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Totally biased review of FlyingPress cache plugin

WordPress plugins Aug 7, 2020 by Johnny 36 Comments

Here goes my ridiculous half-objective/half-fanboy review of Gijo Varghese’s latest creation…FlyingPress…a new WordPress cache plugin that claims to take your site to new heights.

Of course…I can’t even take a sh*t without my phone ringing off the hook. The people are talking. The press is outside. The readers are flooding my inbox.

Everybody wants to know…

…will FlyingPress make your WordPress site fly?

Don’t listen to anything I say

This review is 100% bought and paid for (metaphorically) a year ago when I first noticed Gijo’s work. Forget about the plugin. Just get to know the guy and what he’s done. He’s the kind of developer you dream of on your team…except he’s not for hire because he’s too talented to be fixing your lame site!

Lucky for all of us…Gijo’s passion is in WordPress performance and speed optimization. (I’m so relieved it’s that and not pagebuilders, lol.)

He runs one of the best website resources (WP Speed Matters) and Facebook groups on WordPress speed optimization. And also released an adventure bag of performance plugins…all appropriately named under his “Flying” brand label:

  • Flying Analytics
  • Flying Images
  • Flying Pages
  • Flying Scripts
  • …also Swap Google Fonts Display (don’t worry, it still flies!)

And now, we have his latest release—FlyingPress (cache plugin).

Haha. He’s referred speed optimization clients to me on numerous occasions (some that I’ve even tried to refer back to him). But now, we can refer them all to FlyingPress!

My totally honest (but still biased) thoughts about FlyingPress

1. It’s made by Gijo Varghese.

Because this freaken matters! Gijo is a WordPress speed optimization icon. There are few people more qualified than him to lead us into the frontlines of the speed optimization battlefield. He’s been there. He’s done that. And he’s lived to retell his stories through many beautifully written (and illustrated) guides for the speed-up community.

My point is…he KNOWS what you need to win the battle, fight off the bloat, and make your WordPress fly!

Seeing how Gijo is with everything that he does (great code, great UI, great character). I know FlyingPress will mature into an incredible cache plugin. I have every bit of faith in his work. It’s like predicting the sunrise, really. Excellence is in his DNA.

2. The UI is pretty damn perfect.

I’m a total UI guy and I loved his interface design. I don’t just throw the word “perfect” around but FlyingPress deserves it. And it was perfect when I was testing the BETA version months ago. Perfect in what ways you ask?

  • Feels simple – feeling matters! Even if you don’t know what things mean, the design calms you and makes you feel like it’s simple. This is absolutely key for people who are afraid or inexperienced at caching. He makes 50 settings feel like 8. (Other plugins—hahahah—they do the opposite.)
  • Clean layout – WP Rocket had the cleanest cache plugin layout but I think FlyingPress just stole the crown. I’ll have to go back and look again but yeah…I think FlyingPress actually has more features and still looks simpler. Shocking!
  • Intuitive labels – the option labels are very intuitive and help you understand what you’re clicking on and what they do. You don’t see annoying things like basic features renamed to gimmicky ambiguous terms (like “CSS minify” into “super-mega CSS hackamizer!”).

3. Feature-filled.

This is something I spoke about with Gijo on several occasions. We traded ideas. Added some. Scratched some off. Made up other ones. FlyingPress is set for a very ambitious trajectory. I have no idea how the feat will be done.

It aims to have a full-range of features yet still be simple and easy to use. Many cache plugins have tried…and most, while not failing were eventually resigned to their respective subsets of WordPress users (either USERS or DEVS).

My favorite features so far? (Just two.)

  1. It works.
  2. Doesn’t blow up your site when it doesn’t work.

Other awesome features (not commonly found in other cache plugins):

  • Remove unused CSS
  • Locally-load Google webfonts
  • Preload links upon hover or browser-initiation
  • Can exclude images above-the-fold from lazy loading

4. Responsive bug-squashing.

Does FlyingPress have bugs?

Yes, it does. I found several during beta testing even on a super simple site. Gijo responded quickly and squashed them without any issue.

Are there still bugs?

Yes, new ones. I see little posts here and there on Facebook groups. Most of them seem to come from people with WooCommerce or uncommon setups/plugins. In all cases Gijo was highly-responsive and came out with a fix almost immediately.

5. FlyingPress is exciting.

I don’t know what any of this has to do with speed optimization…but it matters to me. I’m so sick of boring ass themes and plugins all copying the same features from each other and trying to be only marginally better, or doing the same but pricing cheaper.

I love to see people doing new things and FlyingPress certainly feels new. And when I say new, I don’t mean “same shit but new logo”…I mean “new shit, new ideas, new way of thinking!”

There were times when I was so adamant about my ideas and then upon seeing Gijo’s execution, I decided to just shut my mouth because his ideas are better than mine. I have almost zero to contribute to his work. He’s one of those dudes that you gotta just give them space. Whatever they’re working on is infinitely better than your simple-minded suggestions.

6. The price is too cheap.

I begged Gijo to stick with his original launch price (which was 2x higher). Because it’s worth more than what he’s charging. All of y’all have no idea what this mad scientist is scheming up for you. If I had my way, ALL OF US would be paying more for it.

No crying. If you want good stuff and good support…then do your part and pitch in like a good customer. I assume everybody here is a professional, has clients, has a budget. FlyingPress is pro-grade and worthy of a pro-level price tag.

Until then, I hope you people appreciate his introductory rates and take advantage while they’re still around. I will be doing everything I can to make them go away.

Should you use FlyingPress NOW?

Yeah…that’s the million dollar question I keep getting in my Facebook inbox.

And just so all of you know, I’m getting sick of doing reviews. I’m not paid for them. I only do them so I don’t have to keep answering the same questions over and over! (Actually, that’s the main reason why my site exists…and ironically, having this site has caused me to get more questions than ever. 🤦🏻‍♂️)

Anyway, let’s get these out the way…

Is FlyingPress ready for production sites?

  • I haven’t tried it on more than 2 or 3 sites. I imagine it’s ok for some and might have issues on others.
  • When it works…yes, it’s very fast! And very few settings to get to that speed.
  • What you’ll really love is how much airy space is between all the settings. You never realized full-featured caching could be so simple.

Is FlyingPress better than Swift/Rocket/LiteSpeed?

No, no, and no. FlyingPress just got released. I like many things about it more than the others but you can’t just take away from the longstanding champions because there’s a new kid on the block with lofty claims.

But keep in mind, FlyingPress has only been out for days and it’s already matured a lot since the beta version. I can’t imagine what it’ll be in one year. And I’m not going to judge from my limited vision of it.

For those of you wanting real-world specs, I urge you to follow the Facebook groups. Some people experienced better load times and scores with FlyingPress over other cache plugins. Some people experienced the opposite. As with anything, your results (*cough* and your skills *cough*) may vary.

Should you buy FlyingPress now?

I think it’s worth it because the price tag is low and it’s fun to use. It’s still a high quality product from a great developer. Bugs are being taken care of quickly as it’s Gijo’s main focus every minute of every day. Being made by Gijo is good enough for me.

But would I try it on a million-dollar production site where any margin of error will cost me thousands of dollars? C’mon…don’t be stupid.

What does Johnny think FlyingPress will become?

I think it will steal WP Rocket’s crown and become the easiest hassle-free cache plugin. It’s hard to take from Swift’s share because it has a free version that’s really powerful. And hard to take from LiteSpeed because it’s integrated with the server and comes with many developer features (which can also be a drawback for regular users).

Best users (or use scenarios) for FlyingPress?

  • Simple sites (to be safe) – not such crazy or uncommon plugin setups. Be cautious if you have WooCommerce. Obviously, this will soon change.
  • Simple cache users – who don’t like the complexity of Swift or LiteSpeed.
  • WP Rocket users – looking for another premium-but-simple cache alternative.
  • Multi-cloud integration – good for sites using many cloud services (image optimization, CDN). FP will go a step further with cloud-CSS services and who knows what else. Having one plugin is more convenient.
  • WP Speed Matters community – no brainer for me. Look at how much help you got for free. Imagine what you’ll get for a paid plugin. The more of us in there with this plugin, the more we can contribute to make the plugin and the community better.

Are you ready to fly?

  • Then takeoff to new heights with FlyingPress!

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About Johnny

Right on the edge of WordPress development! 10+ years of WordPress design, development, hosting, speed optimization, product advisor, marketing, monetization. I do all that.

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Reader Interactions

36 Comments

  1. Leif @ CdnGuide

    August 7, 2020 at 9:22 am

    You nailed my own conclusion about his plugin, great days is coming .. =)

    Reply
    • Johnny

      August 7, 2020 at 1:35 pm

      Indeed!

      Reply
  2. Mario Marquez

    August 7, 2020 at 9:45 am

    Loved this article, thank you for taking the time to do it.

    Reply
  3. Joy Chetry

    August 7, 2020 at 9:48 am

    Could this review be any more biased!
    I just love it and, to be honest, it has a lot of room for growth, eg. some sites have problems with Javascript Defer, ads not showing up, etc. But the good thing is that Gijo is already working on fixing it and it should soon be fixed after an update.
    All in all, like I said I just love it.

    Reply
    • Johnny

      August 7, 2020 at 1:35 pm

      Delivered as promised, crazy biased!

      Reply
  4. RogerM

    August 9, 2020 at 1:34 pm

    As an SEO consultant, I´ve been reading, learning, and research a hell lot about WordPress Speed Optimization for the last couple of months.

    That´s where I found Gijo´s blog and Facebook group.

    In the short time I´ve been a member there I must say Gijo and the community behind WP Speed Matters have been nothing short but amazing!

    I started implementing his recommendations and his plugins and I was able to fully improve my client´s site pages loading speed without even having to touch any line of code on their themes.

    I haven´t tested Flying Press but if there´s anything like his other plugins I know what to expect.

    Watch out WP Rocket there´s a new kid on the block!

    Reply
    • Johnny

      August 10, 2020 at 9:12 am

      Welcome to the club, Roger! Glad you were able to find helpful tricks for your client sites. FlyingPress is really clean. WP Rocket betta watch out!

      Reply
  5. aaynaic

    August 25, 2020 at 9:36 am

    You know Gijo??!! Johnny this is like my dream come true! You by any chance know Tom from Online Media Masters? Great article though, I am going to purchase it soon!

    Reply
    • Johnny

      August 25, 2020 at 11:47 am

      Haha yes, I chat with Gijo almost every other week. I have spoken to Tom and a big fan of his site. Great resource, very detailed and helpful. Do come back and let me know how you like FlyingPress!

      Reply
      • aaynaic

        August 26, 2020 at 12:09 am

        Very soon. I purchased a pro licence of swift performance, and using it currently along with WP Rocket. I will be switching to FlyingPress after both are expired 🙂

        Reply
  6. Bryan Philips

    October 21, 2020 at 3:36 am

    Biased or not, this is a great review. I came across FlyingPress on Facebook, and it looked interesting. This review does a great job of describing what kind of plugin I’d be getting. Most importantly, the picture you’ve painted of Gijo is what sold me. Also, I see him replying to a bunch of posts/comments in the group as well. Thanks, Johnny!

    Reply
    • Johnny

      October 21, 2020 at 11:39 am

      I’m glad it helped! Do share your honest thoughts after you try it.

      Reply
  7. David

    December 12, 2020 at 4:01 pm

    About to pick this one up. Are you using FlyingPress on wpjohnny.com?

    Reply
    • Johnny

      December 12, 2020 at 6:28 pm

      No, I’m using LiteSpeed Cache on WPJohnny.com

      Reply
  8. Jay

    December 28, 2020 at 3:08 pm

    Does it make sense for me, an OpenLiteSpeed user, to drop Litespeed Cache in favor of FlyingPress? I’m not sure how much of an improvement I’ll see, if any.

    Reply
    • Johnny

      December 28, 2020 at 3:11 pm

      It really depends on the sites. The main advantage of FP over LSC for me is the more aggressive cache preload mechanism. And also that FP has a few little optimization and simpler UI than LSC. Try both and see which one fits you better.

      Reply
      • Jay

        December 28, 2020 at 3:13 pm

        UI is not an issue for me, I can navigate either.
        My current setup is LSCache + CloudFlare Workers + the numerous Flying addons.
        I’d love to test FlyingPress but there’s no trial unfortunately.

        Reply
        • Ryan

          October 8, 2022 at 6:45 am

          Best plugin ever. i am currently using all of his plugins.

          Reply
  9. Casey Whitcher

    January 21, 2021 at 6:19 pm

    Remembered your name and your site from a different WP Rocket Article you have. Found this one instead, damn refreshing to see someone just be honest, everything reviewed is tinted one way or the other with personal experiences and biases, that’s not a bad thing! If something is good, you are biased, if something is bad you are biased that’s what reviews are for! Claiming to be unbiased is about almost anything is what’s routinely disingenuous.

    Love reading your stuff man! Keep up the great work!

    Reply
  10. Bilal Ahmad

    February 8, 2021 at 10:42 am

    Wonderful review. I just started using FlyingPress and it is fantastic. The results are just wonderful and it is super simple plugin.

    Reply
  11. Emma

    March 13, 2021 at 8:37 pm

    Great one! i just bought this one today

    Reply
    • Gijo Varghese

      October 17, 2021 at 6:06 am

      Thank you 🙂

      Reply
  12. Paul

    May 29, 2021 at 10:35 am

    What are your thoughts now, after close to a year?

    Reply
    • Johnny

      May 30, 2021 at 8:45 am

      I still like FPC and believe in it but I don’t use it due to the cost since I’m more of a high-volume user and don’t need all the fancy features it has.

      Reply
  13. Benjamin

    August 31, 2021 at 4:05 am

    I bought FlyingPress when it was released and was really happy at first. I had a few issues at the beginning (random 404 errors on some pages) but it got fixed pretty quickly and I kind of expected it considering it was a new plugin.

    My problem is that their support is super slow. I accidentally purchased 2 licences and asked for one to be refunded which seems to have accidentally caused my remaining licence to be disabled as well. I emailed their support 2 weeks ago to ask them to reactivate it and didn’t hear back. After one week, I sent another message. It has now been 2 weeks since the first message and they haven’t responded. This means I have been stuck with a deactivated licence for the past 2 weeks. I’m honestly considering asking for a chargeback at this point since I’m not sure they will ever reply.

    Reply
    • Johnny

      August 31, 2021 at 9:31 am

      Awww man, I’m very sad to hear this. I hope you get a reply soon. Gijo’s a good guy but maybe he’s swamped.

      Reply
    • Gijo Varghese

      October 17, 2021 at 8:12 am

      Hi Benjamin, extremely sorry about this.

      During our anniversary (where all subscriptions started to renew), we faced some issues with PayPal which resulted in automatic cancellations for all subscriptions. This created a flood of support tickets, which resulted in super slow support.

      Luckily we solved all issues with PayPal now and everything is back to normal. I’m making every step to make sure that this won’t happen again.

      Reply
  14. Limon

    November 18, 2021 at 8:56 am

    Is FlyingPress better than Swift/Rocket/LiteSpeed now?Johnny🤔

    Reply
  15. jac

    December 14, 2021 at 6:00 am

    Apart from the simplicity, is the final result up to par or better than monsters like swift performance or wp rocket?

    Reply
    • Johnny

      December 14, 2021 at 7:16 am

      Obviously…I wouldn’t be wasting any of my time if this couldn’t produce results. C’mon now.

      Better than WP Rocket, most definitely. Better than Swift….it depends on your skill level and what your site needs. Either way…you have to try it out and see if it’s right for your site and your optimization skill level.

      Reply
  16. Kumar

    December 31, 2021 at 4:14 am

    It’s one of the best plugin i have uses. Matter of fact, the first time i read Gijo blog on wpspeedmatter, i had given my 2 days tome to read all his articles. i am currently using all of his plugins.

    Reply
  17. Markentise

    September 18, 2022 at 8:29 am

    What are your suggestions for FlyingPress now Johnny🤔

    Reply
  18. brad

    November 3, 2022 at 2:48 pm

    i don’t know man… i’m having mixed results with it. It depends on how heavy your site is to begin with. I have a handful of clients who use elementor, and even when i optimize everything about elementor the page score is in the 50’s. With nitropack the scores are green all day. So, i’m not sold.

    Reply

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