Severe performance regression after updating WPML — DB CPU spikes & resource usage ~2x

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Author	Posts
September 9, 2025 at 11:01 am #17386683
akakiT	Background of the issue: We run a multilingual WordPress site with WPML. Right after updating WPML (core + String Translation + Media) to 4.8.1, our total server load roughly doubled. PHP-FPM and MariaDB CPU spikes appear during normal page views and especially when switching languages or rendering pages with many translated strings. Symptoms: Overall CPU and DB usage approximately doubled compared to pre-update. TTFB is noticeably worse, and random requests stall while MySQL shows long queries. Questions: What could be causing the severe performance regression after updating WPML to 4.8.1? How can we resolve the increased server load and CPU spikes after the update?

Author

Posts

September 9, 2025 at 11:01 am #17386683

akakiT

Background of the issue:
We run a multilingual WordPress site with WPML. Right after updating WPML (core + String Translation + Media) to 4.8.1, our total server load roughly doubled. PHP-FPM and MariaDB CPU spikes appear during normal page views and especially when switching languages or rendering pages with many translated strings.

Symptoms:
Overall CPU and DB usage approximately doubled compared to pre-update. TTFB is noticeably worse, and random requests stall while MySQL shows long queries.

Questions:
What could be causing the severe performance regression after updating WPML to 4.8.1?
How can we resolve the increased server load and CPU spikes after the update?