The longer it takes to get that information, the worse the user experience and the lower your ranking will drop on Google.

Maintaining fast server response times on WordPress can get tricky, because while WordPress makes it really easy to build a website, it’s also really easy to lose track of your resources and build a really heavy website.

Basically, building a WordPress website is like being an amateur airplane builder who is given an extremely powerful engine.

You’re not necessarily going to have the skills to build the best possible airplane.

You will end up something super heavy, but the power of your engine allows you to swallow that extra weight and still fly.

In this post, let’s look at how to get the weight on your plane down.

1. Good Hosting, Caching, and a CDN

There’s a reason that every single list you could ever read on getting a good server response time begins by saying that you need good hosting.

It’s because someone with a bad host could do all the other optimization techniques on this page, or any other page, and still end up with a site that is slower than someone who has a good host.

Need to find that perfect host?

You can compare plans with our hosting comparison tool.

Many hosting packages will give you free or cheap access to a CDN, which you should take advantage of.

A CDN, or content delivery network, sets up cached versions of your site in strategic geographical locations so that users who are far away from your originating server can still get a quick response time.

2. Have Enough CPUs

CPUs are the amount of information processing that your server can handle at the same time.

The more cores and the more powerful your cores, the bigger chunks of data you can process at the same time.

Because WordPress makes it really easy to scale and build a huge website, it’s really easy to overshoot your CPU capacity and slow your site down.

3. Reduce Plugin and Theme Size

One of the fun parts of running a WordPress site is browsing endless aisles of plugins and themes that you can apply to your site.

There are tens of thousands of completely free plugins and themes, all of which promise to make your site cooler and more powerful than it was before.

First, let’s talk about themes. Themes are the designs on the backend that allow you to piece together super cool blocks and designs on the front end.

They give you massive amounts of control and graphics power by streamlining the design process.

However, while themes have a ton of benefits to them, they also suck power and speed from your website.

This is a good thing to keep in mind.

Themes are the really pretty part of your site, but the aesthetics of your site comes as the opportunity cost of the speed and functionality of your site.

Aesthetics are all about a beautiful user experience, but it’s hard to have a beautiful user experience if everything takes way too long to load.

Honestly, your user will resent your fancy graphics packages if it means that engagement with the site drops.

Second, let’s talk about plugins.

Plugins are like the power-ups, upgrades, and accessories that your site can put on to become even cooler and more functional than before.

But just like themes, there is an opportunity cost to putting plugins on your site.

Every plugin is more data and weight that your engines are going to have to pull.

While many WordPress beginners gobble up a dozen plugins right away during their first trip around plugin markets, this is a great way to hamstring your site and lose altitude quickly on the search results.

Keep your plugin installations to a minimum, and only install things that will have an immediate, actual impact on your site.

4. Upgrade Your PHP and WordPress

PHP is the server side language, and the version of PHP that you’re running refers to the interpretation of PHP scripture.

The more recent the version of PHP that you run, the faster that your PHP scripts can be read and interpreted. PHP 7.4.1 has just been released.

If you are running anything prior to PHP 7 you need to upgrade things immediately.

While you don’t need to be upgrading your PHP every time there is a new sub-version released, you need to make sure that the main number (the 7, in this case) remains consistent with the most recent version of PHP.

Additionally, keep your WordPress software updated.

This is not only important for security issues, but ensures that things stay optimized and run as quickly as they can.

You may not want to set up automatic updates, but just like PHP, you should make sure that the main number remains consistent over the life of your WordPress site.

5. Block Crawlers and Bots (Wordfrence)

When Google wants to determine the relevance of search results and to figure out your page ranking, they use bots that crawl through the information on your site.

This is helpful, because it makes your site show up high on Google’s rankings.

But over time other bots can find your site and crawl it for a variety of unrelated purposes.

You can use a plugin like Wordfence to add security to your site, but also to prevent unwanted crawling, which can speed up your site.

6. Clean Up Your Database

One of the most time consuming actions that you can undertake when loading a website is a database call, where your server has to search the database for information to load onto the page.

Limiting the number of times that your site dips into the database can help speed things up–but so can cleaning up your WordPress databases.

Over time, depending on how the database is run, your database can pick up a bunch of extra information that it doesn’t need to store.

All that extra information is sorted when your site is calling information from a database.

Folks don’t want to wait for websites to load now that we live in the age of high-speed Internet.

That fact is why website caching is more important now than ever before.

However, without coding expertise, caching a website can be a daunting task.

That’s why, for WordPress websites, finding a WordPress cache plugin is necessary to speed up your website and save you some headaches.

Our top pick for the best WordPress cache plugin is WP Rocket, but there are plenty of other fantastic options that we’ll discuss below.

An Overview of WordPress Cache Plugins

Before we dive into the best WordPress cache plugins for your website, we’ll talk about what a cache plugin is and why you’ll want to use one.

What Is a WordPress Cache Plugin?

A WordPress cache plugin helps optimize the performance of your website’s cache.

A website’s cache is the collection of temporary data stored for quick access when a reader comes to your website.

Websites exist on hardware disks in server racks at your hosting service’s data center.

Accessing data on these disks is slow, especially remotely.

Caching solves this issue by putting the frequently requested info in temporary memory, speeding up the processing time.

The caching process saves most of what exists on a webpage before a reader loads it, such as page format and text.

Items that require updates, such as plugins or APIs pulling from other databases, will require a refresh when the page loads for the reader.

Why Do You Need a WordPress Caching Plugin?

The main reason to get a WordPress cache plugin is to help speed up your website’s loading time and retain site readers.

If a web page takes longer than three seconds to load, most readers will abandon the web page.

Caching plugins reduce file sizes and improve the rate they can be read and loaded by the website.

Overall, this reduces the time needed to display the webpage for the reader, improving the user experience for the website.

Best WordPress Cache Plugins

Since it’s clear why a caching plugin could be useful for a WordPress website, let’s take a look at some of the best WordPress cache plugins out there.

These plugins all have proven track records of improving loading times and optimizing cache structures:

1. W3 Total Cache

If you find your website uses too much bandwidth for your host or users, W3 Total Cache is the tool to look at for a solution.

Overview

W3 Total Cache is a WordPress caching plugin focused on improving bandwidth use for a website.

The plugin comes with various options and tools to enhance cached files and the data used to transfer those files between the website and a user.

Our Rating

3.5 out of 5 stars

Best For

Bandwidth savings

Notable Features

Some notable features of this plugin are:

• Compatibility with multiple servers
• Caching for different data queries
• Deference of non-critical Javascript

The plugin is compatible with various servers, including shared hosting platforms, virtual servers, and dedicated clusters.

It also has caching options for many common data queries, including database and disk-stored objects.

Lastly, it defers non-critical Javascript and similar elements to improve the load speed of web pages.

Pros

There are plenty of good things about W3 Total Cache, such as:

• Increases website performance: W3 Total Cache boasts a 10x performance boost when fully configured on a website compared to without using Google PageSpeed.
• Mobile device support: The plugin distinguishes between users based on device type and creates optimized caches for those users.
• Optimized progressive renders: Web pages improved with this tool render faster and can react to user activity faster.
• Up to 80% bandwidth savings: Minifying the HTML, CSS, and Javascript elements of the website reduces the amount of bandwidth needed for data transfers.
• Easy setup with any hosting: Partnerships with many hosting websites improve the installation process.

Cons

There are some drawbacks to W3 Total Cache, including:

• Customer support issues: W3’s customer support isn’t responsive to most queries and doesn’t provide many helpful guides to troubleshoot issues
• Not a beginner-friendly plugin: The list of options and unclear guides from the customer support section can make learning how to use the plugin difficult.

Is W3 Total Cache Hard To Use?

W3 Total Cache won’t be a simple addition to your website. It’s not as clear as other caching plugins, which takes away from some of the functionality of this website.

Expect to go through guides and tutorials online to get this up and running for your website.

Pricing and Plans

W3 Total Cache uses an annual subscription model for its pricing plan.

There’s only one plan, costing $99 per year for use with one website.

This plan comes with access to the complete Pro version of the plugin.

So you’ll have access to all the tools and optimization options for your website.

It also comes with customer support services and access to their support pages for tutorials on how to set up and use the plugin.

2. Hummingbird

For websites using Cloudflare that also want to improve their caching, Hummingbird might be the right choice.

Overview

Hummingbird is a caching optimization plugin similar to many of the ones listed here.

While it doesn’t have the same features as some of the others, it has integrations with the Cloudflare service that allow Cloudfare to work with the caching optimization the plugin performs.

Our Rating

3.5 out of 5 stars

Best For

Cloudflare integration

Notable Features

Some of the features that attract users to Hummingbird include:

• Cloudflare integrations
• One-click improvements
• Testing tools

Hummingbird provides Cloudflare integrations that a user can activate by inputting their Cloudflare API key.

The company also offers one-click improvements for simple issues slowing down your website.

Testing and analytic tools inside the plugin allow Hummingbird users to analyze their website’s performance.

Pros

The upsides to using Hummingbird for your caching needs include:

• Automatic and manual optimization: Between optimization suggestions and automatic improvements to cache files, Hummingbird offers multiple ways to improve your website.
• Cloudflare integration: All you need to do is input your Cloudflare API key into Hummingbird to integrate Cloudflare’s features.
• Store and activates temporary data on devices: Visitor devices can store a version of the website’s cache to make repeat visits faster and easier.
• Compress web pages and stylesheets: Web page and stylesheet data can take up space in your cache, something this plugin fixes with compression.
• Run speed tests and audits: Hummingbird has analytical tools for website performance and speed that let you check on things within the plugin.

Cons

Some of the downsides to using Hummingbird include dealing with:

• Minor bugs: Hummingbird users report minor bugs with the plugin interface and advanced caching options, especially when combined with other caching plugins.
• Expensive option when running a single site: The Pro version of the plugin costs almost $100 per year, which is somewhat high for the niche.

Is Hummingbird Hard To Use?

Hummingbird isn’t hard to use, but it’s also not simple.

Some facets of the plugin, like the automatic suggestion and Cloudflare integrations, are easy to use.

However, utilizing the analytics reports and advanced manual optimizations will require know-how or experience with the plugin.

Pricing and Plans

Hummingbird only has one paid plan.

Hummingbird Pro charges a monthly subscription of $7.50 per month.

This subscription provides access to the full suite of tools and perks, including access to a 24/7 live support channel and the Cloudflare integration tools.

For those that want to try the plugin, Hummingbird offers a seven-day free trial.

3. WP Rocket

For users looking for straightforward web caching, WP Rocket can fill that need.

Overview

WP Rocket is a simple, beginner-friendly caching plugin for WordPress.

It’s considered one of the best out there because of how easy it is to use and the lack of technical knowledge needed to use it.

You can cache your website with one click and optimize other aspects of the website, such as DNS pre-fetching, with the included options.

Our Rating

4.5 out of 5 stars

Best For

Website loading speed

Notable Features

Some of WP Rocket’s best features include

• Skyrocket tool
• Fast setup
• Multiple advanced options

The included Skyrocket tool helps improve your PageSpeed score.

And there’s a three-minute setup time to receive the benefits of the best web performance practices.

WP Rocket also offers advanced options to utilize page caching, browser caching, GZIP compression, and other performance improvements for your website.

Pros

The upsides to using WP Rocket for your website’s caching needs include:

• Boosts website loading time: The caching and other advanced options improve website loading times with some of the best practices on the web.
• Improves PageSpeed score: By optimizing for Google’s PageSpeed tool, your website is more likely to be ranked in SEO.
• Optimizes core web vitals: By improving your website’s architecture, you can improve your core web vitals scores on PageSpeed.
• Saves time: Improving loading times and acting as multiple plugins in one makes this tool worth looking at.
• Keeps up with web performance requirements: You can access reports about your website’s speed and performance from within the plugin.

Cons

The downsides to using WP Rocket are:

• No free version: WP Rocket doesn’t have a free version, meaning you’ll have to pay full price to use this tool.
• Featured preload bots cause CPU overload on other servers: Some automation tools use bots that cause overloading issues on some host’s servers.

Is WP Rocket Hard To Use?

WP Rocket is a straightforward tool that utilizes one or a few clicks to activate advanced optimization options.

You won’t be inputting any custom code or sifting through options to find what you need to keep your website running quickly.

Pricing and Plans

WP Rocket uses a yearly subscription fee model for its pricing.

Each of the three tiers come with the same level of access to WP Rocket’s features, tool, customer support, and updates.

Where the pricing plans differ is in the number of websites you can support with the plugin.

Here’s how those pricing plans break down:

• Single: $49 per year to support up to one WordPress website
• Plus: $99 per year to support up to three WordPress websites
• Infinite: $249 per year to support an unlimited number of WordPress websites

4. Cache Enabler

For an open-source plugin that helps improve your cache file management, Cache Enabler can get the job done.

Overview

Cache Enabler is an open-source WordPress caching plugin that optimizes your website.

This plugin features a clear website performance home page and automatic cache clearing tools to keep the file size of your cache low.

Our Rating

4 out of 5 stars

Best For

Automatic cache clearing

Notable Features

Cache Enabler has several notable features, such as:

• Streamlined delivery of WebP images
• Simple user interface
• Frequent updates to the interface

Cache Enable has a simple interface that doesn’t confuse the user.

The interface is also continuously updated and displays the amount of space your cache takes up for your website.

The ability to deliver WebP images without using Javascript as the coding language for faster speeds is another fantastic feature.

Pros

The upsides to using a plugin like Cache Enabler include:

• A fast and efficient cache engine: Cache Enabler uses automatic and manual caching options to improve your website’s speed and cache file size.
• Automatic cache clearing: You can clear caches to the individual web page using the included tools.
• Mobile support: This plugin creates caches for desktop and mobile visitors to improve performance regardless of the device.
• Real-time cache size display: The plugin home screen offers info about your website’s performance, including a real-time cache file size count.
• Works well with Autoptimize: This plugin works well with Autoptimize, another caching plugin on this list.

Cons

There are some negatives about Cache Enabler, some of which include:

• Causes issues when combined with WP Security: This plugin can interfere with WP Security, causing WP Security to flag changes to the cache made by this plugin as malware attacks.
• Degrades mobile display of website: While this plugin helps improve the response time for mobile devices to your website, this plugin can mess up the mobile display of your website on some devices.

Is Cache Enabler Hard To Use?

Cache Enabler is one of the simpler plugins on our list.

Because most of the info you need to understand how your caching measures perform is on the main page, you’ll have an easy time seeing how the plugin improves your response times.

Plus, many advanced options are within a click or two, making this an accessible plugin even for new WordPress website builders.

Pricing and Plans

As an open-source plugin, Cache Enabler is free to use.

Any WordPress user can download the plugin and connect it to their website.

Still, with open-source projects, customer service and troubleshooting can be a worry.

Thanks to a partnership with KeyCDN, Cache Enabler has a dedicated support page for all its software tools, including Cache Enabler.

5. Comet Cache

Beginner WordPress website builders will want to look at Comet Cache as a starting point for their website optimization management.

Overview

Comet Cache offers tools to WordPress builders in a way that’s easy to understand and implement.

Rather than asking users to activate or deactivate features manually, many of Comet Cache’s processes work automatically.

Because of these facts and the simple UI, Comet Cache works well for most beginners.

Our Rating

3.5 out of 5 stars

Best For

Beginners

Notable Features

The notable features of using Comet Cache are:

• Fast configuration
• Automatic intelligent cache clearing
• RSS feed caching

Comet Cache’s fast configuration and backend options make optimization of a website’s cache much easier.

Users can apply automatic intelligent cache clearing down to the individual page with automatic expiry dates for the cache files.

RSS feed caching is also possible.

Pros

The benefits of using Comet Cache include:

• Generates pages in seconds: Comet Cache works quickly to gather cache data and generate web pages for visitors using this data.
• Ideal for beginners: Between the simple UI, the dozens of tutorials on their website, and the automation features of the Pro version, Comet Cache is an ideal choice for beginner website builders.
• Automatic and intelligent cache clearing: Comet Cache identifies the place cache files need to have improvements made, much like other plugins on this list.
• Automatic cache expiration time: Comet Cache automatically creates expiry dates on caches, preventing these files from building up and creating slowdowns.
• Client-side browser caching: This plugin delivers cache files to the user’s device, further reducing load times.

Cons

There are some cons to using Comet Cache, which include:

• No available updates: Comet Cache hasn’t received any sizeable updates since 2017, meaning it might feel outdated compared to other plugins.
• Not compatible with Google AMP: This plugin will not work with Google AMP, which is a big deal for many WordPress website builders.

Is Comet Cache Hard To Use?

Comet Cache is one of the simplest caching plugins on the market.

Many of its tools apply automatically and require little more than a few clicks from the user to turn on.

Even file management happens automatically within the plugin.

The hard part of using this plugin will be finding information about newer sites since it hasn’t received major updates in a while.

Pricing and Plans

Unlike many of the plugins on this list, Comet Cache charges a one-time fee rather than a subscription fee.

The amount you pay for this fee depends on the number of websites you want to set up.

So, if you want to try Comet Cache, these are the prices you can expect to spend for the plugin:

• Single site: A one-time fee of $39
• Three sites: A one-time fee of $99
• Unlimited sites: A one-time fee of $139

6. Borlabs Cache

For websites heavy on Javascript and CSS elements, Borlabs Cache offers a caching solution that works well.

Overview

Borlabs Cache is a WordPress caching plugin that emphasizes its automation tools and Javascript and CSS caching capabilities.

The plugin also improves SEO ranking by optimizing the website’s backend for tools like PageSpeed and GTMetrix to help the website rank in organic search results.

Our Rating

4 out of 5 stars

Best For

Optimizing Javascript and CSS

Notable Features

There are several notable features of the Borlabs Cache plugin, including:

• Automatic cache preloading
• Efficient Javascript and CSS caching
• Adherence to SEO tools

The automatic cache preloading feature manages cached pages and automatically removes old cache files from the website.

Javascript and CSS caching are also available in a way that’s memory and time efficient.

Plus, Borlabs Cache automatically adheres to popular SEO tools, such as PageSpeed and GTMetrix.

Pros

Borlabs Cache has several positives going for it, such as:

• Loads websites super-fast: Borlabs uses many of the same practices we covered in other plugins to improve your website’s performance and speed.
• Optimizes JavaScript and CSS: Javascript and CSS files merge into one file for caching purposes to improve the delivery speed for these elements.
• Improves website SEO: Borlabs Cache optimizes web stats for tools like Google PageSpeed, improving the SEO rankings for the website.
• Cache preloading and preset enabled: With this feature, you can create a cache of your website in fractions of a second.
• Fragment caching: This feature lets you store some dynamic files into your cache and allows website builders to serve ads on cached versions of their website.

Cons

There are some downsides to suing Borlabs Cache, such as:

• A bit slower than others: While Borlabs Cache will speed up your website, it won’t be as fast as some of the other caching plugins on this list.
• Minor bugs: The fragment caching feature doesn’t always deliver ads, depending on what plugins you use to generate those ads and how they interact with Borlabs file management.

Is Borlabs Cache Hard To Use?

Borlabs Cache isn’t too tough to use.

Some facets of the plugin, like the fragment caching tools, are tough to use because they aren’t common features among other plugins.

So, while most of the tools here will look familiar, the unique ones might require some effort to learn or get accustomed to.

Pricing and Plans

Borlabs Cache has both free and several paid options for a user to select from.

All the paid versions come with an annual subscription fee to access them.

Here’s how the different payment tiers stack up:

• Personal: Free to use for 25 preloads per day, but not advanced features or customer support.
• Commercial: €29 per year for one website’s worth of 1,000 preloads, plus all advanced features and customer support access.
• Multi: €69 per year for three websites’ worth of 1,000 preloads, plus all advanced features and customer support access.
• Agency: €199 per year for 25 websites’ worth of 500 preloads, plus all advanced features and customer support access.

7. WP Fastest Cache

If you want a decent free option or a premium tool with plenty of innate integrations, WP Fastest Cache is the plugin to review.

Overview

WP Fastest Cache is a WordPress caching plugin full of native integrations.

While most of these integrations don’t exist in the free version of the plugin, you can still do plenty of optimizing without spending a dime.

Still, the plugin doesn’t feel refined or polished despite its massive number of downloads and users.

Our Rating

3 out of 5 stars

Best For

Reducing the number of database queries

Notable Features

WP Fastest Cache has some useful features, including:

• Free version available
• A plugin that combines related elements
• Mobile-specific caching-options

This free tool combines related elements to reduce the number of queries in the website’s database.

It also offers mobile-specific features, including the ability to not serve a desktop cache for mobile devices.

Pros

There are some pros to using WP Fastest Cache, including:

• Enable/disable cache option for logged-in users: You can edit which cache versions are served to different users based on their devices.
• SSL, CDN, and Cloudflare support: WP Fastest Cache has many integrations native to its advanced options.
• Preload cache: The plugin preloads cache files to promote a faster delivery time for the website.
• Cache timeout for specific pages: Specific pages can have a cache timeout set where cache files get erased after some time.
• Delete all cache files from the options page: You can choose to delete all cache files easily, helping to clean up space on your website.

Cons

There are some downsides to using WP Fastest Cache, such as:

• It lacks the premium feel: Despite the array of tools this plugin provides to users, the plugin doesn’t have the same level of polish other premium choices have.
• The user interface is not that interesting: The UI is simple but underwhelming. It contributes to the lacking feel the plugin offers visually.

Is WP Fastest Cache Hard To Use?

WP Fastest Cache will take a little more effort to use than some of the other plugins on this list.

Thanks to the many integrations of the plugin features, users will need to take some time getting the API keys set and double-checking options for each one, which can slow down setup times.

Pricing and Plans

WP Fastest Cache has a free version as well as several paid tiers.

The free version does a lot of the cache optimizations seen in advanced versions of competitor plugins.

Higher tiers unlock the ability to use this plugin with multiple websites.

Here’s the price breakdown and website permissions with WP Fastest Cache:

• Bronze: $49.99 for use with one website
• Silver: $125 for use with three websites
• Gold: $175 for use with five websites
• Platinum: $300 for use with 10 websites

8. Autoptimize

For a plugin that works well with others and has functionality with Google fonts, you may want to look at Autoptimize.

Overview

Autoptimize is a rare type of caching plugin that operates well with other WordPress caching plugins.

It has a selection of tools that work in unison with others to optimize a website’s performance.

Additionally, the company behind Autoptimize doesn’t offer premium versions of the plugin but provides website reviews to help web designers improve their site’s user experience.

Our Rating

3 out of 5 stars

Best For

Optimizing Google fonts

Notable Features

Several features help Autoptimize stand out from the crowd, such as:

• Optimization options for non-standard elements
• Minification of CSS and HTML elements
• Free-to-use tool

Autoptimize offers optimization options for non-standard elements, such as lazy-load images, Google Fonts, and JavaScript elements.

The free plugin also allows for an optional website assessment by optimization pros.

Pros

The positives to working with Autoptimize include:

• Optimizes webpages and lazy-load images: In addition to improving a website’s caching functions, the plugin also caches lazy-load images.
• Integrate, minify, and cache scripts and styles: Autoptimize has optimization scripts for almost any website element. This feature includes the ability to integrate, minify, and cache these elements.
• Optimize Google fonts: Imported fonts from Google can become part of the cache as well, thanks to this plugin’s native toolset.
• Remove WordPress core emoji crust: Since emojis don’t come up often on WordPress sites, this plugin removes this data from the website to reduce the overall file size of the website.

Cons

There are some downsides to using Autoptimize, such as:

• Not a comprehensive toolset: Autoptimize can do plenty for a website’s performance, but it doesn’t have the same comprehensive features or analytics display other plugins offer.
• Minor website issues: Unless you use plugins Autoptimize is known to work well with, you can cause slowdowns when using this plugin with others.

Is Autoptimize Hard To Use?

Given that Autoptimize doesn’t have many manual tools, this plugin is easy to use when it’s used alone.

Trying to combine this plugin with others can cause headaches due to conflict in caching priorities.

Pricing and Plans

The Autoptimize plugin itself is free.

You can download the plugin and use it as part of your website without any cost.

However, the paid portion of this plugin is different than others.

Rather than paying for expanded features or advanced tools, Autoptimize offers a website performance assessment through its parent company Accelera.

This company reviews your website’s performance across several factors and presents a report.

This report points out the issues affecting your site’s speed and ways that you can fix them. In total, the assessment costs €145.

9. Hyper Cache

For a free plugin that handles desktop and mobile devices equally without any extra fiddling, Hyper Cache is a fantastic choice.

Overview

Hyper Cache is an open-source project meant to help WordPress users improve their website’s caching functionality and delivery.

The plugin has a plethora of automatic caching features that improve a website’s speed without messing too much with settings or custom code.

Our Rating

4 out of 5 stars

Best For

Desktop and mobile support

Notable Features

Some of the notable features of the Hyper Cache plugin are:

• Open-sourced plugin
• Suitable for desktop and mobile users
• Promotes high-traffic website pages

Fortunately, there are no payment requirements thanks to its open-sourced nature.

Moreover, users that comment on your blog receive cached pages more reliably, helping reward website types that promote discussion.

Pros

The positives to using Hyper Cache are:

• Double cache for mobile and desktop versions: Hyper Cache supports desktop and mobile versions of your website’s cache to improve performance across all users.
• Various configuration bypasses: Though this plugin is simple to use, custom configurations and codes exist that let you expand the tool’s functionality.
• bbPress-specific integration: People looking to run a forum-style website will appreciate having this integration native to the plugin.
• CDN support: This support allows you to taper into larger server networks and further improve your delivery speed.
• Non-cached pages compression: Both cached and non-cached pages can be compressed, all through the Hyper Cache plugin.

Cons

Still, there are some cons to using Hyper Cache, including:

• Lacks minification support: Hyper Cache doesn’t have minification support for cache files and other website elements, meaning you’ll need another plugin for that.
• Manually write code to enable the wpconfig.php file: This plugin cannot affect the wpconfig.php file without writing some custom code, which could be a problem for those with no coding experience.

Is Hyper Cache Hard To Use?

Hyper Cache is no trouble at all to use.

Almost all of its functionality exists in the background, meaning you won’t have to set much yourself once you install the plugin.

Integrations with other services mostly come down to copying the API key over for the plugin to use.

Pricing and Plans

Because Hyper Cache is an open-source project, there are no premium options available.

Hyper Cache comes with all of the features listed above in the free version of the plugin.

The project does take donations, though.

Features To Look For in a WordPress Cache Plugin

If the plugins above didn’t catch your attention, there are plenty of other high-quality options.

However, how will you know which plugins will be the best for your website?

Rather than stress about the details, here are some of the key features to look out for in a WordPress caching plugin.

1. Page Caching

The main feature a caching plugin should deliver is an improvement in page caching for your website.

While many hosting sites implement some amount of web page caching natively, a plugin can improve upon what your website’s host can do.

The first way a plugin will do this is by reducing the size of the temporary files stored in the cache.

Reducing memory usage minimizes the time needed to review the cache file and display the contents for your reader.

Cutting back on cache file size also reduces how much memory your website will need overall.

Using less memory means that memory can go into other parts of the website, such as retrieving and storing files not usually found in the cache.

The goal of page caching is to reduce load times and improve reader experience in the process.

Doing this will reduce the chance that a reader bounces off your website.

2. Browser Caching

There’s more than one place for websites to store cache files.

Many modern browsers also create cache files of the websites their users visit so that if the user goes back in the future, the website loads quickly.

You may have noticed in the past that if you can’t connect to a website, your browser asks if you want to load a previous version.

This stored version of the website comes from the cache your browser created of the website when you last visited.

It won’t be updated with new data but could let you interact with the website’s tools or previous content.

A good WordPress caching plugin will allow a user’s browser to create optimized caches locally.

The same concepts of reducing file sizes and memory usage will improve a user’s experience with the website on the local and server side for the website.

3. Database Optimization

Every website has a database as part of its infrastructure.

This database contains not just all the content or web pages displayed by the site, but also a blueprint of the website’s architecture.

This blueprint helps keep the website organized and optimized for your hosting server and readers.

Many caching plugins improve the structure of the database in many of the same ways they work on the cache files.

Database files can see their file sizes reduced or their memory usage reduce due to the plugin’s optimization efforts.

Database optimization will have a similar effect on a website as cache optimization.

However, these effects can extend into other parts of the website, such as reducing the time needed for the website to load stored media for the reader.

4. Load Times

Every feature listed above affects the load time of the website.

When a user connects to your website, they send a request to the website to deliver all the information needed to display the website and the content contained within it.

This data takes time to transmit, thanks to the website needing to read the data, organize it, and then send it over to the user’s device.

The file size reductions and pathway improvements a caching plugin provides should reduce the time needed to load this information for the user because you’re cutting back the time needed to read and organize the data.

Reducing these times can make the user’s connection speed a bigger factor for well-tuned caching plugins.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are you still wondering which WordPress plugin is best for you?

Here are the answers to some common questions about WordPress caching plugins.

Final Thoughts: The Best WordPress Cache Plugin

Overall, WP Rocket is a fantastic choice for a WordPress cache plugin.

Between the features and optimizations the plugin provides, WP Rocket can speed up a website faster than many of the options we covered earlier.

While Hyper Cache is great for budget or hands-off users, WP Rockets offers enough tools to be worth the money.

Still, the best way to find a caching plugin you like is to experiment with what you can get your hands on.

Try out any one of the plugins we covered above and see how it can improve your website’s speed!

Let us know your thoughts on the best WordPress cache plugins in the comments.

However, you don’t need to worry because we’re going to guide you through the ten best WordPress performance plugins to help you achieve peak optimization.

The best plugins are WP Rocket with Perfmatters coming in as a runner-up.

Why is WordPress So Slow?

The last thing someone wants is a website with slow loading times, as it can instantly turn users away.

According to research by Google, a one-second to five-second difference in page load time increases the probability of bounce by 90%.

If you ask why WordPress is so slow, a quick skim of the results may lead you to believe that the Content Management System (CMS) itself is faulty and slow.

However, as we’ll come to learn, that’s not the case.

So, the better question is: What’s making WordPress so slow? The answer? Let’s get into it.

What Impacts a WordPress Site’s Performance?

Unfortunately, there isn’t one universal culprit causing slow WordPress site performance.

Instead, many factors can impact load times. Here are five likely reasons WordPress site performance slows:

1. Hosting Type

WordPress is, by definition, a web-hosting service, but its available tools and services are specific to WordPress websites.

There are various hosting systems, and the type of web host can influence site performance.

For example, shared hosting means multiple websites live on the same server, making it a fitting choice for bloggers and small business owners but ill-suited for large companies.

2. Caching

The two ways caching impacts site performance is if there is un-cached content on a website and if there’s a full cache memory.

These two factors are significant issues that can result in slower performance.

3. Images

Full-size, uncompressed images take an absurd amount of time to download.

While uploading an uncompressed image to your website results in superior quality, it slows down site performance immensely.

Because of the delayed performance, website creators optimize their images by compressing them while ensuring the quality remains intact.  

4. Frontend Code

Frontend code is the programming that the user interacts with and experiences.

For example, the layout, color scheme, and graphics require frontend coding to complete a specific action upon interaction.

When frontend code is larger than needed, it can diminish site performance.  

5. Database

A poorly maintained or un-optimized database causes slower data fetching and response time.

The WordPress database exists in the backend code and is a crucial component of your website’s infrastructure.

Can WordPress Site Speed Be Improved?

Yes, you can improve WordPress site speed.

Luckily, it’s easy to see if your WordPress site is suffering, and there are various ways to fix and improve overall performance.

An Overview of WordPress Performance Plugins

Here’s an overview of performance plugins to gain a better understanding of how they work and what their role is in improving your WordPress site.

What is a WordPress Performance Plugin?

WordPress performance plugins are management tools that increase the overall range of customization.

For example, if a local cáfe wanted to sell its beans and logo online, it could install a WordPress performance plugin to create a shopping page.

Essentially, plugins make customizations available to anyone since code isn’t generally required.

Why Are WordPress Performance Plugins Important?

WordPress performance plugins improve the creation and performance of the WordPress software.

Moreover, performance plugins can help identify reasons for slow website loading times.

Without WordPress performance plugins, users would have limited creative freedom and limited access and ability to create their websites.

Best WordPress Performance Plugins For 2022

WordPress offers over 50,000 free and premium plugins for its users.

While easy access to thousands of plugins is helpful, it makes it difficult for site owners to choose a plugin that will ensure they achieve the maximum optimization possible.

Luckily, we’ve narrowed down the ten best WordPress performance plugins for 2022 – let’s get into it.

1. WP Rocket

WP Rocket is a plugin that optimizes cache, decreases loading time, and enhances website performance.

Our Pick

WP Rocket is a plugin that optimizes cache, decreases loading time, and enhances website performance.

WP Rocket provides users with a fast experience, boosted SERP ranking, and more user traffic in general.

Visit WP RocketRead WP Rocket reviews

WP Rocket provides users with a fast experience, boosted SERP ranking, and more user traffic in general.

This caching plugin comes with lazy-loading images, deferred loading of JavaScript, CSS, and JavaScript linking and minification, preload, and more.

Our Rating

4.5 out of 5

Notable Features

• Page Caching

WP Rocket caches web pages into static HTML files, so they’re easily and quickly available upon request.

This feature applies to browser caching by storing popular files in the local cache memory.

• Compatibility

With WP Rocket, there’s no reason to worry about incompatibility, as it’s compatible with popular themes, other plugins, and WordPress hostings.

• Database Optimization

WP Rocket makes database optimization simple with specially tailored options to clean up your website’s database.

For example, users can easily organize comments, transients, and tables and create scheduled database clean-ups.

Pros

• Lighten & Delay Files

With WP Rocket, users can link, optimize, and delay CSS and JavaScript files.

• Lazy Loading

Lazy loading helps to improve response times by giving visitors the impression of fast loading images without actually downloading the image.

• Internationally Friendly

WP Rocket’s Content Delivery Network (CDN) works to reduce latency and increase availability for users worldwide.

• Add-Ons Available

WP Rocket offers add-ons like varnish caches; stores website in new visitor’s cache, Cloudflare integration

• WooCommerce Compatible

WP Rocket offers full compatibility and zero configuration for WooComerce and other popular eCommerce plugins.

Cons

• Incompatible with WordPress Multisite

For multiple sites, users have to activate WP Rocket individually, and a license is required per site for domain mapping.

• No Trial Period

Unfortunately, WP Rocket does not offer a free trial.

However, they do give a full refund within 14-days of purchasing.

• CDN not included

WP Rocket’s CDN feature is not included in the plugin.

CDN requires an additional monthly subscription per website.

Is WP Rocket Hard to Use?

No, WP Rocket is not hard to use.

The installation and configuration process takes less than three minutes.

Moreover, anyone can use this plugin, as it requires zero coding knowledge.

Upon integrating, the plugin will automatically begin performance caching.

Pricing & Plans

WP Rocket has three plans available: single, plus, and infinite.

The pricing for each plan is:

• Single (one website): $49/year
• Plus (three websites): $99/year
• Infinite (unlimited websites): $249/year

Upon purchasing a WP Rocket license, you’ll be granted full access to the features described above.

For pricing information, visit its plans and pricing page here.

Our Take

WP Rocket is a WordPress performance plugin that packages what would otherwise require downloading three to five plugins into one.

Within seconds, WP Rocket applies 80% of the leading web performance practices to your website.

2. ShortPixel Image Optimizer

The ShortPixel Image Optimizer is an image compressor and optimizer plugin for WordPress.

Runner Up

The ShortPixel Image Optimizer is an image compressor and optimizer plugin for WordPress.

Compressing, minimizing, and placing images into a Content Delivery Network (CDN) can boost SEO ranking, page load speed, and overall ranking.

Visit ShortPixel Image OptimizerRead ShortPixel Image Optimizer reviews

Compressing, minimizing, and placing images into a Content Delivery Network (CDN) can boost SEO ranking, page load speed, and overall ranking.

One of the wonderful things about ShortPixel Image Optimizer is that WordPress website owners can easily install the plugin and have it automatically optimize new images.

Our Rating

4.5 out of 5

Notable Features

• Various Optimization Choices

With ShortPixel you can upload JPEG, PNG, or GIF images for optimization.

When compressing an image, there are three compression options: lossy, glossy, and lossless.

• Convert Images

ShortPixel Image Optimizer makes it easy to convert JPEG, PNG, or GIF into WebP and AVIF.

• Great for Photographers

ShortPixel Image Optimizer’s glossy style image conversion optimizes images without bringing any quality down.

Pros

• Simple Installation

The plugin is downloadable with the click of a button.

• Demo Available and 100 free credits/month

The test site gives users time to familiarize themselves with the plugin and learn how to use the software correctly.

• Large Image File Compatibility

ShortPixel Image Optimizer can compress, convert, and optimize virtually any image or animation file.

• WP Retina 2x Compatible

According to ShortPixel’s blog post about optimized retina images, the retina makes images extremely crisp using double-resolution images

• 24/7 Support

The developers can quickly resolve problems related to the installation or utilization of the software.

Cons

• Monthly Credits Don’t Rollover

With ShortPixel Image Optimizer, the number of images purchased in the monthly packages doesn’t roll over to the next month – they expire in 30 days.

• Limited Payment Options

ShortPixel Image Optimizer only accepts PayPal and credit cards.

• Can’t Use on Localhost Installation

You cannot use the ShortPixel Image Optimizeron localhost installation.

Is the ShortPixel Image Optimizer Hard to Use?

The ShortPixel Image Optimizer is easy to use.

For WordPress website owners, the plugin lives in the management portal.

From there, the owner would begin optimizing with one click.

Pricing & Plans

ShortPixel Image Optimizer is available as a yearly subscription, month-to-month subscription, and a one-time purchase.

The plans and pricing for Short Pixel are:

One-time

• 100 images: $0/month
• 10,000 images: $9.99
• 30,000 images: $19.99

Monthly

• 100 images: $0/month
• 7,000 images: $4.99/month
• 16,000 images: $16.99/month

Yearly

• 100 images: $0/year
• 7,000 images: $47.90/year
• 16,000 images: $99.90/year

With the ShortPixel Image Optimizer, the one-time plan goes up to 500,000 images, while the yearly and monthly plans go up to 16 million.

For more pricing information, click here.

Our Take

The ShortPixel Image Optimizer is a fantastic WordPress plugin to increase SEO ranking by optimizing your site’s images.

Overall, with the free demo, you get 100 free images a month.

But with their flexible plans, there’s no harm in trying it out.

3. Imagify

Imagify is an image optimization tool that can compress your website with one click.

Also Great

From the WordPress dashboard, you can select specific images to optimize or automatically optimize every image.

Since Imagify is made by the creators of WP Rocket, these two WordPress performance plugins can be used in conjunction to further shrink the size of your images and increase web load time.

Visit ImagifyRead Imagify reviews

From the WordPress dashboard, you can select specific images to optimize or automatically optimize every image.

Since Imagify is made by the creators of WP Rocket, these two WordPress performance plugins can be used in conjunction to further shrink the size of your images and increase web load time.

Our Rating

4.4 out of 5

Notable Features

• Compress Common Image Files

With Imagify, you can optimize JPGs, PNGs, PDFs, and GIFs.

• Different Compression Levels

Imagify has three different compression levels: normal, aggressive, and ultra.

With the Imagify plugin, you can test out each compression level before choosing to automatically compress all images.

• WebP Conversion

Images in WebP increase the speed of your WordPress site and improve user experience and SEO ranking.

Pros

• Optimize on Imagify Server

With Imagify, images are optimized and compressed on the Imagify server instead of on the user’s machine.

• Simple Interface

The Imagify blends right into the WordPress platform.

• Image and Document Security

Images and animations optimized with Imagify are encrypted, allowing image data to remain confidential when passed from server to server.

• Try For Free

Imagify provides a 20MB quota every month, allowing prospective customers to try the plugin before investing in the software.

• Keep Optimized Images Forever

If you wanted to delete the plugin from WordPress, the images wouldn’t revert to how they were.

Moreover, original images are stored in the backup storage and optimized can instantly be reverted with one click.

Cons

• Charged an Additional $5 for Exceeding Paid Plan

With Imagify’s growth plan, exceeding 500MB results in additional charges

• Free Version Only Allows 20MB/month

20MB is about 200 images, making it a great plan for a small company or individual but not ideal for a company needing more.

Is the Imagify Image Optimizer Hard to Use?

No, Imagify is not hard to use. The user interface has a familiar appearance, and it is integrated within the WordPress software.

Pricing & Plans

When creating an account with Imagify, every user begins with a free account that consists of 20MB, which is about 200 images.

For paid plans, Imagify has two different types: Growth and Infinite.

• Growth (500MB): $4.99/month or $49/year
• Infinite (Unlimited MB): $9.99/month or 99/year

Our Take

Imagify is an image optimization and compression tool made by the creators of WP Rocket.

Users currently using WP Rocket can certainly install Imagify to increase the performance of their WordPress site.

Imagify can also excel by itself as a quick, free, and easy way to optimize and compress less than 200 images a month.

Should you need more than 20MB a month, its paid versions are flexible and require no commitment.

4. Query Monitor

Query Monitor is a WordPress developer tool.

With Query Monitor, users can conduct database queries, PHP errors, hooks, and actions, enqueued scripts and styles, theme template files, languages, and translations, rewrite rules, block editor blocks, HTTP API calls, and more.

Visit Query MonitorRead Query Monitor reviews

With Query Monitor, users can conduct database queries, PHP errors, hooks, and actions, enqueued scripts and styles, theme template files, languages, and translations, rewrite rules, block editor blocks, HTTP API calls, and more.

Our Rating

4.9 out of 5

Notable Features

• Database Queries

With Query Monitor, you can see what plugins, functions, or themes are causing slow database query performance.

From the plugin interface, you can see slow, duplicate, and error queries.

• Ajax

Ajax shows debugging information, and PHP and memory usage errors are sent to the developer console.

• Environment Information

Environment information shows memory limit, error reporting levels, and MySQLcaching and performance.

Pros

• Free to Use

Query Monitor is an open-source, free-to-use WordPress plugin.

• Identify Plugins Affecting your Performance

With Query Monitor, you can identify requests from a tool that are negatively affecting your WordPress site performance.

• Easier Troubleshooting

Query Monitor helps you manage query issues easier and efficiently.

• Privacy

Query Monitor doesn’t store your data or send it to a third party.

• Manage the Important Stuff

With Query Monitor, you can improve the performance of your website by identifying which plugins, themes, and other things are slowing down the query.  

Cons

• Slightly Impacts Page Generation and Memory Usage

Query Monitor is a plugin, so it is attached to WordPress, meaning it will impact page generation time.

• Not User Friendly

Query Monitor is a useful plugin for WordPress developers, but not for those with little to no knowledge about the developer side of website creation.

Is Query Monitor Hard to Use?

Yes, Query Monitor is hard to use, but not impossible.

For WordPress developers using the plugin, there are many online tutorials to help guide you through the application.

Pricing & Plans

Query Monitor is completely free to use, all that’s required is a download.

However, the developers do accept sponsorships from the GitHub Sponsors program.

To donate, visit here.

Our Take

Query Monitor is the ideal plugin for WordPress web developers wanting a comprehensive management and monitoring tool for database queries, debugging, and assessing issues.

It’s free to use and has rich resources available online to learn how to take advantage of its useful optimization features.

5. Complete Analytics Optimization Suite

Complete Analytics Optimization Suite (CAOS) is a fine-tuning website performance tool for users to host Google Analytics Javascript files by entering their tracking ID.

By using CAOS, your website’s load speed increases since visitors don’t grab the file from Google’s external server.

Complete Analytics Optimization Suite (CAOS) is a fine-tuning website performance tool for users to host Google Analytics Javascript files by entering their tracking ID.

By using CAOS, your website’s load speed increases since visitors don’t grab the file from Google’s external server.

Visit Complete Analytics Optimization SuiteRead Complete Analytics Optimization Suite reviews

Our Rating

4.7 out of 5

Notable Features

• Host Locally

With CAOS, you can host locally with analytics.js or gtag.js.

This means WordPress website owners can host Google Analytics locally.

• Avoid Ad Blockers

Files that are downloaded are renamed. Renaming files to random strings work to avoid ad blockers.

• Minimal Analytics Option

Minimal Google Analytics is a terrific option for website owners looking to examine pageviews rather than all information related to Google Analytics.

• Google Analytics V4

Google Analytics V4 is a modern version of Google Analytics with enhanced reporting and visualization capabilities, and CAOS is compatible with it.

Pros

• Adjusted Bounce Rate

With CAOS, you can navigate to the Optimize Analytics tab to change the value (in seconds) for actively monitoring your website’s Adjusted Bounce Rate.

• Fast

The plugin completes optimization fast and automatically.

• Light

CAOS is a lightweight plugin, meaning there’s no worry that the plugin is dramatically affecting your website’s performance.

• Compatible

CAOS is compatible with a host of Google Analytics plugins such as, but not limited to MonsterInsights (Pro), ExactMetrics, Site Kit by Google, WooCommerce Google Analytics Integration, and more.

• Site Speed Sample Rate

When adjusting settings with CAOs, there’s an option to adjust the site speed sample rate.

For low-popularity sites, changing settings to 50 or higher can drastically improve your site’s performance speed.

Cons

• Not User Friendly

It’s important to note that CAOS has many options to adjust Google Analytics settings, and you must know precisely what every option does and how to adjust it in your favor.

Without proper knowledge of analytics, changes made with the plugin could severely impact the ranking and performance of your site.

Is CAOS Hard to Use?

Yes, CAOS is somewhat difficult to use because it requires knowledge of specific Google Analytics. The plugin, however, is simple to navigate, as it integrates directly into your WordPress dashboard.

Luckily, CAOS has a user manual, so website owners can learn how to install and adjust settings.

Pricing & Plans

CAOS is completely free to use, all that’s required is a download.

Our Take

CAOS allows WordPress website owners to host analytics locally and works to increase the performance and loading speed of your WordPress website.

It is an ideal plugin for both non-developers wanting to adjust the basic settings and pros who understand the more in-depth analytics that the tool can monitor.

6. Disqus Conditional

Disqus Conditional is a JavaScript plugin that increases page loading speed with lazy loading, SHORTCODE, comment widgets, script disabling, and more. Disqus Conditional is free to use and is open source.

Disqus Conditional is a JavaScript plugin that increases page loading speed with lazy loading, SHORTCODE, comment widgets, script disabling, and more. Disqus Conditional is free to use and is open source.

Visit Disqus ConditionalRead Disqus Conditional reviews

WordPress users can create a Disqus Conditional account to access the knowledge base and community forum.

Our Rating

4 out of 5

Notable Features

• Lazy Load

With Disqus Conditional you can add lazy load to comments. The lazy load comes in three options: OnScroll, OnClick, and Normal.

• SEO Friendly

According to the developers of Disqus Conditional, their plugin is SEO friendly.

• Shortcode

With Disqus Conditional, you can add a shortcode or shortcut, to load comments anywhere. This makes adding comments to your website hassle-free.

Pros

• Easy to Install

Disqus Conditional has a simple installation process that can be completed from the WordPress portal.

• Less Spam

Since Disqus Conditional makes it so that commenters have to sign-up before commenting, spam comments become non-existent.

• Encourages Interaction

When comments come from real people who have logged in and are interested in the content on your website, the quality of comments increases.

• Increase Traffic

Less spam and interaction are some reasons Disqus Conditional can increase site traffic.

Cons

• Possible Weak Security

Disqus has had past security issues related to gaps in its code that could’ve been exploited by hackers.

However, these issues were back in 2013 and 2014, and they’ve since enhanced their security regarding password management.

• Sells User Data

Disqus Conditional can sell user data unless you manually opt out of it by withdrawing consent here.

Is Disqus Conditional Hard to Use?

No, Disqus Conditional has a familiar user interface that most WordPress users will easily be able to navigate.

Pricing & Plans

Disqus Conditional is completely free to use, all that’s required is a download.

Our Take

Disqus Conditional is a performance plugin that enhances the load speed and environment of your WordPress website’s comment section.

As a plugin, it has many advantages and there’s no harm in trying it out as it is completely free to use.

7. Lazy Load for Comments

Lazy Load for Comments is a WordPress default commenting system.

The plugin can improve page loading by preventing comments from loading when a page loads.

Lazy Load for Comments is a WordPress default commenting system.

The plugin can improve page loading by preventing comments from loading when a page loads.

Visit Lazy Load for CommentsRead Lazy Load for Comments reviews

Our Rating

4.5 out 5

Notable Features

• Load Comments Later

Rather than having comments on a webpage load immediately, you can use Lazy Load to have them appear later, such as when the user interacts.

• Three Lazy Load Options

Lazy Load offers three styles of comment loading: on scroll, on click, and no lazy load.

• Easy Installation

To install Lazy Load, open your WordPress interface, navigate to plugins, search for Lazy Load for Comments, and click install.

Pros

• User Friendly

The plugin is extremely user-friendly as it only needs to do one thing.

• Free

The Lazy Load plugin is completely free to use.

Cons

• Does one thing

Since the plugin only accomplishes one task, it’s likely WordPress website owners will need other plugins to fulfill the rest of their needs.

Is Lazy Load for Comments Hard to Use?

No, Lazy Load for Comments is not hard to use.

Pricing & Plans

Lazy Load is completely free to use, all that’s required is a download from their page.

Our Take

If you require a lazy loader plugin for comments, this is one of the best options to complete this task.

It’s free, easy to use, and performs an essential function for optimizing your WordPress site.

8. Perfmatters

Perfmatters is a lightweight, simple plugin for performance optimization of your WordPress website.

Perfmatters is a lightweight, simple plugin for performance optimization of your WordPress website.

This plugin can disable things that aren’t necessary, limit post revisions, and work harmoniously with other plugins and image compression tools to deliver the best possible performance speed for your website.

Visit PerfmattersRead Perfmatters reviews

This plugin can disable things that aren’t necessary, limit post revisions, and work harmoniously with other plugins and image compression tools to deliver the best possible performance speed for your website.

Our Rating

4.9 out 5

Notable Features

• Quick-toggle options

Some of the things you can toggle are limiting post revisions, changing autosave interval, disabling and tweaking API, disabling comments, and disabling Google Maps.

• Script manager

You can disable the scripts per post or page or the entire site.

• Database optimization

With Perfmatters, you can clean up your database by deleting revisions, old auto drafts, WordPress spam, and trash transients.

Pros

• Easy to Use

With Perfmatters Simple user interface toggle buttons, it is a very easy-to-use plugin.

• Affordable

An all-in-one WordPress plugin it is affordable.

• Lightweight

Perfmatters don’t take up much space at all and is unlikely to impact website load speed.

• Database Clean-up

With Perfmatters, you can schedule regular maintenance on your website’s database to ensure no optimization is lost over time.

Cons

• No free version or trial

Unfortunately, there is no free version or trial of Perfmatters.

• Messing with tools could harm your website

Inadequate knowledge regarding the function of each tool could result in a webpage dropping in ranks dramatically.

Is Perfmatters Hard to Use?

No, Perfmatters is not hard to use. However, while the interface is very user-friendly, understanding every tool and its effect may make it difficult to use at first.

Pricing & Plans

• Personal (one site): $24.95/year
• Business (three sites): $54.95/year
• Unlimited: $124.95/year

For more information on paid plans, visit their pricing page.

Our Take

Perfmatters is a professional WordPress performance optimization tool designed to target every aspect of your site to get it to the best speed possible

While there’s no free trial, their pricing is quite reasonable whether running a single site or many at once.

9. Autoptimize

The Autoptimize plugin can minify and cache scripts and styles, in CSS through the website, minimize HTML, lazy load images, and more.

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Autoptimize resizes everything so the elements become lightweight, thereby making your website run faster.

You can tailor Autoptimize to the specific needs of your site with their APIs.

Our Rating

4.5 out of 5

Notable Features

• JavaScript

Autoptimize can shrink JavaScript, combine Java and CSS files, exclude scripts, and remove unused Java files.

• CSS Options

Autoptimize does the same optimizations as CSS.

• HTML

With HTML, Autoptimize will minimize it to reduce white space and the overall size of the page.

Pros

• Increase Load Speed

Minifying scripts, styles, and other things make a webpage extremely light, allowing it to load faster.

• Simple Installation

Autoptimize can be found in the WordPress interface by navigating to plugins to install.

• Optimize Most Common Programming Languages

Autoptimize deals with JavaScript, CSS, and HTML.

Cons

• No database optimization, browser caching, or page caching.

Is Autoptimize Hard to Use?

No, Autoptimize is not hard to use.

The interface is fairly simple with buttons that you can toggle on and off.

Pricing & Plans

• Free to Download at WordPress Dashboard.

Our Take

Autoptimize is a great tool to improve the performance of your website, so if that’s what you need then use Autoptimize.

It’s free and open source, meaning there’s a large community of users who will be there to help if you have any questions about using the tool.

10. WP Sweep

WP Sweep is a newer plugin that cleans drafts, revisions, and meta from your website.

Clearing these items from your WordPress site with this optimization plugin will strengthen its performance.

WP Sweep is a newer plugin that cleans drafts, revisions, and meta from your website.

Clearing these items from your WordPress site with this optimization plugin will strengthen its performance.

Visit WP SweepRead WP Sweep reviews

Users have found that it could pick up issues that the bigger plugins would miss, making it a must-try.

Our Rating

4.0 out of 5

Notable Features

• Clean revision, comments, and meta

WP Sweep will ‘sweep’ revisions, comments, and meta by grouping them on the interface and providing you an option to sweep.

There’s also the choice to option sweep, which empties the transient options, reducing the database memory even more.

• Easy Install

WP Sweep is easy to install through the WordPress interface.

Pros

• Easy to Use: WP sweep is free to download and use.
• Automatic Organization: WP Sweep automatically organizes unused files, images, and data into separate categories.

Cons

• Newer plugin

With newer plugins, it may not be as stable as older ones, as the newer ones may encounter unanticipated issues.

Is WP Sweep Hard to Use?

No, WP Sweep isn’t hard to use. However, there is likely a learning curve to learn how to navigate the software.

Pricing & Plans

WP is completely free to use, all that’s required is a download from the WP plugins page.

Our Take

Use WP Sweep to clean the clutter in your website and obtain the best performance possible.

Final Thoughts

The winner of the ten best WordPress performance plugins for 2022 is WP Rocket with Perfmatters coming in close.

These plugins offer various solutions to maximize website performance rather than being a single plugin with one purpose.

Moreover, both plugins cover one or more of the four issues that slow WordPress loading and performance.

If you find your site loading sluggishly for unknown reasons, you should try using the performance plugins on our roundup.

Many are free, while others offer paid plans with potent functions.

Some sites are much more localized and focus on reaching customers within a 20-mile radius of their business.

Other sites are intentionally designed to deliver content to users all over the world.

Multilingual new sites, affiliate sites and site directories are just a few examples of websites that reach a global audience.

The logistics of delivering content to a geographically diverse base of website visitors is very different from running a website for a local business.

It can be difficult to provide a pleasant user experience for all of your visitors when your servers are located in one or two regions.

Visitors that are located a long distance from those servers will not be able to access content as quickly and seamlessly.

Content delivery networks are the solution to this problem.

They consistently provide a great user experience to every user by reducing speed and allowing you to customize the content that you display to them.

What are content delivery networks?

Content delivery networks are strategically connected web servers that are uniformly distributed around the world.

CDNs from a provider like Incapsula are designed to make sure that every website visitor is connected with the closest server, so they will receive content as quickly as possible.

The closest server responds to the request.

However, servers throughout the network copy pages and propagate the requested content to every server after an HTTP connection is made.

The entire CDN also communicates with the requesting server to sure content that has not been cached before is cached properly.

The CDN can also be programmed to display custom versions of the content for users in different regions.

The end results of all of this, is a fast loading website — which can result in improved search results, user experience, conversions and sales.

The process is completed very efficiently and ensures that all users get access to content as quickly as possible.

Despite the sophisticated content delivery process that takes place behind the scenes, the user is usually unaware of the existence of the CDN.

Unless the CDN provides a unique URL structure after content has been delivered, the entire process is invisible to them.

What are the core benefits of using a CDN?

CDNs are becoming more widely used as website owners try to optimize their content for an increasingly global audience.

If you are still skeptical that a CDN will bolster the performance of your website, then you should review these benefits.

Improving engagement statistics and returning visitor rates by reducing load times.

Slow website load times can have a terrible impact on your engagement metrics.

An estimated 53% of website visitors will leave if your site takes more than three seconds to load.

Those visitors will probably never return to your site.

Even if they don’t leave your site before the first page of content they are trying to access loads, they probably won’t stick around very long if every webpage load slowly.

Using a CDN will significantly improve these metrics.

Your bounce rate will be much lower and time on site will increase.

Create custom content for each region

Using a CDN doesn’t just help improve the load time if your website.

It also allows you to customize the content for your visitors.

You can set a number of conditionals to specify the content that users in each region will see.

When they make a caching request to the server, the CDN will use the rules you set to determine which version of content to present to them.

You can use these rules to make sure that content is presented in the most common language for readers in that region.

You can also choose images, color schemes, fonts and other visual elements that best appeal to people in that area.

Improving your SEO rankings

CDNs appear to have a positive impact on SEO rankings.

There are a number of reasons for this:

• Search engine crawlers index content more easily if it has a fast load time.
• Without a CDN, your website server would be under much higher strain during peak traffic periods.
• Your visual content will be compressed, so it does not require as much bandwidth during the caching process.
• You can target a wider range of higher volume search terms in different regions, so that you can scale traffic.
• You minimize the number of open connections to your website server.
• The content will be translated into the most common language of the user’s location, which means that it will be naturally optimized for different keywords in different tongues.
• You reduce the risk of your site being taken off-line by a DDoS attack, which would obviously make it impossible for bots to crawl your site.

Using a CDN will dramatically improve the performance of your site.

Since most of these metrics are strongly correlated with your organic search engine rankings, it will likely improve your SEO as well.

If you are skeptical, you might want to try using a tool like PingDom from various IP addresses in other regions.

This will give you an idea of how quickly your site is loading.

If you see slow times in many of the areas where you are drawing website visitors, then you will probably significantly improve your search rankings by using a CDN.

You improve the ROI of global paid marketing campaigns

Many bloggers use paid traffic to scale.

They might depend on it to sell informational products they created from their blog content, build their email list or attract long-term readers.

If you are running paid traffic campaigns to reach people in different parts of the world, then you need to make sure that your website is carefully optimized for them.

This is even more true than it would be if you were trying to reach them with organic traffic.

You can burn through a lot of money if your site isn’t optimized properly for them.

Since using a CDN will increase the speed of your site and allow you to create custom content for your visitors, you will be able to optimize your landing pages for them much better.

This will dramatically increase the ROI of any paid traffic campaigns you are running.

CDNs Are Essential for Running a Global Blog

Running a global blog is challenging. You need to make sure that your site is properly optimized for users in various parts of the world.

CDNs have proven to be remarkably effective at optimizing your content for your global readers, so it is a good idea to install one if you have a geographically heterogeneous user profile.