If you are looking to speed up your website then, one of the most effective ways to do so is by optimizing its images. As a site owner, you might have uploaded thousands of high-quality images to make your website visually appealing and engaging. These types of images play a chief role in decreasing your site speed due to their heavy size. So, optimizing and compressing them without affecting their quality can give a great boost to your website’s page loading speed.
If you are a WordPress user then, you can find different plugins for optimizing the images of your websites. Among them all, WPSmush, EWWW, TinyPNG and Imagify are the most popular ones with high downloads and active users.
Here, in this article, we will compare and contrast all their features, pros/cons, and pricing. At the end of the blog, you will get a clear result of which of these plugins are the best image optimizer for your WordPress website.
If you are looking for different techniques to speed up your website then, you can check out the article: How to Speed Up Your WordPress site – Optimization Tips
With that being said, let’s begin this plugin comparison and determine the best image optimizer for WordPress:
WPSmush
Overview:
WPSmush is one of the most popular WordPress plugins created for image compression and optimization. It provides its compatibility of compressing images on your server with minimal loss of quality. Firstly, the plugin scans all the images on your website and monitor the future. Then, it easily stripes unnecessary data from the image, compresses them, and even resize them if required.
Features:
- Lossless Image Compression
- Compatible with JPEG, GIF, and PNG Images
- Automatic Optimization on Image Upload
- Allows Image Optimization on the Entire Network
- Easily Optimize Multiple Images
- Automatic Image Resizing
Pricing:
- Free: $0
- Pro: $49
Pros:
- Simple and easy way to optimize images for beginners
- Optimizes 50 images at a time on bulk smush
- Automatically optimize and reduce the size of all new images uploaded
- Works well with Google PageSpeed Insights Tools
Cons:
- The free version of the plugin has a 1MB file size limit which is very less compared to other image optimizers
- Since the plugin does not give any control over how much you would want to optimize the image, it’s hard to get most of it.
- Offers only lossless compression technique on the free version of the plugin.
Download WPSmush for Free Get WPSmush Pro
EWWW
Overview:
EWWW is another popular image optimizer to increase the page speeds of your website using the power of image compression. Its lossless image optimization lets you compress the images on the best compression ratio. Moreover, the correct compression is automatically selected by the plugin based on the file format as well.
Features:
- Unlimited File Size Compression with No Speed Limits and Background Optimization
- Lossless Image Compression
- Free Image Backups for 30 Days
- Automatic Image Resizing
- Compresses Images of Other Plugins as like BuddyPress Avatar, Slider Slides, bbPress Attachment, and User-specified Folders
- CDN Supported for Uploading to Cloud Servers
Pricing:
- Free: $0
- ExactDN Monthly: $9/Month
- Compression API Subscription: $0.003/Image Starts for 99¢
- One Time API Bundles: $0.003/Image Starts at $9
Pros:
- Unlimited file size compression
- Image backup for 30days
- Compresses images that come on 3rd party plugins as well
- CDN supported
- Automatically skips already optimized images
Cons:
- The free version of the plugin offers only lossless compression for JPEG images. So, the savings are comparatively small. However, you can unlock lossy compression settings by upgrading the plugin to its premium version.
Download EWWW for Free Get EWWW Image Optimizer
Compress JPEG & PNG Images
Overview:
Compress JPEG & PNG is an image optimizer WordPress plugin developed by TinyPNG – a free online image compression tool. It works in conjunction with the online tool to compress your images externally thus optimizing the images and galleries without affecting your overall site speed. The plugin automatically optimizes the images for newer uploaded as well as bulk optimization is done for compressing older images.
Features:
- No File Size Limit for Image Optimization
- Metadata, Creation Date, and GPS Location are Preserved
- Supports the Compression of Animated PNG
- Easy Bulk Optimization of Existing Media Library
- Automatically Resizes Huge Image Uploads
- Advanced Background Optimization Option
Pricing:
- First 500 images per month: Free
- Next 9500 image compression: $0.009 per image
- After 10000 image compression: $0.002 per image
Pros:
- Easy to Use Plugin with minimal settings
- Unlimited file size compression
- Supports multisite optimization through a single API key
- Color profiles are automatically translated into standard RGB colors
- Automatically resize huge sized images
Cons:
- Does not supports Gif images
- Only support lossy image compression
Download Compress JPEG & PNG Images for Free View Pricing Plan
Imagify
Overview:
Imagify is one of the most powerful and advanced image optimizers for WordPress available on the internet. It lets you compress images using 3 different compression methods varying from the degree of image size optimization and quality change. Along with the uploaded media, the plugin can also optimize the thumbnails and quality change of the image. Additionally, the plugin automatically backup the optimized image for letting you restore or re-optimize your image in case you are not satisfied with the image optimization.
Features:
- Lossless, Lossy, and Ultra Lossy Compression Algorithms Varying from Degree of Image Optimization
- Automatically Backups Optimized Images for Restoring and Re-Optimization
- Supports PNG, JPEG, and GIF Format
- Provides Multisite Support
- Directly Resize Images Before Upload
- WooCommerce and NextGEN Gallery Compatible
Pricing:
25 MB/Month: Free
1) Monthly:
- Lite: 1GB of Data Per Month: $4.99/Month ($5 per additional GB)
- Basic: 2GB of Data Per Month: $8.99/Month ($4 per additional GB)
- Standard: 5GB of Data Per Month: $19.99/Month ($3 per additional GB)
- Plus: 15 GB of Data Per Month: $39.99/Month ($2 per additional GB)
- Enterprise: 50GB of Data Per Month: $69.99/Month ($1 per additional GB)
2) Yearly:
- Lite: 1GB of Data Per Month: $49.9/Year ($5 per additional GB)
- Basic: 2GB of Data Per Month: $89.9/Year ($4 per additional GB)
- Standard: 5GB of Data Per Month: $199.9/Year ($3 per additional GB)
- Plus: 15 GB of Data Per Month: $399.9/Year ($2 per additional GB)
- Enterprise: 50GB of Data Per Month: $699.9/Year ($1 per additional GB)
Pros:
- Offers 3 different compression methods (Normal, Aggressive, and Ultra)
- Supports both lossless and lossy image optimization as per your preference
- Flexible monthly/yearly pricing plans for the users
- Supports PNG, JPEG, and GIF Format
- Automatic backups option to restore and re-optimize images
Cons:
- Has file size limit of 2MB
Download Imagify for Free View Pricing Plan of Imagify
Wrapping Up
All the above-mentioned plugin contains quality features and functionalities to compress and optimize images of your WordPress website. Therefore, there is no clear winner. However, if you are looking for a plugin with advanced features and an option to compress your images both in lossless and lossy configuration then, you can go for Imagify. If you are looking for a WordPress plugin with easy and minimal settings then, you can go for TinyPNG.
You can also check out the collection of:
- Best WordPress Image Optimization Plugins to Enhance your Web Speed
- 500+ Best Free WordPress Plugins Collection 2019
- 500+ Best Premium WordPress Plugins Collection – 2019