U-M Pantheon

U-M Pantheon is a web hosting service provided through Pantheon for Drupal and WordPress websites. It will eventually* replace the ITS AFS Web Virtual Hosting service that has been available since 1998. ITS recommends units start planning and budgeting to move their Drupal and Wordpress websites out of ITS AFS Web Virtual Hosting and onto U-M Pantheon.

*Both U-M Pantheon and ITS AFS Web Virtual Hosting will remain available in tandem through at least June 2025, however no new Wordpress/Drupal sites will be created in AFS after June 30, 2024.

Why you should use U-M Patheon

You or your unit can put all of your focus and energy toward the content of your site instead of site maintenance like patching or vulnerabilities. U-M Pantheon provides data protection, compliance agreements, the lowest Pantheon rates with built-in support, and Shortcode-based billing.

ITS has also negotiated very favorable rates that are not normally offered to individual units. ITS covers all central/shared costs for providing Pantheon to the university, while website owners are only charged for their website plan and any feature add-ons or professional services they receive from Pantheon for their website.

Anna Lawrence, Digital Content Strategist for UMSI, said her team is very happy with the U-M Pantheon service, which is saving them significant money compared to buying their website hosting through Pantheon directly, and they are getting much better support from Pantheon under the Diamond support plan that is included as a part of U-M Pantheon. Anna said, “It’s always delightful working with ITS.”

The U-M Pantheon Service Overview (U-M login required) slides provide an introduction to the service.

Use the U-M Pantheon Comparison Chart (U-M login required) to compare U-M Pantheon to other well-known enterprise WordPress and Drupal web hosting options.

Additional Benefits

  • Lowest prices across the university for Pantheon & price caps until July 2028
  • Billed via Shortcode (no contract/PO/P-Card)
  • Automatic updates that take effect only if the before & after screenshots are OK
    • Save effort, time, money
    • Stay up to date and secure
    • Avoid updates breaking website
  • Spend more time on content, less on IT
  • 24x7 support via phone/chat/ticket with 15 minute emergency response
  • Automatic backups and ability to revert website changes with a few clicks
  • Websites can integrate with UM-only services using a secure VPN tunnel
  • Meets U-M security/compliance standards
  • Blazing fast website performance