Real-World Test: Is a Modern WordPress Website Faster Than a 10-Year-Old HTML5 Website?<\/h1>\n
July 22, 2026 | WordPress Maintenance<\/span><\/p><\/h1><\/div> Many business owners believe that an HTML5 website is always faster than a modern WordPress website. That was often the case for many years, but technology has made enormous strides in recent years. Does that assumption still hold true today? <\/p>\n To investigate this, I conducted three real-world tests using websites I developed myself. The first website is an HTML5 site I built about ten years ago. It was tested both on its original hosting environment and on our own dedicated server. The second website is a completely new WordPress site built with Avada Builder and Slider Revolution, optimized using modern techniques for speed and performance. <\/p>\n The results were surprising. Below are the findings from these field tests. <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div> Test Environment:<\/strong> All measurements were performed using GTmetrix from the same test location (Amsterdam). To assess the impact of both the hosting and the technology used, three real-world tests were conducted: <\/p>\n Practical Test 1<\/strong><\/span> \u2013 HTML5 website (original hosting)<\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 Performance: 92%<\/span> Practical Test 2<\/strong><\/span> (the same HTML5 website on our dedicated server) is discussed below to demonstrate the impact of hosting separately.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> Practical Test 3<\/strong><\/span> \u2013 Modern WordPress website (dedicated server)<\/em><\/p>\n \u2022 Performance: 98%<\/span> \u2022 Performance: 95%<\/span> To determine how much the hosting environment affects a website’s performance, we also tested the same HTML5 website on our own dedicated server.<\/p>\n The results immediately show that a faster hosting environment alone already delivers a clear performance gain:<\/p>\n This second practical test shows that a faster hosting environment alone yields a clear performance gain. The quality of the hosting is therefore a key factor in a website\u2019s speed. <\/p>\n<\/div> To ensure maximum transparency, we are making the complete GTmetrix reports for all three real-world tests available. Click on one of the links below to download the corresponding report. Once the impact of the hosting had been determined, the HTML5 website was compared to the modern WordPress website on the same high-performance server. Since both websites are now running on the same high-performance server, the impact of the hosting is largely eliminated, resulting in a fairer comparison. <\/p>\n The new WordPress website is nearly three times as large as the old HTML5 website and processes significantly more HTTP requests. At first glance, that might seem like a disadvantage. However, the opposite turns out to be true. <\/p>\n In fact:<\/strong><\/p>\n That’s an impressive achievement when you consider that the WordPress website runs on a full-fledged content management system with far more capabilities than a traditional HTML5 website.<\/p>\n There are several reasons for this.<\/p>\n The website runs on a fast dedicated server with a very low Time to First Byte, allowing the browser to start loading the page almost immediately.<\/p>\n Among other things, the website uses:<\/p>\n Technologies that were barely available ten years ago.<\/p>\n These days, Google doesn’t just look at the total load time, but primarily at the user experience.<\/p>\n The website scores exceptionally well in the following areas:<\/p>\n As a result, the website feels fast to visitors right away.<\/p>\n Many people focus exclusively on GTmetrix\u2019s Structure Score. The Structure Score is a technical recommendation score and does not automatically reflect the speed that visitors actually experience. However, it does not always provide an accurate picture of the actual speed. <\/p>\n The lower Structure Score is primarily due to:<\/p>\n These are optimizations that have relatively little impact on the actual user experience.<\/p>\n By further optimizing a few images, I expect:<\/p>\n without any noticeable loss of quality.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div> These three real-world tests clearly show that a website’s performance today is determined by much more than just the technology used.<\/p>\n The second practical test demonstrates that a better hosting environment can significantly improve a website\u2019s performance. The third practical test then demonstrates that a modern WordPress website, despite having much larger page sizes and significantly more functionality, can deliver excellent performance when it is technically well-built and optimized. <\/p>\n In other words: These real-world tests show that a modern WordPress website can perform exceptionally well when the hosting and technical optimization are in order. The choice between HTML5 and WordPress is less of a deciding factor than many people think. <\/p>\n Over the past few years, I\u2019ve developed and optimized hundreds of websites. One conclusion has become increasingly clear: a modern WordPress website doesn\u2019t have to be slow at all. With the right combination of powerful hosting, optimized images, caching, code optimization, and good Core Web Vitals, a WordPress website can perform exceptionally fast. These real-world tests confirm that a well-built WordPress website can easily compete with a traditional HTML5 website while offering far greater capabilities in terms of management, SEO, security, and future expansions.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>Three real-world tests with GTmetrix results<\/h1>\n
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\nEXAMPLE: OLD HTML5 WEBSITE | https:\/\/logopedieschaijkherpen.nl\/<\/a>\n<\/pre>
![](\"https:\/\/webdesign-limburg.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/html5-website-1-600x441.png\")
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\n\u2022 Largest Contentful Paint: 967 ms<\/span>
\n\u2022 Fully Loaded Time: 1.0 second<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\nEXAMPLE: WordPress website with Avada | https:\/\/logopedie.letigre.nl\/<\/a>\n<\/pre>
![](\"https:\/\/webdesign-limburg.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Wordpress-met-Avada-1-600x441.png\")
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\n\u2022 Largest Contentful Paint: 944 ms<\/span>
\n\u2022 Fully Loaded Time: 1.0 second<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>
\n\u2022 Largest Contentful Paint: 664 ms<\/span>
\nFully Loaded Time: 785 ms<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>Practical Test 2: The Impact of Hosting<\/h1>\n
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\n<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nDownload the GTmetrix reports<\/h2>\n
\n\u25ba Real-world test 1 \u2013 HTML5 website on its original hosting<\/span><\/a>
\n\u25ba Real-world test 2 \u2013 The same HTML5 website on our dedicated server<\/span><\/a>
\n\u25ba Real-world test 3 \u2013 Modern WordPress website on our dedicated server<\/span>
\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>A striking difference<\/h1>\n
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\nWhy is the new website faster?<\/h1>\n
1. High-performance dedicated server<\/h2>\n
2. Modern optimizations<\/h2>\n
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3. Improved Core Web Vitals<\/h2>\n
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\nWhy is the Structure Score lower?<\/h1>\n
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Conclusion<\/h1>\n
\nMy experience<\/h2>\n
![\"Responsive](\"https:\/\/webdesign-service.nl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/webdesign-service-compschaduw-600x241.png\")
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