What Is Image Optimization #
Image optimization is essential for modern WordPress websites. Images are heavy and take time to download, so optimizing them speeds up your website significantly.
These image optimization plugins do a number of things:
- They compress the original images in your WordPress website’s media library. That basically means that they reduce the size of the file by taking out lots of information that either isn’t necessary (like metadata) or isn’t visible to the naked eye.
- They create a number of copies at different resolutions and then they serve those other copies to different devices based on the device (and possibly network) characteristics. For example, a 4K screen attached to a home computer will get an image with a much higher resolution than a mobile device on a slow cellular network with a tiny screen.
- They convert images (usually PNG or JPG) to more optimal formats, like WebP.
- They often serve the images from Content Delivery Networks (CDNs) that are much better at delivering heavy content quickly to almost anywhere on the planet than your server.
- Some of them can also optimize CSS, JavaScript, and other assets, though we usually use other tools for that.
Available Image Optimizers #
When we manage your website under one of our hosting or care plans, we install one of these premium image optimization plugins at no extra charge for as long as you stay with us. If you already have an image optimization plugin installed, we’ll evaluate it and discuss the options with you.
What Happens If You Leave #
We’re always sad when customers leave our service but we never hold your website or your data hostage!
If you ever decide to leave, the premium license will be disabled. Your images will remain on your website and will be served from your website, but will be removed from the CDNs. We will leave the plugins installed but they may or may not continue to work. The behavior varies by image optimization plugin and they’re sometimes inconsistent, so you should test it first to see what happens when the license is disabled.
Disabling the license means that you won’t get updates and support for the plugin, so if a new version comes out with new features or bug fixes, you won’t be able to get it. Payment for these plugins is typically made as a subscription on the plugin developer’s website and the licenses work a little bit differently than most WordPress plugins. Nevertheless you can always get your own license/subscription to resume updates and support and to continue optimizing your images.
The following table lists the prices for a single website subscription for each of the listed plugins as of mid-2020. We cannot guarantee the prices or the accuracy of the information. These are not our prices, but rather the prices published on the respective websites. We have no control over them. Pricing and availability can change at any time.
| Backup Plugin | Est. Price (USD) | Period |
|---|---|---|
| WP Compress | 60 | per year |
| Gumlet | 60 | per year |
| ShortPixel | 60 | per year |