I run a few big sites on WordPress, and would totally recommend you use the simply static plugin, and configure nginx to serve those cached files directly so it never hits php. I also usually put cloudflare in front as well, but you can have a screaming fast wordpress site that scales really far by itself without it just with that trick.
If you need some dynamism, w3 total cache is also a great choice.
Check out this thread for recommendations on static site generator plugins on top of Wordpress. Best of both worlds for folks who want high-level publishing.
Looks like the free one has only 1GB outbound transfer which wouldn't be enough for a single hug, but the $5/month one has 40GB which might be enough for a hug with text only content.
Comments
Do you serve static files? Static file server on a $5 DO droplet should handle the HN front page.
There's also free tiers on many CDNs like Fastly/Cloudflare. Github Pages is also free.
I used to use zola hosted on Github Pages, but I wanted to improve the publishing workflow, and WordPress was a good fit for that. (Notes on the migration here: https://blog.joewoods.dev/technology/technical-notes-on-migr...)
I run a few big sites on WordPress, and would totally recommend you use the simply static plugin, and configure nginx to serve those cached files directly so it never hits php. I also usually put cloudflare in front as well, but you can have a screaming fast wordpress site that scales really far by itself without it just with that trick.
If you need some dynamism, w3 total cache is also a great choice.
If you're not an nginx hacker, there are some great examples around the internet. This page is pretty helpful: https://wordpress.org/support/article/nginx/
Check out this thread for recommendations on static site generator plugins on top of Wordpress. Best of both worlds for folks who want high-level publishing.
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31396961
you don't even need those
a cache with long-enough TTL will do the magic for you
https://mish.co/posts/always-cache-your-website/
A (local) cache is mostly useful for repeat visitors, not for thousands of unique visitors unless you use a CDN.
Putting the Cloudflare CDN free plan in front should solve the hug of death problem.
https://www.cloudflare.com/performance/ensure-application-av...
funny to hear that
i actually migrated from Wordpress to Zola
Even DO has their free tier for static hosting with global CDN and DDoS mitigation:
https://www.digitalocean.com/community/tutorials/how-to-depl...
Looks like the free one has only 1GB outbound transfer which wouldn't be enough for a single hug, but the $5/month one has 40GB which might be enough for a hug with text only content.