Totally biased review of FlyingPress cache plugin

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!