TL; DR: Duplika launched in the mid-2000s as a hosting provider that focused on efficiency and service, and it has become a major Latin American solutions partner. The company delivers businesses the right mix of shared and dedicated hosting, domains, and one-click WordPress optimizations, among other features. Its responsive support team and free migration services also bring peace of mind to entrepreneurs. Duplika emphasizes threat mitigation and robust security practices to minimize the most common drawbacks of shared hosting.
Juan Manuel Zolezzi Volpi had built several websites for an Amazon affiliate company he was working for in Latin America when he encountered a challenge. The company’s web host advised him that one of his shared hosting accounts was using too many resources, and convinced him to upgrade to a dedicated server.
Later, he decided to optimize the Drupal software he ran, and his dedicated server usage dropped to roughly 1% of its available capacity. That insight prompted Juan to address optimization mismatches.
“This is a problem that many people have with growing websites,” he said. “A hosting provider says you need a huge server when you don’t. So that’s how I got started.”
Juan founded Duplika to help small companies maintain websites at affordable prices by using only the resources they need.
The discrepancy between what a hosting provider recommends and what a company needs can be significant — and that’s even when everyone’s acting in good faith. Vendors have little incentive, and often little expertise, in optimizing a bespoke software platform for a specific use case.
And companies often lack the technical know-how to handle those consolidations on their own. The result is a less-than-ideal setup that can leave gaping security holes and lead to inefficient use of server resources.
“I understood that the same problem that I had, other people have as they focus on their business,” Juan said. “They have no idea if the cost is too high or whether they need an upgrade. Well, they’re not alone.”
Today, Duplika offers a wide range of products, including standard shared web hosting, cloud VPS services, dedicated servers, and reseller hosting accounts. It also optimizes for WordPress and manages domain registration.
The company’s portfolio includes email marketing, WooCommerce storefront development, transfers from other vendors, and SSL certificate deployment, giving entrepreneurs right-size options to grow their businesses.
Attention to Detail Makes Shared Hosting a Stronger Solution
Juan said that hosting has evolved considerably since Duplika launched 16 years ago. In the early days, the tech stack on the provider side wasn’t as robust, and glitches, including software licensing and botched upgrades, adversely affected the entire ecosystem. On top of that, some vendors dumped clients who presented too much of a challenge to manage effectively. Many ultralow-cost hosts came and went, leaving a bad reputation for the industry in their wake.
Over the years, Duplika’s team has learned that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
“We had a huge DDoS attack five years ago,” Juan said. “And that’s when we decided to partner with Cloudflare. It’s hard to stop those attacks, especially when people can buy attacks on common web forums targeted against specific companies or providers.”
It also pays to be proactive about plugging routine security holes, even when clients aren’t focused on it.
“Another typical issue is WordPress,” he said. “The XML RPC from WordPress was a huge hole in our websites. So we installed mitigation software on all of our servers. The same happened with Lightspeed.”
The risk for shared hosting is that when one customer on the server gets hacked or compromised, many ISPs and major email providers blacklist the offending IP address. The problem is that every other innocent customer on the shared server is adversely affected by the blacklist.
Some vendors take a hands-off approach by suggesting that shared hosting customers use a third-party email delivery service instead of relying on the shared host’s email software. However, that approach adds cost and complexity — and it offloads responsibility for managing IP reputation. Duplika would rather reduce the risk of a blacklisted IP than foist mitigation onto its customers.
Licenses are the ever-present problem for shared hosts. Each separate license for third-party security and management solutions increases costs per installation. A vendor can bake that extra cost into VPS or dedicated server pricing, but for shared hosting, the cost far outstrips what less security-focused vendors charge.
Hands-On Support Brings Peace of Mind to Customers
One thing that surprises many of Duplika’s business partners is its deep engagement with its support system. Juan told us that Duplika tends to get different types of customers than other hosting providers.
He recounted a conversation he had while working with a consortium of Argentine companies engaged in business development.
“No one there replies to tickets,” he said. “Some people are surprised that I am still answering tickets, but I think it’s the best way to understand the issues that our customers experience. Plus, I love that way of working.”
Duplika maintains a dedicated team focused on customer support, which it touts as one of its market differentiators. Most hosting providers specialize in niche products, customer service, or infrastructure quality. That’s because hosting is mostly a commodity service that doesn’t allow for significant price discrepancy anymore. Duplika emphasizes support and even provides a transition service for companies migrating from a different provider to give customers even more peace of mind.
The company’s emphasis on risk mitigation also means fewer support tickets in the first place.
“It’s a bit tricky to provide the very best service because I know huge companies that don’t have Lightspeed or unified DDoS protection,” Juan said. “However, I think we have a better overall quality of life where no issues are suddenly an emergency, and we have to stay up to all hours of the night answering tickets.”
Duplika: Innovative Hosting Leadership with Excellent Service
Duplika has carved a niche for itself as a support-focused company that prioritizes security while keeping costs low. The company provides a complete portfolio of hosting services and some additional features, including email marketing and WooCommerce storefronts.
The company’s security focus follows from its experience and learning from the mistakes of others in the industry. Duplika is rare among budget-friendly hosts because it provides added services, including Cloudflare, Lightspeed, and other tools that mitigate security risks and operational inefficiencies. Although the company’s overhead is slightly higher, that is offset by a drastic reduction in support tickets — a telltale sign of happy customers.
The company also supports a handful of specialized application platforms, including Magento, Moodle, and LearnDash — with relevant licenses included. And it offers optimized Node.js servers so mobile and web apps and APIs function swiftly and smoothly.
Duplika’s current product road map focuses on a managed WordPress offering, with common plugins and licenses aligned.
“We’re promoting managed WordPress as an add-on to our hosting plans,” Juan said. “We’re learning some of the most-used plugins, and we’re trying to focus on WordPress management and performance. We’ve discovered that a lot of clients don’t have any clue how to make the platform move faster.”
Duplika offers good performance, low cost, responsive service, and robust backend security. Those may be challenging to balance, but it is certainly worth it.
“We keep these extra security tools because it gives us real peace of mind,” Juan said.
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