Our Hometown, Inc.

What Our Hometown, Inc. does

Our Hometown, Inc. is a privately held US SaaS company founded in 1996 and headquartered at 17 Pleasant Street, Clifton Springs, New York. It builds and operates a WordPress-based content management system and digital publishing platform targeted at local and community newspapers, with a staff in the 11–50 employee range. The company positions itself as 'newspaper people' serving 'newspaper people,' differentiating from generic WordPress hosts through domain-specific workflows such as PDF-to-HTML conversion of print editions, reverse publishing back to Adobe InDesign, e-edition delivery, public notice handling, and circulation management.

The product surface is a modular, à la carte platform built on WordPress and integrated with MemberPress (subscriptions and paywalls), AdRotate Pro (ad management), Stripe (payments), Buzzsprout (podcast hosting), Naviga CircPro (circulation), Matomo (analytics), FS Poster (social), Adobe InDesign (print export), and OpenAI (press release automation). Native iOS and Android mobile apps mirror customer websites. Notable proprietary features include source-based paywall metering, audio articles with custom IPA pronunciation rules, an email-to-post press release plugin, an OHT Ad Network for cross-publisher advertising, and Author Profiles for SEO E-E-A-T signals. Security features such as two-factor authentication were added in 2025.

Our Hometown generates revenue primarily through recurring SaaS subscriptions billed monthly, with pricing quoted per publisher based on the bundle of features selected rather than published tiers. Additional revenue comes from professional services (rapid prototyping, migration, custom development), mobile app development and hosting, and the OHT Ad Network. The go-to-market is sales-led and event-driven: direct outreach via website demo and quote forms, supplemented by attendance at newspaper association conferences (NNA, Editor & Publisher, Lion Publishers, state press associations), with content marketing through blog, email newsletters, webinars, and SEO. Customers include The Herald of Randolph, Early County News, View Newspaper Group, Florida Weekly, Lake Norman Media Group, Journal Publishing, and more than 20 named SMB and mid-market community newspapers across the United States.

Name

Our Hometown, Inc.

Legal name

Our Hometown, Inc.

Website

https://our-hometown.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1996

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Our Hometown, Inc. provides a WordPress-based digital publishing platform for US local and community newspapers, offering modular SaaS add-ons including PDF-to-HTML conversion, digital subscriptions, mobile apps, audio articles, and AI-powered press release workflows on a quote-based subscription model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Digital Publishing Software

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210), Newspaper Publishers (513110), Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishers (5131), Periodical Publishers (513120)

SIC

Newspapers: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2711), Periodicals: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2721)

akta.pro primary industry

Digital Newsroom/CMS Platforms for Publishers (MPACAIAH)

akta.pro secondary industries

Online News & Magazine Publishing Platforms (CMS & Hosting) (MPAJAMAC), Digital Magazine & Newspaper Subscription Platforms (Paywalls, Membership) (MPAJAMAD)

Keywords

• Digital publishing platform
• Newspaper content management
• Subscription management software
• Advertising management platform
• Mobile app publishing

Headquarters

HQ city

Clifton Springs

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Infrastructure, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. SaaS Platform Subscription: Monthly/annual subscription fees for access to the WordPress-based publishing platform with customizable feature bundles. Customers choose which features to include on their website and pay accordingly, with à la carte options that can be added or removed at any time.
2. Digital Advertising Revenue: Ad management and advertising revenue opportunities through the OHT Ad Network and AdRotate Pro plugin, enabling publishers to monetize website traffic with display ads and custom subscription banners.
3. Digital Subscriptions: Subscription management services through MemberPress integration, enabling publishers to monetize content through metered paywalls, print subscriber integration, and multiple subscription plan tiers.
4. Mobile Applications: iOS and Android mobile app development and hosting services for newspaper publications.
5. Professional Services: Website setup, migration, and configuration services including rapid prototyping (typically less than one week turnaround), PDF-to-website conversion, and custom development.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels5 records

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Our Hometown sells a WordPress-based digital publishing platform purpose-built for local newspaper and community publication publishers. The platform bundles CMS hosting with a modular set of features including PDF-to-HTML print conversion, MemberPress-powered digital subscriptions, iOS/Android mobile apps, text-to-speech Audio Articles, E-Edition readers, digital newsletters, reverse publishing for print workflows, OHT Ad Network monetization, and AI-powered press release automation. Customers select features à la carte and pay recurring subscription fees.

Product overview

Our Hometown, Inc. offers a WordPress-based CMS and digital publishing platform designed for local newspapers and community publications. The core platform provides website hosting and content management, with a modular architecture of add-on features including Full-Service Publishing (PDF-to-HTML conversion), Digital Subscriptions (MemberPress-based paywalls and circulation management), Audio Articles (text-to-speech), iOS/Android Mobile Apps, E-Edition Reader (PDF viewer), Digital Newsletters, Reverse Publishing (InDesign XML export), SEO Features including Author Profiles, Digital Advertising Management (AdRotate Pro), Social Media Autopost (FS Poster), Security Features (2FA), Matomo Analytics, Video Uploads, Weather Widget, News Notifications, Block Editor with patterns, Press Release Plugin (OpenAI-powered), and circulation tools via Naviga CircPro integration. The platform operates on an à la carte model where publishers select desired features, and includes the OHT Ad Network for revenue sharing.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Our Hometown Publishing Platform Hosted, WordPress-based content management system and digital publishing platform purpose-built for local newspaper and community publication publishers. Provides website hosting, content management, and a modular feature set sold à la carte.
• Full-Service Publishing Managed service that converts print newspaper PDFs into web-ready HTML content and publishes articles on behalf of local newspaper customers, eliminating manual re-entry of print content into the CMS.
• Digital Subscriptions Subscription management offering for newspaper publishers that delivers metered paywalls, source-based paywall metering, multiple subscription plan tiers, print subscriber integration, and circulation workflows through MemberPress.
• iOS and Android Mobile Apps Native iOS and Android mobile applications developed and hosted for newspaper customers, mirroring their website layout and enabling readers to access content and manage subscriptions on mobile devices.
• Audio Articles Automated text-to-speech conversion of all published articles into audio streams with playlist support, enabling readers to listen to news content; includes custom pronunciation rules for local place names and figures.
• E-Edition Reader Digital replica reader for PDF newspaper editions that enables readers to browse print-style newspaper layouts online, with digital archive access and distribution through the mobile apps.
• Digital Newsletters Newsletter creation, management, and email distribution system integrated with the Our Hometown publishing platform for subscriber email campaigns.
• Reverse Publishing Export workflow that transfers web content back to print production through InDesign XML export, including article export, display ads export, and classifieds export, supporting newspapers that maintain both print and digital editions.
• OHT Ad Network Proprietary advertising network enabling newspaper publishers to monetize website traffic through cross-publisher display advertising and custom subscription banners.
• Press Release Plugin AI-powered workflow that combines an email-to-post plugin with OpenAI chat models to automatically process forwarded press release emails and publish them as formatted website posts using customizable AI prompts.
• Author Profiles SEO-enhancing feature that creates dedicated profile pages for newspaper authors with avatars, biographies, social media links, and dynamically updated article listings to strengthen E-E-A-T search signals.
• Custom Pronunciation Settings for Audio Articles Enhancement to the Audio Articles feature that lets publishers define custom pronunciation rules for local place names and community figures using text aliases or IPA phonetic notation for accurate text-to-speech output.

Quantifiable outcome

• Rapid prototyping commitment with most sites launching within a month of initial contact
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers10 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration16 records

AI capability4 records

Feature14 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• WordPress (Automattic)coreTechnology or IntegrationWordPress serves as the core platform and foundation for Our Hometown's publishing system. The company builds custom newspaper publishing solutions on top of WordPress, utilizing its CMS architecture, plugin ecosystem, and block editor (Gutenberg). Our Hometown is powered by and deeply integrates with WordPress, described as 'the world's most popular Content Management System' for their newspaper customers.
• BuzzsproutcoreTechnology or IntegrationBuzzsprout provides podcast hosting and management services that integrate with Our Hometown's Audio Articles feature. Their iOS app enables publishers to manage audio content on the go, including updating episodes, checking statistics, and fixing errors. The partnership enhances Our Hometown's audio content delivery capabilities for newspaper publishers.
• MemberPresscoreTechnology or IntegrationMemberPress is the subscription management plugin powering Our Hometown's digital subscription features, including paywall management, subscription reports, circulation management workflows, and print subscriber integration. It handles payment processing and subscriber access control.
• AdRotate ProcoreTechnology or IntegrationAdRotate Pro provides ad management capabilities for Our Hometown's digital advertising features, enabling publishers to manage and rotate display advertisements on their newspaper websites.
• StripecoreTechnology or IntegrationStripe provides payment processing for subscription and e-commerce transactions processed through Our Hometown-powered newspaper websites. Publishers using Stripe for online payments may need to verify business information for compliance.
• State Press Associations (Virginia Press Association, et al.)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerOur Hometown's Digital Initiative is developed in partnership with state press associations to create sustainable digital publishing pathways for newspapers. State associations help ensure members establish online presence and advocate for public notice legislation. Currently 20 states have guidelines for digital public notice publication in partnership with newspapers, and 45 states have created digital repositories of public notices.
• InDesign (Adobe)coreTechnology or IntegrationAdobe InDesign integration enables reverse publishing workflows where content from the Our Hometown platform can be exported in formats compatible with InDesign for print production, supporting newspapers that maintain both print and digital editions.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Memberful: Memberful is a membership and subscription management platform used by independent publishers. It competes with the MemberPress-powered digital subscription features offered within the Our Hometown platform.
• Ghost: Ghost is an open-source publishing platform powering newsletters, blogs, and modern publications. While more focused on individual and newsletter-based publishing, it overlaps with Our Hometown's digital newsletter and online publishing capabilities.
• Substack: Substack is a newsletter-first publishing platform increasingly used by independent and local journalists. It competes with OHT's Digital Newsletters functionality as an alternative path for publishers seeking digital-native distribution.

Direct peers

• TownNews: TownNews is a leading CMS and digital publishing platform built specifically for newspapers. It directly competes with Our Hometown in serving local news publishers with similar SaaS-based website, subscription, and mobile app offerings.
• BLOX Digital: BLOX Digital provides CMS, digital subscription, and mobile app solutions for community newspapers and media groups. It competes head-to-head with Our Hometown in the local newspaper publishing technology market.
• Newspack (by Automattic): Newspack is a WordPress-based publishing platform from Automattic, the company behind WordPress.com, purpose-built for news publishers. It is the most direct WordPress-native competitor to Our Hometown, targeting the same local newspaper segment.

Broad incumbents

• Naviga: Naviga is an established provider of publishing, advertising, and circulation software for media companies — including CircPro which OHT already integrates with. It competes in adjacent workflow layers (circulation, ad ops) that overlap with OHT's stack.
• Pressable: Pressable is a managed WordPress hosting provider serving publishers and SMBs. It operates in an adjacent layer of the stack (hosting) that overlaps with the infrastructure underlying Our Hometown's hosted CMS offering.
• Arc XP: Arc XP is the enterprise publishing and content platform spun out of The Washington Post. While broader in scope, it serves many large newspaper and media customers with CMS, subscriptions, and digital content tools comparable to Our Hometown's offering.
• WordPress VIP: WordPress VIP is the enterprise WordPress platform from Automattic serving large publishers and media brands. As an enterprise-grade WordPress CMS, it competes for upper-end news publisher budgets where OHT is also positioning.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/ourhometowninc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/our-hometown-com

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Our Hometown, Inc.