Easy Optimizer – Speed, Cache & Core Web Vitals for PageSpeed (Unused CSS, Delay JS)

Yes. Easy Optimizer is built to play nicely alongside other plugins, including WP Rocket, FlyingPress, Perfmatters, LiteSpeed Cache, W3 Total Cache, WP Super Cache, WP Fastest Cache, Autoptimize, NitroPack and the common page builders (Elementor, Divi, Beaver Builder, Oxygen) and SEO plugins (Yoast, Rank Math). It also works with WooCommerce and Cloudflare.

The only rule is simple: don’t run the same optimization twice. Every module is independent and only runs when you switch it on, so just turn off whatever overlaps with another plugin you’re already using. Most importantly, never run two page caches at once — if another plugin is handling caching, leave Easy Optimizer’s Page Cache off (or turn the other one off and let Easy Optimizer handle it). The same applies to features like unused CSS, delay JavaScript, or lazy load: pick one plugin to do each job.

This means you can use Easy Optimizer as a complete all-in-one replacement, or keep your current setup and use only the parts you want — for example the Backend Analyzer, Autoload Health, database cleanup, or heartbeat and cron controls — while another plugin keeps doing the caching. Either way works.

Easy Optimizer is free and open, with no premium-locked core features and no upsells: caching, Remove Unused CSS, Delay/Defer JS, LCP preload, lazy load, Cloudflare and hosting-cache purging, database cleanup and the Backend Analyzer are all included. Those paid plugins are mature and excellent; Easy Optimizer aims to give you the same core speed wins for free, and to coexist cleanly if you already run one — just don’t run two of the same optimization at once.

Use the Debug Issues button in the top bar. Pick the page that looks wrong, tick one optimization at a time, and open the generated link — that single page load runs with the feature switched off, while your settings and your cache stay exactly as they are. Answer “did that fix it?” and Easy Optimizer tells you which feature was responsible and takes you to the exclusion field that keeps the fix permanently.

You do not need a private browsing window. Some optimizations are normally skipped while you are logged in, so the panel’s links quietly render the page the way a visitor sees it. If the page is still wrong with everything switched off, the cause is your theme, another plugin or your server — and the panel says so rather than sending you round the loop again.

Yes. Every optimization module runs on your shop, while Cart, Checkout and My Account are automatically excluded so the purchase flow is never cached or altered — including custom or translated slugs. Multi-currency stores cache a correct copy per selected currency, and you can disable WooCommerce cart fragments from Backend → WordPress Cleanup to speed up pages that don’t need them.

All of them. On Apache it can optionally write .htaccess rules (after a per-server safety probe that prevents a bad rule from ever 500-ing your site); on Nginx, LiteSpeed and OpenLiteSpeed it serves cached pages through PHP. On hosts with their own server-level cache (Varnish / LiteSpeed / nginx FastCGI), preloading and on-visit caching are handled correctly.

Defer keeps scripts in order but runs them after HTML parsing; it is the safer choice and rarely breaks anything. Delay goes further, holding scripts until the first user interaction (scroll, tap, move) for the biggest INP and blocking-time win, at a slightly higher chance of needing exclusions. Start with Defer if you’re cautious, or Delay (jQuery excluded by default) for maximum speed, and add any problem script to the exclusion list.

Usually not. Delayed scripts run on the first interaction, so analytics and pixels still fire for engaged visitors. If you need a tag to load immediately — for example to measure bounces or run consent logic — add it to the Delay JS exclusion list and it will load normally.

Add the affected stylesheet or CSS selector to the exclusion fields under Optimization → CSS and rebuild. Remove Unused CSS also learns JavaScript-generated classes (sliders, menus, tabs) automatically so their styles aren’t stripped. To confirm it really is the cause, use the Debug Issues panel. To revert quickly, use Safe Mode in the top bar to return to a conservative baseline.

Use the exclusion fields on each tab — Cache → Rules has URL and cookie exclusions for pages you never want cached, and Optimization → JavaScript lets you exclude scripts by name or URL from Delay/Defer. For a one-off test, the Debug Issues panel builds the right link for you; you can also append ?nocache , ?nodelayjs , ?norucss or ?nooptimize to any front-end URL by hand to disable that feature for that single request.

It minifies your local CSS and JS (caching each file on disk and processing it once). It does not force-combine files into one — under HTTP/2 and HTTP/3 that usually no longer helps and can hurt caching — so Easy Optimizer focuses on minification, delay/defer and removing unused CSS instead.

No. Every core feature works without a CDN, including WebP and AVIF conversion on your own server. Cloud Optimization can optionally deliver images resized for each device, and you can connect Cloudflare for edge-cache purging, but neither is required.

No. Optimization features run on your front end, and modules you don’t enable are never loaded, so your admin stays responsive. The Backend Analyzer’s profiling is on-demand and never runs for real visitors.

Enable Page Cache, Remove Unused CSS, Delay or Defer JavaScript, Lazy Load, LCP Preload and Font Display Swap, then turn on the accessibility and SEO toggles relevant to your site. Save and re-run the built-in speed test to compare before and after. The dashboard’s “What to fix next” card then lists what is still worth changing, ranked by impact, so you don’t have to guess. If you used the setup wizard, the Balanced preset already enables most of these.

Turn on Remove Unused CSS (Optimization → CSS) so each page gets only the styles it uses, and Defer JavaScript (Optimization → JavaScript) so scripts stop holding up the first paint. Force Font Display Swap (Media → Fonts) keeps text visible while web fonts load. Re-run the speed test on the Dashboard to see the change.

Turn on Preload LCP (Media → Preload LCP). Easy Optimizer measures each page’s main image, including srcset , <picture> and CSS background heroes, then preloads it with high priority and makes sure it is never lazy-loaded.

Turn on “Optimize images on this server” (Media → Images) to convert your images to WebP and AVIF for free; browsers that support them get the smaller file. To deliver every image resized for each device, connect Cloud Optimization (optional, paid). Add Missing Image Dimensions (Media → Lazy Load) also stops images from moving the layout as they load.

Turn on Browser Caching (Cache → Page Cache). On Apache and LiteSpeed it adds long-lived cache headers for images, CSS, JavaScript and fonts, so repeat visitors don’t download them again. On Nginx these headers come from your server configuration, so ask your host to add them.

Turn on Page Cache so visitors get a ready-made copy instead of WordPress building the page, and Gzip / Brotli Compression (Cache → Page Cache, Apache and LiteSpeed) to shrink it. For pages that can’t be cached, such as logged-in or cart pages, Object Cache (Backend → Object Cache) cuts database time, and the Backend Analyzer (Diagnostics) shows which plugin or theme is slow.

Turn on Preconnect (Cache → Page Cache) so the browser connects early to the other sites your page loads files from, and Smart Preload Fonts (Media → Fonts) so each page’s fonts start downloading before the CSS that asks for them. Remove Unused CSS also takes stylesheets out of the critical path.

Turn on Add Missing Image Dimensions (Media → Lazy Load) so images reserve their space before they load, and Force Font Display Swap (Media → Fonts). Shifts caused by ads, cookie banners or content added by other scripts come from those scripts and have to be fixed there.

Turn on Delay JavaScript Execution (Optimization → JavaScript). Scripts wait until the visitor scrolls, taps or moves the mouse, so they no longer run while the page loads. For the safest start, turn on “Delay external scripts only”, and use One-click exclusions for any script that must run straight away.

Not directly. Both come from the code of your theme or another plugin: forced reflow when a script reads the layout while changing it, legacy JavaScript when a file is built for old browsers. If that script isn’t needed while the page loads, Delay JavaScript Execution keeps it out of the way; otherwise ask its