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WP Engine vs Flywheel

SEPT 2026 audit

A comparison of WP Engine and Flywheel built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.

Reviewed by Palash BagchiUpdated 26 criteria comparedSources last checked

The short answer

Choose WP Engine if…

WordPress teams that deploy with Git rather than SFTP — GitPush works over SSH — and want bandwidth overages handled by a conversation rather than an automatic charge on shared plans.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Choose Flywheel if…

Freelancers and agencies running client sites, where the workflow tools and a Fastly CDN matter more than raw resource ceilings. Bandwidth is stated rather than described as unlimited, so the plan is legible.

Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved

Consider something else if…

  • WP Engine: Scripts must finish inside 60 seconds; the execution limit can be lowered but not raised.
  • Flywheel: The entry plan is one site at 25,000 visits and 50 GB of bandwidth. A single busy site outgrows the bandwidth line before the visit line, which is not the axis most managed hosts fail on.

Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: WP Engine alternatives · Flywheel alternatives

15 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.

Visit WP Engine documentationVisit Flywheel documentation

No affiliate links, sponsored placements or paid rankings appear on this site. Ordering follows the sourced data and the stated criteria.

01.

At a glance.

CriterionWP EngineFlywheel
Pricing
Free tierNo — Plans page advertises only paid tiers; no free plan or free trial is listed on it.No — Only free offering is a 14-day demo site, available to accounts that already have a paid subscription.
Kind of free offerNo free offerNo free offer
Entry paid plan
Starting at $28.00/month for the Managed Hosting Platform, quoted in USD; $336.00 if billed annually. On 14 September 2026 the same URL also served a euro-priced variant at €25.60/month, to roughly one request in eight; thirty consecutive samples on 15 September returned only the dollar-priced body, so that behaviour is recorded as observed and not as current.
$25/month for Starter, billed $300 a year with two months free. Monthly billing is offered at a higher rate.
Pricing modelTiered subscription plans (Essential, Core, Enterprise) configured by capacity - sites, visits and storage - billed monthly or annually, with 20% off annual Essential; additional sites are $20 (USD) per month each.Annual plans metered on three axes at once — sites, monthly visits and bandwidth — rather than on compute. Two months free for paying yearly.
Limits
Storage (entry plan)
10 GB storage on the Essential plan at its cheapest capacity tier (1 site, 25,000 visits a month)
10 GB on Starter, the cheapest plan; 20 GB on Freelance
Sites or apps included
1 site on the entry Essential tier (1–30 across Essential capacity tiers); additional sites $20/month each
1 site on Starter, the cheapest plan; up to 10 on Freelance
Monthly visits cap
25,000 visits/mo on the Essential plan at its cheapest capacity tier
25,000 monthly visits on Starter; 100,000 on Freelance
Included bandwidth
75 GB per month on Essential plans, 550 GB on Core and 550 GB+ on Enterprise, measured as gigabytes transferred per month.
50 GB a month on Starter; 200 GB on Freelance. A stated allowance rather than the unlimited claim common in this segment.
Infrastructure
Edge network
Limited — Global Edge Security is a paid add-on: Cloudflare CDN, WAF, DDoS mitigation and SSL, not included by default.
Supported
RegionsGoogle Cloud: Iowa (us-central1), South Carolina (us-east1), Montreal (northamerica-northeast1), Belgium (europe-west1), London (europe-west2), Frankfurt (europe-west3), Netherlands (europe-west4) and others; some regions carry upgraded pricing.Five data centers: US (Iowa), Canada (Montreal), United Kingdom (London), Europe (Belgium) and Australia (Sydney).
Compliance
SOC 2
SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 reports are available on request from an Account Manager or WP Engine Sales; they are not published on the site.
WP Engine, Flywheel's parent company, says a SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 report are available on request from an Account Manager or Sales. Stated on WP Engine's platform security doc; it does not name Flywheel.
ISO 27001
ISO 27001:2022 certified; the certification is available on request via an Account Manager or WP Engine Sales.
WP Engine, Flywheel's parent company, states its security environment is ISO 27001:2022 certified, with the certification available on request. Stated on WP Engine's platform security doc; it does not name Flywheel.
GDPR / data residency
Hosting region is customer-selectable and includes EU locations (Belgium, London, Netherlands, Finland, Frankfurt); moves between regions by Support request.
GDPR-compliant Data Protection Addendum published, plus internal processes to respond to GDPR data requests.
PCI DSSWP Engine does not store, process or transmit cardholder data, and its Acceptable Use Policy prohibits customers from doing so on the platform.Meets PCI-DSS requirements only for sites that do not process, handle or store card data; Flywheel says no web host, itself included, can be PCI-compliant.
Encryption at restAll data on WP Engine servers is encrypted at rest and in transit by default; backup media is encrypted as well.Data encryption at rest and in transit, listed among the security features included in every Flywheel plan.
Role-based access control
User Portal roles - Owner, Full (with/without billing) and Partial (with/without billing) - scope environment, billing and user-management actions.
No granular roles: every Organization member has full owner privileges including billing; the only lesser access level is a per-site Collaborator.
Dedicated infrastructure
Premium plans are fully self-contained environments not shared with other WP Engine customers; other customers get logically separate environments. The plans page separately marks Core and Enterprise environment type as "Isolated" and Essential as "Shared".
Flywheel's site states plans include dedicated resources - you are not sharing your server space with anyone else; no plan tier or hardware named. Homepage FAQ copy; WP Engine docs scope dedicated servers to its Premium/Core/Enterprise plans only.

Only criteria both providers publish appear here; a tinted cell marks a real difference. Criteria only one of them documents are listed below, and an absence there means we found no source — not that the feature is missing. How we source this.

The small bar above a value is inetGeek's own lean toward that side — computed from the same facts shown, never a number the provider published. See the picker below "The short answer" to weigh only the criteria you care about.

02.

Where they differ.

Entry paid plan

WP Engine
Starting at $28.00/month for the Managed Hosting Platform, quoted in USD; $336.00 if billed annually. On 14 September 2026 the same URL also served a euro-priced variant at €25.60/month, to roughly one request in eight; thirty consecutive samples on 15 September returned only the dollar-priced body, so that behaviour is recorded as observed and not as current.
Flywheel
$25/month for Starter, billed $300 a year with two months free. Monthly billing is offered at a higher rate.
Sources (2) →

Pricing model

WP Engine
Tiered subscription plans (Essential, Core, Enterprise) configured by capacity - sites, visits and storage - billed monthly or annually, with 20% off annual Essential; additional sites are $20 (USD) per month each.
Flywheel
Annual plans metered on three axes at once — sites, monthly visits and bandwidth — rather than on compute. Two months free for paying yearly.
Sources (2) →

Storage (entry plan)

WP Engine

10 GB storage on the Essential plan at its cheapest capacity tier (1 site, 25,000 visits a month)

Flywheel

10 GB on Starter, the cheapest plan; 20 GB on Freelance

Sources (2) →

Sites or apps included

WP Engine

1 site on the entry Essential tier (1–30 across Essential capacity tiers); additional sites $20/month each

Flywheel

1 site on Starter, the cheapest plan; up to 10 on Freelance

Sources (2) →

Monthly visits cap

WP Engine

25,000 visits/mo on the Essential plan at its cheapest capacity tier

Flywheel

25,000 monthly visits on Starter; 100,000 on Freelance

Sources (2) →

Included bandwidth

WP Engine

75 GB per month on Essential plans, 550 GB on Core and 550 GB+ on Enterprise, measured as gigabytes transferred per month.

Flywheel

50 GB a month on Starter; 200 GB on Freelance. A stated allowance rather than the unlimited claim common in this segment.

Sources (2) →

Edge network

WP Engine
Limited — Global Edge Security is a paid add-on: Cloudflare CDN, WAF, DDoS mitigation and SSL, not included by default.
Flywheel
Supported
Sources (2) →

Regions

WP Engine
Google Cloud: Iowa (us-central1), South Carolina (us-east1), Montreal (northamerica-northeast1), Belgium (europe-west1), London (europe-west2), Frankfurt (europe-west3), Netherlands (europe-west4) and others; some regions carry upgraded pricing.
Flywheel
Five data centers: US (Iowa), Canada (Montreal), United Kingdom (London), Europe (Belgium) and Australia (Sydney).
Sources (2) →
  • Server locations — WP Engine Support ↗

    “Below are all of the Google datacenter locations that a WP Engine website can be located in. [...] Region Location Region ID North America Iowa us-central1 North America South Carolina us-east1 North America Montreal northamerica-northeast1 Europe Belgium europe-west1 Europe London europe-west2”

    Read 2026-09-14 · official docs · Report a correction

  • Flywheel | Global WordPress data centers ↗

    “Choose from five data centers for your next site [...] US - Iowa Create a site Canada - Montreal Create a site United Kingdom - London Create a site European Union Flag Europe - Belgium Create a site Australia - Sydney”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction

SOC 2

WP Engine
SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 reports are available on request from an Account Manager or WP Engine Sales; they are not published on the site.
Flywheel
WP Engine, Flywheel's parent company, says a SOC 2 Type II and SOC 3 report are available on request from an Account Manager or Sales. Stated on WP Engine's platform security doc; it does not name Flywheel.
Sources (1) →

ISO 27001

WP Engine
ISO 27001:2022 certified; the certification is available on request via an Account Manager or WP Engine Sales.
Flywheel
WP Engine, Flywheel's parent company, states its security environment is ISO 27001:2022 certified, with the certification available on request. Stated on WP Engine's platform security doc; it does not name Flywheel.
Sources (1) →

GDPR / data residency

WP Engine
Hosting region is customer-selectable and includes EU locations (Belgium, London, Netherlands, Finland, Frankfurt); moves between regions by Support request.
Flywheel
GDPR-compliant Data Protection Addendum published, plus internal processes to respond to GDPR data requests.
Sources (2) →
  • Change a Website Data Center Location | WP Engine Support ↗

    “However, sometimes data privacy laws require sites to be located on servers in specific regions. [...] All shared plans are created by default on Google Cloud Services in the region closest to your location at signup. Your website can be migrated to another region by Support request.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

  • Flywheel and GDPR ↗

    “Processes for GDPR requests: We set up our internal infrastructure to ensure all GDPR-related data requests can be responded to and handled appropriately. [...] We updated our GDPR-compliant Data Protection Addendum (“DPA”), and made it available for you here”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

PCI DSS

WP Engine
WP Engine does not store, process or transmit cardholder data, and its Acceptable Use Policy prohibits customers from doing so on the platform.
Flywheel
Meets PCI-DSS requirements only for sites that do not process, handle or store card data; Flywheel says no web host, itself included, can be PCI-compliant.
Sources (2) →
  • Configure PCI Compliance Settings | WP Engine Support ↗

    “WP Engine does not store, process, or transmit cardholder data on our platform, and our Acceptable Use Policy prohibits you from doing the same. [...] WP Engine's Acceptable Use Policy prohibits you from using our Services to store, process, or transmit cardholder data.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

  • Flywheel and PCI-DSS Compliance ↗

    “Flywheel meets PCI-DSS requirements for sites that don’t process, handle, or store credit card data. [...] It’s impossible for any web hosting company, Flywheel included, to be PCI-compliant. [...] PCI-DSS compliance is the responsibility of the site owner”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

Encryption at rest

WP Engine
All data on WP Engine servers is encrypted at rest and in transit by default; backup media is encrypted as well.
Flywheel
Data encryption at rest and in transit, listed among the security features included in every Flywheel plan.
Sources (2) →

Role-based access control

WP Engine
User Portal roles - Owner, Full (with/without billing) and Partial (with/without billing) - scope environment, billing and user-management actions.
Flywheel
No granular roles: every Organization member has full owner privileges including billing; the only lesser access level is a per-site Collaborator.
Sources (2) →
  • Manage User Portal Users and Roles | WP Engine Support ↗

    “The role a user is assigned will determine which information they can see, actions they can perform and information Technical Support can assist with. [...] Owner Full ( with Billing ) Full ( without Billing ) Partial ( with Billing ) Partial ( without Billing ) Access All Environments”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

  • Members of an Organization ↗

    “Every member of an Organization has full owner privileges for each site owned by the organization. [...] If you do not want somebody to have this level of access, consider adding them as a Collaborator to the site instead.”

    Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction

Dedicated infrastructure

WP Engine
Premium plans are fully self-contained environments not shared with other WP Engine customers; other customers get logically separate environments. The plans page separately marks Core and Enterprise environment type as "Isolated" and Essential as "Shared".
Flywheel
Flywheel's site states plans include dedicated resources - you are not sharing your server space with anyone else; no plan tier or hardware named. Homepage FAQ copy; WP Engine docs scope dedicated servers to its Premium/Core/Enterprise plans only.
Sources (2) →

When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.

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03.

Documented by only one.

These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.

Egress over allowanceWP Engine: No bandwidth overage charge on Shared plans
When you exceed a capWP Engine: Not throttled or cut off; billed $2 per 1,000 extra monthly visitors
Max request durationWP Engine: 60 seconds
Git deploymentWP Engine: Supported — Via GitPush, WP Engine's own tool, over SSH keys rather than a connected repository.
Scheduled jobsWP Engine: Supported — Alternate Cron is server-based and checks for due events every minute; default wp-cron fires on page visits.
Uptime SLAWP Engine: A 99.99% uptime guarantee from Core upward. Essential, the entry plan, does not list one.
Backup retentionFlywheel: Nightly backups. Flywheel does not state a retention period on the pricing page.
Support on entry paid planWP Engine: 24/7 technical support on Essential, the entry plan; Core adds priority support alongside dedicated infrastructure.
HIPAAWP Engine: No - the Acceptable Use Policy forbids using the Services to store or process Protected Health Information as defined under HIPAA.
04.

Questions this comparison answers.

Entry paid plan: WP Engine or Flywheel?

WP Engine: Starting at $28.00/month for the Managed Hosting Platform, quoted in USD; $336.00 if billed annually. On 14 September 2026 the same URL also served a euro-priced variant at €25.60/month, to roughly one request in eight; thirty consecutive samples on 15 September returned only the dollar-priced body, so that behaviour is recorded as observed and not as current.

Flywheel: $25/month for Starter, billed $300 a year with two months free. Monthly billing is offered at a higher rate.

Included bandwidth: WP Engine or Flywheel?

WP Engine: 75 GB per month on Essential plans, 550 GB on Core and 550 GB+ on Enterprise, measured as gigabytes transferred per month.

Flywheel: 50 GB a month on Starter; 200 GB on Freelance. A stated allowance rather than the unlimited claim common in this segment.

Storage (entry plan): WP Engine or Flywheel?

WP Engine: 10 GB storage on the Essential plan at its cheapest capacity tier (1 site, 25,000 visits a month)

Flywheel: 10 GB on Starter, the cheapest plan; 20 GB on Freelance

Should I choose WP Engine or Flywheel?

Pick WP Engine if WordPress teams that deploy with Git rather than SFTP — GitPush works over SSH — and want bandwidth overages handled by a conversation rather than an automatic charge on shared plans.

Pick Flywheel if Freelancers and agencies running client sites, where the workflow tools and a Fastly CDN matter more than raw resource ceilings. Bandwidth is stated rather than described as unlimited, so the plan is legible.

Provider pages

WP EngineManaged WordPress hosting with SSH-based Git push deployment, plan-tiered site and visit allowances, and origin data centers on Google Cloud, AWS and Azure.FlywheelManaged WordPress hosting aimed at freelancers and agencies, sold on annual plans metered by monthly visits, storage and bandwidth, with a Fastly-backed CDN.

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Comments

Every page here is sourced and dated.