Below are screenshots in case you are only looking to optimize images, and have @ 200 odd images in your wp-contents. I ran this locally on the VPS not using a subdomain. This was done using Shortpixel plugin. You can also use their command line based script, optimize the images on your server, and then upload the optimized images on to WP (which I prefer to do these days)
Before optimization, Sept 2020: (I do not have the screenshot from post optimization results) https://img.gaatha.co/ac98rx
Edit: (referencing the comment below: I did not get the bump in speeds only because of image optimization. There were some other tweaks. Also note that the pagespeed algorithm may have been updated between September and December.
But yes, image optimization alone can yield significant improvement
@vyas said:
Below are screenshots in case you are only looking to optimize images, and have @ 200 odd images in your wp-contents. I ran this locally on the VPS not using a subdomain using Shortpixel plugin. You can also use their command line based script, optimize the images on your server, and then upload the optimized images on to WP (which I prefer to do these days)
Before optimization, Sept 2020: (I do not have the screenshot from post optimization results) https://img.gaatha.co/ac98rx
@Fritz said: That improvement using Shortpixel plugin ?
Mobile pagespeed scores can be affected a lot by small things such as that.
@vyas, since you are playing around with your options, maybe you can try out the nginx pagespeed module? It supposedly auto-resizes images, compresses and reformats them (jpg and webp, in case webp isn't viewable). It also does some other stuff which might help with pagespeed.
Anyway, is there any reason to use those backup plugins apart from convenience? Are there any benefits compared to manually backing up files and your database? (rclone and mysqldump, or basically using the panel like bikegremlin does)
On the topic of caching... Honestly, they are all pretty much the same thing so don't expect much difference in performance. Litespeed would probably work better in theory in a shared hosting environment. What's most important is that your site doesn't break because of the caching.
@Fritz said: That improvement using Shortpixel plugin ?
Mobile pagespeed scores can be affected a lot by small things such as that.
@vyas, since you are playing around with your options, maybe you can try out the nginx pagespeed module? It supposedly auto-resizes images, compresses and reformats them (jpg and webp, in case webp isn't viewable). It also does some other stuff which might help with pagespeed.
Anyway, is there any reason to use those backup plugins apart from convenience? Are there any benefits compared to manually backing up files and your database? (rclone and mysqldump, or basically using the panel like bikegremlin does)
On the topic of caching... Honestly, they are all pretty much the same thing so don't expect much difference in performance. Litespeed would probably work better in theory in a shared hosting environment. What's most important is that your site doesn't break because of the caching.
For backups - there are practical upsides to automation. Because people make mistakes, and/or forget.
Over the year's, I've made sure to have at least one remote copy always automated.
This can be achieved without using any plugins - which (at least IMO) is a better solution. Why? Each plugin puts more load on the server, presents more potential security problems, and I expect a WordPress plugin to be less reliable compared to any backup scripts run on the server, separate from the WordPress website.
In terms of convenience, JetBackup, and/or Softaculous are quite easy to use, and convenient (love JetBackup one-click account restore, when supported by the hosting provider).
@Fritz said: That improvement using Shortpixel plugin ?
Mobile pagespeed scores can be affected a lot by small things such as that.
@vyas, since you are playing around with your options, maybe you can try out the nginx pagespeed module? It supposedly auto-resizes images, compresses and reformats them (jpg and webp, in case webp isn't viewable). It also does some other stuff which might help with pagespeed.
Anyway, is there any reason to use those backup plugins apart from convenience? Are there any benefits compared to manually backing up files and your database? (rclone and mysqldump, or basically using the panel like bikegremlin does)
On the topic of caching... Honestly, they are all pretty much the same thing so don't expect much difference in performance. Litespeed would probably work better in theory in a shared hosting environment. What's most important is that your site doesn't break because of the caching.
For backups - there are practical upsides to automation. Because people make mistakes, and/or forget.
Over the year's, I've made sure to have at least one remote copy always automated.
This can be achieved without using any plugins - which (at least IMO) is a better solution. Why? Each plugin puts more load on the server, presents more potential security problems, and I expect a WordPress plugin to be less reliable compared to any backup scripts run on the server, separate from the WordPress website.
In terms of convenience, JetBackup, and/or Softaculous are quite easy to use, and convenient (love JetBackup one-click account restore, when supported by the hosting provider).
JetBackup definitely one of the perks of HM. But I think @MikePT added it as a feature now, too?
@Fritz said: That improvement using Shortpixel plugin ?
Mobile pagespeed scores can be affected a lot by small things such as that.
@vyas, since you are playing around with your options, maybe you can try out the nginx pagespeed module? It supposedly auto-resizes images, compresses and reformats them (jpg and webp, in case webp isn't viewable). It also does some other stuff which might help with pagespeed.
Anyway, is there any reason to use those backup plugins apart from convenience? Are there any benefits compared to manually backing up files and your database? (rclone and mysqldump, or basically using the panel like bikegremlin does)
On the topic of caching... Honestly, they are all pretty much the same thing so don't expect much difference in performance. Litespeed would probably work better in theory in a shared hosting environment. What's most important is that your site doesn't break because of the caching.
For backups - there are practical upsides to automation. Because people make mistakes, and/or forget.
Over the year's, I've made sure to have at least one remote copy always automated.
This can be achieved without using any plugins - which (at least IMO) is a better solution. Why? Each plugin puts more load on the server, presents more potential security problems, and I expect a WordPress plugin to be less reliable compared to any backup scripts run on the server, separate from the WordPress website.
In terms of convenience, JetBackup, and/or Softaculous are quite easy to use, and convenient (love JetBackup one-click account restore, when supported by the hosting provider).
JetBackup definitely one of the perks of HM. But I think @MikePT added it as a feature now, too?
Couldn't get it to work properly (probably due to not still patched to work with DirectAdmin control panel).
@Fritz said: That improvement using Shortpixel plugin ?
Mobile pagespeed scores can be affected a lot by small things such as that.
@vyas, since you are playing around with your options, maybe you can try out the nginx pagespeed module? It supposedly auto-resizes images, compresses and reformats them (jpg and webp, in case webp isn't viewable). It also does some other stuff which might help with pagespeed.
Anyway, is there any reason to use those backup plugins apart from convenience? Are there any benefits compared to manually backing up files and your database? (rclone and mysqldump, or basically using the panel like bikegremlin does)
On the topic of caching... Honestly, they are all pretty much the same thing so don't expect much difference in performance. Litespeed would probably work better in theory in a shared hosting environment. What's most important is that your site doesn't break because of the caching.
For backups - there are practical upsides to automation. Because people make mistakes, and/or forget.
Over the year's, I've made sure to have at least one remote copy always automated.
This can be achieved without using any plugins - which (at least IMO) is a better solution. Why? Each plugin puts more load on the server, presents more potential security problems, and I expect a WordPress plugin to be less reliable compared to any backup scripts run on the server, separate from the WordPress website.
In terms of convenience, JetBackup, and/or Softaculous are quite easy to use, and convenient (love JetBackup one-click account restore, when supported by the hosting provider).
JetBackup definitely one of the perks of HM. But I think @MikePT added it as a feature now, too?
Couldn't get it to work properly (probably due to not still patched to work with DirectAdmin control panel).
Initially, it wouldn't show me daily backups either. Now it shows me 7 restore points (daily) to choose from. Backup to remote, unfortunately, doesn't work yet. I think @MikePT is on it though
I am posting the subsequent parts of the post on "WordPress on a Budget" in this forum instead of a blog- as per discussion with Anthonysmith
Summary
In Part I of this two part series, I had discussed the mad rush for WordPress. Also included was a list of 'specialist' WordPress hosts and their rather expensive pricing plans. In this part II, I will discuss different ways to set up a WordPress website in under 10 US Dollars a year. Learn how you can find frugal web hosting for an entry level blog or portfolio site.
WordPress on Shared Hosting
WordPress Hosting in Under US $ 10 a Year
For sake of simplicity, we will consider a new WordPress site, which has a blog with about 20 posts and around 100 images. The reason for choosing this threshold is as follows: Most of the beginner to mid level bloggers may find it difficult to keep producing new content. After the first two or three months, producing content on a steady basis is a difficult ask.
ClassicPress- A fork of WordPress
Consider the case where the blogger is moderately familiar with managing their website. In other words, they could be a candidate for either shared hosting (not managed hosting) or even a small VPS with some hand holding. We will set a budget of US $ 10 a year for the WordPress Hosting. The assumption is that each of these hosting plans cost less than US $ 10 including any discounts if any.
For the purpose of our testing, we will only use the base (free) tier of the following
Theme: Astra, Blocksy, GeneratePress, Neve or Hestia
Plugins: Optimization, security and similar tools. The most common ones
include : ShortPixel, WordFence, Database cleaner, All In One WordPress Migration..
CDN: using either of: Cloudinary or Imagify for images and scripts. Quic.Cloud for LiteSpeed based web hosting.
The hosting plans are a mix of the following:
Shared hosting (with or without LiteSpeed server),
VPS (OVZ or KVM) with a script based installer using terminal,
(Alternate) VPS with a panel based GUI installer such as Cloudpanel or HestiaCP.
Script based installer for VPS (OVZ or KVM)
Note
Our $10 a year threshold applies to website hosting only. The prices for paid version of themes, plugins, scripts and CDN might be much higher. I am a proponent of 'pay if you find value' when it comes to Freemium products or open source projects.
In some cases, I will use ClassicPress instead of WordPress. ClassicPress is a fork of WordPress, which I have come to like in recent months because of its relative lightweight and ease of use. It is based on WordPress 4.95, i.e. it does not carry the Gutenburg and other 'bloatware' as they like to put it. For hosting with less resources, or where speed is more important than features, ClassicPress is my tool of choice.
You can replace WordPress with ClassicPress. Test System: Hostslick, 512 MB RAM, 2 VCPU, 20 GB SSD.
$5/year
Table compiled by A Vyas based on installation, configuration, and testing of WordPress sites. November/December 2020.
Note: I have also tested on the following configurations:
a. SmallWeb Singapore, 1 GB Plan ~ 10 US dollars / year @SmallWeb
b. Myw.pt 2 GB Plan "Lifetime" deal at ~ 12 US Dollars/ year @MikePT
c. Nexusbytes' ServedEZ 1 GB Plan, Germany ~ 12 US dollars/ year @seriesn
The above three are all LiteSpeed based shared hosting plans, expected results should be similar to the first installation in the table above.
In addition, I also have a setup with 512 MB RAM, 4 Cpu plan from Inception Hosting. WordPress installation took several trials, but finally things worked well with WordOps. This VPS Plan It cost me 12 Euros (~ 15 US Dollars), which is higher than the US $ 10 threshold I have set for this post. Therefore, I have excluded it from the table.
Installation of ols1clk: list of options
Results from Testing the different installations
For each of the options in the below table, we tested the following:
Loading speed using Google Page Speed Insights or GTMetrix
Website performance using K6 page load tester (similar to loader.io)
Based on the above set of tests, below are my suggestions
Shared Hosting for WordPress
Minimum Disk space: 2 GB (NVMe) or 5 GB (SSD) with LiteSpeed server/ LS Cache plugin and QUIC.Cloud OR non-LiteSpeed hosting with CDN (e.g.BunnyCDN) and optimization plugins.
VPS with Server Panels
For testing our VPS with Cloudpanel.io or aapanel (or similar) you would need a KVM with atleast 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 10 GB Disc space.
Minimum specifications for VPS hosting WordPress with a server panel
Testing the Frugal Hosting Setups
I tested nearly every installation on key 6, a load testing simulator similar to loader.io
The testing scenarios were run for:
a. Up to 40 concurrent visitors, 10 minute test duration
b. Up to 50 concurrent users, 5 minute test duration
Results of load test for shared hosting with LiteSpeed server/ LS Cache
Results of load test for shared hosting with ClassicPress on Gullo's LittleVZ 512 MB Plan, Singapore
Note that the specifications and the test factor consider the early stages of your blog or website, say up to the first two years. As traffic builds up, you may want to move on to more robust resources. However, optimization of the scripts, images and using caching plugins, etc. you may be able to cater to the increased traffic for much longer.
Our focus here is on frugality without compromising on speed or security. Particularly for the advent of WordPress 5.6, which is. separate topic of discussion.
When Should you Upgrade
My philosophy has always been that once an activity starts paying for itself, that is the time to invest further into it. But at the same time when choosing a hosting plan, account for least two or three times the capacity. That is you may yet be able to cater to up to 20,000 visitors a month with these setups without much challenge.
For example for LiteSpeed based hosting, Quic.cloud gives you 10 GB CDN traffic, optimization of 10,000 images and hosting / delivery of scripts for free. For entry level bloggers, these limits should be more than adequate.
Similarly, a gigabyte of RAM on a 1 VCPU KVM with atleast 10 GB disc space allows installation of a server panel, and WordPress for up to 3 sites with pagebuilder like Elementor. You can add a CDN and optimization plugins for greater efficiency and loading speeds.
A WordPress site is a function of many moving parts, which include but not limited to, the following:
Version of PHP on the server
version of MySQL or equivalent database
Which version fo WordPress is used
Theme: whether it is lightweight or a loaded / heavy weight one
What plugins you use
The specifications of the server itself (CPU, Ram, Disk space, network. Etc)
Scripts or any other functions that you may have added.
Firewall and security settings including Limit rating.
The type of site and content (media heavy site versus text heavy)
Use of Content delivery network for images, videos, scripts, etc
Caching
Traffic
As you may realise, there is no single way to address all of the above. Therefore it is important to do your homework particularly for hosting. Optimized hosting, something that is not oversold something that offers hardware and software specifications that can cater to the traffic are some of the criteria I am talking about. Secondly, we need to have as lightweight a site as possible by that I mean not having too much of a bloat, which many of the stock theme and plugin installations tend to do. Third, constantly update your site for plugins themes security settings, etc, keep monitoring the performance. The sites can have many points of failure, it's your job to make sure things go right.
Wrapping it all up
There are Christmas deals coming up you may yet be able to pick up a deal or two around the price range I have discussed for different hosting options. One of the motivations for writing this post was to create a hand resource for you, the go to person whom friends family significant others approach for help with their website related matters.
That was my case a few years ago, when someone very near and dear to me wanted a website for their blog and they were adamant on using WordPress. And Thus began my journey int he maze called WordPress hosting, which led me literally down a rabbit hole. Personally, I am not a super fan of WordPress. But the sites for our podcasting business, and my personal blog use WordPress as poison of choice. These are hosted on PHP Friends VPS and managed using Gridpane.
I hope that my above experiments and learnings allow me to share with you some insights. In this lost, you will find one or more WordPress hosting options to suit to your taste.
Resources:
Alternatives to k6 and Loader.io for Website load testing
Goes without saying, but worth noting nonetheless: good work @vyas
Question(s):
How does the storage size play?
I.e. why 5 GB for SSD, and 2 GB for NVMe?
Small WP site takes under 200 MB of storage.
I did notice problems when using backup plugins - they need more space (up to 10 times more than the website size) to use for packing all the data (temporarily, then it gets freed up again).
Is that the reason?
Still, even if that's that - I'm confused with different storage size recommendations for SSD, compared to NVMe storage.
Does the extra storage size somehow help with the performance?
If so, how did you compare/measure that?
@bikegremlin said:
Goes without saying, but worth noting nonetheless: good work @vyas
Question(s):
How does the storage size play?
I.e. why 5 GB for SSD, and 2 GB for NVMe?
Small WP site takes under 200 MB of storage.
I did notice problems when using backup plugins - they need more space (up to 10 times more than the website size) to use for packing all the data (temporarily, then it gets freed up again).
Is that the reason?
Still, even if that's that - I'm confused with different storage size recommendations for SSD, compared to NVMe storage.
Does the extra storage size somehow help with the performance?
If so, how did you compare/measure that?
Great question(s)
The determinant was price.
Most providers with SSD offer more disk space for same price, compared to NVMe. Usually by a factor of 2 or 2.5.
Yes, backups do take up space. So does the multiple versions of images that WP creates (and by extension image optimization plugins) therefore a bigger disk space requirements.
In my tests, I did not take up more than 180 MB including database for blog sites (as per the number of posts and images I have mentioned above) . But over period of time, the following can take up disk space
-old/ archived backups (Softaculous for eg gives option of keeping the 'n' most recent backups. I limit them to 2. Many choose for past 4 or more backups)
-bloated database
-Staging site(s)
- more images
- Post revisions
- Videos or audio
@bikegremlin said:
Goes without saying, but worth noting nonetheless: good work @vyas
Question(s):
How does the storage size play?
I.e. why 5 GB for SSD, and 2 GB for NVMe?
Small WP site takes under 200 MB of storage.
I did notice problems when using backup plugins - they need more space (up to 10 times more than the website size) to use for packing all the data (temporarily, then it gets freed up again).
Is that the reason?
Still, even if that's that - I'm confused with different storage size recommendations for SSD, compared to NVMe storage.
Does the extra storage size somehow help with the performance?
If so, how did you compare/measure that?
Great question(s)
The determinant was price.
Most providers with SSD offer more disk space for same price, compared to NVMe. Usually by a factor of 2 or 2.5.
Yes, backups do take up space. So does the multiple versions of images that WP creates (and by extension image optimization plugins) therefore a bigger disk space requirements.
In my tests, I did not take up more than 180 MB including database for blog sites (as per the number of posts and images I have mentioned above) . But over period of time, the following can take up disk space
-old/ archived backups (Softaculous for eg gives option of keeping the 'n' most recent backups. I limit them to 2. Many choose for past 4 or more backups)
-bloated database
-Staging site(s)
- more images
- Post revisions
- Videos or audio
So, if I understand correctly, provided there's enough space for all the files (and backups), any extra storage does not affect performance?
Another question: have you noticed any measurable performance gains from allowing WP to make multiple image copies?
Because, it can be configured to just leave the original, uploaded image size and be done with it.
@flips said:
I guess ClassicPress is bound to break with newer versions of WP themes, like Divi etc.(?)
I have tested Elementor and Brizy with ClassicPress. But that defeats the purpose of using ClassicPress. It serves a different purpose altogether.
@bikegremlin said:
So, if I understand correctly, provided there's enough space for all the files (and backups), any extra storage does not affect performance?
Another question: have you noticed any measurable performance gains from allowing WP to make multiple image copies?
Because, it can be configured to just leave the original, uploaded image size and be done with it.
Best option for images is to host it on a cdn. I use Gumlet on production sites for feature images.
You can host all other inline images on a web folder, link to cdn and use url based transformations. That solves problem of multiple images that WP creates, derived from the original image. Keeps backup sizes small.
Many options these days posting a link from
Imagekit, for example
More space equals better speed is a myth and probably mis selling. Caveat: my post, testing and all work excludes membership sites, woo commerce. Dynamics might be different there (bigger database, more transformations, cpu cycles ...)
Ideally, even if we add US Dollar 1 a month for BunnyCDN, maximum one will spend 22 dollars a year on hosting- assuming cdn is considered as part of hosting.
But then a seven dollar a year vpsdime and coupons from BunnyCDN (most recent was 6 USD at OGF for BF) bring down the price again to same ten dollar threshold.
@vyas Cloudflare does pretty well as a free cdn + some other optimizations features. Most of the time, free cloudflare would perform better than other options like bunnycdn unless you have a pretty serious stack.
Your posts have been quite interesting, but I find that it's not a fair comparison if you compare wordpress on shared vs classicpress on a vps. I think it would have been more interesting if you just did a webinoly wordpress stack for the comparisons. Anyway, it is pretty clear that vps > shared in almost every scenario in terms of value proposition if you're looking at performance.
Also, with regards to the topic on SSD vs NVMe, when it comes to wordpress, it's pretty much all a marketing gimmick. You wouldn't see any performance differences between SSD/NVMe AND HDD if you're on a shared environment that's not severely oversold because of I/O limits. Honestly, this applies to vps as well, but you may see some minor performance benefits compared to shared. (In my opinion, the only performance benefit is probably backups)
@bikegremlin, more allocated space in the context of webhosting does nothing to affect performance. However, bigger drives are usually faster than smaller drives because they have better engineering. However, this means nothing in the context of webhosting because with bigger drives, there would be more users and so you get less performance. Also, drives that are nearing full capacity tend to run slower.
In any case, avoid shared hosting and page builders like divi if possible. They are seriously bad news if your website grows or if you want to make changes to your site. I understand there is a market for these things but if you are making your own website and not doing it as a web dev business... Do it right. (You learn more things too)
@bibi
I concur on most of your views.
My point behind this exercise was to discover the price point which is workable for the beginner. And the available options in that range.
Was not keen on presenting the Henry Ford option “any colour as long as it it black”.
Similarly, it would do dis service to the community if I presented only one or two options “If your budget is under ten US dollars, you only have two options”.
That fortunately is not the case.
SSD/ NVMe debate is more relevant for woo commerce sites, etc. My first WP site on VPS had HDD. The host (another great guy I met) told me point blank.
“Disk type does not matter for blog. “ He even bumped up my RAM to 2x - 8 GB- for free, to prove it to me.
CF free tier for me does not work well. The traffic is routed via Germany or UK on multiple occasions.. when CF have 10 POPs in India. Maybe they are all reserved for paid plans, I am not ready for that option yet.
On a lighter note,
I have excluded Cloudflare because many members in this forums have strong emotions about CF :-)
@bibi said: @vyas Cloudflare does pretty well as a free cdn + some other optimizations features. Most of the time, free cloudflare would perform better than other options like bunnycdn unless you have a pretty serious stack.
Your posts have been quite interesting, but I find that it's not a fair comparison if you compare wordpress on shared vs classicpress on a vps. I think it would have been more interesting if you just did a webinoly wordpress stack for the comparisons. Anyway, it is pretty clear that vps > shared in almost every scenario in terms of value proposition if you're looking at performance.
Also, with regards to the topic on SSD vs NVMe, when it comes to wordpress, it's pretty much all a marketing gimmick. You wouldn't see any performance differences between SSD/NVMe AND HDD if you're on a shared environment that's not severely oversold because of I/O limits. Honestly, this applies to vps as well, but you may see some minor performance benefits compared to shared. (In my opinion, the only performance benefit is probably backups)
@bikegremlin, more allocated space in the context of webhosting does nothing to affect performance. However, bigger drives are usually faster than smaller drives because they have better engineering. However, this means nothing in the context of webhosting because with bigger drives, there would be more users and so you get less performance. Also, drives that are nearing full capacity tend to run slower.
In any case, avoid shared hosting and page builders like divi if possible. They are seriously bad news if your website grows or if you want to make changes to your site. I understand there is a market for these things but if you are making your own website and not doing it as a web dev business... Do it right. (You learn more things too)
Related to the parts of your post concerning shared (vs VPS) hosting:
I would say it depends. I wrote here about VPS (vs shared).
I would also add that there are good, and poor quality shared, as well as VPS providers.
I've seen WP sites run noticeably (and, definitely measurably) faster on a good shared hosting (with LiteSpeed), compared to a VPS.
I'd say that VPS is not always, in every way, better, and/or cheaper than shared hosting.
@vyas said: CF free tier for me does not work well. The traffic is routed via Germany or UK on multiple occasions..
That's interesting. But yeah, not using cloudflare can be better if your server is geographically close to you. I felt like the only way to beat cloudflare on a global scale is if you ran a high availability setup, so I just stuck with cloudflare.
@bikegremlin said: I would also add that there are good, and poor quality shared, as well as VPS providers.I've seen WP sites run noticeably (and, definitely measurably) faster on a good shared hosting (with LiteSpeed), compared to a VPS.
I agree that shared can sometimes be better. However, my claim was that VPS gives you better performance per dollar. Spend the same amount of money on shared hosting and a VPS, and 99% of the time the VPS will give you better performance on the same website.
Your site briefly touches on overselling. However, the reality is the situation is usually much, much worse on shared hosting environments because there's gonna be resellers who fill up those servers. You said on your blog that a host could sell 64 plans of 2 GB ram on a server with 64 GB ram and 12 threads. Okay, for the sake of argument, I'll accept that as fact. However, among some of the shared hosts which you use, I am aware that they use servers with 8 threads and 32 GB ram, and they sell reseller plans on those servers. You could be looking at THOUSANDS of accounts on ONE server. Then, there's the issue of the stack. What you get with litespeed etc. on a default softaculous wordpress install is a much slower stack than stacks which you can run on a VPS.
There's many more details which can be discussed, but I cannot imagine a shared plan doing better than a VPS provided they have the same price tag. The stress tests which @vyas did show a clear picture here. It's a shame you can't really tell what the average response time is on shared because of the failed requests.
@vyas said: CF free tier for me does not work well. The traffic is routed via Germany or UK on multiple occasions..
That's interesting. But yeah, not using cloudflare can be better if your server is geographically close to you. I felt like the only way to beat cloudflare on a global scale is if you ran a high availability setup, so I just stuck with cloudflare.
@bikegremlin said: I would also add that there are good, and poor quality shared, as well as VPS providers.I've seen WP sites run noticeably (and, definitely measurably) faster on a good shared hosting (with LiteSpeed), compared to a VPS.
I agree that shared can sometimes be better. However, my claim was that VPS gives you better performance per dollar. Spend the same amount of money on shared hosting and a VPS, and 99% of the time the VPS will give you better performance on the same website.
Your site briefly touches on overselling. However, the reality is the situation is usually much, much worse on shared hosting environments because there's gonna be resellers who fill up those servers. You said on your blog that a host could sell 64 plans of 2 GB ram on a server with 64 GB ram and 12 threads. Okay, for the sake of argument, I'll accept that as fact. However, among some of the shared hosts which you use, I am aware that they use servers with 8 threads and 32 GB ram, and they sell reseller plans on those servers. You could be looking at THOUSANDS of accounts on ONE server. Then, there's the issue of the stack. What you get with litespeed etc. on a default softaculous wordpress install is a much slower stack than stacks which you can run on a VPS.
There's many more details which can be discussed, but I cannot imagine a shared plan doing better than a VPS provided they have the same price tag. The stress tests which @vyas did show a clear picture here. It's a shame you can't really tell what the average response time is on shared because of the failed requests.
Have you checked server load stats?
Because, everytime I check, server CPU is not even 50% loaded (unless cPanel server load info is lying).
Also, for WordPress, depending on how one does the caching (and other optimizations), LiteSpeed that comes with shared hosting (included in the price) can give a lot of "bang for the buck".
Same goes for the antivirus software, and the fact that someone else is worrying about the security and server maintenance. On a cheap VPS (unmanaged) - you're on your own. On a managed VPS - less so, but you pay a lot more.
One more point. My website doesn't seem to use more than 512 MB of RAM. However, if I wanted to run a control panel (which makes things a lot easier, more convenient) - I'd have to get a VPS with more RAM = more expensive, just for that.
@bikegremlin said: Because, everytime I check, server CPU is not even 50% loaded (unless cPanel server load info is lying).
It probably isn't lying. Just curious, do you mean load on your cpanel account or on WHM? Someone on LET said that shared environments don't use more than 1 thread, so it could be a case where your account is allocated 2 threads but it can't ever exceed 50%.
@bikegremlin said: Also, for WordPress, depending on how one does the caching (and other optimizations), LiteSpeed that comes with shared hosting (included in the price) can give a lot of "bang for the buck".
Not really. Litespeed is only a good solution in the sense that you don't have to do anything to enable it. Also, wordpress caching helps a lot when it comes to rendering pages for visitors. But it doesn't help that much for the admin backend. Honestly, the main reason why I dislike using shared hosting is because the wordpress backend tends to run very slowly on shared hosting.
@bikegremlin said: Same goes for the antivirus software, and the fact that someone else is worrying about the security and server maintenance.
The antivirus scanners don't do much in my opinion. Anyway, since we are talking wordpress, most of the time, people get hacked because they had some insecure plugin. In which case, you run the same risks on both shared and on VPS.
@bikegremlin said: One more point. My website doesn't seem to use more than 512 MB of RAM. However, if I wanted to run a control panel (which makes things a lot easier, more convenient) - I'd have to get a VPS with more RAM = more expensive, just for that.
Yeah, but how often do you use a control panel? You could probably make do without one, or you could make do by using swap. Either way, it's not uncommon for people to pay $5-10/month for shared hosting. For that price, you can easily get 1 GB of ram almost anywhere. Yes, there are dirt cheap shared plans going for $1-2/month but the same is true for VPS.
You get less performance but more convenience on shared hosting than running a VPS. But, what kind of convenience are we talking about here? Probably things like being able to use plugins like jetbackup, or being able to ask support for help with simple tasks.
@bikegremlin said: Because, everytime I check, server CPU is not even 50% loaded (unless cPanel server load info is lying).
It probably isn't lying. Just curious, do you mean load on your cpanel account or on WHM? Someone on LET said that shared environments don't use more than 1 thread, so it could be a case where your account is allocated 2 threads but it can't ever exceed 50%.
I mean server load stats shown using PhpSysInfo (link with the pic), or within cPanel/WHM (cPanel itself shows it to users/customers), as shown here:
@bikegremlin said: Also, for WordPress, depending on how one does the caching (and other optimizations), LiteSpeed that comes with shared hosting (included in the price) can give a lot of "bang for the buck".
Not really. Litespeed is only a good solution in the sense that you don't have to do anything to enable it. Also, wordpress caching helps a lot when it comes to rendering pages for visitors. But it doesn't help that much for the admin backend. Honestly, the main reason why I dislike using shared hosting is because the wordpress backend tends to run very slowly on shared hosting.
Yes, caching doesn't do much for the backend. Also, when doing major changes in post categories for example (with hundred or more existing posts), it does put some load on the CPU and DB I/O (shown in the usage stats, on poor quality shared hosting this even gives 5xx errors on the frontend for a few minutes).
Can't argue with your backend speed experience. I personally haven't noticed it being slow on decent shared hosting. But haven't done much comparison with VPS - to check it side by side and notice any (noticeable & measurable) difference.
@bikegremlin said: Same goes for the antivirus software, and the fact that someone else is worrying about the security and server maintenance.
The antivirus scanners don't do much in my opinion. Anyway, since we are talking wordpress, most of the time, people get hacked because they had some insecure plugin. In which case, you run the same risks on both shared and on VPS.
I agree. Still, it's nice to know that there are fewer potential problem causes. Also, it's very nice to get notified as soon as possible (suppose AV software can help with that, at least to a degree).
@bikegremlin said: One more point. My website doesn't seem to use more than 512 MB of RAM. However, if I wanted to run a control panel (which makes things a lot easier, more convenient) - I'd have to get a VPS with more RAM = more expensive, just for that.
Yeah, but how often do you use a control panel? You could probably make do without one, or you could make do by using swap. Either way, it's not uncommon for people to pay $5-10/month for shared hosting. For that price, you can easily get 1 GB of ram almost anywhere. Yes, there are dirt cheap shared plans going for $1-2/month but the same is true for VPS.
It depends. When doing development, I find one-click JetBackup restoration super convenient. Saves time and hassle.
Same goes for installing WP, and file manager from a control panel is fast and convenient to use.
Once a site is set up, I suppose I don't really need a control panel.
You get less performance but more convenience on shared hosting than running a VPS. But, what kind of convenience are we talking about here? Probably things like being able to use plugins like jetbackup, or being able to ask support for help with simple tasks.
In addition to the above noted pluses of a "one-click" control panel:
Scripts like Softaculous make installation, and cloning/migration super easy (saves time and hassle).
0 worries about firewall, security & maintenance in general. It's someone else's job.
Some great discussions overnight! Great going , folks..
On the space required for WordPress issue:
This facebook post cracked me up. Very typical unfortunately.
The guy has a Plan on Siteground and 20 GB space, he has no space left to convert staging site to live
JetBackup definitely one of the perks of HM. But I think @MikePT added it as a feature now, too?
Couldn't get it to work properly (probably due to not still patched to work with DirectAdmin control panel).
@ykmper said:
Initially, it wouldn't show me daily backups either. Now it shows me 7 restore points (daily) to choose from. Backup to remote, unfortunately, doesn't work yet. I think @MikePT is on it though
We are glad to see your interests and use of JetBackup. We are interested to hear more about you not being able to get JetBackup to work on DirectAdmin and not be able to backup to remote destinations. As you may be aware, JetBackup 5.0.X and 5.1.X are now both available on BETA and EDGE tiers respectively. Both JetBackup 5.0.X and 5.1.X support have support for DirectAdmin Panel with the main difference being 5.1.X was more recently released and now supports backups to S3 Compatible destinations and utilizes our brand new core engine.
We highly suggest reaching out to our support team at [email protected] or leave a post in our forums at JetBackup DirectAdmin Forums and we would be more than happy to assist with any questions you may have. We appreciate any and all feedback from our users as it helps us deliver more secure and reliable software.
JetBackup definitely one of the perks of HM. But I think @MikePT added it as a feature now, too?
Couldn't get it to work properly (probably due to not still patched to work with DirectAdmin control panel).
@ykmper said:
Initially, it wouldn't show me daily backups either. Now it shows me 7 restore points (daily) to choose from. Backup to remote, unfortunately, doesn't work yet. I think @MikePT is on it though
We are glad to see your interests and use of JetBackup. We are interested to hear more about you not being able to get JetBackup to work on DirectAdmin and not be able to backup to remote destinations. As you may be aware, JetBackup 5.0.X and 5.1.X are now both available on BETA and EDGE tiers respectively. Both JetBackup 5.0.X and 5.1.X support have support for DirectAdmin Panel with the main difference being 5.1.X was more recently released and now supports backups to S3 Compatible destinations and utilizes our brand new core engine.
We highly suggest reaching out to our support team at [email protected] or leave a post in our forums at JetBackup DirectAdmin Forums and we would be more than happy to assist with any questions you may have. We appreciate any and all feedback from our users as it helps us deliver more secure and reliable software.
Best Regards,
The JetApps Team
First and foremost - thanks for reaching out.
I had given up on JetBackup (and Softaculous for that matter) with DirectAdmin.
They work very well on cPanel, but last time I tried on the DirectAdmin hosting I'm using, they wouldn't work.
If the app is patched for DirectAdmin, I'd first give it another go, then, if it doesn't work, check with the provider, before contacting JetApps Team (does that make sense?).
I had given up on JetBackup (and Softaculous for that matter) with DirectAdmin.
They work very well on cPanel, but last time I tried on the DirectAdmin hosting I'm using, they wouldn't work.
If the app is patched for DirectAdmin, I'd first give it another go, then, if it doesn't work, check with the provider, before contacting JetApps Team (does that make sense?).
We are sorry to hear your experience with JetBackup 5 for DirectAdmin was not the same as JetBackup 4 for cPanel. We understand using JetBackup 5 while it is in EDGE has potential bugs that need to be fixed. This is why we appreciate any feedback from the community so that we can help identify these issues and get our stable release out faster. With that said we do hope to see you trying JetBackup 5 for DirectAdmin again when it reaches STABLE tier, which on our current roadmap is planned for release within 6-9 months.
I had given up on JetBackup (and Softaculous for that matter) with DirectAdmin.
They work very well on cPanel, but last time I tried on the DirectAdmin hosting I'm using, they wouldn't work.
If the app is patched for DirectAdmin, I'd first give it another go, then, if it doesn't work, check with the provider, before contacting JetApps Team (does that make sense?).
We are sorry to hear your experience with JetBackup 5 for DirectAdmin was not the same as JetBackup 4 for cPanel. We understand using JetBackup 5 while it is in EDGE has potential bugs that need to be fixed. This is why we appreciate any feedback from the community so that we can help identify these issues and get our stable release out faster. With that said we do hope to see you trying JetBackup 5 for DirectAdmin again when it reaches STABLE tier, which on our current roadmap is planned for release within 6-9 months.
Best Regards,
The JetApps Team.
Waiting JetBackup stable for Directadmin. Hope everything will be as planned.
I had given up on JetBackup (and Softaculous for that matter) with DirectAdmin.
They work very well on cPanel, but last time I tried on the DirectAdmin hosting I'm using, they wouldn't work.
If the app is patched for DirectAdmin, I'd first give it another go, then, if it doesn't work, check with the provider, before contacting JetApps Team (does that make sense?).
We are sorry to hear your experience with JetBackup 5 for DirectAdmin was not the same as JetBackup 4 for cPanel. We understand using JetBackup 5 while it is in EDGE has potential bugs that need to be fixed. This is why we appreciate any feedback from the community so that we can help identify these issues and get our stable release out faster. With that said we do hope to see you trying JetBackup 5 for DirectAdmin again when it reaches STABLE tier, which on our current roadmap is planned for release within 6-9 months.
Best Regards,
The JetApps Team.
Waiting JetBackup stable for Directadmin. Hope everything will be as planned.
In software development, it is often the case that the last 10% of a project take almost as much time as the first 90%.
Still, the important thing is that it's being worked on, because that way it will get done - sooner, or later.
Really looking forward to JetBackup on DirectAdmin. It makes things super-convenient.
Cyberpanel is developed by the Litespeed company. Vender straight down to the match may not be a good thing.
Not shure if that is necessarily a bad thing. WP themselves offer hosting.
My thoughts go in a different direction. Litespeed could get acquired by a VC or even Automattic.
If it is the former, then there could be price increases coming down the line.
They’ve been offering it for a while now. Think they even relaunched their cloud dashboard which used to be free but is now only available in conjunction with their hosting products. I think they also offer the ability to use OLS as a reverse proxy to Apache as well.
The cloud dashboard offers central server monitor, with some maintenance tools such as the ability to run database optimisation remotely.
@Intelpentium0 said:
Thinking to move a wp site from cpanel to an idle 3gb Ram vps.
Shall I install CWP and move?
Please suggest all 'free' ways.
If you are fine not having a panel, there's many other good options that work better and are well maintained.
Like bleeding edge? Go centminmod. Otherwise, you can pick something like easyengine/webinoly etc. If you really must have a panel, then probably virtualmin/webmin.
@Intelpentium0 said:
Thinking to move a wp site from cpanel to an idle 3gb Ram vps.
Shall I install CWP and move?
Please suggest all 'free' ways.
Is this for a personal site?
No. A small news site. Postie plugin is a must. It will automatically check for mail from a certain address once in every 10 minutes and import news. So only a panel without webmail will NOT be ok.
✓✓Only shared hosting-both DA and cPanel Still in 2006
No. A small news site. Postie plugin is a must. It will automatically check for mail from a certain address once in every 10 minutes and import news. So only a panel without webmail will NOT be ok.
you dont need webmail for this plugin imap/pop is enough, mxroute + wordops will work like a charm
So, sort of Wordpress related, as I mostly run WP sites these days ... I noticed lots of the panels and scripts seems to suggest or add Redis by default?
Can someone explain to me, sort of simplified, when it's needed/a good idea to run Redis, and when not to bother?
@Intelpentium0 said:
Ok. Will go for wordops then.. In LET, I saw about cipi and was waiting for @vyas review.
only for one wordpress cipi is overkill if you are planning to run multiple tenant on a one server then you can use cipi
@flips said:
So, sort of Wordpress related, as I mostly run WP sites these days ... I noticed lots of the panels and scripts seems to suggest or add Redis by default?
Can someone explain to me, sort of simplified, when it's needed/a good idea to run Redis, and when not to bother?
From my experience, if you are using Nginx then Nginx FastCGI Cache is the fastest one. It work on server level. You only need nginx_helper module to flush/purge the cache.
⭕ A simple uptime dashboard using UptimeRobot API https://upy.duo.ovh
⭕ Currently using VPS from BuyVM, GreenCloudVPS, Gullo's, Hetzner, HostHatch, InceptionHosting, LetBox, MaxKVM, MrVM, VirMach.
Yes, @wordpress, I've read that WordOps explanation and others ... But Redis is not just another general cache, as It says "object store"? Won't it's effectiveness depend on content type/setup?
(There's an optional redis object cache plugin for WP.)
... Or to put it simpler: Should I install Redis no matter what kinda content the WP install hosts? And no matter if the stack uses LScache or some other general cache (utilizing Varnish or whatever)?
Comments
Below are screenshots in case you are only looking to optimize images, and have @ 200 odd images in your wp-contents. I ran this locally on the VPS not using a subdomain. This was done using Shortpixel plugin. You can also use their command line based script, optimize the images on your server, and then upload the optimized images on to WP (which I prefer to do these days)
Before optimization, Sept 2020: (I do not have the screenshot from post optimization results)
https://img.gaatha.co/ac98rx
Image Compression/optimization complete:
https://img.gaatha.co/cMG2Ih
Speed Test results- 3 months later.
https://img.gaatha.co/dcxnDF
Edit: (referencing the comment below: I did not get the bump in speeds only because of image optimization. There were some other tweaks. Also note that the pagespeed algorithm may have been updated between September and December.
But yes, image optimization alone can yield significant improvement
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That improvement using Shortpixel plugin ?
https://microlxc.net/
Mobile pagespeed scores can be affected a lot by small things such as that.
@vyas, since you are playing around with your options, maybe you can try out the nginx pagespeed module? It supposedly auto-resizes images, compresses and reformats them (jpg and webp, in case webp isn't viewable). It also does some other stuff which might help with pagespeed.
Anyway, is there any reason to use those backup plugins apart from convenience? Are there any benefits compared to manually backing up files and your database? (rclone and mysqldump, or basically using the panel like bikegremlin does)
On the topic of caching... Honestly, they are all pretty much the same thing so don't expect much difference in performance. Litespeed would probably work better in theory in a shared hosting environment. What's most important is that your site doesn't break because of the caching.
.> @bibi said:
For backups - there are practical upsides to automation. Because people make mistakes, and/or forget.
Over the year's, I've made sure to have at least one remote copy always automated.
This can be achieved without using any plugins - which (at least IMO) is a better solution. Why? Each plugin puts more load on the server, presents more potential security problems, and I expect a WordPress plugin to be less reliable compared to any backup scripts run on the server, separate from the WordPress website.
In terms of convenience, JetBackup, and/or Softaculous are quite easy to use, and convenient (love JetBackup one-click account restore, when supported by the hosting provider).
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
JetBackup definitely one of the perks of HM. But I think @MikePT added it as a feature now, too?
Ympker's VPN LTD Comparison, Uptime.is, Ympker's GitHub.
Couldn't get it to work properly (probably due to not still patched to work with DirectAdmin control panel).
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
Initially, it wouldn't show me daily backups either. Now it shows me 7 restore points (daily) to choose from. Backup to remote, unfortunately, doesn't work yet. I think @MikePT is on it though
Ympker's VPN LTD Comparison, Uptime.is, Ympker's GitHub.
I am posting the subsequent parts of the post on "WordPress on a Budget" in this forum instead of a blog- as per discussion with Anthonysmith
Summary
In Part I of this two part series, I had discussed the mad rush for WordPress. Also included was a list of 'specialist' WordPress hosts and their rather expensive pricing plans. In this part II, I will discuss different ways to set up a WordPress website in under 10 US Dollars a year. Learn how you can find frugal web hosting for an entry level blog or portfolio site.
WordPress on Shared Hosting
WordPress Hosting in Under US $ 10 a Year
For sake of simplicity, we will consider a new WordPress site, which has a blog with about 20 posts and around 100 images. The reason for choosing this threshold is as follows: Most of the beginner to mid level bloggers may find it difficult to keep producing new content. After the first two or three months, producing content on a steady basis is a difficult ask.
ClassicPress- A fork of WordPress
Consider the case where the blogger is moderately familiar with managing their website. In other words, they could be a candidate for either shared hosting (not managed hosting) or even a small VPS with some hand holding. We will set a budget of US $ 10 a year for the WordPress Hosting. The assumption is that each of these hosting plans cost less than US $ 10 including any discounts if any.
For the purpose of our testing, we will only use the base (free) tier of the following
Theme: Astra, Blocksy, GeneratePress, Neve or Hestia
Plugins: Optimization, security and similar tools. The most common ones
include : ShortPixel, WordFence, Database cleaner, All In One WordPress Migration..
CDN: using either of: Cloudinary or Imagify for images and scripts. Quic.Cloud for LiteSpeed based web hosting.
The hosting plans are a mix of the following:
Script based installer for VPS (OVZ or KVM)
Note
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Comparing different Hosting Options
Combination of Different Hosting Tested for this post
Minimum disk space recommended 2 GB.
NVME or SSD disc Preferred
Minimum 5 GB SSD preferred
Nginx
WordPress (replaced with ClassicPress) with Cloudpanel
Test System: Hostslick, 512 MB RAM, 2 VCPU, 20 GB SSD.
Table compiled by A Vyas based on installation, configuration, and testing of WordPress sites. November/December 2020.
Note: I have also tested on the following configurations:
a. SmallWeb Singapore, 1 GB Plan ~ 10 US dollars / year @SmallWeb
b. Myw.pt 2 GB Plan "Lifetime" deal at ~ 12 US Dollars/ year @MikePT
c. Nexusbytes' ServedEZ 1 GB Plan, Germany ~ 12 US dollars/ year @seriesn
The above three are all LiteSpeed based shared hosting plans, expected results should be similar to the first installation in the table above.
In addition, I also have a setup with 512 MB RAM, 4 Cpu plan from Inception Hosting. WordPress installation took several trials, but finally things worked well with WordOps. This VPS Plan It cost me 12 Euros (~ 15 US Dollars), which is higher than the US $ 10 threshold I have set for this post. Therefore, I have excluded it from the table.
Installation of ols1clk: list of options
Results from Testing the different installations
For each of the options in the below table, we tested the following:
Loading speed using Google Page Speed Insights or GTMetrix
Website performance using K6 page load tester (similar to loader.io)
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Based on the above set of tests, below are my suggestions
Shared Hosting for WordPress
Minimum Disk space: 2 GB (NVMe) or 5 GB (SSD) with LiteSpeed server/ LS Cache plugin and QUIC.Cloud OR non-LiteSpeed hosting with CDN (e.g.BunnyCDN) and optimization plugins.
VPS with Server Panels
For testing our VPS with Cloudpanel.io or aapanel (or similar) you would need a KVM with atleast 1 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, 10 GB Disc space.
Minimum specifications for VPS hosting WordPress with a server panel
Testing the Frugal Hosting Setups
I tested nearly every installation on key 6, a load testing simulator similar to loader.io
The testing scenarios were run for:
a. Up to 40 concurrent visitors, 10 minute test duration
b. Up to 50 concurrent users, 5 minute test duration
Results of load test for shared hosting with LiteSpeed server/ LS Cache
Results of load test for shared hosting with ClassicPress on Gullo's LittleVZ 512 MB Plan, Singapore
Note that the specifications and the test factor consider the early stages of your blog or website, say up to the first two years. As traffic builds up, you may want to move on to more robust resources. However, optimization of the scripts, images and using caching plugins, etc. you may be able to cater to the increased traffic for much longer.
Our focus here is on frugality without compromising on speed or security. Particularly for the advent of WordPress 5.6, which is. separate topic of discussion.
When Should you Upgrade
My philosophy has always been that once an activity starts paying for itself, that is the time to invest further into it. But at the same time when choosing a hosting plan, account for least two or three times the capacity. That is you may yet be able to cater to up to 20,000 visitors a month with these setups without much challenge.
For example for LiteSpeed based hosting, Quic.cloud gives you 10 GB CDN traffic, optimization of 10,000 images and hosting / delivery of scripts for free. For entry level bloggers, these limits should be more than adequate.
Similarly, a gigabyte of RAM on a 1 VCPU KVM with atleast 10 GB disc space allows installation of a server panel, and WordPress for up to 3 sites with pagebuilder like Elementor. You can add a CDN and optimization plugins for greater efficiency and loading speeds.
Server Monitoring installed by WordOps
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Final Thoughts and Takeaways
A WordPress site is a function of many moving parts, which include but not limited to, the following:
As you may realise, there is no single way to address all of the above. Therefore it is important to do your homework particularly for hosting. Optimized hosting, something that is not oversold something that offers hardware and software specifications that can cater to the traffic are some of the criteria I am talking about. Secondly, we need to have as lightweight a site as possible by that I mean not having too much of a bloat, which many of the stock theme and plugin installations tend to do. Third, constantly update your site for plugins themes security settings, etc, keep monitoring the performance. The sites can have many points of failure, it's your job to make sure things go right.
Wrapping it all up
There are Christmas deals coming up you may yet be able to pick up a deal or two around the price range I have discussed for different hosting options. One of the motivations for writing this post was to create a hand resource for you, the go to person whom friends family significant others approach for help with their website related matters.
That was my case a few years ago, when someone very near and dear to me wanted a website for their blog and they were adamant on using WordPress. And Thus began my journey int he maze called WordPress hosting, which led me literally down a rabbit hole. Personally, I am not a super fan of WordPress. But the sites for our podcasting business, and my personal blog use WordPress as poison of choice. These are hosted on PHP Friends VPS and managed using Gridpane.
I hope that my above experiments and learnings allow me to share with you some insights. In this lost, you will find one or more WordPress hosting options to suit to your taste.
Resources:
Alternatives to k6 and Loader.io for Website load testing
I came across multiple resources, posting a few
Product Hunt: https://www.producthunt.com/alternatives/loader-io
Stackshare: https://stackshare.io/loader-io/alternatives
Website Speed Tools
GTMetrix: https://gtmetrix.com
Note: You should create an account / sign in to select a server closer to your location. Default is on Google Chrome/ Desktop in Vancouver.
Page Speed Insights: https://developers.google.com/speed/pagespeed/insights/
Pingdom: https://tools.pingdom.com
Note: You can select server (destination) location on the page.
As an aside, I recommend using WordPress upto version 5.5 only because of numerous issues with WordPress 5.6.
blog archives
Goes without saying, but worth noting nonetheless: good work @vyas
Question(s):
How does the storage size play?
I.e. why 5 GB for SSD, and 2 GB for NVMe?
Small WP site takes under 200 MB of storage.
I did notice problems when using backup plugins - they need more space (up to 10 times more than the website size) to use for packing all the data (temporarily, then it gets freed up again).
Is that the reason?
Still, even if that's that - I'm confused with different storage size recommendations for SSD, compared to NVMe storage.
Does the extra storage size somehow help with the performance?
If so, how did you compare/measure that?
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
Great question(s)
The determinant was price.
Most providers with SSD offer more disk space for same price, compared to NVMe. Usually by a factor of 2 or 2.5.
Yes, backups do take up space. So does the multiple versions of images that WP creates (and by extension image optimization plugins) therefore a bigger disk space requirements.
In my tests, I did not take up more than 180 MB including database for blog sites (as per the number of posts and images I have mentioned above) . But over period of time, the following can take up disk space
-old/ archived backups (Softaculous for eg gives option of keeping the 'n' most recent backups. I limit them to 2. Many choose for past 4 or more backups)
-bloated database
-Staging site(s)
- more images
- Post revisions
- Videos or audio
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So, if I understand correctly, provided there's enough space for all the files (and backups), any extra storage does not affect performance?
Another question: have you noticed any measurable performance gains from allowing WP to make multiple image copies?
Because, it can be configured to just leave the original, uploaded image size and be done with it.
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
I guess ClassicPress is bound to break with newer versions of WP themes, like Divi etc.(?)
I have tested Elementor and Brizy with ClassicPress. But that defeats the purpose of using ClassicPress. It serves a different purpose altogether.
Best option for images is to host it on a cdn. I use Gumlet on production sites for feature images.
You can host all other inline images on a web folder, link to cdn and use url based transformations. That solves problem of multiple images that WP creates, derived from the original image. Keeps backup sizes small.
Many options these days posting a link from
Imagekit, for example
https://docs.imagekit.io/features/image-transformations/resize-crop-and-other-transformations
More space equals better speed is a myth and probably mis selling. Caveat: my post, testing and all work excludes membership sites, woo commerce. Dynamics might be different there (bigger database, more transformations, cpu cycles ...)
Ideally, even if we add US Dollar 1 a month for BunnyCDN, maximum one will spend 22 dollars a year on hosting- assuming cdn is considered as part of hosting.
But then a seven dollar a year vpsdime and coupons from BunnyCDN (most recent was 6 USD at OGF for BF) bring down the price again to same ten dollar threshold.
blog archives
@vyas Cloudflare does pretty well as a free cdn + some other optimizations features. Most of the time, free cloudflare would perform better than other options like bunnycdn unless you have a pretty serious stack.
Your posts have been quite interesting, but I find that it's not a fair comparison if you compare wordpress on shared vs classicpress on a vps. I think it would have been more interesting if you just did a webinoly wordpress stack for the comparisons. Anyway, it is pretty clear that vps > shared in almost every scenario in terms of value proposition if you're looking at performance.
Also, with regards to the topic on SSD vs NVMe, when it comes to wordpress, it's pretty much all a marketing gimmick. You wouldn't see any performance differences between SSD/NVMe AND HDD if you're on a shared environment that's not severely oversold because of I/O limits. Honestly, this applies to vps as well, but you may see some minor performance benefits compared to shared. (In my opinion, the only performance benefit is probably backups)
@bikegremlin, more allocated space in the context of webhosting does nothing to affect performance. However, bigger drives are usually faster than smaller drives because they have better engineering. However, this means nothing in the context of webhosting because with bigger drives, there would be more users and so you get less performance. Also, drives that are nearing full capacity tend to run slower.
In any case, avoid shared hosting and page builders like divi if possible. They are seriously bad news if your website grows or if you want to make changes to your site. I understand there is a market for these things but if you are making your own website and not doing it as a web dev business... Do it right. (You learn more things too)
@bibi
I concur on most of your views.
My point behind this exercise was to discover the price point which is workable for the beginner. And the available options in that range.
Was not keen on presenting the Henry Ford option “any colour as long as it it black”.
Similarly, it would do dis service to the community if I presented only one or two options “If your budget is under ten US dollars, you only have two options”.
That fortunately is not the case.
SSD/ NVMe debate is more relevant for woo commerce sites, etc. My first WP site on VPS had HDD. The host (another great guy I met) told me point blank.
“Disk type does not matter for blog. “ He even bumped up my RAM to 2x - 8 GB- for free, to prove it to me.
CF free tier for me does not work well. The traffic is routed via Germany or UK on multiple occasions.. when CF have 10 POPs in India. Maybe they are all reserved for paid plans, I am not ready for that option yet.
On a lighter note,
I have excluded Cloudflare because many members in this forums have strong emotions about CF :-)
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Related to the parts of your post concerning shared (vs VPS) hosting:
I would say it depends. I wrote here about VPS (vs shared).
I would also add that there are good, and poor quality shared, as well as VPS providers.
I've seen WP sites run noticeably (and, definitely measurably) faster on a good shared hosting (with LiteSpeed), compared to a VPS.
I'd say that VPS is not always, in every way, better, and/or cheaper than shared hosting.
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
That's interesting. But yeah, not using cloudflare can be better if your server is geographically close to you. I felt like the only way to beat cloudflare on a global scale is if you ran a high availability setup, so I just stuck with cloudflare.
I agree that shared can sometimes be better. However, my claim was that VPS gives you better performance per dollar. Spend the same amount of money on shared hosting and a VPS, and 99% of the time the VPS will give you better performance on the same website.
Your site briefly touches on overselling. However, the reality is the situation is usually much, much worse on shared hosting environments because there's gonna be resellers who fill up those servers. You said on your blog that a host could sell 64 plans of 2 GB ram on a server with 64 GB ram and 12 threads. Okay, for the sake of argument, I'll accept that as fact. However, among some of the shared hosts which you use, I am aware that they use servers with 8 threads and 32 GB ram, and they sell reseller plans on those servers. You could be looking at THOUSANDS of accounts on ONE server. Then, there's the issue of the stack. What you get with litespeed etc. on a default softaculous wordpress install is a much slower stack than stacks which you can run on a VPS.
There's many more details which can be discussed, but I cannot imagine a shared plan doing better than a VPS provided they have the same price tag. The stress tests which @vyas did show a clear picture here. It's a shame you can't really tell what the average response time is on shared because of the failed requests.
Have you checked server load stats?
Because, everytime I check, server CPU is not even 50% loaded (unless cPanel server load info is lying).
Also, for WordPress, depending on how one does the caching (and other optimizations), LiteSpeed that comes with shared hosting (included in the price) can give a lot of "bang for the buck".
Same goes for the antivirus software, and the fact that someone else is worrying about the security and server maintenance. On a cheap VPS (unmanaged) - you're on your own. On a managed VPS - less so, but you pay a lot more.
One more point. My website doesn't seem to use more than 512 MB of RAM. However, if I wanted to run a control panel (which makes things a lot easier, more convenient) - I'd have to get a VPS with more RAM = more expensive, just for that.
So there are pros and cons.
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It probably isn't lying. Just curious, do you mean load on your cpanel account or on WHM? Someone on LET said that shared environments don't use more than 1 thread, so it could be a case where your account is allocated 2 threads but it can't ever exceed 50%.
Not really. Litespeed is only a good solution in the sense that you don't have to do anything to enable it. Also, wordpress caching helps a lot when it comes to rendering pages for visitors. But it doesn't help that much for the admin backend. Honestly, the main reason why I dislike using shared hosting is because the wordpress backend tends to run very slowly on shared hosting.
The antivirus scanners don't do much in my opinion. Anyway, since we are talking wordpress, most of the time, people get hacked because they had some insecure plugin. In which case, you run the same risks on both shared and on VPS.
Yeah, but how often do you use a control panel? You could probably make do without one, or you could make do by using swap. Either way, it's not uncommon for people to pay $5-10/month for shared hosting. For that price, you can easily get 1 GB of ram almost anywhere. Yes, there are dirt cheap shared plans going for $1-2/month but the same is true for VPS.
You get less performance but more convenience on shared hosting than running a VPS. But, what kind of convenience are we talking about here? Probably things like being able to use plugins like jetbackup, or being able to ask support for help with simple tasks.
Comparison between shared and vps never end.
I do everything on VPS these day, not because cheap or better... Just because I have many idling.
I have not touch directadmin till now. Maybe I need to find some time to check it.
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I mean server load stats shown using PhpSysInfo (link with the pic), or within cPanel/WHM (cPanel itself shows it to users/customers), as shown here:
Yes, caching doesn't do much for the backend. Also, when doing major changes in post categories for example (with hundred or more existing posts), it does put some load on the CPU and DB I/O (shown in the usage stats, on poor quality shared hosting this even gives 5xx errors on the frontend for a few minutes).
Can't argue with your backend speed experience. I personally haven't noticed it being slow on decent shared hosting. But haven't done much comparison with VPS - to check it side by side and notice any (noticeable & measurable) difference.
I agree. Still, it's nice to know that there are fewer potential problem causes. Also, it's very nice to get notified as soon as possible (suppose AV software can help with that, at least to a degree).
It depends. When doing development, I find one-click JetBackup restoration super convenient. Saves time and hassle.
Same goes for installing WP, and file manager from a control panel is fast and convenient to use.
Once a site is set up, I suppose I don't really need a control panel.
In addition to the above noted pluses of a "one-click" control panel:
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Some great discussions overnight! Great going , folks..
On the space required for WordPress issue:
This facebook post cracked me up. Very typical unfortunately.
The guy has a Plan on Siteground and 20 GB space, he has no space left to convert staging site to live
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Hello @bikegremlin and @ykmper,
We are glad to see your interests and use of JetBackup. We are interested to hear more about you not being able to get JetBackup to work on DirectAdmin and not be able to backup to remote destinations. As you may be aware, JetBackup 5.0.X and 5.1.X are now both available on BETA and EDGE tiers respectively. Both JetBackup 5.0.X and 5.1.X support have support for DirectAdmin Panel with the main difference being 5.1.X was more recently released and now supports backups to S3 Compatible destinations and utilizes our brand new core engine.
We highly suggest reaching out to our support team at [email protected] or leave a post in our forums at JetBackup DirectAdmin Forums and we would be more than happy to assist with any questions you may have. We appreciate any and all feedback from our users as it helps us deliver more secure and reliable software.
Best Regards,
The JetApps Team
First and foremost - thanks for reaching out.
I had given up on JetBackup (and Softaculous for that matter) with DirectAdmin.
They work very well on cPanel, but last time I tried on the DirectAdmin hosting I'm using, they wouldn't work.
If the app is patched for DirectAdmin, I'd first give it another go, then, if it doesn't work, check with the provider, before contacting JetApps Team (does that make sense?).
I documented my use with cPanel for automated website backups to a remote destination using JetBackup. This works flawlessly (knock on wood
).
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
We are sorry to hear your experience with JetBackup 5 for DirectAdmin was not the same as JetBackup 4 for cPanel. We understand using JetBackup 5 while it is in EDGE has potential bugs that need to be fixed. This is why we appreciate any feedback from the community so that we can help identify these issues and get our stable release out faster. With that said we do hope to see you trying JetBackup 5 for DirectAdmin again when it reaches STABLE tier, which on our current roadmap is planned for release within 6-9 months.
Best Regards,
The JetApps Team.
Waiting JetBackup stable for Directadmin. Hope everything will be as planned.
https://microlxc.net/
In software development, it is often the case that the last 10% of a project take almost as much time as the first 90%.
Still, the important thing is that it's being worked on, because that way it will get done - sooner, or later.
Really looking forward to JetBackup on DirectAdmin. It makes things super-convenient.
🔧 BikeGremlin guides & resources
Now the developers of Cyber Panl join the WP Hosting bandwagon, using Litespeed. Good way to monetize if they can pull it off.
https://www.cyberhosting.org/pricing/
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Cyberpanel is developed by the Litespeed company. Vender straight down to the match may not be a good thing.
Action and Reaction in history
Not shure if that is necessarily a bad thing. WP themselves offer hosting.
My thoughts go in a different direction. Litespeed could get acquired by a VC or even Automattic.
If it is the former, then there could be price increases coming down the line.
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They’ve been offering it for a while now. Think they even relaunched their cloud dashboard which used to be free but is now only available in conjunction with their hosting products. I think they also offer the ability to use OLS as a reverse proxy to Apache as well.
The cloud dashboard offers central server monitor, with some maintenance tools such as the ability to run database optimisation remotely.
Free WordPress hosting by porkbun.
Thinking to move a wp site from cpanel to an idle 3gb Ram vps.
Shall I install CWP and move?
Please suggest all 'free' ways.
✓✓Only shared hosting-both DA and cPanel Still in 2006
I'd rather install ISPConfig/Keyhelp or HestiaCP or Webmin? CWP screams exploit and buggy.
Ympker's VPN LTD Comparison, Uptime.is, Ympker's GitHub.
If it's only one WP, why bother with a panel?
Install distro of choice and migrate files and database ...
Is this for a personal site?
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If you are fine not having a panel, there's many other good options that work better and are well maintained.
Like bleeding edge? Go centminmod. Otherwise, you can pick something like easyengine/webinoly etc. If you really must have a panel, then probably virtualmin/webmin.
No. A small news site. Postie plugin is a must. It will automatically check for mail from a certain address once in every 10 minutes and import news. So only a panel without webmail will NOT be ok.
✓✓Only shared hosting-both DA and cPanel Still in 2006
You need a panel because you need to fetch email using a plugin? Sounds like overkill ...
Not really..
To suspend it on time of non payment automatically via whmcs..it's a client site?
✓✓Only shared hosting-both DA and cPanel Still in 2006
you dont need webmail for this plugin imap/pop is enough, mxroute + wordops will work like a charm
Ok. Will go for wordops then.. In LET, I saw about cipi and was waiting for @vyas review.
✓✓Only shared hosting-both DA and cPanel Still in 2006
VPSNoobs by @AK_KWH is [based on Cipi](https://amarvyas.in/vpsnoobs-server-management-panel/ "Review of VPSNoobs by A Vyas).
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So, sort of Wordpress related, as I mostly run WP sites these days ... I noticed lots of the panels and scripts seems to suggest or add Redis by default?
Can someone explain to me, sort of simplified, when it's needed/a good idea to run Redis, and when not to bother?
only for one wordpress cipi is overkill if you are planning to run multiple tenant on a one server then you can use cipi
https://docs.wordops.net/faq/#what-is-the-best-caching-solution-for-wordpress
From my experience, if you are using Nginx then Nginx FastCGI Cache is the fastest one. It work on server level. You only need nginx_helper module to flush/purge the cache.
⭕ A simple uptime dashboard using UptimeRobot API https://upy.duo.ovh
⭕ Currently using VPS from BuyVM, GreenCloudVPS, Gullo's, Hetzner, HostHatch, InceptionHosting, LetBox, MaxKVM, MrVM, VirMach.
Yes, @wordpress, I've read that WordOps explanation and others ... But Redis is not just another general cache, as It says "object store"? Won't it's effectiveness depend on content type/setup?
(There's an optional redis object cache plugin for WP.)
... Or to put it simpler: Should I install Redis no matter what kinda content the WP install hosts? And no matter if the stack uses LScache or some other general cache (utilizing Varnish or whatever)?