Write & Grow
Astute Speed for WordPress
Speed up your WordPress site, for free
Astute Speed is a free WordPress plugin that improves Largest Contentful Paint, the Core Web Vital Google uses to measure how fast a page appears. It optimizes your images without limits, loads the first image first, and adds critical CSS to your posts.
Free forever on your own server. No account needed to start.
What slows a WordPress blog down
On most blogs and news sites, three things hold back the first screen. Astute Speed fixes each one.
Heavy images
Photos uploaded straight from a camera or phone are many times bigger than the screen needs.
The main image waits its turn
Lazy-load scripts and page builders often hide the biggest image on the page until everything else has loaded.
Stylesheets block the page
The browser downloads every stylesheet before it shows anything, even the parts the first screen never uses.
Free WebP and unlimited image optimization, on your own server
Everything here runs on your own hosting, with no account, no API key and no monthly cap.
WebP copies
The resized copies phones download are saved as WebP, about a third smaller. Your originals keep their format, so social previews still work.
Image optimization
Your heaviest images are resized and saved smaller, keeping their addresses. The original is kept, so you can restore any image.
The first image loads first
The featured image at the top of a page loads at once, at high priority, and is preloaded, even when a lazy-load plugin would hold it back.
Sliders and page builders
Hero images in sliders and page builders are found and preloaded too. A check shows what the plugin can do for each type of page.
Ads and analytics held back
AdSense and Google Tag Manager can wait until the visitor scrolls, taps or types, so the page appears first. Off by default.
Many image plugins count your images or your megabytes each month. Optimizing on your own server has no cap here.
Critical CSS for WordPress, made in a real browser
Connect your site to the free Write & Grow speed service, and Astute Speed adds critical CSS to your posts. The service opens a sample post in a real browser at phone, tablet and desktop widths and keeps only the CSS the first screen needs. The plugin prints it inside each post and loads the full stylesheets in the background, so the page appears before they arrive.
- Free: critical CSS for single posts, 1 run a month, and better compression for 100 images a month.
- With a licence: the homepage, pages and archives too, with more runs and more images.
- Safe to try: if anything looks wrong, switch critical CSS off and the page loads as before.
Better compression for the images that matter most
The Images screen lists your heaviest images first. Optimize them on your server for free, or send one to the speed service, whose encoders make the same image smaller still, PNGs included. Restore puts any original back.
How it works
- Install and checkInstall Astute Speed and click Check the first screen. It shows what it can do for each type of page.
- Optimize your imagesOpen Images and optimize the heaviest ones first. It runs on your own server, as often as you like.
- Add critical CSS (optional)Connect the site in one click and make critical CSS for your posts.
Free, or Pro
Everything that runs on your own server stays free. Astute Speed Pro is the paid upgrade, with SEO built in and critical CSS for your homepage, pages, posts and archives.
Astute Speed
$0
Any number of sites
- Unlimited image optimization and WebP on your server
- Critical CSS for posts
- 1 critical CSS run a month
- 100 better-compressed images a month
Pro Single
$49 / year
1 site
- A complete SEO plugin, with the speed tools built in
- Critical CSS for the homepage, pages, posts and archives
- 2 critical CSS runs a month per site
- 500 image optimizations a month per site
Pro Plus
$99 / year
3 sites · $33.00 a site
- A complete SEO plugin, with the speed tools built in
- Critical CSS for the homepage, pages, posts and archives
- 2 critical CSS runs a month per site
- 500 image optimizations a month per site
Pro Agency
$199 / year
10 sites · $19.90 a site
- A complete SEO plugin, with the speed tools built in
- Critical CSS for the homepage, pages, posts and archives
- 2 critical CSS runs a month per site
- 500 image optimizations a month per site
Pro is paid in USDT with Binance, and included in every Write & Grow plan. See everything in Astute Speed Pro. Refunds follow the refund policy.
Works with what you already use
Astute Speed works alongside WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache and other caching plugins, and clears their cache when critical CSS changes. If WP Rocket's own Load CSS asynchronously is on, Astute Speed's critical CSS stands down, so the two never both rewrite a page.
Your data
Nothing is sent anywhere until an administrator connects the site and agrees, and nothing about your visitors is ever sent. Images sent for better compression are not kept. Critical CSS is deleted from the service within two days. Read the privacy policy.
Questions
Is the image optimization really unlimited?
Yes. Optimizing on your own server and saving WebP copies have no monthly cap. Only the better compression on the speed service has a monthly allowance.
What is critical CSS?
It is the small part of your stylesheets that the first screen of a page needs. Printing it inside the page lets the browser show that screen without waiting for the full stylesheets, which improves Largest Contentful Paint.
Will it change my image addresses?
No. Optimized images keep their file names and addresses. The original is kept, so Restore can put it back.
Does it work with my caching plugin?
Yes. It works alongside WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache and others, and clears the WP Rocket and LiteSpeed caches when critical CSS changes.
Do I need an account?
No, not for anything on your own server. Connecting a site for critical CSS is free and needs no account. You only need a Write & Grow account to upgrade to Astute Speed Pro.
What happens if I disconnect or delete the plugin?
Disconnecting stops all contact with the speed service, and critical CSS already on your site keeps working. Deleting the plugin removes its settings. Your optimized images and their originals stay.
What does Astute Speed Pro add?
Pro is the paid version: a complete SEO plugin (sitemaps, IndexNow, schema, redirects, SEO titles and descriptions) with the speed tools built in, critical CSS for the homepage, pages, posts and archives, and 500 image optimizations and 2 critical CSS runs a month per site. It is included in every Write & Grow plan.
I use Astute Speed Pro. Do I need this too?
No. Pro already has these speed features, so Astute Speed stands down if both are active.
Make your website faster today
Free, and coming soon to WordPress.org. Optimize your images in minutes.