HTTPArchive is offering a new technology comparison dashboard, currently in beta testing. Users can now view real-world web hosting performance scores for Core Web Vitals. We compare six web hosts and find one that consistently performs better across nearly all metrics.
About HTTPArchive
HTTPArchive tracks websites through crawling and with data collected in the Chrome User Experience Report (CrUX). It publishes reports about the technologies that power websites, including Core Web Vitals performance of content management systems like WordPress and Wix.
New Technology Comparison Dashboard – Beta
HTTPArchive has new reports under development, one of which is a comparison of Core Web Vitals and Lighthouse performance scores by web hosts. HTTPArchive also tracks the median page weight by web hosts but it’s still under development and is in Beta testing.
The new reports allow comparison by web hosts. There isn’t data yet for many web hosts but there is for the following six. Comparing web hosts by core web vitals is not a totally fair comparison. A web host like Ionos might host many thousands of small and local sites which might not be resource intensive.
So with those caveats, here are the six web hosts under comparison:
Bluehost
GoDaddy
HostGator
IONOS
SiteGround
WP Engine
Core Web Vitals By Web Host
The following are the list of web hosts by percentage of sites hosted at each one that pass Core Web Vitals. The HTTPArchive says that thise report is still under development and, as previously mentioned, the percentages don’t necessarily reflect the quality of the web hosts themselves, but rather the quality of the sites hosted there.
This is the description of the CWV metric scores:
“Passes Core Web Vitals
The percentage of origins passing all three Core Web Vitals (LCP, INP, CLS) with a good experience. Note that if an origin is missing INP data, it’s assessed based on the performance of the remaining metrics.”
However, it’s interesting to see that the number one web host is a managed WordPress web host because that may indicate that the platform itself may be optimized better than a general web host. The following scores are based on a snapshot taken at the beginning of September.
Core Web Vitals Scores In Descending Order
WP Engine 70%
GoDaddy 67%
SiteGround 65%
HostGator 58%
Ionos 58%
Bluehost 45%
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
LCP measures the perceived page loading speed, how fast the page appears to load for a site visitor.
HTTPArchive defines this metric:
“Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) is an important, stable Core Web Vital metric for measuring perceived load speed because it marks the point in the page load timeline when the page’s main content has likely loaded—a fast LCP helps reassure the user that the page is useful. Good experiences are less than or equal to 2.5 seconds.”
WP Engine again comes out on top, perhaps indicating the quality of the sites hosted on that platform as well as the performance optimizations that are a key element of that web host.
LCP Scores In Descending Order
WP Engine 79%
GoDaddy 78%
SiteGround 75%
HostGator 69%
IONOS 69%
Bluehost 52%
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
HTTPArchive also provides a comparison of the six web hosts by the CLS score. CLS measures how much a web page shifts around as it’s rendered in a web browser. A score of 0.1 or less for 75% of visitors is recommended. The percentages for each of the web hosts were all higher than the 75% minimum. This time WP Engine is tied for first place with HostGator.
CLS Scores In Descending Order
WP Engine 88%
HostGator 88%
Bluehost 87%
SiteGround 86%
IONOS 85%
GoDaddy 84%
First Contentful Paint (FCP)
FCP measures how long it takes for the content to become visible. A low FCP means that the content is rendered quickly. The number one ranked web host for FCP turns out to be GoDaddy, ahead by a significant margin of 7 points. WP Engine comes in second, followed by SiteGround.
FCP Scores In Descending Order
GoDaddy 73%
WP Engine 67%
SiteGround 62%
IONOS 60%
HostGator 57%
Bluehost 39%
Time To First Byte (TTFB)
TTFB measures how long it takes from to download the first byte of a resource after it’s requested by a browser. GoDaddy scores top of the list again.
TTFB In Descending Order
GoDaddy 59%
IONOS 45%
WP Engine 39%
HostGator 38%
SiteGround 37%
Bluehost 25%
Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
This metric represents the overall responsiveness of the entire web page.
HTTPArchive explains what this score means:
“INP is a metric that assesses a page’s overall responsiveness to user interactions by observing the latency of all click, tap, and keyboard interactions that occur throughout the lifespan of a user’s visit to a page. The final INP value is the longest interaction observed, ignoring outliers. A good experience is less than or equal to 200ms.”