
Site Health recommends a persistent object cache when your site crosses a size line, not when it is slow. Any one of seven counters is enough: a multisite network, more than 500 autoloaded options or 100,000 bytes of them, or 1,000 rows in the posts, comments, options, terms or users table. Revisions and media count as posts, so small sites trip it often. An object cache also needs a cache server, and a plugin alone cannot provide one. Decide first whether your traffic is the kind an object cache speeds up.
LiteSpeed Cache and Cloudflare only double-cache when you enable edge HTML caching. Keep one page cache, leave Cloudflare on static assets, and verify with two headers.

To exclude checkout from cache correctly, confirm the WooCommerce page IDs, list the real URLs under Do Not Cache URIs, then verify X-LiteSpeed-Cache-Control reads no-cache from a logged-out browser. Automatic exclusion is a default, not a guarantee.

The web hosting industry trends that change your plan choice in 2026 are AI crawler load, power-constrained capacity, and control-plane consolidation. Edge and serverless change less than the coverage suggests.

Managed hosting for small business is worth its premium only when it transfers work your current plan leaves undone. Audit the twelve capabilities first, then price the remaining hours.
