50 WordPress Speed Plugins To Optimize Your Site (Warning: 100% Overkill Ahead)

Welcome to the most complete list of WordPress optimization plugins on the internet.

These can help you speed up your website’s frontend, backend, reduce CPU usage, and fix specific items in core web vitals.

No, this is not a typical list where WP Rocket is #1 followed by a bunch of mediocre cache plugins. This list was created after writing WordPress speed tutorials for 10 years including extensive tutorials on every major cache plugin, Perfmatters, APO, and I’ll be writing one on FlyingProxy soon. I put a lot of thought into which WordPress speed plugins I listed, or didn’t.

Plugin	Category	Rating	Price
FlyingPress	Cache	N/A	Paid
LiteSpeed Cache	Cache	4.8/5	Free
Perfmatters	Multiple Categories	N/A	Paid
WP Rocket	Cache	4.8/5	Paid
Cloudflare	CDN	3.6/5	Paid
Super Page Cache for Cloudflare	CDN	4.9/5	Free
WP-Optimize	Database	4.8/5	Free
FlyingProxy	CDN	5/5	Paid
Flying Pages	Resource Hints	5/5	Free
Flying Scripts	Delay JavaScript	5/5	Free
Flying Analytics	Analytics	5/5	Free
Optimole	Image	4.8/5	Freemium
ShortPixel	Image	4.5/5	Freemium
ShortPixel Adaptive Images	Image	4.9/5	Freemium
WebP Converter for Media	Image	4.9/5	Free
WP YouTube Lyte	Video	4.8/5	Free
OMGF	Font	4.6/5	Free
WP Foft Loader	Font	N/A	Freemium
Swap Google Fonts Display	Font	4.4/5	Free
Asset CleanUp	CSS/JS	4.9/5	Freemium
Autoptimize	CSS/JS	4.7/5	Free
Async JavaScript	CSS/JS	4.6/5	Free
Pre* Party Resource Hints	Resource Hints	5/5	Free
BunnyCDN	CDN	4.7/5	Paid
WP Crontrol	Cron Job	4.9/5	Free
Unbloater	Bloat Removal	5/5	Free
Debloat	Bloat Removal	5/5	Free
Disable WooCommerce Bloat	Bloat Removal	5/5	Free
Heartbeat Control	Bloat Removal	4.2/5	Free
Disable XML-RPC	Bloat Removal	4.7/5	Free
Widget Disable	Bloat Removal	5/5	Free
Limit Login Attempts	Security	4.9/5	Free
WPS Hide Login	Security	4.9/5	Free
Redis Object Cache	Cache	4.7/5	Free
Swift Performance	Cache	3.7/5	Freemium
Breeze	Cache	3.8/5	Free
W3 Total Cache	Cache	4.4/5	Freemium
SiteGround Optimizer	Cache	4.4/5	Free
Toolkit For Elementor	Cache	N/A	Paid
NitroPack	Cache	N/A	Paid
Blackhole For Bad Bots	Block Bots	4.9/5	Free
Simple Local Avatars	Comments	4.7/5	Free
Disqus Conditional Load	Comments	4.6/5	Free
Preload Featured Images	LCP	5/5	Free
AMP For WP	AMP	4.4/5	Free
Query Monitor	Diagnostic	4.9/5	Free
WP Server Health Stats	Diagnostic	4.8/5	Free
WP Hosting Benchmark	Diagnostic	5/5	Free
WP Healthcheck	Diagnostic	5/5	Free
WP Hosting Performance Check	Diagnostic	4.5/5	Free

 

1. FlyingPress

I’m ranking FlyingPress from WP Speed Matters the #1 cache plugin.

I switched from WP Rocket to FlyingPress and saw an immediate difference when clicking through my site. It has many features not found in most cache plugins (listed below) and Gijo is usually first to release new features like delaying JavaScript or lazy rendering HTML elements, then WP Rocket follows. The extra features, Gijo’s support, and constant core web vital updates and improvements he makes from the WP Speed Matters Facebook Group is what makes this plugin great. I also like supporting an independent developer, but results are always first for me.

Check the documentation to learn about different features and how they can better improve core web vitals and browsing speed. There’s a reason I put it ahead of WP Rocket, SiteGround Optimizer, and NitroPack. The most comparable plugin would be LiteSpeed Cache which is #2.

Tutorial: FlyingPress Settings

	SG Optimizer	WP Rocket	FlyingPress
Server-side caching	✓	x	x
Delay JavaScript	x	✓	✓
Remove unused CSS	x	Inline	Separate file
Critical CSS	x	✓	✓
Preload critical images	x	x	By number
Exclude above the fold images	By class	By URL	By number
Lazy load background images	x	Inline	Helper class
Fetchpriority resource hint	x	x	✓
Lazy render HTML elements	x	x	✓
Add missing image dimensions	x	✓	✓
YouTube iframe preview image	x	✓	✓
Self-host YouTube placeholder	x	x	✓
Host fonts locally	x	x	✓
Font-display: swap	x	✓	✓
Preload links	x	✓	✓
CDN (beyond Cloudflare)	SiteGround CDN	StackPath	BunnyCDN
CDN PoPs	176	60	114
CDN Tbps	N/A	65	80
Dynamic caching	✓	x	x
CDN geo-replication	x	x	✓
CDN image optimization	✓	x	✓
CDN image resizing for mobile	x	x	✓
Documented APO compatibility	x	x	✓

 

2. LiteSpeed Cache

LiteSpeed Cache and FlyingPress are my top 2 cache plugins, but I put LSC as #2 because you have to use a LiteSpeed host to use core features, and the settings can be difficult to configure.

This also means it’s more configurable than FlyingPress, WP Rocket, and SG Optimizer. The server-side caching is fast, it optimizes for first time visits via guest mode + guest optimization, and the settings let you control public/private cache. QUIC.cloud is also one of the best CDNs if you use the standard plan which comes with all 70+ PoPs and DDos Protection. LSC is the only free cache plugin worth using IMO and what you should be using if you’re on a LiteSpeed server.

But is it worth switching hosts to use LiteSpeed? Between the LiteSpeed server (faster than Apache/Nginx), LiteSpeed Cache (great cache plugin), and QUIC (one of the top CDNs), this is usually one of the cheapest/fastest setups you can get. In other words, yes… it’s likely worth it.

Tutorial: LiteSpeed Cache Settings

 

3. Perfmatters

While Perfmatters is best known for the script manager to remove unused CSS/JS, it also does bloat removal and optimizes for core web vitals.

Take their remove unused CSS feature which uses the faster method of loading used CSS in a separate file. SiteGround Optimizer doesn’t do this while WP Rocket does but uses the slower inline method. Perfmatters can host fonts/analytics locally, includes browser resource hints (preload, prefetch, preconnect), and has more lazy loading settings than most cache plugins.

The worse job your cache plugin does of optimizing for core web vitals and bloat, the better results you should get with Perfmatters. It also has more features compared to Asset CleanUp.

Tutorial: Perfmatters Settings

 

4. WP Rocket

WP Rocket got pushed down to #4.

It optimizes more for scores than real visitors, RocketCDN isn’t a great choice, and they also stopped offering renewal discounts. There’s no server-side caching and to be honest, it doesn’t have a whole lot of unique features. FlyingPress and LiteSpeed Cache seem to lead the way for innovation while WP Rocket follows their lead. It’s also harder to lazy load background images.

WP Rocket is designed to be “one size fits all” which comes with consequences. There are little to no customization settings for RocketCDN, lazy loading, only fonts can be preloaded, and their documentation recommends using a bad plugin for lazy loading Elementor background images.

WP Rocket was the best option before FlyingPress and LiteSpeed Cache. They need to improve remove unused CSS, RocketCDN, and add unique features. It’s gone pretty stale from 2011-2012.

Tutorial: WP Rocket Settings

 

5. Cloudflare

Used to set up Cloudflare’s APO which can improve TTFB, LCP, and other metrics via HTML caching. Do a before/after speed test in KeyCDN using APO and you should see a significant difference. Cloudflare’s plugin doesn’t have the best reviews but I found it worked perfectly.

Tutorial: Adding Cloudflare APO To WordPress

 

6. Super Page Cache for Cloudflare

Adds the cache everything page rule from Cloudflare.

Brian Li (from Kinsta) and Freelancer Tools (Cloudflare interview) have nice explanations on cache everything vs. APO (the plugin developer also explained his plugin vs. APO). The plugin lets you exclude certain web pages, sessions, ajax requests, and other things from the cache. It was also acquired by Optimole who I think does a great job with their other plugins. The out-of-the-box settings are usually fine, or you can see the documentation on using it with WP Rocket.

 

7. WP-Optimize

Most cache plugins already clean your database, so why use WP-Optimize?

Because it lets you go through your actual database tables and delete tables left behind by old plugins marked as “not installed.” If you deleted a plugin, chances are it left behind bloat which can be deleted. You may also notice certain plugin features adding lots of overhead, in which case you should consider disabling those plugin features/modules. I saw Rank Math’s modules were adding a fair amount of overhead so I disabled analytics, link checker, and other modules.

Tutorial: Clean Your Database

 

8. FlyingProxy

Get Cloudflare Enterprise features on any host for $10/mo.

This is theoretically better than Cloudflare Pro because in addition to the Pro features it includes (full page caching, image optimization, etc), it also includes Enterprise features like DDoS protection, firewall, premium network, more PoPs, and prioritized routing. Can make a huge difference if you don’t want to pay for Cloudflare Pro or move to a host to take advantage of Cloudflare Enterprise features. Here’s the Facebook Group and I’ll be writing a tutorial soon.

 

9. Flying Pages

Preloads pages in the viewport so when users click them, the page loads nearly instantly. Very helpful for real-word browsing speed. It has built-in settings to prevent overloading the server like only preloading 3 requests/second and stops preloading if your server is busy. All “Flying” plugins were built by Gijo Varghese and most features (but not FlyingProxy) are in FlyingPress.

 

10. Flying Scripts

Delay JavaScript using a timeout period.

Mostly used with third-party code which you can find in your PSI report and even plugins loading below the fold like third-party comments. Some caching plugins like SiteGround Optimizer can’t delay JavaScript in which you’ll want to use one that does (or this plugin).

Tutorial: Common JS Files To Delay

 

11. Flying Analytics

Hosts Google Analytics locally and choose from multiple tracking codes to reduce its size (i.e. analytics-minimal.js). Enter your Tracking-ID, set the JavaScript method, and it does the rest.

 

12. Optimole

Optimole has a great solution for lazy loading background images.

Instead of moving background images to inline HTML like some cache plugins require, you can simply copy the selectors and add them to Optimole. So you could disable all other settings in Optimole and just use it to lazy load background images. Follow the instructions shown below.

Step 1: Right click the background image and click “Inspect.”

Step 2: Right click the highlighted area where the image is and go to Copy → Copy selector.

Step 3: Enable lazyload for background images in Optimole, then paste the CSS selector.

 

13. ShortPixel

Image optimization plugins aren’t needed if you use Cloudflare Mirage + Polish or Bunny Optimizer from BunnyCDN. Or you can always manually optimize images before uploading.

Otherwise, most image optimization plugins only give you a limited number of free optimizations per month, then you have to pay (ShortPixel includes 100 free credits/month). It should have everything needed to fix most image optimization recommendations in PageSpeed Insights. Smush is also good, just make sure you take a backup if you’re bulk compressing them.

 

14. ShortPixel Adaptive Images

Serves smaller images to mobile devices which can improve mobile scores and load times. Images can be served from ShortPixel’s CDN in next-gen WebP format if browsers support it. Very similar to Cloudflare Mirage where devices with smaller screens receive smaller images.

 

15. WebP Converter For Media

Creates WebP images which are faster than JPEG, PNG and GIFs. Most CDNs and image optimization plugins already do this, so you should just use those. But if they don’t, WebP is faster than JPEG/PNG and fixes the serve images in next-gen format recommendation in PSI.

 

16. WP YouTube Lyte

Lazy loads videos by inserting responsive “lite YouTube embeds” which only calls the fat YouTube player when the play button is clicked. However, I prefer the lazy loading done by FlyingPress since it eliminates requests from ytimg.com by hosting placeholders locally. Other cache/speed plugins can lazy load videos, otherwise you can use the WP YouTube Lyte plugin.

 

17. OMGF

Host fonts locally to prevent third-party requests from fonts.gstatic.com.

Your GTmetrix Waterfall chart + PageSpeed Insights report tells you whether fonts are hosted locally or not. Elementor and several themes/plugins also have an option to host fonts locally. The plugin has settings to serve fonts from your CDN, preload fonts, and use font-display: swap.

 

18. WP Foft Loader

Uses font-display: optional which is recommended by Google for fastest performance and to avoid layout shifts, FOIT, and FOUT. Most plugins use “swap.” While the plugin has 0 reviews as of writing this, it’s based on Zach Leatherman’s work who is basically king of font performance.

Tutorial: Ensure Text Remains Visible During Webfont Load

 

19. Swap Google Fonts Display

Add font-display: swap to ensure text remains visible during webfont load in PageSpeed Insights. This sets a fallback font while fonts are loading which can fix FOIT (flash of invisible text) but may also cause FOUC (flash of unstyled content). Many speed plugins and Elementor already let you use font-display: swap though, so the plugin might cause duplicate functionality.

 

20. Asset CleanUp

Remove unused CSS/JS like Perfmatters with less features and the UI/UX is worse IMO.

It doesn’t have remove unused CSS, delay JavaScript, lazy loading, or hosting fonts/analytics locally. It also doesn’t have as many exception rules or bloat removal + browse resource hint settings. But it does the trick if you want a free plugin to unload assets. Asset CleanUp Pro can unload custom CSS with more features than the free plugin, but still not as many as Perfmatters.

 

21. Autoptimize

Minifies, combines, defers, and inlines CSS/JS files.

It can help fix render-blocking resources and you can set a CDN URL to serve files from. Some cache plugins don’t give you control over how CSS/JS files are optimized, but Autoptimize does.

Tutorial: Autoptimize Settings

 

22. Async JavaScript

Often does a better job at deferring JavaScript than WP Rocket and other cache plugins which can fix render-blocking resource errors in PSI. Simply install the plugin then click “apply defer.”

 

23. Pre* Party Resource Hints

Add preload, prefetch, and preconnect resource hints.

You don’t need this when using Perfmatters since it already does these, but some cache plugins only let you preload fonts and not images or other files. Some add preconnect automatically to fonts.gstatic.com and CDN URLs while others don’t. Check your cache plugin’s documentation and settings to see if you need Pre* Party. You can always add the hints manually with code too.

• Preload – preload above the fold resources (i.e. images/fonts).
• Preconnect – usually only done with CDN URLs + fonts.gstatic.com.
• Prefetch – prefetch third-party domains if they’re not hosted locally or delayed.

 

24. BunnyCDN

Add BunnyCDN which is what I use on top of Cloudflare.

It’s faster than RocketCDN/StackPath with 80 Tbps+ compared to 65 Tbps+ and is consistently performant/reliable on cdnperf.com (unlike StackPath). Also highly recommended in FB Groups.

• Sign up for BunnyCDN and use code OMM5 to credit $5 in credits.
• Create a pull zone, select your regions, and they’ll give you a CDN URL.
• Install the BunnyCDN plugin and add your pull zone name.
• Add your CDN to your cache plugin which can help serve more assets.
• View BunnyCDN’s setup instructions and take advantage of their other features.

Tutorial: BunnyCDN Review + Setup Instructions

 

25. WP Crontrol

View and edit cron jobs (scheduled tasks) running on your website. A popular method is to disable wp-cron and add a real cron job, usually in your hosting account of Cloudflare Workers.

 

26. Unbloater

This basically has all the bloat removal settings from Perfmatters including settings for Heartbeat, disabling XML-RPC, jQuery migrate, autoupdates, and limiting post revisions.

 

27. Debloat

Advanced plugin for removing unused CSS, optimizing CSS delivery, and deferring/delaying JavaScript. I believe it’s the only free plugin that can remove unused CSS. It has a perfect 5 star review and a few extra optimizations for Elementor and adding resource hints to Google Fonts.

 

28. Disable WooCommerce Bloat

Disables several WooCommerce features introduced in WooCommerce 4.0 and later.

• WooCommerce admin, analytics tab, notification bar.
• Marketing hub, home screen, password strength meter.
• WooCommerce scripts, styles, cart fragments, widgets.
• SkyVerge dashboard, Jetpack promotions, Elementor overview widget.

 

29. Heartbeat Control

Disable or limit WordPress heartbeat which consumes resources by sending you real-time plugin notifications, when other users are editing a post, etc. I recommend disabling heartbeat in the WordPress dashboard/frontend then setting post editor to 120s. However, many speed plugins already do this (LiteSpeed Cache, WP Rocket, Perfmatters, and SiteGround Optimizer).

Tutorial: Disable WordPress Heartbeat

Or add this code to functions.php.

add_action( 'init', 'stop_heartbeat', 1 );
function stop_heartbeat() {
wp_deregister_script('heartbeat');
}

 

30. Disable XML-RPC

Disables XML-RPC which protects your site from brute-force and DDoS attacks. Hits to XML-RPC may also be consuming resources, so it’s a good idea to disable this. Make sure disabling it doesn’t conflict with page builders or plugins. XML-RPC was designed to publish content from external services and can be usually disabled if you don’t do this (it can also be done with code).

 

31. Widget Disable

Disable unused widgets in the admin.

 

32. Limit Login Attempts

Limit login attempts from bad bots/hackers to prevent them from consuming resources. It lets you set lockout periods, safelist/blocklist certain IP addresses, and supports email notifications.

 

33. WPS Hide Login

Move your wp-login page to a custom URL (Perfmatters already does this).

Stops bots/hackers from finding the original wp-login URL to stop bad bots/hackers. If you’re using QUIC, that already has features to optimize the wp-login so you may not want to move it.

 

34. Redis Object Cache

Add Redis to your site which is known to use memory more efficiently then memcached. Make sure your host supports this and read their instructions since some of them require different Redis plugins. For example, Rocket.net uses WP Redis and Cloudways uses Redis Object Cache Pro which automatically installs a drop-in plugin. In cPanel, you can activate Redis in the “PHP Extensions” section. SiteGround uses memcached which is found in Site Tools + SG Optimizer.

 

35. Swift Performance

I wouldn’t ever use this plugin due to the huge amount of scam complaints in the reviews. However, some people still swear by it. I believe because the caching is much more aggressive than WP Rocket and similar plugins. Just based on so many poor reviews, I don’t recommend it.

Tutorial: Swift Performance Settings

 

36. Breeze

I love Cloudways for hosting, but Breeze still needs work.

It’s lacking several important features found in other cache plugins and I actually sent Cloudways an entire list of things that could use improvement in the plugin. If they make those updates, it should be comparable to top cache plugins. But for now, I would use something else.

Tutorial: Breeze Settings

 

37. W3 Total Cache

It’s made big updates since you may have seen it last, but still lacks many CWV features.

Plus, the settings can be difficult to configure especially for beginners. Most people stopped using this plugin especially since it was almost abandoned by the developer for a long time.

Tutorial: W3 Total Cache Settings

 

38. SiteGround Optimizer

I don’t recommend SiteGround and definitely don’t recommend this plugin.

My advice: use it only for caching, disable everything else, and use a better cache plugin that actually stays on top of core web vitals. There’s also a long history of compatibility issues which SiteGround’s team constantly blames on third-party themes/plugins if you check the reviews. This includes Elementor, WooCommerce/dynamic sites, and many plugins. SiteGround over glorifies it – but don’t fall for their hype. While you can use Perfmatters to fill in lacking features in SG Optimizer, you’re better off using another caching plugin (or another host for that matter).

Tutorial: SiteGround Optimizer Settings

 

39. ToolKit For Elementor

ToolKit has a script manager now to remove unused CSS/JS.

It also does a little bit of everything (minification, combination, font optimization, lazy load, bloat removal, gzip, browser caching, expires headers), but it doesn’t do everything. I would rather use the FlyingPress + Perfmatters combo. One thing I like about Elementor ToolKit is the option to disable unused widgets in Elementor, WordPress, and in your WordPress dashboard.

 

40. NitroPack

NitroPack is the last cache plugin in this list because it cheats scores in PageSpeed Insights by moving things off the main-thread, but it doesn’t improve actual load times nearly as much as other cache plugins. So go ahead and install it if you’re looking for those 100% scores, just don’t expect your website to load much faster at all. The price is also too expensive for what you get.

 

41. Blackhole For Bad Bots

Cloudflare bot fight mode is what I would use, you can use this.

There are many ways to block bad bots and some do a better job than others (Cloudflare bot fight mode, firewall rules, Wordfence, Cloudways bot protection, etc). Check your logs and make sure whatever method you’re using actually blocks them. When using this plugin, you’ll need to add the Robots Rules to your site’s robots.txt file (explained on the installation page).

Tutorial: Block Bad Bots

 

42. Simple Local Avatars

Upload local Avatars to prevent third-party requests from Gravatar (mainly used for blogs with lots of comments). WP User Avatar pulled a bait-and-switch, so you can install this one instead.

 

43. Disqus Conditional Load

Speeds up Disqus comments by lazy loading them, but I definitely recommend using native comments and not using a third-party comment plugin. I was using wpDiscuz and even though I delayed/optimized it, native comments were always faster than plugins. Use native comments!

 

44. Preload Featured Images

If you show featured images above the fold, preloading them will improve LCP.

 

45. AMP For WP

I was using AMP, but I ultimately disabled it and now I don’t. If you want to add AMP (accelerated mobile pages), this is one of the most highly rated AMP plugins since it has lots of customization options. One of the frustrating parts about AMP is that it strips many of your design elements, so you want to make sure your mobile pages are designed to still look nice.

 

46. Query Monitor

Find your slow loading plugins, queries, scripts, and other elements that take longest to load. Make sure you delete it when you’re done since it runs ongoing scans and increases CPU usage. To use it, install the plugin, view any page on your site, and you’ll find Query Monitor in the top menu. Go to “Queries by component” to see your slowest plugins. WP Hive is another great tool for browsing the WordPress repo to see whether a plugin is slow, but that’s a Chrome Extension.

Tutorial: Find Slow Plugins

 

47. WP Server Health Stats

The amount of information about your server this plugin gives you is insane including PHP memory, memory/RAM usage, and CPU usage. For everything about your server, use this plugin.

 

48. WP Hosting Benchmark

While the previous plugin shows you server stats, this one actually tests the speed of CPU, memory bandwidth, disk speed, persistent object cache, and the network download speed.

 

49. WP Healthcheck

Shows where the most autoloads are coming from which can negatively affect performance. Also shows your WordPress version, PHP version, MySQL/MariaDB version, and the server type.

 

50. WP Hosting Performance Check

Monitor your server response times and whether your technology (PHP, MySQL, WordPress versions) is running slow, in which case it should be updated. It also shows your slowest pages. It’s a great plugin to have in your toolbox if you’re running a WordPress hosting benchmark test.

 

The Same Setup I Use

Here’s the setup I use:

• Rocket.net (with Cloudflare Enterprise)
• FlyingPress
• Perfmatters

For most LiteSpeed users this is what I suggest:

• NameHero’s Turbo Cloud plan
• LiteSpeed Cache
• Cloudflare (i.e. FlyingProxy) or QUIC.cloud’s standard plan
• Perfmatters

What are the best WordPress speed plugins?

FlyingPress, LiteSpeed Cache, Perfmatters, WP Rocket, and Cloudflare are arguably the top 5 optimization plugins right now. Each one helps with core web vitals and browsing speed.

What are the best FREE WordPress speed plugins?

LiteSpeed Cache, Super Page Cache for Cloudflare, Flying Pages, Autoptimize, and Asset CleanUp are some of the highest rated free optimization plugins.

Cheers,
Tom