WordPress Hosting Speed – WP Engine vs. GoDaddy

6 responses to “WordPress Hosting Speed – WP Engine vs. GoDaddy”

1. 

   Jeff King

   Nov 9, 2014

   Glad to see people comparing WP hosting, but this isn’t apples to apples. These two sites are different, run yslow on both and the page at GoDaddy is loading more JS and more images.

   Reply
   1. 

      Dave Warfel

      Nov 10, 2014

      Jeff, thanks for chiming in here. It’s great to see GoDaddy being active in the community.

      It is worth noting that shortly after I performed this test, and likely before you ran your analysis on yslow…

      • I added a fairly long post with lots of pictures (and photos galleries that use javascript) to the GoDaddy site, but not the WP Engine one (which would have affected the homepage test, but not the individual article test)
      • I activated WP Engine’s CDN on the WP Engine site, in order to do another test to see the performance increase I would get from their CDN

      While I can’t say definitively, this is likely what caused the discrepancy on yslow when you ran your tests. I checked them both out on yslow and I see what you’re referencing, but I believe the changes I’ve mentioned are responsible.

      That being said, there could still be small differences between the two sites that don’t make this a 100% apples to apples comparison (most notably, DNS lookups, as each site resides on a different domain). But I do feel that, at the time of the test, they were close enough to publish the results of the comparison.

2. 

   Stuart

   Feb 24, 2015

   Hi David,

   I’d be interested to know how the version control for both companies stacks up, is one better than the other? This is a real vote winner for me.

   How do the included backup systems compare and how much access via sftp/ftp do they allow (and does this update via Git)? Is one service easier to use than the other?

   I currently have an SSD VPS and have been thinking about making the switch, WPEngine and GoDaddy are the 2 services that stand out. I had thought about Pantheon but it’s massively expensive!! ($100+ per site per month).

   WPEngine doesn’t offer a reduction in cost on my current hosting, GoDaddy would save me about £500 ($750) per year, but it’s not really about cost, it’s about functionality and speed.

   Do you feel you lost anything moving to GoDaddy? For some reason i’m apprehensive about using them for hosting, but I have no justification for that, the domains and SSL certificates I have through them have all been pain free and reasobale value.

   I kind of want to make this the last move I make for a while, I’ve had 3 in 5 years and with all the sites I host it’s a pain.

   Thanks for the article,

   Stuart

   Reply
   1. 

      Dave Warfel

      Feb 25, 2015

      Hi Stuart —

      I don’t use version control on either host, so I’m not the best one to answer those questions. However, to my knowledge, GoDaddy does not offer any version control integration, whereas WP Engine specifically offers integration with Git. GoDaddy does give you the ability to enable SSH, so perhaps that’s all you’d need, but there is no UI for any version control with GoDaddy’s hosting. Here’s a quick screenshot I took from WP Engine of their UI for version control & Git setup (http://cl.ly/ZvKf).

      Both provide full access via SFTP (force SFTP, don’t allow FTP). GoDaddy only provides one SFTP account for live, one for staging. WP Engine allows you to create many custom accounts. I’m not sure about how they are synced or not synced with Git.

      Both backup daily, around 2am, and store about 30 days worth of backups. GoDaddy does NOT provide a way to do manual backups. WP Engine DOES allow you to manually backup as many times as you’d like.

      GoDaddy allows you to restore from any of the 30 saved backups. You have the options to do: 1) files only… 2) db only… 3) both files & db.

      WP Engine allows you to restore from any of the 30 saves backups. You have the options to do: 1) files only… 2) both files & db.

      Here are a few more screenshots you might find helpful:

      GoDaddy SSH/SFTP Settings: http://cl.ly/Zw38
      GoDaddy Staging: http://cl.ly/ZvJ2
      WP Engine Backups/Restore: http://cl.ly/ZvDk
      WP Engine Staging: http://cl.ly/ZvcH

      I plan to write a more detailed article some additional features (or lack thereof) in the coming weeks, but I hope this helps you make your decision. Holler with any additional questions.

   2. 

      Stuart

      Feb 25, 2015

      Mmm… am I mixing up version control and one click staging?

      GoDaddy are offering ‘one click staging’ on their feature list to ‘Develop sites (or thoroughly test your changes) before you launch it for the world to see. Business and Pro plans only.’, I assumed this was the same as WP Engine.

      Looking at your screenshots it looks as though staging would suffice for me and version control would be overkill (whatever the difference is?!).

      I am very new to this and trying to figure it all out! The thought of not having to worry about backups, updated plugins wrecking your live site, updates (to a degree) caching, speed and all the other fun stuff is very appealing. The only fly in the ointment at the moment is a lack of Multisite support on GoDaddy…

      I look forward to your next article.

   3. 

      Dave Warfel

      Feb 26, 2015

      In a broad sense, they could be thought of as one and the same. True version control keeps track of every line of code that is changed, added or removed, and allows you to create branches (or versions) of your code. It’s most notably used when developing software, but has also spilled over into the world of web development.

      WP Engine’s feature that allows Git integration is more developer-focused, and sounds like beyond the scope of what you’d be looking for in a host. With that being said, both GoDaddy & WP Engine’s staging solutions are essentially the same.

      Both solutions have everything that you mention in that last paragraph, with the exception of Multisite. I’ve asked GoDaddy about this, and they cannot provide any timeline as to when it might be available. But as with anything, the more it is requested, the better the chances. So if you’re interested, it wouldn’t hurt to drop them a line.