Updated for 2026 · Ranked by real TTFB
Best Hosting for TTFB
Test your current site first, then see which hosts respond fastest in our tests.
The fastest hosts we've tested
Ranked by average Time to First Byte. Lower is faster.
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#1
Cloudways Fastest cloud
Managed cloud · Varnish · Redis · Choice of DO/Vultr/AWS · Pay-as-you-go · Staging
Visit Cloudways150 ms
avg TTFB · from $14/mo
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#2
FastComet Our pick
LiteSpeed · NVMe · Free CDN · Free daily backups · Free site transfer · 24/7 support
Visit FastComet180 ms
avg TTFB · from $2.49/mo
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#3
Hostinger Best value
LiteSpeed · NVMe · Hostinger CDN · Free domain (yearly) · Free SSL · AI site tools
Visit Hostinger210 ms
avg TTFB · from $2.99/mo
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#4
SiteGround Premium support
Google Cloud · NGINX · SuperCacher · Daily backups · Staging · Free CDN
Visit SiteGround230 ms
avg TTFB · from $2.99/mo
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#5
A2 Hosting Turbo servers
LiteSpeed (Turbo) · NVMe · Anytime money-back · Free migration · Free SSL
Visit A2 Hosting260 ms
avg TTFB · from $2.99/mo
How we measure TTFB
TTFB is the time from a visitor requesting a page to the first byte of HTML arriving back. It includes DNS lookup, the TCP connection, the TLS (HTTPS) handshake and the time your server spends building the page. Because the server-side part dominates on most sites, TTFB is the single clearest measure of how fast a host really is.
Our scanner measures each of these steps separately from our own server, so your Wi-Fi and browser cache are taken out of the picture. Google treats a TTFB under 800 ms as acceptable; we recommend aiming for under 400 ms.
What makes a host fast
- LiteSpeed or NGINX web servers with built-in full-page caching.
- NVMe storage instead of older SATA SSDs or spinning disks.
- Fewer sites per server, so your site isn't competing for CPU.
- A data centre close to your visitors, or a CDN in front.
- Modern protocols: HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 and Brotli compression.
Frequently asked questions
What is a good TTFB?+
Under 200 ms is excellent, 200–400 ms is good, 400–800 ms needs improvement, and anything over 800 ms is considered poor by Google.
Which host has the fastest TTFB?+
Cloudways had the lowest average TTFB in our tests at 150 ms.
Does TTFB affect SEO?+
TTFB is not a direct ranking factor, but it delays Largest Contentful Paint (LCP), which is part of Google's Core Web Vitals. A slow server makes good LCP scores much harder to achieve.
Can I improve TTFB without changing host?+
Often, yes: turn on full-page caching, enable Brotli or Gzip compression, and put a CDN like Cloudflare in front. If the server itself is slow, moving host is the biggest win.
Test a specific host
Slow site, strange redirects or spam pages? It could be malware. Get a free scan and clean-up at ToughProtection.com.