Please read the Methodology to fully understand the scope of these tests.
Note: Please check company profiles for summary of performances across multiple tiers. Some companies also offer promotions or coupon codes for a discount as well.
The Enterprise tier of these benchmarks is special in that companies are allowed to change configurations to optimize for performance because at this price tier it’s expected for customers paying a lot of money. All other price tiers test default configurations.
Servebolt submitted two plans, the Scale + ACD plan is utilizing their Scale and Accelerated Domains addon which adds performance, scalability and security enhancements.
Cloudways competed with a 4XL plan from Google Cloud.
Starting price allows for 2M http requests per month. Can grow from there at additional costs up to unlimited.
Unlimited
Unlimited
Unlimited
Starts at 1 application, which can be a multisite with no limits. Additional applications available for extra cost with no limit on how many we can support.
Cloudways ran into issues around 1500 VUsers where login stopped responding and caused errors. The numbers appear artificially low because of this.
Raidboxes started slowing down around 3700 VUsers with errors kicking in around 4600 VUsers.
Overall, it's impressive how fast most of these companies are. With the exception of Raidboxes (and Cloudways gets an asterisk), every host is loading pages under 300ms. More than half the companies are loading assets sub 30ms. At the high end, you really have a lot of high performing globally available options.
K6 Static Testing Results
K6 Static test is designed to test cached performance by repeatedly requesting the homepage.
Every company handled this test very well. It is very clear which companies have CDNs setup though based on the average response times. The P95 of all but two companies being under 60ms is just impressive.
Uptime Testing Results
Uptime is monitored by two companies: HetrixTools and Uptime Robot. A self hosted monitor was also run in case there was a major discrepancy between the two third party monitors.
Results Table
Company
Uptime Robot
Hetrix
Cloudways
99.996
99.8335
Performant Websites
100
100
Presslabs
100
99.9951
raidboxes
100
99.9996
Scaleforce powered by Virtuozzo
100
100
Servebolt (Scale + ACD)
100
100
Servebolt
100
100
WordPress VIP
100
100
Discussion
Every company with the exception of Cloudways had 100% on at least one monitor. Cloudways had very different uptimes as measured by the two providers (happened across multiple plans tested). But the higher of the two uptime monitors showed 99.99%+ which seems to indicate the server was responsive.
WebPageTest Testing Results
WebPageTest fully loads the homepage and records how long it takes from 12 different locations around the world. Result are measured in seconds.
Results Table
Company
Virginia
California
Salt Lake City
London
Frankfurt
Cape Town
Singapore
Mumbai
Tokyo
Sydney
Brazil
Dubai
Average
Cloudways
0.26
0.316
0.279
0.556
0.613
1.328
1.047
1.311
0.742
0.992
0.843
1.33
0.8014166667
Performant Websites
0.404
0.159
0.269
0.317
0.388
0.151
0.185
0.318
0.369
0.251
0.654
0.243
0.309
Presslabs
0.155
0.143
0.26
0.141
0.173
0.222
0.154
0.169
0.213
0.155
0.16
0.137
0.1735
raidboxes
0.604
0.908
0.864
0.331
0.169
0.885
0.884
0.771
1.327
1.53
1.156
0.693
0.8435
Scaleforce powered by Virtuozzo
0.282
0.246
0.292
0.22
0.241
0.274
0.387
0.222
0.329
0.156
0.246
1.051
0.3288333333
Servebolt (Scale + ACD)
0.267
0.317
0.379
0.202
0.319
0.161
0.767
0.303
0.243
0.31
0.445
0.267
0.3316666667
Servebolt
0.347
0.197
0.342
0.393
0.426
0.175
0.654
0.22
0.257
0.397
0.337
0.262
0.3339166667
WordPress VIP
0.215
0.168
0.243
0.22
0.254
0.263
0.226
0.209
0.243
0.236
0.237
0.301
0.2345833333
Discussion
Presslabs is the obvious standout here with 10/12 of the fastest response times alongside the fastest average response time at a snappy 0.1735s.
WPVIP and Performant Websites managed to grab the other two fastest response times. They also managed the second and third fastest averages respectively.
Raidboxes and Cloudways stood out on the slower end because of the lack of CDN setup in this configuration.
WPPerformanceTester Testing Results
WPPerformanceTester performs two benchmarks. One is a WordPress (WP Bench) and the other is a PHP Bench. WP Bench measures how many WP queries per second and higher tends to be better (varies considerably by architecture). PHP Bench performs a lot of computational and some database operations which are measured in seconds to complete. Lower PHP Bench is better.
Results Table
Company
PHP Bench
WP Bench
Cloudways
9.968
624.2197253
Performant Websites
9.773
1094.091904
Presslabs
6.998
1865.671642
raidboxes
8.185
1402.524544
Scaleforce powered by Virtuozzo
9.705
400
Servebolt (Scale + ACD)
5.839
2132.196162
Servebolt
5.845
2227.171492
WordPress VIP
8.408
1280.409731
Discussion
Servebolt led the way here. They took the top two spots in both tests. Presslabs was third in both tests.
Scaleforce shows us that raw single threaded speed doesn't make or break an enterprise configuration. Despite having the slowest WP Bench and one of the slowest PHP Bench scores, a clustered configuration can handle massive scale and perform well in real world delivery.
Everyone got an A+ except Cloudways which earned an A.
Conclusion
There are two levels of recognition awarded to companies that participate in the tests. There is no ‘best’ declared, it’s simply tiered, it’s hard to come up with an objective ranking system because of the complex nature of hosting. These tests also don’t take into account outside factors such as reviews, support, and features. It is simply testing performance as described in the methodology.
Top Tier
This year's Top Tier WordPress Hosting Performance Award goes to the following companies who showed virtually no signs of struggle during the testing.
The following companies earned Honorable Mention status because they did very well and had a minor issue or two holding them back from earning Top Tier status.
The one thing Cloudways did well this year was the static test. It handled it without issue. We could add in uptime if we assume it was a glitch on the monitoring end which affected all Cloudways servers being monitored by Hetrix Tools. But Cloudways struggled with the Load Storm test with the login erroring completely. There is some definite room for improvement.
New entrant Performant Websites stepped into the biggest ring and showed they belong. Perfect uptime. The third fastest WPT average including being the fastest in Cape Town. They handled all the tests without any issues, well done and welcome to the Top Tier.
Presslabs absolutely crushed the Load Storm test. They had the fastest P95, Page, Asset, and login times. Presslabs also had the third fastest average response time for the static test at 14ms. Throw in a tour de force of the WebPageTest benchmark where they were the fastest in 10/12 locations and had the fastest average response time. Sprinkle in perfect or near perfect uptime on both monitors and you've got yourself an excellent Top Tier worthy performance.
The bright spots for Raidboxes were it handled the static test effortlessly and the uptime was near perfect at 100% and 99.9996%. The less bright spots were that Raidboxes struggled with the Load Storm test which seems to have overwhelmed the system. Raidboxes also didn't have any sort of CDN integrated which slowed down global response times and averages on many of the tests. I hope with the recent acquisition we see some improvements that brings them back to to Top Tier status.
Scaleforce had the second fastest wp-login, and page speed, along with third fastest asset speeds on the Load Storm test. Scaleforce also had the second fastest average response time and p95 response time in the static test. Throw in perfect uptime for good measure and you've got another well earned Top Tier award.
Servebolt had the second fastest P95 alongside third fastest page, asset speeds and login cum avg. Perfect uptime. It seems to have eked out a slight edge over its sister product in a few tests beating getting slightly fastest response times on an already Top Tier product. Well done.
Perfect uptime. Fastest WP/PHP Bench scores alongside it's sister product. Third fastest p95 in both Load Storm and Static tests. Servebolt Enterprise delivers another Top Tier performance.
WPVIP had the second fastest asset and login cum avg scores on the Load Storm test. WPVIP had the fastest average and p95 response times on the Static test. WPVIP also had perfect uptime on both monitors. WPVIP also picked up the second fastest average response time average on the WPT. WPVIP continues to prove itself year after year as a Top Tier product. Congratulations.
Please read the Methodology to fully understand the scope of these tests.
Note: Please check company profiles for summary of performances across multiple tiers. Some companies also offer promotions or coupon codes for a discount as well.
Servebolt submitted two plans, the ACD plan is utilizing their Accelerated Domains addon, which adds performance, scalability and security enhancements.
Every company handled the static test near flawlessly. Zero total errors for all companies. The average and P95 response times show which companies have CDNs (or more relevant CDN locations for our test). The difference between Servebolt and Servebolt with Accelerated Domains is pretty clear here, ACD is adding a lot of speed.
Uptime Testing Results
Uptime is monitored by two companies: HetrixTools and Uptime Robot. A self hosted monitor was also run in case there was a major discrepancy between the two third party monitors.
Results Table
Company
Uptime Robot
Hetrix
Cloudways
99.996
99.8954
Nexcess
99.996
99.9926
Pressable
99.994
100
Presslabs
100
99.9955
raidboxes
99.991
99.99
Servebolt
100
100
Servebolt ACD
100
99.9888
Discussion
Everyone except Cloudways had near perfect uptime. Cloudways had an issue across multiple tests where one monitor struggled for a short window but the other was reporting it fine.
WebPageTest Testing Results
WebPageTest fully loads the homepage and records how long it takes from 12 different locations around the world. Result are measured in seconds.
Results Table
Company
Virginia
California
Salt Lake City
London
Frankfurt
Cape Town
Singapore
Mumbai
Tokyo
Sydney
Brazil
Dubai
Average
Cloudways
0.179
0.389
0.362
0.47
0.52
1.205
1.136
1.119
0.825
1.064
0.658
1.011
0.7448333333
Nexcess
0.334
0.525
0.469
0.586
1.056
1.701
1.34
1.432
0.903
1.596
1.162
1.821
1.077083333
Pressable
0.215
0.335
0.315
0.231
0.187
0.254
0.244
0.661
0.245
0.174
0.316
0.467
0.3036666667
Presslabs
0.173
0.14
0.262
0.152
0.184
0.21
0.148
0.167
0.17
0.15
0.161
0.14
0.1714166667
raidboxes
0.687
0.93
0.875
0.222
0.226
0.895
0.91
0.801
1.267
1.57
1.155
0.703
0.8534166667
Servebolt
0.356
0.297
0.433
0.577
0.678
0.988
1.017
0.972
0.774
0.842
0.677
0.961
0.7143333333
Servebolt ACD
0.414
0.452
0.49
0.297
0.3
0.277
0.468
0.477
0.498
0.262
0.528
0.279
0.3951666667
Discussion
Presslabs went a perfect 12/12 as the fastest in every region. Pressable was the second fastest with Servebolt + ACD not far behind.
WPPerformanceTester Testing Results
WPPerformanceTester performs two benchmarks. One is a WordPress (WP Bench) and the other is a PHP Bench. WP Bench measures how many WP queries per second and higher tends to be better (varies considerably by architecture). PHP Bench performs a lot of computational and some database operations which are measured in seconds to complete. Lower PHP Bench is better.
Results Table
Company
PHP Bench
WP Bench
Cloudways
8.993
478.6979416
Nexcess
7.728
1044.932079
Pressable
10.013
1347.708895
Presslabs
6.89
1538.461538
raidboxes
7.971
1466.27566
Servebolt
5.86
2222.222222
Servebolt ACD
5.865
2207.505519
Discussion
Both Servebolt plans stood out as having the fastest scores in both tests which were near identical to one another.
Everyone got an A with Presslabs, Raidboxes and Servebolt+ACD Earning A+.
Conclusion
There are two levels of recognition awarded to companies that participate in the tests. There is no ‘best’ declared, it’s simply tiered, it’s hard to come up with an objective ranking system because of the complex nature of hosting. These tests also don’t take into account outside factors such as reviews, support, and features. It is simply testing performance as described in the methodology.
Top Tier
This year's Top Tier WordPress Hosting Performance Award goes to the following companies who showed virtually no signs of struggle during the testing.
The following companies earned Honorable Mention status because they did very well and had a minor issue or two holding them back from earning Top Tier status.
Cloudways handled the static test without issue. Cloudways had great uptime on one monitor and lower than expected on the other. This seemed like it maybe was a bug and showed on every Cloudways monitor on the Hetrix Tools platform. Unfortunately, the Load Storm caused the server to error out and fail the test. I'm not sure what happened but I hope they figure it out and we see a comeback next year.
Nexcess had stellar uptime with both showing above 99.99%. Nexcess also handled the static and Load Storm tests without issue. While it didn't particularly stand out compared to some of it's peers, it delivered flawless results on everything we threw at it. Top Tier.
Pressable had the fastest average and p95 load times on the static test. Pressable also picked up the 2nd fastest page response time in the Load Storm test. Pressable had perfect or near perfect uptime. Unsurprisingly, yet another Top Tier performance for Pressable - Well done.
Presslabs had the fastest P95, Page, Asset and login response times on the Load Storm test. Presslabs had the second fastest average response time and third fastest p95 on the static test. Throw in perfect or near perfect uptime. Presslabs also went 12/12 as the fastest location for every test on WebPageTest. Overall, a very impressive performance put on Presslabs which saw them at the top or near the top of every test. Top Tier.
Raidboxes had an excellent 99.99%+ on both uptime monitors. The Static test was handled without issue. Unfortunately the Load Storm test was a bit too much and slowed the server down below the acceptable threshold of 1000ms to earn any recognition this year.
Servebolt picked up 2nd fastest P95, asset and login response times in the Load Storm test. Servebolt had perfect uptime. Servebolt stood out as the fastest on the PHP and WP Benchmarks in a virtual tie with its other offering. Servebolt earned yet another Top Tier honor.
Servebolt + ACD really shined over its sister product in the static load test and earned itself the 2nd fastest p95 load time. Servebolt + ACD picked up 3rd fastest P95, asset and login response times in the Load Storm test. Servebolt had perfect and near perfect uptime on the monitors. Servebolt stood out as the fastest on the PHP and WP Benchmarks in a virtual tie with its other offering. The ACD addition didn't slow Servebolt down, it doubled down on a second Top Tier award.
Please read the Methodology to fully understand the scope of these tests.
Note: Please check company profiles for summary of performances across multiple tiers. Some companies also offer promotions or coupon codes for a discount as well.
Pressable, Scaleforce and SiteGround stood out with sub 20ms averages and clearly have CDN setup helping them excel in this test.
Uptime Testing Results
Uptime is monitored by two companies: HetrixTools and Uptime Robot. A self hosted monitor was also run in case there was a major discrepancy between the two third party monitors.
Results Table
Company
Uptime Robot
Hetrix
Cloudways
99.985
99.8886
MechanicWeb
99.969
99.9603
Nexcess
99.997
99.9932
Pressable
99.998
100
raidboxes
99.991
99.9887
SaveinCloud
100
99.9927
Scaleforce powered by Virtuozzo
100
100
Servebolt
99.976
99.9884
Simplenet
100
99.9913
SiteGround
99.969
99.944
Discussion
All the companies kept above 99.9% uptime with the exception of Cloudways on the Hetrix Tools monitor. This issue happened on every Cloudways server this year where one monitor showed near perfect and the other had a window of downtime.
WebPageTest Testing Results
WebPageTest fully loads the homepage and records how long it takes from 12 different locations around the world. Result are measured in seconds.
Results Table
Company
Virginia
California
Salt Lake City
London
Frankfurt
Cape Town
Singapore
Mumbai
Tokyo
Sydney
Brazil
Dubai
Average
Cloudways
0.164
0.336
0.324
0.494
0.54
1.177
1.115
1.082
0.844
1.01
0.668
1.073
0.7355833333
MechanicWeb
0.313
0.292
0.332
0.615
0.876
1.356
1.164
1.302
0.9
0.939
0.851
1.213
0.8460833333
Nexcess
0.331
0.529
0.426
0.533
0.608
1.668
1.333
1.42
0.98
1.591
1.184
1.809
1.034333333
Pressable
0.312
0.159
0.359
0.29
0.236
0.248
0.241
0.457
0.356
0.197
0.397
1.033
0.3570833333
raidboxes
0.6
0.929
0.868
0.265
0.219
0.901
0.952
0.785
1.304
1.529
1.174
0.699
0.8520833333
SaveinCloud
0.891
0.676
0.709
0.759
1.505
1.208
1.24
1.431
1.125
1.298
0.377
1.54
1.06325
Scaleforce powered by Virtuozzo
0.309
0.191
0.693
0.221
0.186
0.248
0.396
0.205
0.287
0.202
0.222
1.045
0.3504166667
Servebolt
0.343
0.332
0.368
0.575
0.635
0.969
1.102
0.955
0.813
0.915
0.832
0.969
0.734
Simplenet
0.272
0.576
0.415
0.561
0.594
1.437
1.474
1.649
1.031
1.716
0.841
1.206
0.981
SiteGround
0.484
0.629
0.42
0.841
0.932
1.775
1.547
1.755
1.3
1.545
1.204
1.623
1.17125
Discussion
Scaleforce just barely edged Pressable by a miniscule 7ms for the fastest average LCP speed. They were neck and neck and showing off their global load speeds. Scaleforce took 5/12 fastest with 1 tie with Pressable. Pressable picked up 3 fastest plus the aforementioned tie. Cloudways picked up two of the fastest speeds in Virginia and Salt Lake City. SaveInCloud picked up fastest speed in their native Brazil. Raidboxes got the fastest speed in Dubai.
WPPerformanceTester Testing Results
WPPerformanceTester performs two benchmarks. One is a WordPress (WP Bench) and the other is a PHP Bench. WP Bench measures how many WP queries per second and higher tends to be better (varies considerably by architecture). PHP Bench performs a lot of computational and some database operations which are measured in seconds to complete. Lower PHP Bench is better.
Results Table
Company
PHP Bench
WP Bench
Cloudways
5.796
1597.444089
MechanicWeb
4.644
3663.003663
Nexcess
8.547
441.1116012
Pressable
10.005
1324.503311
raidboxes
8.038
919.9632015
SaveinCloud
10.031
699.790063
Scaleforce powered by Virtuozzo
10.474
1117.318436
Servebolt
5.9
2217.2949
Simplenet
8.498
1644.736842
SiteGround
9.846
1538.461538
Discussion
MechanicWeb was certainly a stand out getting the fastest score in both PHP and WP Bench.
Raidboxes, SaveInCloud and Simplenet earned A+ while everyone else earned A's.
Conclusion
There are two levels of recognition awarded to companies that participate in the tests. There is no ‘best’ declared, it’s simply tiered, it’s hard to come up with an objective ranking system because of the complex nature of hosting. These tests also don’t take into account outside factors such as reviews, support, and features. It is simply testing performance as described in the methodology.
Top Tier
This year's Top Tier WordPress Hosting Performance Award goes to the following companies who showed virtually no signs of struggle during the testing.
The following companies earned Honorable Mention status because they did very well and had a minor issue or two holding them back from earning Top Tier status.
Cloudways had the 4th fastest average response time on the static test. Cloudways had the fastest WPT test in two locations and were a mere 2ms behind 3rd place for fastest average. Cloudways also had the second fastest PHP bench. The uptime issue where Hetrix Tools couldn't connect to any Cloudways servers persisted across every plan while the Uptime Robot monitor showed them all online. Cloudways earned itself an Honorable Mention because the Load Storm test was extremely borderline. It showed some load spikes and they were averaging over 1000ms, but this was incredibly close. Overall, a great job, one of the closest to Top Tier performances I've had to evaluate.
New entrant MechanicWeb came in with servers blazing. MechanicWeb had the fastest PHP and WP Bench scores by a good margin. They were the fastest and second fastest scores across all price tiers respectively. MechanicWeb also had the fastest wp-login response time on the Load Storm test. It handled the static test with ease. It's nice to see a new entrant earn itself Top Tier status and push some of the fastest scores we've ever seen.
Nexcess handled the Load Storm test without much issue, there was one spike but the average response time stayed below 1000ms. The static test was handled without any problem. Nexcess had excellent uptime. While their numbers didn't lead the pack, they quietly had a solid performance earning Top Tier status. Congrats!
Pressable had the fastest average and p95 response times in the static test at a lightning fast 5.8ms and 18ms respectively. Pressable had the second fastest login cumulative average. Pressable had the second fastest WPT test average and was a mere 7ms behind first. Throw in perfect and near perfect uptime monitors and you've got yourself a Top Tier award. Well done.
Raidboxes had excellent uptime. Raidboxes handled the static load test without issue. Unfortunately, the Load Storm test proved to overwhelm the server and caused it to slow down and eventually error out.
SaveinCloud had the fastest WPT score in their native Brazil. They had perfect and near perfect uptime on both monitors. It handled the static test without issue. SaveinCloud's Load Storm test was pretty good but there were a lot of spikes which went over 1000ms which is why it earned an Honorable Mention this year. They are on the cusp of earning Top Tier status.
Scaleforce had the second fastest average (9.3ms) and p95 (28ms) score on the static test. Scaleforce had the 2nd fastest page, asset and wplogin speeds on the Load Storm test. Scaleforce had perfect uptime on both monitors. Scaleforce had the fastest average on WPT including being the fastest or tied for fastest in 6/12 locations. Yet another well earned Top Tier performance for Scaleforce.
Servebolt had the second fastest P95 in the Load Storm Test. It handled the static test easily. It had the third fastest average on the WPT. Great uptime and the second fastest WP bench score easily put them in the Top Tier again. Well done.
Simplenet had the third fastest WP Bench. Simplenet also had perfect and near perfect uptime metrics. It handled the static test without issue. Unfortunately, the Load Storm test proved too much for the plan and it ultimately ended up erroring with increased response times. For a new entrant they did quite well, hopefully they come back next year and earn some recognition.
SiteGround had the fastest P95 and page load speeds on the Load Storm test. SiteGround had the third fastest average and p95 response times in the static test. Overall an excellent performance from SiteGround has put them back in the Top Tier.
Please read the Methodology to fully understand the scope of these tests.
Note: Please check company profiles for summary of performances across multiple tiers. Some companies also offer promotions or coupon codes for a discount as well.
WPX handled this test without issue and despite P95 being above 1000ms, was still in Top Tier status because of the geographic bias towards US servers for this metric.
Cloudways started to show signs of load around 1300 VUsers and response times started to spike.
DreamHost started showing signs of load around 800 VUsers and eventually erroring as well.
Raidboxes started slowing down around 500 VUsers and eventually errored as well.
SaveinCloud started showing signs of load around 1200 VUsers.
K6 Static Testing Results
K6 Static test is designed to test cached performance by repeatedly requesting the homepage.
Cloudways, MechanicWeb, Pressable, Presslabs, Raidboxes, SaveinCloud, Scaleforce, Servebolt and WPX all handled this test without issue.
DreamHost handled this test pretty well but start to show signs of slowing down a little bit towards the end of the test around 1600 VUsers.
It's really impressive to see four companies have average response times sub 50ms.
Uptime Testing Results
Uptime is monitored by two companies: HetrixTools and Uptime Robot. A self hosted monitor was also run in case there was a major discrepancy between the two third party monitors.
Results Table
Company
Uptime Robot
Hetrix
Cloudways
99.998
99.8701
DreamHost
100
99.9995
MechanicWeb
99.998
99.9977
Pressable
99.998
100
Presslabs
100
99.9996
raidboxes
100
99.9991
SaveinCloud
99.851
99.8521
Scaleforce powered by Virtuozzo
100
100
Servebolt
100
99.9644
WPX
99.906
100
Discussion
Cloudways had the same error across every tier where one monitor showed a down window while the other still had it resolving.
SaveinCloud fell below the 99.9% uptime threshold.
Everyone else remained above 99.9%.
WebPageTest Testing Results
WebPageTest fully loads the homepage and records how long it takes from 12 different locations around the world. Result are measured in seconds.
Results Table
Company
Virginia
California
Salt Lake City
London
Frankfurt
Cape Town
Singapore
Mumbai
Tokyo
Sydney
Brazil
Dubai
Average
Cloudways
0.181
0.319
0.356
0.489
0.538
1.189
1.103
1.052
0.81
1.005
0.692
1.043
0.7314166667
DreamHost
0.203
0.421
0.407
0.518
0.769
1.215
1.37
1.098
0.936
1.119
0.691
1.052
0.8165833333
MechanicWeb
0.626
0.82
0.862
0.161
0.193
0.834
1.419
0.736
1.36
1.482
1.054
0.667
0.8511666667
Pressable
0.303
0.236
0.28
0.485
0.223
0.233
0.254
0.264
0.311
0.225
0.347
0.434
0.2995833333
Presslabs
0.163
0.137
0.261
0.163
0.181
0.24
0.157
0.445
0.216
0.62
0.147
0.535
0.2720833333
raidboxes
0.617
0.92
0.865
0.26
0.224
0.884
0.905
0.802
1.28
1.57
1.19
0.703
0.8516666667
SaveinCloud
1.122
1.049
0.975
1.081
1.578
1.822
2.021
2.254
1.844
2.057
0.28
1.875
1.4965
Scaleforce powered by Virtuozzo
0.301
0.197
0.279
0.236
0.236
0.281
0.22
0.22
0.308
0.15
0.248
0.953
0.3024166667
Servebolt
0.377
0.327
0.428
0.616
0.603
0.969
0.91
0.921
0.835
1.001
0.726
0.987
0.725
WPX
0.186
0.19
0.202
0.124
0.13
0.842
0.143
0.15
0.126
0.162
0.128
0.237
0.2183333333
Discussion
WPX had the fastest average and picked up 8/12 fastest response times in different locations.
Presslabs picked up 2 of the fastest response times with the second fastest average response time.
Pressable and Scaleforce picked up the other two fastest response times and were third and fourth average respectively.
WPPerformanceTester Testing Results
WPPerformanceTester performs two benchmarks. One is a WordPress (WP Bench) and the other is a PHP Bench. WP Bench measures how many WP queries per second and higher tends to be better (varies considerably by architecture). PHP Bench performs a lot of computational and some database operations which are measured in seconds to complete. Lower PHP Bench is better.
Results Table
Company
PHP Bench
WP Bench
Cloudways
6.352
1445.086705
DreamHost
10.199
928.5051068
MechanicWeb
4.952
2958.579882
Pressable
9.936
1355.01355
Presslabs
6.942
1180.637544
raidboxes
10.954
952.3809524
SaveinCloud
10.613
711.7437722
Scaleforce powered by Virtuozzo
10.459
1144.16476
Servebolt
5.848
2197.802198
WPX
7.094
2597.402597
Discussion
MechanicWeb picked up the fastest scores in both PHP and WP Bench. Servebolt picked up the second fastest PHP Bench and WPX picked up the second fastest WP Bench.
DreamHost, Presslabs and Raidboxes picked up A+'s while everyone else earned A's.
Conclusion
There are two levels of recognition awarded to companies that participate in the tests. There is no ‘best’ declared, it’s simply tiered, it’s hard to come up with an objective ranking system because of the complex nature of hosting. These tests also don’t take into account outside factors such as reviews, support, and features. It is simply testing performance as described in the methodology.
Top Tier
This year's Top Tier WordPress Hosting Performance Award goes to the following companies who showed virtually no signs of struggle during the testing.
The following companies earned Honorable Mention status because they did very well and had a minor issue or two holding them back from earning Top Tier status.
Cloudways handled the Static test with ease. Cloudways ran into the same issue across every server this year where Hetrix Tools showed a short downtime but Uptime Robot did not. Unfortunately, the Load Storm test proved too much for the server.
DreamHost had perfect and near perfect uptime. Unfortunately, both load tests caused some issues. The Static test went mostly ok but did show signs of slowing down a little towards the end. The Load Storm test did overwhelm the server though.
MechanicWeb had the fastest wp-login speed on the Load Storm test. MechanicWeb had excellent uptime with both above 99.99%. MechanicWeb also stood out on the PHP and WP Bench scores where it had the fastest scores. While MechanicWeb may not have the global CDN reach as some of their competitors, it's shown it has some seriously fast infrastructure powering their servers which earned this new comer a Top Tier award.
Pressable had the fastest average (5.9ms) and p95 (19ms) in the Static test. Pressable had the third fastest login and page cumulative averages on Load Storm. Pressable had perfect and near perfect uptime. A consistently fastest performance earns Pressable another Top Tier award.
Presslabs had the fastest login cumulative average and second fastest wp-login, p95, page response times on the Load Storm test. Presslabs had perfect and near perfect uptime. Presslabs had the second fastest WPT average response times. It's always a good sign when you're using the word fastest a lot when analyzing these results - A Top Tier performance from Presslabs.
Raidboxes had perfect and near perfect uptime. Raidboxes also handled the static test without issue. Unfortunately, the Load Storm test overwhelmed the server.
SaveinCloud handled the Static test without issue. Unfortunately SaveinCloud fell below the 99.9% uptime threshold and the Load Storm test slowed the server down quite a bit.
Scaleforce had the fastest page load speed on the Load Storm test. Scaleforce had the second fastest average (9.5ms) and p95 (28ms) in the Static test. Perfect uptime was nice to see. Undoubtedly a Top Tier performance for Scaleforce.
Servebolt had the fastest P95 and second fastest asset and login cumulative average on Load Storm. Servebolt had the second fastest PHP Bench. It also handled the Static test with ease and had perfect uptime on one monitor. Overall, another Top Tier showing from Servebolt.
WPX had the fastest asset load times on the Load Storm test. WPX had the third fastest average and p95 in the Static test. WPX Had the fastest WPT average and location scores in 8/12 locales. Overall, WPX had an excellent performance, and the adjustment for accepting P95 scores slightly above 1000ms was added this year was precisely to recognize companies like WPX. Congrats on another Top Tier award.
Please read the Methodology to fully understand the scope of these tests.
Note: Please check company profiles for summary of performances across multiple tiers. Some companies also offer promotions or coupon codes for a discount as well.
Cloudways competed with a Digital Ocean Premium 4GB droplet.
Krystal Hosting and WPX handled this test without issue and despite P95 being above 1000ms, their results were still in Top Tier status because of the geographic bias towards US servers for this metric.
Raidboxes unfortunately slowed down and errored out on this test.
K6 Static Testing Results
K6 Static test is designed to test cached performance by repeatedly requesting the homepage.
WordPress.com edged sister company Pressable out by .1 ms on average and 1ms on the p95 to have the fastest speeds.
WPX, SiteGround and Presslabs were all under 50ms average as well.
There is an impressive amount of performance in this group.
Uptime Testing Results
Uptime is monitored by two companies: HetrixTools and Uptime Robot. A self hosted monitor was also run in case there was a major discrepancy between the two third party monitors.
Results Table
Company
Uptime Robot
Hetrix
Cloudways
100
99.8438
GreenGeeks
99.999
99.9988
Krystal Hosting
99.992
99.9897
MDDHosting
100
99.9949
Pressable
99.996
100
Presslabs
100
99.9987
raidboxes
100
99.9996
SiteGround
99.986
99.9995
WordPress.com
100
100
WPX
99.989
100
Discussion
Cloudways ran into the same issue across every server this year where Hetrix Tools showed a short downtime window while Uptime Robot had them online.
Everyone else did excellent or perfect in the uptime department.
WebPageTest Testing Results
WebPageTest fully loads the homepage and records how long it takes from 12 different locations around the world. Result are measured in seconds.
Results Table
Company
Virginia
California
Salt Lake City
London
Frankfurt
Cape Town
Singapore
Mumbai
Tokyo
Sydney
Brazil
Dubai
Average
Cloudways
0.215
0.429
0.358
0.44
0.514
1.174
1.197
1.087
0.872
1.117
0.653
1.042
0.7581666667
GreenGeeks
0.266
0.25
0.261
0.354
0.413
0.819
0.696
0.721
0.557
0.629
0.478
0.695
0.5115833333
Krystal Hosting
0.593
0.833
0.76
0.229
0.258
0.824
1.864
1.693
1.93
2.064
1.114
0.706
1.072333333
MDDHosting
0.368
0.244
0.326
0.644
0.768
1.347
1.14
1.389
0.733
0.952
0.897
1.266
0.8395
Pressable
0.307
0.21
0.353
0.235
0.243
0.269
0.255
0.182
0.32
0.2
0.263
0.403
0.27
Presslabs
0.16
0.158
0.264
0.149
0.184
0.245
0.16
0.403
0.288
0.621
0.179
0.582
0.28275
raidboxes
0.566
0.902
0.835
0.235
0.19
0.882
0.867
0.747
1.253
1.514
1.12
0.677
0.8156666667
SiteGround
0.49
0.642
0.517
0.91
0.95
1.738
1.601
1.764
1.299
1.572
1.229
1.627
1.194916667
WordPress.com
0.29
0.341
0.509
0.313
0.281
0.316
0.285
0.237
0.403
0.265
0.294
0.377
0.3259166667
WPX
0.206
0.138
0.193
0.155
0.131
0.84
0.128
0.124
0.131
0.139
0.137
0.264
0.2155
Discussion
WPX was the fastest average and fastest in 9/12 locations.
Presslabs picked up the other 3 fastest speeds and managed third fastest average. Pressable snuck into second fastest average between those two.
WPPerformanceTester Testing Results
WPPerformanceTester performs two benchmarks. One is a WordPress (WP Bench) and the other is a PHP Bench. WP Bench measures how many WP queries per second and higher tends to be better (varies considerably by architecture). PHP Bench performs a lot of computational and some database operations which are measured in seconds to complete. Lower PHP Bench is better.
GreenGeeks, Presslabs, Raidboxes and WordPress.com all earned A+.
Everyone else earned an A.
Conclusion
There are two levels of recognition awarded to companies that participate in the tests. There is no ‘best’ declared, it’s simply tiered, it’s hard to come up with an objective ranking system because of the complex nature of hosting. These tests also don’t take into account outside factors such as reviews, support, and features. It is simply testing performance as described in the methodology.
Top Tier
This year's Top Tier WordPress Hosting Performance Award goes to the following companies who showed virtually no signs of struggle during the testing.
The following companies earned Honorable Mention status because they did very well and had a minor issue or two holding them back from earning Top Tier status.
Cloudways had perfect uptime on one monitor while Hetrix Tools showed a much lower number across every plan for some reason. Cloudways had the second fastest PHP Bench. Cloudways also handled the Load Storm and Static tests without issue. Given the overall good performance, the only possible detraction is the uptime monitors which showed very different numbers, my third monitoring system broke so I don't have a tie breaker, I will err on the side of good faith. Cloudways put together a Top Tier performance that handled all the tests well.
GreenGeeks had the fastest wp-login speed on the Load Storm test. GreenGeeks had excellent uptime. They also handled the Static test without issue. It's nice to see GreenGeeks earn itself another Top Tier performance.
Krystal had excellent uptime. Krystal also handled the Static test very well. The Load Storm test also went smoothly and despite a p95 above 1000ms, it earned Top Tier status because of the geographic bias towards US based servers. Congrats to Krystal.
MDDHosting tied for second fastest wp-login on the Load Storm test. MDDHosting had perfect and near perfect uptime. MDD did very well on the Static test. MDD also picked up the third fastest PHP Bench score. It is nice to see a company come back with improved services and excel in these tests. Congrats to MDDHosting for earning their first Top Tier award.
Pressable had the second fastest login cumulative average and third fastest P95 on the Load Storm test. Pressable had the second fastest average (6.1ms) and p95 (19ms) in the Static test only .1 and 1 ms behind its sister company. Pressable had perfect and near perfect uptime. Pressable had the second fastest WPT response time average. Pressable has been consistently excellent earning themselves another Top Tier performance.
Presslabs had the fastest login cumulative average, as well as the second fastest P95, Page and wp-login on the Load Storm test. Presslabs had perfect and near perfect uptime. Presslabs had the third fastest WPT average response time. Throw in an excellent Static test and there's very little left to desire from their performance. A well deserved and earned Top Tier performance for Presslabs.
Raidboxes had perfect and near perfect uptime. Raidboxes handled the Static test without issue. Unfortunately the Load Storm test proved to be too much for the server.
SiteGround had the fastest P95 and Page, along with second fastest asset load speeds on the Load Storm test. SiteGround had the third fastest p95 and fourth fastest average response time in the Static test. SiteGround had excellent uptime on both monitors. A great showing from SiteGround earned them another Top Tier award.
WordPress.com had the fastest average and p95 in the Static test with 6ms and 18ms respectively. WordPress.com handled the Load Storm test easily. WordPress.com had perfect uptime on both monitors. WordPress.com also had the second fastest WP Bench. Unquestionably a Top Tier performance from WordPress.com.
WPX had the fastest asset response times on the Load Storm test. WPX had the third fastest average response time and fourth fastest p95 in the Static test. WPX had perfect and near perfect uptimes. WPX had the fastest global response times on WPT. WPX had the fastest PHP and WP Bench scores. WPX overall did an amazing job, and the adjustment for accepting P95 scores slightly above 1000ms was added this year was precisely to recognize companies like WPX. A well deserved Top Tier status.
Please read the Methodology to fully understand the scope of these tests.
Note: Please check company profiles for summary of performances across multiple tiers. Some companies also offer promotions or coupon codes for a discount as well.
Cloudways competed with a Digital Ocean Premium 1GB droplet.
VapourHost started to show signs of load around 1000 VUsers.
SiteGround picked up the fastest P95 and page load times.
ICDSoft picked up the fastest login cumavg and tied for fastest wp-login with MechanicWeb.
WPX picked up the fastest asset average.
20i, Eco Web Hosting and WPX all had P95 response times over 1000ms but showed no signs of load increasing and were awarded Top Tier status because their server locations potentially favored US locations over other locations for the P95 metric.
K6 Static Testing Results
K6 Static test is designed to test cached performance by repeatedly requesting the homepage.
ManagedWPHosting had a few minor spikes where load time went up.
Everyone else handled the Static test without issue.
It's truly impressive to see how much performance has come along even from the year before where multiple companies seriously struggled with this test.
Pressable had some very fast average and p95 response times at 5.9ms and 18ms respectively.
WPX and SiteGround were not far behind at 15ms and 19ms average response times. 20i and EcoWebHosting were tied at 55ms average response times.
It's almost unbelievable the slowest average response time was a mere 267ms and p95 was 575ms. That means for <$25, you could pick any of the 25 companies tested and your website would be delivering static homepages within a quarter of a second on average globally or in about half a second for the 95th percentile of users. Incredible.
Uptime Testing Results
Uptime is monitored by two companies: HetrixTools and Uptime Robot. A self hosted monitor was also run in case there was a major discrepancy between the two third party monitors.
Results Table
Company
Uptime Robot
Hetrix
20i
99.999
100
34SP.com
99.999
99.9943
Cloudways
100
99.8342
DreamHost
99.997
99.9991
EasyWP by Namecheap
99.961
99.9414
Eco Web Hosting
100
100
GoDaddy
99.985
99.9973
GreenGeeks
99.999
99.994
HostXNow
99.99
99.9406
ICDSoft
99.959
99.948
InMotion Hosting
99.988
99.9707
Krystal Hosting
100
100
Lightning Base
99.998
99.9982
ManagedWPHosting
99.999
99.9969
MechanicWeb
99.998
99.9971
Nexcess
99.875
99.8823
Pressable
99.997
100
raidboxes
99.999
99.9981
RSHosting.com
99.969
99.9651
Sailed.io
100
100
SiteGround
99.99
99.9959
VapourHost
99.806
99.8007
WPCycle
99.688
99.6575
WPX
100
100
Discussion
Cloudways had an issue with Hetrix Tools on every plan tested this year which showed very different result because of downtime which Hetrix Tools reported but UptimeRobot had no issues during the window.
Nexcess, VapourHost and WPCycle fell below the 99.9% uptime threshold.
Every other company was above the 99.9% threshold.
20i, EcoWebHosting, Krystal, Pressable, Sailed.io and WPX all reported perfect uptime on at least one monitor.
WebPageTest Testing Results
WebPageTest fully loads the homepage and records how long it takes from 12 different locations around the world. Result are measured in seconds.
Results Table
Company
Virginia
California
Salt Lake City
London
Frankfurt
Cape Town
Singapore
Mumbai
Tokyo
Sydney
Brazil
Dubai
Average
20i
0.373
0.216
0.805
0.144
0.222
0.244
0.325
0.718
0.302
0.84
0.687
0.692
0.464
34SP.com
0.625
0.854
0.838
0.223
0.222
0.866
0.93
0.763
1.457
1.437
1.039
0.738
0.8326666667
Cloudways
0.177
0.422
0.344
0.431
0.515
1.23
1.191
1.085
0.895
1.107
0.67
1.017
0.757
DreamHost
0.22
0.419
0.416
0.521
0.799
1.213
1.295
1.08
0.988
1.124
0.718
1.092
0.82375
EasyWP by Namecheap
0.479
0.236
0.356
0.857
0.877
1.582
1.037
1.368
0.811
1.18
1.007
1.39
0.9316666667
Eco Web Hosting
0.329
0.207
0.522
0.165
0.196
0.213
0.322
0.717
0.211
0.832
0.71
0.708
0.4276666667
GoDaddy
0.303
0.471
0.471
0.459
0.47
1.536
1.124
1.396
0.815
1.242
1.031
1.259
0.8814166667
GreenGeeks
0.258
0.246
0.261
0.319
0.495
0.813
0.699
0.721
0.588
0.641
0.482
0.695
0.5181666667
HostXNow
0.53
0.856
0.877
0.202
0.366
0.865
1.5
0.819
1.366
1.504
1.065
0.688
0.8865
ICDSoft
0.273
0.479
0.47
0.592
0.64
1.231
1.425
1.117
1.02
1.204
0.83
1.088
0.8640833333
InMotion Hosting
0.203
0.52
0.399
0.548
0.818
1.425
1.472
1.262
1.205
1.648
0.849
1.252
0.96675
Krystal Hosting
0.22
0.511
0.485
0.49
0.546
1.348
1.318
1.214
1.21
1.416
0.736
1.241
0.8945833333
Lightning Base
0.317
0.342
0.335
0.601
0.791
1.383
1.035
1.327
0.799
1.035
0.848
1.345
0.8465
ManagedWPHosting
0.641
1.009
0.935
0.225
0.159
1.026
1.355
0.867
1.605
1.748
1.275
0.817
0.9718333333
MechanicWeb
0.605
0.821
0.848
0.122
0.189
0.845
1.501
0.768
1.403
1.467
1.105
0.681
0.8629166667
Nexcess
0.33
0.486
0.454
0.55
1.192
1.669
1.34
1.454
1.009
1.618
1.154
1.845
1.09175
Pressable
0.279
0.336
0.318
0.226
0.205
0.286
0.272
0.449
0.309
0.253
0.248
0.482
0.30525
raidboxes
0.603
0.915
0.824
0.183
0.176
0.878
0.924
0.712
1.285
1.539
1.134
0.673
0.8205
RSHosting.com
0.647
0.265
0.238
0.848
0.901
1.499
1.081
1.372
0.788
0.957
1.069
1.427
0.9243333333
Sailed.io
0.227
0.45
0.375
0.472
0.529
1.22
1.214
1.049
0.822
1.123
0.69
1.003
0.7645
SiteGround
0.564
0.637
0.518
0.886
0.972
1.747
1.621
1.77
1.353
1.517
1.203
1.608
1.199666667
VapourHost
0.718
0.925
0.874
0.27
0.209
0.889
0.889
0.727
1.243
1.56
1.214
0.696
0.8511666667
WPCycle
0.333
0.459
0.412
0.626
0.845
1.344
1.28
1.221
0.911
1.165
0.835
1.131
0.8801666667
WPX
0.17
0.165
0.192
0.126
0.138
0.851
0.129
0.147
0.133
0.17
0.128
0.236
0.2154166667
Discussion
WPX had the fastest average response times and was the fastest in 10/12 locations.
MechanicWeb and EcoWebHosting picked up the other two fastest single location scores.
Pressable had the second fastest average and EcoWebHosting the third fastest average.
WPPerformanceTester Testing Results
WPPerformanceTester performs two benchmarks. One is a WordPress (WP Bench) and the other is a PHP Bench. WP Bench measures how many WP queries per second and higher tends to be better (varies considerably by architecture). PHP Bench performs a lot of computational and some database operations which are measured in seconds to complete. Lower PHP Bench is better.
Results Table
Company
PHP Bench
WP Bench
20i
9.289
489.7159647
34SP.com
12.977
474.3833017
Cloudways
7.523
1007.049345
DreamHost
10.188
773.3952049
EasyWP by Namecheap
9.465
848.1764207
Eco Web Hosting
11.879
369.139904
GoDaddy
12.715
534.1880342
GreenGeeks
14.119
1392.75766
HostXNow
5.077
4032.258065
ICDSoft
10.106
1221.001221
InMotion Hosting
10.698
1461.988304
Krystal Hosting
8.768
1769.911504
Lightning Base
7.975
749.6251874
ManagedWPHosting
13.23
139.0240512
MechanicWeb
5.08
2777.777778
Nexcess
7.734
985.2216749
Pressable
10.006
1349.527665
raidboxes
11.122
435.5400697
RSHosting.com
8.974
309.5975232
Sailed.io
10.341
635.3240152
SiteGround
9.757
1295.336788
VapourHost
6.081
2398.081535
WPCycle
15.634
698.8120196
WPX
6.893
2347.41784
Discussion
HostXNow had the fastest PHP and WP Bench scores which was the fastest WP Bench of any plan this year.
MechanicWeb was neck and neck with HostXNow on the PHP Bench and a clear second place on the WP Bench.
VapourHost had the third fastest PHP and WP Bench scores.
DreamHost, EasyWP (NameCheap), GreenGeeks, ManagedWPHosting, Raidboxes, and WPCycle all scored an A+.
Everyone else scored an A with the exception of InMotionHosting which scored a B.
Conclusion
There are two levels of recognition awarded to companies that participate in the tests. There is no ‘best’ declared, it’s simply tiered, it’s hard to come up with an objective ranking system because of the complex nature of hosting. These tests also don’t take into account outside factors such as reviews, support, and features. It is simply testing performance as described in the methodology.
Top Tier
This year's Top Tier WordPress Hosting Performance Award goes to the following companies who showed virtually no signs of struggle during the testing.
The following companies earned Honorable Mention status because they did very well and had a minor issue or two holding them back from earning Top Tier status.
20i was tied for 4th fastest average response time and 5th fastest p95 on the Static test. 20i handled the Load Storm test with ease and fell under the new evaluation criteria about P95 scores barely above 1000ms but with stable results. 20i also had perfect and 99.999% uptime. A Top Tier performance for the second year in a row.
34SP handled both the Load Storm and Static test without issue. It had near perfect uptime with both monitors showing in excess of 99.99%. In a crowded field it's hard to stand out, but 34SP put up a Top Tier performance without a single error this year. Well done, after two Honorable Mentions in a row, 34SP finally moved up showing that hard work does pay off.
Cloudways handled the Static test with ease. Cloudways had the same uptime monitoring issue with Hetrix Tools on every plan this year but Uptime Robot showed a perfect uptime. Unfortunately, Cloudways struggled with the Load Storm test which caused the server response times to go very high.
DreamHost handled the static test without issue. DreamHost also had excellent uptime with both monitors above 99.99%. Unfortunately, DreamHost had trouble with the Load Storm test which never errored but did slow down beginning around 450 VUsers.
NameCheap has had a difficult year with much of their staff being based in Ukraine and almost didn't complete the tests this year. They reported that they have been under multiple DDoS attacks and it took an incredible effort to find the resources to participate in the benchmarks. Despite all the adversity, EasyWP had the second fastest login average, third fastest page and fourth fastest P95 on the Load Storm test. EasyWP also handled the Static test without any issues. EasyWP stayed above the 99.9% threshold despite the DDoS attacks. These benchmarks have a no withdrawal policy once the benchmarking is done and NameCheap's situation tested the limit of the policy, but instead of a withdrawal, it is with great pride I can give EasyWP by Namecheap a Top Tier award.
Eco Web Hosting was tied for fourth fastest average response time and had fourth fastest p95 on the Static test. Eco Web Hosting picked up the fastest speed in Cape Town on the WPT benchmark and third fastest average. Eco Web Hosting also handled the Load Storm test without issue. Throw in some perfect uptime on both monitors and you've earned a Top Tier award. Congrats.
GoDaddy handled the Static test without issue. GoDaddy also had excellent uptime. GoDaddy mostly handled the Load Storm test well, the only downside was that the wp-login response times were almost 2000ms which kept it out of award contention.
GreenGeeks had the third fastest wp-login on the Load Storm test. GreenGeeks handled the Static test effortlessly. Both uptime monitors showed over 99.99% uptime. Overall, it was a Top Tier performance from Green Geeks.
First time participant HostXNow had the fastest PHP and WP Bench (the fastest of any plan at any price tier). HostXNow also handled the Load Storm and Static test without issue. The blazing fast PHP and WP Bench scores definitely helped this new comer stand out and earn a Top Tier award on their first attempt. Congratulations!
ICDSoft had the fastest login average and tied for fastest wp-login speed, it also had the second fastest page and third fastest p95 on the Load Storm test. ICDSoft was on the faster end of the spectrum on the Static test as well. They kept their uptime above 99.9%. ICDSoft definitely upped their game from last year where they earned an Honorable Mention; this year ICDSoft deserves the Top Tier recognition for their performance. Well done.
InMotion Hosting handled the Static test well. InMotion Hosting also had solid uptime. Unfortunately, there appeared to be some rate limiting blocks on the Load Storm test which caused 429 errors and kept them from earning any recognition this year.
Krystal had perfect uptime. Krystal also handled the Static test easily. Unfortunately, the Load Storm test caused a little stress on the server and slowed down below award recognition levels.
LightningBase handled the Load Storm and Static test without issue. LightningBase had near perfect uptime with both monitors showing above 99.998%. LightningBase is the longest continuous participating company in these benchmarks and it's nice to see them continually do well. They don't always stand out in having the absolute fastest scores or a brand that everyone talks about, but LightningBase has been a model of quiet excellence. LightningBase has earned Top Tier marks from 2014 onwards and this year is no exception. Congrats again on extending the Top Tier streak.
ManagedWPHosting had excellent uptime with both monitors above 99.99%. Unfortunately, the Load Storm and Static test both stressed the server a bit and caused increase response times which keeps them out of award contention.
MechanicWeb tied for the fastest wp-login speed on the Load Storm test. MechanicWeb had the second fastest PHP and WP bench scores. MechanicWeb also had the fastest WPT score in London. MechanicWeb also had excellent uptime with both monitors showing above 99.99%. MechanicWeb also handled the Static test without issue. This first time participant definitely stepped into the ring prepared and put on a good show, congrats on earning Top Tier status MechanicWeb.
Nexcess had the fourth fastest asset and login average speeds on the Load Storm test. Nexcess handled the Static test without any problems. Unfortunately, the uptime fell just below the 99.9% threshold required to earn recognition.
Pressable had the second fastest p95, third fastest asset and login average and fourth fastest page load speed on the Load Storm test. Pressable had the fastest average and p95 on the Static test at a blazing fast 5.9ms and 18ms respectively. Pressable also had perfect and near perfect uptime. Pressable had the second fastest WPT average response time. Pressable put on quite a show of consistently being one of the fastest, well done, Top Tier.
Raidboxes handled the Static test effortlessly. Raidboxes also had near perfect uptime with both monitors showing 99.99%+. Unfortunately, the Load Storm test overwhelmed the server causing slower response times and errors. I hope to see a bounce back next year from Raidboxes.
RSHosting did well on the Static test. RSHosting also kept above the 99.9% uptime threshold. Unfortunately, the Load Storm test started to slow down around 550 VUsers, I hope next year proves the old adage 'Third Time is a Charm' true for RSHosting.
Sailed.io is a first time participant and a bit different from the competition. Sailed.io offers a free and open source platform/tool for you to use to deploy your WordPress sites onto Digital Ocean. They have a premium option with paid support as well, but you're responsible to deploy Sailed onto your own droplets. Sailed.io asked to participate in the benchmarks to show their performance and after some discussion, I accepted and I'm happy to have them. But I also want to make sure readers are aware that Sailed isn't like a traditional WordPress host.
Sailed had perfect uptime. It also handled the Static test without blinking. The Load Storm test did overwhelm the server starting at 900 VUsers where it slowed down a bit. Overall, it was a pretty good first run. For a tool that's available for free to deploy on your own Digital Ocean machines, it certainly puts pressure on the competition.
SiteGround had the fastest P95 and page load speeds along with the second fastest asset response times on the Load Storm test. SiteGround had the second fastest p95 and third fastest average response time on the Static test. Both uptime monitors showed 99.99%+ which is excellent. A definite Top Tier performance from SiteGround.
VapourHost had the third fastest PHP and WP Bench scores. VapourHost handled the Static test without issue. Unfortunately, VapourHost had some issues with uptime and it fell below 99.9%. It also struggled with the Load Storm test around 1000 VUsers. VapourHost showed some promise with some fast PHP/WP Bench scores, hopefully this new comer earns some awards next year.
WPCycle had the fourth fastest wp-login speed on the Load Storm test. WPCycle also handled the Static test without issue. Unfortunately the uptime fell below the 99.9% threshold and kept WPCycle out of award contention. Definitely looks promising performance wise, just needs to make sure it is stable to get an award next year.
WPX had the fastest asset load times on the Load Storm test. WPX had the second fastest average response time and third fastest p95 on the Static test. WPX had the fastest average response time in WPT and had fastest single location score in 10/12 locales. WPX did very well and earned itself Top Tier status again.
Please read the Methodology to fully understand the scope of these tests.
Note: Please check company profiles for summary of performances across multiple tiers. Some companies also offer promotions or coupon codes for a discount as well.
WooCommerce Hosting Performance Benchmarks is spawned off WordPress Hosting Performance Benchmarks and is designed to create a consistent set of benchmarks showing how WooCommerce specialized web hosting companies perform. The focus of these tests is performance, not support, not features, not any other dimension. These benchmarks should be looked at in combination with other sources of information when making any hosting decision. Review Signal’s web hosting reviews has insights for some of the companies with regards to aspects beyond performance. That said, for the performance conscious, these benchmarks should be a good guide.
The major differences from the WordPress methodology are the following:
Setup
All tests were performed on an identical WooCommerce dummy website with the same plugins except in cases where hosts added extra plugins or code. The Storefront theme was used with the following sample products. The following Plugins were installed: WooCommerce, and WP Performance Tester.
k6 Load Storm
The process for LoadStorm was the unique WooCommerce specific test emulated from last year into k6. There were four different profiles created and given their own user distributions (in % after profile), all with 5-10 second page think time. The test scaled from 4 to 1000 concurrent users over 40 minutes and stayed at 1,000 concurrent users for 20 minutes (60 minute test, 20 minute peak).
Profile 1 (20%): Buyer – Homepage, add item to cart, go to cart, checkout (doesn’t submit order)
SiteGround had good looking tests, just the response time was a little on the slower side with p95 of 1071 and 3/4 profiles loading over 1000ms on average.
Cloudways started slowing down around 200 VUsers with errors kicking in around 450 which is when login stopped functioning.
Nexcess and Raidboxes both started slowing down around 600 VUsers.
SaveinCloud actually had a great run if you removed a 3 minute window where auto scaling started kicking in. The auto scaling caused some errors/load time increases while getting started, but once it was running the performance was solid and completely recovered.
Load Storm Average Response Time by Profile
This takes deeper look at the results and analyzes the performance of loading HTML mime types, to ignore a lot of static assets which are cached and bring down average response times. This tests how fast the initial pages are delivered, which is what a user would experience before loading all the other assets like css, javascript and images.
Results Table
Company
Buyer Profile
Customer Profile
Browser Profile
Home Profile
Cart Response Cumavg
Cloudways
51967
50943
49663
51455
7416
GreenGeeks
727
643
623
607
155
ICDSoft
423
411
419
453
164
Nexcess
7423
7231
3962
6911
2586
Pressable
563
401
250
299
204
raidboxes
7167
6911
6175
6527
3852
SaveinCloud
911
639
607
555
377
Servebolt
495
429
403
369
216
SiteGround
1279
1055
855
1031
805
WordPress.com
987
651
373
431
344
Cloudways is the unfortunate standpoint with their response times nearly maxing out.
Nexcess and Raidboxes also slowed down a significant amount on every profile.
Pressable had 3/4 fastest profiles.
Servebolt was consistent top 3 in every profile.
ICDSoft was the fastest in one profile and top 3 in another.
WordPress.com was in the top 3 twice.
GreenGeeks had the fastest cart response time.
K6 Static Testing Results
K6 Static test is designed to test cached performance by repeatedly requesting the homepage.
GreenGeeks, Pressable, Raidboxes, SaveInCloud, Servebolt, SiteGround, and WordPress.com all handled this test without issue.
Cloudways and ICDSoft started getting a few minor spikes towards the end of the test, but nothing major.
Nexcess struggled towards the end of the test with response times exceeding 2000ms.
Uptime Testing Results
Uptime is monitored by two companies: HetrixTools and Uptime Robot. A self hosted monitor was also run in case there was a major discrepancy between the two third party monitors.
Results Table
Company
Uptime Robot
Hetrix
Cloudways
99.985
99.8499
GreenGeeks
99.992
99.9895
ICDSoft
99.957
99.9476
Nexcess
99.89
99.8951
Pressable
99.997
100
raidboxes
99.99
99.9882
SaveinCloud
99.85
99.8476
Servebolt
99.998
99.9657
SiteGround
100
99.9942
WordPress.com
100
100
Discussion
GreenGeeks, ICDSoft, Pressable, Raidboxes, Servebolt, SiteGround, and WordPress.com all had good uptime.
Nexcess and SaveInCloud fell just below the 99.9% threshold expected.
Cloudways showed good uptime on one monitor while the second showed good uptime. The issue seemed to be resolving the hostname from HetrixTools. Unfortunately, I don't a third monitor to tie break in this instance.
WebPageTest Testing Results
WebPageTest fully loads the homepage and records how long it takes from 12 different locations around the world. Result are measured in seconds.
Results Table
Company
Virginia
California
Salt Lake City
London
Frankfurt
Cape Town
Singapore
Mumbai
Tokyo
Sydney
Brazil
Dubai
Average
Cloudways
0.574
0.912
0.994
1.019
1.081
2.25
2.239
2.053
1.591
2.053
1.249
2.5
1.542916667
GreenGeeks
0.366
0.393
0.425
0.492
0.586
1.061
1.001
1.03
0.885
0.856
0.693
1.065
0.73775
ICDSoft
0.698
0.901
1.037
0.954
1.152
2.071
2.435
1.901
1.622
1.996
1.274
2.257
1.524833333
Nexcess
0.761
0.87
1.042
1.002
1.542
2.154
1.737
1.817
1.39
2.002
1.537
2.462
1.526333333
Pressable
0.741
0.667
0.933
0.906
0.622
0.91
0.754
1.118
0.886
0.664
0.726
1.403
0.8608333333
raidboxes
1.195
1.552
1.389
0.697
0.57
1.633
1.65
1.25
2.323
2.807
2.117
2.112
1.607916667
SaveinCloud
1.604
1.839
1.676
1.956
2.221
3.038
3.452
3.79
3.087
3.519
0.722
2.977
2.490083333
Servebolt
0.806
0.645
0.946
1.028
0.985
1.54
1.361
1.394
1.125
1.389
1.256
2.448
1.243583333
SiteGround
1.153
0.923
1.218
1.124
1.204
2.274
1.441
1.823
1.383
1.485
1.885
2.935
1.570666667
WordPress.com
0.612
0.551
0.873
0.588
0.608
0.915
0.644
0.602
0.999
0.617
0.638
1.736
0.7819166667
Discussion
GreekGeeks is the surprising standout this year with the fastest average response time globally and notching itself 6/12 fastest response times.
WordPress.com was fastest in 4/12 locations with sister company Pressable just edging it out by 5ms in Cape Town. German company Raidboxes picked up the final fastest location out of their home country with the fastest speed in Frankfurt.
What is impressive is the fastest average time last year was 1.15, this year it was .73 (GreenGeeks) with two more companies - Pressable/WordPress.com - coming in faster than fastest average last year. The second slowest average (1.6) would be the third fastest speed the previous year.
Everyone, especially consumers, looks like a winner given the historical context.
WPPerformanceTester Testing Results
WPPerformanceTester performs two benchmarks. One is a WordPress (WP Bench) and the other is a PHP Bench. WP Bench measures how many WP queries per second and higher tends to be better (varies considerably by architecture). PHP Bench performs a lot of computational and some database operations which are measured in seconds to complete. Lower PHP Bench is better.
Results Table
Company
PHP Bench
WP Bench
Cloudways
7.568
963.3911368
GreenGeeks
14.88
1148.105626
ICDSoft
10.152
1426.533524
Nexcess
7.732
966.1835749
Pressable
10.13
1356.852103
raidboxes
7.964
737.4631268
SaveinCloud
10.914
560.2240896
Servebolt
5.839
2178.649237
SiteGround
9.406
1468.428781
WordPress.com
9.647
2463.054187
Discussion
Version 2 of the plugin was used, so we cannot compare against previous years.
Servebolt was the fastest by a decent margin on the PHP Bench.
GreenGeeks was the slowest with a score almost 3 times as high as Servebolt. It does show us that raw CPU doesn't necessarily translate to the best performance though.
WordPress.com had the fastest WP Bench with Servebolt not too far behind.
Cloudways, Nexcess, Raidboxes and SaveInCloud had the slowest WP Bench scores, which interesting correlated with who struggled on the Load Storm test (although SaveInCloud's autoscaling handled it). A database heavy system like WooCommerce might have more correlation with WP Bench scores in terms of performance.
In the words of Oprah, you get an A, you get an A, you get an A.
Everyone gets an A.
GreenGeeks, Raidboxes and WordPress.com all got A+.
Conclusion
There are two levels of recognition awarded to companies that participate in the tests. There is no ‘best’ declared, it’s simply tiered, it’s hard to come up with an objective ranking system because of the complex nature of hosting. These tests also don’t take into account outside factors such as reviews, support, and features. It is simply testing performance as described in the methodology.
Top Tier
This year's Top Tier WordPress Hosting Performance Award goes to the following companies who showed virtually no signs of struggle during the testing.
The following companies earned Honorable Mention status because they did very well and had a minor issue or two holding them back from earning Top Tier status.
Cloudways had a pretty good static test, a few bumps but nothing much to complain about there. Cloudways unfortunately struggled tremendously on the WooCommerce (Load Storm) test. I can't help but wonder if the low WP Bench score correlates with difficulty on the WooCommerce test. Would a faster CPU/DB help?
A huge congratulations to GreenGeeks who elevated from Honorable Mention to Top Tier status this year. After being on the edge previously, they continued to improve. GreenGeeks had the second fastest Asset/Login CumAvg and the fastest wp login. However, the biggest surprise was GreenGeeks had the fastest WPT test average and was the fastest in half the testing locations. Well done.
First time participant ICDSoft made quite a splash this year. The WooCommerce test had ICDSoft with fastest Login CumAvg and buyer profile. It was also pretty consistently in the top 4 on most of the other metrics on that test. It did respectably in all the other tests. The only minor issue was the static test, the average response time started go over 1000ms towards the very end of the test. ICDSoft earned itself a very honorable mention.
Nexcess had the third fastest PHP bench score. Overall, nexcess had another difficult year on these bechmarks Both load tests caused some struggles and the uptime fell just below the 99.9% threshold. I hope to see some big improvements next year.
Pressable's third Top Tier performance in a row. Consistent excellence. The fastest p95 and the fastest in 3/4 WooCommerce profiles. The second fastest Static load speeds. 100% and 99.99+% on uptime monitors. They had third fastest WPT average. Undoubtedly Top Tier.
The bright spots for Raidboxes were they were the fastest response time in Frankfurt, Germany. They also had excellent uptime and an A+ rating on their SSL certificate. The static load test was also very good, it was perfectly flat showing zero signs of stress. The less fortunate side was it struggled tremendously with the WooCommerce (Load Storm) load test quite a lot.
SaveInCloud's first foray into the WooCommerce benchmark was a mixed experience. The WooCommerce (LoadStorm) test showed so much promise, if we simply removed a 3 minute window of auto scaling it would have been excellent. But the auto scaling did cause errors and load time increases. There looks to be a lot of potential in SaveInCloud's product, hopefully next year it will come back and earn Top Tier honors.
Servebolt earning Top Tier status shouldn't come as any surprise. They've been one of the most consistent Top Tier performers in these benchmarks. Servebolt had the fastest PHP Bench, the second fastest WP Bench. Their load tests had the strange pattern of actually getting faster as the test sent more users. They were in the top 3 for every different customer profile and had the second fastest p95 in the Woo specific load test. Easily a Top Tier performance.
Overall a great performance from SiteGround this year. It had the third fastest static load speeds. It had 100% and 99.99+% uptime. It had the third fastest WP Bench. The only knock on SiteGround was the p95 and some of the profiles in the WooCommerce test just went over 1000ms. SiteGround has earned itself a very Honorable Mention this year.
The fastest p95 on the static test at 21ms shows WordPress.com's global caching is excellent. WordPress.com also had the fastest Page load speeds (PageCumAvg). The only company with perfect uptime on both monitor. The fastest WP Bench. The second fastest WPT average and fastest in 33% of locations. Another well deserved Top Tier award for WordPress.com.
Please read the Methodology to fully understand the scope of these tests.
Note: Please check company profiles for summary of performances across multiple tiers. Some companies also offer promotions or coupon codes for a discount as well.
Flywheel, GridPane, Jelastic, Pantheon, Pressable, Presslabs, Seravo, Servebolt and WPVIP all handled this test without issue. It's impressive how the average response time for every company was below 200ms.
K6 Static Testing Results
K6 Static test is designed to test cached performance by repeatedly requesting the homepage.
No company struggled with the Load Impact test. Jelastic had a very strange looking graph with response times bouncing up and down, possibly an auto scaling issue? GridPane's graph looked like there was an increasing in load but the peak was under 300ms, it really isn't an issue.
Uptime Testing Results
Uptime is monitored by two companies: HetrixTools and Uptime Robot. A self hosted monitor was also run in case there was a major discrepancy between the two third party monitors.
Results Table
Company
Uptime Robot
Hetrix
Alt Uptime Monitor
Flywheel
100
100
GridPane.com
100
100
Pantheon
100
100
Pressable
100
100
Presslabs
100
100
Scaleforce powered by Jelastic
99.979
99.99
Seravo
99.984
100
Servebolt
99.581
100
99.99
WordPress VIP
100
100
Discussion
No companies had any uptime issues.
Servebolt also had a discrepancy between UptimeRobot and StatusCake uptime. One showed a very low 99.581 and the other 100. The third monitor I setup showed 99.99%, so I went with the StatusCake number.
WebPageTest Testing Results
WebPageTest fully loads the homepage and records how long it takes from 12 different locations around the world. Result are measured in seconds.
Results Table
Company
Virginia
California
London
Frankfurt
Singapore
Mumbai
Tokyo
Sydney
Brazil
Average
Rose Hill Mauritius
Israel
Flywheel
0.351
0.433
0.352
0.353
0.371
0.417
0.41
0.439
0.381
0.4995833333
1.058
0.91
GridPane.com
0.45
0.783
1.054
1.032
2.091
2.443
1.581
2.161
1.179
1.451916667
2.321
1.547
Pantheon
0.472
0.569
0.61
0.632
0.885
0.988
1.006
0.954
0.688
0.9871666667
3.26
1.13
Pressable
0.473
0.957
1.238
1.172
2.309
2.039
1.85
2.335
1.322
1.654666667
3.217
2.027
Presslabs
0.66
0.854
0.369
0.389
0.367
0.565
0.604
0.468
1.556
0.7021666667
1.102
0.881
Scaleforce powered by Jelastic
0.634
0.92
0.325
0.419
1.316
0.847
1.632
1.506
1.131
1.114166667
2.522
1.048
Seravo
0.342
0.401
0.46
0.345
0.527
0.57
0.368
0.438
0.35
0.5310833333
1.02
0.973
Servebolt
0.426
0.645
0.639
0.671
1.053
0.99
0.847
1.065
0.784
0.8994166667
1.769
1.213
WordPress VIP
0.421
0.531
0.704
0.722
1.618
1.451
1.037
1.271
0.698
0.989
1.593
1.16
Discussion
Flywheel and Seravo were neck and neck with Flywheel edging out Seravo by 31ms for fastest average load time. Pressable was the slowest in 7/12 locations.
WPPerformanceTester Testing Results
WPPerformanceTester performs two benchmarks. One is a WordPress (WP Bench) and the other is a PHP Bench. WP Bench measures how many WP queries per second and higher tends to be better (varies considerably by architecture). PHP Bench performs a lot of computational and some database operations which are measured in seconds to complete. Lower PHP Bench is better.
Results Table
Company
PHP Bench
WP Bench
Flywheel
8.852
357.1428571
GridPane.com
6.093
923
Pantheon
11.098
226.3980077
Pressable
6.284
1344.086022
Presslabs
6.712
1242.236025
Scaleforce powered by Jelastic
7.524
314.861461
Seravo
6.12
820.3445447
Servebolt
3.292
2037
WordPress VIP
9.875
854.7008547
Discussion
Servebolt stood out being the fastest PHP Bench and WP Bench. GridPane, Pressable, Presslabs and Seravo all had faster PHP bench scores than the second fastest company last year (Presslabs); so it's nice to see the whole field getting faster.
*GridPane.com couldn't run the WPPerformanceTester plugin because of the database layer they run wasn't compatible (LudicrousDB). The same commands were executed manually that the WPPerformanceTester does against the system to replicate the numbers.
GridPane, Pantheon, Presslabs and Seravo all earned A+ ratings. Every single B grade was for the following reason according to Qualsys: "This server supports TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1. Grade capped to B."
Conclusion
There are two levels of recognition awarded to companies that participate in the tests. There is no ‘best’ declared, it’s simply tiered, it’s hard to come up with an objective ranking system because of the complex nature of hosting. These tests also don’t take into account outside factors such as reviews, support, and features. It is simply testing performance as described in the methodology.
Top Tier
This year's Top Tier WordPress Hosting Performance Award goes to the following companies who showed virtually no signs of struggle during the testing.
The following companies earned Honorable Mention status because they did very well and had a minor issue or two holding them back from earning Top Tier status.
Perfect uptime. The fastest WebPageTest average response time. Second and third fastest Load Impact and Load Storm average response speed respectively. A well deserved Top Tier performance.
One of the new entrants in this years test, GridPane only competed at the Enterprise tier to likely send a message that says we're here and we're serious. Well the results say, welcome to the club. Perfect uptime and the second fastest Load Storm average response time combined with a miniscule 3 total errors on both load tests say GridPane is here to perform. The only improvement I would like to see is better scores on WebPageTest where outside of US/Europe it wasn't as fast as some of the competition. Overall, happy to see GridPane show us that another Top Tier Enterprise performer is here.
Pantheon had perfect uptime and the third fastest Load Impact peak average response time. There isn't much to say other than they earned a Top Tier performance and had a nice improvement in the Load Storm test compared to last year with fewer errors and half the average response time.
Pressable had perfect uptime and only 5 total errors on both load tests. I'd like to see faster response times globally but it was a Top Tier performance for sure.
This small company has participated many years and continues to impress with yet another Top Tier performance. Perfect uptime. 1 error total on the load tests was the lowest total of any company. The third fastest average response time on WebPageTest. Well done Presslabs.
Jelastic competed in many tiers and I was excited to see them figure out a way to balance their slightly different billing scheme to fit into these tests. Their platform scaled all the way up to the Enterprise tier, showing that it can handle tremendous loads without struggling. It earned Top Tier recognition in yet another tier, well done.
The third new Enterprise Tier entrant didn't disappoint. Seravo was neck and neck with Flywheel for the fastest average response time globally on WebPageTest. They had a total of 6 errors on excellent load tests. Welcome to the Top Tier Seravo.
Servebolt continued it's dominance in the WPPerformanceTester results into the Enterprise Tier being the fastest by a solid margin again on both PHP and WP Bench. They also managed the fastest average response time on Load Storm and kept a global average response time under 1000ms on WebPageTest which put them in 4th place. Another Top Tier performance by Servebolt.
Perfect uptime. 3 total errors across both load tests. The fastest peak average response time on Load Impact. WordPress VIP continues to deliver Top Tier performances.
Please read the Methodology to fully understand the scope of these tests.
Note: Please check company profiles for summary of performances across multiple tiers. Some companies also offer promotions or coupon codes for a discount as well.
Jelastic, Pressable, Raidboxes and Servebolt all handled the Load Impact test without issue.
Cloudways started to slow down around 3250 users and peak average response time increased to 1100.
Nestify started to slow down around 2500 users and peak average response time went to almost 1500ms.
Uptime Testing Results
Uptime is monitored by two companies: HetrixTools and Uptime Robot. A self hosted monitor was also run in case there was a major discrepancy between the two third party monitors.
Results Table
Company
Uptime Robot
Hetrix
Alt Uptime Monitor
Cloudways
100
100
Nestify
100
100
Pressable
100
100
RAIDBOXES
99.999
100
Scaleforce powered by Jelastic
98.587
99.99
98.56
Servebolt
99.583
99.99
99.98
Discussion
Cloudways, Nestify, Pressable, and Raidboxes had perfect or 99.999% uptime.
Jelastic had very different uptimes based on the monitors with UptimeRobot showing 98.587% and StatusCake showing 99.99%. The third monitor showed 98.56% which was inline with UptimeRobot, so I went with that being correct.
Servebolt also had a discrepancy between UptimeRobot and StatusCake uptime. One showed a very low 99.583 and the other 99.99. The third monitor I setup showed 99.98%, so I went with the StatusCake number.
WebPageTest Testing Results
WebPageTest fully loads the homepage and records how long it takes from 12 different locations around the world. Result are measured in seconds.
Results Table
Company
Virginia
California
London
Frankfurt
Singapore
Mumbai
Tokyo
Sydney
Brazil
Average
Rose Hill Mauritius
Israel
Cloudways
0.337
0.639
0.658
0.732
1.722
1.55
1.273
1.525
1.019
1.11025
2.02
1.187
Nestify
0.486
1.13
1.697
1.623
3.246
3.538
2.357
2.903
1.815
2.174083333
4.26
2.077
Pressable
0.521
1.01
1.311
1.259
2.243
1.971
1.757
2.191
1.513
1.6685
3.31
1.92
RAIDBOXES
0.875
1.456
0.428
0.369
1.373
1.069
2.387
2.408
1.775
1.350333333
1.984
0.893
Scaleforce powered by Jelastic
1.122
2.182
0.304
0.417
3.616
1.791
3.39
4.121
3.008
2.162083333
3.106
1.019
Servebolt
0.475
0.617
0.582
0.713
1.052
0.987
0.881
1.087
0.795
0.8981666667
1.68
1.218
Discussion
Servebolt was the fastest in 7/12 locations and had the fastest average response time. Jelastic was the slowest in 7/12 and fastest in 1. Nestify was the slowest in 5/12.
WPPerformanceTester Testing Results
WPPerformanceTester performs two benchmarks. One is a WordPress (WP Bench) and the other is a PHP Bench. WP Bench measures how many WP queries per second and higher tends to be better (varies considerably by architecture). PHP Bench performs a lot of computational and some database operations which are measured in seconds to complete. Lower PHP Bench is better.
Results Table
Company
PHP Bench
WP Bench
Cloudways
7.538
689.1798759
Nestify
7.486
742.9420505
Pressable
6.215
1367.989056
RAIDBOXES
5.644
938.0863039
Scaleforce powered by Jelastic
7.649
1213.592233
Servebolt
3.281
1992.031873
Discussion
The speed on this test was impressive. Servebolt was clearly the fastest on both tests but the numbers were an astonishing improvement over last year. The second fastest score last year on PHP Bench was 9.388 and the slowest this year was 7.649, nearly a two second improvement. Some of this could be because there are a different mix of companies but three of them are the same. Servebolt got faster by ~500ms and ~500 queries per second. Pressable improved by 4000ms and 900 queries per second. Cloudways improved by 1900ms and 260 queries per second. It's nice to see continuous improvements being made across the board.
Raidboxes was the only company to achieve an A+ rating. Every single B grade was for the following reason according to Qualsys: "This server supports TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1. Grade capped to B."
Conclusion
There are two levels of recognition awarded to companies that participate in the tests. There is no ‘best’ declared, it’s simply tiered, it’s hard to come up with an objective ranking system because of the complex nature of hosting. These tests also don’t take into account outside factors such as reviews, support, and features. It is simply testing performance as described in the methodology.
Top Tier
This year's Top Tier WordPress Hosting Performance Award goes to the following companies who showed virtually no signs of struggle during the testing.
The following companies earned Honorable Mention status because they did very well and had a minor issue or two holding them back from earning Top Tier status.
Overall a very good performance from Cloudways. Perfect uptime. Improved speeds from last years WPPerformanceTester results. Just a minor slow down during Load Impact kept them from earning Top Tier honors.
Nestify had perfect uptime. A perfect looking Load Storm test with zero errors and flat response times. The only issue was Load Impact slowed down starting around 2300 users and kept climbing upwards to around 1.5s average response time. Very borderline on earning an Honorable Mention, just a bit better next year will earn some them recognition.
Pressable had perfect uptime and Load Impact test. In fact, they had the fastest peak average response time of any company in this price tier. The only issue was Load Storm caused some increased response times with it slowly climbing to over 1300ms at points. It was borderline on the honorable mention, but the response times went a bit too high. A little better and Pressable would be earning honors at this tier.
One of the standout new entrants this year earned Top Tier status right off the bat. 99.999% uptime and up. Zero errors on both load tests. Hard to ask for a better performance, but they also had the fastest PHP bench score of a company not named Servebolt across any price tier. Well done Raidboxes and congrats on the Top Tier marks.
Excellent performance from this new comer except for the uptime issue. They didn't have this issue in other tiers, so I am optimistic next year they will earn Top Tier status.
Speed, speed, speed. Servebolt had the fastest response times on Load Storm and WebPageTest. They also were in a class of their own on WPPerformanceTester. The Top Tier status was well deserved for Servebolt.
Please read the Methodology to fully understand the scope of these tests.
Note: Please check company profiles for summary of performances across multiple tiers. Some companies also offer promotions or coupon codes for a discount as well.
Jelastic, Pantheon, Pressable, Seravo, Servebolt and WPOven didn't experience any issues with the Load Impact test.
1&1 IONOS ran into security measures again and experienced a lot of errors.
Cloudways experienced some stress and response times increased substantially starting around 1200 users.
Nestify started experiencing load around 2500 and increased slightly to 1s average response time.
Uptime Testing Results
Uptime is monitored by two companies: HetrixTools and Uptime Robot. A self hosted monitor was also run in case there was a major discrepancy between the two third party monitors.
Results Table
Company
Uptime Robot
Hetrix
Alt Uptime Monitor
Cloudways
100
100
IONOS
99.986
99.99
Nestify
100
100
Pantheon
100
100
Pressable
100
100
Scaleforce powered by Jelastic
99.99
99.99
Seravo
100
100
Servebolt
99.582
99.99
99.99
WPOven
100
100
Discussion
Every company did well maintaining above 99.98% uptime. The only issue was a strange discrepancy between UptimeRobot and StatusCake on Servebolt's uptime. One showed a very low 99.582 and the other 99.99. The third monitor I setup showed 99.99%, so the issue appears to be with Uptime Robot.
WebPageTest Testing Results
WebPageTest fully loads the homepage and records how long it takes from 12 different locations around the world. Result are measured in seconds.
Results Table
Company
Virginia
California
London
Frankfurt
Singapore
Mumbai
Tokyo
Sydney
Brazil
Average
Rose Hill Mauritius
Israel
Cloudways
1
0.623
0.698
0.743
1.638
1.538
1.139
1.577
0.992
1.1465
2.029
1.197
IONOS
0.675
0.697
1.006
1.141
1.834
2.047
1.239
1.882
1.454
1.42275
2.939
1.57
Nestify
0.475
1.148
1.432
1.518
3.229
3.533
2.598
2.92
1.823
2.118166667
3.775
2.047
Pantheon
0.436
0.588
0.534
0.59
0.875
0.874
1.092
0.896
0.673
0.9809166667
3.265
1.145
Pressable
0.391
1.008
1.224
1.188
2.322
2.226
1.78
2.245
1.324
1.646166667
3.367
1.868
Scaleforce powered by Jelastic
0.822
1.563
0.384
0.361
2.815
1.518
2.76
2.965
2.317
1.658916667
2.12
0.976
Seravo
0.428
0.656
0.822
1.04
2.213
1.962
1.465
2.073
1.35
1.37025
2.474
1.379
Servebolt
0.454
0.59
0.561
0.652
1.047
1.182
1.045
1.092
0.749
0.9150833333
1.797
1.173
WPOven
0.43
0.76
0.903
0.907
1.796
1.671
1.459
1.659
1.02
1.22975
2.275
1.205
Discussion
Pantheon picked up the fastest response times in 5/12 locations. Servebolt ended up being the fastest in only two locations but had the fastest average overall being near the fastest in most locaations. Nestify didn't stand out well here being slowest in 6/12 locales and second slowest in 5/12. Jelastic was the slowest in 5 locations, second slowest in 2 locations and the fastest in 3 locations.
WPPerformanceTester Testing Results
WPPerformanceTester performs two benchmarks. One is a WordPress (WP Bench) and the other is a PHP Bench. WP Bench measures how many WP queries per second and higher tends to be better (varies considerably by architecture). PHP Bench performs a lot of computational and some database operations which are measured in seconds to complete. Lower PHP Bench is better.
Results Table
Company
PHP Bench
WP Bench
Cloudways
7.605
628.1407035
IONOS
10.029
370.5075954
Nestify
7.487
753.0120482
Pantheon
8.996
309.8853424
Pressable
6.213
1297.016861
Scaleforce powered by Jelastic
7.888
1314.060447
Seravo
8.029
463.6068614
Servebolt
3.275
2049.180328
WPOven
11.831
497.2650423
Discussion
Servebolt blew away the competition on this test recording near 50% faster scores on both PHP bench and WP bench than the next fastest competitors. The competition wasn't slow either, Pressable's PHP bench was a near 50% improvement over their own score last year too.
No company achieved an A+ rating. Every single B grade was for the following reason according to Qualsys: "This server supports TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.1. Grade capped to B."
Conclusion
There are two levels of recognition awarded to companies that participate in the tests. There is no ‘best’ declared, it’s simply tiered, it’s hard to come up with an objective ranking system because of the complex nature of hosting. These tests also don’t take into account outside factors such as reviews, support, and features. It is simply testing performance as described in the methodology.
Top Tier
This year's Top Tier WordPress Hosting Performance Award goes to the following companies who showed virtually no signs of struggle during the testing.
The following companies earned Honorable Mention status because they did very well and had a minor issue or two holding them back from earning Top Tier status.
1&1 IONOS was marred by security measures that couldn't be worked around. Their uptime was solid, but the load tests just had too many errors which seemed like were triggered by security features because response times were remaining flat.
Nestify's perfect uptime was a great start. 1 error total between both load tests. The only issue was the response times increased around 2500 users on Load Impact to over 1000ms which meant Nestify earned Honorable Mention status.
100% uptime. Effortless load test results including the fastest Load Impact average response time. Often the fastest response times on WebPageTest with the second fastest average load time overall. A solid showing earned Pantheon Top Tier status.
Perfect uptime. Incredibly fast Load Impact results with zero errors and second fastest peak average load time. The only thing that kept Pressable from earning Top Tier status was Load Storm slowing down responses from 500ms to 1100ms during the test. Honorable Mention well earned.
Servebolt prides themselves on speed. They were blazingly fast on WPPerformanceTester. They had the fastest average response time on WebPageTest. They had the fastest Load Storm average response time. Top Tier honors were easily awarded to Servebolt.
A relatively unknown provider which intermittently participates in these benchmarks. Each time they seem to do quite well earning Top Tier honors for the third time in a row this year. Perfect uptime and excellent load tests will do that. Well done and welcome back WPOven.
