What is caching?
Cache is a place in computer memory that is stores recently viewed information. When a site is cached, it means that site pages, pictures, files and other web objects are stored on local computer user.
This in turn means that when a user opens a file that has been downloaded frequently, the browser will have most (if not all) of the files stored in the cache.
When the browser doesn't need to receive new information Every time you access the site, this significantly speeds up the page loading process. Plugin caching works the same way. They store dynamically generated HTML files in cache and open them when repeated request, instead of re-downloading all PHP scripts from WordPress.
How can I check if the work has changed after enabling the caching function?
In order to make sure that the site's speed increases, we recommend testing the site using the Pingdom and GTmetrix analytics systems.
WP Rocket is one of the best paid caching plugins for WordPress and the only premium plugin on our list. This plugin is incredibly easy to use and a must-have for those webmasters who have difficulty with technical terms.
The plugin starts working correctly immediately after activation, meaning you don’t need to rack your brains over the settings. If desired, you can perform manual configuration.
Peculiarities:
WP Rocket is a highly customizable plugin that offers preload caching, browser caching, GZIP compression, compression and customization for HTML, CSS, and JavaSCript minification.
The Lazy load feature for loading images distinguishes this plugin from other popular caching solutions. Lazy load ensures that the page loads only when the user scrolls down the page, which greatly improves page load time.
Here are some other features you'll find in each caching plugin license:
- Simple, fast and intuitive setup.
- Page caching is immediately activated.
- Google Fonts optimization minimizes HTTP requests.
- Reducing traffic usage through the use of compression GZIP
- Minimizing JavaScript and CSS.
- Integration with CloudFlare.
- Technology support LazyLoad
- Support is provided in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian.
W3 Total Cache is the only optimization frameworkWordPress designed to improve user experience and page load times. The first thing you need to know about the plugin is that its settings are divided into 16 pages. So setting up this plugin can take a fair amount of time (even for experienced developers). It is worth noting that it is not necessary to manually change all the settings; the default settings will be sufficient for the plugin to work correctly.
W3 Total Cache has the ability to be configured separately for different types caching – pages, objects, database, browser caching, etc. The level of detail in the plugin settings is very high, which you are unlikely to find anywhere else.
Peculiarities:
- GZIP compression to optimize web browser rendering.
- Minification and concatenation of HTML, CSS and JavaScript files.
- Compatible with SSL certificates.
- Save 80% traffic by minimizing and compressing HTML, CSS, JavaScrip
- AMP support
WP Super Cache is a free caching solution for WordPress. The mechanism of operation of this plugin is quite simple. The plugin generates static HTML from your dynamic WordPress blog and caches them instead of WordPress PHP scripts. The plugin offers 3 options to speed up page loading:
Peculiarities:
- Page compression and dynamic caching.
- Content delivery networks (CDN) support.
- Caching visitors from mobile devices.
- Scheduler for deletion and re-caching at specified intervals.
According to web developers, the WP Fastest Cache plugin is the simplest and fastest caching plugin for WP. Similar to WP Super Cache, WP Fastest Cache creates a static HTML page based on dynamic WordPress blog and saves it to cache.
WP Fastest Cache provides an easy to install plugin. You won't even need to change the .htaccess configuration file.
The plugin uses mod_rewrite to create static HTML files on your website. It also offers minification, GZIP compression, browser caching, and the ability to combine JavaScript and CSS files to reduce requests from your server.
Peculiarities:
- Mod_Rewrite which is the fastest method is used in this plugin
- All cache files are deleted when a post or page is published
- CDN and SSL support
- Ability to enable/disable cache option for mobile devices and registered users
- Block cache for a specific page or post with a shortcode
- Manage cache retention and deletion period.
Comet Cache is also known asZenCache or Quick Cache, with a new name, the plugin is gaining more and more popularity. The plugin takes a real-time screenshot of each post, category or link and caches them.
This is a simple yet effective method that saves processing time, which increases the page loading time of your website.
The plugin uses advanced methods to determine when it should send the cached version and when it shouldn't. By default, logged in users and visitors who have recently commented on the site do not use cached pages. You can change these configuration options on the Settings page.
Peculiarities:
- Options to control automatic cache clearing for home page and post pages, author page, category, tag and custom temporary archives, custom post type archives, RSS/RDF/ATOM feeds and XML Sitemaps.
- Ability to cache or ignore URLs containing query strings (GET Requests).
- User agent and HTTP exception patterns.
- Set an automatic expiration time for cache files.
- Client side caching.
- WP-CLI Compatible
Cache Enabler is a small plugin for WP that performs 2 main functions - reduces page loading time and generates staticHTML files, provides WebP support. Static HTML files are stored on the server's hard drive.
This plugin is the only one that allows users to upload WebP images without using JavaScript. For those who are not yet aware, WebP is a new image format that is quickly gaining popularity due to its light weight and good optimization.
When a page is requested, a static page is loaded. HTML page, which allows you to save time on request processing from the backend. This caching strategy significantly increases the site loading speed, reduces the time it takes to load a specific page, and also improves WordPress performance.
Peculiarities:
- efficient and fast caching by the CMS system
- automated or manual cache clearing
- manual caching configuration for individual pages
- displays the current cache size in the control panel
- minify HTML and JavaScript
- WebP support (in place with Optimus)
- Responsive image support
- HTTP/2 oriented
Comparing the performance of plugins based on test results GT Metrix and Pingdom, we get the following results
From the test results we see that only one plugin showed results below 1 second in both tests - Cache Enabler and it can rightfully be called the fastest. It is worth noting that this plugin is free and very easy to install.
WP Super Cache is another effective caching plugin as the test results show that it is in 2nd place after Cache Enabler.
Based on the analysis resultsPingdom speeds up your website the most with WP Fastest Cache.
Despite the fact that the WP Rocket plugin is paid, it did not show best results based on tests, so price is not always an indicator best quality. But still, many users prefer it.
If we had dug deeper into the W3 Total Cache settings, we might have gotten better results. But in the way we took as a basis standard settings, then it would be unfair to other plugins. Well Based on tests we can say that we do not recommend Comet Cache.
To summarize, if you are looking for a way to speed up your website, without additional settings and with minimal effort, use Cache Enabler or WP Super Cache.
It’s very easy to check the operation of plugins; order a WordPress hosting test on our website, install the system in a couple of clicks and select the desired plugin.
Translation from designbombs.com
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Caching helps speed up your WordPress site and, thereby, make the visitor’s stay more comfortable. But unfortunately, this functionality is initially missing in the engine. Therefore, it is very important to ensure that the cache works with special plugins. Study this note and you will have several excellent solutions to choose from.
What is a cache and what is it for?
Cache is an intermediate buffer that stores assemblies of the most frequently used data in its memory. And this allows them to be immediately issued to clients, rather than being created anew. This significantly speeds up the page loading process.
How does this work in our case?
Since WordPress is dynamic content management system, then every time a user visits a page of your site, the engine, collecting all the necessary data, generates results for him and puts everything into a ready-made form. This is the execution of scripts, collection necessary files, selecting data from the Database and so on. Only after all these actions, the user sees the finished page.
It seems to us that this does not happen for so long, especially in modern conditions Internet. But imagine that there are places where the Internet is not that fast yet. And extra seconds of site loading can take your visitors/readers/customers away from you.
Now imagine something like this. That your site was visited in an instant by not just one person, but hundreds. And your server will have to deal with the page generation process each client separately. Despite the fact that they all get the same result. And this is not a very reasonable waste of server power resources, don’t you think? And it’s not a fact that your hosting provider’s tariff will withstand such an attack and the site will not crash at the most inopportune moment 😆
A caching will allow your engine to generate the page once, save it in memory and simply output ready-made results for all queries. This, as you understand, significantly speeds up the work of the entire project and makes the movement of visitors across the pages of your site much more comfortable.
Plugins for caching WordPress sites
And now that we have figured out what this is for. Let's look at several excellent options for caching plugins that you can install on your own right now.
WP Super Cache
Because WP Super Cache as simple as possible for beginners, we recommend installing it in our training system for creating Internet projects “Turbine” and even teach how to configure it correctly. And in the end, it was tested not only by us, but also by our students - that’s why it was the first on the list.
The plugin, although easy to use, contains all the recommended caching functions. Including gzip compression, page cache, cache preloading, CDN support, advanced cache preloading and more. And all this can be easily managed from a separate settings tab.
W3 Total Cache
W3 Total Cache is a comprehensive WordPress caching plugin with many options that can make it a little intimidating for beginners. But despite this, it is gaining popularity very quickly. And today there are more than a million downloads from the directory wordpress.org.
W3 Total Cache does not save the cache structure, as the previous plugin does, so configure the output without using PHP is not possible, but unlike WP Super Cache, using external storage makes it easy to work in a multi-server architecture.
WP Rocket
WP Rocket- another good caching plugin on the market, but already paid. It's perfect for those who don't want to bother with technical terms, but just want to set everything up with one click.
After enabling it, first the scanner automatically selects which pages need to be cached, then the plugin automatically turns on the recommended caching settings and does its job. Everything is very simple, a minimum of actions for you.
Sucuri Firewall
Sucuri- one of the best firewall and security plugins for WordPress on this moment, which also has a built-in option for caching site content.
The plugin is used as a DNS level firewall. This means that it can serve cached content to your users even before their request reaches the site. Which gives your site an incredible performance boost.
Well, these are the options I can recommend to you. And which one to choose is up to you. It’s important to choose one specifically for your project. Test each one and choose the one that is more convenient for you to use and which gives you the most increase in page loads. How can I test this? To do this, use a scanner website, for example, https://gtmetrix.com/
Write about your results in the comments. Good luck!
When it comes to developing an effective, conversion-generating WordPress site, speed is of the essence. Research has shown that users abandon a site that doesn't load within two seconds. While there are many caching tools that can help you improve your site's performance, choosing which one is best for you can be difficult.
The two main contenders for the best caching plugins in WordPress are:
- W3 Total Cache: This is a feature-rich solution with a huge range of settings for carefully configuring your site's caching.
- WP Super Cache: A more simplified, but no less powerful option, well suited for sites with high traffic.
In this article, we will explain why using a caching plugin in WordPress is a smart move. Then we will provide a comparison of WP Super Cache vs W3 Total Cache. Let's begin!
Why you need a caching plugin on your WordPress site
Before analyzing WP Super Cache vs W3 Total Cache, it is important to clarify what caching is and what this process can do for your site. Essentially, a “cache” is a temporary high-speed access area. It stores recently used data so it can be quickly accessed later. Thus, caching can be used to store and display a "static" version of your site's content to visitors.
There are several benefits of caching for your site. This:
- Significant speed and performance improvements: This is because caching allows you to retrieve frequently used files from the cache, which is much faster than retrieving files from a remote data server.
- Reducing data exchange traffic between the site and the server: This reduces the load on the network and saves you money.
- Ensuring that your site remains accessible at all times: For example, if your site is temporarily down due to a network outage, cached content may still be shown to visitors.
- Improvement search engine optimization website (SEO): Because the search engines Using speed as a ranking factor, reducing your site's loading latency can be to your advantage.
- Reducing the load on your hosting server: In addition to improving speed, this can also free up server memory.
Given the many benefits of caching, developers will be pleased to know that there are many WordPress plugins, which make the process extremely simple. WP Super Cache and W3 Total Cache are two of the best, most flexible options. Based on this, let's take a look at WP Super Cache vs W3 Total Cache and see which plugin wins.
WP Super Cache vs W3 Total Cache: Step-by-Step Comparison
In the next section, we'll look at the main differences between WP Super Cache and W3 Total Cache. We'll also compare them based on ease of installation, key features, pricing, and support.
Review
Let's start with a more detailed look at the WP Super Cache plugin:
WP Super Cache has three methods for serving cached files. “Expert” is the fastest method, allowing you to be sure that your site works well under the pressure of heavy traffic (which is very useful for scalability). The “Simple” method is not as fast, but allows you to process files with dynamic sections. The last method, "WP-Cache Caching", is provided for registered users. It provides reliable performance while working on your website.
Because WP Super Cache is relatively lightweight and easy to set up, it is suitable for those who are not very familiar with WordPress. It can also sync with your Content Delivery Network (CDN), which means you can increase the speed of your site.
Now, let me introduce the W3 Total Cache plugin:
Similar to WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache can integrate seamlessly with your CDN. However, it also saves throughput by reducing and compressing your website files. In fact, the plugin's versatile compression and rendering options can improve overall speed and performance by up to 10x. It also contains features that significantly reduce the loading time on your site, which further improves the usability of the site.
W3 Total Cache differs from WP Super Cache in that it is platform-independent with respect to hosting. This means that it can serve as a reliable caching solution, regardless of your hosting provider. In comparison, WP Super Cache works better on low-power servers.
With numerous settings for minifying JavaScript and custom styling (CSS) files, as well as object caching capabilities, W3 Total Cache is better suited for more experienced users. It's also good if you're developing a WordPress site that heavily targets mobile users, as it supports caching for Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP).
Now let's take a closer look at the capabilities of the W3 Total Cache vs WP Super Cache plugins. First of all, let's compare the usability of each WordPress caching plugin.
Ease of installation
Like any other WordPress plugin, you can install both WP Super Cache and W3 Total Cache by going to Plugins> Add new from the admin console. Then simply enter the name of the plugin you want to install in the search bar. Click Install and then Activate plugin:
From now on, let's look at how these plugins differ in terms of customization. We'll start with W3 Total Cache.
You will notice that after installing and activating W3 Total Cache, a new menu has appeared in the admin console Performance. To complete the plugin setup, you need to go to Performance> General settings , and then review each suggested option. Select Save all settings for each option, once you are satisfied with the configuration you have chosen:
This process can be difficult, especially if you are new to caching. Luckily, the W3 Total Cache plugin has a dedicated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section that provides information on how to best set up the plugin for your site.
In comparison, the setup process for WP Super Cache is much simpler. Once you have installed and activated the plugin, go to Settings> WP Super Cache in the administration console. You should see two simple options enable or disable caching. Select an option Caching enabled, press the button Update status, and everything will be installed:
For this round of WP Super Cache vs W3 Total Cache plugin comparison, the outcome is clear: the first plugin comes out ahead. However, this is largely due to the fact that WP Super Cache has more simple settings, and is more suitable for simple caching for low-power servers.
Characteristics
Both plugins offer robust features that will help you improve site performance and user experience. The main difference is how versatile these features are and how they can be configured to best suit your site's caching requirements.
We'll start again with W3 Total Cache. Some key features of the plugin:
- Minimization for various types files (HTTP, CSS, JavaScript) and databases.
- Ability to import post attachments directly into CDN or WordPress media library.
- Browser caching via the Cache-Control general header field.
- Full support for mobile devices.
- Caching search results and database objects.
- CDN support.
As we mentioned earlier, another major benefit of W3 Total Cache is that it can insert script into Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP). This can help ensure your site's performance is optimized for users who access your site from their mobile devices.
Finally, we should mention that the main strength of W3 Total Cache lies in its advance caching features. You can easily configure the intervals at which caching occurs on your site, both on disk and in memory.
Now let's move on to WP Super Cache. Some of key functions plugin:
- Wide range of possibilities mod_rewrite for static caching (which is significantly faster than caching HTML with PHP).
- Automatic page compression.
- Basic cache scheduling functions.
- CDN support.
- Convenient export capabilities allow you to easily transfer caching settings to other sites.
- Mobile device support.
WP Super Cache has an edge over W3 Total Cache in several key areas. First, you can configure its settings to change the order in which WordPress plugins are loaded. This means you can prioritize your most important custom plugins to load quickly, improving the user experience in the process.
However, for this round of W3 Total Cache vs WP Super Cache, we have to give the winnings to W3 Total Cache. While many of its features may seem complex, they will give your site a significant performance boost when used correctly. This is especially important if you are developing a WordPress site for business or e-commerce.
Price
Although WP Super Cache is a fairly powerful WordPress plugin that is capable of serving high traffic sites, it is completely free. Considering that WP Super Cache consistently ranks first among best options plugin for WordPress, this great choice, if you have a limited budget, but need a promising solution.
The free version of W3 Total Cache also contains an excellent set of features as well as an extensible structure. It is fully compatible with performance enhancing software Cloudflare and New Relic, as well as a WPML plugin (allowing it to be easily translated for multilingual sites).
Support
Support is an important factor to consider when choosing the best WordPress plugin for your needs. It can often be difficult to determine which caching features will be most beneficial to your site (especially if you are not familiar with the terminology used).
The good news is that both WP Super Cache and W3 Total Cache are well supported. In addition to regularly updated support forums on WordPress.org, both options are supported by detailed FAQ sections.
Let's start with a look at the WP Super Cache support offerings. After installing, activating and opening the plugin, you will immediately see a menu Need Help? (Need help?):
From this menu you can instantly access the plugin's main support features. In addition to the FAQ page and support forum, there is also a dedicated tab Debug. This handy feature allows you to enter an IP address to debug the plugin, as well as configure a cache to clear data when an error is detected.
Do you have questions about the WP Super Cache vs W3 Total Cache plugin comparison? Let us know in the comments below!
Page caching significantly increases site loading speed— I don’t think anyone will argue with this statement. It copes with this task.
But when I activated it, my article view counter stopped working. The number of views has stopped growing, and seeing such a picture, you know, is not very pleasant. Therefore, I had to deactivate this plugin.
Basically, I never really liked him. I change something on the blog, for example, I put a different picture, but the changes are not visible. To see them, you need to disable the plugin, or delete cached versions in the settings. And, according to my subjective feelings, it did not increase the site loading speed. In a word, there is a lot of hassle, but there is no sense in sight.
I removed this plugin, but the views counter still didn’t work. Then I went to the administrative panel of the blog in Settings - PostViews , looked, everything seemed fine. I updated it just in case - no results. What to do? I remember that when installing the WP Super Cache plugin in the file wp-config.php the following code is added:
define("WP_CACHE", true);
I'm going to my File manager , I find this file in the root folder of the blog, enable editing, and sure enough, there is this line! And when you deactivate the plugin, it doesn’t go away. I remove it and everything works as it should.
I breathe a sigh of relief, but the question arises: how can I now increase the site loading speed?
The WP Super Cache plugin performed two functions - compression and caching, and now we need to look for an alternative. Compression I. What remained was caching, as clearly indicated by the red letter B in the data.
You can also enable caching using the code that you need to add to the file .htaccess. This file is located in the root folder of the blog. Just check first if your hosting uses Apache. If you don't use it, the code won't work. Most hosting providers, including Gino's hosting, use.
- Expires Active On
- ExpiresByType application/javascript "access plus 1 year"
- ExpiresByType text/javascript "access plus 1 year"
- ExpiresByType text/css "access plus 1 year"
- ExpiresByType image/gif "access plus 1 year"
- ExpiresByType image/jpeg "access plus 1 year"
- ExpiresByType image/png "access plus 1 year"
- Header set Cache-control: private
- Header set Cache-control: public
- BrowserMatch "MSIE" force-no-vary
- BrowserMatch "Mozilla/4.(2)" force-no-vary
- FileETag MTime Size
- ExpiresActive on
- ExpiresDefault "access plus 1 month"
A definite plus this method is that caching is performed in users' browsers, and not on the service. And from this it follows that the cached version will be downloaded to the visitor directly from the browser, and not from the hosting. Of course, it will load much faster in this case.
Another plus is that there is no need for a caching plugin, which further increases the site loading speed.
To top it off, I want to tell you about one interesting tool that will be useful to you for researching your hosting. You can make this tool yourself.
Create a file with the php extension, which you can name as you want, for example, testserver.php. Write the following code in it:
Place it in the root folder of your site, and then open it in the browser at the appropriate address:
vashsite.ru/testserver.php
And as a result, you get at your disposal a lot of information about the features and configuration of your hosting, which may be useful to you. For example, the same Apache: You will immediately see that Gino's hosting uses Apache 2.0. And not only that, of course. If necessary, you will know where to look.
More details You can get it in the “All Courses” and “Utilities” sections, which can be accessed through Top Menu site. In these sections, articles are grouped by topic into blocks containing the most detailed (as far as possible) information on various topics.
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