Autoptimize vs WP Rocket
Compare WordPress plugins and tools side by side. Pick products with “Compare” in the software directory.
| Feature | Autoptimize v3.1.16 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.7/5 Visit Details | WP Rocket v3.23.3.3 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Paid Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 800,000+ | — |
| Last updated | September 26, 2026 | — |
| Editions | Autoptimize · Autoptimize Pro ($) | WP Rocket ($) |
| Pros | Aggregates and minifies CSS and JavaScript; Lazy-loads images with WebP and AVIF support; Works without changing theme code | Page caching and minification with default settings; Preloading, critical CSS and unused CSS removal; Cloudflare and Sucuri integrations |
| Cons | Aggressive script changes can break pages and need testing; Page cache, CDN and critical CSS need the paid Pro version | No free edition; a licence is required; Several features call the vendor's cloud services; Usage analytics is opt-in but adds a vendor script in admin |
| Mentioned in our posts | — | 2 |
| Features (Speed Optimization plugins checklist) | ||
| Page cache | — | Paid |
| Browser cache | — | Paid |
| Minify CSS/JS | — | Paid |
| CDN | — | Paid |
| Object cache | — | No |
| Database cleanup | — | Paid |
| Free version | — | No |
| More features | ||
| Other features | CSS and JavaScript aggregation and minification, Image lazy-load and WebP and AVIF settings, Extra options for fonts, emoji and script placement, Critical CSS through the criticalcss.com premium API ($), Pro upgrade tab in the admin | Cache preloading ($), Critical CSS generation through vendor API ($), Unused CSS removal through vendor API ($), RocketCDN content delivery ($), Cloudflare API integration ($), Sucuri WAF integration ($), Scheduled database optimisation ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| Analytics | — | Mixpanel ($) |
| Storage | — | RocketCDN ($) |
| Other | criticalcss.com ($), Google Fonts | Cloudflare ($), Sucuri ($) |
| Requires WordPress | 5.3 | 5.8 |
| Requires PHP | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | — |
| Phones home | No | Only if you agree |
| External services | criticalcss.com, misc.optimizingmatters.com | cpcss.wp-rocket.me, api.wp-rocket.me, b.rucss.wp-rocket.me, saas.wp-rocket.me, rocketcdn.me, api.cloudflare.com, waf.sucuri.net, cdn.mxpnl.com |