Rocket.net Review: 100ms Worldwide TTFB For WooCommerce/International Sites + Cloudflare Enterprise (Who I Use)

If the fastest hosting means the fastest TTFB, Rocket.net averages 100ms globally.

They’re specifically good for WooCommerce/dynamic sites since all plans use free Cloudflare Enterprise and 32 CPU cores/128GB RAM – arguably the fastest CDN with plenty of resources. You also get faster tech like NVMe SSDs, Redis (Redis Pro on higher plans), and LiteSpeed’s PHP.

When you compare them to other cloud hosts (Cloudways, SG, Kinsta, WPE), there are 3 main reasons Rocket.net wins: TTFB, more resources, better support (4.9/5 on TrustPilot). I moved from Cloudways Vultr HF in 2011 (and previously SiteGround cloud) and can vouch for this. Ben Gabler (CEO) has a crazy impressive background and he did some great video interviews below.

The main con is price from limited bandwidth. But if you’re using one of the cloud hosts I mentioned, they’re a major upgrade where people have seen a 500% faster TTFB (and 200% – 450% faster LCP). They do unlimited free migrations and $1 the 1st month so you can try them.

 

1. 100ms Global TTFB → Better Core Web Vitals

Rocket.net averages a <100ms global TTFB:

Rocket. Net 100ms global ttfb

KeyCDN measures TTFB in 10 global locations (unlike GTmetrix). You’ll want to test your site 3 times to make sure your resources are cached and served from your CDN’s closest data center.

Keycdn global ttfb

SpeedVitals measures TTFB in 40 global locations. Again, test your site 3 times.

Average ttfb speedvitals

Google says TTFB is 40% of LCP and impacts FCP + other metrics.

Importance of ttfb

Time to first byte lcp

Hosting/CDN are the 2 main ways to optimize TTFB.

Ways to optimize ttfb

So when you upgrade to both a faster host/CDN, it can improve all these:

Omm pagespeed insights

Omm gtmetrix 2023

 

2. Rocket.net’s Specs Are Faster Than [SG, CW, Kinsta, WPE, WPX]

SiteGround Cloud Jump Start Plan Kinsta Starter Plan Cloudways Vultr HF (2GB) Rocket.net Starter Plan
Type Cloud Cloud (shared containers) Cloud Private cloud
Server Apache + Nginx Apache + Nginx Apache + Nginx Apache + Nginx
Nginx reverse proxy $50/mo
CPU cores/RAM 4 cores + 8GB 12 cores + 8GB 1 core + 2GB 32 cores + 128GB
Storage 40GB SATA 10GB SATA 64GB NVMe 10GB NVMe
Object cache Memcached $100/mo Redis Redis Pro Redis (Redis Pro on Business plan)
PHP processor FastCGI FastCGI FPM LiteSpeed
PHP workers Not listed, but common CPU limits 2 No limit No limit
Memory limit Adjustable 256MB Adjustable 1GB
Database MySQL MySQL MariaDB MariaDB
Bandwidth + visits 5TB/mo 25k/mo 2TB/mo 50GB + 250k/mo
CDN $14.99/mo SiteGround CDN Cloudflare APO + firewall rules (read) $5/mo Cloudflare Enterprise Free Cloudflare Enterprise (read)
CDN locations 183 310 310 310
Full page caching
Smart routing Anycast x Argo Argo
Image optimization Limited x Mirage/Polish Mirage/Polish
DNS 2M sites blocked by Google Amazon Route 53 $5/mo DNS Made Easy Cloudflare
Cache plugin SG Optimizer Use FlyingPress Breeze Use FlyingPress
Data centers 10 35 44 Served from Cloudflare’s edge
Control panel Site Tools MyKinsta Custom (difficult) Mission Control
Email hosting x x x
Support C B C A
Migrations $30/site Unlimited free 1 free + $25/site Unlimited free
TrustPilot rating 4.6/5 4.2/5 4.5/5 4.9/5
How it starts costing more High initial price, CPU limits, CDN, price increases, internal incidents PHP workers, add-ons, monthly visits, bandwidth, price increases CPU/RAM limits, CDN, backups, price increases Bandwidth
Incidents TTFB, DNS, CPU issues, controls Facebook groups None Acquired by DigitalOcean, raised prices, removed Vultr/Linode None
Monthly price $100 + CDN $29 when paying yearly + add-ons $26 + CDN $25 when paying yearly

 
Notes:

Out of these hosts, only Rocket.net + Cloudways use NVMe SSDs, Redis Pro, and Cloudflare Enterprise. However, Cloudways’ Cloudflare Enterprise is $5/mo, low cores/RAM often leads to high CPU usage, and they use slower tech like PHP-FPM. Cloudways also has “other problems” after being acquired by DigitalOcean… like a confusing dashboard with too many settings and worse support. Rocket.net has a much easier dashboard, faster tech, and much better support.

Compared to SiteGround Cloud/Kinsta/WPE/WPX:

These use slower SATA SSDs, MySQL, have 16x less RAM, and do incomplete CDN integrations whether it’s so-called “Cloudflare Enterprise” or their own CDN’s lacking features. You’re likely to run into forced upgrades from CPU limits or PHP workers. Both Kinsta and WPE include 10x less monthly visits and get ridiculously expensive when you run into low limits, add-ons, and bandwidth overages. WPX is shared hosting who targets a 400ms international TTFB. All 4 rely on heavy marketing but the performance, TTFB, and technology aren’t reflected in their claims.

 

3. Why Their Cloudflare Enterprise Beats Cloudways/Kinsta’s

Their Cloudflare Enterprise is the closest thing to “true Enterprise” mainly because it has more features. These help with TTFB/routing, image optimization, security, and dynamic requests on WooCommerce. It’s a big reason Rocket.net averages a 100ms global TTFB and makes choosing a data center close to users pretty much irrelevant. It’s also 100% free and works automatically.

This has a lot to do with Ben’s Gabler’s experience as StackPath’s Chief Product Officer.

Most hosts do partial integrations and forget key features like full page caching, smart routing, and image optimization. Or they use their own CDN… usually with a smaller network and less features. Cloudflare’s network has 310+ PoPs with speeds of 228 Tbps (almost 3x BunnyCDN’s).

RocketCDN (WP Rocket) FlyingCDN (FlyingPress) SiteGround CDN Cloudways Cloudflare Enterprise Rocket.net Cloudflare Enterprise
CDN BunnyCDN BunnyCDN Google Cloud Cloudflare Cloudflare
Speed (Tbps) 80 80 Not listed 228 228
Locations 114 114 183 310 310
Full page cache x x APO APO
Smart routing SmartEdge SmartEdge Anycast Argo Argo
Priority routing x x x
Load balancing x
Image optimization x Bunny Optimizer Very limited Mirage/Polish Mirage/Polish
Firewall x
DDoS protection x
Bandwidth Not unlimited as advertised Unlimited Unmetered 100GB Determined by hosting plan
Price $8.99/mo $.03/GB $14.99/mo $5/mo Free

 
Cloudways copied Rocket.net’s Cloudflare Enterprise and charged $5/mo even when it didn’t support APO and served annoying challenge pages. Kinsta’sWP Engine’s integrations aren’t Cloudflare Enterprise since they only have a few Enterprise features. SiteGround discontinued Cloudflare (previously free) and partnered with Google Cloud to market it as their own CDN for $14.99/mo. Even after v.2, there are complaints it makes your site slower and has many lacking speed/security features. WPX’s CDN (XDN) only has 39 PoPs and doesn’t have full page caching.

Key Features

  • APO – caches HTML which is one of the best/easiest ways to improve TTFB.
  • Prioritized routing – traffic gets prioritized which avoids traffic congestion.
  • Argo Smart Routing + Tiered Cache – detects traffic congestion and routes traffic through faster network paths. Cloudflare says assets load 30% faster and reduces requests to your origin server. Specifically good for WooCommerce/dynamic sites.
  • Load balancing – re-routes traffic from unhealthy origin servers to healthy origins.
  • WAF – Rocket.net also has built-in WAF rules, Imunify360, and real-time malware scanning. Which unlike other hosts, protects your site at both the server/CDN level.
  • Mirage/Polish – optimizes images without adding bloat or using resources like plugins do. It supports image compression, WebP, and several viewport/network optimizations. Polish doesn’t always serve images in WebP (usually if the savings aren’t high enough) which you can check in Chrome Dev Tools. However, when I manually converted images to WebP using a free online converter, savings were often 50%+. So if this happens to you, you can either convert them manually or install a dedicated WebP plugin such as Converter For Media (or WebP Express).
  • Early Hints – sends early preload & preconnect hints to reduce server wait time.
  • Brotli – compresses pages to smaller file sizes compared to GZIP compression.
  • Smart cachingsmart caching uses less resources when purging the cache by identifying what needs purging and when, then it only purges necessary assets.
  • Less challenge pages – unlike Cloudways, Rocket.net serves 0 challenge pages to logged out users and only serves 1 challenge to wp-login, then it’s gone for 1 year.
  • 3 less plugins – you shouldn’t need image optimization, security, or CDN plugins.

Rocket. Net cloudflare enterprise vs apo
Ben explains a few key differences between Cloudflare Enterprise vs. APO
Keycdn performance test cloudflare 1
Cloudflare free (no full page caching)
Rocket. Net keycdn performance test 1
Cloudflare Enterprise + full page caching
Rocket. Net analytics
Cloudflare analytics from Rocket.net’s dashboard (about 90% of bandwidth is served from Cloudflare)

 

4. Highly Optimized For WooCommerce

Rocket.net is especially fast for WooCommerce sites. A few key reasons are APO, Argo Smart Routing with Tiered Cache, NVMe SSDs, no PHP worker limits, Redis Object Cache Pro’s relay integration, and Rocket.net also strategically built their data centers right next to Cloudflare’s.

Rocket. Net woocommerce elementor

NVMe SSDs

These have about 6x faster read-write speeds than SATA SSDs which are used on most shared/cloud hosts. If you’re paying $100/mo and not using NVMe storage, what are ya doin’?

These tests were done by Rocket.net using WP Hosting Benchmark. The plugin runs tests on CPU/memory, filesystem, database, object cache, and network tests (try it out)!

Rocket. Net ssds
Rocket.net with SSD hard drives
Rocket. Net nvme
Rocket.net switches to NVMe

APO

Full page caching is even faster when you’re using Cloudflare’s 285+ PoPs. And if you look at their post launch report, you’ll notice it improves “phone” more than “desktop.” So if you’re struggling with mobile scores, you can either pay $5/mo for APO or get it for free Rocket.net.

Apo impact on ttfb

Apo impact on lcp

Apo impact on fcp

Argo Smart Routing

Cloudflare says “enabling Argo Smart Routing shaves an average of 33% off HTTP time to first byte (TTFB).” Argo is specifically good for speeding up dynamic sites like WooCommerce and membership sites, but it benefits static files as well. Rocket.net also uses Argo’s Tiered Cache.

Argo latency reduction

Redis (Redis Object Cache Pro On Business Plan And Up)

Redis is more powerful than Memcached, especially when using Redis Pro’s Relay integration. It’s good for speed, admin speed, and resource usage on WooCommerce/dynamic sites. Most hosts don’t support object cache, use Memcached instead, and Kinsta charges $100/month for it. Rocket.net uses the Redis Object Cache plugin (you’ll need to ask support to install it for you).

This table is found on objectcache.pro.

W3 Total Cache LiteSpeed Cache WP Redis Redis Object Cache Object Cache Pro
Performance
Batch Prefetching x x x x
Data compression x x x x
Cache priming x x x x
Asynchronous flushing x x x
Features
Cache Analytics x x x
Secure connections x x x
Highly customizable x x x x
Logging support x x x x
Cluster support x x x
Replication support x x x
Reliability
Mitigates race conditions x x x x
Extensively unit tested x x x x
Integrations
WooCommerce optimized x x x x
Query Monitor integration x x x Basic Advanced
WP CLI integration Basic x Basic Basic Advanced
Site Health checks x x x x
Batcache compatible x x x
Relay integration x x x x

 

5. More Resources, Less Limits

They list these in this post.

  • 2 x Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2667 v2 @ 3.30GHz (32 Cores)
  • 128GB RAM
  • RAIDED NVMe SSDs (they switched in 2022 after the post was written)

Kinsta/SiteGround cloud have 16x less RAM and Kinsta limits staging sites to just 1 CPU core (Rocket.net doesn’t). Cloudways/WPX only give you a very small amount of cores/RAM. And while these don’t directly mean a faster site, adding more (upgrading) is often a host’s go-to suggestion for fixing CPU limits. Rather than constantly upgrading, maybe upgrade your host?

  • CPU/RAM: with 32 CPU cores + 128GB RAM, it’s highly unlikely you’ll need to upgrade from this. I had to go from SiteGround’s GoGeek plan to their $180/mo cloud hosting because of this. Can also happen on other hosts who don’t give you enough resources (and if they don’t list cores/RAM, it’s probably not a good thing).
  • PHP workers: Rocket.net doesn’t limit PHP workers like Kinsta/WPE/WPX. Read this case study for a site with 1M+ visitors per 60 minutes where the need to scale PHP workers was eliminated. Kinsta only has 2 PHP workers on their lowest plan and recommends WooCommerce sites start at $115/mo because of workers/visits.
  • Monthly visits: with 10-25 more monthly visits than Kinsta/WPE, it’s also unlikely you’ll need to upgrade from this. Rocket, Kinsta, and WP Engine all count visits which include unknown bots and users with ad blockers (about 42.7% of people). Rocket.net’s starter plan has 250k/mo which means it’s about 106,750 visitors/mo.
  • Memory limit: it’s 256MB on Kinsta, 512MB on WP Engine, and 1GB on Rocket.net.

 

6. It’s Easy

Rocket.net is super simple:

  • Free migrations.
  • Easy to learn dashboard.
  • No launching servers (like Cloudways).
  • No configuring CDNs (their Cloudflare Enterprise is automatic).
  • Support goes out of the way and will help you improve core web vitals.

The whole point of “managed cloud hosting” is to be hands-off. So when you have to launch servers, configure CDNs, and migrate sites yourself, it’s not that managed. After requesting a migration, the only thing I did initially was upgrade PHP versions + ask support to install Redis.

 

7. Top Performer In Kevin Ohashi’s 2023 Hosting Benchmarks

Rocket.net was a top performer in Kevin Ohashi’s WP Hosting Benchmarks.

Anyone who’s been around the block knows Kevin’s tests are some of the most reliable out there. Most YouTubers and “fastest WordPress hosting speed tests” are garbage and ranked based on commissions, while Kevin’s methodology and non-affiliated results are more accurate.

Rocket. Net 2023 wordpress hosting benchmarks
Credit: wphostingbenchmarks.com

 

8. Ben Gabler’s Background + Interviews

Ben’s background is one of the main reasons I tried Rocket.net in the first place. Previously COO at HostGator, Chief Product Officer at StackPath, Senior Product Manager at GoDaddy, and now CEO of Rocket.net. Ben and Patrick Gallagher (from GridPane) did an interview together at Admin Bar which is completely non-promotional and 100% informative. Totally worth watching.

Rocket. Net ben gabler testimonial

Rocket. Net is amazing

 

9. Pricing, Bandwidth, No Hidden Upgrades/Add-Ons

Rocket.net’s pricing is essentially by bandwidth usage.

Once you learn how much bandwidth you need, choose a plan. Then subtract the costs of add-ons, CDNs, unexpected upgrades, time dealing with bad support, and lower conversions from a slower site. I’m not here to sell you on paying more for hosting, but it’s definitely worth it for me.

If you exceed the limit, Rocket.net uses soft limits and aren’t going to take down your site and lock you out like some hosts do, but you will eventually need to upgrade or reduce bandwidth usage. Monthly visits usually aren’t a problem considering you get 10x more than Kinsta/WPE.

Of course, I run a blog about WordPress speed and hosting reviews. And I’m guessing you’ll run it through speed tests and click through it. Think I’m gonna let your site load faster than mine?

Rocket. Net plans pricing

 

10. Support Is Night And Day

Ben, Chad, and their team take support to a new level.

I already know they went outside a typical host’s scope of work several times for me. And I normally can’t always trust hosts to touch (let alone migrate) my site, but their work has been timely and flawless every time with many staff having 20+ years experience. Ben even hops on chats/calls sometimes so if you get the chance, grab a notepad because he’s ahead of his time.

I usually use live chat which typically responds in seconds and feels like you’re actually talking to an actual person who clearly knows what they’re doing. Other than asking about specs, I’ve probably reached out 5 times in 1 year since my site runs smoothly. Fast, nice, knowledgeable.

 

11. Getting Popular In Facebook Groups

As of writing this, Rocket.net has all perfect 5/5 reviews on their TrustPilot profile. You can search keywords like “TTFB” or “Cloudways” to see specific reviews. If you do this, you’ll see several people are moving away from other hosts to Rocket.net, but not the other way around. Even if you search SiteGround’s 11,000 TrustPilot reviews, not 1 person came from Rocket.net.

Rocket. Net trustpilot

Ben also did an AMA in a Facebook group, or here’s more feedback.

Move to rocket. Net from sitegroundKinsta to rocket. Net resultsRocket. Net vs cloudways cpu usageRocket. Net no competitionRocket. Net trustpilot review
Siteground to cloudways to rocket. Net 2Rocket. Net vs siteground commentMoved to rocket. Net vs sitegroundKinsta to rocket. Net ttfb redisRocket. Net vs kinstaRocket. Net vs kinsta priceRocket. Net faster than cloudwaysRocket. Net vs. Cloudways comparisonBluehost to cloudways to rocket. NetSiteground to rocket. Net post 2Rocket. Net vs cloudways vultr hf trustpilot review

 

12. $1 Your 1st Month + Unlimited Free Migrations

Getting started:

  • Sign up for $1 your 1st month.
  • Talk to Ben or request a Zoom demo if you need an intro.
  • Benchmark your TTFB in KeyCDN and your LCP/FCP in PSI or GTmetrix.
  • Update DNS or TXT records, or request a free migration from their team.
  • Upgrade to the latest compatible PHP version, then ask support to install Redis.
  • Remove image optimization, security, CDN plugins (CF Enterprise handles these).
  • Configure FlyingPress , then retest your core web vitals (specifically TTFB, LCP, FCP).
Rocket. Net hosting go live
Add your site and update TXT records, or point your DNS to Rocket.net (they use Cloudflare’s DNS)
Rocket. Net dashboard 2
Update PHP version and configure advanced settings

Submit your site to Chrome’s HSTS Preload list. Use that site to see if yours supports it and if not, try this plugin. Rocket.net’s support will probably do it for you, but try to do it yourself first.

Hsts preload

 

13. Configure FlyingPress On Rocket.net (My Setup)

This is the same setup I use and I’ve confirmed several settings with Ben/Gijo.

FlyingPress

If you’re not using FlyingPress yet, it does a better job with core web vitals and real world browsing compared to WP Rocket and other optimization plugins with new features added regularly. Configure everything normally. Page caching will remain on to serve as a fallback cache in case it misses Cloudflare. Do not add Rocket.net’s CDN URL to the FlyingPress CDN settings, and there’s no need to use FlyingCDN with Cloudflare Enterprise. You can read my FlyingPress tutorial or click the thumbnails to see screenshots of the settings, but you should read the tutorial since lazy render, delay JS, and preloading fonts require manual configuration.

Screenshots (click to enlarge):

Perfmatters

The only feature you really need Perfmatters for is the script manager to disable plugins on pages/posts they’re not being used (this helps remove unused CSS/JavaScript) and possibly preloading Gutenberg’s CSS or other CSS/JS files. You could also use a free plugin like Asset CleanUp if the script manager is all you need it for. You’ll enable test mode to prevent it from breaking your site (by only showing changes to logged in admins), then start disabling plugins where they don’t need to load. Disable test mode when you’re done. Leave all other settings off (including CDN settings which like FlyingPress, you don’t need to add Rocket.net’s CDN URL to).

Disable social sharing plugins perfmatters

Conclusion

I don’t write glowing reviews for everyone (just read some of my other hosting reviews). But Rocket.net has been a game changer and I’ve been steering people to them since I switched.

Rocket. Net hosting poll short

Cheers to a faster TTFB/LCP/FCP.
Tom

Try them for $1

You Might Also Like:

131 Comments...

  1. Hey Tom,

    I’ve just set up a Rocket.net server for one of my clients, thanks to your recommendation. I was under the impression that they have automatic image optimisation, but apparently that’s still under development for over 2 years now. Cloudflare Polish does optimize the images somewhat, but not to the point that I can just let it be. I uploaded a massive 4MB 4xxx by 3xxx file to test it out and it compressed it down to 2560×1440 and 900kB, so wouldn’t call that groundbreaking.

    Could you recommend a free option for all kinds of optimisation for Rocket.net? I’ve always used Litespeed Cache on my Litespeed servers for both caching and image optimisation. Can I use it on Rocket.net just for the Image Optimisation part since that works very well in my experience? Or is some sort of caching still recommended even though the server is supposed to be very fast? I can buy Flyingpress if it’s required.

    And lastly, are the staging ones slower? I’m getting pretty bad Pagespeed scores on a staging site that barely has anything on it.

    Thanks for the answer

    Reply
    • Hey Krzysztof,

      I would think you can still use it since I don’t see any image optimizations under “LiteSpeed Exclusive Features” on the LSC plugin page. I like FlyingPress but I know some people have trouble with the preloading causing high bandwidth.

      Rocket doesn’t limit cores/RAM on staging sites, so the only thing I can think of is that Cloudflare Enterprise isn’t active on staging sites.

      Also, very sorry about not responding to your other comments.

      Reply
  2. Hi Tom,

    Thank you so much for this. I have a client website that is running terribly. I am hosting it on SiteGround and using the SiteGround Optimizer plugin along with ShortPixel Adaptive Images. I have tried numerous caching and image optimisation plugins but had no joy. So, based on this and a few of your other posts and reviews I signed up to Rocket.net, purchased FlyingPress, installed the free version of Asset CleanUp and tested the same website on a temporary domain. The website is running fantastic!

    The domain is on Ionis and I’m hoping it still runs as well when I point the A records to Rocket.net. I’m wondering if I still need an image compression plugin to optimise and serve up images in WebP format? And if it is worth purchasing the Pro version of Asset CleanUp to disable plugins on specific pages or maybe Perfmatters instead? Also, do you think I need additional security if hosting on Rocket.net? I’m looking at Solid Security (formerly iThemes).

    Many thanks again, it has been a massive weight off to get my clients website running well. I’ve have been extremely stressed out about this website for months as it was running really slow.

    Reply
    • Hey Mairtin,

      That’s awesome news! Yes, you’ll probably still need a plugin to convert images to WebP (maybe ShortPixel) and something to disable plugins on page/posts. I like Perfmatters mainly because the interface is cleaner and their team constantly updates the plugin, but either Perfmatters or Asset CleanUp Pro are good options.

      Nope, you shouldn’t need an “all in one” security plugin with Rocket.net. I usually tell people to go through this security checklist. Rocket.net already helps limit login attempts, FlyingPress can disable XML-RPC, etc. I think the only plugin you would consider is to move the wp-login page.

      Reply
      • Hey Tom,

        Just an update…

        My website is running really fast, much faster than SiteGround so I thought things were going well. However, there is a problem. I was logged in while viewing my website and everything looked good. Turns out it wasn’t displaying at all when logged out (blank page) which is why I think I was getting great scores on PageSpeed Insights.

        In FlyingPress I’ve had to turn off a few things , the ‘Remove unused CSS’ and ‘Delay JavaScript’. This however makes my site scores on PageSpeed Insights drop from 90 to 15. I’m not sure where to be looking to find the problem.

        I still need to optimise images but going by what I am seeing on the website, the main problem is the CSS and JavaScript.

        Currently I’m using Asset Cleanup Lite along with FlyingPress but I find Asset Cleanup confusing and it doesn’t seem to be doing anything for me. I might buy Perfmatters instead but I’m wondering if it will help improve page speed by blocking parts of the CSS and delaying specific JavaScript code without breaking the site.

        I’m assuming it is the cached pages I am viewing which is why my website is running really fast for me but not on PageSpeed Insights?

        Also, when testing the caching, I’m getting x-flying-press-cache: MISS. Not sure if this is affecting page speed as well?

        Hopefully I can find a solution to my problems but my site is running a hell of a lot faster on Rocket.net than it ever was on SiteGround!

        Thanks,
        Mairtin

        Reply
        • Hey Mairtin,

          Have you checked the Perfmatters documentation, specifically their list of unused CSS exclusions and same for delayed scripts? May be worth going through those and testing them in FlyingPress first. But yeah, I still like Perfmatters because the UI is easier than Asset CleanUp and they also have quick exclusions to make it even easier.

          Just be aware that FlyingPress released a recent update where several Perfmatters settings will be automatically disabled when using FlyingPress (I believe almost all General settings). You can still use the script manager and other settings, but some may not work. There was a FB post about it.

          Yes… getting remove unused CSS, delay JS, and the script manager to work properly should definitely improve PSI scores. These are all some of the best ways to reduce CSS/JS.

          For x-flying-press-cache: MISS, you want a HIT. Can’t tell you off the top of my head why it’s a miss… may want to reach out to FlyingPress’ support for that one.

          Hope you get it all figured out and follow up if you need any clarification. Glad to hear it’s faster!

          Reply
  3. Your blog is awesome!

    I haven’t used Litespeed before and I’m new to Wordpress hosting, but I saw on your other articles you mention that Litespeed cache is the way to go if you are using a Litespeed host. If Rocket.net uses Litespeed, what makes you use FlyingPress there instead of the Litespeed cache?

    Reply
    • Hey Glenn,

      Rocket.net uses Apache + Nginx, but uses LiteSpeed for PHP processing. Since the servers aren’t LiteSpeed, that’s why I use FlyingPress.

      If you need something more powerful than shared but still want LiteSpeed, some options are RunCloud, ServerAvatar, Scala, and ChemiCloud’s VPS. Although, I haven’t compared them side by side yet. But for smaller sites, shared should be fine.

      Reply
  4. Hey Tom,
    I have a large Woocommerce site that would be costly on Rocket. For my budget, I get Cloudways Vultr HF 4GB, Cloudways Cloudflare Enterprise, and Nitropack OR I could move to just Rocket’s Business plan. Worth the switch (even if I had to drop Nitropack)?

    Reply
    • Hey Connor,

      I’d say it’s definitely worth testing. A lot of my readers moved from Cloudways Vultr HF to Rocket.net and reported better performance, myself included (and it sounds even more so for WooCommerce). Also sounds like you’re close to hitting $100/mo between all those.

      I’m not a fan of Nitropack since it reportedly cheats scores (you can Google articles on this) and from what I’ve seen, it doesn’t make the site load as fast as other cache plugins. So yeah, I would do the $1/mo trial on Rocket and go from there. I’d be surprised if you moved back to Cloudways.

      Reply
  5. Due to your glowing review of rocket.net I signed up and migrated my site from Hostinger to Rocket.net I’m blown away. Every test I throw at it, is better than I could have dreamed of.

    They ARE expensive, but after having my site on their server, I already have decided that it is worth every penny. I also tested ChemiCloud, but they don’t come near rocket.

    I will stay with rocket. I m right only have to install an extra cache system because there are a lot of (dynamic content) misses on Cloudflare DNS

    Reply
    • That’s awesome Dirk, glad I could help and that you’re off Hostinger. You’re also supporting a much more ethical business.

      Reply
  6. You’re a bloody legend. I took your advice and left the hell that was siteground hosting, and moved on to cloudways. They were good but costly and every little extra was another pricetag. So today moved to Rocket.net. What a difference! My site is literally a different beast. Hugely fast, TTFB is under 100ms, issues with LCP …gone. It should be law to listen to your advise and just do it! Seriously thank you!

    Reply
  7. Hello Tom,

    Will use your link. What do you use to handle email things since rocket.net do not? (like for example this comment section probably sends you notifications?)

    Reply
    • Appreciate that John, thanks! I use Google Workspace which is what quite a few other people/brands recommend too. I don’t have notifications for comments since I usually check them daily.

      Reply
  8. Tom,

    Been really happy with Rocket.net and using it together with Flyingpress.

    One thing I’m noticing for a site with 75k visitors a month, is that the bandwidth usage is enormous. 5k each day, with 3 sites that makes it that I use more than the 100GB bandwidth limit of rocket.net’s pro plan.

    I’ve turned off the ‘preload links’ option in flyingpress, and put schedule ‘preload’ to never.

    Is this something you’ve experienced? And maybe have some pointers on how you solved it?

    Reply
  9. Hello Tom,

    Great review on Rocket.net!

    I’m helping a Psychologist with her website, currently on SquareSpace. We’re thinking of moving to a different host for better speed, especially with more clients visiting her site. Your review made us consider Rocket.net due to the quick load time and good support.

    We also liked the features for WooCommerce since we plan to add an online booking system.

    We’re in Australia, so a nearby server would have been nice, but the fast global load time helps.

    I’m looking for suggestions on this move. The $1 first month trial at Rocket.net seems like a low-risk way to test it out. The positive feedback from WooCommerce users and Cloudflare Enterprise inclusion are also attractive.

    Would love to hear your thoughts or any other recommendations.

    Thanks!

    Reply
    • Hey Andre,

      While my site isn’t dynamic/WooCommerce, TTFB is still around 100ms even when tested from Australia using SpeedVitals’ TTFB test. I asked Ben in the YouTube interview if server location matters when using Cloudflare Enterprise and he essentially said as far as speed goes, it’s negligible. Although it varies more for dynamic sites.

      If they’re in your client’s budget (check bandwidth usage), I can’t think of a better host for WooCommerce in their price range. Most have downfalls somewhere whether it’s a slower CDN, less resources, support, etc.

      One question though… are the high majority of visitors in Australia or does your client have international visitors where they would really benefit from Cloudflare Enterprise? If it’s international, yes… Rocket.net. If it’s only in Australia, they may be able to just get a VPS in Australia.

      Really comes down to where the audience is, as well as which plan they would use… since Redis Object Cache Pro is used on their Business plan and up.

      Hope that helps but lmk!

      Reply
  10. Too bad they don’t have a server in France, otherwise I would have chosen Rocket.net. I’m staying with Coudways because Vultr has a server in France + Cloudflare APO.

    Reply
    • With a 100ms average global TTFB, it usually doesn’t matter where the server is. For example, if you check my site in SpeedVitals, my TTFB is under 100ms in Paris. That’s the beauty of Cloudflare Enterprise.

      Reply

Leave a Comment