Between WordPress and WP Engine

May 2023 · 5 minute read

In the past ten years, the way common people access the internet has changed drastically. With faster connection speeds and cheaper data packs, these two factors have alone changed the entire face of the internet. Now, everyone has something to show, everyone has something to tell. People love expressing their ideas online, as they get the opportunity to be to express themselves without anyone actually coming to know who they are.

Other than that, various old businesses are creating their websites and at the same time, a lot of new ones are sprucing up too. This ultimately leads to a flood of content being posted online. But how does one manage all this? This is dealt with the use of content management systems, such as WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, etc.

WordPress vs WP Engine

The main difference between WordPress and WP Engine is that WordPress is a tool used to make websites, while WP Engine is a service that provides technological solutions to WordPress specific sites.

WordPress is one of the biggest content system and website building tools out there in the market right now. It is being used by millions to bring forth their productivity and creativity. However, people often get confused between the terms WordPress and WP Engine. Sometimes they use it interchangeably, but in reality, they are quite different.

Comparison Table between WordPress and WP Engine

Parameters of ComparisonWordPressWP Engine
FunctionalityWordPress is a tool to create websites.WP Engine is a tool to host websites.
CompatibilityWordPress is an independent tool, and need to necessarily be compatible with anything.Since WP Engine is WordPress specific, it needs to be compatible with WordPress built sites.
SecurityWordPress hosted sites have lesser security than WP Engine hosted sites.WP Engine sites are more secure.
PriceWordPress hosting costs less.WP Engine hosting costs more.
SpeedWordPress hosting usually does not optimize site loading speeds for various platforms.WP Engine optimizes site performance based on the platform it is being used for.

What is WordPress?

WordPress is basically a tool that is used to create websites that look fresh, dynamic, and attractive. WordPress initially started out as a blogging site, and still stands out as a great choice for bloggers who like to have a lot of control over the look and feel of their blog. However, WordPress has moved way forward since its blogging days now.

WordPress is one of the largest tools that businesses, creators, etc. prefer using when it comes to making a website. This is because it is fast, easy, has a vast number of templates, provides Search Engine Optimization (SEO) options, and has a vast number of templates to work with. Currently, WordPress is used by more than 60 million users, and almost 33.6% of the websites present on the internet has been made using WordPress.

WordPress was developed by an American developer named Matt Mullenweg and an English developer Mike Little. Initially, it was created as a fork for b2/cafelog. The main characteristics that set WordPress apart are the number of themes, templates, and plugins that are available for it. The themes in WordPress alter the look, feel, and functionality of the website, and one could change it a countless number of times based on their preferences and liking. These themes are divided into two categories, free and premium. The free themes are open to all and the premium ones are available only when one pays for them. To access each premium theme, one needs to pay for each individually.

WordPress is available across all platforms, iOS, Windows, Android, WebOS, and even BlackBerry. WordPress is owned by a company called Automattic, which is responsible for its maintenance and development.

What is WP Engine?

WP Engine is a service that is WordPress specific which initially started out as a hosting service for all websites built on that site. WP Engine has then moved out and branched out to provide technological solutions to these websites built on the same platform. WP Engine was created in 2010, with the aim that WordPress requires a premium service that is able to provide platform optimization, security solutions, and scalability to all the websites that utilize its service.

WP Engine has grown a lot in size and currently has a user base consisting of more than 95,000 people spanning across 150 countries.

The creation of WP Engine was driven to solve the common problems web users used to face, such as crashing websites due to heavy traffic, slow loading speeds, etc. WP Engine was also created to ensure the security of websites and to protect the data of these websites from cyber attacks and similar events.

Of course, it is not absolutely necessary for one to use WP Engine or any third-party hosting service at all. One can purchase the hosting service provided by WordPress itself. However, purchasing the services provided by WP Engine brings forth quite a lot of benefits one would usually not be able to enjoy when using the basic hosting service. Plus there is the added benefit of security.

Main Differences Between WordPress and WP Engine

  • The main difference between WordPress and WP Engine is that WordPress is a content management system, and WP Engine is a service that provides technological solutions to websites built on WordPress.
  • WordPress is independent of WP Engine, while WP Engine depends on WordPress, as it caters to the websites using it.
  • WordPress provided hosting has lesser security than WP Engine hosting.
  • WordPress provided hosting services are cheaper than WP Engine hosting services.
  • WordPress hosting does not optimize the speed of website performance based on platform, while WP Engine does so.
  • Conclusion

    Building a website has become relatively very easy these days, thanks to the endless choices of tools one has access to, in order to do the same. However, it is important to make the right choices in this process, because with millions of websites being present on the internet, one needs to make sure that they stand out from the bunch. However, ensuring that one’s website is safe from cyber-attacks is important too. Taking the help of services such as WP Engine help in doing so.

    References

  • https://dl.acm.org/doi/abs/10.1145/1035570.1035573
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