WordPress Speed Optimization Plugins

WordPress Developer

In May 2021, Google is rolling out its next big algorithm update. As we explained back in November, this update is based on user experience as measured by Core Web Vitals. In order to get ready for this update, you’ll need to make sure the following aspects of your website meet their minimum standards:

LCP: Largest Contentful Paint, a measure of page loading time (Target is less than 2.5 seconds.)
FID: First Input Delay, which is the delay between the time you click and page activity (Target is less than 100 milliseconds.)
CLS: Cumulative Layout Shift, which is a measure of page stability. Does the page move when the user tries to click an element? (Target is O.1 or less.)

In other words, if your website pages are slow to load, you can kiss your first page Google rankings goodbye. You’ll also need to make sure the mobile version of your website is in good technical shape.

To get ready for this major algorithm update, we tested two WordPress plugins to find out which works better for getting our clients’ website “up to speed.” Read on for a comparison of the WP Rocket plugin and the Perfmatters plugin.

WordPress Speed Plugins Comparison – Desktop Version

Plugin	Cost for 1 Year	Overall Score	LCP	FID	CLS
WP Rocket	$49	74	1.9 s	3 ms	O.42
Perfmatters	$24.95	88	1.6 s	3 ms	O.15

WordPress Speed Plugins Comparison – Mobile Version

Plugin	Cost for 1 Year	Overall Score	LCP	FID	CLS
WP Rocket	$49	49	2.5 s	unavailable	O.148
Perfmatters	$24.95	63	3.0 s	unavailable	O.147

Perfmatters

The Perfmatters plugin won out overall, increasing website speed and delivering an overall score of 63 for mobile and 88 for desktop for this site, m5designstudio.com, when using the Google Developers PageSpeed test. Perfmatters performed 18.9% better than WP Rocket for desktop, and 28.6% better for mobile.

Perfmatters must be used with three other WordPress plugins, all of which you can install for free:

While it is less convenient to install all four plugins rather than just using the one WP Rocket plugin, the results speak for themselves. This plugin also costs less at $24.95 for the year for use on one website.

WordPress Performance Plugin

With so much riding on speed when it comes to Google rankings, we feel it’s worth it to install Perfmatter and the three accompanying plugins for the best results possible. Some of the features included in the Perfmatters plugin are:

Quick toggle options to disable emojis & embeds, remove query strings, change autosave intervals, and more
A Script Manager that allows you to disable scripts on individual posts and pages, or across the entire website
Database optimization to easily delete revisions and spam comments, clean up trash, and optimize database tables
Lazy loading for an average 33% decrease in load times

WP Rocket

The convenience of WP Rocket is that only one plugin is required to carry out most of the tasks that come with Perfmatters and the three accompanying plugins we listed above. However, this plugin did not perform as well, as you can see from the numbers for both the mobile and desktop speed tests. WP Rocket delivered a score of 49 for mobile and 74 for desktop in the Google PageSpeed test for m5designstudio.com.

WP Rocket is also more costly, at $49 per year for use on one website.

WordPress Cache Plugin

While the WP Rocket plugin did not perform as well as Perfmatters, we’ll highlight some of the features here.

WP Rocket is easy to use. Once it is activated, it automatically applies speed saving features to the website without need for configuration by the user.

Automatically enabled features include:
- Static cache for desktop and mobile
- Browser caching
- Detection and support of various third-party plugins, themes, and hosting environments
- WooCommerce Refresh Cart Fragments Cache
Includes advanced custom options for lazy loading, XML sitemaps preloading, CSS and JS minification, database optimization, and more.

WordPress Web Development

Is your website speedy enough for the May 2021 Google algorithm update? At M5 Design Studio, we are WordPress web development and SEO experts. We are passionate about fixing technical issues & optimizing your website performance so you can win in Google Search rankings. Contact us for a free quote by filling out our online form, or call us at (407) 968-6296.

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M5 Design Studio

We are a small, but creative and passionate team of designers and developers specializing in web design, graphic design, branding & digital marketing.

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Evelyn T

19:25 24 Aug 20

M5 Design Studio kindly offered our business free support in updating our online presence during the COVID-19 crisis. Some of their services included support in creating a Google listing to help people find our services in Google. It also included a banner to the top of our website to let customers know our current hours and important changes to our business during these times.We are forever grateful to M5 Design Studio for being generous, professional and helpful to us. Its an honor to have their support in the Orlando community. Thank you for helping Holistic Starlight be of service to the community, as well. It was wonderful working with Dominique and the team! FIVE STARS TO M5!

Romy Cuevas

11:21 01 Sep 18

I have had the best experience working with M5 Design Studio! They created a beautiful website for us which has brought so much more traffic to our business, we are so grateful! And they always help us come up with fresh new marketing strategies that work. They are dependent, reliable and over all a pleasure to work with. Definitely one of the best Orlando web design companies out there! Thank you!!!

Kristin Meyer

15:58 24 Aug 18

We have been so pleased with the work that M5 Design Studio has done for our business, Mindful Meals. They built us a beautiful website that is easy to navigate and visually appealing.Their client communication, even after the job has been completed, is top-notch and is one of the reasons we keep working with them for our additional website needs.If you are looking for a professional and reliable Orlando web design company that can get the job done right, we highly recommend M5 Design Studio.

Ralph L

22:15 23 Aug 18

M5 Design Studio is a hidden gem within the vast world of website design and technology companies. Although M5 is an Orlando website design company you don’t need to be a local business to benefit from their friendly, professional and attentive services. Martha and James at M5 Design Studio took our ambitious website concept from the idea stage to reality. The website is visually engaging, professional and mobile friendly, we can’t be happier with the outcome. It rivals websites that cost several thousands of dollars but it was very affordable and easy to update and maintain. We frequently receive compliments from people who call our office and think that we’re a national company because they checked-out our website. M5 Design Studio is more than just an Orlando website design company though. M5 designed our client presentation portfolio, company brochure, rack card, business cards, professional client handouts, referral card and there’s more marketing collateral in the works. We’ve learned to trust Martha, James and the M5 team with our business and that’s why we won’t partner with anyone else. If you’re looking for an affordable, knowledgeable, competent website design company, you would be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t take a minute to give Martha a call. Heart, Body & Mind Home Care.

Clinically Speaking

18:11 21 Aug 18

We have only good things to say about M5 Designs and would highly recommend them to anyone. M5 Designs is an Orlando web design company that has helped us create, maintain and update our website for 10 years. Maybe more!? From simple requests to complicated customizations, everything has always turned out great! Communicating with Martha and her team is easy and everything gets done quickly. We would never use anyone else and we do not hesitate to recommend them to anyone who asks. :)

WordPress Speed Optimization Plugins