
After 3 years of testing, let’s compare Lightning Base vs Web Hosting Hub and find out how they’ve performed so far…
Lightning Base vs Web Hosting Hub – Testing Method
- Prior to testing, I have setup identical content on all 8 Live Test Sites
- Each week over 80,000 speed & uptime tests are run using independent tools, GTmetrix & Pingdom
- Test results below are from 04 Apr 2016 to 22 Dec 2018


Test #1: Speed
The GTmetrix Speed Test checks how long it takes for a website to fully load using a desktop internet browser. This test is then repeated every hour throughout the week (1,340 times).
- Lightning Base’s Speed has been outstanding since it was added in Apr 2017, consistently finding itself in our Top 2 Hosts. It started with a bang by finishing fastest across the first half of 2017, and has continued that good form with 2nd fastest load times across H2 2017 & H1 2018, and 3rd fastest in H2 2018.
- Web Hosting Hub’s speed was inconsistent across 2016 & 2017, with ranking swings from 4th to 7th then back to 4th again to finish off 2017. Unfortunately, their speed has fallen right away in 2018, so much so that they have received the unwanted title of slowest host in H1 2018 and 2nd slowest in H2 2018.
- Lightning Base is currently 2nd, while Hub is 7th in our Speed Rankings.
H2 2018 Results
H1 2018 Results
H2 2017 Results
H1 2017 Results
Test #2: Uptime
The Pingdom Uptime Test confirms that the website is actually accessible to visitors. This test is then repeated every minute throughout the week (80,640 times).
- Lightning Base have also performed brilliantly when it comes to Uptime, with only 65 minutes of downtime since Apr 17. To put this into perspective, nearly all of our other hosts have experienced more than 65 minutes of downtime in 1 week!!
- Web Hosting Hub have been erratic when it comes to Uptime. Their performance has typically landed them in the bottom half of our hosts across all 3 years of testing.
- Lightning Base is currently 1st and Hub is 6th in our Uptime Rankings.

View the Weekly Uptime Tests
Lightning Base vs Web Hosting Hub – Overall Test Results
The Overall Ranking accumulates the results from the speed & uptime tests to determine the #1 Host.
- Lightning Base’s performance has been excellent across the board, and are currently ranked #1 in uptime & #2 in speed tests. They have consistently been in our Top 2 hosts, and have only just missed out on the coveted #1 overall ranking.
- The performance of Web Hosting Hub across 2016 & 2017 would be best summarized as promising but inconsistent. Unfortunately their 2018 results have been a noticeable step backward in both speed and uptime. This has led to Hub dropping further in our rankings.
- Lightning Base is currently 2nd and Hub is 7th in our Overall Rankings.
