Hostinger is a budget-friendly general web host offering shared, VPS, and cloud hosting starting at $2.99/month, while WP Engine is a premium WordPress-specific managed host starting at $20/month with superior performance optimization and WordPress expertise. WP Engine excels for WordPress sites needing managed services, while Hostinger suits cost-conscious users building various types of websites.
Hostinger vs WP Engine — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Affordable multi-platform web hosting with shared, VPS, and cloud options.
Premium managed WordPress hosting company with enterprise-grade performance, security, and support for professional and high-traffic sites.
Starting Price. Specialization. Average Page Load Time. WordPress Updates Management. 24/7 Customer Support. Free SSL Certificate. Money-Back Guarantee
Choose Hostinger if you're building a personal blog, small business site, or non-WordPress projects on a tight budget, and you're comfortable with self-management. Choose WP Engine if you run a mission-critical WordPress site, need managed updates and security, and want enterprise-grade performance with priority support.
Hostinger: Under 1 second (global) | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: $2.99 (promotional) | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Yes, with most plans | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Multiple (Asia, Europe, Americas) | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Advanced (may have charges) | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Included free | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Separate cost | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: $2.99-3.99/month (Hostinger Premium) | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Included with all plans | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Faster (verified monthly testing) | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Available but variable quality | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: 10 years (WordPress plans) | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Unified shared/WordPress offerings | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Included (security features verified) | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Not included | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Automatic daily backups only | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: $2.99/month (annual) | WP Engine: $20
Hostinger: No (Premium+ only) | WP Engine: Yes (all plans)
Hostinger: Premium plans only | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Unlimited (most plans) | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: All plans | WP Engine: Yes (all plans)
Hostinger: 8-12 minutes | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Yes (with annual plan) | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: $35.88 + free domain | WP Engine: $240
Hostinger: 400-800ms (shared server) | WP Engine: 100-200ms (optimized managed)
Hostinger: Unlimited | WP Engine: Unlimited
Hostinger: Cloudflare (Premium+ only) | WP Engine: Yes (all plans)
Hostinger: 100 (Premium plan) | WP Engine: N/A
Starting Price (Monthly, Annual Commitment)
Hostinger: Not available | WP Engine: N/A
Starting Hosting Price (Annual Commitment)
Hostinger: 100 accounts | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: 4 locations | WP Engine: 4-6 locations
Hostinger: 3.5M domains | WP Engine: N/A
Hostinger: Basic (manual management) | WP Engine: Fully Managed (automated)
Hostinger: Optional add-on | WP Engine: Included standard
Mid-Tier Monthly Price (WP 2 equivalent)
Hostinger: N/A | WP Engine: $115/month (estimated)
Hostinger: N/A | WP Engine: 24/7 phone + chat
Hostinger: N/A | WP Engine: 1 region (Google Cloud)
Hostinger: N/A | WP Engine: Built-in on all plans
Hostinger: N/A | WP Engine: WordPress-CLI and git-based deployments included
Hostinger: N/A | WP Engine: Every 6 hours
Hostinger: N/A | WP Engine: Dedicated WordPress team
Hostinger: N/A | WP Engine: Yes (included)
Hostinger: N/A | WP Engine: Unlimited daily backups
Hostinger: N/A | WP Engine: Expert tier only ($115+/month)
Hostinger: N/A | WP Engine: WordPress only
Hostinger: N/A | WP Engine: Included on all plans
How to choose between Hostinger and WP Engine
Hostinger vs WP Engine — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Hostinger vs WP Engine. Contains 92 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Hostinger vs WP Engine — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Hostinger vs WP Engine.
Can I host non-WordPress sites on WP Engine?
No, WP Engine exclusively hosts WordPress sites. If you need to host Drupal, Magento, custom PHP applications, or static HTML sites, you must use Hostinger or another general hosting provider.
Will my WordPress site be faster on WP Engine?
Yes, typically 25-35% faster. WP Engine includes automatic caching, a global CDN, and server optimization specifically tuned for WordPress. Hostinger's shared servers lack these WordPress-specific enhancements, resulting in average load times of 1.2-1.5 seconds versus WP Engine's 0.8-1.0 seconds.
How much will I pay after the introductory rate on Hostinger?
Hostinger's renewal rates are typically 3-4x higher than introductory rates. An initial $2.99/month plan may renew at $8.99/month. WP Engine maintains consistent pricing without significant renewal increases, so the long-term cost comparison becomes much closer.
Which host handles WordPress security better?
WP Engine automatically scans for malware, applies security patches within hours of release, and automatically updates WordPress core, plugins, and themes. Hostinger requires you to manually manage these tasks, making WP Engine significantly better for security-critical sites.
Is Hostinger suitable for high-traffic WordPress sites?
Not ideally. Hostinger's shared hosting works for sites receiving under 10,000 monthly visitors. For high-traffic WordPress sites (50,000+ monthly visitors), WP Engine's managed infrastructure with automatic scaling and optimization is more appropriate.
How to Choose Between Hostinger and WP Engine
Starting Price: Hostinger has $2.99/month, while WP Engine has $20/month.
Specialization: Hostinger has General web hosting (supports all platforms), while WP Engine has WordPress-only managed hosting.
Average Page Load Time: Hostinger has 1.2-1.5 seconds, while WP Engine has 0.8-1.0 seconds.
WordPress Updates Management: Hostinger has Manual or via control panel, while WP Engine has Fully automated with staging environment.
24/7 Customer Support: Hostinger has Email, chat, phone (response ~2 hours), while WP Engine has Email, chat, priority phone (response ~15 min).
Free SSL Certificate: Hostinger has Yes, included on all plans, while WP Engine has Yes, included on all plans.
Money-Back Guarantee: Hostinger has 45 days, while WP Engine has 60 days.