Best Magento 2 Lazy Load Extensions (Free & Paid)

The importance of a fast-loading website cannot be overstated. Visitors have become increasingly intolerant of slow-loading pages, expecting instant access to the information they seek. Google has revealed that the majority of mobile users anticipate a page to load within a mere 3 seconds. Consider the scenario where a potential customer encounters prolonged loading times on your site – the outcome is all too predictable: an immediate bounce, resulting in lost sales and missed opportunities.

On the flip side, a website that loads quickly creates a lasting positive impression on visitors. Not only does it enhance user experience, but it also plays a pivotal role in search engine optimization (SEO). Search engines like Google prioritize fast-loading sites, granting them higher rankings in search results. Furthermore, a fast website can significantly reduce server bandwidth consumption, leading to substantial cost savings.

There are many ways to optimize Magento 2 website but in this guide, we’ll explore the best Magento 2 lazy load extensions, including both free and paid options. These handy tools can significantly improve your site’s loading speed, providing a smooth user experience and boosting your online store performance.

Understanding Magento 2 lazy loading Extensions

Magento 2 Lazy Load Extensions enhance website performance by optimizing page loading times through the implementation of lazy loading techniques.

What is Lazy Loading?

Lazy loading is a technique used to optimize website performance by loading specific elements of a webpage only when they are needed. Instead of loading all content at once, lazy loading allows for a more efficient and faster loading experience for users.

How Does it Enhance Website Performance?

Lazy loading is particularly beneficial for websites as it reduces the initial load time by deferring the loading of non-critical elements such as images, videos, and scripts. By loading these elements only when they come into view or are about to be accessed by the user, it minimizes the resources required and enhances the overall performance of the website.

What is lazy load extension for Magento 2?

A Magento lazy load extension allows you to defer the loading of images, products, and other media files until they’re actually needed. This can be particularly beneficial for online stores with large catalogs, as it prevents unnecessary strain on web server resources and ensures a smooth loading transition.

Why Should You Use a Magento 2 Lazy Load Extension?

The benefits of using a Magento 2 lazy load extension are manifold. Here are a few key reasons why you should consider installing one on your site:

Boosting Page Load Speed with Magento 2 Lazy Load Extensions

Magento 2 offers a range of lazy load extensions that can significantly boost your website’s page load speed. These extensions provide advanced features and functionalities tailored specifically for Magento 2 environments. By integrating a lazy load extension, you can optimize the loading of images, videos, and other media elements on your website.

Lazy load extensions for Magento 2 typically work by replacing actual media content with placeholders initially and then loading the content as users scroll or interact with the page. This approach ensures that only the necessary content is loaded, reducing the initial payload and improving the overall performance of your website.

Improving User Experience through Lazy Loading in Magento 2

Lazy loading enhances the user experience of your Magento 2 website by minimizing the initial loading time. Visitors can quickly access the core content of your site, leading to reduced bounce rates and increased engagement. Here’s how lazy loading improves the user experience:

• Faster Interactions: With lazy loading, users can start interacting with the visible content of your website almost instantly. This eliminates the frustrating experience of waiting for the entire page to load before being able to engage with your site’s elements.
• Seamless Scrolling: As users scroll down a page, lazy loading ensures that additional content loads smoothly and seamlessly. This prevents jarring interruptions or delays and provides a continuous browsing experience.
• Optimized Mobile Experience: Lazy loading is particularly beneficial for mobile users who often have limited bandwidth and slower internet connections. By loading content on demand, lazy loading reduces data usage and improves the performance of your Magento 2 website on mobile devices.

Maximizing SEO Potential with Lazy Loading in Magento 2

In addition to enhancing user experience, lazy loading in Magento 2 can have a positive impact on your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) practices. Here’s how lazy loading can help maximize your SEO potential:

• Improved Page Speed: Page speed is a crucial ranking factor for search engines. By implementing lazy loading, you can significantly improve your website’s loading speed, which can positively influence your search engine rankings. Search engines prioritize websites that provide faster and smoother user experiences.
• Reduced Bounce Rates: Slow-loading websites often experience higher bounce rates, which can negatively affect your SEO. With lazy loading, your Magento 2 website loads faster, reducing the likelihood of visitors bouncing back to the search results. This can result in longer dwell times and improved SEO performance.
• Mobile Optimization: Lazy loading is particularly beneficial for mobile SEO. As mobile users expect faster loading times, implementing lazy loading ensures that your Magento 2 website meets their expectations. This, in turn, can boost your mobile search rankings and visibility.

Reducing Server Load with Lazy Loading in Magento 2

By reducing the number of resources loaded at page load time, lazy load extensions can help reduce the strain on your server, improving overall site performance.

Internet Bandwidth Savings with Lazy Loading in Magento 2

Lazy loading can also help users with limited internet bandwidth by only loading the images and media files they actually view.

Comparison of Magento 2 Lazy Load Extensions

Best Free Magento 2 Lazy Load Extensions

Magento 2 Lazy Load by Plumrocket

Magento 2 Lazy Load by Plumrocket is a free extension that optimizes your website by loading images only when users scroll to them, saving time on the initial page load. This significantly boosts the Core Web Vitals score, improves your customer browsing experience, and enhances search engine ranking.

Features

1. Lazy Load Images: Delays the loading of off-screen images until users scroll to them, saving time on the initial page load and providing a super-fast browsing experience.
2. Preload Images: Identifies above-the-fold images on your website pages and renders them instantly, ensuring customers are immediately hooked and don’t leave until something loads on a slow connection.
3. Custom Lazy Load & Preload Strategy: Allows you to set up image preloading and lazy loading to your website pages.
4. Automatic Resource Loading Prioritization: Improves page rendering by automatically prioritizing the loading of JavaScript, CSS, images, iFrames, and other resources.
5. Minify HTML: This helps to reduce the size of your HTML files to increase page speed.
6. Flexible Settings: Allows you to manually specify blocks or containers to lazy load images inside and apply lazy loading with image CSS classes or URLs.
7. Lazy Load Exclude List: Ensures full extension compatibility with other third parties that use their built-in lazy load.
8. Mobile Optimization: Optimizes your website pages on mobile devices, which is very important as mobile shopping has taken over in recent years.

Compatibility

The Magento 2 Lazy Load extension by Plumrocket is compatible with Magento CE versions 2.3.X – 2.4.X.

User Reviews

The extension has received positive reviews from users.

Magento 2 Image Lazy Load by Magefan

Magento 2 Lazy Load by Magefan is a free extension that enables lazy loading for images on your Magento 2 store. This helps to improve page speed and reduce page size, which can have a dramatic impact on your online store performance. This is particularly important for mobile users who may be browsing with a slow internet connection.

Features

1. Lazy Load Images: The extension only loads images within the viewer’s viewport and loads the rest when scrolling down.
2. Improve Customer Experience: By ensuring images are loaded gradually, this extension helps to keep your customers’ attention and improve engagement.
3. Lazy Load Images on All Pages: This extension allows you to lazy load images on all of your website pages: products, categories, homepage, CMS pages, and blocks. It doesn’t require any complex configuration.
4. Exclude Images from Lazy Loading: You can specify the number of first images from a certain block to ignore, and they won’t be lazy-loaded. This gives you more control over image optimization.
5. Fully Compatible with WebP Images: Image optimization in Magento is not limited to image lazy load. There are plenty of other options which you should resort to in order to improve website speed. WebP is a modern file format accepted by almost all major browsers. So, using Lazy Load with Magento 2 WebP Images Extension is a perfect match.

Compatibility

The Magento 2 Lazy Load extension by Magefan is compatible with Magento CE versions 2.3.0 – 2.4.6.

User Reviews

Users have praised the extension for its ease of use and effectiveness.

Magento 2 Lazy Load Product Images by WeltPixel

Lazy Load Product Images by WeltPixel is a free extension that enhances your Magento 2 store’s performance by implementing lazy loading for images. This extension is designed to improve page speed, reduce page size, and enhance the overall user experience, especially for mobile users who may be browsing on slower internet connections.

For advanced features and additional control over lazy loading, the Pro version of Magento 2 Lazy Load by WeltPixel is available for $199.

Features

1. Lazy Load Images: This feature only loads images when they come into the viewer’s viewport, reducing bandwidth usage and delivering pages faster.
2. Lazy Loading on Category Pages: You can optimize your page speed and loading time on your Category Pages. You can even set a Custom Loader via the extension settings.
3. Lazy Loading on CMS Pages: Lazy Loading can be applied to images on your CMS Pages as well. You can choose between using a Custom Loader or a beautiful fade effect.
4. Start Loading Early (PRO version only): This feature allows images to start loading before they come into the viewport, ensuring a smoother user experience.
5. Control the Lazy Load Animation Speed (PRO version only): You can control the speed at which images load as users scroll down the page.
6. Upload Custom Placeholder Image for Lazy Load Spinner (PRO version only): You can upload a custom image to be displayed while the actual image is loading.
7. Better Page Loading Time: By implementing lazy loading, this extension helps to improve your website’s page loading time.
8. Easy to Enhance Functionality: You can easily apply the lazy loading functionality to any custom image in the store by simply adding the class “lazy” to the image element.

Compatibility

The Magento 2 Lazy Load extension by WeltPixel is compatible with Magento Open Source, Magento Commerce, Magento Commerce Cloud B2B, and Magento versions 2.x, 2.3.x, 2.4.x.

User Reviews

Users have given positive reviews for the Magento 2 Lazy Load by WeltPixel.

Best Paid Magento 2 Lazy Load Extensions

Magento 2 Lazy Load by Amasty

Magento 2 Lazy Load by Amasty is a premium extension that significantly enhances your site’s performance by optimizing the loading of your site pages. It improves your site’s performance by loading product images on demand and speeding up page rendering with code and image optimization. This extension is designed to retain customers by eliminating performance issues, improving site ranking and search results position, and delivering desired content in a blink of an eye.

Features

1. Lazy Load Algorithm: This extension allows you to provide off-screen media display only when a customer scrolls to them. You can use the suitable loading script, adjust the number of preloaded media files, and customize the strategy for particular pages.
2. Image Optimization: The extension allows you to make files smaller with WebP format, display suitable image resolution, choose the resize algorithm, and compress images without quality loss. It also allows you to optimize images in bulk.
3. Code Structure Optimization: The extension includes features for code compression, as the number of scripts also increases page loading time. It allows you to optimize JavaScript, minify HTML, CSS, and JS, and merge CSS and JS files.
4. Server Push: This feature delivers all available responses at once, without waiting until a customer makes further requests, improving the user experience.
5. Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP): This built-in feature allows you to create fully optimized mobile pages with Webp images, improving the mobile browsing experience.
6. User Agents Activation: This feature activates all optimization features at once regardless of the device a customer uses for browsing.

Compatibility

This extension is compatible with Magento Open Source, Magento Commerce, and Magento Commerce Cloud B2B. It supports Magento versions 2.0, 2.1, 2.2, 2.3.x, 2.4.0, 2.4.1, 2.4.2, 2.4.3, 2.4.4, 2.4.5, 2.4.6.

Pricing

The Magento 2 Lazy Load by Amasty for Magento Community Edition is priced at $259, which includes product updates and support for 12 months. The updates and support prolongation are available for $159.

For more details about Lazy Load by Amasty for other Magento editons, visit their official site.

User Reviews

As of the latest update, the Magento 2 Lazy Load by Amasty has a rating of 4.5 stars. Users have praised the extension for its ability to improve site performance and enhance the user experience.

Magento 2 Lazy Load by Mirasvit

Mirasvit’s Magento 2 Lazy Load is a part of their Google PageSpeed Optimizer suite, designed to enhance your site’s performance by optimizing the way media files load. This extension fetches images and videos only when a visitor needs them, significantly reducing your site’s loading time and improving the visitor experience.

Features

1. Lazy Load Images and Videos: The extension ensures that images and videos load only when a visitor scrolls down to them instead of loading them all at once. This reduces the initial load time and improves page speed.
2. Placeholder Thumbnails for YouTube Videos: YouTube videos are replaced with placeholder thumbnails, which are downloaded only when a visitor clicks on the thumbnail. This saves bandwidth and improves page load speed.
3. Improve Google PageSpeed Insights Score: By reducing the amount of content that needs to be downloaded initially, the extension directly improves your site’s score on Google PageSpeed Insights.
4. Faster Page Load: With less content to download initially, pages load faster, improving the visitor experience.
5. Manage Exceptions: You can exclude certain images from lazy loading by name or file type. This is useful for vector art or larger images that you want to load immediately.
6. SEO-Friendly: Lazy loading does not affect SEO, as all your content remains accessible. The site simply loads it more efficiently.
7. No Image Quality Loss: The extension does not make images blurry. Some websites load low-resolution placeholders before full-sized images, but this is a different feature.

Compatibility

The Magento 2 Lazy Load by Mirasvit is compatible with Magento Community versions 2.3.x – 2.4.6 and Magento Enterprise versions 2.3.x – 2.4.6.

Pricing

The Lazy Load by Mirasvit for Magento Open Source is available for $159, with free installation included. This price gives you lifetime access to the source code and access to free support and updates for 1 year. Updates and support prolongation are available for $99. They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.
For more pricing detail, visit their official site.

User Reviews

Customers appreciate the performance improvements they’ve seen on their sites after installing this extension.

Magento 2 Lazy Load by Magetop

The Magento 2 Lazy Load by Magetop is a feature-rich extension that optimizes your website’s download speed by applying front-end optimizations automatically based on its configuration. This extension reduces both your webpage size and the number of HTTP requests required to download your web pages, resulting in reduced server load, lower bandwidth requirements, and faster page loading times.

Features

1. All Devices Covered: This extension is designed to work seamlessly across all devices, ensuring a smooth user experience regardless of the device used to access your website.
2. Fast Processing: The extension is optimized for fast processing, ensuring that your website’s performance is not compromised.
3. All Screen Sizes Supported: Whether your customers are using a mobile device or a large desktop screen, this extension ensures that your website’s images are loaded optimally.
4. Compatible with Page Builders: This extension is designed to work seamlessly with various page builders, allowing you to design your website as you see fit without worrying about compatibility issues.
5. Image CDN Supported: This feature allows you to use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for your images, further enhancing your website’s loading speed.
6. Lossless & Lossy Optimization: The extension supports both lossless and lossy optimization, giving you the flexibility to choose the level of image compression that suits your needs.
7. Works with Weak Connection Speeds: Even if your users have a weak internet connection, this extension ensures that your website’s images are loaded efficiently.
8. Add Watermarks to Your Images: This feature allows you to add watermarks to your images, protecting them from unauthorized use.
9. Easy Tracking and Monitoring: The extension provides easy tracking and monitoring features, allowing you to keep an eye on your website’s performance.
10. Retina Images and WebP Supported: This extension supports Retina images and WebP format, ensuring that your images look sharp and load quickly on all devices.

Compatibility

The Magento 2 Lazy Load by Magetop is compatible with all versions of Magento 2.

Pricing

The Magento 2 Lazy Load by Magetop is available in both free and premium versions. The premium version offers additional features such as Full Page Cache, the ability to combine and minify JavaScript and CSS files, HTML minification, GZip compression for combined files, sprite generation for background images, and the ability to exclude files from combining to resolve conflicts. The premium version also supports deferred/async loading of combined JavaScript files.

For detailed pricing information, please visit the official Magetop website.

User Reviews

Users have praised the Magento 2 Lazy Load by Magetop for its comprehensive feature set and its ability to improve website performance significantly.

How to Install a Magento 2 Lazy Load Extension?

As for the installation of a Magento 2 Lazy Load Extension, the process can vary depending on the specific extension and your Magento setup. However, here’s a general step-by-step guide:

1. Backup your store: Always ensure you have a recent backup of your store before installing any new extensions.
2. Purchase or download the extension: Visit the product page of the extension you want to install and follow the prompts to purchase or download it.
3. Extract the extension files: Once downloaded, extract the extension files to a directory on your computer.
4. Upload the extension files to your Magento root directory: This can usually be done using an FTP client. The Magento root directory is the directory that contains the “app”, “bin”, “lib”, and “pub” directories.
5. Run installation commands: Access your store’s root directory via SSH and run the following commands:
   • php bin/magento setup:upgrade
   • php bin/magento setup:di:compile
   • php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy
6. Clear the cache: In the Magento admin panel, go to “System” > “Cache Management” and clear the cache.
7. Configure the extension: Still in the admin panel, go to “Stores” > “Configuration” and find the settings for the new extension. Configure the extension as needed for your store.

How to choose the right lazy load extension for Magento 2 store?

When choosing a lazy load extension for your Magento 2 store, consider factors such as compatibility with your theme and other installed modules/extensions, reviews/testimonials from other users/customers, developer reputation/support track record, pricing (if applicable), ease of installation/configuration/use, and specific features/functionality needed for your website’s requirements or goals.

Final Thoughts

Magento 2 Lazy Load extension can be a game-changer for your online store. It not only enhances the user experience by improving page load speed but also helps in conserving server resources and internet bandwidth.

This article explores some of the best free and paid Magento 2 Lazy Load extensions available. Each of these extensions offers unique features and benefits, and the best choice for your store will depend on your specific needs and budget.

Remember, while a lazy load extension can significantly improve your site’s performance, it’s just one piece of the puzzle. Other factors, such as your hosting provider, can significantly impact your site’s speed and performance. So, take your time, evaluate your options, and choose the best lazy load extension that fits your store’s needs and budget.