Attempting to push my Hetzner CPX11 (2 cores, 2GB) VPS server to its limits. $5/month hosted in Ashburn, VA
Configuration
- Ubuntu 20.04
- Nginx 1.20.1
- PHP 8.1.2
- MariaDB 10.6.5
- Redis 5.0.7
- WordPress 5.9.1
Running through the free Cloudflare plan. Individually optimized and tweaked Nginx, PHP, MariaDB, and Redis. Using Redis Object Cache and Autoptimize for further performance and optimization.
Benchmarking
WPPerformanceTester
![](https://mattps.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/hetzner-benchmark.jpg)
WordPress Hosting Benchmark Tool
![](https://mattps.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/hetzner-benchmark-2-1024x972.jpg)
KeyCDN
Run on a blank WordPress site running GeneratePress.
![](https://mattps.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/xhetzner-benchmark-3.jpg.pagespeed.ic.prMnepWKcc.jpg)
Conclusion
Overall I am happy. It is hard to beat the performance you get for $5/month even if it requires a days work to get optimized.
Price/Performance is better than most main-stream VPS hosts and miles above a managed WordPress host like Servebolt. To get any cheaper requires scrounging around LowEndBox.
I am not paid or affiliated with Hetzner