Writer: Jordan Sprogis
Editor: Lillian Castro
Reviewer: Cristian Lopez
TL; DR: Hey, Kiwi business owners: If you’re looking to boost your business with a fresh website, WPhost has got your back. This New Zealand-based WordPress hosting provider handles all the heavy lifting — you run your business, and they’ll perform maintenance, updates, security checks, and more. We spoke with Founder Jaron Phillips about his journey from running the successful web hosting company Cheeky Monkey to launching WPhost, aiming to bridge the gap in WordPress hosting for Kiwi businesses Down Under.
I’m going to tell you something I don’t think I’ve ever admitted before. First, I’ll start with something you do know: I’m a writer for HostingAdvice, where I share with all of you news and features on movers and shakers in the hosting and tech spaces.
But what you may not know is that I get frustrated with technology easily. I know, I know: It may as well be a sin, like a priest who doesn’t preach. Maybe you expected someone behind the screen who runs dozens of websites or can code with their eyes closed.
No, that’s not exactly me. But I am someone who loves to learn and share how technology is making our lives — our world — better. And that’s exactly why I was immediately intrigued to know about the New Zealand WordPress hosting provider, WPhost.
New Zealand comprises two islands and is home to more than 5 million people — and yet, it’s often forgotten. There’s even a subreddit dedicated to showcasing when it’s not included on world maps (r/MapsWithoutNZ if you’re interested).
WPhost’s Founder, Jaron Phillips, said there are two main avenues that WPhost hopes to target: 1) focus on helping businesses with limited (or no) IT resources, and 2) specialize in helping companies in New Zealand — specifically the South Island.
Back to Cheeky Beginnings
I love to employ a cheeky title now and again, but in this case, I’m referring to WPhost’s sister company, Cheeky Monkey, which Jaron has been operating for nearly two decades.
Cheeky Monkey is a web-hosting company owned by the same team as WPhost. Both are New Zealand-owned and operated and share the same commitment to offering quality hosting services for the Kiwi region.
Unlike Cheeky Monkey though, WPhost is entirely dedicated to WordPress hosting. Jaron said he launched WPhost when he noticed a real need for managed WordPress hosting — which makes sense, considering almost half of all active websites run on WordPress — particularly in the New Zealand region.
“We’re so far away from the rest of the world,” Jaron explained. “There are very limited hosts Down Under and we’re trying to help Kiwi businesses compete against the rest of the world.”
WPhost leverages the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) to do that.
In 2022, Google announced its very first cloud region in New Zealand. WPhost particularly uses GCP for its three main attributes:
- Auto-healing technology works by automatically detecting and repairing failed virtual machine (VM) instances. So when a VM becomes “unhealthy” — resource overload and hardware failures, for example — the auto-healing feature automatically recreates it. The result is minimized downtime.
- Instant scaling: One of the best parts about the cloud is its ability to scale when needed. So when traffic spikes, GCP instantly adjusts the number of VMs to handle the load, so your users don’t face those unwanted slow loading times.
- New caching technology: Recently released, GCP’s new caching tech helps lower latency for faster access to frequently used content, such as images, text, menus, and blogs. Having this content load quickly is directly tied to a better user experience — which has only become more prevalent in today’s digital age.
WPhost’s other partnership with Fastly also helps with speedier content delivery.
Fastly is a content delivery network (CDN) that has data centers in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. Jaron added: “Our businesses can still leverage the power of a CDN and have their content served from anywhere in the world, so we’re really able to make a massive difference.”
Fastly has CDN locations in New Zealand, Australia, Hawaii, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, and Africa.
When your business operates in one of the southernmost countries in the world, you need something that can connect you at the same speeds everyone else is getting.
Take the tourism industry, for example. Tourism is a major contributor to New Zealand’s economy — almost 7% of the country’s GDP — and helping more businesses get online means tourists can easily find them, hopefully boosting visibility and economic growth.
“Having the data served from the south island as well makes a big difference to businesses down there, especially our tourism market-based in Queenstown and South island customers as well,” Jaron added.
WPhost Does the Heavy Lifting
Remember how I mentioned getting frustrated with technology?
I know I’m not alone — hundreds of Kiwi businesses feel the same way. That’s why they trust WPhost to act as an extension of their teams, keeping their websites up and running without all the hassle.
So, not only are New Zealand businesses set up to do better business with WPhost, but they don’t even have to lift a finger to make it happen.
This is one of the features of WPhost’s managed WordPress hosting services, which ranges from $29 to $99/month, depending on how much bandwidth and space you need.
Here’s a glance at all of WPhost’s services and plans:
- Web Hosting
- Security
- Malware Removal Services (one-time fee of $175 or free with Silver Plan and above)
- Security Lockdown Service (one-time fee of $249)
- Locked Files
- Limited Login Attempts
- Intelligent IP Blocking
- Two-factor authentication (2FA)
- Security Insights
- Maintenance
- Optimization Services
- Nightly Automatic Backups
- Managed Plugin Updates ($20+/mo)
- Site Restoration
- 24/7 Uptime Monitoring ($20+/mo)
- Speed Optimization (one-time fee of $399)
- Tune-Up Service (one-time fee of $79)
- Free Site Migration
- Performance Enhancements
WPhost handles plugin updates, manages caching, and takes care of backups, SSLs, and security.
“We want to be that extra person on a business’s team where we take care of most of the maintenance,” Jaron explained.
Security is a big focus — as it should be, with cyberattackers running rampant — offering features like malware removal, locked files, two-factor authentication (2FA), limited login attempts, nightly backups, and more.
“Our security updates are rolled out immediately, SSL certificates are automatically renewed, and plugin vulnerabilities are addressed within 24 hours,” Jaron explained. “We’re serious about security, especially keeping WordPress versions, plugins, and PHP up to date.”
On a separate note, let’s rewind for a minute: If you’re a web developer, designer, or part of a digital agency, you should definitely check out WPhost’s agency program.
It’s a partnership that equips you with everything you need to offer WordPress hosting to your clients. From white labeling and discounted rates to a dedicated account manager, priority support, automated billing, and client management tools — it’s all covered.
It’s Not Just Hosting; It’s a Relationship
What stands out to me about the WPhost team is its strong sense of identity and purpose.
“We really treat our customers’ sites as our own; we get to know them personally — we know what’s going on in their world and their sites before they even ask about it,” Jaron said.
To me, that level of care is the hallmark of a customer-focused service model. But don’t just take my word for it: the glowing testimonials from its clients speak for themselves.
“We don’t want to be a massive hosting company hosting thousands of sites,” Jaron added. “We are quite happy hosting hundreds of sites and actually getting to know our customers quite well.”
It’s a great point; one I’m inclined to agree with.
From my own experience, having a smaller customer base does have its perks. Think about how much easier it is to maintain personal relationships with clients when you don’t have to keep track of thousands of them.
So I think it’s safe to assume that because WPhost is more in tune with its clients, they’re better positioned to understand what their customers need.
That said, Jaron said there are a couple of exciting developments on the horizon, including new WooCommerce plans. While WPhost is hosted on GCP, its WooCommerce plans are currently managed separately through WooCommerce.
To address this, WPhost is looking to migrate its more resource-intensive WooCommerce clients to GCP’s larger C3D servers — VMs powered by 4th Generation AMD EPYC processors. In other words, these servers are designed for businesses with heavy traffic.
“These will also include Cloudflare integration, adding another layer of security, better performance, and faster speeds,” Jaron added. “That’s our focus heading into the new year.”
Like Fastly, Cloudflare is a CDN, so WPhost clients are getting access to two of the world’s most popular CDN platforms.
It’s clear that WPhost is all about making life easier for New Zealand businesses. Honestly, it’s companies like these that make me love writing about them.
So, if you’re a Kiwi business owner who’s short on time or the expertise needed to handle the technical upkeep of your site, it may be time to let WPhost do the heavy lifting.
After all, why struggle when someone else can do it way better?
