The other day I got a question from a reader from my guide on how to speed up your website. The question was: do you still need WP Rocket if you are on SiteGround? If you are on SiteGround then you have access to their SG Optimizer plugin. This is a really good question. In the past, the SG Optimizer plugin only handled the caching but in a recent update, they have added many more features to this plugin.
So to see which one is the best for you I will be running a test.
I have created 2 identical sites on SiteGround. Both sites are built with Divi and I installed a couple of plugins:
- Divi (with the TeleHealth pack)
- WooComemmerce
- Contact form 7
- Yoast SEO
Table of Contents
Test Before Optimization
Before I start with the optimization I will give you the results from GT metrix, Google Page Speed and Pingdom.
GT Metrix Score Results (Before Optimization):
Google Page Speed Desktop (Before Optimization):
Pingdom Results (Before Optimization):
SiteGround + WP Rocket
For the WP Rocket + SiteGround test I used the following settings in WP Rocket.
File Optimization
Media
Preload
SG Optimizer + SiteGround
If you are on a Growbig or bigger plan you can use the memcached feature.
Supercacher Settings
Frontend Optimization
Media Optimization
The Results After Optimization
GT Metrix (WP Rocket + SiteGround)
GT Metrix (SG Optimizer + SiteGround)
Google Page Speed WP Rocket + SiteGround
Google Page Speed SG Optimizer + SiteGround
Pingdom WP Rocket + SiteGround
Pingdom SG Optimizer + SiteGround
Conclusion
In my test, I got very similar results with both plugins. SG Optimizer gives me a little better performance in GT Metrix and WP Rocket gives me a better score on Google page speed mobile. There is one nice feature in WP Rocket that SG Optimizer does not have and that is link preloading. When a visitor hovers over a link then that page will already be starting to load in the background. This will result in almost instantly loading. However, this does not have any effect on your page speed scores.
If you are already on SiteGround then I would not use WP Rocket. You could consider a plugin like Perfmatters which also comes with a link preloading and a script manager option. A script manager can reduce your page size significantly and get better loading times.
Thank you so much for such a detailed info.. It answered my questions!! I am following you now.. LOL 😀
Hello,
I have used SG Optimizer + SiteGround and Continue the problems I don’t now how to improve it. I have problem with speed on mobile and Computer.
Thank you,
Carlos
Hi Carlos,
Could you provide a link to your site then I will have a look for you.
Great article but politely disagree with your conclusion. We also use SiteGround.
We have determined that using all three plugins (SG Optimizer, WP Rocket, and Perfmatters) and a CDN (Cloudflare) yields the best results for TTFB, Total Loading Time, No. of Requests, and Page Weight.
We have tested every imaginable plugin combination. The catch is making sure your selected plugin features do not overlap.
For testing, we recommend webpagetest.org, lighthouse (same as pagespeedinsights), and gtmetrix.com
SiteGround says website speeds are faster without WP Rocket, but never provide data to substantiate their claim. We have data proving otherwise.
And yes, Perfmatters is awesome. It has additional web performance features that SG Optimizer and WP Rocket do no have.
By following the above, our website speed is 1-3 seconds faster than using SG Optimizer alone.
Side Note: A website’s theme will also play a key role in determining website speed. For example, we use Avada. It performs well on desktop, but is atrocious on mobile or tablet. Avada is already working on refactoring their code. Details: https://theme-fusion.com/feature-voting/
Cheers!
Thank you very much for your in-depth comment.
Excellent point in overlapping features. This can for sure crush your scores.
Out of curiosity, did you also enabled Memcache in SiteGround?
Yes, we have Memcached activated on our account.
One key finding and solution:
Many users complain that when using both SG Optimizer and WP Rocket, they always get the infamous X-Proxy-Cache = MISS when performing a HTTP Header check using one of the following online checkers:
https://www.webconfs.com/http-header-check.php
https://securityheaders.com
https://tools.keycdn.com/curl
https://httpstatus.io
To solve the above issue, simply do the following:
(1) Install and activate the plugin, Code Snippets
(2) Add the following snippet to your functions.php file or via Code Snippets (preferred):
function remove_htaccess_html_expire( $rules ) {
$rules = preg_replace( ‘@\s*#\s*Your document html@’, ”, $rules );
$rules = preg_replace( ‘@\s*ExpiresByType text/html\s*”access plus \d+ (seconds|minutes|hour|week|month|year)”@’, ”, $rules );
return $rules;
}
add_filter(‘rocket_htaccess_mod_expires’, __NAMESPACE__ . ‘\remove_htaccess_html_expire’);
add_filter(‘rocket_htaccess_mod_expires’, ‘__return_false’);
(3) Deactivate then Activate WP Rocket
(4) Clear all of your cache (Theme Cache, WP Rocket Cache and OpCache, SG Optimizer Cache, and CDN Cache) Make sure SG Optimizer’s cache is cleared from SG’s Site Tools (not within WordPress) and clear your CDN from withing the CDN’s dashboard (not within WordPress).
If the above does not fix the issue (it should!), then review the useful tips provided by WP Rocket (updated recently) as noted below. Just make sure you always deactivate and reactivate WP Rocket and flush all cache after making any changes.
https://docs.wp-rocket.me/article/1362-x-cache-miss-when-wp-rocket-is-activated
Result: A faster, less heavier website.
I hope this helps. If you haven’t already, you’re welcome to re-run your test with the above tips in mind.
Cheers!
Almost forgot 🙂
Dont’ forget to clear your Browser cache as well. To be on the safe side, always test your change using your browser’s incognito or private mode.
Also, here’s the other, recently-update article from WP Rocket concerning X-Proxy-Cache = MISS:
https://docs.wp-rocket.me/article/115-can-i-use-wp-rocket-with-sg-optimizer
Cheers!
Update: (Important)
Both SG Optimizer and WP Rocket now automatically activate Browser Caching and GZIP Compression — with no option to turn them off or on manually.
Since we don’t want duplicated settings when using these plugins, you can eliminate this conflict as follows:
(1) Disregard the snippet provided above.
(2) Use the following snippet to deactivate both Browser Caching and GZIP Compression in WP Rocket:
// Remove Browser Caching (Duplicated in SG Optimizer)
add_filter(‘rocket_htaccess_mod_expires’, ‘__return_false’);
// Remove GZIP Compression (Duplicated in SG Optimizer)
add_filter(‘rocket_htaccess_mod_deflate’, ‘__return_false’);
(3) Deactivate then Activate WP Rocket.
(4) Clear all cache as stated above.
Hope this helps everyone reading this.
Cheers!
Wow, would be great to have a amateur user cheat sheet for which functions to turn out with each piece… I’d like to use both + perfmatters but no clue which options to make it most effective. Care to share? 🙂
I have a question. I use Divi and have a site on SiteGround. If I use the SiteGround settings you have here, would I disable these settings in Divi theme options:
Minify And Combine Javascript Files
Minify And Combine CSS Files
Static CSS File Generation
Thank you so much!
Hi Janis,
Yes, I would disable those settings and let the SG optimizer plugin handle it for the whole site.
Thank you so much!