LoadStorm® and ReviewSignal have teamed up to test the scalability of 16 WordPress hosting providers. Load tests were executed in LoadStorm PRO to simulate heavy traffic hitting identical WordPress sites. Web performance metrics, such as page response time and throughput, were measured throughout the test. The 10 hosting providers that did not struggle with tests of 500 or 1,000 concurrent users were then tested at 2,000 concurrent users and ranked according to their web performance.
The experiment included identical dummy websites that were implemented on each of the providers. The scripts created for the load tests were also identical and included normal user behaviors such as browsing and logging in. The final round of load tests lasted 30 minutes and ramped in a linear pattern from 500 to 2,000 concurrent users.
LoadStorm PRO provided in-depth data of how each provider handled the heavy load of simulated traffic. To rank the top 10 providers in the final round of testing, 5 performance metrics were evaluated: Average Response Time, Peak Response Time, Throughput, Error Rate, and Average Page Completion Time. For each metric, the providers were ranked 1st through 10th place based upon an ideal performance standard. Then each place was designated points: 1st Place – 10 points; 2nd Place – 9 points; 3rd place – 8 points; etc. The providers were ranked by highest total score from all metrics.
Results:
1. Pantheon
2. Media Temple
3. GoDaddy
3. Kinsta
5. Nexcess
6. LightningBase
7. A Small Orange
8. Pagely
9. FlyWheel
10. WebSynthesis
LoadStorm CEO, Roger Campbell, states, “The majority of the hosting providers in this study managed the heavy traffic very well. We were impressed with the high level of performance overall.”
The full test data and infographic can be found at: http://loadstorm.com/2015/01/wordpress-hosting-web-performance/