7 Best WordPress Cache Plugins to Speed Up a Site

Maintaining a fast-loading website is essential for a successful online presence. It not only reduces the bounce rate but also enhances the SEO performance. Moreover, users expect a certain level of performance, and a slow and lagging website dramatically affects your image. According to research, over 40% of users will leave a site if it takes more than 3 seconds to load.

So, how can you make your website quick for a better user experience? One of the easiest ways is to use WordPress Cache Plugins. It speeds up your website and boosts performance. However, choosing the best from hundreds of plugins can be time-consuming. So, we have assembled a list of the seven best WordPress Cache Plugins to speed up your website. But first, how does a cache plugin enhance performance?

How WordPress Cache Plugins Can Boost Performance

Firstly, let’s learn what is caching. Caching is the process of temporarily storing data files for quick access upon request. Doing this reduces the loading time and delivers the web page quickly. To fully understand the concept, consider this.

When a user opens a web page, a request is sent to the hosting server from the browser. The server then compiles all the resources and sends them back to the browser, and you get to see the desired web page.

If you visit the website frequently, Cache Plugins will store some website information locally. The next time the user opens the website, the data will be fetched from the computer storage instead of the web server. As a result, the loading speed will be significantly fast, hence enhancing the site’s performance and reducing the bounce rate.

Best WordPress Cache Plugins for a Fast Website

WP Rocket

WP Rocket a premium WordPress Cache Plugin, known for its user-friendly dashboard and configurations to automatically recommend WordPress cache settings for better performance. It caches the website with just one click, and crawlers automatically fetch the WordPress pages to build a cache.

In addition to automatically recommending the best WordPress caching settings like GZIP Compression, Page Cache, and Page Pre-loading. WP Rocket also has additional features like lazy loading images and videos, CSS, JS minification, automatic database cleanups, DNS pre-fetching, and more. Moreover, the plugin can also optimize the performance of eCommerce stores.

WP-Optimize

WP-Optimize is a great WordPress Cache Plugin with over a million active installations. It is an all-in-one product that enhances the speed and optimizes your website’s performance. Like our first plugin, it also compresses HTML, CSS, and JavaScript files, reuses cached resources, and minifies and defers CSS and JavaScript to reduce the server’s size and number of requests.

Moreover, features like database cleaning and image compression also affects performance while keeping the database clean and fast. Another feature that we like is separate files for mobile devices. With just a click, the plugin will create dedicated files to ensure an optimized version is always there for mobile devices.

W3 Total Cache

Third on our list is W3 Total Cache, aka W3TC. It is an open-source, multi-purpose WordPress cache plugin that offers robust features to make your website incredibly fast and optimized. The tons of options include page cache, object cache, GZIP Compression, minification, web image compression, and lazy loading images.

The cache plugin works perfectly with all sorts of hosting plans, including shared, dedicated server and VPS server hosting. But to use this excellent plugin, you must do some work because W3 Total Cache is not easy to use.

Hummingbird

Regarding features, Hummingbird is not much different from the WordPress Cache Plugins mentioned above. It has GZIP Compression, CSS and JavaScript minification, browser caching, lazy image, comments, and longer posts loading render-blocking resources elimination. But a thing that makes it unique is the plugin will scan your website. It will discover the parts slowing down your website and provide tips and fixes. Sometimes, you may even get a one-click fix that will resolve all the problems on your website.

Super, simple, and efficient UI is another thing we really like about the Hummingbird. It not only adds value to the product but also makes it easier to use for all sorts of users.

WP Super Cache

WP Super Cache an excellent WordPress Cache Plugin. The distinct feature of the plugin is it is beginner-friendly and has a mode for developers. It works by giving static HTML files from a WordPress site and serving them to visitors, reducing latency and lowering page loading speed.

It has multiple modes, “Simple” is for beginners, while “Expert” is for developers. In “Expert Mode,” users modify the .htaccess files to optimize the website. It is risky but delivers the best results. While ‘Simple Mode” uses PHP to serve cached files. It is simple, efficient, and easy to set up.

LiteSpeed Cache

LiteSpeed Cache is one of the most complete WordPress Cache Plugins that enhances the loading speed and has features for comprehensive website optimization for exceptional performance. Another reason for its super popularity is it is a server-side caching plugin, so processing is substantially faster than browser caching.

It is a free theme that works on all kinds of themes and web hosting, but if you want access to exclusive features, you have to run your website on LiteSpeed Powered Web Hosting. They cost a bit, but the performance difference is definitely worth the money. Moreover, other features like Free QUIC.cloud CDN, online cache support, one-click database optimization, CSS, HTML, and JavaScript optimization, and WebP image format support are also there.

WP Fastest Cache

WP Fastest Cache is a simple and user-friendly WordPress Cache Plugin. It does not have any complicated settings. All the controls are just a list of options, checkboxes, and a little explanation upfront, which is excellent for new users.

The cost-effective plugin also has advanced features like deleting cached files and minified CSS and JS files from the admin side, scheduling them to delete image optimization, and database cleanup. We like the plugin because its simple interface and straightforward control make the process fast and simple.

Conclusion

WordPress Cache Plugins are a must-have in your WordPress website. Aside from boosting performance, they also play an important role in improving user experience and SEO. So, here are the seven best WordPress Cache Plugins for your website. Before choosing one, consider your goals, needs, budget, and technical knowledge.