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Background of the issue:
We are currently experiencing significant performance issues on our site when WPML is active.
1. Slow Category Pages
When WPML is enabled, loading times for category pages are significantly longer—around 4–5 seconds per page. As soon as we deactivate WPML, the load time is reduced by approximately half.
We’ve tested this thoroughly and can confirm that no other plugins appear to impact performance in a similar way. The currently active plugin list is:
Advanced Custom Fields Multilingual
Advanced Custom Fields PRO
Elementor
Elementor PRO
FacetWP
FacetWP - Elementor
FacetWP - Cache
FacetWP - Multilingual support
FacetWP - Relevanssi integration
JetCompareWishlist For Elementor
JetElements For Elementor
JetEngine
JetMenu
JetSmartFilters
JetThemeCore
Rank Math SEO
Relevanssi Premium
WooCommerce
WooCommerce Multilingual & Multicurrency
WPML Media Translation
WPML Multilingual CMS
WPML String Translation
Disabling other plugins has little to no impact on this issue. For reference, the site is hosted on the WordPress VIP platform.
2. Object Caching of Search Results
We’ve also noticed a specific caching issue on the main language site (English):
When searching via the header form on hidden link, the search results are cached permanently unless WPML is deactivated or the object cache is manually flushed.
After flushing, the results are again cached after the first search.
Interestingly, this issue only occurs on the main language version. On hidden link, everything works correctly.
As soon as WPML is deactivated, the issue is gone.
This behavior leads us to believe the problem is related to how WPML interacts with object caching or query variables for the default language.
Symptoms:
When WPML is enabled, category pages load slowly, taking 4–5 seconds per page. Disabling WPML reduces load time by half. Additionally, search results on the main language site are cached permanently unless WPML is deactivated or the object cache is manually flushed. This issue does not occur on the secondary language site.
Questions:
What could be causing the performance degradation on category pages when WPML is active?
Why are search results on the main language site being cached permanently with WPML enabled?
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