Wordpress Which plugins to use for better performance for Wordpress?

All the performance and page speed Wordpress plugins you need will be found in Centmin Mod 123.09beta01 and higher's default centmin.sh menu option 22 Wordpress auto installer routines. See https://community.centminmod.com/th...l-vs-centmin-sh-menu-option-22-install.15435/ and example live Wordpress blog of mine at https://servermanager.guide/ and Centmin Mod Wordpress install guide at https://servermanager.guide/122/how-to-install-wordpress-on-centmin-mod-lemp-stack-guide/.

In context of Wordpress caching for centmin.sh menu option 22 wordpress auto installer for Centmin Mod 123.09beta01 and newer, you have 3 offered wordpress caching options:

1. Redis Nginx Level Caching - centmin.sh menu option 22 will auto install redis if not detected if you choose this in centmin.sh menu option 22 setup. Otherwise, need to install redis yourself. Best combined with Autoptimize WP plugin + Autoptimize Gzip companion plugin
2. KeyCDN Cache Enabler for full page static html caching (safest choice for balance of performance and reliability). Best combined with Autoptimize WP plugin + Autoptimize Gzip companion plugin
3. WP Super Cache for full page static html caching. Best combined with Autoptimize WP plugin + Autoptimize Gzip companion plugin
4. PHP-FPM Fastcgi_cache full page static HTML guest cache in private development as of writing so not available yet. Best combined with Autoptimize WP plugin + Autoptimize Gzip companion plugin

Code (Text):

Default is to install KeyCDN WP Cache Enabler Plugin as it is more
stable and reliable than WP Super Cache and Redis Cache.
Redis cache may have issues with caching due to long 6hr cache TTL
Fastcgi_cache (PHP-FPM) will have best performance
You can select which caching method to use below:

--------------------------------------------------------
Wordpress Caching
--------------------------------------------------------
1) KeyCDN Cache Enabler
2) Redis Nginx Level Caching
3) WordPress Super Cache
4) Fastcgi_cache (PHP-FPM)
--------------------------------------------------------
Enter option [ 1 - 4 ] 4

you selected option 4 (Fastcgi_cache PHP-FPM) [wpscache=fastcgicache]

1. Both PHP-FPM fastcgi_cache and Redis Nginx level caching can be fastest but needs fine tuning and deep understanding of your web app and it's plugins to get right i.e. woocommerce etc. So can be problematic too. Most caching is are for guest caching only.

2. keycdn cache enabler wp plugin - better version of wp super cache for full page static caching of wordpress. Least problematic and closest to set and forget with maybe some tuning needed depending on wp plugins and site configuration. Config is for guest caching only. Highly recommended, if you just want a Wordpress cache method that just works without headaches.

And regardless of caching method, having right server(s) hardware and configuration and LEMP stack and system TCP level configurations to handle the traffic is a must otherwise regardless of caching used, it won't scale. So you would want non-OpenVZ based VPS like KVM or dedicated. Choosing OpenVZ VPS will limit your scalability.

FYI, all caching methods = generally higher memory consumption and sometimes higher cache related cpu consumption. The goal of caching in context of wordpress is usually to lessen the load placed on php/php-fpm as that is the weakest part of any LEMP/LAMP setup in terms of scalability. So sometimes caching isn't necessary faster just scales better in high concurrent traffic environments.

You can see centmin.sh menu option 22 wordpress installed demo and benchmarks on my Wordpress7 demo site with Redis Nginx level cache + Cloudflare and live Wordpress blog at https://servermanager.guide/ with PHP-FPM fastcgi_cache + Cloudflare.

 

Yes if you can get Cloudflare Worker caching working it does wonders. Testing on https://servermanager.guide/ right now too for my own private use.

Interesting haven't heard of that one yet. Thanks for sharing ! However, concern is requiring your Cloudflare account wide API key can be security issue as it gives access to all your CF acccounts' web sites. It's better to use Cloudflare's new API token keys which can be restricted to specific Cloudflare features and sites/zones and not entire Cloudflare account.

Autoptimize will always help especially 2.6+ has image lazy load support too. I switched https://servermanager.guide/ from Google Native lazy loading (manually added to functions.php) to Autoptimize 2.6+ enabled lazy loading as well. So far looking good https://community.centminmod.com/th...ermanager-guide-journey-for-page-speed.19108/

 

see WP Cloudflare Super Page Cache

 

it's due to the criteria coded by Google as to when to lazy load and when not to and it's dependent on internet speed detected by visitor i.e. mobile detected speeds will load all images within first 3000px vertical pixels which is to lengthy !

I also switched from Google native lazy load via functions.php edit to Autoptimize 2.6+ lazy load via lazysizes for my Wordpress blog at https://servermanager.guide/

 

While evaluating other Cloudflare cache purge plugins for Wordpress I just tried this out on test Wordpress install used for my guide writeup at https://servermanager.guide/203/wordpress-cache-enabler-advanced-full-page-caching-guide/ and they have API Token support now along with CF Worker support if you don't mind paying US$5 per 10 million requests on paid or <100k free requests. But be aware their debug.log is exposed publicly to the world so need to lock that down Preventing debug.log web browser access and caching ? | WordPress.org. Latest updated centmin.sh menu option 22's wpsecure include file generated now as deny all rule for debug.log public attempted access Beta Branch - update centmin.sh menu option 22 wpsecure include file template in 123.09beta01

They don't support Cache Enabler though as they now have their own fallback page HTML cache though I tested their CF Cache + Cache Enabler to be faster - they still believe their solution is faster Add 3rd party support for purging Cache Enabler plugin | WordPress.org

easy just enable Autoptimize's aggregate inline CSS checkbox it's pretty close to equivalent

 

another plugin to investigate

Yeah I am paying for non automated version just to test it out on various plugins that allow you to input critical css into them.

Interesting - will play with their Worker integration later. I already have my own CF Worker Wordpress and Xenforo scripts which work well for guest only full page HTML caching bypassing Wordpress and Xenforo cookies with more advanced CF CDN caching so probably stick with that. Though CF workers have a usage billing cost at US$5 per 10 million requests. 100 million CF workers requests/month would = US$50/month billed usage.

Yeah always heard of wp2static but really with my version of Cache Enabler https://servermanager.guide/203/wordpress-cache-enabler-advanced-full-page-caching-guide/ you don't need to go that far with wp2static anymore

One Reddit user as asking about such and I gave same reply What is the simplest way to convert a WordPress website to Static : Wordpress

FYI, expect more updates to my centmin.sh menu option 22 routine to come as I supe-up my Wordpress installer's out of the box performance some more.

@tininho and others if you have more Wordpress performance plugin/tips to recommend, post them in this thread so I can check them out eventually

 

optimisation happens on server end and in front of server i.e. Cloudflare. The guide is optimal for server end and for static files behind Cloudflare proxy. To do more, need to optimise in front of server i.e. Cloudflare optional config for dynamic HTML caching etc not part of the guide but mentioned in guide.

It's secure by default. If Cloudflare in front and it isn't a member login based Wordpress site, and just you logging in, then you can use Cloudflare Access to lock down wp-login.php too.