Our new website and My WebOké: why we built everything ourselves

WebOké has a new website and a completely new My WebOké, built in-house from the first line to the last. How that came about, what changes for you and where we are headed.

Why we build it ourselves again

In 2004 we wrote our first own customer system, and up to and including 2021 WebOké always ran on our own software. Then we switched to WHMCS, well-known standard software for hosting companies. Solid and proven, and for years it simply did its job.

But somewhere along the way it started to pinch. Hosting is technology, while most people who work with it are not technicians. A customer environment should therefore start with the user, and that is exactly where the limit was: we saw what could be better for our customers, but the standard software decided what was possible. Which led to a simple conclusion: this only gets really good if we build it ourselves again. Fortunately, that experience was already in-house.

One more thing played a part: security. With standard software, whenever a vulnerability appears you wait for the vendor's update. Now every line of code is ours, so when something needs fixing we do it ourselves, immediately. And security could be the starting point from the very first line, rather than something you bolt on afterwards.

Where are we headed with WebOké? Simple: we keep doing what we have always done. A Dutch option for the entire online presence of your business, your club, your family or just yourself, for a fair price.

What is new for you

1. Ordering is faster and simpler. Fewer steps, less form-filling, active right after payment.
2. My WebOké is completely new. Invoices, domains, DNS, contacts and settings in one place.
3. The search bar that finds everything. It sounds like a small thing, but it is our favourite: search everything in your account and get anywhere without clicking through screens.
4. The AI assistant is more prominent and smarter. It knows all of My WebOké and our knowledge base, day and night.
5. The Website Manager. Install and manage apps such as WordPress right from My WebOké.
6. My DNS has been improved. Ready-made templates, DNS backups to instantly undo mistakes and easier record management.

Where we are headed

An MCP server. More and more customers build their website with AI. Soon you can give your own AI agent, such as Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini, direct access to your website files. Strictly scoped: only to what you choose yourself. And using AI at WebOké always remains optional.

Our own control panel. Almost everything you now do in DirectAdmin will be possible in My WebOké. DirectAdmin remains available, but only after you grant your own IP address access from My WebOké. That is easier, and safer.

Keep improving. Run into something that makes you think: huh, that is not logical? That can happen, not everything has its perfect shape yet. We keep rolling out improvements, continuously.

Everything else stays the way you know it: fast hosting, affordable domain registration, Nextcloud as an alternative to American office software and email where you control your own data. The only difference: it now runs on a system that is entirely ours.

Danny de Koning, WebOké