PluginScout

Preload Images

by Ravikumar Patel · WordPress.org page · Website

v1.2.1 Tested up to WP 6.1.12

Preload Images has 1,000+ active installs on WordPress.org and 12,791 downloads all time. We have tracked it since September 4, 2026; download trends appear after 30 days of data. The last update was on February 21, 2023, tested up to WordPress 6.1.12.

Preload Images at a glance

Active installs
1,000+
Total downloads
12,791
Downloads, last 30 days
–
available after 30 days of tracking
30-day growth
–
tracking since September 4, 2026

Is Preload Images well maintained?

Support threads resolved
No open threads
nothing waiting on the WordPress.org forum
WordPress compatibility
Behind
tested up to WordPress 6.1.12, not yet with the current 7.1

Preload Images reviews and ratings

8 reviews on WordPress.org, with the most recent ones as their authors posted them.

All reviews
4.6 out of 5

8 reviews

5★
7
4★
0
3★
0
2★
1
1★
0

  • Perfect to improve animated GIF trigger on mobile

    I wanted to trigger an animated GIF on hover. To implement this, I followed a simple online guide to *swap* an image on hover - set initial image as the first frame of your GIF, and the second image as the animated GIF itself. This worked perfectly on desktop, but there was a small but very annoying flash on mobile (on touch). Enter this plugin! I enabled the plugin for pages (setting), then copy/pasted the URL of my GIFs in the 'Image URLs' field on my specific page ... and voila! The flash is history! Thanks to the plugin author - Ravikumar Patel (@ravipatel) - for such a simple and neat solution for my unique case. 5/5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ PS: it took me longer to write a Support question followed by this review, than it did to actually apply the fix! :-)

    photoMaldives

  • Highly recommended!

    I run a photo gallery website for hobby using fancybox, and I'm happy to find this plugin! Initially I was searching for a solution with JavaScript, etc., but this is much easier way to preload images with relatively large file sizes. Thank you for the developers behind this!

    Joey

  • Doesn't work to preload site background image +

    Sadly, the plugin does not work to preload a site's background image when that image is specified in common image urls. Plus, when there is no image specified in the common image urls, the site loads as a blank page with what I can only describe as a spinning waiting icon. Once the spin is done the site does load smoothly with the background image. But, who wants clients seeing a site that loads with a spinning icon for 3 seconds? Hopefully they'll update so that the background image can be specified in the common image urls, because it does seem an easy to use plugin.

    wardencenter

  • Does an excellent job

    I found myself needing to pre-load some images and started to figure out how to do it by hand when I thought "If you have a need in WordPress, there's probably a plugin for it." So I went hunting and found this plugin. Gutenberg made it a little hard to see the meta box on Pages at first, but I found it. I REALLY like that you can preload per page/post, or have them global. Nicely done.

    Topher

  • This plugin is awesome!

    The plugin fix divi image loading error and glitches, and give for your website a speed boost helping in Google SEO.

    rafaelbrasileirinho

  • Works Like a Charm

    I am very thankful for this plugin, and of course the person/s who created it. My client wanted an image carousel as the homepage header, which resulted in short loading delays the first run through. Since using this plugin -- no delays! Pretty cool stuff.

    webdesignerz

Preload Images alternatives

Plugins that solve the same problem, ranked by how closely they overlap with Preload Images.

All Preload Images alternatives

Details

Similar to DNS prefetching, image preloading/prefetching with JavaScript to get faster page loading experience.

The full description, screenshots and every review live on the WordPress.org page.

Tags

  • html preload
  • image prefetch
  • image preload
  • prefetch
  • preload
Version
1.2.1
Last updated
Feb 21, 2023
First published
Jun 7, 2019
Requires WordPress
3.8
Tested up to
6.1.12
Requires PHP
–
Pricing
Free on WordPress.org

Preload Images FAQ

How many active installs does Preload Images have?

WordPress.org reports 1,000+ active installs for Preload Images as of September 7, 2026.

Is Preload Images still maintained?

The last release was on February 21, 2023, more than a year ago. WordPress.org shows a warning on plugins that go this long without an update.

Is Preload Images free?

Preload Images is free to install from WordPress.org. Many plugins also sell a paid version or add-ons.