WordPress 6.4, set to be released on November 7th, introduces over 100 enhancements aimed at boosting site performance, making this update one of the most significant ones yet.
Building upon the upward performance trend since the establishment of the WordPress Performance Team in 2021, this new release is expected to nearly double the average core web vitals performance observed over the past two years.
WordPress recognized the need to improve the core CMS performance and promptly initiated the Performance Lab plugin. This plugin has been critical in ensuring that any changes to WordPress maintain optimal performance without adding unnecessary bloat.
The success of these efforts is evident in the performance metrics of actual WordPress sites recorded. The data paints a clear picture:
Speed Improvements Are Essential
A recent discussion highlights performance as a top priority for every WordPress component under development. For instance, during tests, the new default theme (TwentyTwentyFour) was initially found to perform 70% worse than its predecessor (TwentyTwentyThree). Metrics like Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) and Time to First Byte (TTFB) revealed inefficiencies in the markup.
Summary of TwentyTwentyFour (TT4) performance testing:
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For the home page:
- Overall load time (LCP) is 58.8% slower.
- Client-side performance (LCP-TTFB) is 93.5% slower.
- Server-Timing (wp-total) is 71.8% slower.
- For the singular post:
- Overall load time (LCP) is 3.9% slower.
- Client-side performance (LCP-TTFB) is 40.1% faster.
- Server-Timing (wp-total) is 42.3% slower.
TT4’s slower performance was attributed to its more feature-rich design compared to TT3, which was stripped-down and meant for extension. One contributor summarized that while comparing the themes was challenging due to their different purposes, the findings would enhance the performance of all block themes, not just TT4.
At one stage, the team managed to improve the new default theme’s loading time by 7.67%, surpassing the previous theme’s performance. While making TT4 outperform TT3 entirely was unlikely due to its complexity, they narrowed the performance gap significantly, resulting in a home page performance difference from 71.8% slower to only 10% slower and a single page performance from 42.3% slower to just 11.7% slower.
Performance Enhancements in WordPress 6.4
This upcoming release includes over 100 performance-related updates. Notable improvements include:
- Script Loading Strategies: Updates to the use of defer and async attributes in frontend scripts will enhance the speed of all WordPress websites.
- Elimination of Attachment Pages: Previously, WordPress created standalone pages for every uploaded media item. The new version stops this behavior, addressing SEO concerns and improving performance.
- Template Loading Improvements:
- Introduced new caching.
- Removed unnecessary theme file checks and repeated lookups.
- Added modern performance enhancements like lazy loading, async decoding, and fetch priority, benefiting even older themes.
Image and Code Optimization
WordPress 6.4 improves how images and iframes are loaded, focusing on attributes like lazy loading and fetchpriority. Additionally, new options functions will allow plugin developers to control which options are automatically loaded, reducing server load.
Object Caching Enhancements
Further improvements to Object Caching aim to boost overall system efficiency by better handling filters, reducing database queries, and enhancing the caching mechanism.
Continuation of Positive Trends
The release of WordPress 6.4 represents a continued commitment to performance optimization in the WordPress core, reflected in the advancements across themes and plugins. These improvements contribute to a positive trend visible in performance data, with the release expected to reinforce this trajectory.
