Version 4.10 of the Divi WordPress theme introduced an impressive raft of performance improvements. This includes the new dynamic module framework, dynamic CSS and dynamic JavaScript, which all makes sure only necessary code is loaded on each page. When combined with LiteSpeed web hosting, these performance improvements can cut website load times dramatically.
In the past I achieved a 93% improvement of website speed when I compared a UK based web host running Apache with a UK host running LiteSpeed with caching, but in this post I’m going to show you all the LiteSpeed Cache settings I use with Divi on WordPress.
Here are the load times of this website’s homepage in milliseconds, according to Pingdom:
All Divi performance improvements active but no caching
Divi performance improvements active + LiteSpeed cache enabled
That’s an 89% speed improvement between Divi on LiteSpeed with no caching and Divi on LiteSpeed with active caching.
So, here are the LiteSpeed Cache plugin settings I’ve found work well with Divi. It must be said that every website is unique so some of the settings below may break features you use, or you may be able to use some features I have turned off, so make sure you test things as you go.
General
General Settings tab
- Automatically Upgrade: off
Updating plugins risks introducing bugs so for most plugins it’s better to update manually then check the site. Updating also flushes the cache, temporarily slowing down the website, so it’s better to update all plugins and themes in one sitting rather than have them spread out, each one resetting the cache every time. - Domain Key: click the button to request a domain key
- Guest mode: on
- Guest Optimization: on
- Server IP: set this to the IP your website is hosted at
Cache
Cache tab
- Enable Cache: on
- Cache Logged-in Users: on
- Cache Commenters: on
- Cache REST API: on
- Cache Login Page: on
- Cache favicon.ico: on
- Cache PHP Resources: on
- Cache Mobile: on
You may not have unique content that’s only served to mobile devices but this feature is used for AMP, the CCSS and UCSS services and it’s required if you have Guest Mode + Guest Optimization enabled
Purge tab
- Purge All On Upgrade: on
- Auto Purge Rules For Publish/Update: tick all pages on which content will change when a new post or page is published, for e.g the homepage if it contains a feed of the latest blog posts.
- Serve Stale: on
My host doesn’t allow automatically scheduled crawling in LiteSpeed so I don’t have scheduled purge turned on, but you can configure that here if you like.
Browser tab
- Browser Cache: on
- Browser Cache TTL: 2592000 (this is in seconds = 4 weeks and 2 days)
Advanced tab
- Instant Click: on
Image Optimization
Image Optimization Settings
- Auto Request Cron: on
- Auto Pull Cron: on
- Optimize Original Images: on
- Remove Original Backups: off
- Optimize Losslessly: on
- Preserve EXIF/XMP data: off
- Create WebP Versions: on
- Image WebP Replacement: on
- WebP For Extra srcset: on
This helps catch every instance in which Divi uses images on a page - WordPress Image Quality Control: 82
You can set it higher but it probably won’t make a visible difference.
After setting everything up in the Image Optimization Tab make sure you come back to the Image Optimization Summary tab to kick off the actual process. This will get WordPress to start sending your images to LiteSpeed’s servers for them to generate WebP versions that they’ll send back for your website to serve to users.
Page Optimization
CSS Settings tab
- CSS Minify: on
- CSS Combine: off
- Generate UCSS and UCSS Inline: off
They won’t be used when combine is off anyway - CSS Combine External and Inline: on
- CSS HTTP/2 Push: on
- Load CSS Asynchronously: on
- CCSS Per URL: on
This is important for theme builders like Divi - Inline CSS Async Lib: on
- Font Display Optimization: swap
JS Settings tab
- JS Minify: on
- JS Combine: on
- JS Combine External and Inline: off
- JS HTTP/2 Push: on
- Load JS Deferred: off
HTML Settings tab
- HTML Minify: on
- DNS Prefetch: //fonts.googleapis.com
- DNS Prefetch Control: on
- Remove Query Strings: off
- Load Google Fonts Asynchronously: on
- Remove Google Fonts: off
Unless you’re not using Google Fonts, of course, in which case turn them off in Divi settings too - Remove WordPress Emoji: off
- Remove Noscript Tags: off
Media Settings tab
- Lazy Load Images: on
- Responsive Placeholder: on
- LQIP Cloud Generator: on
- LQIP Quality: 6
- LQIP Minimum Dimensions: 150 × 150
- Generate LQIP In Background: on
- Lazy Load Iframes: on
- Add Missing Sizes: on
- Inline Lazy Load Images Library: on
VPI tab
- Viewport Images: on
- Viewport Images Cron: on
Media Excludes tab
- Lazy Load Image Excludes: add any recurring images to this field, e.g logo. Partial strings can be used, like ‘logo’ for all versions of a logo image instead of full file paths.
Database
Follow these instructions at your own risk. Carry out a full database backup first. You have been warned.
DB Optimization Settings tab
- Revisions Max Number: 10
- Revisions Max Age: 7
Manage tab
Click the following blocks to clear the corresponding bloaty elements from database:
- Post Revisions
- Expired Transients
- Optimize Tables
Scroll down to the Database Table Engine Converter table and click the ‘Convert to InnoDB’ link for all db tables shown. Annoyingly the page will refresh after each click.
That’s it.
The first couple of times you load each page of your website it’ll be slower as the host will have to pull everything together. Once it’s done that it’ll start calculating critical CSS, combining scripts etc and saving cached copies of everything, whereafter things will speed up nicely.
Remember to back up before and test, test, test as you go.
Wow thank you so much Aidan!
That really changed my website’s performances. Exactly what I was looking for. Great content !
Does these settings mean there is no need to convert images to webp before uploading them to wordpress?
Best wishes,
Etienne
Hey Etienne, glad to have helped.
Yes that’s correct – in fact it’s better to upload in jpg so WordPress can dynamically show a jpg version to browsers that can’t handle WebP.
Thank you so much Aidan, this really helped !
As you said, for the first 24 hours, it was even worse, and then… wow ! I can’t believe the difference !
Hey Aurelie, glad to have helped.
Great job, Aidan, works like a charm! I got a PageSpeed score of 90 on mobile, with your settings and a CDN for the images on a Divi site with WooCommerce.
That’s great! Glad to help.
Hi Aidan,
Thank you very much for posting these settings. They work like a charm!
Before, applying the settings with Divi’s Performance settings only, I was getting 51 for mobile. After installing LiteSpeed cache and applying your settings I’m now getting 92 mobile and 98 desktop with Google Page Speed Insights!
Wow, amazing and brilliant 🙂
You can view the site here: https://www.catsplumbing.com.au/
Many thanks again.
Kind regards,
Neil.
Excellent, glad to have helped.
Hi
I use Divi, LiteSpeed , Learndash.
The problem i have is cache and learndash
I have switch off cache logged in users as this appears to work with Learndash.
But do you have any experience with Learndash/Litespeed combination ?
I don’t, sorry. You could turn off caching of only certain pages that use variable Learndash data, just as I do with cart, checkout and account pages for WooCommerce.
Hi!
Can you please tell me exactly what settings to disable in Divi Builder?
Thanks
In the performance options? On this website I have all options turned on, but what works for you really depends on the unique mix of plugins you’re using on your website. If you don’t know what won’t work just go for trial and error – turn everything on and thoroughly flush LiteSpeed and browser cache, see if everything still works. If it doesn’t then turn things off one after another, clearing cache between each until you find the problem, then turn everything else on but that setting.
Or did you mean other settings? Which in particular?
Hi Aidan,
Does we need to disable all performance config on Divi before apply this ?
No. I always disable Divi’s static CSS file generation in the Builder settings as it’s unnecessary doubling up of cache that doesn’t always clear properly when changes are made. But keep as many Divi performance options on as you can.
wow thank you for this, I’m having issues with litespeed cache causing my Divi webforms submissions to fail. Do you think these settings would fix the issue? I know I should just try it myself, just asking on the off chance you have some up against this problem?
You’ll just need to turn off a few javascript options at a time to narrow down the issue, each time fully flushing LiteSpeed’s JS/CSS cache, LiteSpeed’s page cache and your browser’s cace of the page (ctrl F5) to see which js optimisation settings cause it to fail.
Hello, I have a question about LiteSpeed Cache. Whether there are positive differences in website speed – you need to use these third-party cloud and redis services in this plugin. And why, after installing this plugin, the database is many times larger. I have a small website on the lite speed server https://totemat.pl/ and I do not know why it is that when I run this plugin, the website works a bit slower – according to google page speed. What could be the reason?
Wow – thank you so much, your recommendations have made a huge difference! I am not technical and was hesitant to fiddle with LS settings, but I am so glad I did. First and largest contentful paint still need some tweaks but PageSpeed score is now 90-99. Thanks again for such a useful post!
Mate, I’ve been struggling for literally months with Litespeed on Divi. My “URL list in UCSS queue waiting for cron” and “URL list in CCSS queue waiting for cron” is still piling up which is what I’ve been having problems with lately (might be cron issue), but so far I’m hitting 93 average on mobile and 99 on Desktop!
You’re a legend!
Thanks Rey!
Thanks for this article. Currently, a few of the latest options are missing. It would be great if you update the blog based on recent updates on the plugin and theme to maximize the optimizations. Thanks again!