I have been growing hostas from liners since 1996.
I learned from making mistakes that liners are not to freeze the first winter. They arrived, I potted them in potting mix, in the fall I put them in a cool greenhouse, and let them go dormant, but not freeze.
Three months later, the hostas start growing, and by May, they have a significant size.
At this point, they need a much larger pot or plant them in their permanent place.
Last summer I bought about 2,000 liners on sale when QandZ stopped producing liners.
You should try some of my hostas. Most liners are no longer the small plant that they were.
There are some hostas that grow very slowly, but that is their nature.