Shopify has nearly 300 speed optimization apps in the library, making it complicated to choose the best one for your store. However, improving your website speed can help you boost your user experience, conversion rates, and rankings. Hence, skipping on implementing one of the most essential Shopify apps isn’t a solution.
In this article, we will walk you through a list of the best 13 Shopify speed optimization apps in 2023, reviewing their features, ease of use, and price. Here, you’ll also learn how to choose the app for your site and what else you can do to improve your web store speed.
How we selected the top speed optimization apps for Shopify
Website speed is one of the SEO basics that may noticeably impact your audience’s experience and rankings. Therefore, we want you to optimize your Shopify store’s speed and overall performance as effectively as possible. For this, we have selected the top speed optimization apps for Shopify following the criteria below:
- Features. We have thoroughly gone through each potential application, looking at what speed optimization features they offer. Our priority was to find tools, such as image compression, lazy loading, page audit, as well as minification of CSS and JavaScript, among other features.
- Performance. We monitored how each aspirant application improved our Shopify store speed throughout the testing time. No less important was to see if all the features were functional.
- Ease of use. Just like you, Shopify’s user-friendliness is one of the main factors why we like this e-commerce platform. Therefore, selecting speed optimization apps with intuitive interfaces was just as important.
- Customer support. Most Shopify speed optimization apps are versatile SEO packages responsible for critical aspects of your store. Therefore, we checked how well the customer support team manages issues.
- Pricing. Everyone starts using multiple Shopify applications for our stores in the blink of an eye. Consequently, the expenses grow quickly. That’s why, we made sure the speed optimization apps offered only the best price-to-quality ratios and allowed you to test the service in the first place.
Best Shopify speed optimizers: overview
- TinyIMG – the best Shopify speed and SEO optimization app 2023
- AVADA – speed optimization app with supportive customer agents
- Hyperspeed: Extreme Page Speed – feature-packed Shopify page speed optimization app
- Booster: Page Speed Optimizer – the best free Shopify speed optimization app
- Tapita – affordable and powerful Shopify speed booster
Want to make the most of your Shopify online store? Check out our list of the Top Shopify apps for your store success
We have tested over 40 potential Shopify speed optimization apps and compiled a list of the best 13, making sure they offered all-around sets of features, good performance, affordable prices, and other crucial aspects.
Below, you will find constructive overviews of each best speed optimization application.
1. TinyIMG – the best Shopify speed optimization app overall
TinyIMG is the best Shopify speed optimization app due to its versatile features and unmatchable performance. Its biggest strength is functional image compression. With it, you can optimize your visuals without affecting the image quality so that your website noticeably speeds up.
Another feature, TinyIMG app script control functionality, allows you to control how and where third-party apps load on your page. This is incredibly important because third-party apps are one of the leading causes of slow site speed. And that’s only bits of what TinyIMG offers.
TinyIMG pros
- Automatically optimizes your Shopify web store through lazy load
- Compresses images without worsening your image quality
- Preloads assests
- Audits your page for SEO
- The app is built for Shopify specifically and is approved by the platform
- Offers an excellent price-to-quality ratio
TinyIMG cons
- Only up to 50 free monthly image compressions
TinyIMG is one of the top SEO and speed optimization applications that are popular among both beginners and advanced Shopify merchants. The app is free to install and allows you to compress up to 50 images for free per month. Going premium (from $4.99 to $19.99/month) gives you access to features like the Page audit, JSON LD, Asset preloading, and more.
2. AVADA – speed optimization app with great customer support
AVADA is a versatile tool to speed up your Shopify page loading time by optimizing images. It also helps you improve your position in the Google search engine with multiple SEO tools, such as SEO Analysis, plugin SEO, and more.
One of the key features that can help you improve your site performance is the Page Speed Up, which preloads only an HTML until a customer decides to visit the page. This way, your customer’s server bandwidth and CPU aren’t overloaded. Additionally, it optimizes your visuals’ size without severely impacting the quality.
AVADA pros
- Preloads HTML only till the customer visits the page for better loading speed
- Optimizes images without affecting image quality
- Integrates with the Google console
- Works on mobiles
- Has a decent free version
AVADA cons
- Customer support may be slow to answer
AVADA is a powerful speed optimization app for Shopify that stands out with its helpful customer support, as a result, it’s a good app for beginners. The provider offers you a free plan, with which you can optimize up to 50 monthly images and unlimited Alt. The premium pricing starts from $34.95 to $99/month and unlocks features like Page Speed Up, lazy loading, and more.
3. Hyperspeed – Shopify speed boosting app with the most features
Hyperspeed is an all-around Shopify speed optimization application that makes your store faster by compressing images, caching third-party apps, and in other ways.
To help you minimize the weight of your online store, this application includes JS and CSS minification. The app also implements a functionality called LazyLoad that prevents the site from unnecessary visuals pre-loading. Plus, it helps you automatically reduce the impact given by the third-party Shopify applications.
Hyperspeed pros
- Compresses unlimited images
- Automatically monitors the third-party apps load on speed
- Includes the lazy loading functionality
- Users report about quick page speed improvement
Hyperspeed cons
- Limited pricing options
- No free version
Hyperspeed is a powerful tool for optimizing your Shopify store’s images and speed. Since it doesn’t have a free version and costs $49 per month, the app is a better option for already thriving websites. However, you can use its 7-day free trial to feel how the application works in the first place.
4. Booster – Shopify speed optimization app at no cost
Booster – the page speed optimizer – is a free and simple-to-use Shopify application. It speeds up your Shopify store by adding one line of code to the script. You don’t have to do anything technical - one click and the app is set.
Even better, the app strongly focuses on slower devices and mobiles as well, meaning there will be no customer having to experience buffering to enjoy your store. But there’s more to enhance the customer’s engagement and have more clicks.
Booster pros
- Natively-built Shopify app ensures great performance
- Enabled preloading in the background
- Boosted page speed even on older devices
- Helpful 24/7 customer support
Booster cons
- No extra features
Booster is completely free to use so it’s great for new and smaller Shopify stores that don’t want to instantly invest in expensive Shopify page speed optimization. Considering that you don’t need to pay a penny for the app, the quality of the service ensures a fantastic price-to-quality ratio.
5. Tapita – the most speed-focused Shopify app
Tapita is by far one of the most speed-focused Shopify apps we have seen. It implements numerous features that help you retain your store fast. The app sends you daily or weekly speed notifications and has the one-click speed optimization and the Instant page features.
Aside from the website speed, this application also helps you stay on track with your Shopify store’s SEO. Tapita runs general and on-page SEO audits, optimizes image alt text, integrates with Google Search Console, and has even more to offer.
Tapita pros
- Optimizes your website speed in a click
- Provides you with page speed notifications and a history
- Optimizes up to 300 images per day
- Runs automatic SEO audits
Tapita cons
- Pricing is a bit confusing
If you’re a beginner or looking for a way to grow your Shopify sales quickly, using Tapita is a smart way to go. The application is free to install and use till a certain point. You can speed up to 50 pages for free in a click, optimize up to 900 images per month, run on-page SEO audits, and more. To improve your store to a fuller extent, it’s best to choose a paid plan that costs $9.99 or $29.99 per month.
6. Crush.pics – speed optimization app with next-gen image compression
Crush.pics is a Shopify speed optimization app that makes your store faster through images. The app offers advanced image compression with three settings to choose from and also effectively optimized image SEO.
When it comes to compressing your website images, Crush.pics can add these adjustments: balanced (reduces your image size significantly with minimal reduction in quality), conservative (reduces your image size moderately with no reduction in quality), and custom (allows you to choose compression level for each image manually).
Crush.pics pros
- Offers three different types of image compression
- Optimizes images for SEO
- Works with product and asset images
- Speeds up the page loading time
Crush.pics cons
- Lacks additional features
- Customer support needs improvement
Crush.pics effectively makes your Shopify store faster by helping you optimize your images either manually or automatically. The app makes it a great choice for small businesses, as it has a free version and its starting price is as little as $4.99/month. Without paying a penny, you can optimize up to 25 MB of product pictures, while the most exclusive plan allows adjusting up to 5GB of images/month.
7. SearchPie – Shopify speed and SEO optimization app for beginners
SearchPie is an intuitive and feature-packed SEO and speed optimizer that can help you become a real Shopify pro. With up-to-date SEO reports, you are always notified regarding any performance gap that needs to be fixed. And auto-rich snippets JSON-LD will put your store in leading positions on Google.
Without a doubt, this tool also focuses on improving your Shopify store’s page loading time. It offers a functional Image compressing feature that delivers smooth quality and eases the site loading. Not to mention the rest of the tools that help you to reach more clicks.
SearchPie pros
- Improves website speeds with Instant page, image compression, expert speed service, and more
- Detects broken links
- Integrates with Google Console
- AI description generator is included
SearchPie cons
- No free version
- Quite expensive
SearchPie is a good application to speed up your Shopify store if you have a stable financial background. The service doesn’t have a free version, and its prices start from $39 to $99/month, which is pricier than some of the top speed optimization apps, like TinyIMG. On the bright side, there’s a 7-day free trial, allowing you to test the service risk-free.
8. RT: Page Speed Booster - all-themes compatible speed optimization app
RT: Page Speed Booster boosts up your Shopify store’s speed by foreseeing the site visitor’s next step. This all might sound complicated, but Page Speed Booster does all of it as soon as you install the app. You don’t need to have any prior coding skills to use the app.
For example, if a potential customer is on the home page, they will most likely click on a product detail page next. So what the app does is it retrieves the contents of the page while the visitor is still thinking. Another strength of the RT speed optimization app is that it’s compatible with all Shopify themes even if they are customized.
RT: Page Speed Booster pros
- Works with all Shopify themes
- Effectively reduces the page latency
- Easy to use, no coding required
- Completely free
RT: Page Speed Booster cons
- Lacks additional features
RT: Page Speed Booster is a free application that you can use to optimize the speed of your Shopify store. However, it may not be the best option if you're looking for extra features to enhance your website's performance. This speed optimization app is more suitable for websites that are already thriving.
9. LoyaltyHarbour – simple image optimization tool for better loading speed
LoyaltyHarbour mainly focuses on image optimization so your Shopify store would deliver the best loading speed. The app regularly scans your store for new images to optimize, therefore, you’re constantly on track to improving the customer experience as well.
Just like the hassle of image optimization falls off, the same applies to SEO. LoyaltyHarbour makes you more visible in the search engine by optimizing Alt text and filenames. Nevertheless, there are more features to help you out.
LoyaltyHarbour pros
- Auto and manual image compression
- Converts images from PNG to JPG
- Automatically optimizes Alt texts and filenames
- Excellent customer support
LoyaltyHarbour cons
- Some features can be buggy
LoyaltyHarbour is a powerful speed and image optimization app for both new and advanced Shopify users. Among paid plans, there’s also a free one to use. And the best part is that free users receive a fully-fledged suite of features. The only difference is the number of images that can be optimized per month. While a free user gets only 50 images, people paying from $4.99 to $19.99 per month can optimize from 1000 to 5000.
10. Wizard – all-around Shopify SEO app for better speeds
No time to dive into SEO? With SEO Image Optimizer Wizard, it’s okay. It offers in-depth site audits and reports to boost your Shopify store’s speed, reduce bounce rates, and more.
Once you add the app to your store, it automatically begins scanning your website for business, marketing, shopping experience, and technical aspects that need to be improved. After the scan is completed, you receive detailed insights and suggestions, such as to optimize your images for better page loading times.
Wizard pros
- Audits and ranks for SEO, marketing, business, and technical segments
- Optimizes images for better website performance
- Beginner-friendly service
- Completely free
Wizard cons
- Customer support could be better
- Users claim there are some issues with image optimization
The SEO Image Optimizer Wizard is a free app that can help you improve your Shopify store's visibility in Google. It’s also an excellent solution to help your store make first sales if you’re only beginning with the business.
11. Swift – affordable speed optimization app for Shopify
Swift is your budget-friendly and all-in-one Shopify solution for optimizing SEO, improving loading speeds, and generating more revenue. With it, you will be able to refresh your website metadata effortlessly, as it uses AI to generate SEO meta tags and alt text for products.
To make your Shopify store faster, Swift uses several techniques. For instance, it applies lossless image compression, which reduces the file size without worsening the image quality. The app also enables lazy loading and preloading, resulting in fewer unnecessary resources that slow down your site.
Swift pros
- Scans your competitors for SEO insights
- Uses lossless image compression for lighter files
- Minifies JavaScript, CSS, and HTML for better speeds
- Has a great free version
Swift cons
- The app may not work correctly with other third-party apps
Swift is a versatile Shopify application that can be helpful for anyone who’s stuck with their SEO rankings or can’t make the web store run faster. There are two ways to test the service – either with a 3-day free trial or a free version. However, the free plan doesn’t have lazy loading, image compression, or other important features. The paid plans are very affordable though, with prices starting from $9 to $29/month.
12. SEOAnt – AI-driven Shopify speed and SEO optimization tool
SEOAnt is a simple but powerful Shopify app that uses AI to improve your store’s SEO, speeds, and overall performance. With it, you don’t need to have deep knowledge about the aspects that make your business generate revenue, as the app runs automatic SEO scans and gives suggestions on what to do next.
Among SEO factors that SEOAnt checks, speed is one of the essential elements. Luckily, the app also helps you speed up your website and improve user experience. To do so, it uses image compression, AMP, as well as page preloading, and it also removes app scripts.
SEOAnt pros
- Compresses images for better page speed
- Supports page preloading
- Works with the top Shopify apps, like Loox or judge.me
- Helpful 24/7 customer support
SEOAnt cons
- The free plan doesn’t have the Site speed up feature
- Premium plans are pricier than most competitors on the list
SEOAnt has been a popular SEO optimization app for a while now, and for a reason – it’s user-friendly and improves essential Shopify business elements for you. The provider has three subscription plans, with one of them being free. With it, you can compress up to 50 images, use up to 8 monthly ChatGPT writer credits, use SEO checker, and more. To unlock advanced features, you’d need to go premium from $29.99 to $59.99/month.
13. Loadify – Shopify preloader app for better website speeds
If you’re looking for a way to improve your customer experience, then Loadify is a fantastic option for you, as it allows you to create a brand loading screen and optimize your web store speed. First of all, you can highly customize loading and transition screens by adding your logo, choosing the transition type, and more.
By implementing the lazy loading function, this Shopify app optimizes website speed by only loading the web page when the visitor reaches a certain part of it. Moreover, Loadify uses technology that prevents unnecessary script loads.
Loadify pros
- Allows creating custom loading and transition pages
- Reduces the website loading time
- Supports the lazy loading and preloading functions
- Very cheap premium plans
Loadify cons
- No extra features for SEO
- No image optimization
Loadify is a reliable tool for enhancing your relationship with customers through visuals and better site performance. It’s a user-friendly and affordable tool, making it a great choice for beginners. The service has a free version, which is compatible with all Shopify themes, includes a lite preloader feature, and offers 15 GIFs to choose from for your loading page. To unlock other features, you’d need to pay from as little as $3.99 to $5.99/month.
What else can you do to boost Shopify store speed?
We’ve talked about which Shopify apps can help you with slow websites and how. But there is more you can do to improve your Shopify store’s loading speed and make sure potential customers don’t bounce from your website. Some of those include:
- Avoid landing page redirects. Redirecting can be incredibly useful for when you don’t need some specific page anymore, but cannot delete it because it hurts your SEO efforts. However, too many redirects can have a negative impact on your site speed.
- Implement Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). It’s an open standard framework designed to improve page loading speed on mobile devices.
- Download a fast theme for your store. The theme is one of the most important factors in page speed, so make sure it’s fast and responsive before installing.
- Reduce installed apps. The more apps you install, the more overcrowded your Shopify store becomes, thus reducing the loading speed.
- Reduce HTTP requests. There are tools you can use to check how many HTTP requests your page makes.
We hope those speed-boosting techniques help you improve your Shopify store’s performance and increase sales!
Summary
Great page speed is one of the key aspects of staying on top of the search engine’s results. And with a never-stopping growth of online shopping via various devices, customers expect your Shopify store to load sooner rather than later.
Shopify page speed optimizer apps, like TinyIMG, can help you improve your store’s loading speed effortlessly. The app decreases bounce rates and increases user engagement by compressing your images and optimizing your page following leading SEO insights.
So, we hope that this article helps you choose the best speed optimizer specifically for you and make your store rank better than ever before.
Other Shopify apps you might be interested in:
Frequently asked questions
The best speed optimizer for Shopify is TinyIMG. It optimizes the images on your website without ruining their quality and has powerful script control functionality. Inexpensive and advanced, the TinyIMG app is a great choice both for smaller shops and bigger Shopify stores.
Yes, depending on the app's functionality, one app can be enough to significantly improve your Shopify store speed. However, in some cases, you might need a couple of different apps to reach the best performance results for your store.
Google recommends that your Shopify store loads in under one second. However, anything under three seconds is also an impressive speed. If the loading speed is higher than that, it can increase the bounce rate which results in losing potential customers.
You can use Google Lighthouse to check how fast your website loads to your potential customers. It scores your page on a scale from 1 to 100, the latter being the highest score your Shopify store can get.
