Sitebulb is a SaaS company that launched back in 2017. It began by developing a desktop-based website crawling tool that helps SEO consultants, agencies and brands better understand the technical SEO of their websites.
In 2022, the team had an idea. What if they launched a cloud version of Sitebulb Desktop, allowing customers to crawl sites and run SEO audits on an even bigger scale?
- Dedicated Servers
- High Availability
- Custom SAN & Integration into HA Stack
- Containerisation
The early days of Sitebulb Cloud
With this vision, Co-founders Gareth and Patrick started experimenting with how to make Sitebulb Cloud a reality. They began by renting dedicated servers from cloud providers like IONOS and OVHcloud, and hosting a Sitebulb interface on top. But, setting up customers was both manual and time-consuming. Sometimes, it could take up to eight hours.
It was at this point that Sitebulb asked for our help. We began by renting them Windows virtual machines (VMs) to standardise, and speed up, the process of getting customers online. We later fine-tuned this by renting them hypervisors instead, so they could use the same VM model but with even greater resource.
Migrating Sitebulb from Windows to Linux
Although it was a step up from the days of renting dedicated servers, the new hypervisor solution still wasn’t quite right. That’s why, in 2024, we proposed a migration to a Linux-based cloud server.
Here’s why we decided to move forward with the migration, and get Sitebulb Cloud closer to the slick, scalable platform we knew it could be.
Bringing Sitebulb’s vision to life
Within six months, we’d successfully migrated Sitebulb Cloud from Windows to Linux. It was a project with lots of moving parts, which meant we needed to work closely and collaboratively from start to finish. We also worked as efficiently as possible – making sure the team didn’t have to pay for two servers for long!
Sitebulb had grown from a company of two into a team of eight by this point, and we were proud to provide them with the support needed to handle such a complex migration. As Patrick describes it:
“Sitebulb Cloud wouldn’t have been possible without ProStack. We’d have tried to launch it with IONOS or AWS and we’d have failed, because we wouldn’t have had the know-how. We’ve been able to achieve it with ProStack because they’re effectively an extension of our team.”
What we achieved together
Sitebulb Cloud is no longer just an idea. Customers – including big players like Zoopla and Condé Nast – can now crawl up to 10 million pages per audit. Crawling at this scale is inconceivable with desktop-only software.
Customers can also access their accounts via a web browser, instead of having to log into a desktop version every time. This makes everything from file-sharing to collaboration much easier.
Plus, the team no longer needs to pay for a new VM every time a customer comes on board. They can also make more accurate financial forecasts, based on the traditional, flat fees for the underlying machines. Sitebulb Cloud is now built upon a more sustainable business model, and can grow without incurring ever increasing costs.
Looking ahead with Sitebulb
According to Patrick, the team’s vision for a cloud-based Sitebulb is now 95% alive.
Moving forward, the team’s focus will be on improving the user experience further. For instance, by introducing new capabilities like frictionless account upgrades and doubling down on features like real-time alerting. And, with a solid hosting infrastructure under their belts, it’s only a matter of time before they do.
At each step, we’ll be there to help!
“ProStack doesn’t just have a strong understanding of Sitebulb Cloud from a technical side of things. They also understand what we’re trying to do from a business perspective. They know we’ve got customers who rely on us, and it feels like they share our responsibility.”
Patrick Hathaway
Co-founder & CEO of Sitebulb
“There’s a huge amount of trust between us and ProStack. When we ask the team to do something, it gets done.”
Patrick Hathaway
Co-founder & CEO of Sitebulb
Need hosting or migration support?
We’re here to help. Enter your details below and we’ll be in touch.