The market remains dominated by a small set of well−known control panels. cPanel/WHM remains the clear leader, with 64% of respondents using it.

At the same time, a large number of providers also rely on other panels:

• 31% use Plesk
• 23% use DirectAdmin

Beyond the major commercial panels, there is also a meaningful presence of:

• Custom or proprietary control panels, used by 19% of respondents
• “No-panel” servers, offered by 20%, typically for developers or more advanced customers who prefer direct OS access

The data paints a picture of a heterogeneous reality. Most providers operate a mixed environment rather than standardizing on a single panel. Any tooling or platform targeting this ecosystem must account for this diversity.

Most hosters run a broad portfolio rather than specializing in only one kind of product. Traditional shared hosting remains central:

But shared hosting is far from the only pillar. A similarly large share also provides:

• VPS hosting, offered by 61%
• Dedicated servers, offered by 52%

On top of these core infrastructure products, many providers have built offerings around:

• Managed WordPress hosting (49%), reflecting the central role WordPress plays in the hosting ecosystem
• Agency or reseller hosting (42%), designed for web agencies and resellers managing multiple client sites
• Email hosting (41%), either as a bundled feature or as a separately−branded product
• E-commerce hosting (40%), targeting online stores and transactional sites

At 32%, a smaller but notable portion offers various forms of application hosting services.

The main takeaway is that typical hosting companies today are multi-product providers. They juggle shared hosting, VPS, dedicated servers, WordPress, email, and e-commerce — often all at once.

Overall, the dominant approach is to include value−added services within hosting plans, rather than treating everything as separate à la carte upsells:

• 40% include value-added services in all plans and effectively absorb the costs into base pricing
• 24% prefer a mix of bundled services and optional upsells
• 17% primarily bundle these services into higher-tier plans
• 15% sell most value-added services as optional paid add-ons

These results indicate that many providers see bundled value, rather than bare-bones base plans, as an important part of their competitive positioning.

At the same time, almost as many use hybrid models to combine bundled features with upsells, giving them flexibility to serve different customer segments.

Beyond core hosting plans, many providers generate revenue from paid value-added services.

• Domain registration and management, which sits at the top at 46%, a natural complement to hosting
• Professional services (40%), such as migrations, troubleshooting, or consulting work
• Website backups (37%), often positioned as essential protection rather than a “nice-to-have”
• Security-related services (34%), including advanced security features or remediation offerings
• Performance and optimization services (30%), such as caching, CDN integration, or tuning

A variety of other services, such as professional email, SEO, or marketing tools, and other add-ons are also present at meaningful levels.

One notable outlier in the other direction is website builders, which rank low in terms of successful sales, at 16%. While many hosting companies have some kind of builder, it appears less central as a standalone revenue driver compared to domains or backups. Site builders are more likely to be included for free, as part of the base plan.

Overall, the data suggests that customers are willing to pay for genuine added value, and that hosting providers are already used to packaging and selling such services alongside core plans.

Overall, most respondents report that 2025 was a positive year :

• 37% saw moderate growth in the range of 6%–19%
• 28% reported significant growth above 20%
• 29% described their revenue as flat or stable (between −5% and +5%)
• Only 5% saw a moderate decline, and 2% a significant decline

Taken together, around two-thirds of respondents are growing, while roughly one−third are flat or shrinking.

As the single top business priority for 2026, acquiring new customers comes out clearly on top across the survey:

• 42% selected acquiring new customers
• 22% chose improving operational efficiency and reducing costs
• 14% prioritized increasing average revenue per user (ARPU)
• 11% said launching new products and services
• 9% highlighted reducing customer churn as their top priority

The overall picture shows a strong growth mindset, as almost half of providers say bringing in new customers remains their number one focus.

When we look at responses by server fleet size, however, a more nuanced pattern emerges:

• Among companies with up to 10 servers, nearly 60% choose acquiring new customers as their single top priority.
• As fleets grow, this share steadily declines. Larger providers still care about acquisition, but it becomes less dominant.
• In the largest fleet-size band (more than 200 servers), the picture becomes more balanced: acquisition remains important, but efficiency is chosen almost as often, and ARPU and churn reduction both gain meaningful weight.

This pattern suggests that some priorities are universal (acquisition matters at every size), while others shift with scale. Smaller providers are more likely to focus on pure growth, while larger providers increasingly emphasize optimizing and defending the business they already have through efficiency gains, higher ARPU, and lower churn.

As the biggest growth opportunity in the next 2-3 years, VPS and dedicated hosting is the clear leader among respondents.

• 26% chose VPS/dedicated hosting as the biggest opportunity
• 22% selected shared hosting
• 17% opted for cloud servers
• 14% pointed to managed WordPress hosting

While shared hosting remains central in 2026’s product mix, many providers see the future of growth in VPS, dedicated, and cloud, with managed WordPress and specialized offerings also playing important roles.

Segmenting the answers by server fleet size reveals some clear differences:

• VPS/dedicated hosting is the top growth bet across all fleet-size bands. It is the single area that consistently appears near the top regardless of scale.
• Providers with smaller fleets are more likely to point to classic shared hosting as their biggest growth opportunity, reflecting its importance as a core product for many smaller businesses.
• Providers with larger fleets are significantly more bullish on cloud servers as a growth area, suggesting that as infrastructure expands, providers are more likely to move or extend their portfolios into cloud-style offerings.
• The mid-size segment is more evenly spread across multiple product bets. This is also where interest in niche and vertical hosting, such as managed WordPress and specialized e-commerce hosting, peaks.

While VPS is a common thread, each size group of hosting providers sees their growth story slightly differently, depending on what they already run and who they serve.

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Two factors clearly emerge as the biggest threat to profitability in 2026:

• 29% of companies selected price competition from low-cost providers
• 28% chose rising costs (such as energy, software licenses, and hardware)

Below the top two, several other concerns appear:

• 17% see competition from SaaS site-building platforms (like Wix or Shopify) as the main threat
• 15% point to competition from hyperscale cloud providers

In other words, many hosting providers feel a margin squeeze from both directions: downward pressure on prices from budget competitors, and upwards pressure on costs from energy and software.

• Price competition is more commonly cited as the primary threat among smaller providers.
• Hyperscaler pressure grows with fleet size. The larger the fleet, the more likely providers are to name competition from hyperscale cloud providers as their main profitability concern.
• Concerns about rising costs and SaaS platforms are present across all segments.

This pattern suggests that while all providers are exposed to cost and price pressures, smaller hosters feel the impact of low-cost competitors more acutely, while larger companies are more exposed to competitive pressure from hyperscale clouds.

The leading approach in plans to increase average revenue per user (ARPU) in 2026 is to expand professional services:

At the same time, the popularity of bundled features, third-party reselling, and proprietary add-ons indicates that providers are actively looking for ways to add more value to their plans.

Taken together, these responses point to a landscape where hosts are increasingly combining infrastructure, software, and services into broader solution offerings.

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Three factors stand out clearly at the top of reasons why hosting companies think their customers choose them over competitors:

• Website speed and performance, cited by 55% of respondents
• Price, cited by 47%
• Quality of support, cited by 45%

These three together form a familiar decision triangle for WordPress hosting customers: they want sites that are fast, plans that feel affordable, and support they can rely on when something goes wrong.

While performance, price, and support are often the main reasons customers sign up for WordPress hosting, security, included tools, and ease of use can play an important tie-breaker role, particularly when multiple providers look similar on other benefits.

Speed, security, and support in particular are the areas where WordPress-specific tooling, automation, and infrastructure determine whether providers can differentiate and deliver these promises at scale.

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The second most common reason reflects a structural shift in the market. 41% say customers leave because they move to SaaS platforms such as Wix, Shopify, Squarespace, or similar solutions.

Other frequently cited reasons include:

• Performance issues/slow websites: 29%
• Missing features compared to competitors: 25%
• Security incidents (such as hacked sites or malware): 19%
• Poor support experiences: 18%

• The prominence of price may indicate that, in some cases, customers either cannot afford it or do not see enough value to justify what they are paying.
• The strong pull of SaaS platforms suggests that many customers are attracted by convenience and simplicity, even if it means giving up some flexibility.
• At the same time, issues that providers can influence directly, such as performance, security, and support, also appear frequently among the churn reasons.

What can providers do in response?

• It may be beneficial to place more emphasis on communicating and demonstrating value, not just listing features and prices.
• Educating customers about the trade-offs between SaaS platforms and traditional hosting can help them make more informed choices, and potentially reduce regretted churn where customers later discover limitations in their new platforms.
• Investing in site performance, security, and support quality can help reduce churn in areas where providers have the most control.

• Email problems (spam, blacklisting, deliverability issues): 42%
• Customer CMS / application issues (eg. WordPress or plugin problems): 39%
• Performance issues (slow websites): 35%
• Security incidents (hacked sites, malware infections): 35%

These are areas where better tooling, automation, and robust protection could reduce ticket volume and time-to-resolution.

When we discuss security, automation, and investment priorities in a later section, these support patterns provide useful context for why providers are looking for more efficient ways to manage performance, security, and application-level complexity at scale.

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Most providers prefer to compete on service quality to differentiate their VPS offerings, rather than price:

• 29% say they primarily differentiate through a fully managed service
• 22% emphasize superior 24/7 support as their main differentiator
• 17% focus on cutting-edge hardware
• 14% say they compete primarily on price
• 9% differentiate by offering a bundled enhanced software stack
• 7% focus on ease of use and a user-friendly control panel experience

This distribution suggests that while some providers do choose to play the lowest price game, many more are trying to stand out through management level, support quality, and technical excellence. A smaller but significant portion also leans into bundled software stacks to offer a more complete, out-of-the-box solution.

Differentiation matters regardless of whether a provider offers managed or unmanaged plans. Even in scenarios where customers get root access and are expected to manage much of their stack themselves, hosters still need to think about how to differentiate on reliability, performance, tools, and safety nets.

This confirms a theme that appears in other questions as well: many providers feel constant price pressure from low-cost options that customers perceive as a good deal.

Taken together with other challenges that also appear frequently, the responses show that VPS and dedicated offerings require providers to balance pricing, security, performance, and operational complexity, often while trying to explain to customers why a managed solution is worth more than an unmanaged alternative.

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Two issues stand out at the top of security-related challenges that create the most overhead and risk in business.

• Outdated or vulnerable software, especially WordPress plugins and themes, was cited by 53% of respondents
• Malware and ransomware infections were cited by 51%

Together, these highlight the ongoing challenge of running application-heavy, CMS-driven environments where customers control much of the code and update cadence.

Several other security challenges are also widely felt as shown by the distribution of responses.

The diversity of attack vectors shows that security is not just about protection at the network edge. Providers are dealing with a multi-layer problem that spans:

• Customer-controlled application code (plugins, themes, CMS updates)
• Infrastructure-level threats (DDoS, abusive bots)
• Email abuse and reputation issues
• Emerging or hard-to-patch threats (zero-days)

These findings align with the already cited security incidents as a source of support load and a contributor to churn.

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• 31% use a third-party outbound gateway or smarthost service for email filtering and reputation management
• 23% rely primarily on open-source tools (such as SpamAssassin, Rspamd, or similar solutions)
• 19% depend on the basic spam and security tools included in their control panel
• 18% have an on-server commercial email security solution in place

No single solution type dominates the market. Instead, providers use a mix of gateways, open-source components, and commercial tools to keep spam and abuse under control.

When we view this alongside the support data, where 42% of respondents say spam, blacklisting, and deliverability consume a large share of support time, it suggests that email hosting remains both an essential offering and operationally challenging.

The combination of high support load and a diverse setÉof tools indicates that there is room for more integrated, easier−to−manage email security and spam filtering.

The answers show that a significant portion of the market is still in transition:

• 33% say they are still running CSF while evaluating alternatives
• 24% report that they have migrated to a paid alternative
• 18% say they are not affected because they did not use CSF
• 16% have switched to another free or open-source firewall
• 9% say they have taken no action yet

This distribution shows that even after an end-of-life announcement, many providers continue to rely on tools that are no longer maintained, whether temporarily while they evaluate options or, in some cases, with no clear plan yet.

• A lack of time and resources to properly evaluate and test replacement solutions
• The operational risk and effort involved in changing core security components on production servers
• A tendency for security changes to lag behind awareness, especially when short-term stability feels more urgent than long-term risk

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When asked how hosting providers monitor their server fleets today, centralized monitoring tools come out on top:

Beyond that, monitoring is handled through a mix of other approaches:

• 18% rely primarily on the dashboards that come built into their existing tools
• 17% monitor servers individually via control panels, rather than through a single aggregated view
• 16% use a custom, in−house monitoring dashboard

While centralized monitoring is clearly the most common, a substantial share of providers rely on per−panel views or a combination of built−in and custom tools.

• Smaller fleets prefer individual control−panel−level monitoring.
• As fleet size grows, providers increasingly move toward central monitoring solutions and, in the largest segment, custom in-house dashboards.
• In the largest fleets, monitoring is dominated by centralized and custom views, with panel−by−panel monitoring disappearing entirely.

This suggests a natural progression: as the number of servers increases, providers tend to invest more in aggregated, fleet−wide visibility in an effort to increase management efficiency.

• 55% selected 5 – extremely important
• 29% selected 4
• 11% selected 3
• 2% selected 2
• 3% selected 1 – not important at all

In other words, more than four out of five respondents place automation in the top two importance levels when evaluating new server software. Only a very small minority rates it as unimportant.

This reinforces an apparent theme throughout the survey: hosters are actively looking for ways to reduce repetitive and manual work, standardize operations, and minimize the need for constant attention once a solution is deployed.

On a scale from 1 to 5, where 1 means “not interested” and 5 means “very interested”,

• 46% selected 5 – very interested
• 25% selected 4
• 14% selected 3
• 6% selected 2
• 9% selected 1 – not interested

When looking at this alongside the monitoring and automation questions, we see that hosters are not only investing in central monitoring tools, but are also open to further consolidation that brings more metrics, alerts, and controls into a single, coherent interface. For many, the goal is to reduce tool sprawl and context switching, making it easier for teams to see the overall status, usage statistics, and health of their environment in one place.

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• 34% already use containers in their hosting operations
• 23% are considering using containers
• 22% have no plans to use containers
• 21% plan to adopt containers within the next 12 months

In other words, about one-third of respondents have already deployed containers, while around 44% are either considering or planning adoption. Another notable segment, just over one in five, still has no plans to use containers.

This suggests that containers are clearly on the radar for a majority of hosting providers, but adoption patterns vary. Some companies will likely continue running more traditional hosting models, while others are experimenting with or transitioning to container-based approaches for some of their offerings.

Several other areas also see significant levels of AI usage:

• 32% offer AI tools directly to their customers, for services like content generation, image tools, or other AI-supported features
• 30% utilize AI for server monitoring and optimization, such as anomaly detection or smart alerting
• 29% deploy AI for cybersecurity threat detection

In contrast, a sizable segment of hosts (27%) has not implemented any AI solutions yet.

The data shows that AI is no longer purely experimental for many hosting providers. It has found early traction, especially in support (where language models and chatbots immediately save time) and in customer−facing tools that can be marketed as added value.

At the same time, over a quarter of respondents have not implemented AI at all, underscoring that we are still in a relatively early stage of AI adoption across the web hosting industry.

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• Automated site security and malware detection, chosen by 65% of respondents
• Predictive server performance monitoring, chosen by 48%

So when hosters hear about AI, they think first about security and performance, areas where early detection and faster response could materially reduce risk and improve customer experience.

Beyond those two, several other potential AI applications also appear:

• AI-driven customer support: 37%
• Automated website content and SEO assistance: 32%
• AI-assisted onboarding and migrations: 23%
• Billing anomaly detection and revenue forecasting: 19%

Taken together, this shows that providers see a broad range of possible uses for AI, but the strongest interest is in reducing security risk and keeping performance issues under control.

• 36% selected integrated AI and automation tools as the biggest innovation opportunity

A second tier of priorities covers several related areas:

• 19% chose advanced security and compliance management
• 17% pointed to better WordPress/CMS integrations
• 15% want a central bulk server and licensing management

The remaining responses highlight more specialized areas:

• 6% see the biggest opportunity in developer and agency collaboration tools
• 3% in billing and usage-based pricing
• 2% in sustainability and energy efficiency

Overall, providers want tools that handle more tasks automatically, make it easier to stay secure and compliant, integrate deeply with the platforms their customers use (especially WordPress), and reduce the overhead of managing large fleets and licensing.

• 44% prioritize improving website performance and speed
• 43% chose strengthening security and compliance
• 41% highlighted automating server management and internal operations

These three themes are consistently important across the sample and align closely with many of the challenges and priorities seen throughout the survey.

Beyond the top tier, a significant share of respondents also plan to invest in:

• Upgrading core hardware: 37%
• Developing a proprietary control panel or customer portal: 26%
• New value-added features (such as SEO tools, builders, or analytics): 24%
• Developer-focused tools (for example, Git integration, staging environments, WP−CLI, or CI/CD workflows): 20%.

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When we look at these priorities by server fleet size, we see that:

• Performance, security, and automation are important across all fleet sizes.
• As fleets grow, developer-focused tools and proprietary control panels or customer portals become comparatively more important. Larger hosting providers are more likely to invest in customized portals and developer workflows as part of their differentiation and internal efficiency goals.

The answers show that providers are planning to invest heavily in making their platforms faster, more secure, and more automated, while also building better experiences for both end customers and developers as their infrastructure scales.

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AI and security bets stand out at the top of the list of trends expected to have the biggest impact on the hosting industry in 2026:

• 53% selected AI-driven automation and new AI−based products
• 33% chose increased security threats and growing compliance demands

Below these two, several other trends also appear with notable frequency:

• 28% expect high-performance, managed WordPress hosting to have the biggest impact
• 23% point to competition from hyperscale cloud providers
• 22% highlight the growth of specialized e-commerce hosting

Respondents see AI, security/compliance, and performance-focused managed offerings as the themes most likely to shape 2026.

Competition from hyperscalers and the growth of specialized hosting segments are also high on many providers’ radar.

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Segmenting the same question by server fleet size reveals some differences in emphasis, even though many of the same themes emerge.

A few patterns stand out:

• Smaller providers are more likely to select AI-driven automation and products as the trend that will likely have the biggest impact. For these companies, AI-powered tooling may be seen as a potential force multiplier, helping them do more with smaller teams.
• Larger providers tend to be more evenly distributed across several options. While AI and security remain important, respondents in the higher fleet-size bands are relatively more likely to choose trends such as high-performance managed WordPress hosting and the growth of specialized e-commerce hosting as the most impactful.
• Across all fleet-size segments, respondents consistently agree that security threats and compliance demands will be a major factor in 2026, even when they are not selected as the single top trend.

In other words, the broad shape of expectations is similar across the board. AI, security, performance-focused managed offerings, and hyperscalers matter to everyone, but the relative weight of these themes shifts slightly depending on the scale at which a provider operates.

• Hosting companies report that outdated software, malware, DDoS, and bot traffic are already major sources of security risk and overhead.
• Many are still in the process of replacing end−of−life components like CSF.
• AI is already in use, most commonly in support and customer-facing tools, but more than a quarter of respondents have not yet implemented any AI solutions.
• Investment plans for 2026 are heavily focused on performance, security, and automation, and providers see substantial innovation opportunities in integrated automation, better WordPress integration, security/compliance tooling, and central management.

Against this backdrop, the trends hosting providers expect for 2026 can be read less as predictions of a completely new landscape, and more as an indication of where they anticipate the most change and pressure:

• AI-driven automation and products are seen as an extension of current moves toward automation and efficiency, rather than an entirely separate track.
• Security threats and compliance are expected to keep intensifying, building on challenges providers already face.
• Managed WordPress and specialized e−commerce hosting are considered a natural evolution of how many providers already package and differentiate their services.

While a survey cannot say which of these trends will ultimately prove most impactful, it does show clearly where hosting providers are directing their attention as they plan for 2026.

This distribution paints a picture of an industry that is largely confident about its ability to navigate the year ahead. Most providers believe they have the right foundations in place, or are at least close to where they want to be, while the data from previous sections highlights where continued investment and improvement are likely to matter most.

Strengthening security and compliance, reducing operational complexity through automation, delivering consistently strong performance, and clearly communicating value in an increasingly competitive landscape will be crucial in 2026.

The Web Hosting Trends Report 2026 is based on a global online survey of 446 hosting providers. Survey responses were collected between October 20, 2025 and December 2, 2025, using online forms published by CloudLinux and WebPros.

Who responded

Alongside them, there is a significant representation of system administrators and engineers (18%), who are closest to the day-to-day operational realities of running hosting infrastructure. They were joined by technical leaders, engineering managers, and product/operations managers (21%), who sit at the intersection of technology and business strategy.

This mix means the survey reflects both strategic viewpoints (owners, C-levels) and hands-on operational perspectives (sysadmins, engineers, technical leads).

Company profiles by server fleet size

To better understand how certain answers vary with scale, respondents were asked how many servers they manage. For analysis purposes, responses are grouped into four fleet−size bands based on the number of servers managed. These bands range from companies with only a handful of servers to providers managing hundreds or more.

The distribution shows a healthy mix across all size ranges. 

This spread allows us to compare how priorities, challenges, and technology choices differ between smaller and larger fleets.

Geographic distribution

Most responses came from Europe and North America. Together, these regions account for roughly two-thirds of the sample. In addition, there was solid representation from Asia−Pacific, Africa & the Middle East, and Latin America as well.

This mix reflects the global nature of the hosting industry. The results provide a unique insight into how hosting providers in all parts of the world think about growth, security, automation, customer expectations, and the global web hosting trends of 2026.

The tools hosting providers trust to deliver performance, security, and control at scale.