Meet Roger
Hi, my name is Roger Williams, and I’m the Community Manager at Kinsta. I’ve been in the hosting industry for over 20 years, working with a variety of web hosts—from shared hosting and dedicated servers to managed hosting solutions like what we offer here at Kinsta.
Throughout my career, I’ve also had experience with CDN providers, where I worked on bandwidth sales and configuring setups for video and live broadcast clients. Additionally, I’ve run my own freelance agency, building WordPress sites and managing digital marketing for a range of clients.
For the past five years, I’ve been at Kinsta in several roles, including the migrations team, Head of Client Experience, outbound sales, and now, Community Manager. I’ve worked hands-on with tools like the command line and WP-CLI to manage and migrate websites, but my current focus is on engaging with agency partners and members of the broader WordPress community.
My goal is to ensure that Kinsta provides services that meet the evolving needs of our users and to stay connected with the community to better understand their challenges and priorities.
Can you give us an overview of what Kinsta is and its core offerings?
Sure thing! Kinsta is a managed hosting provider specializing in WordPress websites. Essentially, we handle everything up to the WordPress software itself, so our customers can focus on building the best websites possible without worrying about the underlying infrastructure.
We take care of managing Nginx, MySQL, PHP, SSL certificates, CDNs, and a host of other services to ensure the sites hosted with us achieve top performance. This means our clients don’t have to deal with the minutiae of server management—we’ve got dedicated systems teams working around the clock to keep sites running at their best, 24/7.
Beyond that, we offer features like automated backups, staging environments, SSH access, and Cloudflare Enterprise, which comes built-in at no additional cost. This includes tools like image optimization, Early Hints, and more, all designed to help our customers focus on creating with WordPress instead of troubleshooting infrastructure issues.
What sets Kinsta apart from other WordPress hosting providers?
That’s a great question! I think what truly sets Kinsta apart is the combination of exceptional technical expertise and a commitment to sharing that knowledge openly and freely.
For example, before I started working at Kinsta, I was at another hosting company in a support role. Whenever I encountered a tricky issue and had to search for a solution, I often found the most helpful resource was a blog post from kinsta.com. Those articles consistently provided clear, actionable solutions that helped me resolve customer issues. That’s actually how I first discovered Kinsta—it stood out as a company that cared deeply about empowering others with knowledge.
Once I joined Kinsta, I realized it’s even more than that. We have an incredible 24/7 technical support team made up of engineers who are true experts in WordPress and web hosting. Their ability to troubleshoot issues and provide solutions at such a high level of expertise is unmatched in this industry. It’s that mix of expertise, transparency, and commitment to customer success that makes Kinsta so unique.
What are the benefits of Kinsta’s staging environments for WordPress developers?
Staging environments offer a ton of benefits for WordPress developers, but the biggest one is that you’re no longer working directly on a live website. It’s surprising how many developers still work in live environments without realizing there’s a much safer alternative.
With a staging environment, you can troubleshoot, add features, or test new ideas without impacting the live website. The key advantage here is that if something goes wrong while working on a staging site, it’s not a big deal—the live site stays up and running. If an issue arises, you can either troubleshoot further in staging or simply delete and recreate the staging environment from the live site in just a few clicks.
At Kinsta, we’ve made it incredibly easy to set up and use staging environments. It’s all about helping developers work smarter and avoid the risks of live environment testing. If you haven’t tried working with staging environments yet, I highly recommend giving it a shot—it’s a game-changer.
How does Kinsta manage site performance, especially in high-demand situations?
Great question! Site performance is always a top priority for us as a managed hosting provider. Our job isn’t just to keep sites up and running but to ensure they’re optimized for peak performance—even in high-demand situations.
To achieve this, we’ve implemented multiple layers of caching that we manage for our clients. These caching layers are easy to control, either through the MyKinsta dashboard or via the MU plugin installed on Kinsta-hosted websites. Caching is critical because it reduces the need for additional server resources, especially during traffic spikes.
On top of caching, every site hosted at Kinsta comes with Cloudflare Enterprise CDN. This global CDN ensures that assets are delivered from the server closest to the user’s location, reducing latency and enhancing load times. Plus, Cloudflare provides DDoS protection, so if a site is targeted by malicious traffic, we can mitigate the attack effectively.
In high-demand situations, our customers can feel confident that their sites will remain stable and perform at their best, thanks to this powerful combination of caching, CDN, and DDoS protection.
How do you see the hosting industry evolving over the next 5–10 years?
Over the next 5 to 10 years, I see the hosting industry continuing to evolve in two main directions: managed hosting solutions and non-managed hosting platforms. This trend builds on what we’ve seen over the last couple of decades, but with an even stronger focus on enabling non-technical users to manage their websites effortlessly, without needing to write a single line of code.
Kinsta has been at the forefront of this shift by creating a custom dashboard that simplifies the hosting experience, allowing customers to focus on their work without getting bogged down by technical details. At the same time, we recognize the need for flexibility and advanced options, which is why we offer a robust API. This enables more technical users to create custom dashboards, build automations, and integrate with our hosting in ways that suit their workflows.
I believe automation will play an even bigger role in the future of hosting, helping users streamline processes and save time. Beyond that, I hope we see the independent web thrive—where people value owning and controlling their data, and work with web hosts who prioritize that independence. That’s where I see the real potential for growth and innovation in the hosting industry.
What role does AI or machine learning play in Kinsta’s operations or future plans?
AI and machine learning play an important role in Kinsta’s operations, primarily on the operational side. We use these technologies to analyze platform analytics, identify security threats, and optimize the performance of our clients’ websites.
That said, we take a cautious and thoughtful approach when implementing AI and machine learning. As a managed hosting provider, our top priority is keeping sites up and running while maintaining a high level of operational efficiency. Any use of AI is carefully evaluated to ensure it aligns with our commitment to reliability and accuracy.
Since we host sensitive customer data, we’re also deeply focused on staying compliant with certifications like SOC 2 and ISO 27001. This ensures that any AI-driven processes meet the highest standards for security and customer trust. While we embrace the potential of AI to enhance our services, we always prioritize the stability and integrity of our platform.
What are the biggest misconceptions customers have about SaaS hosting platforms?
I think one of the biggest misconceptions about SaaS or managed hosting platforms is just how easy they seem. And honestly, that’s by design—our job is to make it feel effortless for our customers so they don’t have to worry about the many technical complexities that go into making a platform like Kinsta work.
Behind the scenes, it’s a completely different story. There’s an incredible amount of effort and expertise involved, spanning engineering, development, support, billing, marketing, sales, and operations. Every part of the process requires precision, compliance, and coordination to ensure everything runs smoothly. It’s tough work, but it’s also what makes managed hosting platforms so valuable.
At Kinsta, I think we excel at creating that seamless experience for our customers. We’ve put in the effort to make things feel easy and intuitive, so clients can focus on their websites while we handle the heavy lifting behind the scenes.
What advice would you give to new agencies looking to select the right hosting provider?
When a new agency asks me about hosting solutions, my first piece of advice is to take a step back and evaluate your workflow. How do you currently work, and are there opportunities to optimize that workflow? As an agency, your profitability hinges on working quickly and efficiently on client projects. The faster and more efficiently you can complete projects, the more money you’ll make, the sooner you can move on to new work, and the less stress your team will experience.
Start by identifying your needs. For example, if you require SSH access or need to tweak advanced settings in Nginx or MySQL, look for a hosting provider that offers those capabilities. However, most agencies I’ve worked with over the years are primarily focused on building great WordPress sites for their clients, not managing servers or infrastructure.
That’s why I encourage new agencies to ask themselves a key question: Are you in the business of designing websites, or do you want to manage servers? If your focus is on building sites and delivering great client experiences, a managed hosting solution is your best bet. It allows you to offload the technical complexities of hosting, so you can focus on what you do best. If you’re more interested in running servers, there are plenty of options out there for that too—but it’s a very different path.
Did you enjoy our interview? Do you have anything to say to our community?
This was such a fun interview! I really enjoyed these questions, thank you for putting together such a thoughtful and relevant list about what Kinsta does.
To your community, I’d say: come check us out! We now offer the first month free on selected hosting plans, so you can dive in, kick the tires, and try us out with zero upfront cost. It’s a great opportunity to see what we’re all about. You can also check our affiliate program to earn lifetime recurring commissions.
If anyone wants to connect, the best place to reach me is on LinkedIn. I post a lot of interviews and updates there, and I’m always happy to chat. Feel free to reach out—I’d love to see what we can build together!
Wishing everyone an amazing year. Let’s make great things happen!
