WP Rocket version 3.22 adds a free CDN built directly into the plugin, allowing site owners to serve content from geographically distributed servers without installing a separate service. The problem is that the free tier is limited to three pages, making it a targeted performance tool rather than a replacement for a dedicated site-wide CDN.
What is a CDN?
A CDN improves page load times by storing copies of content on geographically distributed servers. When a visitor accesses a site, content is served from the server physically closest to that visitor, reducing latency and improving loading speed. The practical effect is especially visible on pages where loading speed directly affects user behavior.
How WP Rocket’s Free CDN Works
The new feature is accessible through a Content Delivery tab in WP Rocket and is powered by RocketCDN, the company’s in-house CDN technology built on the Bunny.net network. According to WP Rocket, users can enable CDN delivery with just a few clicks.
The free tier covers three pages rather than an entire site. WP Rocket recommends targeting high-value pages (home page, pricing page, or landing page) where performance improvements are most likely to impact business results.
Integration with Rocket Insights
An interesting detail of the release could be its integration with Rocket Insights, a performance monitoring feature introduced by WP Rocket earlier this year. The combination creates a performance improvement workflow within the plugin:
- Identify underperforming pages
- apply CDN delivery
- and measure the result.
For site owners who currently consolidate these functions into separate tools or manual work, this consolidation reduces the amount of work that needs to be done to improve website performance.
Are three pages enough?
Whether the free tier is enough depends entirely on the site. For publishers or e-commerce site owners with performance-sensitive pages spread across a large site, a dedicated CDN remains the most suitable solution. For smaller sites with a clearly defined set of high-priority pages, the integrated offering can be useful although it is more of a sample of what WP Rocket can do.
Watch the WP Rocket announcement:
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