Since nearly everyone here posted all the usual "y'all sold out…FW sux now…we trusted you and I'm leaving" s&%t that just sort of makes the internet a more disheartening space, I'm going to say: congrats, Flywheel. I am sure that this wasn't an easy decision. I'm sure that you didn't take this process lightly. I'm sure there are great reasons why joining forces with WPEngine—which, by the way, is an industry-standard super-solid (if rather stuffy) WP hosting option that has many nice things that Flywheel currently doesn't—makes a lot of sense for your entire team. Sure, I'd love to see WPEngine end up a little more like Flywheel than vice-versa, but come ON. Nothing has even happened yet! Who cancels their account immediately after an announcement like this? I know from experience that moving from one host to another is SO MUCH WORK. Why wouldn't you just let human curiosity keep you where you were for a little while, to see what is going to happen? Where is the faith, the love, the support? Why can't you fair-weather friends just give these people a shot before making a very public, childish, and honestly embarrassing "f-u" in this comment section?

It just wears me out. Flywheel: I'm proud of you, and I'm hoping that this merger is going to be everything you want it to be, and, selfishly, everything I want it to be, too! Thanks!

I’m a current fly wheel customer. I will be moving. I chose flywheel over WPE for many reasons. Anybody know where we can move to a host with same vibes and quality of flywheel?

Also agree that Morgan is ignoring many comments because he doesn’t want to respond with his canned responses. So sad

Kinsta, here I come!

Noooooooo! I left WP Engine for Flywheel! Please do not change how you run Flywheel - you are the best of the best just the way you are!

I share the same concerns with other agency's here. We just moved over a bunch of our clients from various hosts over to Flywheel. We are also using the Whitelabel program for billing and additional services. It's fantastic and is a big part of our growth plans. I really hope WPE doesn't mess this up for the small agencies who had to "sell" our clients on why they should make the move. If reseller pricing becomes unprofitable, it's going to be a big problem for us.

We have used WPE in the past and it's not a good experience. Really bummed about this news.

Like most who have voiced their concerns, I will be moving my business elsewhere. I've been using Flywheel for clients sites and was just about to double down on relling hosting because I was utterly convinced that a 'small' and boutique business like flywheel would be the perfect fit for other boutique businesses, but looks like I'm switching to Namecheap, who hosts my personal sites and I've yet to have any issues with them. If there's any 'big' company I'd go with, it's them and not WP Engine.

Pricing already went up shortly before this was announced.

I was saddened to hear about the sell-out. Morgan's canned and evasive responses serve as a warning. Nothing good will come from this except for a select few. I ended up at Flywheel because of WPE. As soon as WPE goes public their focus will shift from customer satisfaction to investor satisfaction. I'm happy the Flywheel execs will soon be able to stuff some more exotics into their garages. I'll be leaving to find another 'flywheel-type' host for my site.

Are you going to be honoring the pricing agreements for agency plans moving forward? I think you should give your customers this information now and not later. We, the monthly paying customers, deserve to have this information now so we can make the best decision for US and not YOUR sale.

A fee years ago I moved all my client sites over to Flywheel from various other hosts, including WPEngine. I have been very happy with Flywheel until this announcement. I have been a part of several buyouts first hand and have witnessed numerous others and it never works out well for the consumer. They are always pitched like they are but they never are. The only ones that will benefit from the sale of Flywheel to WPEngine are those selling it. Me and my clients will not benefit from this at all. I feel like Flywheel has sold out. And this makes me sad. Flywheel was unique. Regardless of how this is spun by either company this is not something I am pleased about at all. I hope I am wrong but I will be watching closely.

I build a lot of wordpress websites for clients. These days when clients come to me they are often on WPEngine. My preference is between the two is definitely Flywheel, and have a lot of client websites now on Flywheel. However, when WPEngine bought StudioPress last year I thought that was an interesting additional benefit to using WPEngine, particularly because I was starting to get back to using Genesis. So does this mean the Flywheel may offer the perks related to StudioPress now too? As long as WPEngine doesn't start to mess with the good stuff that Flywheel is doing, I think this could be pretty good news for people like me.

Not amazed or amused. I'll be saying "so long" when my plan is up for renewal.

So glad today is April 1st. Jk. WPEngine does have a lot of good traits, resources, and performance. Four years ago, I built a database-intensive WordPress site that ran slow on several Web hosts I tried. Then, I ran into some people from WPEngine at a WordCamp in San Francisco. I went home and switched that site to WPEngine, and was quite happy to see a noticeable performance increase. I stayed there for about a year. During that time, I continued building out that site even further, with more functionality. It began to slow down again. So, at the next SF WordCamp, I ran into Rick and a few others from Flywheel at their "booth." All, super nice people and good ideas about increasing performance. Since they already offered to migrate the site for me and I could mess with it for a couple weeks without signing up, I gave it a shot. Instantly, a huge increase in performance without changing anything on my end. I was convinced. I've stuck with Flywheel since, and have brought more new sites along. I really can't say enough about Flywheel and especially their incredibly helpful Support team. They've often gone beyond their hosting duties to help me out.

Customers rarely like to see a company merge or be acquired, but I have confidence you guys will do the right thing, and we can all continue to have happy hosting from WPEngine+Flywheel.

Cheers!

WP Engine should address how they plan on improving hosting plans for current Flywheel customers. I saw little mention of what WP Engine has to offer to Flywheel customers in their official post; any tangible benefits we might see by the move.

This is what I mean by tangible benefits: Plan Size, Performance, Features, and Customer Service.

Divide that by cost and you have what we all care about.

I'm not a touchy feely sort of person, but as a Flywheel customer, this move only evokes negative emotions. And that is not a knock on WP Engine. I respect their company and products, and listen to their podcast on Webmaster radio. But I also fail to see how they can possibly improve on Flywheel.

Personally (and I believe I will speak for the majority of Flywheel customers), I’m keeping my fingers crossed that WP Engine changes Flywheel as little as possible.

AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE!

Here’s another thing to consider - my current plan on Flywheel would be 2x the cost on WP Engine’s advertized plans. 2X THE COST! So you have to wonder if the disparity between the two will start to close.

If and when Flywheel plan pricing gets rolled into WP Engine’s pricing, you’d have to wonder how they’re planning to deliver 2x in value.

I sure hope they merge their affiliate program with yours and the not the other way around. The WP Engine affiliate program is horrible to use.

Congratulations Dusty!

I'm begging you, say it ain't so.

This merger makes me really nervous for my clients and my web developing business. As a freelance developer and a Flywheel agency partner, I chose Flywheel over WP Engine when looking for a solution for reselling hosting because

1. Your prices were more competitive for small local businesses, (who just can’t pay $50/month for hosting, no matter what I offer to them). With your agency plan of 10 sites, I can resell hosting for $25-30/month and actually make a profit. WP Engine’s starting plan is $35/month, and their 5-site bulk plan is the same monthly cost as 10 sites at Flywheel. You may not be raising prices now, but you almost certainly will eventually, and i worry it will price out those of us freelancers who resell hosting to individuals and small businesses.

2. Your user interface is better and Local is fantastic. Please don’t change those things.

3. Your support is real human Americans who understand Wordpress and designers and developers, and who have just been awesome every time I’ve contacted them. My limited experience with WP Engine’s support was impersonal and cold. They feel like a big company, and maybe they have a great company culture, but they’re customer service doesn’t have the “willing to go the extra mile for you” start-up feel that Flywheel has. I love that about you, and I don’t know if I believe that it’s possible to keep that feeling and be a huge company, too.

I trusted you, and now I’ve convinced all my clients to trust you for hosting. All your PR about this is all about how you’ll be pushing the boundaries of technology and being an awesome place to work, and serving thousands of people. That’s great, I’m happy for you. While you’re doing that, please don’t forget about us freelancers, especially those of us who don’t live in big cities and don’t have rich clients. We need solutions for our businesses, too. I was so excited to find you. Please don’t change too much.

Crazy news! Big congrats, I can't wait to see what comes of this marriage.

Congrats to you and the whole Flywheel team! What you've built is so special. Excited for your next chapter!