Can a WordPress plugin really handle a $1M GMV MLM?

Just barely, and only with simple plans. ARM Multi-Level Marketing scales to roughly $1M GMV with binary or unilevel on managed hosting (Kinsta, WP Engine, Pressable). Above that, the genealogy queries start exceeding what MySQL can serve cleanly, and plugin updates become operational risks rather than maintenance events. We recommend planning the headless transition by $500K GMV; the work is small at that scale and avoids the painful version where you migrate while distributor count is climbing fast.