So you moved your WordPress install to a new host and it feels slower than before?

Here are the most common things you should check on.

Check PHP.ini settings

When you move the site and use the WordPress installer that the new hosting might have, they will use some predefined php.ini values to deploy with your new WordPress installment.

If you use All-in-One Migration for example, you will need a WordPress environment up and running to move the backup there.

Assuming you’re using cPanel, you can go to MultiPHP INI Editor, select your installment, and get the current settings.

The key proprieties you want to look after are: memory_limit, post_max_size, upload_max_filesize.

MultiPHP INI Editor
An example of a fresh install with a low resource limit

I recommend going with the following options:

  • memory_limit: 256M (minimum if you’re using visual builders like Elementor, Divi, or WPBakery)
  • post_max_size: 50M
  • upload_max_filesize: 10M (this one is not directly related to the performance, but since you’re here you might as well adjust it for something more suitable)

Apply the changes, give it a few seconds for them to be applied, and try accessing your site again.

Check PHP version

While most hosting services are slowly transitioning to having PHP 8.1 as the default, there are still hosting services that use PHP 7.4 as the default version on the server.

I’d suggest you go and make sure PHP 8.1 is running on your WordPress install. Unless you don’t have a particular item that might not run with newer versions (old plugins, old custom code) there is no reason to use PHP 7.4.

From cPanel you can search for MultiPHP Manager, select your install, and apply the PHP 8.1. It will take a few seconds to apply it and you can check back on your site to see if everything runs ok.

MultiPHP Manager in cPanel
Select the PHP version using MultiPHP Manager in cPanel

You can always revert to 7.4, in case there is something that breaks.

Clear cache after migration

There is a good chance you already have a caching plugin on your WordPress when the migration happened.

Try and clear the cache from the plugin and let it preload again. You can also try and just save the settings again and start a preload from the plugin.

I noticed in some cases that the cache was not building until I cleared the cache and saved the settings again.

Enable host caching service

Check if the new hosting service has some dedicated caching service that you can enable. Most of those that offer dedicated WordPress hosting have a caching solution built in that might need to be turned on.

Usually, you’ll find all those in the cPanel or the hosting dashboard if you search for “cache”, “performance” or “optimization”.

You might want to test it here if you want to have the server cache and the WordPress caching plugin run at the same time, but it’s a different discussion. If the server is running LiteSpeed, you might want to check this article: LiteSpeed Cache WordPress plugin.

These are the most common issues that might make your WordPress site feel slow after you migrate to a new host.