Retail Price: $29.95
Perfmatters is a WordPress plugin that helps your website load faster by letting you turn off unnecessary features and scripts that slow it down. You can use it to stop things like emojis, auto-drafts, or unused plugin code from running on every page, all with simple toggles in your dashboard. It works alongside your caching plugins—like WP Rocket or W3 Total Cache—focusing on slimming down what your site loads rather than caching it, so you can keep things quick without extra tools.
The plugin gives you control over how scripts and styles load, letting you decide where they run—like only on specific pages—or delay them until a visitor interacts with the site. The free version doesn’t exist standalone (it’s a premium plugin), but it comes with options like lazy loading images or cleaning up your database, while the Pro-like features (since it’s all premium) add deeper tweaks like local analytics hosting or CDN integration. You can see how changes affect your site’s speed with built-in tools, all managed from WordPress.
It’s useful for sites where every second counts—like blogs, stores, or portfolios—helping you cut down on load times without needing to mess with code files directly. Your settings stay within WordPress, and you can export them if you’re setting up another site. Perfmatters keeps your site lean by focusing on what’s essential, letting you adjust as your content or traffic grows.
Key Features: Perfmatters
- Turns off unused WordPress features—like emojis, embeds, or XML-RPC—with one-click toggles to reduce page weight.
- Limits auto-saves and post revisions to keep your database smaller and faster.
- Controls the Heartbeat API, cutting how often it pings the server to save resources.
- Manages scripts and styles per page or site-wide, so plugins like Contact Form 7 only load where needed.
- Delays JavaScript until a visitor scrolls or clicks, speeding up initial page loads.
- Lazy loads images, videos, or iframes, only showing them when they’re in view.
- Hosts Google Analytics locally to cut external requests and speed up tracking.
- Integrates with CDNs to serve static files—like images or CSS—faster from other servers.
- Cleans up your database by removing old revisions, spam comments, or trashed items.
- Adds preloading for key pages or fonts to make them feel instant when clicked.
- Changes your login URL to something custom, adding a layer of security against bots.
- Works with page builders like Elementor or caching plugins without conflicts.
- Exports your settings as a file to reuse on other WordPress sites.
- Runs lightweight, only loading what you turn on, keeping your site fast.