How to Improve Website Speed on WordPress Without Using Too Many Plugins

Hi everyone,
I’m currently working on optimizing a WordPress website (https://freecultr.com/) and wanted to share some insights while also learning from the community.

Many WordPress sites slow down because we depend too much on plugins. While plugins are helpful, they can increase load time, add external scripts, and cause conflicts. Here are a few methods I’m testing to speed up WordPress without relying heavily on plugins:

1. Use a lightweight theme
Themes built with clean code (like GeneratePress, Astra, Block-based themes, Kadence) immediately improve speed because they don’t load unnecessary scripts.

2. Optimize images manually before uploading
Instead of using multiple image-optimization plugins, compressing images to the right dimensions before upload helps the site load much faster. Tools like TinyPNG or Squoosh make this easy.

3. Enable browser caching and gzip via hosting
Most hosting dashboards now allow enabling caching or compression directly. This reduces the number of files a browser has to download.

4. Limit external scripts
Too many analytics tags, fonts, or tracking codes can slow down pages. I learned that replacing heavy fonts with system fonts improves performance instantly.

5. Use the built-in WordPress block editor efficiently
The block editor has become powerful enough for layouts that earlier required page builders. Using fewer builders = fewer scripts = faster site.

I’d love to know what tips or tools you use for speed optimization.

What’s worked best for your WordPress setup?