AffStackDev Image Manager / Compare
How Image Manager compares
Image Manager does two jobs that usually take two plugins: organizing the Media Library and making pictures lighter. It adds editing and media backups. The tables compare it with the leading plugins of both kinds.
Image ManagerFree
Get Image Manager How to read the tables
| Word | Means |
|---|---|
| Yes | Included. For a plugin with a free and a paid version: in the free version. For one sold in plans: in the plan whose price is shown. |
| Yes, paid | Only in the paid version, or with a paid add-on of the same maker. |
| Partly | Some of it; the note under the table says what. |
| Not listed | We did not find it on the maker’s pages. The plugin may still do it. |
Price
| Image Manager | FileBird | Real Media Library | Smush | EWWW | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free version | Yes, no license needed | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Paid | No paid version | Pro $49 (on sale for $39) | Pro €39 once | Pro $50 | Premium $80 |
Real Media Library’s paid version is a one-time price, not a yearly one.
Organize
| Image Manager | FileBird | Real Media Library | Smush | EWWW | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Folders for the Media Library | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
| One file in several groups | Yes (1) | Not listed | Yes (2) | Not listed | Not listed |
| New uploads sorted into folders by themselves | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Upload straight into a folder | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
| Folders for pages and posts too | Yes (3) | Yes, paid | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| A gallery made from a folder | Yes (4) | Not listed | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
| Import folders from other folder plugins | Yes (5) | Yes | Yes | Not listed | Not listed |
| Title, caption and alt text for many files at once | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Find unused files | Yes (6) | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
- Image Manager: collections.
- Real Media Library: shortcuts.
- Image Manager: for posts, pages, products and any other admin list, nested; they stay in the admin.
- Image Manager: for the folders you switch on for the website.
- Image Manager: from FileBird, Real Media Library, HappyFiles, Enhanced Media Library and Folders (Premio).
- Image Manager: lists the files none of the places checked uses; that does not prove a file unused, and nothing is deleted.
Edit
| Image Manager | FileBird | Real Media Library | Smush | EWWW | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Crop, rotate, flip or resize into a new copy | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| A picture from a PDF page | Yes (1) | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Replace a picture and keep its place, with undo | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
- Image Manager: where your hosting has Imagick with PDF support.
Lighter pictures
| Image Manager | FileBird | Real Media Library | Smush | EWWW | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Made on your own hosting | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Yes (1) |
| Lossless and stronger compression | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Yes | Yes |
| WebP copies | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Yes, paid | Yes |
| AVIF copies | Yes (2) | Not listed | Not listed | Yes, paid | Yes, paid |
| Originals kept; go back at any time | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Yes | Yes (3) |
| New uploads made lighter by themselves | Yes (4) | Not listed | Not listed | Yes | Not listed |
| Large originals made lighter too | Yes (5) | Not listed | Not listed | Partly (6) | Yes |
| Pictures sized to fit the page | Yes (7) | Not listed | Not listed | Yes, paid | Yes, paid |
| Lazy loading | Yes (8) | Not listed | Not listed | Yes | Yes |
| Delivery through a CDN | Yes (9) | Not listed | Not listed | Yes, paid | Yes, paid |
| See which files a browser really loads | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Partly (10) |
- EWWW: a local mode with tools on your server.
- Image Manager: for photos, where your hosting can write AVIF.
- EWWW: local backups.
- Image Manager: off at the start.
- Image Manager: up to 8,192 × 8,192 pixels as far as the hosting’s memory allows; up to 2,560 × 2,560 at the start.
- Smush: up to 5 MB in the free version, 256 MB in Pro.
- Image Manager: measured on your own pages in your browser; the sizes they need are made on your hosting (up to six per picture). Pictures whose theme states their width itself stay as the theme made them.
- Image Manager: for the pictures WordPress itself does not lazy-load; off at the start.
- Image Manager: through the CDN you already have (one with its own address that fetches from your site), checked before use and every day; no AffStackDev CDN service.
- EWWW: Image Detective points at wrongly sized pictures.
Backups
| Image Manager | FileBird | Real Media Library | Smush | EWWW | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A media backup with details and folders | Yes | Yes, paid (1) | Not listed | Not listed | Yes, paid (2) |
| Backups to your own Google Drive or S3, on a schedule | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
| Restore on another site | Yes | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed | Not listed |
- FileBird: download a folder as a ZIP.
- EWWW: 30-day cloud backups of images.
The plugins in this comparison
We chose the media folder plugins with the most active installations on WordPress.org (FileBird, about 200,000; Real Media Library, about 100,000) and two of the most installed image optimization plugins (Smush and EWWW Image Optimizer, about 1,000,000 each), each with its paid version.
- FileBird, by Ninja Team. Media Library folders. Free version on WordPress.org; Pro adds the features marked paid. Sources: WordPress.org page, Pro version page.
- Real Media Library, by devowl.io. Media Library folders. Free version on WordPress.org; the Pro license is a one-time price with VAT. Sources: WordPress.org page, Pro version page.
- Smush, by WPMU DEV. Image optimization. Free version on WordPress.org; Pro adds the features marked paid. Sources: WordPress.org page, Pro version page.
- EWWW Image Optimizer, by Exactly WWW. Image optimization. Free version on WordPress.org; the premium plans add the features marked paid. Sources: WordPress.org page, plans and pricing.
Something here out of date? Write to support@affstackdev.com and we will check it again.
Facts about other plugins as of October 2026, from their makers’ own pages and their WordPress.org pages. Their plugins change; their makers’ pages are the current word. Prices are regular yearly prices for one site, before tax, as shown then.