Perfbase vs Smush – Image Optimization, Compression, Lazy Load, WebP & CDN

Perfbase profiles WordPress applications and sends performance traces to the Perfbase APM platform. It captures request lifecycle timing, WordPress context, selected metadata, and trace data through the native Perfbase PHP extension and the shared Perfbase PHP SDK. This plugin is a Software-as-a-Service integration. It requires a Perfbase account, a Perfbase API key, and the native ext-perfbase PHP extension. The plugin does not submit traces until profiling is enabled and an API key is configured. The plugin can profile: Standard HTTP requests. Admin requests when enabled. AJAX requests. WordPress cron runs. WP-CLI commands when enabled. WordPress, theme, plugin, REST, and WooCommerce context when available. For privacy and cardinality control, request URLs are stored without query strings. Important WordPress query parameters are stored separately where useful. External Services This plugin connects to the Perfbase APM platform, an external application performance monitoring service, when profiling is enabled. Service name: Perfbase APM platform and the configured Perfbase ingest API endpoint. The default endpoint is https://ingress.perfbase.cloud. Service policies: Perfbase Privacy Policy and Perfbase Terms. When data is sent: trace data is sent only after a Perfbase API key is configured, profiling is enabled, the request passes the configured sampling rate, include/exclude filters, user-agent exclusions, request-type toggles, and HTTP status-code rules. For HTTP, AJAX, cron, and WP-CLI lifecycles, submission normally happens at the end of the lifecycle or during shutdown. The plugin does not submit profiling traces while profiling is disabled or while no API key is configured. Perfbase can send: Native trace payloads: function call trees, function names, source file paths and line numbers, timing, CPU, memory, host resource metrics, call context, and runtime error or exception context. System/resource data: host operating system, kernel, hostname, CPU architecture, CPU details, disk capacity details, memory usage, CPU usage, disk I/O, and network I/O samples. Process-list tracking when enabled: capped process snapshots with process ID, executable basename, OS user, CPU usage, memory usage, and process runtime. Command-line arguments are not included in process snapshots. Additional native trace metadata: normalized SQL query text and query type, database DSN/host/database/username/port metadata, MongoDB or Elasticsearch query/filter payload summaries, Redis or Memcached keys and fields, HTTP URL or URI metadata that may include query strings depending on the PHP API or HTTP library used, HTTP method/status/timing/byte-count metadata, file paths and file operation metadata, mail recipient and subject metadata, shell/process command strings, AWS operation names, OPcache and JIT statistics, PHP error or exception samples, compiled file paths, magic method counts, and truncated function argument values if argument capture is separately configured. WordPress request metadata: action name, HTTP method, request URL without query string, HTTP status code, user IP address, user agent, logged-in user ID when available, hostname, environment, application version, PHP version, WordPress version, and Perfbase plugin version. WordPress context metadata: AJAX action, REST route, admin page, post/page identifiers, post type/status, taxonomy context, template and theme information, conditional page type flags, plugin lifecycle context, and WooCommerce page, cart, product, or order context when available. Operational summaries: memory usage, database query count and timing summaries when available, and sanitized outbound HTTP request metadata when HTTP tracking is enabled. Perfbase does not collect: Source code. Request bodies, full POST payloads ($_POST), arbitrary form fields, or uploaded file contents. Cookie values ($_COOKIE) or PHP session data ($_SESSION). Authorization header values. Passwords, API keys, nonces, or session IDs from WordPress request, cookie, or session data. Command-line arguments for process-list snapshots. Feature flags control the extra native trace metadata listed under “Perfbase can send”, including outbound HTTP URLs or URIs with query strings for some HTTP libraries and truncated function argument values if argument capture is separately configured. Administrators should review enabled Perfbase extension feature flags before profiling sensitive workloads. Extension installer and CDN: the plugin runtime does not call cdn.perfbase.com. The optional extension installer and manual extension binary downloads use https://cdn.perfbase.com only when a server administrator downloads or runs those installation assets. Privacy This plugin connects to Perfbase’s external service when profiling is enabled. It sends profiling trace data and request metadata to the configured Perfbase API endpoint. Data submission requires explicit configuration of a Perfbase API key and the Enable Profiling setting. The plugin does not submit traces while profiling is disabled or while no API key is configured. Administrators should review their site’s privacy policy and disclose their use of Perfbase where appropriate.

Compress images, optimize images, and enable image lazy load automatically with the powerful Smush image optimizer to keep your WordPress site fast, without losing quality. Smush makes it easy to optimize images, compress images, and deliver images faster across your entire WordPress site. This all-in-one image optimizer automatically reduces image file sizes, enables image lazy load, and serves modern formats like WebP and AVIF, all without breaking image quality or adding extra work. Whether you’re running a blog, store, or portfolio, Smush helps you optimize images at scale and keep your site fast with a trusted WordPress image optimizer. Trusted by 1+ Million Sites | 4.8/5 Star Rating Get everything you need to optimize images and speed up your site. Smush works out of the box with no complicated setup – just install and let it handle the rest. Compress images without losing quality Reduce image file size automatically while keeping your images sharp and clear. Smush is an easy-to-use image optimizer which let’s you compress images using both lossless and lossy compression, giving you the best balance of quality and performance without extra work. You can also compress images outside the media library using Directory Smush, making it easy to optimize images stored in theme folders, plugins, or other directories on your server. Lazy load images for faster pages Enable image lazy load across your site so images load only when needed. This image optimizer improves initial page speed and creates a smoother experience for visitors without extra configuration. Serve WebP and AVIF images automatically (PRO) Convert images to WebP and AVIF and serve them automatically to supported browsers. Smush helps you optimize images using next-gen formats to reduce file size and improve load times across your WordPress site. Deliver images faster with an Image CDN (PRO) Serve images through a global image CDN to reduce latency and improve load times for visitors around the world. 119 global CDN servers Up to 500 GB of bandwidth Faster image delivery based on visitor location Improved performance for image-heavy and high-traffic sites Automatically resize and fix image dimensions (PRO) Eliminate common PageSpeed warnings and improve layout stability with automatic image sizing. Smush dynamically resizes images to perfectly fit their containers, regardless of original size, helping fix the “Properly size images” warning in Google PageSpeed Insights. It also automatically adds missing width and height attributes to your images, improving rendering speed and reducing layout shifts. This helps you meet the “Ensure images have explicit width and height” recommendation without any manual work. Optimize your entire site, automatically Smush works across your whole site as a powerful image optimizer to optimize images as you upload them and maintain performance over time without manual work. Optimize images automatically on upload Compress images in bulk or individually Works with your existing media library No need to re-upload images Enable image lazy load across your site Convert images to WebP and AVIF Deliver images with an integrated image CDN Automatically resize and serve correctly sized images Optimize images outside the media library with Directory Smush Built for performance Smush improves page speed and overall performance by reducing image weight and improving how images are delivered. Reduce page load times Improve user experience Better performance for image-heavy pages Supports image lazy load and preload images (PRO) for faster perceived performance Works with your existing setup Smush is built to work with your current WordPress setup, including popular themes, page builders, and plugins. Compatible with Gutenberg, Elementor, WPBakery, and more Works with WooCommerce stores No need to change your workflow Easy to enable and configure Designed to be simple You don’t need to be a performance expert to optimize images with Smush image optimizer. Works out of the box Simple settings when you need them No technical knowledge required Safe to use on any site Why choose Smush? There are plenty of image optimization plugins, but Smush focuses on making it easy to optimize images, compress images, and improve performance without complexity. As a leading WordPress image optimizer, Smush gives you powerful optimization tools without the technical hassle. Trusted by over 1 million WordPress users Built specifically for WordPress Regular updates and improvements Backed by the WPMU DEV team Get started in minutes Install Smush, activate it, and start to compress images, optimize images, and enable image lazy load right away. This easy-to-use image optimizer helps most sites see improvements immediately without changing how they upload or manage images. About Us WPMU DEV is a premium supplier of quality WordPress plugins, services and support. Learn more here: https://wpmudev.com/ Don’t forget to stay up to date on everything WordPress from the Internet’s number one resource: WPMU DEV Blog Hey, one more thing… we hope you enjoy our free offerings as much as we’ve loved making them for you! Contact and Credits Originally written by Alex Dunae at Dialect (dialect.ca, e-mail ‘alex’ at ‘dialect dot ca’), 2008-11.