Perfmatters vs WP Fastest Cache
Updated 5 Oct 2026. 25 features compared side by side.
Premium performance plugin for script management, delayed JS, unused CSS removal, lazy loading and local fonts. Not a page cache; pair it with one.
Lightweight page caching plugin with free minify, combine, CDN and Cloudflare support, plus a one-time-fee Premium tier for images and JS.
Choose Perfmatters if…
- You need remove unused CSS and preload and prefetch
- You also want heartbeat control
Choose WP Fastest Cache if…
- You need page caching and browser caching rules
- You also want cache preloading and image compression
- You want the more complete feature set (73/100 vs 50/100)
- You want to start with a free version
Perfmatters includes 3 features that WP Fastest Cache lacks, including Remove unused CSS, Preload and prefetch and Heartbeat control; WP Fastest Cache has 9 that Perfmatters lacks, including Page caching, Browser caching rules and Cache preloading. Both include 10 of the 25 features we track.
At a glance
Feature comparison
Click a screenshot to see both plugins side by side.
Perfmatters WP Fastest CacheCaching3/87/8
Not a caching plugin; it is designed to run alongside one.
Writes static HTML files and serves them via mod_rewrite; purges on publish.
Does not add browser-cache or expires headers.
Free option adds leverage-browser-caching rules for static files.
No cache to preload; offers browser-side speculative prerendering instead.
Free Preload feature crawls and caches the whole site automatically.
No Redis or Memcached object cache integration.
No Redis or Memcached object cache integration is offered.
No page cache, so no separate mobile cache.
Free can skip caching for mobile; a separate mobile cache is Premium.
No cache to exclude pages from, but can disable WooCommerce scripts and cart fragments.
Listed as compatible with WooCommerce; dynamic store pages are not cached.
Front-end optimisation plugin that is not tied to any server stack.
Works on Apache and IIS; Nginx supported with manual rewrite config.
No page cache; multisite settings push is only in the Unlimited plan.
WordPress Multisite is listed as supported in the free plugin.
CSS & JavaScript5/74/7
Separate CSS and JS minification with exclusions.
Free minifies HTML and CSS; JavaScript minification needs Premium.
Does not combine CSS or JavaScript files.
Free Combine CSS and Combine JS; Premium adds Combine JS Plus.
Defers JS and can delay it until interaction or a timeout.
Render-blocking JS deferral and Delay JS are Premium features.
Removes unused CSS; originals can be delayed, async loaded or removed.
No unused CSS removal feature is listed on WP.org or the vendor site.
No separate critical CSS generator; relies on used-CSS output.
No critical CSS generation is offered.
Hosts Google Fonts locally with display swap, subsets and font preloading.
Premium Google Fonts Async loads fonts without blocking render.
Preload, preconnect, DNS prefetch, fetch priority and Early Hints.
No preload, prefetch or preconnect controls for assets are listed.
Media & delivery3/76/7
Lazy loads images, iframes, videos and CSS background images.
Premium lazy load for images and iframes with placeholder options.
Does not compress images.
Premium compresses JPEG and PNG images while keeping quality.
Does not convert images; only lazy loads existing WebP/AVIF files.
Premium converts images to WebP; AVIF is not mentioned.
CDN rewrite with directory and file-type rules.
Free CDN tab rewrites asset URLs for Bunny CDN and other providers.
No Cloudflare API integration; docs only cover enabling Early Hints.
Connects to Cloudflare API to purge its cache automatically.
Swaps iframes for a preview thumbnail with an SVG play icon.
Premium lazy load swaps YouTube embeds for a thumbnail until needed.
No vendor-run CDN.
No vendor-run CDN; integrates with third-party CDNs only.
Housekeeping2/32/3
Cleans revisions, drafts, spam, transients and tables on a schedule.
Premium cleans revisions, trash, spam, transients and orphaned meta.
Disable the Heartbeat API or change its frequency.
No Heartbeat API control is offered.
WP-CLI commands cover licence, options and caches but not database cleanup.
Free WP-CLI commands for clearing the cache.
Statuses: Yes Pro Add-on Partial 3rd-party No ?
Pricing compared
Perfmatters Premium
| Personal | $29.95 per year, 1 site |
|---|---|
| Business | $59.95 per year, 3 sites |
| Unlimited Sites | $124.95 per year, Unlimited |
WP Fastest Cache Freemium
| Free | $0 |
|---|---|
| Bronze | $49 lifetime, 1 site |
| Silver | $125 lifetime, 3 sites |
| Gold | $175 lifetime, 5 sites |
| Platinum | $300 lifetime, 10 sites |
Downloads trend
Perfmatters
No WordPress.org download data (premium-only plugin).
WP Fastest Cache
86,323 downloads last week
Verdict
WP Fastest Cache scores higher on our feature checklist (73/100 against 50/100) and includes page caching, browser caching rules and cache preloading that Perfmatters does not. Perfmatters still has the edge on remove unused CSS and preload and prefetch. Only WP Fastest Cache has a free version. Check the features you rely on in the table below before deciding.
Biggest differences
Perfmatters: not included. WP Fastest Cache: included. Writes static HTML files and serves them via mod_rewrite; purges on publish.
Perfmatters: included. WP Fastest Cache: not included. Removes unused CSS; originals can be delayed, async loaded or removed.
Perfmatters: not included. WP Fastest Cache: included. Free option adds leverage-browser-caching rules for static files.
Perfmatters: not included. WP Fastest Cache: included. Free Preload feature crawls and caches the whole site automatically.
Perfmatters: not included. WP Fastest Cache: paid version (Premium). Premium compresses JPEG and PNG images while keeping quality.
Perfmatters: not included. WP Fastest Cache: paid version (Premium). Free can skip caching for mobile; a separate mobile cache is Premium.
Written from the feature, pricing and install data on this page, not from hands-on testing. How we compare.
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FAQ
Which is better, Perfmatters or WP Fastest Cache?
WP Fastest Cache scores higher on our feature checklist (73/100 against 50/100) and includes page caching, browser caching rules and cache preloading that Perfmatters does not. Perfmatters still has the edge on remove unused CSS and preload and prefetch. Only WP Fastest Cache has a free version. Check the features you rely on in the table below before deciding.
Which has more features?
WP Fastest Cache includes 19 of the 25 features we track, against 13 for Perfmatters. Feature count is only part of the picture; check which of the differences matter to you.
Is Perfmatters free?
Perfmatters is premium only. Paid plans start at $29.95/yr.
Is WP Fastest Cache free?
WP Fastest Cache has a free version on WordPress.org. Paid plans start at $49 lifetime.
Feature data last changed 5 Oct 2026. Spotted something wrong? Suggest an edit to Perfmatters or WP Fastest Cache. Some links are affiliate links. We may earn a commission at no cost to you; it never affects our data or rankings.