Perfmatters Review: Is It Worth It?
In this Perfmatters review, we will be examining whether or not Perfmatters is worth your money.
Background And History
Perfmatters emerges from the collaboration of two WordPress aficionados, the founders Brian and Brett, who collectively boast an impressive span of over 19 years immersed in daily usage of the platform. Their commitment to this venture transcends mere hobbyist interests, as they have dedicated themselves full-time to crafting plugins that transcend the ordinary. Rather than treating this as a casual pursuit, they wholeheartedly engage in code debugging, attentively heeding customer input, and diligently addressing support inquiries.
The genesis of their enterprise is rooted in their exasperation with the landscape of free plugins ostensibly designed to amplify website speed. Consistently encountering offerings that lacked pivotal functionalities, exhibited suboptimal code craftsmanship, or surreptitiously aimed to propagate advertisements, the brothers were spurred to take matters into their own hands.
Perfmatters embodies an amalgamation of performance-enhancing techniques meticulously curated from their comprehensive array of websites.
Brian, a co-founder of forgemedia LLC and former Chief Marketing Officer at Kinsta, boasts a rich background in the realms of WordPress hosting and Content Delivery Network (CDN) industries. His profound involvement in web performance traverses numerous years and encompasses the optimization of myriad sites. His expertise is underscored by a prolific publication record comprising hundreds of articles elucidating WordPress optimization methodologies and strategies for expediting website responsiveness. A devoted advocate of the WordPress domain, Brian's endeavors over the past dozen years have been intrinsically intertwined with the vibrancy of the WordPress community. His contributions extend to the domain of woorkup, where he pens insightful narratives on WordPress, SEO, marketing, and productivity.
Complementing this expertise, Brett, co-founder of forgemedia LLC, is a seasoned web developer, exuding a profound passion for crafting exceptional web applications, with a pronounced penchant for the WordPress ecosystem. His previous tenure at an agency equipped him with the acumen to construct, sustain, and optimize clients' websites, thereby facilitating the realization of their marketing objectives. This encompassed administrative roles such as PHP updates and server management, thereby underscoring his comprehensive approach. Continually in pursuit of innovative performance enhancements for WordPress, Brett remains meticulous in his quest to accelerate its responsiveness. Moreover, his stringent standards extend to user interface refinement, a pursuit underpinned by extensive efforts to ensure plugins culminate in a superlative user experience.
Features
The Perfmatters plugin was meticulously crafted with a dedication to simplicity at its core. The brilliance of Perfmatters lies in its ability to enhance website performance without necessitating any intricate manipulation of code or delving into the labyrinthine recesses of the functions.php file. Recognizing that the pursuit of performance optimizations should be devoid of complexity, the Perfmatters team has seamlessly integrated a user-friendly interface where every optimization can be effortlessly toggled on or off with a single click.
Foremost among the plugin's virtues is its adeptness at ameliorating site speed, primarily achieved through the strategic deactivation of extraneous scripts. Consider the default inclusion of emojis that ubiquitously populate every page, a feature that may remain dormant in the palette of site functionalities. Perfmatters astutely identifies such latent components and disables their invocation. Consequently, the eradication of superfluous script loading culminates in a twofold advantage: a reduction in HTTP requests, and a trimming of the page's overall size.
Furthermore, Perfmatters assumes the role of an astute custodian of database integrity. As time unfurls, a confluence of elements—revisions, auto-drafts, spam comments, and transients—gradually populate the database, progressively impinging upon site performance. The plugin introduces an intuitive mechanism for streamlining this proliferation of data detritus. With an effortless command, users can expeditiously cleanse their database, expunging these accumulations. Moreover, Perfmatters empowers users with the ability to proactively establish thresholds, effectively curtailing the reappearance of such impediments. The culmination of these interventions ensures a database that operates with commendable alacrity, sustaining the vitality of a swift and responsive digital experience.
Quick-toggle options
Perfmatters presents a multitude of options that can be seamlessly incorporated into your website's framework through simple toggling. To provide a glimpse of these choices, here are some that the Perfmatters team advocates for your consideration:
Begin by neutralizing dispensable components such as emojis, embeds, and dashicons. By doing so, you can declutter your site and streamline its performance by eradicating superfluous scripts and assets that might otherwise remain dormant.
Direct your attention to post revisions—a feature that, while valuable, can proliferate to a magnitude that strains your database. Perfmatters empowers you to temper this expansion by either disabling or setting limits on the number of post revisions stored, thus mitigating the risk of database bloat.
A strategic adjustment to the autosave interval can alleviate a common inconvenience—the persistent "more recent version" alerts. This optimization not only curtails auto-draft accumulation but also harmonizes with the broader objective of refining your site's efficiency.
The Heartbeat API, while offering utility, can inadvertently lead to excessive CPU utilization and an inundation of AJAX calls. Perfmatters extends the capability to disable the Heartbeat functionality altogether or fine-tune its frequency, proffering a tangible solution to alleviate associated performance bottlenecks.
In situations where the blog-centric discourse is absent, the option to disable comments globally emerges as a viable strategy to curtail spam. Furthermore, the removal of author comment links, often pursued for backlink generation, can be facilitated to foster a streamlined engagement environment.
Google Maps, although an asset, can exert an undue toll on site performance. Perfmatters' adaptive approach empowers you to selectively disable Google Maps, implementing it solely where its functional necessity arises. This targeted integration optimizes performance by circumventing resource-intensive operations.
For websites harnessing the WooCommerce platform, mitigating the impact of the wc-ajax=get_refreshed_fragments request is of paramount importance. By deactivating WooCommerce cart fragments, you effectively mitigate the potential for substantial delays, especially on WooCommerce-centric sites, ultimately enhancing the seamlessness of user interactions.
Script Manager
Embedded within the Perfmatters plugin resides an adept Script Manager, characterized by its robustness and versatility. This integral feature empowers users to strategically deactivate scripts, affording the flexibility to do so on a per post/page basis or to exert uniform control across the entirety of the site, all accomplished with effortless clicks. Scripts are thoughtfully organized according to their parent plugins and themes, enhancing the user experience by providing clear visibility into the interplay between scripts and their corresponding components. Moreover, the dynamic functionality extends to script manipulation based on device type—desktop or mobile—as well as user authentication state, whether logged in or logged out. These nuanced capabilities collectively wield a potent influence, most notably elevating the velocity of WordPress sites, an effect particularly pronounced on the homepage.
The intrinsic value of this capability materializes through an array of illustrative scenarios:
Consider the widely adopted Contact Form 7 plugin, a recurrent presence loading across pages and posts. With singular simplicity, this universal load can be circumvented through a singular click, confined to the designated contact page alone.
In the case of social media sharing plugins, the discerning directive emerges to exclusively load them within posts. Achieving this granularity is unchallenging; a global deactivation followed by specific activation within post types, and potentially custom post types, ensures precision in rendering functionality.
The architectural finesse of the Script Manager is manifest in its user-friendly design, yet it conceals an intricate underpinning of advanced features. For instance, the option to disable selected combinations of scripts using Regex augments the tool's potency, furnishing a sophisticated mechanism for exacting control.
Enter MU (Must-Use) mode, which elevates the Script Manager's capabilities to a zenith. This mode confers full dominion over every facet of a plugin's operation—from its front-end scripts to inline code and MySQL queries—a scope that even encompasses the possibility of complete plugin deactivation.
To further underscore Perfmatters' commitment to prudent and secure modifications, Testing Mode emerges as an innovative solution. This mode enables users to preview configurations in an insulated environment, safeguarding against unintended disruptions before applying modifications to the public-facing site. This precautionary measure epitomizes the plugin's overarching dedication to facilitating strategic enhancements while maintaining operational integrity.
Database Optimization
Efficient WordPress database management is an imperative facet of sustaining your site's vigor and ensuring its swift operation. Over time, the accumulation of various elements can accumulate, potentially ballooning into an extensive trove comprising hundreds of thousands of entries. In much the same way as regular car maintenance is essential for peak performance, attending to your database through consistent upkeep is equally crucial.
Enter the Perfmatters plugin, a potent ally that seamlessly facilitates the culling of antiquated and redundant data. Its utility spans a spectrum of functions, each contributing to a streamlined and optimized database:
Within the tapestry of revisions, encompassing posts, pages, and custom post types, the plugin empowers you to pare down the surplus, fostering a trim and efficient database.
The accumulation of auto-drafts generated during content editing is a common phenomenon. Perfmatters orchestrates their systematic removal, maintaining a pristine database landscape.
Consigning spam comments to oblivion becomes an effortless endeavor through the plugin's streamlined eradication process, ensuring a clutter-free environment.
The management of the "trash" repository for both comments and posts is automated, freeing you from manual intervention and preserving a clean digital ecosystem.
Transient entries, a common occurrence, are systematically removed as they expire, thanks to Perfmatters' meticulous management of the wp_options table.
To optimize database efficiency, the plugin introduces the indispensable practice of table optimization, a process that reclaims unutilized space, ultimately enhancing performance.
Beyond its intrinsic functionalities, Perfmatters offers the convenience of saving configurations for future application or scheduling automatic database optimization. This scheduling feature proves invaluable for individuals overseeing client sites or grappling with time constraints that preclude consistent manual maintenance.
An embodiment of performance-driven innovation, Perfmatters not only amplifies your site's speed and responsiveness, but it also underscores the significance of methodical database stewardship, positioning it as an essential tool in your digital arsenal.
Lazy Loading
Lazy loading stands as a sophisticated strategy involving the deliberate delay in loading images, videos, or iframes until users engage by scrolling, effectively bringing these elements into view. This approach holds particular merit for content-rich posts and pages replete with multimedia content, as it serves to mitigate the initial surge of requests upon page load. The outcome is more than aesthetic; it tangibly improves performance, with empirical assessments demonstrating an average reduction of 33% in load times.
The essentiality of integrating lazy loading into your optimization arsenal is underscored by its impact on both user experience and overall performance. In this realm, the Perfmatters plugin emerges as a potent ally, delivering a suite of pragmatic lazy loading features:
Dynamic Media Engagement: The plugin selectively defers the loading of images, inline background images, iframes, and videos (including those from YouTube and Vimeo), until users actively navigate to the relevant segment of the page.
Intelligent Iframe Handling: To expedite YouTube video loading, the plugin replaces iframes with preview thumbnails accompanied by SVG play icons. Videos load upon user interaction, enhancing efficiency.
WebP Format Integration: Seamlessly weaving in WebP support, the plugin optimizes image loading by harnessing this lightweight yet high-fidelity image format.
Sophisticated DOM Monitoring: The plugin introduces vigilant DOM (Document Object Model) monitoring, a refinement that ensures seamless compatibility with dynamic page elements such as infinite scroll functionalities.
Performance Amplification: Distinguishing itself from WordPress' native lazy loading, the Perfmatters plugin elevates performance through its advanced lazy loading capabilities, enhancing site speed and user engagement alike.
Change your WordPress login URL
The adage that minuscule alterations can yield substantial impacts holds true in the realm of WordPress security. The default login URL, typically structured as "https://yourdomain.com/wp-admin/," inadvertently lays out a virtual welcome mat for bots, hackers, and other malicious entities seeking potential vulnerabilities and entry points. This vulnerability is well-known and frequently exploited, as evidenced by the Perfmatters team's interactions with numerous sites besieged by an astonishing 10,000 or more failed access attempts daily.
The solution, however, is deceptively simple yet profoundly effective. A subtle adjustment involves transitioning from the default login URL to a more cryptic and unconventional variant. The Perfmatters team's engagement with this issue reflects a commitment to fortifying website security, safeguarding digital assets against unauthorized access.
Beyond the security dividends, this maneuver yields performance benefits. The proliferation of bots scouring commonplace regions of your site is mitigated, culminating in a less resource-intensive environment.
A testament to the plugin's user-centric design, this change can be effortlessly accomplished through the Perfmatters interface, necessitating only a few seconds of your time. This fluid transition to an alternative login URL, underscored by its dual impact on security and performance, exemplifies the plugin's commitment to fortifying your digital terrain.
CDN rewrite
A Content Delivery Network (CDN) stands as a pivotal force in propelling the velocity of your WordPress site. This phenomenon unfolds through the strategic dispersion of assets across an array of servers scattered globally, leading to cached content delivery from proximate points to visitors. In this context, the Perfmatters plugin emerges as a linchpin, proficiently orchestrating the integration of your chosen CDN with your WordPress ecosystem.
Noteworthy attributes of the Perfmatters CDN rewrite mechanism encompass:
An Elegant CDN Marriage: Seamlessly threading your chosen CDN into the fabric of your WordPress site, Perfmatters undertakes the rewriting of asset URLs. This comprehensive transformation spans a gamut of elements, including images and diverse assets, steering them toward the designated CDN nexus.
Strategic Directory Inclusion: Perfmatters ushers in an era of meticulous control, granting you the authority to earmark specific WordPress directories for CDN integration. This finesse ensures that the benefits of accelerated delivery are judiciously targeted to select segments of your site.
Personalized Exclusion Flexibility: Acknowledging the nuanced diversity of content, the plugin extends the capacity to eschew certain file types from the rewriting process. Furthermore, it accommodates the exclusion of assets housing designated character strings. This duality of exclusion preserves the authenticity of assets that might not harmonize with the rewriting paradigm.
In essence, Perfmatters embarks on a transformative journey that transcends conventional optimization, serving as an interlocutor between your WordPress realm and the expansive reach of a CDN. This harmonious partnership redefines performance, while its commitment to affording you the finesse of content delivery mechanics cements a harmonious, swift, and globally resonant user experience.
Host Google Analytics locally
Locally hosting Google Analytics serves as a strategic optimization method that substantially bolsters website speed. This approach mitigates superfluous DNS lookups and effectively addresses the prevalent "leverage browser caching" challenge embedded within Google's script.
Notably, Google's script generates a caching advisory due to the brevity of their HTTP caching header expiration configuration. Interestingly, transitioning to local hosting of the script empowers seamless implementation of HTTP caching headers from your chosen CDN or server. This shift introduces a dimension of script caching management marked by precision and adaptability.
Within the realm of the Perfmatters Google Analytics feature, a spectrum of pragmatic functionalities emerges:
The flexibility to select script types tailored to your needs, encompassing analytics.js (17 KB), gtag.js, gtag.js v4, minimal (a concise 1.5 KB), and minimal inline. Each type represents a distinct option calibrated for diverse performance priorities.
The option to strategically position the tracking code between your site's header or footer, allowing for alignment with structural considerations.
Anonymization of your IP address, aligned with data privacy and GDPR compliance standards.
The choice to track or abstain from tracking logged-in administrators, providing customization based on tracking requirements.
The ability to disable display features, streamlining performance by eliminating an extraneous HTTP request.
Adapting your site's bounce rate assessment to more accurately evaluate traffic quality.
Seamless integration with MonsterInsights, ensuring an enriched analytics experience while capitalizing on the benefits of locally hosted scripts.
Add Code To Header, Body, Footer
There are times when you might need to add custom code to your WordPress site’s header (head), body, or footer. With the Perfmatters plugin, you can easily include custom code where you need it.
The header, body, footer code feature includes:
- Print out code directly on the front end. This could include inline CSS inside
<style>tags or inline JS inside<script>tags. - You can load a JS or CSS file.
- Code added to the header will print in the
<head> </head>section on your site. - Code added to the body will print below the opening
<body>tag on your site. - Code added to the footer will print above the closing
</body>tag on your site.
Preloading Resources
Implementing preloading techniques via rel attributes emerges as a strategic avenue to expedite script and resource loading on your WordPress site. This practice finds endorsement from none other than Google, resonating with their penchant for performance optimization. These attributes extend their influence across the entire spectrum of your site, whether encompassing the entirety or selectively impacting pages and devices—be it desktop or mobile.
A notable facet in this realm is Instant Page, a tool that orchestrates the automatic prefetching of URLs in the background. This preemptive action is triggered when a user hovers over a link, and it translates into an almost immediate rendering of content. The resultant outcome is an elevated user experience marked by near-instantaneous load times—a factor that undeniably resonates with the aspirations of contemporary digital environments.
Furthermore, the Preload attribute introduces the capacity to specify resources like fonts or CSS elements that warrant immediate accessibility during a page load. This strategic preloading addresses the nagging concern of render-blocking resource warnings, creating an environment conducive to seamless rendering and user engagement.
The innovation doesn't halt there. DNS Prefetch enters the stage, facilitating the proactive resolution of domain names via a background DNS lookup. This groundwork paves the way for enhanced performance as users traverse links, making for a more streamlined and responsive experience.
Lastly, Preconnect emerges as a browser's confidante, expediting connections even before HTTP requests are initiated. This anticipatory step significantly truncates round-trip latency, resulting in tangible time savings for users. The ultimate payoff manifests as a perceptibly nimble and seamless interaction within the digital landscape.
Defer and Delay JavaScript New
The cautionary signal of "Eliminate render-blocking resources" indicates that JavaScript might hinder the swift start of your WordPress site's visual display during loading. In accordance with Google's counsel, deferring JavaScript execution is a practical measure to hasten the initial rendering process. The Perfmatters plugin aligns with this recommendation and presents various strategies for effective implementation.
This plugin offers a comprehensive toolkit to seamlessly enact these strategies:
Deferring JavaScript Files: Integrating defer tags into JavaScript files establishes a more nuanced loading sequence. Scripts load after other page elements, ensuring an unhindered initial visual display.
Inline JavaScript Deferral: The plugin accommodates the deferral of inline JavaScript, synchronizing code execution with broader rendering processes.
Optional jQuery Core Deferral: The plugin provides an option to defer jQuery core operations, streamlining JavaScript execution for customized optimization.
Strategic Exclusions: Selective exclusions are possible, allowing specific JavaScript components to be exempt from deferral. This strategic approach ensures optimization while preserving essential functionality.
Page-Specific Customization: The plugin's flexibility extends to page-specific exclusions, enabling precise control over JavaScript execution based on individual page or post considerations.
Interaction-Driven JavaScript Loading: A notable feature is the ability to delay JavaScript execution until user interaction, such as scrolling or mouse movement. This is particularly useful for dynamic elements and resource-intensive third-party scripts.
Time-Based Loading Delays: The plugin adds time-based loading delays, allowing the loading of scripts after a predefined interval.
Multisite Support
For those overseeing multiple WordPress sites, the Perfmatters unlimited license seamlessly accommodates WordPress multisite setups, offering an all-encompassing solution that simplifies management within such environments.
Within the realm of multisite setups, a spectrum of functionalities comes to the fore:
Unified Activation and Licensing: By opting for network activation of the plugin and initiating the license through the network admin interface, a cohesive approach is achieved. This ensures uniform implementation and administration across the entire multisite network.
Refined Network Access: The versatility of multisite functionality extends to the assignment of distinct network access levels. This includes the discretion to designate either Site Admins or Super Admins, allowing for a customized approach in alignment with the network's operational nuances.
Efficient Configuration Deployment: The Perfmatters unlimited license transcends convenience and delves into true efficiency. Through this feature, configurations set in the default site of your network can be seamlessly extended to subsites. This expedited deployment fosters alignment across the network, cultivating a seamless user experience while mitigating operational complexity.
Support And Ongoing Development
Perfmatters stands out by providing direct support from its own developers, who collectively hold over 19 years of comprehensive experience in daily engagement with WordPress.
Contrary to being a casual endeavor, plugin development is a dedicated full-time pursuit for the Perfmatters team. Their ongoing commitment is exemplified through the consistent rollout of new features and diligent resolution of bugs. This dedication is further reinforced by meticulous testing of their plugins to ensure seamless compatibility with the latest WordPress versions.
Recognizing the significance of well-structured documentation in optimizing user experience, the team at Perfmatters underscores the value of time-saving. In line with this ethos, they offer an extensive repertoire of more than 80 step-by-step documentation resources. These detailed guides comprehensively cover the gamut of using and optimally configuring Perfmatters, thus contributing to a more intuitive and efficient user journey.
Subscription Plans
Perfmatters offers three different plans:
Perfmatters - Unlimited Sites
- 1-year premium support & updates
- 30-day money-back guarantee
- Multisite support
Perfmatters Business - 3 Sites
-
1-year premium support & updates
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Perfmatters Personal - 1 Site
- 1-year premium support & updates
- 30-day money-back guarantee
Pricing
Use our Perfmatters Discount code RUSHRADAR and get 20& OFF
Perfmatters - Unlimited Sites
16% Automatic Discount
+ 20% OFF with Perfmatters Discount Code
Total Savings: $49.95
$149.95/yr $99.96/yr
Perfmatters Business - 3 Sites
20% OFF with Perfmatters Discount Code
Total Savings: $10.99
$54.95/yr $43.96/yr
Perfmatters Personal - 1 Site
20% OFF with Perfmatters Discount Code
Total Savings: $49.95
$24.95/yr $19.96/yr
Perfmatters Pros & Cons
Perfmatters: Pros
- Dedicated team
- Great pricing
- Ton of features
- Top-notch customer support
- Ease-of-use
Perfmatters: Cons
- No lifetime license available
Perfmatters Review: Verdict
After our Perfmatters review, we concluded that this is a must-have speed optimization plugin for anyone looking to optimize their website, it truly is the absolute best plugin for speed optimization!
Perfmatters offers a ton of features, it has an extremely dedicated team, it has top-notch customer support, incredibly helpful! It's very easy to set up and customize, and the pricing is unbeatable!
The only downside is that it doesn't offer a lifetime license which would be very convenient.
If you would like to get 20% OFF Perfmatters, you can use our Perfmatters discount code RUSHRADAR
