Contact Form 7 cuts hosting costs by 66%, speeds up site for over 200M users

With over 200 million downloads, Contact Form 7 by Mr. Takayuki Miyoshi stands out as one of the most popular plugins in the WordPress repository. This versatile tool supports a range of user interactions, offering customizable forms that can be as simple or complex as needed for various data collection tasks. Since its initial release in 2007, Contact Form 7 has secured 50% of the market share among online feedback platforms, boasting over 11 million site installs worldwide.

To support its users, Contact Form 7 offers extensive documentation, regular updates, and maintenance announcements via its official website. This collection of resources guides users around the globe through installation, practical usage, and troubleshooting processes.

Explore Mr. Takayuki Miyoshi’s insights into how Contact Form 7 navigated the challenges brought by the pandemic and what led them to choose Kinsta as a partner to host their official site and support their millions of users.

Snapshot

• Industry: WordPress development

The Problem

Unbeknownst to Mr. Takayuki Miyoshi, the official Contact Form 7 site was hosted on a shared server on WP Engine. He only found out when WP Engine flagged his site for unexpectedly high traffic, forcing him to upgrade to a more expensive plan.

Using AWS or other tools to manage a server could be a labor-intensive endeavor. For Mr. Miyoshi, the initial motivation for moving to a managed server was to take advantage of an always-on SSL feature. Still, unexpected rising costs related to shared servers became an unavoidable problem, and economic forces made that problem untenable.

“I have used several hosting services for this site in the past. There was a time when I was personally managing the site’s server on AWS, but managing everything on my own became too much of a burden, and it was no longer realistic. And so, I switched to WP Engine around 2017 when I wanted to implement always-on SSL.”

However, challenges emerged when WP Engine flagged the increased traffic on his site and how it was affecting other websites sharing the same server as Contact Form 7. This brought to light an array of concerns for Mr. Miyoshi.

“Not long after I transitioned to WP Engine’s hosting service, their support team contacted me. They advised upgrading to a more premium plan due to the high traffic my site was receiving. According to them, this heavy traffic was impeding the experience of other users sharing the same server,” shared Mr. Miyoshi.

“This took me by surprise as I was previously unaware that my managed hosting service plan was on a shared server. To avoid causing issues for others, I reluctantly upgraded to a significantly pricier plan.”

Contact Form 7’s growth initially allowed it to absorb additional hosting costs. However, the financial strain from the global economic downturn due to the Covid pandemic became challenging to handle. “Our company primarily depends on advertising revenues, which took a hit and placed significant pressure on our performance,” shared Mr. Miyoshi.

“The situation further escalated in 2022 when exchange rates shifted dramatically, resulting in a nearly 50% increase in hosting costs when converted to Japanese yen from the previous year. This financial pressure prompted me to reassess the value of WP Engine’s services concerning their high costs, leading me to explore alternative hosting services, and eventually, I found Kinsta.”

The Solution

After thorough research and testing, Mr. Miyoshi switched from WP Engine to Kinsta in the Spring of 2023. What he did not expect, though, was the seamless migration expertly handled by the Kinsta team.

Even though he had come across Kinsta, he had yet to give it much thought as he was unfamiliar with the company. However, things changed when he came across a comparison article. “I happened to see an article from Kinsta’s official website comparing Kinsta vs. Xserver. I immediately became curious as to why Kinsta was comparing itself to a Japanese hosting company even though Kinsta evidently came from overseas.”

His curiosity led him to dig deeper and learn more about what Kinsta had to offer: “I did more research and began to think that it seemed like a good service, even though I had been unfamiliar with them.” His conversation with Kinsta’s representative in Japan further convinced him of its capability. By Spring 2023, Mr. Miyoshi had finally switched from WP Engine to Kinsta.

To Mr. Miyoshi’s surprise, the migration process to Kinsta was smoother than anticipated. “Based on past experiences, I expected server migrations to be both physically and mentally draining, which made me hesitant,” he shared. However, the Kinsta team facilitated a hassle-free migration, providing an experience that exceeded Mr. Miyoshi’s expectations from day one. “Kinsta offers a service that allows you to leave the entire migration to its experienced and professional staff, making the transition smoother than I had imagined,” he added.

The Result

Switching to Kinsta reduced Contact Form 7’s hosting costs by 66% and increased the site’s speed, allowing them to confidently support the plugin’s 200 million users.

Remarkable Savings in Hosting Costs

Previously, Mr. Miyoshi hosted his web projects on WP Engine at a substantial annual fee of $6,624 USD. However, upon switching to Kinsta, his annual hosting fee for Contact Form 7 dropped by 66%: “Now, our annual hosting cost is a mere $2,250 USD with Kinsta, roughly one-third of what we used to pay at WP Engine.

Website Performance Beyond Expectations

Besides saving on annual hosting costs, Contact Form 7 also experienced significant speed improvement, “The site is clearly faster on Kinsta than it was on the previous host, which cost three times as much. I am delighted with these results.”

According to Mr. Miyoshi, their approach to hosting sets Kinsta apart from other hosting providers. He noted, “There are no shared hosting plans at Kinsta. I get the impression that the general concept of ‘shared hosting’ itself has been abandoned as a thing of the past.”

Another aspect that greatly impressed Mr. Miyoshi was Kinsta’s flexibility. “With a Kinsta plan, you can easily manage multiple sites. And each site can be assigned to different data centers in various cities based on your preference. Such an option is impossible with other hosting services,” he shared.

Furthermore, this level of flexibility is available even with Kinsta’s least expensive plan.”Even with the most affordable plan, you can leverage the top-tier infrastructure the Google Cloud Platform provides. This feature is truly astounding and unmatched in the industry.”

Having been a volunteer in the Japanese WordPress community for many years, Mr. Miyoshi had a message for his fellow enthusiasts:

I would like to recommend Kinsta especially to users in Japan. Managed WordPress hosting services are still not well known in Japan, but I encourage you to give Kinsta a try. It will completely change your perception of hosting services.

LXC software containers (LXDs) back every site in Kinsta, containing each within its unique environment. This environment bundles necessary resources like Linux, Nginx, PHP, and MySQL, ensuring heightened security, scalability, and efficient resource utilization.

Mr. Miyoshi’s switch from WP Engine to Kinsta underscores the benefits of selecting the right hosting provider. Kinsta stood out as the preferred choice for Contact Form 7 due to its cost-effectiveness, superior performance, and unparalleled flexibility.