5 Best Free WordPress Image Compression Plugins

In this article today, I’m writing about my experience to compress images sizes for a better overall loading time. I’m reviewing the best free WordPress image compression plugins to see what works the best.

As you may know, I’m currently paying more attention to promoting my blog and generating organic traffic. While doing so, I’ve received a message from a friend that my site is taking a little while to load.

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I went ahead to check what may be wrong with the site. And I got to find that images are increasing the pages sizes. Although I’ve recently optimized the site performance and caching methods, I’ve never touched images sizes.

I will share my experience along with my suggestion for the best free WordPress image compression plugins. Let’s nail it down:

Best Free WordPress Image Compression Plugins:

1. WP Smush:

This is one comes at the top as one of my favorites. Once you install and activate this plugin, It will automatically compress any images you upload to your site.

It comes in two versions: wp smush free and wp smush pro. In this article, And for the purpose of your blog, I would recommend sticking to the free version as it will basically do the job.

One of the great features of this plugin is that it allows you to do a bulk compressing at once. So after installing it, go to Media > WP Smush and use the Bulk Compressing Images button to run it.

As an alternative, you still have got the ability to compress images one by one based on your preferences. I would rate that plugin as the #1 of the best free WordPress image compression plugins.

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2. Kraken Image Optimizer:

This plugin allows you to crunch many images extensions and compress them for faster loading times. Once you install it, you will need to create a free account on Kraken.io’s.

After signing up, You will be provided with an API key which you can use to activate the plugin on your WordPress site.

(NB: You can use that same API across different WordPress installations)

The free account still got a couple of limitations as follows:

• It gives you 100 MB of images to compress.
• And the Maximum allowed image size is 1 MB.

Although it comes with those limitations, it comes with awesome features to unlock the future of free WordPress image compression plugins.

Here are those awesome features included with the Free version:

• It keeps a backup of the original image after compression on EWWW image optimizer cloud storage.

• You can use it to do image resizing instead of manually resizing after uploading your images.

• You can set a cap on the number of images to optimize in the bulk compression.

• The plugin is very easy to use especially for absolute beginners.

Although the free version comes with certain limitations, I still see this one as a great fit for those who are just getting started blogging. You will get the maximum features and you won’t hit the limit until after a while.

That being said, this plugin is considered to be another one of the best great free WordPress image compression plugins.

It’s strongly recommended with 10K+ downloads & a rating of 4.7/5.

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3. EWWW Image Optimizer:

Well, This one is another great alternative to WP Smush. After installing it, You can bulk compress images on your site. Furthermore, It automatically compresses newly uploaded images.

What’s so awesome about that plugin is that the compressing process is running on your own server instead of being conducted via a plugin’s third party server.

This simple feature will allow you to optimize more images in relatively less time. Although the plugin is a very good potential for great results, Installing it on WordPress is a little bit tricky.

Thus, You need to carefully follow the installation steps and complete the necessary prerequisites to get the plugin function correctly on your site.

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4. ShortPixel Image Optimizer:

This plugin is another great image optimization one, However; the free version ships with restrictive limitations in terms of how many images to process each month.

The free version gives you up to 100 images only per month. New credits for extra images can be earned by upgrading to a paid package or referring friends to use the service.

What I mostly like: 

• Plugin’s Interface is very easy to use.
• Choose between lossy and lossless compression methods.
• You can exclude thumbnails from compression.
• The plugin is being frequently updated.

What I don’t like: 

• The free version is limited to 100 images per month.
• You can’t disable auto compression for newly uploaded images.
• Bulk compression feature is not included.

After installing the plugin, You still need to sign up for free on ShortPixel website to obtain your API key. After that, you should be able to activate the plugin on your WordPress installation easily.

Overall, The free version of this plugin is a very good option for newbie bloggers and beginners. A vert good plugin and strongly recommended as one of the best image optimizer WordPress plugins.

Download plugin – Sign up for free on ShortPixel

5. TinyPNG:

Although the paid version is relatively expensive, The free version comes with 500 images limit to compress per month. I like this plugin’s free version and I strongly recommend it.

Once you sign up for a free account on TinyPNG website, you will get an API key to activate the plugin. The same API key can be used on different WordPress installations.

Pros:

• Allows Bulk Compression
• Allows Image Resizing after upload.
• Convert CMYK to RGB.
• No file size limits.

Cons: 

• Paid version is relatively expensive.
• Supports JPEG, & PNG only.

I think this plugin is the second best image optimizer WordPress plugin after Smush It.

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How to Optimize WordPress images?

That was all about the best free WordPress image compression plugins. I’ve tried each of these plugins and I can strongly each one of them if you’re looking for a free yet effective free WordPress image optimizer.

I will make sure to post about other plugins and how to tweak the settings for the best performance. That being said, You need to make sure you’re doing image optimization just right.

Make sure you’re sharing this guide with everyone on social media: Facebook, Twitter, Google+.

My question: Which free WordPress Image Compression Plugin are you using? And Why?