Caching is one of the most important aspects of website performance, and WordPress users can take advantage of some great caching plugins to speed up their sites. In order to help you with this important task, we’ve created this list of the 10 best WordPress caching plugins that are currently available to you.
With any luck, one of these will work well with your specific needs and preferences, so you can up your site’s performance while making it more secure and stable as well. Enjoy!
Table of Contents
1) WP Rocket
First up on our list is WP Rocket by iThemes. It’s a solid, basic caching plugin that caches everything from HTML to Javascript and CSS. As with many caching plugins, it helps reduce your bandwidth consumption, making your site load faster for users.
Like other caching plugins, it also gives you a nice little performance boost—ensuring search engines will have an easier time crawling your pages and helping to move you up in rankings. If you just want something that’ll get the job done without having to constantly fuss with it, WP Rocket is probably one of your best bets.
2) W3 Total Cache
A simple, easy to use caching plugin that will speed up your website with almost no effort. W3 Total Cache works very well in conjunction with Better WP Minify, making a powerful combination for quick loading websites.
It’s worth noting that W3 Total Cache is meant for large sites and should not be used on sites where you have limited control over server resources. If you’re starting out, stick to something like WP Super Cache (more information below).
3) WP Fastest Cache
A speedy caching plugin, WP Fastest Cache can increase site performance up to 100% while saving bandwidth by as much as 80%. A potential one-click install, WP Fastest Cache also boasts a companion plugin that allows administrators to disable unwanted plugins.
If you’re looking for a way to boost your site speed and save on your hosting bill, look no further than WP Fastest Cache. To learn more about its features and functionality, read our review of Wp Fastest Cache . To install it on your own website in seconds, click here .
4) Hyper Cache
Hyper Cache is one of my favorite plugins. It’s developed by WPCache, a company that really knows their stuff and goes out of their way to keep customers happy.
One of my favorite things about Hyper Cache is how easy it is to configure with a step-by-step walkthrough on their website, helping you optimize your site for speed and performance in just a few minutes (max). Another thing I love about Hyper Cache is its outstanding customer service team that responds to questions within hours. I highly recommend using Hyper Cache as one of your best caching plugins.
5) WP Super Cache
Easy to use and lightweight, WP Super Cache is a great way to speed up your site. This plugin works with static HTML files that don’t require you to use PHP, meaning it won’t slow down your site if you don’t have a lot of traffic.
On top of that, WP Super Cache makes it easy for search engines to see your content by providing them with an indexable version of your site. As a bonus, installation only takes a few clicks on top of making any adjustments you want (like changing your cache time-frame).
Overall, super quick and easy to set up; what more could you ask for?
6) Nginx Server Blocks (Recommended for advanced users)
If you’re not quite comfortable with installing third-party plugins, consider configuring Nginx server blocks instead. The idea is simple: configure your Apache to serve static files, and configure Nginx to serve dynamic PHP requests.
In other words, you’ll be using two servers—Apache and Nginx—whereas before you were using just one (Apache). In fact, if you have no interest in caching at all and just want to serve dynamic PHP files with Nginx alone, consider skipping ahead to Option 2 . It’s possible that NGINX is already installed on your VPS; if so, skip ahead to Step 3.
7) Alternative PHP Cache (APC)
One of the most commonly recommended caching solutions, Alternative PHP Cache (APC) was created by Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski when they were working on WordPress. Based on a combination of static strings and compiled bytecode, APC reduces load times by storing precompiled PHP code in shared memory or in page files.
It’s not quite as fast as alternatives like memcached but it’s much easier to set up than alternatives like XCache. If you’re looking for a simple way to reduce your site’s load time with minimal configuration, APC might be your best bet.
That said, memcached may provide even greater performance—and also allows for content caching—so feel free to compare different options before making your decision.
8) XCache
XCache is one of the newer caching plugins to enter into play. This plugin allows you to configure how your pages are cached, as well as which elements of your page are cached and for how long.
In addition, XCache can be configured to use a CDN for accelerated delivery of your content. The first thing you’ll want to do is visit Settings > XCache and tweak some of these settings: Enable Output Caching — By default, XCache will automatically cache anything it generates. This means that if you go to Settings > WP Super Cache and disable Enable caching, nothing will get cached by XCache.
9) W3 Total Cache + CloudFlare CDN + Memcached
One of my favorite ways to speed up a website is to use W3 Total Cache. W3 Total Cache allows you to run multiple caching plugins like APC, memcached, and CloudFlare CDN in tandem.
To do so, download and install CloudFlare CDN and Memcached first. After these are installed, open up your W3 Total Cache settings page and head over to Performance.
10) APCu (Alternative PHP Cache user)
cache only, no database cache used with this method; disabled by default in newer versions of php.ini )
ToThe primary benefit of APCu is that it requires no setup to work, and most web hosting providers already have APCu installed. If not, all you need to do is enable it via your hosting control panel or manually add a few lines to your php.ini file. You can also enable APCu for specific websites by adding a line like apc.enabled = 1 in your wp-config.php file (create one if it doesn’t exist). This cache type is best for sites with mostly static content.