Rocket.net Review: 100ms Global TTFB With Better Cloud Hosting Specs And Free + Faster Cloudflare Enterprise (Who I Use)

Oh, Rocket.net. The only host I’ve tried in 10 years who averages a 100ms global TTFB.

Since I use them, you can test my TTFB and compare it with your own. You would do this by testing each site 3 times in KeyCDN or SpeedVitals which measures TTFB in 10-40 worldwide locations (3 times is needed to make sure caching works and that the CDN uses the closest data center). Mine usually averages ~100ms, but feel free to test it yourself. LCP is also around 250ms.

There are 3 key reasons for this:

• Hosting/CDN are the 2 main TTFB factors.
• TTFB is 40% of LCP and also part of FCP/INP.
• Both Rocket.net’s hosting + Cloudflare Enterprise have faster specs/features than my previous 2 hosts (SiteGround Cloud + Cloudways Vultr HF) as well as Kinsta/WPE/WPX.

It’s private cloud hosting with better specs like 32 CPU cores + 128GB RAM, NVMe SSDs, MariaDB, LiteSpeed’s PHP, Redis (Redis Object Cache Pro on the Business plan), and no PHP worker limits. This outperforms nearly every host which usually looks like this: less cores/RAM, slower SATA SSDs, MySQL, FastCGI or PHP-FPM, Memcached, and low CPU + PHP worker limits.

Cloudflare Enterprise is a powerhouse for reducing TTFB. Rocket.net’s is not only free, but thanks to Ben Gabler’s experience as StackPath’s Chief Product Officer and close relationships with Cloudflare, it’s also the most complete integration of any host (other hosts like Cloudways, Kinsta, and WP Engine only do partial integrations with many missing features). On top of their massive network of 285 PoPs, you get full page caching, Mirage/Polish for image optimization, and much faster routing between prioritized routing, Argo Smart Routing, and load balancing.

I originally discovered Rocket.net through this Facebook conversation. I went through their all 5/5 star TrustPilot reviews and after talking with Ben Gabler (CEO) and learning his background, I moved. The only reason they’re not “popular” is because they launched in 2020 and don’t do aggressive marketing. But you can see many people moving to them, they’re getting popular in Facebook groups, and I’ve seen ex-SiteGround customers move with a 452% LCP improvement.

With unlimited free migrations + $1 your 1st month, they had my site ready in hours. The only thing I did initially was upgrade PHP versions and spend 15 minutes learning their dashboard. Support did the rest and many of them have over 20 years experience, so you’re in good hands.

 

1. 100ms Global TTFB + Faster LCP/FCP

To understand why Rocket.net averages 100ms and other hosts don’t, you need to know how TTFB works and which features improve it (such as full page caching, prioritized routing, Argo Smart Routing, and Cloudflare’s network with 285 locations and 197 Tbps data transfer speeds).

You can test my site in other tools or click through it:

 

2. Comparing Their Specs To Similar Hosts

Here’s another table comparing Rocket.net vs. WPX, WP Engine, Flywheel.

	SiteGround Cloud Jump Start Plan	Kinsta Starter Plan	Cloudways Vultr HF (2GB)	Rocket.net Starter Plan
Type	Cloud	Cloud (shared containers)	Cloud	Private cloud
Server	Apache + Nginx	Apache + Nginx	Apache + Nginx	Apache + Nginx
Nginx reverse proxy	✓	$50/mo	✓	✓
Cores/RAM	4 cores/8GB	12 cores/8GB	1 core/2GB	32 cores/128GB
Storage	40GB SATA	10GB SATA	64GB NVMe	10GB NVMe
Object cache	Memcached	$100/mo Redis	Redis Pro	Redis (Redis Pro on Business plan)
PHP processor	FastCGI	FastCGI	FPM	LiteSpeed
PHP workers	Not listed, but common CPU limits	2	No limit	No limit
Memory limit	Adjustable	256MB	Adjustable	1GB
Database	MySQL	MySQL	MariaDB	MariaDB
Bandwidth + visits	5TB/mo	25k/mo	2TB/mo	50GB + 250k/mo
CDN	$14.99/mo SiteGround CDN	Cloudflare APO + firewall rules (read)	$5/mo Cloudflare Enterprise + challenge pages	Free Cloudflare Enterprise (details)
CDN locations	176	285	285	285
Full page caching	✓	✓	x	✓
Smart routing	Anycast	x	Argo	Argo
Image optimization	Limited	x	Mirage/Polish	Mirage/Polish
DNS	Blocked by Google (4 days)	Amazon Route 53	$5/mo DNS Made Easy	Cloudflare
Cache plugin	SG Optimizer	Use FlyingPress	Breeze	Use FlyingPress
Data centers	10	35	44	Served from Cloudflare’s edge
Control panel	Site Tools	MyKinsta	Custom (difficult)	Mission Control
Email hosting	✓	x	x	x
Support	C	B	C	A
Migrations	$30/site	Unlimited free	1 free + $25/site	Unlimited free
TrustPilot rating	4.6/5	4.2/5	4.5/5	4.9/5
How it starts costing more	High initial price, CPU limits, CDN, price increases, internal incidents	PHP workers, add-ons, monthly visits, bandwidth, price increases	CPU limits, CDN, backups, price increases	Bandwidth
Incidents	TTFB, DNS, CPU issues, controls Facebook groups	None	Acquired by DigitalOcean, raised prices, removed Vultr/Linode	None
Monthly price	$100 + CDN	$29 when paying yearly + add-ons	$30 + CDN	$25 when paying yearly (no add-ons)

 
Out of these hosts, Rocket.net + Cloudways are the only ones using faster NVMe SSDs, Redis Object Cache Pro, and Cloudflare Enterprise. However, Cloudways’ Cloudflare Enterprise is $5/mo (and worse) and you’re more likely to run into “high CPU usage” from low cores/RAM. With Rocket.net, all plans have 32 CPU cores/128GB RAM with LiteSpeed’s PHP (Cloudways uses FPM). You only get NVMe on DO Premium (they removed Vultr HF after the DigitalOcean acquisition while raising prices). Support is overly technical or expects you to do things after sending how-to articles. Rocket.net’s support does everything for you (for the most part) and the platform is easier – no need to launch servers or configure server/application/CDN settings. 

Moving to SiteGround Cloud/Kinsta/WPE/WPX:

All these use slower SATA SSDs, MySQL, have 16x less RAM than Rocket, and do half-ass CDN integrations whether it’s so-called “Cloudflare Enterprise” or their own CDN’s lacking features. You’re likely to run into resource limits which force upgrades from low CPU limits, PHP workers, and Kinsta/WPE both include 10 less monthly visits. Kinsta/WPE also get ridiculously expensive when you take into account low limits, Kinsta’s add-ons, and WPE’s bandwidth overages. WPX is shared hosting who says they target a <400ms international TTFB – so they’re out of the picture. All 4 rely heavily on marketing and do shady things. Whether it’s hiding resource limits on deep inner pages or not listing them all (Kinsta/WPE). SiteGround/WPX make a variety of false claims.

The 5 key differences between these hosts and Rocket.net are: slower technology, harsher resource limits, paid add-ons, lacking features (including their CDNs), and ease of use/support.

 

3. Why Their Cloudflare Enterprise Is Faster

This has a lot to do with Ben’s experience as StackPath’s Chief Product Officer.

Their Cloudflare Enterprise is the closest thing to “true Enterprise” mainly because it has more features. These help with TTFB/routing, image optimization, security, and dynamic requests on WooCommerce. It’s a big reason Rocket.net averages a 100ms global TTFB and makes choosing a data center close to users pretty much irrelevant. It’s also 100% free and works automatically.

Most hosts do partial integrations and forget key features like full page caching, smart routing, and image optimization. Or they use their own CDN which has a smaller network + less features.

	RocketCDN	SiteGround CDN	FlyingCDN By FlyingPress	FlyingProxy Cloudflare Enterprise	Cloudways Cloudflare Enterprise	Rocket.net Cloudflare Enterprise
CDN	StackPath	Google Cloud	BunnyCDN	Cloudflare	Cloudflare	Cloudflare
Tbps	100	Not listed	80	192	192	192
Locations	73	176	114	285	285	285
Full page cache	x	✓	x	APO	x	APO
Brotli	x	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Smart routing	x	Anycast	SmartEdge	x	Argo	Argo
Priority routing	x	x	x	✓	✓	✓
Load balancing	x	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
Image optimization	x	Very limited	Bunny Optimizer	Mirage/Polish	Mirage/Polish	Mirage/Polish
Compression	x	✓	✓	✓	✓	✓
WebP	x	x	✓	✓	✓	✓
Mobile resizing	x	x	✓	✓	✓	✓
Firewall	x	x	✓	✓	✓	✓
Anti-DDoS	x	x	✓	✓	✓	✓
Challenge pages	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Bandwidth	Not unlimited as advertised	Unmetered	Unlimited	100GB	100GB	Determined by hosting plan
Price	$8.99/mo	$14.99/mo	$.03/GB	$10/mo	$5/mo	Free w/ hosting

 
Cloudways copied Rocket.net’s Cloudflare Enterprise and charges $5/mo when it doesn’t support APO and serves annoying challenge pages. Kinsta + WP Engine’s integration aren’t Enterprise since they only include a few Enterprise features. WPX’s CDN (XDN) only has 39 PoPs (compared to Cloudflare’s 285) without full page caching. SiteGround discontinued Cloudflare (previously free) and partnered with Google Cloud to market it as their own CDN for $14.99/mo. Even after v.2, there are complaints it makes your site slower. Besides Rocket, the closest thing to Cloudflare Enterprise is Cloudways + FlyingProxy, but neither support both APO + Argo Smart Routing. Both also cost money, require configuration, and I can just trust Ben’s CDN experience.

 

4. 32 CPU Cores + 128GB RAM + NVMe SSDs On All Plans

Full details are in this post.

• 2 x Intel(R) Xeon(R) CPU E5-2667 v2 @ 3.30GHz (32 Cores)
• 128GB RAM
• RAIDED NVMe SSDs (they switched in 2022 after the post was written)

Kinsta/SiteGround cloud have 16x less RAM and Kinsta limits staging sites to just 1 CPU core (Rocket.net doesn’t). Cloudways/WPX only give you a very small amount of cores/RAM. And while these don’t directly mean a faster site, adding more (upgrading) is often a host’s go-to suggestion for fixing CPU limits. Rather than constantly upgrading, maybe upgrade your host?

NVMe SSDs have about 6x faster read-write speeds than SATA SSDs which are used on most shared/cloud hosts. If you’re paying $100/mo and not using NVMe storage, what are ya doin’?

 

5. Redis (Redis Object Cache Pro On Their Business Plan)

Redis is more powerful than Memcached, especially since it uses Relay integration which is specifically good for speed/resource usage on WooCommerce/dynamic sites. Several hosts don’t support object cache, use Memcached instead, or Kinsta charges $100/month for Redis. Redis is free on all Rocket.net plans, then Redis Object Cache Pro on the Business plan and up. They use the Redis Object Cache plugin and you’ll need to ask support who will install it for you.

This table can be found on objectcache.pro.

	W3 Total Cache	LiteSpeed Cache	WP Redis	Redis Object Cache	Object Cache Pro
Performance
Batch Prefetching	x	x	x	x	✓
Data compression	x	x	x	x	✓
Cache priming	x	x	x	x	✓
Asynchronous flushing	x	x	x	✓	✓
Features
Cache Analytics	x	x	x	✓	✓
Secure connections	x	x	x	✓	✓
Highly customizable	x	x	x	x	✓
Logging support	x	x	x	x	✓
Cluster support	x	x	x	✓	✓
Replication support	x	x	x	✓	✓
Reliability
Mitigates race conditions	x	x	x	x	✓
Extensively unit tested	x	x	x	x	✓
Integrations
WooCommerce optimized	x	x	x	x	✓
Query Monitor integration	x	x	x	Basic	Advanced
WP CLI integration	Basic	x	Basic	Basic	Advanced
Site Health checks	x	x	x	x	✓
Batcache compatible	x	x	x	✓	✓
Relay integration	x	x	x	x	✓

 

6. Less Limits: CPU Cores/RAM, PHP Workers, Visits, Memory

These are why most people have to upgrade on their host.

 

7. WooCommerce Optimized

Rocket.net is especially fast for WooCommerce sites. A few key reasons are APO, Argo Smart Routing with Tiered Cache, NVMe SSDs, no PHP worker limits, Redis Object Cache Pro’s relay integration, and Rocket.net also strategically built their data centers right next to Cloudflare’s.

 

8. Top Performer In Kevin Ohashi’s Benchmarks

Rocket.net was a top performer in Kevin Ohashi’s WP Hosting Benchmarks.

Anyone who’s been around the block knows Kevin’s tests are some of the most reliable out there. Most YouTubers and “fastest WordPress hosting speed tests” are garbage and ranked based on commissions, while Kevin’s methodology and non-affiliated results are more accurate.

These were also taken before Rocket.net started using NVMe SSDs. I asked Ben why he didn’t participate in last year’s test. I think he was too busy growing and taking care of his customers.

 

9. Look At Ben Gabler’s Background And Watch His Interviews

Ben’s background is one of the main reasons I tried Rocket.net in the first place. Previously COO at HostGator, Chief Product Officer at StackPath, Senior Product Manager at GoDaddy, and now CEO of Rocket.net. Ben and Patrick Gallagher (from GridPane) did an interview together at Admin Bar which is completely non-promotional and 100% informative. Totally worth watching.

 

10. Price: Low Bandwidth But No Hidden Limits/Add-Ons

Rocket.net’s pricing is essentially by bandwidth usage.

Once you learn how much bandwidth you need, choose a plan. Then subtract the costs of add-ons, CDNs, unexpected upgrades, time dealing with bad support, and lower conversions from a slower site. I’m not here to sell you on paying more for hosting, but it’s definitely worth it for me.

If you exceed the limit, Rocket.net uses soft limits and aren’t going to take down your site and lock you out like some hosts do, but you will eventually need to upgrade or reduce bandwidth usage. Monthly visits usually aren’t a problem considering you get 10x more than Kinsta/WPE.

Of course, I run a blog about WordPress speed and hosting reviews. And I’m guessing you’ll run it through speed tests and click through it. Think I’m gonna let your site load faster than mine?

 

11. Support Is Night And Day

Ben, Chad, and their team take support to a new level.

I already know they went outside a typical host’s scope of work several times for me. And I normally can’t always trust hosts to touch (let alone migrate) my site, but their work has been timely and flawless every time with many staff having 20+ years experience. Ben even hops on chats/calls sometimes so if you get the chance, grab a notepad because he’s ahead of his time.

I usually use live chat which typically responds in seconds and feels like you’re actually talking to an actual person who clearly knows what they’re doing. Other than asking about specs, I’ve probably reached out 5 times in 1 year since my site runs smoothly. Fast, nice, knowledgeable.

 

12. Facebook Feedback + All 5/5 TrustPilot Reviews

As of writing this, Rocket.net has all perfect 5/5 reviews on their TrustPilot profile. You can search keywords like “TTFB” or “Cloudways” to see specific reviews. If you do this, you’ll see several people are moving away from other hosts to Rocket.net, but not the other way around. Even if you search SiteGround’s 11,000 TrustPilot reviews, not 1 person came from Rocket.net.

Ben also did an AMA in a Facebook group, or here’s some more feedback.

 

13. $1 Your 1st Month With Unlimited Free Migrations

Getting started:

• Sign up for $1 your 1st month.
• Or talk to Ben/request a Zoom demo if you need an intro.
• Benchmark your TTFB in KeyCDN and your LCP in PSI or GTmetrix.
• Update DNS or TXT records, or request a free migration from their team.
• Upgrade to the latest compatible PHP version, then ask support to install Redis.
• Remove image optimization, security, CDN plugins (CF Enterprise handles these).
• Configure the FlyingPress settings, then retest your core web vitals (TTFB, LCP, FCP).

Submit your site to Chrome’s HSTS Preload list. Use that site to see if yours supports it and if not, try this plugin. Rocket.net’s support will probably do it for you, but try to do it yourself first.

 

14. Use Rocket.net + FlyingPress (Same Setup I Use)

This is the setup I use and I’ve confirmed several settings with Ben/Gijo.

FlyingPress

If you’re not using FlyingPress yet, it does a better job with core web vitals and real world browsing compared to WP Rocket and other optimization plugins with new features added regularly. Configure everything normally. Page caching will remain on to serve as a fallback cache in case it misses Cloudflare. Do not add Rocket.net’s CDN URL to the FlyingPress CDN settings, and there’s no need to use FlyingCDN with Cloudflare Enterprise. You can read my FlyingPress tutorial or click the thumbnails to see screenshots of the settings, but you should read the tutorial since lazy render, delay JS, and preloading fonts require manual configuration.

Screenshots (click to enlarge):

Perfmatters

The only feature you really need Perfmatters for is the script manager to disable plugins on pages/posts they’re not being used (this helps remove unused CSS/JavaScript) and possibly preloading Gutenberg’s CSS or other CSS/JS files. You could also use a free plugin like Asset CleanUp if the script manager is all you need it for. You’ll enable test mode to prevent it from breaking your site (by only showing changes to logged in admins), then start disabling plugins where they don’t need to load. Disable test mode when you’re done. Leave all other settings off (including CDN settings which like FlyingPress, you don’t need to add Rocket.net’s CDN URL to).

 

15. The Cliché “Best/Fastest” Host I’ve Used In 10 Years

I don’t write glowing reviews for everyone (just read some of my other hosting reviews). But Rocket.net has been a game changer and I’ve been steering people to them since I switched.

Cheers and lmk if you have any questions.
Tom

Try them for $1