Swift Performance – The best settings

Some swear by Swift Performance, while others avoid it due to reports of scams.

In this tutorial I will show you how to change the settings of Swift Performance Lite I try to do this for every cache plugin, but I've personally decided not to use it. There are too many negative reviews, and while WP Johnny gets great results with it, I prefer to support Gijo Varghese of FlyingPress.

Swift offers extensive documentation and allows Lite users to unlock many Pro features for free. To do so, you need to register for Swift in the Dashboard, add your license key, and Swift Performance Extra Download the plugin. I recommend watching Johnny's Swift YouTube video, as many of these settings are based on his recommendations.

These settings should only serve as a starting point. Be careful to avoid duplicating features if you're using Cloudflare for image optimization and minification, Perfmatters for asset unloading, or WP-Optimize for database cleanup.

1. Setup Wizard

After installing Swift Performance, a setup wizard will open. Select the Autoconfiguration, and Swift adjusts some settings based on your server configuration, plugins, and current settings.

If you use Cloudflare, enable the automatic cleanup, create an API token and enter it.

Swift Performance then makes adjustments based on your configuration.

2. Dashboard

In the dashboard, you can see statistics such as the number of detected pages compared to actually cached pages. Warmup table Shows your cached pages, their priority, and the date they were last cached. You can manually add URLs if Swift didn't recognize certain pages.

Register with Swift, add your license key, and get more features in the Lite version. After adding your key, you will be prompted to Swift Performance Extra to install the plugin.

3. Settings

The Advanced view extends the Swift Performance settings with additional configuration options.

3.1. General

Generally

• Hide footprints: To – Hides references to Swift in the source code.
• Use Compute API: To – Accelerates CPU-intensive processes and provides better CSS and JS minification. Requires registration with Swift.
• Clear Cache Role: Select the user roles that are allowed to clear the cache.
• Disable admin notifications: Disables notifications from Swift in the admin area.
• Disable toolbar: Out of – Keeps Swift visible in the WordPress toolbar.
• Page-specific rules: To – Allows individual settings for individual pages.
• Collect anonymized data: Out of – Personal preference.
• Debug log: Activate only when needed for troubleshooting.

Tweaks

• Custom .htaccess: Useful for individual redirects.
• Background inquiries: Allows AJAX requests to be executed in the background.

Heartbeat

• Deactivate heartbeat: Disable Heartbeat everywhere except in the post editor.
• Heartbeat frequency: 240 – Saves resources.

Cron jobs

• Limit WP Cron: Limit WP-Cron to e.g. 50%to save resources.
• Enable Remote Cron: Out of – Only required if you want to disable WP-Cron completely.

Google Analytics

• Bypass Google Analytics: Out of – Blocks the tracking script and uses AJAX.

3.2. Media

Generally

• Smart Lazyload: To – Excludes above-the-fold images from lazy loading, improves LCP values.

Pictures

• Optimize images when uploading: To – Automatic image optimization during upload.
• Image source: Media library – Saves image data in the media library.
• Image optimizer: Lossless compression at 85% Quality.
• Scaling large images: 1920px – Prevents uploading images that are too large.
• Keep original images: To – Allows you to restore the original images.
• Generate WebP: To – Creates WebP versions.
• Deliver WebP: Elements – Better compatibility with Cloudflare.
• Deliver WebP background images: To – Serves background images in WebP.
• Exclude images: Here you can exclude images from the WebP format.
• Lazyload images: To – Remember to only use one lazy load plugin.
• Respect lazy load standards: To – Consider classes and attributes for exclusion.
• Preload sensitivity: 50 – Customizable for smoother scrolling.
• Load images on user interaction: To – Only loads images when interacted with.
• Lazy Load images inline: To – Inline placeholders for better performance.
• Lazyload placeholder: Select the desired placeholder.
• Lazyload wallpapers: Out of – Background images are often large and can affect loading time.
• Correct missing dimensions: To – Prevents layout shifts.
• Force responsive images: Out of – Only activate if your theme does not support responsive images.
• Gravatar cache: To – Caches Gravatar images for faster loading times.
• Small images inline: Out of – Can be enabled for small websites.

Embeds

• YouTube Smart Embed: To – Only loads the thumbnail until clicked.
• Lazy Load Iframes: To – Delays the loading of iframes.
• Load iframes on user interaction: To – Only loads iframes when interacted with.

3.3. Optimization

Generally

• Enable Server Push: Test – Can improve loading time, but should be tested.
• Optimize prebuild only: To – Prevents delays for first-time visitors.
• Optimize in the background: Enable if the previous setting does not work.
• Prebuild Boosters: To for slow servers, Out of for powerful servers.
• Disable emojis: To – Saves resources.
• Limit concurrent threads: Out of – Should remain deactivated.
• Merge assets for logged-in users: Out of – Can cause problems.
• DNS prefetch: To – Automatically adds prefetch for third-party domains.
• Collect domains from scripts: To – Collects domains for prefetching.
• Exclude DNS prefetch: clasp fonts.gstatic.com and your CDN URL.

Scripts

• Merge scripts: Out of – May cause errors.
• Disable jQuery Migrate: Test – Only activate if it does not cause problems.
• Preload scripts: Add important JavaScript files.

Styles

• Merge styles: Out of – For the same reasons as with scripts.
• Preload styles: Preloading important CSS files.

Fonts

• Preload fonts manually: Use free plugins or do it manually.

HTML

• Smart Render: To – Improves rendering speed.
• Correct invalid HTML: Out of – May delay cache build.
• Minimize HTML: If your CDN doesn't handle this.

3.4. Caching

Generally

• Enable caching: To
• Caching mode: Disk cache with rewrites – Recommended for most users.
• Early Loader: To – Accelerates the caching process.
• Cache expiration mode: Action-based mode – Recommended by Swift.
• Clear cache after update: To – Clears the cache after updates of core, themes or plugins.
• Enable caching for logged-in users: Out of – Only for sites with many logged in users.
• Separate cache for mobile devices: Out of – Except for separate mobile content.
• Enable browser cache: To – Saves files in the browser.
• Enable Gzip: To - Or Breadli, if supported.
• Send 304 header: Out of – Should remain deactivated.
• Caching 404 pages: Out of – Unnecessarily increases server load.
• Cache sitemap: Swift uses your sitemap URL for more efficient caching.
• Enable dynamic caching: Out of – Only activate if you know exactly what you are doing.

Tweaks

• Ignore GET parameters: Add parameters to exclude from caching.
• Avoid mixed content: Out of – Not necessary for HTTPS websites.
• Keep original header: To – Maintaining headers used by plugins.
• Exclude headers: Exclude certain headers from caching.
• Ignore case sensitivity of URLs: Out of – URLs are usually not case-sensitive.
• Strict Host: To – Prevents errors with different domain versions.

Warm-up

• Automatically prebuild cache: To – Rebuilds the cache after emptying.
• Prebuild speed: Adjust it to your server's performance.
• Discover new pages: Out of – Only enable if Swift doesn’t recognize important pages.
• Warmup table source: car for small pages, Sitemap for large pages.
• URLs per page: 30 – Number of URLs displayed in the warmup table.
• Warmup priority: default – Customizable if needed.
• Remove redirects: To – Removes redirects from the warmup table.
• Pre-build pages: Only activate pages that are used by visitors.

Varnish

• Enable Auto Purge: To – If you use Varnish.

3.5. CDN

Generally

• Activate CDN: To – For CDNs with their own URL like BunnyCDN.
• CDN hostname: Enter your CDN URL.

Cloudflare

If you use Cloudflare, add your API token so that Swift can automatically clear the Cloudflare cache.

4. Image optimizer

If you use Swift for image optimization, you can find statistics on optimized images and adjust settings here.

5. Database optimizer

You can delete unnecessary data such as transients, spam comments, and revisions. However, I recommend WP Optimizebecause it offers more control, such as keeping a certain number of revisions and scheduled cleanups.

6. Plugin Organizer

Use the Plugin Organizer to disable plugins on specific pages to improve loading time. Be careful and test thoroughly, though, as errors can occur. Performance Matters is an alternative, but if you use Swift, the plugin organizer is already included in the Lite version.

7. Lite vs. Pro

With the free Swift Performance Extra Plugin, most websites do not need the Pro version. The Pro version offers additional features such as a database optimizer, but many of these tasks can also be performed with free plugins such as WP Optimize be done.

Be careful when canceling, as there have been reports of poor billing practices from Swift. It's advisable to contact your bank to ensure no further charges apply.

Conclusion

Thanks for reading! I hope this tutorial helps you configure Swift Performance Lite optimally. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment on BlitzWP.de.