15 Best Free WordPress Cache Plugins In 2023 (Including Pro Plugins)

Have you been searching for free WordPress cache plugins?

Even premium cache plugins?

I’m sure that you’ve found the right article. I picked these plugins based on my preferences, experience, reviews, performance, ease of use, and other factors.

I tested a bunch of WordPress cache plugins and looked at more than just speed, including features, usability, flexibility, differences, and states.

Depending on your web host, server, web design, theme, plugins, and other factors, cache plugins can perform differently. Check out each and the settings to see what works best for you.

You have to optimize your hosting first because it determines how fast it can handle traffic and perform requests. Your server should be close to your clients, which means that if most of your traffic comes from Europe, you should choose Europe hosting.

Upgrade your hosting to a cloud or VPS if you’re using low-cost hosting. You only need a few server resources for a tiny website. It’s still better to move to one with more server resources.

It depends on a lot of factors which cache plugin you should use.

I’ll show you the best WordPress cache plugins I’ve found.

Best free cache plugins for WordPress

1. FlyingPress

I have used many premium cache plugins, but FlyingPress is one of my favorites. FlyingPress has been my only cache plugin for the past two years, and I love it.

It works well in any host or server arrangement, whether Apache, Nginx, or Litespeed. There’s no problem with managed hosts like Rocket.net, Kinsta, WP Engine, etc.

And FlyingPress is very simple; it doesn’t matter if you’re a newbie or a seasoned pro. It just works. This plugin has no bloated settings to justify the price, just smart features, and it reduces your website’s full load time to less than a second.

My personal preference is not to worry about page scores like Page Speed, Gtmetrix, Pingdom, etc.

But they can give you a good idea of how your website is doing, particularly the GTmetrix Waterfall Chart and other reports.

IMO, TTFB is the most important page metric because it affects everything else.

So, here are some GTmetrix reports from my website using FlyingPress. FP is the only plugin I use without any CDNs or asset optimization plugins.

FlyingPress is the best cache plugin I’ve used so far since it works completely out of the box with just a few clicks.

I think FlyingPress doesn’t need any more explanation. For more, check out my FlyingPress vs WP Rocket comparison.

2. LiteSpeed Cache

LiteSpeed Cache is my second favorite cache plugin and the best free one. It has plenty of features and high performance, quality, and stability. However, there is a barrier because full functionality requires a host with a LiteSpeed server or QUIC.cloud.

You can get great performance, rich customization, and server-level caching with LiteSpeed cache. Undoubtedly, the LS cache is a game-changer for many users (new or old).

Obviously, this is the best free cache plugin for WordPress. You don’t need to use another cache plugin on LiteSpeed servers. See even better results when you combine LiteSpeed with Quic.cloud’s CDN because it involves full-page caching.

CDN caching helps you get rapid TTFB because your complete website will be served at the edge. I recommend GURU Hosting, a fast and modern stack for LiteSpeed users.

You can’t find some of the advanced features anywhere else. Also, LiteSpeed Cache offers more image optimization features than any other cache plugin, including WebP.

Some pics from Litespeed cache settings:

LiteSpeed WordPress Cache Plugin Features:

• Server cache: all cache plugin use file-based PHP to create caches, but LPC use servers to generate cached pages.
• Image optimization: cache plugins often don’t offer image optimization, even the pro plugins like WP Rocket, but this one gives full features for image and media optimizations with WebP, backups, CDN, etc.
• Object Cache: if your host provides Object Cache, such as Redis or Memcached, you can optimize it with LiteSpeed Cache.
• CSS Optimization: there are many exciting options, such as minifications, critical CSS, merged, separate ccs, etc. However, use them with caution.
• JavaScript Optimization: optimizations include minify, combine, deferred, etc. And this approach is good for avoiding the impact of external JS such as ads, analytics, and so on. Use lightweight analytics tools such as Plausible to avoid page speed impact.
• HTML Optimization: Remove query strings, google fonts, WordPress emoji, DNS prefetch, HTML lazy load selectors, and many others.
• Media Optimization: Dimensions, lazy load iframes, missing widths, image /adaptive placeholder, lazy load, and multiple image/iframe optimizations.
• Database Optimization: unlike other plugins, LSC has advanced database enhancements such as tables engine converter, revisions limit, age, etc.
• Toolbox: Other optimizations like Heartbeat control, debug, etc.

LiteSpeed Cache is the plugin you should use in any LiteSpeed environment. Also, cache crawling is built into LiteSpeed. But only some web hosts enable it on shared hosting. If you own a VPS or dedicated server, you can access it.

It is a powerful cache and optimization plugin alongside Swift Performance, FlyingPress, etc., but LSC is entirely free.

LSC performs out of the box with built-in security features. LSC provides multiple options with rapid server-level functionality, making using another plugin unnecessary.

However, I wouldn’t recommend it for low-traffic websites because you won’t receive exact outcomes. The LiteSpeed cache can cause issues if your website frequently updates pages. It doesn’t feature an instant pre-load function. Otherwise, this is the best option.

3. SWIFT Performance Lite

SWIFT Performance Lite is not a widely used cache plugin; most other blog posts don’t mention this. There are only 10K active installations of the free version, and the WordPress directory contains a lot of negative feedback from users.

I think the main reason for many negative comments is a lack of official documentation. Many users are uncertain how to use the features or troubleshoot issues with this cache plugin.

Despite the negative feedback, I was most satisfied with how well it performed during my test. This plugin is probably the most feature-rich free cache plugin in WP, along with LiteSpeed Cache.

Some features can be confusing and unsafe for beginners because users let unnecessary things slow their site down. I think that’s why there are so many negative responses. Bloggers don’t mention it.

The premium edition offers even more advanced features. It has more features than any other cache plugin. It is good if you have heavy web pages and need to tweak every aspect. Some users need help using advanced features because they require more knowledge.

Here are some UI images:

SWIFT Performance Lite WP Cache Plugin Features:

• Caching: the primary role of Swift. It works aggressively and has many caching features, such as proxy cache, lazy load blocks, etc.
• Enable Server Push: improves site performance by preloading Stylesheet resources for your pages, allowing them to load faster when users are in.
• Optimize in Background: this can be effective for large web pages and servers.
• Javascript Minification: improves cache prebuild period and reduces unused JS.
• Separate Scripts: effective if you have a wide selection of content.
• Lazy Load Scripts: DELAY third-party scripts and ad networks; it runs perfectly and helps improve your CWV without breaking the front end.
• Media Optimization: there is a lot of media optimization stuff like serving Webp, preloading images, load images on user interaction, fixing missing sizes, lazy load iframes, load iframes on user interaction, etc.
• Critical CSS: paces up load time with critical content on the site upfront.
• Fonts Optimizations: preloads, local host, force swap, and other functions.
• Plugin Organizer: this a fantastic feature that many plugins, even pro plugins, miss. Plugins always slow down the speed of a website. With this feature, you can choose where some plugins, such as frontend/backend, are required.

That’s only a few of the features; there are lots more.

I think the SWIFT Performance UI needs to be simpler; it is confusing, similar to W3TC. And not a good option for beginners because they can get misplaced in the SWIFT maze.

I still think this Cache Plugin is useful because it has many features. Caching, database optimization, CSS, and JavaScript optimization are all built-in. Also, have add-ons for the Varnish and object cache and are fully Woo-Commerce compatible.

Don’t just believe my words or negative or positive feedback; test it on yourself to see if it works for you, and if not, try something else.

4. Super Page Cache for Cloudflare

Super Page Cache for Cloudflare is not actually a cache plugin, but this plugin makes your website fast by taking website caching to Cloudflare Edge.

It will help you cache static content and cached HTML pages. All you need to do is provide the API for your Cloudflare account, and the plugin will do the rest.

However, do so carefully. If you have a lot of dynamic content, this won’t work and can deliver a poor UX. But it’s suitable for lean sites.

Personally, I tested it with the free Cloudflare plan, which allowed a page cache by accessing the Cache Everything page rule, which significantly improved page speed.

Basically, this is like full-page caching. You can dramatically boost the response times of your website by using Cloudflare’s cache, which is also accessible for HTML files.

This plugin uses Cloudflare’s Cache Everything Page Rule, which might conflict with other cache plugins.

Make sure you don’t use any other caching plugins or layers if you use this. This plugin doesn’t work for me, either. I found a few things that could be improved, such as caching critical web pages, logout sessions, etc.

But there are some good features, like:

• You can choose and customize what you want to cache and what you don’t want to cache, and you can prevent cached content for logged-in users.
• Fallback cache
• Allows you to delete only HTML pages of your website rather than all of them.
• Purging Varnish and object cache when Cloudflare cache is purged.
• Clean up the Cloudflare cache in the WordPress dashboard.
• Cache exclusion for individual pages and posts.

There are more integrations and features as well.

I think this is one of the best free Cloudflare plugins out there.

5. Breeze

Breeze is a Cache plugin from Cloudways that still has some bugs and poor reviews. Still, it delivers exciting results when used in the Varnish setup with Cloudways or even other Nginx stacks. Yes, file optimization isn’t proper, but caching is okay.

It works better in eye tests than it does in speed metrics. Many users talk about errors, but I only talk about caching.

Breeze has asset optimization features. But they are less effective than other plugins. In settings like Nginx, Varnish, and Redis, caching works better.

Breeze UI is good enough, with some feature descriptions and cautions, but it can be complicated for newcomers.

Here are some UI pics:

With Breeze, you’ll get extra features like:

• Font preload
• Heartbeat Control
• Minifications and combination
• Java Script to the footer (not recommended)
• Gzip compression
• Lazy loading of images and iFrames
• Delay external Java Scripts
• Database optimization (Get advanced DB optimizations using WPO.)
• CDN rewrite
• Inbuilt Varnish cache control
• Many other features

Still, it needs unused CSS, preload, media optimizations, etc. But Breeze is a free cache plugin. We can only expect a little. Here is the official setup and installation guide.

6. SiteGround Optimizer

SG Optimizer is an entirely free cache plugin for SiteGround users (I never recommend it). It needs to do a better job of addressing speed. It can’t preload and doesn’t support critical CSS or unused stylesheets. You can’t defer third-party scripts like ads, banners, etc.

And you can’t optimize the font. However, it can be used for caching with SG hosting.

But Caching is the significant edge of SiG Optimizer because the dynamic cache can full page caching with SiteGround servers.

In addition to server-level cashing, SGO has some useful features, such as:

• Memcached integration for speeding up the database.
• Heartbeat optimization is used to manage server requests, with the option to limit it.
• Basic minification for CSS, JavaScript, and HTML (but not enough)
• Font preloading
• Removal of render-blocking elements to enhance performance.
• WebP image support for optimized image delivery.
• Cache preloading to ensure content is readily available.
• Various other features are aimed at improving website speed.

The main problem is that you can’t get good results with hosts like SiteGround.

Here are some SG Optimizer screenshots:

For my websites, I wouldn’t use this cache plugin. But SG users can benefit from server-level caching along with other cache plugins like WP Rocket, FlyingPress, etc.

Or, because it lacks many optimizations, you’ll need to pair it with an asset optimization plugin like Perfmatters.

I know people like or debate. But you need to test it and see if it actually works. If SG developers can progress this plugin, it will be one of the finest free cache plugins.

Look at this instruction to configure SiteGround Optimizer.

7. Powered Cache

You can use Powered Cache even if it’s not widely known. I was notably attracted to the options and UI design. They keep features while keeping clean and detailed for beginners.

The Powered Cache free version includes many features you need to enhance the speed of your site. There is a premium version with extra functionality.

I like its user interface; here are some screenshots:

Powered Cache WordPress Plugin Features:

• Page Caching: This, like all others, starts with Page Caching.
• Mobile Cache: the mobile cache is typically not used, but if you use AMP or another alternative to separate pages for mobile, this can be useful.
• File Optimization: there are multiple great features, including combines, minifications, javascript execution, and a few others. The free version is limited
• Media Optimization: similar to other stuff, such as Lazy Load.
• Preload: here’s some cool stuff, Preload cache, prefetch DNS, and pre-connect.
• Object Cache: You can use it if your host backs Memcache/Redis.
• CDN Integration: set up using a CDN URL

This is not a fully purified plugin like Litespeed, SF, or Pro plugins like Flyingpress. Still, it is helpful if you have tiny or low-traffic sites. Compatible with Nginx and Apache servers.

I didn’t use their PRO version, but I noticed some valuable features such as Critical CSS, Unused CSS, Image Compression, etc.

You can also get PoweredCache’s paid version with more features like Critical CSS, Unused CSS, Image optimization, Sitemap preloading, Varnish, Google, and Facebook tracking.

This isn’t a unique plugin, and I noticed some issues, and the optimization features need to be improved. There are a lot of options. Try it, and then see how it works on your site.

8. Borlabs Cache

Borlabs Cache is a premium cache plugin that has a limited free version. But I think this is an outdated cache plugin. The UI isn’t modern and hasn’t been improved in a while, so compared to better ones, it’s not as good.

But you can increase the speed with a simple setup, effective prefetching of the webpage, HTML cutbacks, and more. Borlabs Cache, unlike the others, provides more than just caching, including fragments and Security Header. Also, the nice feature set is useful.

Borlabs Cache Plugin Free Version Features:

• Caching and preloading: pages will be cached and preloaded to ensure that your content is often up to speed, but the free version is limited to 25 preloads p/d.
• Fragment caching: this is an unusual feature that allows dynamic code in cached static content. Useful in Woocommerce.
• Js & CSS optimization: Reduces whitespace and pages and optimizes Fonts.
• Individual cache lifetimes: Separate cache lifetimes for pages or posts.
• Security header: can’t expect from cache plugin even not speed features but useful for Security Policy, HSTS, XSS, etc., and useful for SEO.

Here’s what Borlabs Cache Plugin looks like:

Try with a free license to see if Borlabs Cache meets your requirements. The free version is enough for most sites with low traffic. But if you have a high-traffic website with many pages, you should move to a paid version with more cache-preloading features.

Although I’m not a fan of this plugin, there are better ones like FP, LSC, WPR, and SWIFT. I don’t think the premium version is worth it.

9. SpeedyCache

SpeedyCache is another new freemium cache plugin from Softaculous. That provides multiple optimizations. There are too many features that I don’t want. Feels bloated.

And the free version is severely limited, but still enough for most websites. You’ll miss file optimizations and many features, including lazy loading (HAHA!).

I tested this plugin on some websites, and it performed well on NGINX servers. According to Query Monitor, this plugin can cause some database issues with auto-loads. Advanced minification can cause problems with website loading.

SpeedyCache UI is passable but outdated, and in the free version, there are some advertisements for their other products.

Here are some screenshots:

SpeedyCache Features (Free Version)

• Cache: like others, this plugin offers caching with preload, automatic cache, browser caching, desktop cache, mobile cache, and purge varnish cache.
• Miscellaneous: This section includes Gzip and Disable emojis in the free version. You can use font optimization, render blocking, and other features with the pro.
• File Optimization: The free version lacks many file optimization features. It just minifies CSS and combines CSS and JS. I only recommend using Minify CSS.
• CDN: SpeedyCache CDN part is pretty nice since it includes valuable integration with popular CDN providers such as Bunny CDN, StackPath, and CloudFlare, and you can set up other CDNs. It rewrites the pictures and static files to the CDN’s URL. So they can be delivered straight from the CDN when the page is cached.

SpeedyCache’s free version only does caching since the paid version has most other features. With the free version, you can’t access features like file optimization, fonts, image optimization, database optimization, Object Cache, Bloat Remover, etc.

SpeedyCache plugin is fine for average users who are looking for primary caching performance, but it is not unique.

Combine and minify features are poor and can break sites, and they lack the brilliance of LiteSpeed, FlyingPress, and even WP Rocket.

I don’t urge the SpeedyCache Pro version, which is not worth it. The free version can be tried to see how it differs from other plugins.

Not a lightweight option. It may appear nice, but it leads to the thought that there are more configurations than there are. Yes, I see many active installations over 100k. But I’m not sure why, because it’s nothing incredible for me.

10. WP Speed of Light

WP Speed of Light is another free plugin that isn’t widely used, but it has many features, state resources, and a user-friendly UI. Even the free version is suitable for smaller sites. I like the graphical interface because it’s clean and straightforward to understand.

With the free version, you get CSS and JS minification, query string removal, Gzip, CDN integration, and a few more features.

This can be the ideal plugin if you are a beginner. But the free version lacks critical features. The paid version delivers images, WooCommerce optimization, Cache Pre-Loading, lazy loading page exclusion, and Database Cleanup. But not worth it.

But I like the user interface. It’s nice and simple; here are some pics:

Also, the dashboard is quite informative and includes some primary data about speed optimization things like Core Web Vital and other recommendations. IMO, this is not perfect, but I can tell that this plugin will most likely speed up your website notably.

The paid version includes some useful features such as WooCommerce optimization, cache preloading, and third-party addons such as Varnish and CloudFlare. However, if you require a pro cache plugin, I’d say Rocket or FlyingPress are better options.

Try Speed of Light to see how it can drive up your site. Uncomplicated to set up with a few extra features. The free version will be enough for simple/lean websites.

11. WP Fastest Cache

Before Litespeed, WP Fastest Cache was a popular free cache plugin. It is very friendly to beginners. But now, the WP Fastest Cache UI feels outdated but quick. I like it because there aren’t many options or guidelines, and it’s a thin plugin with few features.

This is ideal compared to W3 Total Cache, but performance-wise, it’s nothing incredible. It has basic features like a cache, preload, minifications, browser caching, etc.

Look at that user interface image; it’s simple:

CDN setting is cool and lets you connect easily with any provider. That simple interface is ideal but needs to be effective. It feels like yet another cache plugin that does nothing.

There are better ones with improved performance, strategy, and more features.

However, if you are a beginner with a lean website, you can start with WPFC, which is very easy to use and good with little traffic.

Use LiteSpeed cache, FlyingPress, or even Rocket if you have a lot of traffic.

12. Cache Enabler

Cache Enabler is a brief WordPress caching plugin developed by KeyCDN. But my experience with it could have been better. But NGINX or a specific setup can provide some good results. And a simple, lightweight caching solution with basic features.

Cache Enabler typically has the following features:

• Caching: primary feature, and the plugin generates static HTML files of your WordPress pages.
• WebP: Cache Enabler can convert your images to the WebP format with their other plugin called “Optimus.”
• Auto Cache Purge: When you publish or update a post, the plugin will clear the cache automatically.
• Minification: Cache Enabler can reduce static files to speed up your website. However, it is not much, only the basics.
• Brotli and Gzip: The plugin supports Gzip or Brotli compression.
• Others: There’s also a manual cache-clearing feature, time limits for cached files, page executions, etc.

Cache Enabler only has one page; here is a screenshot:

It has no notable features or UI that set it apart from other plugins. The interface is similar to WP Super Cache, with only one page and no super-duper features.

But it is enough for simple sites with low and medium traffic. Read the official guidelines for further details.

13. Hummingbird

Hummingbird is another freemium WPMU cache plugin. But I’m not a fan of any of their products, but this plugin has some results with caching and optimizations, a beautiful UI, and is beginner-friendly. 

You can see many positive reviews from users. However, the plugin fails to define significant impacts like LiteSpeed, WP Rocket, or FlyingPress.

Hummingbird is good for ease of use, but it’s too overblown for me, and the scroll features don’t address speed optimizations. However, it does have some valuable features:

• Gravatar Caching (stores cached versions of avatars)
• RSS Caching (caches your RSS feeds)
• Remove cart fragments
• Prioritize DNS requests
• Varnish/OpCache cache integrations
• WooCommerce cart fragments (disable cart fragments)
• Lazy loading comments (useful if you have a lot of comments)
• Pre-connect: If your site loads many resources from other servers, pre-connect can help speed up page load time.

The pro version fuss because it includes unnecessary features like the white label and uptime monitoring, which are not speed features and only make the price worthwhile.

Some screenshots of the Hummingbird dashboard:

I like the UI, but there is too much unnecessary stuff, and while it may be user-friendly for beginners. You’ll hate it if you’re a techie or like simple interfaces.

But I’m not saying this is a poor plugin. Give it a try; it might work well for your website and server conditions. Also, I’m not fond of their pre-setup guide; it is terrible. And Many useful features are limited to the paid version.

14. 10Web Booster

10Web is a company that owns many web-related services like hosting, AI, and page speed boosters. 10Web Booster is an all-in-one plugin to optimize your website.

Unlike other caching and optimization plugins, 10Web Booster operates outside your WordPress dashboard. You have to sign up for their website to access the plugin dashboard, which has all the optimization features.

Here’s what the dashboard looks like for 10Web Booster:

Yes, this approach includes advantages and disadvantages.

They only allow you to optimize 6 pages with this free plugin. However, there’s a paid version with unlimited pages. I doubt many websites, especially blogs, can sustain only six pages, although it’s fine if you have fewer than six.

In other words, they’re trying to promote their paid version through the free one.

Is it worth paying for the paid version?

It depends on your requirements, but I think it’s worth a shot.

10Web Booster Free Version Features:

• Page caching: Using static pages and files cache increases page speed.
• Critical CSS: Optimizes website performance by removing CSS above the fold.
• CSS aggregation: I wouldn’t recommend using this setting if your website is big. Aggregating your CSS will merge all your stylesheets into a single one, which is quick but can also break your site.
• JavaScript Optimization: In addition to JS minification, it delays third-party JS.
• CSS minification: It removes unnecessary things from CSS files to make them smaller.
• Font optimizer: this will help you in combining them into one.
• Lazy load: You can use lazy loading for images, backgrounds, iFrames, and videos.
• Image Optimizer: The free version has some limitations but has server-side image serving in WebP.

Pro Version Features:

10Web Booster’s paid version comes with an annual subscription, starting at $72/year.

• Frontend optimization: It includes all features such as caching, image optimization, minification, etc.
• Cloudflare Enterprise: I like it, and it’s cheap since most businesses can’t handle Cloudflare Enterprise. 10Web Booster Cloudflare Enterprise comes with 100GB bandwidth, full page caching, DDoS protection, and WAF.

Conclusion: 10Web Booster is unique among other cache plugins, functioning similarly to NitroPack but at a lower cost. It also works well. My biggest complaint is that there are no settings on the WordPress dashboard. So you have to log in to the 10Web dashboard to use it. But it is okay, especially since the Pro version includes a powerful CDN.

15. Redis Object Cache

Redis Object Cache is the free version. You’ll need a web host that supports Redis, which most do. There is also a pro version (Object Cache Pro).

Add Redis if your site is large or has a lot of traffic. Cloudways, RunCloud, and other hosts use Redis. But object cache has little impact on lean or low-traffic websites.

Redis plugin has proper setup and rewrites, serialization and compression, prefetching, and links with TLS. If your host allows Redis, you can simply use this functions.

The object cache helps avoid overkill database queries due to slow plugins.

Screenshots before and after installing Redis Object Cache:

Object caching is effective for dynamic web pages with frequently updated documents. Redis caches database requests in RAM, so they don’t have to be checked each time a request is completed. 

However, your server has to support object caching. I’d recommend object caching if you’ve got medium or large sites. There is no significant outcome on lean websites.

Sure, you can give it a shot and see for yourself.

WordPress Cache Plugins (Not On This List): Why?

There are plenty of free and paid WordPress cache plugins.

But mostly, I listed free versions.

And these plugins are outside my lineup because they aren’t impressive. Don’t just take my word for it. Look at how they work on your website because cache plugins work differently from hosts or servers, themes, CDNs, plugins, content, and other factors.

• W3 Total Cache: UI is old-fashioned, with unlimited browsing. The basic functions are provided in a too technical. Even a developer needs help to grasp advanced stuff. And that’s also one of the reasons I don’t recommend it to anyone. Many people have yet to learn what things require. A comprehensive plugin but is not ideal for beginners.
• ezCache: a simple cache plugin that CAN improve your site speed with image optimization with WebP. But nothing out of the ordinary.
• A2 Optimized WP: more negative than good feedback. Story end.
• WP-Optimize: For database optimization, it’s great, but for caching, I wouldn’t recommend it.
• WP Super Cache: Many people use this plugin, most likely since Automattic developed it. Looking at the plugin’s configuration sections, I’d like it. Things are set on a clear path. Sad to say, it is not as fast as other plugins.
• Comet Cache: Free cache plugins that were average but are now outperformed. Not updated recently. It looks abandoned.
• Hyper Cache: a cool tiny plugin with suitable options; no longer maintained.
• WP-Optimize: a great plugin for DB optimization, but never use it for the cache.
• Autoptimize – not a cache plugin. It is ideal for optimizing minified and cached scripts and styles. However, this plugin is not required if you use Flyingpress/rocket.
• Clearfy Cache: The free version has almost no features
• Cachify: hasn’t been updated in a long time.
• Clearfy Cache: Stylish plugin but unimpressive, and the free version is useless.
• WPBase Cache: supports full-page caching; it hasn’t been updated for a long.

You can find a lot of free cache plugins in the WP plugins directory, but most are actually bad or were last updated a long time ago. WP Performance is a fantastic free cache plugin that hasn’t been updated in almost three years. Most others have the same problem.

Various WordPress Caching Strategies

• Full-page Caching: dramatically reduces TTFB and leads to better performance in serving a fast experience. It can do it at the server level, like LiteSpeed, which is excellent, and at the PHP stage, as well as at the CDN level, like Cloudflare Enterprise. Plus, hosts like Rocket.net and cloud hosting control panels like SpinupWP.
• Browser Cache: a better way to cache is by saving things in the browser. People don’t have to reaccess those. It’s fast because data are filled directly from the user’s browser, but if you update content, usually that can have adverse effects.
• Object Cache: was created to ease already improved webpages and sites with massive dynamic content. It allows storing database stuff in memory and on file to reduce regular requests. Redis and Memcached are two examples.
• Cloud Cache: the traditional cache stores the cache on the web server, whereas the cloud cache goes one step, storing cache pages at the edges. Cloud caching reduces latency from the origin servers. CDN/NitroPack/Ezoic use cloud cache.
• Server-level caching: means that the website content and data are saved in the server’s memory, and the web server generates a cached version of the website.
• Proxy Cache: cached content on the proxy server, for example, Varnish, Nginx, etc.

There are other caching strategies that I have yet to mention. Static sites with slightly changing content can use full-page caching.

Dynamic sites with a lot of content, such as forums and e-commerce sites, need to use an object cache. There are many other caching strategies. It’s easy to improve speed and TTFB with CDNs.

Use Cloudflare’s free services with fast DNS, CDN, and security. The free Cloudflare is ideal for average sites. You can pay for the PRO plan, but you won’t see much difference. 

The ideal approach is to use Cloudflare free with APO and ARGO paid add-ons, and load balancing is useful if your website gets a lot of traffic.

However, Cloudflare Enterprise’s comprehensive network, speed, and high security are highly rated. But we can only afford to pay a little, so some hosts, such as Cloudways, Rocket.net, Servebolt, and Bigscoots, offer it.

You can also use third-party services like 10Web to access Cloudflare Enterprise.

Troubleshoot WordPress Caching Errors

Sometimes caching causes problems, like showing old pages after an update or clearing the cache. Although most caching plugins work flawlessly, a few don’t.

I faced problems with some, so here are a few solutions if you are experiencing WordPress cache problems.

1. First and foremost, get a backup of your website. You’ll be able to use it later.
2. Purge all plugin and object caches and temporarily deactivate them.
3. Clear the CDN cache because it still shows old content after clearing the plugin cache. Make sure you deactivate Varnish and other caching layers.
4. Remove your browser cache or test in Incognito mode. You can use GTmetrix, KeyCDN tools (HTTP Header Checker), or online web screen testers to analyze your caching status. 
5. If it does not work, disable and clear any server-level caching like the NGINX cache commander or WordPress’s hosting caching layers like Rocket.net, Kinsta, SpinupWP, RunCloud, WP Engine, etc. 
6. Security plugins can occasionally cause caching problems, so disable them if installed.
7. If that doesn’t work, go into Filezilla or your file manager. Change the name of the cache plugin folder. Remove the folder and cache files in the wp-content directory if it fails to fetch. Useful resource: Configure FileZilla.
8. The final way is to delete your Htaccess file, which is usually the primary source for caching, and it generally works.

Get in touch with your host if anything doesn’t work.

Wrapping It Up

WordPress cache plugins are more challenging to set up than before because they do more than just cache.

I’ve tried multiple cache plugins. The better ones have useful functions, are simple to use, and will not blow up the website.

You can choose aggressive best wordpress cache plugins with various optimization methods if you only maintain a few sites.

If you’re using a LiteSpeed hosting service, use the LiteSpeed cache plugin, one of my favorites.

FlyingPress is the all-around cache plugin (for any server) if you can afford it.

With the NGINX web server, you can test with free cache plugins such as Swift, W3TC, Breeze, Hummingbird, Speed of Light, Cache Enabler, SpeedyCache, etc.

Some cache plugins perform poorly or cause other issues, and you should avoid those plugins.

I hope you find something useful in this list of free and paid WordPress cache plugins. There are numerous plugins to try. And ignore cache plugins that needed to be updated within one year and had a lot of negative feedback.

Drop a comment; I want to hear what you think.

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