2024 in Review + 2025 Sneak Peak

That’s a wrap for 2024! And judging from the first few days, 2025 isn’t wasting any time kicking things in high gear, so we’re in for quite a ride! Let’s dive into what we’ve accomplished at WHC over the past year and look ahead to the future.

2024 in numbers

• 470,000+ websites
• 4.9/5 customer rating
• #1 .CA provider in Canada
• 230k+ client interactions
• 99.99% uptime
• 58ms web response time

What we accomplished in 2024

60% faster websites

We upgraded our servers and overhauled our proactive monitoring to get well ahead of performance issues, improving the average website response time by a whopping 60%, while achieving an industry-leading uptime of 99.99%. 

We’ve also put quality front and center with our new Site Quality Monitoring tool, which tells you how your website is doing. 

This positions WHC as one of the leading managed hosting providers in the world, ensuring your site stays online and runs at its very best.

Instant WordPress websites

With the launch of WHC’s AI-powered site builder, we’ve made building (and updating) your own website as easy as writing a prompt. It’s baked into WordPress, can generate custom images and text, is easy to switch on and off, and works with the WordPress block editor, not against it. Check it out if you haven’t already!

Read more: AI-Powered WordPress Just Got Better

Latest tech & better onboarding? We’ve got those.

We’ve made dozens of major improvements to our hosting experience, starting with smooth onboarding for every new account and service to help you get the ball rolling within minutes, not hours. We’ve updated our platform to include the latest technologies and versions of software you use and love, like WordPress 6.7, PHP 8.2 and 8.3 (with 8.4 inbound), cPanel 118 (LTS), and CloudLinux 9. 

Better security & privacy

It can be a dangerous world out there and we’re helping make it safer. By popular demand, we’re now including basic WHOIS privacy with all eligible domain names, and we’ve introduced Domain Protection, helping to prevent unauthorized changes, accidental errors, or malicious threats. 

We’ve also mitigated thousands of Denial of Service Attacks, blocked millions of attempted website hijackings through smart firewalls and virtual patching, and reinforced your Client Area security through automated notifications when something feels off. 

And by popular demand, SSL forwarding is now available (and free!) by default with every domain name you manage at WHC.

Read more: Keep your domains secure with Domain Protection

Reduced support wait times

Say goodbye to waiting for someone to tackle your pressing support or product questions. Our new virtual assistant is here, delivering instant answers through live chat and rapidly escalating tricky problems to the right experts. By handling common issues automatically, our 24/7 expert support team can focus on solving complex problems even faster. Our virtual assistant is new and still learning so expect it to get even better soon.

New Pro Services

Ever since we started WHC over 21 years ago, entrepreneurs have asked, “Can you [build/manage/improve] my website for me?” For a long time, the answer had always been no. But that’s finally changed. 

If you’re a busy entrepreneur who doesn’t know where to begin when it comes to crafting the perfect website or who doesn’t have the time to manage their online presence, we’ve finally got the solution for you! WHC’s website design, care plans, and SEO are here. Yes, it might be time for that website revamp, and we can help. 

Read more: Boost your online success with WHC’s Pro Services

More people in the right places

WHC turned 21 in 2024, and our team has grown (psst, we’re still hiring!) as we continue building Canada’s leading hosting provider. With major investments in engineering, product, and customer experience, we’re prioritizing changes that make our customer's lives and experiences better.

We’re also thrilled to be certified a Great Place to Work for the 5th year in a row. And yes, it’s still fun to work here! 🙂

We’ve attended (and hosted!) tons of events

This year, we hosted half a dozen meetups at WHC’s very own HQ and connected with clients and tech enthusiasts worldwide. We proudly sponsored major Canadian events, including WordCamp Canada, ConFoo, and Let’s Grow Canada. We also supported a great cause by attending the Gala des Grands Chefs, and took part in global events like CloudFest.

What to expect in 2025

We’re honoured to be Canada’s #1 .CA provider and we don’t take our mission of helping Canadians succeed online lightly. Without wanting to spill all the beans on what’s coming ahead, here are 3 areas you can expect to see us focus on in 2025:

Helping you move your data back to Canada

2025 is the year Canadians will bring their data back to Canada. And we’re here to make it easy for them, by streamlining our free migration services, adding new Canadian points of presence, and helping move your complex digital workloads to a new Private Cloud offering.

Moving your data from the U.S. to Canada protects it with strong privacy laws, reduces the crushing impact of CAD-USD exchange rates, ensures faster performance, reduces your carbon footprint, and supports local jobs and innovation. It’s a win-win-win: better security and speed for you, a healthier planet, lighter on your wallet, and a stronger digital economy for Canada. 

A simpler website building experience

Sometimes, less is more. In 2025 we’re going to simplify the website building experience for both new and existing customers so you can make the right choice faster and get sh*t done. Expect more focus and better features surrounding WordPress, making the world’s leading website management platform even easier to use. 

Even better performance

Performance at WHC isn’t simply a buzzword; it’s an obsession, with very real metrics, and a dedicated team to help improve it. We’re doubling down on efforts to make WordPress websites faster, with specific improvements targeting dynamic page loads, caching, and content distribution through CDN. This will get your Canadian website to load halfway around the globe in Sydney faster than a koala can say “eucalyptus.”

Let’s do this, Canada!

From all of us at WHC, we wish you a 2025 filled with love, joy, care, and success. We’re excited to make the most of the new year with you!