5 Best Preload Images Alternatives in 2026
Updated September 7, 2026 · Ranked by how closely each plugin matches, from WordPress.org data · How this works
Preload Images has 1,000+ active installs on WordPress.org. These 5 plugins share its category or its tags on WordPress.org, are actively maintained, and each has at least 100 active installs. They are ordered by how closely they match, not by our opinion.
The 5 closest alternatives to Preload Images
- 1
WP Performance Score Booster
Closest matchWP Performance Score Booster – Optimize Speed, Enable Cache & Page Preload
4.6 (339) 10,000+ active installsMake website faster, speed up page load time and improve performance scores in tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, Pingdom, and more.
Shares the preload tag on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated 17 days ago.
- 2
4.4 (25) 5,000+ active installsA Plugin to add awesome collection of Loaders and Spinners. Delightful and performance-focused Pure CSS animations.
Shares the preload tag on WordPress.org. About 5 times the installs, no update since October 27, 2024.
- 3
Safelayout Cute Preloader – CSS3 WordPress Preloader
5.0 (83) 10,000+ active installsBeautiful pure CSS animated preloader for your WordPress website. A highly lightweight, easy-to-use, and powerful site loader.
Shares the preload tag on WordPress.org. About 10 times the installs, last updated 27 days ago.
- 4
Flying Pages: Preload Pages for Faster Navigation & Improved User Experience
4.9 (79) 20,000+ active installsPreload pages intelligently to boost site speed and enhance user experience by loading pages before users click, ensuring instant page transitions.
Shares the prefetch tag on WordPress.org. About 20 times the installs, last updated May 20, 2026.
- 5
4.1 (41) 20,000+ active installsThe ultimate Preloader plugin for WordPress. Smart, flexible, and made for easy control. Add a preloader to your website easily in only 3 steps.
Shares the preload tag on WordPress.org. About 20 times the installs, last updated 16 days ago.
Switching from Preload Images: common questions
What is the best alternative to Preload Images?
WP Performance Score Booster is the closest match: it shares the same WordPress.org tags and has 10,000+ active installs with a 4.6 out of 5 rating.
Which Preload Images alternative has the most users?
Flying Pages, with 20,000+ active installs reported by WordPress.org.
Which Preload Images alternative is rated highest?
Safelayout Cute Preloader, rated 5.0 out of 5 by 83 reviewers. Only plugins with at least 50 reviews are counted.
Are these Preload Images alternatives free?
Every plugin listed here is free to install from WordPress.org. Where WordPress.org marks a plugin as commercial, the developer also sells a paid version or add-ons, and that is shown on each plugin.
How are alternatives chosen?
Automatically, from WordPress.org data: plugins that share a category top 10 with Preload Images score highest, then plugins that appear in the same WordPress.org rankings, then plugins with the same tags, weighted so rare tags count more than common ones. Plugins by the same author and plugins rated under 4.0 are left out.
How we choose these alternatives
Nothing on this page is picked by hand. Every day we walk the whole WordPress.org directory, then score every plugin against Preload Images on three signals: sharing a category top 10 counts most, then appearing in the same WordPress.org rankings, then carrying the same tags, with rare tags counting for more than common ones like "wordpress". Plugins by the same author are excluded, so an author's own add-ons cannot fill the list, and so is anything rated below 4.0 or with fewer than 100 active installs. The ten highest scores are what you see, in that order. Full methodology.
The bottom line
WP Performance Score Booster is the closest match to Preload Images by the data we track, and Flying Pages has the widest reach with 20,000+ active installs. Preloader shipped the most recent release, on August 21, 2026. The list is rebuilt every day from WordPress.org, so a plugin that stops being maintained drops out on its own.
Weekly · free
What moved this week
One email a week, built from the same daily snapshots these rankings come from: the plugins that climbed, what launched, and one ranking worth a look.