How to speed up WordPress, and when better hosting is worth it

People don't wait for slow pages. A site that loads quickly feels trustworthy, keeps visitors reading and makes it easier for them to buy, book or get in touch.

Speed matters to search engines too. Google says good Core Web Vitals, along with other page experience signals, line up with what its core ranking systems seek to reward ^[1]. Speed won't make up for weak content, but it can stop a good page being held back.

Core Web Vitals are three measures of real visitors' experience, defined by Google's web.dev team ^[2]. To pass, you aim to hit the "good" score for at least 75% of page visits, on mobile and desktop.

There's one more number worth knowing: Time to First Byte (TTFB), how long the browser waits for the first response from your server. It isn't a Core Web Vital itself, but a slow TTFB delays everything after it. web.dev suggests most sites aim for 0.8 seconds or less ^[3].

Your host controls the first part of every page load. TTFB includes the DNS lookup, setting up a secure connection and the time your server takes to build the page ^[3]. For WordPress, that last part means running PHP and querying the database, which is where a slow or overcrowded server shows.

• Server power. web.dev notes that shared hosting is generally slower for high-traffic sites, and that busier sites need a host with enough memory and an up-to-date server stack ^[5].
• Distance. A server close to your visitors answers faster. If most of your customers are in the UK, EU or US, host there, or use a CDN.
• The software stack. Current PHP, server-level caching and modern protocols such as HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 all help.

Without caching, WordPress builds each page from scratch for every visitor. Caching saves the finished result so the next visitor gets it straight away. WordPress's own documentation describes four kinds ^[6]:

Use one page-caching method, not two. If your host has its own cache, a second caching plugin can clash with it.

WordPress runs on PHP, and newer versions bring security and performance improvements ^[7]. WordPress recommends PHP 8.3 or newer ^[8]. Each PHP version only gets security fixes for a limited time ^[9], so check yours is still covered.

Images are often the heaviest part of a page, and the largest one is frequently what LCP measures. Three habits make a big difference:

• Use modern formats. WebP and AVIF generally compress better than JPEG and PNG ^[10].
• Upload at the size you need. A photo straight from a phone can be many times bigger than the space it fills.
• Compress on upload. An image optimisation plugin can resize and convert images automatically, including your existing library.

A content delivery network (CDN) keeps copies of your site's files on servers around the world, so visitors download them from somewhere nearby ^[11]. CDNs can also speed up DNS, use newer protocols and compress files ^[5].

If your visitors are spread across countries, a CDN is well worth it. If they're mostly local and your server is nearby, it's a nice extra rather than a must. Many hosts include one, so check your plan before paying separately.

Do the free fixes first. If your site is still slow afterwards, look at your hosting. These are the signs it's the bottleneck:

• TTFB stays well above 0.8 seconds, even on cached pages.
• It's slow at busy times but fine late at night: you may be sharing a crowded server.
• Your control panel warns you about CPU, memory or process limits.
• You run a shop, membership or booking site, where many pages can't be fully cached.
• Your server is on another continent from most of your visitors.

Upgrading doesn't have to cost more. Plenty of people are paying a steep renewal price for basic shared hosting when a faster WordPress plan elsewhere costs less over three years. Compare on the 3-year cost, renewals included, and look for server-level caching, current PHP and a data centre near your visitors.