Back in 2017, we made a pretty good comparison of image optimizer plugins and services for WordPress, and we found out that ShortPixel was overall the best. Our analysis required a thorough exploration of the world of image compression for WordPress, and we did exactly that. Besides ShortPixel, we looked at other well-known image optimization tools, such as Imagify, Smush and EWWW Image Optimizer. We know that developing and maintaining the best image optimization plugin to speed up WordPress is a complex undertaking, therefore we believe it’s time to check the scores again to find out, objectively, which are the best image optimization plugins for WordPress in 2022.

Nowadays there are many other products that use a different approach, like taking the images and storing them on a CDN, from where they will be optimized and served. That’s the case of ShortPixel Adaptive Images, Optimole, WP Compress, Flying Images, etc. In this review, we’ll only focus on local optimization, where the images are compresses on your own server.

Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, Amazon Drive… There is no shortage of online storage services, otherwise known as Cloud Drive or Cloud Storage. And almost all of them offer a free plan for those people that cannot or don’t want to pay for online storage. Here’s a small list of the most popular storage providers and their free plans:

• Google Drive: 15 GB
• Microsoft OneDrive: 5 GB
• Dropbox: 2 GB
• Amazon Drive: 5 GB
• iCloud: 5 GB
• Box: 10 GB

AVIF images are the next big step in image compression, and we have already been talking about it. AVIF promises images 50% smaller than JPG, and still keeping the same image quality. In comparison, WebP makes the image about 30% smaller, so it’s easy to see why you will want AVIF.

Starting with version 4.22, ShortPixel Image Optimizer (SPIO) is able to generate AVIF images! No need to use any hacks or manually upload them to your site. You just need the good old ShortPixel Image Optimizer.

We previously talked about what Preconnect is and why you should implement it on your website. In this occasion we will talk about DNS Prefetch, a similar technique.

What is DNS Prefetch?

You probably know that domains exist just so we don’t have to remember the IPs of the servers of every website. Resolving a domain to an IP address is a process that takes some time, usually around 20-120ms, and that is done for every external domain that your website includes. Wouldn’t it be nice if these connections were made in the background while your page is loading, so when the actual resources need to be downloaded it all would take less time? That’s what DNS Prefetch does.