A report published last quarter analyzed 5.7 million real WordPress pageviews and found something worth sitting with. Cached pages had a median TTFB of 106ms. Uncached pages on the same sites averaged 723ms. That’s a 7x difference, from one change, on sites that already existed and were already running.
Caching isn’t a new idea and most WordPress site owners know they should be doing it. The problem is that “install a caching plugin” has become advice so generic that it’s almost useless. Which plugin? Configured how? On what kind of hosting? The answer changes depending on your setup, and getting it wrong can make things worse rather than better.
This is my honest breakdown of the best WordPress caching plugins in 2026, what each one is actually good for, and how to pick the right one for your specific situation.
Our Top Picks
WP Rocket is recommended for anyone wanting plug-and-play performance. It’s the most polished caching plugin in the WordPress space. Activate it and your site is faster. No configuration required to get strong results.
NitroPack is recommended for non-technical owners looking for almost zero configuration. It’s a fully managed cloud service that handles caching, CDN, image optimization, and code minification automatically, with no settings to configure.
FastPixel is recommended for all-in-one cloud optimization. Built by the ShortPixel team, FastPixel combines cloud-based caching, image optimization, CDN delivery, and critical CSS in one plugin with a generous free tier.
Why Caching Still Matters in 2026
The numbers I mentioned above come from DebugHawk’s Q4 2025 WordPress Performance Report. The same report found that TTFB is the most commonly failed Core Web Vitals metric on WordPress sites, largely because PHP execution eats up most of the 800ms budget before any network latency is even added. Caching bypasses that entirely.
Since Google made page speed a ranking factor, Core Web Vitals has always sat at the center of it. A caching plugin that also addresses LCP (Largest Contentful Paint), unused CSS, and JavaScript deferral isn’t just making your site faster, it’s going to be directly improving your shot at ranking.
What to Look for in a WordPress Caching Plugin
Page caching is the foundation. This converts your dynamic WordPress pages into static HTML files that serve instantly without a database hit. Every plugin on this list does this, so the differentiators are everything else.
Cache preloading builds the cache before a visitor arrives, so the first person through the door doesn’t take the performance hit. Browser caching instructs visitors’ devices to store assets locally. GZIP compression reduces file sizes before they leave the server.
Beyond those basics, CSS/JS minification, lazy loading, unused CSS removal, and JavaScript deferral are what move the needle on Core Web Vitals scores specifically. If you care about PageSpeed Insights numbers, the plugin you choose needs to go beyond basic page caching.
For WooCommerce stores, you also need a plugin smart enough to exclude cart, checkout, and account pages from the cache automatically. A misconfigured cache on a WooCommerce site will break the shopping experience and instantly impact your sales.
Quick Comparison
| Plugin | Best For | Free Version | Paid From | Setup Complexity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| WP Rocket | Best overall | No | $59/year | Low |
| NitroPack | Set-and-forget cloud | Limited | $8/month | Very Low |
| FastPixel | Cloud all-in-one, free tier | Yes | ~$100/year | Very Low |
| LiteSpeed Cache | Best free on LiteSpeed | Yes | Free | Medium |
| W3 Total Cache | Power users and developers | Yes | $99/year | High |
| WP Super Cache | Simple free option | Yes | Free | Low |
| WP Fastest Cache | Easy middle ground | Yes | $49.99/year | Low |
| WPOptimize | All-in-one free | Yes | $49/year | Low |
| FlyingPress | Best Core Web Vitals | No | $49/year | Medium |
The Best WordPress Caching Plugins
1. WP Rocket
WP Rocket is the benchmark that every other premium caching plugin gets measured against these days. There is no free version, which creates friction for some people, but once you get past that, you’ll find the most polished, well-supported, and consistently effective caching plugin in the WordPress space.
The moment you activate WP Rocket, it turns on page caching, browser caching, and GZIP compression automatically. You don’t have to dig through settings to get the basics working, and the interface is clean enough that most users never need to. The additional features (lazy loading, JavaScript delay, unused CSS removal, critical CSS generation, and database cleanup) are all accessible without needing a developer.
WP Rocket also handles WooCommerce intelligently, automatically excluding cart, checkout, and account pages. CDN and Cloudflare integration is clean and well-documented. We published a full WP Rocket review on WP Mayor that goes deeper on the setup experience.
Key Features:
- Page caching enabled on activation with automatic recommended settings
- Lazy loading for images, iframes, and video
- CSS, JS, and HTML minification
- Unused CSS removal and critical CSS generation
- JavaScript delay (delays execution until user interaction)
- Database optimization and scheduled cleanup
- CDN and Cloudflare integration
- Smart WooCommerce cache exclusions
Pricing: Single site from $59/year, 3 sites $119/year, up to 50 sites $299/year. All pricing tiers include updates, support, and a 14-day money-back guarantee.
Best for: Anyone who wants strong performance results without spending time on configuration, and it’s a particularly good option for agencies managing multiple client sites.
2. NitroPack
NitroPack is architecturally different from most other plugins on this list. Rather than running on your server, it works as a cloud service. Your content is delivered through NitroPack’s infrastructure, which handles caching, CDN, image optimization, and code optimization in one automated system.
The trade-off is control. You connect the site, set an optimization level (Standard, Medium, Strong, Ludicrous, or Custom), and NitroPack handles everything. No settings panels. No risk of misconfiguring minification and breaking your layout. For non-technical site owners, that’s the entire value proposition.
The pricing model is page-view-based, which is where NitroPack becomes expensive for higher-traffic sites. The free tier is limited to 1,000 page views per month, which is effectively a functional demo. Paid plans start at $8/month (Starter, 8,000 page views) and scale up from there based on traffic volume.
For small-to-medium sites where the owner wants nothing to do with performance configuration, NitroPack delivers on that promise.
Key Features:
- Cloud-based caching and global CDN delivery
- Automated image optimization and WebP conversion
- CSS/JS minification and deferral
- Critical CSS generation
- Fully managed, no manual configuration required
- Works with any hosting environment
Pricing: Free tier (1,000 page views/month). Paid plans start from $8/month.
Best for: Non-technical site owners who want a fast site without any configuration, and it’s also useful for agencies delivering a managed performance solution to clients.
3. FastPixel
FastPixel comes from the team behind ShortPixel, one of the most trusted image optimization plugins in the WordPress space, and it shows in how the plugin handles images since it’s integrated into the offering. But FastPixel is more than an image plugin. It’s also a cloud-based all-in-one performance tool that handles page caching, critical CSS generation, CDN delivery, image optimization, WebP conversion, and CSS/JS minification from a single interface.
The architecture is similar to NitroPack where processing happens in the cloud rather than on your server, which reduces server load and means the heavy lifting doesn’t affect your hosting resources. Pages are cached as they’re visited and automatically updated when content changes, so you don’t need to think about cache management at all.
Where FastPixel stands apart from NitroPack is the image optimization depth (ShortPixel’s technology is genuinely best-in-class) and a more accessible entry price. The free plan covers 1,000 page views per month, and paid plans start at around $100/year for three sites with 300,000 monthly page views. The plugin also integrates directly with Cloudflare for cache purging, and it adapts the cached output based on the visitor’s device and viewport rather than serving a single static version to everyone.
Setup takes a few minutes. Install it, pick a preset, and it runs. For site owners who want a clean, well-supported cloud option, it’s a strong alternative to NitroPack at a lower price point.
Key Features:
- Cloud-based page caching with automatic cache updates
- ShortPixel image optimization and WebP conversion
- Adaptive image resizing based on visitor device and viewport
- Critical CSS generation
- CSS/JS/HTML minification
- Global CDN delivery
- Cloudflare cache purging integration
- Free tier (1,000 page views/month)
Pricing: Free tier available. Paid plans start from $99/year.
Best for: Site owners who want a cloud-based all-in-one solution with best-in-class image optimization built in. A strong alternative to NitroPack, particularly for image-heavy sites.
4. LiteSpeed Cache
LiteSpeed Cache is completely free, has over 7 million active installs, and in 2025/2026 performance comparisons, it regularly outperforms plugins that cost money. The catch, and it’s an important one, is that it delivers its best results on LiteSpeed web servers.
The performance gap is real and documented. PHP-based caching plugins typically achieve TTFB in the 300-500ms range. LiteSpeed Cache on a LiteSpeed server routinely delivers under 150ms TTFB, sometimes under 100ms, because it caches at the server level rather than within WordPress itself. That’s a fundamentally different architecture.
Beyond server-level caching, LiteSpeed Cache includes image optimization, CSS/JS minification, database cleanup, lazy loading, critical CSS generation, and QUIC.cloud CDN integration. It does the job of multiple plugins in one package, and it’s free.
The interface is comprehensive, which is a polite way of saying it can be overwhelming if you go in without a plan. The defaults are solid enough to get you most of the benefit, but if you want to squeeze everything out of it, follow a proper setup guide rather than clicking through blindly.
If you’re not on LiteSpeed hosting, the plugin still installs and runs, but you lose the server-level caching advantage. In that case, some of the other options in this list will serve you better.
Key Features:
- Server-level page caching (LiteSpeed servers)
- QUIC.cloud CDN integration
- Image optimization and WebP/AVIF conversion via QUIC.cloud
- Object caching with Redis/Memcached support
- CSS/JS minification and combination
- Lazy loading and critical CSS
- Database optimization
Pricing: Completely free. QUIC.cloud CDN and image optimization have optional paid tiers.
Best for: WordPress sites on LiteSpeed hosting. An obvious choice if your host supports it, especially for high-traffic sites where server-level caching makes the most difference.
5. W3 Total Cache
W3 Total Cache has been around longer than most. It was the first caching plugin many of us installed when the alternatives were thin, and it still attracts significant usage because of that history and because, for developers, nothing else gives you quite as much control.
W3 Total Cache handles page caching, database caching, object caching, and browser caching from one interface. It supports Memcached, Redis, and other object caching backends. CDN integration covers virtually every major provider: Cloudflare, BunnyCDN, Amazon CloudFront, and more.
The downside is what it’s always been. The settings panel is genuinely overwhelming. There are 16+ settings pages with hundreds of configuration options, and misconfigured settings can cause more harm than good. Also, the admin panel has significant mobile usability issues, which can be an issue if you manage sites on the go.
For developers who need every lever exposed, it’s the right tool. For most site owners, there are friendlier options that deliver comparable results.
Key Features:
- Page, database, object, and browser caching
- Memcached, Redis, and APC support
- CDN integration with 9+ major providers
- Fragment caching (Pro)
- GZIP compression
- Minification for CSS, JS, and HTML
Pricing: Free. Pro version at $99/year adds fragment caching, enhanced CDN support, and premium support.
Best for: Developers and technical users who need maximum control over every layer of caching.
6. WP Super Cache
WP Super Cache is made by Automattic, which gives it a reliability baseline that most plugins can’t claim. The team behind WordPress.com maintains it, so long-term support isn’t a concern.
The plugin’s philosophy is simplicity. You activate it, turn on caching with a single button, and it starts generating static HTML files. If you want more control, the Expert mode expands into mod_rewrite-based caching, which is the fastest delivery method the plugin offers.
WP Super Cache won’t blow you away with features. It doesn’t have the optimization depth of WP Rocket or the server-level integration of LiteSpeed Cache. What it offers is a clean, trustworthy, zero-cost option for sites that don’t need advanced optimization.
Key Features:
- Static HTML file generation
- Simple mode (beginners) and Expert mode (mod_rewrite-based, faster)
- Cache preloading
- CDN support
- Mobile caching
- Scheduled cache purging
Pricing: Free.
Best for: Blogs and smaller informational sites that want reliable, simple free caching without any configuration overhead.
7. WP Fastest Cache
WP Fastest Cache sits in the gap between WP Super Cache’s simplicity and W3 Total Cache’s complexity, which turns out to be exactly where a lot of site owners need something.
Setup is quick; just check the boxes you want, save, and you’re done. The free version covers the core bases, including static HTML generation, browser caching, GZIP compression, and automatic cache clearing when you publish. The premium version adds image optimization, mobile caching, lazy loading, and minification.
The interface in the free version shows ads for the premium upgrade, which feels cluttered. Underneath that, though, the plugin performs well and has a solid compatibility track record across popular themes and plugins.
Key Features:
- Static HTML caching
- GZIP compression
- Browser caching
- Cache clearing on post update
- Minification (premium)
- Image optimization (premium)
- Mobile caching (premium)
Pricing: Free version available. Premium from $49.99/year for a single site
Best for: Site owners who want a step up from WP Super Cache’s simplicity without the complexity of W3 Total Cache or the price of FastPixel and WP Rocket.
8. WPOptimize
WPOptimize is the plugin that quietly handles three jobs at once: caching, image compression, and database cleanup. It’s made by the team behind UpdraftPlus, which is about as strong a signal of ongoing maintenance as you can get in the plugin space.
The caching component is competitive with standalone options. Static HTML generation, GZIP compression, browser caching, and cache preloading are all included in the free version. Pair that with automatic database optimization (removing spam, post revisions, and transients) and built-in image compression, and you have a genuinely useful all-in-one performance tool.
It’s what I’d recommend when someone asks for a single free plugin that addresses performance broadly, rather than caching alone. Fewer plugins means fewer conflict surfaces, and WPOptimize is designed around that logic.
Key Features:
- Page caching with preloading
- GZIP compression and browser caching
- Database optimization (revisions, spam, transients)
- Image compression and lazy loading
- Minification (premium)
- Multisite support (premium)
Pricing: Free. Premium starts from $49/year.
Best for: Site owners who want caching, database cleanup, and image optimization in one plugin. A particularly strong free option for small-to-medium sites.
9. FlyingPress
FlyingPress has moved quickly from emerging option to genuine contender, and it did so by focusing on something most caching plugins treat as secondary: Core Web Vitals.
The developer, Gijo Varghese, previously released Flying Scripts and Flying Pages, which pioneered JavaScript delay and smart link preloading before those features were adopted by some of the other big players. FlyingPress continues in that vein today as it handles critical CSS generation, unused CSS removal, LCP image preloading, lazy rendering of HTML elements, and self-hosted YouTube thumbnail placeholders. These are the granular optimizations that actually move PageSpeed Insights scores.
FlyingPress runs on any server environment: Nginx, Apache, or LiteSpeed, and there is no specific hosting requirement. The v5 UI overhaul also brought it much closer to WP Rocket’s experience in terms of navigability.
FlyingCDN, the companion CDN powered by Cloudflare Enterprise, is also worth noting. For sites that want enterprise-grade CDN features without enterprise pricing, it’s a strong option.
Key Features:
- Page caching with optional Cloudflare full-page caching
- Critical CSS generation and unused CSS removal
- LCP image preloading
- Lazy render for HTML elements
- Self-hosted YouTube placeholders
- JavaScript delay with per-script exclusions
- FlyingCDN integration (Cloudflare Enterprise)
Pricing: From $49/year for a single site.
Best for: Site owners focused on Core Web Vitals scores and technical performance. A strong WP Rocket alternative for those who want more granular optimization control.
What If Your Host Already Handles Caching?
Before installing any plugin from this list, it’s worth checking whether your host already handles caching for you. A growing number of WordPress hosts include server-level caching as part of their infrastructure, and that will almost always outperform anything running through WordPress itself.
Some examples worth knowing about:
Kinsta handles page caching, object caching (Redis), and CDN delivery at the infrastructure level. Most third-party caching plugins are blocked to prevent conflicts. WP Rocket is a notable exception and integrates cleanly with Kinsta’s setup.
WP Engine provides full-page caching baked into their platform, along with their own Global Edge Security CDN. WP Rocket works on WP Engine but automatically disables its page caching to avoid conflicts, deferring to WP Engine’s native layer. Other caching plugins are generally not recommended on top of WP Engine.
SiteGround ships the SiteGround Optimizer plugin to all customers, which plugs directly into their server-level caching. It’s free, well-maintained, and covers GZIP compression, browser caching, image optimization, and CSS/JS minification. If you’re on SiteGround, start there before looking elsewhere.
Servebolt (where WP Mayor itself is hosted) operates one of the fastest WordPress hosting environments available, with full-page caching handled at the server level. No plugin required or recommended.
Rocket.net is built on Cloudflare Enterprise and caches your site across their global edge network automatically. Performance is exceptional out of the box.
LiteSpeed-based hosts (including many shared hosting providers that run LiteSpeed web servers) pair naturally with the LiteSpeed Cache plugin covered above. If your host runs LiteSpeed, that plugin is worth installing to activate server-level caching through WordPress.
The rule of thumb is simple. Use what your host gives you before adding anything on top. If your host handles caching natively, you likely don’t need a separate plugin at all. You can find a full breakdown of how these hosts compare in the WP Mayor hosting guide.
Performance Benchmarks: What the Data Shows
Independent benchmark data gives useful directional guidance, even if results will always vary by hosting environment and site configuration. Here are the numbers worth paying attention to.
DebugHawk’s Q4 2025 report, based on 5.7 million real WordPress pageviews, is the most comprehensive recent dataset available:
- Cached pages: median TTFB of 106ms. Uncached pages on the same sites averaged 723ms.
- That’s a roughly 7x improvement from caching alone, with no other changes to the site.
- Only 65% of WordPress sites pass the TTFB threshold in Core Web Vitals, largely because PHP execution consumes most of the 800ms budget before any network latency is added.
When comparing plugins directly, server environment makes fully controlled testing difficult. That said, several consistent patterns emerge across third-party testing:
- LiteSpeed Cache on LiteSpeed servers achieves sub-150ms TTFB in most configurations, compared to 300-500ms for PHP-based caching plugins running on equivalent hardware. That gap comes from caching at the server level rather than within WordPress itself.
- WP Rocket and FlyingPress tend to lead on Core Web Vitals scores specifically because they address LCP, unused CSS, and JavaScript beyond raw page caching. Fast TTFB alone doesn’t move all the needles.
- W3 Total Cache shows the most variance. It performs well for developers who configure it properly and poorly for default installations.
The honest takeaway is that any well-configured plugin from this list will be dramatically faster than no solution at all. The differences between the top options are real, but they’re secondary to whether the plugin is properly set up in the first place.
How to Choose the Right Caching Plugin
If your host handles caching natively, start there. For everyone else, here’s the breakdown by situation.
You want the easiest path to a fast site and are willing to pay? WP Rocket. Install, activate, done.
You’re on LiteSpeed hosting? LiteSpeed Cache. It’s free and the server-level caching advantage is significant.
You want the best Core Web Vitals scores with technical control? FlyingPress. It’s the most targeted option for PageSpeed Insights optimization.
You want a free plugin that goes beyond caching? WPOptimize handles database cleanup and images alongside caching without stacking plugins.
You’re a developer who needs full control? W3 Total Cache. Every caching layer is exposed.
You want zero configuration and a subscription model is fine? NitroPack or FastPixel. Both are cloud-based and fully managed. FastPixel has a more accessible price point and stronger image optimization, while NitroPack has more established third-party benchmarks.
You need a simple free option for a basic site? WP Super Cache or WP Fastest Cache. Both are reliable and low-maintenance.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use more than one caching plugin at once?
No. Running two caching plugins simultaneously causes conflicts and typically results in errors, blank pages, or slower performance than having nothing installed at all. Choose one and stick with it.
Do I need a caching plugin if I use Cloudflare?
Cloudflare’s free plan caches static assets (images, CSS, JS) but doesn’t cache HTML pages by default. A caching plugin handles WordPress-level page caching that Cloudflare doesn’t cover. They complement each other rather than replace each other. That said, plugins like FlyingPress and NitroPack can route full-page caching through Cloudflare, which changes the equation for those specific setups.
My site looks broken after installing a caching plugin. What do I do?
Clear the plugin’s cache first, then clear your browser cache. If the issue persists, turn off minification settings. These are by far the most common cause of visual glitches after installing a caching plugin. If the problem continues, deactivate the plugin entirely to confirm it’s the cause, then re-enable features one at a time to isolate the conflict.
Does a caching plugin help with Core Web Vitals?
Yes, but with nuance. Page caching directly improves TTFB and LCP by reducing server response time. The full Core Web Vitals suite (LCP optimization, CLS stability, INP responsiveness) also requires the additional optimization features that the better caching plugins include: lazy loading, critical CSS, unused CSS removal, and JavaScript deferral. A plugin that only does page caching will improve speed. A plugin like WP Rocket or FlyingPress that handles both caching and these optimizations will move the needle on PageSpeed scores specifically.
Will a caching plugin help if my hosting is slow?
It will help, but there’s a ceiling. Caching reduces the work your server has to do to serve each page, which means a slower server can still deliver cached pages quickly. No plugin compensates for genuinely inadequate hosting, though. If your uncached performance is very slow, the hosting infrastructure is likely the constraint. The WP Mayor hosting guide is a useful starting point for evaluating your options.
Choosing the Right Plugin for Your Site
There is no single best WordPress caching plugin. That’s not a hedge, it’s just the accurate answer. If your host handles caching natively, you may not need a plugin at all. If you do, the right pick depends on your hosting environment, your technical comfort level, and how much you care about squeezing out Core Web Vitals scores versus just getting a faster site.
The worst outcome is analysis paralysis. Any well-configured plugin from this list produces a dramatically faster site than an uncached one. The data is clear on that, so pick the one that fits your hosting environment and technical comfort level, run a PageSpeed Insights test before and after, and let the numbers tell you whether you need to go further.
Which of these are you currently running, and has it been pulling its weight?
43 Responses
I love WP Rocket it has made such a difference to the sites I have created
Thank you very much, these caching plugin guide actually helps me a lot more than I thought.
have any of you heard abot this new plugin called WOT CACHE? i heard alot of good things about it did anyone test it and can give reply?
Hello everyone,
I made a new caching plugin for WordPress called Borlabs Cache. You can try it for free
I also offer a Pro version with additional features like cache preloading, database optimization, and many more.
If you have any questions or feedback, you can contact me 🙂
Thanks for sharing Mark, great article! I totally agree that the utilization of Caching Plugins is a perfect way to greatly improve the page loading time of your website. I think our latest blog post might be of interest to you as it also discusses the same subject of Caching Plugins and we mention a few more less popular but very useful as well. Having your feedback regarding the article would be an honour for us.
wpCache WordPress https Cache
I really like ur article n I have learned alot from this post
w3 total cache is a good plugin, but it has a lot of options which is not easy for every one to understand. On the other hand wp rocket is easy to use, but now it seems not as good as i use it before. i am having minify CS JS issue with wp rocket.
The WordPress plug-in WP Smush Image Optimizer is very popular, not tried it myself as I do it manually.
I was tempted to try Wp-rocket as it seemed it didn’t need much configuration. However and I eventually went with W3 Total Cache and a free Cloudflare setup.
I initially struggled to get my site below 2 seconds load speed time but a couple of hours tweaking the configuration the cache plugin, I managed to get below 1 second.
My homepage is quite image heavy and over 500K in size, but even with my cheap hosting it load pretty quick.
Very pleased I went with W3 Total Cache and Cloudflare option
Could you tell me how you did that? I’m using a free Cloudflare plan and W3 Total Cache, and averaging around 2-3 seconds.
MMOByte
I get 2.4 seconds on gtmetrix.com with a homepage size of 1.57MB.
Page size is your biggest problem and it’s all down to your images.
Your Path to Exile image is 228K, your images are full size, 960 by 320 in the above case, yet it only takes up about 300 pixels of your screen (width wise).
Here’s what you need to do. I downloaded it, compressed and resized it and got the size down from 226K to just 11K.
I used 30% compression and resized it to 300 x 225 and it you can’t tell the difference in quality.
You have got 9 images like this, optimize them all and you will see a big improvement in your site speed.
That’s actually very useful information for all of us. 🙂 I always tend to forget about image size on my website(s). Reducing their filesize (along with banner/logo filesize) is always a problem of mine.
Do you know of a good plugin to automatically resize images?
I use WP Super Cache and it seems to work well…But I wasn’t aware of W3 Total cache until I read your article (thank you) so I’m going to install that and try it out on my next WordPress project.
I’ve been trying (quite hard) to get my website under a 1 second load, but it’s difficult. It was originally 6 seconds+, which is fairly bad. I got it down to 4 seconds with WP Total Cache, however, using WP-Rocket with Cloudflare has gotten it down to about 1.4-2 seconds.
Is there anything further I could do to push it down a half second? I’ve seen other websites with the same theme as me with their website loading faster.
I have a dedicated server for the website – and it’s fairly strong. Is it just a case of having the server in a bad part of the world? The Netherlands, that is.
Mark Thank you for your review
There is a new cache in town that will be quickly climbing to the top of the pile. Litespeed has recently released a WordPress Cache Plugin that offers staggering performance. We did a quick comparison of this new cache and WP Super Cache and Litespeeds new WordPress Cache doubles the performance of WP Super Cache.
You can see the comparison here:
@Mark Zahara
If you are interested in testing this plugin just let us know on our main site.
You should try my WP plugin for Varnish integration
I use WP Rocket for all my sites, I find it very easy to set up and worth the price you pay. I highly recommend it.
Hi
In addition to the above, I would like to recommend another great plugin, called WP Superformance (one of the newer plugins), as an alternative – especially to those looking for a solution without the hassle, learning curve, or unnecessary configs. This plugin weighs less than 50KB and does its job better than most. It also handles a myriad of performance tasks – which one would generally need 15 plugins for. Has a load of features, such as lazyloading, HTML, CSS, JS minification, hotlink protection, browser caching, etc. This one is well-worth a try.
I just wanted to warn people, caching is a complex concept and be careful being seduced by the wp-rocket ‘one click hype’. I had various issues with minification which they initially solved. However, with an update to their own plugin 2 months after I bought it, images stopped loading in certain browsers.
I had a lot of back and forth with wp-rocket support (mind you they are not native English speakers) and there was so much miscommunication it was staggering. They did not troubleshoot my issue thoroughly and I wasted many hours on emails getting nowhere. I requested a refund. Their policy is that after 30 days refunds aren’t possible so I ended up disputing with PayPal to refund 10 months worth of wp-rocket’s value. I am waiting for PayPal to decide.
I was using W3 total cache before and have switched back after removing wp-rocket. W3 total cache is definitely faster than wp-rocket and more customizable so ultimately more powerful since you can specify whether to use memcache, object cache, disk etc.
Thanks for the comment and the feedback. This issue seems to have been dealt with by Jean Baptiste from WP Rocket. You can find the reply here – https://wpmayor.com/wp-rocket-review/
My money got refunded yes but the issue wasn’t resolved. I offered them a live test site that they could troubleshoot and actually fix the problem but they weren’t interested after they refunded me. Varnish is the superior caching solution for me anyway. I discovered this easy way to warm up your Varnish cache and intelligently refresh it so you never have to purge. For me Varnish renders any WordPress caching plugin moot.
Superb Article…Really a Nice Read 🙂 I am a speedup guy myself on Fiverr 😉
I made a list of plugins which as a combination can improve the loading time a lot.
It is based on my experience on 54 client websites which came for speedup to me.
Please Checkout:
Thanks again Mark for the Article 🙂
Thanks for the feedback Felix! Will definitely take a look at your post 🙂
Mark! Awesome! Maybe in a future post you could do a speed case study? Where you take one of your own pages or a test page and try the various caching solutions and show us the results! That would be awesome! Do you think if I tried that myself, would deleting and uninstalling each plugin leave any “residual” settings that could impact each plugin’s performance? Thank you! And great article
Thanks Jared! Yes I’d definitely want to try that out at some time, I just need to have the time to set it up 🙂 Not sure about the residual settings or anything of the sort to be honest. It would be best to ask each plugin’s developer about that to be 100% sure.
You can tweak your website in more than hundred ways to make it load faster, however installing a cache plugin is the most effective way to reduce your loading time. Cloudways have listed 5 of the best WP Cache Plugins here: .
These are listed:
W3 Total Cache by Frederick Townes
WP Super Cache by Donncha O Caoimh and Automattic
WP Fastest Cache by EmreVona
ZenCache by WebSharks, JasWSInc, and RaamDev
WP Rocket by Jean-Baptiste Marchand-Arvier, Jonathan Buttigieg, and Julio Potier
Thanks for the feedback fahadrafiqgt. Another good list right there.
I’ve been using W3 Total Cache for the last year, however, never noticed too large of an increase in speed of my website(s). I am interested in WP Rocket, however, and have heard good things about it.
Do you know if it works with Cloudflare? The reason I’ve been using W3 Total Cache for so long is due to its Cloudflare support.
Thanks for your time.
Regards,
~Gale.
Yes it works with Cloudflare, all my sites I manage use CloudFlare and now WP-Rocket. Some sites now get sub 1 second load time with the combo.
WP Rocket works really well, using it with Varnish on two WooCommerce stores.
Thanks for the feedback! Good to know of another satisfied customer for WP Rocket – seems like there are a lot of satisfied customers out there.
Hi, what does Varnish do in combination with WP Rocket? I have a Woocommerce shop and like to install WP Rocket, but am a bit scared since I am not that technical (only know CSS) :). Thanks!
WP Rocket has a price, but it is so simple to set up that I use on every wordpress website I have to build !
Agreed Eric, sometimes it’s better to pay that little bit extra for better quality, especially in this case.
Thanks for your article!
I’m using plugin “WP Optimize By xTraffic” to optimize my site. This also good plugin you should try for your WordPress site 🙂
You’re welcome Peter. That looks like a good plugin too, but focused on SEO optimization rather than caching like the ones mentioned in the article. Worth a look though.
This is a really useful article, thanks for taking the time. I have always used W3 Total Cache but have heard a few tales of plugin conflicts. I will definitely look at WP Rocket.
I prefer WP-Rocket even though it comes at a Price.
But its still a lot simpler than most of the other Cache plugins.
Thanks for the feedback everyone! Glad to hear WP-Rocket is working out for so many of you, it really is easy to use and works great. For those of you who are interested I had also reviewed it just a couple of months ago right here on WP Mayor:
https://wpmayor.com/wp-rocket-review/
I was having site load time issues on a few of the sites I manage and never have been a fan of any caching plugin for a variety of reasons. Last night I came across a post about wp-rocket and went and purchased a personal license to try it out. Within 3 minutes of installing, the site went from load times of about ~13 seconds to under 2! I then upgrade to unlimited license and installing on all 30+ sites I manage, clients are going to be happy.
Easy interface, most of all if I am having an issue with a script on a specific page, all I have to do is copy and past the URL into the admin section and it does the rest, I dont have to chase down the script myself, very easy.
Well worth the premium price, without question.
I host most of my stuff on SiteGround and use their caching plugin (which is awesome) but for sites that I host elsewhere, I use Hyper Cache Extended, which is super simple to set up for those of us that want the quick and easy route