Google believes the Internet should be fast. So do we! However, your website is partly only as fast as the WordPress hosting provider you use. If you use a slow provider, your site will be slow, no matter how much you optimize it.

However, your WordPress host could be fast, but your bulky, clunky site is still loading slowly. Fortunately, most WordPress hosts offer various optimization features to help speed up your site and make it load fast!

When you are researching WordPress hosting providers, ask which of these features they offer:

• Image Optimization: Google makes it very clear that they do not want you using large, bloated JPEG files. WebP images are the latest standard in compressed images for quick loading. Some web hosts will convert your JPEG and PNG images into smaller WebP files, which is awesome and known as “image optimization.” However, others won’t convert images into WebP but only compress the large images you have (“image compression”). Image compression isn’t as good as image optimization. However, there are image optimization plugins available or free services such as TinyIMG.
• CDN Access: If you are a local business and only serve customers in your area or even your own country, having a CDN isn’t that important. But if you serve customers in different regions, countries, or continents, a CDN is a must-have. Cloudflare is one of the most popular CDNs and many WordPress hosts bundle Cloudflare’s CDN into their WordPress hosting plans. Other hosts have their own proprietary CDN. But some don’t include a CDN at all, or ask you to upgrade, so be careful if you need a CDN.
• CSS/JavaScript Minification: Today’s WordPress sites will have several CSS and JavaScript files to function properly. However, these files add to website loading times in terms of time to download to your computer and time to read and execute the code. CSS and JavaScript minification help reduce load time by eliminating unnecessary verbiage like comments and blank spaces.
• Staging Websites: Staging websites don’t help your site go faster, but we consider them important. Staging sites allow you to test out changes before going live, so you aren’t working on your live website while customers try to order from you simultaneously. Staging websites are especially important when you want to make large changes, and the risk of the website breaking is high. Instead, you can test all of your changes in the staging environment, and once you are ready to go, then you can hit Live!
• HTTP Versions: HTTP/3 is the current HTTP version and is the fastest. However, most providers still only provide HTTP/2. It isn’t so important which HTTP version you have unless you have a specific need. We include it anyway since some advanced users will want to know which HTTP versions the host supports.
• Data Compression: WordPress providers use GZIP and Brotli as the two most common data compression algorithms. However, Brotli is the newer algorithm and is better than using GZIP, which is an older standard. While this is important to know, fast hosts could use GZIP, and slow hosts could still use Brotli, and vice versa.
• Full Page Caching: Caching helps speed up page loading times by reusing a saved copy of your web page, image, CSS, JavaScript file, etc… While most CDNs and hosts cache “static” assets that don’t change like images, only some also cache “dynamic” assets such as the HTML page itself – hence called “full-page caching.” However, full-page caching is important because the CDN still has to call the home server without it. The home server must then regenerate the HTML whenever a person visits your website. Obviously, this takes time compared to full-page caching that can deliver the HTML straight to the visitor on demand. Some hosts have an “in-between” version where they will cache the HTML on the host server but not on the CDN. The CDN still has to call the host server to retrieve the HTML, but at least the host server can send the HTML right away instead of having to generate it from scratch every time.

Below, we highlight all the options different WordPress hosts provide for each category. Click each plus icon below to explore, and you can also click on each WordPress host to read our full review about them.

Disclaimer: Our reviews are not sponsored, as we used our own money to purchase hosting subscriptions. Our reviews are 100% based on our sole opinions. Reviews contain affiliate marketing links where we get a commission when you purchase or subscribe to that service. Read our Affiliate Marketing Policy here. Also, please verify all product and pricing information directly with the linked brands, as product offerings change often. FastestWP.Website is not responsible for errors or product discrepancies.