WP Engine Agency Plans
Fat Beehive Stabilizes Hosting Costs and Performance for 80+ Charity Websites
By migrating from Platform.sh to WP Engine's dedicated hosting, the B Corp agency eliminated fluctuating bills and unpredictable downtime while gaining a technical partner.
Site:
Industry:
Web agency specializing in charities and not-for-profit orgs
"I doubt I would be having half of the conversations we're having about new services if it weren't for the confidence we have in our hosting."
—Mark Bridgeman, Chief Technical Officer, Fat Beehive
94%
Reduction in time spent updating plugins
100%
Predictable hosting costs
Eliminated
Random, extended downtimes
The Client
Fat Beehive is a UK-based digital agency with a 27-year history of working almost exclusively with charities and not-for-profit (NFP) organizations. As a certified B Corp, ethics are at the core of its mission.
The agency provides end-to-end services from discovery and UX to build, design, and ongoing support for its growing list of WordPress®[1] clients. For Chief Technical Officer Mark Bridgeman, it's crucial to partner with technology providers that understand both the technical needs of WordPress and the unique business needs facing his agency and its NFP clients.
The Challenge
Fat Beehive faced several critical challenges while hosting its 80+ WordPress client sites on Platform.sh. The biggest issue was unpredictable costs, which made it difficult to manage cash flow and price projects profitably. This was especially problematic as NFP clients often operate on tight budgets.
Furthermore, because hosting was often under the client’s name, the support they received was subpar.
"We would submit a support ticket," Mark explained, "and Platform saw us as a small charity that was charged £100 a month and not a major partner with nearly 100 sites.” Mark stated support replies were "brief, often unhelpful, and usually took days to arrive."
As a cloud deployment provider, the previous host lacked WordPress expertise, leaving Fat Beehive to determine the best infrastructure for each project on its own.
All of these challenges were compounded by frequent, random 5-minute downtimes that frustrated clients and left Mark and his team on call in perpetuity.
The Solution
Fat Beehive began searching for a partner that could offer WordPress expertise, best-in-class support, and pricing stability.
"Clarity and pricing for us is knowing what our spend is going to be every month," Mark noted.
After evaluating several options, Fat Beehive chose WP Engine, migrating all 80 sites to its managed platform for WordPress. The decision was driven by WP Engine's expert support and additional tooling.
According to Mark, WP Engine's technical team played a crucial role in building a custom Bitbucket deployment pipeline that Fat Beehive needed. The agency immediately adopted tools like Smart Plugin Manager to automate maintenance and WP Engine’s Global Edge Security, powered by Cloudflare, to provide a robust layer of security for clients.
The Results
The move to WP Engine had an immediate and massive impact on efficiency. By automating updates with Smart Plugin Manager, Fat Beehive slashed monthly plugin maintenance from 80 hours to just 5, a 94% reduction in time.
"We literally were able to save two weeks of a developer's time just in plugin updates," Mark said.
Additionally, the random 5-minute downtimes disappeared. "We don't get that anymore," Mark said, noting his phone alerts are finally quiet.
This stability, combined with predictable monthly pricing, has empowered Fat Beehive when pitching to new clients.
According to Mark, "When we're pitching now, we quite proudly say we're partners with WP Engine, and that we have direct access to their technical expertise."
This access to technical expertise is directly leading to increased client opportunities.
According to Mark, the responsive, expert support feels like "someone sitting beside me," allowing Fat Beehive to easily handle more complex technical or security needs from larger clients.
WP Engine’s robust feature set, including new tools like Smart Search AI, is also opening up conversations with clients and prospects alike.
Fat Beehive is now developing its own tools and upselling new services, like structured data implementation, based on the capabilities WPE provides. "A lot of that is based on what we can do now that we're on WP Engine," Mark said.
WP Engine’s powerful platform and specialized tools have enabled Fat Beehive to continue serving a not-for-profit client base even more effectively, all under a more predictable pricing model.
Agency Partner Program
Agency excellence, empowered
Create and maintain client environments more effectively and with fewer headaches through a hosting solution that makes it easy to manage dozens or even hundreds of WordPress sites.