Care plans from $150/mo

One agency for hosting and maintenance vs WP Engine / Kinsta alone

WP Engine and Kinsta run the servers. They do not update your plugins, check the site afterwards, or fix the contact form when an update breaks it. Here is what each option covers and what it costs.

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Running WordPress sites since 2011
Month-to-month care plans
Works on any host

The short answer

WP Engine and Kinsta are good managed WordPress hosts. What you buy from them is the hosting platform: servers, caching, a CDN, backups, staging and round-the-clock support for that platform. Looking after the site that runs on it is still your job, or your developer's. That means plugin and theme updates, checking the site after an update, fixing what breaks and making small changes.

WhatArmy does both. We host the site and maintain it, or we maintain it on the host you already have. Care plans are $150, $300 or $500 a month, month to month. Hosting with maintenance included starts at $125 a month, billed annually.

If you already pay a developer you trust to look after the site, a host on its own is a sound setup. If nobody owns the site after launch, that gap is what a care plan covers.

What each option covers

WhatArmy compared with WP Engine or Kinsta on their own, with nobody else looking after the site.

Feature WhatArmy WP Engine alone Kinsta alone
What you are buying Hosting and a care plan from one team Managed hosting platform Managed hosting platform
Starting price $150/mo care plan on your host, or hosting + maintenance from $125/mo (billed annually) Hosting plan, plus whoever maintains the site Hosting plan, plus whoever maintains the site
Plugin and theme updates ✓ Included on every plan, run by hand from Small Business up Smart Plugin Manager add-on (bundled on some higher tiers) or your developer Paid add-on (Automatic Updates) or your developer
Fixing what an update breaks ✓ Our job, on every plan × The add-on can roll an update back; fixing it is on your developer × The add-on can roll an update back; fixing it is on your developer
Backup retention ✓ 30 days to 1 year+, by plan ✓ 30 to 60 days ✓ 14 days on standard plans
Monthly visit limits None on WhatArmy hosting Plans sized by monthly visits Plans sized by visits or bandwidth
Site monitoring ✓ WatchTowerHQ: uptime, SSL, domain, DNS, blacklist and malware Monitoring of the hosting platform Monitoring of the hosting platform
Who you call when the site breaks The team that maintains your site 24/7 hosting support, then your developer 24/7 hosting support, then your developer

WP Engine and Kinsta details are taken from wpengine.com and kinsta.com, checked October 2026. Their plans change, so confirm current pricing with them before you decide.

Which setup fits

A host on its own

You have a developer or someone in-house who updates plugins, checks the site and fixes problems. WP Engine or Kinsta plus that person is a sound setup, and you do not need us.

A care plan on your current host

You are happy with your host and do not want to migrate. We take over updates, backups, monitoring and fixes from $150 a month, wherever the site lives.

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Hosting and maintenance together

One bill, one team and no visit caps. Hosting with maintenance included starts at $125 a month, billed annually.

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WhatArmy vs WP Engine and Kinsta: FAQ

Our care plans are $150, $300 or $500 a month and run month to month. That covers updates, daily backups, security and uptime monitoring through WatchTowerHQ, and support from the team that looks after the site. Hosting with maintenance included starts at $125 a month, billed annually. A WP Engine or Kinsta plan covers hosting only, so the fair comparison is their hosting bill plus whatever you pay a developer or agency to maintain the site. See care plans and hosting plans.

Both size their plans by traffic. WP Engine plans come with a monthly visit allowance, and Kinsta lets you choose billing by visits or by bandwidth, counting each unique IP address in a 24-hour period as one visit. Go over and expect an overage charge or a move to the next plan. WhatArmy hosting has no visit limit. Storage beyond your plan is billed at $0.50 per GB a month, and we only suggest an upgrade when the server actually needs more resources.

Law firms, professional services firms and other businesses without a developer on staff who want one team to own the site after launch. If a developer or agency already maintains your site and all you need is fast hosting, WP Engine or Kinsta on its own makes sense, and we will tell you so.

WatchTowerHQ is our website monitoring platform, and every care plan runs on it. It checks uptime, SSL and domain expiration, DNS changes, blacklisting and malware for each site we look after, and alerts our team when a check fails. Agencies can also use it on its own for their client sites at watchtowerhq.co.

Yes. Care plans work on any host, so you can keep your hosting and add us for updates, monitoring and fixes. Moving hosting to us later is optional.

Want one team to own the site?

Tell us where the site is hosted and who looks after it today. We will tell you straight whether a care plan, our hosting or neither makes sense.

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