Most WordPress hosting is, at its core, for small businesses or marketing. Byline.net is a small, journalist-founded business built only for news organizations.

You won’t find gimmicky AI features, “thought leadership” marketing, or private equity ownership. We’re a mission-driven small business providing sustainable service for local news.

	All-in-one news platforms	Managed hosting	Byline.net
Privately owned	❓	❓	✅
Any WP plugin/theme	❌	✅	✅
Servers at cost	❌ 1	❌	✅
Full support beyond the server	✅ 2	❌	✅
Built for local news	✅	❌	✅
Full ownership to export or migrate	❌	✅	✅
Custom development	❌	❌	✅
Cheap	❌	✅	❌
Traffic not tied to server specs	✅	❌	❌

1. Pricing often based on traffic or visits instead of actual server costs ↩︎
2. Different platforms offer different levels of service, but it’s common to only support the technology of the site, compared with Byline.net’s availability to help with content, related services like analytics, and strategy. ↩︎

Service first

We’re not for everyone. We are not trying to compete with massive hosts or all-in-one news platforms.

Our goal is to provide pragmatic hosting with additional technical know-how and elbow grease to local newsrooms.

We’re here to support your newsroom and organization, not just your web site.

Byline.net is our solution to problems with traditional WordPress hosts, who often aren’t set up for local news organizations. By bundling our technology support and hosting, we can sustainably offer ongoing newsroom partnerships without breaking the bank.

Just a few of the many other things we can help with beyond a traditional host:

• Fully manage WordPress updates
• Research and integrate plugins
• Implement features
• Advise on analytics and run reports
• Evaluate vendors
• Build microsites or sections of your site