Speculative Loading

Plugin · Free

70,000+ active installs · Rated 5.0/5 · Updated August 26, 2026

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Official WordPress Performance Team plugin that adds the Speculation Rules API so browsers can prefetch or prerender pages when visitors show intent, such as hovering a link. It defaults to prerendering with moderate eagerness, and a setting under Settings > Reading lets you change the mode and eagerness. It suits sites that want faster page changes. Prerendered pages load before the click, so page scripts may run early.

Pros

  • Near-instant page changes for visitors
  • Settings under Settings > Reading
  • Maintained by the WordPress Performance Team

Cons

  • Prerendering loads pages before the click, so page scripts may run early
  • Behaviour depends on browser support for the Speculation Rules API

Topics: Speed Optimization plugins

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