Flywheel’s technology stack 101

Updated on December 6th, 2024

The technology that powers WordPress® sites on Flywheel and makes them fast and secure is multi-layered and complex.¹ However, we can shed a little light on the parts and pieces that make up the Flywheel server infrastructure.

Caching Layer

Caching is handled by our FlyCache setup. This consists of a blend of CDN + Whole Page caching powered by Fastly. This allows us to cache globally thanks to their multiple Points of Presence across the world.

Web Server Layer

We use the Nginx web server to serve up static files, and act as a reverse proxy to the processes that run PHP. Nginx also handles all of the rewrite rules associated with serving up WordPress websites.

PHP Layer

We run chrooted PHP-FPM instances to execute the PHP code that runs the WordPress code. This PHP is optimized with things like APC.

Database Layer

MySQL powers the database. Pretty straightforward installation, with a performance tuned configuration.

Of course these are just the major components that power a site on Flywheel. In addition to these, there are myriad other services and processes that provide enhanced security, performance, manageability, and reliability. Together these systems comprise the Flywheel platform, which enables your sites to run incredibly fast and be incredibly secure.