Flywheel vs WP Engine 2019

After 12 months of live testing in 2019, let’s compare Flywheel vs WP Engine and find out which WordPress host has performed best.

Test #1: Speed

The GTmetrix Speed Test checks how long it takes for a website to fully load using a desktop internet browser. This test is then repeated every hour throughout the week (1,080 times).

• Flywheel was solid in USA testing across Weeks 1 to 10 with a 3rd place finish. When we moved our servers to Canada & UK, Flywheel experienced a step improvement in speeds along with 2nd place finishes. Then in the latest results in India & Australia, Flywheel jumped up again to be the fastest host across Weeks 31 to 50.
• The speed WP Engine showed in USA across the 1st 5 weeks of testing was impressive, good for 2nd fastest of our hosts. Unfortunately, they dropped to the slowest host when WP Rocket was introduced across the 2nd 5 weeks. This trend continued across Weeks 11-30 in Canada & UK, initially 3rd fastest, but falling to slowest or 2nd slowest with the addition of WP Rocket. The latest results in India & Australia have been the worst for WP Engine, recording just the 2nd slowest without WP Rocket, then the slowest with.
• Flywheel is currently in 2nd place, while WP Engine is 4th in our Speed Rankings.

2019 Results – USA Server

2019 Results – Canada Server

2019 Results – UK Server

2019 Results – India Server

2019 Results – Australia Server

Test #2: Uptime

The Pingdom Uptime Test confirms that the website is actually accessible to visitors. This test is then repeated every minute throughout the week (60,480 times).

• The uptime performance for Flywheel across 50 weeks has been exceptional. With only 29 minutes of downtime across that time, they have successfully avoided long outages. 
• WP Engine performed extremely well when it comes to Uptime across the first 40 weeks of testing, recording only 13 minutes of downtime. The landscape changed dramatically in the last 10 weeks of testing, with a very disappointing 111 minutes of downtime.
• Flywheel is sitting in 2nd place, with WP Engine 4th in our Uptime Rankings.

Flywheel vs WP Engine – Overall ranking

The Overall Ranking accumulates the results from the speed & uptime tests to determine the #1 Host.

• Flywheel have recorded consistently impressive uptime throughout. And after a solid start with their speed results early in 2019, things have really taken off in the last 45 weeks, consistently taking out top 3 finishes. Being the fastest host in India & Australia has propelled Flywheel into the coveted #1 ranking.
• WP Engine’s performance across the first 40 weeks was very impressive when it comes to uptime. However the last 10 weeks were horrendous, with multiple weeks of disappointing outages. When this is combined with the continued dropoff in speed, WP Engine has plummeted down the rankings.
• Flywheel is currently 1st and WP Engine is 5th in our Overall Rankings.