WordPress Hosting Performance Promises and Security Realities: Q&A with Wes Tatters of Rapyd Cloud

We spoke with Wes Tatters, Managing Director of Rapyd Cloud, about the performance bottlenecks and security challenges facing modern WordPress sites – and why it’s time to stop settling for cheap hosting that can’t deliver under pressure.

Getting to Know Wes Tatters

Wes’s career started before the web even existed. With over 40 years in tech, he’s worked through every major shift in how websites are built, hosted, and scaled.

“I started as a user, then became a developer, ran an agency, and now I run a hosting company. I’ve seen WordPress from every angle.”

That company – Rapyd Cloud – is laser-focused on one thing: building high-performance hosting for dynamic WordPress sites.

Wes also contributes to the broader ecosystem as part of the official WordPress Hosting team.

“You see a lot from that position – not just what’s broken, but what people have given up trying to fix.”

Why Hosting Promises Often Fall Short

It’s easy to find hosting providers promising the world for $5/month – unlimited sites, blazing speed, and perfect security.

But Wes says the reality is very different once a site becomes even slightly complex.

“A lot of hosts are still running on infrastructure that’s ten years old. No upgrades, no architecture changes. Just squeezing more sites onto the same servers.”

At the same time, providers are locked in a pricing war.

“In the race to the bottom, the first thing that gets cut is investment in technology. You end up with outdated hardware trying to run modern applications.”

For simple static sites, that might be enough. But things start to break as soon as you introduce user logins, personalized content, or higher traffic.

Scaling for Real-World WordPress Use

To keep up with today’s demands – real-time dashboards, dynamic product pages, and LMS platforms during exam week – you need more than just fast servers.

You need the right architecture.

“It’s not just about speed. It’s about being able to generate completely unique pages for every user, on demand, without breaking under load.”

At Rapyd Cloud, Wes and his team focus on scaling horizontally and vertically, both adding more raw power and making smarter use of it.

They’ve partnered with platforms like AWS to build infrastructure that adapts in real time. That includes increasing CPU and memory during traffic spikes and orchestrating live migrations without disruption.

“We can redeploy an entire customer base to a new data center without them even knowing it happened. Try doing that with a legacy stack.”

This agility isn’t just about performance. It’s also about security – making sure servers are always running the latest, safest components instead of aging infrastructure no one wants to touch.

Security Can’t Be an Afterthought

“Security shouldn’t be an afterthought… sadly, it is.”

Too often, WordPress site owners think about security only after launch, sometimes only after an incident. Wes sees this all the time: developers install free plugins post-launch and hope for the best.

“That plugin might be doing nothing. Worse, it might be doing harm. We’ve seen tools that quietly introduced malware during development, just sitting there for six months, hidden.”

Every WordPress site is under constant attack. Automated bots scan for any weakness – login forms, outdated plugins, exposed tools. And these aren’t targeted attacks.

“They don’t care who you are. If your site’s vulnerable, it’s a resource to be hijacked – for crypto mining, spam, botnets, whatever.”

This is why Wes believes security has to be built in from the infrastructure level.

Rapyd Cloud’s approach pushes security outwards. It starts at the kernel level, with malware detection running before requests even reach PHP. From there, layered defenses kick in: an internal WAF and external edge tools.

Virtual Patching: Security That Buys You Time

Wes is clear that there’s still a place for smart, application-aware plugins – especially when it comes to known plugin and theme vulnerabilities.

“Patchstack does something most firewalls can’t. It understands how WordPress works. That context is everything.”

Traditional firewalls rely on signatures or pattern recognition, which are useful for known threats but often blind to how specific plugins behave. That’s where Patchstack’s virtual patching makes a difference (also covered in the case study explaining how Rapyd Cloud works with Patchstack).

“It knows the actual exploit path. So even if the vulnerable plugin is still active, Patchstack can block the attack before it lands.”

That protection kicks in fast, before the vulnerability is even publicly disclosed. And because it doesn’t rely on waiting for plugin developers to push an update, it acts as a much-needed buffer.

“You get time. Time to test the update, time to plan, instead of scrambling to fix something while your site’s already being targeted.”

AI: The Double-Edged Sword

Artificial intelligence is changing how WordPress sites are built – and attacked.

On one hand, tools like Copilot and ChatGPT are helping developers generate code faster than ever. But as Wes points out, that speed comes with risk.

“You’ve got people generating plugins with AI who don’t have a clue what’s in the code. That’s a problem.”

These AI-generated plugins can easily contain vulnerabilities that their creators don’t understand – and since many of them are distributed privately, they bypass any kind of official review.

At the same time, attackers are using AI to level up.

“They can pour the entire WordPress plugin repo into an AI, train it to look for vulnerabilities, then ask it to write malware. That’s happening now.”

You no longer need elite hacking skills to build an exploit kit. With the right AI prompt, someone working alone can launch sophisticated attacks at scale.

“It could be someone in their basement churning out malware. And that’s the scary part – the barrier to entry is gone.”

What’s Next for WordPress Hosting and Security?

As WordPress evolves, so must the infrastructure behind it. Wes sees clear trends shaping the future – and a growing divide between providers who adapt and those who fall behind.

Hosting as a Partner, Not Just a Platform

“We’ve got to move past the $5 hosting race. Hosts need to solve problems customers don’t even know they have yet.”

Wes believes hosting companies must act more like strategic partners, taking ownership of performance, uptime, and security rather than just offering space on a server.

That includes being proactive: spotting risks early, optimizing environments, and offering expert support from people who understand how WordPress really works.

Managed Security by Default

Security can’t be an optional extra. Hosting providers should bake it in – offering malware scanning, firewalling, virtual patching, and real-time monitoring as standard.

“It’s not just about reacting to attacks. It’s about making sure customers are protected before anything happens.”

That means tighter integrations with tools like Patchstack, and active participation in security ecosystems, not just ticking boxes for compliance.

Faster, Smarter Infrastructure Updates

Outdated tech stacks are one of the biggest risks Wes sees – and one of the hardest to fix.

“If you’re still running the same software from five years ago, you’re already exposed. Even if it ‘still works’.”

Keeping up with new PHP versions, kernel patches, and performance tooling is no longer optional. Hosts need modern orchestration platforms that make updates painless, not disruptive.

The Quiet Risk of Legacy Hosting

Many sites still run on aging infrastructure. It’s stable, familiar, and increasingly vulnerable.

“Some people think, ‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ But what they don’t see is that the attackers already know it’s broken.”

Wes sees this as a ticking clock. The longer hosts delay modernizing, the easier they become to target, especially as AI-assisted attackers ramp up speed and scale.

Key Takeaways

Running a fast, secure WordPress site in 2025 requires more than just picking a cheap hosting plan and installing a few plugins.

If you’re building anything beyond a static brochure site – whether it’s a WooCommerce store, LMS, or community platform – you need to:

• Choose infrastructure designed for dynamic sites. Look for modern PHP versions, fast CPUs, and real-time scalability.
  
• Prioritize built-in security. Layered security is essential, starting at the OS and extending through to application-aware tools.
  
• Demand proactive support. Your hosting provider should spot issues before you do and be able to fix them quickly.
  
• Understand the limits of caching. Sites with logged-in users and personalized content need real-time page generation, not static workarounds.
  
• Stay ahead of vulnerabilities. With AI accelerating plugin development and attacks, fast response times and virtual patching aren’t optional – they’re critical.

Build for Performance, Stay Secure

Rapyd Cloud is built from the ground up for the kind of WordPress sites most hosts can’t handle – dynamic, high-traffic, and performance-sensitive, and we’re proud to call them our partners.

When it comes to staying secure, Patchstack gives hosts like Rapyd Cloud (and their users) visibility and protection, including 48-hour early warnings for new vulnerabilities, automatic virtual patches, and a community of ethical hackers helping to protect the ecosystem.

Whether you’re building, hosting, or managing WordPress sites:

Make sure your infrastructure and your security stack are working together, not against each other.

• Explore Rapyd Cloud
• Protect Your Users’ Sites with Patchstack