Redditors vote for best WordPress tips, tricks & hacks
WordPress isn’t just a popular CMS. It’s a thriving ecosystem that empowers you to build everything from blogs to robust e-commerce platforms. Even seasoned users might not tap into the full potential of this powerful system.
On Reddit, especially in subreddits like r/wordpress and r/webdev, thousands of developers and enthusiasts share their daily discoveries, hidden gems, and unconventional solutions. We’ve rounded up the top tips, tricks, and hacks that Reddit users swear by. Let’s check these out to see which tips can enhance your website performance or benefit your business.
Best WordPress tips & tricks
Tip #1
Skrapion says:
“Generally, the best way to improve WordPress speed with plugins is to get rid of some of your plugins.
Seriously though, I like Code Profiler to measure which plugins have the most impact on your sire (and look for alternatives for the slow ones – I found ACF faster than Pods, Smart Slider 3 faster than Slider Revolution, and Gutenberg way faster than any page builder).
Pay particular attention to plugins that are slowing down pages that aren’t even using the plug-in. You can use something like Plugin Organizer to only enable that plug-in on certain pages. There was another plug-in for that that I used to like, but I can’t remember what it was called.
I also use SiteGround optimizer to handle things like memcache and CDN, but I don’t know if that works if you’re not on their servers.”
SpaceLama’s take: remove unnecessary plugins, measure load times with the Code Profiler, replace heavy plugins with lighter options, and disable plugins on pages where they’re not needed. These actions can significantly speed up your WordPress site.
Specific replacements that boost speed: ACF outperforms Pods, Smart Slider 3 is quicker than Slider Revolution, and Gutenberg is faster than any visual builder (like Elementor or WPBakery). According to Hookturn’s tests, pages using ACF load 34-45% faster than those with Pods. Kinsta’s tests show that pages built with Gutenberg load 20-40% faster than the same layouts created with Elementor.
Tip #2
PickupWP says:
“For boosting site speed on WordPress, WP Rocket is a standout choice—it’s incredibly effective, easy to set up, and covers caching, file optimization, and lazy loading.”
SpaceLama’s take: in a Kinsta test, WP Rocket cut site load times by up to 63%, particularly when GZIP, caching, and file compression were enabled. For instance, a page loaded in 1.97 seconds without WP Rocket and just 0.73 seconds with it activated.
Tip #3
sewabs says:
“It’s already recommended here a few times so I’d +1 to WP Rocket but I’d also share a few other tips that I learned over the years.
Always keep your WordPress site updated. Updated versions are more efficient and faster.
Optimize your images for web. You can use tools like TinyPNG. I’m also using their Photoshop addon because I use Photoshop to optimize images.
I also follow all the steps recommended on this WordPress speed guide for two reasons. One because it’s simple, and two because it suggests things that can be done on any site even at the beginner level.”
SpaceLama’s take: always keep WordPress updated, optimize images (e.g., using TinyPNG), and follow a basic speedup guide, as it’s effective for every website.
According to WP Engine, core updates for WordPress frequently include speed enhancements for the editor, API, and database. The HTTP Archive (2023) reports that images make up 47% of the average web page weight, so optimizing them can nearly halve the overall download size.
Tip #4
eldrico says:
“-WP rocket as a premium
-Litespeed cache if your server has it installed, Lsc is free. Activate it on the server then install and set up thé plugin in wp’s BO.
-breeze as a free plugin. I just discovered it yesterday and find it better than wo optimize or wp total cache.”
SpaceLama’s take: in the WP Speed Matters (2023) test, LiteSpeed Cache was identified as the fastest free plugin, even outperforming WP Rocket when used with the LiteSpeed server. This ThemeIsle test showed that Breeze achieved an average page load speed of 1.10 seconds, faster than W3 Total Cache at 1.28 seconds and WP Optimize at 1.35 seconds.
Tip #5
netnerd_uk says:
Where I work we’ve historically offered cPanel/Apache based hosting, and we’ve had a long history of arguing with each other about making WordPress sites fast. The quickest and easiest way (and therefore the most accessible to our customers) we’ve found to make WordPress sites faster is a combination of the Litespeed web server (drop in replacement for apache), and the Litespeed cache plugin in WordPress (with object caching, preferably redis, enabled/configured). You might need to autoptimize in addition to inline some critical CSS, but that’s about it.
I did a bit of testing around this which went on our company’s blog (unsure if it’s OK to link here).
If you don’t use a page builder type plugin, and use Gutenberg for your page content, the above is fairly “good results with no real brain work”. Using a bloated page builder is really your pitfall to avoid.
You can get hosting that provides a litespeed web server fairly cheaply, and you don’t need killer hardware to get good results with what I’ve outlined above.”
SpaceLama’s take: the simplest and most effective way to speed up WordPress is by using the LiteSpeed server, the LiteSpeed Cache plugin, and the Redis object cache, while moving away from heavy visual builders in favor of Gutenberg. In some cases, adding Autoptimize can help inline critical CSS. According to BenchmarkWP, using Redis can reduce database response time by 30-60% compared to standard WordPress caching.
Tip #6
wcpress_net says:
“The easiest way to increase your sites performance is using a CDN. CDN means Content Delivery Network. It will deliver your most vital contents to your user without hitting your website on every page view. So most of the time you will have a better performance result.
You want to increase your website’s performance, but to how much? if you want performance more then 90 for Mobile and Desktop in Google Page Speed you are going to face a real pain. Because it is very hard to get 90 for WordPress & WooCommerce site. If you target for 80 on desktop and 70 on mobile devices, that is achievable.
If you want to change you hosting, please try to take a VPS. If you don’t know how to manage a VPS then there are managed VPS’s.
Hope this helps”
SpaceLama’s take: The easiest way to boost WordPress performance is by using a CDN, which offloads the server and accelerates loading times, particularly for images and static assets. However, don’t aim for a perfect 100 points on Google PageSpeed; for WordPress and WooCommerce, achieving 90+ on mobile is often an unrealistic goal. When selecting a hosting provider, opt for a VPS or managed VPS instead of shared hosting. According to Cloudflare, using a CDN can cut TTFB (Time to First Byte) by up to 50% and enhance content delivery speed in other regions by up to 60%. HostAdvice reports that VPS offers up to twice the stability compared to shared hosting, especially under load.
Tip #7
DoubleExposure says:
“I just discovered ResponsivelyApp it is kind of neat. I wish I had known about it before I finished my website, but it’s pretty cool.
It’s free and open source.”
SpaceLama’s take: according to its developers, ResponsivelyApp enables you to focus on adaptive development up to five times faster than manually switching between size settings.
Tip #8
apsuhos says:
“Use a child theme and add the styles there. If you write your own classes, try and use low specificity selectors and take advantage of the cascade. If you need to overwrite default styles, inspect the code and copy the often times complex selector to your child’s styles and overwrite it. Add comments everywhere.”
mevelas says:
“Agree with the comments in the child theme css. An additional tip also : I make sections in the css file, 1-general 2-menu 3-header 4-blog 5-pages 6-portfolio… It helps me to save time. Also while working on it, disable the css cache-minify-merge, it allows with the inspector to identify quickly the line in the css that you need to change. Also many people would disagree but when you cant apply a change use an !important at the end…”
SpaceLama’s take: use a child theme and keep custom styles in a separate CSS file. According to the official WordPress documentation, this is “the best way to customize a theme safely and painlessly.” To override complex standard styles, copy the necessary selectors using the browser inspector. Add comments to your edits to save time in the future.
And this study from Smashing Magazine indicates that structured CSS with sections and comments can reduce the time needed to finalize and implement new components by up to 40%. Organize your CSS into logical blocks (e.g., menu, header, blog) and disable minification during development to make it easier to find specific lines in the code. If certain styles are not in use, it’s acceptable to temporarily use !important, but do so thoughtfully and with appropriate comments.
Tip #9
redditmeup32 says:
“The best thing you can do is add comments.
To figure out what controls what you can add a 10px red border to each code block, that will show up very easily, then as a comment to warp that code block that tells you what it styles.
Going forward, add custom classes to the elements to make it easier to follow the CSS.
Ideally you should be using a child theme, and writing SCSS, compiling to CSS. You can then have separate SCSS files for each component, that makes things much simpler.”
SpaceLama’s take: add comments to each CSS block to clarify its purpose. According to the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2023, over 65% of developers view code commenting as essential for teamwork and maintainability. You can temporarily add borders (e.g., border: 10px solid red) to visually identify which styles apply to each element. This technique is even highlighted in the official Mozilla documentation (MDN) as a quick way to assess the scope of a style. Create your own CSS classes for easier navigation through the code. Ideally, use SCSS in a child theme and organize styles into components (menus, buttons, forms, etc.) to enhance maintainability and reusability.
Best lifehacks for speeding up and customizing WordPress
- Delete unnecessary plugins and replace them with lightweight alternatives like Gutenberg or ACF.
- Use the Code Profiler plugin to identify which plugins are slowing down your site.
- Enable plugins only where needed by using Plugin Organizer.
- WP Rocket is one of the most powerful and user-friendly tools to speed up your site.
- LiteSpeed Cache is an excellent alternative, especially for LiteSpeed servers.
- Breeze is a lightweight, free caching plugin that outperforms many others.
- Don’t overlook the database: update WordPress and optimize images.
- Use a CDN to offload the server and enhance site loading speed.
- Don’t chase a perfect 100 points in PageSpeed, that’s impossible. A score of 70–80 is solid for WordPress.
- Opt for VPS hosting over shared hosting, especially during high traffic.
- Use Autoptimize to speed up the rendering of critical CSS.
- Work through a child theme. It’s the safest way to customize your site.
- Place your styles in separate CSS files and write with low specificity.
- Add comments to CSS blocks to avoid confusion later.
- Write SCSS in components and compile the final CSS to simplify maintenance.
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