BerqWP v4 Beta — What’s New
Welcome to the BerqWP v4 beta. This release is the biggest update since we launched, and we want your help testing it before it goes live for everyone.
Read through the changes below, try it on your site, and share your experience in the BerqWP Community Facebook Group. Your feedback directly shapes what we fix and improve before the final release.
The Biggest Change: A More Reliable Connection to Our Servers
In v3, the BerqWP plugin sent your page’s HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and fonts directly to our servers for optimization. This worked well for most users, but on some hosting environments it caused unexpected issues — mainly because hosting firewalls would block outgoing file transfers, interrupting the optimization process.
In v4, we completely changed how this works.
The plugin now only sends two things to our servers: your page URL and your plugin settings. Our servers then fetch everything they need directly — using Cloudflare Workers to make the requests, which are far less likely to be blocked by hosting firewalls.
What this means for you: Optimization should be more consistent and reliable, with fewer interruptions caused by your hosting environment’s security rules.
Two Optimization Methods: Local and BerqWP Cloud
BerqWP v4 introduces two distinct optimization methods. You can switch between them anytime from the plugin settings page.
| Method | Cost | Runs On | What It Does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Local | Free | Your server | Core optimizations using your server’s own resources |
| BerqWP Cloud | Premium (license required) | BerqWP’s cloud server | Full optimization suite — everything BerqWP is capable of |
If you’re on the Local method, you’ll notice some features in the settings have a “Cloud exclusive” label next to them. These features require BerqWP Cloud to be active. You can still see the settings, but they’ll only work once you connect a valid license and switch to BerqWP Cloud.
What’s New in v4
Staging Site Support — Use Your License Without It Counting
You can now install and use your BerqWP license on staging environments. Staging sites are automatically detected and excluded from your license usage count, so testing on a staging environment won’t eat into your license.
BerqWP automatically recognizes staging sites based on their domain. The following domain patterns are detected as staging:
staging..closte.com.flywheelstaging.com.onrocket.site.e.wpstage.net.instawp.xyz.kinsta.cloud.zipwp.link.pressdns.com.sg-host.com.runcloud.link.pantheonsite.io.servebolt.com.updraftclone.com.bigscoots-staging.com.wpdns.site.stacks.run.wpengine.com.tastewp.com.cloudwaysapp.com.cloudwaysapps.com.hostingersite.com
If your staging domain isn’t on this list, contact us and we’ll get it added.
Critical CSS — Now Toggleable with Fine-Grained Control
Critical CSS has always been part of BerqWP’s optimization. In v4, you now have explicit control over it.
You can enable or disable Critical CSS from the settings. And for advanced cases, you can force-include specific CSS selectors using regex patterns. This is useful when certain styles aren’t being picked up in the critical CSS automatically — for example, styles for above-fold elements that BerqWP’s generator doesn’t detect.
JavaScript Delivery Method (Renamed)
“JavaScript Optimization” has been renamed to JavaScript Delivery Method to better describe what it actually does — it controls how JavaScript is delivered to the browser, not whether it’s optimized.
A new delivery option has been added: Defer.
When you select Defer, BerqWP adds the defer attribute to all script tags on your pages. This means:
- Scripts no longer block the page from rendering
- External scripts are downloaded in parallel
- Scripts still execute in the correct order once they’re downloaded
Defer is a good middle ground if Delayed JavaScript (the most aggressive option) causes issues on your site but you still want to improve your PageSpeed score.
Available options:
- Auto — follows your selected Optimization Mode
- Asynchronous — loads scripts without waiting for the page to finish rendering
- Defer — downloads scripts in parallel, executes in order, doesn’t block rendering
- After user interaction — scripts load only after a user interaction (click, scroll, tap, or mouse movement)
- Disabled — no JavaScript delivery optimization
CSS Delivery Method (Renamed)
“CSS Optimization” has been renamed to CSS Delivery Method — same reason as above. It controls how CSS files are delivered to the browser.
Delay Third-Party Scripts
This is a new feature that targets third-party scripts specifically — things like Google Analytics, Facebook Pixel, ad tags, and third-party form embeds.
When enabled, these scripts load only after the user interacts with the page (scrolls, clicks, taps, or moves the mouse). Since third-party scripts are often one of the biggest contributors to slow initial load times, delaying them can meaningfully improve your PageSpeed score and Core Web Vitals without breaking your site’s core functionality.
Note: This only applies to third-party scripts. Your site’s own scripts are not affected.
Separate Exclusion Fields for CSS and JavaScript
Previously, BerqWP had a single exclusion field for both CSS and JavaScript files. In v4, these are now separate fields — one for CSS exclusions and one for JavaScript exclusions.
This gives you more precision when troubleshooting. For example, you can exclude a specific JavaScript file from optimization without touching your CSS exclusions, and vice versa.
Async Excluded Styles
When you exclude a stylesheet from CSS optimization, it previously loaded in the default browser-blocking way. Now there’s a toggle — Async Excluded Styles — that makes excluded stylesheets non-blocking using rel="preload".
Enable this if you want excluded CSS files to still load without delaying the rest of your page.
Defer Excluded JavaScript
Similar to Async Excluded Styles, Defer Excluded JavaScript applies the defer attribute to any JavaScript files you’ve added to the JS exclusion list. This means they’ll load in a non-blocking way even though they’re excluded from BerqWP’s main JS optimization.
Lazy Render Below the Fold
This new feature uses a CSS property called content-visibility: auto to delay the browser from rendering content that’s below the visible area of the page.
In plain terms: the browser focuses its effort on what the visitor actually sees first, and saves the below-the-fold content for later. This can noticeably improve your initial page render time and PageSpeed score.
Exclude Images from Lazy Loading
You can now exclude specific images from lazy loading. This is useful for images that you want to load immediately regardless of where they appear on the page — for example, your logo or a hero image that BerqWP isn’t already detecting as above-the-fold.
Lazy Load Videos
BerqWP can now lazy load video elements. Videos that are below the fold load only when the visitor scrolls to them. Videos above the fold load immediately so there’s no visible delay.
Lazy Load Iframes
Iframes — including YouTube embeds, Google Maps, and other embedded content — can now be lazy loaded. Like videos, iframes above the fold load immediately, while below-fold iframes wait until the visitor reaches them.
This can significantly reduce the initial page weight on pages with multiple embeds.
Pages in Queue (Replaces “Optimized Pages URL”)
The “Optimized Pages URL” section has been removed. In its place, you’ll now see Pages in Queue — a simple counter showing how many pages are currently waiting to be optimized on BerqWP’s servers.
This is more useful at a glance: instead of a list of URLs, you can see whether your site’s optimization backlog is growing, shrinking, or empty.
How to Share Your Feedback
Once you’ve had a chance to test v4 beta on your site, we’d love to hear from you in the BerqWP Community Facebook Group.
When posting feedback, it helps most if you include:
- Your hosting provider — some issues are environment-specific
- Which Optimization Method you’re using — Local or BerqWP Cloud
- Which Optimization Mode — Standard, Smart, Blaze, or Turbo
- What you observed — what broke, what improved, or what behaved unexpectedly
- Any plugins or page builders you’re using — Elementor, Divi, WooCommerce, etc.
If you find a bug, you can also contact our support team directly at support@berqwp.com or submit a ticket at berqwp.com/support.
Thank you for helping us make BerqWP v4 the best release yet.
Why Join the Beta Program?
- ✅ Get early access to upcoming features
- ✅ Help us make BerqWP better for everyone
- ✅ Report bugs, suggest improvements, and make your voice heard
Stay Updated – Join the Beta Newsletter
Want to get notified whenever a new beta version is available? Join our BerqWP Beta Testing mailing list and never miss an update.
