News
546 articles · 14 categories
Editor's pick
Interviews
Hosting Is the Next Layer AI Will Transform – Vito Peleg, CEO of Atarim
Vito Peleg of Atarim on why he reads AI as the biggest opportunity hosting has had in fifteen years, how today's vibe coders mirror the server-in-the-bedroom generation that built today's hosting market, and why reactive agencies feel like a tax while proactive ones win.
Hetzner Has Now Raised Prices Three Times in 2026. This One Is Different.
Hetzner announced its third price move of 2026 on May 27, effective June 15. New orders only, portfolio standardised into -1/-2/-3 tiers, and a new Limited tier introduces hardware segmentation as a structural market shift. Other European hosts will face pressure to follow.
Cloudflare Called It AI Restructuring. Every Hosting Company Faces the Same Decision.
Cloudflare cut 1,100 employees (20% of headcount) on a $639.8M record revenue day and used a "builders, sellers, measurers" framework that maps directly onto hosting operations. Billing, support triage, and compliance are where AI closed the gap. The advantage goes to who acts first.
WordCamp Europe 2026: A Hosting Industry Guide to the Schedule
WordCamp Europe 2026 opens June 4 in Kraków with Contributor Day plus two conference days. The Inside WordPress 7.0 panel anchors Friday. Hosting-specific sessions cover stress testing, secure hosting, DDoS, and CERN's 800-site migration. Over a dozen hosting companies sponsor.
All articles
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Other
WP Engine claims Automattic planned royalty fees for at least 10 other hosting companies
TL;DR: the 8% royalty proposal from 2024 is old news - but WP Engine now claims that Automattic planned similar demands for at least 10 other hosting competitors. The latest update also includes new internal communications and an alleged attempt to interfere with WP Engine’s Stripe relationship. We covered this case when it started in
Other
Wix trades 68.7% below 2025 levels despite $2B buyback plan
Wix closed at $70.95 on February 12, 2026. In January 2025, the stock was trading around $240–$247 per share and the 52-week high stands at $239,73. From that peak to $70.95, the decline is approximately -68%. This is not a minor correction. It is a full valuation reset. The buyback decision On January 28, 2026,
Other
Is Webuzo any alternative to cPanel? See what hosting pros think about it in February 2026
A recent discussion on WebHostingTalk - “I need feedback on Webuzo” - triggered an interesting exchange among hosting operators testing Webuzo as a potential alternative to cPanel. Reading through the thread and comparing it with direct conversations we’ve had with shared hosting providers in recent weeks, one pattern emerges. Interest is real, but confidence is
Other
What hosting providers are saying about cPanel in early 2026
A recent thread on WebHostingTalk - “A personal and honest perspective on cPanel - beyond pricing complaints” - triggered a long discussion among hosting operators about cPanel’s direction in 2026. Reading through the discussion, and comparing it with direct conversations we’ve had with shared hosting operators in recent weeks, one pattern is clear. No one
Expert's Voice
Why Hosting Companies Are Expanding into SaaS, E-commerce, and Ecosystems
For years, the value proposition was simple: rent space on the internet, keep it online, keep it fast, keep it safe. And that still matters - immensely. But it’s no longer where most of the value is captured. In 2026, the most ambitious hosting companies are no longer competing primarily on CPUs, storage, or even performance benchmarks. They’re competing on something much messier and far more powerful: the customer’s workflow.
1 million registrations of .ai domains – 20× increase over 5.5 years
TL;DR - the .ai country-code domain needed roughly five years to scale from ~40,000 registrations in early 2020 to over 1M in early 2026.This TLD, managed by Identity Digital, has a huge fiscal impact on the Anguilla (&70M revenue in 2025), as well on aftermarket, with multiple six-figure domain sales. The milestone reflects continued demand
Shared hosting in 2025 – a year of stress tests, signals and structural change
TL;DR - if 2024 was about post‑COVID normalization, 2025 was about pressure - on margins, positioning, and on the long‑term credibility of the traditional shared hosting model. Growth didn’t collapse, but cracks became visible, and for the first time in years, they were openly discussed by operators and investors alike. This article is our take
Webhosting.today January 2026 Security Update
We’re excited to launch the first-ever Monthly Security Update on WebHosting.Today, we couldn’t be more pleased to do it alongside three of the most respected names in hosting and WordPress security, Blackwall as a returning Diamond sponsor, with Monarx and Patchstack, now joining WebHosting.Today, as Gold Sponsors. This is more than a new content series.
Mergers and acquisitions
Shellrent joins Your.Online — third acquisition in 2026
Your.Online has completed another acquisition with the addition of Shellrent, an Italian provider of domains, hosting, cloud VPS, and server solutions. The deal was signed in February, making this the third acquisition of the year — and it is only February. Shellrent was founded in 2006 and is based in Vicenza. The company serves businesses
Automattic and Wayback Machine teamed up to launch Link Fixer
TL;DR - new WordPress connects websites through API with the Internet Archive. When an outbound link dies, instead of 404s, users are redirected to an archived copy of the resource. For public sites, this is frictionless resilience. For private environments, it’s a real privacy risk. What new plugin does 1. Redirects broken links automaticallyWhen a
Other
Have you paid for your open source last year? team.blue did
TL;DR - PHP runs most of the web, and WordPress alone powers over 40% of it. The PHP Foundation’s annual budget is under $1 million and team.blue just became their Gold Sponsor, together with Automattic and GoDaddy.Why only those 3 seem to care? This made us think more broadly about how hosting supports open source
4.67 million new .com domains registered in 2025 according to new Namecheap’s domain insights
TL;DR - in the newest Namecheap Domain Insights & Trends Report included registrations comparison of 2024 vs 2025, with trends and signals for 2026. The dataset is based on Namecheap’s proprietary registration data and reflects activity across more than 22 million domains under management. .com is still the largest TLD, but keeps shrinking YoY In
Industry reports
Lost case – Monaco.com will not belong to Monako
TL;DR - The Government of Monaco lost an attempt to seize Monaco.com from a private owner using UDRP. This was proof that governments do not automatically control matching names in .com, even when the name is a country. Unlike ccTLDs, gTLDs still operate under trademark and bad-faith rules, not state sovereignty. What happened The Government
Mergers and acquisitions
UK2 Group has joined Your.Online
TL;DR - this adds another established UK hosting platform to the group. No product changes were announced. The deal fits Your.Online’s ongoing UK consolidation pattern. What actually happened On 2 February 2026, Your.Online announced that UK2 Group will join the group. UK2 Group was founded in 1998 and operates several hosting brands, including UK2, Midphase,
Industry reports
EuroDNS updated its prices for 29 domains, including .ai and .health, after registry changes.
TL;DR - EuroDNS updated retail prices for 29 domains, including .ai and .health, following registry changes. The new prices take effect between 1 March and 1 April 2026, depending on the domain. New domain prices published by EuroDNS According to the announcement, new EuroDNS retail prices take effect on three dates: 1 March 2026, 5
Industry reports
S&P Global believes that Newfold lost over 1 million subscribers (roughly 17%) since 2023
TL;DR - On January 26, 2026 S&P Global, one of the three largest rating agencies in the world, published its latest report on Newfold Digital: “Upgraded To 'CCC+' Following Debt Restructuring” One sentence inside the analysis changes the positive impression an ‘upgrade’ usually creates: Newfold has lost more than 1 million subscribers since 2023 according
Industry reports
Hosting.com deploys Monarx security across its entire server fleet
TL;DR - Hosting.com (formerly A2 Hosting) has rolled out Monarx security across its full global server fleet. Hosting.com runs infrastructure serving more than 3 million websites across 40+ locations and this deployment covers all of them, not a subset or premium tier. What Monarx does Monarx is a cybersecurity company focused entirely on securing one
Expert's Voice
Can event sponsorships provide measurable ROI for hosts?
This is the fair question hosting companies ask. Field marketing is an interesting entry on the budget sheets. Events serve as a great place to build relationships, earn trust, and reinforce brand awareness. However, simply purchasing a booth at an international WordCamp or sponsoring a major industry event or flagship conference can run over $100,000
Expert's Voice
Google introduces a new e-commerce protocol for AI agents and WordPress is not part of it yet
TL;DR - Google published a new commerce protocol designed for AI agents, not humans. Major SaaS platforms are already aligned. WordPress and WooCommerce are not part of the process yet. The issue isn’t technology, only how fast different models (SaaS vs standalone) absorb change. What happened Google published the Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP). It’s an
Industry reports
Kinsta moves sites to Oracle Cloud after 10 years with Google Cloud
TL;DR - Kinsta announced migration of WordPress sites from Google Cloud to Oracle Cloud. They stayed on Google Cloud for nearly a decade because it made sense at the time. They’re leaving now because the cost of GC is no longer acceptable, and Oracle Cloud became a low-risk, structurally cheaper alternative at their scale. Kinsta