Flywheel vs WP Engine

Evenly matched on the points we can measure. Here's how they compare on price, features, ratings and deals.

Feature	Flywheel	WP Engine
Our score	5.1/10	7.2/10 (better)
Starts at	$25/month (better)	$28/month
Free version	No	No
Refund window	60 days	–
Billing	Subscription	Subscription
Active installs	–	–
Last Black Friday	–	10% off
Category	Other tools	Other tools
Vendor	WP Engine	WP Engine
Black Friday 2026	Not announced	Not announced

Which should you choose?

Choose Flywheel if…

Designers and agencies building client sites
Freelancers who want a workflow-focused managed host
You want the lower starting price

Flywheel review Visit Flywheel

Choose WP Engine if…

Businesses with high-traffic WordPress sites
Agencies managing client sites on premium hosting
Publishers needing uptime guarantees

WP Engine review Visit WP Engine

Features

Flywheel

Staging sites
Local development environment
Nightly backups
CDN powered by Fastly
Free SSL per site
Plugin security alerts

WP Engine

Automated updates
Daily and on-demand backups
Global CDN and caching
Staging and dev environments
Uptime SLA
24/7 support

Pros and cons

Flywheel

Staging, nightly backups and free SSL on every plan
60-day money-back guarantee on eligible new plans
Billing can be transferred to a client

Starter plan covers one site and 25,000 monthly visits
Each extra site costs $20 per month on top of the plan
Agency and custom plans are excluded from the 60-day guarantee

WP Engine

Managed updates and backups on every plan
99.99% uptime SLA on Business and above
Strong support reputation in reviews
1-click staging environments

Entry plan at $28/month is expensive for small sites
Essential covers only one site
Enterprise pricing is a custom quote with no public price

Pricing plans

Flywheel

StarterStarts here
$25/month
1 site
- 25,000 monthly visits, 10GB storage
- Billed at $300/year, includes 2 months free
- Nightly backups kept for 30 days
Freelance
$96/month
Up to 10 sites
- 100,000 monthly visits, 20GB storage
- Billed at $1150/year, includes 2 months free
- Additional sites at $20/month each
Agency
$242/month
Up to 30 sites
- 400,000 monthly visits, 50GB storage
- Billed at $2900/year, includes 2 months free
- Agency and custom plans excluded from money-back guarantee

WP Engine

EssentialStarts here
$28/month
1 site sites
- Daily automated backups
- 24/7 chat support
- Free SSL and SSH access
Business
$400/month
3 sites sites
- Isolated resources
- 24/7 chat and phone support
- 99.99% uptime SLA
Enterprise
Custom
10 sites sites
- Dedicated account team
- Managed WAF and DDoS protection
- Custom contract terms

What Reddit says

Flywheel

Reddit users describe Flywheel as neglected since WP Engine acquired it, with reports of slow dashboards, weaker support, and accounts being moved to WP Engine. Local by Flywheel also draws complaints about slow performance, and some users are looking for alternatives.

WP Engine

Reddit posts about WP Engine are mostly company news, including a BigCommerce partnership, a standalone Smart Search AI plugin and a trademark dispute with the WordPress Foundation. Users offer little opinion of their own, though one open source post pitches a self-hosted alternative.