Hosting: The Foundation of WordPress Site Speed

Jake at Start Blogging 101

If you’re looking to improve the speed of your WordPress site, the web hosting you use should be the first place you focus on.

WordPress hosting is the foundation of your WordPress site speed. You can have a lightweight WordPress theme and plugins, but if your host is slow, your page speed scores will suffer no matter what.

Say your WordPress site is a skyscraper. You can build the tallest, most elegant skyscraper in the world, but if the foundation of the building is sand, the building would collapse upon itself every time.

That’s why the hosting you use is absolutely crucial to having a fast WordPress site that will pass all of Google’s Core Web Vitals.

Whether you’re a beginner who knows nothing when it comes to WordPress hosting or a more advanced user, there’s an option for you.

High Performance

Performance that will make your website lightning-fast.

#1 Recommended

Highly recommended hosting from experienced WordPress users.

Budget-Friendly

Hosting options for all budgets that won’t break the bank.

Stop Using Slow Hosting

Hosts owned by EIG (Endurance International Group) such as Bluehost and HostGator are notorious for being slow, having poor support, and are full of bad customer reviews.

Bluehost Trustpilot Reviews

Bluehost Hosting Trustpilot Reviews

HostGator Trustpilot Reviews

HostGator Hosting Trustpilot Reviews

Start using fast hosting that is trusted by thousands of customers, much faster performance, quality support, and years of my own personal experience.

Cloudways Trustpilot Reviews

Cloudways Hosting Trustpilot Reviews

Rocket.net Trustpilot Reviews

Rocket.net Hosting Trustpilot Reviews

Are you Using Slow Hosting?

To figure out if you’re using slow hosting, go to KeyCDN’s Performance Test, enter the URL for your site includinghttps://“, and click “Test.”

This test is going to ping your URL from 10 different locations around the world and report your TTFB (Time To First Byte) for each of those locations.

Here is the KeyCDN Performance Test for Start Blogging 101:

KeyCDN Performance Test TTFB Server Response Times For Start Blogging 101

Look at the right-most column labeled TTFB (Time To First Byte) and note the times. Check the TTFB times closest to your hosting server location.

  • Less than 200 ms = Excellent. No need to change hosting.
  • 200 ms – 600 ms = Okay. Consider faster hosting.
  • Higher than 600 ms = Poor. Upgrade to faster hosting.

For example, the hosting server for Start Blogging 101 is located in Chicago, Illinois, USA. Let’s look at the TTFB for the locations closest to the server.

  • New York – 76 ms
  • Dallas – 96 ms
  • San Francisco – 169 ms

All of these TTFB times are below 200 ms so my hosting performance is excellent.

What are your TTFB scores for the locations closest to your hosting server? Do you need faster hosting?

Choose Your Hosting

Cloudways Hosting Promo Banner

Cloudways

  • Starting at $10/month
  • Fastest performance for the money
  • Most recommended for intermediate users
  • Pair with caching plugin: FlyingPress
  • Use my recommended settings

Speed

Pricing

Ease of Use

Support

Scalability

Caching

★★★★★

★★★★★

★★★☆☆

★★★★☆

★★★★★

★★★★★

Overall

4.5 / 5

Or read my Cloudways Hosting Review

Rocket.net Promo Banner

Rocket.net

Speed

Pricing

Ease of Use

Support

Scalability

Caching

★★★★★

★★★★☆

★★★★★

★★★★★

★★★★★

★★★★★

Overall

4.8 / 5

Get the first month for $1