Sometimes you just want someone else to do the heavy lifting for you. That's the principle behind Pagely, an enterprise-class WordPress web hosting service that safeguards your WordPress-powered site, optimizes posts and pages for faster load times, automatically updates plug-ins, and performs daily backups using Amazon S3 technology. The company has ditched its few consumer-and small business-friendly plans to focus more on high-end business demands, and, as a result, its service now falls outside our regular review purview. Although it doesn't make sense to put Pagely through PCMag's typical web hosting testing procedure, we can give you a general overview of what to expect from the service.
Pagely's Plans
Pagely offers several managed, Linux-powered WordPress hosting plans you can purchase via its website, starting with the $299 per month VPS Single Node and topping out with the $20,000 per month Pulsar.
What Pagely considers its entry-level package comes with 30GB of storage and 50GB of monthly data transfers, while the high-end plan requires you to contact a sales rep for specs. The top-end Pulsar plan comes with a host of useful extras, such as a dedicated account manager, private Slack channel, and unlimited staging sites (I'll explain staging mode later in this review). All Pagely plans come with dozens of useful features, including PressCache (for faster page loads) and PressThumb (for dynamic image optimization).
I won't mince words: These are expensive plans. For that price, however, the service leverages the aforementioned tools plus the powerful Amazon Web Services infrastructure to keep your site running smoothly. In fact, Comcast, Crate & Barrel, Disney, and Time, Inc. have used Pagely as their online bedrock. Don't fret, however; Pagely offers a 30-day money-back guarantee should you have any regrets.
If you're looking for more traditional basic hosting plans, please check out our roundups of dedicated, shared, and VPS hosting services.
Cloud and Reseller Hosting
Pagely is built upon enterprise-level, infrastructure-as-a-service cloud hosting from Amazon Web Services. For a primer on that flavor of expansive (and potentially more expensive!) cloud hosting, please visit our feature roundup up the best infrastructure-as-a-service solutions.
If you're a small business in the hunt for more wallet-friendly cloud hosting, DreamHost, the category's Editors' Choice, is a service you should check out.
Pagely doesn't have reseller hosting, at least not in the traditional sense. The company lets you sign up for a retail plan and decide the costs for your individual clients, but it doesn't offer any special reseller deals or white labelling.
The Pagely Experience
Pagely is a managed hosting environment specifically designed for WordPress installations and plug-ins. You don't need to install WordPress as you would do with other web hosts; the content management system comes pre-installed. You simply log in with your credentials without any additional setup.
Pagely uses two backend interfaces: the standard self-hosted WordPress interface in which you create posts, pages, and galleries; and a custom Atomic Core interface. Atomic Core is the default interface, so those expecting the standard WordPress look will be in for a bit of surprise. Fortunately, Atomic Core is worth using if you just want to manage WordPress installations, send support requests, check your account and billing information, and view traffic stats.
Pagely doesn't offer traditional web hosting, so you can't upload your Linux- or Windows-based non-WordPress site and related apps. That said, Pagely automates many functions, including daily site backups and automatic plug-in updates. Much like WP Engine and Pressable, Pagely has a feature that lets you test and build a website prior to going live; it's called Staging Mode. Pagely is also compatible with many plug-ins, but the company forbids the use of a small number of plug-ins (mostly caching and backup) that may negatively impact a site's performance.
Like Pressable and WP Engine, Pagely doesn't sell domains. By default, your website's URL is in the format of name.mystagingwebsite.com, so you'll need to pick up a domain name elsewhere (like namecheap.com). The web host doesn't offer email accounts, either; you'll need to sign up with a third-party company like GoDaddy for electronic mail.
Security Features
Pagely secures your WordPress site with its PressArmor real-time malware scanning and removal. PressArmor also provides protection against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) and brute force attacks. In addition, Pagely supports content delivery networks (CDN) for tighter security and fast page loads.
Those are just two of Pagely's many security-focused features. I recommend checking out Pagely's website for a full list of security tools.
Customer Service
Unfortunately, Pagely doesn't offer phone support, so you must submit queries via the company's web chat (available 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST) or the 24 hour ticketing system. On the upside, Pagely states that it employs WordPress experts who are incredibly knowledgeable about the content management systems.
For Enterprise Only
If you need enterprise-level web hosting power, Pagely has the potential to get the job done. It's relatively expensive, but the helpful customer support team, useful videos, numerous security tools, and automated updates and backups make it a WordPress host worth considering.
On the other hand, people looking for a a more consumer- or small business-friendly WordPress hosting experience should check out TMDHosting, the category's Editors' Choice.
For more information on web hosting, check out our tips for creating the best website, and our primer on how to register a domain name for your website.