About
A score is only useful if you know how it was made.
Fast WordPress exists to answer one question repeatedly and consistently: what actually makes a WordPress site fast? Everything below describes how we get to a number.
The reference host
Every plugin is installed on an identical clone: 2 vCPU / 4 GB, London region, WordPress 6.8, PHP 8.3, MariaDB 11, no CDN unless the review is about a CDN. The site contains 20 posts, one page-builder landing page, and a small WooCommerce catalogue.
The run protocol
We measure a cold cache and a warm cache, three runs each, and publish the median. Field data is never mixed with lab data in the same figure. When a plugin needs configuration to perform, we publish both the default result and the tuned result.
What a score means
Scores band into Fast (90+), Moderate (75–89) and Slow (below 75). A slow score is not a verdict on quality - a security plugin that costs 200 ms may still be the right choice. It is a statement about cost.
Affiliate disclosure
Some outbound links earn us a commission, and those links are marked. Commission never affects a score, a ranking or whether a product is included. Where a paid product loses to a free one, we say so.
Corrections
Benchmarks are re-run quarterly and after any major release. Every review shows its last-tested date. If a vendor believes a figure is wrong, we re-run the test and publish the result either way.
Reference environment
bench-01.fastwordpress.net
Performance score
Measured on a 2 vCPU reference host
- vCPU
- 2
- RAM
- 4 GB
- PHP
- 8.3
- WP
- 6.8
- Region
- LON
- Runs
- 3×
Baseline install with no plugins scores 100 with a 1.02 s LCP.
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Contact the labOne speed test result, every Tuesday
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