{"id":11930,"date":"2010-03-15T19:40:28","date_gmt":"2010-03-15T14:10:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/?p=11930"},"modified":"2026-10-15T19:13:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T13:43:01","slug":"make-wordpress-faster-safer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Make WordPress Faster and Safer: 13 Steps (2026)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>How do you make WordPress faster and safer without spending days on it? The 80\/20 rule applies: a handful of changes deliver most of the results. Guest author Mark first showed here how one caching plugin tripled his blog&#8217;s speed in a before-and-after test. Here are the steps that matter most to <strong>make WordPress faster and safer<\/strong> in 2026.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11946\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/after-total-cache.png\" alt=\"Make WordPress faster with a caching plugin\" width=\"500\" height=\"286\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/after-total-cache.png 500w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/after-total-cache-300x171.png 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> For speed, choose good hosting on a current PHP version, use a page caching plugin (LiteSpeed Cache on LiteSpeed hosts, WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache elsewhere), a CDN, compressed WebP images and a lightweight theme with few plugins. For safety, keep everything updated, use strong passwords with two-factor login, limit login attempts, add a firewall and take daily off-site backups.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_89 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6aea906f2f13c\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"ez-toc-cssicon\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6aea906f2f13c\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/#How_to_make_WordPress_faster\" >How to make WordPress faster<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/#1_Start_with_good_hosting\" >1. Start with good hosting<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/#2_Use_a_caching_plugin\" >2. Use a caching plugin<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/#3_Add_a_CDN_and_browser_caching\" >3. Add a CDN and browser caching<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/#4_Optimise_images\" >4. Optimise images<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/#5_Use_a_lightweight_theme_and_fewer_plugins\" >5. Use a lightweight theme and fewer plugins<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/#6_Clean_the_database\" >6. Clean the database<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/#7_Measure_before_and_after\" >7. Measure before and after<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/#How_to_make_WordPress_safer\" >How to make WordPress safer<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/#FAQ\" >FAQ<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/#Which_caching_plugin_is_best\" >Which caching plugin is best?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/#Do_security_plugins_slow_WordPress_down\" >Do security plugins slow WordPress down?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/#How_fast_should_a_WordPress_site_load\" >How fast should a WordPress site load?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_make_WordPress_faster\"><\/span>How to make WordPress faster<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Start_with_good_hosting\"><\/span>1. Start with good hosting<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Hosting decides how fast your server answers. Look for SSD\/NVMe storage, PHP 8.2 or newer, HTTP\/3, server-level caching and data centres near your readers. Managed WordPress hosting and LiteSpeed-based hosts (such as Hostinger, which runs QuickOnlineTips) handle much of the tuning for you. If your site is on an older release, here&#8217;s how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2026\/10\/upgrade-php-version-website\/\">upgrade your WordPress PHP version<\/a> without breaking plugins.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Use_a_caching_plugin\"><\/span>2. Use a caching plugin<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Caching serves ready-made pages instead of building each one from PHP and the database. In Mark&#8217;s 2010 test, W3 Total Cache made his blog about three times faster, while another plugin made little difference, which shows why you should measure. Good options today:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.litespeedtech.com\/products\/cache-plugins\/wordpress-acceleration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LiteSpeed Cache<\/a><\/strong>: free and the best choice on LiteSpeed servers.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-rocket.me\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WP Rocket<\/a><\/strong>: paid and very easy to set up.<\/li>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/w3-total-cache\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">W3 Total Cache<\/a><\/strong> and <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-super-cache\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">WP Super Cache<\/a><\/strong>: free alternatives.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Add_a_CDN_and_browser_caching\"><\/span>3. Add a CDN and browser caching<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A CDN such as Cloudflare serves images and files from servers near each visitor. Long cache headers let repeat visitors skip downloads; here&#8217;s how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/05\/leverage-browser-caching-increase-website-speed\/\">leverage browser caching<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_Optimise_images\"><\/span>4. Optimise images<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Resize, compress and serve WebP or AVIF, and lazy load images below the fold. See our guide to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2009\/08\/optimizing-images\/\">optimizing images<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"5_Use_a_lightweight_theme_and_fewer_plugins\"><\/span>5. Use a lightweight theme and fewer plugins<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Fast themes like Kadence, GeneratePress or Astra, and only the plugins you really need. Remove page builders and sliders you don&#8217;t use.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"6_Clean_the_database\"><\/span>6. Clean the database<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Delete old revisions, spam and transients. Here&#8217;s how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2011\/06\/optimize-wordpress-database\/\">optimize your WordPress database<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"7_Measure_before_and_after\"><\/span>7. Measure before and after<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Test with <a href=\"https:\/\/pagespeed.web.dev\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PageSpeed Insights<\/a> before and after each change, as Mark did, so you keep only what helps.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_make_WordPress_safer\"><\/span>How to make WordPress safer<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ol>\n<li>Update WordPress core, themes and plugins; turn on auto-updates for trusted plugins.<\/li>\n<li>Never use &#8220;admin&#8221; as a username, and use long unique passwords.<\/li>\n<li>Add two-factor authentication for all admins.<\/li>\n<li>Limit login attempts and add a firewall (Wordfence or Cloudflare).<\/li>\n<li>Keep your own computer free of malware and keyloggers.<\/li>\n<li>Take daily off-site backups; here&#8217;s how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2009\/06\/daily-backup-wordpress-blog-mysql-database\/\">schedule a daily database backup<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The official <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.wordpress.org\/advanced-administration\/security\/hardening\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Hardening WordPress<\/a> guide covers the basics well. For our full checklist, read how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2011\/03\/increase-wordpress-security\/\">increase WordPress security<\/a> and our pick of the best <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2009\/07\/wordpress-security-plugins\/\">WordPress security plugins<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQ\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Which_caching_plugin_is_best\"><\/span>Which caching plugin is best?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>LiteSpeed Cache if your host runs LiteSpeed; WP Rocket for the easiest setup elsewhere. Use only one caching plugin.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Do_security_plugins_slow_WordPress_down\"><\/span>Do security plugins slow WordPress down?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Plugin firewalls add some load. A cloud firewall such as Cloudflare protects without slowing your server.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_fast_should_a_WordPress_site_load\"><\/span>How fast should a WordPress site load?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Aim for Largest Contentful Paint under 2.5 seconds on mobile.<\/p>\n<p><em>Originally written by guest author Mark of MixTheNet, a site helping everyday users get more from the web. Updated for 2026 by QuickOnlineTips.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How do you make WordPress faster and safer without spending days on it? The 80\/20 rule applies: a handful of&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":11946,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[44,49,17],"class_list":["post-11930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogging","tag-guest-posts","tag-tutorials","tag-wordpress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11930"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11930\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67390,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11930\/revisions\/67390"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11946"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}