WP-Optimize Review

In this WP-Optimize review we look at four factors key to the buyer’s decision making process. This include “Ease of use, Features, Pricing and Support”. So if you just want the quick overview of how WP-Optimize performs here it is for you.

WP-Optimize was only marked down on “Features” as its performance settings are not as comprehensive as say a WP Rocket for example.

However WP-Optimize scores highly in the pricing department as the stand out features of the plugin such as database optimization and heartbeat API control are available in the free version.

To further understand how we came to these numbers read the full review.

VISIT WEBSITE

01.

Ease of Use

95%

02.

Features

85%

03.

Pricing

100%

04.

Support

95%

Introducing WP-Optimize

Have you ever noticed how over time your WordPress website gets slower?

The more you make changes and install/uninstall plugins, the more your site will struggle. This has a lot to do with the database structure of WordPress which most website owners never think twice about optimizing.

Good thing the people behind WP-Optimize have done the hard work for you and by pressing one button your WP database will be optimized to take up less space which means not only is the website faster for your clients but also for you editing your website as an admin. 

Probably the most remarkable thing about WP-Optimize is how it’s best features are completely free and you can download the plugin direct from the WordPress repository.

There is also a premium paid version that gives you more websites to use the plugin on, extra optimization controls and premium customer support. Don’t underestimate customer support with a plugin like this because any database work has inherit risks so especially if you are on the free version make sure to always have a backup at the ready before pressing the “Optimize” button.

Now let’s take a closer look at what WP-Optimize exactly is and does.

What is WP-Optimize?

WP-Optimize is an all-in-one plugin that uses a 3 step process to keep your website running as fast as possible. 

These three steps include:

• Cleaning your database
• Compress large images
• Caching your site files

This simple to understand process guarantees that you will see a big bump in performance and measurable page speed results on tools like Pingdom and GtMetrix.

Not only is WP-Optimize good for speeding up your website but you will also see a direct correlation to an improved website ranking in search engines for every second of site speed you get.

This review from a real user of WP-Optimize clearly highlights the value of this plugin.

WP-Optimize Founder

Ruhani Rabin

WP-Optimize was founded by tech evangelist Ruhani Rabin.

In 2016, UpdraftPlus, the world’s most popular backup plugin, acquired WP Optimize. The takeover brought together a user base of well over 1 million WordPress sites, making it one of the largest WordPress companies in Europe.

The acquisition by David Anderson of UpdraftPlus underlines their strategy to build an ecosystem of back end plugins that can be managed by their remote control product called UpdraftCentral which rivals the likes of ManageWP, WPRemote and Calypso.

How to use WP-Optimize?

The best way to illustrate how easy this plugin is to use is to show you this video.

WP-Optimize Pricing

Now that you know how good WP-Optimize is the natural question is price and how it stacks up to the alternative WordPress caching and performance plugins.

There are three plans to choose from.

Their are three leading alternatives to WP-Optimize that are worth your attention but make sure to read our notes below to find the best option for your website.

WP Rocket

WP Rocket is a more dedicated caching and optimization tool compared to WP-Optimize and many people rave about it being the best solution for WordPress however please read our notes section below for a bit more discussion about comparing caching plugins which has a lot to do with who you host your website with.

That being said WP Rocket makes the whole optimization process so easy that it rightly deserves to be at the top of the rankings for “Best Caching Plugin”. They also have great support and video tutorials to guide you each step of the way if you want to go into more advanced settings to eke out every last millisecond of performance.

WP Rocket pricing looks as follows:

• 1 Site: $49
• 3 Sites: $99
• Unlimited sites: $249

Get started with WP Rocket

Perfmatters

Perfmatters is on this list because it is an excellent and more lightweight alternative to WP Rocket which focuses more on peformance optimization rather than caching. So this plugin could be a fantastic choice if you are using a website host that does server side caching which negates the need of having a local cache plugin.

Apart from this there are a few other standouts about Perfmatters.

• Support is their number one feature – Brian and the team really are the best and easily justify the starting $29 price per year just to access their expertise. Brian used to work at Kinsta so knows what he is talking about when it comes to WordPress performance.
• Script manager to deactivate unnecessary scripts on a per page/section level – an example of this would be the Contact Form 7 plugin that adds scripts to all pages of your website even with no forms on it. Really suggest not using it and rather Fluent Forms.
• Local hosting of Google Analytics
• Ability to adjust Google bounce rate data so you get more accurate reports
• Lazy loading of images and video
• Numerous content distribution options

All in all starting at just $24.95 makes Perfmatters an equal recommendation to WP Rocket and our top choice if you have server side caching.

The pricing will look as follows:

• 1 Site: $24.95
• 3 Sites: $54.95
• Unlimited sites: $124.95

Get started with coupon code “PERFMATTERS” for a further 10% off.

Breeze

Breeze is a free plugin that is designed to work best with their hosting service.

However you can still use it if you are not a Cloudways customer if you like to test peformance gains vs these other plugin options.

We currently use Breeze only because we are on Cloudways servers using their Vultr High Frequency servers which has the double benefit of not only being fast for your website visitors but also your own backend editing experience. This is something that is not spoken about enough but as you are the person using your own website the most it pays to have a host that makes it a pleasure to use your own website.

Get started with Cloudways here.

WP-Optimize Alternative Notes

All of the options above are excellent and one person’s review that claims better performance after using a different plugin will more than likely not be the same for you. The reason for this has to do with your website hosting and the technology they use to run their servers.

Some managed servers include server side caching which means you wouldn’t need any of the above plugins apart from Perfmatters (simply to get their script manager feature).

Ultimately the best advice we can give you is to have a talk with your website hosting support and they will be able to advise you on the best course of action for your server.

At our previous website host WPX they built their servers around w3TC but at our current Cloudways they went as far as creating their own plugin as highlighted called Breeze. We personally use Breeze and Perfmatters in combination together to achieve almost a 100 page speed score which we are really happy with.

WP-Optimize Pros and Cons

Are there up-sells?

WP-Optimize is very upfront with pricing and you know exactly what you get for each of the three pricing plans they present.

You will not be presented some limited time only (have to get it now before it’s gone) upgrade.

Conclusion

WP-Optimize is one of the best solutions for speeding up WordPress websites.

Through its three step process of:

1. Cleaning up the database
2. Compressing images
3. Caching

You will see a noticeable performance upgrade not only on the popular website testing tools like Pingdom but also and more importantly the overall experience of managing your WordPress website will be far more enjoyable.

Considering that most of it’s valuable features are available for free makes this a strong recommendation to install on your website.

Get started with WP-Optimize

Our only suggestion after getting it would be to make sure that you are investing in high quality WordPress hosting to get the most out of it.

We recommend Cloudways Vultr High Frequency servers.

Is there a WP-Optimize coupon code?

Occasionally vendors share coupon codes, these will appear below (or blank if none).