How to check the speed of a WordPress site on different hosts without WordPress access?

Question

I need to check the speed of a couple of WordPress pages on a few different hosts (WordPress installations on different could hosting providers and managed hosts) to determine the fastest.

Problem is that I will gain access to the original site only when I have determined the fastest host, Then I can migrate the site to the new host.

I've been thinking of downloading the static page and somehow hosting it on different hosts to check the page speed.

My question is: How would I host the static page on WP?

Answer 1

You can't, and you shouldn't.

If you did it would not give a true reflection of speed with a full wordpress backend.

Go back to your client and tell them that this isn't how it works. You'll need a full copy of the site to test on various hosts.

I've been through this many times with clients, and whilst they don't want you to have the code it's the only way that you, and they, can ever be sure that the site will be on the "fastest" host.

Answer 2

Note this is not specific to your question, but if you want to check the speed of an existing site from various locations in the world, you can use https://tools.pingdom.com to do that.

It will report on the various speeds of a page request, and give you hints on how to increase page load speed.

If you need to determine which hosting place is good for you/your client, there are many hosting reviews available via the googles. I'd check several reviews, and filter their review with any bias they might show (like if they are an affiliate of the hosting place, and get referral income).

You could use various 'speed test' sites, and 'what theme is that' type sites, to determine what the potential client's site is doing now, and use that information to determine the best hosting place that meets their needs, and has the capabilities the client site needs.