What we've learned from building Ghost after 5 years and $3M

Re:What we've learned from building Ghost after 5 years and $3M by johnonolan on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @11:05AM (#17082970)

We do managed hosting, so the comparison is to "Managed WP Hosting" - which is exactly what the page says. Here's an example of a managed WP host: https://wpengine.com/plans/

Here is an independent speed test which finds Ghost (more specifically: Node) to be up to 1900% faster than WP - https://blog.appdynamics.com/engineering/example-node-js-fas...

We don't make baseless claims and we're not in the business of lying to anyone.

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Re:What we've learned from building Ghost after 5 years and $3M by detaro on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @11:26AM (#17083143)

Why are they a fair comparison point, and not e.g. wordpress.com?

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Re:What we've learned from building Ghost after 5 years and $3M by johnonolan on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @12:50PM (#17083954)

Shared hosting - $1.99, here's your server, good luck

Managed hosting - $29, you get your own server, app, automation, backups, and 24/7 support to make sure everything is working great

Centralised, multi-tenant application - $0-$9, you get no server. You get access to our app for your use. You cannot modify it or run any third party code.

We do managed hosting - and managed WP hosts... also do managed hosting. That's why it's a reasonable comparison point.

WordPress.com is not managed hosting. It's a heavily modified centralised multi-tenant application which loosely resembles WordPress. It does not run the open source codebase at all.

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Re:What we've learned from building Ghost after 5 years and $3M by georgestephanis on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @05:29PM (#17086661)

Hi. I've worked for WordPress.com for the past five years. It does run the open source WordPress codebase, and we sync changes from the open source project to WordPress.com regularly.

:vanishes in a puff of php:

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Re:What we've learned from building Ghost after 5 years and $3M by johnonolan on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @09:32PM (#17087965)

Yes George. WordPress.com is a centralised, multi-tenant application which also syncs code from the open source project. Very good.

It's still not equivalent to running the same code, or being in any way a comparable to a managed host. Which is the point that you skipped right over, as is your custom :)

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Re:What we've learned from building Ghost after 5 years and $3M by bwoj on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @05:25PM (#17086639)

WPEngine is specifically in the business of selling fast WordPress hosting. It actually makes for a more honest comparison. Comparing to Wordpress.com should give you better numbers.

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Re:What we've learned from building Ghost after 5 years and $3M by prophesi on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @10:45AM (#17082793)

That's for a managed WP host. I agree that the $50/mo price comes out of nowhere, but you're still not going to find one for $20/mo as you would with Ghost.

Ghost is 20 times faster. And once you add a single WP plugin, it's 100 times faster.

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Re:What we've learned from building Ghost after 5 years and $3M by wolco on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @11:19AM (#17083084)

Can't find 20 dollars a month for a managed wp?

For 4 dollars a month you can.

https://www.siteground.com/wpbeginner-managed

50 dollars a month seems extremely costly. For that amount $600 a year it would be cheaper to hire someone to self host for you.

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Re:What we've learned from building Ghost after 5 years and $3M by vezycash on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @11:56AM (#17083404)

There's $1-2 monthly hosting for WP

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Re:What we've learned from building Ghost after 5 years and $3M by extra88 on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @11:08AM (#17082999)

Isn't Dreampress a comparably affordable managed Wordpress host?

https://www.dreamhost.com/wordpress/

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Re:What we've learned from building Ghost after 5 years and $3M by oddevan on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @11:45AM (#17083306)

I imagine there's a difference between "managed hosting" (host handles OS/package updates and maintains your LAMP stack) and "managed WordPress hosting" (host handles all of the above AND core WordPress updates, basic security, etc).

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Re:What we've learned from building Ghost after 5 years and $3M by extra88 on Wednesday May 16, 2018 @12:29PM (#17083720)

Dreampress's non-shared hosting plans include "Wordpress Service Updates" which surely includes core Wordpress updates and updates to plugins they include, like Jetpack. It might also cover updating a list of the most popular plugins.

For security beyond running updated software, it includes a Wordpress-tuned web application firewall and the $24.95/month tier includes "Malware Scanning & Repair."

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