Time to first byte
Your WordPress thinks before it answers. A static copy is already done.
Time to first byte (TTFB) is the time from requesting a page until its first byte arrives. Google's web.dev rates 0.8 seconds or less as good and more than 1.8 seconds as poor. On WordPress, most of that wait is the page being assembled: PHP, plugins and database queries, all over again for every visitor. A static copy has the page ready before anyone asks, so the first byte goes out right away.
Your whole site, on your own domain.
Free while we're in beta. No credit card.
Test it on one of your pages
About twenty seconds, no account. You see your page and the copy side by side and click through it yourself.
A copy that works like your site
A plain HTML export saves each page with the files it links to. Anything a page loads only after it opens, like images that appear as you scroll, a menu that fills in, content a script fetches or a link that redirects, often goes missing. And you hear about it from a visitor.
A MakeStatic copy works like your site, it doesn't just look like it. You test it yourself, side by side with your site, before deciding anything. And if a page of the copy ever behaves differently from yours, write to [email protected] and we'll fix it.
- Images that load as you scroll, in every size your site has for phones and big screens.
- Fonts, icons and everything your theme or page builder brings along.
- Content a script loads after the page opens, and menus that fill in on hover.
- Links that redirect to another address still redirect.
- Videos that play and let you skip ahead.
- Contact forms that deliver and a search box that answers.
What time to first byte measures
It starts when the browser sets off for the page and ends when the first byte of the answer arrives. In between: any redirect, the address lookup, the connection and its encryption, and then the time the server takes to answer. That last part is where a WordPress site loses its time.
It isn't one of Google's Core Web Vitals, but everything else waits for it. Largest Contentful Paint, which is one, includes it: a page can't show what hasn't arrived.
Why WordPress answers late
- Every visit starts PHP and loads WordPress with all of its plugins.
- The page is assembled from database queries, and each one is a wait.
- At busy moments, every visitor waits for the others.
- Your hosting sets the floor under all of it; web.dev names it the first thing to look at.
What the usual fixes do
A caching plugin keeps the finished pages and hands them out again, which is the biggest single improvement most WordPress sites can make. It still works within WordPress, though: a plugin such as WP Rocket doesn't, by default, cache pages for logged-in visitors, addresses with query strings, or a shop's cart, checkout and account pages. Those are built fresh every time.
Better hosting and a content delivery network shorten the rest of the way. Neither changes the fact that there's a WordPress behind the page, waiting to be asked.
What a static copy changes
Every page of the copy is ready before anyone asks for it, and it's served without WordPress: no PHP starts, no plugin loads, no database gets queried. The server's share of the wait all but disappears, and it doesn't depend on a cache being filled first.
Part of any difference comes from our hosting rather than from the site being static, and the comparison says so right next to its numbers.
Measure your own site
Enter your address in the field on this page. We copy that one page and measure the original and the copy in the same browser, one after the other: the time to first byte, and the time until the page first shows. You see both numbers under each, with the two pages side by side.
And the Core Web Vitals?
Largest Contentful Paint, the Core Web Vital for loading, should be 2.5 seconds or less, and the first byte is part of it. A copy that answers sooner leaves the rest of the page more of that time. What comes after the first byte, like images, fonts and scripts, is your site's own and is the same in the copy.
Sources
web.dev: Time to First Byte, Optimize Time to First Byte, and Largest Contentful Paint; WP Rocket's documentation of the pages it doesn't cache. Checked on 28 September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a good time to first byte?
- 0.8 seconds or less, according to web.dev; more than 1.8 seconds is poor. Measure it on the pages your visitors land on, not just the home page.
- Is time to first byte one of the Core Web Vitals?
- No. web.dev calls it a foundational metric rather than a Core Web Vital, but Largest Contentful Paint, which is one, includes it.
- Will a static copy make my images load faster?
- No, they're the same files. What the copy shortens is the wait before the page starts to arrive. A heavy image stays heavy.
- Do I still need a caching plugin?
- Not for your visitors: the copy is already finished pages. In the WordPress you edit in, it makes no difference to them either way.
Free while we're in beta
MakeStatic is new, and while it's in beta you get all of it for free: your whole site, on your own domain. No credit card, no commitment.
At some point it will cost something. When there's a price, you'll see it before anything about your site changes.