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SIGNUPS END FEB 1, 2023(<--SIGNUP HERE)

I’m starting to prepare for WPHPB 2023 and that means I need to do the following:

Collect feedback from last year’s tests – improvements/changes/problems?
Get signups from companies

Feedback?

Please share any feedback from last years test you might have. These benchmarks continue to evolve as the industry does. Your feedback, suggestions, criticisms and ideas help keep these benchmarks meaningful.

I launched WPHostingBenchmarks.com two years ago as a stand alone site for these benchmarks. Any feedback about the tests and the presentation are always appreciated.

This year will have consistent tests for the most part. We will continue using k6 for load testing. There may be some small scripts changes/improvements.

Send email feedback to kevin at reviewsignal.com.

Participation Details:

Please read the WordPress Methodology and WooCommerce Methodology for each test you're interested in participating.

You can read about the whole process at the links above.

2023 Testing will follow a similar process (unless there is some critical feedback necessitating a major change which will be communicated before testing begins).

Changes:

The participation price is going up. I've been operating these benchmarks for a long time at a price point that is unsustainable to run as a business and it's hard to justify as a use of my time given they were roughly covering cost for so long and I generally spent many hours working with each company on benchmarking their services. Prices will be going up $250 per plan across all tiers. The re-testing fees will remain the same based on the previous pricing (eg. $50/test for the lowest pricing tier and $250/test for enterprise tier). If you're a small company and priced $50/month or lower but cannot afford the price increase - please reach out to me directly ( kevin at reviewsignal dot com). I don't want to exclude any companies who cannot afford it. If there are a lot of companies impacted, I may look for a sponsor to help cover the price increase. If any company is willing to help potentially sponsor, please also reach out. Thank you.

k6 scripts may change slightly, I would like to add compression by default which didn't work last year but hopefully does this year among other potential changes.

Participation Fees / Price Tiers

Hosting Plan Monthly Price ($)	Participation Fee
<25	$350.00
25-50	$350.00
51-100	$400.00
101-200	$450.00
201-500	$500.00
Enterprise	$750.00
WooCommerce	$500.00

Re-testing fee: 50% of the old participation fee per test after 2nd test. eg. 1 extra test for the 51-100/month price tier will cost $75 ($150 * 50%) per test. Old prices were $100 (<25), $100 (25-50), $150(51-100), $200(101-200), $250(201-500), $500(Enterprise), $250 (Woo).

These fees cover the costs associated with running these tests. The prices scale up because larger plans require more resources. Re-testing fees are to re-do a load test because something went wrong (namely security issues interfering with getting an accurate measurement). Two tests are included for all participants. There is no limitation to the number of re-tests as long as there is a legitimate reason (poor performance isn’t a legitimate reason). However, the tests need to be finished within the testing time period to allow ample time for analysis and publication.

If you’re concerned about security measures blocking tests, I am willing to work with you to schedule the tests to make the best effort possible to bypass security issues. You are responsible for making sure the tests run cleanly, I can help to some extent, but ultimately I cannot guarantee a clean test through your security measures - only you can.

Requirements and Understanding:

Accounts will be provided for free for the duration of testing (approximately 4 months from setup)
It is the responsibility of the hosting company to turn off and disable accounts after testing is finished. If there is any doubt, once results are published, testing can be considered finished under all circumstances.
Company will assign representative(s) who are responsible and available to answer questions and deal with issues that arise during testing.
Tests are run on DEFAULT configurations (except Enterprise tier which allows unlimited customization). This means changes and improvements that aren’t on by default or a simple click away in an obvious place (eg. wp-admin or customer panel homepage or welcome email) aren’t allowed. If a user needs to click ‘enable caching’ and you tell them this, this is acceptable. If they have to go download a caching plugin and install it themselves, this is not acceptable. If you have a specific question about your service please ask beforehand.
Once tests are run, results will be published. There is no opting out because of poor or incomplete results.