WordPress.com Review 2026: Real Performance Data from Continuous Testing
WordPress.com delivers elite-level performance across all tests—Response time, Uptime, Load handling, and Global TTFB. Here’s what our continuous monitoring reveals about Automattic’s managed hosting platform.
Performance Overview
WordPress.com is the managed WordPress hosting platform from Automattic, the parent company behind the WordPress CMS. The company reached out to me to test their hosting services. Initially, I was skeptical to test them because there are certain limitations with WordPress.com as a hosting provider when compared to regular hosting services like Bluehost, Hostinger, etc.
But then I looked into their specifications—it feels they went through a major upgrade and the company spokesperson shared the info that they have removed all the restrictions. Their hosting plan now works just like any third-party hosting service. I looked into the search volume data and saw many people are still looking into WordPress.com as a hosting service, so I decided to test them based on the HostingStep methodology.
Back in July 2025, I bought the hosting plan (the Personal plan) and followed our standardized WordPress setup, which we use across all other 25+ hosting providers, and made the site live. Then I put that site into 24/7, 365 days of monitoring through our testing tools. Now we have over nearly 6 months of data, and this post will be updated further with more data coming in.
WordPress.com achieves an elite score across all primary performance metrics—a rare achievement in our benchmarks when a single hosting company outperforms all other providers across all tests. WordPress.com gives tough competition to many premium managed hosting services, given their performance is similar, but WordPress.com is available at 1/4th of their price.
TTFB Response Time
WordPress.com achieved an average response time of 357ms in Q4 2025. The Average Response Time, which we also call Speed or Time To First Byte (TTFB), measures how quickly the server responds to a visitor’s request. Faster response time indicates faster hosting.
To collect the average response time, we use Pingdom synthetic monitoring tool through which the WordPress.com test site is pinged from 15 different locations in the North American region, and the average response time is calculated every 60 seconds. We run over 1,440 tests a day, which translates to 43,800 tests a month, 131,400 tests per quarter, and 525,600 tests a year.
The 357ms average response time places WordPress.com in our “Elite” tier (<400ms) along with premium managed hosts like Pressable (341ms) and WP Engine (367ms). The only difference? WordPress.com is available at 1/4th of their price.
WordPress.com’s 357ms TTFB ranks among the fastest we’ve tested. Only Pressable (341ms) performs better among all hosts, and WordPress.com significantly outperforms budget competitors like Bluehost (520ms) and SiteGround (632ms).
Uptime Analysis
WordPress.com excels with 100% uptime availability—zero downtimes during our entire testing period. They guarantee 99.999% uptime SLA, which is effectively 100% uptime.
WordPress.com’s 100% uptime places it among the elite group of hosts. Pressable, WP Engine, Templ, and EasyWP are the only other hosts that secured 100% uptime in Q4 2025.
Load Testing
WordPress.com recorded an average 16ms response time in our load testing—landing them in the “Elite” tier. Load testing reveals how servers handle traffic pressure.
We use Loader.io to send 100 concurrent visitors to the site, and WordPress.com conveniently handles the load with no volatility as seen from the graph.
WordPress.com’s 16ms response time is the fastest I’ve witnessed among any shared hosting companies. Thanks to their in-house developed edge caching CDN, WordPress.com handles traffic spikes without any issues. Only Pressable (12ms) performed better.
Global TTFB
WordPress.com recorded an average global TTFB of 208ms, tested from 40 global locations. It is the best score I’ve recorded among any of the shared hosting companies.
If your site receives global traffic, these results are super helpful to determine how fast your global visitors see your site. Due to its superior edge caching, both visitors from America and Europe see similar load speeds, despite our test site being hosted on a USA datacenter. The Asia-Pacific speed is also less than 400ms in most locations.
WordPress.com utilizes WP Cloud, the native cloud infrastructure developed exclusively for WordPress sites. While most other hosts utilize Cloudflare for edge caching, WordPress.com uses their own in-built CDN network which offers the ultimate faster performance than any third-party services like Cloudflare. I strongly recommend WordPress.com for sites with global visitors.
Server Hardware (WPBench)
WordPress.com recorded a server hardware score of 6.8/10, landing in the “Strong” tier. This is the only metric where WordPress.com didn’t land in Elite tier, but the Strong tier itself is good performance considering most shared hosts score below 5.0 due to shared server resources.
Using WPBenchmark plugin, we perform 21 individual tests across CPU, memory, filesystem, database, and WordPress core operations. WordPress.com’s hardware scores are solid but not exceptional.
The 6.8/10 overall score reflects balanced performance across categories. However, the exceptional real-world performance comes from Automattic’s CDN and caching layer, which more than compensates for moderate hardware scores. This proves that infrastructure optimization matters more than raw hardware power.
Competitive Comparison
How does WordPress.com compare to popular alternatives? We’ve pulled data from our benchmarks for the most relevant competitors across different price tiers.
| Host | TTFB | Uptime | Load Test | Global TTFB | Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WordPress.com | 357ms | 100% | 16ms | 208ms | $2.95 |
| Bluehost | 520ms | 99.95% | 170ms* | 345ms | $3.99 |
| SiteGround | 632ms | 99.97% | 170ms | 833ms | $2.99 |
| Hostinger | 478ms | 99.98% | 31ms | 223ms | $3.69 |
| WP Engine | 367ms | 100% | 27ms | 169ms | $23.00 |
*Bluehost recorded 9% error rate under load. All other hosts: 0% error rate.
WordPress.com delivers premium managed hosting performance at budget shared hosting prices. At $2.95/mo, you get performance comparable to WP Engine ($23/mo) while significantly outperforming traditional budget hosts like Bluehost and SiteGround. This makes WordPress.com the best value proposition in WordPress hosting today.
Our Methodology
HostingStep tests hosting providers through continuous, automated monitoring—not one-time benchmarks. Our methodology generates hundreds of thousands of data points annually per host, revealing performance patterns that manual tests miss.
We use Pingdom to monitor TTFB and uptime every 60 seconds from 15 US locations. This generates 525,600 data points per host annually—far more than any manual test could achieve.
- 60-second check intervals
- 15 US monitoring locations
- Real-time alerting
- Historical data retention
We simulate traffic spikes using Loader.io to understand how servers perform under pressure. This reveals whether a host can handle viral content or sales events.
- 100 concurrent users
- 60-second test duration
- Response time tracking
- Error rate measurement
We measure response times from 40 locations worldwide to understand performance for international audiences. This reveals CDN effectiveness and global reach.
- 40 global test locations
- Regional performance breakdown
- CDN detection
- Latency mapping
We run 21 individual tests measuring CPU, memory, filesystem, database, and WordPress-specific operations to understand the raw hardware powering each host.
- 21 individual benchmarks
- 5 test categories
- WordPress-specific tests
- Normalized 0-10 scoring
Test Environment
Every host is tested using identical conditions to ensure fair comparison:
WordPress Setup
- WordPress: Latest version
- Theme: Twenty Twenty-Four
- Plugins: None (raw performance)
- Content: Standard test posts
Server Config
- PHP: 8.1 (or latest available)
- Caching: Server-default only
- CDN: As included by host
- SSL: Enabled
Data Transparency
- Public invoices available
- Real accounts (not press accounts)
- Entry-level plans tested
- No special treatment
Most hosting reviews test for a few days or weeks. We test continuously for months and years. This reveals patterns that short tests miss—seasonal performance changes, gradual degradation, and long-term reliability trends. When we say a host is “consistent,” we have the data to prove it.
Final Verdict
WordPress.com has completely surprised me with its performance. As Automattic’s own hosting platform, they’ve leveraged their deep WordPress expertise to create something exceptional—a budget hosting option that performs like a premium managed host.
Choose WordPress.com if: You want the best performance-per-dollar in WordPress hosting. The combination of elite TTFB (357ms), perfect uptime (100%), exceptional load handling (16ms), and best-in-class global CDN (208ms) at just $2.95/month is unmatched in the industry.
Consider alternatives if: You need advanced server access, custom PHP configurations, or prefer traditional cPanel hosting. WordPress.com’s managed approach means some technical limitations compared to unmanaged hosts.
WordPress.com earns a 9.2/10 score—making it our top recommendation for budget WordPress hosting. It outperforms every other shared host in our benchmarks and rivals premium managed hosts at 1/4th the price. For most WordPress users, this is the best choice available today.