In April, 2022, WordPress revealed the new pricing plan called "WordPress Pro". In this article, we're going to review this new offering by Automattic, and discuss who it's for and if it's worth the monthly price of $15.
WordPress Pro is the rebranded WordPress.com premium offering, which allows you to connect to custom domain, increases traffic and storage limits, allows you to install plugins, and more. This is the hosted, managed version of WordPress(.com), which includes support. This is not the self hosted, self-managed version of WordPress(.org).
With this move in mid 2022, WordPress got rid of the multi-tier pricing approach, choosing to offer a free and Pro plan - nothing in betweeen.
Previously, there were 4 pricing plans, costing up to $45/mo for the eCommerce plan.
WordPress Pro costs $15/mo, billed annually. Let's take a look at what you get for that price.
You have access to premium, professional teams at no additional cost. There's direct integration with the WordPress.com monetization platform WordAds.
For storage (image, video, files), you have 50 GB of storage space, with the option to pay more for more. Note, this was increased from 13 GB of storage space after major pushback following the launch announcement.
Because this is the hosted, managed version of WordPress(.com), there is 24 seven support via live chat or email, advanced security features like daily backups, security scans, and hosting on distributed servers.
There's also decent access given that this is a SaaS product:
SFTP access is currently available for sites on our WordPress.com Pro plan. There’s more information about FTP access here. We do not have ways to increase PHP limits or make changes to core WordPress files.
WordPress Pro Sales Page
The hosting infrastructure for WordPress.com sites (free and pro) is owned by Automattic. It's load-balanced and hosted around the world.
WordPress Pro also comes with a built in CDN (based on Jetpack CDN). You can choose to swap it out with Cloudflare CDN, if you'd like to:
You also get a three month free trial of the professional email plan, which is built on Titan.email.
You can bring your own plugins and themes with WordPress Pro. Automattic plugins, like WooCommerce addons can be bought and installed directly from the WordPress dashboard, which makes licensing, billing, and updates super simple.
There are blocked plugins, like most caching, reset, and database access offerings.
All the features mentioned above are included in the WordPress Pro plan.
It doesn't look like you'll be able to upgrade beyond 50gb of storage. This is annoying, but it should be noted that if you're trying to store that many files / images / videos, you should be using a dedicated solution and offloading media there. We suggest using something like WP-Stateless alongside a dedicated video CDN.
There's no visitor limit with WordPress Pro.
WordPress Pro is a product for people looking for 24/7 support, and set-and-forget piece of mind. It's completely managed, simple to use, and comes with features that many small businesses and individuals will use like email, custom domains, storage, and hosting that won't go down regardless of your traffic figures.
At $15/mo this is a great option for many, and we'd suggest looking into it if you've considered hosting your website on shared hosting, as it's far superior in that regard, easier to use, and comes with WordPress specific support.
For example, you can use Elementor on WordPress Pro. (source) This makes it so all you need to do is worry about design - email, hosting, speed, and support are all handled for you.
It's not for massive content sites or large ecommerce setups. If you're a mid-sized digital company, self hosting with a managed WordPress host like WP Engine or Rocket (with incredible support) is probably your best bet.
And if you're a massive enterprise website, WP VIP is the best offering for you.
WordPress Pro is 100% worth it for it's target demographic. It's great for:
It also comes with several things that you'd be paying for if self hosting, or using another service. This includes JetPack Essentials, quality hosting, 24/7 support, and great access in terms of adding whatever plugin you want, and SFTP access.
Here's a look at comparable hosting (in terms of physical offering and support); the WP Engine Base Plan.
If you're not in the aforementioned demographic, then it's not for you. Instead, you'll want to host with a managed WordPress host that offers similar features, but much more control and scalability.
We hope that this review of WordPress Pro, the new offering by Automattic in 2022 was a helpful resource, and gave you the information that you needed to make the right purchase decision. If you have any questions, feel free to reach out in the comment section below.
What about the Speed ? Faster than Kinsta and Cloudways ?