Compare · JuJu vs WP Engine · dated 15 August 2026

They give you a managed server. We give you an AI site engineer.

WP Engine hosts WordPress. We put someone on the site who builds it and fixes it. Domain registration and yearly renewal. Ten mailboxes. One bill. $19.95/mo or $199/yr.

We're not the cheapest host. We're the one that just works.

Who this is for

Someone on the site, not just a server

This page is for the person who opened WP Engine, saw "Starting at $30*/mo," and thought that number was the whole host.

You run one WordPress site — brochure, consultant, small shop front. You want the site built and kept working. You want you@yourdomain.com without opening Google Workspace. You want the .com on the same invoice.

You're not buying SOC 2 paperwork, not buying phone support on a higher tier, and not trying to match WP Engine's platform. We won't pretend we're that machine. You want 60 days to settle in, and a free move. If you have time left on WP Engine, we add that time to your JuJu plan — up to 12 months, at our price. We don't write a check.

Side by side

One WordPress site

USD. WP Engine prices exclude tax and overages. Dated 15 August 2026.

JuJuWP Engine Startup
AI on the siteEngineer, builder, morning briefing, copilotPlugin-update add-on on this tier — not an engineer
Price$19.95/mo · $199/yr ($16.58/mo)"Starting at $30*/mo"
What the asterisk meansNone. Price is the price.First-year / coupons, new Essential only — not renewals. Years 2–3 not published.
Sites11 (extra site $20/mo)
VisitsUnmetered, fair use25,000/mo; $2 per 1,000 over
Storage10 GB NVMe10 GB
BandwidthUnmetered, fair use75 GB
DomainRegistration and renewal includedNot sold — separate registrar (~$10–23/yr)
Email10 mailboxes includedNot an email host — use a third party
Object cacheRedis, includedEverCache — not sold as Redis
WAFIncludedManaged WAF is an add-on on Startup; L3/4 DDoS included
SupportPanel + human24/7 chat only on Startup (no phone on this plan)
Money-back60 days on hosting60 days (blog; TOS carves exceptions)
MigrationFree + time credit (up to 12 months, our price)Free migration plugin

WP Engine includes their own cache layer (EverCache) and L3/4 DDoS — this isn't "they have no security" or "no cache." The argument is an engineer on the site, plus domain and email.

3-year cost

Hosting only — and their extras are still extra

PathYear 1Year 2Year 33-year hosting
JuJu annual$199$199$199$597
WP Engine, if $30/mo held 3 years$360$360$360$1,080
WP Engine, year 1 $360 then $35/mo$360$420$420$1,200

Then add their extras on top: a separate registrar (about $10–23/yr × 3) plus Google Workspace at the list $7/user/mo × 36 = $252. We don't invent a year-2 official rate — if their renewal is higher than $35 the gap widens; in the friendliest case we can publish it's still $1,080 vs $597.

Assumptions: one WordPress site, one .com, one mailbox. Hosting-only, no tax, no overages, no add-ons. Year-1 uses the published "Starting at $30*/mo" as $360/yr — that asterisk is first-year / new Essential only. Years 2–3 official rate is unpublished; the $1,080 row assumes $30 held, the $1,200 row uses a PCMag review (13 Aug 2026) of the live table at month-to-month $35/mo (a review, not wpengine.com HTML). Domain is a separate registrar, about $10–23/yr — not a fake-precise figure. Workspace $7 is list; promos exist. JuJu $199/yr with domain, 10 mailboxes, and Redis included.

The JuJu argument

An AI site engineer. Then domain, email, and a price that's the price.

WP Engine is a serious managed WordPress platform — EverCache, Cloudflare, staging and dev, daily backups, chat 24/7. If you need that platform, pay for it.

What they sell on Startup is a managed server. What they don't sell on Startup is someone who builds the WordPress site and fixes it — their AI on this tier is an optional plugin-update add-on, and Smart Search AI is a different product on Core/Enterprise. That's not an engineer on the site. We put an AI site engineer on every site: a builder, a morning briefing, a copilot in the panel, real work on the WordPress install.

They don't register domains and they don't host mail; their own support docs say so. You buy a registrar (about $10–23/yr) and Google Workspace (list $7/user/mo; promos exist) — a second and third bill. We put the domain's registration and yearly renewal, plus ten mailboxes, on the same $19.95 / $199 invoice.

Their published start is $30*/mo — first year, new Essential customers, not renewals; years 2–3 unpublished. Ours is $19.95/mo or $199/yr, and month 13 matches month 1. Money-back is 60 days on both sides; ours is hosting only, and domains already provisioned aren't refunded. Don't read this as "same box, less money" — we won't invent a speed test and we won't claim their machine.

Honest limits

A different machine — and a visit cap they meter

10 GB NVMe, 256 MB PHP, one site, ten mailboxes. WP Engine Startup is also 10 GB and one site — the similarity stops there. They cap visits at 25,000/mo and bandwidth at 75 GB, and charge $2 per 1,000 visits over. They sell add-ons (managed WAF, plugin manager, NitroPack) on this tier. We don't publish a visit cap, and we also don't publish their kind of platform hardware — we won't imply it.

This SKU is a brochure / SMB WordPress site — not a huge WooCommerce catalog, not a high-concurrency membership app, not a site that will burn 25,000 visits and then want the Professional / Growth / Scale ladder. If you need phone support, a written uptime guarantee, or an account manager, that's their Core / Enterprise product — not this one. Running several sites? Let's talk volume.

Leaving WP Engine?

An engineer on the site — domain paid, mailboxes live. One bill.

60-day money-back on hosting · Cancel anytime · Free white-glove migration (typical 1–2 business days) · Leftover old-host time becomes JuJu time — up to 12 months, at our price

Hosting refund: first 60 days of the initial purchase, one guarantee refund per customer (Refund Policy). Domains already provisioned are not refunded.

FAQ

WP Engine switch, answered

Is their AI the same as yours?
No. On Startup, WP Engine's AI plugin/theme updates are an optional add-on (included on Core), and Smart Search AI is a Core/Enterprise extension with no public price. That's plugin updates and search. Ours is an engineer on the site, a builder, a morning briefing, and a copilot in the panel. Different product.
Is $30/mo the real WP Engine price?
It's the official "Starting at $30*/mo" on 15 August 2026. The asterisk is first-year pricing / coupons for new Essential customers only — not valid for renewals — and years 2–3 aren't published. A PCMag review of the live table (13 Aug 2026) lists month-to-month $35/mo and annual $30/mo; that's a review, not wpengine.com HTML.
Do they include email or a domain?
No. WP Engine's support docs say they don't sell domain names (DNS stays at your registrar) and they aren't an email host — use a third party. A domain on their side is a separate registrar, about $10–23/yr.
Do they charge if I go over 25,000 visits?
Yes — $2 per 1,000 visits over the Startup cap of 25,000/month.
Are you as fast as WP Engine?
We won't invent a speed score. We run LiteSpeed + LSCache, free Redis, NVMe, and an edge cache; they run EverCache and Cloudflare on their platform. Different machines. Judge the site after migration — that's what the 60 days are for.
60 days vs 60 days?
Same window. WP Engine's blog lists 60 days on new Startup/Professional/Growth/Scale, and their TOS carves exceptions. Ours is 60 days on the initial hosting fee; provisioned domains aren't refunded. See our Refund Policy.
Sources checked 15 August 2026
WP Engine plans page ("Starting at $30*/mo," asterisk, feature grid), overage pricing ($2/1,000 visits), point-domain and scope-of-support docs (no domains, not an email host), TOS, and 60-day money-back blog language; PCMag (13 Aug 2026) review of the live table (month-to-month $35, annual $30); Google Workspace pricing (list $7/user/mo); JuJu pricing and refund. Competitor figures reflect the pages we opened on 15 August 2026 and are not updated automatically.