Wordpress, as you'll know, is open-source, and is only as fast as you make it.
Below, we're going to list some of our favourite WP plugins related to page speed, but just note that some plugs are not compatible with certain themes/hosts.
Smush*: An image optimization plugin that will compress images upon upload to help improve file size. Generally best used with outside optimizations (like Lightroom), but will get additional compression to help your site load quickly. The free version is good for files less than 5 MB in size and the paid version increases the limit to 32 MB and allows for optimization of your entire database to help fix some past mistakes.
WP Rocket Pro*: A powerful caching plugin to help optimize loading of files. This one is paid, but the service has a free version for lazy loading images that should be on everyone's radar at a minimum.
Autoptimize: A second plugin that helps compress and minimize CSS/js files. Some of these settings are available in WP Rocket Pro but could be a good free alternative for some of the options. Note that Autoptimize may not work well with some themes.
Akismet Anti-Spam: An anti-spam tool for comments. No use having your site bogged down in spammy comments.
You may also be familiar with the built-in plugin, Jetpack. Personally, we feel it can be a little slow, and so you're best looking at what aspects have been useful for you from Jetpack, and then finding faster alternatives.
If you're interested in finding more plugins, check out our detailed list of Wordpress plugins that put page speed first.
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