Last Updated on
Ante Rados
WordPress is easy to use and maintain, so it is no wonder that it is the most popular CMS out there. Every hosting provider has plans tailored for managed WordPress hosting, so it can be hard to pick the one that is right for you.
SiteGround is one of the best web hosting providers that offer all kinds of hosting. Flywheel specializes exclusively in WordPress hosting. If you are considering one of these two for your WordPress website, I am here to help you make that choice. I combed through everything they have in their offer and created this SiteGround vs Flywheel WordPress comparison with all the important info in one place.
P. S. I promise I will remain impartial despite all the annoyance that comes with Googling Flywheel. On the bright side, I know a lot more about storing rotational energy right now. Let this be advice to you; pick a name that is more distinguishable when you create your website.
SiteGround is a great WordPress hosting provider. They have a beginner-friendly approach and come at affordable prices. Flywheel is more expensive and isn’t beginner-friendly at all. Despite that, I find Flywheel is the best WordPress hosting provider between the two because they have better features included in their plans.
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Flywheel vs SiteGround comparison
I compared Flywheel and SiteGround in a few categories. Through the reviews of ease of use, pricing, WordPress plans, customer service, and many other factors, you will get a comprehensive overview of both hosting providers compared side by side.
Use the switch to toggle between the two providers and get the best out of this Flywheel vs SiteGround WordPress web hosting comparison!
SiteGround or Flywheel ease of use
SiteGround
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
Flywheel
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
SiteGround is a beginner-friendly hosting provider with good scalability for users with more experience.
They use industry-standard cPanel, so everyone with some experience with web hosting will find their way around SiteGround’s interface easily.
The great thing about their interface is the knowledge base that is accessible from the account dashboard. Any article you open from the knowledge base will open in a new tab, so it is easy to work and have access to helpful articles at the same time.
Beginners will enjoy the easy process of setting up their WordPress website with this host. There is an automated installer that installs the WordPress software on your account. Once the software is there, you can use the Starter WordPress application to pick themes and essential functionalities to be automatically installed.
Some hosting providers outperform SiteGround in ease of use, but SiteGround is easy enough to use to pass this test with flying colors. As for this Flywheel vs SiteGround comparison, it is simple. If you are a beginner, go with SiteGround. If you are experienced and want to forego beginner-friendly stuff in favor of easier-to-use advanced functionality, you should pick Flywheel.
Flywheel targets freelancers and agencies that create websites for clients. Their interface is perfect for that group of people because it has both developers and designers in mind. It has a clean design with all the technical capabilities you need for creating and managing a great website.
A big plus is a feature that lets you easily create private demo websites. You can use those to let your clients preview the website you are designing for them.
Additionally, when starting work on a new demo website for a client, you can choose the “My client will pay later” option. This way, you can start working on a website immediately and transfer billing to a client once you are finished. This simplifies the process of selling websites for both developers and clients. Usually, you have to purchase a hosting plan for a website you are developing and migrate it to a client once it is done.
To make things even simpler, in the dashboard, you can generate a link for a plan and send it to your client's email. This way, they can sign up for a plan you recommend to them while you are working on their website.
Flywheel isn’t beginner-friendly at all. However, it is clear how much effort Flywheel puts into making it easy for professionals. I can’t give it anything less than a 5-star rating because the ease-of-use doesn't necessarily apply to beginners; it applies to the group the hosting provider is targeting.
SiteGround vs Flywheel WordPress hosting
SiteGround
☆☆☆☆☆ 4/5
Flywheel
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
Let’s start this with a list of SiteGround’s plans and their respective prices:
StartUp: $11.95
- 10,000 visit monthly
- 10 GB storage
- Unmetered bandwidth
- 1 site included
GrowBig: $19.95
- 25,000 visit monthly
- 20 GB storage
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Unlimited websites
GoGeek: $34.95
- 100,000 visit monthly
- 30 GB storage
- Unmetered bandwidth
- Unlimited websites
All plans come with a free version of the Weebly drag & drop site builder, free CMS install, unlimited MySQL databases and automated SSL certificates.
For most users, SiteGround is a better option. The reason is very simple: they are cheaper and you get almost the same deal when it comes to the basic features.
There is no fee for exceeding your monthly visitor or storage limit, but your website might face some performance issues. This is another reason why SiteGround is good for basic users, but not a better option for agencies and professionals.
Flywheel has four plans for WordPress hosting. Here is the pricing and the features of the plans:
Tiny: $13/month
- 5,000 visits monthly
- 5 GB storage
- 20 GB bandwidth
- 1 site included
Starter: $25/month
- 25,000 visits monthly
- 10 GB storage
- 50 GB bandwidth
- 1 website included
Freelance: $96/month
- 100,000 visits monthly
- 20 GB storage
- 200 GB bandwidth
- Up to 10 websites included
Agency: $242/month
- 400,000 visits monthly
- 50 GB storage
- 500 GB bandwidth
- Up to 30 websites included
- Migration dashboard
- Phone support
- Dedicated account manager
All plans come with CDN, SSL certificates, nightly backups and StudioPress themes. Tools that also come with all options are blueprints, billing transfer, staging sites, and a free demo site. You can add collaborators to your account no matter what plan you choose.
In addition to these plans, there is also an option to create a custom plan depending on the features you include in your plan.
Flywheel is a more expensive option and has less storage and limited bandwidth. However, the features they offer for professionals justify the price.
There aren’t many hosting providers who have tools for creating and delivering websites to clients that are as good as Flywheel’s. If you are a freelance developer or run a website development agency, you should seriously consider FlyWheel.
SiteGround and Flywheel server locations
SiteGround
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
Flywheel
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
When getting a hosting provider, one of the main concerns you should have is the speed of your websites. One of the things that impact this a lot is the proximity of a server where your website is hosted. With SiteGround, you have plenty of options to choose from because they have servers located on three continents.
Here is the list of their server locations:
USA: Council Bluffs, Iowa and Chicago, Illinois
UK: London
Netherlands: Eemshaven and Amsterdam
Singapore
Flywheel also has servers on three continents, so you won’t have to worry about server location when deciding between these two hosting providers.
Here is the list of their server locations:
US: Iowa
Canada: Montreal
UK: London
Belgium
Australia: Sydney
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- Free 1 Year Domain Registration on Select Plans
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- Drag-and-drop Website Builder
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- 1-Click WordPress Installation
Flywheel or SiteGround website builder
SiteGround
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
Flywheel
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
SiteGround uses the Weebly drag and drop website builder. Even complete beginners won’t have any trouble using Weebly. It utilizes an intuitive grid system, so you won’t have to worry about overlapping elements. Every element you drop will snap in place and auto-align with other elements. This way your website will look good even if you have no knack for design.
Weebly has all the features you will need to create a simple website. If you need some functionality that isn’t integrated into Weebly, don’t worry; Weebly is compatible with tons of widgets and apps you can use to add any features that are missing.
As with any other drag and drop website builder, don’t expect to create really complex websites. The purpose of website builders is to help individuals and small businesses create their own simple websites. Weebly does that job perfectly.
Flywheel has no website builder. Usually, I would skip them in this category, but I will make an exception here. The reason is that their target group doesn’t need a site builder. However, the support they have for building websites could be considered an equivalent of a site builder for professionals.
The best example of this (one I didn’t already mention in the ease of use category) are blueprints. Blueprints are packages of themes and plugins you can create. Professional website designers can create several blueprints with themes and plugins they often use when creating websites. This way you don’t have to start from scratch every time you are creating a website for a client. You just use one of the blueprints you created before and tweak it to quickly create a website for a new client.
Blueprints, coupled with the possibility to stage demo websites and the billing transfer option, make Flywheel a perfect platform to build websites for clients.
SiteGround and Flywheel are opposites in what they offer for building websites. One thing they have in common is that both perfectly satisfy the needs of the market they are targeting, so both get 5 out of 5 ratings in this category.
Flywheel vs SiteGround SEO
SiteGround
☆☆☆☆☆ 3.5/5
Flywheel
☆☆☆☆☆ 3/5
To help users with their SEO, SiteGround has partnered with Attracta. Attracta is a company that offers SEO solutions. Once you log in to your account, you will find an SEO tools section. The tools you will find there are pretty standard.
The sitemap of your website will be automatically generated, and Attracta will ping major search engines every time you add a new page. You will get all the tools you would expect from a hosting provider like link building directory, Google scorecard, etc.
While you get all the basics covered with integrated tools, for more advanced SEO you will have to use third-party SEO plugins and tools.
With Flywheel, you are on your own when it comes to SEO. There are no included SEO features that come with purchasing one of their plans. That isn’t unexpected since they are focusing on professionals who are likely to hire SEO experts to do the work for them.
One more important thing to mention is that using the CDN they offer can harm your SEO a bit. CDN (Content Delivery Network) is a network of servers that disperse your content to serve it faster to people around the world. If you decide to use it, all images on your website will be uploaded to Flywheel’s CDN. This means they won’t be associated with your domain anymore, so all the Google Images traffic you would otherwise get will be lost.
Don’t get me wrong it is impressive they let you enable CDN by just checking a box. I just want to give you a heads up that it might come at a cost of SEO.
Compare Flywheel vs SiteGround storage space and bandwidth limits
SiteGround
☆☆☆☆☆ 4/5
Flywheel
☆☆☆☆☆ 3.5/5
With SiteGround, your storage space will depend on the plan you choose. With the cheapest plan, you get 10 GB storage space. The limit is raised by an additional 10 GB with each subsequent plan. You get unmetered bandwidth with each of the plans.
Flywheel storage and bandwidth limits depend on a plan you get. In the cheapest plan, you get 5 GB storage and 20 GB bandwidth, and in the most expensive plan you get 50 GB storage and 500 GB bandwidth.
There is also an option to create a custom plan where you can set the amount of storage and bandwidth you want.
Flywheel vs SiteGround domains, migration & site transfer
SiteGround
☆☆☆☆☆ 3/5
Flywheel
☆☆☆☆☆ 4.5/5
Many hosts offer a free domain name included in their plans, but SiteGround is not one of them.
Website transfer is free for one existing website per account in their GrowBig and GoGeek plans. If you choose the StartUp plan, a professional transfer is a paid service.
If you want to register a domain with SiteGround, here is the pricing for most popular domains:
- .com: $15.95/year
- .net: $17.95/year
- .org: $17.95/year
- .biz: $17.95/year
- .info: $17.95/year
- .us: $17.95/year
Flywheel doesn’t offer domain registration service, and it doesn’t come with a free domain.
The good thing about Flywheel is that you get unlimited free migrations. The Flywheel team will handle the entire migration process for you every time you want to move your website. No matter the number of websites you have, this service for free with no downtime.
Flywheel v SiteGround customer support
SiteGround
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
Flywheel
☆☆☆☆☆ 5/5
SiteGround has a 24/7 live chat, phone and email customer support, and all support options are available in each of the plans. Their customer support answers immediately and guides you through solutions to your problems expertly.
There isn’t much to say about their support besides the fact that they are doing a good job.
Flywheel's support team has the benefit of having to handle only one CMS. As you can expect, they are experts in handling all WordPress problems, so they will solve any problem you run into.
Their support is available 24/7 by email or live chat. They also have Monday-Friday phone support that is available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. but only for the Agency and custom plans.
SiteGround vs Flywheel speed, uptime and reliability
SiteGround
☆☆☆☆☆ 4.5/5
Flywheel
☆☆☆☆☆ 4.5/5
SiteGround has almost 100% uptime. They are a bit slower than FlyGround, but the difference is negligible. Here are the numbers:
- Uptime: 99.99%
- Average load time: 649 ms
Flywheel has good speed and excellent uptime. A surprising feature you get with Flywheel is the CDN you can enable by just flipping a switch. With most hosting providers, it is hard to set up CDN, so good job on this one Flywheel!
- Uptime: 99.99%
- Average response time: 524 ms
SiteGround vs Flywheel price comparison
SiteGround
☆☆☆☆☆ 4.5/5
Flywheel
☆☆☆☆☆ 3.5/5
SiteGround is a more affordable option for WordPress hosting. To get their hosting, you will have to pay $11.95/month for the StartUp, $19.95/month for the GrowBig plan and $34.95/month for the GoGeek plan.
Most of the features included in the plans are the same. The main differences are the amount of storage and bandwidth you get, and the number of websites you can have on one account.
The two cheaper Flywheel’s plans have a similar price to the cheaper SiteGround’s plans. You will have to pay $13/month for the Tiny plan, and $25/month for the Starter plan. The other two plans are much more expensive; the Freelance plan costs $96/month and the Agency plan costs $242/month.
It could be a good idea to give a few dollars more for one of the cheaper Flywheel plans because they come with better features than SiteGround plans. When it comes to their expensive plans, you should consider them only if you are a professional designer or if you have an agency for website design.
SiteGround vs Flywheel WordPress hosting conclusion
The winner is Flywheel!
This was a tough decision to make. Flywheel and SiteGround target different groups of people, and both are excellent hosting providers for the group they target.
The bottom line is: if you are a beginner who wants just a simple website, yes you should go for SiteGround, and if you are a professional designer, go for Flywheel. The main reason I picked Flywheel over SiteGround is the bigger number of unique features they offer.
SiteGround versus Flywheel final score
FAQs
Flywheel or SiteGround for WordPress?
Is SiteGround better than Flywheel?
What’s the difference between Flywheel and SiteGround?
There are two main differences between Flywheel and SiteGround. The first difference is in the types of hosting they offer. Flywheel only offers WordPress hosting while SiteGround offers WordPress, shared, dedicated WooCommerce, cloud and reseller hosting. The second difference is in the market they target. Flywheel targets professionals while SiteGround targets all groups.
Flywheel or SiteGround for building websites?
SiteGround or Flywheel for server locations?
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