Speculative Loading vs WP Smush
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| Feature | Speculative Loading v1.7.0 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free · ★ 5.0/5 Visit Details | WP Smush v4.3.5 · checked 23 Oct 2026 Free + paid · ★ 4.8/5 Visit Details |
|---|---|---|
| At a glance | ||
| Active installs | 70,000+ | 1M+ |
| Last updated | August 26, 2026 | October 20, 2026 |
| Editions | Speculative Loading | Smush · Smush Pro ($) |
| Pros | Near-instant page changes for visitors; Settings under Settings > Reading; Maintained by the WordPress Performance Team | Bulk and on-upload image compression at no cost; Lazy loading for images and embedded video; Works with common page builders, WooCommerce and caching plugins |
| Cons | Prerendering loads pages before the click, so page scripts may run early; Behaviour depends on browser support for the Speculation Rules API | WebP, AVIF, resizing and the image CDN need Smush Pro; Images are sent to the WPMU DEV API for compression |
| Mentioned in our posts | — | 3 |
| Features (Speed Optimization plugins checklist) | ||
| CDN | — | Yes |
| Free version | — | Yes |
| More features | ||
| Other features | Speculation rules printed in the footer, Prefetch or prerender mode and eagerness settings, Exclude paths from speculation | Bulk compression of the media library, Lazy loading for images and embedded video, WebP and AVIF conversion (Pro) ($) |
| Integrations | ||
| E-commerce | — | WooCommerce |
| Plugins | — | WP Rocket, Elementor, Divi, Gravity Forms |
| Other | — | WPMU DEV Smush API |
| Requires WordPress | 6.9 | 6.4 |
| Requires PHP | 7.4 | 7.4 |
| Tested up to | 7.1 | 7.1 |
| Phones home | No | Only if you agree |
| External services | — | smushpro.wpmudev.com |
| Custom tables | — | 1 |