WordPress DOM tree depth and the Core Web Vitals

Sites with 15 to 20 DOM levels maximum DOM depth have a good INP most often: 98%, against 98% of all WordPress sites. Sites with under 15 DOM levels DOM depth have it least often, at 97%.

21 to 31 DOM levels is the most used: 42.0% of WordPress sites. 15 to 20 DOM levels is 39.2% of WordPress sites.

On jQuery, 43% of sites use 21 to 31 DOM levels maximum DOM depth, and 98% of jQuery sites have a good INP, against 98% of all sites. On Vue, 79% of sites use 21 to 31 DOM levels, and 97% of Vue sites have a good INP.

FrameworkMaximum DOM depth on its sitesGood INP

All WordPress sites 63,295 sites21 to 31 levels deep 42%15 to 20 levels deep 39%Under 15 levels deep 15%98%

React 2,233 sites21 to 31 levels deep 50%15 to 20 levels deep 37%98%

jQuery 60,314 sites21 to 31 levels deep 43%15 to 20 levels deep 39%Under 15 levels deep 14%98%

Vue 4,844 sites21 to 31 levels deep 79%15 to 20 levels deep 12%97%

Alpine 380 sites15 to 20 levels deep 49%21 to 31 levels deep 28%Under 15 levels deep 22%95%

21 to 31 levels deep 15 to 20 levels deep Under 15 levels deep 32+ levels deep

Does the framework explain the maximum DOM depth difference?

On jQuery, 98% of sites with 15 to 20 DOM levels maximum DOM depth have a good INP, against 98% of jQuery sites with 21 to 31 DOM levels. Within jQuery, sites with 15 to 20 DOM levels and 21 to 31 DOM levels have a good INP about equally often. On Vue, 97% of sites with 15 to 20 DOM levels maximum DOM depth have a good INP, against 97% of Vue sites with 21 to 31 DOM levels. Within Vue, sites with 15 to 20 DOM levels and 21 to 31 DOM levels have a good INP about equally often.

Why deeply nested wrapper chains slow down event bubbling and layout

Maximum DOM depth measures the longest chain of nested parent-child elements from the root html tag to the deepest leaf node. Across 24,825 sites (39.2%) at 15 to 20 levels, 98% achieve good INP (83ms median). Another 42.0% (26,611) nest 21 to 31 levels deep (98% good INP, 90ms median), while the 3.9% (2,470) exceeding 32 levels drop to 97% good INP (95ms median).