The Best Caching Plugins for WordPress
Caching is a process that allows pages on a website to load faster. This can be done with numerous plugins.
WordPress caching can be complicated and some people may even find this stuff about plugins quite boring. Trying to explain the details of such a complex technology could result in an entire book. To understand the concept of caching, consider it as a simple arithmetic problem.
What is 10 times 2? Most people can immediately tell that the answer is 20. Why? They memorized the answer. In fact, there is probably minimal calculation to be done in their heads.
This type of storage comparison certainly simplifies caching a website, but it helps us visualize how the process works and why you might need a WordPress caching plugin.
Your website can be viewed several times a month. You may see even higher numbers, hundreds, thousands or millions. Since your website usually offers the same or similar content on a regular basis, wouldn’t it be a good idea for the server to save these files so it always has a copy ready?
How does WordPress caching happen?
In short, every page visited on your website requires a request to the server, processing by that server (including database queries), and then a final result sent from the server to the user’s browser.
The result is your website, complete with all the files and elements that make it look as it is. For example, you might have a header, images, a menu, and a blog. Because the server must process all of these requests, it takes time for the entire web page to be delivered to the user, especially if it is a heavy or bulky website.
The caching plugin instructs the server to keep some files on disk or in RAM, depending on the settings. As a result, it has the ability to recall and reproduce previously delivered material.
As a result, your web pages load much faster, directly from the cache. Basically, caching reduces the amount of work required to generate a page view
You will always need a caching plugin
Even whether you use server-level caching or a plugin, you will need to cache in some form. So, what are the additional advantages of caching?
- You speed up your site for users – we’ve talked about this before, but it’s good to mention it again because that’s the main benefit.
- You improve the overall user experience – because your site loads faster for users, they are more likely to navigate between pages. Faster websites are known to decrease bounce rates because people aren’t interested in waiting for a page to load for 10 seconds.
- Your server uses fewer resources – This increases speed , because the fewer resources, the faster the website. However, it also puts less strain on your server. This is very important when dealing with very dynamic sites like membership sites and determining what you can and cannot cache.
- You can see an increase in the level of SEO. Again, it’s about speed and user experience, but with all these improvements, you can show Google and other search engines that your site deserves to be indexed for higher ranking. Basically, a fast website + a huge UX improvement = SEO.
The best caching plugins for WordPress
If you plan to manage your own server or use shared hosting, these are the caching plugins to try. Some of them are more intuitive than others, but they all have excellent reviews.
Many articles online try to compare the speeds of caching plugins and sell you the best one. However, it is almost impossible because these plugins will work differently depending on your own server, configuration, resources and even your physical location.
We love testing speed as much as the next person, but considering a plugin “fastest” is also unfair to the plugin author, because what works best for one user may not work for another.
Not to mention that there are hundreds of different settings that can be turned on or off. Therefore, you should always test WordPress caching plugins.
Below are the most used and highly rated caching plugins for WordPress:
- WP Rocket (premium)
- Cache Enabler (free)
- Comet Cache (Free + Premium)
- W3 Total Cache (gratuito)
- WP Super Cache (Free)
- WP Fastest Cache (Free + Premium)
- Hyper Cache (Free)
As you can see, some caching plugins are free and others are paid. But your choice must be based, of course, on the improvements that each of them will bring to your website.
Conclusion
In this article you were able to learn what website caching is and how it happens in WordPress. Furthermore, you saw why having a good caching plugin is recommended for your website. Finally, we give you some plugin recommendations to help you keep up with the caching of your WordPress site.