Under one second. That’s the line we build to.
Most hosts only talk about uptime. We also set a load-time target, publish exactly how we measure it, and say plainly what is ours to fix and what isn’t.
Four rules, stated plainly.
Largest Contentful Paint, p75
The moment your main image or heading appears. We take the 75th percentile of the month’s lab tests, the same statistic Google uses for Core Web Vitals. Target: under 1.0 s on Launch and Grow, under 0.8 s on Scale and Performance.
Your homepage and top five pages
You pick the pages, or we use your five most visited. Each is loaded in a controlled lab test: Chrome, desktop profile, cable connection, first-time visitor, page cache warm, from the test region you choose.
What we commit to
When a covered page is over the line, we find the cause and tell you. If it’s in our infrastructure (server, caching, PHP, storage or our network), we take it on and work to bring the page back under the line. If it’s in the page, we tell you what to change.
What’s outside our control
Your theme, plugins, custom code, images and video, and third-party scripts (ads, chat, analytics, tag managers, embeds). Also DNS or CDN services outside HostingWC, traffic beyond your plan’s resources, and each visitor’s own device, browser, network and distance. Real visitors can see different times from our lab, so one slow load on one phone doesn’t mean the target was missed.
From first test to monthly report.
A target is only as good as the system behind it. These are the steps, and who does each one.
- 1 · Baseline
Agree the pages
Before the target applies we audit your site, agree the six covered pages and the test region, and fix anything page-side that would miss on day one.
Our team, with you - 2 · Measure
On a schedule
Each covered page loads as a first-time visitor with our page cache warm. A test that fails to load because of our server counts as over the limit, not as missing.
Automatic - 3 · Separate
Ours from theirs
Each test runs twice, with third-party scripts allowed and blocked. The blocked run is the one measured against the target; the gap is reported as third-party cost.
Automatic - 4 · Detect
Early, not at month end
When a page’s running p75 crosses the line mid-month, we aim to flag it with the likely cause, so it can be fixed before it counts.
Automatic alert, our team reviews - 5 · Report
On the first of the month
The report calculates each page’s p75. Any covered page over the line is flagged, with the cause and what happens next.
Automatic - 6 · Fix
Cause, in writing
Every miss gets a short cause and fix in the report: our side, a plugin, an image, a script. If it’s ours, we work on it. If it’s the page, we show you how.
Our team
You see what we see.
Each month’s report uses the same data we see.
See a full monthly reportIllustrative figures.
The details, answered.
Why the 75th percentile and not the average?
An average hides slow moments. The 75th percentile means three out of four tests were at or under the number. We sort the month’s tests for each page and take the value three quarters of the way up. Google uses the same statistic for Core Web Vitals, though Google’s data comes from real visitors and ours from controlled tests, so the two can differ.
Which region counts?
The one you choose at setup, normally the one nearest most of your customers. Results from the other regions are in your report, but only your chosen region decides whether the target is met. You can change it once a month.
What about traffic spikes?
Tests keep running during spikes, and slow results count toward the month. Your plan’s resources set how much traffic a site can absorb. If you expect a big launch, tell us ahead of time and we’ll help you prepare.
What if my site changes and gets heavier?
When we see a change, like a new plugin or a large image, push a page toward the line, we flag it and name the change. We then agree the fix, or a different page, with you.
When does the target start to apply?
From the first full calendar month after your site goes live on HostingWC and its covered pages are agreed. During migration we share before and after numbers so you know where you’ll start.
What if my page is very heavy?
During onboarding we run the audit. If a page can’t reach one second because of its own weight, say a 12 MB hero video, we tell you before the target applies, suggest fixes, and agree which pages are covered. No surprises later.
Why might my site feel slower than my numbers?
Our target is measured in a controlled lab, so results are comparable month to month. A visitor on a weak phone, a busy mobile network or far from the server, or a page with a new script or a large image, can load more slowly. The free audit and your report show where the time goes.
Is there an uptime target?
Yes. We target 99.9% monthly network availability, measured by our monitoring. Exclusions and the only remedy are set out in the Terms of Service.
Would your site pass today?
Run the audit to see your current LCP against the one-second line.