<$25/Month WordPress Hosting Performance Benchmarks 2021

<$25/Month WordPress Hosting Performance Benchmarks 2021

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 Companies and Products

CompanyPlan Monthly PricePlan Visitors AllowedPlan MemoryPlan Disk SpacePlan BandwidthPlan Sites Allowed
20i £5.99UnlimitedNot capped10GB50GB1
34SP.com £9.95Unlimited1.25GB25GBUnlimited1
AleForge $15.96Unlimited2 GBUnlimited. 20 GB threshold then increased upon request..UnlimitedUnlimited
ChemiCloud $21.90There is no hard limit set in place for this.3GB30GBUnlimitedUnlimited
CynderHost $18.99Unlimited No hard limit20 GB 50 GB1
EasyWP by Namecheap $11.88No limit but suggested for up to 500k1.5GB, Burstable100GB Unmetered1
Eco Web Hosting £5.99UnlimitedNot measured25 GBUnlimited1
GoDaddy $19.99Unlimited-UnlimitedUnlimited1
GreenGeeks $14.95Unlimited2.0 GBUnlimitedUnmeteredUnlimited
ICDSoft $10Unlimited2 GB per process, up to 50 processes.100 GB5000 GB / mo1
InMotion Hosting $17.99125,000 is the suitable number but no set hardware limit4GB Virtual/2GB Physical150GBUnlimited3
IONOS $8Unlimited768 MB100 GB SSDUnlimited1 managed site
Krystal Hosting £9.99Unlimited2GBUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited
Lightning Base $9.9510,000 Guideline3 GB1 GB40 GB cap1
ManagedWPHosting €11.00not limited by vistor amount, it is limited by disk and trafficaccount has at least 92MB PHP RAM, server has 12 GB5GB50GB a month1
MDDHosting $19.99Unlimited2 GBUnlimitedUnlimitedUnlimited
Nexcess $19unmeteredcloud - variable bursts15GB2TB1
RAIDBOXES 15€Unlimited2GB5GB SSDUnlimited1
RSHosting.com $20.00Unlimited2GBUnlimitedUnlimited5
SiteGround $24.99No hard limit but advertised as suitable for ~ 25,000 Visits Monthly No hard limit - https://www.siteground.com/shared-hosting-features.htm 20 GB Web Space UnlimitedUnlimited
TVC.Net $12.95Unlimited32gb2gb200gbUnlimited
WPX $24.99n/a128 Mb per PHP process, 3 PHP processes per website10 Gb100 Gb5
View Full Products Table

LoadStorm Testing Results

Load Storm is designed to simulate real users visiting the site, logging in and browsing. It tests uncached performance.

Results Table

CompanyTotal RequestsTotal ErrorsPeak RpsAverage RpsPeak Response TimeAverage Response TimeTotal Data TransferredPeak ThroughputAverage ThroughputWp-login Average Response Time
20i 40591056332.42225.511510165120.131811908
34SP.com 445635544321.43247.57473152622.341612.41978
AleForge 6183350149132.1334.354869483230.6086.9070.33787
ChemiCloud 355650384330.97197.5815820101118.031710.025040
CynderHost 61559491452.30342.00151229726.972015192
EasyWP by Namecheap 27105462210.72150.59416937913.96117.753732
Eco Web Hosting 426263403314.97236.811510965321.091612878
GoDaddy 7176403517557.07398.691620241726.2121151273
GreenGeeks 4714082352.10261.891507033922.981712.76620
ICDSoft 4762980347.95264.61510842821.951612738
InMotion Hosting 6302571778458.15350.141511337523.751713.19828
IONOS 78375515157573.20435.421589734128.632116
Krystal Hosting 427890177310.60237.721785883820.911511.622273
Lightning Base 46968024343.90260.93505236023.031712.79629
ManagedWPHosting 4234452078328.08235.251506687220.2917113273
MDDHosting 44913621975346.22249.521510158921.7117123598
Nexcess 454281141330.28252.38443157421.816.2112.11704
RAIDBOXES 44867113330.58249.261507644622.611712.56784
RSHosting.com 409527125323.42227.511510076419.9617112678
SiteGround 5002074374.07277.89538423423.6617.9313.15251
TVC.Net 4308060319.13239.34258436421.471611.93632
WPX 50556736405.20280.87100878223.461913.03289

Discussion

20i, CynderHost, EasyWP by Namecheap, Eco Web Hosting, GreenGeeks, ICDSoft, LightningBase, Nexcess, RAIDBOXES, SiteGround, TVC.net, and WPX all handled this test without issue.

34SP slowed down a little bit and had a few errors. InMotionHosting had some 508 loop detected errors .

AleForge hit security measures nearly right away and blocked the load test. Unfortunately we couldn't get a clean test so it's impossible to evaluate how the server would respond to this type of load under real world circumstances. ChemiCloud hit CPU/Memory limits from the appearances of the test and slowed down and had a few errors. GoDaddy had a consistent error rate through the whole test. IONOS hit some wp-login security problems causing errors. Krystal slowed down as the test went on. ManagedWPHosting slowed down and had some errors. MDDHosting slowed down and had errors. RSHosting slowed down.

K6 Static Testing Results

K6 Static test is designed to test cached performance by repeatedly requesting the homepage.

Results Table

CompanyRequestsErrorsPeak RpsAverage Response TimeAverage RpsP95P99
20i 432887095541476134136
34SP.com 3555050783267389531555
AleForge 3672540808227404447531
ChemiCloud 3719720815211407433433
CynderHost 431980334978144756163
EasyWP by Namecheap 392848310870146427251252
Eco Web Hosting 432476094642475140141
GoDaddy 3477961768295369559771
GreenGeeks 4004490881125438246275
ICDSoft 352893300723177375399759
InMotion Hosting 3985500885129438244711
IONOS 2012440298124622025432767
Krystal Hosting 38113808751814174671003
Lightning Base 3676330812225404467467
ManagedWPHosting 3526960745274387607667
MDDHosting 3992990884128436242305
Nexcess 381912842830180420493527
RAIDBOXES 3944530868142431295299
RSHosting.com 3931910868145430279377
SiteGround 3962551878137433259551
TVC.Net 2426193439686226420232751
WPX 428185095653470185497

Discussion

20i, 34SP, AleForge, ChemiCloud, CynderHost, EasyWP by Namecheap, Eco Web Hosting, GoDaddy, GreenGeeks, ICDSoft, InMotionHosting, LightningBase, ManagedWPHosting, MDDHosting, RAIDBOXES, RSHosting.com, and WPX all handled K6 test without issue.

Krystal had a bunch of spikes which caused a little slowness. Nexcess had a few errors and spikes. SiteGround took a little bit to warm up but ultimately handled the test well.

IONOS and TVC.net slowed down during the 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

CompanyUptime RobotHetrixAlt Uptime Monitor
20i 99.999100
34SP.com 100100
AleForge 99.97599.9422
ChemiCloud 100100
CynderHost 100100
EasyWP by Namecheap 99.999.918999.93
Eco Web Hosting 99.99699.9967
GoDaddy 99.99699.9971
GreenGeeks 99.99899.9912
ICDSoft 99.99899.9912
InMotion Hosting 99.91499.9189
IONOS 99.97699.9769
Krystal Hosting 99.98499.9549
Lightning Base 99.99299.9926
ManagedWPHosting 99.82399.8648
MDDHosting 99.98999.9832
Nexcess 99.73699.7868
RAIDBOXES 99.99999.9971
RSHosting.com 99.99399.9735
SiteGround 10099.9994
TVC.Net 99.99299.9682
WPX 10099.9972

Discussion

20i, 34SP, AleForge, ChemiCloud, CynderHost, EasyWP by Namecheap, Eco Web Hosting, GoDaddy, GreenGeeks, ICDSoft, InMotion Hosting, IONOS, Krystal Hosting, LightningBase, MDDHosting, RAIDBOXES, RSHosting.com, SiteGround, TVC.net, and WPX all stayed online more than 99.9% of the time.

ManagedWPHosting had longer than expected maintenance which caused uptime to drop below 99.9%. Nexcess had a caching problem which caused the site to stop displaying which caused 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

CompanyVirginiaCaliforniaSalt Lake CityLondonFrankfurtCape TownSingaporeMumbaiTokyoSydneyBrazilDubaiAverage
20i 1.7671.7141.6361.0220.9621.4782.7944.4152.23713.682.5541.3172.964666667
34SP.com 1.1141.1481.2420.650.6521.1461.2631.5811.591.9541.440.9621.2285
AleForge 0.7570.7520.9840.8480.8721.3031.3091.2571.0121.3010.9271.2991.05175
ChemiCloud 0.8250.8130.9750.940.8771.3831.3461.4941.0311.3730.9731.1571.098916667
CynderHost 0.6680.5950.8840.7080.6430.9520.590.9280.580.6760.7970.6970.7265
EasyWP by Namecheap 0.780.7691.0251.121.1172.0711.2971.5711.031.4981.2342.1631.30625
Eco Web Hosting 1.7861.8161.6830.9590.8811.9162.63.5582.6083.3572.8451.5332.1285
GoDaddy 1.3182.4533.3153.7023.774.7834.8324.4131.4692.3561.8543.1643.119083333
GreenGeeks 0.9270.9421.2010.9781.0731.6581.2961.4811.0981.3811.121.3811.211333333
ICDSoft 0.810.8561.0470.8920.9451.4281.5251.3461.1361.3341.0051.2141.128166667
InMotion Hosting 0.7910.8670.8920.8710.8891.3571.5511.4311.0971.3671.0211.2551.11575
IONOS 1.0821.4871.1991.3241.3832.032.4792.1811.5051.7991.5471.9361.662666667
Krystal Hosting 1.491.1511.350.6750.6841.0671.5821.1141.4931.8191.3620.9111.224833333
Lightning Base 0.8020.7590.8860.950.8831.5761.3131.40.9831.1581.0531.4511.101166667
ManagedWPHosting 1.2861.3251.360.6680.6531.2151.3011.0861.7012.1081.4561.0371.266333333
MDDHosting 0.9480.9951.1211.2021.2291.8671.6541.881.1641.4441.4281.6581.3825
Nexcess 0.9020.9132.0581.3821.2322.3152.8283.5171.9952.5411.6632.1691.959583333
RAIDBOXES 1.1181.0841.1170.5470.5461.2471.0630.8711.461.8941.320.7981.08875
RSHosting.com 1.1711.111.2761.5041.5432.0821.682.3571.4381.4731.6712.0451.6125
SiteGround 0.8150.9161.0421.1171.1971.9052.2572.0271.2571.4361.2951.6641.410666667
TVC.Net 0.7490.6820.9861.0571.2441.8341.1841.8810.941.0741.1841.4551.189166667
WPX 0.6230.5910.8610.6540.6920.9910.5740.8050.570.5620.9890.6930.7170833333

Discussion

WPX and CynderHost stand out on this test serving pages the fastest globally (0.717 and 0.726 respectively, a miniscule 9ms difference between the two). The third fastest average was AleForge with 1.052 which is ~330ms slower than first and second place.

GoDaddy was a stand out, not in a good way, here being slowest in 7/12 locations. 20i, who are a UK focused company, also stand out especially because of their Sydney result (click on a company to hide their results and adjust the graph) being very slow.

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

CompanyPHP BenchWP Bench
20i 10.372490.1960784
34SP.com 10.933452.6935265
AleForge 12.236399.2015968
ChemiCloud 8.7711400.560224
CynderHost 5.8361512.859304
EasyWP by Namecheap 6.402907.4410163
Eco Web Hosting 10.468435.9197908
GoDaddy 11.745439.1743522
GreenGeeks 11.2761071.811361
ICDSoft 8.2321254.705144
InMotion Hosting 8.5491869.158879
IONOS 9.912168.0954782
Krystal Hosting 9.939729.3946025
Lightning Base 6.615718.3908046
ManagedWPHosting 12.249121.2562144
MDDHosting 11.064351.9887364
Nexcess 4.2991697.792869
RAIDBOXES 9.235430.8487721
RSHosting.com 7.321713.7758744
SiteGround 7.4931329.787234
TVC.Net 8.455769.8229407
WPX 6.9621589.825119

Discussion

Nexcess stands out on the PHP bench being the fastest by a whopping 1.5 seconds.

InMotionHosting had the highest WP bench at very quick 1869 queries per second with Nexcess, WPX and CynderHost all above 1500 QPS behind them.

SSL Testing Results

The tool is available at https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/

Results Table

CompanyQualsys SSL Grade
20i A
34SP.com A
AleForge A
ChemiCloud A
CynderHost A
EasyWP by Namecheap A+
Eco Web Hosting A
GoDaddy A
GreenGeeks A+
ICDSoft A
InMotion Hosting B
IONOS A
Krystal Hosting A
Lightning Base A
ManagedWPHosting A+
MDDHosting A
Nexcess A
RAIDBOXES A+
RSHosting.com A
SiteGround A
TVC.Net A
WPX A

Discussion

A+'s for EasyWP by NameCheap, GreenGeeks, ManagedWPHosting, and RAIDBOXES.

Everyone else got an A.

Except InMotion Hosting which received a B for supporting old TLS versions.

Internet.nl Testing Results

The tool is available at https://internet.nl/test-site/.

Results Table

CompanyInternet.nl
20i 48
34SP.com 44
AleForge 47
ChemiCloud 35
CynderHost 45
EasyWP by Namecheap 52
Eco Web Hosting 50
GoDaddy 48
GreenGeeks 37
ICDSoft 32
InMotion Hosting 32
IONOS 70
Krystal Hosting 35
Lightning Base 35
ManagedWPHosting 40
MDDHosting 50
Nexcess 50
RAIDBOXES 52
RSHosting.com 32
SiteGround 30
TVC.Net 50
WPX 32

Discussion

This is a new and non-impacting benchmark ostensibly tests server security. IONOS stood out at 70 with EasyWP by Namecheap and RAIDBOXES following at 52. SiteGround had the lowest score at 30.

I'm not sure how much value there is in this metric, but the results are here for people to look at and evaluate for themselves.

Mozilla Observatory Testing Results

The tool is available at https://observatory.mozilla.org/.

Results Table

CompanyMozilla Observatory
20i F
34SP.com F
AleForge F
ChemiCloud F
CynderHost F
EasyWP by Namecheap B
Eco Web Hosting F
GoDaddy F
GreenGeeks C-
ICDSoft F
InMotion Hosting F
IONOS F
Krystal Hosting F
Lightning Base F
ManagedWPHosting B
MDDHosting F
Nexcess F
RAIDBOXES C
RSHosting.com F
SiteGround F
TVC.Net F
WPX F

Discussion

The highest grade was a B from EasyWP by Namecheap and ManagedWPHosting. RAIDBOXES got a C. GreenGeeks earned a C-.

Everyone else failed. Including IONOS which had the highest score on the Internet.nl test.

I really don't know what to make of these results, when most companies are failing, I have to consider whether the test is useful, or are many companies not doing a good job securing the servers or are these measuring things which are beyond the hosting provider's scope and more on the user? Or is it something else? I don't have an answer, but I am publishing the results to add another data point to the discussion.

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.


Honorable Mention

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.


Individual Host Analysis

20i is a brand new entrant and showed off a solid product earning Top Tier status this year. 99.999% uptime. An excellent K6 test with no signs of load and no errors. A solid Load Storm test is nice debut. Congratulations and welcome to the benchmarks.
Visit 20i Website
34SP earned another Honorable Mention this year. Perfect uptime. A flat errorless K6 performance. Load Storm unfortunately showed a little sign of load with average response times climbing during the tests. 34SP is on the cusp of being a Top Tier performer and continue to improve.
Visit 34SP.com Website
AleForge is another newcomer to the benchmarks. They handled the K6 test well. Their uptime stayed above 99.9%. The problem was the Load Storm test was interfered with by security measures and they were not comfortable bypassing them for the purposes of the benchmarks. AleForge certainly has the potential to be a top performer but without running a clear test it's impossible to say.
Visit AleForge Website
ChemiCloud had perfect uptime. The K6 test was excellent with flat response times. The problem was Load Storm maxed out the CPU/Memory limits and caused response times to increase as requests backed up. It's nice to see that it didn't really fail at all under the stress though, just slowed down.
Visit ChemiCloud Website
CynderHost is a new comer who really stood out and earned Top Tier status this year. Perfect uptime is always a great start. Their K6 average response time was 14ms, beating the next fastest competitor by 27ms, and their P99 was 63ms beating the next fastest by 73ms. They had the fastest Load Storm average response time at 97ms and fastest wp-login time too. Throw in the second fastest WPT average response time and it was a clear Top Tier showing for CynderHost.
Visit CynderHost Website
EasyWP by Namecheap earned itself a Top Tier award in it's second year participating. It's nice to see they went back and improved and it paid off. They had 99.9% uptime, their load tests were handled without issue. They didn't stand out in any particular test but did everything well.
Visit EasyWP by Namecheap Website
Eco Web Hosting was a first time participant who showed up and did a great job and earned themselves Top Tier recognition. They maintained 99.99% uptime. Their K6 results were third fastest in terms of response time. Their Load Storm test went smooth. Welcome to the Top Tier club.
Visit Eco Web Hosting Website
GoDaddy has a special place in these tests being an original member and the reason they were even started. This year GoDaddy had 99.99% uptime. A mere single error on the K6 test. Unfortunately, Load Storm had a small but consistent error rate that couldn't be resolved which kept it out of earning an award this year.
Visit GoDaddy Website
GreenGeeks has been a regular participant in these tests and has generally done quite well. They've earned another Top Tier award this year for a solid showing of 99.99% uptime and a whopping zero errors between both load tests combined.
Visit GreenGeeks Website
ICDSoft is a first time participant who earned an Honorable Mention this year. Their Load Storm test went smooth with no errors. Their uptime was 99.99%. Their K6 test had some spikes and errors and was very borderline. It didn't stand out, but overall a solid showing for a first timer earned them an Honorable Mention.
Visit ICDSoft Website
InMotion Hosting earned itself an Honorable Mention this year. It had the fastest WP bench score. It had over 99.9% uptime. It handled the K6 test well. The only thing that made it fall slightly short is the errors on Load Storm. A pretty good showing but a little room for improvement.
Visit InMotion Hosting Website
IONOS didn't do so well at this price tier. The good was 99.9%+ uptime. The K6 test didn't fail but slowed down a lot. The Load Storm test had wp-login security that we couldn't bypass and gave a high error rate.
Visit IONOS Website
Krystal is back for it's second time. The positive was maintaining 99.9%+ uptime. The Load Tests both seemed to slow it down at this price tier though. There's definitely room for improvement and they've shown they can deliver it before.
Visit Krystal Hosting Website
LightningBase has been a model of consistency, earning Top Tier every year and our longest continuous participant. This year has been no exception. 99.99% uptime, both load tests were smooth. Another year, another Top Tier performance.
Visit Lightning Base Website
ManagedWPHosting was a new entrant this year. The highlight was the K6 test going through flawlessly. However, there were some uptime issues because of maintenance primarily. There was also the Load Storm test which overwhelmed the server a bit caused slowdowns and errors. There's definitely room for improvement and I hope to see them come back and show it.
Visit ManagedWPHosting Website
MDDHosting is a first timer to these tests. Their uptime was above 99.9%. Their K6 test was great having no errors. What held them back this year was the Load Storm test overwhelming the server. It's definitely the most difficult test and it proved a bit much this year. I know they are already working on some improvements and hope to see them earn some recognition next year.
Visit MDDHosting Website
Nexcess is LiquidWeb's newly acquired brand which has competed in the past. This year Nexcess's highlight was having the fastest PHP Bench by 1.5 seconds over the next fastest competitor. Their Load Storm test was good as well. Their K6 test had a few errors and slowed down a bit. But ultimately their downfall was uptime. A caching bug caused the site to drop below the 99.9% threshold.
Visit Nexcess Website
Raidboxes is a second time participant and earned Top Tier marks this year. Their uptime was above 99.99%. Their Load Tests both had nearly no errors and went very smoothly. It wasn't the flashiest with 4th fastest WPT average response time being it's best result, but it did very well in all the tests. A solid Top Tier performance.
Visit RAIDBOXES Website
RSHosting.com is a first time participant. Their K6 test was great with no errors. Their uptime was above 99.9%. Unfortunately the Load Storm test slowed down the server a bit too much to earn any recognition this year. I hope to see them come back and do better next year though.
Visit RSHosting.com Website
SiteGround earned Honorable Mention status this year. The Load Storm test was great and had the second lowest wp-login response time. Uptime was above 99.99%. The only slight weakness was shown on the K6 test where it took a little while before the caches seemed to fully warm up and respond quickly.
Visit SiteGround Website
TVC.Net is back again and had 99.9%+ uptime. They also had a great Load Storm test without a single error. Unfortunately the K6 test slowed down quite a bit and knocked it out of the running for earning any award. The product feels close, just a little bit better static caching and it will be a Top Tier performer.
Visit TVC.Net Website
WPX is back again with another Top Tier performance. 99.99% uptime. Error free load tests. The fastest average response time and third fastest wp-login response time on Load Storm. Also the fastest WPT average response time. WPX easily earned Top Tier status again this year.
Visit WPX Website

About the Author

Kevin Ohashi

Kevin Ohashi is the geek-in-charge at Review Signal. He is passionate about making data meaningful for consumers. Kevin is based in Washington, DC.

Recommended Articles

Want updates sent to your email?

Subscribe to our Newsletter