Test the best WordPress acceleration plugins
Test the best WordPress acceleration plugins and improve its performance, and recommend the best option
Speeding up a WordPress site is one of the effective steps that site owners can take to improve it, because visitors and customers quickly run out of patience when trying to view and browse content, which makes them leave the site if it is slow and displaying the content they want requires waiting for a long time.
For this reason, there are many plugins that help speed up a WordPress site, but not all of these plugins are of the same quality, and it is not appropriate to use any plugin in all cases, as there are plugins that are better than other plugins in some cases depending on many factors.
Therefore, in this article, we will compare the best WordPress site acceleration plugins in terms of caching features provided by the plugin, minimizing, compressing and merging files, as well as improving the database, improving images, in addition to the price, so that you can choose the most suitable plugin for your site to get the maximum benefit. possible benefit.
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How do WordPress acceleration plugins work?
WordPress website acceleration plugins work by providing many features and options that have been proven to contribute to improving site speed. These features and options may vary from one plugin to another, but they are usually represented by the following:
- Caching : It is a feature that allows servers and web browsers to save static data such as images, HTML files, CSS files, and JavaScript files in a cache to speed up users getting what they want by shortening the time for processing and sending requests, thus speeding up the website or online store. There are many types of caching, and plugins vary in the types they provide.
- Reducing, compressing and merging files : Reducing file sizes by removing unnecessary ones or by compressing them will speed up sending them to visitors and customers because the amount of data that will be sent will be less. Merging files together also contributes to reducing the number of requests when loading the page, and this can help speed up the site even more, so WordPress acceleration plugins use this feature to help you speed up your site.
- Database optimization : WordPress sites need to fetch information from the site’s database to compose the web page and send it to visitors, and when the database is not organized or when it includes a lot of information that is not needed, the process of searching for and fetching information from the database takes time. Therefore, improving the database by organizing the information it contains and removing unnecessary information will contribute to speeding up the WordPress site, because it will speed up the process of searching and extracting from it.
- Optimizing images : Improving images by reducing them by compressing them without losing quality or with a low and unnoticeable loss in quality, as well as by changing their format to a more efficient format such as WebP, will help significantly speed up the WordPress site, because the optimized images will be smaller in size, and it will be easier Handled by the server and the client device.
WordPress acceleration plugins may also provide additional benefits, such as integration with content delivery networks ( CDN ), but what we mentioned above are the basic features that most plugins rely on, and therefore we will focus on them in our comparison of the best WordPress website acceleration plugins.
The best WordPress website acceleration plugins
There are many website acceleration plugins that work on WordPress, and this may leave you very confused when trying to choose the appropriate plugin. Therefore, here we will compare the best and most famous of these plugins so that you can determine the most suitable plugin for your website.
Based on our experience with various WordPress acceleration plugins, and based on the experiences of other users, in addition to lists of the best WordPress acceleration plugins on the best technical sites on the Internet, the following plugins are the best in this field: W3 Total Cache – WP Rocket – WP Fastest Cache – LiteSpeed Cache, and in the following table we quickly compare them before we expand further in the following paragraphs.
1. Add W3 Total Cache
W3 Total Cache is a popular plugin for caching and website acceleration. It runs on WordPress and has a free version. It provides many features that allow improving site performance and providing a satisfactory user experience, such as page caching, PHP bytecode caching, and database caching , in addition to ... To compress and merge files, lazy loading , and many other advantages.
Caching
W3 Total Cache supports various cache features that websites could need, including but not limited to the following (all available in the free version):
- Page caching : The add-on allows you to activate this feature and adjust many options related to it to allow you to customize the cache as you want. You can deactivate the feature for logged in users, activate caching of feeds, in addition to creating a temporary copy of all site pages, etc. That's one of the options.
Database caching : This feature allows to speed up the process of creating the page requested by the server by temporarily storing the data that is fetched from the database. It can be activated and set various options related to it in the W3 Total Cache add-on, such as excluding data for certain pages from caching, or excluding Certain queries, or others.
Browser caching : It enables you to use the cache available in the browser to store data and obtain it in the future from that memory instead of downloading it from the server again, and this greatly helps to improve the speed of the site. The extension allows you to adjust the properties of this feature through several option groups.
The add-on also provides many other caching features that help improve the performance and speed of the WordPress site in the free version, such as Opcode Cache to save the translated PHP bytecode, and offers more features in the paid version, the most important of which are Fragment Cache, Rest API Caching, and cache analytics to track the success of... Failed caching performance, and other benefits.
Reduce and compress files
The free W3 Total Cache plugin supports the ability to compress and reduce the size of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files in WordPress to reduce the amount of data that the visitor’s browser must load to display the page. It allows you to adjust the minification options according to what you want. It also provides the ability to merge these files to reduce the number of requests. In addition to postponing downloading.
The W3 Total Cache plugin does not provide options that allow for optimizing the website's database, and what it does with regard to the database is limited to caching the results of queries (data retrieved from the database), as we mentioned in the caching section previously.
Improve photos
The W3 Total Cache plugin helps optimize website images and convert them to the WebP format , which is characterized by relatively low size and high quality. It also allows you to adjust the settings for the conversion or optimization process, as you can specify the choice of lossy or lossless compression, and you can also activate automatic image conversion that is uploaded.
Pricing
W3 Total Cache provides two versions, one free and the other paid, but the paid version is offered in the form of 3 plans that differ in the number of licenses that will be obtained. You can buy a plan to use the add-on on one site for $99, or a plan to use it on 5 sites for $350. Or a plan to use it on 10 sites for $500. As for the benefits you will get, they are the same in all paid plans.
2. Add WP Rocket
WP Rocket is a paid plugin to speed up your WordPress site and improve its performance. It provides many features, such as page caching, object caching, browser caching, in addition to lazy loading, database optimization, and file minification and compression.
Caching
WP Rocket offers all of the same types of caching as W3 Total Cache except database caching, but it doesn't let you adjust as many caching options as you'd like. This can be useful for beginners, but is not suitable for advanced users.
Caching options in the WP Rocket plugin to speed up your WordPress site
The WP Rocket plugin allows you to optimize CSS and JavaScript files by minifying and merging these files and delaying the loading of what is possible until the page content is displayed to the visitor. This is very similar to what W3 Total Cache does, but the latter provides the ability to adjust this optimization process based on a larger number. of options and therefore allows greater control than WP Rocket.
Unlike the W3 Total Cache plugin, the WP Rocket plugin allows you to optimize your WordPress database in order to speed up fetching data from it, thus improving website performance. The most important improvement options provided by the add-on include the following:
- Remove automatic revisions and drafts from the database.
- Permanently delete annoying and deleted comments.
- Removed so-called Transients (temporary data for plugins and themes that are expected to be updated periodically).
- Optimize database tables by removing unnecessary ones.
- The ability to automatically perform database cleaning on a daily, weekly or monthly basis.
However, the plugin does not support database caching like W3 Total Cache, but it is significantly stronger in this aspect. If you decide to use W3 Total Cache, you will need to install a custom plugin to improve the database on your site.
Improve photos
By default, WP Rocket does not include support for image optimization in WordPress except for the lazy loading feature, but you can get the Imagify plugin , which was developed by the same WP Rocket team for the purpose of image optimization. However, the features of this plugin cannot be considered among the features of the WP Rocket plugin, because you will have to install another plugin on your site.
Pricing
The WP Rocket add-on offers three paid plans that include the same features and options, but they differ in the number of sites on which the add-on can be used. The cheapest plan ($59 per year) allows it to run on one site, while the medium-priced plan ($119 per year) allows it to run on 3 sites. , while the more expensive plan ($299 per year) allows it to run on an unlimited number of sites.
You can get a 30% discount when renewing the annual plan for one year, but the plugin does not provide a free version, which is annoying for many WordPress users.
3. Add WP Fastest Cache
The WP Fastest Cache plugin is a WordPress plugin to speed up websites. It is simple, powerful, and loved by most users. It has a free version that includes limited options to improve the speed and performance of the website. One of its most important features is the easy control over activating or deactivating the features and options it provides.
The WP Fastest Cache add-on provides many caching features to speed up your WordPress site, the most important of which is page caching in the form of an HTML file and browser caching, as is the case in the previous two add-ons. Despite its lack of some caching features such as object caching and database caching, However, its caching system is reliable and does a good job of improving the site's performance.
Reduce and compress files
By using the WP Fastest Cache add-on, you can reduce HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files to speed up sending them to visitors for free, just like the WP Rocket and W3 Total Cache add-ons. They also allow merging CSS and JavaScript files to reduce the number of requests for free as well, but the add-on offers options that allow these files to be reduced. More and better integration of JavaScript files in particular into the paid versions.
Improve the database
The WP Fastest Cache plugin has options that help improve and speed up the database by removing everything that is unnecessary from it, such as deleted reviews , pages and articles, annoying comments in the trash, and Transient. This speeds up the completion of database queries and reduces the load on the CPU. For the website server, which makes the website faster and better performing.
The add-on supports the automatic cleaning feature, where you can choose to have your site database cleaned daily or weekly without your intervention. This means that its features are similar to those of the WP Rocket plugin in this aspect and are better than the W3 Total Cache plugin, but it does not provide database caching, and all of its database optimization features are not available in the free version, and you need to pay to obtain them.
Improve photos
While WP Rocket does not allow images to be optimized, this plugin does so similarly to W3 Total Cache, reducing their size and converting their format to WebP while preserving their quality - only in the paid version of the plugin, of course.
But W3 Total Cache provides more options through which you can control the optimization process, as the options of WP Fastest Cache seem very limited compared to its options, so all you can do here is start the optimization process for all images or a specific image, and activate automatic optimization for the images that are uploaded.
Pricing
The WP Fastest Cache add-on has a free version that provides some basic features that allow for speeding up the site, in addition to a paid version that is offered in the form of several plans that differ in the number of licenses (sites on which the add-on can be run).
What distinguishes this add-on in this context is that its paid plans do not need to be renewed monthly or annually. Rather, they are lifelong plans, where you pay only once to get the add-on, and after that you get the updates for life for free.
But you will need to pay continuously to improve the images, as the basic plan provides the ability to improve 1,000 images per license only, and after consuming them you must purchase additional credit for improvement.
4. Add LiteSpeed Cache
The LiteSpeed Cache plugin is a WordPress plugin for caching and improving site speed at the server level. Some of its features work on all web servers ( Apache , NGINX, etc.), while its caching features work exclusively on LiteSpeed Web Servers or if you use the QUIC service. cloud CDN .
LiteSpeed Web Servers are a high-performance alternative to the Apache server, an example of which is OpenLiteSpeed . The add-on takes advantage of the caching capabilities provided by these servers to speed up your WordPress site. Therefore, you should use this add-on for caching only if you are using a LiteSpeed Web Server or the QUIC service. cloud CDN.
Caching
LiteSpeed Cache supports all important types of caching, including page caching, browser caching, and object caching, but it does not support database caching like W3 Total Cache.
The add-on also supports REST API caching, and caching of PHP code results for templates and add-ons. It also allows you to set many caching options, as you can exclude certain pages or force caching on certain pages, similar to what is done in previous add-ons.
Note: All caching features provided by the plugin only work on LiteSpeed Web Servers or if using the QUIC.cloud CDN.
Reduce and compress files
Like previous caching add-ons, the LiteSpeed Cache add-on provides the ability to reduce and compress HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files, in addition to merging CSS and JavaScript files to reduce the number of requests, as well as delaying the loading of JavaScript files to obtain better performance, and many other features related to reducing and compressing files, and it works These minification features are available on any server.
Like the WP Rocket and WP Fastest Cache plugins, this plugin provides options that allow you to improve your WordPress site’s database. These options do not need to work on a LiteSpeed Web Server, but rather they work on any server.
By using the add-on, you can clean the database by removing revisions, automatic drafts, deleted articles, annoying and deleted comments, in addition to Transients. The add-on also allows for improving tables and converting its storage engine to InnoDB (fast in writing within the database, but Slow to read from.)
Improve photos
The LiteSpeed Cache add-on supports improving images on a limited basis for free by compressing them without loss in quality or with low loss in quality as you want. It also supports converting images to WebP for better performance, and allows you to adjust the optimization process options, as you can activate automatic optimization and keep a backup copy. From the original image on the server, etc.
The LiteSpeed Cache add-on also provides the ability to activate the lazy loading feature for images for free, which allows for a better user experience.
Pricing
There is a free version of the LiteSpeed Cache add-on, as well as paid versions like most other caching add-ons, but the way this add-on is priced differs from the way other add-ons are priced, as it depends on the number of domains in which the add-on will be used, the RAM in the server, etc., and it can range The price of this add-on is accordingly between $0 and $16 per month.
Other plugins to speed up your WordPress website
In addition to the WordPress website acceleration plugins that we talked about in the previous paragraphs, there are a number of other plugins that deserve to be highlighted, known about, and included in comparison. These additions are not as powerful as the previous additions, but they can do the trick in some cases.
5. Add WP-Optimize
The WP-Optimize plugin is a WordPress plugin that was developed primarily to improve the database. However, it provides caching features in addition to many other features that help speed up WordPress, such as minimizing files and improving images. It is not as powerful as the other plugins mentioned above, but it is actually effective. Note, if you use it to optimize your database, you may not need to use another caching plugin depending on the characteristics of your site.
Below we explain to you the most prominent features of the add-on and compare them with what other site acceleration and performance improvement add-ons offer:
- Caching : The add-on does not support all types of caching like previous additions, but it supports the basic type, which is page caching. This can be sufficient for blogs and static websites whose page content does not change continuously, and when there is no need to customize the caching process. Significantly.
- Minification and compression of files : WP-Optimize allows you to minify HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files, and it also allows you to merge CSS and JavaScript files. Options are available that enable you to adjust the minification and merging operations as you want, similar to other caching plugins.
- Database Optimization : It offers powerful features to improve the WordPress database (more powerful than other plugins), as it can optimize tables, remove automatic revisions and drafts, and annoying, deleted, and unapproved comments (if desired), in addition to deleting Pingbacks and Trackbacks , and more.
- Image optimization : The extension provides the ability to optimize images and convert them to WebP format for free, but the optimization tool is not powerful or suitable if you use a lot of images on your site. The plugin also allows enabling lazy loading and removing unused images, but only in the paid version.
- Pricing : WP-Optimize has a free version that provides most of the basic optimization features, and it also has a paid version in the form of 3 plans that differ in the number of licenses, where the price of the cheapest plan is $49 (2 licenses), the price of the medium plan is $99 (5 licenses), and the price of The highest plan is $199 (unlimited licenses).
6. Add WP Super Cache
WP Super Cache is a simple caching and file compression plugin that provides basic options that small sites might need, such as caching the page as an HTML file, options to preload page caching, and minifying some site files.
In the following list, we will introduce you to the most prominent features of the add-on, and how it compares to the features of other add-ons:
- Caching : The add-on does not provide many advanced caching types and options, as you can use it to activate page and browser caching, but you cannot activate caching for the database, PHP bytecodes, or objects, and many caching options can be set to customize the process.
- Minifying and compressing files : The add-on allows compressing and minimizing HTML, CSS, and JavaScript pages, and it also merges CSS and JavaScript files together to reduce page loading time.
- Database optimization : Plugins do not provide features that help improve the WordPress database, and you must use another plugin for this purpose if you want to speed up your site by improving the database.
- Optimizing images : The plugin does not provide any options or tools that allow you to improve WordPress images, and you must use another plugin to do that.
- Pricing : There are no paid versions of WP Super Cache, just one free version that does not require any payment.
7. Add Hummingbird
Hummingbird is an add-on that was developed to speed up the WordPress site and improve its performance by relying on caching, compressing and minimizing files, and improving the database. One of its most notable features is that it includes measurement tools to test the site’s performance and the server’s operating time. This allows you to accurately monitor your site and find out any related problems. By performing quickly when it happens.
Here is an explanation of the most important features provided by the add-on, and a comparison of those features with the features of previous add-ons:
- Caching : The add-on supports page caching, in addition to image caching so that visitors do not download your site’s images more than once when they visit your site repeatedly, in addition to browser caching. It does not support caching of objects or secondary (translated) PHP codes. Database like W3 Total Cache add-on.
- Minification and compression of files : Hummingbird allows CSS and JavaScript files to be minified, compressed and merged, in addition to prioritizing their loading, which enables to improve the speed of the site and obtain a significantly better user experience.
- Database Optimization : The plugin supports the usual WordPress database optimization options, such as optimizing tables, and removing potentially unnecessary data, such as revisions, automatic drafts, deleted and spam comments, and transients.
- Image optimization : Unfortunately, the Hummingbird plugin does not provide the ability to enhance images on a WordPress site, but it integrates excellently with the Smush plugin, which was developed by the same team.
- Pricing : A free version of the add-on is available, and there is also a paid version that includes this add-on and many other add-ons developed by the same team, such as Smush, Defender Pro, Smartcrawl Pro, Link Checker, and others, in addition to a content delivery network (CDN), and storage space. Reserve. The paid version comes in the form of 4 plans that differ in the number of licenses and sizes of the two aforementioned features.
Conclusion: Which WordPress website acceleration plugin is best for me?
Your website's needs, budget, and many other factors and characteristics determine which acceleration plugin is the most suitable, so none of the above plugins are best in every case.
The W3 Total Cache add-on is best suited when you need to make high customizations of your acceleration features for free, as the add-on is full of free features and options, and the paid version is suitable when you need to do a lot of customization (when the free version doesn't do the trick).
As for the WP Rocket plugin, it is better for novice users who do not want to make many customizations, but it is not suitable at all when the site’s budget is not sufficient, as it does not provide a free version. The WP Fastest Cache add-on is suitable when you need a free or paid add-on that does not provide very high customization capabilities, but rather acceptable or moderate customization capabilities.
The LiteSpeed Cache plugin is suitable for websites that are hosted on a LiteSpeed Web Server or use the QUIC.cloud CDN service, but otherwise it is not suitable because the caching features provided by the plugin will not work.
As for the WP-Optimize, WP Super Cache, and Hummingbird plugins, they may be appropriate in some cases to speed up a WordPress site, such as when they provide a certain feature that other plugins do not provide. But in general, it is better to use one of the previous four plugins (W3 Total Cache, WP Rocket, WP Fastest Cache, or LiteSpeed Cache) for the purpose of speeding up your WordPress site and improving its performance.
And here, dear reader, we have finished comparing the best WordPress website acceleration plugins, and explaining to you in which case each plugin is more suitable than the rest. We would like to point out in conclusion that choosing the most appropriate plugin is important for success in achieving the goal of the website because the plugin options affect On the entire site, which is why it is necessary to study and identify the features of the add-ons with what you need, as well as test them before adopting them permanently.
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