WordPress Performance Blog
Page Cache Detected but Server Response Time Is Still Slow
Site Health says page cache is detected but the server response time is still slow. What the check actually measures, and how to find the real cause.
MariaDB 10.6 to 13.0 for WordPress: Only One Upgrade Actually Does Anything [Benchmark]
I benchmarked six MariaDB versions (10.6, 10.11, 11.4, 11.8, 12.3 and the 13.0 RC) on identical WordPress 7.1 and WooCommerce installs, two passes each. Only one upgrade changes anything, the famous 40x UPDATE win has a mirror image, and my March write benchmark was measuring the wrong thing.
The one WordPress.org number nobody can audit
The active installs count on WordPress.org has no history, is rounded, costs 0.34 KB to fake, and anyone can inflate a plugin they don’t own. I measured it.
93% of WordPress plugins score an A or A-. So I changed my badge.
I graded 57,948 WordPress plugins. 93% score an A or A-, because most plugins genuinely cost nothing. Here’s why that broke my speed badge.
How Many Plugins Can WordPress Handle? I Installed 223 to Find Out
I installed 223 plugins on a 256MB WordPress box. RAM held, queries exploded 23x, one plugin killed the site – real benchmark data inside.
Do Too Many Plugins Slow Down WordPress? I Benchmarked 55,000 to Find Out.
Every WordPress speed tip says cut your plugins. I benchmarked 55,202. The median adds 0ms to your homepage. Here’s what actually slows a site.
I Tried to Run Every Plugin on WordPress.org. 1 in 16 Wouldn’t Even Start.
I activated 54,649 WordPress.org plugins in clean containers. ~94% ran fine. What the other 6% got wrong — and how to spot them first.
WordPress Security Plugins and Performance: The Hidden Trade-off
Security plugins hook into every WordPress request – firewall rules, file scanning, database logging. Here’s what each major plugin does under the hood, why some add serious overhead, and how to get proper security without killing your site speed.
WordPress Multisite Performance: Scaling to 50+ Sites Without Dying
Running 20-100 client sites on WordPress multisite? Here is how the database architecture actually works, why switch_to_blog kills performance, and what to do about plugin activation scope, object caching, and domain mapping overhead.
Object Cache in WordPress: Redis vs Memcached vs Nothing
What WordPress object cache actually does, when you need a persistent cache, Redis vs Memcached architectural differences, and how to verify it is working. No fabricated benchmarks.
