What's your Wordpress Optimization Setup?

Hivartei

Hivartei

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Hey everyone,

I've tried tons of things to optimize my website, but either the optimization didn't go so well on Pagespeed, or images started not showing or the website broke. In the end I ended up hiring someone to optimize.

Kind of frustrating since I always thought Wp-Rocket would be the best, one plugin we can't miss, but it turns out everyone I hired used different ones. Some used Seraphinite Accelerator and some Web10, which I didn't like because it depends on you having an external account at their website. Some conflict with Rank Math and some will simply do nothing.

So my question is: which plugins do you use, and for what kind of websites?

Bonus points if you mention the specific configurations you use.

Best,

Hivartei
 
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Quite simple:

Have Linux sys admin skills. Implement OPcache PHP caching, redis database caching, nginx fast cgi cache (obviously use nginx web server), and some kind of plugin that optimizes html, css and scripts like flying scripts. Don’t forget to host google fonts on your own server.
 
Zombie Pop said:
Quite simple:

Have Linux sys admin skills. Implement OPcache PHP caching, redis database caching, nginx fast cgi cache (obviously use nginx web server), and some kind of plugin that optimizes html, css and scripts like flying scripts. Don’t forget to host google fonts on your own server.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I don't have these skills but since I am moving my website to an EC2, I guess there won't be many ways to go around it. From my understanding you are saying the plugins themselves are not the most important part?
 
Hivartei said:
Thanks for that. I don't have these skills but since I am moving my website to an EC2, I guess there won't be many ways to go around it. From my understanding you are saying the plugins themselves are not the most important part?
Click to expand...
No. I’m saying get a dedicated server and learn how to install packages and configure them. Plugins are mostly worthless. PHP is slow. The packages I referred to are server side solutions but for one.

My elementor and woocommerce sites load in less than 1.2 seconds. Often under 1 second.

Shared hosting or managed hosting will never take you there. You have to be the sys admin.
 
Hivartei said:
Hey everyone,

I've tried tons of things to optimize my website, but either the optimization didn't go so well on Pagespeed, or images started not showing or the website broke. In the end I ended up hiring someone to optimize.

Kind of frustrating since I always thought Wp-Rocket would be the best, one plugin we can't miss, but it turns out everyone I hired used different ones. Some used Seraphinite Accelerator and some Web10, which I didn't like because it depends on you having an external account at their website. Some conflict with Rank Math and some will simply do nothing.

So my question is: which plugins do you use, and for what kind of websites?

Bonus points if you mention the specific configurations you use.

Best,

Hivartei
Click to expand...
I get how you feel. Optimizing a website can feel like trial and error, and even the "best" plugins don't function the same for every setup. In fact, no one tool works for all websites. Plugins, themes, and hosting all have an effect on what works and what doesn't. What I would say is Don't worry so much about the name of the plugin and more on using a light theme, compressing your images correctly, getting good hosting, and just caching the features your site really requires. Putting too many optimizers together might sometimes do more harm than good. It's usual for developers to utilize different tools because everyone's stack is different. The important thing is to identify the ones that work well with your site.
 
I totally get the frustration! For me, WP Rocket is still my go-to for caching and performance, paired with ShortPixel for image compression, and Perfmatters for lightweight script management. I avoid using too many plugins to keep things smooth and conflict-free. For configs, I just tweak WP Rocket’s file optimization, enable lazy loading, and focus on proper CDN setup for the images.
 
Totally agree - it's less about which plugin and more compatibility, hosting setup, and keeping things smile.
 
WP Rocket is solid but I’ve had good luck with a mix of LiteSpeed Cache for server-level caching and Imagify for images. Configs can vary depending on the site though!
 
For WordPress optimization, it really depends on the type of site and your hosting. Personally, I use WP Rocket for caching and minification, ShortPixel for image optimization, and Autoptimize for CSS/JS aggregation when needed. Key settings I focus on are lazy loading images, combining/minifying CSS & JS carefully, and database cleanup. Always test after each change because conflicts with plugins like Rank Math can happen.
 
Absolutely — it’s not really about which plugin you pick. The real difference comes from how well it fits your setup: compatibility, hosting quality, and keeping the configuration simple all matter more than the specific tool you use.
 
If you’re using plugins for image optimization you are paying too much. Linux has open source programs that can resize/optimize/convert images uploaded into your media gallery FOR FREE “Image Magick” is one of them.

The plugin devs are charging people way too much money for image optimization/conversion to .webp
 
Hivartei said:
Hey everyone,

I've tried tons of things to optimize my website, but either the optimization didn't go so well on Pagespeed, or images started not showing or the website broke. In the end I ended up hiring someone to optimize.

Kind of frustrating since I always thought Wp-Rocket would be the best, one plugin we can't miss, but it turns out everyone I hired used different ones. Some used Seraphinite Accelerator and some Web10, which I didn't like because it depends on you having an external account at their website. Some conflict with Rank Math and some will simply do nothing.

So my question is: which plugins do you use, and for what kind of websites?

Bonus points if you mention the specific configurations you use.

Best,

Hivartei
Click to expand...
Many run into issues with optimization plugins breaking sites but using lightweight caching tools, manual image compression and a solid CDN usually keeps performance steady and reliable
 
WP Rocket is the best, but LiteSpeed Cache is also good for server-level caching. I prefer WP Rocket, I have been using it for a long time.
 
I noticed that too, no single plugin fits all, it’s more about testing what works best for your setup.
 
WP Rocket is still the best plugin for optimizing your website. And even if you are not getting a 90+ score, you shouldn't worry about it because now speed doesn't have much impact on Google rankings.
 
Thank you all for the answers, very helpful content here. I will try to answer later if possible!

One thing I'd like to ask as well: If I put images in .png or .webp format and they are lightweight (like 100-300kb), do we still need an image optimization plugin?
 
I try to keep plugins as low as possible, and it works best for me. I am running an e-commerce website on WordPress. I use W3 Total Cache and AMP.
 
I’ve had good results using a mix of WP Rocket, ShortPixel for image compression, and Cloudflare for CDN + caching. The key is testing one change at a time — too many overlapping optimizations usually cause conflicts.
 
Hivartei said:
Thank you all for the answers, very helpful content here. I will try to answer later if possible!

One thing I'd like to ask as well: If I put images in .png or .webp format and they are lightweight (like 100-300kb), do we still need an image optimization plugin?
Click to expand...
No.
 
There’s no universal “best” plugin. WP Rocket is great for a lot of cases but sometimes it clashes with themes or other plugins. On lighter sites I’ve had solid results with FlyingPress or Elementor.
 
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