Pre* Party Resource Hints vs WP Smart Preloader (2026)
Detailed side-by-side comparison of two WordPress plugins, based on real-time data from WordPress.org.
Pre* Party Resource Hints
6.0K+ active installs
Free
Quick Verdict
As of April 2026, Pre* Party Resource Hints has a higher user rating (5/5 from 28 reviews) and leads in active installations (6.0K+ vs 6.0K+). Both are free WordPress plugins. Pre* Party Resource Hints has accumulated 174K+ total downloads while WP Smart Preloader has 205K+.
Detailed Comparison
| Metric | Pre* Party Resource Hints | WP Smart Preloader | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rating | 5/5 | ◄ | 4.4/5 |
| Total Reviews | 28 | ◄ | 25 |
| Active Installs | 6.0K+ | 6.0K+ | |
| Total Downloads | 174K+ | ► | 205K+ |
| Support Resolution | N/A | N/A | |
| Last Updated | 2 years ago | ► | 1 year ago |
| First Released | 2016 | 2015 | |
| Age | 10 years | 11 years | |
| WP Requires | 4.4+ | 2.8+ | |
| PHP Requires | 7.0.0+ | false+ | |
| Business Model | Free | Free | |
| Latest Version | 1.8.20 | 1.15.3 |
Rating Breakdown
Pre* Party Resource Hints
WP Smart Preloader
Download Trends
Over the past 30 days, Pre* Party Resource Hints averaged approximately 8 daily downloads while WP Smart Preloader averaged 20.
Recent Reviews
Pre* Party Resource Hints Reviews
Great plugin!
There are plenty of plugins that deal with this topic, even the official Speculation Rules, but for advanced users who know what they’re doing – this one is the best because it combines all techniques
awesome!
previously had a problem that patchstack reported WordPress Pre* Party Resource Hints Plugin <= 1.8.18 is vulnerable to SQL Injection was updated quite quickly in 1.8.19 This topic w
Brilliant plugin. So powerful that I removed my cache plugin
I ran a webpage test on GTMetrix, identified the items to pre-connect, pre-fetch and pre-load, and wham(!), a tremendous speed increase I could never consistently achieve with any caching plugin (and
WP Smart Preloader Reviews
Clever but limited
Did work out of the install…but, it is on a timer, vs watching for when the actual heavy loading page completes. I also needed it to run on a particular page and not the whole site.
Good preloader!
Once I added the code below to my functions.php file and adjusted the timing it works great. I also like the included loading image #1 better than other preloaders. add_action('wp_footer', function
It is not a CSS Only Preloader (as advertised)
It will cause a blank page to be displayed if Javascript is turned off.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Plugin data sourced from WordPress.org. Comparison and analysis by PluginSift.