Our methodology page covers the headline scoring dimensions. This is the detail behind those scores — the actual tests we run.
The test site
For each host we provision the entry-tier managed WordPress plan and install a stock WordPress build with three plugins: WooCommerce, Contact Form 7 and Akismet. Theme is Twenty Twenty-Four (the default for WordPress 6.4+). We seed the database with 200 sample posts and 50 sample products to give the cache something realistic to chew on.
Performance — TTFB and Core Web Vitals
Measurement tools: WebPageTest (UK ISP node, "Cable" throttling profile) and PageSpeed Insights (mobile, simulated). We run each test 10 times across a 24-hour window and take the median to wash out one-off spikes.
- TTFB — measured against the homepage, both cold (no cache warm) and warm. Under 200 ms warm gets full marks; over 600 ms cold drops a star.
- LCP, INP, CLS — measured on the homepage and one sample post. We don't fix obvious template issues; the goal is to test the host's stack, not our own optimisation.
Support — three real tickets
For each host we file three support tickets at different times of day. Each ticket is a genuine question we have, not a synthetic test (the support team would spot it). Examples we've used in past rounds:
- "Our SMTP plugin is rejecting messages — can you check if outbound port 587 is open?" (server-level)
- "Yoast SEO is stuck on 'analysing' — is there a known conflict with your cache plugin?" (plugin-level)
- "Can you migrate a 5 GB site from [other host]?" (process question)
We measure (a) time to first response, (b) whether the response was templated or actually-read-the-ticket, (c) time to resolution. We also note whether the support agent identified themselves as UK-based or otherwise — relevant for our "UK businesses" use-case ranking.
Uptime — 90-day public window
Our scoring period is the previous 90 days of public status-page data plus our own monitoring. We use independent monitoring (UptimeRobot, 5-minute interval) on the test site, plus the host's published status page. A single incident under 5 minutes is noise; anything longer than that drops the score.
Value — renewal price, not intro
We log both the intro price and the renewal price for the same plan. Renewal is what counts. If a £2.99 intro renews at £14.99 and the value at renewal isn't competitive, the host loses points — regardless of how attractive month one looks.
What we don't test
- Resource-intensive WordPress workloads. Membership plugins, learning-management plugins, real-time chat. These need bespoke testing; we'd rather not score on a benchmark that doesn't apply to most readers.
- Multi-region performance. All testing is from UK. Sites with global audiences should weight Kinsta higher and UK-only hosts lower than our rankings suggest.
- Affiliate commission rates. By policy, we don't even let the same person who runs the editorial side handle the commission contracts. The two operate independently.
How often we re-test
Full re-test once every six months. Spot re-test immediately whenever a host changes pricing, plan structure or major policy (e.g. disallowed plugin list). The last full re-test cycle was completed in June 2026.