WordPress.org

This plugin captures real user metrics about what elements are displayed on the page across a variety of device form factors (e.g. desktop, tablet, and phone) in order to apply loading optimizations which are not possible with WordPress’s current server-side heuristics.
This plugin is a framework dependency which does not provide optimization functionality on its own. For that, please install the <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/image-prioritizer/" rel="ugc">Image Prioritizer</a> and <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/embed-optimizer/" rel="ugc">Embed Optimizer</a> dependent plugins (among <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/labels/%5BPlugin%5D%20Optimization%20Detective" rel="nofollow ugc">others</a> to come from the WordPress Core Performance team). There are currently no settings and no user interface for this plugin since it is designed to work without any configuration.
Your site must currently have the REST API accessible to unauthenticated frontend visitors since this is how real user metrics are collected about pages on your site; nevertheless, <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/issues/1311" rel="nofollow ugc">exploration</a> is underway for providing alternative mechanisms for collecting the metrics. Also, please note that no metrics are currently collected from Safari since it does not yet support the <a href="https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/LargestContentfulPaint" rel="nofollow ugc">Largest Contentful Paint</a> metric, but support for this <a href="https://web.dev/explore/learn-core-web-vitals" rel="nofollow ugc">Core Web Vitals</a> metric is coming this year <a href="https://webkit.org/blog/16458/announcing-interop-2025/#core-web-vitals" rel="nofollow ugc">via Interop 2025</a>.
Please refer to the <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/blob/trunk/plugins/optimization-detective/docs/README.md" rel="nofollow ugc">full plugin documentation</a> for a <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/blob/trunk/plugins/optimization-detective/docs/introduction.md" rel="nofollow ugc">technical introduction</a>, <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/blob/trunk/plugins/optimization-detective/docs/hooks.md" rel="nofollow ugc">filter/action hooks</a>, and <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/performance/blob/trunk/plugins/optimization-detective/docs/extensions.md" rel="nofollow ugc">extensions</a> that show use cases and examples. You can also watch the talk from WordCamp Asia 2025: <a href="https://weston.ruter.net/2025/02/21/boosting-performance-with-optimization-detective/" rel="nofollow ugc">Boosting Performance with Optimization Detective</a>.

Optimization Detective

Provides a framework for leveraging real user metrics to detect optimizations for improving page performance.

Pingdom

This simple plugin helps you add your Pingdom Real User Monitoring code snippet to the HEAD tag of your WordPress sites.
Once added, Pingdom immediately starts collecting data from your website’s visitors. You can view all that collected data in your Pingdom control panel at <a href="https://my.pingdom.com" title="My Pingdom" rel="nofollow ugc">my.pingdom.com</a>.
With Pingdom <a href="”" rel="nofollow ugc">real user monitoring</a> you can know exactly how visitors are experiencing your website’s performance. It provides invaluable insights into the website’s load time, and also also helps answer questions like how your website truly performs from a specific device, in a specific country, from a specific web browser.
Real user monitoring is a way to see every single visitor and how they’re experiencing your website in real time. It’s paramount when you want to make improvements to your website’s performance.
Please note you need a Pingdom account for this plugin. If you don’t have one, grab one at <a href="https://www.pingdom.com/rum" title="Pingdom Real User Monitoring" rel="nofollow ugc">pingdom.com</a>. It’s super-easy!

Real User Monitoring by Pingdom

With SolarWinds® Pingdom® real user monitoring you'll see how your website performs, how your users experience it, and what slows it down.

Optimization Detective vs Real User Monitoring by Pingdom