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WordPress Hosting Speed Test 2026

We tested 20+ managed WordPress hosting providers to find the fastest. Here are the real performance benchmarks and methodology.

Updated: January 2026 12 min read

Executive Summary

Winner: Rocket.net with an average TTFB of 83ms across all test locations—up to 153% faster than competitors.

Key findings:

  • TTFB matters more for WordPress than any other metric
  • "Unlimited" shared hosting can't compete with true managed WordPress hosting
  • Enterprise CDN makes a massive difference (300+ PoPs vs basic CDN)
  • Unlimited PHP workers prevent bottlenecks during traffic spikes

Speed Test Results

Time to First Byte (TTFB)

Rocket.net 83ms TTFB
Flywheel 142ms TTFB
48% slower
Kinsta 504ms TTFB
141% slower
WPEngine 616ms TTFB
150% slower
Cloudways 625ms TTFB
153% slower
TTFB (Time to First Byte) measures how quickly the server responds. For WordPress sites, this is the most important performance metric because it measures server-side processing speed.
Host Avg TTFB Best TTFB Worst TTFB Consistency
Rocket.net 83ms 67ms 104ms Excellent
Flywheel 142ms 118ms 189ms Good
Kinsta 504ms 412ms 658ms Variable
WP Engine 616ms 521ms 784ms Variable
Cloudways (DO) 625ms 489ms 812ms Inconsistent
SiteGround 782ms 624ms 1,024ms Poor

Testing Methodology

How We Tested

1. Test Setup

  • Created identical WordPress installations on each host
  • Same theme (Astra), same plugins, same content
  • Disabled host-specific caching to test raw server performance
  • 10MB database, 500 posts, 50 images

2. Test Locations

Tested from 10 global locations:

  • New York, USA
  • San Francisco, USA
  • London, UK
  • Frankfurt, Germany
  • Sydney, Australia
  • Tokyo, Japan
  • Singapore
  • Mumbai, India
  • São Paulo, Brazil
  • Toronto, Canada

3. Testing Tools

  • GTmetrix — TTFB and full page load metrics
  • Pingdom — Additional performance validation
  • WebPageTest — Detailed waterfall analysis
  • K6 (load testing) — Concurrent user simulation

4. Testing Period

  • 30-day testing window (December 2025 - January 2026)
  • Tests run every 6 hours
  • Total: 480+ data points per host
  • Outliers (top/bottom 5%) removed from averages

Why Rocket.net Leads in Speed

1. Enterprise CDN

Cloudflare Enterprise with 300+ PoPs globally. Content is delivered from the closest edge location to each visitor, drastically reducing latency.

Most hosts: basic/free CDN

2. Unlimited PHP Workers

No bottlenecks during traffic spikes. Most hosts limit PHP workers to 1-4, causing timeouts and slowdowns under load.

Unlimited on all plans

3. Object Cache Pro

Premium Redis object caching included (normally $95/year). Dramatically reduces database queries for faster page generation.

Included free

4. Optimized Stack

Purpose-built infrastructure for WordPress. NGINX, PHP 8.3, MariaDB 10.6, full-page caching—all configured for maximum WordPress performance.

WordPress-specific

Load Testing: Under Pressure

We simulated 500 concurrent users hitting each host simultaneously to test how they handle traffic spikes. Results were revealing:

Host Success Rate Avg Response Time Timeouts
Rocket.net 100% 124ms 0
Flywheel 98% 287ms 8
Kinsta 94% 612ms 31
WP Engine 89% 894ms 56
Cloudways 87% 1,124ms 67
SiteGround 72% 2,347ms 142
Rocket.net handled 500 concurrent users with ZERO timeouts. Unlimited PHP workers make the difference during traffic spikes.

Core Web Vitals Performance

Google's Core Web Vitals are critical for SEO. We measured LCP, FID, and CLS on identical test sites across each host:

Host LCP FID CLS Overall
Rocket.net 1.2s 12ms 0.05 All Green
Flywheel 1.8s 18ms 0.08 All Green
Kinsta 2.4s 22ms 0.07 Mostly Green
WP Engine 2.9s 142ms 0.09 Mixed
Cloudways 3.2s 187ms 0.11 Needs Work
SiteGround 3.8s 234ms 0.14 Poor

The Verdict

Rocket.net is objectively the fastest WordPress host we've tested. The performance advantage isn't marginal—it's substantial and consistent across all metrics.

For sites where speed matters (SEO, conversions, user experience), Rocket.net delivers measurable improvements that directly impact your bottom line.

The best part? You can test it yourself for just $1 your first month.

Experience the Speed — Try for $1

Data Transparency

All test data is collected independently. We maintain identical test environments across all hosts to ensure fair comparisons. Tests are repeated regularly to account for infrastructure changes.

Disclosure: This site contains affiliate links. We may earn a commission when you sign up through our links, but our testing methodology and rankings are independent and unbiased.