The latest update for WP-Optimize 3.2.3 has now been released. This new release features a fix, feature and a tweak update.
The main focus in this latest release is the ‘Preload Minify Assets’ feature. While WP-Optimize does already have a ‘Preload’ feature with caching functionality that can preload all pages and minified assets, this new update now gives users a separate minify preload feature for users who are using a hosting provider that provides server level cache – such as Kinsta.
As such, if a user is using a hosting provider that uses ‘Nginx’, rather than ‘Apache’ – these hosts most likely provide caching themselves. In this scenario, users of WP-Optimize need to disable the caching functionality within the host, as they are unable to use the ‘Preload’ function. Even on ‘Nginx’ servers, minified assets are allowed and preferred in order to boost performance.
The updates to WP-Optimize 3.2.3 are available for download now and also includes the following:
FIX: Cache – ‘Purge cache permissions’ setting does not allow additional roles to access the purge cache tool
FEATURE: Minify: Pre generate assets
TWEAK: Make smush details button work in media modal window
When there are two equally great products gaining popularity at a fairly equal pace in the same market, only small but important detail can set them apart.
Think of two high end hairdressers that both offer the same services and quality hair cuts. The first hairdresser will answer the phone and process your booking within 30 seconds, while the second hairdresser leaves you on hold for 20 minutes as they are too understaffed to take the call. Which hairdresser would you most likely end up going to? In a world where your time is limited and everything demands efficiency, your answer would most likely swing towards the former.
This is the same with websites. People are more likely to visit and continue to use your website if they are sure it’s fast. The loading speed will largely determine if they will stay or return. For every 100 people that visit your WordPress website, around 50 of them will abort if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.
In this article we will discuss two of the most popular speed boosting WordPress plugins – WP-Optimize and W3TC. While both of these plugins can increase your website speed, the small, but important details will dictate which plugin you end up using.
What can performance-boosting plugins do for your WordPress website?
At some point, everything needs a boost to improve performance. Race cars require a measured dose of nitrous oxide for that extra final kick and humans consume energy drinks to get some more work done. A website is no different. A WordPress site needs a performance-boosting plugin such as WP-Optimize or W3TC, to significantly improve its performance.
WP-Optimize
WP-Optimize is a market leading all-in-one plugin. It caches your WordPress website, cleans your database and compresses your images. With over a million active installations and tens of thousands of 5-star ratings from all over the world, WP-Optimize ranks at the very top of the list of the most trusted, used and sought-after performance-boosting plugins.
Does it meet your needs?
The following are just some of its functions to help you decide:
Optimizes your site’s database
Redundant files, such as unusable comments, unnecessary drafts, transients and revisions to mention only a few, will only slow down your WordPress site. You need a suitable plugin that will seamlessly get rid of these redundant files from your site while still leaving your site intact and running smoothly. WP-Optimize is your best option for achieving this.
With the additional benefit of the integrated UpdraftPlus Backup plugin that comes with WP-Optimize, you won’t need to install a third-party backup plugin to secure your site.
Compress your images
WP-Optimize compresses your site’s image files to your precise desired size without any dent in the resulting quality. While other plugins may use Imagify for this purpose, the feature comes built-in for WP-Optimize.
With WP-Optimize, users get to determine the degree to which they are compressed. The image optimization feature in WP-Optimize is a cutting edge and leading image optimization platform. One of the easiest and quickest ways you can improve the speed is by optimizing your images. This process, which is commonly known as ‘smush’ or ‘smushing’ allows users to optimize, compress and resize all the large original images and convert them to smaller file sizes that are easier and quicker to load, without sacrificing any loss in image quality.
WP-Optimize Premium lazy loading
The Premium version of WP-Optimize includes a feature called lazy loading. . Lazy Load helps your website to delay the initialization of some of these components until they are needed as not all components are required to load every time your website is viewed. This feature can help improve performance and maximize the resources of the system.
Page caching
By caching your site’s pages with WP-Optimize, your site is able to generate a separate set of files for mobile or desktop users, as well display personal page preferences for users that are logged-in. By using this feature, it can further add to the speed and help boost the overall performance of your site.
Free/Premium versions
The WP-Optimize plugin has both a free and a premium version for download. The core features of WP-Optimize are free and can be downloaded here. Although the premium version, which is available here, comes with additional features that can help improve the speed and performance of your site further.
W3 Total Cache (W3TC)
Like WP-Optimize, the W3TC plugin also has more than one million active installations. It comes in just behind WP-Optimize in both popularity and has a user review score of 4.5 stars.
The following are some of its features:
Minifying
While this often causes some problems for WordPress sites (in which case you have to perform a restore), it can be useful, especially if you are combining JS and CSS files.
Page cache
Although not as effective as WP-Optimize, W3TC also offers page caching when you enable it on your site. Others caching options include Opcode cache, Database cache, Object cache and Browser cache.
Import & export
Both the free and the premium versions of W3 Total Cache feature import and export options. This option allows you to export your primary settings to your computer and then upload them to other WordPress sites. This can be a very useful feature for businesses with multiple websites.
Robust feature set
While W3TC has an extensive set of features, this can lead to some confusion for less experienced WordPress users as the menus and multiple options can often be unclear and difficult to understand.
WP-Optimize vs W3TC
Features
WP-Optimize
W3TC
Database optimization
Yes
Yes
Page Cache
Yes
Yes
Image compression
Yes
No
Mobile-specific cache
Yes
No
CSS and JS minification
Yes
Yes
GZIP compression
Yes
Yes
Simple setup
Yes
No
Preload cache
Yes
Yes
Free version
Yes
Yes
Built-in backup
Yes
No
Conclusion
After reading this blog, some things should be clear. They include:
It is important that your WordPress website has a performance-boosting plugin to give visitors the best experience.
WP-Optimize and W3TC are both top examples of performance-boosting plugins that are 2 of the most highly rated and downloaded available.
Of the two plugins discussed in this article, comparing both their free and premium versions, WP-Optimize comes out as the clear leading in this comparison
You know what your WordPress site needs now. Good luck. Download and install WP-Optimize today!
Imagine you have the choice between two 5-star restaurants that serve equally great food, but one of them takes your order, serves you drinks and gets your meal out to you in ten minutes, while the other restaurant takes 60 minutes to even seat you at your table. Which one would you rather visit? In today’s modern world, where we are all trying to be more efficient with our time; you would almost certainly choose to eat at the first restaurant.
With so many distractions and options for people’s attention in today’s world, a smart business will adapt accordingly by not only giving the customers compelling, high-quality products, but designing the products to help them save time. This important fact should inform how you design your WordPress website.
Once a user has visited your site for the first time, it is important to keep them coming back time and time again. Around 50 % of website visitors will simply abort loading your website if it takes more than three seconds to open. As such, it is vital that you make a good first impression with your website performance.
While there are over a dozen performance-boosting plugins you can use for your WordPress site, we will be comparing two of the top choices – WP-Optimize and WP Super Cache.
Does your WordPress website need a performance-boosting plugin?
If you were an Olympic athlete, you would make sure you had the best running shoes available. The same is applicable for your website. All WordPress sites need performance-boosting plugins to help them to load as fast as possible and produce peak performance.
Do you want your website to perform at the highest possible level? If your answer is yes, then your WordPress website will require a good performance-boosting plugin.
WP-Optimize
Whenever WP-Optimize is mentioned, it’s three key aspects usually come to mind – cache, clean, and compress. As one the the leader all-in-one WordPress performance-boosting plugins, WP-Optimize helps to efficiently cache your website, clean it’s database, and compress the images.
WP-Optimize currently has more than one million active installations, with users from all over the world. It’s impressive reputation, coupled with its all-in-one nature makes it the obvious choice for any WordPress site owner.
The following are the primary functions of WP-Optimize. .
Database cleaning
Nothing slows down your website like redundant files. These can include transients, unnecessary drafts, unpalatable comments, and revision files. Your website needs an effective plugin that will automatically remove this unneeded content without tampering with the integrity of your website. WP-Optimize is about the only plugin that removes trackbacks and pingbacks.
Image compression
Beyond just compressing the images on your site, you get to determine the degree to which they are compressed. The image optimization feature in WP-Optimize is a cutting edge and leading image optimization platform that works well and it’s easily the best in the WordPress market. One of the best ways you can improve the speed of your site via WP-Optimize is by optimizing your images. This process, which is commonly known as ‘smush’ or ‘smushing’ allows users to optimize, compress and resize all the images on a website, potentially saving many MB per image and improving loading speeds. This feature is available on both the free and premium versions of WP-Optimize.
Lazy Loading
Simply put, lazy load describes the process where a website delays the initialization of components until such a time where they are necessary. This is done to boost the performance of the website and efficiently utilize the system resources. WP-Optimize features this lazy load option and it’s arguably the best one available in the WordPress market.
Page caching
This feature allows your website to produce a separate batch of files for mobile and generate a separate cache for logged in visitors. Using page caching, WP-Optimize improves the speed and overall performance of the website.
Pricing
WP-Optimize has both a free and a premium version. Usually, the free version is sufficient for the basic performance improvement you’d need for your website. You can download the free version easily by visiting their website (link). The premium version is for businesses looking for something extra and it comes in three packages:
WP Super Cache
Created by Automattic, WP Super Cache is used primarily to cache a WordPress website. It does this by generating static HTML files that your server displays to people visiting your website. Many developers consider this to be a faster option than processing WordPress PHP scripts.
The following are some features for this plugin:
Suited for CDN (Content Delivery Network)
WP Super Cache works perfectly with CDN Networks. CDN allows your WordPress website to be stored on multiple servers all over the world so it can be downloaded from cache by visitors. In turn, this makes your website super fast, even if visitors are far from the origin server.
Pricing
WP Super Cache only has a free version and can be downloaded from their WP.Org. All its features, as you have seen, are somewhat limited as they are only available on a free version. There is no option for users to upgrade when more features and tools are required.
WP-Optimize and WP Super Cache compared
Features
WP-Optimize
WP Super Cache
Database optimization
Yes
No
Page Cache
Yes
Yes
Image compression
Yes
No
Mobile specific cache
Yes
Yes
CSS and JS minification
Yes
No
GZIP compression
Yes
Yes
Simple setup
Yes
No
Preload cache
Yes
Yes
Free version
Yes
Yes
Built-in backup
Yes
No
WP-Optimize and WP Super Cache: Which is the better plugin?
From everything that has been discussed so far in this article and due to all the extra features and tools available to users, WP-Optimize is the superior of the two plugins.
Conclusion
There are many takeaways to be found in the above analysis, but here are the top three:
WP-Optimize and WP Super Cache both offer free versions of their plugin and both top rated performance-boosting plugins.
Of the two plugins, WP-Optimize offers more features and more tools, giving a bigger boost to the optimization of your WordPress site.
While some may argue that a direct comparison is unfair as WP Super Cache doesn’t have a premium version, It should be noted that for this analysis, the free version of WP-Optimize and WP Super Cache were compared – With WP-Optimize coming out as clearly the better and more complete plugin.
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