3 Best WordPress Image Optimization Plugins 2022 [Free & Paid]

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WordPress Image optimization plugins, not only compress images but also improve SEO. Google has already confirmed that when it comes to ranking, fast-loading sites have an extra edge over the slower ones.

According to the latest stats, the average web page size has crossed 3 MB benchmarks. And if we break down the page size by its content type images are the culprit.

Average Page Size image optimization plugins

Another study by Adobe showed that 39% of people will stop engaging with a website if images won’t load or take too long to load.

So it would be a smart move to optimize your images before uploading.

But the truth is no one has enough time to optimize images manually. And if images are in large numbers it can take ages.

No need to worry,

You can make use of  WordPress image compression plugins to auto-optimize images. Most of the plugins came with image optimization on the upload feature.

Best WordPress Image Optimization Plugins

Below is the list of plugins that you can use to compress images. I have ranked them according to compression level, usability, and speed. If you know a better option let me know in the comment section.

1. Imagify

WordPress image optimization plugin

Imagify is one of the best WordPress Image compression plugins by WP Media. It is fast, and easy to set up. Imagify can optimize JPEG, PNG, and GIF image formats.

To use Imagify you have to create an account on their website and you will get an API key. Save the Key and it is ready to use.

It has the following features:

  • Can automatically optimize the images at the time of uploading.
  • Its bulk optimization feature can also compress previously uploaded images.
  • It has the feature to remove EXIF Data (information stored in images).
  • You can change the image optimization level.

It has 3 Optimization Levels:

  1. Normal (Lossless Compression)
  2. Aggressive (Lossy compression)
  3. Ultra (Lossy Compression but quality gets reduced)

It came with two subscriptions:

  1. Free
  2. Paid

With a Free subscription, you will get 25 Mb of data per month for compression. In case you need more power you can subscribe to their Paid plan which starts @ $4.99/month (1 GB of data).

You can buy their one-time plan of 500 MB data for $5.99, 1 GB data for $9.99, and 3 GB data for $19.99.

2. EWWW Image Optimizer

Ewww image optimizer image optimization plugins

EWWW image optimizer is my second favorite plugin. It can compress images and PDFs. It provides most of the features with the free plan. You can also use paid plan if you want more power. EWWW Image Optimizer compresses images losslessly (image quality doesn’t get affected).

Some features of the Ewww Image optimizer are:

  1. It also has Bulk Image Optimization Features
  2. It is capable of resizing previously uploaded images.
  3. EWWW Image optimizer can also resize the images automatically on uploading.
  4. You can set the maximum image dimensions in the advance setting option.
  5. It is also able to resize existing images.
  6. You can also keep a backup of original images on the server and it also has a feature to convert JPG to PNG and vice versa.

3. WP Smush

wp smush image optimization plugins

WP Smush is another great WordPress Image optimization plugin. You can optimize images without losing quality just with one click. Its auto-optimization feature compresses images automatically at the time of uploading.

With the free plan WP Smush offers:

  1. Image resizing
  2. Remove/Keep EXIF data
  3. Bulk Smush (50 Images at one time)
  4. Directory smush (Can smush directory other than WP-Content)

But for additional features such as PNG to JPG conversion and to backup of original images you have to buy Pro Version.

You can get Pro Version by signing up for full membership of WPMU DEV which costs $99/month. You will get full access to all plugins and themes.

If you want only WP Smush you can get it for $19/month.

End Note

Both Search Engines and visitors hate site that takes too much time to load. And if you are not optimizing images you may be losing visitors.

Image optimization will squeeze the page size and reduce page loading time. And it also saves your bandwidth.

So I highly recommend you to use WordPress image optimization plugins on your blog. I personally like Imagify and but now I am testing out other plugins also.

Have any queries and suggestions? Let me know in the comment section I respond to each comment.

I'm a WordPress Enthusiast, SEO & Marketing Practitioner.

2 thoughts on “3 Best WordPress Image Optimization Plugins 2022 [Free & Paid]”

  1. Smush is one of those classics Lokender. I used Kraken for a while; not sure what I use now. My developer handles it. Going with a CDN, and hosting on a VPS, helped my images load super quickly. Super post.

    Reply
  2. Hi Lokender,

    Image optimization is as important as blog post optimization. It is the part of blog optimization. One should take it seriously. Optimized images not only talk about the post but also load faster and save you a lot of money.

    Thanks for sharing about these plugins.

    Reply

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