FlyingPress is a paid WordPress cache and optimization plugin built to improve the performance of WordPress websites (developed by Gijo Varghese, a promising WordPress speed expert).
Nowadays, most cache plugins don’t improve website speed; instead, they try to justify their price by adding unnecessary features.
But FlyingPress doesn’t have many features or a complicated setup. You can use it seamlessly even if you don’t know the basics. The good thing is that it optimizes the website’s speed for humans, as measured by speed metrics.
Most cache plugins are developed to trick page metrics by skipping page elements, but for actual users, the website is super slow.
Note: FlyingPress version 5.2 is out now, and you can download or update it. You’ll see a big change in version 5; the UI is totally different, and there are some new features.. So, this review is based on the latest version.
What Makes FlyingPress Better?
This plugin is not just about caching – it offers many useful front-end optimization features that help speed up your website. It has been my go-to for nearly four years, and I haven’t found anything that beats it. Here, I will utilize my experience to simplify this WordPress speed optimization plugin and its potential drawbacks.
Simple User Interface
A good user interface makes a product more valuable. Imagine cache plugins like W3 Total Cache, Swift Performance, or even LiteSpeed Cache; their UIs are not easy to navigate, particularly W3 Total Cache’s.
They make it easy for non-techies to mess up (even for developers). However, FlyingPress is the most straightforward user-interface caching plugin.
Sure, plugins like WP Rocket and Fastest Cache have user-friendly interfaces, but their features aren’t that impressive. (They lack features and are outdated.)
F-Press simplifies speed optimization for both new and experienced WordPress users thanks to its user-friendly interface. Users can clear and preload caches and remove unused CSS with just a few clicks.
You don’t have to configure many settings, but it’ll speed up your site. Hence, it may be a suitable cache plugin if you prefer a simple UI/UX without complications, whether you’re a novice or a pro.
Core Web Vitals Tracking
A totally new feature, but I’ve never seen it in a cache plugin before. Upon activation, FlyingPress automatically loads a JavaScript on every page of the website. For all visitors, including logged-in users, it runs, but it is not included on the admin pages.
It analyzes performance metrics based on Core Web Vitals data collected from real users. Unlike PageSpeed Insights, which displays a 28-day average, FlyingPress provides fresh data regularly. It’s cool what I’m seeing.
Once that is all set, the JS collects Largest Contentful Paint, Interaction to Next Paint, Cumulative Layout Shift, and Time to First Byte.
For more insights, check out the Vitals tab in FlyingPress’ dashboard. It’s possible to pick metrics separately. Choose between mobile and desktop. Additionally, you can select a time range, such as the last hour, the previous 24 hours, 7 days, or 30 days. You can identify where issues are at both the page and country levels.
Image and iFrame Optimization
Recent updates have combined Image and iframe Optimization into a single section. Media files and images are among the most significant resources for website owners and a major contributor to slow loading times.
Optimize your images before uploading them to a website. To compress or resize your photos, use online tools like Image Resizer or software features like Adobe Photoshop’s Save for Web.
IFrames are HTML frames that load a different HTML page within a layout. They are commonly found on websites, such as embedded YouTube videos.
Cache plugins typically don’t optimize images; however, FP offers valuable image-optimization features, and FlyingCDN makes it even easier.
- Lazy load images and Iframes: A common feature in cache plugins – the good news is that FP lets you exclude pictures above the fold from lazy loading, allowing you to exclude images/Iframes from the top of the page. To exclude them manually, simply add the image/iframe URLs.
- Properly Sized Images: Automatically add missing width and height attributes to images to minimize layout shifts. Adapt your images to fit on the page.
- Local Gravatar: It downloads and saves Gravatar images on your web server to enhance your site’s performance. And minimize external requests.
- Replace YouTube iframes: It’s handy if you use YouTube videos on your site. Before users play videos, thumbnails are shown instead of iframe embeds.
Script Optimization
In v.5, CSS and JavaScript optimization are merged. Numerous factors make a website challenging to optimize, and CSS and JavaScript are among them.
Most cache plugins don’t optimize CSS/JavaScript correctly, which can cause websites to crash. However, FP CSS/JS settings are safe and will not cause your site to crash; they also include some clever methods.
Minify CSS and JavaScript:
Remove empty spaces and comments, and reduce property values to minimize CSS file size. Thanks to this safe CSS refinement feature, any site won’t crash. It optimizes standard JavaScript by removing whitespace and reducing file size.
Unused CSS:
WordPress has a lot of unused CSS that needs to be optimized. Regarding this issue, most plugin refinements cause the website to crash.
However, FlyingPress allows you to optimize unused CSS effectively. Defer loading the rest of the CSS until the user interacts and removes some unused CSS.
On-user interaction is the safest way to load unused CSS after rendering used CSS for other average and dynamic sites. I usually like the initial view. You can ignore stylesheets by entering the URL or path of CSS files that shouldn’t be removed.
Lazy render elements:
This strategy enables you to skip elements on a page until the user interacts with them. It can speed up the site and improve page load time.
WP elements, such as comments and footer parts, don’t need to load quickly. With the latest update, users can pick elements from the Gutenberg editor.
JavaScript Optimization:
JavaScript is a prevalent part of websites, but it often slows them down. Almost every theme and plugin in WordPress uses JavaScript.
If you’re using WordPress documentation plugins, be careful with this feature. Third-party Scripts, such as ads, banners, and analytics codes, can be tricky to optimize. That’s why it has ingenious JS optimization features:
- Delay JavaScript from Site: Loads themes, plugins, and core scripts later for faster loading, and you can choose to load them when the site is idle or after interaction. Also, you can exclude scripts that shouldn’t be delayed.
- Delay Third-party JavaScript: This feature allows you to reduce the impact of third-party codes delaying external JavaScript, such as ad networks, analytics, or other third-party scripts. Scripts only load when needed. Third-party code slows down your website and isn’t very clear to your visitors.
- Self-host External CSS and JavaScript: Downloads and serves critical external resources locally.
Depending on the website, delaying all JavaScript might not be a good idea. However, users can use it for most websites because there’s another way to exclude scripts from the delay. On top of all this, you need to know a few things about optimization and understand the types of JS that shouldn’t be delayed.
Simple Font Adjustments
Sure, fonts are simple, but most aren’t optimized and can significantly slow down WordPress websites, especially if you use Google fonts.
Hence, the most effective strategy to avoid external fonts affecting your website is to use one or two fonts and host them on your own server, rather than relying on external fonts. With the FlyingPress cache plugin, users can optimize both Google fonts and those hosted on the web server by combining and self-hosting them.
It allows users to preload font files as high-priority for self-hosted fonts. Also supports fallback fonts, ensuring text remains visible while web fonts load.
Use System Fonts First: This feature temporarily displays the system fonts to prevent blank text while loading custom fonts.
Bloat Removal
Bloating a website or database can cause it to run slowly or not work correctly. Most WordPress themes, plugins, and core features contain many unnecessary elements.
The plugin does not include asset optimizations, such as those found in Perfmatter. However, it has a few basic bloat-removal features that are useful for most websites.
- Disable XML-RPC: There’s no reason to keep XML-RPC active since it’s no longer needed. It also leads to security holes.
- Disable RSS feed: Users can keep track of their favorite sites with RSS feeds. However, I believe this is outdated and no longer relevant.
- Disable Emojis: Emojis in WordPress core aren’t necessary. It’s not a big deal, but you can remove it by ticking the box.
- Control Post Revisions: It controls WordPress from saving extra copies of posts each time you update.
- Throttle Heartbeat API: Limits background activity in the browser to once every 60 seconds. It can help if your site has high CPU usage..
These features are useful on small VPSs like Webdock or Starlight. You can deactivate a few more, such as oEmbeds, Block Editor CSS, jQuery Migrate, Dashicons, and WP Cron, but you may not need to disable them all.
Cache Settings
FlyingPress is a caching plugin, so caching is its primary feature – it’s enabled by default. You cannot disable it using a checkbox.
The only options are to manually ignore the pages or deactivate the plugin. But it contains helpful cache control features, such as:
- Cache for Logged-in Users: This feature is not recommended for most websites, as it generates cache pages specifically for logged-in users.
- Auto-refresh Cache: It automatically clears and rebuilds the cache at intervals to keep content fresh. However, auto-preloading can be resource-consuming for large sites with many pages or dynamic sites.
- Separate Mobile Cache: It creates separate mobile versions with their own caches and optimizations. However, it is unnecessary for most websites.
- Purge Entire Cache: Clears all caches, including FlyingCDN and optimizations. It may temporarily slow down because it is serving uncached pages.
FlyingPress is quick at caching and preloading compared to others. You’ll see the results in a few seconds; however, it should have the option to disable caching.
Pricing Strategy
Here’s the most important part of our FlyingPress review – the pricing…
FlyingPress’ pricing strategy changed – Renewal is not offered at this time; there is just a flat rate for each plan.
Pricing:
- Starter: A website costs $59 per year
- Pro: $99 for three websites
- Business: $199 for 25 sites
- Unlimited: Unlimited websites for $249/year
FlyingPress is less expensive than WP Rocket or similar plugins, and it offers unlimited plans. But it still lacks lifetime deals. It provides a money-back guarantee. There is no risk, so you can get a refund if you aren’t satisfied within 14 days.
Feature-Packed CDN
FlyingPress cache plugin offers a WordPress CDN service called FlyingCDN – previously used BunnyCDN, but now Cloudflare Enterprise. I’ve written an article about FlyingCDN if you want to know more.
I like this updated version of FCDN because C-Enterprise provides enhanced protection, stability, and network features that are unavailable with other services.
These days, Cloudflare Enterprise is famous among WordPress enthusiasts, and some hosting providers have already integrated it into their platforms.
WP Rocket also offers a CDN service, RocketCDN, which uses Bunny but doesn’t include optimizations—it’s just a traditional CDN.
FlyingCDN has a lot of cool features, like:
- Full Page Caching: One of this CDN’s impressive features is its ability to deliver fast TTFB. It caches whole pages, so they load quickly with Cloudflare’s 300+ edge locations. Web hosts like Rocket.net use Cloudflare’s full-page caching. Also supports edge caching with Cloudflare, even for free.
- Image Optimization: To reduce image file sizes, Cloudflare Polish image optimization compresses images without compromising quality and resizes them to fit the render size. Also, it converts WebP without rewriting URLs.
- Optimized for WooCommerce: Users can get cached pages for faster navigation, even with shopping cart items.
- Security Features: It offers a range of security features, including DDoS protection, wildcard SSL, WAF, and bot management.
- Free Trial: Still, they offer a 7-day free trial without requiring a credit card.
- Easy Integration: Add or update your DNS records makes it easy to integrate.
Pricing at FlyingCDN depends on the amount of data transferred. And each 100 GB costs $10 per month. This is similar to Pay As You Go, but each site is subject to a minimum charge of $10/M (regardless of usage).
Compatibility
FlyingPress is compatible with any web host or server setup, like Vultr. However, some caching and optimization plugins aren’t compatible with specific server conditions or don’t work correctly in certain situations.
For example, LiteSpeed Cache is only compatible with LiteSpeed servers or QUIC.cloud. Most web hosts have server-side caching.
Most managed web hosts, such as Kinsta, WP Engine, PressLab, and Servebolt, do not allow the use of many caching and optimization plugins.
However, this WordPress plugin can run on all web hosts and server conditions, including Apache, NGINX, and LiteSpeed.
All CDN services: CloudFlare, Akamai, Bunny, CloudFront, Fastly, Google, etc. Works with LiteSpeed Hosting, and LSC doesn’t have to be the only plugin. The plugin is compatible with SEO plugins, content optimizers, and other similar ones.
However, it won’t work with other caching plugins, such as Rocket, WP-Optimize, and W3TC. I have not experienced any issues with different themes or plugins.
Speed Up To Real Humans
Speeding up for real humans is the most valuable part of this plugin, because most WordPress optimization strategies focus on refining things for algorithms.
Numerous methods simply cheat page metrics by skipping elements on the page. When real people come to your site, everything loads slowly.
It’s like writing for SEO rather than for humans, because you optimize your WordPress website for speed tests rather than for real people.
FlyingPress is rated at the top of the Google Core Web Vitals Technology Report, with a reasonable user experience. UX Report also shows that it often performs better than similar plugins – Here
However, FlyingPress optimizes pages for both humans and metrics. For instance, you can test page metrics such as CWV, GTMetrix, Pingdom, etc.; it also simulates real users rather than bypassing page elements.
Optimizing for users means delivering the ideal user experience, but for page speed metrics, the goal is to load fewer requests first. Even with high scores, that doesn’t mean your site is fast for actual users. Try looking up some ranked websites and seeing their speed rankings. Measure your website’s TTFB using these tools.
It doesn’t mean page speed metrics aren’t essential. There are points for metrics like TTFB, content paint, first input delay, and cumulative layout shift.
Anything I Don’t Like About FlyingPress?
I’ve been using it for over 2 years now. Anything I don’t like? Honestly, not much. I haven’t had any trouble so far. But here are a couple of concerns:
- FlyingPress’ documentation isn’t very detailed. It’s enough for most people. It’s not a big deal because it’s simple and has minimal settings (not complicated). But I think some of its features should be explained in more detail.
- It caches all your pages by default. To stop some pages from being cached, you must manually exclude them. You can’t disable caching with a single click.
- I would suggest adding an option for object cache add-ons like Redis, Memcached, and Varnish; that would be helpful.
I don’t see many cons with FlyingPress, but it’s up to you; nothing’s perfect. These are minor things to me. It is an effective solution for most WordPress sites and is compatible with WordPress cloud hosting control panels.
Final Thoughts For This Review
In this FlyingPress review, I have outlined valid reasons to use this caching plugin and identified potential drawbacks that may arise afterward.
From my experience, it is the most potent speed optimization plugin for WordPress, offering numerous features to enhance the speed of modern WordPress websites without requiring complex settings.
Whatever your skill level, from beginner to pro, you can speed up your website with this WP plugin. I recommend using Cloudflare APO or FlyingCDN with this plugin to improve your website’s TTFB by caching the entire page.
You can also use FlyingCDN or RocketNet to utilize Cloudflare at the enterprise level. The LiteSpeed plugin is suitable for those who want a free cache plugin, but the main downside is the lack of cache preloading; it’s fine for developers.
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