WebPros in Interview: WP Squared and WP Guardian

As part of CloudFest 2024, we had the opportunity to speak with Alexandra and Adam from WebPros. The company, known for its web hosting control panels like Plesk and cPanel, is a leading provider, tackling the challenges of modern SaaS platforms and continuously developing new tools to enhance the web hosting experience. Therefore, we specifically discussed the new developments WP Squared and WP Guardian.

ht: How many employees work at WebPros and how do you collaborate?
WebPros: There are 650 employees at WebPros. We operate decentralised across different locations and collaborate remotely. We are active daily on Slack and also have regular quarterly meetings via Zoom. We meet in person several times a year, such as here at CloudFest.

ht: How many web hosting providers do you work with?
WebPros: Our network consists of over 2000 partners in total. On a daily basis, we typically work with 20 to 30 partners.

ht: What are the current biggest challenges for web hosting providers?
WebPros: Modern SaaS platforms like Squarespace or Shopify are currently the biggest challenge for traditional web hosting, and web hosts must work to not lose their customers to these user-friendly platforms.

ht: What is the market share of cPanel and Plesk?
WebPros: The market share is definitely significant. In terms of domains using one of the WebPros products, it's around one-third of all domains on the web, so approximately 33 percent. We support a total of over 7 million WordPress websites with our tools. That's even more than some of the well-known SaaS platforms.

ht: The two products WP Squared and WP Guardian are independent of your offered control panels, why?
WebPros: cPanel has been a large toolbox for a long time, offering many different tools for customers. However, as the tool's scope grew, its operation became increasingly complex. Both tools are therefore focused entirely on user-friendliness. Users should benefit from a better user experience and be able to focus on their own business.

ht: What are the benefits of WP Squared?
WebPros: cPanel has a long history, a huge user base, and is used for a wide range of purposes. Therefore, making changes to the software can be challenging. We keep the foundation of WP Squared as simple as possible, allowing users to customise it according to their needs for a user-friendly management experience. Focusing solely on WordPress enables us to optimise our software specifically for it, without having to consider legacy systems up to 20 years old, as is the case with cPanel.

ht: Is this an optional tool that web hosts can offer alongside cPanel, subject to a monthly fee?
WebPros: With cPanel, billing is based on the number of user accounts. Costs are incurred for each account that can log into the software. In contrast, WP Squared is billed on a domain basis. So, when a WordPress instance is created, costs are incurred for it. We ensure the security and updates of these WordPress instances at all times.

ht: What are the benefits of WP Guardian?
WebPros: The software was specifically developed for web hosting providers. Current security solutions for WordPress are all focused on a single WordPress installation. This makes it difficult to monitor a larger number of WordPress installations across multiple servers from a security perspective. A single security vulnerability, such as in a WordPress plugin on just one instance, can jeopardise the entire infrastructure. WP Guardian provides a practical solution where web hosts can monitor their entire infrastructure for security risks on a single dashboard. WP Guardian automatically detects and checks all WordPress installations on servers and web space packages continuously against always up-to-date security parameters.

ht: So, WP Guardian is used by the web host themselves, and the end user is unaware of it?
WebPros: Yes, WP Guardian is integrated by the host as a web server security solution, and end users do not notice any difference but only benefit from enhanced security. WP Guardian is not an end-user plugin but is integrated as a security solution at the server level. We offer the software only to our WordPress partners, starting with packages for monitoring a minimum of 500 WordPress sites.

ht: Is WP Guardian only offered together with cPanel?
WebPros: No, WP Guardian is primarily aimed at web hosts who do not use cPanel or Plesk, as these two control panels already have similar security solutions integrated in the form of WP Toolkit.

ht: This brings us to WP Toolkit, what's the deal with that?
WebPros: WP Toolkit is a comprehensive management tool for WordPress websites, initially available for Plesk and later for cPanel as well. It offers a range of features to simplify the management, security, and maintenance of WordPress installations through a single interface.

ht: So, WP Guardian and WP Toolkit are very similar, except that the former does not require cPanel or Plesk, right?
WebPros: Yes, WP Guardian incorporates a lot of technology from WP Toolkit, but it is presented differently to the user. While WP Toolkit is aimed directly at end users through Plesk or cPanel, WP Guardian is tailored to web hosts or server operators.

ht: How long did your team work on WP Guardian?
WebPros: Last year, we already presented a functional MVP of WP Guardian at CloudFest. This year, we are now fully live with the software. The same goes for WP Squared. We have already sold many licenses this year as well.

ht: Great work from your team! How many developers were involved in this?
WebPros: For WP Squared, around 7 or 8 developers. Additionally, there were also some UX designers and UX developers involved. So, in total, about 10 to 12 people. We try to keep our teams at this size to work quickly and efficiently.

Thank you for the interview!

The interview was conducted by Marco Keul with Alexandra Prokhorova and Adam Wien from WebPros, on 20.03.24 at Cloudfest in Rust, in English.

Further Information:

WP Guardian Screenshots etc.: https://webpros.com/partners/the-ultimate-wordpress-security-with-wp-guardian/

WP Squared Screenshot etc.: https://webpros.com/partners/high-performance-wordpress-management-with-wp-squared/

Photos: WebPros