Diagnosing high CPU load complaints from your web host

This morning, I received a support email from a theme customer whose hosting company complained of high CPU load.

We determined it wasn’t the theme causing the CPU load (many use this particular theme with no CPU load complaints), however, I thought it would be worth writing a post to cover what high CPU load actually means, and how to correct it.

Are You Using a Caching Solution?

Something that every WordPress website should have in place, no matter how low the traffic. WP Super Cache is a good free choice.

Have You Run a P3 Scan?

GoDaddy created a plugin called P3 (Plugin Performance Profiler). If there’s a poorly configured plugin on your site, P3 will find it.

Are You Using Inherently Resource Intensive Plugins?

• Related Posts Plugins: Computing related posts algorithms are resource intensive. Look at Jetpack Related Posts instead.
• Broken Link Checking Plugins: There’s absolutely no reason to ever use this plugin on a live site.
• Post View Counting Plugins: This requires writing to the database on each page load.

Are You Under Attack?

One of the most common is an XML-RPC attack. Use the Disable XML-RPC plugin. A free CloudFlare plan can help block automated, malicious traffic.

Do You Get a Lot of Traffic?

It’s important to drill down to more specific measurements of time to gauge your server’s ability to handle traffic.

Is Your Host Shaking You Down?

Cheapo, sketchy shared hosts may be exaggerating your CPU load woes as a ruse to get you to upgrade.

Do You Genuinely Need to Upgrade?

Some websites just simply outgrow their hosting accounts. If the answers to all of the above questions were no, you may genuinely need a more accommodating hosting plan.