An Essential Plugin for Every WordPress Website

Cimo is one of those plugins that makes you wonder why WordPress doesn’t work this way by default.

After asking the developer about how Cimo handles image optimization, I was genuinely impressed by its approach.

Most image optimization plugins work after the original image has already been uploaded to the server. They often keep the original image as a backup (or worst they create a new image as a backup), generate WebP or AVIF versions from it, and then serve the optimized versions to visitors.

This approach creates a major problem: the original image still exists on the server, the optimized version also exists, and depending on the plugin settings, additional backup files may also remain. Over time, this can consume a huge amount of hosting storage.

Cimo takes a completely different approach.

The image is optimized directly in the browser before it reaches your WordPress website. The original, unoptimized image is never uploaded to the server at all.

In other words, WordPress only receives the optimized image, exactly as if you had optimized the image on your computer first and then uploaded it to the Media Library.

This has a very important advantage: there is no unnecessary original image sitting on your server.

WordPress then generates its normal image sizes from the optimized WebP image, while the Media Library and other WordPress functionality can continue to work with it.

This is a much smarter approach to image optimization, especially for websites that will be uploading hundreds or thousands of images over time.

I’ve tested and reviewed many plugins that claim to optimize images, but this concept is fundamentally different. Instead of uploading a large image and then trying to clean up the mess afterward, Cimo prevents the unnecessary data from ever reaching the server.

For me, this makes Cimo particularly valuable as one of the first plugins to install on a new WordPress website. From the very beginning, you can have optimized images while avoiding unnecessary storage consumption and the long-term hosting costs associated with keeping multiple copies of the same images.

If you care about website performance, storage efficiency, and keeping your WordPress installation clean, I highly recommend giving Cimo a try.

Excellent concept, excellent implementation, and definitely deserving of 5 stars. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

And a special thank you to the developer for taking the time to clearly explain how the plugin works. This is exactly the kind of thoughtful engineering that deserves recognition.