How To Reduce Server Response Times (TTFB) In WordPress To <100ms Globally: Your Hosting + CDN Are The 2 Main Factors

Have a poor TTFB in KeyCDN or SpeedVitals?

Google clearly lists your host/CDN as the 2 main factors of server response times (TTFB). And since TTFB is 40% of LCP, it plays a huge role in web vitals. TTFB is the single most important metric to improve web vitals as it impacts 4/6 user metrics in PageSpeed Insights, including FCP.

Latency is also part of TTFB. Your DNS plays a big role (along with your cache plugin, server load, and other factors which I’ll cover in this tutorial). Feel free to comment if you need help!

What Is A Good TTFB?

Google flags your TTFB if it’s over 600ms but they used to recommend just 200ms. You can aim for 600ms on shared hosting and 200ms on VPS/cloud. TTFB also depends on where you test it.

0-200ms	Google Recommended
0-600ms	Passes Core Web Vitals
600ms+	Fails Core Web Vitals

 

1. Choose A Data Center Close To Your Visitors

Choosing a host with a close data center to visitors is an easy way to improve TTFB.

In KeyCDN’s Performance Test, TTFB gets slower as the data center gets further away. This is a better way to test TTFB than most tools (like GTmetrix) which only test it in 1 location at a time.

However, don’t choose a host only based on their data centers. You need to look at their hardware, software, CDN, cache plugin, and several other factors besides a “close data center.”

When using more powerful CDNs like Cloudflare Enterprise, using a close data center barely matters since your TTFB is often able to average 100ms globally. This is due to caching both static/dynamic files (using full page caching) while using other CDN features like smart routing.

 

2. Move Your DNS To Cloudflare Or QUIC

Use Cloudflare’s DNS in most cases (or QUIC’s DNS if you’re on a LiteSpeed server). Cloudflare is a top performer on dnsperf.com and QUIC is needed for better geographic routing with Anycast.

Other DNS providers are slow and add latency. For example, GoDaddy and Kinsta’s DNS (Route 53) don’t perform well on dnsperf.com. While other DNS providers are unreliable: SiteGround’s DNS was blocked by Google for 4 days, causing 2 million domains to be deindexed from Google.

How To Move Your DNS To Cloudflare

Sign up for Cloudflare through their website, add your website, and they will scan records. Cloudflare will eventually provide you with 2 nameservers. Login to your domain registrar (i.e GoDaddy/Namecheap) and find the option to change nameservers (usually in the DNS settings). Replace the nameservers with Cloudflare’s, then in Cloudflare, click ‘Done, check nameservers.’

How To Move Your DNS To QUIC (LiteSpeed Only)

 

3. Choose A Fast CDN

Which CDN you choose has a massive impact on TTFB.

Cloudflare with APO and QUIC.cloud (on LiteSpeed) are both fast/affordable CDNs with full page caching. If you have a WooCommerce site or global audience, Cloudflare Enterprise is even faster with Argo Smart Routing + load balancing + image optimization + prioritized routing.

Some hosts offer Cloudflare Enterprise (or at least a partial integration of it), but Rocket.net’s Cloudflare Enterprise is best. Not only is it free with their hosting (which is also fast), but it has more features. For example, Kinsta and WP Engine’s Cloudflare integration lack way too many features to be considered “Enterprise.” Cloudways just recently added full page caching and it also serves annoying challenge pages. Rocket.net’s better integration has a lot to do with Ben Gabler’s background (Rocket.net’s CEO) who was previously StackPath’s Chief Product Officer.

	Cloudflare Free	Cloudflare Enterprise (Cloudways)	Cloudflare Enterprise (Servebolt)	Cloudflare Enterprise (Rocket.net)
Tbps	192	192	192	192
Edge locations	285	285	285	285
APO	$5/mo	✓	✓	✓
Argo Smart Routing	$5/mo + $.10/GB	✓	✓	✓
Prioritized routing	x	✓	✓	✓
HTTP/3	✓	✓	✓	✓
WAF	✓	✓	✓	✓
Load balancing	500k queries free then 5 cents/500k	✓	✓	✓
Mirage + Polish	x	✓	✓	✓
Automatic configuration	x	x	x	✓
Bandwidth	Unlimited	100GB/mo	1TB/mo	Depends on hosting plan
Price	Free	$5/mo (1 domain)	$299/mo (1 domain)	Free w/ hosting

 
Out of the CDNs below, use FlyingCDN (for FlyingPress) or QUIC.cloud (for LiteSpeed).

	RocketCDN (WP Rocket)	SiteGround CDN 2.0	BunnyCDN	FlyingCDN (FlyingPress)	QUIC.cloud Standard Plan
CDN	StackPath	SiteGround	BunnyCDN	BunnyCDN	QUIC
Tbps	100	Not listed	80	80	Not listed
Edge locations	73	176	114	114	81
Full page cache	x	✓	Perma-Cache	Perma-Cache	✓
HTTP/3	x	✓	x	x	✓
Load balancing	x	✓	✓	✓	✓
WAF	x	x	✓	✓	✓
Anti-DDoS	x	x	✓	✓	✓
Image optimization	x	Limited	Bunny Optimizer ($9.50/mo)	Bunny Optimizer (included)	✓
Bandwidth	Not unlimited as advertised	Not unlimited as advertised	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Price	$8.99/mo	$14.99/mo	$.01 – .06/GB	$.03/GB	$.02 – .08/GB

 

4. Use Full Page Caching

Only a handful of CDNs support full page caching. Here are a few:

• Cloudflare APO
• QUIC.cloud’s CDN
• SiteGround’s CDN (v2)
• BunnyCDN (Perma-Cache)
• Super Page Cache For Cloudflare plugin
• Rocket.net, Cloudways, and Kinsta’s CDN all use Cloudflare’s full page caching

With full page caching, Cloudflare’s APO improved TTFB by 72%. And since TTFB (server response time) is a large part of LCP/FCP, it’s one of the best way to improve core web vitals.

In APO’s post-launch report, mobile usually improves slightly more than desktop:

 

5. Use A CDN With Smart Routing

Some CDNs use “smart routing” which can improve latency by about 60%:

This routes traffic through the fastest CDN network paths and is specifically good for WooCommerce or dynamic sites. Cloudflare has Argo Smart Routing (included with Rocket.net and Cloudways’ Cloudflare Enterprise). QUIC also uses advanced routing when using their DNS.

When using Cloudflare Argo, it’s best to also use Tiered Cache + cache reserve.

 

6. Use A CDN With Load Balancing

Load balancing steers traffic away from unhealthy origins and distributes traffic to the most available server pools. This can improve both latency and uptimes. You can either use a CDN that already supports load balancing (such as Rocket.net’s, Cloudways, or BunnyCDN). Or if you’re using Cloudflare directly, you will need to set this up manually using this video tutorial.

 

7. Try A Host With Faster Hardware/Software

There’s a lot of bad information out there on which host is “fastest.”

When choosing any host, I like to look at:

• Do they use LiteSpeed or Apache?
• Do they use NVMe storage which is faster than SATA?
• Do they use MariaDB which has advantages over MySQL?
• Do they have scam reports like Hostinger and GreenGeeks?
• If you also use them for email hosting, you’ll want more inodes.
• Complaints on TrustPilot about specific issues like high CPU usage.

Hosts I Would Avoid:

	SiteGround GrowBig	Hostinger Business WP	GoDaddy Managed WP Deluxe	Bluehost Choice Plus	WPX Business Plan
Type	Shared	Shared	Shared	Shared	Shared
Server	Apache + Nginx	Apache + Nginx	Apache + Nginx	Apache + Nginx	LiteSpeed
Cores/RAM	Not listed	2 cores/1.5GB	2 cores/1GB	Not listed	1 core/1GB
Storage	20GB SATA	200GB SATA	60GB SATA	40GB SATA	15GB SATA
Database	MySQL	MariaDB	MySQL	MySQL	MariaDB
Object cache	Memcached	Memcached	Memcached	x	x
Data centers	10	8	9	6	3
Cache plugin	SG Optimizer	LiteSpeed Cache	x	x	W3 Total Cache
CDN	SiteGround CDN ($14.99/mo)	QUIC.cloud ($.02-.08/GB)	GoDaddy CDN (free)	Cloudflare (free)	XDN (free)
CDN locations	176	81	Not listed	285	36
Full page caching	✓	✓	x	x	x
Control panel	Site Tools	hPanel	cPanel	cPanel	WPX Panel
Email storage	10GB	1GB	10GB	Adjustable	Not listed but frequent issues
Inodes	400,000	600,000	250,000	200,000	At discretion
Major incidents	TTFB, DNS, CPU issues (denies it)	Downtimes scams, fake reviews, breach	Malware, several data breaches	Downtimes	Downtimes, global outage
Migrations	$30/site	Unlimited (but screws it up)	Paid	“Qualified” accounts only	5 free
Support	D	F	D	D	B
TrustPilot rating	4.6/5	4.6/5 (fake)	4.7/5	3.8/5	4.9/5
Monthly price	$3.99 (1 year)	$3.99 (1-4 years)	$10.49 (2 years)	$5.45 (1 year)	$20.83 (1 year)
Renewals	$24.99/mo	$8.99-$14.99	$14.99/mo	$19.99/mo	$20.83

 

Good LiteSpeed Hosting Plans:

	FastComet FastCloud Extra	NameHero Turbo WordPress	ChemiCloud WordPress Turbo	Scala Entry WP Cloud
Type	Shared	Shared	Shared	Cloud
Cores/RAM	6 cores/6GB	3 cores/3GB	3 cores/3GB (scalable to 6/6)	No limits
Storage type	35GB SATA	Unlimited NVMe (US data center)	40GB NVMe (9/11 data centers)	50GB NVMe (US data center)
Database	MySQL	MariaDB	MariaDB	MariaDB
Object cache	Memcached	Redis	Memcached	Redis
Data centers	11	2 (US + EU)	11	3 (US + EU)
Server	LiteSpeed	LiteSpeed	LiteSpeed	LiteSpeed
Cache plugin	LiteSpeed Cache	LiteSpeed Cache	LiteSpeed Cache	LiteSpeed Cache
CDN	QUIC.cloud ($.02-.08/GB)	QUIC.cloud ($.02-.08/GB)	QUIC.cloud ($.02-.08/GB)	QUIC.cloud ($.02-.08/GB)
Control panel	cPanel	cPanel	cPanel	sPanel
Email storage	2.048GB	Adjustable	Adjustable	Adjustable
Inodes	500,000	500,000	500,000	Unlimited
Major incidents	2022 DDoS attack on 3 data centers	2011 2-day node outage	None	None
Migrations	3 free	1 free	200 cPanel + 10 non-cPanel	1 free
Support	B	B	B	B
TrustPilot rating	4.9/5	4.6/5	4.9/5	4.9/5
Monthly price	$5.49 (1-3 years)	$9.98 (3 years)	$5.99 (3 years)	$14.95 (3 years)
Renewals	$21.95/mo	$19.95/mo	$19.95/mo	$24.95/mo

Popular Cloud Hosting Plans (Last 2 Are Better, Especially For WooCommerce):

	SiteGround Cloud Jump Start Plan	Kinsta Starter Plan	Cloudways Vultr HF (2GB)	Servebolt Pro Plan	Rocket.net Starter Plan
Type	Cloud	Cloud w/ shared containers	Cloud	Cloud	Private cloud
Server	Apache + Nginx	Apache + Nginx	Apache + Nginx	Apache + Nginx	Apache + Nginx
Cores/RAM	4 cores/8GB	12 cores/8GB	1 core/2GB	Unmetered	32 cores/128GB
Reverse proxy	✓	$50/mo	✓	✓	✓
Storage	40GB SATA	10GB SATA	64GB NVMe	4GB NVMe	10GB NVMe
Object cache	Memcached	Redis ($100/mo)	Redis Pro	x	Redis
PHP processor	FastCGI	FastCGI	FPM	Apache 2 ITK MPM	LiteSpeed
PHP workers	CPU limits + suspensions	2	No limit	No limit	No limit
Memory limit	Adjustable	256MB	Adjustable	1GB	1GB
Database	MySQL	MySQL	MariaDB	MariaDB	MariaDB
CDN	$14.99/mo SiteGround CDN	Cloudflare APO + firewall rules	$5/mo Cloudflare Enterprise	$299/mo Cloudflare Enterprise	Free Cloudflare Enterprise
CDN locations	176	285	285	285	285
Full page cache	✓	✓	x	✓	✓
Smart routing	Anycast	x	Argo	Argo	Argo
Images	Limited	x	Mirage/Polish	Mirage/Polish	Mirage/Polish
DNS	Blocked by Google (4 days)	Route 53	DNS Made Easy ($5/mo)	x	Cloudflare
Cache plugin	SG Optimizer	Use FlyingPress	Breeze	Servebolt plugin	Use FlyingPress
Data centers	10	35	44	7	Served from Cloudflare edge
Bandwidth or monthly visits	5TB	25k	2TB	1M dynamic requests	50GB + 250k
Control panel	Site Tools	MyKinsta	Custom (hard)	Servebolt Panel	Mission Control
Email hosting	✓	x	x	x	x
Major incidents	History of TTFB, DNS, CPU issues	None	None	None	None
Support	C	B	C	B	A
Migrations	$30/site	Unlimited free	1 free + $25/site	Unlimited free	Unlimited free
TrustPilot rating	4.6/5	4.2/5	4.5/5	4.7/5	4.9/5
Price	$100/mo	$29/mo when paying yearly	$35/mo with CF Enterprise	$99/mo	$25/mo when paying yearly

 

8. Enable TLS 1.3

Higher TLS versions reduce latency and improve security.

Use TLS 1.2 + 1.3 as preferred versions in your hosting account, then disable 1.0 + 1.1. You can also set TLS versions in Cloudflare under SSL/TLS → Edge Certificates → Minimum TLS Version.

Next, use this TLS checker to see which versions are enabled or disabled on your site. You can also use KeyCDN’s Performance Test to measure TLS speed and how the change impacts TTFB.

There are other Cloudflare settings that help too:

• Full (Or Full Strict) SSL – this is what Cloudflare recommends anyway.
• Always Use HTTPS – safe to use if all connections are served from HTTPS.
• TCP Turbo (Pro Feature) – reduces latency by automatically choosing TCP settings.
• Custom SSL (Pro Feature) – upload SSL to Cloudflare to terminate SSL/TLS at the edge.

 

9. Test Your Site For HTTP/3

Cloudflare’s test showed TTFB was 12.4% faster when using HTTP/3.

You can enable this in Cloudflare or by using QUIC.cloud’s CDN on LiteSpeed which also supports HTTP/3. When you’re done, use an HTTP/3 test to check whether your site supports it.

 

10. Increase Cache TTL

A longer TTL (time to live) can lead to a better cache hit ratio. The more cache hits, the faster your TTFB will be. Google recommends caching static resources for 1 year (but WooCommerce sites can aim for about 1 month) which fixes serve static assets with an efficient cache policy in PSI. Depending on where your cache is stored, this can be done in your hosting account or CDN.

 

11. Switch To A Faster Cache Plugin

Cache plugins reduce TTFB by improving server processing times and serving files directly (reducing PHP/MySQL queries). I recommend LiteSpeed Cache (if you’re on LiteSpeed) and FlyingPress in all other cases. WP Rocket has fallen behind and has barely released any new features since 2011 if you check the changelog. SiteGround Optimizer does an even worse job addressing web vitals and has ongoing compatibility issues if you check their support threads.

	SG Optimizer	WP Rocket	FlyingPress	LiteSpeed Cache
Server-side caching	✓	x	x	✓
Object cache integration	✓	x	x	✓
Delay JavaScript	x	✓	✓	✓
Remove unused CSS	x	Inline	Separate file	Separate file
Critical CSS	x	✓	✓	✓
Preload critical images	x	x	✓	x
Exclude above the fold images	By class/type	By URL/class	Automatic	Automatic
Lazy load background images	x	Inline HTML	lazy-bg class	x
Add missing image dimensions	x	✓	✓	✓
Lazy load iframes	x	✓	✓	✓
YouTube iframe preview image	x	✓	✓	✓
Self-host YouTube placeholder	x	x	✓	x
Host fonts locally	x	x	✓	✓
Font-display: swap	x	✓	✓	✓
Preload links	x	✓	✓	✓
Bloat removal (beyond Heartbeat)	x	x	✓ (details)	x
Lazy render HTML elements	x	x	✓	✓
Guest Mode	x	x	x	✓
Advanced cache control	x	x	x	✓
Gravatar cache	x	x	x	✓
Limit post revisions	Delete all	Delete all	Keep some	Keep some
CDN	Google Cloud	StackPath	BunnyCDN	QUIC.cloud
CDN PoPs	176	73	114	81
Full page caching	✓	x	x	✓
CDN geo-replication	x	x	✓	x
CDN image optimization	x	x	✓	✓
CDN image resizing for mobile	x	x	✓	x
CDN DDoS protection	x	x	✓	✓
CDN bandwidth	Unmetered	Very limited	Usage-based	Usage-based
Documented APO compatibility	x	x	✓	x
Documentation	Not detailed	Good	Not detailed	Good
New features	Infrequent	Infrequent	Frequent	Frequent
Facebook group	Join	Join	Join	Join
CDN price	$14.99/mo	$8.99/mo	$.03/GB	$.02-.08/GB
Plugin price	Free	$59/year	$60/year	Free
Renewal price	Free	$59/year	$42/year	Free

 
I personally moved from WP Rocket to FlyingPress and saw a big difference in core web vitals and real-world browsing speed. It was developed by Gijo Varghese who runs WP Speed Matters.

 

12. Reduce The Load On Your Server

If your CPU/memory usage are over 70%, visitors can experience lag.

The easiest way to reduce CPU usage is by using a hosting plan that uses LiteSpeed and includes more CPU cores/RAM (like as ChemiCloud, FastComet, or Rocket.net). Just by switching to LiteSpeed, people have seen a 75%+ reduction in CPU usage. LiteSpeed uses CPU/memory more efficiently, it’s faster, and can handle more traffic compared to Apache.

There also several other ways to reduce CPU usage if you don’t want to switch hosts:

• Remove resource hungry plugins (see list)
• Limit heartbeat, autosaves, post revisions, XML-RPC
• Replace wp-cron with a real cron job
• Use your CDN for firewall + image optimization
• Block bad bots
• Protect the wp-login page
• Limit preloading + cache clearing in cache plugins
• Install Redis or Memcached with OPcache
• Avoid using page builders/WooCommerce on cheap shared hosting

 

13. Use The Latest PHP Version

Higher PHP versions reduce TTFB because they handle more requests/second.

Login to your hosting account and update to the latest stable PHP version. It’s a good idea to keep other technologies updated as well (MySQL version, WordPress core, themes, plugins, etc).

 

14. Test With And Without Gzip/Brotli

Compressing pages with Gzip or Brotli can sometimes increase TTFB, so make sure you test this. Check if your host supports Gzip/Brotli compression (Brotli is generally faster than Gzip).

 

15. Optimize Your Database

A bloated, unoptimized database can also make your site/TTFB slower.

While cache plugins clean some junk, you’ll want to use something like WP-Optimize to do a thorough cleanup. This lets you go through your plugin tables, see how much overhead they add, and remove tables left behind by old plugins. You might also see specific plugins/modules adding lots of database bloat. I did, so I disabled several Rank Math features like their Analytics.

To make your database more efficient, use Memcached (or Redis) and OPcache. These can usually be activated in your hosting account and I generally recommend Redis which is more powerful than Memcached. Once activated, some cache plugins can connect it (LSC, W3TC, SG Optimizer). If it doesn’t, check your host’s documentation on how to connect object cache. And if they don’t support it, use Docket Cache. Some hosts (like Rocket.net and Cloudways) support Redis Object Cache Pro which is especially beneficial for dynamic websites like WooCommerce.

How do I reduce initial server response times in WordPress?

A fast host/CDN is the best way to reduce server response times (TTFB) in WordPress. Use a host with updated hardware/software (like LiteSpeed). For a CDN, use a service with a large network, full page caching, and smart routing. Using a close data center to users helps too.

How do I reduce server response times with Cloudflare?

Cloudflare improves TTFB with their fast CDN and DNS. You can use Cloudflare to further improve TTFB by using APO, Argo Smart Routing, and load balancing (all are paid services).

How do I reduce server response times with WP Rocket?

WP Rocket improves server response times (TTFB) by optimizing your caching, database, and several other features. However, it does a worse job with TTFB and core web vitals compared to FlyingPress + LiteSpeed Cache, especially when using their slow RocketCDN.

Which WordPress plugins reduce server response time?

Cache plugins (like LiteSpeed Cache and FlyingPress) and Cloudflare's plugin (which is used to setup full page caching) are the 2 best plugins to reduce server response times.

Cheers,
Tom