In this episode of WP Legends, we sit down with Ben Gabler, founder of Rocket.net and now Chief Product Officer at Hosting.com. From starting his first hosting company right out of high school to leading product at some of the world’s biggest hosting brands, Ben shares his journey of building high-performance platforms, scaling customer-focused businesses, and driving innovation in the WordPress hosting ecosystem.
Watch the Episode
From HostGator to Entrepreneurial Beginnings
Ben’s journey in hosting began in the early 2000s when he joined HostGator as employee #8. After gaining valuable experience, he launched Host9, his own company, where he developed Reseller Central, a product that solved the problem of reseller accounts being limited to a single server. This innovation gave agencies the ability to scale infinitely, setting the tone for Ben’s career in solving real-world hosting challenges.
Building Rocket.net: Performance-First Hosting
In 2020, Ben founded Rocket.net with a simple but powerful mission: performance-first WordPress hosting with Cloudflare Enterprise built in. Despite launching right before the COVID-19 pandemic, Rocket.net quickly gained traction as businesses moved online.
By 2025, Rocket.net was ranked #167 on the Inc. 5000 list, serving agencies and SMBs worldwide with unmatched speed, reliability, and customer support.
Joining Forces with Hosting.com
In August 2025, Rocket.net merged with Hosting.com, a global company managing over 3 million sites. Ben now leads product and engineering across Hosting.com while Rocket.net continues to operate with its original DNA.
For Ben, this wasn’t an exit, but an entrance. Partnering with Hosting.com provided the resources to scale Rocket.net’s vision, expand its reach, and enhance support without losing its customer-first culture.
Customer Support and Culture: The Rocket.net DNA
One of Rocket.net’s biggest differentiators has always been its industry-leading support:
- 98% satisfaction rate
- Sub-one-minute response times
- A “better together” approach with Hosting.com
Ben continues to engage directly with customers, even jumping into support chats, emphasizing that leadership should stay close to the customer experience.
Innovation and The Future of Hosting
Ben believes the future of WordPress hosting lies in:
- Partnerships between hosting companies, plugins, and themes to deliver complete solutions
- SaaS-like simplicity for agencies and SMBs, where launching a site or store is as easy as one click
- Leveraging AI as an assistive tool, not a replacement, to improve code quality, streamline workflows, and enhance product experiences
He sees Rocket.net and Hosting.com creating a one-stop shop for agencies and businesses by providing websites, email, DNS, and domains under one seamless platform.
Lessons and What’s Next
Looking back, Ben credits his growth to staying product-focused, listening to customers, and building scalable solutions. With Rocket.net’s DNA now powering Hosting.com, he’s excited about creating the industry’s most robust hosting platform, blending speed, innovation, and customer care at scale.
Get Featured on WP Legends
Are you a plugin creator, WordPress entrepreneur, or someone building something cool in the WP space? We’d love to share your story on WP Legends.
- Click here to apply and get featured Powered by hosting.com
