In 2010, one WordPress®[1] person got down to make websites quicker, safer, and simpler to scale. This was the founding concept behind WP Engine, an organization constructed on a perception within the energy of the open internet and the creators liable for it.
“We didn’t need to construct simply one other internet hosting firm—we needed to construct one of the best basis for builders who select the WordPress platform,” recalled WP Engine Founder Jason Cohen.
The corporate, which began from a small staff and large desires, has since grown into a pacesetter in innovation, trusted by over 2 hundred thousand clients to energy hundreds of thousands of internet sites all over the world. One factor we’ve by no means overlooked, although, is our why. It’s folks—together with artistic professionals, digital innovators, internet builders, entrepreneurs, and our personal staff—who’ve made the final 15 years so outstanding.
“Our journey has at all times been about folks—our staff, our clients, and our group. Collectively, we’ve constructed one thing really particular,” mentioned WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner.
Come alongside as we revisit among the milestones that outlined WP Engine’s previous 15 years—from our enterprise development, merchandise, and improvements, to the shoppers and staff who made all of it attainable—and share a glimpse of what we envision for our future.
A timeline of enterprise transformation
The story of WP Engine started in 2010 when Jason Cohen sat down at his kitchen desk to set his imaginative and prescient to pen and paper. By Could of that yr, WP Engine had its first 30 clients, and by the following yr, Cohen would rent WP Engine’s first 4 staff.
The corporate had outgrown its first workplace by 2013, so the corporate expanded into its present headquarters in downtown Austin to help its fast-growing staff.
That very same yr, WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner joined the staff. In certainly one of her first official actions, she and Cohen led a team-wide codification and signing of WP Engine’s Core Values. By the following yr, WP Engine was serving greater than 20,000 clients.
An period of growth
In 2015, WP Engine expanded throughout the Atlantic, opening a London workplace to higher serve a quickly rising worldwide buyer base and strengthen our presence in Europe. At the moment, the corporate was already supporting greater than 40,000 world clients.
By 2016, that quantity would develop to 50,000, and WP Engine would open its second European workplace—this time in Limerick, Eire—with the Brisbane, Australia workplace to open the next yr.
That momentum continued into 2018 with the strategic acquisition of StudioPress, which introduced the highly effective Genesis Framework into the WP Engine ecosystem. The following yr, WP Engine welcomed Flywheel—a fellow internet hosting innovator out of Omaha, Nebraska—and Good Dashboard—a Kraków, Poland-based know-how firm—into the household, opening places of work in each cities.
In 2022, the corporate acquired Scrumptious Brains, making it the official steward of one of many WordPress® group’s most beloved instruments: Superior Customized Fields. Simply two years later, our buddies at Nitropack joined the staff, bringing highly effective new website efficiency optimizations to WP Engine.
Now, in 2025, we get the chance to have fun 15 years of enterprise transformation with a transparent imaginative and prescient for the long run that’s stronger, bolder, and extra modern than ever.
Constructed for builders with a dedication to the open internet
For purchasers who select WP Engine, innovation is the expectation. From our earliest days, we’ve centered on constructing and sustaining instruments and applied sciences that make WordPress® websites quicker, safer, and extra versatile. That focus has pushed the creation of breakthrough merchandise and enhancements which have reshaped what’s attainable on WordPress®.
Our early improvements laid the groundwork for continued enhancements to the platform. EverCache™, Content material Efficiency, and DevKit had been a few of WP Engine’s early signature options, serving to to unlock quicker web page speeds, present higher insights into content material efficiency, and construct higher developer workflows as we reimagined what managed internet hosting can provide.
In 2016, we rolled out foundational platform enhancements, together with the introduction of free SSL certificates, which made safe connections accessible to all our clients. We launched the online’s first PHP Compatibility Checker, empowering builders to modernize their codebases with confidence. WP Engine additionally launched one-tap funds and, by 2017, had expanded its knowledge middle availability with 17 new knowledge facilities throughout 9 nations.
By 2018, WP Engine was evolving rapidly. We made StudioPress and the Genesis Framework accessible to clients for gratis and launched World Edge Safety to strengthen website defenses. To make sure our groups had been leaning into suggestions from clients and that WP Engine remained a accountable steward of the instruments we’ve adopted, we additionally launched our first-ever product group survey that yr.
Innovation on the velocity of creation
Our dedication to clever automation took middle stage in 2019 with the discharge of Good Plugin Supervisor, serving to clients maintain their websites updated and safe.
By 2022, we launched Website Monitoring, and in 2023, we strengthened cost safety for eCommerce clients by way of the Stripe Join integration. WP Engine’s continued stewardship of community-loved instruments would resurface but once more with the launch of the ACF Annual Survey in 2023, which instantly engaged present ACF customers to information future growth.
Extra lately, our focus has turned towards deepening efficiency and workflow optimizations. In 2024, we launched Efficiency Insights to assist clients fine-tune their experiences, launched Dynamic Plugin Loading for smarter efficiency administration, and enabled Edge Web page Full Cache to serve pages even quicker.
“As we proceed to chart a course for the long run, our product groups are leaning into buyer suggestions and figuring out the place we are able to use our experience to take advantage of affect for them,” mentioned WP Engine Chief Expertise Officer Ramadass Prabhakar.
“Our aim is to not construct merchandise, however to construct merchandise with a objective—merchandise that make a distinction as all of us construct the way forward for the online collectively.”
From important safety to cutting-edge efficiency, WP Engine has by no means stopped evolving, as a result of our clients by no means cease constructing.
Powered by folks, invested in alternative
Since Jason Cohen onboarded our very first clients, one fact has remained fixed: our biggest affect isn’t discovered within the instruments we construct, however within the individuals who construct them and the folks we construct them for.
Whether or not it’s the companies and types that belief our platform to energy their digital experiences or the staff who drive our innovation ahead day by day, folks have at all times been on the middle of our story. That dedication is obvious each within the vibrant tradition we’ve constructed internally and the sturdy partnerships we’ve nurtured through the years.
In 2016, we made a public pledge to worker fairness by becoming a member of the White Home Equal Pay Pledge and launched 24/7/365 reside chat help—two daring statements exhibiting WP Engine’s dedication to each our staff and our clients.
That very same yr, we started our long-standing partnership with the Webby Awards. What started as a small sponsorship would finally evolve into Crafted With Code, a full-scale storytelling collection devoted to highlighting Webby-recognized web sites constructed on WordPress® and the creators who deliver them to life.
In 2017, we launched our Company Accomplice Program to higher help the artistic professionals and companies who depend on WP Engine to ship for his or her purchasers. We had been additionally honored as Firm of the Yr by the Worldwide Enterprise Awards—a recognition that underscored our twin dedication to innovation and integrity. 2017 additionally marked the launch of our first worker useful resource group (ERG), Sheroes—now often known as Roar—to champion ladies in tech and amplify their voices within the office.
Our funding in folks has solely deepened within the years since. Since 2017, WP Engine has earned practically 40 Nice Place to Work certifications and launched a number of new ERGs, persevering with to foster a office tradition rooted in objective and belonging.
Externally, WP Engine continues to help the group that helps us. We’ve launched and sustained significant initiatives, from DE{CODE}, our annual digital convention, to our current presence at occasions like PressConf, Shade Code, and CloudFest. Final yr, we additionally launched the Company Accomplice Awards to acknowledge the artistic excellence of the companions constructing extraordinary digital experiences on our platform.
In celebration of our fifteenth anniversary, we thought it was excessive time to recommit to the values which have strengthened us. This week, WP Engine’s greater than 1,000 staff throughout the globe digitally signed our Core Values assertion, harkening again to our Core Values codification again in 2013.
This re-commitment to our values has realigned and reenergized our staff members, galvanizing a worldwide motion of WP Engine staff to proceed pursuing progress and dealing in direction of a greater, brighter future for the WordPress® group and the online.
Via each effort we make, each occasion we help, each product we construct, WP Engine goals to help a enterprise mannequin the place folks come first, at all times.
Increasing our imaginative and prescient and embracing the long run
Fifteen years in the past, WP Engine opened its doorways with a daring concept with a transparent objective: to empower builders on the open internet by way of world-class know-how, tireless help, and a deep dedication to folks. As we speak, that objective is stronger than ever.
Our journey has been formed by the builders, creators, companies, and teammates who’ve helped us develop, not simply as an organization, however as a group.
“As we have fun this milestone, we achieve this with immense gratitude for everybody who’s trusted us to be a part of their digital journey,” mentioned Brunner.
“However extra importantly, we glance forward, as a result of whereas 15 years is a second value marking, our eyes are centered on what’s subsequent—on persevering with to help an online that’s quicker, safer, extra artistic, and extra open than ever earlier than.”
Keep updated on all the things occurring at WP Engine by following us on BlueSky, Twitter, and LinkedIn!
[1] The WordPress® trademark is the mental property of the WordPress Basis. WP Engine shouldn’t be endorsed or owned by, or affiliated with, the WordPress Basis.
