Grade C

Flying Pages: Preload Pages for Faster Navigation & Improved User Experience

Name: Flying Pages: Preload Pages for Faster Navigation & Improved User Experience
Rating: 4.9 (79 reviews)
Author: Gijo Varghese

⤓ Download v2.4.7 on WordPress.org ↗

by Gijo Vargheseupdated 2026-05-20🎲The Mixed Bag

Instant page loads that occasionally break your site.

Growing

66/100

The plugin provides fast navigation but relies on generic reviews and occasionally causes errors.

Loved24/40

Trustworthy10/15

Fair & Honest14/15

Maintained18/18

Momentum9/12

Composite 75, adjusted to 66 (×0.88) for a low verified rating or signs of review manipulation.

✂️

You might not need this plugin. Its core job is small enough to live in your theme's functions.php.

Show the snippet

add_action( 'wp_footer', function () {
    ?>
    <script>
    (function () {
        if (!window.IntersectionObserver) return;
        const nav = navigator.connection;
        if (nav && (nav.saveData || /2g/.test(nav.effectiveType))) return;

        const prefetched = new Set();
        function prefetch(url) {
            if (prefetched.has(url)) return;
            prefetched.add(url);
            const link = document.createElement('link');
            link.rel = 'prefetch';
            link.href = url;
            document.head.appendChild(link);
        }

        const queue = [];
        let timer;
        function enqueue(url) {
            if (!prefetched.has(url)) queue.push(url);
            if (!timer) timer = setInterval(() => {
                const batch = queue.splice(0, 3);
                batch.forEach(prefetch);
                if (!queue.length) { clearInterval(timer); timer = null; }
            }, 1000);
        }

        const observer = new IntersectionObserver(entries => {
            entries.forEach(e => { if (e.isIntersecting) enqueue(e.target.href); });
        });

        requestIdleCallback(() => {
            document.querySelectorAll('a[href^="<?php echo esc_js( home_url() ); ?>"]')
                .forEach(a => observer.observe(a));
        });

        document.addEventListener('mouseover', e => {
            const a = e.target.closest('a');
            if (a && a.href.startsWith('<?php echo esc_js( home_url() ); ?>')) prefetch(a.href);
        });
    })();
    </script>
    <?php
}, 20 );

Keep in mind:The plugin ships a polished 1 KB production script with more edge-case handling; this snippet captures the core behaviour only.

More plugins you can skip →

Active installs

~25,000

our estimate · wp.org shows 20k+

→ on track for 30k+in ~2.7 years

Rating

4.9★

79 ratings

Trend · vs a year ago

+7%

Growing

67 → 72 installs/day

What to watch out for

MAJORnear-100% 5★ in bursty pattern

Downloads over time

real new installs per day · release spikes shown separately from the trend

2025-04-302025-08-082025-11-162026-02-232026-06-03

organicrelease spikerelease tailorganic trend · 14d rolling median

Growing · +7% in the last year

67/day a year ago→72/day today

Reviews

what people actually say

Flying Pages is well-regarded as a lightweight, effective page preloading plugin that noticeably improves navigation speed, though a small number of users report site-breaking issues and dismissive support responses.

What people like

+Noticeably improves page load speed and navigation performance after installation×8
+Lightweight and unobtrusive, works alongside other cache plugins like WP Rocket×3
+Easy to set up and works as advertised×4
+Warms cache faster by preloading unvisited pages
+Developer/support praised as responsive and helpful×2

Common complaints

−Reported to cause site-breaking errors, including blank white screens and 'feature not enabled' errors
−Server connectivity issues attributed to the plugin, disappearing only when the plugin is disabled
−Cache purging does not work correctly on the home page when new articles are published
−Support described as dismissive or unapologetic when issues are raised, and support topics closed without resolution×2
−No built-in option to exclude specific pages or post types from preloading, which can cause excessive requests on link-heavy pages

Review trustMostly organic

4.91★Verified rating — holds steady vs the raw 4.90★
3%One-shot reviewers — most reviewers are active community members
past spikeReview timing — up to 25% of all reviews landed in a single month

Reviews per month · 5★ vs lower

2023-07-202025-01-102026-06-04

5★ reviews1–4★ reviews

All-time ratings · 79 total

5★

4★

3★

2★

1★

Latest reviews · 79 analyzed

2025-05-24★★★★★not as expected Cosmin T.
2023-12-15★★★★★Sharp and clean delrod
2023-09-28★★★★★Server Connectivity aslam7
2023-07-04★★★★★FlyingPress is awesome scottlovig
2023-05-10★★★★★Flying Pages creates a smile on my face!ms100
2023-04-04★★★★★Breaks site very often edwardsmithjr
2022-09-10★★★★★Great Plugin frontweb2021
2022-08-27★★★★★Great plugin!dbbuda
2022-08-13★★★★★Best plugin ever.maniehansen
2022-07-10★★★★★Pure Afterburner Power!generosus

Releases

recent versions from WordPress.org SVN

2026-05-20v2.4.7
2024-08-26v2.4.6
2024-08-24v2.4.3
2024-08-24v2.4.4
2024-08-24v2.4.5
2022-05-24v2.4.2
2020-07-18v2.4.1
2020-01-04v2.4.0

For developers & the curious

the raw signals behind the grade — none of this is on the friendly summary above

Download signals

Baselines are computed on organic days only — release spikes and their tails are excluded, so they're not inflated by the auto-update wave.

Baseline · median of last 7 organic days

Prior 7-day baseline

Floor · 25th percentile over 14 days

114

Mean release-day peak (30d)

100

Latest day · 2026-06-03(organic)

0.0%

Week-over-week organic trend

Review signals

Concentration and drive-by metrics drive the review-burst and fake-review flags. 30–40% solo reviewers is normal; we only flag the extremes.

25%

Max month share · biggest single 30-day window

2.83

Distribution CV · <0.6 even, >1.5 bursty

98%

5★ share in analyzed sample

Solo reviewers · only this one wp.org activity

—

Volume velocity · last 6mo vs prior 6mo

4.91 → 4.91★

Sample avg · raw → solo-filtered