How To Speed Up A Slow SiteGround Website In 15 Steps Using SiteGround Optimizer + FlyingPress + Cloudflare APO

Even though I think SiteGround sucks, I’ll help you speed up your website on their hosting by improving LCP, TTFB, and core web vitals.

First off, you’ll want to use a separate optimization plugin since SiteGround Optimizer does a poor job with core web vitals (I recommend FlyingPress). You’ll still use SiteGround Optimizer for Memcached and a few other features, but not much else. Next, you’ll want to use Cloudflare APO or FlyingProxy which are faster, cheaper, and more reliable compared to SiteGround’s CDN.

These 2 things alone should make a huge improvement to core web vitals. SiteGround will probably tell you their plugin + CDN are better, but they’re only telling you this because it’s their product. This is one of the reasons I don’t like them since they lie more than any host I’ve used.

I’ll cover a few other ways to speed up your slow SiteGround website while also reducing CPU usage. I recommend using GTmetrix as your main testing tool, then KeyCDN’s Performance Test or SpeedVitals for testing TTFB in 10-40 locations. For reference, my TTFB is ~100ms globally, I pass web vitals, and here’s my GTmetrix report. Just saying this because – this guide will work!

 

1. Configure FlyingPress

This is why you should use FlyingPress.

I was previously using WP Rocket and can confirm FlyingPress is definitely faster while doing a better job optimizing core web vitals. You could use Perfmatters, but it doesn’t support critical CSS and a few other key features. The main benefit of Perfmatters is it has a script manager for disabling plugins on pages/posts they’re not used, but you can do this in Asset CleanUp (free). Either way, you’ll want to use one of these optimization plugins on top of SiteGround Optimizer.

	SG Optimizer	WP Rocket	Perfmatters	FlyingPress
Server-side caching	✓	x	x	x
Object cache integration	✓	x	x	x
Delay JavaScript	x	✓	✓	✓
Remove unused CSS	x	Inline	Separate file	Separate file
Critical CSS	x	✓	x	✓
Preload critical images	x	x	✓	✓
Exclude above the fold images	By class/type	By URL/class	Automatic	Automatic
Lazy load background images	x	Inline HTML	Helper class	Helper class
Add missing image dimensions	x	✓	✓	✓
Lazy load iframes	x	✓	✓	✓
YouTube iframe preview image	x	✓	✓	✓
Self-host YouTube placeholder	x	x	x	✓
Script manager	x	x	✓	x
Host fonts locally	x	x	✓	✓
Font-display: swap	x	✓	✓	✓
Preload links	x	✓	✓	✓
Bloat removal (beyond Heartbeat)	x	x	✓	✓ (details)
Lazy render HTML elements	x	x	x	✓
APO compatibility	x	x	✓	✓
CDN	Google Cloud	StackPath	x	BunnyCDN
CDN PoPs	176	73	x	114
Full page caching	✓	x	x	x
CDN image optimization	x	x	x	✓
CDN image resizing for mobile	x	x	x	✓
CDN DDoS protection	x	x	x	✓
CDN bandwidth	Unmetered	Very limited	x	Unlimited
Documentation	Not detailed	Detailed	Detailed	Not detailed
New features	Infrequent	Infrequent	Frequent	Frequent
Facebook group	Join	Join	x	Join
CDN price	$14.99/mo	$8.99/mo	x	$.03/GB
Plugin price	Free	$59/year	$24.95/year	$60/year
Renewal price	Free	$59/year	$24.95/year	$42/year

 
When configuring FlyingPress with SiteGround Optimizer, the main thing is to avoid enabling duplicate settings in both plugins. I found the easiest way to do this is to configure FlyingPress normally, then only enable specific settings in SiteGround Optimizer (which I listed in step #2).

You’ll want to read my full FlyingPress tutorial, but I showed some of the most important screenshots below. I also have a tutorial on the Perfmatters settings and WP Rocket settings.

Pay Special Attention To These Settings

• Load unused CSS – you have 3 options here. Remove unused CSS is the most powerful but will require excluding stylesheets if they break your site. Otherwise, “on user interaction” in the next best setting. FlyingPress’ documentation explains the difference between the 3.
• Lazy render HTML elements – similar to lazy loading images only this can be done with specific areas of your website that load below the fold (comments, footer, Elementor/Divi sections, etc). You’ll want to see this YouTube video from FlyingPress for full instructions.
• Exclude script from defer – if enabling this breaks your website, see common exclusions.
• Delay JavaScript – delay all is most powerful, but you’ll need to see common exclusions. Otherwise, choose “delay selected” then delay these common third-party JavaScript files.
• Preload fonts – after you host fonts locally using the “optimize Google Fonts” setting, view your font files in GTmetrix’s Waterfall chart and preload any fonts that load above the fold. It’s also a good idea to convert your fonts to woff2 which are faster than .ttf, .woff, etc.
• Exclude above the fold images – when you’re asked to set a number, this should be the number of images that usually load above the fold. For me, it’s 3 (my logo, sidebar image, and the first image I use at the top of posts). This can significantly improve your LCP score.
• Disable Block Editor CSS – if you’re not using Gutenberg, enable it. This removes a CSS file that will otherwise load across your site which is needed for Gutenberg to work. But if you use Elementor or another page builder instead, you don’t need it (it just adds bloat).
• Disable WP Cron – when you get to step #11, you can use this setting to disable wp-cron.

 

2. Configure SiteGround Optimizer

Not that you’re using FlyingPress to address more core web vitals than SiteGround Optimizer would have, you only need SG Optimizer to address a few extra things not found in FlyingPress.

Configure the settings normally except the following:

• Disable dynamic + file-based caching.
• Disable browser caching.
• Disable Heartbeat control.
• Disable scheduled database maintenance settings.
• Disable all frontend settings.
• Disable lazy loading.

Caching – dynamic caching will be handled by Cloudflare’s APO (if you’re not using APO, it should be enabled). File-based caching is handled by FlyingPress. Which means Memcached is the only caching option that should be enabled and you will need to activate it in Site Tools first.

Environment – HTTPS enforce and GZIP should be on. Browser caching, Heartbeat, and database cleanup are handled by FlyingPress – so leave them disabled in SiteGround Optimizer.

Frontend Optimization – all settings should be off since FlyingPress handles these.

Media – only use this for image compression, WebP, and setting a maximum image width. FlyingPress does a better job with lazy loading, so leave this disabled in SiteGround Optimizer.

 

3. Setup Cloudflare’s APO

Your hosting/CDN are the 2 main TTFB factors – both need to be fast.

If you chose a data center close to visitors, you don’t need a CDN. But if you have visitors far away from your SiteGround server, Cloudflare’s APO improves TTFB in multiple locations by caching HTML. Compared to SiteGround’s CDN, Cloudflare has 100+ more PoPs and is $5/mo.

FlyingProxy costs $10/mo and uses APO with more Cloudflare features: prioritized routing on more PoPs, firewall, Enterprise-level DDoS protection, and image optimization. It’s faster than just using APO while providing better security, and it was developed by Gijo (from FlyingPress).

I don’t recommend SiteGround’s CDN because you have to use their DNS to use it. This was previously blocked by Google and caused 2M SiteGround domains to be deindexed. Getting blocked by Google is not something you want to risk, especially if you do SEO. SiteGround’s CDN also uses Google Cloud which has a smaller network than Cloudflare with less features.

	RocketCDN	SiteGround CDN	FlyingCDN	Cloudflare APO	FlyingProxy
CDN provider	StackPath	Google Cloud	BunnyCDN	Cloudflare	Cloudflare
PoPs	73	176	114	285	285
Tbps speed	100	Not listed	80	197	197
Dynamic caching	x	✓	x	✓	✓
Image compression	x	x	✓	x	✓
WebP	x	x	✓	x	✓
Firewall	x	x	✓	x	✓
Enterprise DDoS protection	x	x	x	x	✓
Bandwidth	Unknown, but not unlimited as advertised	Unmetered	Unlimited	Unlimited	100GB
Monthly price	$8.99	$14.99	$.03/GB	$5	$10

 
APO Instructions

• Change your DNS to Cloudflare [screenshot].
• Proxy traffic through Cloudflare’s CDN [screenshot].
• Purchase APO in Cloudflare (Speed → Optimization → APO).
• Install the Cloudflare plugin.
• Create an API token and add it to the plugin.
• Purge your cache in your cache plugin(s), then Cloudflare.
• Confirm APO is working using uptrends.com.

Configure Cloudflare Settings

I have a full tutorial on this. It will probably take 10 minutes but is definitely worth it since Cloudflare has a ton of features that can improve both speed/security. If you setup Cloudflare through a third-party service like FlyingProxy, there’s no need to setup Cloudflare’s dashboard.

Test Your TTFB

Once APO is setup, test your site in KeyCDN’s performance test or SpeedVitals which measure TTFB in 10-40 locations. You’ll want to test your site 3 times to make sure caching is working and your CDN uses the closest data center. I use Rocket.net with their free Cloudflare Enterprise who averages a <100ms global TTFB. APO helps but it’s unlikely you’ll get 100ms on SiteGround.

 

4. Use Cloudflare’s DNS

You don’t want this to happen to you (you can read people’s angry comments on Twitter).

Plus, Cloudflare’s DNS is consistently performant/reliable on dnsperf.com.

 

5. Resize Images For Mobile

If you have poor mobile/LCP scores, one of the reasons is that most cache plugins/CDNs don’t resize images for mobile.

You have 3 main options here:

• Use ShortPixel Adaptive Images.
• Purchase Cloudflare Pro for $20/mo which includes image resizing.
• Use FlyingCDN from FlyingPress which includes Bunny Optimizer for image optimization.

 

6. Disable Plugins On Specific Pages/Posts

Disabling plugins in areas of your site they’re not being used reducing CSS/JavaScript. Contact forms, social sharing, and WooCommerce plugins are known for loading files across your entire website. In the example below, I disabled a social sharing plugin everywhere but posts. You can use the script manager in Perfmatters or Asset CleanUp which is free. They both include a “test mode” in the settings which lets you test this since disabling certain files might break your site.

You can enable dependencies in the Perfmatters script manager settings to see plugins using jQuery (known for slowing down websites). Try avoiding jQuery-dependent plugins if possible.

 

7. Remove Old Plugin Tables With WP-Optimize

Cache plugins also don’t remove tables left behind by old plugins you deleted.

Install WP-Optimize and go through your tables. If you see “remove,” it means you installed an old plugin, deleted it, and it left behind tables. Remove it if you don’t plan on using that plugin again. You may also notice certain plugins add lots of database overhead. I noticed Rank Math’s Analytics were, so I disabled that module and get my analytics directly from GA/Search Console.

You can use FlyingPress or SiteGround Optimizer for regular database cleanups, but if you find yourself deleting plugins frequently, use WP-Optimize to clean their tables from your database.

 

8. Configure SiteGround Security

Blocking unwanted requests lightens the load on the server too (this is also why using a firewall like Cloudflare’s WAF is so important).

SiteGround’s security plugin can disable XML-RPC, move your wp-login page, limit login attempts, and has several other security features. It has solid reviews and is simple to set up. Just make sure to specify a custom login URL and use two-factor authentication in the settings.

 

9. Choose The Closest SiteGround Data Center

When you buy any hosting plan, choose the data center closest to visitors.

When visitors are far away from the data center, use a CDN with full page caching and ideally take advantage of other CDN features like Argo Smart Routing + load balancing. These reduce TTFB when visitors are far away (with the right CDN, using a close data center barely matters).

 

10. Optimize Your Page Builder

I have separate tutorials for speeding up Elementor and Divi.

Check your coverage report in Chrome Dev Tools to see how much CSS/JavaScript they’re adding to your site. This can usually be reduced by using their built-in performance settings, disabling unused fonts/font icons, and disabling Gutenberg’s wp-block-library (in FlyingPress).

I recommend viewing Perfmatters’ documentation on common exclusions for Elementor (or Divi) which you can apply to FlyingPress. However, I also recommend looking into something like GeneratePress (what I use) which is lightweight and doesn’t add nearly as much CSS + JS. Especially when you start adding more Elementor plugins, your site gets bloated very quickly.

 

11. Upgrade To PHP 8+

Login to Site Tools → Devs → PHP Manager, then upgrade to at least PHP 8.

Even though SiteGround says their Ultrafast PHP can improve TTFB by up to 50%, it’s a bold claim and you probably won’t get anywhere near that type of result. Regardless, it’s always a good idea to keep your PHP version updated as long as your theme and plugins are compatible.

 

12. Replace WP-Cron With A Real Cron Job

SiteGround has a tutorial, but it’s easy. The first step is to disable wp-cron which you can do in FlyingPress. You can also do this this manually by opening your wp-config.php file and disable WordPress cron by adding the code before the line: /* That’s all, stop editing! Happy blogging. */

define('DISABLE_WP_CRON', true);

Login to Site Tools → Devs → Cron Jobs. Create a cron job using the code to execute twice per hour. As SiteGround says, “replace /home/customer/www/yourdomain.com/public_html with the actual path to your WordPress application’s core file.” This can also help reduce CPU usage.

cd /home/customer/www/yourdomain.com/public_html; wp cron event run --due-now >/dev/null 2>&1

 

13. Don’t Upgrade To SiteGround’s Cloud Hosting

I’ve already used it and am glad I don’t anymore. Many people upgrade from GoGeek to SiteGround’s cloud hosting in hopes of a faster website or to fix CPU limit issues. Don’t do it.

Like many people reported, it doesn’t always fix CPU issues even though it starts at $100/mo. Big waste of money considering it’s not very fast and still uses slow technology like SATA SSDs.

 

14. Stop Using SiteGround

Here are my top 10 reasons:

 

15. Use Faster LiteSpeed/Cloud Hosting

ChemiCloud – faster LiteSpeed hosting, faster NVMe storage, and a perfect 5/5 star TrustPilot rating with several reviews of people who either moved or were about to purchase SiteGround. No need to buy a premium cache plugin since you’ll use the free LiteSpeed Cache which does a better job with web vitals. QUIC.cloud’s CDN is also faster (and often cheaper) than SiteGround which you can configure using my tutorial. And you’re much less likely to have to upgrade from CPU limits since LiteSpeed is more efficient and they don’t have strict limits. It’s cheaper, faster, and scalable since you can add CPU cores/RAM using their Turbo+ Boost add-on if traffic grows. NameHero is very similar but they cost more and only use NVMe storage in their US data center. Hostinger/GreekGeeks have many scam reports if you look at their TrustPilot reviews or Reddit.

Scala’s Entry WP Cloud plan – a more powerful shared/hybrid LiteSpeed hosting plan with no limits on CPU cores/RAM, dedicated resources, isolated environment, and a server firewall. You still get NVMe storage (but only in their US data center) and Redis. Also has a near perfect 4.9/5 rating on TrustPilot with people who moved from SiteGround. Unlike ChemiCloud/NameHero, Scala uses a custom built SPanel which uses less resources with more functionality than cPanel.

Cloudways – similar to Rocket.net between cloud hosting, NVMe, MariaDB, Cloudflare Enterprise, and they use Redis Object Cache Pro. However, their Cloudflare Enterprise costs $5/mo and doesn’t have APO, they use PHP-FPM instead of LiteSpeed’s faster PHP, support is worse, and they were acquired by DigitalOcean who raised prices. Still faster than SiteGround (including SG’s cloud hosting) and I was using the Vultr High Frequency plan before Rocket.net.

Rocket.net – if the fastest hosting means fastest TTFB, Rocket.net averages <100ms globally. And with TTFB affecting 4/6 user metrics in PSI, this can lead to a huge improvement in core web vitals as people have seen a 500% faster TTFB (and 200% – 450% faster LCP). The reason Rocket.net is faster is because both their hosting + free Cloudflare Enterprise have better specs + features compared to SiteGround, Kinsta, Cloudways, and 100ms is also 4x faster than WPX. If you have an international audience or WooCommerce site, you’re not going to beat Rocket.net’s performance. Their hosting is easy, it’s $1 your 1st month, and they have awesome support with all 5/5 TrustPilot reviews + unlimited free migrations. This is why I use & recommend Rocket.net.

SiteGround has more reviews, but most of them are coming from Bluehost, GoDaddy, and HostGator. You won’t find 1 review of someone who switched to SiteGround from ChemiCloud, Scala, or Rocket.net if you search SiteGround’s 11,000+ reviews (which are solicited by support).

Why is my website slow on SiteGround?

SiteGround is slow because their cache plugin does a poor job with core web vitals and their hosting runs on inferior hardware + software. This can also lead to high CPU usage.

Why is SiteGround's TTFB slow?

SiteGround uses a balanced Google Cloud machine family (N2) which is slower than compute-optimized families (like C2). It's also shared hosting with limited resources.

Feel free to leave a comment if you have questions. Hope this helped!

Cheers,
Tom