A caching plugin can improve your website’s speed, performance, SEO, user experience, and conversions. Learn what a caching plugin does, and check out our list of the five best caching plugins for WordPress.
In terms of depth of functionality, W3 Total Cache has the most options of any caching plugin on this list.
In addition to page caching, it also supports:
See all those options on the left? Each menu option has its own detailed settings area, and going through everything can definitely feel a little overwhelming:
So if you want all that flexibility, W3 Total Cache is a great option. You’ll have a ton of control over exactly how caching works on your WordPress site.
But if you’re not sure what object cache and database cache even mean, you might be happier choosing a different plugin on this list, as other options offer a much simpler setup process and can still get your site loading fast.
While it also lacks W3 Total Cache’s advanced settings, it still gives you options that go beyond page caching, with support for:
As soon as you install and activate the plugin, WP Rocket automatically activates the page caching functionality:
Then, you can also go through and configure the other functionality, including:
But is WP Rocket more convenient than trying to do everything yourself? Yeah, most people would agree with that.
So if you’re willing to pay for convenience/ease of use, it’s a great option.
WP Rocket starts at $49 for use on a single site.
The big benefit of WP Super Cache is simplicity. If you want, you can just turn the caching functionality on and call it a day:
However, you also have the option to configure a few more advanced settings, though the functionality is not as deep as any of the three previous plugins.
You can:
Like WP Super Cache, the great thing about this plugin is just how simple it is. You literally just:
For best results, pair Cache Enabler with the Autoptimize plugin. The two play nice together and Autoptimize can handle minification and concatenation for you, which is another helpful performance optimization tip.
1. W3 Total Cache
Active on over one million sites, W3 Total Cache is one of the most popular caching plugins at WordPress.org.In terms of depth of functionality, W3 Total Cache has the most options of any caching plugin on this list.
In addition to page caching, it also supports:
- Minification
- Opcode cache
- Database cache
- Object cache
- Browser cache
- CDN integration (e.g. serve static files from your CDN instead of your WordPress server)
- Fragment cache
See all those options on the left? Each menu option has its own detailed settings area, and going through everything can definitely feel a little overwhelming:
So if you want all that flexibility, W3 Total Cache is a great option. You’ll have a ton of control over exactly how caching works on your WordPress site.
But if you’re not sure what object cache and database cache even mean, you might be happier choosing a different plugin on this list, as other options offer a much simpler setup process and can still get your site loading fast.
2. WP Fastest Cache
WP Fastest Cache is another popular option with a much simpler interface than W3 Total Cache.While it also lacks W3 Total Cache’s advanced settings, it still gives you options that go beyond page caching, with support for:
- Minification and concatenation
- GZIP compression
- Browser caching
- Cache preload – normally, your site only “builds” the cached version of a page after a person visits the page for the first time. Preloading lets you create the cache without waiting for a visit.
3. WP Rocket
WP Rocket is the only caching plugin on this list that doesn’t have a free version at WordPress.org, but it makes up for that with a really user-friendly interface and a convenient pack of features.As soon as you install and activate the plugin, WP Rocket automatically activates the page caching functionality:
Then, you can also go through and configure the other functionality, including:
- Cache preloading (two different methods)
- Browser caching
- GZIP compression
- Database optimization
- Minification and concatenation
- Defer JavaScript loading
- DNS prefetching
- Lazy loading
But is WP Rocket more convenient than trying to do everything yourself? Yeah, most people would agree with that.
So if you’re willing to pay for convenience/ease of use, it’s a great option.
WP Rocket starts at $49 for use on a single site.
4. WP Super Cache
WP Super Cache is the most popular cache plugin at WordPress.org. It also comes from Automattic, the same team behind WordPress.com and Jetpack.The big benefit of WP Super Cache is simplicity. If you want, you can just turn the caching functionality on and call it a day:
However, you also have the option to configure a few more advanced settings, though the functionality is not as deep as any of the three previous plugins.
You can:
- Exclude specific content from being cached
- Integrate with a CDN
- Enable cache preloading functionality
- Add browser caching
- Configure other smaller settings:
5. Cache Enabler
Cache Enabler is a super simple page caching plugin from the folks at KeyCDN, a popular CDN service.Like WP Super Cache, the great thing about this plugin is just how simple it is. You literally just:
- Set the cache expiration
- Choose when to automatically clear the cache (for example, you can automatically clear the cache when you update a post)
- Choose what content to exclude from being cached
For best results, pair Cache Enabler with the Autoptimize plugin. The two play nice together and Autoptimize can handle minification and concatenation for you, which is another helpful performance optimization tip.
