In the realm of digital business, the performance of your website is paramount. As WordPress continues to dominate the CMS market, selecting the right hosting service becomes a critical decision. This article delves deep into the performance benchmarks of various WordPress hosting services, providing insights to help you make an informed choice.
Participation and Acknowledgments
This year, the benchmarking process saw an increase in participation fees, leading to the introduction of a Sponsorship program. This program was designed to support new, small, or first-time participants in the two lowest price tiers. WP Buzz was the sole company to benefit from this initiative.
Special thanks to the four companies that generously stepped forward to sponsor participation: 20i, Krystal Hosting, Nexcess, and Pressable. Their support allowed a broader range of companies to be part of the benchmarking process.
Hosting Companies and Their Offerings
A diverse range of companies participated in the benchmarking process, each offering unique plans tailored to different needs. Here’s a snapshot of some of the companies and their plans:
- 34SP.com: Priced at 9.95 GBP, it offers 1.25 GB memory and 25 GB disk space.
- A2 Hosting: At $22.99, it provides 2 GB memory.
- Bluehost: For $18.95, users get 100 GB disk space.
- Cloudways: Competing with a Digital Ocean Premium 1GB droplet, it’s priced at $12 and offers 1 GB RAM, 1vCPU, and 25 GB NVMe storage.
- EasyWP by Namecheap: Priced at $19.88, it offers 1152 Mb memory and 100 GB storage.
- GreenGeeks: At a cost of $4.95, it provides 2.0 GB memory with unmetered storage.
- Hostgator: Available for $18.99.
- Lightning Base: Priced at $9.95, it offers 3 GB for PHP and 1 GB storage.
- SiteGround: For $24.99, it recommends up to 100,000 visitors, with 20 GB storage and unlimited traffic.
(Note: This is a partial list. The full list includes many more companies and detailed plan specifications.)
Performance Testing Results
LoadStorm Testing: This test simulates real users visiting the site, logging in, and browsing to test uncached performance. Key metrics include total requests, errors, and response times. Companies like Namecheap and others showcased impressive performances, with minor spikes that didn’t significantly impact server load handling.
K6 Static Testing: Designed to test cached performance by repeatedly requesting the homepage. A2 Hosting stood out with an incredibly fast average response time, followed by SiteGround and WPX. Several companies, including GreenGeeks, WPBuzz, and LightningBase, achieved the fastest speed in different locations.
Uptime Testing: Uptime is a critical metric, and most companies maintained an uptime of 99.9% or higher. GreenGeeks had a slight discrepancy between two monitoring tools, but it was deemed a monitoring tool issue rather than a GreenGeeks problem.
WebPageTest Results: This test measures how long it takes to fully load the homepage from various global locations. A2 Hosting had the fastest average speed, with SiteGround and WPX following closely. Several companies, including GreenGeeks and WPBuzz, achieved top speeds in specific locations.
WPPerformanceTester Results: This test measures WordPress and PHP performance. Nexcess had the fastest results in both benchmarks, with other companies like ManagedWPHosting and Stoute Web Solutions also performing well.
SSL Testing: SSL security is paramount, and most companies achieved grades between A to A+. Only a few, like Stromonic and Stoute Web Solutions, received a grade of B.
Conclusion
The benchmarking process doesn’t declare a ‘best’ hosting service due to the complexity of hosting. However, it does recognize top-performing companies. This year’s Top Tier WordPress Hosting Performance Award was given to companies that showed virtually no signs of struggle during testing.
It’s essential to note that these tests focus solely on performance and don’t consider other factors like reviews, support, and features. When selecting a hosting service, consider all these aspects to make an informed decision.