» WP Engine vs. Page.ly vs. ZippyKid – WordPress Hosting Comparison
September 21st, 2012 by ExygyHere at Exygy, we do a lot of custom WordPress work. We’re all accomplished sysadmins, but we hate taking phone calls late at night, and we really prefer to focus on building rather than hosting if we can. So we’re really digging the new(ish) wave of WordPress-focused hosts that have come on line lately to help us with our WordPress work. These are kind of like Heroku was for Rails — the “Herokus for WordPress”! Here’s a quick comparison of a three of the most popular WordPress-focused hosting providers:
| WP Engine | Page.ly | zippykid | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Largest Plan: | |||
| - Pricing | $249/month, custom plans are available | $149/month, custom plans start at $1050/month | $25/month |
| - Limit | 400k visits | ~750k visits (100GB) | 100k pageviews |
| Middle Plan | |||
| - Pricing | $99/month | $49/month | n/a |
| - Limit | 100k visits | ~200k visits | n/a |
| Smallest Plan | |||
| - Pricing | $29/month | $24/month | free |
| - Limit | 25k visits | ~25k visits | 5k pageviews |
| CDN (content delivery network) | managed CDN built in, no extra charge | use any CDN or use their built-in one, Edgecast, for $25/month per 50GB | built-in CDN, no charge |
| Git | yes | only with custom plans | not sure |
| SSH | no | only with custom plans | not sure |
| Support | phone support – 9am to 6pm Central Time. WordPress experts | no phone support. live chat and support system are available. WordPress experts | phone and email support – may not be 24 hours |
| Notable clients | HTC, Foursquare, Sound Cloud | Get Satisfaction, Vonage, Twilio, Yammer | Reuters, McGraw Hill Companies, 500 Startups, Reebok Crossfit |
| Other | -Optimized for fast site loading times. -Tight security, plus if site is hacked, they will un-hack it for free. | -They claim to be the largest and most trusted WordPress host and the most secure WordPress web host. -Advanced caching and fast load times. | -They also claim fast load times |
| Website | http://wpengine.com | https://page.ly | http://www.zippykid.com |
Conclusions
ZippyKid
ZippyKid seems like a solid web host that is geared toward smaller sites and sites that don’t get a lot of traffic. If you are creating a new blog and want to get started out for free, ZippyKid is a great option.
Pros
- Free up to 5,000 pageviews per month.
- Only $25 up to 100,000 pageviews a month.
Cons
- Not as well known as the other 2 options.
- Seems to be geared toward smaller sites, so it may be difficult to grow with them.
Page.ly
Page.ly is definitely a step up from ZippyKid if you look at both their prices and their bandwidth limits. They seem to be a good option for already established, medium-to-large sites with a decent amount of traffic.
Pros
- Less expensive than WP Engine.
- Higher bandwidth limits than WP Engine.
Cons
- Custom plans start at $1050/month, so your costs could go up substantially if you outgrow their Pro plan.
- Git is only available with custom plans.
- CDN costs extra.
WP Engine
WP Engine has positioned itself as the premium WordPress hosting provider, based on both price and what they offer. They seem like a great option for people who run a lot of WordPress sites, sites that get lots of traffic, and especially sites where security is important. They offer both scalability and very tight security.
Pros
- Premium service and support.
- Tight security and easy scalability.
- They seem to get a lot of love on Twitter.
Cons
- More expensive than the other 2 options.



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