Can WordPress Be Faster Than Shopify? Yes — If You Know What You’re Doing.

Shopify is built for simplicity. It’s hosted, optimized, and largely hands-off.
But WordPress? It’s raw power. You get full control — but that means speed is your responsibility.

If you configure WordPress right, it can be faster, leaner, and more flexible than Shopify. But it won’t happen by accident.

Here’s a no-BS breakdown of what makes WordPress fast — and how to outpace Shopify at its own game.

1. Hosting: Where Speed Begins

Shopify runs on optimized infrastructure. You need to match that firepower.

• Choose LiteSpeed or NGINX-based hosts like Hostinger, Cloudways, or Rocket.net
• Go for Managed WordPress Hosting if you don’t want to tweak configs yourself
• Avoid oversold shared hosting — it’s speed poison

2. Database Hygiene

Shopify manages your DB behind the scenes. WordPress? You need to keep it lean.

• Delete old post revisions, transients, spam comments
• Use tools like WP-Optimize or Advanced Database Cleaner
• Run periodic optimization queries or cron jobs

A bloated wp_posts table is one of the top killers of admin speed.

3. Caching: The Equalizer

Without caching, WordPress hits the database for every request. Don’t let it.

• Page caching: WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache, or W3 Total Cache
• Browser caching: Enable via .htaccess or plugin
• Object caching: Use Redis or Memcached if supported

Shopify caches by default. WordPress can, but only if you configure it.

4. Themes That Don’t Suck

Your theme matters more than you think.

• Use themes like GeneratePress, Blocksy, or Kadence
• Avoid multipurpose themes with 10MB of JS
• Run GTmetrix or PageSpeed on the demo before you install

Don’t fall for pretty — fall for fast.

5. Content Optimization: Images First

Images are usually the heaviest thing on any site.

• Use WebP, resize before upload, compress everything
• Lazy load images below the fold
• Avoid sliders and background videos unless they’re critical to your UX

Shopify compresses images automatically. You’ll have to do this on WordPress — but you can do it better.

6. Use a CDN

Static assets shouldn’t fly across continents.

• Use Cloudflare, BunnyCDN, or Fastly
• Set cache rules smartly — don’t cache dynamic cart or checkout pages
• Serve fonts, images, and scripts from edge servers

This is where WordPress can outscale Shopify — you choose your stack.

7. Technical Wins Most People Ignore

• Minify & combine CSS/JS
• Enable GZIP or Brotli compression
• Use latest PHP (8.2+)
• Set cache-control and expires headers properly
• Remove unused plugins and themes — don’t just deactivate

Speed is cumulative. Every millisecond matters.

8. Server-Side Power Moves (for advanced users)

• Enable OPcache
• Run scheduled DB maintenance via cron
• Monitor TTFB (Time to First Byte) with tools like GTmetrix or New Relic
• Avoid WooCommerce unless you need eCommerce. It’s heavier than pure WP.

Don’t Expect WordPress to Be Fast by Default

It isn’t. That’s the trade-off for power and control.
But when configured right, WordPress can outperform Shopify — especially for blogs, content-heavy sites, or stores that need flexibility.

TL;DR – WordPress Can Be Faster Than Shopify If:

• Your hosting is solid
• You cache everything smartly
• You don’t overload with plugins
• You optimize your images and scripts
• You stay in control of what loads and when

Would love to hear your view in comments.