GOMAX ULTIMATE 5.49.0 adds a local image optimizer that recompresses, downscales and converts your WordPress media to WebP using your own server's GD or Imagick — so your images never get uploaded to a third-party optimization service, and there's no per-image fee or monthly quota. Big, heavy images are the number-one cause of slow pages; now you can fix them in bulk, on your own hardware, with your originals safely backed up.
Most popular image optimizers send every upload to their cloud to be processed and bill you by the image or by the month. GOMAX does the work in-house: the same GD/Imagick your server already uses to make thumbnails now also compresses and converts your library.
Key takeaways
Local, no cloud. Compression, downscaling and WebP conversion run on your server — images never leave the site, and there's no external service or quota.
See the savings first. analyze scans your media for oversized, heavy and legacy JPG/PNG images and estimates what you'll save.
Bulk and resumable. optimize_bulk processes a batch at a time and remembers where it left off, so even a large library finishes without timing out.
WebP with a safe fallback. Generate WebP copies and, optionally, serve them by rewriting to `` — browsers that don't support WebP still get the original.
Reversible. Originals can be backed up before optimization, and restore_original reverts any image.
Why local optimization is the better default
Sending your images to someone else's cloud has three costs: money (per-image or subscription), privacy (your media on a third party's servers), and dependency (if their service changes or disappears, so does your optimization). Doing it locally removes all three. The trade-off used to be capability — but modern PHP with GD or Imagick handles WebP well, and for the vast majority of sites the local result is excellent. It fits a pay-once, privacy-first product perfectly: the optimizer is built into the plugin you already own, and it works on your terms.
What it does to each image
Recompress at a quality you choose — big savings on over-large JPEGs and PNGs.
Downscale anything wider than your max width (huge phone-camera uploads are the usual culprit).
Strip metadata (EXIF/camera data) as part of re-encoding.
Generate a WebP copy alongside the original when your server supports it.
You can then turn on WebP delivery, which rewrites image tags on the front end to serve the WebP version with the original as a fallback — no theme edits required. And because every original can be backed up first, you can always roll an image back if you want the untouched file.
Frequently asked questions
Do my images get uploaded to a third-party service? No. All processing happens on your own server using its GD or Imagick libraries. Your images never leave the site, and there's no external optimization service, quota or per-image fee.
Will it work on my hosting? Recompression and downscaling work anywhere WordPress makes thumbnails. WebP generation needs GD or Imagick with WebP support — retrieve_capabilities tells you exactly what your server can do, and the optimizer falls back gracefully if WebP isn't available.
Is it safe — can I undo it? Yes. Keep the "back up originals" setting on (it's the default) and the untouched file is saved before optimization, so restore_original can revert any image at any time.
How does WebP get served to visitors? Optionally. When you enable WebP delivery, GOMAX rewrites tags to `` elements that offer the WebP version with the original as a fallback, so browsers that don't support WebP still see the image. It requires no changes to your theme.
Will a big media library time out? No. optimize_bulk processes a limited batch per call and tracks which images are done, so you call it repeatedly until nothing remains — even thousands of images finish without a timeout.
