FastPixel vs NitroPack: Best Cloud Optimizer for WordPress
FastPixel and NitroPack are two WordPress solutions packed with unique and overlapping features designed to supercharge a website’s speed.
Alright, buckle up as we dive headfirst into comparing these two contenders, so you can nail down the perfect fit for your website’s requirements.
Understanding the plugins
FastPixel
FastPixel is a cloud-based website optimizer for WordPress. It offers a range of optimization features, including image compression and CDN integration, providing users with a suite of functionalities aimed at boosting their website’s speed.
NitroPack
Similarly, NitroPack stands out as a cloud-based, all-in-one solution for website optimization. It is engineered to be foolproof – streamlining the optimization process with the simplicity of a single button press, and delivering good scores on PageSpeed.
Opinions vary on its optimization strategies, some arguing it implements overly aggressive optimizations. Nonetheless, NitroPack undeniably accelerates page loading times, serving as a premium remedy for poor hosting choices.
Feature comparison
Image optimization
FastPixel primarily focuses on image optimization with cloud-based compression, WebP, and serving adaptive images.
NitroPack, on the other hand, provides similar cloud-based image optimization services. However, the option to deliver adaptive images is only available for higher-tier plans.
Both plugins play a crucial role in amping up your website’s performance, no doubt about it. Yet, where FastPixel shines is its laser focus on advanced image optimization. What’s more, FastPixel doesn’t force you to juggle between different plans to unlock all its features. That’s what gives FastPixel the upper hand in this area.
| FastPixel | NitroPack | |
|---|---|---|
| Image compression | Yes | Yes |
| Local/cloud compression | Cloud | Cloud |
| Adaptive images | Yes | Only for higher-tier plans |
| WebP delivery | Yes | Yes |
| Lazy loading | Yes | Yes |
| Lazy loading iframes | Yes | Yes |
| Add missing height and width attributes | Yes | No |
| LQIPs | No | No |
Caching
Both FastPixel and NitroPack incorporate essential caching features such as page cache and preloading to optimize website performance.
| FastPixel | NitroPack | |
|---|---|---|
| Page cache | Yes | Yes |
| Preloading cache | Yes | Yes |
| HTTP caching | Yes (for the resources on the CDN) | Yes |
CSS & JS optimization
Both FastPixel and NitroPack offer a robust suite of CSS & JS optimization features. They both offer offloading CSS minification onto the CDN, generating CCSS, asynchronously loading CSS, handling unused CSS, offloading JS minification onto the CDN, deferring JS loading, and delaying JS execution. Suffice it to say, both plugins are great in this critical area of website optimization.
| FastPixel | NitroPack | |
|---|---|---|
| Local minify CSS | No | No |
| Offload CSS minification (on CDN) | Yes | Yes |
| Critical CSS generation | Yes | Yes |
| Load CSS asynchronously | Yes | Yes |
| Deal with unused CSS | Yes | Yes |
| Local minify JS | No | No |
| Offload JS minification (on CDN) | Yes | Yes |
| Deferred loading JS | Yes | Yes |
| Delay JS execution | Yes | Yes |
Fonts & database optimization
FastPixel stands out with a unique feature: it smartly identifies characters and symbols actively utilized on a web page and integrates them into a custom font. This clever approach ensures that websites load only the essential font glyphs, thereby optimizing performance by slashing the overall font file size and enhancing page load speeds.
However, same as NitroPack, it lacks database optimization capabilities. Notably, only FastPixel supports font preloading, giving it an edge in this aspect.
| FastPixel | NitroPack | |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-load fonts | Yes | No |
| Delete unnecessary database entries | No | No |
| Schedule database maintenance | No | No |
| Optimize database tables | No | No |
CDN integration
FastPixel integrates with a CDN service (via bunny.net) to streamline the delivery of HTML, images, CSS, JS, and fonts. NitroPack achieves similar functionality through Cloudflare.
| FastPixel | NitroPack | |
|---|---|---|
| Included in the price or pay extra? | Yes, included | Yes, included |
| What does the CDN serve? | Images, HTML, CSS, JS, fonts | Images, HTML, CSS, JS, fonts |
| CDN provider | bunny.net | Cloudflare |
| Purge CDN cache in 1 click | Yes, but CDN cache is cleared only if images are updated | Yes |
| Custom subdomain | No | No |
Other optimizations
Both plugins provide DNS prefetching, preloading, and GZIP/BRotli compression functionalities. However, it’s unclear whether NitroPack supports preconnecting to required origins.
| FastPixel | NitroPack | |
|---|---|---|
| DNS prefetch | Yes | Yes |
| Preconnect to required origins | Yes | Unknown |
| Preload requests | Yes | Yes |
| GZIP/BRotli compression | Yes | Yes |
Pricing structure
FastPixel offers various plans billed monthly or yearly for one website, including a free plan. The cheapest plan starts at $10 per month for a website that has approximately 50,000 page views/month. All plans include all available features, image optimization, and unlimited CDN traffic.
NitroPack’s entry-level plan kicks off at $21 per month, catering to websites with around 50,000 monthly page views. The only drawback is its requirement to contact sales for a custom plan if you wish to extend the usage to more websites. Moving up to the second tier, which includes adaptive images, comes in at $51 per month.
Takeaways
Both FastPixel and NitroPack are solid options for optimizing WordPress performance, offering similar strengths.
When deciding between the two, it’s essential to consider your unique requirements, preferences, and budget limitations. If advanced image optimization is a priority for you and you’re working within a tight budget, FastPixel could be the way to go.
Ultimately, the decision comes down to finding the solution that best fits your website’s needs and aligns with your optimization goals.
Give FastPixel a try for free
Take a brief pause to check the performance of your WordPress site for free and measure the before and after results to see the value FastPixel adds to your site.
