Migrate from the archived Google module

mod_pagespeed is an open-source project originally developed at Google. It was donated to the Apache Software Foundation in 2017, the Incubator podling retired in 2023, and the repositories became read-only in 2025; the 1.13.35.2 binaries still install but have had no security fixes since. mod_pagespeed 2.1, developed by We-Amp B.V. and not affiliated with or endorsed by Google, continues that codebase: same directives, same filter names, built against current Apache and nginx, with ongoing security fixes. The move is three commands.

The three commands

# 1. Add the signed repository; the script detects apt or dnf
curl -fsSL https://packages.modpagespeed.com/install.sh | sudo sh
# 2. Install the module for your server
sudo apt-get install mod-pagespeed             # Apache (dnf on Enterprise Linux)
sudo apt-get install nginx-module-pagespeed    # nginx
# 3. Restart the web server
sudo systemctl restart apache2                 # httpd on Enterprise Linux, or nginx

Before you run them, record the version you have and keep the old module file for a rollback:

curl -I http://localhost/ | grep -E 'X-Mod-Pagespeed|X-Page-Speed'
sudo cp /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_pagespeed.so{,.bak}         # Apache
sudo cp /usr/lib/nginx/modules/ngx_pagespeed_module.so{,.bak}    # nginx, dynamic module

On Apache, remove the archived mod-pagespeed-stable or mod-pagespeed-beta package first if you installed one: both want the same module file. On nginx, make sure one load_module line names /usr/lib/nginx/modules/ngx_pagespeed_module.so, the file the package installs. If you compiled ngx_pagespeed into nginx, you are also moving to the distribution’s nginx package; see Migrate from ngx_pagespeed for the version pinning that matters there.

What maps to what

You have	You get
mod-pagespeed-stable or mod-pagespeed-beta (Apache)	mod-pagespeed from packages.modpagespeed.com; it depends on the pagespeed-optimizer worker and installs the configuration that points the module at it
ngx_pagespeed compiled into nginx, or a third-party package	nginx-module-pagespeed, a dynamic module pinned to your distribution’s stock nginx
ModPagespeed* directives, pagespeed directives, .htaccess	Unchanged
The filter names	Unchanged; the long-inert and experimental ones are accepted and ignored with a warning (see the compatibility table)
ModPagespeedFileCachePath / pagespeed FileCachePath	Accepted; the module keeps a Cyclone volume under it, and the old per-resource cache files in that directory are ignored
Memcached or Redis as external cache	Still supported; see cache modes
/pagespeed_admin, /pagespeed_global_admin, statistics and messages	Same paths, with a reworked console; restrict them as before
X-Mod-Pagespeed (Apache) / X-Page-Speed (nginx)	Unchanged
.pagespeed. resource URLs, the beacon, ?PageSpeed=off	Unchanged
Nothing	The optimizer worker: a separate process that builds optimized variants beside the module. The Apache packages wire it up; on nginx two directives do

The cache

The module uses Cyclone Cache, a different cache backend. On first start after the move, the old per-resource file cache is ignored, not deleted; the Cyclone volume starts empty and resources are re-optimized on first request, so expect a brief warm-up. The warm-up is a one-time cost: cache contents persist across restarts. Once the move has run for a while, remove the old per-resource files from the file-cache directory and leave the Cyclone volume beside them alone. For cache sizing and storage options, see cache sizing.

Verify

curl -I http://localhost/ | grep -E 'X-Mod-Pagespeed|X-Page-Speed'

The header value is the new module version. Open /pagespeed_global_admin on the server to see the configuration and statistics; Is it working? has the rest.

Roll back

# nginx
sudo systemctl stop nginx
sudo cp /usr/lib/nginx/modules/ngx_pagespeed_module.so.bak /usr/lib/nginx/modules/ngx_pagespeed_module.so
sudo systemctl start nginx
# Apache
sudo systemctl stop apache2
sudo cp /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_pagespeed.so.bak /usr/lib/apache2/modules/mod_pagespeed.so
sudo systemctl start apache2

Remove the new package first, so a later upgrade does not reinstall the module over your restored file. The archived 1.0 documentation stays available at /1.0/, and Is mod_pagespeed still maintained? covers what changed and what did not.