--- title: "Benchmark — FrostyCache REST API Cache for WordPress" description: "Independent benchmark showing FrostyCache serving WordPress REST API responses in ~15ms — 50x faster than an uncached database hit." language: "en-GB" canonical_url: "https://frostycache.com/benchmark/" source_url: "https://frostycache.com/benchmark/" content_type: "text/markdown" --- Independent Performance Test · WordPress 7.0 · PHP 8.2 · vs WP REST API Cache # Benchmark: Before and After 50 curl requests per endpoint, per mode. The median cache hit response for the `advanced-cache.php` drop-in was **15ms**. The uncached baseline was **833ms**. ~15ms Cache Hit Response pre-database · drop-in ~47× Faster Than Uncached drop-in vs full DB round-trip ~200ms MU Plugin Fallback post-DB · pre-REST router ~833ms No Cache median · full DB round-trip --- Response Time The numbers speak for themselves. Average response time across all 7 tested endpoints — posts, pages, and categories, both list and single-item requests. Results are consistent regardless of endpoint type. Average Response Time by Cache Mode (ms, lower is better) Drop-in HIT (~15ms) MU Plugin HIT (~200ms) No Cache / MISS (~843ms) --- Consistency Every endpoint. Same result. Median response time across all 7 individual endpoints tested. The pattern is identical whether the request is for a list of posts or a single category — the cache layer doesn’t care about the endpoint, only about whether the file exists on disk. Median Response Time per Endpoint (ms, lower is better) Drop-in HIT MU Plugin HIT No Cache / MISS --- Architecture Why the gap is so large. FrostyCache has two cache paths. The drop-in intercepts requests before WordPress even connects to the database. The MU plugin is a fallback for when the drop-in is unavailable — it still exits before the REST router runs, but after the DB connects. The ~185ms difference between the two paths is the cost of the database connection itself. Drop-in ~15ms nginx receives request PHP loads `advanced-cache.php` cache file read from disk ↳ Response sent. Exit. WordPress loads Database connection Plugin bootstrap REST router dispatch Controller executes MU Plugin ~200ms nginx receives request WordPress loads Database connection MU plugin intercepts cache file read from disk ↳ Response sent. Exit. Plugin bootstrap REST router dispatch Controller executes --- Methodology How these numbers were measured. All benchmarks were run locally to eliminate network jitter. Production results will vary by server hardware, but the ratios hold — the drop-in is always faster by the cost of the database connection. ### 🖥 Environment - Local by Flywheel (local dev) - WordPress 7.0 - PHP 8.2 (Visual C++ 2019) - nginx 1.26 - MySQL 8.4 via Laragon ### ⚗️ Test method - 50 requests per endpoint per mode - `curl --time-total` measured end-to-end - Endpoints warmed before measurement - Results reported as min/avg/median/p95/max - Charts use median values ### 📐 Three modes - **MISS** — `?skip_cache=1` forces fresh DB hit every time - **Drop-in HIT** — `advanced-cache.php` serving pre-DB - **MU Plugin HIT** — fallback path, post-DB, pre-REST Benchmark command # MISS baseline (bypasses cache) curl -s -o /dev/null -w “%{time_total}” \ “http://site.local/wp-json/wp/v2/posts?per_page=10&skip_cache=1” # HIT (served by drop-in or MU plugin) curl -s -o /dev/null -w “%{time_total}” \ “http://site.local/wp-json/wp/v2/posts?per_page=10” --- Head-to-Head vs. WP REST API Cache plugin. WP REST API Cache is the most popular transient-based REST caching plugin. It stores responses in the WordPress database and serves them without executing the REST controller — a real speedup, but WordPress still boots and connects to the database on every request. The drop-in can’t be matched by any plugin that requires WordPress to load first. Median response time — same endpoints, same machine, same WordPress install (ms, lower is better) FrostyCache — drop-in (~15ms) FrostyCache — MU plugin fallback (~200ms) WP REST API Cache (~233ms) No cache (~851ms) ### 🔍 Why they’re equal - WP REST API Cache stores responses as database transients - On a HIT it still boots WordPress, connects to the database, then reads the transient - This is the same work FrostyCache’s MU plugin fallback does — hence ~233ms vs ~200ms - No transient-based plugin can beat a pre-database file read ### ⚡ Why the drop-in wins - `advanced-cache.php` loads before WordPress starts - No database connection, no plugin bootstrap, no REST router - Pure PHP file I/O — read JSON file, send headers, exit - **~15×** faster than WP REST API Cache on a HIT --- Production · InstaWP · Apache + nginx Real server. Real network. 30 requests per endpoint against a live WordPress 7.0 / PHP 8.4.12 / Apache server. MISS baseline uses a per-request cache buster to bypass all server-side caching. HIT uses the `advanced-cache.php` drop-in — `WP_CACHE` is enabled and FrostyCache owns the drop-in on this host. WordPress never loads on a cache hit. Network RTT from EU to the US server adds ~530ms of overhead per request, which dominates the total time regardless of cache state. TTFB (Time to First Byte) — Production, 30 requests per endpoint (ms, lower is better) FrostyCache HIT (drop-in, ~725ms median TTFB) No Cache / MISS (~1040ms median) ### 📡 Network conditions - EU client → US server (InstaWP) - ~490ms overhead per request (DNS + TCP + TLS + 1 RTT) - TTFB includes full network round-trip - A CDN or geographically close client would show larger relative gains ### ⚡ Server-side saving - MISS server processing: ~510ms (WordPress + database + REST dispatch) - HIT server processing: ~195ms (PHP-FPM startup + file read only — no WordPress, no DB) - **~315ms eliminated** on every cached request - WordPress never loads on a drop-in HIT --- Also See More benchmarks. Same drop-in, same machine — tested against WooCommerce FSE block endpoints (~38ms / ~23×) and CoCart v2 headless catalog endpoints (~38ms / ~24×). [WooCommerce Store API →](https://frostycache.com/woocommerce-benchmark/) [CoCart API v2 →](https://frostycache.com/cocart-benchmark/) --- ## Ready to see these numbers on your site? Drop-in installation. Works on any WordPress host. [See Pricing](https://frostycache.com/pricing/) [Read the Docs](https://frostycache.com/docs/)