5 WordPress Browser Caching Plugins You Should Use with Your Site
Speed is one of the important elements of a website. Website visitors requires fast loading websites. ~ “Tick tock! Don’t waste my time. I’m in a hurry!”
One great way of enhancing your site load time is by using caching plugins.
Caching helps your site boost its speed and performance, which leads to better SEO scores and enhanced user satisfaction — not to mention higher conversions and thus increased sales if you’re selling products or services online. In this guide, we will share the best WordPress caching plugins for your site.
But first… What is Cache?
Cache works on a simple principle: a collection of temporary stored data for reuse, such as a copy of a web page served by a web server to lessen lag and to be accessed quickly later, and significantly reduce the work needed to be done by the backend server.
A typical cache flow looks like this:
1. It is cached or stored the first time a user accesses the site.
2. The browser sends an HTTP request to the web cache.
3. If the requested object IS stored in the cache, the web cache will serve the copy, which helps keep the origin server from getting overloaded.
If the requested object IS NOT stored in the cache, the web cache requests the object from the origin server and sends the response to the browser.
4. If the object is cacheable, the web cache retains a copy of the object so that subsequent requests are served locally from the web cache.
Caching concept can also be used by WordPress websites to improve performance and make your website load faster.
Caching plugin serves up the lighter HTML page instead of processing the comparatively heavier WordPress PHP scripts whenever a user tries to access your website. This allows the caching plugin to extremely speed up page loading time.
That being said, let’s take a look at the 5 top WordPress caching plugins that you can use to make your website load faster.
1. WP Rocket
WP Rocket is recognized as the most powerful WordPress caching plugin in the market. The plugin provides a simple configuration which is a big help for beginners that doesn’t have the technical knowledge for different caching options.
With its easy deploy features like sitemap preloading, GZIP compression, browser caching, database optimization, google fonts optimization, remove query strings from static resources, lazyload, minification/concatenation, defer JS loading, CloudFlare compatibility, CDN, DNS prefetching, and mobile detection, it allows users to immediately cache their website with one-click.
Price: Starts at $39 for a single site license.
2. W3 Total Cache
W3 Total Cache is the fastest and most complete WordPress cache plugin with a lot of options which may make it seem a bit intimidating for beginners.
It includes all the features including page cache, object cache, GZIP compression, limited minification support, CDN support, and more that you will need to properly set up WordPress cache. The plugin also doesn’t require theme modifications, modifications to your .htaccess (mod_rewrite rules) or programming compromises to get started.
Installing a plugin from the WordPress dashboard is simple. To install:
Search for “W3 Total Cache” from the “Add new plugin” section in the WordPress dashboard. Or you can download the plugin from here and manually upload it to your server.
If you are new to WordPress, this detailed setup instructions will help you install a plugin: How To Install A WordPress Plugin.
Price: Free
3. WP Super Cache
WP Super Cache is another popular caching plugin for WordPress that offer many features, but for non-technical people. The plugin is run by Automattic, the same team behind WordPress.com.
WP Super Cache helps you generate static HTML files from your dynamic WordPress blog, which are used to serve the request. After processing comparatively heavy PHP scripts on your site, WP Super Cache serves the static HTML file to most of your website visitors.
To install the WP Super Cache plugin from the WP dashboard, or from here. If you are new to WordPress, this detailed setup instructions will help you install a plugin: How To Install A WordPress Plugin.
Price: Free
4. WP Fastest Cache
WP Fastest Cache is the simplest and fastest WP Cache system with fewer configuration settings for WordPress caching. You don’t even have to modify the .htaccess configuration file. Just like WP Super Cache, it creates static HTML files from your dynamic WordPress site and saves it in the cache.
The plugin uses mod_rewrite to generate static HTML files on your website. It also offers minification, GZIP compression, browser caching, and an option for combining JavaScript and CSS files together to reduce requests from your server.
After you installed the free WP Fastest Cache plugin, the premium version can be purchased directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Price: Both free and premium versions are available.
5. Comet Cache
Comet Cache is formerly known as both ZenCache and Quick Cache. It is another popular caching plugin with 60,000 active installs and uses simple configuration options that you select directly from the options panel. It takes a real-time snapshot (building a cache) of every page, post, category, link, etc. These snapshots are then stored (cached) automatically, so they can be referenced later, in order to save all of that processing time that was initially causing the slow page load time of your site.
Comet Cache also comes with the ability to cache logged-in site users too that is helpful for membership site, eCommerce site, or any other sites that require users to register.
To install Comet Cache:
Search for it in “Plugins > Add New” in the WordPress admin or download the archived contents from the plugin’s page on the WordPress.org site.After activation of the plugin, you would see that Comet Cache is now in your left-hand pane. Simply go there and click, “Yes” to enable the plugin. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on “Save all changes” button.
Price: Both free and premium versions are available.
Conclusion
When it comes to choosing a caching plugin for your WordPress site, there is no “one size fits all” solution. We hope this article helped you find the right WordPress caching plugin to improve up your website load speed time. Good luck on speeding up your site!