My site is much slower after adding WPML

This thread is resolved. Here is a description of the problem and solution.

Problem:
The client reported significant slowdowns on their staging site after installing WPML, with page load times increasing to 6-10 seconds. This issue was not present on a similarly configured site without WPML. The client tried various optimizations, including disabling WPML SEO and WPML String Translation modules, which improved load times.

Solution:
We recommended migrating the site to our Cloudways testing environment to isolate the problem. The client used the Cloudways WordPress Migrator plugin for this purpose. After migration, we discovered that the combination of Admin Columns Pro, ACF, and ACFML plugins significantly impacted performance. We provided a temporary workaround by modifying the

translateField

method in the ACFML plugin to prevent certain processes from executing in the admin area, which improved backend performance. We also advised on general performance enhancements such as using PHP 8, enabling caching, and optimizing database indexes.

Please note that this solution might not be relevant if it's outdated or not applicable to your specific case. We highly recommend checking related known issues at https://wpml.org/known-issues/, verifying the version of the permanent fix, and confirming that you have installed the latest versions of themes and plugins. If the issue persists, please open a new support ticket at WPML support forum.

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Tagged: Performance

This topic contains 26 replies, has 2 voices.

Last updated by Mihai Apetrei 1 month, 1 week ago.

Assisted by: Mihai Apetrei.

Author	Posts
June 27, 2024 at 8:31 am #15841664
johnS-9	Background of the issue: I have the live website, without WPML, this feels fast and snappy on both the frontend and backend. I have the staging site, with WPML, and lots of things are taking 5 or 6+ seconds. It feels very slow to use. I've searched numerous threads on WPML before opening this ticket. Tried some fixes which suggested plugins to add indexes to some big tables. Tried some fixes related to ACFML v2+ e.g. https://wpml.org/errata/advanced-custom-fields-multilingual-the-group-fields-title-and-labels-are-translatable-by-default/ Symptoms: My site is much slower after adding WPML. Questions: Why is my site much slower after adding WPML? Are there any specific optimizations for WPML to improve site speed? Can I provide you with logins so you can advise?
June 28, 2024 at 7:03 am #15849781
johnS-9	I've been doing some more testing. I spun up a second staging site and imported the database differently it didn't have the speed issues. Slow site: 1 - Import the database 2 - wp search-replace "old-url" "new-url" --all-tables Fast site: 1 - Import the exact same database file 2 - wp search-replace "old-url" "new-url" (no --all-tables flag). On the slow site, if the WPML SEO module was enabled or the WPML String Translation module was enabled it would take 6-10 seconds to load a page. On the fast site the same page took 1-2 seconds. I don't know what is going on in the background, Query Monitor didn't flag any long/slow queries. Really, I do want the old url replaced in all of the database tables, I don't want a local development URL in the staging site database, but if I run with that flag WPML grinds to a halt.
June 28, 2024 at 7:43 am #15850080
johnS-9	With the current site I was lucky it was at a point where I was able to re-import and start fresh. I have a different project's production site which I think has the same issue and has been suffering from it for some time. Maybe it would be helpful to have a copy of that as well as a second example? I've also tried things like Query Monitor on this second problem site but nothing is flagged as a slow query (similar to my original report on this site), some processing must be happening somewhere but it's so deep in WPML that I can't find it.
June 28, 2024 at 2:53 pm #15852808
johnS-9	I thought this was in a good place before the weekend, but now the site which was "fast" is now behaving the same. 8-10 seconds to loads the backend... Painful.
June 30, 2024 at 9:29 pm #15863550
Mihai Apetrei Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Europe/Bucharest (GMT+03:00)	Hi there. Can you please share the staging site (the one that has WPML installed) in the private fields I am enabling below? I want to take a quick look over a few things before we go through the Cloudways site duplication process. Thank you!
July 9, 2024 at 1:21 pm #15921034
johnS-9	Thanks for the update, I'll try and get this done in the next couple of days.
July 9, 2024 at 1:22 pm #15921042
Mihai Apetrei Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Europe/Bucharest (GMT+03:00)	Sure, no rush. Whenever you have availability.
July 10, 2024 at 7:37 am #15926215
johnS-9	Hi Mihai, Migrator completed. Just to note - I had to SFTP in and upload some WordPress files before the migrator would accept the destination. Before I did that it was erroring with: "Unable to access wpconfig file. Please check if WordPress is installed on the destination address. Also, check if you have permission to access the folder." Kind regards,
July 10, 2024 at 7:39 am #15926234
johnS-9	Just to add, if you need more test data I have a totally separate site that has the same issue. Happy to migrate a copy of that as well...
July 16, 2024 at 9:06 am #15959319
johnS-9	Hi Mihai, Your screenshot shows phpstack-.... in the URL. The clone I created is at: hidden link I've just logged in with the details shared earlier in the thread and this appears to be working. (Screenshot attached).
July 16, 2024 at 9:36 pm #15962803
Mihai Apetrei Supporter Languages: English (English ) Timezone: Europe/Bucharest (GMT+03:00)	Hi there and thank you for the update. Yes, that phpstack one was the one that I initially set up for you - I mentioned about it here: https://wpml.org/forums/topic/my-site-is-much-slower-after-adding-wpml/#post-15921027 My understanding is that you did set up your site on the testing environment that I created for you and when I tried to access it, it did not work. So I created a new one this time. In delicate situations like this one where we talk about performance, we prefer to have our customers migrate the site onto our own testing environment because this way, the developers can easily filter out multiple reasons for which this issue might be happening (performance issues can happen for many reasonse like: due to the way the initial server of the customer was set up, due to specific configurations etc.) and that way, only the valid ones that can help them find the cause of the issue remain. So, can you please use the new testing environment that I created for you (https://wpml.org/forums/topic/my-site-is-much-slower-after-adding-wpml/#post-15953770) and migrate your site there? Thank you very much for your amazing patience and cooperation. I will be waiting for your response. Mihai
July 17, 2024 at 7:37 am #15964374
johnS-9	Hi Mihai, Sorry I must have been looking at our spare Cloudways instance. I'm not sure what's happened to the original migration site. Do they expire after a certain time? I've re-run the migration and it's ready to use. I don't know how or why but the duplicated site is taking a fraction of the time to load, the exact same site (assuming duplicator has done what it's name says!), on the same hosting platform. The load times are vastly different. The MB required to load the page are also vastly different. What Cloudways plan is the duplicated site using? What do you advise? I can give you full access to the slow site on my Cloudways plan if that's helpful. Kind regards,
July 17, 2024 at 7:50 am #15964458
johnS-9	Been testing the migrated website a bit more. If there's more than one tab open it seems to have a massive impact. Two tabs is not really much of a "stress test" but with the live website it's going to have a lot more requests than two tabs, and there's multiple editors using the backend on the client side of things too. Attached some more screenshots. Thanks
July 18, 2024 at 9:25 pm #15974949
johnS-9	The migrated site doesn’t use Cloudways’ malcare plugin, so no that file won’t exist. It looks like something has changed since I sent all my screenshots as the migrated site was working fine (albeit slowly). I haven’t touched the site so I’m not sure what is going on with the test site deciding to break? I’m not at a computer right now but can look tomorrow. My guess is the malcare autoappend needs removing from any htaccess or .ini file where it is present. Any idea why this is suddenly an issue?
July 19, 2024 at 6:34 am #15976081
johnS-9	As suspected, there was a .user.ini file with this in it: ; MalCare WAF auto_prepend_file = '/mnt/BLOCKSTORAGE/home/214261.cloudwaysapps.com/kekcjmagaj/public_html/malcare-waf.php' ; END MalCare WAF This isn't part of the site I migrated. The Malcare plugin has also been added in the plugins directory. This isn't part of the site I migrated. I've had Cloudways add this to my projects in the past before, it would be helpful if it didn't do that in your support environments. I also noticed some other files like "https://cdn.wpml.org/public_html/cleanedup.txt" which are not from me. I have deleted the plugin and the user.ini and the site is now back online. The test website is now working again for me: hidden link --- On a different note, I know it says your timezone is Europe, but your replies tend to be around 9pm / 10pm. Is there anyone else available who's working hours are closer to GMT working hours?

johnS-9 confirmed that the issue was resolved on 2024-08-12 12:38:38.
This ticket is now closed. If you're a WPML client and need related help, please open a new support ticket.