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As of October 2026, WP Engine pricing starts at $28 a month for 1 site when you pay $336 for the first year, or $35 a month billed monthly, on the Essential plan. Essential scales to 3, 10 and 30 sites at $65, $130 and $330 a month billed monthly; Business is listed at $400 a month billed annually; and Enterprise is priced by quote.
The $28 rate comes from a 20% first-year coupon for new customers, and WP Engine does not publish what you pay at renewal. Below is every plan, limit and add-on from WP Engine‘s own plans page and help center, plus what 1, 5 and 20 sites really cost. To compare its intro and renewal pricing with 21 other plans, see our Web Hosting Price Index.
Key facts
| Plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | Sites | Visits/mo | Storage | Bandwidth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Essential, 1 site | $35/mo | $336 first year ($28/mo) | 1 | 25,000 | 10 GB | 75 GB |
| Essential, 3 sites | $65/mo | $624 first year ($52/mo) | 3 | 75,000 | 15 GB | 150 GB |
| Essential, 10 sites | $130/mo | $1,248 first year ($104/mo) | 10 | 100,000 | 20 GB | 240 GB |
| Essential, 30 sites | $330/mo | $3,168 first year ($264/mo) | 30 | 400,000 | 50 GB | 550 GB |
| Business | Not listed | $4,800 ($400/mo), through sales | 30 to 50 | 400,000 to 800,000 | 50 GB to 2 TB | 550 GB |
| Enterprise | Custom | Custom | 50+ | 800,000+ | 2 TB+ | 550 GB+ |
How the first-year discount works
WP Engine’s plan data applies an automatic coupon, WPE20YEARONE, that takes 20% off annual Essential plans. Without it, annual billing costs exactly 12 times the monthly price: $420 a year for 1 site, $780 for 3, $1,560 for 10 and $3,960 for 30. After year one, paying yearly saves nothing.
The offer terms limit first-year pricing to new customers buying Essential plans, and exclude upgrades and renewals. The plans page adds that renewal pricing is subject to change, and the Terms of Service say renewals are billed at then-current rates, with notice of any increase before your opt-out date. Budget for the undiscounted price in year two.
What each plan includes
All Essential tiers share one feature set; only the capacity changes.
- Shared server resources. Business and Enterprise run on isolated resources.
- 24/7 technical support and a free automated migration plugin. Managed migration services start at Business.
- Managed WordPress, PHP and MySQL updates.
- Automatic daily backups plus on-demand backups. The help center says WP Engine keeps 30 days of backups.
- EverCache page caching and a global CDN powered by Cloudflare.
- Auto-renewing SSL, SSH access, and 1-click staging and development environments. A site’s staging and development copies count as part of that site, not as extra sites.
- Transferable sites, 10 premium themes, Genesis Blocks and Layer 3 and 4 DDoS protection.
What Essential lacks: the 99.99% uptime SLA, isolated resources and application performance monitoring are Business and Enterprise features. Smart Plugin Manager (automatic plugin updates with visual regression testing), site monitoring and NitroPack front-end optimization are paid add-ons on Essential, while Business includes 1 license of each. The 1-site plan also does not support WordPress multisite.
Overages and hidden limits
- Visits. WP Engine does not throttle traffic spikes. Instead, Essential tiers (called Startup, Professional, Growth and Scale in WP Engine’s billing docs) pay $2 per 1,000 visits over the monthly limit. Overages are billed every month, even if you prepaid a year. A 1-site plan that gets 40,000 visits in a month pays $30 extra for that month.
- No visit add-on. You cannot buy extra visits on their own. The only way to raise the limit is a bigger plan.
- Bandwidth. Shared plans are not charged bandwidth overages. If you go over, WP Engine contacts you to reduce usage or move to a larger plan.
- Storage. Extra storage on Essential costs $1 per GB a month in 5, 10, 25 or 50 GB blocks, or $100 a month per 250 GB. WP Engine says this add-on is not yet available on every account.
- Downgrades. You cannot move to a smaller plan if your last 30 days of visits or bandwidth, your site count or your storage exceeds the smaller plan’s limits.
Add-on prices
Annual prices from WP Engine’s plan data. The 20% first-year coupon does not apply to add-ons.
| Add-on | Price | Billed per |
|---|---|---|
| Additional site | $20/mo ($240/yr) | Site |
| Smart Plugin Manager | $120/yr | License |
| Site Monitoring | $60/yr | License |
| NitroPack (page speed) | $240/yr | License |
| Global Edge Security (advanced security, Cloudflare CDN) | $420/yr on 1 site, up to $1,320/yr on 30 sites | Plan |
| eCommerce Performance Pack | $1,188/yr | Site |
| Extra storage | $1 per GB/mo (5 to 50 GB), or $100/mo per 250 GB | Block |
Money-back and cancellation terms
WP Engine’s plans page and Terms of Service offer no money-back guarantee or free trial. The terms also set 3 rules to know before you prepay a year. Fees are not refundable except where the terms say so. Plans renew automatically for the same term unless you give notice at least 30 days before the term ends. And if you end a term early for any reason other than a WP Engine breach, the remaining fees for that term become due. Monthly billing at $35 keeps each commitment to 1 month, which is the safer way to try the platform.
What WP Engine costs at 1, 5 and 20 sites
| Setup | Cheapest plan mix | First year (annual) | Year two at list price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 business site | Essential, 1 site | $336 | $420 |
| 1 site with managed plugin updates and monitoring | Essential, 1 site + Smart Plugin Manager + Site Monitoring | $516 | $600 |
| 5 sites, up to 75,000 visits | Essential, 3 sites + 2 extra sites | $1,104 | $1,260 |
| 5 sites, up to 100,000 visits | Essential, 10 sites | $1,248 | $1,560 |
| 20 sites | Essential, 30 sites | $3,168 | $3,960 |
Year two assumes the undiscounted price in WP Engine’s plan data, since renewal prices are not published. Extra sites add sites, not visits, so the 3-site plan plus 2 sites keeps its 75,000-visit limit. And at 20 sites, the 10-site plan plus 10 extra sites costs $3,648 in year one and the same $3,960 at list price as the 30-site plan, which has 4 times the visits. Pick the 30-site plan.
WP Engine vs Kinsta vs Cloudways on price
Entry prices from each host’s own pricing page. Our Web Hosting Price Index tracks the same numbers for 22 plans from 20 hosts, including the renewal jump.
| Host | Entry plan | Billed monthly | Billed annually | Trial or refund terms |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WP Engine | Essential, 1 site, 10 GB | $35/mo | $336 first year; renewal not published | None published |
| Kinsta | Single, 1 site, 10 GB | $35/mo | $350/yr | First month free on select plans, then a 30-day money-back guarantee |
| Cloudways | Flexible on DigitalOcean | From $11/mo, billed hourly | No prepay | 3-day free trial, no credit card |
Kinsta matches the monthly price with no first-year coupon, but charges $30 a month per extra site against WP Engine’s $20. Cloudways bills for the server, not per site, and its Flexible plans allow unlimited websites, so the cost per site falls as you add more. For the full feature comparisons, read Kinsta vs WP Engine and Cloudways vs WP Engine.
Who WP Engine fits
WP Engine fits businesses that want staging, backups and support included and can predict their traffic; the 30-site tier suits agencies. It fits poorly if you want a refund window, a published renewal price, or many small sites on a tight budget. Unsure the managed premium is worth it? Read Is managed WordPress hosting worth it?
Bottom line
- 1 business site: WP Engine Essential. Prepaying saves $84 in year one ($336 vs $420); monthly billing at $35 keeps you free to leave. Budget $420 a year from year two.
- 3 to 5 sites: the 3-site plan plus extra sites at $20 a month each is the cheapest mix, as long as 75,000 visits a month is enough.
- 20 or more sites: the 30-site plan ($3,168 in year one) beats adding sites to the 10-site plan.
- Tight budget or many small sites: price Cloudways or Kinsta first.
Frequently asked questions
Does WP Engine have a free trial or money-back guarantee?
Not one that WP Engine publishes. Neither the plans page nor the Terms of Service offers a free trial or money-back guarantee, and the terms say fees are not refundable except where stated. Monthly billing is the lower-risk way to try it.
What happens if my site goes over its visit limit?
Your site stays online. Essential plans pay $2 per 1,000 extra visits, charged monthly even on annual billing. You cannot buy extra visits on their own, so you upgrade the plan instead.
Is WP Engine cheaper if I pay annually?
Only in the first year. The annual price includes a 20% first-year coupon for new Essential customers. Without it, annual billing equals 12 months of monthly billing, and WP Engine says renewal pricing is subject to change.
How much does an extra site cost on WP Engine?
$20 a month per site ($240 a year) on Essential plans. Each site includes its production, staging and development environments.
Sources
- WP Engine plans and pricing
- WP Engine overage pricing and plan limits
- WP Engine billable visits
- WP Engine bandwidth and storage usage
- WP Engine backup and restore
- WP Engine plan and product extension management
- WP Engine Terms of Service
- Kinsta pricing
- Cloudways pricing
Prices checked against the vendors’ own pages on October 8, 2026.