WordPress Hosting [Spreadsheet] Reviews
Yo, I’m Tom! I help sites find high-performance hosting with faster CPUs, more resources, and scalability. My research & testing shows smaller hosts often outperform popular, heavily marketed companies.
Cyber Monday Deals
ChemiCloud
Extra $1/month off shared or 2 extra free months of managed hosting (total of 4 months free). LiteSpeed, 3.8 GHz AMD CPUs, and NVMe PCIe 4.0 SSDs in the US (Portland & Washington DC).
MechanicWeb
LiteSpeed hosting on 5.7 GHz AMD Ryzen 9950X processors, DDR5 RAM, and PCIe 5.0 NVMe SSDs. Based in Bangladesh but unpopular due to a low paying affiliate program. Underrated.
Scala Hosting
Holiday sale on VPS plans with 4 GHz CPUs, OpenLiteSpeed, and a custom (robust) SPanel. SPanel also saves you money on multiple VPS licenses like cPanel, LiteSpeed, Imunify360.
Spreadsheets
Best Hosting
65 hosting plans compared based on performance specs, resource limits in TOS & AUP pages, and common TrustPilot complaints. Extremely lucrative industry with lots of marketing.
Best CDNs
Cloudflare and QUIC.cloud are current leaders for WordPress. Cloudflare Enterprise speeds up WooCommerce with faster dynamic routing (some hosts integrate it better than others).
Best Cache Plugins
FlyingPress (on Nginx/Apache servers) and LiteSpeed Cache (on LiteSpeed servers) are the current leaders which optimize core web vitals better than their alternatives with more features.
High-Performance Hosting
Performance starts with the CPU. A higher clock speed in gigahertz (GHz) means a CPU can execute more instructions per second, leading to a faster frontend and wp-admin. High-performance hosts typically highlight their CPU model(s) and clock speeds.
LiteSpeed servers handle more concurrent connections with lower resource consumption than Nginx/Apache, especially for dynamic sites. Most high performance hosts & control panels support LiteSpeed or OpenLiteSpeed with the exception of Rocket.net & Servebolt.
Compared to SATA SSDs, NVMe SSDs can have ~28x faster read/write speeds, ~10x less latency, and can process 2000x more commands per queue. WooCommerce/dynamic sites with high traffic will see the most significant improvement, especially with PCIe 4.0 or 5.0.
Object Cache Pro caches objects and database queries (heavily used on WooCommerce/dynamic sites). This can cut CPU usage by 60% while speeding up both the wp-admin and frontend. Unlike Cloudways, Rocket.net offers it (on the Business plan) for free with Relay.
High-performance hosts typically offer more CPU cores + RAM without limiting CPU usage or PHP workers. It’s common for other hosts to put you in a “tighter box” with hidden limits often found in their TOS & AUP, and a smaller amount of predetermined resources.
If you run out of resources, you’ll want the option to scale CPU + RAM without having to “jump to the next plan” which can get expensive. ChemiCloud’s Turbo+ Boost add-on, Scala Hosting’s VPS, and control panels like xCloud/RunCloud can all scale CPU + RAM.
LiteSpeed: LiteSpeed Cache + QUIC.cloud Standard Plan. Nginx/Apache = FlyingPress + Cloudflare APO (or a proper integration of Cloudflare Enterprise).
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ChemiCloud
Affordable LiteSpeed hosting with fast 3.8 GHz CPUs, more CPU + RAM, and no restrictive CPU limits. 4.9/5 star TrustPilot rating with a sub-100ms TTFB.
Scala Hosting
Customizable VPS with faster 4 GHz CPUs, OpenLiteSpeed, and dedicated CPU/RAM. SPanel is robust + lightweight and saves money on several VPS licenses.
Vultr High Frequency
Launch a Vultr High Frequency server on OpenLiteSpeed or Nginx on the control panel of your choice with better price + performance than Cloudways.
Rocket.net
WooCommerce-optimized with a superior version of Cloudflare Enterprise, Object Cache Pro on “Business” plan, and averages a 100ms global TTFB (what I use).
MechanicWeb
5.7 GHz AMD Ryzen 9950X servers, DDR5 RAM, PCIE 5.0 NVMe SSDs, and LiteSpeed. Unpopular due to their (much) lower paying affiliate program.
POPULAR HOSTING
Without knowing which CPU model your server uses (and its clock speed), you’re left guessing the most important performance factor. Even after asking several teams, many hosts wouldn’t specify the CPU model(s) and don’t participate in independent performance tests.
Nginx is great for low traffic static sites while LiteSpeed is often preferred for dynamic sites, lower resource usage, and the free/performant LiteSpeed Cache plugin. With the exception of Hostinger and WPX, all hosts below use Nginx/Apache servers.
Larger companies often pack more sites on shared servers to maximize profit, overcrowding (and overloading) their servers. Since you’re already competing for limited resources, this leads to more throttling, 5xx errors, and downtime – especially during busy times.
Many host’s CDNs are heavily restricted compared to setting up Cloudflare (with APO) manually. While convenient, they lack performance/security features and usually give you a slower TTFB (which you can test by running your site 3 times in SpeedVitals).
Many of these hosts offer limited resources without scalability, forcing you to frequently upgrade to higher plans as your resource usage increases (often due to more traffic, plugins, and limits in their TOS & AUP). This can get expensive, especially on “managed hosting.”
Hosting is extremely lucrative with high profit margins, low overhead, and recurring revenue (ARR). Popular hosts typically dump money into aggressive marketing, affiliate programs, and some also have “close relationships” with admins/mods in Facebook groups.
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SiteGround
Their “glowing reviews” are heavily manipulated and their cache plugin/CDN are inferior to others. Overpriced renewals and previous TTFB/DNS issues.
Hostinger
Scams/fake reviews (check Reddit). Based out of Lithuania with lots of hidden limits, poor support, and common issues related to their DNS and email.
GoDaddy
I hate seeing people getting taken advantage of by their upsells & overpriced services. It’s likely just the start of your problems, so run while you can.
Bluehost
Mainly promoted by “how to start a blog” affiliates who target noobs that don’t know better. Old infrastructure and pays WP to be “recommended.”
HostGator
Owned by the same company as Bluehost (Newfold Digital) with nearly identical problems related to CPU usage, backups, refunds, and warnings on BBB.
WP Engine
Charges more for “managed” but doesn’t proactively monitor sites. Low limits on bandwidth, visits, and storage force you to constantly upgrade (expensive).
Kinsta
Similar issues as WP Engine with additional limits on PHP workers. Add-ons are absurd and show you how limited their “base hosting plans” really are.
Elementor Cloud
Extremely slow, way too minimal, and you should get your hosting from an actual hosting company – not your page builder/domain registrar.
WPX
Not the fastest host like they claim. <400ms target TTFB, shared hosting, downtimes, and no redundancy system caused a worldwide outage.
CDNs
When hosts integrate Cloudflare (or Cloudflare Enterprise) into their service, they usually heavily restrict the CDN’s features, plus there’s more room for caching issues. With limited exceptions, you’re almost always better off configuring it directly from your CDN provider.
Your CDN should have PoPs (points of presence) close to your users and a fast data transfer rate measured in terabytes per second (Tbps). CDNs usually list both numbers on their “network” page. Generally, a larger/faster network will mean less distance and latency.
Smart routing reduces latency and TTFB by monitoring real-time traffic congestion and directing traffic through the fastest network paths (similar to a GPS). It’s especially beneficial for uncachable dynamic content. QUIC.cloud and Cloudflare Argo both support this.
All things equal, optimizing images with a CDN is better than a plugin because it dynamically resizes images for mobile devices and browsers without adding plugin overhead or using server resources. This means more optimizations and a lighter load on your server.
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QUIC.cloud
LiteSpeed’s CDN is often top 3 on CDN Performance Checker with native dynamic caching, page/image optimizations, and HTTP/3. Use the standard plan.
Cloudflare
Massive network of 330 PoPs and one of the fastest at 321 Tbps. Set up manually (not through your host) to access more features in the dashboard.
Cloudflare Enterprise
WooCommerce/dynamic sites greatly benefit from Argo Smart Routing, priority routing, load balancing, and bot mitigation. Only some hosts use it properly.
FlyingCDN
Solid integration of Cloudflare Enterprise and convenient if you’re using FlyingPress and want the benefits without switching hosts to Rocket.net.
RocketCDN
Uses BunnyCDN, but adds no benefit compared to setting up BunnyCDN directly (other than the extra convenience). Doesn’t specify bandwidth limits either.
SiteGround CDN
Very limited optimizations and security features without smart routing. SiteGround’s DNS was also blocked by Google, causing 2M+ domains to get deindexed.
Optimization Plugins
FlyingPress
#1 in core web vitals according to the Chrome UX Report which collects performance data from real users. Leading the way with better features & optimizations.
LiteSpeed Cache
Cache plugin for LiteSpeed servers. Learn to configure the settings and set up QUIC.cloud (or Cloudflare full page caching) with object cache, ideally Redis.
Perfmatters
When using FlyingPress or LiteSpeed Cache, you mainly want this for the script manager to disable plugins on specific pages/posts (reducing CSS/JS).
Database Cleaner
Cleans up the database junk cache plugins can’t: delete unused plugin tables, detect plugin autoloads, and repair corrupted or damaged tables.
WP Rocket
Poor job optimizing LCP, images, and third-party code compared to FlyingPress. Also can’t remove bloat or lazy load HTML. Slow to release features.
SiteGround Optimizer
Not a viable alternative due to lacking features, compatibility issues, and 4/5 star rating. You need 3 optimization plugins on SG for better results (not ideal).
NitroPack
Delivers a stripped-down version of your website to manipulate scores, but falls behind FlyingPress even with its manipulation techniques.
W3 Total Cache
I have a soft spot for this plugin since this guide is how my blog got popular (645+ comments)! But since FlyingPress/LSC came along, it’s not the best option :/
Full List
Overkilled list of 50+ speed plugins. Which ones you need (or don’t need) largely depend on which hosting/cache plugin you use, so choose both wisely!
Core Web Vitals
LCP
Learn the 4 sub-parts of LCP and how optimizing TTFB (and above the fold content) can improve scores. The core web vital people struggle with most.
CLS
Stop things from shifting on your website which is often fixed with CSS/font settings, adding dimensions, delaying JS, and preloading local fonts.
TBT
Blocking time is usually from JavaScript added by plugins, themes, and third-party code (including jQuery). Remove it from the source or optimize it.
TTFB
Test your global TTFB in KeyCDN’s Performance Test or SpeedVitals. A good host and CDN (with full page caching) can solve most TTFB problems.
Third-Party Code
Host fonts/Gravatars locally, then delay JavaScript for most other third-party domains (as long as their JavaScript loads below the fold, try delaying it).
Image Optimization
Optimize LCP, mobile, and background images. Image CDNs generally do a better job compared to plugins, and they also don’t use server resources.
Page Builder Optimization
Speed Up Elementor
Enable performance settings, remove wp-block-library, and exclude Elementor files when removing unused CSS/delaying JavaScript in your cache plugin.
Speed Up Divi
Similar to Elementor’s tutorial only specific to Divi. However, both page builders add extra CSS/JS – especially when you add extra page builder plugins.
GeneratePress
Why I used GeneratePress + GenerateBlocks to redesign my site and how it fixed several design/speed issues I’ve been having (cheaper than Kadence).
tom dupuis
Why I Started OMM
Because for over a decade, I’ve constantly seen people choose garbage hosting and get taken advantage of because of marketing.
I started challenging “how to start a blog” affiliates in 2015 and haven’t stopped. All I care about is giving people factual, sourced reviews so they can make better decisions in a $100 billion hosting industry (the profits are insane… no wonder there’s so much noise).
Outside of hosting, I’ve written several popular WordPress speed guides, including my first popular tutorial on W3 Total Cache in 2013 (a big reason my blog blew up in the first place). Times have changed!
When I’m not working, I’m usually hiking, exercising (boxing and yoga), letting loose at Red Rocks concerts, or traveling with my crew.
