No one wants to stay if it takes a too long time to load a simple page or an image. Everyone wants fast and better performance and in the case of websites then almost all want it to load fast and don’t want to spend too much time on loading.
- If a website takes longer than three seconds to load, fifty per cent of mobile users will abandon it.
- If the load time is two seconds or longer, more than 75 out of 100 customers’ carts are abandoned.
- Users who have had a bad encounter with a website are 79% less inclined to buy from them again.
- Website loading speed affects Google ranking
- Increased site speed lowers operational costs making it sustainable
- A fast loading website has got a competitive edge
Table of contents
How to test the WordPress site SpeedFactors to determine WordPress site speed
Tips to boost the WordPress site speed
Best WordPress site Speed plugin- optimize page speed
Final thought
How to test the WordPress site Speed
There are plenty of options to test the WordPress site speed which will tell you the exact speed of your website on mobile and desktop. Here are some of the popular options for testing your website load speed:
Factors to determine WordPress site speed
There are some factors that affect your WordPress site speed:
- Server Response time
- Image compression
- JavaScript and CSS optimization
- Content Delivery Network
- Caching
- GZIP compression
- Database optimization
Tips to boost the WordPress site speed
- The loading time depends upon the hosting provider so you must get a reliable hosting provider who provides technical support.
- Always try to use a Content Delivery Network, which is a network of geographically located servers that make cached data of your website.
- Don’t use a heavy WordPress theme
- Enable caching
- Optimize the images before uploading them to your WordPress website
- Keep track of website performance regularly
- Minify scripts
- Update the WordPress and plugins regularly and use the latest PHP version
- Disable trackbacks and pingbacks
- Optimize the database if needed
- Reduce blog post revisions and redirects
- Reduce comments per page and social media calls
- Take care of the video part
- Enable GZIP compression
- Reduce the number of external scripts
- Disable hotlinking and leeching of your content
- Use lazy loading features if needed
- Fix HTTPS/SSL errors manually
- Clean up your media library
Best WordPress site Speed plugin- optimize page speed
You will find a number of WordPress site speed plugins but with different features. Some WordPress site speed plugins will optimize cache, some will image, some database, CSS and others. So you need to choose the best among them. Either you choose image optimizer or cache or database or CSS or get a plugin that will all-in-one feature. Here I have mentioned some WordPress site speed optimization plugins according to cache, image, and CSS.
Cache optimization
– WP Rocket – Best caching plugin for WordPress
WP Rocket is a high-end caching plugin with a long list of capabilities. WP Rocket allows users to minify and consolidate CSS and JS files, lazyload pictures, remove render-blocking JavaScript resources, and schedule automatic database cleanups, in addition to cache preloading and GZIP compression.
Features:
- Lazy loading for faster loading of images and videos
- Integrates with Google Analytics to load code from the server
- Supports eCommerce optimization
- Integrates CDN service for better caching
- User-friendly interface
- Database optimization
Premium cost: Single (1 website) $49/year, Plus (3 websites) $99/year, and Infinite (unlimited websites) $249/year.
– Powered Cache – Caching and Optimization for WordPress – Easily Improve PageSpeed and Web Vitals
Active installation: 2,000+
WordPress version: 5.1 or higher
Tested up to: 6.0
PHP version: 5.6 or higher
Rating: 4.8 star
Powered Cache is a comprehensive caching and optimization plugin for WordPress. It’s easy to use and dramatically boosts site performance in a few clicks. Powered Cache Free contains everything that you need to optimize your website performance, and the Powered Cache Premium plugin and its extensions unlock even more tools and functionality.
Features:
- Simple and easily configurable
- Object caching
- Page cache rule management
- File, Database, and Media optimization
- Combine Google fonts
- Varnish, Google tracking, and Facebook tracking extension.
- WP-CLI commands are ready to save your time.
Premium cost: Personal (1 site) $39/year, Plus (3 sites) $89/year, and Business (100 sites) $199/year
– LiteSpeed Cache
Active installations: 3+ million
WordPress version: 4.0 or higher
Tested up to: 5.9.3
Rating: 4.8 star
LiteSpeed Cache for WordPress is an all-in-one site acceleration plugin, featuring an exclusive server-level cache and a collection of optimization features. It supports WordPress Multisite and is compatible with the most popular plugins, including WooCommerce, bbPress, and Yoast SEO.
Features:
- Automatic page caching
- SEO friendly sitemap
- API system available for easy cache integration
- A smart preload crawler is available
– WP-Optimize – Cache, Clean, Compress
Active installations: 1+ million
WordPress version: 4.5 or higher
Tested up to: 6.0
PHP version: 5,6 or higher
Rating: 4.8 star
WP-Optimize Cache is a revolutionary, all-in-one WordPress performance plugin that caches your site, cleans your database, and compresses your images.
The cache feature is built around the world’s fastest caching engine. This simple, popular and highly effective tool has everything you need to keep your website fast and thoroughly optimized!
Features:
- Cache preloading, browser cache, and device-specific cache are available
- Device-specific caching
- Automatic clean-ups for database
- EXIF data-keeping to retain image information is after the image is compressed
Premium cost: Starter (1-2 site licenses) $49.00/year, Business (5 sites licences) $99.00/year and Unlimited (infinite site licence) $199.00/year
– NitroPack
Active installation: 100,000+
WordPress Version: 4.7 or higher
Tested up to: 5.9.3
PHP Version: 5.3 or higher
Rating: 4.2 star
NitroPack is an all-in-one performance optimization service. It combines everything you need for a lightning-fast website. Image optimization, code minification, caching, CDN, lazy loading – you name it, NitroPack has it.
NitroPack performs all optimizations in the cloud. This makes it a very lightweight solution with a lower CPU overhead compared to standard caching plugins.
Features:
- Incredibly simple setup
- No risk of damaging your original site files
- Cache Invalidation
- Critical CSS tailored to each of your unique layouts
- Optimize resources linked statically into your theme files
Premium cost: Scale – $1760.05/yr, Growth – $510/yr, and Business $210/yr
Speed and CSS optimization
– Speed Booster Pack – PageSpeed Optimization Suite
Active installation: 20,000+
WordPress Version: 4.6 or higher
Tested up to: 6.0
PHP Version: 5.6 or higher
Rating: 4.2 star
Speed Booster Pack is maintained & operated by Optimocha, a company that offers special speed optimization services filled with people who obsess about speed! It helps to improve your site’s speed to get better scores on major speed testing services. Also, improve your overall site’s usability which will help Google and other search engines to rank your site higher in search results thus sending more traffic.
Features:
- Increase site performance
- Helps to reduce page load time
- Cache your pages into static HTML files to reduce database queries
- Optimize Google fonts, JavaScript, CSS
Premium cost: contact Optimocha for more details
– Hummingbird – Optimize Speed, Enable Cache, Minify CSS and Defer Critical JS
Active installation: 100,000+
WordPress Version: 5.2 or higher
Tested up to: 5.9.3
PHP Version: 5.6 or higher
Rating: 4.8 star
Hummingbird makes your website faster and optimizes site performance by adding new ways to boost Google PageSpeed Insights with fine-tuned controls over file compression, deferring CSS and JavaScript styles and scripts, minifying for CSS and JS, Lazy Load integration, and world-class caching.
Features:
- Scan and Fix using one-click performance improvements to make critical speed improvements.
- Full caching suite to load pages faster with full-page, Gravatar, and browser cache tool.
- Performance Reports
- Position, minify and combine Javascript, CSS, and Google Font files for top performance.
- Improve scores on Google PageSpeed Insights, YSlow, Pingdom, and GTmetrix.
- Increase Your Conversion Rate
- GZIP Compression – Blazing-fast HTML, JavaScript, and stylesheet (CSS) transfer.
- Configs – Set your preferred performance settings, save them as config, and instantly upload them to any other site.
Premium cost: Free for 7 days then pay US$7.5/month
– Autoptimize
Active installations: 1+ million
WordPress version: 4.9 or higher
Tested up to: 6.0
PHP version: 5.6 or higher
Rating: 4.7 star
Autoptimize makes optimizing your site really easy. It can aggregate, minify and cache scripts and styles, injects CSS in the page head by default but can also inline critical CSS and defer the aggregated full CSS, moves and defers scripts to the footer and minifies HTML. You can optimize and lazy-load images (with support for WebP and AVIF formats), optimize Google Fonts, async non-aggregated JavaScript, remove WordPress core emoji cruft and more. As such it can improve your site’s performance even when already on HTTP/2! There is an extensive API available to enable you to tailor Autoptimize to each and every site’s specific needs.
Features:
- Supports WebP and AVIF formats
- Excludes everything inside the “no-ptimize” tags
- Async non-aggregated JavaScript
- Extensive API available
– Debloat – Remove Unused CSS, Optimize JS
Active installation: 7,000+
WordPress version: 5.0 or higher
Tested up to: 6.0
PHP version: 7.1 or higher
Rating: 5 star
Debloat is a plugin for Advanced Users to Optimize CSS Delivery, Remove Unused CSS, and Optimize Javascript Delivery with deferring or delaying load JS. The perfect toolkit for improving your Core Web Vitals and overall website performance. It’s a powerful speed optimization plugin that’s meant for power users who know what they’re doing.
Features:
- Optimize CSS: Fix Render-Blocking
- Minify and inline CSS and Remove Unused CSS
- Fix Render-Blocking with deferring
- Delay Load some JS until user interaction
- Adds resource hints for faster Google Fonts
- Built-in optimizations for Elementor (free version) and WPBakery Page Builder.
- Compatible with all themes and plugins
- Built-in cache for processing and compatible with cache plugins
- API and hooks for theme & plugin authors.
Image optimization
– Smush – Lazy Load images, Optimize and Compress Images
Active installation: 1+ million
WordPress version: 5.3 or higher
Tested up to: 6.0
PHP version: 5.6 or higher
Rating: 4.8 star
Smush is the most popular and powerful image optimization plugin for WordPress, with over one million active installs. You can optimize unlimited images, lazy load, resize, compress, and resolve Google PageSpeed recommendations – all from one simple and intuitive dashboard.
Features:
- Optimize unlimited images in bulk, resize images, convert PNG to JPEG
- Enable specific pages and posts
- Serve images closer to site visitors
- Optimize non-WordPress images by selecting from specific files and folders
- One-click apply to all sites
Premium cost: 7 days free trial and then pay US$7.5/month
– ShortPixel Image Optimizer
Active Installations: 300,000+
WordPress Version: 4.2.0 or higher
Tested up to: 6.0
PHP Version: 5.6 or higher
Rating: 4.5 star
ShortPixel is an easy to use, lightweight, install-and-forget-about-it image optimization plugin that can compress all your past images and PDF documents with a single click. New images are automatically resized/rescaled and optimized on the fly, in the background. It’s also compatible with any gallery, slider or e-commerce plugin.
Short Pixel uses minimal resources and works well with any shared, cloud, VPS or dedicated web hosting. It can optimize any image you have on your website even the images that aren’t listed in Media Library like those in galleries like NextGEN, Modula or added directly via FTP!
Features:
- Convert PNG and GIF to JPEG
- Serve WebP and AVIF to compliant browsers
- 100MB file size limit
- Automatically scale down large images
- Choose image optimization level
- Compatible with Woocommerce, Nextgen, WPML plugins
Premium cost: 7,000 images/month $3.99/mo, 16,000 images/month $8.33/mo, 55,000 images/month $24.99/mo, 100,000 images/month $41.66/mo, 220,000 images/month $83.33/mo, 2 million+ 4 cores dedicated server $350/mo, 4 million+ 8 cores dedicated server $500/mo, and 16 million+ 32 cores dedicated server $1,000/mo.
– EWWW Image Optimizer
Active Installations: 900,000+
WordPress Version: 5.7 or higher
Tested up to: 6.0
PHP Version: 7.2 or higher
Rating: 4.7 star
EWWW Image Optimizer is the only plugin that lets you optimize images using tools on your own server (jpegtran, optipng, pngout, pngquant, gifsicle, cwebp). It helps you achieve success in making your website as fast as possible. Whether your website is just a job, a hobby, or your passion. If you feel the need for more speed, get more compression and offload the CPU-intensive process of optimization to our specialized servers.
Features:
- No speed limits
- Smooth Handling
- Adaptive Steering with JPG, PNG, GLF, and PDF files
- Comprehensive Coverage
- Automatically compress, scale to fit the page, lazyload
- Plugin compatibility
Premium Cost: Standard Yearly with unlimited images for a site $70/yr, Growth Yearly for 10 sites $150/yr, and Infinite Yearly for unlimited sites $250/yr.
– Imsanity
Active installations: 300,000+
WordPress Version: 5.5 or higher
Tested up to: 6.0
PHP Version: 7.2 or higher
Rating: 4.9 star
Automatically resize huge image uploads with Imsanity. Choose whatever size and quality you like, and let Imsanity do the rest. When a contributor uploads an image that is larger than the configured size, Imsanity will automatically scale it down to the configured size and replace the original image.
Imsanity also provides a bulk-resize feature to resize previously uploaded images and free up disk space. You may resize individual images from the Media Library’s ListView.
This plugin is ideal for blogs that do not require hi-resolution original images to be stored and/or the contributors don’t want (or understand how) to scale images before uploading.
Features:
- Automatically scales large image uploads to a more “sane” size
- Bulk resize feature to resize existing images
- Selectively resize images directly in the Media Library (List View)
- Allows configuration of max width/height and JPG quality
- Optionally converts BMP and PNG files to JPG for more savings
- Once enabled, Imsanity requires no actions on the part of the user
- Uses WordPress built-in image scaling functions
Imsanity by Exactly WWW
– Imagify
Active installations: 600,000+
WordPress Versions: 5.3 or higher
Tested up to: 5.9.3
PHP version: 7.0 or higher
Rating: 4.4 star
Imagify is the most advanced image optimization plugin to help you resize and compress images. You can use its power directly in WordPress to optimize images and reduce the weight of the photos you want to add to your site – all in just one click and without sacrificing their quality.
Imagify lets you optimize images in one go with its bulk optimization option. You can resize your images on the fly and, with 3 compression levels to choose from, your images are automatically optimized in the selected compression level. If needed, you can always restore your images to their original versions.
Features:
- Resize and compress images without losing quality
- Convert images to the WEBP format
- Optimize images to make your website faster and improve core web vitals
- Save time
- Restore media in their original version when needed
Premium cost: Starter 200 images 20 MB per month is free of cost and Infinite unlimited per month is $99.9/year.
Final thought
Yes, it is confusing to choose one of the best WordPress site speed plugins for your website but it will be easy if we have fewer options. So above you get some of the best WordPress site speed plugin options for your website according to their key feature.
But except for this WordPress site speed plugin, you need other plugins too which will help you to back up your files, restore the file, migrate/clone your website if necessary, elementor plugins, SEO plugins, WordPress analytics plugin, WordPress security plugin, and many more.