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Creator disclosure: Empire Publishing Tools is our product portfolio. This guide introduces our WP Autoload Budget Review plugin.
When investigating a WordPress performance problem, an option-size snapshot can help you collect evidence. It cannot tell you whether an option is safe to remove or whether a change will improve load time. Start by recording the symptom and measuring it in your existing performance workflow.
WP Autoload Budget Review gives administrators a read-only view of stored autoload size. Open Tools > Autoload Budget Review after activating your Pro license. The tool examines the first 1,000 option rows in ID order and displays up to 20 of the largest autoloaded entries within that sample. It also shows sample counts and stored-byte totals.
The reviewer asks the database for option names, autoload states and computed lengths. It does not retrieve or deserialize option values. This avoids placing stored configuration values into the report. Names remain visible to authorized administrators, so treat the report as an internal diagnostic rather than something to publish indiscriminately.
If the sample is partial, the reported counts and bytes are lower bounds. A large option outside those first 1,000 rows will not appear in the ranked list. The list is therefore not a complete ranking of the site's options. WordPress autoload-state filters are respected; object caches and runtime behavior can still differ from the stored snapshot.
Stored bytes do not equal PHP memory use or page-load time. Serialized values, application behavior and cache state all affect runtime results. Likewise, an option name is only a clue and does not establish plugin ownership. Consult the responsible plugin's documentation and use staging before changing an autoload flag or removing data.
The plugin makes no changes, deletes nothing and promises no performance improvement. It requires WordPress 6.2+ and PHP 8.0+, administrator manage_options access and a Pro license. Pro costs $19 USD per year for one site, plus applicable tax, under the conditional 14-day refund policy. Freemius handles licensing, updates and downloads separately.
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