Fast Backend - free WordPress plugin for a faster wp-admin
Tired of a slow WordPress admin?
Fast Backend speeds up the WordPress admin area with a handful of efficient tweaks: native lazy loading for backend images, a reduced Heartbeat, longer autosave intervals and plugin stylesheets moved to the footer. Install, activate, done - no configuration required.
WordPress admin performance plugin
Four tweaks, one goal: a faster wp-admin.
Fast Backend only affects the admin area of WordPress. Your theme and the frontend your visitors see stay exactly as they are - the plugin simply removes overhead where editors spend their day.
Native lazy loading in the backend
Adds the loading="lazy" attribute to backend images that are missing it. Media libraries and edit screens with many thumbnails render without waiting for every single image to load.
Reduced WordPress Heartbeat
By default WordPress polls the server every 15 seconds via the Heartbeat API. Fast Backend extends the interval to 45 seconds, cutting the background admin-ajax requests to a third.
Autosave every 2 minutes
Instead of autosaving posts every 60 seconds, the plugin saves every 120 seconds. Half the autosave requests while you write, with drafts still safely stored.
Plugin stylesheets in the footer
Moves plugin stylesheets to the bottom of the admin page so they no longer block rendering. Admin screens start painting earlier, especially on plugin-heavy installs.
Download Fast Backend
Get it from the official WordPress.org directory.
Install it straight from your WordPress dashboard (Plugins > Add New, search for "Fast Backend") or download it from the official plugin directory.
Free and open source, GPL-2.0 licensed. Requires WordPress 5.0+ and PHP 7.2+.
Built by Webdesign München
Straight out of our agency practice.
Fast Backend is built and maintained by Webdesign München, a Munich based web agency doing custom WordPress development since 1998. The tweaks in this plugin are the ones we apply to client backends every day - packaged so any WordPress site can use them.