Home » Best Hosting » Flywheel

Flywheel Review

Written by: Laura Bernheim

Edited by: Lillian Guevara-Castro

12/30/2021

OVERALL RATING	4.8 / 5.0 ★★★★★
Features	4.5 / 5.0
Ease of Use	4.8 / 5.0
Pricing	4.7 / 5.0
Reliability & Support	4.6 / 5.0
Discount for Our Users	See Deals

Laura Bernheim,

Hosting Expert:

A WordPress-only host geared toward designers, developers, and creative agencies, Flywheel appeals to customers with optimized hardware, powerful dev tools, and gorgeous and intuitive user interfaces. A few puzzling limitations surprised us, but the boutique WordPress host excels with reliability, speed, and security.

Category Ratings

We had one of our resident hosting experts, Laura Bernheim, sign up for a Flywheel account and take it for a spin. Below are Laura’s ratings of the Flywheel experience, broken down by the types of hosting Flywheel offers.

If you decide to go with Flywheel, you may get a discount by using our link to sign up. While we often make commissions on purchases made through our links, this had no bearing on Laura’s review.

Here’s what Laura found in reviewing Flywheel:

Advertiser Disclosure

Flywheel's Overall Rating (4.8 / 5.0)

Best Overall Rating

4.8

★★★★★

Price:

$23.00

Setup Time:

4 minutes

Laura Bernheim (HostingAdvice.com):

A fast-growing web hosting provider laser-focused on performant WordPress hosting, Flywheel serves experienced designers, developers, and agencies a beautifully designed hosting experience with the muscle to back up the good looks.

More than a pretty face, Flywheel appeals to a more experienced customer base that understands the importance of a technology stack specifically tailored to hosting the world's most popular content management system.

Instead of trying to be all things to all hosting customers, Flywheel employees put all their effort into managed WordPress services — there is no email hosting, no domain services, no website builder, and no built-in eCommerce tools. Those limitations might frustrate mainstream hosting consumers, but the more tech-savvy Flywheel customers should have no problem arranging the services they need. As avid WordPress users ourselves, we appreciate Flywheel's dedication to optimizing WordPress hosting.

Flywheel deploys each customer on its revamped cloud platform, meaning each user receives ample computing resources, stability, and security. With instant, automatic scalability, the company's infrastructure is never overcrowded or overtaxed.

In business since 2012, the host based in Omaha, Nebraska, doubled its staff in 2016. In addition to software developers and designers, Flywheel employs numerous Happiness Engineers and Customer Success Specialists to ensure happy hosting experiences.

We appreciate that Flywheel prioritizes customer support so much that it developed its own proprietary systems. Instant chats and email tickets are never more than a click or two away, but phone support is only available to customers that spend $250 or more per month.

Even better, however, the company recently expanded its support availability beyond regular business hours. Plus, we trust someone to promptly respond to our inquiries at all times of day, unlike other mainstream hosts that tout 24/7 support but make you wait an hour.

WordPress-exclusive managed hosting
Updated cloud platform powered by Google Cloud
1-click staging or local development environments
Multi-site tools geared toward developers and agencies
Streamlined collaboration and billing management
Get started on Flywheel now.

Money Back Guarantee

30 days

Disk Space

5 GB - 50 GB

Domain Name

N/A

Setup Time

4 minutes

Flywheel's Cheap Hosting (not yet rated)

"We haven't evaluated Flywheel for this type of hosting service — yet. Either the company didn't offer this option at the time this review was written or this section of the review hasn't made it to the top of our editorial queue just yet. Either way, check back later, as we're always working to keep our reviews up to date and as comprehensive as possible!"

Laura Bernheim, Tech Expert

Want Laura to review your hosting service? Request a review.

Flywheel's Dedicated Hosting (not yet rated)

"We haven't evaluated Flywheel for this type of hosting service — yet. Either the company didn't offer this option at the time this review was written or this section of the review hasn't made it to the top of our editorial queue just yet. Either way, check back later, as we're always working to keep our reviews up to date and as comprehensive as possible!"

Laura Bernheim, Tech Expert

Want Laura to review your hosting service? Request a review.

Flywheel's VPS Hosting (4.7 / 5.0)

VPS Rating

4.7

★★★★★

Price:

$23.00

Setup Time:

4 minutes

Flywheel takes an interesting approach to web hosting by giving each customer a fine-tuned cloud environment perfectly optimized for WordPress. The company rebuilt its infrastructure from the ground up, partnering with Google Cloud Platform to provide the high-availability hosting and dedicated resources needed to power high-traffic sites.

Flywheel offers single-site or bulk hosting plans, referring to the number of WordPress installations allowed. The $23-per-month price tag for the most affordable single-site plan will seem a little steep for novice customers who are used to seeing shared hosting, unlimited websites, and costs less than $5 per month. The added infrastructure, resources, and managed support, however, make Flywheel an excellent deal for developers and designers with more discerning tastes.

Flywheel starts single-site hosting plans with 5GB of storage and 250GB of bandwidth, along with a free site migration and SSL certificate. Traffic is limited to 25,000 monthly visits with the most basic plan, but Flywheel won't shut off your site if you go over.

With the infrastructure optimized for speed, Flywheel engineers also devote ample time to security. Servers are configured with WordPress security best practices, and server-level blocking and scanning services prevent brute force attacks and protect core files.

If a site does become infected, Flywheel will remove the malware for free. Flywheel's partnership with Sucuri means customers get world-class malware scanning, and the company's intelligent IP blocking detects attackers within seconds and prevents them from attacking the network.

WordPress-optimized plans on Google Cloud
Auto-healing and instant-scaling technologies
FREE CDN and staging environments included
Easy site management on a custom dashboard
Enjoy a 14-day FREE trial for demo sites
Get started on Flywheel now.

Money Back Guarantee

30 days

Disk Space

5 GB - 50 GB

Domain Name

N/A

Setup Time

4 minutes

Flywheel's WordPress Hosting (4.7 / 5.0)

WordPress Rating

4.7

★★★★★

Price:

$23.00

Setup Time:

4 minutes

It seems rather obvious (and repetitive) to say that a web host that solely hosts WordPress sites excels at hosting WordPress — but it's true. In addition to revamped infrastructure optimized for the world-famous content management system, Flywheel offers several proprietary, one-of-a-kind services that extend WordPress hosting beyond traditional norms.

We're suckers for hosts that provide WordPress staging environments, and Flywheel has one of the best — no need for an additional server or plugins. Users can push and pull changes between production and staging environments with just one click of the mouse, in addition to selectively merging the database or just themes and plugins. Staging environments are the perfect way to test how new plugins or updated versions of WordPress will affect your website.

Flywheel further streamlined the design and development process when it acquired popular local WordPress development platform Pressmatic, eventually relaunching it as Local by Flywheel. Local™ removes the technical headaches of configuration and debugging local environments and allows for one-click WordPress installations, flexible infrastructure, simple root access, and shareable URLs.

We also appreciate that Flywheel enables designers, developers, and agencies to package together commonly used themes and plugins for rapid, automated configuration of new sites and projects. Blueprints can be saved and deployed with speed and simplicity, empowering you to focus on a client's specific needs and customizations.

In addition to free site migrations and fine-tuned cloud architecture, Flywheel further expands WordPress hosting with performant server-side FlyCache solutions and full-featured, free demo sites.

Everything is controlled from a gorgeous, easy-to-use interface. All your sites are hosted and accessible through the admin portal, meaning you don't have to remember all the different logins for sites you manage. Traditional hosting customers might miss the standard cPanel installation, but Flywheel's platform was clearly designed for people passionate about well-crafted user experiences.

High-touch managed WordPress hosting
FREE speed boost via built-in CDN and custom FlyCache technology
One-click sandbox environment for staging
In-house WP expertise and support available 24/7
FREE security scans and malware removal
Get started on Flywheel now.

Money Back Guarantee

30 days

Disk Space

5 GB - 50 GB

Domain Name

N/A

Setup Time

4 minutes

Flywheel's Website Builder Hosting (not yet rated)

"We haven't evaluated Flywheel for this type of hosting service — yet. Either the company didn't offer this option at the time this review was written or this section of the review hasn't made it to the top of our editorial queue just yet. Either way, check back later, as we're always working to keep our reviews up to date and as comprehensive as possible!"

Laura Bernheim, Tech Expert

Want Laura to review your hosting service? Request a review.

Features

(4.5 / 5.0)

Custom Tools Streamline Development

Blueprints™ save development time by packaging frequently used themes and plugins into reusable configurations when creating new sites. No more manual installations!
Staging environments make WordPress and plugin updates safer. Push, pull, or merge changes between staging and production with one click.
Local™ simplifies WordPress development workflows in local environments. Functionality includes SSL support, SSH access, and shareable demo URLs.

Managed WordPress Security Done Right

Free SSL certificates provided by Let's Encrypt can be installed simply through the Flywheel interface. The company's security systems also feature intelligent IP blocking.
Security is handled at the server level, meaning there is no need for additional security plugins. If malware is detected, Flywheel experts will remove it for free.
Automatic nightly backups are stored for 30 days and can be restored at any time. Customers can also take snapshots whenever their hearts desire, giving users the ultimate peace of mind.

Bulk Plans and Tools Appeal to Resellers

Teammates, clients, and other collaborators get full access to manage the website and update files — even better, they're responsible for their own usernames and passwords.
Send clients a secure payment form when you're ready to transfer website ownership. You retain full access to the site after the supremely smooth billing process.
Create production-ready sites quickly and for free to show new work to clients. The demos are private, password-protected, and free until it's ready to go live.

Top Tech Tools Mean Speedy Page Loads

Flywheel revamped its infrastructure around WordPress speed, scalability, and security. By partnering with Google Cloud Platform, customers' sites will utterly soar.
The company's server-side caching solution, FlyCache, is tailored for the WordPress and Flywheel infrastructure, precluding the need for additional caching plugins.
Flywheel's built-in content delivery network helps customers get an extra performance boost with by putting your content closer to your visitors.

Ease of Use

(4.8 / 5.0)

Beautiful, Simple Dashboard

Flywheel Review

Packaged Themes and Plugins

Flywheel Review

1-Click Local Development

Flywheel Review

A perfect mix of brains and beauty, Flywheel's user interface has been engineered with developers and designers in mind. Signup and site management are smooth and efficient, with visually appealing representations of tedious, technical processes. Blueprints, or packaged themes and plugins, provide a streamlined way to set up new projects with tried-and-true components, while Local™ automates virtualization when setting up development environments on your machine.

Pricing

(4.7 / 5.0)

"Starter" Plan

$23.00/month »

"Freelance" Plan

$105.00/month »

"Agency" Plan

$266.00/month »

Upscale WordPress hosts, such as Flywheel, seemingly never fare well when it comes to head-to-head price comparisons with the numerous affordable shared hosting providers. Instead of comparing apples to oranges, however, customers need a more detailed approach to understanding the value Flywheel brings to hosting. The company's managed services are very competitively priced, especially considering the added perks such as one-click staging areas, collaboration tools, and hands-free security services.

The plans highlighted above only cover individual WordPress installations, but Flywheel provides options for supporting multiple sites. Great for resellers and creative agencies, the bulk plans range between 10 and 30 installations, with custom options available for those seeking more.

See our Flywheel deals (8% off!)

Reliability & Support

(4.6 / 5.0)

Flywheel guarantees enterprise WordPress hosting customers an above-average 99.99% uptime, but the same guarantee is nowhere to be found on the regular plan descriptions. The terms of service, however, guarantee 100% availability, not counting scheduled maintenance, required repairs, and unforeseeable outages beyond Flywheel's control.

Support agents solved more than 105,000 tickets and migrated nearly 6,000 sites for customers in 2016. Two years later, the company expanded its availability beyond traditional business hours to match competitors' 24/7 service. Flywheel developers created the company's custom support solution, meaning a chat or email ticket is always a click or two away. Phone support, however, is only available to customers who spend at least $250 per month.

Flywheel Includes:

24/7 Support With Ticket System, Phone, and Live Chat, as well as Knowledgebase Articles, eBooks, and a Free 14-Day Email Course About Web Design Trends

Other Hosts vs. Flywheel

Wondering how Flywheel stacks up againt other web hosting services? See our host-vs-host reviews below and compare them side by side.

Flywheel vs. WP Engine

We present the behemoths of managed WordPress hosting: Flywheel and WP Engine.

See full comparison »

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.5/5.0

Flywheel vs. GoDaddy

Flywheel and GoDaddy boast some great reputations in the web hosting industry.

See full comparison »

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.7/5.0

Flywheel vs. Media Temple

We’re comparing two premium, specialized providers: Flywheel and Media Temple.

See full comparison »

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

Flywheel vs. SiteGround

Flywheel and SiteGround appeal to different customer appetites, but each serves up a delicious offering.

See full comparison »

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 4.8/5.0

Overall Rating

★★★★★ 5.0/5.0

Flywheel is the winner
3 out of 4 times.

The Rundown

Laura Bernheim

Hosting Expert:

To recap, here's a rundown of what Flywheel has to offer

If we lived in a WordPress-only world (and who wouldn't want that?), Flywheel would be at the top of the managed hosting heap. The company's optimized infrastructure, state-of-the-art features, and in-house developer tools make a major splash. We love the emphasis on usability with Flywheel's proprietary administrative portal, local development app, and staging area, as well as packaged theme and plugin blueprints. The lack of email hosting and domain services keep us from ranking Flywheel among the best full-service hosts, but WordPress aficionados would be hard-pressed to find a hosting company more dedicated to user experience, development efficiency, and customer success.

Overall Rating

4.8 / 5.0

★★★★★

About The Author

Laura has spent more than 12 years crafting engaging and award-winning articles that share the passion behind organizations' products, people, and innovations. As a long-time HostingAdvice contributing expert, she combines a reputation for producing quality content with rich technical expertise to show experienced developers how to capitalize on emerging technologies and find better ways to work with established platforms. A professional journalist, Laura has contributed to The New York Times, Sports Illustrated, the Sun Sentinel, and the world's top hosting providers.