From a plugin built for a local baseball team to one of the most trusted tools in the WordPress ecosystem, TablePress is a story of steady growth, community focus, and user-first development.
Its creator, Tobias Bäthge, didn’t start as a software engineer. He studied control engineering and stumbled into plugin development while helping his sports team with their website. What began as a side project has grown into a full-time business now used by over 700,000 websites worldwide.
In our interview, Tobias shared lessons from nearly two decades of plugin development—why steady support, thoughtful features, and doing less (but better) lead to long-term success.
“The most important thing right now isn’t actually coding—it’s finding a product idea and bringing it to the people.”
Tobias Bäthge – Creator of TablePress
Tobias Bäthge – Creator of TablePressKeep reading to learn how Tobias turned a free plugin into a thriving business, without losing sight of the people who use it every day.
This is part of our #MyWordPressStory series, featuring real stories from people using WordPress to make a meaningful impact.
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Video Interview with Tobias Bäthge
If you’d like to watch the complete video interview with Tobias, then you can check it out here:
Or you can use the links below to see what we covered in the interview (and more):
🙋 Meet Tobias Bäthge: From Baseball Fan to Plugin Creator
Tobias Bäthge didn’t plan on becoming a WordPress developer. He was studying control engineering at university when he joined a local baseball team and offered to help with their website.
They needed a way to publish schedules, stats, and player info, but there weren’t any suitable plugins available.
“In baseball, what do you need tables for? Schedules, rosters, statistics… the plugin I found didn’t have all the features I was looking for.”
This kind of origin story—solving a personal need without a bigger plan—is one we see often at WPBeginner. It’s how many of the most useful WordPress plugins get their start.
Tobias found that WordPress was easy to use, but it didn’t have a good solution for managing tables. So he took matters into his own hands.
That plugin became WP-Table Reloaded, and it quickly found an audience beyond the baseball field. Other WordPress users started installing it, offering feedback, and asking for new features.
What started as a personal project turned into something much bigger, used by thousands of people who needed a better way to manage tables in WordPress.
It’s a pattern we’ve seen across many successful WordPress plugins: start small, stay useful, and let real-world use guide your growth.
📈 From WP-Table Reloaded to TablePress: Building for Real Users
As more people started using WP-Table Reloaded, Tobias found himself spending more time in the WordPress forums answering questions, fixing bugs, and helping users get the most out of the plugin.
When users take the time to give feedback, it’s a sign they believe in your plugin’s potential. Tobias recognized this early and made sure to be attentive to his users.
“I think people valued that they received fast and prompt support… I think that’s really one key element that people realized: if they get stuck, they can always approach me.”
In fact, Tobias has posted over 50,000 times in support forums.
That level of commitment built his plugin’s reputation as a trustworthy, well-supported tool.
He also made a conscious decision to keep the plugin focused. Instead of adding every feature request, he used his own needs as a filter and carefully weighed the long-term impact of each change.
“I always tried only doing things that I thought I would need myself… because if you add something, you can’t really remove it later.”
Around the same time, he also started digging through the code of other popular plugins, studying how they used WordPress APIs and structured their files.
At WPBeginner, we often recommend this kind of hands-on exploration. For many developers, real-world examples are the fastest way to level up.
By 2011, Tobias realized that WP-Table Reloaded needed a fresh start. The original codebase had grown too limiting, and some of the early design decisions were holding the plugin back. So he started over—and TablePress was born.
“I realized it’s hard with the current technical setup of the plugin… if I start fresh, I can set up a better foundation.
Tobias also made sure the transition from WP-Table Reloaded was seamless, building automatic import tools to prevent users from losing any data.
The result? TablePress kept the clean, user-friendly experience people loved while becoming far easier to maintain, extend, and support. That’s why we still believe it’s one of the best WordPress table plugins on the market.
🚀 Going Full-Time With TablePress: Business, Balance, and Motivation
For years, TablePress was something Tobias worked on in his free time. But in 2022, he made a major decision: to leave his job as a research assistant at a university and focus on TablePress full-time.
It wasn’t easy, especially without a business background or entrepreneurial role models to follow. “I didn’t have a role model. Everybody around me had jobs, no one was self-employed. So I had a lot of respect for the business side,” he said.
The transition meant learning everything from tax laws to payment systems, on top of building new premium features and maintaining the free version. But it also required something deeper: learning to say no.
“Learning to say no is what helped me to start doing TablePress as a profession.”
That meant saying no to a steady job, no to distractions, and even no to certain feature requests, so that he could build something sustainable on his own terms.
One of the biggest rewards? The freedom to design his day around what really matters.
“I actually take the freedom of taking my kids to kindergarten first in the morning. It gives me energy.”
That balance is also what keeps him motivated, along with the opportunity to keep learning as WordPress evolves.
“What keeps the motivation high is I can learn while working.”
For Tobias, going full-time wasn’t about going fast. It was about focusing on what matters, building sustainably, and staying connected to the community that helped him get started.
💡 Real Talk: Advice for Aspiring WordPress Plugin Developers
Tobias didn’t build a successful plugin overnight. TablePress grew slowly, through consistent improvements, user feedback, and a strong foundation of trust. That’s also where he thinks every plugin developer should start.
“In the very beginning, providing fast, helpful support can go a long way.”
In Tobias’s case, those early interactions built momentum. Answering questions, fixing bugs, and simply being available created word-of-mouth buzz and trust, long before making money came into play.
We’ve seen time and again: strong support is often a plugin’s best marketing.
But support isn’t the only piece of the puzzle. Tobias recommends starting with a real need—ideally, one you have yourself.
That way, you’re solving a problem you understand deeply, rather than guessing at what users might want.
“You have to kind of do the research first… you need something that separates you from existing solutions.”
He also sees the freemium model as one of the best ways to build and validate a plugin business, but cautions that it requires careful balance.
“The free version has to provide value on its own… but you can’t give away too many features or people won’t upgrade.”
For Tobias, it’s not about building something flashy. It’s about staying grounded, solving real problems, and doing it in a way that users genuinely appreciate.
💥 Related Post: Looking for more inspirational content? Check out our interview with Ionut Neagu, the founder of Themeisle.
🧠 Staying Focused and Productive as a Solo Founder
With over 700,000 active installs and no full-time team, TablePress is a solo operation at scale. That means Tobias has to be extra intentional with his time, tools, and energy.
One of the first lessons? Learning to say no, not just to feature requests, but to himself.
“Learning to say no—to yourself and to others—is key to setting priorities.”
Tobias breaks up his day into blocks of time focused on different areas of the business, including support, development, marketing, and documentation. That helps him avoid context-switching and make real progress without burning out.
Another key to his workflow is automation. Over the years, Tobias has built systems that handle everything from plugin releases to syntax checks to version testing. This has freed up time for more important work.
Many solo developers in our community tell us the same thing: automating routine tasks is the only way to scale sustainably.
“Those tasks should be automated… they just work in the background and free you from so much stress.”
He remembers when pushing a new version of the plugin was a stressful, manual process, and how that stress sometimes delayed releases by weeks.
“Now I have the testing set up in the background… I can much quicker and easier say, okay, new plugin release, click, boom.”
It’s a reminder that good systems don’t just make you more efficient. They make you more confident, too.
🔮 Looking Ahead: TablePress and the Future of WordPress
Tobias is optimistic about where WordPress is going, especially with the ongoing evolution of the block editor and a shift toward more interactive, browser-based experiences.
“There’s a major change happening in the editing experience—it’s an entirely new programming paradigm.”
That change presents new opportunities for TablePress, from improved interfaces to richer interactions inside WordPress itself. And for Tobias, it also brings new motivation.
But he’s also cautious not to change things just to get people’s attention. In fact, one of the most important lessons he’s learned is how overwhelming updates can be for less technical users.
To get his point across, he shared a relatable anecdote from his own life. He talked about seeing his grandparents, who are in their late 80s, navigate new technology. Tobias, the careful observer, notices when they struggle with updates on their smartphones.
When things move or change unexpectedly, it’s easy for users to feel lost. That has shaped his design philosophy.
“Ironing out wrinkles and making things easier to use is sometimes more appreciated than a big new feature.”
As WordPress continues to grow and change, Tobias is focused on keeping TablePress intuitive, consistent, and reliable for beginners and advanced users alike.
💭 Final Thoughts
Tobias Bäthge didn’t set out to build a business, but he did set out to build something useful.
Nearly two decades later, TablePress stands as a model of focused development, user-first design, and long-term sustainability in the WordPress ecosystem.
His story is a reminder that you don’t need to move fast or make a lot of noise to be successful. Instead, consistency, clarity, and community support can take you a long way.
For Tobias, what matters most is building something reliable—something that solves a real problem and keeps working over time. That means saying no to change for change’s sake and putting user experience first.
“Sometimes too much change is too much… especially for less technical users.”
Whether you’re building your first plugin or trying to turn your side project into a full-time venture, Tobias’s journey is proof that thoughtful, steady progress can still help you win.
📚 Bonus: Expert Resources for WordPress Plugin Developers
Want to follow in Tobias’s footsteps and build your own successful plugin? Here are some helpful WPBeginner resources that can help you out:
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