Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs WP Engine Comparison
Compare Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs WP Engine features, pricing, and more.
Last updated: November 2026
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
7.9/10
Amazon's public cloud platform, with over 200 pay-as-you-go services for compute, storage, databases, networking and AI, used by startups through large enterprises and governments.
WP Engine
6.3/10
Managed WordPress hosting platform with staging, automated updates, backups, CDN and security tooling for businesses, agencies and enterprise sites.
Feature-by-Feature Comparison
| Feature | | |
|---|---|---|
| Scores | ||
| Overall Rating | 7.9/10 | 6.3/10 |
| Analytics | 8/10 | 5/10 |
| Cost | 5/10 | 3/10 |
| Customization | 10/10 | 5/10 |
| Ease of Use | 4/10 | 7/10 |
| Integration | 10/10 | 7/10 |
| Reliability | 9/10 | 7/10 |
| Scalability | 10/10 | 7/10 |
| Security | 9/10 | 8/10 |
| Support | 6/10 | 7/10 |
| Pricing | ||
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Cheapest paid plan | Contact for pricing | Contact for pricing |
| Estimated cost for 10 users | Free Free plan | Contact for pricing |
| Features | ||
| Managed Kubernetes | ||
| Content Delivery Network | ||
| Multiple Regions | ||
| Uptime SLA | ||
| API and CLI | Not listed | |
| Automatic Backups | Not listed | |
| Cloud Compute | Not listed | |
| DDoS Protection | Not listed | |
| Free SSL Certificates | Not listed | |
| Git Deployments | Not listed | |
| Managed Databases | Not listed | |
| Managed WordPress | Not listed | |
| Object Storage | Not listed | |
| Serverless Functions | Not listed | |
| Shared Hosting | Not listed | |
| VPS Hosting | Not listed | |
Amazon Web Services (AWS) vs WP Engine cost by team size
| Team size | Amazon Web Services (AWS) | WP Engine |
|---|---|---|
| 1 user | FreeFree plan | Contact for pricing |
| 5 users | FreeFree plan | Contact for pricing |
| 10 users | FreeFree plan | Contact for pricing |
| 25 users | FreeFree plan | Contact for pricing |
| 50 users | FreeFree plan | Contact for pricing |
The plan that fits each team size, billed monthly, before add-ons and usage charges. Each cost opens that tool's pricing calculator for the team size.
Which One Should You Choose?
Why choose Amazon Web Services (AWS)
- Has a free plan (WP Engine does not)
- Higher Customization score (10/10 vs 5/10)
- Higher Analytics score (8/10 vs 5/10)
- Better fit for developers (9/10 vs 7/10)
- Better fit for enterprise (10/10 vs 8/10)
Why choose WP Engine
- Higher Ease of Use score (7/10 vs 4/10)
- Higher Support score (7/10 vs 6/10)
Pros & Cons
Amazon Web Services (AWS)
Pros
- The service catalogue is unusually broad, with over 200 services across 38 regions, so most infrastructure needs can be met on one platform.
- EC2 has a 99.99% region-level SLA with credits of up to 100%, and instances unavailable for more than six minutes in an hour are not billed for that hour.
- The free plan gives up to $200 in credits, and more than 30 always-free services let new teams experiment at low cost.
- Support scales from a $29 minimum up to dedicated Enterprise and Unified Operations tiers for mission-critical workloads.
- G2 rates it 4.4 across more than 17,000 reviews, and reviewers praise its scalability and global reach.
Cons
- Reviewers widely cite a steep learning curve across the console and services.
- Usage pricing is complex and can produce unexpected bills unless spend is monitored closely.
- Paid support is billed as a percentage of total AWS spend, so support costs rise with usage.
- A July 2025 billing console bug showed customers estimated charges in the billions, which hurt trust in its cost tooling.
WP Engine
Pros
- Every plan includes WordPress-specific caching, a global CDN, daily backups and free SSL.
- Developer tools include staging environments, SSH and Git CI/CD on the Business tier.
- G2 reviewers rate support highly, and Business and higher plans add phone support.
- Every plan includes Genesis Blocks and 10 premium themes.
- Business and higher plans come with a 99.99% uptime SLA.
Cons
- Prices are high, and reviewers report large increases at renewal after the intro pricing ends.
- Visit and storage caps lead to overage fees, and bot traffic counts toward visits.
- More than 60 plugins are banned, including many caching and backup plugins.
- No email hosting is included.
- Uptime monitoring, APM and advanced WAF are sold as paid add-ons.
Not sold on either?
Frequently Asked Questions
Amazon Web Services (AWS) scores higher on our Hosting & Infrastructure criteria: 7.9/10 against 6.3/10 for WP Engine. The largest gap is in Customization: 10/10 for Amazon Web Services (AWS) and 5/10 for WP Engine.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has a free plan; WP Engine does not list one.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the better fit for developers: we rate it 9/10 for them, against 7/10 for WP Engine.
Amazon Web Services (AWS) has Managed Kubernetes, which WP Engine lacks.
