Studio Visual had a client paying $48,000 a year for WordPress hosting and struggling to get good support. The São Paulo agency moved the site to Pressable and cut the bill by 70% in the first year. It also earned the client’s trust and turned the move into an offer it now brings to other clients.
At a glance
| Agency | Studio Visual, São Paulo, Brazil |
| Client | A high-traffic site with millions of monthly users |
| Move | WP Engine to Pressable |
| Result | 70% lower hosting costs in year one |
| What’s next | More client migrations, planned with their Automattic for Agencies partner manager |
The agency
Studio Visual builds digital solutions for medium and large companies in Brazil, in finance, education, and other industries. The team has worked with WordPress for 15 years and has delivered projects for more than 100 companies in several countries.
Diogo Fukunaga de Carvalho, Studio Visual’s CTO, says the team usually builds a bespoke theme for each client, for performance and security, then codes custom features on top. The stack includes WordPress core, WooCommerce, and Elementor.
Studio Visual has sponsored WordCamps in Brazil since 2019 and hosts local WordPress meetups at its office.
“WordPress has given me a lot, in my life and in our company,” Diogo says. “We want to give something back to WordPress and the community.”
The problem
One of Studio Visual’s clients runs a site with millions of monthly users. It was paying WP Engine $48,000 a year for hosting, and the support wasn’t keeping up.
Diogo says cost was the main problem, “but they were having problems with support too, so they wanted to change.” The client had known for years that it was overpaying. It wanted a fully managed service, though, and that left few options.
“Security and performance are very important for us, but we wanted more help from a support team. We wanted to breathe a little more. Our team was working so much, and we wanted to share that work with another company.”
Diogo Fukunaga de Carvalho, CTO, Studio Visual
Studio Visual took the case to its partner manager at Automattic for Agencies. He helped the team validate the migration and put together a strong offer for the client.
The evaluation
Pressable gave Studio Visual a sandbox, and the team deployed the client’s full project there before committing to the move.
With help from the Pressable team, they ran performance, security, and stress tests, and checked that every feature of the site still worked. Their main concern was whether the platform could handle millions of monthly users. “Everything was okay, so we decided to migrate.”
“For me, Pressable is the best solution right now, with a good price and good support,” Diogo says. “We can do everything with one click. We can clone everything. We can have backups. So clients who want to use us for our technical knowledge can do a lot with their own team.”
The migration
Diogo says the migration went smoothly, apart from a problem with the team’s account partway through.
“We were a little afraid in the middle of the migration. But the Pressable team helped us very fast. They were helping us in real time, and every response took less than 10 minutes.”
After the move, Pressable’s team also helped with WordPress and plugin updates so Studio Visual could get the site settled quickly.
“The main point of Pressable for me is the support. What they’re doing for us is incredible. Their team is almost our team. I feel that.”
Diogo Fukunaga de Carvalho, CTO, Studio Visual
Before Pressable, getting help was harder: “With other companies, it was very complicated to get support. Sometimes we didn’t get any answer. With Pressable, we have access to people who know what they’re doing, and they answer very fast.”
The results
70%
lower hosting costs in year one
~50%
lower hosting costs in later years
<10 min
support response times during the migration
0
downtime since the move
A faster site, and a faster admin panel for the client’s own team
Fewer problems day to day
The client is putting the savings back into the site. “The client is saving money to improve the project, so it’s much better for them,” Diogo says. “They trust us much more. They can see we were a big, important part of this process, bringing the solution.”
“Now I can breathe. I can sleep a little more with the Pressable team.”
Diogo Fukunaga de Carvalho, CTO, Studio Visual
What happened next
Studio Visual has since drawn up a list of clients it wants to move to Pressable and sent it to the Automattic for Agencies team, which is helping build an offer for each one.
“In Brazil, cost is the main point,” Diogo says. “To migrate a client, we need a good reduction, and not just over the long period. The first year is key to convincing them.”
The team now expects savings of 60–70% on new migrations and presents them as part of the project’s value.
“Hosting is key for us. With it, we can deliver fast content for our clients and their users.”
Looking ahead
Studio Visual is now focused on AI and automation to scale the business: “We’re bringing AI into every part of the company: documentation, coding, tests, deployment, everything.”
From a partner, Diogo wants help bringing “more results to our clients: saving money, better performance, and more options. Nowadays, results are the key.”
Giving back: Studio Academy
Studio Visual’s focus on results goes beyond its clients. The team also runs Studio Academy, a free program that takes people from zero to professional WordPress developer. It’s built for people trying to break into tech, and it’s the team’s way of giving back to the Brazilian WordPress community.
Students start with the basics, like Git, Linux, HTML, and CSS, and work up to building with WordPress, using Sage as a boilerplate. One Studio Visual developer works on the program full time, following each student’s progress, reviewing their code, answering questions, and meeting one-on-one when needed. Students also work on real Studio Visual projects, with colors and content changed to protect clients.
“Everyone can find content on the internet,” Diogo says. “But they don’t have access to a developer who works with them, helps with exercises, and reviews their code. That’s the difference.”
500+
videos, all made in-house
120
hours of free courses
1
full-time developer mentoring students
Many students expect learning to code to be quick and easy, and the volume of work catches them off guard. To help, the team has updated the entire free course to use AI as a foundation for learning. Diogo thinks students shouldn’t fear it: “I believe it can be a solution. If we know how to use it, it will be better for us.”
“Not everybody has the same access to education and work that I have. If I can work, have a good salary, and get more education, it’s my job to share that with people who don’t have access.”
Diogo Fukunaga de Carvalho, CTO, Studio Visual
