Hi, I wanted to ask about image optimization for the website.
Since the website will eventually have a large number of business listings, and each listing may contain multiple images uploaded by users, I want to make sure images don’t negatively affect website speed or server storage.
Could you please recommend/install an appropriate image optimization solution or extension that can:
Automatically compress and optimize uploaded images
Automatically convert images to WebP (and AVIF if beneficial)
Resize very large images automatically instead of storing unnecessarily large originals
Maintain good image quality while reducing file size
Optimize images that are uploaded by business owners through the listing submission form
Ideally optimize existing images as well
Use lazy loading where appropriate
Prevent unnecessarily large images from slowing down listing pages
Also, overall website setup for speed and scalability, because my plan is to allow a large number of businesses/listings to be published on the site over time.
I want the website to remain fast even when we have thousands listings and a large number of images.
Please let me know what image optimization plugin/extension and caching/CDN setup you recommend, and whether there are any other changes we should make now so we don’t face performance problems later.
I’ve gone through the recommendations. Since this is a HivePress directory and I’m planning to have thousands of listings with multiple images uploaded by business owners, could you advise which solution you would recommend specifically?
If I want to choose one image optimization plugin/extension for automatic compression, resizing, and WebP/AVIF conversion, would you recommend Imagify over Resize Image After Upload?
Also, for caching/performance, would you recommend using FlyingPress + Imagify, or is there another combination that works better with HivePress?
I’d like to set this up correctly now so I don’t run into image storage or performance issues as the number of listings grows.
If you only pick one: Imagify. Resize Image After Upload only does one job (downscaling on upload), whereas Imagify covers compression, WebP/AVIF and has a “resize larger images” option built in — so it replaces both. Two things to be aware of:
It’s quota-based (the free tier is only 20MB/month), so a UGC directory with thousands of listings will need a paid plan and that cost grows with your uploads.
It keeps the original files as backups by default. Great for safety, bad for your disk usage — worth disabling once you’re happy with the output quality.
Also note WordPress already scales uploads over 2560px wide by default, so you’re not storing true originals anyway.
On caching: HivePress’s own recommendation is LiteSpeed Cache — their speed guide is built entirely around it, and it bundles caching, CSS/JS optimisation and WebP conversion in one free plugin. It’s the obvious choice if you’re on LiteSpeed/OpenLiteSpeed hosting.
Personally I run FlyingPress + Perfmatters. They pair well because Perfmatters doesn’t do page caching — it’s script management and bloat removal, so there’s no overlap. Worth knowing that FlyingPress (5.3+) now includes its own image optimisation, so FlyingPress + Imagify would be doubling up — pick one.
The critical bit for HivePress, whichever you choose: disable caching for logged-in users and exclude REST API requests. HivePress needs this to function properly, and it’s the most common cause of “my listings/forms broke after installing a cache plugin”.
Thanks Chris, that makes things much clearer. I’ll go with Imagify and look into LiteSpeed Cache based on my hosting.
Also, if you don’t mind, could you share your website link? I’d love to have a look at how you’ve set things up, especially the performance side, as I’m building a directory site too.
I don’t currently have a live site that I’m happy to share here, however, you could consider making use of the HivePress Import extension to quickly and easily add a large number of test listings to help gauge performance on a heavily populated site.
You can find more information about using the extension here:
