AccessNow Image Optimizer shrinks oversized JPEG and PNG uploads to a maximum width you choose, makes WebP and AVIF copies, and serves those smaller files to every browser that can show them. Visitors get faster pages, and you keep working exactly as before.
Your originals stay safe: before an image is changed, an untouched copy is kept in a backups folder, and a file is only ever replaced by a smaller one.
Features
- Resizes and recompresses new uploads (2560 px by default, the same as WordPress itself)
- WebP and AVIF copies of every image and every thumbnail size, made in the background so uploads stay quick
- Serves them with picture tags on any host, or site-wide through Apache rewrite rules (nginx rules are in the FAQ)
- Every original kept, restorable with one click, one image or all of them, and deletable when you’re sure: the Backups panel shows how much space they use and what deleting them frees
- Bulk optimiser for existing images that works in the background, can be stopped and resumed, and copes with libraries of any size
- Keeps colour profiles when the server has Imagick, and keeps phone photos the right way up
- Photo details your way: keep them all (the default), remove the location, or remove the camera details too and keep the copyright and author. An optional credit line in the image’s hidden description, off unless you switch it on
- Disk space estimate and a guard that stops before the disk gets too full
- A server check that confirms the backups folder can’t be downloaded from and that fast serving really works
In Pro
- A before-and-after speed test on your own pages, in your own browser, showing the image weight each page saves
- Optimise the images that come with your theme and plugins, and other folders you choose, with backups and WebP and AVIF copies
- Printable summary, CSV and plain-text results to pass on
How it compares
Most image optimisers send your images to the vendor’s servers and give you a monthly allowance, or keep WebP free and charge for AVIF. AccessNow Image Optimizer does all of its work on your own server with WordPress’s own image tools: no account and no limit, and AVIF as well as WebP, wherever your server can make it. It is also the only one here that can take the location out of your photos while keeping your copyright in them. And it keeps every original you can put back with one click, shows how much space those backups use, and lets you delete them all at once, one image at a time or automatically. None of the others here shows that space or deletes one image’s backup. Image Optimizer Pro adds the images in your theme and plugins, which the others also do, and a before-and-after speed test measured on your own site, which we found in none of them. Choose a plugin to compare it with.
EWWW Image Optimizer
| Feature | Image Optimizer | Image Optimizer Pro | EWWW free | EWWW paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | US$13.30 a year1 site, launch price; normally US$19 | Free | From US$80 a yearUS$8 a month |
| Where images are compressed | Your own server | Your own server | Your own server | EWWW’s cloudand its Easy IO image CDN |
| Account or key | No | Licence key onlyno image service account | No | Yes, key |
| Limit | None | Nonepriced by sites, not images | None | By plan300k premium compression credits on the US$80 plan |
| WebP copies | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AVIF copies | Yeswhere the server supports it | Yeswhere the server supports it | No | Yes, through Easy IO |
| Put an original back | Yes, per image and in bulk | Yes, per image and in bulktheme and plugin images too | Yes, per image and in bulk | Yesplus 30 days of cloud backups |
| Delete backups to free space | Yesall, per image or automatically; space shown | Yesas free, with theme and plugin image backups counted too | By handspace not shown | By handcloud copies expire after 30 days |
| Remove photo location data | Yesand can keep the copyright and author | Yesand can keep the copyright and author | Yes, all or nothing | Yes, all or nothing |
| GIF images | Yesanimated ones as animated WebP (Imagick) | Yesanimated ones as animated WebP (Imagick) | Optimises GIFsWebP copies need the paid service | YesWebP copies through its service |
| Theme and plugin images | Noit only changes files in your uploads folder | Yesand other folders you choose | Yes | Yes |
| Before and after speed test | No | Yeson your own pages, in your browser | Not foundnot in its plugin code | Not foundpaid plans use the same plugin |
| WP-CLI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lazy loading or image CDN | First image loads firstno lazy load, high priority; no CDN | First image loads firstno lazy load, high priority; no CDN | Lazy loading | Lazy loading and image CDN |
Smush
| Feature | Image Optimizer | Image Optimizer Pro | Smush free | Smush Pro |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | US$13.30 a year1 site, launch price; normally US$19 | Free | From US$50 a year1 site; 3 sites US$75, 10 sites US$100; or a WPMU DEV membership from US$4.99 a month for the first 3 months |
| Where images are compressed | Your own server | Your own server | WPMU DEV’s cloud | WPMU DEV’s cloud |
| Account or key | No | Licence key onlyno image service account | No | Yes, membership |
| Limit | None | Nonepriced by sites, not images | Images up to 5 MB | Images up to 256 MB |
| WebP copies | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| AVIF copies | Yeswhere the server supports it | Yeswhere the server supports it | No | Yes |
| Put an original back | Yes, per image and in bulk | Yes, per image and in bulktheme and plugin images too | Yes, per image and in bulk | Yes, per image and in bulk |
| Delete backups to free space | Yesall, per image or automatically; space shown | Yesas free, with theme and plugin image backups counted too | By handspace not shown | Not confirmed |
| Remove photo location data | Yesand can keep the copyright and author | Yesand can keep the copyright and author | Yes, all or nothing | Yes, all or nothing |
| GIF images | Yesanimated ones as animated WebP (Imagick) | Yesanimated ones as animated WebP (Imagick) | Still GIFs onlyanimated ones skipped | WebP copies through its CDN |
| Theme and plugin images | Noit only changes files in your uploads folder | Yesand other folders you choose | Yes | Yes |
| Before and after speed test | No | Yeson your own pages, in your browser | Not foundnot in its plugin code | Not confirmedPro’s code isn’t public |
| WP-CLI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lazy loading or image CDN | First image loads firstno lazy load, high priority; no CDN | First image loads firstno lazy load, high priority; no CDN | Lazy loading | Lazy loading and image CDN |
Imagify
| Feature | Image Optimizer | Image Optimizer Pro | Imagify free | Imagify paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | US$13.30 a year1 site, launch price; normally US$19 | Free | From US$4.99 a monthbilled yearly |
| Where images are compressed | Your own server | Your own server | Imagify’s cloud | Imagify’s cloud |
| Account or key | No | Licence key onlyno image service account | Yes, account and API key | Yes, account and API key |
| Limit | None | Nonepriced by sites, not images | 20 MB a monthabout 200 images, up to 2 MB each | From 500 MB a month |
| WebP copies | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AVIF copies | Yeswhere the server supports it | Yeswhere the server supports it | Yes | Yes |
| Put an original back | Yes, per image and in bulk | Yes, per image and in bulktheme and plugin images too | Yes, per image and in bulk | Yes, per image and in bulk |
| Delete backups to free space | Yesall, per image or automatically; space shown | Yesas free, with theme and plugin image backups counted too | By handdelete the folder; space not shown | By handas free |
| Remove photo location data | Yesand can keep the copyright and author | Yesand can keep the copyright and author | Nolocation and camera details are always kept | No: always kept |
| GIF images | Yesanimated ones as animated WebP (Imagick) | Yesanimated ones as animated WebP (Imagick) | Yes, including animatedwith WebP and AVIF copies | Yes, as free |
| Theme and plugin images | Noit only changes files in your uploads folder | Yesand other folders you choose | Yes | Yes |
| Before and after speed test | No | Yeson your own pages, in your browser | Not foundnot in its plugin code | Not foundpaid plans use the same plugin |
| WP-CLI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lazy loading or image CDN | First image loads firstno lazy load, high priority; no CDN | First image loads firstno lazy load, high priority; no CDN | No (separate plugin) | No (separate plugin) |
Converter for Media
| Feature | Image Optimizer | Image Optimizer Pro | Converter for Media free | Converter for Media PRO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | US$13.30 a year1 site, launch price; normally US$19 | Free | US$50 a yearsale; normally US$60 |
| Where images are compressed | Your own server | Your own server | Your own server | The vendor’s server |
| Account or key | No | Licence key onlyno image service account | No | Yes, licence key |
| Limit | None | Nonepriced by sites, not images | None | 120,000 images a year |
| WebP copies | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AVIF copies | Yeswhere the server supports it | Yeswhere the server supports it | No | Yes |
| Put an original back | Yes, per image and in bulk | Yes, per image and in bulktheme and plugin images too | Not neededit never changes originals | Not neededit never changes originals |
| Delete backups to free space | Yesall, per image or automatically; space shown | Yesas free, with theme and plugin image backups counted too | Not neededit never changes originals | Not neededit never changes originals |
| Remove photo location data | Yesand can keep the copyright and author | Yesand can keep the copyright and author | Only in its copiesthe originals keep it | Only in its copiesthe originals keep it |
| GIF images | Yesanimated ones as animated WebP (Imagick) | Yesanimated ones as animated WebP (Imagick) | Still GIFs to WebPanimated not supported | Not confirmed |
| Theme and plugin images | Noit only changes files in your uploads folder | Yesand other folders you choose | Yes | Yes |
| Before and after speed test | No | Yeson your own pages, in your browser | Not foundnot in its plugin code | Not confirmedPRO’s code isn’t public |
| WP-CLI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lazy loading or image CDN | First image loads firstno lazy load, high priority; no CDN | First image loads firstno lazy load, high priority; no CDN | No | No |
ShortPixel
| Feature | Image Optimizer | Image Optimizer Pro | ShortPixel free | ShortPixel paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | US$13.30 a year1 site, launch price; normally US$19 | Free | From US$8.33 a monthbilled yearly; US$10.99 a month if monthly; or one-off packs from US$19.99 |
| Where images are compressed | Your own server | Your own server | ShortPixel’s cloud | ShortPixel’s cloud |
| Account or key | No | Licence key onlyno image service account | Yes, API key | Yes, API key |
| Limit | None | Nonepriced by sites, not images | 100 images a month | Unlimitedon the Unlimited plans; one-off packs have set credits |
| WebP copies | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| AVIF copies | Yeswhere the server supports it | Yeswhere the server supports it | Yes | Yes |
| Put an original back | Yes, per image and in bulk | Yes, per image and in bulktheme and plugin images too | Yes, per image and in bulk | Yes, per image and in bulk |
| Delete backups to free space | Yesall, per image or automatically; space shown | Yesas free, with theme and plugin image backups counted too | All or automaticnot per image; no space shown | All or automaticas free |
| Remove photo location data | Yesand can keep the copyright and author | Yesand can keep the copyright and author | Yes, all or nothing | Yes, all or nothing |
| GIF images | Yesanimated ones as animated WebP (Imagick) | Yesanimated ones as animated WebP (Imagick) | Yes, animatedto animated WebP, AVIF | Yes, as free |
| Theme and plugin images | Noit only changes files in your uploads folder | Yesand other folders you choose | Yes | Yes |
| Before and after speed test | No | Yeson your own pages, in your browser | Not foundnot in its plugin code | Not foundpaid plans use the same plugin |
| WP-CLI | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Lazy loading or image CDN | First image loads firstno lazy load, high priority; no CDN | First image loads firstno lazy load, high priority; no CDN | Not confirmed | Image CDN |
Last checked 19 October 2026. Prices as each vendor listed them on 19 October 2026, in US dollars; a sale price is marked as one. For the speed test row we searched each plugin’s own code on 3 October 2026: “not found” means nothing like it there, and an edition whose code isn’t public is “not confirmed”. “No” means we found no such feature in the vendor’s own pages, and “not confirmed” that we couldn’t check it. Check their sites for current offers.
They have strengths of their own. EWWW, Smush and ShortPixel can serve images through a CDN that resizes them for each device; ShortPixel, Imagify and EWWW also optimise PDFs; cloud compression and EWWW’s specialist tools squeeze files further than re-saving them does; and they are used on millions of sites. If you want smaller, faster images without an account, a limit or your images leaving your server, Image Optimizer is built for exactly that.
Price
Image Optimizer is free. Launch offer: Pro is 30% off for as long as you keep renewing until 30 April 2027: US$13.30 a year for one site, US$34.30 for five and US$69.30 for as many as you like (normally US$19, US$49 and US$99). Lifetime licences are also on offer to the first 100 buyers. Prices are in US dollars, billed once a year.
- Copies on your own computer and at staging addresses such as staging.yoursite.com are free and never use one of the sites you paid for.
- If a licence lapses, everything you already have keeps working. You lose updates and support, not your images or their backups.
- 14-day money-back guarantee.
Requirements
WordPress 6.5 or later, PHP 7.4 or later, and the Imagick or GD image library, which almost every host has. The settings page shows which formats your server can make.
