Lighthouse 100: Custom PHP vs WordPress vs Shopify

Question

<!-- ========== SCHEMAS ========== --> <!-- Static schemas (WebSite, LocalBusiness, Organization, etc.) – keep as in your original --> ?> <!-- ========== ARTICLE CONTENT ========== -->

Lighthouse 100: Custom PHP vs WordPress vs Shopify

April 2026 12 min read

I’m Jacob Campbell, and a perfect Lighthouse score isn’t luck — it’s the natural result of shipping only the code a page needs. A custom PHP site routinely loads in around 0.6 seconds and scores 100; the same content on a plugin-heavy WordPress or app-laden Shopify theme often lands at three to four seconds. Here’s how Lighthouse actually scores performance, why the platform gap is so wide, and what it takes to reach 100.

Your platform choice is the largest variable. Let’s prove it with hard numbers.

Breaking Down the Numbers – Why Such a Gap?