A WordPress plugin that fixes Divi-specific performance and accessibility issues. Drop it into any Divi site — no configuration, no site-specific code.
- Divi detection — Divi-specific fixes only run when Divi is the active parent theme. Safe to leave active during theme switches.
- Context-aware — skips admin, AJAX, REST API, WP-CLI, and cron contexts entirely.
- Output buffer guards — skips feeds, sitemaps, and non-HTML responses.
- No conflicts with Gutenberg — block styles are only removed on pages built with the Divi Builder, not on Gutenberg pages.
- Divi Pixel optional — DIPI optimizations match on handle names and skip gracefully if the plugin isn't installed.
| Test | Performance | A11y | BP | SEO |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| No plugins | 70 | 84 | 100 | 92 |
| Plugin active | 74 | 96 | 100 | 100 |
FCP: 2.3s → 2.0s · LCP: 9.9s → 8.2s · Speed Index: 3.2s → 2.0s
Production impact will be larger — local TTFB is ~530ms vs ~59ms on Cloudflare CDN.
| # | Fix | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Remove emoji scripts | Removes ~15kb emoji detection JS/CSS loaded on every page |
| 2 | Remove wp_head bloat | Strips WP version, RSD, WLW manifest, shortlinks, oEmbed, feed links |
| 3 | Remove wp-embed | oEmbed embed script not needed on marketing sites |
| 4 | Remove block styles (Divi pages) | Removes Gutenberg CSS only on pages using Divi Builder |
| 5 | Remove dashicons (guests) | Dashicons only needed for logged-in admin bar |
| 6 | Disable XML-RPC | Legacy protocol, common brute-force attack surface |
| 7 | Remove s.w.org prefetch | Unnecessary DNS prefetch for WordPress.org assets |
| # | Fix | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Viewport meta | Replaces Divi's et_add_viewport_meta with Lighthouse-preferred format |
| 2 | Preload Divi icon fonts | Moves modules.woff and fa-solid-900.woff2 to early <head> |
| 3 | Preconnect Google Fonts | Saves ~100ms DNS+TLS handshake before font CSS fires |
| 4 | Remove jQuery Migrate | Divi 4.x doesn't need it on the frontend; it's render-blocking |
| 5 | Defer Divi scripts | Defers non-critical scripts via script_loader_tag (not WP 6.3 strategy API — avoids jQuery dependency propagation bug) |
| 6 | Async Google Fonts | Converts render-blocking stylesheet to preload + onload swap pattern |
| 6b | Async Divi customizer CSS | Same pattern for et-divi-customizer-global.min.css |
| 6c | display=swap on font URL |
Belt-and-suspenders via et_pb_google_fonts_url filter |
| 7 | Divi Pixel optimizations | Async CSS + defer JS for DIPI handles (skipped if not installed) |
| 8 | FA icons removal | Commented out — uncomment after confirming no FA icons are used |
| 9 | HTML output buffer | Adds role="main", copies title → aria-label on social links, derives aria-label from href slug on image-wrapped links |
Things that look generic but are actually site-specific — handle these in your child theme:
- Footer contrast colors — hardcoded hex values depend on the site's color scheme
- Mega-menu
mediaattribute — depends on the child theme's enqueue handle name - DNS prefetch domains — site-specific external links
- LCP image preloads — image paths are site-specific
NitroPack / WP Rocket / similar caching plugins — these plugins also defer scripts and async-load CSS. Running both will double-process the same resources. If a caching plugin is active:
- Disable its script deferral and CSS async features, OR
- Deactivate this plugin and let the caching plugin handle it instead
Check which is doing a better job with a PageSpeed test before/after.
These aren't handled by the plugin — they're checkboxes in the Divi UI that must be set manually:
- Divi → Theme Options → Performance → Generate Static CSS File — enable this. Divi generates a static CSS file per page instead of computing it on every request.
- Divi → Theme Options → Performance → Lazy Loading → Images — enable this. Divi will add
loading="lazy"to below-fold images. - After enabling Static CSS, clear the cache: Divi → Theme Options → Builder → Clear Static CSS
Disable Divi animations on mobile — animations add TBT and INP cost on mobile without visual benefit. Add to your child theme's style.css:
@media (max-width: 639px) {
.et_pb_section, .et_pb_section * {
animation: none !important;
transition: none !important;
}
}Test thoroughly before shipping — this will disable all entrance animations site-wide on mobile.
- Upload the
divi-performancefolder to/wp-content/plugins/ - Activate via WP Admin → Plugins
- No settings page — it just works
- Works on any Divi site — Divi-specific fixes are skipped if Divi isn't the active theme
- jQuery Migrate removal (section 4): if any frontend behaviour breaks after activation, comment out the
wp_default_scriptsblock and test again - Font Awesome icons (section 8): uncomment the
et_global_assets_listfilter only after confirming no Divi modules use FA icons on the site - Script defer (section 5): if a specific Divi module breaks (e.g. sliders, forms), remove its handle from
$defer_handles
