Best Wordpress Caching Plugins

A List of The Best Wordpress Caching Plugins to Optimize and Speed Up Your Wordpress Blog

Caching is an essential part of Wordpress performance optimization. It optimizes your Wordpress blog for speed and provides your users a superior experience by loading pages faster. Caching may be a bit complicated for the beginners to understand. However, one can simply understand it as storing pages in cache or memory.

For example, when a user lands on your website for the first time, a request is made to the server and to the SQL database and then the page is served to the user. However, when a page is already saved in cache, instead of making a request to the database, it can be directly served to the user from cache. This saves a round trip and helps load pages faster.

Every user expects your site to load fast. If a user has to wait for pages to load, chances are high, he will leave the page for another one. Speed has also become critical to search engine optimization and ranking higher in searches.

In wordpress, caching can be very easy with a caching plugin. You can configure a caching plugin and then forget about it. To make Wordpress caching even better, some plugins include features like object caching and compression. Serving compressed and cached pages will make your website load a lot faster than it would without a cache plugin. A good caching plugin will also reduce the load on your webserver and help you save bandwidth.

Fast loading pages are integral to providing a superior user experience. However, since speed is critical for SEO, websites need to perform well in terms of core web vitals to rank higher. A good caching plugin can help you improve your site’s core web vital score. Improved loading also means lower bounce rate and higher user retention. The users who have visited your website in the past are more likely to return if they know it is a very fast loading website. Using caching with a cdn will help you load your website superfast and you can focus on generating quality content for your users.

Now that you know that speed is vital to performance, we have created a list of the best Wordpress plugins to speed up your Wordpress website. This list includes free as well as premium plugins and some plugins that are available in both free and premium versions.

WP Rocket :-

WP Rocket is a well known high performance caching plugin. If you want a plugin that will automatically do the job for you without having to make a lot of configuration changes, you can go for WP Rocket with eyes closed. The plugin is not famous as the best caching plugin without a reason.

The plugin does not include any complicated settings and with just a few clicks, it can speed up your website multiple times. Compared to any ordinary caching plugins, WP Rocket can be a major performance booster and boosts load times significantly. The plugin includes support for compression and several more features that will automatically boost page speed. You can feel the change right after switching the plugin on. Several features included in google’s pagespeed module are also included in WP Rocket and will optimize CSS and JS automatically. The plugin also includes features for further optimizing CSS and js performance.

WP Rocket also includes some more premium features like preloading and prefetch, which can significantly improve wordpress speed. It means you can preload your font files and prefetch critical DNS requests using the plugin.

The WP Rocket cache plugin is loaded with features. Other features include lazy loading, and database management. You will not need to use another plugin for database optimization since WP Rocket can help you delete transients and revisions and keep your database fast. The plugin also includes a CDN feature where you can include your Cloudfront, Key CDN, Bunny CDN or StackPath CDN url.

If you want to see your Wordpress site loading really superfast, use a good CDN like Cloudfront, KeyCDN, Stackpath or Bunny CDN. A CDN also includes caching features and helps your site load even faster from servers around the world.

Here are the main features of WP Rocket:

• CSS and JS optimization

• Automatic Compression

• CDN

• Lazy loading images

• Preloading and prefetch

• Database optimization tools

• Includes add ons for Cloudflare and Varnish

The main reason that it is the preferred caching plugin for millions of Wordpress users is its simplicity and ease of configuration. You just make a few clicks and your task is done. Most optimizations are automatically applied when you install and activate the plugin for the first time.

W3Total Cache:

W3 Total Cache is an excellent and feature rich caching plugin with features to cache, compress, and optimize site performance. The plugin includes minification features to minify website code as well as page caching and browser caching features apart from object cache and database cache. If your server has redis or memcached, you can use Object caching using any of the two with W3tc. The plugin also helps minify CSS and JS as well as defer non-critical CSS and JS.

Another important feature included with W3 total cache is CDN. It supports all the leading CDNs like Cloudfront, Stackpath etc and if your CDN is not included in the list, you can still add the cdn url to speed up your website. If you are using Varnish caching on your server, this plugin can be used to optimize performance and purge Varnish cache also.

W3TC has more than 1 million active installations and also comes in a pro version that provides some extra performance features like full site delivery with CDN, render blocking CSS elimination and so on. The plugin is easy to configure and also comes with a first time configuration wizard to make your task easier. If you are a Genesis framework user, Genesis optimization features are included in the pro version.

The detailed features may become a bit overwhelming for new users. However, you can find detailed guidance on the plugin website. Otherwise, you can leave the features you do not need.

Here are the main features that are included in the free version. The pro version starts from $99/year for a single site license:

• Page caching

• Browser caching

• Minification tools

• Database caching

• Object caching

• CDN

• Image lazy loading

• HTTP/2 Push

• Varnish caching

• Reverse proxy

WP Optimize:

WP Optimize is an excellent, yet simple and elegant caching and performance optimization plugin with more than 1 million active installations and 4.8 star ratings out of five.

The plugin has a simple interface and is easy to configure. Caching can be set with just one click. All you need to do is to enable caching by toggling the caching button on. You can also generate a separate cache for mobile devices.

Another important feature is preloading, which when enabled, cache the entire site and load it from cache when user requests. It helps load the web pages much faster.

Similarly, you can minify website code including html,css and js with a single click. The plugin also includes gzip compression settings to enable compression for your website with a single click.

WP optimize includes all the critical caching and speed features. However, some other excellent features it includes are image compression (free) and database optimization (free).

You can optimize your database regularly, get rid of unnecessary data to keep your website fast. The plugin will automatically resize images as you upload them, which helps load web pages faster.

WP-Optimize also has a pro version that costs only $ 49 for 1-2 sites and includes some advanced optimization features as well as image lazy loading. Even with the free version, you will find your website performing much faster than without the plugin.

Here are the main features that are includes with the free version of WP-Optimize and which will help you make your choice regarding this plugin:

• Caching

• GZIP compression

• Image compression

• Preloading web pages

• Database management

• Code minification

• Separate cache for mobile devices

Autoptimize :

Autoptimize is also an excellent plugin for Wordpress caching and speed optimization. The plugin can help you improve speed and site performance with its code optimization and aching features.

The plugin is for you if you want an easy to set up plugin that can considerably improve your site loading times. It automatically starts caching when you enable it on your website. However, you can individually select if you want to optimize css, js and html code on your website. These features can also improve website speed considerably. You can incline css and aggregate js to make them non-render blocking with this plugin.

The pro version of the plugin includes unlimited image optimizations as well as automatic critical css rules for managing site speed, CDN and some more booster features that can further boost your site speed.

Autoptimize is an excellent caching and speed optimization plugin with simple settings and yet powerful features. It has more than one million active installations and a 4.7 rating in Wordpress plugin repository.

Here are the main features that Autoptimize comes equipped with:

• Caching

• Code optimization (css, js, html)

• Image optimization

• Make css and JS non render blocking

• Remove query strings from static resources

• Lazy load images

• Google fonts optimization

• Preloading and Preconnect features

Autoptimize can significantly boost site speed and performance and you can optimize the loading of Google fonts on your website or disable them using this plugin.

WP Super Cache :

WP Super Cache is another popular caching plugin in the Wordpress repository with excellent caching and site speed optimization features.

The plugin has more than one million active installations and 4.5 ratings. Unlike the other plugins, WP Super Cache generates static html files from your Wordpress installation and serves them to users. Compared to the regular php files in Wordpress, the static html files generated by WP Super cache load much faster.

Even if it may sound complex, WP Super Cache is very easy to set up and caching can be enabled by just checking the enable caching check box. You can also exclude specific pages from caching.

WP Super Cache also includes support for CDN url as well as preloading. Most of the configurations are easy and you can use the simple mode for settings instead of expert if you are a beginner.

The leading features of WP SuperCache are as follows:

• Produces static html files for faster loading

• Includes CDN

• Easy optimization options

• Cache exclusion

You can load your Wordpress website fast like an html website using the WP Super Cache plugin.

WP Fastest Cache :

WP fastest Cache is also a well known name in the world of Wordpress caching. With more than 1 million active installations, the plugin is rated 4.9 in the Wordpress plugin repository. It is not just a caching plugin but also comes equipped with several more performance optimization features.

The plugin is easy to configure. You will find all the settings included on one page. Apart from general caching, the plugin also includes minification options to minify code including html, css and js as well as browser caching and Gzip compression. Users can combine css and js to reduce http requests and improve website speed. You can also add your own cdn url using this plugin to load web pages faster.

WP Fastest cache is also available in a premium version which can be bought for $49.99. The premium version includes additional features like image optimization and database maintenance features.

The plugin can help you significantly speed up your wordpress site. Here is a list of main features included with WP-Fastest cache:

• Caching and Browser caching

• Gzip compression

• Html, css and js minification

• Combine JS and Css to reduce http requests

• Disable Wordpress emojis

• CDN

• Premium version includes features like database optimizations, image optimization, font optimization and more.

Litespeed Cache :

Litespeed Cache is a great plugin to speed up your website, which includes caching and several more additional features. The plugin has more than 4 million active installations and 4.8 average ratings.

Compared to most of the caching plugins discussed above, Litespeed cache has extensive features and settings. Configuring it to get the best results may become a bit difficult for a new user who is not fully familiar with caching and various types of caching. If you have memcached

Or Redis object cache enabled on your server, the plugin will detect it automatically. Wordpress suggests using object caching for superior performance.

Additional Litespeed cache features include code minification and optimization, DNS prefetching, image lazy loading, QUIC CDN setup and more.

If you want your site to load even faster, you can get a QUIC CDN plan and use the image optimization features offered by Litespeed Cache.

Some of the features are meant to be used by advanced users only. However, if you want a nice caching plugin that includes minification, object caching, browser caching, image optimization, CDN and similar more features, you must go for Litespeed Cache. Once fully set, you will see a significant difference in loading speed of your website.

Here is a summary of the main features included with Litespeed Cache:

• Advanced caching plugin with several features not included in other caching plugins

• Image and page optimization features

• CDN

• Separate mobile cache

• Advanced database optimizer

• Preset configurations for new users

• Cache exclusions

• Made by the creators of Litespeed web server

• Responsive placeholders for media

• Combine or Defer JS

While Litespeed cache may seem to be a caching plugin for advanced users, it also comes with preset configurations like essentials, basic, advanced, aggressive and extreme. New users can go for one of the presets based on their needs and use the recommended settings included with the preset without any issue.

Hummingbird :

Hummingbird is another advanced caching plugin that comes with plenty of features to cache and speed up your Wordpress blog/website. This plugin is also loaded with advanced features to supercharge your website.

It includes page caching, browser caching, RSS caching and gravatar caching. The plugin also includes support for Redis integration, which means you will not need a separate plugin to use redis object cache on your website. Support for Cloudflare is also included in the plugin as well as GZIP compression.

There is an advanced asset optimization feature included with the plugin, which will scan website files to find the assets that can be optimized for speed. The plugin also includes additional database management features to manage and speed up your Wordpress database. Hummingbird also comes in a pro version that includes more advanced features for additional speed like delaying js execution, and enhanced file minification with CDN along with advanced reporting.

While Hummingbird may seem a bit advanced for new users, it also includes preset configurations and you can use the recommended one to improve website speed and core web vitals score.

Here are the main features included in Hummingbird that has more than 100K active installations and 4.8 average ratings out of five:

• Page caching and browser caching

• Redis integration included

• Cloudflare integration

• Advanced assets optimization and minification

• Gzip compression

• Advanced minification and CDN included with pro plan

• Preset configurations available

This was a list of the eight best caching plugins for Wordpress. You can use any of these plugins to cache and speed up your website. Speed is a crucial factor when it comes to search rankings. Wordpress is made of php and mysql. Caching is central to maintaining speed and Wordpress performance. Traffic growth depends on some other factors too including how well your site is optimized in terms of SEO and content quality. However, speed is a critical factor that you cannot overlook since without it you cannot provide an excellent user experience.

Most of the above discussed caching plugins are very simple to set and some have preset configurations that can be applied with a click. If you need a caching solution not requiring much configuration and which automatically applies most of the settings, then you must go for WP Rocket. However, plugins like WP Fastest Cache and Autoptimize can also provide a matching experience and are very simple to configure.

The benefits of caching are not limited to just acceleration but also includes improved user expereience and higher conversions. A website must not take more than 2-3 seconds to load. If it does, slower loading times will drive away users. All your hardwork behind generating quality content will be wasted if your website loads slowly. Enabling cache in Wordpress is easy and you can do it with a simple plugin. For even better performance, use a CDN like Cloudflare or Cloudfront with caching.

Apart from website caching and browser caching, performance optimizations like compression and code minification will also help you deliver better results and keep your website running fast. You can combine caching with other performance optimizations lke CDN, preloading and DNS prefetching for better performance and reduced bounce rate.