Overview
These options reduce unnecessary server requests and database writes. Only self-pingback prevention is enabled by default — the other two options change WordPress timing intervals and should be enabled based on your specific needs.
Disable Self-Pingbacks
Default: On
When you link to one of your own posts within a new post, WordPress sends a pingback to itself. This creates unnecessary processing and can clutter your comments with self-referential pingback notifications.
This option filters out any pingback URLs that match your site’s home URL before they are sent.
Throttle Heartbeat API
Default: Off
The WordPress Heartbeat API sends AJAX requests to the server at regular intervals to handle features like auto-saving, post locking, and login expiration notices. By default, it fires every 15 seconds.
Enabling this option extends the interval to 60 seconds, reducing the number of background requests by 75%. This can noticeably reduce server load on sites with multiple concurrent admin users.
Note: Real-time features like post locking (which warns when two users edit the same post) will update less frequently with this enabled.
Extend Autosave Interval
Default: Off
WordPress automatically saves post drafts every 60 seconds by default. This option extends the interval to 120 seconds, cutting the number of autosave database writes in half.
This is useful on sites with many editors or limited server resources. The trade-off is that you may lose up to 2 minutes of work instead of 1 minute if the browser crashes unexpectedly.