External Images
Store your images anywhere - a CDN, Amazon S3, a Digital Ocean space or your affiliate feed - and serve them straight through WordPress. Nothing gets downloaded to your server, so imports run faster and your disk stops filling up. Works with any post type and every WooCommerce product type, including variations and galleries.
Rated 4.65 out of 5 across 26 reviews.
- Import products without WordPress downloading or resizing a single image
- Scale to millions of products on low-cost hosting, with no image storage to worry about
- Works with WP All Import, Datafeedr and any tool that can set a custom field
- Cut disk usage and the CPU normally spent generating 20+ thumbnail sizes per image
Image storage is the number one thing that slows down product imports and caps how big an affiliate or product store can grow. External Images keeps every image on your CDN, feed or storage and serves it straight through WordPress, so nothing is ever downloaded to your server.
Install, activate, and point your import at the external_image_url custom field (separate multiple images with the | symbol). Turn off image uploading in your import and you are done. External Images handles the rest.
0
images downloaded to your server
20+
image sizes skipped per product
1M+
products on low-cost hosting
4.65/5
across 26 reviews
What External Images gives you back
- Faster imports. WordPress normally downloads every image and generates 20 or more sizes per product. Skip all of that and imports run far quicker.
- Your disk back. Images live on your CDN or feed, not your server, so storage stops being the thing that caps your catalogue.
- Real scale. Build affiliate or product stores with millions of items on low-cost hosting, because there is no image storage to grow.
- Lower CPU and hosting cost. No thumbnail generation hammering your server on every import.
- Still looks right. CSS or Photon resizing keeps external images fitting your theme, and Open Graph tags still feed the right image to Facebook, Twitter and Google (Yoast and RankMath compatible).
Works with all post types
Featured images, thumbnails and galleries on posts, products and any custom post type.
CSS and Photon resizing
Off-site images still crop and fit your theme. Optional Photon resizing (requires JetPack).
Galleries and variations
Full gallery support and every WooCommerce product type, including images per variation and variation galleries.
Built for Datafeedr
Stops Datafeedr downloading images and fixes Comparison Sets to pull from your external images.
Any CDN or storage
Amazon S3, Digital Ocean Spaces and Droplets, your own CDN or any publicly accessible image URL.
SEO and Open Graph
og:image tags still feed Facebook, Twitter and Google, compatible with Yoast, RankMath and similar plugins.
Key features
- External image URLs on archive pages, posts, products and any post type.
- No image downloads, so disk and CPU are saved and imports run far faster.
- Datafeedr support stops image downloads and fixes Product Comparison Sets.
- Works with WP All Import and any tool that can set a custom meta field.
- Gallery support by adding pipe-separated URLs to the external_image_url field.
- Variation images and variation galleries with Kadence or a free variation gallery plugin.
- Automatic HTTPS proxy for insecure images, with an optional proxy-all option.
- Open Graph tags for Facebook, Twitter and Google, compatible with Yoast and RankMath.
- CSS or Photon resizing so off-site images still fit your theme.
- Manual URL field under the featured image, so no import tool is required.
Why choose External Images
No uploads
other plugins upload then offload; External Images never uploads at all
Any CDN
Amazon S3, Digital Ocean, your own CDN or any public URL
Since 2016
actively developed, with updates through 2026
Lower cost
no image storage to grow and no thumbnail CPU on every import
External Images Knowledge Base
View full Knowledge Base →What's new in External Images?
View full changelog →3.35 (26th May 2026)
- Added new postmeta filter to add front-end gallery compatibility to latest Houzez theme – they no longer use metabox for their metadata
3.34 (20th May 2026)
- Updated the Super Speedy Settings page: added a "Recheck Licenses" button above the licence table so customers have a clear way to refresh licence status after a renewal or upgrade without scrolling down to the licence-key field. The button is disabled until a licence key is entered/saved and re-enables as you type.
- The Recheck flow now also force-bypasses the auth-server's own 1-hour licence cache (via a `force=1` flag on the `wpiapi/check_product_key` call), so renewals/upgrades that completed less than an hour before a recheck no longer show as expired/exceeded. Normal admin page loads continue to use both caches as before — only an explicit Recheck click bypasses them. (Lives in the `super-speedy-settings` submodule, so the change propagates to every Super Speedy plugin.)
3.33 (18th November 2025)
- Added full namespacing for plugin update checker to prevent conflicts with 3rd party plugins
3.32 (27th May 2025)
- Removed code for checking for and deleting orphans – this can be handled through a KB article instead as it's a one-off job to clean up data
3.31 (19th May 2025)
- Further improvements for image galleries, variation galleries and all ways of saving, updating or importing images to prevent duplicate entries in database
Which import tools does it work with?
WP All Import, Datafeedr and any tool that can set a custom meta field.
Will my images still be good for SEO?
Yes. Serve them from a subdomain like images.yourdomain.com, or use the built-in proxy, and Open Graph tags are supported via Yoast, RankMath and similar plugins.
Does it support WooCommerce variations and galleries?
Yes, including images per variation and variation galleries, with a compatible theme such as Kadence or one of the free variation gallery plugins.
Will it work with my theme?
Almost all themes work straight out of the box. If yours does not, let us know and we will add compatibility specifically for your theme.
Do I have to use an import tool?
No. There is a manual URL field under the featured image on any post or product, so you can add external images by hand.
Is it PHP 8 compatible?
Yes, and it is MySQL 8 and MariaDB compatible too.
Is there a money-back guarantee?
Yes. Every Super Speedy plugin comes with a 60-day money-back guarantee, so you can try External Images risk free. See the refund policy for details.
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Choose your license below.
Price range: €79.00 through €899.00
