Patreon plugin slows down the site and overloads the server

Wordpress Plugin
1

The latest version of the plugin as part of the Pro, severely slows the site, creating a delay of 3-5 seconds.

And occasionally overloads the server to complete inaccessibility, creating a load of several hundred requests per second to read Disk IOPS. Only rebooting the server helps.

I did a clean install on different hosting, with different configurations, and everywhere the same thing.

image locking features disabled

I saw that before there were similar problems, and they took a very long time to solve, or not solved at all.

What is going on?

Health check of your Patreon integration (On new server)

Below are settings or issues which may affect your Patreon integration. Please check the recommendations and implement them to have your integration function better. You can get help for any of these items by visiting our support forum and posting a thread.

Your site is using:

WP 5.8.3 with PHP 7.4.27
Patreon WordPress 1.8.1 with API v
Patron Plugin Pro 1.5.0
Patreon Button, Widgets and Plugin 2.1.5

You can click here to copy the output of this page to share with support team or post it in the forum.

Your Patreon integration health is great!

Last 50 connection errors

These are the last 50 connection issues encountered by your site when contacting Patreon API. These are here for general info on health of the connection of your WP site to Patreon API. They only constitute an error if there are a lot of recent ones. Healthiest integrations should have a number of them (up to 50) in the long run.

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID 985de376-ce2e-425f-b195-7ac2ef2bfa1b - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“985de376-ce2e-425f-b195-7ac2ef2bfa1b”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID 70df6379-ce78-4ed5-b996-b148bb275d26 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“70df6379-ce78-4ed5-b996-b148bb275d26”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID b6286e99-02b2-419f-af9f-2107a3c69804 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“b6286e99-02b2-419f-af9f-2107a3c69804”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_tiers - API v1 Class - UUID 84366ba0-00fa-4ea8-a59d-bce616dcd9b5 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“84366ba0-00fa-4ea8-a59d-bce616dcd9b5”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID 84b2fd19-36c2-49e2-a06f-9cd2bd70af18 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“84b2fd19-36c2-49e2-a06f-9cd2bd70af18”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID f42957f4-6a51-4a20-b6f1-045dec03d66c - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“f42957f4-6a51-4a20-b6f1-045dec03d66c”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID 885daa4e-7b3e-4f9b-b92e-48f04d700d7f - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“885daa4e-7b3e-4f9b-b92e-48f04d700d7f”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID e3ea4c04-15c2-40e1-9368-3cd587b635ec - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“e3ea4c04-15c2-40e1-9368-3cd587b635ec”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_tiers - API v1 Class - UUID 9f34f1ec-23f4-446f-927d-72e8b8e7d09b - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“9f34f1ec-23f4-446f-927d-72e8b8e7d09b”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID d7c0f9f4-5875-4f02-8a48-58e2b1c8c240 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“d7c0f9f4-5875-4f02-8a48-58e2b1c8c240”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID 44b4809b-f644-48c2-ba7e-ca459ec4457d - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“44b4809b-f644-48c2-ba7e-ca459ec4457d”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID b039c74a-c097-4d62-ac92-d43314217394 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“b039c74a-c097-4d62-ac92-d43314217394”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID ba46144d-e7f1-4481-ad0b-1da188345a4f - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“ba46144d-e7f1-4481-ad0b-1da188345a4f”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_tiers - API v1 Class - UUID 4d738156-e521-4b6b-ac35-e263f7e90810 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“4d738156-e521-4b6b-ac35-e263f7e90810”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID bf9ff76b-a560-4cd4-ac0f-6fe1884fc9c1 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“bf9ff76b-a560-4cd4-ac0f-6fe1884fc9c1”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID 80e5de0e-b14c-4ab0-9851-211f15640741 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“80e5de0e-b14c-4ab0-9851-211f15640741”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID 61cd1877-e3a4-4878-9bd6-f0eaf965d9c6 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“61cd1877-e3a4-4878-9bd6-f0eaf965d9c6”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID 98f767f5-a853-4007-a33a-1593ad27697a - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“98f767f5-a853-4007-a33a-1593ad27697a”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_tiers - API v1 Class - UUID 47b691ad-bb82-46c8-bd82-91e042e65614 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“47b691ad-bb82-46c8-bd82-91e042e65614”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID 23a2a0be-3add-461e-9ef6-9e6f866a3cbf - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“23a2a0be-3add-461e-9ef6-9e6f866a3cbf”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID 991a9285-a79a-4681-807d-a8f4f4b1b302 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“991a9285-a79a-4681-807d-a8f4f4b1b302”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID f9d2cf2b-be11-4e11-a8fe-2884e48308d4 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“f9d2cf2b-be11-4e11-a8fe-2884e48308d4”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID e43146f3-82c2-426a-978c-92307c073240 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“e43146f3-82c2-426a-978c-92307c073240”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_tiers - API v1 Class - UUID 3fd31e83-e279-47df-b3ef-babe4bb612e0 - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“3fd31e83-e279-47df-b3ef-babe4bb612e0”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

0 days ago

Response code: 401 Response :{“error”: “invalid_grant”}

0 days ago

fetch_creator_info - API v1 Class - UUID e07894d1-bb7e-4126-a309-c893259ea44d - Response code: 401 Response :{“errors”:[{“code”:1,“code_name”:“Unauthorized”,“detail”:“The server could not verify that you are authorized to access the URL requested. You either supplied the wrong credentials (e.g. a bad password), or your browser doesn’t understand how to supply the credentials required.”,“id”:“e07894d1-bb7e-4126-a309-c893259ea44d”,“status”:“401”,“title”:“Unauthorized”}]}

2

That’s pretty odd. Are you using image locking function?

Earlier cases of performance issues were not related to Pro, but the free plugin. There is one such report that is being investigated at the moment.

Can you send me an email at ozgur@patreon.com so that I can ask some specific info?

3

I told you I don’t use that option, and I’ve never used it.

Everything starts to slow down the moment the plugin is activated, even before any settings, already in the admin panel.

I see this answer in all the threads with similar problems, and it makes me very sad. I would like to hear that you understand what’s wrong and fix it. But it seems that you still do not even understand what it is related to, and this is not the first time.

4

I would like to hear that you understand what’s wrong and fix it. But it seems that you still do not even understand what it is related to, and this is not the first time.

We can’t understand anything without having enough information about it. There are 5000+ sites using the free plugin, and only two people reporting this at this point in time. Therefore more information from those who experience it is needed.

Your situation along with the other case is not related to the one performance case we had years back. These are not related. So more information on your situation is needed. I replied to your email with what’s needed.

5

I provided everything I needed to codebard.com support yesterday - Ticket #14602

Just because it’s installed on 5,000 sites doesn’t mean it works without problems. Maybe people just don’t pay attention to the fact that their site is slow?

And there have been more than two cases, wordpress.org alone has had 5 in the last year, and you haven’t solved anything with any of them by just closing the theme.

The problem clearly has a long history. And with this attitude, you can pretend for a long time that everything is fine, and people will just stop using it. I’m already looking for another solution to give up Patreon because I’m incurring significant losses because of you.

I’ve checked the situation on three different hosting sites, including a clean wordpress installation, the situation does not change. It’s amazing how you can’t reproduce the problem if it reproduces every time with any conditions and variables.

6

Maybe people just don’t pay attention to the fact that their site is slow?

The plugin is being used in numerus sites with over 1 million monthly visits and more. There cannot be such a case of ‘not paying attention’ at that scale. If your issue was commonplace, it would have been reported first by such users.

The recent threads you report belong to the same potential case for which more information was asked. The earlier threads belong to issues with people’s particular setups or web hosts, some of which were solved by people changing hosts. That doesn’t seem to be the same for your case.

Until people who experience a particular issue which others are not experiencing cooperate, that information is not available. With your cooperation, the case may be tracked down to source.

It’s amazing how you can’t reproduce the problem if it reproduces every time with any conditions and variables.

Currently there is no observable issue while testing the plugin with a default cPanel shared hosting account and fresh WP installation. If this has happened in every single hosting service you used, mentioning which hosting services have you used may help.

7

I have logged into the staging site you have provided. I have gone through various frontend and admin pages. Also post listing and post search in frontend. I didn’t notice any page loading slower than 2.5-3s.

I only noticed some initial delay in getting search results when searching for a certain post using the search function in WP admin’s posts menu. In second, third searches the result comes up fast.

Where is the exact speed issue that you are experiencing? And how slow is it?

8

Google cloud litespeed, Google cloud Bitnami, Wordpress.com

9

Right now it works faster than yesterday, but what do you mean you didn’t notice page loading slower than 2.5-3s?

Just deactivate the plugin, and even now you will see that without it, any click in the admin panel or the site gives an instant response, while with the plugin is delayed, and in the worst moments, it reached and 10 seconds, now 2-3 seconds before a response.

Do you want a screencast?

10

A screencast could help. You can forward it to email.

The maximum page load speed I observed is around 3 seconds total. I didnt wait 3 seconds before any page loaded. Entire pages come in at most 3 seconds total.

11

I also sent simultaneous 100 requests/sec traffic to a frontend page by using a benchmark tool. The load on the server did not pass 80%.

(The server reported 83 requests/sec traffic).

12

Only 10% server load with 11 simultaneous requests/sec. That looks pretty ok to me.

13

see - Screencast Patreon slows down the site - YouTube

After activating the plugin response increases by 2-3 seconds, and at 1:05 you can clearly see the delay of 5 seconds, the page opened only at 1:10, with the disabled plugin that shows at 1:47 page opens at 1:48 - 1 second without the plugin, 5 seconds with the plugin.

And you still don’t see the slowdown?

14

The pages always load at the same (second) speed for me. With the plugin enabled or disabled. I never observed the first case. Initial page response times for you may be pretty short because you may be near your own infrastructure.

From Western Europe I never observed that short first response time. The speed was always the later one for me.

Give a try to disabling all other plugins and only leaving this plugin on.

15

Yes, there is no overload right now. But have slowing things down a lot.

16

Note that the plugin specifically disables browser caches because they interfere with locking content. This may cause the initial page response speed difference because the plugin tells the server not to allow your browser to load specific pages from your cache.

17

I’ve already done that, the situation remains the same.
Should I make you another screencast without plugins, just with yours?

18

The cache is completely disabled. That’s not the reason. And it does not explain the fact that the admin panel is slowing down as well.

19

If the situation remains the same for you, there isnt a point to another screencast. Especially since the situation is always the same for me from Western Europe. (The 3 sec total page load time that you describe as slow).

20

I ran a test from webpagetest.org from a LA location, and your page loads in 3 seconds total there too. (largest contentful paint)