ProRank vs Perfmatters: speed test and features
Perfmatters is a light, paid plugin built around removing what slows a site down. ProRank does that job too, with page caching, image compression and the SEO tools in the same plugin.
- Features and prices checked on .
- Speed test run by ProRank on , with Perfmatters 2.5.7.
ProRank and Perfmatters in brief
Perfmatters has no free version. Its strength is control: a script manager that turns scripts off page by page, delayed JavaScript, unused CSS removal, lazy loading, local Google Fonts and Heartbeat control.
Version 2.7.0, released on 12 November 2026, added page caching and cache warming as a beta, off by default. The version we tested had no page cache, so its scores below are without one. Perfmatters does not compress images and has no SEO features.
ProRank's page caching and image compression are in its free plan; its script manager needs the Pro plan. Perfmatters' script manager also has an MU mode that can control a plugin's front-end scripts, inline code and database queries.
Average mobile PageSpeed score, three themes
- ProRank95.0
- Perfmatters88.0
- No speed plugin72.0
- Mobile score by theme: ProRank higher on all 3 themes.
- Mobile Largest Contentful Paint: ProRank faster on all 3 themes.
- Average desktop score: ProRank 100.0, Perfmatters 99.7.
- One lab test by ProRank, scores out of 100; details and caveats are below.
Speed test results
Google PageSpeed Insights lab results for the same test site with each setup. Scores are out of 100, higher is better; for the timings and layout shift, lower is better and the better figure is in bold.
PageSpeed scores
| Theme | ProRank | Perfmatters | No speed plugin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile score | |||
| Astra | 96 | 86 | 69 |
| Hello Elementor | 93 | 89 | 69 |
| GeneratePress | 96 | 89 | 78 |
| Average | 95.0 | 88.0 | 72.0 |
| Desktop score | |||
| Astra | 100 | 99 | 96 |
| Hello Elementor | 100 | 100 | 96 |
| GeneratePress | 100 | 100 | 98 |
| Average | 100.0 | 99.7 | 96.7 |
Astra
| Measure | ProRank | Perfmatters |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile | ||
| First Contentful Paint | 1.8 s | 2.3 s |
| Largest Contentful Paint | 2.4 s | 3.9 s |
| Total Blocking Time | 0 ms | 0 ms |
| Cumulative Layout Shift | 0.000 | 0.015 |
| Speed Index | 2.7 s | 2.3 s |
| Desktop | ||
| First Contentful Paint | 295 ms | 481 ms |
| Largest Contentful Paint | 407 ms | 741 ms |
| Total Blocking Time | 0 ms | 0 ms |
| Cumulative Layout Shift | 0.000 | 0.005 |
| Speed Index | 318 ms | 763 ms |
Hello Elementor
| Measure | ProRank | Perfmatters |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile | ||
| First Contentful Paint | 1.1 s | 1.8 s |
| Largest Contentful Paint | 2.6 s | 3.7 s |
| Total Blocking Time | 0 ms | 0 ms |
| Cumulative Layout Shift | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Speed Index | 2.4 s | 1.9 s |
| Desktop | ||
| First Contentful Paint | 302 ms | 441 ms |
| Largest Contentful Paint | 561 ms | 721 ms |
| Total Blocking Time | 0 ms | 0 ms |
| Cumulative Layout Shift | 0.000 | 0.020 |
| Speed Index | 864 ms | 903 ms |
GeneratePress
| Measure | ProRank | Perfmatters |
|---|---|---|
| Mobile | ||
| First Contentful Paint | 1.1 s | 2.1 s |
| Largest Contentful Paint | 2.7 s | 3.5 s |
| Total Blocking Time | 0 ms | 0 ms |
| Cumulative Layout Shift | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Speed Index | 1.1 s | 2.3 s |
| Desktop | ||
| First Contentful Paint | 304 ms | 361 ms |
| Largest Contentful Paint | 548 ms | 681 ms |
| Total Blocking Time | 0 ms | 0 ms |
| Cumulative Layout Shift | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Speed Index | 347 ms | 893 ms |
We also tested Perfmatters together with WP Rocket. That setup averaged 78.0 on mobile, lower than Perfmatters on its own (88.0). We cannot explain the difference from the records we hold, which is one more reason to read single lab results with care.
How the speed test was run
- Run by
- ProRank, on 16 February 2026. This is our own lab test, not an independent one.
- Measured with
- Google PageSpeed Insights (lab data). Median of three runs for each plugin and theme; the ProRank "v2" re-test used single verified runs.
- Site
- WordPress 6.9.1, PHP 8.3.6, Nginx 1.28.2, hosted with Hetzner, Germany. Elementor Pro, tested on Astra, Hello Elementor, GeneratePress.
- Versions
- Perfmatters 2.5.7 (the current version is 2.7.0, so results may differ today). ProRank is recorded as "v2" of ProRank SEO Premium.
- Settings
- Each plugin was configured by ProRank for its best result.
- Raw reports
- Not published. The figures on this page are the recorded results. PageSpeed lab scores move between runs, so treat differences of a few points with caution.
- Other plugins active
The test site ran 27 plugins, including both Yoast SEO and Rank Math SEO at the same time, which a real site would not do:
WooCommerce, BuddyPress, bbPress, Elementor Pro, Rank Math SEO, Yoast SEO, Jetpack, Contact Form 7, WPForms Lite, Wordfence Security, MonsterInsights, UpdraftPlus, WP Mail SMTP, All-in-One WP Migration, Classic Editor, Redirection, TablePress, Simple Custom CSS and JS, Insert Headers and Footers, Starter Templates, Akismet Anti-Spam, Health Check & Troubleshooting, Query Monitor, WP Super Cache (disabled), Safe SVG, User Role Editor, Advanced Custom Fields.
- Perfmatters in this test
Perfmatters 2.5.7 was tested on its own, without any page cache.
Features compared
What each plugin offers today, and which ProRank plan you need for it. Perfmatters is checked against its own website and documentation.
| Feature | ProRank | Perfmatters |
|---|---|---|
| Caching | ||
| Page caching | Free plan | IncludedBeta since 2.7.0 |
| Cache preloading | Pro plan | IncludedBeta |
| Browser caching headers | Free plan | IncludedBeta, Apache |
| CDN integration | Free plan | IncludedURL rewrite |
| Database cleanup | Free plan | Included |
| Redis or Memcached object cache | Pro plan | Not included |
| CSS and JavaScript | ||
| CSS and JavaScript minification | Free plan | Included |
| Delay JavaScript until interaction | Free plan | Included |
| Remove unused CSS | Pro plan | Included |
| Turn scripts off page by page | Pro plan | Included |
| Images and fonts | ||
| Lazy loading | Free plan | Included |
| Image compression | Free plan | Not included |
| WebP or AVIF conversion | Free plan | Not included |
| Host Google Fonts locally | Free plan | Included |
| Remove WordPress extras (emojis, embeds) | Free plan | Included |
| SEO | ||
| SEO titles and meta descriptions | Free plan | Not included |
| XML sitemaps | Free plan | Not included |
| Schema markup | Free plan | Not included |
| Redirect manager | Free plan | Not included |
Checked on against Perfmatters’s own pages (version 2.7.0):
- Perfmatters features
- Perfmatters changelog (2.7.0 adds page cache)
- Perfmatters docs: page cache
- Perfmatters docs: image optimization
- Perfmatters pricing
“Paid plan” means the feature needs Perfmatters’s paid version; “Paid add-on” means a separate paid product or service. “Not included” means the vendor’s own feature list and documentation did not offer it on that date. Rows we could not confirm are left out. ProRank’s plan labels come from our pricing page. Plugins change often; if you spot something out of date, tell us and we will correct it.
The speed settings in ProRank
Caching, CSS and JavaScript, images and the database each have their own switch in ProRank, and the presets set them in one step.
What each costs
Both have a starting point you can try first. Competitor prices are as shown on their own pricing pages on . Prices change and sale prices end, so check before you buy.
ProRank SEO
- Free
- Free, on WordPress.org
- Pro
- $99 a year, 1 site
- Business
- $199 a year, 5 sites
- Agency
- $399 a year, 25 sites
US dollars, excluding VAT, billed yearly. 30-day money-back guarantee. The speed test ran ProRank SEO Premium; page caching itself is in the free plan.
Perfmatters
No free version. Price for one site:
$29.95 a year
Personal plan, one site. Renewals get 15% off. 30-day money-back guarantee.
Try ProRank on your own site
The free plugin includes page caching, image compression and the SEO tools. It recognizes 39 common caching, asset and image plugins and turns off only its own overlapping features, so you can compare on your own pages.