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Patience is running out
The time has come to state it bluntly: a fast website is not a luxury worth paying for , but a basic right of anyone purchasing a hosting service. Yet, even today, a segment of the market persists in selling caching systems or optimized web servers as "luxury" options, passing them off as miraculous innovations under quaint labels like Accelerator , Booster, Turbo Engine , Super Cache , and so on.
Let's be serious: it's 2026, not 2002. It's ridiculous to continue to offer pure and simple Apache as the only option, and then ask for 50 or 80 euros a month to activate Varnish or LiteSpeed, open source or low-cost software that are part of the minimum technological standard for anyone who calls themselves a provider.
The historical alibi no longer holds up
Anyone who still tries to defend this practice takes refuge in the usual alibi: "it wasn't that simple once."
Of course, in the early 2000s the contexts were radically different.
Apache reigned supreme and had no real competition: it was the cornerstone on which much of the web was based, an almost obligatory choice.
NGINX was in its infancy, viewed with suspicion and perceived as an experiment rather than a concrete alternative.
Varnish was just an embryonic project, known only to a few insiders, who were testing its potential in laboratory scenarios.
For most operators, talking about server-side full page caching was little more than heresy or geeky fun, light years away from the concept of industry practice or commercial standard.
In that historical context, until 2005-2006, it might even have made sense to consider these technologies as "additional" or "specialized." The market was immature, the tools were immature, documentation was sparse, and proposing certain approaches required skills that not everyone possessed and a level of experimentation that not all customers were willing to accept.
But time didn't stop there. Since then, the world has changed, the web has evolved, and what was once seen as a luxury or a curiosity by visionary techies has become an integral part of everyday infrastructure. Today, we're no longer talking about geek goodies or exotic tools: we're talking about essential, proven, robust components that any reputable provider integrates into their default stack.
Hosting is no longer about selling features
Offering hosting is no longer like selling cars in the 70s, when even power steering or a car stereo were optional extras. Back then, it might have made sense to pass off as "extras" what we now consider an integral part of a car. But it's 2026, and the hosting world is no longer competing on how many additional features you can push, but rather on the minimum guaranteed quality you deliver to the customer upon signing up.
Today, a reputable provider can't afford to enter the market with the bare minimum and then charge extra for what's already included by default elsewhere. These are no longer embellishments, but rather foundations without which a site can't compete.
A hosting infrastructure worthy of the name must provide:
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a full page cache on the server side that is already active and ready to do its job without the customer having to beg or pay extra fees,
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updated protocols such as HTTP/3 or QUIC , which are now the global technical standard and not a fad for a few,
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modern compression (Brotli, and even better ZSTD), now mature tools that allow you to drastically reduce loading times,
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automatic generation of WebP or AVIF images , a basic mechanism for lightening pages without additional effort on the part of the developer,
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and above all a minimum optimization of the TTFB (Time To First Byte) below 200 ms , a threshold that represents the border between a competitive site and one destined to lose users even before it loads.
It's not a philosophy, it's not a futuristic aspiration, it's not a luxury: these are the basic requirements to meet Google's standards , achieve a decent SERP positioning, and meet the Core Web Vitals parameters . Anything that doesn't start from these foundations isn't hosting, but just improvisation sold through marketing gimmicks.
Damage to customers: it's not just slowness
Those who continue to sell caching services as optional extras are not only lacking transparency by failing to inform customers of the damage they're suffering, but are also committing a truly damaging act against their own customers . This isn't a neutral commercial choice, but rather behavior that has concrete and often devastating consequences.
A slow website isn't just a nuisance; it's not a minor detail that can be compensated for with a little patience on the part of the end user. It's a disaster waiting to happen , resulting in lost revenue, reputation, and opportunities.
A high TTFB or a loading time that exceeds the fateful 3 seconds means:
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SEO ranking drop , resulting in loss of visibility,
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loss of key positioning , that is, disappearing just when a potential customer is looking for you,
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drastic decrease in conversions , because the user who waits too long simply closes the tab and goes to the competitor,
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user abandonment , who are unlikely to return to a site perceived as slow or malfunctioning,
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and in many cases the failure of the entire online project , especially for those companies that base their business exclusively on digital.
So who's to blame for this scenario? It's certainly not the customer, who isn't to blame for choosing a provider that presents itself as "professional," often with self-praising marketing efforts. It's not the developer, who can do their best on the application side. The real culprit is the provider itself, which, despite having the option of immediately activating a server-side cache, prefers to wait for the customer's complaint before foisting them with yet another "premium option."
An attitude that not only undermines trust, but reveals a precise plan: to artificially create a problem and then sell the solution.
It's not Managed Server Srl that says it, but Google does!
What we at Managed Server Srl advocate and reiterate daily regarding the importance of web performance isn't just a promotional slogan; it's exactly what Google has been saying for years in its official content, particularly in the Think With Google project . This is an editorial platform made available by Google itself, which collects data, research, case studies, and insights on digital marketing, user experience, and website performance, with the aim of guiding businesses and professionals towards more effective strategies and measurable results. In the following slides, we present some key translations of these materials, clearly demonstrating how the concepts of speed, usability, and optimization aren't mere opinions, but best practices recognized and promoted directly by Google.
The bar has been raised
At the international level, the situation is clear and unequivocal: those who haven't updated are already out.
Most modern providers offer LiteSpeed or NGINX with full page cache built in by default , without the need for upsells, without marketing gimmicks, and without forcing the customer to ask for the "fast option." It's an integral part of the service, just as the engine is an integral part of a car.
Cloud giants have been pushing HTTP/3 and advanced compression for years , making these technologies a daily standard rather than a whim for industry insiders. If they do it on a global scale, with millions of requests per second, what excuse do small providers have for still refusing to implement them?
Foreign competitors, even low-cost ones, guarantee TTFBs under 200 ms even on entry-level packages. We're not talking about enterprise services costing hundreds of euros a month, but rather affordable offers that, despite their price, already meet international standards.
Anyone today, in Italy or elsewhere, who still tries to pass off a full page cache as an optional service is not only out of business , but is also taking the mickey out of their own customers, condemning them to playing a game they already lost from the start.
The bar has been raised, and it won't go back. There will be no return to a slow, cumbersome web, justified with "that's just the way it is." The market has spoken: either you align with global standards, or you're irremediably relegated to the second-tier of the hosting industry.
Nobody asks for sartorial optimizations
Please note: no one expects a provider to become a personal consultant for every single site, nor to transform themselves into a developer who spends their days patching up HTML, optimizing CSS by hand, or chasing a broken CLS. No one expects a provider to adjust each client's Core Web Vitals like a digital tailor.
That's the job of developers and web designers, and it's right that it remains their responsibility. But providing the minimum server-side conditions isn't optional: it's a moral duty, even before a technical one. It's the unwritten contractual basis that every provider should respect: delivering an infrastructure that doesn't penalize the customer before they even begin playing their online game.
And this is where often-forgotten but crucial metrics like TTFB (Time To First Byte) come into play . If the server takes ages to respond to the first request, all downstream optimizations become irrelevant. It doesn't matter how lightweight the theme is or how well-written the code is: if the TTFB is high, users will still perceive slowness and abandon the site. A hosting provider that doesn't guarantee a decent TTFB is essentially handing its customers an insurmountable handicap.
The difference is simple: starting with a ready-to-run car allows you to add upgrades, improve performance, and customize the details. But if they deliver a wreck without an engine, you can also fit new tires or fine-tune the suspension: you won't budge an inch.
And the excuse of a "heavy theme" or "poor plugins" isn't valid: those are the responsibility of the site developer or manager. But failing to ensure even the basic tools—including a controlled TTFB, an optimized web server, and a responsive database—is tantamount to sabotaging the client from day one.
It's like selling them a one-way ticket to bankruptcy, disguised as "entry-level" offers that already come with a built-in conviction.
The paradox of hidden costs
Many providers also play dirty on the commercial front, and they do so with a brazenness that's astonishing. They present themselves with attractive offers starting at "50 euros a year ," rates so low they almost seem like a gift. But it's just bait, a way to lure unsuspecting customers into a system that feels more like a trap than a professional service.
Once the customer has signed, and obviously paid in advance, the parade of crazy upsells begins :
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+80 euros per month to activate a cache that could have been enabled in two minutes when ordering,
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+20 euros per month to enable support for HTTP/3 , a protocol now in common use,
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+20 euros per month for Brotli or LiteSpeed compression , technologies that other providers include without batting an eyelid.
And all this not for a titanic work, not for additional infrastructure or for a very expensive license: but for 10 lines of VCL configuration in Varnish , or for checking a simple flag already present in the web server.
Transparency? A mirage. Providers who adopt this model hide behind low-cost "entry-level" offers, only to then squeeze customers with ridiculous surcharges, making what should be the minimum standard appear luxurious.
The result is paradoxical: a customer who thought they'd gotten a bargain, who thought they'd finally have affordable and functional hosting, finds themselves paying the price of an enterprise dedicated server , yet receiving neither the quality nor the resources promised. In other words, a "rigged" shared hosting , built to mislead, squeeze, and disappoint.
The environmental benefit (that no one talks about)
Then there's an aspect that's rarely mentioned, because it doesn't generate immediate profits and isn't easily transformed into a "premium feature": sustainability . Every time a page is served from cache, it consumes less CPU, RAM, and power. It's an incontrovertible technical fact: content that's ready to serve requires an infinitesimal fraction of the resources needed compared to a page generated from scratch for each request.
Translated into concrete terms:
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lower costs for the provider , who does not have to oversize the servers to handle unnecessary loads,
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less hardware consumption , which is stressed less and lasts longer,
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less electricity consumed , resulting in reduced operating costs,
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less CO₂ emissions into the environment , because every CPU cycle saved is energy not wasted.
Not providing cache therefore means wasting resources and causing more pollution, multiplying energy consumption without any technical justification.
This isn't just a matter of theory, but of field-tested data: Varnish Software , in collaboration with Intel and Supermicro, has published a study highlighting how adopting modern configurations and optimized software allows for throughputs exceeding 1,3 terabits per second per server , with an efficiency of 1,18 Gbps per Watt . Even more impressive is the overall savings: compared to legacy infrastructures, using Varnish Enterprise allows for a reduction in energy consumption of up to 95% across the entire hardware lifecycle.
To make the concept tangible, let's look at a concrete example: a website with 100.000 visits per day , if served without caching, forces the server to generate each page dynamically, consuming hundreds of watts per hour of CPU and RAM. The same website, with a full server-side page cache, can be served almost entirely from pre-made content, reducing consumption to a fraction. On an annual scale, this means saving thousands of kilowatt hours of energy , equivalent to tons of avoided CO₂, simply by activating a configuration that today should be considered standard.
As we approach 2026, continuing to offer cache-free hosting isn't just detrimental to customers: it's also irresponsible for the environment. Server-side caching is no longer a luxury, but a technical, economic, and environmental obligation.
It's a paradox that, on the threshold of 2026, we can no longer accept. Because it's not just about efficiency or costs, but about responsibility. Continuing to offer cache-free hosting is like selling incandescent light bulbs in a world that has already embraced LEDs : an act of technical, economic, and environmental backwardness at the same time.
The win-win model that no one exploits
The crazy thing is that offering cache and modern technologies isn't just fair: it's convenient for everyone . There are no losers in this equation; it's a positive-sum model that creates value on all sides.
The client has a fast website , climbs the search engine rankings, improves its Core Web Vitals, and above all, converts more : more sales, more signups, more leads. In short, more satisfaction and more money.
The provider, in turn, saves resources: a page served from cache weighs infinitely less than one generated each time. This means less CPU, less RAM, fewer incidents, and fewer support tickets to manage . Fewer complaints, less wasted time, higher margins.
And let's not forget the environment, which benefits from reduced consumption and a lower energy footprint. In an era where sustainability has become a key consideration for many end users, being able to claim a "greener" infrastructure is even a competitive advantage.
Yet, despite this perfect combination, many providers still prefer the " I'll charge you for the air you breathe " model. Why? Because, blinded by short-term gain and incapable of considering long-term value, they deliberately choose to turn a tool that benefits everyone into an opportunity for speculation.
A strategic error that not only harms customers but undermines trust in the industry itself, transforming a relationship that should be collaborative into a continuous commercial trap.
Comparison with the international market
Abroad, even low-cost providers have now figured out the direction: their packages already include integrated caches , HTTP/3 support, Brotli compression , WebP images , and often even AVIF, all without charging a cent more. These aren't luxury offerings: they're basic packages, intended for those who pay a few euros a month and have no "enterprise" ambitions.
In Italy, however, the digital archaeology of “Hosting Base Apache only” still survives , sold as if we were stuck in 2003. And that's not all: immediately after comes the “premium” proposal, rechristened with grotesque and catchy names — Turbo Booster Accelerator , Hyper Speed Plus , Cache Master — which in fact is nothing more than a ready-made cache passed off as a proprietary invention at 79 euros a month.
The result? Intense competition , in which Italian customers are systematically penalized compared to foreign ones. They find themselves paying more for less, with slow, outdated infrastructures disguised as "innovation" only thanks to a marketing label.
And don't even try to bring up the cost excuse: LiteSpeed, Varnish, and NGINX cost next to nothing . It's not a financial issue, it's simply a question of willpower and vision. Where abroad we invest to offer a high and competitive standard, we prefer to squeeze customers with optional extras, condemning the domestic market to lag a decade behind.
Towards a Hosting Code of Ethics
Perhaps the time has come to seriously discuss minimum ethical standards for hosting . Because the problem isn't just technical, but cultural and professional.
Just as a car cannot be sold without seat belts, nor can an apartment be delivered without electricity and running water, a hosting plan should not be marketed without at least three basic elements:
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a functioning and integrated server-side cache,
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HTTP/3 support (and possibly QUIC too),
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a modern compression like Brotli or ZSTD.
We're not talking about "pluses," but what constitutes minimal technical decency today . You don't need a law to understand this, you don't need international regulations or quality seals: you simply need common sense and respect for customers.
Anyone who doesn't do this, anyone who continues to sell prehistoric hosting with bare-bones Apache, without even the most basic standards, is not a provider: they are a seller of illusions, someone who thrives on customer misinformation and the slowness with which the Italian market absorbs changes.
And there's one more, equally important point: if a provider consciously decides not to offer "Google compliant" hosting —that is, capable of meeting the minimum performance and SEO standards required to compete online—they should at least have the honesty to state this clearly and conspicuously . A transparent disclaimer: "This plan is not suitable for business or SEO objectives."
Because it can also make sense in certain cases. Think about my cousin, who's a plumber and just wants a landing page to show off when he attends training conferences for plumbing installers and brands. He has no ambitions for positioning, nor is he looking for leads or online visibility: a digital business card is enough. In cases like this, minimal hosting might make sense.
But if we are talking about companies, e-commerce, professionals looking for visibility or customers, not openly declaring that a plan is inadequate is equivalent to selling a trap.
Perhaps, as an industry, we should have the courage to say it openly: without these minimum requirements, you shouldn't even be able to use the word “hosting . ”
The naked truth
Let's say it clearly, without mincing words and without extenuating circumstances:
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selling plain Apache without HTTP/2 or HTTP/3 in 2026 is an insult to the customer, an act of negligence disguised as a commercial offering;
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Asking for money to activate Varnish or Brotli is a joke, because we're talking about ready-made tools, free or at a negligible cost, that require just a few minutes of setup;
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Hiding the real names of software behind ridiculous labels like Turbo Booster or Hyper Cache Pro is pure dishonesty, a cheap marketing gimmick that has the sole purpose of confusing the customer and masking reality.
It's not a question of "market strategy," as some still try to justify it. We're not talking about commercial differentiation or segmentation of the offering. This is about ethics and professional dignity.
Because passing off minimum standards as exclusive options means only one thing: taking advantage of the customer's technical ignorance to inflate margins . And this behavior is all the more serious because the customer, trusting the provider, believes they're purchasing an "advanced" service, when in reality they're being sold what should already be included by default.
Anyone who builds their business model on these practices doesn't deserve to be called a provider: they're not a technology partner, they're not a reliable point of reference. They're, nothing more, nothing less, a smokescreen , profiting from misinformation and the haste of those seeking quick fixes without the tools to truly evaluate the quality of what they're buying.
Conclusion: no more privileges, it's a right
A fast website isn't a prize reserved for those who pay the most, nor a luxury bestowed on a select few "premium" customers. It's a fundamental right of anyone purchasing a hosting service, regardless of price.
Continuing to sell caches and modern protocols as optional extras isn't just an abuse: it's a genuine distortion of the market , a way to exploit customer trust by transforming basic tools into exclusive pseudo-services. It violates the mutual trust that should exist between provider and customer.
Those who adopt these practices not only harm individual customers, but undermine the entire digital ecosystem . They make the web slower, less secure, more polluting, and less competitive than other markets that have been on the right path for years. And in doing so, they condemn not only those who pay, but the entire country, to playing a backward step in the race for innovation.
As we approach 2026, there are no more excuses, no more possible justifications. The technologies are there, they are stable, they are mature, and they are accessible to everyone.
The choice, at this point, is simple: either you adapt to the minimum global standards , finally recognizing that certain features are not optional but essential conditions, or you at least have the courage to admit the truth: you are not a provider, but only merchants of smoke , survivors of an era that the web has long since surpassed.
