The stack we actually run — on this site, and on every site we build. Every pick has a reason and a caveat, because everything does.
No affiliate links on this page. When that changes, we’ll say so here first.
A VPS you control
Hosting
A small cloud server (DigitalOcean has a Toronto region) with a management layer like SpinupWP on top. Your data on your machine, in your country, at commodity prices.
* You own the updates too. The management layer makes that a ten-minute month, but it isn’t zero.
Ollie
Theme
A true block theme: patterns instead of a page builder, design tokens instead of a settings maze. You edit every page in the editor WordPress already ships.
* Block themes are still young. If you’ve spent years in a page builder, budget an afternoon to unlearn it.
The SEO Framework
SEO
Does technical SEO quietly and completely — titles, descriptions, sitemaps — with no dashboard ads and no AI assistant trying to write your pages.
* A small team maintains it. We accept that trade for software this focused.
TSF Schema
Structured data
Our own add-on to The SEO Framework: LocalBusiness, FAQ, Product, and custom JSON-LD markup that TSF doesn’t ship. Structured data without a second SEO plugin.
* We made this one, so we’re biased. It’s GPL — read the code if you’d rather check than trust.
WPForms
Forms
A contact form that works, with spam protection that doesn’t make humans solve puzzles. Install only the addons a site actually uses.
* The free tier nudges you toward paid. The nudges are ignorable; the form-builder is genuinely good.
Postmark
Email delivery
Your server shouldn’t send its own email — it lands in spam. Postmark delivers password resets and form notifications reliably.
* Free for 100 emails a month, US$15/month past that — plus one more account and a one-time DNS setup. Worth it the first time a customer email actually arrives.
Fathom Analytics
Analytics
Visitor counts without cookies, fingerprinting, or a consent banner. You see what’s working; your visitors stay anonymous. That’s all it does, on purpose.
* It’s a paid subscription. Privacy that isn’t funded by your visitors’ data has to be funded by someone.
ShortPixel
Images
Compresses images and serves modern formats automatically. The cheapest speed upgrade a small-business site can buy.
* Optimization happens on their servers, not yours — the one stack pick where files leave the building. Images only, and you can opt for lossless.
Two-Factor + the edge
Security
Two-factor on every admin account via the lean core-team plugin, and brute-force protection at the edge (Cloudflare rate-limiting) when you control DNS. No security suite. On shared hosting without edge control, add Fuse Limit Logins.
* “No security suite” is not “no security thinking.” Updates, backups, and least-privilege accounts still matter — the suites just don’t do those for you either.
Ready to strike the match?
Own your site in a weekend. We’ll show you the path.