Flywheel
by WP Engine
Managed WordPress hosting built for designers and agencies
Score
Score
Our verdict
Flywheel is a premium managed WordPress host purpose-built for creative agencies and freelancers, offering an impressively clean dashboard, server-level FlyCache, free Fastly CDN, and a 60-day money-back guarantee. Performance is consistently strong — 100% uptime in independent testing and sub-second load times globally. Pricing is higher than shared-hosting alternatives, and the lack of email hosting or a free domain means agencies must budget for those separately. For studios managing multiple client sites, the Freelance and Agency tiers deliver genuine value through client billing transfer, team collaboration, and built-in staging environments.
Overview
Screenshot
Score breakdown
Overall score
Scores are editorial assessments by the Compare Best AI team on a 0–10 scale.
Expert review
CBAI Editorial Team
Compare Best AI · Editorial Team
Flywheel launched in 2012 with a single-minded focus: managed WordPress hosting designed around the workflow of designers, freelancers, and agencies. Now owned by WP Engine, it retains its own brand identity and continues to iterate on the features that made it popular.
How we tested
Days tested
30 days
Tasks evaluated
- ·Uptime monitored over 30 days
- ·Page load times measured from 6 global regions
- ·Stress test with 250 concurrent users
- ·Core Web Vitals assessed on desktop and mobile
- ·Hands-on evaluation of dashboard, staging, and backup workflows
- ·Local WP push-to-Flywheel integration tested end-to-end
- ·Three live chat sessions initiated at varied hours
Method
Performance benchmarked against Kinsta and WP Engine using identical WordPress installations
Reviewer
CBAI Editorial Team
Plans & pricing
Starter
Solo site owners needing reliable managed WordPress
- 1 WordPress site
- 25,000 monthly visits
- 10 GB storage
- 50 GB bandwidth
- Free SSL certificate
- Nightly backups (30-day retention)
- One-click staging environment
- FlyCache + Fastly CDN
- Free malware cleanup
- 24/7 live chat support
- Client billing transfer
- Managed Plugin Updates
Freelance
Freelancers juggling up to 10 client WordPress sites
- Up to 10 WordPress sites
- 100,000 monthly visits
- 20 GB storage
- 200 GB bandwidth
- Free SSL certificates
- Nightly backups (30-day retention)
- One-click staging environments
- FlyCache + Fastly CDN
- Free malware cleanup
- 24/7 live chat support
- Client billing transfer
- Team collaboration (multi-user access)
Agency
Agencies managing up to 30 client sites at scale
- Up to 30 WordPress sites
- 400,000 monthly visits
- 50 GB storage
- 500 GB bandwidth
- Free SSL certificates
- Nightly backups
- One-click staging environments
- FlyCache + Fastly CDN
- Free malware cleanup
- 24/7 live chat support
- Client billing transfer
- Team collaboration
Custom
Enterprise teams with 30+ sites and high traffic
- 30+ WordPress sites
- Millions of monthly visits
- Custom storage allocation
- Free SSL certificates
- Nightly backups
- Dedicated account manager
- Client billing transfer
- Team collaboration
Pricing may vary by region. Always verify on the vendor's website.
Feature comparison
| Feature | Flywheel | WP Engine | Kinsta |
|---|---|---|---|
| Performance | |||
| Server-level full-page cache | |||
| Built-in CDN (no plugin) | |||
| Mobile PageSpeed >= 80/100 | |||
| Developer Tools | |||
| Local development app | |||
| One-click staging environment | |||
| Multi-environment (dev/stage/prod) | |||
| Agency Features | |||
| Client billing transfer | |||
| Free site migrations | |||
| Security & Reliability | |||
| Free malware cleanup | |||
| Hosting Extras | |||
| Email hosting included | |||
| Free premium themes included | |||
Is it right for you?
Good fit for
Creative agencies
Flywheel's client billing transfer, team access controls, and multi-site dashboard were built specifically for agencies handing off completed sites to clients.
Freelance designers
The Local WP integration lets designers develop locally and push to live in seconds, with a clean dashboard that requires no server administration knowledge.
WooCommerce stores
Flywheel offers a dedicated WooCommerce-optimised hosting environment with FlyCache configured to handle dynamic cart and checkout pages correctly.
Performance-focused sites
The combination of FlyCache, Fastly CDN, and Google Cloud infrastructure delivers sub-1-second global load times without requiring any caching plugins.
Security-conscious owners
Server-level malware scanning, locked WordPress core files, and free malware cleanup make Flywheel a strong choice for anyone prioritising site security.
Less suited for
Budget-first builders
At $25/month for a single site, Flywheel is significantly more expensive than shared hosts like SiteGround or Bluehost that start below $5/month.
Email hosting needed
Flywheel does not provide email hosting or domain registration, so teams that need both must pay for and manage a separate email service.
Server-control developers
Developers who need root access, custom server configurations, or non-WordPress runtimes will find Flywheel's managed environment too restrictive.
Non-WordPress projects
Flywheel exclusively hosts WordPress sites — any project built on another CMS or custom stack cannot be deployed here.
User reviews
Editorial score
Distribution is estimated from our editorial score. Verified user reviews coming soon.
Use cases
Typical ways teams rely on this tool — from everyday tasks to specialized workflows.
- Agency Client Site Management
- Freelance WordPress Hosting
- WooCommerce Store Hosting
- Local-to-Live Development
- Multi-Site Management
Integrations
Reported connectors
Apps and services commonly connected out of the box or via official connectors.
- Local WP
- Fastly CDN
- Google Cloud Platform
- WooCommerce
- Genesis Framework
- WP-CLI
- Cloudflare
- Stripe
- Zapier
Privacy & compliance
Security & data practices
Highlights we track from the vendor's documentation. Always confirm current terms, subprocessors, and regional policies on their official site.
- GDPR-ready
Details
Category
Price
- Starter $25/mo
- Freelance $96/mo
- Agency $242/mo
Free version
Best for
- Agency WordPress hosting workflows
- Fast managed hosting for client sites
- Staging and dev-friendly site management
Frequently asked questions
Flywheel
Infrastructure & Hosting
Ready to get started?
Visit the Flywheel website to explore plans and pricing.
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