I have a WooCommerce site, and I keep tweaking it to make it load faster. I tried using a Knownhost shared hosting account, and now I’m wondering if I should switch to their managed WordPress hosting or stick with AWS Lightsail. If I stay, I’d have to set up an Ubuntu instance, add a Lightsail server, and use Redis. I’m not great with hosting setups. I prefer building websites rather than managing servers. Right now, my site scores below 50 on mobile and about 60 on desktop for page speed.
I’d probably go with Knownhost if I were you. They’ve been solid for years and were always one of the top managed hosts on WHT, right up there with WiredTree back in the day.
Try setting up a test site on an hourly instance first. That way, you can check if the issue is with the hosting or if it’s caused by a bloated plugin or some script conflict.
Blake said:
Try setting up a test site on an hourly instance first. That way, you can check if the issue is with the hosting or if it’s caused by a bloated plugin or some script conflict.
I tested both. My checkout process is 30 seconds faster on Knownhost. Forms and pages load much quicker too.
@Taylor
Thanks for giving us a try. There’s a big difference between what we offer and a standard AWS Lightsail setup. It also depends on which Lightsail plan you chose. Our shared hosting is heavily optimized for performance, while AWS is more of a general-purpose setup.
@Jordan
One thing I really like about your hosting is the support. Your team helped me with email DNS setup, which saved me a lot of trouble. My boss already approved switching to your hosting, but I’m still deciding if the managed WordPress business plan is enough for now. AWS Lightsail feels slow, even on a 4GB RAM 2 vCPU instance. Do I need a Redis or Memcache plugin, or is that already handled on your end?
@Taylor
That’s a big improvement. What about the page speed score? Did it change between AWS and Knownhost?
Blake said:
@Taylor
That’s a big improvement. What about the page speed score? Did it change between AWS and Knownhost?
AWS gave me a 40+ score on mobile, while Knownhost pushed it to 60+. I’ve already done a lot of script optimizations too.
Lightsail is basically a limited version of EC2, and even EC2 isn’t the fastest unless you get the newest instance types. I’d expect Knownhost to be noticeably better.
If Knownhost is giving you better performance, I’d stick with it. Shared hosting often includes things like LiteSpeed Web Server, which you’d have to pay extra for on a VPS. That alone can make a big difference.
@Rowe
Who would I have to pay extra for? I’m a bit confused.
Taylor said:
@Rowe
Who would I have to pay extra for? I’m a bit confused.
No problem. Shared hosting usually comes with premium software like LiteSpeed Web Server for speed, JetBackup for backups, Imunify360 for security, and cPanel or DirectAdmin for control. These are included in the price, but on a VPS, you’d have to pay separately for each of them.
@Rowe
Got it. That makes sense. Thanks.
Did you try any managed hosting with LiteSpeed? In my experience, a good managed host takes care of server setup and optimization, which can really improve page speed scores.
Maybe test out DigitalOcean too? Could be worth comparing.
Anthony said:
Maybe test out DigitalOcean too? Could be worth comparing.
Tried it, but the page load and form speeds were about the same.
Anthony said:
Maybe test out DigitalOcean too? Could be worth comparing.
Tried it, but the page load and form speeds were about the same.
Did you test it with LiteSpeed caching?