--- title: "CoCart API v2 Benchmark — Frosty Cache REST API Cache for WordPress" description: "Frosty Cache benchmark for CoCart API — product catalog endpoints served in ~38ms instead of ~907ms. Built for headless WooCommerce storefronts." language: "en-GB" canonical_url: "https://frostycache.com/cocart-benchmark/" source_url: "https://frostycache.com/cocart-benchmark/" content_type: "text/markdown" --- CoCart API v2 · Headless WooCommerce · WordPress 7.0 · PHP 7.4 # Headless WooCommerce. Instant. Headless storefronts built on CoCart hit the product catalog API on every page render — product listings, single products, category navigation. That cost lands on every visitor, server-side, before a single byte reaches the client. ~38ms Cache Hit Response CoCart v2 · drop-in ~24× Faster Than Uncached drop-in vs full WP + WC + CoCart ~907ms No Cache median · WordPress + WooCommerce + CoCart --- CoCart v2 Results Every product endpoint. Every time. Median response time across four CoCart v2 product endpoints — paginated listings with different sort orders, product categories, and a single product. CoCart’s rich response format (prices, images, variants, related products) makes payloads larger than standard WP REST API responses, but the drop-in still cuts response time by ~24×. Median response time per endpoint (ms, lower is better) Frosty Cache HIT — drop-in No cache (MISS) --- Raw Numbers Full timing breakdown. 50 requests per endpoint per mode. All times in milliseconds. | Endpoint | Mode | min | avg | median | p95 | max | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | /cocart/v2/products?per_page=10 | MISS | 949 | 999 | 997 | 1047 | 1074 | | HIT | 37 | 39 | **38** | 48 | 50 | | /cocart/v2/products?per_page=5&orderby=popularity | MISS | 890 | 925 | 919 | 976 | 1002 | | HIT | 37 | 39 | **38** | 49 | 55 | | /cocart/v2/products/categories | MISS | 817 | 856 | 847 | 911 | 1040 | | HIT | 36 | 40 | **38** | 49 | 51 | | /cocart/v2/products/30 | MISS | 834 | 871 | 864 | 908 | 933 | | HIT | 37 | 41 | **38** | 50 | 51 | --- Coverage Catalog cached. Cart protected. Frosty Cache caches CoCart’s public product catalog endpoints and bypasses session-specific ones. Cart routes use a `cart_key` or `CoCart-API-Cart-Key` header to identify anonymous sessions — neither of these trip the standard auth checks, so Frosty Cache’s CoCart module handles them explicitly. | Route | Used for | Cache | | --- | --- | --- | | /cocart/v2/products | Product listings — headless shop pages | HIT | | /cocart/v2/products/{id} | Single product — headless PDP | HIT | | /cocart/v2/products/categories | Category listings — headless navigation | HIT | | /cocart/v2/cart | Cart — session-specific, identified by cart_key | BYPASS | | /cocart/v2/logout | Session logout | BYPASS | | /cocart/v2/store | Store settings — dynamic per-request | BYPASS | **WP REST Cache** does not cache `cocart/v2` endpoints by default — its allowlist only covers `wp/v2`, confirmed live: requests to `cocart/v2/products` against a WP REST Cache install ran with no speedup at all across repeated requests. CoCart does not register itself with the plugin. Manual configuration through the WP REST Cache admin screen is required before any CoCart response is cached, and even then responses are stored as WordPress transients — WordPress still boots on every cache hit. Live-tested on its `wp/v2` routes (the same underlying transient mechanism), that’s ~832ms median in production, vs Frosty Cache’s drop-in at ~751ms — see the [full live comparison](https://frostycache.com/vs-wp-rest-cache/). --- Context Why ~38ms, not ~15ms? The drop-in reads a JSON file and exits — its speed is bounded by file I/O, not by WordPress. CoCart v2 product payloads are 10–20× larger than a standard post response (prices, image variants, related products, add-to-cart metadata) so there is simply more data to read off disk and send over the wire. The ~23ms gap vs the WordPress core benchmark is the cost of that extra payload, not the caching layer. These numbers use the **full unfiltered response**. Headless storefronts using `?_fields=id,name,slug,permalink,prices,images,categories` to request only the fields they render cut the payload from ~52KB to ~23KB — live-tested on the same production host, the filtered request now caches correctly and drops the HIT median from ~997ms to **~856ms**, roughly a 14% improvement on top of the drop-in’s existing saving. ### 📊 vs WooCommerce Store API - Both hit ~38ms HIT median on a local development environment - Store API payloads are leaner — fewer embedded arrays - CoCart v2 adds related/upsell arrays, add-to-cart metadata, per-currency formatting - MISS times also slightly higher for CoCart (~907ms vs ~860ms) — same reason - Same drop-in, same cache path, different payload size - Using `?_fields=` shrinks both the payload and the HIT time — live-tested at ~856ms vs ~997ms for the unfiltered response ### ⚡ What the drop-in still saves - ~869ms of WordPress + WooCommerce + CoCart bootstrap - No database connection on HIT - No plugin loading chain (~50+ hooks never fire) - No CoCart price calculation or image size lookup - Pure file I/O — read JSON, set headers, exit - ~24× faster despite the larger payload --- Methodology How these numbers were measured. ### 🖥 Environment - Local by Flywheel - WordPress 7.0 - PHP 7.4 - WooCommerce 9.x - CoCart v2 (5.0.0-dev) - nginx · MySQL 8.4 ### ⚗️ Test method - 50 requests per endpoint per mode - `curl --time-total` end-to-end - Cache warmed before HIT run - MISS uses `skip_cache=1` to bypass cache ### 📐 Cache path - `advanced-cache.php` drop-in active - HIT exits before WordPress loads - No WooCommerce or CoCart bootstrap on HIT - MISS pays full WP + WC + CoCart boot cost --- Production · live demo site · shared hosting Same story, on a real store. 20 requests per endpoint against a live CoCart v2 install on shared hosting. MISS baseline uses `skip_cache=1` to bypass the drop-in. HIT is a normal request served by `advanced-cache.php`. Numbers include full network round-trip — real internet latency to a shared host, not a local loopback — which compresses the percentage gain but not the underlying savings: CoCart still skips WordPress, WooCommerce, and its own bootstrap entirely on a hit. Median response time per endpoint — production (ms, lower is better) Frosty Cache HIT — drop-in No cache (MISS) | Endpoint | Mode | min | avg | median | p95 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | /cocart/v2/products?per_page=10 | MISS | 1772 | 1853 | 1844 | 1988 | | HIT | 844 | 989 | **996** | 1061 | | /cocart/v2/products?per_page=5&orderby=popularity | MISS | 1529 | 1594 | 1583 | 1688 | | HIT | 832 | 892 | **874** | 1315 | | /cocart/v2/products/categories | MISS | 1294 | 1469 | 1431 | 2282 | | HIT | 707 | 808 | **725** | 1715 | | /cocart/v2/products/{id} | MISS | 1259 | 1402 | 1357 | 1625 | | HIT | 603 | 713 | **726** | 748 | Median saving across the four endpoints: **~47%** off TTFB — the largest live saving of the three benchmarked API surfaces on this host. --- Stack Comparison CoCart v2 vs WooCommerce Store API. Same four product endpoints, same drop-in, same machine and same live host — the only variable is which API served the response. CoCart’s richer payload (related products, add-to-cart metadata, per-currency formatting) costs a few extra milliseconds on every mode, but the cache path itself is identical. | Endpoint | Stack | Local HIT | Local MISS | Live HIT | Live MISS | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | products?per_page=10 | CoCart v2 | 38 | 997 | 996 | 1844 | | WC Store API | 38 | 903 | 990 | 1659 | | products?per_page=5&orderby=popularity | CoCart v2 | 38 | 919 | 874 | 1583 | | WC Store API | 38 | 897 | 878 | 1393 | | products/categories | CoCart v2 | 38 | 847 | 725 | 1431 | | WC Store API | 37 | 832 | 715 | 1195 | | products/{id} | CoCart v2 | 38 | 864 | 726 | 1357 | | WC Store API | 37 | 831 | 733 | 1214 | All times in milliseconds, median. Local = Local by Flywheel loopback (no network overhead). Live = production run against a shared-hosting demo site (full network round-trip included). --- Also See More benchmarks See how Frosty Cache performs on standard WordPress REST API endpoints (**~15ms** / **~47×**) and WooCommerce Store API FSE block endpoints (**~38ms** / **~23×**). [WordPress Core Benchmark →](https://frostycache.com/benchmark/) [WooCommerce Store API →](https://frostycache.com/woocommerce-benchmark/) [Frosty Cache vs WP REST Cache →](https://frostycache.com/vs-wp-rest-cache/) --- ## Ready to cache your headless storefront? Drop-in installation. Works on any WordPress host. Cart always stays fresh. [See Pricing](https://frostycache.com/pricing/) [Read the Docs](https://frostycache.com/docs/)