WordPress Speed Tutorials + Reviews

Yo, I’m Tom! I’ll help you optimize WordPress for core web vitals with no-BS tutorials/reviews viewed over 6M times. See my bio for cat/travel pics.

Tom dupuis

LiteSpeed Setup

ChemiCloud (Winter Sale)

LiteSpeed hosting with faster NVMe SSDs, Redis, cPanel, scalable CPU/RAM, and 5/5 TrustPilot rating. Static sites can average a ∼100ms global TTFB with their WP Turbo plan ($3.95/mo) + LiteSpeed Cache (free) + Super Page Cache For Cloudflare (free). It’s a faster + cheaper setup than other shared hosts, including SiteGround and Hostinger.

LiteSpeed Cache

Cache plugin for LiteSpeed servers with more optimizations than WP Rocket and SiteGround Optimizer. This tutorial shows you how to configure the settings, connect Redis, and add your CDN. Once everything is setup, retest core web vitals (specifically TTFB + LCP) while testing TTFB in multiple locations with KeyCDN’s Performance Test.

My Setup (For larger/WooCommerce sites)

Rocket.net

The “fastest” host with free Cloudflare Enterprise is a TTFB machine, averaging 100ms globally with APO and Argo Smart Routing. Best for dynamic sites with more resources (32 CPU cores + 128GB RAM), ∞ PHP workers, NVMe SSDs, and Redis/Redis Pro. Outperforms Cloudways, SiteGround Cloud, Kinsta, WPE, and other cloud hosts.

FlyingPress

When not using LiteSpeed Cache, try FlyingPress before WP Rocket. You get more features to optimize LCP, images, third-party code, and bloat removal. It doesn’t require Perfmatters since you can use a free plugin (Asset CleanUp) to disable plugins on pages they’re not used. Developed by Gijo from WP Speed Matters.

other Hosting

LiteSpeed

List of hosts with LiteSpeed servers which are newer and more CPU/memory efficient than Apache. You’ll also get LiteSpeed Cache (4.8/5 rating).

Scala

LiteSpeed hosting with a shared/cloud hybrid plan on 4GHz processors, NVMe SSDs in US data center, Redis, and custom control panel (sPanel).

FastComet

Cheap LiteSpeed hosting with more CPU cores/RAM and 1-3 year flexible pricing on cPanel. However, they use slower SATA SSDs, Memcached, and MySQL.

coming soon

NameHero

Similar to ChemiCloud with LiteSpeed, cPanel, and Redis. But they cost more and only have a US data center. A VPS also costs more with LiteSpeed.

Cloudways

You can still Vultr High Frequency + 30% off 3 months using my link, but there have been several complaints after being acquired by DigitalOcean.

GridPane

What agencies should use. Launch servers from multiple cloud providers, manage them with a suite of tools, and turn your hosting into a profit center.

coming soon

Servebolt

Extremely fast but starts at $99/mo and their Cloudflare Enterprise (called accelerated domains) is an extra $299/mo. Very solid if that’s your budget.

Coming soon

SiteGround

TTFB/DNS/CPU issues, 6x renewals, and inferior cache plugin + CDN. Only popular because of affiliates, threats, and shady business practices.

Hostinger

Scams/fake reviews you can find on Reddit. Resource limits are falsely advertised and can lead to poor performance, I/O limits, and account suspension.

Kinsta

Unless you want to constantly upgrade due to PHP workers, monthly visits, or pay $100/mo for Redis, avoid Kinsta. Slower and costs more vs. Rocket.net.

WP Engine

Very similar to Kinsta with prices, incomplete “Cloudflare Enterprise” integration, SATA SSDs, and low limits on PHP workers, visits, and bandwidth.

Coming soon

WPX

Not the fastest host like they claim. <400ms target TTFB, shared hosting, downtimes, and no redundancy system caused a worldwide outage.

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.”

GoDaddy

Everyone knows to avoid SlowDaddy. If you bought a domain through them, you’ll want to switch your DNS to Cloudflare since theirs is slow.

Elementor Cloud

Extremely slow, way too minimal, and you should get your hosting from an actual hosting company – not your page builder/domain registrar.

Coming Soon

Cache Plugins

LiteSpeed Cache

Cache plugin for LiteSpeed servers. Learn to configure the settings and setup QUIC.cloud (or Cloudflare full page caching) with object cache, ideally Redis.

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.

SG Optimizer

Lacks many features (like remove unused CSS and delay JavaScript), so you will need FlyingPress or Perfmatters for better results + core web vitals.

CDNs

Cloudflare

The fastest CDN to improve TTFB, especially with full page caching. Network has over 310 PoPs, speeds of 228 Tbps, and more features in the dashboard.

Cloudflare Enterprise

Improve TTFB for dynamic + WooCommerce sites with APO, Argo, prioritizing routing, load balancing, image optimization. Used on Rocket.net/Cloudways.

coming soon

QUIC.cloud

LiteSpeed’s CDN, but slower performance than Cloudflare on CDN Performance Tracker. Try the free Super Page Cache For Cloudflare plugin instead.

BunnyCDN

CDN used by FlyingCDN (FlyingPress) and RocketCDN (WP Rocket). But… FlyingCDN uses Bunny Optimizer’s image optimization and perma-cache.

SiteGround CDN

Unreliable since their DNS was blocked by Google and caused 2M domains to get deindexed… which SG blamed on their own partners (Google and Amazon).

RocketCDN

Doesn’t use Bunny Optimizer (for image optimization) and perma-cache (geo-replication) like FlyingCDN does, making RocketCDN the slower option.

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.

Themes

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).

Speed Up Elementor

Use the performance settings, remove wp-block-library, and learn other optimizations like excluding Elementor files from remove unused CSS + delay JS.

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.

Plugins

Speed Plugins

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.

Slow Plugins To Avoid

List of 75 slow plugins that increase memory usage or add CSS/JS to the frontend. Use the Chrome Dev Tools coverage report to find bloated plugins.

WP-Optimize

Cleans database better than cache plugins since it removes tables, takes database backups, and keeps a few post revisions (instead of deleting all of them).

tom dupuis

Why I Started OMM

Money ¯_(ツ)_/¯

After running this since 2011, it’s been more about helping people avoid garbage recommendations to overpriced services that aren’t even that good (you know who you are). If I can legitimately help you optimize your site while getting paid via affiliate links, while hopefully saving YOU money, I’ll take this job any day. It’s all about the win-win. Plus, I get roughly the same commission for most hosts/cache plugins.

Tom dupuis fall