Executive Summary from Our Founder, James Farmer<\/h2>\n
“2024 has been a transformative year for WPMU DEV, marked by bold innovations and strategic expansions that have redefined what’s possible in WordPress management and hosting.<\/p>\n
Our introduction of High-Frequency Hosting plans, powered by blazing-fast 3GHz+ Intel Xeon processors, has set a new industry standard for performance. We’ve expanded our global footprint with 12 new hosting regions, ensuring lightning-fast speeds for users worldwide.<\/p>\n
The launch of our Domain Reseller program and Pro Email service marks our commitment to being your complete WordPress solution. These additions, combined with our new Expert Services, demonstrate our evolution from a plugin provider to a comprehensive web services platform.<\/p>\n
The Hub continues to be the cornerstone of our ecosystem, now enhanced with features like Tickets for improved client communication and our innovative Broken Backlinks Checker. Our plugins have seen significant updates too, from Forminator’s new PDF capabilities to Defender’s enhanced malware detection.<\/p>\n
Looking ahead to 2025, we’re not slowing down. We’re already working on exciting features like the Bot Pool for improved performance, advanced static cache features, and expanded monitoring capabilities for third-party sites.<\/p>\n
Thank you for being part of our journey. Your feedback and trust continue to drive our innovation, and we’re excited about the road ahead.”<\/p>\n
Want to hear more from James? Check out this Post Status interview from the Product Founder Series: WordPress in the Long View with James Farmer<\/a>.<\/p>\n All right, off to explore the individual products and services. Starting with\u2026<\/p>\n If you find managing multiple WordPress sites a total nightmare, 2024 was the year The Hub said “hold my beer” and transformed into an even more powerful command center to make your agency life even easier.<\/p>\n We kicked off the year with a huge update<\/strong><\/em> \u2014 the Hosting Reseller Program<\/strong><\/em>. It\u2019s the side hustle of dreams for all those agency owners who want to sell domains and make extra cash while lounging on the beach (because why not?).<\/p>\n We even gave away a million dollars<\/a>\ud83d\udcb8 to kick things off. (No, seriously. A million dollars. Who are we? Oprah?).<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Check out the Domain Reseller Program<\/a> \u2014 and start making it rain domains! \ud83c\udf10<\/p>\n Raise your hand if you\u2019ve ever had to email a client from your personal<\/em> email address (no judgment, but, yikes). With Pro Email<\/strong>, you and your clients can send emails like true professionals \u2014 right from your WPMU DEV dashboard.<\/p>\n It integrates seamlessly with our platform because, let\u2019s face it, if you\u2019re not running your hosting and emails from one place, are you even really hosting? \ud83e\uddd0<\/p>\n Plus, we also increased<\/em> the storage space up to 50GB!<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Get to know Pro Email \u2014 email never looked this good<\/a>.<\/p>\n We launched Expert Services<\/strong> \u2014 a premium suite of services to make your life as easy as ordering takeout on a Friday night (and almost as cheap too!), including:<\/p>\n It\u2019s like having a superhero squad on call all year round (without the spandex).<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Don\u2019t wait for a crisis \u2014 check out Expert Services<\/a>.<\/p>\n Who doesn\u2019t love a good deal? In 2024, we launched Annual Hosting Plans<\/strong> (excluding Quantum) that come with not only awesome rates but also a free .com domain<\/strong> and Pro Email<\/strong>.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Ready to save and get free goodies? Snag your Annual Hosting Plan here.<\/a><\/p>\n Enter Client Tickets<\/strong>, our white-labeled ticketing system that helps you manage client inquiries like an actual pro (instead of that over-caffeinated person on their third double-shot latte).<\/p>\n Gone are the days of lost emails and forgotten requests. Now, you\u2019ll have everything neatly organized, even while you\u2019re pretending to be “busy” with your other tasks. \ud83d\ude43<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Get the lowdown on Client Tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n Nothing kills your SEO game like broken backlinks. Luckily, we launched the Broken Backlinks Checker<\/strong> to save you from that SEO nightmare.<\/p>\n It scans your site for dead links and lets you fix them before Google starts docking your site\u2019s reputation. It\u2019s like having a personal SEO bodyguard for every site.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Fix Your Broken Backlinks<\/a> \u2014 and keep your SEO in the green.<\/p>\n Significant improvements were made to The Hub so your site lists load much faster than before.<\/p>\n Here’s an example of the average number of seconds needed to load your sites, before and after 2 rounds of performance enhancements:<\/p>\n We’re kicking off 2025 with some serious upgrades to The Hub that’ll make managing your WordPress empire even smoother. Here’s what’s cooking:<\/p>\n Ever wished you could keep tabs on your third-party hosted sites just like our hosted ones? Well, that’s exactly what we’re rolling out.<\/p>\n Our 24\/7 monitoring service is expanding beyond WPMU DEV-hosted sites, so you can catch and fix issues before your clients even notice them.<\/p>\n We’re supercharging the client management experience with features you’ve been asking for:<\/p>\n The Hub itself is getting some love too. We’re working on:<\/p>\n Plus, we’re putting the pedal to the metal on overall Hub performance improvements\u2014because nobody likes waiting around for pages to load.<\/p>\n Next up, the crazy changes we made to hosting\u2026<\/p>\n 2024 saw the launch of our High-Frequency hosting plans<\/a> for even better performance than our supercharged regular plans. which makes regular hosting feel soooo sloooooooowwwww. Here\u2019s a quick overview at the next-generation technology behind our HF plans.<\/p>\n Blazing-Fast 3GHz+ Intel Xeon CPUs<\/strong><\/p>\n Next-Level Storage<\/strong><\/p>\n Unbeatable Value<\/strong><\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Upgrade to a high frequency hosting plan today.<\/a><\/p>\n But we didn’t stop there\u2014we went global with 12 new regions, ensuring your sites are lightning-fast wherever your clients call home (for both HF and regular hosting plans). We added new data centers in:<\/p>\n Our development team is kicking off 2025 with some serious server-side improvements.<\/p>\n Redirect Management is landing first\u2014a powerful system that handles traffic flow at the server level. This means cleaner redirects, better SEO, and a proper system to prevent those pesky 404 errors that can hurt your search rankings.\ud83d\ude4c<\/p>\n The Bot Pool is our answer to handling automated traffic intelligently. By directing bots to a separate PHP pool, your server resources stay focused on real visitors, leading to better Core Web Vitals scores and smoother user experience.<\/p>\n We’re taking static caching to the next level with two new features:<\/p>\n And since we never stop improving, we’re adding PHP 8.4 support<\/strong> and some serious SSL improvements<\/strong>\u2026 because security should never be an afterthought.<\/p>\n Next up, our plugins!<\/p>\n Our plugins got some serious gains in 2024 (and they didn’t even need a gym membership).<\/p>\n From Forminator flexing its muscles with new payment options and cloud templates, to Smush getting even smarter about WebP optimization, each plugin in our arsenal received meaningful upgrades that make your WordPress life easier.<\/p>\n Let’s dive into what each of these powerhouses brought to the table this year.<\/p>\n Gone are the days of boring, basic forms. This year Forminator embraced its creative side with features that make form-building actually fun (yes, really).<\/p>\n Boost your conversions with our shiny new Stripe Dynamic Payment Method. Now your forms handle payments as smoothly as butter. Apple Pay, Google Pay, Amazon Pay, Klarna\u2014if it’s a payment method your customers love, we’ve probably added it.<\/p>\n We didn’t stop at payments. The new Rating field lets your users share their thoughts with style, while the Range slider adds some sliding satisfaction to provide more nuanced data capabilities.<\/p>\n Plus, our new Basic Style mode plays nice with your theme\u2014because nobody likes a form that clashes with their design.<\/p>\n Finally, if you need to whip up a form fast, our new Preset and Cloud Form Templates have your back. And if you’re into email marketing (who isn’t?), our MailerLite integration makes growing your list a breeze.<\/p>\n Creating professional receipts just got easier with our new PDF template system. Generate unlimited PDFs from your forms and submissions\u2014perfect for making your business look polished and professional.<\/p>\n Next year’s going to be even better:<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Start creating powerful forms today.<\/a><\/p>\n 2024 was all about making image optimization effortless. Our dev team took Smush’s already powerful compression tools and cranked them up to eleven with some seriously smart updates.<\/p>\n The new Direct WebP method is a game-changer. One click and you’re serving WebP images to your visitors \u2014 no server configuration or CDN required. It’s the kind of simple we love, and your site speed will thank you for it.<\/p>\n We completely rebuilt our Image Optimization Engine from the ground up. For you that means a leaner, meaner Smush that uses less memory while crushing more images. Your server resources can breathe easy while your images get smaller.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve got a TON of upgrades planned for Smush:<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Start Smushing your images here.<\/a><\/p>\n This year Hummingbird got serious about keeping your sites blazing fast with updates that matter. We ditched the old metrics and embraced the future of performance measurement \u2014 staying current isn’t just nice, it’s necessary.<\/p>\n Performance testing got a major refresh. We’ve added INP (Interaction to Next Paint) while saying goodbye to FID and TTI. It’s not just about keeping up with Google \u2014 it’s about giving you the metrics that actually matter for your site’s success.<\/p>\n Mobile optimization leveled up with separate cache preloading, mobile-specific Critical CSS, and smarter viewport meta handling, as well as font optimization. We also boosted Critical CSS across the board with delay-until-interaction for above-the-fold content. The result? Major gains for mobile users.<\/p>\n Got specific performance needs? Our new granular controls for Delay JS and Critical CSS let you fine-tune exactly what gets optimized. Target specific files, post types, post URLS, plugins, themes and keywords.<\/p>\n Plus, we optimized the Autoloader to cut down database queries \u2014 because every millisecond counts.<\/p>\n Hummingbird is set to take flight in 2025:<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Experience Hummingbird’s performance for yourself here.<\/a><\/p>\n Security isn’t just about blocking bad guys \u2014 it’s about being smart with how we protect your sites. This year, Defender stepped up its game with some serious security muscle.<\/p>\n Our scanning engine got a major upgrade. Now Defender dives deep into your site’s root directory, catching nasty code that other scanners might miss. We’ve also fine-tuned our malware detection rules to stay ahead of evolving threats.<\/p>\n Say goodbye to IP detection guesswork. Defender\u2019s Smart IP Detection is your ultimate security gatekeeper, using the most secure and reliable method to identify users\u2019 IP addresses. It\u2019s designed to block bad actors while ensuring real users and admins sail through without a hitch. Compatible with most sites and a pro at preventing spoofing \u2014 because your site deserves nothing less.<\/p>\n And if you do manage to get locked out, we added the super convenient “Unlock Me” feature. Admins can now verify their identity through email and get back to work without waiting for support. No more locking the door and leaving the keys inside!<\/p>\n Get ready for some HUGE upgrades for Defender including:<\/p>\n \ud83d\udc49 Cover your sites with ultimate defense against any attack.<\/a><\/p>\n Links are the highways of your website, and this year we made sure they’re smoother than ever. Our team rolled out some smart updates that make finding and fixing broken links feel less like a chore and more like a superpower.<\/p>\n No more Dashboard plugin required \u2014 connect straight to BLC Cloud from The Hub. It’s like taking the scenic route and finding a shortcut you never knew existed.<\/p>\n Those tricky URLs with query parameters? Yeah, we scan those now. BLC Cloud leaves no URL unturned, making sure every corner of your site stays connected.<\/p>\n Introducing our \u201cBroken Backlink Checker\u201d! Now you can find and fix dead backlinks that might be hurting your SEO juice. Because good SEO isn’t just about what’s on your site \u2014 it’s about who’s linking to you too.<\/p>\n We heard you about those ignored links cluttering up your reports. Now you can hide them and focus on the links that actually need your attention.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve got a couple little (but powerful) tweaks coming up:<\/p>\n\ud83d\udee0 What Changed in The Hub & Hub Client in 2024<\/h2>\n
\ud83c\udf10 Hosting Reseller Program: For that Extra Moolah<\/h3>\n
\ud83d\udce7 Pro Email: It\u2019s Like Email, But Cooler (No, Seriously)<\/h3>\n
\ud83e\uddd1\u200d\ud83d\udcbb Expert Services: Because Sometimes You Just Need A Dev<\/h3>\n
![\"Humoruous](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/expert-services.png\")
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\nIt\u2019s 2 AM. Your client\u2019s site just went down. What do you do? Panic? No. You call in an expert\u2026 but there\u2019s no need for you to hire an expensive freelancer or bring one in-house.<\/p>\n\n
\ud83d\udcc8 Annual Hosting Plans: Sweet Deals and Free Stuff? Yes, Please!<\/h3>\n
\ud83d\udea9 Client Tickets for Agencies: Seriously, Who Has Time to Juggle Emails, WhatsApp, SMS, etc?<\/h3>\n
![\"Humorous](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/tickets.png\")
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\nWe know you\u2019ve been there \u2014 juggling multiple client requests like a performer on stilts.<\/p>\n\u26d3 Broken Backlinks Checker: Fixing the SEO You Didn\u2019t Know You Needed<\/h3>\n
\u26a1Hub Speed Improvements<\/h3>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/performance.png\")
\u23e9 What’s Coming in 2025: The Hub’s Next Chapter<\/h2>\n
\u231a Proactive Monitoring for ALL Sites<\/h3>\n
\ud83d\udcb5 Clients & Billing Gets a Power-Up<\/h3>\n
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\ud83d\udc68\u200d\ud83d\udc69\u200d\ud83d\udc67\u200d\ud83d\udc67 Hub Experience Improvements<\/h3>\n
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\ud83d\udee0 What Changed for our Premium Hosting in 2024<\/h2>\n
\ud83d\udce3 High-Frequency Hosting: The Next Generation (Gen Beta?)<\/h3>\n
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\ud83c\udf0e Going Global: 12 New Regions<\/h3>\n
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\ud83d\ude0e Plus Some Neat Upgrades for the Tech-Savvy Crowd<\/h3>\n
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\u23e9 What’s Coming in 2025: Premium Hosting Gets Even More\u2026 Premium?<\/h2>\n
\ud83d\udd19 Redirect Management<\/h3>\n
\ud83e\udd16 The Auto Bot Pool<\/h3>\n
\u26a1 Lightning Fast Caching<\/h3>\n
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\ud83d\udee0 What Changed for our Plugins in 2024<\/h2>\n
\ud83d\udcdc Forminator: Forms That Actually Look Good (Finally)<\/h2>\n
\ud83d\udcb3 Payment Power-Up<\/h3>\n
\u2728 Fresh Fields & Features<\/h3>\n
\ud83d\udcc4PDF Power<\/h3>\n
\u23e9 What\u2019s Coming in 2025 for Forminator<\/h2>\n
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\ud83d\udc4a Smush: Speed Meets Style \u2014 2024 Edition<\/h2>\n
\ud83e\udd15 WebP Without the Headache<\/h3>\n
\ud83d\udcaa Bulk Smush Gets Buff<\/h3>\n
\u23e9 What\u2019s Coming in 2025 for Smush<\/h2>\n
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\ud83d\udc26\u200d\u2b1b Hummingbird: Performance That Packs a Punch<\/h2>\n
\ud83d\ude98 Speed Essentials<\/h3>\n
\ud83d\udcf1 Mobile Magic<\/h3>\n
\ud83c\udfae Smart Controls<\/h3>\n
\u23e9 What\u2019s Coming in 2025 for Hummingbird<\/h2>\n
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\ud83d\udee1 Defender: Security that Never Sleeps<\/h2>\n
\ud83d\udd0d Malware Detection 2.0<\/h3>\n
\ud83c\udfaf Smart IP Protection<\/h3>\n
\ud83d\udd10 Self-Service Security<\/h3>\n
\u23e9 What\u2019s Coming in 2025 for Defender<\/h2>\n
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\ud83d\udd17 Link Checker: Breaking Up with Broken Links<\/h2>\n
\u2601\ufe0f Cloud Connection Made Simple<\/h3>\n
\ud83d\udd75\ufe0f\u200d\u2640\ufe0f Query Parameter Scanning<\/h3>\n
\ud83e\ude84 Backlink Magic<\/h3>\n
\ud83d\udcca Cleaner Reports<\/h3>\n
\u23e9 What\u2019s Coming in 2025 for Link Checker<\/h2>\n
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