Mustaasam Saleem, Founder of HostWP.io, is on a mission to make WordPress hosting faster, more secure, and truly user-focused. In his exclusive Website Planet interview, he shares how his deep community involvement and technical expertise have shaped a platform tailored specifically for agencies, developers, and WordPress users worldwide.
Can you please introduce yourself to our readers?
Hi everyone! 👋 I’m Mustaasam, a Software Engineer graduate and an active member of the WordPress community. I bring a passion for empowering others, whether through attending WordCamps and speaking at WordPress meetups, building helpful tools, or offering hands-on support.
I’ve also attended several WordCamps, including WordCamp Europe in Germany (2019), Portugal (2022), and Greece (2023), as well as WordCamp Asia in Thailand (2023).
For more on my work and my contributions to the WordPress community, feel free to check out my portfolio at mustaasam.com
Can you give us a brief overview of HostWP.io as a company and its founding story?
HostWP.io was founded to address a clear gap in the WordPress hosting market: most providers offered generic solutions that failed to meet the unique needs of WordPress users.
After years of working in the web hosting industry and witnessing countless WordPress sites struggle with slow speeds, security vulnerabilities, and complex management, I realized there had to be a better way.
Drawing on my experience at Cloudways and MainWP, and my deep involvement in the WordPress community, I co-founded HostWP.io to deliver high-performance, secure, and user-friendly hosting built specifically for WordPress.
Our platform leverages the latest technology, like LiteSpeed Enterprise servers and NVMe storage-to ensure superior performance.
We’re passionate about empowering everyone from small businesses and agencies to bloggers and developers, making sure they have the right tools and support needed to grow and succeed online.
Our journey has been shaped by direct feedback from the community, our own agency experience, and a relentless drive to empower others.
Today, HostWP.io is trusted by agencies, businesses, and freelancers worldwide who want hosting that’s fast, secure, and genuinely supportive.
What is LiteSpeed Hosting, and what are its advantages?
LiteSpeed Hosting (hostwp.io/litespeed-wordpress-hosting) refers to web hosting powered by the LiteSpeed Web Server, a modern alternative to traditional servers like Apache. LiteSpeed is renowned for its speed, scalability, and efficiency.
It can serve thousands of concurrent connections without straining server resources, making it ideal for high-traffic WordPress sites. Key advantages include:
Fast performance: LiteSpeed serves static and dynamic content significantly faster than alternatives, thanks to its event-driven architecture and optimized PHP handling (LSAPI), resulting in up to 50% faster load times.
Advanced security: Built-in features like ModSecurity and anti-DDoS protections help safeguard websites from attacks.
HTTP/3 support: LiteSpeed supports the latest web protocols, ensuring better client-server interactions and faster content delivery.
Efficient resource usage: Its lightweight design means lower CPU and memory consumption, even during peak usage.
Seamless integration: Compatible with popular control panels and CMS platforms, including WordPress, and supports powerful caching plugins like LSCache for optimal Core Web Vitals.
At HostWP.io, every hosting plan is powered by LiteSpeed Enterprise, ensuring our clients’ sites are always fast, secure, and reliable.
What other forms of hosting do you offer to your clients?
While HostWP.io specializes in managed WordPress hosting, our platform is designed to support a wide variety of use cases:
Ecommerce Hosting: Optimized for WooCommerce and other ecommerce platforms, ensuring consistent performance even during peak traffic.
Agency Hosting: Tools for easy management of multiple client sites, including centralized dashboards and bulk management features.
Developer-Friendly Hosting: Access to SSH, multiple PHP versions, a file manager, and staging environments for development and testing.
Blog and Content Hosting: Ultra-fast servers and global CDN coverage for bloggers and content creators.
All plans come with unlimited business email accounts, free SSL certificates, automated daily backups, and advanced security features, making them suitable for businesses, agencies, developers, and bloggers alike.
What can people expect from your WordPress Manager?
Our WordPress Manager is a comprehensive, user-friendly solution for managing multiple WordPress websites. Key features include:
1-click installs and migrations: Quickly launch new sites or migrate existing ones with minimal effort.
Staging and cloning: Create staging environments to test changes safely before pushing them live, and clone sites for rapid deployment.
Automated backups and restores: Schedule daily off-site backups with 1-click restoration for peace of mind.
Smart updates: Manage plugin, theme, and core updates automatically or selectively, reducing maintenance headaches.
Security tools: Activate essential security measures with a single click to keep sites protected.
Bulk management: Handle multiple sites from a single dashboard, ideal for agencies and freelancers.
The WordPress Manager, powered by Softaculous, is included free with every HostWP.io plan, making site management effortless for users at all levels.
What sets HostWP.io apart from other WordPress hosting companies?
Several factors distinguish HostWP.io from the competition:
Community-Driven Philosophy: I’m an active contributor to the WordPress community-speaking at WordPress meetups, sharing knowledge, and supporting open-source projects. This involvement keeps us in tune with user needs and emerging trends, allowing us to innovate quickly and serve our clients better.
Agency-Centric Solutions: We understand the unique challenges agencies face-like managing dozens of sites, ensuring client satisfaction, and scaling operations. Our platform is built with agencies in mind, offering centralized management, white-label solutions, and priority support.
WordPress-First Approach: Our platform is built specifically for WordPress, not as an afterthought or add-on.
Human-Centric Support: Our dedicated team of WordPress engineers provides 24/7/365 human support, treating clients as valued partners, not just account numbers. Many clients have noted the personal care and rapid response they receive.
Performance and Reliability: LiteSpeed Enterprise servers, NVMe storage, and a free QUIC.cloud CDN (with 83+ global locations) ensure unmatched speed and uptime.
Comprehensive Security: Every plan includes advanced security features like CPGuard, CloudLinux, and 1-click CDN integration, plus free SSL certificates.
Unlimited Value: Unlimited business emails, unlimited subdomains, and no arbitrary limits on monthly visitors or inodes.
Easy Management: Centralized, intuitive control panel and WordPress Manager for effortless multi-site management.
Transparent Pricing: No hidden fees, with generous plans to suit everyone from solo bloggers to large agencies.
Additionally, we include features and use the latest technologies, like:
LiteSpeed Enterprise
NVMe storage with AMD Ryzen processors
Complimentary QUIC.cloud CDN Standarad Plan
Free migrations to get you started
Unlimited Email addresses and databases
Robust backups: Last 48 hours of hourly backups and daily backups for 90 days, all automated and incremental.
At HostWP.io, our mission goes beyond just hosting websites; we’re committed to helping our clients thrive online.
How long have you been a part of the WordPress ecosystem?
For over a decade now, WordPress has been more than just a platform; it’s truly become the fabric of my professional life.
This passion has driven me to pour my energy into creating a suite of WordPress-centric products over the past few years, all designed to complement our core mission at HostWP.io: to empower WordPress users at every stage of their online journey.
Beyond HostWP.io, my commitment extends to fostering growth and knowledge sharing within the community through several other initiatives:
WPfounders.com: This platform serves as a vital space where successful WordPress business founders share their invaluable stories, navigate their challenges openly, and offer actionable advice to inspire the next generation of entrepreneurs in our ecosystem.
WPdiscounts.io: Recognizing the need for accessible tools, WPdiscounts.io acts as a comprehensive hub for discounts on a wide array of essential WordPress products and services, from hosting and plugins to themes and specialized services.
CheckWP.io: Understanding the critical aspects of website performance and maintenance, CheckWP.io offers specialized services in website speed optimization, design & development, ongoing care plans, strategic content creation, and seamless website migration.
WPwriters.org: To help WordPress users effectively communicate their message, WPwriters.org provides high-quality content writing and digital marketing services designed to reach target audiences and drive business growth.
WPdots.io: Envisioned as a central nexus for all things WordPress, WPdots.io is a growing network encompassing WordPress blogs, vibrant communities, essential products, and valuable services.
And this is just a snapshot of what we’re building; there’s a continuous pipeline of ideas and projects aimed at further enriching the WordPress landscape.
At the heart of WPdots.io, I’m incredibly proud of our dedicated and talented team of nine individuals.
Their diverse expertise is a cornerstone of our collective success, and under the exceptional leadership of my partner, Ahsan Parwez, this amazing team consistently achieves remarkable things.
Together, we’re driven by a shared passion for WordPress and a commitment to creating impactful solutions for its vast community.
Predrag is a talented individual who hails from Serbia. Despite leaving behind his dreams of becoming a Full-Stack developer, he has found a new passion in content writing. With a strong interest in IT-related fields, including mobile development, Predrag is now happy to be able to write about his favorite topics. His expertise in these areas makes him an excellent resource for anyone seeking valuable insights into the world of technology.
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