Best async plugins for WordPress
The most popular async plugins for WordPress in November 2026, in WordPress.org’s own popular order, which follows active installs. Async JavaScript leads with 60K+ active installs, ahead of Async JS and CSS (700+) and Asynchronous Javascript (100+). All 10 plugins tagged “async” are below, with figures from WordPress.org that update every day.
Installs aren’t everything: a recent release, a “Tested up to” that matches the current WordPress, and support threads that get resolved show a plugin is looked after. Open any plugin for its downloads, rank history and alternatives.
Research this niche or see all plugins.
Top 10 async plugins
- 1.
Async JavaScriptThe most installed async plugin, with 60K+ active installs. Rated 4.7 from 102 reviews, last updated 3 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.2.15.
- 2.
Async JS and CSS700+ active installs. Rated 4.2 from 51 reviews, last updated 8 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 3.7.41.
- 3.
Asynchronous Javascript100+ active installs. Rated 3.7 from 9 reviews, last updated 13 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 3.5.2.
- 4.
Lazy Widget Loader100+ active installs. Only 2 reviews so far, last updated 13 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 3.6.1.
- 5.
LH CSS Lazy Load40+ active installs. Only 3 reviews so far, last updated 7 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 5.2.30.
- 6.
Asynchronous Emails10+ active installs. Only 1 review so far, last updated 3 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.1.16.
- 7.
image-auto-decoding-async10+ active installs. No reviews yet, last updated 4 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 5.9.20.
- 8.
Head.WP10+ active installs. No reviews yet, last updated 12 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 3.7.41.
- 9.
Dynamic ShortcodeFewer than 10 active installs. No reviews yet, last updated 5 years ago. Tested only up to WordPress 5.6.23.
- 10.
Site Scripts & Speed ManagerFewer than 10 active installs. No reviews yet, updated 7 months ago. Tested only up to WordPress 6.9.11.
All 10 plugins tagged “async”
Async JavaScript
#620by David Clough3 years ago
Async Javascript lets you add 'async' or 'defer' attribute to scripts to exclude to help increase the performance of your WordPress website.
- Installs
- 60K+
- Rating
- 4.7(102)
- Downloads
- 99/day
Async JS and CSS
Down in the last 7 days:1#8,017by dmikam9 years ago
Converts render-blocking CSS and JS files into NON-render-blocking, improving performance of web page.
- Installs
- 700+
- Rating
- 4.2(51)
- Downloads
- 11/day
Asynchronous Javascript
Up in the last 7 days:28#13,680by Paris Holley13 years ago
Improve page load performance by asynchronously loading javascript using head.js
- Installs
- 100+
- Rating
- 3.7(9)
- Downloads
- 11/day
Lazy Widget Loader
Up in the last 7 days:1#15,292by itthinx13 years ago
Lazy Widget Loader provides lazy loading for widgets to improve page loading. Use on slow widgets with content from Facebook, Twitter, AdSense ...
- Installs
- 100+
- Rating
- 5.0(2)
- Downloads
- 4/day
LH CSS Lazy Load
Up in the last 7 days:137#22,834by shawfactor7 years ago
Javascript has a HTML based method for deferring and asynchronously loading files, namely script Defer and script Async. Unfortunately these HTML solu …
- Installs
- 40+
- Rating
- 3.7(3)
- Downloads
- 0/day
Asynchronous Emails
Down in the last 7 days:25#30,581by Mohamed Endisha3 years ago
This WordPress plugin allows you to send emails asynchronously using cron jobs, instead of the default way of sending emails immediately upon sending.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- 5.0(1)
- Downloads
- 0/day
image-auto-decoding-async
Up in the last 7 days:8,359#38,599by dabohaze4 years ago
When adding media on the post screen, automatically add decoding = "async" to the img tag
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Head.WP
#41,879by kylereicks12 years ago
Head.js is a script to asynchronously load and manage dependencies of javascript and CSS assets.
- Installs
- 10+
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day
Dynamic Shortcode
Down in the last 7 days:3,586#67,965by FanaticPythoner5 years ago
Make any shortcode asynchronous - Eliminate render-blocking shortcodes, improve user experience and Google PageSpeed Insights.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 1/day
Site Scripts & Speed Manager
#68,667by ThinkAboveAI7 months ago
See every JavaScript file on your WordPress site. Control how each one loads. Speed up your pages without breaking anything.
- Installs
- <10
- Rating
- –
- Downloads
- 0/day