Flywheel Managed WordPress Hosting for Designers & Agencies
Want to find out more about Flywheel’s hosting service?
In this article, we take a look at what Flywheel WordPress hosting has to offer; including features, ease of use, speed and performance, backups and security, customer service and support, their reseller program and much more.
Keep reading to learn more about this web hosting provider.
WHAT IS FLYWHEEL HOSTING?
Flywheel is a web hosting company that offers managed WordPress hosting services for web designers, developers and creative agencies.
Started in 2012, Flywheel’s founders came from web development backgrounds and so they understand the challenges web designers and developers face when building and hosting websites for clients.
A few things that make Flywheel stand out include the collaboration function that makes it simple for you to work jointly with teammates and contractors on a project, the ability to easily transfer billing to clients and their approach to performance and security.
CUSTOM-BUILT FOR WORDPRESS
Flywheel only provides hosting for websites built with WordPress. Their platform is tuned for WordPress and offers custom server configurations, varnish caching custom configured for WordPress sites, WordPress security features and expert WordPress support.
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FlyWheel Features
Free Local WordPress Development Environment
Flywheel hosting has an application for local WordPress development. This local application, which you can download for free, is fast and simple to work with.
The application was developed to simplify the workflow of designers and developers. It’s super fast and makes developing a local WordPress site a total breeze. Local by Flywheel is available for Mac and Windows users.
Site Blueprints
Flywheel’s site blueprints feature allows designers and developers to build WordPress sites faster. It lets you package up common WordPress themes and plugins and use them in your future projects.
When creating a new site, you can start from one of your existing blueprints. By simply clicking a button, your packaged themes and plugins will be automatically installed without you wasting hours tirelessly clicking and waiting.
Staging Sites
Flywheel’s staging sites feature provides a stress-free environment to test out your work before pushing changes into your production site. It makes a copy of your live site and has its own sub-domain where you can log onto and safely make your changes.
Once you’re happy with your work and have tested it, all you need to do is push a button and that website you’ve been working on overrides your current one. I think this feature is phenomenal because it saves you time from downloading and uploading files and working remotely.
With the staging sites feature, you can:
- move changes from your staging site to your live site (and vice versa) with a single click
- move just the themes and plugins or include database
- safely update WordPress
- test out new plugins
Site Cloning
With the site cloning feature, you can take a copy of a production site and recreate it as a new site or add it to an existing bulk plan on Flywheel.
If you’re working with many clients, this is an easy way to get started on new sites without having to install the same theme and plugins over and over.
Free Demo Sites
Flywheel allows you to set up demo sites for free and only pay when the sites go live. With this service, you can create test sites and try out the various features that Flywheel offers.
You can also use the demo sites to show off changes to your clients before going live. Once the client is satisfied, you can then transfer the demo site to them for payment.
Free SSL Certificate
SSL is one of those things that Google takes seriously. If your website does not have SSL installed, Google might give it less priority in the search rankings.
Flywheel hosting provides free SSL certificates powered by Let’s Encrypt. On most web hosts, installing SSL certificates is a quite complicated process. But when it comes to Flywheel, it’s easy. You just go in there and with the click of button and one plugin that you need to install, you’ll get that green padlock.
Besides Simple SSL, Flywheel also allows users to bring their own special SSL certificates such as wildcard or EV.
Collaboration
Another cool feature on Flywheel hosting is the collaboration function which makes it fast and easy to work jointly with your team without the hassle of sharing and storing passwords. Once you add your teammates or clients, they get access to manage the site and database as well as update files.
If, for example, you have a problem that you can’t solve on your website and want one of your colleagues or friends to help you out, you can add them as a collaborator and give them access to work on your website without giving them your WordPress username and password.
Billing Transfer
Flywheel hosting lets you choose whether you wish to pay for the hosting or transfer payment to your client. When you client’s site is ready, you can send them an invitation to a secure payment form where they can pay and take over ownership of the site.
After you’ve transferred billing to your client, you’ll still have full access to the site as a collaborator. This is useful when you have to check in on a few things from time to time.
Free Site Migration
If you already have an existing website, Flywheel support team can help you migrate from your current host to Flywheel free of charge.
This is a cool feature if you don’t want to deal with all the nitty-gritty of migrating a website. Besides, the free migration service is available even if you have dozens or hundreds of WordPress websites.
Ease of Use
When evaluating web hosting providers, one of the things you should look out for is ease of use. You don’t want a complex platform that requires advanced skills to navigate to different settings and options.
If you’re after a simple and intuitive hosting interface that’s easy to navigate and work with, Flywheel hosting might be the ideal solution for you. The dashboard is elegant, straightforward and easy to use. All features have clear labels and are easy to access. If you’re managing multiple websites for clients, you’ll want such a dashboard that lets you get things done quickly.
Speed and Performance
One of the most important things to consider when choosing a web host is the speed of their servers and how fast your website will load. This is important for user experience and SEO and will also affect your website conversions.
Flywheel uses varnish caching technology to achieve top performance for your site. You don’t have to install 3rd party WordPress performance plugins to speed up your website. Additionally, the Flywheel support team will do free performance assessments on your site’s code and setup and offer recommendations to improve.
You also have the option to add a Content Delivery Network (CDN) so that your site visitors can always enjoy a fast browsing experience no matter where they are located around the world. And if you have an eCommerce site, the Flywheel support team can offer custom configurations to make sure it is fully cached.
Backups and Security
Many traditional web hosts don’t offer backups; and if they do, it’s and extra charge. There are also plugins out there that do a good job of backing up your WordPress website.
But the reason why I love the way Flywheel does it is because the backup feature is within your hosting. And to make it even better, they do daily backups.
Security is one of the most important things when it comes to web hosting. Your website getting hacked is one of those things you don’t want to imagine but when it does happen, it sucks. It can mean sleepless nights and maybe you’ve got clients that are paying you to maintain their websites.
Your website’s security situation is sorted when you signup with Flywheel. They offer malware scanning and partner with a web security company called Sucuri. Every single website you have is scanned free of charge and you don’t have to worry about installing security plugins. All that’s taken care of, which I think offers peace of mind when building WordPress websites. The other important thing is that if you do get malware on your website, they automatically remove that malware for you. Some companies will charge you a lot of money for that.
In summary, Flywheel hosting security includes:
- Free malware removal
- Strong password enforcement
- Limited login attempts
- Intelligent IP blocking
- Managed WordPress updates
Customer Service and Support
Flywheel offers reliable customer support through live chat, standard tickets and phone. Support is available 24/7, so you can always get help whenever you have issues with the hosting service.
The company also has an extensive knowledge-base with different helpful resources for customers, including articles and blog posts.
Besides, there is a status page where customers can check to see whether the system is running smoothly.
Flywheel Hosting Reseller Program
Flywheel runs a great hosting reseller program that allows partners to earn revenue by reselling hosting services to other clients and customers.
Flywheel offers great perks to their agency partners, which make theirs one of the best reseller hosting programs around. You get:
- dedicated account management
- free hosting for your agency or business site
- hands-off maintenance and
- expert WordPress support to help you address all the questions your clients might have.
Flywheel WordPress Hosting Plans and Pricing
Flywheel provides 5 hosting packages as well as a custom hosting option for those that need a tailor-made solution. The pricing of the single site plans ranges from $15/month to $75/month, while the bulk plans cost $100/month and $250/month.
- Tiny Plan – $15/month. 1 WordPress install, 5,000 monthly visits, 5 GB disk space, 250 GB bandwidth.
- Personal Plan – $30/month. 1 WordPress install, 25,000 monthly visits, 10 GB disk space, 500 GB bandwidth.
- Professional Plan – $75/month. 1 WordPress install, 100,000 monthly visits, 20 GB disk space, 1 TB bandwidth, free CDN, free multisite, free staging site.
- Freelance Bulk Plan – $100/month. 10 WordPress installs, 150,000 monthly visits, 40 GB disk space, 4 TB bandwidth, free staging site.
- Agency Bulk Plan – $250/month. 30 WordPress installs, 600,000 monthly visits, 120 GB disk space, 8 TB bandwidth, free staging site.
Getting Started with Flywheel WordPress Hosting
To get started with Flywheel hosting, you need to sign up with your name and email. The sign-up process is fast and smooth, and you’ll be able to start hosting your websites with Flywheel within minutes.
After you sigh up, you’ll be able to login to your account and start adding your sites. If you already have an existing site, you can have the Flywheel support team migrate it for you.
If you’re creating your own individual site, you’ll need to set up your payment details and confirm everything. You can also choose to add a site to your bulk plan or choose pay later if your client will own the site.
Since Flywheel does not sell domains, you’ll need to register a domain name with another provider and point it to your Flywheel server.
FLYWHEEL HOSTING – Conclusion
Overall, Flywheel is a superb managed WordPress hosting provider with a user-friendly interface and robust features underneath. The dashboard is beautiful and straightforward, making it easy to install and manage your WordPress websites; whether you’re a beginner or an experienced user.
If you’re a web designer or agency with multiple clients, you’ll love how fast and easy it is to manage numerous websites. Besides, speed tests show that Flywheel servers are fast, and the company also sorts out your security and backup issues.
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Naman Modi
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If you’re a website developer or freelance agency dealing with web design, clients or content then Flywheel managed hosting is your choice. Try it out for a wonderful web hosting experience. Although its price is at the higher end, the feature-rich aspect will make up for every penny.